The grass and roots were burnt in
piles, the ashes spread, and the entire field was dug over and sown with
barley, wheat, and dhurra. There is a civilizing influence in
cultivation, and nothing is so cheering in a wild country as the sight
of well-arranged green fields that are flourishing in the centre of the
neglected wilderness. I had now a promising little farm of about thirty
acres belonging to our naval brigade; and a very unpromising farm, that
had been managed by my Colonel, Raouf Bey. The soldiers had never even
cleared the rough native grass from the surface, but had turned up the
soil in small lots at intervals of about a foot, into which they had
carelessly dropped a few grains of corn.
We now found agricultural enemies that were unexpected. Guinea-fowl
recognized the importance of cultivation, and created terrible damage.
Small birds of the sparrow tribe infested the newly-sown land in clouds,
but worse than these enemies were the vast armies of great ants.
These industrious insects, ever providing for the future, discovered the
newly sown barley and wheat, and considering that such an opportunity
should not be neglected, they literally marched off with the greater
portion of the seed that was exposed. I saw them on many occasions
returning in countless numbers from a foray, each carrying in its mouth
a grain of barley or wheat. I tracked them to their subterranean nests,
in one of which I found about a peck of corn which had been conveyed by
separate grains; and patches of land had been left nearly barren of
seed.
The large crimson-headed goose of the White Nile quickly discovered that
barley was a food well adapted for the physical constitution of geese,
and great numbers flocked to the new farm. The guinea-fowl were too wild
to approach successfully; however, we shot them daily. I set little boys
to scream from daylight till sunset to scare the clouds of small birds;
but the boys screamed themselves to sleep, and the sparrows quickly
discovered the incapacity of the watchers. Wild fowl were so numerous on
an island opposite the farm that we not only shot them as we required,
but on one occasion Lieutenant Baker and myself bagged in about two
hours sixty-eight ducks and geese, most of which were single shots in
flight overhead.
I found the necessity of re-sowing the land so thickly that there should
be sufficient grain to allow for the depredations of our enemies. I set
vermin traps and caught the guinea-fowl. Then the natural enemy appeared
in the wild cats, who took the guinea-fowls out of the traps.
