I had invited fourteen of the officers to dine with me, and our party of
eighteen was easily accommodated on the roomy poop-deck of my diahbeeah.
The Englishmen had a table to themselves in the garden, and were regaled
with roast beef and real English plum-pudding, that, having been brought
out in tins for Christmas Day, could not be found during the voyage;
therefore it added to the feast of the "day of annexation," and was
annexed accordingly by English appetites. This was washed down and
rendered wholesome by a quantity of pure filtered water from the river
Nile, which was included in the annexation; and was represented in the
Nile Basin mixed with Jamaica rum, sugar, nutmeg, and lemon-juice from
the fruit of the trees planted by the good Austrian missionaries at
Gondokoro. Little did they think, poor fellows, of the jollification to
which their lemons would subscribe when they first sowed the good seeds.
When dinner was over, we repaired to the large divan tents, where
refreshments were arranged, and the magic lantern was prepared for the
amusement of officers and men. This was an admirable machine, and was
well explained by Lieutenant Baker. No one had ever seen such an
exhibition before, therefore it caused immense satisfaction. One of the
representations that was most applauded, was, Moses going through the
Red Sea with the Israelites, followed by Pharaoh. The story being well
known to all Mohammedans, the performance was encored with such energy
that Moses had to go through the Red Sea twice, and they would have
insisted upon his crossing a third time, had the slide not been rapidly
exchanged for another subject.
The formal ceremony of annexation was over, and it was necessary to
decide upon the future.
I had issued the following Camp Regulations: -
1. "No person shall cut or in other ways destroy any tamarind or oil
tree under any pretext whatever. Neither shall any tree whatsoever be
either cut or damaged within a distance of 2,000 paces from the
flag-staff or camp.
2. "No person shall stray beyond 2,000 paces of the flag-staff or camp
without permission either from the Pacha or Raouf Bey.
3. "No person shall trade in ivory, neither shall any person accept
ivory as a present or in exchange; neither shall any person shoot, or
cause to be shot, elephants: all ivory being the property and monopoly
of the government of His Highness the Khedive of Egypt.
4. "No person shall either purchase or receive slaves as presents or in
exchange.
"Any person transgressing by disobedience of the above laws will be
punished as the will of Baker Pacha may direct. "S. W. BAKER."
My men were hard at work erecting magazines and building the station,
and had I not issued the above regulations, they would have cut down
every ornamental tree in the neighbourhood.
