Although The North And South Winds Blow
Alternately For Six Months, And The Former Commences In October,
It Does Not Extend Many Degrees Southward Until The Beginning Of
December.
This is a great drawback to White Nile exploration, as
when near the north side of the equator, the
Dry season commences
in November, and closes in February; thus, the departure from
Khartoum should take place by a steamer in the latter part of
September; that would enable the traveller to leave Gondokoro,
lat. N. 4 degrees 54 minutes, shortly before November; he would
then secure three months of favourable weather for an advance
inland.
Having promised Mek Nimmur that I would lay his proposals for
peace before the Governor-General of the Soudan, I called upon
Moosa Pasha at the public divan, and delivered the message; but
he would not listen to any intercession, as he assured me that
Mek Nimmur was incorrigible, and there would be no real peace
until his death, which would be very speedy should he chance to
fall into his hands. He expressed great surprise at our having
escaped from his territory, and he declared his intention of
attacking him after he should have given the Abyssinians a
lesson, for whom he was preparing an expedition in reply to an
insolent letter that he had received from King Theodore. The King
of Abyssinia had written to him upon a question of frontier. The
substance of the document was a declaration that the Egyptians
had no right to Khartoum, and that the natural boundary of
Abyssinia was the junction of the Blue and White Niles as far
north as Shendy (Mek Nimmur's original country); and from that
point, in a direct line, to the Atbara; but that, as the desert
afforded no landmark, he should send his people to dig a ditch
from the Nile to the Atbara, and he requested that the Egyptians
would keep upon the north border. Moosa Pasha declared that the
king was mad, and that, were it not for the protection given to
Abyssinia by the English, the Egyptians would have eaten it up
long ago, but that the Christian powers would certainly interfere
should they attempt to annex the country.
The Egyptians seldom had less than twenty thousand troops in the
Soudan provinces; the principal stations were Khartoum, Cassala,
and Dongola. Cassala was close to the Abyssinian frontier, and
within from fifteen to twenty days' march of Souakim, on the Red
Sea, to which reinforcements could be despatched in five days
from Cairo. Khartoum had the advantage of the Blue Nile, that was
navigable for steamers and sailing vessels as far south as
Fazogle, from which spot, as well as from Gallabat, Abyssinia
could be invaded; while swarms of Arabs, including the celebrated
Hamrans, the Beni Amer, Hallongas, Hadendowas, Shookeriahs, and
Dabainas, could be slipped like greyhounds across the frontier.
Abyssinia is entirely at the mercy of Egypt.
Moosa Pasha subsequently started with several thousand men to
drive the Abyssinians from Gallabat, which position they had
occupied in force with the avowed intention of marching upon
Khartoum; but upon the approach of the Egyptians they fell back
rapidly across the mountains, without a sign of showing fight.
The Egyptians would not follow them, as they feared the
intervention of the European powers.
Upon our first arrival in Khartoum, from 11th June until early in
October, the heat was very oppressive, the thermometer seldom
below 95 degrees Fahr. in the shade, and frequently 100 degrees,
while the nights were 82 degrees Fahr. In the winter, the
temperature was agreeable, the shade 80 degrees, the night 62
degrees Fahr. But the chilliness of the north wind was
exceedingly dangerous, as the sudden gusts checked the
perspiration, and produced various maladies, more especially
fever. I had been extremely fortunate, as, although exposed to
hard work for more than a year in the burning sun, I had
remarkably good health, as had my wife likewise, with the
exception of one severe attack while at Sofi. Throughout the
countries we had visited, the temperature was high, averaging
about 90 degrees in the shade from May until the end of
September; but the nights were generally about 70 degrees, with
the exception of the winter months, from November until February,
when the thermometer generally fell to 85 degrees Fahr. in the
day, and sometimes as low as 58 degrees at between 2 and 5 A.M.
I shall not repeat a minute description of Khartoum that has
already been given in the "Albert N'yanza;" it is a wretchedly
unhealthy town, containing about thirty thousand inhabitants,
exclusive of troops. In spite of its unhealthiness and low
situation, on a level with the river at the junction of the Blue
and White Niles, it is the general emporium for the trade of the
Soudan, from which the productions of the country are transported
to Lower Egypt, i.e. ivory, hides, senna, gum arabic, and
bees'-wax. During my experience of Khartoum it was the hotbed of
the slave-trade. It will be remarked that the exports from the
Soudan are all natural productions. There is nothing to exhibit
the industry or capacity of the natives; the ivory is the produce
of violence and robbery; the hides are the simple sun-dried skins
of oxen; the senna grows wild upon the desert; the gum arabic
exudes spontaneously from the bushes of the jungle; and the
bees'-wax is the produce of the only industrious creatures in
that detestable country.
When we regard the general aspect of the Soudan, it is extreme
wretchedness; the rainfall is uncertain and scanty, thus the
country is a desert, dependent entirely upon irrigation. Although
cultivation is simply impossible without a supply of water, one
of the most onerous taxes is that upon the sageer or water-wheel,
with which the fields are irrigated on the borders of the Nile.
It would appear natural that, instead of a tax, a premium should
be offered for the erection of such means of irrigation, which
would increase the revenue by extending cultivation, the produce
of which might bear an impost.
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