All the European population
of the place had long ago given us up for lost. It was my wish to start
without delay direct for England, but there were extraordinary
difficulties in this wretched country of the Soudan. A drought of two
years had created a famine throughout the land, attended by a cattle and
camel plague, that had destroyed so many camels that all commerce was
stagnated. No merchandise could be transported from Khartoum; thus no
purchases could be made by the traders in the interior: the country,
always wretched, was ruined. The plague, or a malignant typhus, had run
riot in Khartoum: out of 4,000 black troops, only a remnant below 400
remained alive!
This frightful malady, that had visited our boat, had revelled in the
filth and crowded alleys of the Soudan capital.
The Blue Nile was so low that even the noggurs drawing three feet of
water could not descend the river. Thus, the camels being dead, and the
river impassable, no corn could be brought from Sennaar and Watmedene:
there was a famine in Khartoum - neither fodder for animals, nor food for
man. Being unable to procure either camels or boats, I was compelled to
wait at Khartoum until the Nile should rise sufficiently to enable us to
pass the cataracts between that town and Berber.
[The want of water in the Blue Nile, as here described, exemplifies the
theory that Lower Egypt owes its existence during the greater portion of
the year entirely to the volume of the White Nile.]
We remained two months at Khartoum.
