Each, and laid in a large stock
of dhurra straw for the animals.
Got all my men on board and sailed at
4.30 p.m., course due west; variation allowed for. I have already
reduced my men from wolves to lambs, and I should like to see the
outrageous acts of mutiny which are the scapegoats of the traders for
laying their atrocities upon the men's shoulders. I cannot agree with
some writers in believing that personal strength is unnecessary to a
traveller. In these savage countries it adds materially to the success
of an expedition, provided that it be combined with kindness of manner,
justice, and unflinching determination. Nothing impresses savages so
forcibly as the _power_ to punish and reward. I am not sure that this
theory is applicable to savages exclusively. Arrived at Wat Shely at 9
P.M. 23d Dec. - Poor Johann very ill. Bought two camels, and shipped them
all right: the market at this miserable village is as poor as that at
Getene. The river is about a mile and a half wide, fringed with mimosas;
country dead flat; soil very sandy; much cultivation near the village,
but the dhurra of poor quality. Saw many hippopotami in the river. I
much regret that I allowed Johann to accompany me from Khartoum; I feel
convinced he can never rally from his present condition.
24th Dec. - Sailed yesterday at 4.5 P.M., course south. This morning we
are off the Bagara country on the west bank. Dead flats of mimosas, many
of the trees growing in the water; the river generally shallow, and many
snags or dead stumps of trees. I have been fortunate with my men, only
one being drunk on leaving Wat Shely; him we carried forcibly on board.
Passed the island of Hassaniah at 2.20 P.M.; the usual flats covered
with mimosas. The high-water mark upon the stems of these trees is three
feet above the present level of the river; thus an immense extent of
country must be flooded during the wet season, as there are no banks to
the river. The water will retire in about two months, when the
neighbourhood of the river will be thronged with natives and their
flocks. All the natives of these parts are Arabs; the Bagara tribe on
the west bank. At Wat Shely some of the latter came on board to offer
their services as slave-hunters, this open offer confirming the general
custom of all vessels trading upon the White Nile.
25th Dec. - The Tokroori boy, Saat, is very amiable in calling all the
servants daily to eat together the residue from our table; but he being
so far civilized, is armed with a huge spoon, and having a mouth like a
crocodile, he obtains a fearful advantage over the rest of the party,
who eat the soup by dipping kisras (pancakes) into it with their
fingers. Meanwhile Saat sits among his invited guests, and works away
with his spoon like a sageer (water-wheel), and gets an unwarrantable
start, the soup disappearing like water in the desert. A dead calm the
greater portion of the day; the river fringed with mimosa forest. These
trees are the Soont (Acacia Arabica), which produce an excellent tannin:
the fruit, "garra," is used for that purpose, and produces a rich brown
dye: all my clothes and the uniforms of my men I dyed at Khartoum with
this "garra." The trees are about eighteen inches in diameter and
thirty-five feet high; being in full foliage, their appearance from a
distance is good, but on a closer approach the forest proves to be a
desolate swamp, completely overflowed; a mass of fallen dead trees
protruding from the stagnant waters, a solitary crane perched here and
there upon the rotten boughs; floating water-plants massed together, and
forming green swimming islands, hitched generally among the sunken
trunks and branches; sometimes slowly descending with the sluggish
stream, bearing, spectre-like, storks thus voyaging on nature's rafts
from lands unknown. It is a fever-stricken wilderness - the current not
exceeding a quarter of a mile per hour - the water coloured like an
English horse-pond; a heaven for mosquitoes and a damp hell for man.
Fortunately, this being the cold season, the winged plagues are absent.
The country beyond the inundated mimosa woods is of the usual sandy
character, with thorny Kittur bush. Saw a few antelopes. Stopped at a
horrible swamp to collect firewood. Anchored at night in a dead calm,
well out in the river to escape malaria from the swamped forest. This is
a precaution that the men would neglect, and my expedition might suffer
in consequence. Christmas Day!
26th Dec. - Good breeze at about 3 A.M.; made sail. I have never seen a
fog in this part of Africa; although the neighbourhood of the river is
swampy, the air is clear both in the morning and evening. Floating
islands of water-plants are now very numerous. There is a plant
something like a small cabbage (Pistia Stratiotes, L.), which floats
alone until it meets a comrade; these unite, and recruiting as they
float onward, they eventually form masses of many thousands, entangling
with other species of water-plants and floating wood, until they at
length form floating islands. Saw many hippopotami; the small hill in
the Dinka country seen from the masthead at 9.15 A.M.; breeze light, but
steady; the banks of the river, high grass and mimosas, but not forest
as formerly. Water lilies in full bloom, white, but larger than the
European variety. In the evening the crew and soldiers singing and
drumming.
27th Dec. - Blowing hard all night. Passed the Dinka hill at 3.30 A.M.
Obliged to take in sail, as it buried the head of the vessel and we
shipped much water. Staggering along under bare poles at about five
miles an hour. The true banks of the river are about five hundred yards
distant from the actual stream, this space being a mass of floating
water-plants, decayed vegetable matter, and a high reedy grass much
resembling sugarcanes; the latter excellent food for my animals.
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