Ismailia

"March 10.—A fine north wind for about half an hour, when it suddenly chopped round to the S.E. We cut on far ahead, so that I was able to push on the steamers and the whole fleet for a distance of about five miles. I had a touch of fever.

"March 11.—Frightful stinking morass. All stopped at a black muddy pond in the swamp. The river is altogether lost. We have to cut a passage through the morass. Hard work throughout the day. One soldier died of sunstroke. No ground in which to bury him.

"It is a curious but most painful fact that the entire White Nile has ceased to be a navigable river. The boundless plains of marsh are formed of floating rafts of vegetation compressed into firm masses by the pressure of water during floods. So serious is this obstacle to navigation, that unless a new channel can be discovered, or the original Nile be reopened, the centre of Africa will be entirely shut out from communication, and all my projects for the improvement of the country will be ruined by this extraordinary impediment.

"March 12.—I think I can trace by telescope the fringe of tall papyrus rush that should be the border of the White Nile; but this may be a delusion. The wind is S.W., dead against us. Many men are sick owing to the daily work of clearing a channel through the poisonous marsh. This is the Mahommedan festival of the Hadj, therefore there is little work to-day.

"March 13.—Measured 460 yards of apparently firm marsh, through which we plumbed the depth by long poles thrust to the bottom.

"Flowing water being found beneath, I ordered the entire force to turn out and cut a channel, which I myself superintended in the advance boat.

"By 6 p.m. the canal was completed, and the wind having come round to the north, we sailed through the channel and entered a fine lake about half a mile wide, followed by the whole fleet with bugles and drums sounding the advance, the troops vainly hoping that their work was over. The steamers are about a mile behind, and I have ordered their paddles to be dismounted to enable them to be towed through the high grass in the narrow channel.

"March 14.—At 6 a.m. I started and surveyed the lake in a small rowing boat, and found it entirely shut in and separated from another small lake by a mass of dense rotten vegetation about eighty yards in width. I called all hands, and cleared it in fifty-five minutes sufficiently to allow the fleet to pass through. Upon an examination of the next lake, I found, to my intense disappointment, that not only was it closed in, but there was no outlet visible even from the mast-head. Not a drop of water was to be seen ahead, and the entire country was a perfect chaos, where the spirit of God apparently had not yet moved upon the waters. There was neither earth nor clear water, nor any solid resting-place for a human foot. Now and then a solitary bittern rose from the marsh, but, beyond a few water-rails, there were no other birds. The grass was swarming with snakes, and also with poisonous ants that attacked the men, and greatly interfered with the work.

"It is easier to clear a passage through the green grass than through the rotten vegetation. The former can be rolled in heaps so as to form banks, it is then secured by tying it to the strong grass growing behind it; the rotten stuff has no adherence, and a channel closes up almost as fast as it is made, thus our labour does no permanent good. I am in great anxiety about Mr. Higginbotham; it will be impossible for him to proceed by this route, should he arrive with a comparatively small force and heavily-laden vessels.

"As the channel closes so rapidly, I must wait until the steamers can form a compact line with the fleet.

"The black troops have more spirit than the Egyptians, but they are not so useful in clearing channels, as they are bad swimmers. They discovered to-day a muddy spot where they had a great hunt for fish, and succeeded in capturing with their hands about 500 pounds weight of the Prolypterus, some of which were above four pounds. We caught for ourselves a number of very delicious boulti (Perca Nilotica) with a casting-net.

"March 15.—Having probed the marsh with long poles, I found deep water beneath, which denoted the course of the sub-vegetal stream. All hands at work, and by the evening we had cut a channel 300 yards in length. The marsh swarms with snakes, one of which managed to enter the cabin window of the diahbeeah. The two steamers, now far astern, have become choked by a general break up and alteration of their portion of the world. The small lake in which I left them is no longer open water, but has become a dense maps of compressed vegetable rafts, in which the steamers are jammed as though frozen in an ice-drift in the Arctic regions! There is much work required to clear them. The only chance of progress will be to keep the entire fleet in compact line so as to push through a new channel as quickly as it is made. I shall send back the wood tender, if possible, from this spot with a letter to stop Mr. Higginbotham should he be south of the Sobat, as it will be impossible for him to proceed until next season. Many of the men are sick with fever, and if this horrible country should continue, they will all sicken.

"March 16.—I went back in a rowing boat, accompanied by Lieutenant Baker, to the two steamers which we found stuck fast in the drift rafts, that had closed in upon then. Many men are sick—all are dispirited; and they worked badly. Having worked all day, we returned at 6.30 p.m., to my diahbeeah, having the good fortune to shoot seven ducks by a family shot upon a mud bank on the way home.

