A LIVELY CHASE

shafts. Many hundred poles served this purpose, and subsequently, were used at head quarters as rafters for magazines
and various buildings. The No. steamer of tons had not arrived from England. I therefore left instructions that she was
to be forwarded across the desert upon the same principles as adopted for the transport of the other vessels. I had thrown
my whole heart into the expedition; but I quickly perceived the difficulties that I should encounter in the passive
resistance of those whose interests would be affected by the suppression of the slave trade. The arrangements that I had
made would have insured success, if carried out according to the dates specified. The six steamers and the sailing flotilla
from Cairo should have started on June, in order to have ascended the cataracts of Wady Halfah at the period of high
water. Instead of this, the vessels were delayed, in the absence of the Khedive in Europe, until August; thus, by the time
they reached the second cataract, the river had fallen, and it was impossible to drag the steamers through the passage
until the next season. Thus twelve months were wasted, and I was at once deprived of the invaluable aid of six steamers.
In addition to this difficulty was the fact of inevitable delay necessitated by the festivities attending the opening of the
Suez Canal. The Khedive, with his accustomed hospitality, had made immense preparations for the reception of visitors,
and every available vessel had been prepared for the occasion. A train of forty one railway waggons laden with sections
of steamers, machinery, boiler plates, arrived at Cairo, and were embarked on board eleven hired vessels. With the
greatest difficulty I procured a steamer of horse power to tow this flotilla to Korosko, from which spot the desert journey
would commence. I obtained this steamer only by personal application to the Khedive. At length I witnessed the start of
the entire English party of engineers and mechanics, together with Mr. Higginbotham and Dr. Gedge. The steamer
Minieh, towed the lone line of eleven vessels against the powerful stream of the Nile. One of the tow ropes snipped at
the commencement of the voyage, which created some confusion, but when righted they quickly steamed. out of view.
This mass of heavy material, including two steamers, and two steel lifeboats of ten tons each, was to be transported for a
distance of about miles, of which would be across the scorching Nubian deserts The first division of the heavy baggage
had started on August, with the sloops, to ascend the cataracts direct by river to Khartoum. I dared, not trust any
portions of the steamers by this dangerous route, lest by the loss of one vessel with sections I might destroy all hope of
success. It was a relief to hove started the main branches of the expedition, after the various delays that had already
seriously endangered the chances of the White Nile voyage. For that river all vessels should leave Khartoum early in
November. On December, we brought up the rear, and left Suez on board an Egyptian sloop of war, the Senaar. In four
days and a half we reached Souakim, after an escape from wreck on the reef of Shadwan, and a close acquaintance with
a large barque, with which we nearly came into collision. The captain of our sloop was a most respect able man,
apparently about eighty years of age. The first lieutenant appeared to be somewhat his senior, and neither could see, even
with the assistance of a very greasy and dirty binocular. The various officers appeared to be vestiges from Noahs ark in
point of antiquity; thus a close shave with a reef and a near rub with a strange vessel were little incidents that might be
expected in the Red Sea. We anchored safely in the harbour of Souakim; and landed my one horses without accident. I
was met by the governor, my old friend Moomtazz Bey, a highly intelligent Circassian officer, who had shown me much
kindness on my former expedition. A weeks delay in Souakim was necessary to obtain camels. In fourteen days we
crossed the desert miles to Before on the Nile, and found a steamer and diah beeah in readiness. We arrived at Khartoum,
a distance of miles by river, in three days, having accomplished the voyage from Suez in the short space of two days,
including stoppages. Khartoum was not changed externally; but I had observed with dismay a frightful change in the
features of the country between Before and the capital since my former visit. The rich soil on the banks of the river,
which had a few years since been highly cultivated, was abandoned. Now and then a tuft of neglected date palms might
be seen, but the rivers banks, formerly verdant with heavy crops, had become a wilderness. Villages once crowded had
entirely disappeared; the population was gone. Irrigation had ceased. The night, formerly discordant with the creaking of
countless water wheels, was now silent as death. There was not a dog to howl for a lost master. Industry had vanished;
oppression had driven the inhabitants from the soil. This terrible desolation was caused by the governor general of the
Soudan, who, although himself an honest man, trusted too much to the honesty of others, who preyed upon the
inhabitants. As a good and true Mohammedan, he left his territory to the care of God, and thus, trusting in Providence,
he simply increased the taxes. In one year he sent to the Khedive his master pounds in hard dollars, wrung from the poor
peasantry, who must have lost an equal amount in the pillage that accompanies the collection. The population of the
richest province of the Soudan fled from oppression, and abandoned the country; and the greater portion betook
themselves to the slave trade of the White Nile, where, in their turn, they might trample upon the rights of others; where,
as they had been plundered, they would be able to plunder, where they could reap the harvest of anothers labour, and

CONFIDENTIAL

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