The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile, Samuel White Baker [inspirational novels .TXT] 📗

disease, which had even broken out in the station where we then

were: people died daily.

 

“The White Nile was dammed up by a freak of nature, and the crews of

thirty vessels had been occupied five weeks in cutting a ditch through

the obstruction, wide enough to admit the passage of boats.”

 

Such was the intelligence received by the latest arrival from Khartoum.

No boats having been sent for me, I engaged the diahbiah that had

arrived for Koorshid’s ivory;—this would return empty, as no ivory

could be delivered at Gondokoro. The prospect was pleasant, as many men

had died of the plague on board our vessel during the voyage from

Khartoum; thus we should be subject to a visitation of this fearful

complaint as a wind-up to the difficulties we had passed through during

our long exile in Central Africa. I ordered the vessel to be thoroughly

scrubbed with boiling water and sand, after which it was fumigated with

several pounds of tobacco, burnt within the cabin.

 

Three days were employed in ferrying the slaves across the river in the

two noggurs, or barges, as they must be returned to their respective

stations. I rejoiced at the total discomfiture of the traders, and,

observing a cloud of smoke far distant to the north, I spread the alarm

that a steamer was approaching from Khartoum! Such was the consternation

of the traders’ parties at the bare idea of such an occurrence that they

prepared for immediate flight into the interior, as they expected to be

captured by Government troops sent from Khartoum to suppress the

slave-trade. Profiting by this nervous state of affairs, I induced them

to allow the boat to start immediately, and we concluded all our

arrangements, contracting for the diahbiah at 4,000 piastres (40

pounds). The plague having broken out at Gondokoro, the victims among

the natives were dragged to the edge of the cliff and thrown into the

river;—it is impossible to describe the horrible effluvium produced by

the crowds of slaves that had been confined upon the limited area of the

station. At length the happy moment arrived that we were to quit the

miserable spot. The boat was ready to start—we were all on board, and

Ibrahim and his people came to say goodbye. It is only justice to

Ibrahim to say, that, although he had been my great enemy when at

Gondokoro in 1863, he had always behaved well since peace was

established at Ellyria; and, although by nature and profession a

slave-hunter, like others of the White Nile, he had frequently yielded

to my interference to save the lives of natives who would otherwise have

been massacred without pity.

 

I had gained an extraordinary influence over all these ruffianly people.

Everything that I had promised them had been more than performed; all

that I had foretold had been curiously realized. They now acknowledged

how often I had assured them that the slave-trade would be suppressed by

the interference of European powers, and the present ruin of their trade

was the result; they all believed that I was the cause, by having

written from Gondokoro to the Consul-general of Egypt in 1863, when the

traders had threatened to drive me back. Far from retaliating upon me,

they were completely cowed. The report had been spread throughout

Gondokoro by Ibrahim and his people that their wonderful success in

ivory hunting was chiefly due to me; that their sick had been cured;

that good luck had attended their party; that disaster had befallen all

who had been against me; and that no one had suffered wrong at our

hands. With the resignation of Mahommedans they yielded to their

destiny, apparently without any ill-feeling against us. Crowds lined the

cliff and the high ground by the old ruins of the mission station to see

us depart. We pushed off from shore into the powerful current; the

English flag that had accompanied us all through our wanderings now

fluttered proudly from the masthead unsullied by defeat, and amidst the

rattle of musketry we glided rapidly down the river, and soon lost sight

of Gondokoro.

 

What were our feelings at that moment? Overflowing with gratitude to a

Divine Providence that had supported us in sickness, and guided us

through all dangers. There had been moments of hopelessness and despair;

days of misery, when the future had appeared dark and fatal; but we had

been strengthened in our weakness, and led, when apparently lost, by an

unseen hand. I felt no triumph, but with a feeling of calm contentment

and satisfaction we floated down the Nile. My great joy was in the

meeting that I contemplated with Speke in England, I had so thoroughly

completed the task we had agreed upon.

 

