At The Same Time I Informed Him Of The Absolute
Necessity Of Cattle For The Supply Of The Troops, Which I Promised To
Pay For.
I clearly saw that the miserable policy of these people was to starve
the troops into the supposed necessity of evacuating the position, and
returning to Khartoum.
I represented to Allorron the danger of trifling
with a hungry lion, at which he grinned, as a good joke, and immediately
replied: "If you want cattle, I will give you some of my people as
guides, and you can attack a neighbour of mine, and capture his herds,
which will last you for a long time." I replied, that I could not injure
any one who had not committed an offence, but as he for the last time
refused assistance, I should not permit his herds to graze upon my
pasturage; therefore I begged they might be confined to the island.
At the same time I officially invited Allorron and all the headmen of
the country, including the sheik of Belinian, to an entertainment. I
intended, formally and officially, to annex the country to Egypt.
On May 26, 1871, all was in order. A flag-staff about eighty feet high
had been neatly erected by Lieut. Baker on the highest point of land
overlooking the river. Every small bush had been cleared away, and the
position in the centre of an open park-like country would have formed an
admirable race-course. The troops, having had two days' rest to wash
their clothes and burnish up their arms and accoutrements, marched from
the station at Gondokoro at 6 A.M.
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