He had also commenced a great work,
according to the orders he had received from the Khedive, to remove the
sudd or obstruction to the navigation of the great White Nile. He
succeeded in re-opening the White Nile to navigation in the following
season.
The Khedive had given this important order in consequence of letters
that I had written on 31st August, 1870, to the Minister of the
Interior, Cherif Pacha, and to his Highness direct on 8th October, 1871,
in which communications I had strenuously advocated the absolute
necessity of taking the work in hand, with a determination to
re-establish the river in its original navigable condition.
Ismail Ayoub Pacha had been working with a large force, and he had
succeeded in clearing, according to his calculations, one half of the
obstruction, which extended for many miles.
There was no engineering difficulty in the undertaking, which was simply
a matter of time and steady labour.
The immense force of the main stream, thus confined by matted and
tangled vegetation, would materially assist the work, as the clearing
was commenced from below the current.
