Pond & Co., and were to be carried across the Nubian
desert in plates and sections.
In addition to the steamers were steam saw mills, with a boiler that
weighed 8 cwt. in one piece - all of which would have to be transported
by camels for several hundred miles across the Nubian desert, and by
boats and camels alternately from Alexandria to Gondokoro, a distance of
about THREE THOUSAND MILES.
In the description of this enterprise, which terminated in the
suppression of the slave trade of the White Nile and the annexation of a
large equatorial territory to Egypt, I shall be compelled to expose many
abuses which were the result of misgovernment in the distant provinces
of Upper Egypt. It must be distinctly understood that his Highness the
Khedive was ignorant of such abuses, and that he took prompt and
vigorous measures to reform the administration of the Soudan immediately
upon receiving information of the misgovernment of that extensive
territory. Throughout the expedition his Highness has exhibited a
determination to succeed in the suppression of the slave trade in spite
of the adverse opinion of the public; therefore, when I expose the
abuses that existed, it must be accepted without hesitation that the
Khedive would have been the foremost in punishing the authors and in
rectifying such abuses had he been aware of their existence.
As a duty to the Khedive, and in justice to myself, I shall describe the
principal incidents as they occurred throughout the expedition.
