There is much work required to clear them. The only chance of
progress will be to keep the entire fleet in compact line so as to push
through a new channel as quickly as it is made. I shall send back the
wood tender, if possible, from this spot with a letter to stop Mr.
Higginbotham should he be south of the Sobat, as it will be impossible
for him to proceed until next season. Many of the men are sick with
fever, and if this horrible country should continue, they will all
sicken.
"March 16. - I went back in a rowing boat, accompanied by Lieutenant
Baker, to the two steamers which we found stuck fast in the drift rafts,
that had closed in upon then. Many men are sick - all are dispirited; and
they worked badly. Having worked all day, we returned at 6.30 p.m., to
my diahbeeah, having the good fortune to shoot seven ducks by a family
shot upon a mud bank on the way home.
"I found that the main body under the colonel, Raouf Bey, had completed
the channel about 900 yards long to lake No.
