At this place the
traders had founded a new settlement that was now without in habitants,
and was represented by half-a-dozen broken-down old huts.
"The country is sadly changed; formerly, pretty native villages in great
numbers were dotted over the landscape, beneath shady clumps of trees,
and the land was thickly populated. Now, all is desolate: not a village
exists on the mainland; they have all been destroyed, and the
inhabitants have been driven for refuge on the numerous low islands of
the river; these are thronged with villages, and the people are busily
cultivating the soil.
"I sent for the chief, Allorron, who, upon arrival with some other
natives, explained that his country had been destroyed by the attacks of
the people of Loquia at the instigation of the traders. I promised him
protection if he and his people would return to the mainland and become
true subjects to the Khedive. At the same time I informed him that, in
return for protection, his people must cultivate corn, and build the
huts required for the troops upon arrival. This he promised to do, and I
arranged that he should summon a general meeting of the headmen and
their people to-morrow, or as soon as possible.
"I at once cleared a small plot of ground and sowed some garden seeds on
the new soil now annexed to Egypt. My soldiers took a great interest in
the operation, and as we covered the seeds with light earth, we
concluded the sowing with the usual ejaculation-'Biamillah!' (in the
name of God).
"I walked up to the old mission station. Not one brick remains upon
another - all is totally destroyed. The few fruit-trees planted by the
pious hands of the Austrian Missionaries remain in a tangled wilderness
by the river's bank. The beautiful avenue of large lemon trees has been
defaced by the destruction of many boughs, while the ground beneath is
literally covered by many thousands of withered lemons that have fallen
neglected from the branches without a hand to gather them. The natives
will not eat them, thus the delicious fruit has been wasted; perhaps
sixty or eighty bushels have rotted on the earth. I trust that the seeds
I have already sown will have a more useful result than the lost labour
of the unfortunate missionaries. It would be heartbreaking to them could
they see the miserable termination of all their good works.
April 16. - The mileage from the junction of the Bahr Giraffe I have
calculated at 364 to this point (Gondokoro); but I deduct 10 per cent.,
as we took several wrong turns of the river. The distance may be about
330 miles.
From Bahr Giraffe, junction to Gondokoro 330 miles
Upper Nile junction to Dubba on Bahr Giraffe 48 miles
Dubba to Lower Nile junction 300 miles
Lower Nile junction to Sobat 38 miles
Sobat to Khartoum 693 miles
1,409 miles to Gondokoro."
The chief Allorron arrived with a number of his people, and asked for
"araki and cognac!" He is a big and savage-looking naked brute of the
lowest description, his natural vices having been increased by constant
associations with the slave-hunters.
