The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile - Samuel White Baker (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📗

the entire party to stand in a line; and I gave them their

choice, whether the ringleaders would receive a flogging from me, or

whether I should tie them to the tails of camels and lead them to the

Turkish Governor of Souakim? They immediately chose the former; and,

calling them from the rank, I ordered them to lie down on the ground to

receive punishment.

 

They submitted like dogs; Richarn and Achmet stood over them with their

whips, ready for the word. At this moment an old white-headed Arab of my

caravan came to me: kneeling down, he stroked my beard with his dirty

hands, and implored pardon for the offenders. Thoroughly understanding

the Arab character, I replied, “They are miserable sons of dogs, and

their swords are like the feathers of a fowl; they deserve flogging, but

when a white head asks for pardon, it should be granted. God is

merciful, and we are all his children.” Thus was the affair ended to the

satisfaction of our side. I broke all the lances into fragments upon a

rock,—ordered Zeneb to make a fire with the wood of the handles, to

boil some coffee; and tying the swords into a bundle, we packed the

lance-heads and knives in a basket, with the understanding that they

should be delivered to their owners on our arrival at the last well,

after which point there would be water on the route every day. From that

place, there would be no fear of our camels being stolen, and of our

being deserted in the desert.

 

On arrival at the well a few days later, I delivered the weapons to

their owners as promised, they having followed our party. Souakim is

about 275 miles from the Nile at Berber. At Kokreb, about half-way, we

entered the chain of mountains that extends from Suez parallel with the

Red Sea to the south; many portions of this chain are four or five

thousand feet above the sea-level. The mountains were exceedingly

beautiful, their precipitous sides of barren rock exhibiting superb

strata of red and grey granite, with vast masses of exquisite red and

green porphyry. Many hills were of basalt, so black, that during an

entire day’s journey the face of the country appeared like a vast desert

of coal, in broken hills and blocks strewed over the surface of the

ground. Kokreb was a lovely oasis beneath the high mountains, with a

forest of low mimosas in full leaf, and a stream running from the

mountains, the produce of a recent storm. Throughout this country there

are no rivers that should be noticed on a map, as the torrents are

merely the effects of violent storms, which, falling upon the mountains

several times during the rainy season from June to the end of August

tear their boisterous way along their stony course and dry up in a few

hours, becoming exhausted in the sand of the deserts. For some days our

course lay along a deep ravine between stupendous cliffs; this was the

bed of a torrent, that, after heavy storms, flowed through the

mountains, inclining to the east; in this were pools of most beautifully

clear water. In many places the nooks among the cliffs were fringed with

lovely green trees. It was extraordinary to observe the activity of the

camels in climbing the most difficult passes, and in picking their way

among the rocks and stones that obstructed the route. In many places

camels might be seen grazing upon the green mimosa bushes, that growing

among the rocks high upon the mountains had tempted the animals into

places that I should not have believed they could have reached.

 

After a journey of twenty-four days from the Nile at Berber, we emerged

from the mountain-pass, and from the elevated embouchure we obtained a

sudden and most welcome view of the Red Sea. We now quickly descended:

the heat increased every hour; and after a long day’s march, we slept

within a few miles of Souakim. On the following morning we entered the

town.

 

Souakim is a considerable town; the houses are all built of coral. The

principal dwellings, and the custom house and Government offices are

situated on an island in the harbour. We were received with much

attention by the Governor, Moomtazze Bey, who very kindly offered us a

house. The heat was frightful, the thermometer 115 degrees F and in some

houses 120 degrees F.

 

There is no doubt that Souakim should be the port for all exports and

imports for the Soudan provinces. Were a line of steamers established

from Suez, to call regularly at Souakim, at a moderate freight, it would

become a most prosperous town, as the geographical position marks it as

the nucleus for all trade with the interior. At present there is no

regularity: the only steamers that touch at Souakim are those belonging

to the Abdul Azziz Company, who trade between Suez and Jedda. Although

advertised for distinct periods, they only visit Souakim when they think

proper, and their rates are most exorbitant.

 

There was no steamer upon our arrival. After waiting in intense heat for

about a fortnight, the Egyptian thirty-two gun steam frigate,

Ibralaimeya, arrived with a regiment of Egyptian troops, under Giaffer

Pasha, to quell the mutiny of the black troops at Kassala, twenty days’

march in the interior. The General Giaffer Pasha, and Mustapha Bey the

captain of the frigate, gave us an entertainment on board in English

style, in honour of the completion of the Nile discovery. Giaffer Pasha

most kindly placed the frigate at our disposal to convey us to Suez, and

both he and Mustapha Bey endeavoured in every way to accommodate us. For

their extreme courtesy I take this opportunity of making my

acknowledgment.

 

Orders for sailing had been received, but suddenly a steamer was

signalled as arriving: this was a transport, with troops. As she was to

return immediately to Suez, I preferred the dirty transport rather than

incur a further delay. We started from Souakim, and after five days’

voyage we arrived at Suez. Landing from the steamer, I once more found

myself in an English hotel. The spacious inner court was arranged as an

open conservatory; in this was a bar for refreshments, and “Allsopp’s

Pale Ale” on draught, with an ice accompaniment. What an Elysium! The

beds had SHEETS and PILLOW-CASES! neither of which had I possessed for

years.

