Ismailia by Sir Samuel White Baker (read aloud books txt) 📖

people had swum the river, and had followed the example of the other natives to sue for peace, and to beg for elephant's flesh.

This extraordinary craving for flesh would suggest that the Baris were devoid of cattle. On the contrary, there are countless herds throughout the country; but the natives have a great objection to kill them, and merely keep the cows for their milk, and the bullocks to bleed.

The cows are also bled periodically, and the blood is boiled and eaten, much in the same manner that black pudding is used throughout Europe. A herd of cattle will thus provide animal food without the necessity of slaughtering.

The great traveller, Bruce, was discredited for having described a fact of which he was an eye-witness. This was the vivisection of a cow, driven by natives, who cut a steak out of her hind-quarters.

I had a bull with a very large hump. (This bull was left at Fort Fatiko.) This animal was very handsome, and was kept for stock. I observed that the skin of the hump showed a long jagged scar from end to end, and my people assured me that this bull had frequently been operated upon. It had been the property of one of the slave-hunters' parties, and they had been in the habit of removing the hump (as a surgeon would a tumour). This is the most delicate portion of the meat, and I was assured that the hump would always be replaced by a similar growth after each operation.

On 18th November, I commenced the march homewards. The natives were now friendly throughout the route, and my men were strictly forbidden to enter a village. There was a great change in my officers and troops; they had fallen into my ways and obeyed every order with alacrity. They had learned to place thorough reliance upon any plans that were arranged; and, now that they knew the necessity of obedience and discipline, they had, imperceptibly to themselves, changed from ruffians into very orderly soldiers.

On the march homewards, upon arrival at the foot of a mountain, I made an excursion inland, as this was a portion of the country that I had not yet visited, though only six miles from Gondokoro. The natives were very shy, but I at length succeeded in obtaining an interview with their sheik, a tall powerful fellow, named Meri. I explained that I required no corn, nor any supplies, except stone. (This sheik Meri and his people always remained faithful to the government from that day.)

The country abounded with pieces of gneiss with a very straight cleavage, that suited them admirably for building purposes. All the granaries of this country were supported upon pillars formed of single stones, about three feet long. The houses were also protected by large flat stones arranged like tiles around the base, and thus securing the sides from the driven storms of rain.

On 19th November, I returned to Gondokoro highly satisfied with the result of the campaign. Not only were my magazines all filled with more than twelve months' supply of corn, but I had established peace throughout a large and powerful district, and I had received promises of assistance, and an assurance of allegiance to the government.

Abou Saood, who had received permission to go to Khartoum, had only gone down the river as far as his station at the Bohr. There he had made arrangements with his people that the ivory from Latooka station, 100 miles east of Gondokoro, should avoid my head-quarters, and be conveyed by an oblique course to the Bohr. By this swindle, the government would be cheated out of the share of two-fifths of the ivory which belonged to them by contract with Agad & Co.

Abou Saood having personally witnessed the departure of the troops to Khartoum, considered his game as won, and that the expedition, now reduced to only 502 officers and men, would be compelled to centralize at Gondokoro, without the possibility of penetrating the interior. He had thus started for his stations in the distant south, where he intended to incite the natives against the government, to prevent me from following out my plans with the small force at my disposal.

This was the first time in the career of Abou Saood that he had ever travelled inland. He had for many years been in the habit of arriving at Gondokoro from Khartoum with the annual vessels from Agad & Co., bringing new levies of brigands together with fresh supplies of arms and ammunition. He then remained at Gondokoro for several weeks, and received the ivory and slaves collected from his various stations in the interior with which he returned to Khartoum.

The necessity of the occasion induced him to use much personal activity. Knowing well the date when my term of service would expire, he had only one object, in which he had already nearly succeeded,--this was to prevent the possibility of my advance within the given period.

It was therefore necessary for him to visit his stations, and to warn his people to hold both their slaves and ivory until I should be withdrawn from Gondokoro by the expiration of my term of service; after which, he had no doubt that things would quickly return to their former happy state. By these means he would be able to cheat the government out of the two-fifths of all ivory; he would preserve his slaves; and a judicious present to some high official would reinstate him in his original position as the greatest slave-hunter of the White Nile; with the additional kuilos of having battled the Christian Pacha.

I had already written to assure the Khedive that, should my work not be satisfactorily accomplished at the expiration of my term of service, I should continue at my post until I could honourably resign the command, when the government should be firmly established in the interior.

I now devoted every energy to the preparations for starting, together with the English engineers and the steamer. Having given the necessary instructions to the engineer in chief, Mr. Higginbotham, I had no anxiety, as I felt sure that everything would be in order.