Silently and easily we floated down the river; the oars keeping us in

midstream. The endless marshes no longer looked so mournful as we glided

rapidly past, and descended the current against which we had so

arduously laboured on our ascent to Gondokoro. As we thus proceeded on

our voyage through the monotonous marshes and vast herds of hippopotami

that at this season thronged the river, I had ample leisure to write my

letters for England, to be posted on arrival at Khartoum, and to look

back upon the results of the last few years. The Nile, cleared of its

mystery, resolves itself into comparative simplicity. The actual basin

of the Nile is included between about the 22 degree and 39 degree East

longitude, and from 3 degrees South to 13 degrees North latitude. The

drainage of that vast area is monopolized by the Egyptian river. The

Victoria and Albert lakes, the two great equatorial reservoirs, are the

recipients of all affluents south of the Equator; the Albert lake being

the grand reservoir in which are concentrated the entire waters from the

south, in addition to tributaries from the Blue Mountains from the north

of the Equator. The Albert N’yanza is the great basin of the Nile: the

distinction between that and the Victoria N’yanza is, that the Victoria

is a reservoir receiving the eastern affluents, and it becomes a

starting point or the most elevated SOURCE at the point where the river

issues from it at the Ripon Falls: the Albert is a reservoir not only

receiving the western and southern affluents direct from the Blue

Mountains, but it also receives the supply from the Victoria and from

the entire equatorial Nile basin. The Nile as it issues from the Albert

N’yanza is the ENTIRE Nile; prior to its birth from the Albert lake it

is NOT the entire Nile. A glance at the map will at once exemplify the

relative value of the two great lakes. The Victoria gathers all the

waters on the eastern side and sheds them into the northern extremity of

the Albert: while the latter, from its character and position, is the

direct channel of the Nile that receives all waters that belong to the

equatorial Nile basin. Thus the Victoria is the first SOURCE; but from

the Albert the river issues at once as the great White Nile.

 

It is not my intention to claim a higher value for my discovery than is

justly due, neither would I diminish in any way the lustre of the

achievements of Speke and Grant; it has ever been my object to confirm

and support their discoveries, and to add my voice to the chorus of

praise that they have so justly merited. A great geographical fact has

through our joint labours been most thoroughly established by the

discovery of the sources of the Nile. I lay down upon the map exactly

what I saw, and what I gathered from information afforded by the natives

most carefully examined.

 

My exploration confirms all that was asserted by Speke and Grant: they

traced the country from Zanzibar to the northern watershed of Africa,

commencing at about 3 degrees South latitude, at the southern extremity

of the Victoria N’yanza. They subsequently determined the river at the

Ripon Falls flowing from that lake to be the highest source of the Nile.

They had a perfect right to arrive at this conclusion from the data then

afforded. They traced the river for a considerable distance to Karuma

Falls, in lat. 2 degrees 15 minutes N.; and they subsequently met the

Nile in lat. 3 degrees 32 minutes N. They had heard that it flowed into

the Luta N’zige, and that it issued from it; thus they were correct in

all their investigations, which my discoveries have confirmed. Their

general description of the country was perfect, but not having visited

the lake heard of as the Luta N’zige, they could not possibly have been

aware of the vast importance of that great reservoir in the Nile system.

The task of exploring that extraordinary feature having been

accomplished, the geographical question of the sources of the Nile is

explained. Ptolemy had described the Nile sources as emanating from two

great lakes that received the snows of the mountains of Ethiopia. There

are many ancient maps existing upon which these lakes are marked as

positive: although there is a wide error in the latitude, the fact

remains, that two great lakes were reported to exist in Equatorial

Africa fed by the torrents from lofty mountains, and that from these

reservoirs two streams issued, the conjunction of which formed the Nile.

The general principle was correct, although the detail was wrong. There

can be little doubt that trade had been carried on between the Arabs

from the Red Sea and the coast opposite Zanzibar in ancient times, and

that the people engaged in such enterprise had penetrated so far into

the interior as to have obtained a knowledge of the existence of the two

reservoirs; thus may the geographical information originally have been

brought into Egypt.

 

The rainfall to within 3 degrees north of the Equator extends over ten

months, commencing in February and terminating in the end of November.

The heaviest rains fall from April till the end of August; during the

latter two months of this season the rivers are at their maximum: at

other times the climate is about as uncertain as that of England; but

the rain is of the heavy character usual in the tropics. Thus the rivers

are constant throughout the year, and the Albert lake continues at a

high level, affording a steady volume of water to the Nile. On the map

given to me by Captain Speke he has marked the Victoria Nile below the

Ripon Falls as the Somerset river. As I have made a point of adhering to

all native names as given by him upon that map, I also adhere to the

name Somerset river for that portion of the Nile between the Victoria

and the Albert Lakes; this must be understood as Speke’s VICTORIA NILE

source; bearing the name of Somerset, no confusion will arise in

speaking of the Nile, which would otherwise be ambiguous, as the same

name would apply to two distinct rivers—the one emanating from the

Victoria and flowing into the Albert; the other the entire river Nile as

it leaves the Albert lake. The White Nile, fed as described by the great

reservoirs supplied by the rains of equatorial districts, receives the

following tributaries:

 

From the East bank—The Asua, important from 15th April till 15th

November: dry after that date.

 

From West bank—The Ye, third class; full from 15th April till 15th

November.

 

From West bank—Another small river, third class; full from 15th April

till 15th November.

 

Ditto—The Bahr el Gazal; little or no water supplied by this river.

 

From East bank—The Sobat, first class; full from June to December.

 

The Bahr Giraffe I omit, as it is admitted by the natives to be a branch

of the White Nile that leaves the main river at the Aliab country and

reunites in