[*Footnote: These reinforcements were thirteen months actually on the
river from Khartoum to Gondokoro, and they only arrived at the close
of the expedition.)
I had very little hope of receiving anything from the Soudan. It was
therefore necessary to make my arrangements for the future,
independently of all extraneous assistance. With 502 officers and men,
and fifty-two armed sailors, I had to accomplish the work.
The force at present with me consisted of 251 officers and men; thus I
had exactly half of the troops. Gondokoro was well fortified, and the
Belinian had been thoroughly cowed, therefore I had nothing to fear in
that quarter.
I had more than filled one of the great magazines with corn: therefore,
including the dhurra now on board several vessels, I had about twelve
months' supply for the expedition.
Although my force was terribly reduced in numbers, the men who remained
were strong and healthy. I did not despair; but I determined that this
reduction of military force should NOT paralyze the activity of the
expedition, and that in spite of every intrigue, I would succeed in the
main objects of the enterprise; the slave trade should be suppressed,
and the territory should be annexed to the equator.
On 10th November I took a hundred and fifty men in order to make a
reconnaissance of the country, at the last cataracts of the White Nile,
about six miles south of our position.
We started early, and marched along the high ground parallel with the
river, passing the spot where the natives had attacked us some days
previous. Nothing could exceed the beauty of this country as an
agricultural settlement. The long, sloping undulations were ornamented
with innumerable villages, in all of which were overflowing granaries.
On arrival at the dry bed of a broad stream, we ascended a slope, and to
my astonishment I noticed a considerable body of natives who neither ran
away nor appeared hostile in their demeanour. Leaving my rifle with
Monsoor, I rode up within fifty yards of them, apparently unarmed, but I
had a pair of breech-loading pistols in my holsters.
My Bari interpreter, Morgian, now explained, that I was only on an
exploration, and that I had no intention of disturbing their property; I
only desired to communicate with their sheik.
For the first time I received a civil answer from the Baris. They
explained, that although they were Baris, they had no connection with
the people who had fought us. They were governed by a great sheik named
Bedden, whose territory was bounded by the torrent bed that we had just
crossed. They promised that he should pay me a visit on the morrow: in
the mean tine, if we required any corn, they would supply us.
