The Albert N'Yanza Part 14

June 13.---I shot ten ducks and geese before breakfast, including one of the large black and white geese with the crimson head and neck. On my return to camp I weighed this--exactly eleven pounds; this goose has on either pinion-joint a sharp, h.o.r.n.y spur, an inch in length. During my morning stroll I met hundreds of natives running excitedly with s.h.i.+elds and spears towards Adda's village: they were going to steal the cattle from a village about four miles distant; thus there will be a fight in the course of the day. The Latooka stream is now full, and has the appearance of a permanent river carrying a considerable body of water to the Sobat.

I met with two thieves while duck-shooting this morning--the one an eagle, and the other a native. The beautiful white-throated fish-eagle may generally be seen perched upon a bough overhanging the stream, ready for any prey that may offer. This morning I shot two ducks right and left as they flew down the course of the river---one fell dead in the water, but the other, badly hit, fluttered along the surface for some distance, and was immediately chased and seized by a fish-eagle which, quite reckless of the gun, had been watching the sport from a high tree, and evinced a desire to share the results. My men, not to be done out of their breakfast, gave chase, shouting and yelling to frighten the eagle, and one of them having a gun loaded with buckshot, fired, and the whirr-r of the charge induced the eagle to drop the duck, which was triumphantly seized by the man.

The other thief was a native. I fired a long shot at a drake; the bird flew a considerable distance and towered, falling about a quarter of a mile distant. A Latooka was hoeing close to where it fell, and we distinctly saw him pick up the bird and run to a bush, in which he hid it: upon our arrival he continued his work as though nothing had happened, and denied all knowledge of it: he was accordingly led by the ear to the bush, where we found the duck carefully secreted.

June 14.---The natives lost one man killed in the fight yesterday, therefore the night was pa.s.sed in singing and dancing.

The country is drying up; although the stream is full there is no rain in Latooka, the water in the river being the eastern drainage of the Obbo mountains, where it rains daily.

Ibrahimawa, the Bornu man, alias "Sinbad the Sailor," the great traveller, amuses and bores me daily with his long and wonderful stories of his travels. The style of his narratives may be conjectured from the following extracts: "There was a country adjoining Bornu, where the king was so fat and heavy that he could not walk, until the doctors OPENED HIS BELLY AND CUT THE FAT OUT, which operation was repeated annually."

He described another country as a perfect Paradise, where no one ever drank anything so inferior as water. This country was so wealthy that the poorest man could drink merissa (beer). He ill.u.s.trated the general intoxication by saying, that "after 3 P.M. no one was sober, throughout the country, and from that hour the cows, goats, and fowls WERE ALL DRUNK, as they drank the merissa left in the jars by their owners, who were all asleep."

He knew all about England, having been a servant, on a Turkish frigate that was sent to Gravesend. He described an evening entertainment most vividly. He had been to a ball at an "English Pasha's in Blackwall," and had succeeded wonderfully with some charming English ladies excessively "decollete," upon whom he felt sure he had left a lasting impression, as several had fallen in love with him on the spot, supposing him to be a Pasha.

Such were instances of life and recollections of Ibrahimawa, the Bornu.

On June 16, Koors.h.i.+d's people returned from Obbo. Ibrahim and a few men had remained there, and distrusting the warlike spirit of the Latookas, he now recalled the entire establishment from Tarrangolle, intending to make a station at the more peaceful country of Obbo. An extract from my journal on that day explains my feelings: "This is most annoying; I had arranged my camp and garden, &c. for the wet season, and I must now leave everything, as it is impossible to remain in this country with my small force alone; the natives have become so bad (since the cattle razzia) that a considerable armed party is obliged to go to the stream for water. It is remarkably pleasant travelling in the vicinity of the traders;--they convert every country into a wasp's nest;--they have neither plan of action nor determination, and I, being unfortunately dependent upon their movements, am more like a donkey than an explorer, that is saddled and ridden away at a moment's notice. About sixty natives of Obbo accompanied the men sent by Ibrahim to carry the effects;--I require at least fifty, as so many of my transport animals are dead." Nothing can exceed the laziness and dogged indolence of my men; I have only four who are worth having,---Richarn, Hamed, Sali, and Taher.

