At
once all the drums and bugles then sounded the advance, and 500 heavy
sacks were dropped into the row of piles, and firmly stamped down by the
men. The troops now worked with intense energy. It was a race between
the Soudanis and the Egyptians; this was labour to which the latter were
accustomed in their own country. The sailors worked as vigorously as the
troops; piles of fascines and clay balls were laid with extraordinary
rapidity, while some stamped frantically and danced upon the entangled
mass, all screaming and shouting in great excitement, and the bugles and
drums kept up an incessant din. A long double line of men formed a
transport corps, and passed a never-failing supply of fascines to the
workers who stood in the water and kneaded firmly the adhesive mass.
At 2.15 P.M. the river was completely shut in, and the people with
increased energy worked at the superstructure of the dam, which now rose
like a causeway for about one hundred and ten yards from shore to shore.
At 3.30 the water had risen to an extent that obliged the men in some
places to swim. The steamer that had been hopelessly stranded, and the
entire fleet, were floating merrily in the pond. Thank God, I had
forgotten nothing in the preparatory arrangements for the expedition.
Without the spades, hoes, grass-knives, bill-hooks, timber, &c., &c.,
we never could have succeeded in this journey.
My diahbeeah was in the lake waiting for the fleet to accomplish the
passage. I had made an excursion one day in the dingy to examine the
south end of the lake, which I found to be about eight miles in length.
On returning, I was rather anxious for the small boat, as a bull
hippopotamus made a hostile demonstration. The water was not more than
five feet six inches deep; thus as the hippo, after having snorted and
sunk, continued to approach the boat, I could distinguish the path of
his advance by the slight wave raised upon the surface. He presently
raised his head about twenty yards from the boat, but at the same time
he received a Reilly explosive shell under the eye which ended his
worldly cares.
There were many hippopotami in this lake, and, very shortly after I had
killed the first, I shot a second much in the same manner. I always
carried a harpoon in the boat with the rope and ambatch float. The
latter was painted red, so that it could be easily observed. I
therefore, stuck the harpoon in the dead hippopotamus as a mark, and
hastened back to my diahbeeah for assistance, as the flesh of two
hippopotami would be very welcome to the people, who had not received
rations of butcher's meat for many weeks. On arrival at the diahbeeah we
quickly made sail, and soon returned to the hippopotamus.
