Thus the greatest slave-trader of the White Nile, who was so closely
connected with the Soudan government that he was a tenant who had rented
a country WHICH DID NOT BELONG TO EGYPT, now applied to that government
for protection against my interference with his murders, kidnapping, and
pillaging, which were the accompaniments of his slave-hunting in Central
Africa.
The fact of this renowned slave-hunter having the audacity to appeal to
the Egyptian authorities for assistance, at once exhibits the confidence
that the slave-traders felt in the moral support of certain official
personages who represented public opinion in their hatred to the
principal object of the expedition.
The various links in the chain which united the interests of Abou Saood
with certain officers who were opposed to the spirit of the enterprise
will be at once perceived.
From the very commencement, this man had been the chief intriguer who
had endeavoured to ruin the expedition. He had fraternized with the
Baris when they were at open war with the government. He had incited the
tribes to attack me, and at length his own companies had fired at me by
his orders. HE NOW SOUGHT THE PROTECTION OF THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT AT
CAIRO.
We shall now leave Abou Saood in Cairo, where he spread the false report
of the massacre of Lady Baker and myself, which reached England and
appeared in the newspapers in April 1873.
After Abou Saood's departure from Fabbo, the influence of Wat-el-Mek
began to be felt, and many men flocked to the government standard.
Nevertheless, that station was a scene of anarchy. The slave-hunters
were divided among themselves. The party that followed Wat-el-Mek were
nearly all Soudanis, like himself, but the Arabs were split up into
companies, each of which had elected a separate leader. This dissension
was exactly what I desired, and I played the game accordingly. As I have
before stated, I wished to avoid physical force.
Ali Genninar, whom I had engaged at Masindi, was an excellent fellow,
and before Abou Saood deserted the country, he had been the first man to
arrive at Fatike and unite with the government. He now collected
sixty-five men, whom I at once enrolled, and having given them their
government flags, I started them off without delay to support Rionga in
Unyoro, and recalled Abd-el-Kader and his troops to Fatiko. At the same
time I sent Rionga many valuable presents.
There were several terrible scoundrels at Fabbo, among whom was
Salim-Wat-Howah, who, together with Lazim, had threatened to shoot Major
Abdullah in his own camp during my absence in Unyoro.
I had Lazim in irons at Fatiko, but Salim-Wat-Howah had escaped on the
day of attack. This man Salim was the head of the greatest villains at
Fabbo, and he and his band of about one hundred men daily sallied out of
the zareeba and plundered and burnt the neighbourhood in open defiance
of Wat-el-Mek.
