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Updated: June 26, 2025
We arrived at Fashoder, in the Shillook country, where the Egyptian Government had formed a camp of a thousand men to take possession of the country. We were well received and hospitably entertained by Osman Bey, to whom our thanks are due for the first civilized reception after years of savagedom.
A Shillook, named Abdullah, closely connected with Quat Kare, had promised to accompany me, and to supply the necessary guides. The river was full thus I started on 11th August, 1870. The engines of the No. 10 steamer had been thoroughly repaired during our stay at Tewfikeeyah. I had also filled my diahbeeah with selected fuel.
The Soudan authorities were compromised; my interference in the Shillook country was naturally distasteful to the governor-general. Both the government of the Soudan and the traders at Khartoum perceived that I should act in strict accordance with the instructions I had received from the Khedive.
The country, as usual, a dead flat: many Shillook villages on west bank all deserted, owing to Mahomed Her's plundering. This fellow now assumes a right of territory, and offers to pay tribute to the Egyptian Government, thus throwing a sop to Cerberus to prevent intervention.
He assured me that the Shillook country was in excellent order; and that according to the instructions received from the Khedive he had exerted himself against the slave trade, so that it was impossible for vessels to pass the station. Fashoda was well situated for this purpose, as it completely dominated the river; but I much doubted my friend's veracity.
This island was separated from the main western shore by a branch of the White Nile. The west bank was thickly lined with villages for about 200 miles of river frontage throughout the Shillook country, thus affording admirable opportunities for direct trade with vessels from Khartoum.
Thank God for His blessings during the past, and may He guide us through the untrodden path before us! We arrived at the village of Mahomed Her in the Shillook country. This man is a native of Dongola, who, having become a White Nile adventurer, established himself among the Shillook tribe with a band of ruffians, and is the arch-slaver of the Nile.
Course S.W. The river in clear water about seven hundred yards wide, but sedge on the east bank for a couple of miles in width. 2d Jan. The "Clumsy" lagging, come to grief again, having once more sprung her rotten yard. Fine breeze, but obliged to wait upon this wretched boat the usual flat uninteresting marshes: Shillook villages in great numbers on the terra firma to the west.
Dinka country on east bank; Shillook on the west; course south; all Arab tribes are left behind, and we are now thoroughly among the negroes. 29th Dec. At midnight the river made a bend westward, which continued for about fifteen miles. The wind being adverse, at 5 A.M. we found ourselves fast in the grass and floating vegetation on the lee side.
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