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withdrawn that had hitherto covertly incited the natives against the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.
