On 5th December, 1869, we brought up the rear, and left Suez on board an
Egyptian sloop of war, the Senaar. In four days and a half we reached
Souakim, after an escape from wreck on the reef of Shadwan, and a close
acquaintance with a large barque, with which we nearly came into
collision.
The captain of our sloop was a most respectable man, apparently about
eighty years of age. The first lieutenant appeared to be somewhat his
senior, and neither could see, even with the assistance of a very greasy
and dirty binocular. The various officers appeared to be vestiges from
Noah's ark in point of antiquity; thus a close shave with a reef and a
near rub with a strange vessel were little incidents that might be
expected in the Red Sea.
We anchored safely in the harbour of Souakim; and landed my twenty-one
horses without accident.
I was met by the governor, my old friend Moomtazz Bey, a highly
intelligent Circassian officer, who had shown me much kindness on my
former expedition.
A week's delay in Souakim was necessary to obtain camels. In fourteen
days we crossed the desert 275 miles to Berber on the Nile, and found a
steamer and diahbeeah in readiness. We arrived at Khartoum, a distance
of 200 miles by river, in three days, having accomplished the voyage
from Suez in the short space of thirty-two days, including stoppages.
Khartoum was not changed externally; but I had observed with dismay a
frightful change in the features of the country between Berber and the
capital since my former visit. The rich soil on the banks of the river,
which had a few years since been highly cultivated, was abandoned. Now
and then a tuft of neglected date-palms might be seen, but the river's
banks, formerly verdant with heavy crops, had become a wilderness.
Villages once crowded had entirely disappeared; the population was gone.
Irrigation had ceased. The night, formerly discordant with the creaking
of countless water-wheels, was now silent as death. There was not a dog
to howl for a lost master. Industry had vanished; oppression had driven
the inhabitants from the soil.
This terrible desolation was caused by the governor general of the
Soudan, who, although himself an honest man, trusted too much to the
honesty of others, who preyed upon the inhabitants. As a good and true
Mohammedan, he left his territory to the care of God, and thus, trusting
in Providence, he simply increased the taxes. In one year he sent to the
Khedive his master 100,000 pounds in hard dollars, wrung from the poor
peasantry, who must have lost an equal amount in the pillage that
accompanies the collection.
The population of the richest province of the Soudan fled from
oppression, and abandoned the country; and the greater portion betook
themselves to the slave trade of the White Nile, where, in their turn,
they might trample upon the rights of others; where, as they had been
plundered, they would be able to plunder; where they could reap the
harvest of another's labour; and where, free from the restrictions of a
government, they might indulge in the exciting and lucrative enterprise
of slave-hunting. Thousands had forsaken their homes, and commenced a
life of brigandage on the White Nile.
This was the state of the country when I arrived at Khartoum. The
population of this town, which was about 30,000 during my former visit,
was now reduced to half the number. The European residents had all
disappeared, with the exception of the Austrian Mission, and Mr. Hansall
the Austrian Consul; also an extremely tough German tailor, who was
proof against the climate that had carried off his companions.
I had given the necessary orders for vessels and supplies six months
previous; thus, I naturally expected to find a fleet ready for
departure, with the troops and stores waiting for instructions. To my
surprise, I discovered that my orders had been so far neglected, that
although the troops were at hand, there were no vessels prepared for
transport. I was coolly informed by the governor-general that "it was
impossible to procure the number of vessels required, therefore he had
purchased a house for me, as he expected that I should remain that year
at Khartoum, and start in the following season."
There literally was not one vessel ready for the voyage, in spite of the
positive instructions that had been given. At the same time I found that
the governor-general had just prepared a squadron of eleven vessels,
with several companies of regular troops, for an expedition to the Bahr
Gazal, where it was intended to form a settlement at the copper-mines on
the frontier of Darfur. This expedition had been placed under the
command of one of the most notorious ruffians and slave-hunters of the
White Nile. This man, Kutchuk Ali, originally of low extraction, had
made a fortune in his abominable traffic, and had accordingly received
promotion from the governor; thus, at the same time that the Khedive of
Egypt had employed me to suppress the slave trade of the Nile, a
government expedition had been intrusted to the command of one of the
most notorious slave-hunters.
I at once perceived that not only was my expedition unpopular, but that
it would be seriously opposed by all parties. The troops had been
quartered for some months at Khartoum; during this time the officers had
been intimate with the principal slave-traders of the country. All were
Mohammedans - thus a coalition would be natural against a Christian who
commanded an expedition avowedly to annihilate the slave trade upon
which Khartoum subsisted.
It was a "house divided against itself;" the Khedive in the north issued
orders that would be neutralized in the distant south by his own
authorities.
