Unfortunately, the
leopard could not change his spots, and the man, to whom every
opportunity had been given, was dismissed and punished. It was
impossible to have discovered an officer more thoroughly qualified for
the command than Colonel Gordon. By profession a military engineer, he
combined the knowledge especially required for carrying on the
enterprise. He had extended the hand of friendship to the natives, but
when rejected with contempt and opposed by hostility, he was prompt in
chastisement. The wet seasons and attendant high flood of two years were
employed in dragging the 108-ton steel steamer up the various cataracts
which intervened between Gondokoro and Duflli (N. lat. 3 degrees 34
minutes). This portion of the river formed a series of steps caused by a
succession of cataracts at intervals of about 25 miles; between the
obstacles the stream was navigable. The natives of Moogi treacherously
attacked and killed the whole of a detachment, including the French
officer in command, during the absence of Colonel Gordon, who was
engaged in the operation of towing the steamer through the rapids only a
few miles distant. This open hostility necessitated the subjugation of
the tribe, and the establishment of a line of military posts along the
course of the river.
After much trouble, at the expiration of two years the steamer was
dragged to an utterly impassable series of cataracts south of Lobore.
This line of obstruction extended for the short distance of about twelve
miles, beyond which the river was navigable into the Albert N'yanza.
Several vessels had been towed up together with the steamer from
Gondokoro, and the 38-ton steel steamer and two life-boats which had
been thus conveyed, were now carried in sections to the spot above the
last cataracts at Duffli, where they could be permanently reconstructed.
Signor Gessi was entrusted with the command of the two life-boats upon
their completion, and had the honour of first entering the Albert
N'yanza from the north by the river Nile.
The 38-ton steamer was put together, and the 108-ton (Khedive), which
had been left a few miles distant from Duffli, below the cataracts, was
taken to pieces and reconstructed on the navigable portion of the Nile
in N. lat. 3 degrees 34 minutes.
The plan of connecting the equatorial Lake Albert with Khartoum by steam
communication which I had originated, was now completed by the untiring
energy and patience of my successor. The large steamer of 251 tons was
put together at Khartoum, to add to the river flotilla, thus increasing
the steam power from four vessels, when I had arrived in 1870, to
THIRTEEN, which in 1877 were plying between the capital of the Soudan
and the equator. The names of Messrs. Samuda Brothers and Messrs. Penn
and Co. upon the three steel steamers and engines which they had
constructed for the expedition are now evidences of the civilizing power
of the naval and mechanical engineers of Great Britain, which has linked
with the great world countries that were hitherto excluded from all
intercourse.
There is still some mystery attached to the Albert N'yanza. It has been
circumnavigated by Signor Gessi, in the steel life-boats, and
subsequently by Colonel Mason of the American army, who was employed
under Colonel Gordon. Both of these officers agree that the southern end
of the lake is closed by a mass of "ambatch," and that a large river
reported as 400 yards in width flows INTO the Albert N'yanza. On the
other hand, the well-known African explorer Mr. Stanley visited the lake
SOUTH of the ambatch limit, to which he was guided by orders of the King
M'tese;. At that spot it was called the "M'woota N'zige;," the same name
which the lake bears throughout Unyoro, therefore there can be no
reasonable doubt that it is the same water. The description of the
ambatch block and the river flowing into the lake explains the
information that was given to me by native traders, who declared they
had come by canoe from Karagwe;, via the Albert N'yanza, but that
it would be difficult without a guide to discover the passage where the
lake was extremely narrow and the channel tortuous into the next broad
water.
Colonel Gordon has continued the amicable relations established by
myself with the Unyoro chief Rionga, and with M'tese;, King of Uganda.
The commercial aspect of the equatorial provinces is improving, but our
recent experience in South Africa must teach the most sanguine that very
many years must elapse before the negro tribes become amenable to the
customs and improvements of civilized communities.
The expedition of 1869 which His Highness the Khedive entrusted to my
command laid the foundation for reforms which at that time would have
appeared incredible in Egypt. The slave-trade has been suppressed
through the agency of British influence, persistently supported by the
Khedive; Darfur, the hot-bed of slave-hunting, has been conquered and
annexed; Colonel Gordon has the supreme command of the entire Soudan;
Malcolm Pacha is commissioned to sweep the slave traffic from the Red
Sea.
With this determination to adopt the ideas of Europe, the Khedive has
passed through the trying ordeal of unpopularity in his own country,
but, by a cool disregard for the hostility of the ignorant, he has
adhered to a policy which has gained him the esteem of all civilized
communities. He has witnessed the bloody struggle between Russia and
Turkey, and though compelled as a vassal state to render military
assistance to the Sultan, he has profited by the lesson, and has
determined by a wise reform to avoid the errors which have resulted in
anarchy and desolation throughout the Ottoman Empire.
