"Yes," He Said; "All People Say That You Are Different
To The Turks And Traders, But That Character Will Not
Help you; it is
all very good and very right, but you see your men have all deserted,
thus you
Must go back to Khartoum; you can do nothing here without
plenty of men and guns." I proposed to him my plan of riding quickly
through the Bari tribe to Moir; he replied, "Impossible! If I were to
beat the great nogaras (drums), and call my people together to explain
who you were, they would not hurt you; but there are many petty chiefs
who do not obey me, and their people would certainly attack you when
crossing some swollen torrent, and what could you do with only a man and
a boy?"
His reply to my question concerning the value of beads corroborated
Richarn's statement; nothing could be purchased for anything but cattle;
the traders had commenced the system of stealing herds of cattle from
one tribe to barter with the next neighbour; thus the entire country was
in anarchy and confusion, and beads were of no value. My plan for a dash
through the country was impracticable.
I therefore called my vakeel, and threatened him with the gravest
punishment on my return to Khartoum. I wrote to Sir R. Colquhoun, H.M.
Consul-General for Egypt, which letter I sent by one of the return
boats; and I explained to my vakeel that the complaint to the British
authorities would end in his imprisonment, and that in case of my death
through violence he would assuredly be hanged.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 129 of 662
Words from 35473 to 35742
of 178435