All the men in either camp were discontented at the order to move, as they had made themselves comfortable, expecting to remain in Latooka during the wet season. The two chiefs, Moy and Commoro, found themselves in a dilemma, as they had allied themselves with the Turks in the attack upon the neighbouring town, depending upon them for future support; they were now left in the lurch, and felt themselves hardly a match for their enemies. A few extracts from my journal will close our sojourn at Latooka:

"June 18th.--The white ants are a curse upon the country; although the hut is swept daily and their galleries destroyed, they rebuild everything during the night, scaling the supports to the roof and entering the thatch. Articles of leather or wood are the first devoured.

The rapidity with which they repair their galleries is wonderful; all their work is carried on with cement; the earth is contained in their stomachs, and this being mixed with some glutinous matter they deposit it as bees do their wax. Although the earth of this country if tempered for house-building will crumble in the rain, the hills of the white ants remain solid and waterproof, owing to the glue in the cement. I have seen three varieties of white ants--the largest about the size of a small wasp: this does not attack dwellings, but subsists upon fallen trees. The second variety is not so large; this species seldom enters buildings. The third is the greatest pest: this is the smallest, but thick and juicy;--the earth is literally alive with them, nor is there one square foot of ground free from them in Latooka.

"June 19th.--Had a bad attack of fever yesterday that has been hanging about me for some days. Weighed all the luggage and packed the stores in loads of fifty pounds each for the natives to carry.

"June 20th.--Busy making new ropes from the bark of a mimosa; all hands at work, as we start the day after to-morrow. My loss in animals makes a difference of twenty-three porters' loads. I shall take forty natives as the bad roads will necessitate light loads for the donkeys. I have now only fourteen donkeys; these are in good condition, and would thrive, were not the birds so destructive by pecking sores upon their backs.

These sores would heal quickly by the application of gunpowder, but the birds irritate and enlarge them until the animal, is rendered useless. I have lost two donkeys simply from the attacks of these birds;--the only remaining camel and some of the donkeys I have covered with jackets made of tent-cloth.

"June 21st.--Nil.

"June 22d.--We were awoke last night by a report from the sentry that natives were prowling around the camp;--I accordingly posted three additional guards. At a little after 2 A.m. a shot was fired, followed by two others in quick succession, and a sound as of many feet running quickly was heard pa.s.sing the entrance of the camp. I was up in a moment, and my men were quickly under arms: the Turks' drum beat, and their camp (that was contiguous to mine) was alive with men, but all was darkness. I lighted my policeman's lantern, that was always kept ready trimmed, and I soon arrived at the spot where the shot had been fired.

The natives had been endeavouring to steal the cattle from the Turks'

kraal, and favoured by the darkness they had commenced burrowing with the intention of removing the thorn bushes that formed the fence.

Unfortunately for the thieves, they were unaware that there were watchers in the kraal among the cattle: it was a pitch dark night, and nothing could be distinguished; but the attention of one of the sentries was attracted by the snorting and stamping of the goats, that evidently denoted the presence of something uncommon. He then perceived close to him, on the other side the hedge, a dark object crouching, and others standing, and he heard the bushes moving as though some one was at work to remove them. He immediately fired; and the sound of a rush of men in retreat induced both him and the other sentry to repeat the shot. By the light of the lantern we now searched the place, and discovered the body of a native lying close to the fence just above a considerable hole that he had sc.r.a.ped beneath the thorns, in order to extract the stems that were buried in the ground, and thus by drawing away the bushes he would have effected an entrance. He had commenced operations exactly opposite the sentry, and the musket being loaded with mould-shot, he had received the contents at close quarters. Although he had tempted fate and met with deserved misfortune, it was most disgusting to witness the brutality of the Turks, who, tying ropes to the ankles, dragged the body to the entrance of the camp, and wished for amus.e.m.e.nt to drive their bayonets through the chest.

