South of the Kyks dwell the Elliàbs, who are less timid than the southern tribes, because they come less frequently into contact with the traders. In their country the White Nile divides into two branches, and here the expedition separated, each division taking a different channel. The water was so low that the vessels stuck fast in the mud, but were relieved by the friendly natives, who dragged them through the shallows by means of long tow-ropes. For this service they were paid in glass beads. The further the vessels went into regions where intercourse with the Egyptian traders is rare, and therefore fewer outrages are perpetrated, the more friendly, confiding and unconcerned was the behavior of the natives.
On the thirty-first of December the expedition reached the country of the Zhirs. The people came down to the water’s edge to greet them, the women clapping their hands and singing a song of welcome. On the second of January, 1850, Dr. Knoblecher saw in the south-east the granite mountain of Nierkanyi, which lies in the Bari country, in about the fifth degree of north latitude. It was the first elevation he had seen since leaving Djebel Defafangh, in the country of the Dinkas, in lat. 10° 35′. All the intervening space is a vast savannah, interspersed with reedy swamps of stagnant water. The Zhirs own numerous flocks and herds, and cultivate large fields of sesamè and dourra. They are very superior to the Nuehrs and Kyks in stature, symmetry of form and their manners toward strangers. In all these tribes, the men go entirely naked, while the women wear a narrow girdle of sheepskin around the loins. Dr. Knoblecher, however, confirmed the statement of Werne as to the modesty of their demeanor and the evident morality of their domestic life.
After leaving the Zhirs the expedition entered the country of the Baris, and on the fourteenth of January reached the rapids of the White Nile, at the island of Tsanker, in 4° 49′ N. This was the farthest point reached by all previous expeditions, as they found it impossible to advance further with their vessels. The Nubian pilot, Suleyman Abou-Zeid, determined to make the attempt, and on the following day, aided by a strong north-wind, stemmed the rapid and reached the broad, lake-like expanse of river above it. Continuing his voyage, Dr. Knoblecher sailed sixteen miles further, to the Bari village of Tokiman. The country was exceedingly rich and beautiful, abounding in trees, and densely peopled. The current of the river was more rapid, its waters purer, and the air seemed to have entirely lost the depressing miasmatic exhalations of the regions further north. The inhabitants of Tokiman showed great astonishment at the sight of the vessels and their white occupants. Nothing, however, affected them so much as the tones of a harmonica, played by Dr. Knoblecher. Many of the people shed tears of delight, and the chief offered the sovereignty of his tribe in exchange for the wonderful instrument.
On the sixteenth, the expedition reached the village of Logwek, which takes its name from a solitary granite peak, about six hundred feet high, which stands on the left bank of the Nile. It is in lat. 4° 10′ N., and this is the most southern point which has yet been reached on the White Nile. Dr. Knoblecher ascended the mountain, which commanded a view of almost the entire Bari country. Towards the south-west the river wound out of sight between the mountains Rego and Kidi, near which is the mountain of Kereg, containing rich iron mines which are worked by the natives. Towards the south, on the very verge of the horizon, rose a long range of hills, whose forms could not be observed with exactness, owing to the great distance. Beyond the Logwaya range, which appeared in the east, dwell the Berri tribes, whose language is distinct from the Baris, and who are neighbors of the Gallas—that warlike race, whose domain extends from Abyssinia to the wilds of Mozambique, along the great central plateau of Uniamesi. The natives of Logwek knew nothing whatever of the country to the south. The farthest mountain-range was probably under the parallel of lat. 3° N., so that the White Nile has now been traced nearly to the Equator. At Logwek, it was about six hundred and fifty feet wide, and from five to eight feet deep, at the time of Dr. Knoblecher’s visit, which was during the dry season. Such an abundance of water allows us to estimate with tolerable certainty the distance to its unknown sources, which must undoubtedly lie beyond the Equator.
The great snow mountain of Kilimandjarò, discovered in 1850 by Dr. Krapf, the German missionary, on his journey inland from Mombas, on the coast of Zanzibar, has been located by geographers in lat. 3° S. It is therefore most probable that the source of the White Nile will be found in the range of mountains, of which Kilimandjarò is the crowning apex. The geographer Berghaus, in a long and labored article, endeavors to prove that the Gazelle River is the true Nile, and makes it rise in the great lake N’Yassi, in lat. 13° S. Dr. Knoblecher, however, who examined the Bahr el-Ghazàl at its mouth, says it is an unimportant stream, with a scarcely perceptible current. He considers the White Nile as being, beyond all question, the true river. He also informed me, that, while at Logwek, some of the natives spoke of people white like himself, who lived far towards the south. I do not believe in the fable of a white civilized race in the interior of Africa, and consider this rather as referring to the Portuguese settlements on the coast of the Indian Ocean, reports of which would readily be carried inland, from one tribe to another. Dr. Knoblecher is of the opinion that no exploring expedition from Khartoum will be successful; that the traveller must first stop in the Bari country long enough to gain some knowledge of its people, and then, with a company of the natives as his attendants, make that his starting point.
The shortness of Dr. Knoblecher’s stay among the Baris did not permit him to obtain much information concerning them. They appeared to be worshippers of trees, like the Dinkas and Shillooks, but to have a glimmering idea of the future existence of the soul. They are brave and fearless in their demeanor, yet cheerful, good-natured and affectionate towards each other. Werne frequently observed the men walking along the shore with their arms around each other’s necks. They are even more colossal in their stature than the Shillooks, many of them reaching a height of seven feet. Their forms are well-knit, symmetrical, and indicate great strength and activity. In smelting and working up the iron ore of Mount Kereg they show a remarkable skill. Many of the spears in Dr. Knoblecher’s possession are as elegantly formed and as admirably tempered as if they had come from the hands of a European blacksmith. They also have war-clubs of ebony, which are nearly as hard and heavy as iron. One end is of a sloping, oval form, and the other sharp, and they are said to throw them a distance of fifty or a hundred yards with such precision that the sharp point strikes first and the club passes through the body like a lance. I have in my possession some of these clubs, which were presented to me by Dr. Knoblecher.
On the seventeenth of January the expedition left Logwek on its return to Khartoum, the traders having procured all the ivory which the natives had collected since the previous year. The Missionaries were prevented from accomplishing their object by the jealousy of the traders, who persuaded the Bari chiefs that they were magicians, and that if they were allowed to remain, they would bewitch the country, prevent the rains from falling and destroy the crops of dourra. In consequence of these reports the chiefs and people, who had been on the most friendly terms with Dr. Knoblecher and Padre Angelo, suddenly became shy and suspicious, and refused to allow the latter to take up their residence among them. The design of the mission was thus frustrated, and the Vicar returned with the expedition to Khartoum. He designed leaving for the Bari country in November, 1852, but up to the present moment[5] no account has been received of the fulfilment of his plans.
The pictures which these recent explorations present to us, add to the stately and sublime associations with which the Nile is invested, and that miraculous flood will lose nothing of his interest when the mystery which veils his origin shall be finally dispelled. Although in standing upon the threshold of his vast central realms, I felt that I had realized a portion of my dream, I could not turn away from the vision of those untrodden solitudes, crowned by the flashing snows of Kilimandjarò, the monarch of African mountains, without a keen pang of regret. Since Columbus first looked upon San Salvador, the Earth has but one emotion of triumph left in her bestowal—and that she reserves for him who shall first drink from the fountains of the White Nile, under the snow-fields of Kilimandjarò.