The Rear
Flag Is Also Guarded By Six Or Eight Men, With A Box Of Spare
Ammunition.
With these arrangements the party is always ready to support
an attack.
Ibrahim, my new ally, was now riding in front of the line, carrying on
his saddle before him a pretty little girl, his daughter, a child of a
year and a half old; her mother, a remarkably pretty Bari girl, one of
his numerous wives, was riding behind him on an ox. We soon got into
conversation; - a few pieces of sugar given to the child and mother by
Mrs. Baker was a sweet commencement; and Ibrahim then told me to beware
of my own men, as he knew they did not intend to remain with me; that
they were a different tribe from his men, and they would join Chenooda's
people and desert me on our arrival at their station in Latooka. This
was a corroboration of all I had heard previous to leaving Gondokoro,
therefore I had the promised mutiny in perspective. I had noticed that
my men were even more sullen than usual since I had joined Ibrahim;
however, I succeeded in convincing him that he would benefit so
decidedly by an alliance with me, that he now frankly told me that I
should receive no opposition from his party. So far all had prospered
beyond my most sanguine expectations. We were fairly launched upon our
voyage, and now that we were in the wild interior, I determined to crush
the mutiny with an iron hand should the rascals attempt to carry their
murderous threats into execution. Two or three of the men appeared
willing, but the original ringleader, "Bellaal," would literally do
nothing, not even assisting at loading the animals; but swaggering about
with the greatest insolence.
After a fatiguing march of eight hours and ten minutes through a
perfectly flat country interspersed with trees, we halted at a little
well of excessively bad water at 7.35 P.M. The horses were so much in
advance that the main party did not arrive until 11 P.M. completely
fatigued. The night being fine, we slept on a hillock of sand a few
yards from the well, rejoiced to be away from the mosquitoes of
Gondokoro.
On the following morning we started at sunrise, and in two hours' fast
marching we arrived at the Kanieti river Although there had been no
rain, the stream was very rapid and up to the girths of the horses at
the ford. The banks were very abrupt and about fifteen feet deep, the
bed between forty and fifty yards wide; thus a considerable volume of
water is carried down to the river Sobat by this river during the rains.
The whole drainage of the country, tends to the east, and accordingly
flows into the Sobat.
The range of mountains running south from Ellyria is the watershed
between the east and west drainage; the Sobat receiving it on the one
hand, and the White Nile on the other, while the Nile eventually
receives the entire flow by the Sobat, as previously mentioned, in lat.
9 degrees 22 minutes. Having scrambled up the steep bank of the Kanieti
river, we crossed a large field of dhurra, and arrived at the village of
Wakkala. The village, or town, is composed of about seven hundred
houses, the whole being most strongly protected by a system of palisades
formed of "babanoose," the hard iron wood of the country. Not only is it
thus fortified, but the palisades are also protected by a hedge of
impervious thorns that grow to a height of about twenty feet. The
entrance to this fort is a curious archway, about ten feet deep, formed
of the iron-wood palisades, with a sharp turn to the right and left
forming a zigzag. The whole of the village thus fenced is situated in
the midst of a splendid forest of large timber. The inhabitants of
Wakkala are the same as the Ellyria, but governed by an independent
chief. They are great hunters; and as we arrived I saw several parties
returning from the forest with portions of wild boar and buffalo.
From Gondokoro to this spot I had not seen a single head of game, but
the immediate neighbourhood of Wakkala was literally trodden down by the
feet of elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, rhinoceros, and varieties of
large antelopes.
Having examined the village, I ordered my people to unload the animals
in the forest about a quarter of a mile from the entrance. The soil was
extremely rich, and the ground being shaded from the scorching rays of
the sun by the large trees, there was abundance of fine grass, which
accounted for the presence of the game: good pasturage, extensive
forests, and a plentiful supply of water insuring the supply of wild
animals.
In a few minutes my horses and donkeys were luxuriating on the rich
herbage, not having tasted grass for some days; the camels revelled in
the foliage of the dark green mimosas; and the men, having found on the
march a buffalo that had been caught in a trap and there killed by a
lion, obtained some meat, and the whole party were feeding. We had
formed a kind of arbour by hacking out with a sabre a delightful shady
nook in the midst of a dense mass of creepers, and there we feasted upon
a couple of roast fowls that we had procured from the natives for glass
beads. This was the first meat we had tasted since we had quitted
Gondokoro.
At 5.10 P.M. we left this delightful spot, and marched. Emerging from
the forest we broke upon a beautiful plain of fine low grass, bounded on
our right hand by jungle. This being the cool hour of evening, the plain
was alive with game, including buffaloes, zebras, and many varieties of
large antelopes. It was a most enlivening sight to see them scouring
over the plain as we advanced; but our large party, and three red flags
streaming in the breeze, effectually prevented us from getting
sufficiently near for a shot.
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