We were fairly launched upon our
voyage, and now that we were in the wild interior, I determined to crush
the mutiny with an iron hand should the rascals attempt to carry their
murderous threats into execution. Two or three of the men appeared
willing, but the original ringleader, "Bellaal," would literally do
nothing, not even assisting at loading the animals; but swaggering about
with the greatest insolence.
After a fatiguing march of eight hours and ten minutes through a
perfectly flat country interspersed with trees, we halted at a little
well of excessively bad water at 7.35 P.M. The horses were so much in
advance that the main party did not arrive until 11 P.M. completely
fatigued. The night being fine, we slept on a hillock of sand a few
yards from the well, rejoiced to be away from the mosquitoes of
Gondokoro.
On the following morning we started at sunrise, and in two hours' fast
marching we arrived at the Kanieti river Although there had been no
rain, the stream was very rapid and up to the girths of the horses at
the ford. The banks were very abrupt and about fifteen feet deep, the
bed between forty and fifty yards wide; thus a considerable volume of
water is carried down to the river Sobat by this river during the rains.
The whole drainage of the country, tends to the east, and accordingly
flows into the Sobat.
