"December 30. - I shot a water-buck at daybreak (Redunca Ellipsyprimna).
Yesterday evening, Quat Kare and his two favourite wives came to take
leave. I gave him a musical box and a meerschaum pipe, with a lovely
woman's face carved on the bowl. He was very much amused with the idea
of the smoke issuing from the head. I also gave his wives some grey
calico, red handkerchiefs, and gaudy ear-rings. They went away
delighted.
"At 9 P.M., the steamer's boat came up to report her arrival at
Tewfikeeyah. I immediately sent off a kyassa to join her for a cargo of
wood.
"December 31. - The steamer arrived with the kyassa in tow at 11 A.M.,
with an immense supply of wood, together with ten oxen and ten sheep
from Fashoda. The wreck will be taken in tow by the steamer, as her yard
was taken on the day of the accident by Colonel Tayib Agha. She is now
the most valuable vessel in the fleet. The new year 1871 commences well.
"January 1st, 1871. - At 1.30 P.M., I started the kyassas, having kept
back twenty men from their complement of troops to man the vessel we
have saved. Abdullah, the Shillook, came, and I gave him an order to
receive half the corn that I left at Tewfikeeyah. This is a reward for
Quat Kare, for having assisted to raise the sunken vessel with his
people. The extraordinary rise in the river this season has destroyed a
large portion of the Shillook crops, therefore the present of corn will
be most acceptable to the old king.
"January 2. - At 8.35 A.M., we started in tow of the steamer. Wind fresh
from the north. At 2.40 P.M. we passed the second of the three noggurs
that sailed yesterday, and at 3 P.M. we passed the third exactly at the
Giraffe junction. We have thus been six hours and twenty-five minutes
from the Sobat to the Giraffe junction. Thermometer, 6 A.M., 66 degrees;
noon, 86 degrees.
"January 3. - Last midnight stopped at a forest cutting wood; we started
at 3.50 P.M. One of the rear boats came in sight at 11 A.M., which
reached us at 3.40 P.M.
"January 4. - At 5.50 A.M. we actually overtook the nine vessels with
Tayib Agha that we had left seventeen days ago; these miserable people
have thus been wasting their time. The trading vessel of Jules Poncet,
that left the Sobat only six days ago, is in sight ahead; thus she has
in six days passed the boats that have been twenty-four days from the
same starting-point. I took the sail belonging to the wrecked noggur
from one, and passed ahead of all, except one that I kept back for
repairs while we cut wood at the forest.
"January 5. - Arrived at Kutchuk Ali's station at 10.30 A.M., and took in
wood. The country is all flooded, and both the natives and the traders
are without corn, the crops having been destroyed by the extraordinary
rise of the river. The people have no other grain than the scanty supply
yielded by the seeds of the lotus, which they collect from the river. I
met several men who had formerly served under Ibrahim, when we
accompanied Khoorshood Agha's party to Unyoro many years ago.
"January 6. - Cutting wood. I wrote to Colonel Tayib Agha, desiring him
to take in as much fuel as his vessels can stow, as there is no wood
ahead. The vakeel of the station supplied five cows and six goats. I
gave him five urdeps of dhurra (22 bushels). We started at 4 P.M.
"January 7. - During the night, at 12.40 A.M., to my intense disgust, we
passed a great number of our vessels with Raouf Bey. Shortly after, we
passed others, together with the boat of Achmet Effendi, bimbashi. These
officers and people are incorrigible; they have idled their time on the
road to such an extent that I can only conclude it is done purposely. We
wasted about an hour during the night in stopping to make inquiries.
"At 11.30 A.M., we passed the solitary ambatch bush on the west bank
where the steamer smashed her paddle last year. The wind is strong from
the north. Last year we were five hours from the ambatch bush to the
dubba. We shall therefore arrive to-day at about 4 P.M. We have been
exactly 19 1/2 hours steaming from Kutchuk Ali's station to the ambatch.
We left Tewfikeeyah at 11 o'clock; we have therefore been twenty-seven
days to the spot at the dubba that we should reach this evening. Last
year we left Khartoum on 8th February, and we arrived at the station in
the following order: -
"February 15th - Fashoda. 16th - Sobat junction. 18th - Bahr Giraffe
junction. March 2nd - arrived at the forest beyond Kutchuk Ali's station.
This is the same spot where we overtook Raouf Bey last night, he having
left Tewfikeeyah on 11th December. Thus he has been twenty-six days from
Tewfikeeyah in reaching the spot this year which he arrived at from the
great distance of Khartoum in our former voyage in twenty-two days! Last
year the fleet was fourteen days on the voyage from the Sobat to the
above spot; this year they have been twenty-six days! I believe
thoroughly that they delay purposely, in the hope of thwarting the
expedition.
"Last year the whole fleet assembled at the dubba in twenty days from
Fashoda.
"We arrived at the dubba at 5.30 P.M., having been delayed two hours by
obstructions and rapids.
"January 8. - We cut through a horrid accumulation of floating rafts that
have filled the open space of last year between the dubba and the mouth
of our old channel.
