Читать книгу Ismailia - Samuel White Baker - Страница 8

After the usual voyage upon the White Nile, during which we passed the Bohr and the Shir tribes, and had excellent sport in antelope shooting when the steamer stopped at forests to cut fuel, we arrived opposite the old mission station at Gondokoro on April 15, 1871.

I found a great change in the river since my last visit. The old channel, which had been of great depth where it swept beneath the cliffs, was choked with sand-banks. New islands had formed in many places, and it was impossible for the vessels to approach the old landing-place. We therefore dropped down the stream to a spot where high ground and a few trees invited us to the east bank. At this place the traders had founded a new settlement that was now without in habitants, and was represented by half-a-dozen broken-down old huts.

"The country is sadly changed; formerly, pretty native villages in great numbers were dotted over the landscape, beneath shady clumps of trees, and the land was thickly populated. Now, all is desolate: not a village exists on the mainland; they have all been destroyed, and the inhabitants have been driven for refuge on the numerous low islands of the river; these are thronged with villages, and the people are busily cultivating the soil.

"I sent for the chief, Allorron, who, upon arrival with some other natives, explained that his country had been destroyed by the attacks of the people of Loquia at the instigation of the traders. I promised him protection if he and his people would return to the mainland and become true subjects to the Khedive. At the same time I informed him that, in return for protection, his people must cultivate corn, and build the huts required for the troops upon arrival. This he promised to do, and I arranged that he should summon a general meeting of the headmen and their people to-morrow, or as soon as possible.

"I at once cleared a small plot of ground and sowed some garden seeds on the new soil now annexed to Egypt. My soldiers took a great interest in the operation, and as we covered the seeds with light earth, we concluded the sowing with the usual ejaculation-'Biamillah!' (in the name of God).

"I walked up to the old mission station. Not one brick remains upon another—all is totally destroyed. The few fruit-trees planted by the pious hands of the Austrian Missionaries remain in a tangled wilderness by the river's bank. The beautiful avenue of large lemon trees has been defaced by the destruction of many boughs, while the ground beneath is literally covered by many thousands of withered lemons that have fallen neglected from the branches without a hand to gather them. The natives will not eat them, thus the delicious fruit has been wasted; perhaps sixty or eighty bushels have rotted on the earth. I trust that the seeds I have already sown will have a more useful result than the lost labour of the unfortunate missionaries. It would be heartbreaking to them could they see the miserable termination of all their good works.

April 16. —The mileage from the junction of the Bahr Giraffe I have calculated at 364 to this point (Gondokoro); but I deduct 10 per cent., as we took several wrong turns of the river. The distance may be about 330 miles.

From Bahr Giraffe, junction to Gondokoro 330 miles

Upper Nile junction to Dubba on Bahr Giraffe 48 miles

Dubba to Lower Nile junction 300 miles

Lower Nile junction to Sobat 38 miles

Sobat to Khartoum 693 miles

1,409 miles to Gondokoro."

The chief Allorron arrived with a number of his people, and asked for "araki and cognac!" He is a big and savage-looking naked brute of the lowest description, his natural vices having been increased by constant associations with the slave-hunters. This man declared that his people could not prepare materials for the camp, as the neighbouring tribes were hostile; and he could not venture to collect bamboos.

I told him that if my orders were not obeyed, the troops would be obliged to be sheltered in his villages upon arrival, as I could not allow them to be exposed to the rains.

Both Allorron and his people looked extremely sullen, and although I always knew the Baris to be the worst tribe in the Nile basin, I was not prepared for such a morose welcome. I explained to him the object of the expedition. He seemed quite incredulous, and made some remark to his followers in his own language with a contemptuous smile. He rather approved of the idea that slave-taking would be suppressed in his own tribe, but he could not sympathize with the general principle, and he asked "What will the slave-traders do?" Colonel Abd-el-Kader replied to the question by explaining to him my exact position, and the relative position of the traders. At this he burst out laughing in the rudest manner. He had seen me and my wife on our former voyage, and he well remembered that in those days we had been not only helpless in Gondokoro, but that the traders had spoken of all Europeans with contempt. He had already hoard from Abou10 Saood's people of my expected arrival, by whom he had been incited against the expedition. It had been explained to him, that if baffled, we should soon become disgusted, and return to Khartoum. He also remembered that many Europeans had visited Gondokoro like myself, but none had remained. It was therefore natural that a brutal savage, whose people were allied with the slave-traders, to attack and pillage outlying countries, should not regard with favour a new government that would establish law and order. For many years Allorron's tribe had been associated with the slavers, and now that the entire country had been leased to one man, Abou Saood, he had become the vakeel, or representative of this individual, by whom he had been thoroughly prepared for our arrival. We had been expected long ago, but, as already described, the delays attending the opening of the Suez canal had prevented us from starting.