I Have No Doubt That A Series Of Such Dams Will Be
Required To Enable Us To Reach The Nile.
Should it be impossible to
proceed with the heavy vessels, I shall leave them thatched over as
floating stores, with a small guard, until the next wet season shall
raise the river level.
"February 10.-I gave orders to discharge all cargoes, so that no vessel
should draw more than three feet. All hands are now employed at this
work, as it is impossible to cut a channel through the sand, which fills
in as fast as it is deepened.
"February 11.-Twenty-seven vessels passed the diahbeeah, having
lightened their cargoes; these vessels must discharge everything at
Khor, one and a half mile ahead, and return to fetch the remaining
baggage. The work is tremendous, and the risk great. The damage of
stores is certain, and should a heavy shower fall, which the cloudy
state of the weather renders probable, the whole of our stores, now
lying on the soft mud, will be destroyed.
"To-day I cut a deeper channel near the diahbeeah, and divided the men
into gangs on the various shallow spots, to tow each boat past as she
may arrive. The steamer is hard and fast, although she has discharged
everything, and she must be literally dug out of the passage."
March 9.-From Feb. 11 to this date we had toiled through every species
of difficulty. The men had cut one straight line of canal through a
stiff clay for a distance of 600 yards. Many were sick, some had died;
there appeared to be no hope. It was in vain that I endeavoured to cheer
both officers and men with tales and assurances of the promised land
before them, should they only reach the Nile. They had worked like
slaves in these fetid marshes until their spirits were entirely
broken, - the Egyptians had ceased to care whether they lived or died.
The enormous quantity of machinery, iron sections of steamers, supplies,
&c., had actually been discharged from fifty-eight vessels. The river
had fallen still lower, and upon the quickly sun-baked surface I made a
road, and having set up my waggons, I conveyed the great mass of cargo
across the land by a short cut, and thus reached my long line of
vessels, and reloaded them after great labour. The waggons were then
taken to pieces and re-shipped. It would be wearying to give the journal
of every incident during this trying period, but from the description
already given, the fatigue and anxiety may be imagined. Thank God, I
seemed to bear a charmed life. From morning till night I was exploring
in a small boat through mud and marsh, but I was completely fever-proof.
My wife was also well. Lieutenant Baker and Mr. Higginbotham had
suffered frequently from fever, but these energetic officers rendered me
most important service. While I was ahead exploring, sounding, and
planning out the route, Lieutenant Baker was commanding and directing
the steamer, which appeared more like a huge stranded whale among the
rushes than an object adapted for the navigation of this horrible
country. I had a first-rate crew on my diahbeeah, and some picked men of
the "Forty Thieves" who always accompanied me. The best and most devoted
man that I have ever seen was a corporal of the "Forty Thieves" named
Monsoor. This man was a Copt (Christian descendant of the true
Egyptians); he was rather short, but exceedingly powerful; he swam and
dived like an otter, and never seemed to feel fatigue. He was always in
good health, very courageous, and he accompanied me like my own shadow;
he seemed to watch over me as a mother would regard an only child. In
fact, this excellent man appeared to have only one thought and object.
I had been as usual exploring far ahead of the toiling and labouring
fleet, when, after pulling our little boat with the aid of fourteen men
for several hours over a great mass of high floating grass, we suddenly
emerged upon open water. We at once took to our boat, and hoisted the
sprit-sail. The men stowed themselves as ballast in the bottom. The wind
was strong from the north, and we travelled at about five miles per
hour, the lake expanding as we rounded a promontory until it attained a
width of about half a mile. Following the course of the lake for about
five miles, we found a river flowing directly into the long-sought
channel. Only one mile and a quarter from the lake, by this small river,
we entered the great White Nile! I cannot describe my joy and
thankfulness. My men shared my feelings. We all drank water from the
turbid river, so unlike the marsh-filtered water of the swamps; and as
each man washed his hands and face in the noble stream, he ejaculated
from his heart, "El hambd el Illah!" ("Thank God!") I also thanked God.
It was an hour after dark when we returned that night, after much
difficulty, to my diahbeeah, to which we were guided by a lantern at the
mast-head, thoughtfully placed there by my wife's orders. The good news
made all happy. We had actually that day drunk water from the White
Nile!
The great difficulty remained of bringing the larger vessels into the
lake that communicated with the river. After all the labour of the last
two months, I had succeeded in assembling the entire fleet in a sort of
shallow pond, from which there was actually no exit. I had certainly
escaped from this place by dragging the little dingy over about a mile
of frightful sudd; but although this sudd covered deep water, it
appeared to be shut out from us by solid mud, through which numerous
streams percolated, the largest of which was about three feet broad and
six inches deep. These small drains concentrated in a narrow ditch,
which was the principal feeder of the pond, in which, with such infinite
trouble, the fleet had been assembled.
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