He had lived and died in our
service a good Christian. Our voyage was nearly over, and we looked
forward to home and friends, but we had still fatigues before us: poor
Saat had reached his home and rest. Two faithful followers we had
buried, - Johann Schmidt at the commencement of the voyage, and Saat at
its termination.
A few miles from this spot, a head wind delayed us for several days.
Losing patience, I engaged camels from the Arabs; and riding the whole
day, we reached Khartoum about half an hour after sunset on the 5th of
May, 1865.
On the following morning we were welcomed by the entire European
population of Khartoum, to whom are due my warmest thanks for many kind
attentions. We were kindly offered a house by Monsieur Lombrosio, the
manager of the Khartoum branch of the "Oriental and Egyptian Trading
Company."
I now heard the distressing news of the death of my poor friend
Speke. I could not realize the truth of this melancholy report
until I read the details of his fatal accident in the appendix of
a French translation of his work. It was but a sad consolation
that I could confirm his discoveries, and bear witness to the
tenacity and perseverance with which he had led his party through
the untrodden path of Africa to the first Nile source. This
being the close of the expedition, I wish it to be distinctly
understood how thoroughly I support the credit of Speke and Grant
for their discovery of the first and most
elevated source of the Nile in the great Victoria N'yanza.
Although I call the river between the two lakes the "Somerset," as
it was named by Speke upon the map he gave to me, I must repeat
that it is positively the Victoria Nile, and the name "Somerset"
is only used to distinguish it, in my description, from the entire
Nile that issues from the Albert N'yanza.
Whether the volume of water added by the latter lake be greater than
that supplied by the Victoria, the fact remains unaltered: the Victoria
is the highest and first-discovered source; the Albert is the second
source, but the ENTIRE RESERVOIR of the Nile waters. I use the term
SOURCE as applying to each reservoir as a head or main starting-point of
the river. I am quite aware that it is a debated point among
geographers, whether a lake can be called a SOURCE, as it owes its
origin to one or many rivers; but, as the innumerable torrents of the
mountainous regions of Central Africa pour into these great reservoirs,
it would be impossible to give preference to any individual stream. Such
a theory would become a source of great confusion, and the Nile sources
might remain forever undecided; a thousand future travellers might
return, each with his particular source in his portfolio, some stream of
insignificant magnitude being pushed forward as the true origin of the
Nile.
I found few letters awaiting me at Khartoum: all the European population
of the place had long ago given us up for lost. It was my wish to start
without delay direct for England, but there were extraordinary
difficulties in this wretched country of the Soudan. A drought of two
years had created a famine throughout the land, attended by a cattle and
camel plague, that had destroyed so many camels that all commerce was
stagnated. No merchandise could be transported from Khartoum; thus no
purchases could be made by the traders in the interior: the country,
always wretched, was ruined. The plague, or a malignant typhus, had run
riot in Khartoum: out of 4,000 black troops, only a remnant below 400
remained alive!
This frightful malady, that had visited our boat, had revelled in the
filth and crowded alleys of the Soudan capital.
The Blue Nile was so low that even the noggurs drawing three feet of
water could not descend the river. Thus, the camels being dead, and the
river impassable, no corn could be brought from Sennaar and Watmedene:
there was a famine in Khartoum - neither fodder for animals, nor food for
man. Being unable to procure either camels or boats, I was compelled to
wait at Khartoum until the Nile should rise sufficiently to enable us to
pass the cataracts between that town and Berber.
[The want of water in the Blue Nile, as here described, exemplifies the
theory that Lower Egypt owes its existence during the greater portion of
the year entirely to the volume of the White Nile.]
We remained two months at Khartoum. During this time we were subjected
to intense heat and constant dust-storms, attended with a general plague
of boils. Verily, the plagues of Egypt remain to this day in the Soudan.
On the 26th June, we had the most extraordinary dust-storm that had ever
been seen by the inhabitants. I was sitting in the courtyard of my
agent's house at about 4:30 P.M.: there was no wind, and the sun was as
bright as usual in this cloudless sky, when suddenly a gloom was cast
over all, - a dull yellow glare pervaded the atmosphere. Knowing that
this effect portended a dust-storm, and that the present calm would be
followed by a hurricane of wind, I rose to go home, intending to secure
the shutters. Hardly had I risen, when I saw approaching, from the S.W.
apparently, a solid range of immense brown mountains, high in air. So
rapid was the passage of this extraordinary phenomenon, that in a few
minutes we were in actual pitchy darkness. At first there was no wind,
and the peculiar calm gave an oppressive character to the event.
