The beautiful avenue of large lemon trees has been
defaced by the destruction of many boughs, while the ground beneath is
literally covered by many thousands of withered lemons that have fallen
neglected from the branches without a hand to gather them. The natives
will not eat them, thus the delicious fruit has been wasted; perhaps
sixty or eighty bushels have rotted on the earth. I trust that the seeds
I have already sown will have a more useful result than the lost labour
of the unfortunate missionaries. It would be heartbreaking to them could
they see the miserable termination of all their good works.
April 16. - The mileage from the junction of the Bahr Giraffe I have
calculated at 364 to this point (Gondokoro); but I deduct 10 per cent.,
as we took several wrong turns of the river. The distance may be about
330 miles.
From Bahr Giraffe, junction to Gondokoro 330 miles
Upper Nile junction to Dubba on Bahr Giraffe 48 miles
Dubba to Lower Nile junction 300 miles
Lower Nile junction to Sobat 38 miles
Sobat to Khartoum 693 miles
1,409 miles to Gondokoro."
The chief Allorron arrived with a number of his people, and asked for
"araki and cognac!" He is a big and savage-looking naked brute of the
lowest description, his natural vices having been increased by constant
associations with the slave-hunters. This man declared that his people
could not prepare materials for the camp, as the neighbouring tribes
were hostile; and he could not venture to collect bamboos.
I told him that if my orders were not obeyed, the troops would be
obliged to be sheltered in his villages upon arrival, as I could not
allow them to be exposed to the rains.
Both Allorron and his people looked extremely sullen, and although I
always knew the Baris to be the worst tribe in the Nile basin, I was not
prepared for such a morose welcome. I explained to him the object of the
expedition. He seemed quite incredulous, and made some remark to his
followers in his own language with a contemptuous smile. He rather
approved of the idea that slave-taking would be suppressed in his own
tribe, but he could not sympathize with the general principle, and he
asked "What will the slave-traders do?" Colonel Abd-el-Kader replied to
the question by explaining to him my exact position, and the relative
position of the traders. At this he burst out laughing in the rudest
manner. He had seen me and my wife on our former voyage, and he well
remembered that in those days we had been not only helpless in
Gondokoro, but that the traders had spoken of all Europeans with
contempt. He had already hoard from Abou [*] Saood's people of my
expected arrival, by whom he had been incited against the expedition. It
had been explained to him, that if baffled, we should soon become
disgusted, and return to Khartoum. He also remembered that many
Europeans had visited Gondokoro like myself, but none had remained. It
was therefore natural that a brutal savage, whose people were allied
with the slave-traders, to attack and pillage outlying countries, should
not regard with favour a new government that would establish law and
order. For many years Allorron's tribe had been associated with the
slavers, and now that the entire country had been leased to one man,
Abou Saood, he had become the vakeel, or representative of this
individual, by whom he had been thoroughly prepared for our arrival. We
had been expected long ago, but, as already described, the delays
attending the opening of the Suez canal had prevented us from starting.
[*Footnote: The agent of the great company of Agad & Co., who
farmed the district from the government.]
I quickly perceived the real state of affairs. A great number of
Allorron's people were absent in the interior, employed by Abou Saood's
companies as mercenary soldiers. The Baris are a most warlike tribe, and
would make excellent troops; thus they were valuable allies of the
slave-hunters, as the geographical position of Gondokoro rendered it the
only spot that was adapted for an important station. The traders now
possessed of the monopoly of the ivory trade, found no necessity for a
permanent station at Gondokoro, as their interests were watched during
their absence in the interior by their ally Allorron; they accordingly
only visited Gondokoro when they returned periodically from the interior
with their ivory and slaves to meet the vessels from Khartoum.
Allorron was in the habit of despatching messengers to their various
camps (seven or eight days' march for a running negro) to give the
vakeels notice of the arrival of the expected vessels. Many hundreds of
his people had been armed with guns by the traders, therefore his tribe
and the companies of Abou Saood were thoroughly incorporated, brigands
allied with brigands, and Gondokoro had become the nucleus to which the
spoil was concentrated.
These were people by whom the blessings of a good government were hardly
to be understood.
Unfortunately for Allorron, he had joined the slave-hunters of Abou
Saood against neighbours that were unpleasantly close to Gondokoro. The
Loquia, a most powerful tribe, only three days' march to the south-east,
had lost slaves and cattle by these depredations; thus, when the
slave-hunters' parties had quitted Gondokoro and returned to their
station in the interior, Loquia had invaded the unprotected Allorron,
and had utterly destroyed his district on the eastern mainland. For many
miles the country now resembled a very lovely park. Every habitation had
disappeared, and this formerly populous position was quite deserted by
the surviving inhabitants, who had taken refuge in the islands, or on
the west side of the river. At this season the entire country was
covered with a tender herbage - that species of fine grass, called by the
Arabs "negheel," which is the best pasturage for cattle.