The carts were to be thoroughly examined, and the No. 3 steamer of 38 tons was to be divided in parcels; the small work secured in loads of fifty pounds, each sewn up in raw hide, and the heavier portions divided among the carts.

The officers were now perfectly resigned to their lot. The remnant of the Egyptian force had been converted into artillery-men, and all the Soudanis formed one regiment.

While Mr. Higginbotham was engaged in the work of arranging and packing, my masons were busy in making bricks, as I wished eventually to build the barracks of this solid material, instead of trusting to the dangerously inflammable straw-huts. I had already written to England for sufficient galvanized iron for 3,000 feet of building in actual length.

Although galvanized iron is hot in a tropical climate, it can easily be protected from the sun by a light framework of canes slightly thatched. My Soudanis were never overpowered by heat, as they had been born in a high temperature.

On my return to Gondokoro, I found that Meri's natives had collected a large quantity of stones, and they had sent to request a vessel to transport them. I gave them a cow, and they had a general dance. This reception seemed to delight them, and they returned to their villages, accompanied by a noggur with an officer and twenty men. I gave strict orders that no soldier should enter a native hut under any pretext.

The Bari war was over. Upon every side the natives had been thoroughly subdued. I now heard from our Bari interpreters, Sherroom and Morgian, that the Sheik Allorron was willing to sue for peace, and to declare his allegiance to the government.

Abou Saood and his people had departed; thus the evil spirit was withdrawn that had hitherto covertly incited the natives against the government, and the effect of his absence was immediately apparent.

I devoted my attention to the final preparations for the start, and to the necessary instructions for the command of the station during my absence. The officers found that it was now impossible to resist their destiny; and Raoul Bey, the colonel, who had, against orders, sent off so many troops to Khartoum who were in good health, now discovered that he would be left with a comparatively small force to hold the important position at head-quarters.

The troops who had been employed under my personal command, were very anxious to accompany me into the equatorial district.

There was no more fighting. All my hopes of peace were at length realized. The nights were always undisturbed, and the sentries might have indulged in sleep without the slightest danger. A dead calm had succeeded to the excitement of constant watchfulness.

I now employed the "Forty Thieves" in making salt. There were peculiar surface mines within a mile of my little station. These were situated upon a sandy loam on the banks of a brackish lake, that swarmed with crocodiles.

The salt always showed upon the surface after a shower of rain had been evaporated by the sun. This efflorescence, together with sand and other impurities, was scraped from the earth with large mussel shells. It was then placed in earthen-ware vessels containing about five gallons. There were pierced with holes in the bottom, which were covered with a wisp of straw as a strainer. The jars, being full of salt and sand, were watered occasionally, and the brine accordingly filtered through to a receiver. The contents were boiled, and produced the finest chloride of sodium.

The natural productions of the neighbourhood were salt, iron, tamarinds, the oil-nut tree; and the cultivation of the natives was principally Hibiscus hemp, tobacco, varieties of beans, sesame, dhurra, and dochan (millet). I endeavoured to persuade the Baris to cultivate and prepare large quantities of the Hibiscus hemp, which would be extremely valuable in the Soudan. The Baris used it for nets and fishing-lines.

The tamarinds were of two varieties, and were produced in extraordinary quantities. About two miles from head-quarters, there was an extensive portion of the forest composed almost exclusively of these magnificent trees.

The forest was also rich in the tree known by the Arabs as "heglik" This bears a fruit about the size of a date (lalobe), which is a combination of sweet, bitter, and highly aromatic. My men collected several hundredweight, as I wished to try an experiment in distilling. There was an excellent copper still in the magazine, and I succeeded in producing a delicious spirit somewhat resembling kirschenwasser.

My cotton was now ripe, and I cleaned it with a small hand gin that could be worked by two men. This greatly interested the Bari visitors, who, by my special invitation, had been residing for some time at Gondokoro.

The dry season had been very unfavourable for cotton; nevertheless, the quality was good, and proved that it would thrive in the locality. The species that was indigenous grew to a great size, and seemed to defy the drought. This bore a red blossom, and the pod was small. The native cotton was of short staple, and adhered strongly to the seed.

On 29th November, two Arabs arrived from Abou Saood's Latooka station, 100 miles east of Gondokoro: they had travelled at night, and were deserters from the vakeel. One of these fellows turned out to be my old follower during my former journey, Mohammed the camel-driver, and he literally cried with joy when he saw my wife and me again. He gave me all the news from the slave-traders' camp, which