"Although dying, the man was not dead: a shot had entered one eye, knocking it out; several had entered the face, chest, and thighs, as he was in a stooping position when the gun was fired. I would not allow him to be mutilated, and after groaning in agony for some time, he died. The traders' people immediately amputated the hands at the wrists, to detach the copper bracelets, while others cut off his helmet of beads, and the body was very considerately dragged close to the entrance of my camp.

"June 22nd.--Finding that the disgusting Turks had deposited the dead body almost at my door, I had it removed a couple of hundred yards to leeward. The various birds of prey immediately collected--buzzards, vultures, crows, and the great Marabou stork. I observed a great bare-necked vulture almost succeed in turning the body over by pulling at the flesh of the arm at the opposite side to that where it stood. I have noticed that birds of prey invariably commence their attack upon the eyes, inner portions of the thighs, and beneath the arms, before they devour the coa.r.s.er portions. In a few hours a well-picked skeleton was all that was left of the Latooka."

We were to start on the following day. My wife was dangerously ill with bilious fever, and was unable to stand, and I endeavoured to persuade the traders' party to postpone their departure for a few days. They would not hear of such a proposal; they had so irritated the Latookas that they feared an attack, and their captain, or vakeel, Ibrahim, had ordered them immediately to vacate the country. This was a most awkward position for me. The traders had induced the hostility of the country, and I should bear the brunt of it should I remain behind alone. Without their presence I should be unable to procure porters, as the natives would not accompany my feeble party, especially as I could offer them no other payment but beads or copper. The rains had commenced within the last few days at Latooka, and on the route towards...o...b.. we should encounter continual storms. We were to march by a long and circuitous route to avoid the rocky pa.s.ses that would be dangerous in the present spirit of the country, especially as the traders possessed large herds that must accompany the party. They allowed five days' march for the distance to Obbo by the intended route. This was not an alluring programme for the week's entertainment, with my wife almost in a dying state! However, I set to work, and fitted an angarep with arched hoops from end to end, so as to form a frame like the cap of a wagon. This I covered with two waterproof Abyssinian tanned hides securely strapped; and las.h.i.+ng two long poles parallel to the sides of the angarep, I formed an excellent palanquin. In this she was a.s.sisted, and we started on 23d June.

Our joint parties consisted of about three hundred men. On arrival at the base of the mountains, instead of crossing them as before, we skirted the chain to the northwest, and then rounding through a natural gap, we ascended gradually towards the south.

On the fifth day we were, at 5 A.M., within twelve miles of Obbo, and we bivouacked on a huge ma.s.s of granite on the side of a hill, forming an inclining plateau of about an acre. The natives who accompanied us were immediately ordered to clear the gra.s.s from the insterstices of the rocks, and hardly had they commenced when a slight disturbance, among some loose stones that were being removed, showed that something was wrong. In an instant lances and stones were hurled at some object by the crowd, and upon my arrival I saw the most horrid monster that I have ever experienced. I immediately pinned his head to the ground and severed it at one blow with my hunting-knife, damaging the keen edge of my favourite weapon upon the hard rock. It was a puff adder of the most extraordinary dimensions. I then fetched my measuring-tape from the game-bag, in which it was always at hand. Although the snake was only 5 ft. 4 in. in length it was slightly above 15 inches in girth. The tail was, as usual in poisonous snakes, extremely blunt, and the head perfectly fiat, and about 2 1/2 inches broad, but unfortunately during my short absence to fetch the measure the natives had crushed it with a rock. They had thus destroyed it as a specimen, and had broken three of the teeth, but I counted eight, and secured five poison-fangs, the two most prominent being nearly an inch in length. The poison-fangs of snakes are artfully contrived by some diabolical freak of nature as pointed tubes, through which the poison is injected into the base of the wound inflicted. The extreme point of the fang is solid, and is so finely sharpened that beneath a powerful microscope it is perfectly smooth, although the point of the finest needle is rough. A short distance above the solid point of the fang the surface of the tube appears as though cut away, like the first cut of a quill in forming a pen: through this aperture the poison is injected.

