I Had Already Given Him Nearly All That I Had, But He Hoped
To Extract The Whole Before I Should Depart.
He almost immediately commenced the conversation by asking for a pretty
yellow muslin Turkish handkerchief fringed with silver drops that Mrs.
Baker wore upon her head:
One of these had already been given to him,
and I explained that this was the last remaining, and that she required
it .... He "must" have it .... It was given.
He then demanded other handkerchiefs. We had literally nothing but a few
most ragged towels; he would accept no excuse, and insisted upon a
portmanteau being unpacked, that he might satisfy himself by actual
inspection. The luggage, all ready for the journey, had to be unstrapped
and examined, and the rags were displayed in succession; but so wretched
and uninviting was the exhibition of the family linen, that he simply
returned them, and said "they did not suit him." Beads he must have, or
I was "his enemy." A selection of the best opal beads was immediately
given him. I rose from the stone upon which I was sitting, and declared
that we must start immediately. "Don't be in a hurry," he replied; "you
have plenty of time; but you have not given me that watch you promised
me." .... This was my only watch that he had begged for, and had been
refused every day during my stay at M'rooli. So pertinacious a beggar I
had never seen. I explained to him that, without the watch, my, journey
would be useless, but that I would give him all that I had except the
watch when the exploration should be completed, as I should require
nothing on my direct return to Gondokoro. At the same time, I repeated
to him the arrangement for the journey that he had promised, begging him
not to deceive me, as my wife and I should both die if we were compelled
to remain another year in this country by losing the annual boats in
Gondokoro. The understanding was this: he was to give me porters to the
lake, where I was to be furnished with canoes to take me to Magungo,
which was situated at the junction of the Somerset. From Magungo he told
me that I should see the Nile issuing from the lake close to the spot
where the Somerset entered, and that the canoes should take me down the
river, and porters should carry my effects from the nearest point to
Shooa, and deliver me at my old station without delay. Should he be
faithful to this engagement, I trusted to procure porters from Shooa,
and to reach Gondokoro in time for the annual boats. I had arranged that
a boat should be sent from Khartoum to await me at Gondokoro early in
this year, 1864; but I felt sure that should I be long delayed, the boat
would return without me, as the people would be afraid to remain alone
at Gondokoro after the other boats had quitted.
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