On Passing The Steamer Belonging To The Dutch Ladies,
Madame Van Capellan, And Her Charming Daughter, Mademoiselle Tinne, We
Saluted
Them with a volley, and kept up a mutual waving of handkerchiefs
until out of view; little did we think
That we should never meet those
kind faces again, and that so dreadful a fate would envelope almost the
entire party. [The entire party died of fever on the White Nile,
excepting Mademoiselle Tinne. The victims to the fatal climate of
Central Africa were Madame la Baronne van Capellan, her sister, two
Dutch maidservants, Dr. Steudner, and Signor Contarini.]
It was the 18th December, 1862, Thursday, one of the most lucky days for
a start, according to Arab superstition. In a few minutes we reached the
acute angle round which we had to turn sharply into the White Nile at
its junction with the Blue. It was blowing hard, and in tacking round
the point one of the noggurs carried away her yard, which fell upon deck
and snapped in half, fortunately without injuring either men or donkeys.
The yard being about a hundred feet in length, was a complicated affair
to splice; thus a delay took place in the act of starting which was
looked upon as a bad omen by my superstitious followers. The voyage up
the White Nile I now extract verbatim from my journal.
Friday, 19th Dec. - At daybreak took down the mast and unshipped all the
rigging; hard at work splicing the yard. The men of course wished to
visit their friends at Khartoum.
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