Ismailia

In spite of his extreme cunning, he had over-estimated his own power of intrigue, and he had mismanaged his affairs.

According to the agreement with Agad & Co., the representative of that firm, Abou Saood, had contracted to supply the government troops with all provisions at a given price, including even sheep and butter, as he declared that he was in possession of these articles in his various stations. He was also to assist the government expedition in every manner, and to supply not only carriers, but even troops, should they be necessary.

I read this contract to some of his principal men, who fairly laughed outright at the audacity of Abou Saood in subscribing to such utter falsehoods.

Not only had he secretly fraternized with the enemy, instead of assisting the government, but he had cautioned the Baris not to carry our loads, and he had incited the Fatiko natives to attack us. The supply of food was too ridiculous. Instead of giving to the troops, he had been obliged to borrow corn from the government magazines at Gondokoro for his own people, and I had given him 200 cattle to save his men from famine.

The deceit and treachery of this man were beyond belief. He now came to me daily at Fatiko, and swore by the eyes of the Prophet, eternal fidelity. He wished to kiss my hand, and to assure me how little his real character had been understood, and that he felt sure I had been influenced against him by others, but that in reality I had no servant so devoted as himself. He declared that he had only attacked the Shir and stolen their cows in order to supply the government troops with cattle according to contract. (Thus he had the audacity to assert that the government would become the purchaser of cattle stolen expressly for their use.)

In spite of these protestations, he could not explain his reason for having returned the ivory to store, instead of transporting it to Gondokoro. He therefore met the difficulty by a flat denial, as usual, calling upon the Prophet as a witness.

Only a few days of his contract remained, at the expiration of which he should have withdrawn his establishments from the country, according to my written orders that had been given many months ago.

He had entirely ignored these orders, as he had never expected my arrival; therefore he had concealed all such instructions from his people, in the hope that my terms of service would expire fruitlessly at Gondokoro, and that, after my departure, he would have little difficulty in arranging for the future with his friend Raouf Bey, who would most probably succeed to the command.

I at once issued written orders to the vakeels of his different stations, that, at the end of the month Mohurram, the contract with Agad would cease, and that all future action would be illegal.

I gave all employees of Abou Saood due notice, that they must either quit the country, or become respectable subjects.

I granted them permission to settle at Gondokoro, and to commence farms on the fertile islands of the Nile free of all taxation.

Or, should they wish to enter the government service as irregular troops, I offered the same pay as the regulars, with the advantage of an annual engagement.

I met several headmen whom I had known in my former journey. These men found fault with Abou Saood for having left them in the dark respecting the contract with the government; and they at once declared that they should be happy to serve as irregulars at the expiration of the agreement.

There was a great difficulty respecting the ivory, which comprised in all the stations 3,200 tusks.

The cattle that had been given to the native carriers for the transport of the ivory to Gondokoro had only partially been returned by the disappointed Madi. Many of these people had killed and eaten the beasts, and had declared that they had died, when they found the necessity of restoring them.

It was now necessary to move the ivory, together with all the establishments, to Gondokoro. This would require at least 6,000 cows. It was a complete fix. There were no cattle in any of Abou Saood's stations; they had all been consumed; and he now came to me with a request that I would lend him eighty oxen, as his people had nothing to eat.

It was clearly impossible to move the ivory. Thus, in spite of my orders given to Abou Saood about ten months previous, the opportunity of moving had been lost, and the time of departure was reduced to sine die. This was a hopeless condition of affairs. There were no cattle in Abou Saood's possession, and without cows the ivory could not be moved. At the same time, it would be impossible for me to permit him to make razzias upon distant countries, as I had arrived to establish government, and to afford protection to all tribes that would declare their allegiance.

I now discovered that the principal vakeel of Abou Saood, named Mohammed Wat-el-Mek, had only recently started with a large force, by Abou Saood's orders, to invade the Kooshi country on the west side of the White Nile, close to its exit from the Albert N'yanza.