Hardly had I secured the fangs, when a tremendous clap of thunder shook the earth and echoed from rock to rock among the high mountains, that rose abruptly on our left within a mile. Again the lightning flashed, and almost simultaneously, a deafening peal roared from the black cloud above us, just as I was kneeling over the archenemy to skin him. He looked so Satanic with his flat head, and minute cold grey eye, and scaly hide, with the lightning flas.h.i.+ng and the thunder roaring around him; I felt like St. Dunstan with the devil, and skinned him. The natives and also my men were horrified, as they would not touch any portion of such a snake with their hands: even its skin was supposed by these people to be noxious. Down came the rain; I believe it could not have rained harder. Mrs. Baker in the palanquin was fortunately like a snail in her sh.e.l.l; but I had nothing for protection except an oxhide: throwing myself upon my angarep I drew it over me. The natives had already lighted prodigious fires, and all crowded around the blaze; but what would have been the Great Fire of London in that storm?

In half an hour the fire was out; such a deluge fell that the ravine that was dry when we first bivouacked, was now an impa.s.sable torrent. My oxhide had become tripe, and my angarep, being covered with a mat, was some inches deep in water. Throwing away the mat, the pond escaped through the sieve-like network, but left me drenched. Throughout the night it poured. We had been wet through every day during the journey from Latooka, but the nights had been fine; this was superlative misery to all. At length it ceased--morning dawned; we could not procure fire, as everything was saturated, and we started on our march through forest and high reeking gra.s.s. By this circuitous route from Latooka we avoided all difficult pa.s.ses, as the ground on the west side of the chain of mountains ascended rapidly but regularly to Obbo. On arrival at my former hut I found a great change; the gra.s.s was at least ten feet high, and my little camp was concealed in the rank vegetation. Old Katchiba came to meet us, but brought nothing, as he said the Turks had eaten up the country. An extract from my journal, dated July 1, explains the misery of our position.

"This...o...b.. country is now a land of starvation. The natives refuse to supply provision for beads; nor will they barter anything unless in exchange for flesh. This is the curse that the Turks have brought upon the country by stealing cattle and throwing them away wholesale. We have literally nothing to eat except tullaboon, a small bitter grain used in lieu of corn by the natives: there is no game; if it existed, shooting would be impossible, as the gra.s.s is impenetrable. I hear that the Turks intend to make a razzia on the Shoggo country near Farajoke; thus they will stir up a wasp's nest for me wherever I go, and render it impossible for my small party to proceed alone, or even to remain in peace. I shall be truly thankful to quit this abominable land; in my experience I never saw such scoundrels as Africa produces--the natives of the Soudan being worse than all. It is impossible to make a servant of any of these people; the apathy, indolence, dishonesty combined with dirtiness, are beyond description; and their abhorrence of anything like order increases their natural dislike to Europeans. I have not one man even approaching to a servant; the animals are neglected, therefore they die. And were I to die they would rejoice, as they would immediately join Koors.h.i.+d's people in cattle stealing and slave hunting;--charming followers in the time of danger! Such men destroy all pleasure, and render exploration a mere toil. No one can imagine the hards.h.i.+ps and annoyances to which we are subject, with the additional disgust of being somewhat dependent upon the traders' band of robbers. For this miserable situation my vakeel is entirely responsible; had my original escort been faithful, I should have been entirely independent, and could with my transport animals have penetrated far south before the commencement of the rainy season. Altogether I am thoroughly sick of this expedition, but I shall plod onwards with dogged obstinacy; G.o.d only knows the end.