"I found that the main body under the colonel, Raouf Bey, had completed the channel about 900 yards long to lake No. 3. I ordered sail to be made immediately, and after five hours' hard work, as the channel was already beginning to close, we arrived in the open lake at 11.15 p.m., in which we found the fleet at anchor.

"March 17.—The lake is about 2 1/2 miles long, and varies from 150 to 300 yards in width, with a mean depth of ten feet. I sent men ahead in the boat to explore the exit; they now report it to be closed by a small dam, after which we shall enter another lake. Thunder and clouds threatening in the southeast.

"About half-an-hour before sunset I observed the head of a hippopotamus emerge from the bank of high grass that fringed the lake. My troops had no meat—thus I would not lose the opportunity of procuring, if possible, a supply of hippopotamus beef. I took a Reilly No. 8 breechloader, and started in the little dingy belonging to the diahbeeah. Having paddled quietly along the edge of the grass for a couple of hundred yards, I arrived near the spot from which the hippopotamus had emerged.

"It is the general habit of the hippopotami in these marsh districts to lie in the high grass swamps during the day, and to swim or amuse themselves in the open water at sunset.

"I had not waited long before I heard a snort, and I perceived the hippopotamus had risen to the surface about fifty yards from me. This distance was a little too great for the accurate firing necessary to reach the brain, especially when the shot must be taken from a boat, in which there is always some movement. I therefore allowed the animal to disappear, after which I immediately ordered the boat forward, to remain exactly over the spot where he had sunk. A few minutes elapsed, when the great ugly head of the hippopotamus appeared about thirty paces from the boat, and having blown the water from his nostrils, and snorted loudly, he turned round and seemed astonished to find the solitary little boat so near him. Telling the two boatmen to sit perfectly quiet, so as to allow a good sight, I aimed just below the eye, and fired a heavy shell, which contained a bursting charge of three drachms of fine-grained powder. The head disappeared. A little smoke hung over the water, and I could not observe other effects. The lake was deep, and after vain sounding for the body with a boathook, I returned to the diahbeeah just as it became dark.

"March 18.—A heavy shower of rain fell, which lasted for an hour and a half. When the rain ceased, the day continued cloudy with variable wind. The body of the hippopotamus was discovered at daybreak floating near us, therefore all hands turned out to cut him up, delighted at the idea of fresh meat. There was about an acre of high and dry ground that bordered the marsh in one spot; to this the carcase of the hippopotamus was towed. I was anxious to observe the effects of the explosive shell, as it was an invention of my own that had been manufactured by Mr. Reilly,[2 - Mr. Reilly, of 502 New Oxford Street, has been most successful in heavy rifles, with which he has supplied me in both my African expeditions.] the gunmaker, of London. This shell was composed of iron, covered with lead. The interior was a cast-iron bottle (similar in shape to a stoneware Seltzer water bottle); the neck formed a nipple to receive a percussion-cap. The entire bottle was concealed by a leaden coating, which was cast in a mould to fit a No. 8, or two-ounce rifle. The iron bottle contained three drachms of the strongest gunpowder, and a simple cap pressed down upon the nipple prepared the shell for service.

"On an examination of the head of the hippopotamus, I found that the shell had struck exactly beneath the eye, where the bone plate is thin. It had traversed the skull, and had apparently exploded in the brain, as it had entirely carried away the massive bone that formed the back of the skull. The velocity of the projectile had carried the fragments of the shell onwards after the explosion, and had formed a sort of tunnel which was blackened with burnt powder for a considerable distance along the flesh of the neck. I was quite satisfied with my explosive shell.

"The hippopotamus having been divided among the men, I sent Raouf Bey with a large force to assist the steamers, which still remain fixed in the same spot.

"At 2 p.m. it poured with rain until 9 p.m. Everything is soaking; and I have great anxiety about our large stores of corn.

"March 19.—Fine day, but all cargo, stores, &c., are wet. The miserable vessels of the Soudan are without decks, thus one heavy shower creates much damage. The men are busy drying their clothes, &c. Two soldiers died. Steamers far astern in the sudd, regularly fixed.

"March 20.—A boy died. I sent fresh men to the assistance of the steamers, which have to be literally dug out.

"March 21.—Yesterday as the men were digging out the steamers, which had become blocked by the floating rafts, they felt something struggling beneath their feet. They immediately scrambled away in time to avoid the large head of a crocodile that broke its way through the tangled mass in which it had been jammed and held prisoner by the rafts. The black soldiers, armed with swords and bill-hooks, immediately attacked the crocodile, who, although freed from imprisonment, had not exactly fallen into the hands of the Royal Humane Society. He was quickly despatched, and that evening his flesh gladdened the cooking pots of the Soudani regiment.