This was a tribe that could not possibly have interfered with Abou Saood; but as the cattle had been exhausted on the east bank of the river, he had commenced a series of razzias upon the west. The Koshi were people with whom friendship should have been established, as they were on the navigable Nile that would eventually be traversed by the steamer, when constructed at Ibrahimeyah. It was thus that all tribes were rendered hostile by the slave-hunters.

Mohammed Wat-el-Mek (son of the king) was the man who had first discovered and opened up the countries south of Gondokoro. This person was a curious but useful character that I had always wished to employ, as he had great power with the natives, and he knew every nook and corner of the country.

I had known him during my former journey, and it appears that he had always wished to serve me in the present expedition. The slave-traders of Khartoum had been determined to prevent Wat-el-Mek from communicating with me; thus, when I had arrived in Khartoum, this important personage was actually there; but he was quickly sent by Abou Saood under some frivolous pretext up the Blue Nile, to keep him out of the way.

On arrival at Gondokoro, he had studiously been retained on the west bank of the river, and his name had been kept so secret, that I had never heard it mentioned. Thus, although both at Khartoum and at Gondokoro Wat-el-Mek had been within a few hundred paces of me, I had always supposed that he was in Central Africa.

Abou Saood now declared that Wat-el-Mek had started many days ago from Fatiko to Koshi; but I subsequently discovered that he had only left Fatiko on the morning of my arrival, and that he was kept waiting at Fabbo station, only twenty-two miles west of Fatiko, for several days, while I had been told by Abou Saood that he had gone to Koshi.

Mohammed Wat-el-Mek was the son of a petty king far away up the Blue Nile, beyond Fazokle.

He had in early life been a serjeant or choush in the Egyptian army; but having an adventurous disposition, he had taken to the White Nile, as the vakeel of Andrea Debono, a Maltese ivory merchant.

Mr. Debono, being a British subject, retired from the trade when the slave-hunting arrived at such a pitch that it became impossible for Europeans to continue business on the White Nile. (The slave trade arrived at such a maximum that all European traders in ivory were driven from the White Nile, including Mr. Petherick, British Consul.)

Debono had amassed a considerable fortune entirely through: the energy of Wat-el-Mek, who had pushed into the interior, and had established his stations with considerable forethought and skill throughout the formerly unvisited Madi country.

Wat-el-Mek was an exceedingly black man, about the middle height, and much pitted with the small-pox. While in the service of Debono, he had commanded the station of Faloro, where he had most hospitably received Speke and Grant on their arrival from Zanzibar. These great travellers were entertained at Faloro during many weeks, and were afterwards conducted by their host to Gondokoro, where I had the good fortune to meet them.

Wat-el-Mek was a very courageous fellow; and although he would not perhaps have been considered a good character at London police court, he was a man who would be most useful to an expedition in Central Africa, where his vicious propensities could be restrained by the discipline of government.

When Speke parted from him at Gondokoro, he presented him with a beautiful double-barrelled gun by Blissett, in addition to other articles.

The worst vice of this man was drinking. When drunk, he could be induced to yield to any absurdity.

However, with all his faults, I should have been glad of Wat-el-Mek to command the irregular force.

In the days when Debono was the proprietor of the Madi station, Wat-el-Mek had been the sole vakeel; and although he was a tyrant, he was not disliked by the natives. Since Debono had sold his stations to the firm of Agad & Co., every separate camp was governed by an independent vakeel; thus there were many tyrants instead of one.

These numerous agents acted in opposition to each other in the purchase of ivory. If a native of Fatiko should take a tusk to sell at the station of Fabbo, he would run the chance of being shot upon his return. This system of attempted monopoly was carried out throughout the country, and naturally resulted in anarchy. Although all the vakeels and companies belonged to one firm, they acted as rival traders. Thus, if slaves ran away from one station and took shelter with the natives of a village belonging to the people of another vakeel, an attack would be made upon the village that harboured the runaways, and their women and children would be immediately captured.

This onslaught on the village under the protection of a certain station would be quickly returned by a counter-attack upon a village belonging to the encroaching vakeel. This system was purposely adopted, as it served to divide the country into opposing sections, which prevented the natives from forming a general coalition.

It may readily be imagined that my arrival was hailed with satisfaction by the natives throughout the country. Should a stranger have filled my position, there might have been some suspicion in the minds of the natives, but I had been so well known during my former journey, that the people accepted the new government with thorough confidence.

Wat-el-Mek, who was always the discoverer of unknown lands, had lately visited a new country in the east.

It may be remembered by the readers of "The Albert N'yanza," that shortly before my return from Shooa (only six miles from Fatiko) a new country named Lira had been discovered by the vakeel of Koorshad Agha—"Ibrahim." Poor Ibrahim was dead, otherwise I should have had a good and dependable man.

The Lira country was rich in ivory, but the greatest prize discovered was the presence of donkeys, which are quite unknown in the White Nile districts.

Wat-el-Mek had now penetrated beyond Lira, and had reached the country of Langgo, which was exceedingly interesting.

From the description of the people, it appeared that the portion of the Langgo visited by them was entirely different from the country between Gondokoro and Unyoro.

The expedition HAD CROSSED THE SOBAT RIVER, and had arrived in the Langgo about 130 miles due east of Fatiko. They described the country as similar to portions of the Soudan. Generally, flat plains of the rich grass known as negheel, which never grows high, and is the finest pasturage. The trees were for the most part Soont (Acacia Arabica), which is not met with in the White Nile countries south of the Sobat junction.

The Langgos were an immense tribe, but were, like the Baris, divided under many chiefs. These people were exceedingly large and powerful, and were esteemed as great warriors. They seldom ate flour, but lived upon the milk and flesh of their innumerable herds.

The cattle were as large as those of England, and were celebrated for the extreme size of their horns.

Wat-el-Mek had made a razzia with a very powerful force, collected from all the stations of Abou Saood, and he had succeeded in capturing an enormous number of these fine animals, together with a large herd of donkeys.

These strange cattle would not live at Fatiko, as the herbage was quite different to that to which they had been accustomed. They died in such numbers, that in three months only three or four remained out of as many thousand. Thus all these beautiful beasts were wasted.

The river Sobat was described as flowing from the south, and was known as the Chol. The Asua river is only one day's march or about twenty miles, east of Fatiko. The Sobat is never dry and is reported to be a noble river; this suggests that Speke Victoria N'yanza, or the Bahr Ingo's eastern corner, must have an effluent in addition to the Victoria Nile, that flows from M'tese's capital of Uganda.

Beyond Langgo there is a country called Lobbohr, which is said to possess camels. In the Lobbohr there is a river called Jooba. This is, I believe, the Juba that flows into the Indian Ocean, as the report continues that: "Arabs arrive at Lobbohr mounted upon camels, and armed with swords and pistols, but without guns." Horses and donkeys are also reported to exist in Lobbohr.

There can be no doubt that most important countries lie to the east of Fatiko, and should the story of camels prove correct, there will be no difficulty in opening up a commercial route.

It appears that at Langgo the demand for beads is very great, as the natives work them into patterns upon their matted hair. Ivory has little or no value, and exists in large quantities.

The natives refuse to carry loads, and they transport an elephant's tusk by boring a hole in the hollow end, through which they attach a rope; it is then dragged along the ground by a donkey. The ivory is thus seriously damaged . . . . .

Such was the position of affairs at Fatiko in March, 1872. New and important countries had been investigated, not by explorers or traders, but by the brigands of Abou Saood, whose first introduction was the unprovoked attack and carrying off of slaves and cattle.

Such conduct could only terminate in an extension of the ruin which a similar course had determined in every country that had been occupied by the traders of the White Nile.

I trusted that my arrival would create a great reform, and restore confidence throughout the country. The news had spread far and wide. The scarlet soldiers were regarded as a distinct species, and the report quickly circulated, that the "Pacha's troops were entirely different from any that had hitherto been seen, as their clothes were red, and their muskets were loaded from the wrong end."

I now determined to establish a station at Fatiko, to represent the government during my absence in the south.

Abou Saood had sworn fidelity. Of course I did not believe him, but as the natives had welcomed the government, I could not leave them without protection.

It was therefore arranged with Abou Saood that after the expiration of the contract, all operations should cease. He would simply remain on sufferance in the country, until he should be able to transport his ivory to Gondokoro. This could only be effected by the arrival of carriers from his stations, about 180 miles west of the Nile, in the Makkarika country. His first step would therefore be to communicate with the vakeel Atroosh, who commanded about 600 men in the west station.

I ordered Abou Saood to disarm the seventy Baris who were in his service at Fatiko, as I would not allow muskets to be placed in the hands of natives who were hostile to the government.

This he promised to do, but of course he evaded the order, by returning the arms to the Baris the instant I had departed.

It may appear to the public that having "absolute and supreme power," I was absurdly lenient towards Abou Saood, whom I knew to be so great a villain. I confess to one fault. I should have arrested and transported him to Khartoum when he first arrived at Gondokoro with the cattle stolen from the Shir; which caused the subsequent massacre of the five soldiers of the government.

At the same time that I admit this error, it must be remembered that I was placed in an awkward position.

"Absolute and supreme power" is a high-sounding title; but how was I to exert it?

I was an individual possessing a nominal power, the application of which required extreme delicacy. I was determined to win, and with God's help I did win, but every step necessitated the coolest judgment. Had I adopted severe or extreme measures against Abou Saood, I might have ruined the expedition at commencement.

It was impossible to know who was faithful. There was a general leaning towards his favour among all the officers, with whom he had been in close connection when in Khartoum. He was a man in a high social position in the Soudan, the partner of the great firm of Agad & Co., who commanded about 2,500 armed men. He had worked for many years in company with the government, according to his connection by agreement with the governor-general.

I knew that I had him in my power, provided I should be supported by the authorities in Egypt; therefore I gave him line, and occasionally held him tight, as though he had been a salmon on a single gut; but I was determined to land him safe at last, in such a manner that his greatest supporter should be obliged to acknowledge that he had received the fairest play. Abou Saood's Fatiko station was crowded with slaves. His people were all paid in slaves. The stations of Fabbo, Faloro, and Farragenia were a mass of slaves.

I did not enter a station to interfere with these wretched captives, as

I knew that such an act would create irretrievable confusion.

I had only 212 men, and I wished to advance to the equator.

Fatiko was in north latitude 3 degrees 01 minutes, and 165 miles from headquarters. Had I attempted to release some thousand slaves from the different stations, I should have required a large military force to have occupied those stations, and to have driven out the whole of the slave-hunters bodily.

If the slaves had been released, it would have been impossible to have returned them to their homes, as they had been collected from every quarter of the compass and from great distances. If I had kept them, I could not have procured food for so large a number: as the stations contained several thousand.

Under the circumstances, I took the wiser course of non-interference with the stock in hand, but I issued the most severe orders respecting the future conduct of Abou Saood's companies. I arranged to leave a detachment of 100 men, under the command of Major Abdullah, to form a station adjoining that of Abou Saood in Fatiko, together with the heavier baggage and the greater portion of the ammunition.

The government would be thus represented by a most respectable and civilized officer, who would give confidence and protection to the country; as I concluded that the prestige of the Khedive would be sufficient to establish order among his subjects, by the representation of one of his officers and a detachment of 100 troops.

I gave orders to Gimoro and Shooli to prepare carriers for the journey to Unyoro.

An untoward occurrence had taken place shortly after our arrival at

Fatiko.

As has already been described, the Lobore natives had not only cheated us out of many cows that had been received, for which the carriers had not been forthcoming, but numbers had deserted on the road, which had caused the troops great trouble and fatigue, as they had been obliged to divide among them the abandoned loads. Upon our arrival at Fatiko, the son of sheik Abbio, of Lobore, would have absconded with all his people, had he not been retained by the troops. This man was responsible for the natives who had engaged themselves for the journey.

It would have been the height of imprudence to have permitted the immediate departure of our carriers before I had arranged for the future, thus about eighty were secured by the soldiers, including the sheik's son, from a general stampede that took place.

I ordered them to be disarmed, as I considered that if unarmed, they would not venture alone through the Madi country.

In the evening they were secured by a slight line tied round each man's neck, and connected in gangs of five. A guard was placed over them in addition to the usual sentries.

At about 4 a.m. a signal was given by one of their people. Every man had gnawed through his cord with his teeth during the darkness, and at the concerted cry in a language that no one understood, the entire party, of upwards of eighty men, knocked down the astonished guard, also the sentries, and rushed headlong over the rocks in the direction of Lobore.

It was a natural impulse and a soldier's duty to fire in the direction of the assailants, as the overturned sentries quickly recovered and joined the guard in a volley.

I was up in an instant, and upon arrival at the spot I was informed of the occurrence. It was pitch dark, therefore a lantern was brought, and after a search, three bodies were discovered of the rash and unfortunate Lobore. I was exceedingly sorry that such an event had happened, at the same time I could hardly blame the sentries. I was much afraid that if three were shot dead, others must have escaped wounded, and altogether the affair would have a bad effect at Lobore.

The sheik of Fatiko was named Wat-el-Ajoos. This name had been given him by the slave-hunters, meaning "Son of the old man." His village was not quite half a mile from our camp, and he frequently came to see me with his interpreter, accompanied by his wives.

Upon his first visit I gave him a long blue shirt, together with some yards of Turkey red cambric, to form a waist sash; also a red fez and two razors, with a quantity of beads for his wives.

Fatiko is merely a district of the great country of Shooli, which is governed by the sheik, Rot Jarma. This person had sent word that he intended to visit me, to tender his allegiance to the government.

On 16th March, a wild sound of many horns was the first introduction, and shortly after, a number of his people advanced chanting a peculiar low song, and dancing a solemn slow step. The great sheik came behind them. He was quickly ushered into my presence beneath a shady acacia, close to my tent door. He was perfectly red from head to toes, having been freshly smeared with red ochre and grease for the interview. A well-dressed skin of an antelope was slung across his shoulder, and descending across his loins it constituted his scanty clothing.

His conversation was merely a repetition of the old story being a series of complaints against the slave-hunters. He declared that he had never visited Abou Saood or any of his people, but that when he had heard of my arrival, he had determined at once to offer his allegiance, and he and all adjacent countries would serve the government faithfully, in return for protection and justice.

I assured him that he had nothing to fear from the slave-hunters in future, as I should leave Major Abdullah and a detachment of troops to represent the government during my absence. He was to supply them with corn, and to yield the same obedience to Major Abdullah as he would to me. I gave him nine yards of red cotton cloth, six pounds of beads, two razors, one comb, two horn snakes in boxes, one knife, one burning glass, one zinc mirror, two nickel spoons, three rods of thick brass wire, two finger rings, two pair of ear-rings, two red and yellow cotton handkerchiefs.

The total value of this extensive present was about twenty-one shillings.

Before he had arrived, he had requested that a goat might be sent to be slaughtered at a stream before he should cross over; otherwise bad luck would attend his visit. Of course this was acceded to, and the goat was sacrificed and eaten by his people.

I gave him, according to my usual custom with all sheiks and headmen, seeds of the best Egyptian cotton, tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, water-melons, sweet-melons, barmian, maize, &c., &c.

Before parting, I amused and shocked him with the magnetic battery, and he went away surprised and delighted.

I subsequently discovered that a large quantity of flour, together with some fowls which he had forwarded to me, had been stopped and appropriated by the renowned Ali Hussein. The intriguing spirit of these slave-hunters was extraordinary. It is their custom never to receive a sheik unless he brings a present. He therefore considered that if Rot Jarma should appear for the first time before me empty-handed, I should either not admit him, or perhaps be prejudiced against him; thus he had stolen the customary gift of introduction in order to create ill-will on my part towards Rot Jarma, who had never yet condescended to visit the station of Abou Saood . . . . .