My Letters Were Of Very Old Dates, None Under Two Years, With
The Exception Of One From Speke, Who Had Sent Me The Illustrated London
News, Containing His Portrait And That Of Grant; Also Punch, With An
Illustration Of Punch's Discovery Of The Nile Sources.
For a whole day I
revelled in the luxury of letters and newspapers.
Ibrahim had very kindly thought of our necessities when at Gondokoro,
and had brought me a piece of coarse cotton cloth of Arab manufacture
(darmoor) for clothes for myself, and a piece of cotton print for a
dress for Mrs. Baker, in addition to a large jar of honey, and some rice
and coffee - the latter being the balance of my old stock that I bad
been obliged to forsake for want of porters at Shooa. He told me that
all my effects that I had left at Obbo had been returned to Gondokoro,
and that my two men, whom I had left in charge, had returned with them
to Khartoum, on board the vessel that had been sent for me from that
place, but which had joined the traders' boats on their return voyage.
Ibrahim had assured the captain that it was impossible that we could
arrive during that year. It was thus fortunate that we had not pushed on
for Gondokoro after April in expectation of finding the boat awaiting
us. However, "All's well that ends well," and Ibrahim was astounded at
our success, but rather shocked at our personal appearance, as we were
thin and haggard, and our clothes had been so frequently repaired that
they would hardly hold together.
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