The antelope first shot that
was nearer to the boat, we dragged on board, with the assistance of ten
or twelve men. The buck was rather larger than an average
donkey; - colour, black, with a white patch across the withers; - a white
crown to the head; white round the eyes; chest black, but belly white;
the horns about two feet four inches long, and bending gracefully
backwards.
A few days after this incident we arrived at the junction of the Bahr el
Gazal, and turning sharp to the east, we looked forward to arriving at
the extraordinary obstruction that since our passage in 1863 had dammed
the White Nile.
There was considerable danger in the descent of the river upon nearing
this peculiar dam, as the stream plunged below it by a subterranean
channel with a rush like a cataract. A large diahbiah laden with ivory
had been carried beneath the dam on her descent from Gondokoro in the
previous year, and had never been seen afterwards. I ordered the reis to
have the anchor in readiness, and two powerful hawsers; should we arrive
in the evening, he was to secure the vessel to the bank, and not to
attempt the passage through the canal until the following morning. We
anchored about half a mile above the dam.
This part of the Nile is boundless marsh, portions of which were at this
season terra firma. The river ran from west to east; the south bank was
actual ground covered with mimosas, but to the north and west the flat
marsh covered with high weeds was interminable.
At daybreak we manned the oars and floated down the rapid stream. In a
few minutes we heard the rush of water, and we saw the dam stretching
across the river before us. The marsh being firm, our men immediately
jumped out on the left bank and manned the hawsers - one fastened from
the stern, the other from the bow; this arrangement prevented the boat
from turning broadside on to the dam, by which accident the shipwrecked
diahbiah had been lost. As we approached the dam, I perceived the canal
or ditch that had been cut by the crews of the vessels that had ascended
the river; it was about ten feet wide, and would barely allow the
passage of our diahbiah. This canal was already choked with masses of
floating vegetation and natural rafts of reeds and mud that the river
carried with it, the accumulation of which had originally formed the
dam.
Having secured the vessel by carrying out an anchor astern and burying
it on the marsh, while a rope fastened from the bow to the high reeds
kept her stern to the stream, all hands jumped into the canal and
commenced dragging out the entangled masses of weeds, reeds, ambatch
wood, grass, and mud that had choked the entrance. Half a day was thus
passed, at the expiration of which time we towed our vessel safely into
the ditch, where she lay out of danger. It was necessary to discharge
all cargo from the boat, in order to reduce her draught of water. This
tedious operation completed, and many bushels of corn being piled upon
mats spread upon the reeds beaten flat, we endeavoured to push her along
the canal. Although the obstruction was annoying it was a most
interesting object.
The river had suddenly disappeared: there was apparently an end to the
White Nile. The dam was about three-quarters of a mile wide; it was
perfectly firm, and was already overgrown with high reeds and grass,
thus forming a continuation of the surrounding country. Many of the
traders' people had died of the plague at this spot during the delay of
some weeks in cutting the canal; the graves of these dead were upon the
dam. The bottom of the canal that had been cut through the dam was
perfectly firm, composed of sand, mud, and interwoven decaying
vegetation. The river arrived with great force at the abrupt edge of the
obstruction, bringing with it all kinds of trash and large floating
islands. None of these objects hitched against the edge, but the instant
they struck they dived under and disappeared. It was in this manner that
the vessel had been lost - having missed the narrow entrance to the
canal, she had struck the dam stem on; the force of the current
immediately turned her broadside against the obstruction; the floating
islands and masses of vegetation brought down by the river were heaped
against her, and heeling over on her side she was sucked bodily under
and carried beneath the dam; her crew had time to save themselves by
leaping upon the firm barrier that had wrecked their ship. The boatmen
told me that dead hippopotami had been found on the other side, that had
been carried under the dam and drowned.
Two days' hard work from morning till night brought us through the
canal, and we once more found ourselves on the open Nile on the other
side of the dam. The river was in that spot perfectly clean; not a
vestige of floating vegetation could be seen upon its waters; in its
subterranean passage it had passed through a natural sieve, leaving all
foreign matter behind to add to the bulk of the already stupendous work.
All before us was clear and plain sailing. For some days two or three
of our men had been complaining of severe headache, giddiness, and
violent pains in the spine and between the shoulders. I had been anxious
when at Gondokoro concerning the vessel, as many persons had died on
board of the plague during the voyage from Khartoum.
