10 steamer had been thoroughly repaired during
our stay at Tewfikeeyah. I had loaded her to the maximum with well-cut
"Soont" (Acacia Arabicce), which is the best fuel; and knowing, by the
experience of former years, that a scarcity of wood existed near the
Bahr Gazal, I had loaded one of the largest vessels (about seventy tons)
with a supply, to accompany us as a tender. I had also filled my
diahbeeah with selected fuel.
We steamed thirteen hours from Tewfikeeyah, with the tender and
diahbeeah in tow, and reached the old sudd about twelve miles beyond the
Bahr Giraffe junction. The water below the sudd was quite clear from
floating vegetation, as it had been filtered through this extraordinary
obstruction.
I will not fatigue the reader by a description of this voyage. We were
as usual in a chaos of marshes. We found a small channel, which took us
to the Bahr Gazal. This swampy and stagnant lacustine river was much
changed since I had last seen it in 1865. It was now a succession of
lakes, through which we steamed for several hours, but without
discovering any exit, except the main passage coming from the west,
which is the actual Bahr Gazal.
This was the third time that I had visited this river. Upon the former
occasions I had remarked the total absence of current; this was even
still more remarkable at the present time, as the river was not only
full, but the surface, formerly clogged and choked with dense rafts of
vegetation, was now clear. I sounded the depth of the lakes and main
channel, which gave a remarkable mean of seven feet throughout, showing
that the bottom was remarkably flat, and had not been subjected to the
action of any stream that would have caused inequalities in the surface
of the ground.
When the vessels lay at anchor, the filth of the ships remained
alongside, thus proving the total absence of stream. It has always
appeared to me that some western outlet concealed by the marsh grass
must exist, which carries away the water brought down by the Djour, and
other streams, into the lacustrine regions of the Bahr Gazal. There is
no doubt that the evaporation, and also the absorption of water by the
immense area of spongy vegetation, is a great drain upon the volume
subscribed by the affluents from the south-west; nevertheless, I should
have expected some stream, however slight, at the junction with the
Nile. My experience of the Bahr Gazal assures me that little or no water
is given to the White Nile by the extraordinary series of lakes and
swamps, which change the appearance of the surface from year to year,
like the shifting phases of a dream.
Our lamented traveller, Livingstone, was completely in error when he
conjectured that the large river Lualaba that he had discovered
south-west of the Tanganyika lake was an affluent of the Bahr Gazal. The
Lualaba is far to the west of the Nile Basin, and may possibly flow to
the Congo. I have shown in former works, in describing the system of the
Nile, that the great affluents of that river invariably flow from the
south-east - vide, the Atbara, Blue Nile, Sobat; and the Asua, which is
very inferior so the three great rivers named.
We have lastly the Victoria Nile of the Victoria N'yanza, following the
same principle, and flowing from the south-east to the Albert N'yanza.
This proves that the direct drainage of the Nile Basin is from the
south-east to the north-west; it is therefore probable that, as the
inclination of the country is towards the west, there may be some escape
from the lake marshes of the Bahr Gazal in the same direction.
On 21st August, having been absent ten days, during which we had been
very hard at work, exploring in the unhealthy marshes of the Bahr Gaza],
we returned hopelessly to Tewfikeeyah.
The great river Nile was entirely lost, and had become a swamp, similar
to the condition of the Bahr Giraffe. It was impossible to guess the
extent of the obstruction; but I was confident that it would be simply a
question of time and labour to clear the original channel by working
from below the stream. The great power of the current would assist the
work, and with proper management this formerly beautiful river might be
restored to its original condition. It would be impossible to clear the
Bahr Giraffe permanently, as there was not sufficient breadth of channel
to permit the escape of huge rafts of vegetation occupying the surface
of perhaps an acre; but the great width of the Nile, if once opened,
together with the immense power of the stream, would, with a little
annual inspection, assure the permanency of the work.
I came to the conclusion that a special expedition must be sent from
Khartoum to take this important work in hand, as it would be quite
useless to annex and attempt to civilize Central Africa, unless a free
communication existed with the outer world by which a commercial channel
could be opened. My exploration, in which I had been ably assisted by
Lieutenant Baker and Mr. Higginbotham, had proved that for the present
it was impossible to penetrate south by the main river, therefore I must
make all preparations for an advance by the Bahr Giraffe, where I hoped
that our past labour might have in some degree improved the channel.
The close of August showed a mean temperature of 73 6/10 degrees at 6
a.m., and 85 degrees Fahrenheit at noon, with seven days of heavy and
seven of light rain. Although the station was admirably drained, the
climate acted unfavourably upon the people. On 9th September it was
necessary for the unfortunate Dr. Gedge, my chief medical officer, to
return to Khartoum, as his state of health required immediate change.