I shall be grateful should the day ever arrive once more to see Old England."

Both my wife and I were excessively ill with bilious fever, and neither could a.s.sist the other. The old chief, Katchiba, hearing that we were dying, came to charm us with some magic spell. He found us lying helpless, and he immediately procured a small branch of a tree, and filling his mouth with water, he squirted it over the leaves and about the floor of the hut; he then waved the branch around my wife's head, also around mine, and completed the ceremony by sticking it in the thatch above the doorway; he told us we should now get better, and perfectly: satisfied, he took his leave. The hut was swarming with rats and white ants, the former racing over our bodies during the night, and burrowing through the floor, filling our only room with mounds like molehills. As fast as we stopped the holes, others were made with determined perseverance. Having a supply of a.r.s.enic, I gave them an entertainment, the effect being disagreeable to all parties, as the rats died in their holes, and created a horrible effluvium, while fresh hosts took the place of the departed. Now and then a snake would be seen gliding within the thatch, having taken shelter from the pouring rain.

The smallpox was raging throughout the country, and the natives were dying like flies in winter. The country was extremely unhealthy, owing to the constant rain and the rank herbage, which prevented a free circulation of air, and from the extreme damp induced fevers. The temperature was 65 degrees Fahr. at night, and 72 degrees during the day; dense clouds obscured the sun for many days, and the air was reeking with moisture. In the evening it was always necessary to keep a blazing fire within the hut, as the floor and walls were wet and chilly.

The wet herbage disagreed with my baggage animals.

Innumerable flies appeared, including the Tsetse, and in a few weeks the donkeys had no hair left, either on their ears or legs; they drooped and died one by one. It was in vain that I erected sheds, and lighted fires; nothing would protect them from the flies. The moment the fires were lit, the animals would rush wildly into the smoke, from which nothing would drive them, and in the clouds of imaginary protection they would remain all day, refusing food. On the 16th of July my last horse, Mouse, died; he had a very long tail, for which I obtained A COW IN EXCHANGE. Nothing was prized so highly as horse's tails, the hairs being used for stringing beads, and also for making tufts as ornaments, to be suspended from the elbows. It was highly fas.h.i.+onable in Obbo for the men to wear such tufts, formed of the bushy ends of cow's-tails. It was also "the thing" to wear six or eight polished rings of iron, fastened so tightly round the throat as to almost choke the wearer, somewhat resembling dog-collars.

On 18th July, the natives held a great consultation, and ended with a war-dance; they were all painted in various patterns, with red ochre and white pipe-clay; their heads adorned with very tasteful ornaments of cowrie-sh.e.l.ls, surmounted by plumes of ostrich-feathers, which drooped over the back of the neck. After the dance, the old chief addressed them in a long and vehement speech; he was followed by several other speakers, all of whom were remarkably fluent, and the resolution of the meeting was declared "that the nogaras were to be beaten, and men collected to accompany the Turks on a razzia in the Madi country."

Ibrahim started with 120 armed men and a ma.s.s of Obbo people on the marauding expedition.

On the following day Katchiba came to see us, bringing a present of flour. I gave him a tin plate, a wooden spoon, the last of the tea-cups, and a tinsel paper of mother-of-pearl s.h.i.+rt b.u.t.tons, which took his fancy so immensely, that my wife was begged to suspend it from his neck like a medal. He was really a very good old fellow--by far the best I have seen in Africa. He was very suspicious of the Turks, who, he said, would ultimately ruin him, as, by attacking the Madi tribe, they would become his enemies, and invade Obbo when the Turks should leave. Cattle were of very little use in his country, as the flies would kill them; he had tried all his magic art, but it was of no avail against the flies; my donkeys would all a.s.suredly die. He said that the losses inflicted upon the various tribes by the Turks were ruinous, as their chief means of subsistence was destroyed; without cattle they could procure no wives; milk, their principle diet, was denied them, and they were driven to despair; thus they would fight for their cattle, although they would allow their families to be carried off without resistance; cattle would procure another family, but if the animals were stolen, there would be no remedy.

