I Informed Him That I Had
Already Discovered The Existence Of Both Gold And Lead.
He
requested me to give him every information respecting the lead,
as he should prefer it to gold, as he could manufacture bullets
to shoot the Turks (as the Egyptians are called by the
neighbouring tribes).
After a long and satisfactory conversation,
I made my salaam, and retired. Immediately on my arrival at the
camp, I despatched Wat Gamma on horseback with Taher Noor, in
charge of a pair of beautiful double-barrelled pistols, with the
name of Tatham as the manufacturer; these were loaded, and I sent
a polite message, begging Mek Nimmur's acceptance of the present;
they were accompanied by a supply of ammunition.
In the evening Wat Gamma returned with the pistols; --they had
BURST! Mek Nimmur had requested him to fire at a mark, and one
barrel of each pistol had given way; thus, the double rifle and
the pistols of the same name "Tatham" had all failed; fortunately
no one was injured. I was afraid that this would lead to some
complication, and I was much annoyed; I had never used these
pistols, but I had considered that they were first rate; thus I
had given them to Mek Nimmur as a valuable present, and they had
proved their utter worthlessness. I immediately mounted my horse,
and with my revolver in my belt, and my beautiful single Beattie
rifle in my hand, I galloped off to Mek Nimmur; he was seated in
the same spot, watching the harvest of dhurra, enormous piles of
which were being thrashed by a number of Abyssinians. The instant
that I arrived, I went straight to him, and explained my regret
and disappointment at the failure of the pistols, and I begged
him to take his choice between my rifle and revolver. He behaved
remarkably well; he had begged my messenger to leave the broken
pistols with him, and not to mention the circumstance to me, as
he felt sure that I should feel even more annoyed than himself;
he now declined my offer, as he said I should require the weapons
during my proposed journey up the White Nile, and he could not
deprive me of their use. He was afraid of the revolver, as it was
too complicated, but I tore from my note-book a small piece of
paper, which I requested one of his people to stick upon a rock
about ninety yards distant. I took a steady shot with the single
rifle, and was fortunate enough to hit the paper exactly. This
elicited general applause, and Mek Nimmur called one of his
people, an Abyssinian, who he declared to be a celebrated shot,
and he requested that he might be allowed to fire the rifle. I
placed a similar mark upon the rock, and the Abyssinian fired
from a rest, and struck the stone, in a good line, about six
inches below the paper. The crowd were in raptures with the
rifle, which I at once insisted upon Mek Nimmur accepting.
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