"I was amused with the account of this adventure given by various officers who were eye-witnesses. One stated in reply to my question as to the length of the animal, `Well, sir, I should not like to exaggerate, but I should say it was forty-five feet long from snout to tail!' Another witness declared it to be at least twenty feet; but by rigid cross-examination I came to the conclusion that it did not exceed ten.

"The steamers and tender, having been released, arrived this morning. At 1 p.m. we started with a light air from the northeast, and travelled till 3.30 p.m. along the lake, which narrowed to the dimensions of a moderate river. We at length arrived at a sudd which the advance boats had cleared for about sixty yards. Having emerged, we were introduced to a deep but extremely narrow channel flowing through the usual enormous grass.

"The whole fleet ranged in single line to widen the passage. We are now about twelve miles from the dubba, or raised dry ground, near to which we first commenced clearing. We have actually cut away about six miles of vegetation. No dependence whatever can be placed upon the guides: no place answers to their descriptions. We have now been hard at work for thirteen days with a thousand men, during which time we have travelled only twelve miles!

"March 22.—Wind S.W.—foul. The people are all lazy and despairing. Cleared a sudd. I explored ahead in a small boat. As usual, the country is a succession of sudds and small open patches of water. The work is frightful, and great numbers of my men are laid down with fever; thus my force is physically diminished daily, while morally the men are heart-broken. Another soldier died; but there is no dry spot to bury him. We live in a world of swamp and slush. Lieutenant Baker shot a Baleniceps Rex. This day we opened about 600 yards.

"March 23.—We have been throughout the day employed in tugging the vessels through the channel. The Egyptians have quite lost heart. The Soudanis are far more valuable as soldiers; none of them are ill, and they work with a good will. I serve them out a glass of grog in the evening. The fanatical fellahs will not touch spirits, thus they succumb to fever and nervousness when exhausted by the chill occasioned by working throughout the day in mud and water.

"March 24.—Wind fresh from the S.W. All the vessels assembled last evening in a small lake. Before us there is as usual simply a narrow stream closed in by vegetation. I observed marks of the traders' parties having broken through a few months ago. These people travel without merchandise, but with a large force of men: thus their vessels are of light draught of water. My steamers and many of the boats require four feet six inches. Every vessel is heavily laden, thus they are difficult to manage unless in open and deep water.

"There is to-day a forest on the east, about two miles distant, beyond the swamp. After a hard day's work we made about 1,400 yards.

"March 25.—Wind fair and fresh from the N.E. This helped us to make about a mile through the narrow channel, hemmed in by thick and high grass. Another soldier died. As usual, this poor fellow was an artilleryman. These men came direct from Cairo with their guns, and not being acclimatized, they cannot resist the fever. The Egyptian troops give in and lose all heart; but there is much allowance to be made for them, as it is a fearful country, and far beyond my worst experience. There is no apparent break to the boundless marsh before and behind us, this is about fifteen miles wide, as forest trees and the tall dolape palms can sometimes be distinguished upon the horizon.

"What the unfortunate Higginbotham will do I cannot conceive, as there is no possibility of communicating with him, and he will get into the rainy season.

"Another soldier died this evening; he was an excellent man, who had been employed at the arsenal at Cairo. His friend and bosom companion was a fellow workman, and he was so grieved at the loss that he declared he should not live beyond a few days. There was no dry ground in which to dig a grave; it was therefore necessary to cut a hole in the base of a white ant-hill, as these Babel-like towers were the only dry spots that rose above the flood.

"This death is the sixth within the last few days, exclusive of one boy. I think our black doctor assists them in departing from this life, as they die very suddenly when he attends them. Like Dr. Sangrado, he is very fond of the lancet, which is usually fatal in this climate. We made about half a mile today.

"March 26.—Wind fresh from the S.E. The ditch is completely blocked up with vegetation: thus we made only 250 yards. Before us, as usual, is the hopeless sea of high grass, along which is a dark streak which marks the course of the ditch through which we slowly clear a passage. How many days or months we may require to reach the White Nile is a problem. One hundred and fifty men are on the sick list; nearly all of them are fellahs. Upon my own diahbeeah six soldiers out of ten are down with fever, in addition to two of the sailors. I gave them all a shock with the magnetic battery, which appeared to have a wonderful effect; one fellow, who had been groaning with severe pains in his back and limbs, declared that he was instantly relieved. I made a good shot with the Dutchman at a Baleniceps Rex, at a distance of upwards of 200 yards.

"There is no rest by night or day for our people, who are preyed upon by clouds of mosquitoes, which attack like bulldogs.

