These people had swum the river, and had followed the
example of the other natives to sue for peace, and to beg for elephant's
flesh.
This extraordinary craving for flesh would suggest that the Baris were
devoid of cattle. On the contrary, there are countless herds throughout
the country; but the natives have a great objection to kill them, and
merely keep the cows for their milk, and the bullocks to bleed.
The cows are also bled periodically, and the blood is boiled and eaten,
much in the same manner that black pudding is used throughout Europe. A
herd of cattle will thus provide animal food without the necessity of
slaughtering.
The great traveller, Bruce, was discredited for having described a fact
of which he was an eye-witness. This was the vivisection of a cow,
driven by natives, who cut a steak out of her hind-quarters.
I had a bull with a very large hump. (This bull was left at Fort
Fatiko.) This animal was very handsome, and was kept for stock. I
observed that the skin of the hump showed a long jagged scar from end to
end, and my people assured me that this bull had frequently been
operated upon. It had been the property of one of the slave-hunters'
parties, and they had been in the habit of removing the hump (as a
surgeon would a tumour). This is the most delicate portion of the meat,
and I was assured that the hump would always be replaced by a similar
growth after each operation.
On 18th November, I commenced the march homewards. The natives were now
friendly throughout the route, and my men were strictly forbidden to
enter a village. There was a great change in my officers and troops;
they had fallen into my ways and obeyed every order with alacrity. They
had learned to place thorough reliance upon any plans that were
arranged; and, now that they knew the necessity of obedience and
discipline, they had, imperceptibly to themselves, changed from ruffians
into very orderly soldiers.
On the march homewards, upon arrival at the foot of a mountain, I made
an excursion inland, as this was a portion of the country that I had not
yet visited, though only six miles from Gondokoro. The natives were very
shy, but I at length succeeded in obtaining an interview with their
sheik, a tall powerful fellow, named Meri. I explained that I required
no corn, nor any supplies, except stone. (This sheik Meri and his
people always remained faithful to the government from that day.)
The country abounded with pieces of gneiss with a very straight
cleavage, that suited them admirably for building purposes. All the
granaries of this country were supported upon pillars formed of single
stones, about three feet long. The houses were also protected by large
flat stones arranged like tiles around the base, and thus securing the
sides from the driven storms of rain.
On 19th November, I returned to Gondokoro highly satisfied with the
result of the campaign. Not only were my magazines all filled with more
than twelve months' supply of corn, but I had established peace
throughout a large and powerful district, and I had received promises of
assistance, and an assurance of allegiance to the government.
Abou Saood, who had received permission to go to Khartoum, had only gone
down the river as far as his station at the Bohr. There he had made
arrangements with his people that the ivory from Latooka station, 100
miles east of Gondokoro, should avoid my head-quarters, and be conveyed
by an oblique course to the Bohr. By this swindle, the government would
be cheated out of the share of two-fifths of the ivory which belonged to
them by contract with Agad & Co.
Abou Saood having personally witnessed the departure of the troops to
Khartoum, considered his game as won, and that the expedition, now
reduced to only 502 officers and men, would be compelled to centralize
at Gondokoro, without the possibility of penetrating the interior. He
had thus started for his stations in the distant south, where he
intended to incite the natives against the government, to prevent me
from following out my plans with the small force at my disposal.
This was the first time in the career of Abou Saood that he had ever
travelled inland. He had for many years been in the habit of arriving at
Gondokoro from Khartoum with the annual vessels from Agad & Co.,
bringing new levies of brigands together with fresh supplies of arms and
ammunition. He then remained at Gondokoro for several weeks, and
received the ivory and slaves collected from his various stations in the
interior with which he returned to Khartoum.
The necessity of the occasion induced him to use much personal activity.
Knowing well the date when my term of service would expire, he had only
one object, in which he had already nearly succeeded, - this was to
prevent the possibility of my advance within the given period.
It was therefore necessary for him to visit his stations, and to warn
his people to hold both their slaves and ivory until I should be
withdrawn from Gondokoro by the expiration of my term of service; after
which, he had no doubt that things would quickly return to their former
happy state. By these means he would be able to cheat the government out
of the two-fifths of all ivory; he would preserve his slaves; and a
judicious present to some high official would reinstate him in his
original position as the greatest slave-hunter of the White Nile; with
the additional kuilos of having battled the Christian Pacha.
