Mountains, and
the entire drainage of the Madi and Shooa countries, together with that
of extensive countries to the east of Shooa, including the rivers Chombi
and Udat, from Lira and Umiro, it becomes a tremendous torrent so long
as the rains continue, and conveys a grand volume of water to the Nile;
but the inclination of all these countries tending rapidly to the
northwest, the bed of the Asua river partakes of the general incline,
and so quickly empties after the cessation of the rains that it becomes
nil as a river. By the mean of several observations I determined the
latitude of Shooa 3 degrees 04 minutes, longitude 32 degrees 04 minutes
E.
We were now about twelve miles south of Debono's outpost, Faloro. The
whole of the Shooa country was assumed to belong to Mahommed Wat-el-Mek,
the vakeel of Debono, and we had passed the ashes of several villages
that had been burnt and plundered by these people between Farajoke and
this point; the entire country had been laid waste.
There was no great chief at Shooa; each village had a separate headman;
formerly the population had occupied the lower ground, but since the
Turks had been established at Faloro and had plundered the neighbouring
tribes, the natives had forsaken their villages and had located
themselves among the mountains for security. It was the intention of
Ibrahim to break through the rules accepted by the White Nile traders,
and to establish himself at Shooa, which, although claimed by Debono's
people, would form an excellent point d'appui for operations towards the
unknown south.
Shooa was "flowing with milk and honey;" fowls, butter, goats, were in
abundance and ridiculously cheap; beads were of great value, as few had
ever reached that country. The women flocked to see Mrs. Baker, bringing
presents of milk and flour, and receiving beads and bracelets in return.
The people were precisely the same as those of Obbo and Farajoke in
language and appearance, exceedingly mild in their manner, and anxious
to be on good terms.
The cultivation in this country was superior to anything that I had seen
farther north; large quantities of sesame were grown and carefully
harvested, the crop being gathered and arranged in oblong frames about
twenty feet long by twelve high. These were inclined at an angle of
about sixty - the pods of the sesame plants on one face, so that the
frames resembled enormous brushes. In this manner the crop was dried
previous to being stored in the granaries. Of the latter there were two
kinds - -the wicker-work smeared with cow dung, supported on four posts,
with a thatched roof; and a simple contrivance by fixing a stout pole
about twenty feet long perpendicularly in the earth.
