United States or Turkmenistan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The station of Tewfikeeyah had now assumed an important aspect, and I much regretted that when the time should arrive for our departure to the south it would be abandoned: however, I determined to keep all hands employed, as there is nothing so demoralizing to troops as inaction.
I gave him a musical box and a meerschaum pipe, with a lovely woman's face carved on the bowl. He was very much amused with the idea of the smoke issuing from the head. I also gave his wives some grey calico, red handkerchiefs, and gaudy ear-rings. They went away delighted. "At 9 P.M., the steamer's boat came up to report her arrival at Tewfikeeyah.
The seeds of dangerous disorders, that had been sown by the malaria of the swamps, had now exhibited themselves in fatal attacks of dysentery, that quickly formed a cemetery at Tewfikeeyah. The Egyptian troops were generally sickly and dispirited, and went to their daily work in a slouching, dogged manner, that showed their passive hatred of the employment.
Quat Kare never eats or drinks in the presence of his people, but his food is taken to him either within a hut or to a lonely tree. On the following morning both the governor of Fashoda and the old king returned to their respective homes. On the 10th May, a sail was reported by the sentries in the south. None of the slave-traders had any intelligence of my station at Tewfikeeyah.
The fifteen large sloops had failed to pass the cataract; thus, I was reduced to the miserable open vessels of Khartoum, and even these were of an inferior description and few in number. Fortunately I had brought ten empty vessels with me from Tewfikeeyah, otherwise we should not have had sufficient transport for the necessary supply of corn.
We shall therefore arrive to-day at about 4 P.M. We have been exactly 19 1/2 hours steaming from Kutchuk Ali's station to the ambatch. We left Tewfikeeyah at 11 o'clock; we have therefore been twenty-seven days to the spot at the dubba that we should reach this evening. Last year we left Khartoum on 8th February, and we arrived at the station in the following order:
"Although these people complain of want, they actually purchased 126 slaves during the journey from Tewfikeeyah, thus adding to the number of mouths, and at the same time acting against my positive orders. "They say there is no corn in the country, but as yet they know nothing of the neighbourhood, with the exception of Belinian; and when in the midst of plenty they will not collect it.
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.
Those who had been slaves liberated by me from the traders' vessels at Tewfikeeyah, had learnt their duties, and had become very useful. My wife had trained some nice girls of seventeen or eighteen to household duties, in addition to half a dozen excellent boys, who were all neatly clothed, and kept in admirable discipline.
This entails the necessity of my sending him a letter seventy miles distant to order the return of the boat section immediately. "December 21. Thermometer at 6 A.M., 63 degrees; water in goolah, 52 degrees. I sent Abdullah Uz Bashi to Tewfikeeyah with a letter to the governor of Fashoda, which the Shillooks were to forward immediately.
Word Of The Day