The Worst Flies Were The Small Grey Species, With A Long
Proboscis, Similar To Those That Are Often Seen In Houses In England.
[*Footnote: After the Khedive's eldest son, Mahomed Tewfik Pacha]
In an incredibly short time the station fell into shape. I constructed
three magazines of galvanized iron, each eighty feet in length, and the
head storekeeper, Mr. Marcopolo, at last completed his arduous task of
storing the immense amount of supplies that had been contained in the
fleet of vessels.
This introduced us to the White Nile rats, which volunteered their
services in thousands, and quickly took possession of the magazines by
tunneling beneath, and appearing in the midst of a rat's paradise, among
thousands of bushels of rice, biscuits, lentils, &c. The destruction
caused by these animals was frightful. They gnawed holes in the sacks,
and the contents poured upon the ground like sand from an hour-glass, to
be immediately attacked and destroyed by white ants. There was no lime
in the country, nor stone of any kind, thus it was absolutely impossible
to stop the ravages of white ants except by the constant labour of
turning over the vast masses of boxes and stores, to cleanse them from
the earthen galleries which denote their presence.
I had European vegetable seeds of all kinds, and having cleared and
grubbed up a portion of forest, we quickly established gardens. The
English quarter was particularly neat. The various plots were separated
by fences, and the ground was under cultivation for about two acres
extending to the margin of the river. I did not build a house for
myself, as we preferred our comfortable diahbeeah, which was moored
alongside the garden, from the entrance of which, a walk led to a couple
of large shady mimosas that formed my public divan, where all visitors
were received.
In a short time we had above ground sweet melons, watermelons, pumpkins,
cabbages, tomatoes, cauliflowers, beet-root, parsley, lettuce, celery,
&c., but all the peas, beans, and a very choice selection of maize that
I had received from England, were destroyed during the voyage. Against
my express orders, the box had been hermetically sealed, and the
vitality of the larger seeds was entirely gone. Seeds should be simply
packed in brown paper bags and secured in a basket.
The neighbouring country was, as usual in the White Nile districts, flat
and uninteresting. Forest and bush clothed the banks of the river, but
this formed a mere fringe for a depth of about half a mile, beyond which
all was open prairie.
Although there was a considerable extent of forest, there was a dearth
of useful timber for building purposes. The only large trees were a
species of mimosa, named by the Arabs "kook." We were very short of
small rowing boats, those belonging to the steamers were large and
clumsy, and I wished to build a few handy dingies that would be
extremely useful for the next voyage up the obstructions of the Bahr
Giraffe. I therefore instructed the English shipwrights to take the job
in hand, and during a ramble through the forest they selected several
trees. These were quickly felled, and the sawyers were soon at work
cutting planks, keels, and all the necessary wood for boat-building. It
is a pleasure to see English mechanics at work in a wild country; they
finish a job while an Egyptian workman is considering how to do it. In a
very short time Mr. Jarvis, the head shipwright, had constructed an
impromptu workshop, with an iron roof, within the forest; several sets
of sawyers were at work, and in a few days the keel of a new boat was
laid down.
The chief mechanical engineer, Mr. McWilliam, was engaged in setting up
the steam saw-mills, and in a few weeks after our first arrival in this
uninhabited wilderness, the change appeared magical. In addition to the
long rows of white tents, and the permanent iron magazines, were
hundreds of neat huts arranged in exact lines; a large iron workshop
containing lathes, drilling machines, and small vertical saw machine;
next to this the blacksmith's bellows roared; and the constant sound of
the hammer and anvil betokened a new life in the silent forests of the
White Nile. There were several good men who had received a European
mechanical education among those I had brought from Egypt; these were
now engaged with the English engineers in repairing the engine of the
No. 10 steamer, which required a new piston. I ordered a number of very
crooked bill-hooks to be prepared for cutting the tangled vegetation
during our next voyage. The first boat, about sixteen feet long, was
progressing, and the entire station was a field of industry. The gardens
were green with vegetables, and everything would have been flourishing
had the troops been in good health. Those miserable Egyptians appeared
to be in a hopeless condition morally. It was impossible to instil any
spirit into them, and if sick, they at once made up their minds to die.
It is to be hoped that my regiment of convicts was not a fair sample of
the spirit and intelligence of the Egyptian fellah. Some of them
DESERTED.
There is an absurd prejudice among the men that the grinding of flour
upon the usual flat millstone is an unmanly task that should always be
performed by a woman. This is a very ancient prejudice, if we may judge
by the symbols found upon the flat millstones of the ancient Egyptians.
We also hear in the Testament, "two women shall be grinding together;
one shall be taken, the other left." There was a scarcity of women in
our station, and the grinding of the corn would have given rise to much
discontent had I not experienced this difficulty in a former voyage, and
provided myself with steel corn-mills. I had one of these erected for
each company of troops, and in addition to the usual labour, I always
sentenced men under punishment to so many hours at the mill.
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