Flies by day, rats and innumerable bugs by night, heavy dew, daily rain, and impenetrable reeking gra.s.s rendered Obbo a prison about as disagreeable as could exist.

The many months of tiresome inaction that I was forced to remain in this position, I will not venture to inflict upon the reader, but I will content myself with extracts from my journal from time to time, that will exhibit the general character of the situation.

"Aug. 2d.--Several of my men have fever; the boy, Saat, upon receiving a dose of calomel, asked, 'whether he was to swallow the paper in which it was wrapped?' This is not the first time that I have been asked the same question by my men. Saat feels the ennui of Obbo, and finds it difficult to amuse himself; he has accordingly become so far scientific, that he has investigated the machinery of two of my watches, both of which he has destroyed. I am now reduced to one watch, the solitary survivor of four that formed my original family of timekeepers. Having commenced as a drummer, Saat feels the loss of his drum that was smashed by the camel; he accordingly keeps his hand in by practising upon anything that he can adapt to that purpose, the sacred kettle inverted, and a tin cup, having been drummed until the one became leaky, and the bottom of the other disappeared.

"Saat and the black woman are, unfortunately, enemies, and the monotony of the establishment is sometimes broken by a stand-up fight between him and his vicious antagonist, Gaddum Her. The latter has received a practical proof that the boy is growing strong, as I found him the other day improving her style of beauty by sitting astride upon her stomach, and punching her eyes with his fists, as she lay upon the ground furrowing Saat's fat cheeks with her very dirty nails. It is only fair to the boy to say that Gaddum Her is always the aggressor.

"It is absurd to see the self-importance of the miserable cut-throats belonging to Koors.h.i.+d's party, who, far too great to act as common soldiers, swagger about with little slave-boys in attendance, who carry their muskets. I often compare the hard lot of our honest poor in England with that of these scoundrels, whose courage consists in plundering and murdering defenceless natives, while the robbers fatten on the spoil. I am most anxious to see whether the English Government will take active notice of the White Nile trade, or whether diplomacy will confine them to simple protest and correspondence, to be silenced by a promise from the Egyptian Government to put a stop to the present atrocities. The Egyptian Government will of course promise, and, as usual with Turks, will never perform. On the other hand, the savages are themselves bad; one tribe welcomes the Turks as allies against their neighbours, and sees no crime in murder, provided the result be 'cattle.' This, of course, produces general confusion."

"AUG. 6TH.--The difficulties of procuring provisions are most serious: the only method of purchasing flour is as follows. The natives will not sell it for anything but flesh; to purchase an ox, I require molotes (hoes): to obtain molotes I must sell my clothes and shoes to the traders' men. The ox is then driven to a distant village, and is there slaughtered, and the flesh being divided into about a hundred small portions, my men sit upon the ground with three large baskets, into which are emptied minute baskets of flour as the natives produce them, one in exchange for each parcel of meat. This tedious process is a specimen of Central African difficulties in the simple act of purchasing flour. The Obbo natives are similar to the Bari in some of their habits.

I have had great difficulty in breaking my cowkeeper of his disgusting custom of was.h.i.+ng the milk bowl with cow's urine, and even mixing some with the milk; he declares that unless he washes his hands with such water before milking, the cow will lose her milk. This filthy custom is unaccountable. The Obbo natives wash out their mouths with their own urine. This habit may have originated in the total absence of salt in their country. The Latookas, on the contrary, are very clean, and milk could be purchased in their own vessels without fear."

"Aug. 8th--Having killed a fat ox, the men are busily engaged in boiling down the fat. Care should be taken to sprinkle a few drops of water in the pot when the fat is supposed to be sufficiently boiled; should it hiss, as though poured upon melted lead, it is ready; but if it be silent, the fat is not sufficiently boiled, and it will not keep.