"March 27.—All hands hard at work clearing the ditch. Wind S.E.—fresh. The diahbeeah, as usual, leads the way, followed by No. 10 steamer, and the whole fleet in close line. Most of the men suffer from headache; this is owing to the absurd covering, the fez, or tarboosh, which is no protection against the sun.

"In the evening I took a small boat, and in forty-one minutes' poling and tugging through the narrow channel, I succeeded in reaching a long narrow lake resembling a river, about 110 yards wide. The mouth of our effluent was, for a wonder, clear from obstruction; I returned with the joyful news to the fleet after sunset.

"March 28.—At 7.30 a.m. all hands turned out to clear the channel to the lake; this was about 500 yards long, and the diahbeeah, leading the way, entered the lake at 11.30 a.m. Unfortunately a shallow channel near the entrance prevented the steamers from entering, thus a passage had to be dug in the tough clay beneath them. The wind strong from the south. I am afraid the north wind has deserted us for the season.

"Having entered the lake, I went about a mile and a half ahead in my diahbeeah, and anchored for the night in a broad and shallow portion of the water, a forest being about a mile distant on the east bank: this was a good sign of terra firma, but there was no dry spot upon which we could land.

"The river winds to the S.E., and apparently then turns to the west. The effluent through which we joined this lake or river meets it at right angles, and the river continues its course to the N.N.W., as though it were the main channel of a far more important stream than the horrible ditch by which we arrived. The guide, however, assures me that it is blocked up, and loses itself in boundless grass and reeds.

"In the evening I spied a hippopotamus which had just come out of the high grass into the open river. It snorted loudly at the strange sight of the handsomely-painted diahbeeah. I took the boat, and upon my near approach it was foolish enough to swim towards us angrily. A shot from the Reilly No. 8, with one of my explosive shells, created a lively dance, as the hippopotamus received the message under the eye. Rolling over and over, with the legs frequently in the air, it raised waves that rocked my little boat and made shooting difficult; but upon a close approach, taking good care to keep out of the reach of its struggles, I gave it a quietus with a hardened spherical ball from the same rifle, which passed right through the head. By sounding with the long boat-hook, I found the body at the bottom in about ten feet of water. My excellent captain of the diahbeeah, Faddul-Moolah, dived to the bottom, and secured the leg of the hippopotamus by a rope. We towed it to the diahbeeah, from the deck of which my wife had had a capital view of the sport. This is a fine feast for the people. My explosive shell is frightful in its effects.

"March 29.—Wind strong from the south; the steamer is not yet out of difficulty. My men are busy cutting up the hippopotamus. I sent off the iron boat with three quarters of the animal to the troops astern. During the night a crocodile took away all the offal from the stern of the diahbeeah. The weather is much cooler, owing to the south wind and the clear space in which we are now anchored.

"March 30.-The river is now clear and unmistakable. We travelled about ten miles by poling; this is the best day's work that we have made since we entered this chaotic region. Lieutenant Baker came on board my diahbeeah, having brought up the steamers.

"The country began to look more hopeful. A forest at a few miles' distance on both the right and left bank of the river betokened dry land. The river flowed between actual honest banks, which although only a few inches above the water were positive boundaries. The flat plain was covered with large white ant-hills, and the ground was evidently firm in the distance, as we could distinguish a herd of antelopes.

"As we were quietly poling the diahbeeah against the sluggish stream, we observed wild buffaloes that, at a distance of about 400 yards, appeared to be close to the bank of the river. I accordingly stopped the diahbeeah, and, accompanied by Lieutenant Baker, I approached them in the small boat, rowed by two men. A fortunate bend of the river, and several clumps of high rushes, concealed the boat until by a sudden turn we came within sixty yards of two bull buffaloes. Having told Mr. Baker to take the first shot, he sent a spherical No. 8 through the shoulder of the nearest bull, which, after a few plunges, fell dead. The other, startled at the shot, dashed off; at the same time he received a shell from my rifle in the flank, and a shot from the left-hand barrel in the rear. With these shots he went off about three hundred paces, and lay down, as we thought, to die. I intended to stalk him from behind the white ant-hills, but my sailors, in intense excitement, rushed forward, supposing that his beef was their own, and although badly hit, he again rose and cantered off till lost in high rushes.

"March 31.-As we proceeded, the banks became drier. The two steamers had arrived during the night, and the whole fleet is coming up astern. The river is now about fifty yards wide, but I am getting nervous about the depth; the water is very shallow in some of the bends, and I fear there will be great difficulty in getting through with the steamers and heavy vessels. My diahbeeah, which is of iron, although roomy, is exceedingly light, and only requires two feet three inches of water. We have been fifty-one days from Khartoum. Never have I known so miserable a voyage. Wind fresh from the south."

CHAPTER III