 

The hotel was thronged with passengers to India, with rosy, blooming

English ladies, and crowds of my own countrymen. I felt inclined to talk

to everybody. Never was I so in love with my own countrymen and women;

but they (I mean the ladies) all had large balls of hair at the backs of

their heads! What an extraordinary change! I called Richarn, my pet

savage from the heart of Africa, to admire them. “Now, Richarn, look at

them!” I said. “What do you think of the English ladies? eh, Richarn?

Are they not lovely?”

 

“Wah Illahi!” exclaimed the astonished Richarn, “they are beautiful!

What hair! They are not like the negro savages, who work other people’s

hair into their own heads; theirs is all real—all their own—how

beautiful!”

 

“Yes, Richarn,” I replied, “ALL THEIR OWN!” This was my first

introduction to the “chignon.”

 

We arrived at Cairo, and I established Richarn and his wife in a

comfortable situation, as private servants to Mr. Zech, the master of

Sheppard’s Hotel. The character I gave him was one that I trust has done

him service: he had shown an extraordinary amount of moral courage in

totally reforming from his original habit of drinking. I left my old

servant with a heart too full to say goodbye; a warm squeeze of his

rough, but honest black hand, and the whistle of the train sounded,—we

were off!

 

I had left Richarn, and none remained of my people. The past appeared

like a dream-the rushing sound of the train renewed ideas of

civilization. Had I really come from the Nile Sources? It was no dream.

A witness sat before me; a face still young, but bronzed like an Arab by

years of exposure to a burning sun; haggard and worn with toil and

sickness, and shaded with cares, happily now past; the devoted companion

of my pilgrimage, to whom I owed success and life—my wife.

 

I had received letters from England, that had been waiting at the

British Consulate;—the first I opened informed me, that the Royal

Geographical Society had awarded me the Victoria Gold Medal, at a time

when they were unaware whether I was alive or dead, and when the success

of my expedition was unknown. This appreciation of my exertions was the

warmest welcome that I could have received on my first entrance into

civilization after so many years of savagedom: it rendered the

completion of the Nile Sources doubly grateful, as I had fulfilled the

expectations that the Geographical Society had so generously expressed

by the presentation of their medal Before my task was done.

 

APPENDIX

 

COMPUTATION OF MR. BAKER’S OBSERVATIONS.

HEIGHTS OF STATIONS ABOVE THE MEAN LEVEL OF THE SEA DETERMINED

BY BOILING-WATER OBSERVATIONS BY S. W. BAKER, Esq.

COMPUTED BY E. DUNKIN, Esq. OF GREENWICH OBSERVATORY. Feet.

 

Tarrangolle… … … … … … … … . . 2047

Obbo … … … … … … … … … . . 3480

Shoggo … … … … … … … … … . 3770

Asua River … … … … … … … … . . 2619

Shooa … … … … … … … … … . 3619

Rionga’s Island … … … … … … … . . 3685

Karuma, below falls … … … … … … … 3737

Karuma, south of falls … … … … … … . . 3796

South of Karuma, at river level… … … … … . 3794

M’rooli, river level, junction of Kafoor … … … . . 3796

West of M’rooli, on road to Albert lake … … … . . 4291

Land above lake, east cliff … … . .… … … . 4117

Albert N’yanza, lake level … … … … … … 2448

Shooa Moru, island of Patooan … … … … … . 2918

Gondokoro … … … … … … … … .. . 1636

 

The above heights will be found to differ considerably from those given

by Mr. Baker in his letter written from Khartoum in May, 1865, and

published in the TIMES newspaper in June. This arises from Mr. Baker

having corrected his observations, whilst in the interior of Africa,

from what have since proved erroneous data: the above are the correct

computations of the same observations.

 

REMARKS ON THE THERMOMETER B. W. USED BY MR. S. W. BAKER IN

DETERMINING HEIGHTS. By Staff-Commander C. George,

Curator of Maps, Royal Geographical Society.

 

This thermometer was one of the three supplied by the Royal Geographical

Society to Consul Petherick, in 1861, and was made by Mr. Casella.

 

At Gondokoro, in March, 1862, it was lent to Mr. Baker, who made all his

observations with it, and brought it back safe: it has, therefore, been

in use about 4 and 3/4 years.

 

On November 9th, 1865, Mr. Baker returned it to the Royal Geographical

Society, and it was immediately taken to Mr. Casella, who tested its

accuracy by trying its boiling-point, in nearly the same manner as Mr.

Baker had made his observations. The result by two independent observers

was that the boiling-point had increased in its reading by 0 degree

point 75 in 4 and 3/4 years, or 0 degree point 172 yearly.

 

On November 23d the thermometer was again tested by Mr. Baker at the Kew

Observatory. The observation was made under the same conditions as those

near the Albert N’yanza, as nearly