"Three runaway female slaves were captured by Koors.h.i.+d's people this morning, two of whom were brutally treated. On the whole the female slaves are well kept when very young, but well thrashed when the black bloom of youth has pa.s.sed."

"Aug. 11th.--At this season immense beetles are at work in vast numbers, walking off with every species of dung, by forming it into b.a.l.l.s as large as small apples, and rolling them away with their hind legs, while they walk backwards by means of the forelegs. Should a ball of dung roll into a deep rut, I have frequently seen another beetle come to the a.s.sistance of the proprietor of the ball, and quarrel for its possession after their joint labours have raised it to the level.

"This species was the holy scarabaeus of the ancient Egyptians; it appears shortly after the commencement of the wet season, its labours continuing until the cessation of the rains, at which time it disappears. Was it not wors.h.i.+pped by the ancients as the harbinger of the high Nile? The existence of Lower Egypt depending upon the annual inundation, the rise of the river was observed with general anxiety. The beetle appears at the commencement of the rise in the river level, and from its great size and extraordinary activity in clearing the earth from all kinds of ordure, its presence is remarkable. Appearing at the season of the flood, may not the ancients have imagined some connexion between the beetle and the river, and have considered it sacred as the HARBINGER of the inundation?

"There is a wild bean in this country, the blossom of which has a delicious perfume of violets. I regret that I have not a supply of paper for botanical specimens, as many beautiful flowers appeared at the commencement of the rains. Few thorns and no gums form a strong contrast to the Soudan, where nearly every tree and shrub is armed."

"AUG. 13TH.--I had a long examination of a slave woman, Bacheeta, belonging to one of Koors.h.i.+d's men. She had been sent two years ago by the king, Kamrasi, from Unyoro, as a spy among the traders, with orders to attract them to the country if appearances were favourable, but to return with a report should they be dangerous people.

"On her arrival at Faloro, Debono's people captured her, and she was eventually sold to her present owner. She speaks Arabic, having learnt it from the traders' people. She declares that Magungo, the place of which I have heard so much, is only four days' hard marching for a native, direct from Faloro, but eight days' for the Turks; and that it is equi-distant from Faloro and from Kamrasi's capital in Unyoro. She had heard of the Luta N'zige, as reported to Speke, but she knew it only by the name of 'Kara-wootan-N'zige.'

"She corroborated the accounts I had formerly received, of large boats arriving with Arabs at Magungo, and she described the lake as a 'white sheet as far as the eye could reach.' She particularized it as a peculiar water, that was unlike other waters, as it would 'come up to a water-jar, if put upon the sh.o.r.e, and carry it away and break it.' By this description I understood 'waves.' She also described the 'Gondokoro river,' or White Nile, as flowing into and out of the lake, and she spoke of a 'great roar of water that fell from the sky.'

"I trust I may succeed in reaching this lake: if not, my entire time, labour, and expenditure will have been wasted, as I throw sport entirely aside for the sake of this exploration. Were I to think of shooting in preference to exploring, I could have excellent sport on the Atabbi river during the dry season, as also on the Kanieti, in the vicinity of Wakkala; but I must neglect all but the great object, and push on to Kamrasi's capital, and from thence to the lake. My great anxiety lies in the conduct of Koors.h.i.+d's party; should they make razzias south, I shall be ruined, as my men will be afraid to advance through a disturbed country. I MUST keep on good terms with the chief of the party, as I depend upon him for an interpreter and porters.

"My plan is to prevail on Ibrahim to commence an ivory trade in Kamrasi's country that might be legitimately conducted, instead of the present atrocious system of robbery and murder. I like Koors.h.i.+d, as he is a bold-spoken robber instead of acting the hypocrite like the other traders of Khartoum; thus, as he was the only man that was civil to me, I would do him a good turn could I establish an honest trade between Kamrasi and himself; at the same time, I should have the advantage of his party as escort to the desired country. The case commercially lies as follows:--