I often compare the hard lot of our honest poor in
England with that of these scoundrels, whose courage consists in
plundering and murdering defenceless natives, while the robbers fatten
on the spoil. I am most anxious to see whether the English Government
will take active notice of the White Nile trade, or whether diplomacy
will confine them to simple protest and correspondence, to be silenced
by a promise from the Egyptian Government to put a stop to the present
atrocities. The Egyptian Government will of course promise, and, as
usual with Turks, will never perform. On the other hand, the savages are
themselves bad; one tribe welcomes the Turks as allies against their
neighbours, and sees no crime in murder, provided the result be
'cattle.' This, of course, produces general confusion."
"AUG. 6TH. - The difficulties of procuring provisions are most serious:
the only method of purchasing flour is as follows. The natives will not
sell it for anything but flesh; to purchase an ox, I require molotes
(hoes): to obtain molotes I must sell my clothes and shoes to the
traders' men. The ox is then driven to a distant village, and is there
slaughtered, and the flesh being divided into about a hundred small
portions, my men sit upon the ground with three large baskets, into
which are emptied minute baskets of flour as the natives produce them,
one in exchange for each parcel of meat. This tedious process is a
specimen of Central African difficulties in the simple act of purchasing
flour. The Obbo natives are similar to the Bari in some of their habits.
I have had great difficulty in breaking my cowkeeper of his disgusting
custom of washing the milk bowl with cow's urine, and even mixing some
with the milk; he declares that unless he washes his hands with such
water before milking, the cow will lose her milk. This filthy custom is
unaccountable. The Obbo natives wash out their mouths with their own
urine. This habit may have originated in the total absence of salt in
their country. The Latookas, on the contrary, are very clean, and milk
could be purchased in their own vessels without fear."
"Aug. 8th - Having killed a fat ox, the men are busily engaged in
boiling down the fat. Care should be taken to sprinkle a few drops of
water in the pot when the fat is supposed to be sufficiently boiled;
should it hiss, as though poured upon melted lead, it is ready; but if
it be silent, the fat is not sufficiently boiled, and it will not keep.
"Three runaway female slaves were captured by Koorshid's people this
morning, two of whom were brutally treated. On the whole the female
slaves are well kept when very young, but well thrashed when the black
bloom of youth has passed."
"Aug. 11th. - At this season immense beetles are at work in vast
numbers, walking off with every species of dung, by forming it into
balls as large as small apples, and rolling them away with their hind
legs, while they walk backwards by means of the forelegs. Should a ball
of dung roll into a deep rut, I have frequently seen another beetle come
to the assistance of the proprietor of the ball, and quarrel for its
possession after their joint labours have raised it to the level.
"This species was the holy scarabaeus of the ancient Egyptians; it
appears shortly after the commencement of the wet season, its labours
continuing until the cessation of the rains, at which time it
disappears. Was it not worshipped by the ancients as the harbinger of
the high Nile? The existence of Lower Egypt depending upon the annual
inundation, the rise of the river was observed with general anxiety. The
beetle appears at the commencement of the rise in the river level, and
from its great size and extraordinary activity in clearing the earth
from all kinds of ordure, its presence is remarkable. Appearing at the
season of the flood, may not the ancients have imagined some connexion
between the beetle and the river, and have considered it sacred as the
HARBINGER of the inundation?
"There is a wild bean in this country, the blossom of which has a
delicious perfume of violets. I regret that I have not a supply of paper
for botanical specimens, as many beautiful flowers appeared at the
commencement of the rains. Few thorns and no gums form a strong contrast
to the Soudan, where nearly every tree and shrub is armed."
"AUG. 13TH. - I had a long examination of a slave woman, Bacheeta,
belonging to one of Koorshid's men. She had been sent two years ago by
the king, Kamrasi, from Unyoro, as a spy among the traders, with orders
to attract them to the country if appearances were favourable, but to
return with a report should they be dangerous people.
"On her arrival at Faloro, Debono's people captured her, and she was
eventually sold to her present owner. She speaks Arabic, having learnt
it from the traders' people. She declares that Magungo, the place of
which I have heard so much, is only four days' hard marching for a
native, direct from Faloro, but eight days' for the Turks; and that it
is equi-distant from Faloro and from Kamrasi's capital in Unyoro. She
had heard of the Luta N'zige, as reported to Speke, but she knew it only
by the name of 'Kara-wootan-N'zige.'
"She corroborated the accounts I had formerly received, of large boats
arriving with Arabs at Magungo, and she described the lake as a 'white
sheet as far as the eye could reach.' She particularized it as a
peculiar water, that was unlike other waters, as it would 'come up to a
water-jar, if put upon the shore, and carry it away and break it.' By
this description I understood 'waves.' She also described the 'Gondokoro
river,' or White Nile, as flowing into and out of the lake, and she
spoke of a 'great roar of water that fell from the sky.'
"I trust I may succeed in reaching this lake:
