Ismailia Part 4

"March 3.--Filling up with wood from the forest.

"March 4.--Sent the steamer back to the station of Kutchuk Ali, the trader, to procure some cattle for the troops. In this neighbourhood there is dry land with many villages, but the entire country has been pillaged by Kutchuk Ali's people--the natives murdered, the women carried off, &c.

"Raouf Bey counted the bodies of eighteen natives who had been shot near the trader's camp. Yesterday I went to a native village, and made friends with the people, some of whom came down to our boats; they complained bitterly that they were subject to pillage and ma.s.sacre by the traders. These so-called traders are the people of Kutchuk Ali, THE OFFICER EMPLOYED BY THE GOVENOR-GENERAL OF THE SOUDAN to command his expedition to the Bahr Gazal!

"Filled up with a large supply of wood ready to start tomorrow.

"March 5.--Great good fortune! A fine north wind for the first time during many days. All the vessels sailing well. We started at 7 a.m. Saw a Baleniceps Rex[*]; this is the second of these rare birds that I have seen.

[*Footnote: The whale-headed stork, or Baleniceps Rex, is only met with in the immense swamps of the White Nile. This bird feeds generally upon water sh.e.l.lfish, for which nature has provided a most powerful beak armed with a hook at the extremity.)

"At 1 p.m., as we were steaming easily, I happened to be asleep on the p.o.o.p-deck, when I was suddenly awakened by a shock, succeeded almost immediately by the cry, 'The ship's sinking!' A hippopotamus had charged the steamer from the bottom, and had smashed several floats off her starboard paddle. A few seconds later he charged our diahbeeah, and striking her bottom about ten feet from the bow, he cut two holes through the iron plates with his tusks. There was no time to lose, as the water was rushing in with great force. Fortunately, in this land of marsh and floating gra.s.s, there were a few feet of tolerably firm ground rising from the deep water. Running alongside, all hands were hard at work discharging cargo with great rapidity, and baling out with every conceivable utensil, until we obtained a.s.sistance from the steamer, whose large hand pump and numerous buckets at length so far overcame the rush of water, that we could discover the leaks.

"We now found two clean holes punched through the iron as though driven by a sharp pickaxe. Some hours were occupied in repairing the damage by plastering white lead upon some thick felt; this was placed over the holes, and small pieces of plank being laid over the felt, they were secured by an upright piece of timber tightened with wedges from a cross-beam. The leaks were thus effectually and permanently stopped.

"By sunset all was completed and the vessel reloaded; but I sent twenty-eight boxes of snider ammunition on board the tender. This miserable wood tender has sprung her yard so that she cannot carry sail.

The day was entirely lost together with a fine north wind.

"March, 6.--Brisk wind from the north. Started at 5.45 a.m., but at 7 a.m. something happened to the engine, and the steamer stopped until eight. After frequent stoppages, owing to the sharp bends in the narrow river, we arrived at the spot where we had formerly opened the dam; there the current ran like a rapid.

"March 7.--Much difficulty in ascending the river, but upon arrival at the dry ground (called the 'dubba'), we found the No. 8 steamer and the whole fleet a.s.sembled, with the exception of six that are in sight.

"March 8.--The other vessels arrived; I have thus thirty-four sail, including the two steamers. The entire country is swamp, covered with immensely high water-gra.s.s, beneath which the depth is considerable. The reputed main channel of the river is supposed to come from S.W., this is only denoted by a stream three or four feet broad, concealed by high gra.s.s, and in places choked by the Pistia Stratiotes. These surface plants, which resemble floating cabbages with fine thready roots, like a human beard of sixteen inches in length, form dense ma.s.ses which are very difficult to clear

"Our guides are useless, as we cannot depend upon their contradictory statements. We are in a deplorable position--the whole fleet in a cul-de-sac; the river has disappeared; an unknown distance of apparently boundless marsh lies before us; there is no wood, and there is no possibility of moving without cutting a channel.

"I have ordered thirty vessels to form in line, single file, and to cut a ca.n.a.l.

"March. 9.--The men worked famously, but I much fear they will be laid up with fever if kept at such an unhealthy task. To-day a force of 700 men cut about a mile and a half. They are obliged to slash through with swords and knives, and then to pull out the greater portion of the gra.s.s and vegetable trash; this is piled like artificial banks on either side upon the thick floating surface of vegetation. I took a small boat and pushed on for a mile and a half. I found a very narrow stream, like a small brook, which gave hopes of lighter labour for to-morrow. I shall therefore try to force the steamer through. Thirty-two men reported on the sick list this evening.

"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 mora.s.s. All stopped at a black muddy pond in the swamp. The river is altogether lost. We have to cut a pa.s.sage through the mora.s.s. 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 ma.s.ses 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 ca.n.a.l 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 gra.s.s 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 ma.s.s 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 pa.s.s 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 G.o.d 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 gra.s.s 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 pa.s.sage through the green gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s 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 sh.e.l.l, 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 sh.e.l.l, as it was an invention of my own that had been manufactured by Mr.

Reilly, [*] the gunmaker, of London. This sh.e.l.l 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 sh.e.l.l for service.

[*Footnote: 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.]

"On an examination of the head of the hippopotamus, I found that the sh.e.l.l 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 ma.s.sive bone that formed the back of the skull. The velocity of the projectile had carried the fragments of the sh.e.l.l 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 sh.e.l.l.

"The hippopotamus having been divided among the men, I sent Raouf Bey with a large force to a.s.sist 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 a.s.sistance 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 ma.s.s 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 gra.s.s.

"The whole fleet ranged in single line to widen the pa.s.sage. 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.