I should fail to discharge a duty of gratitude if I were to omit to acknowledge the interest displayed in behalf of my enterprise by Herr Duisberg, who was at that time Vice-consul of the North German Confederation in Khartoom. Not only did he entertain me most hospitably for several weeks in his house, but likewise exerted all his influence on his friends the ivory-traders, so as to dispose them favourably to my undertaking, and to relieve them from any fear of interference on my part with their affairs.
Notwithstanding any prejudice which might attach to him as the leader of the Protestant mission, the Vice-consul had gained the esteem of all parties in Khartoom, and was especially in favour with the Governor-General, who very thoroughly appreciated his integrity. His conciliating manners availed to satisfy the Khartoom merchants that my plan was not adverse to their interests. Hitherto they had looked upon every scientific traveller as a dangerous spy, whose visit only aimed at denouncing their transactions on the Upper Nile, and reporting them to the Consul-General in Egypt. On this occasion they consented to meet me at a sumptuous entertainment given by Herr Duisberg before my departure. All the gentry of the town, Pashas and Beys, glittering with their stars and orders, and merchants, in their gorgeous satin robes, gathered together at that feast of reconciliation between the representatives of African commerce and of European science.
The entire ivory trade of Khartoom is in the hands of six larger merchants, with whom are associated a dozen more whose business is on a smaller scale. For years the annual export of ivory has not exceeded the value of 500,000 Maria Theresa dollars. There has been a continual decrease in the yield of ivory from the territory adjacent to the river, so that last year, even that sum would not have been maintained, unless the expeditions had, season after season, been penetrating deeper into the more remote districts of the interior. It is a fallacy to suppose that the pursuit of elephants is merely a secondary consideration in these enterprises of the Khartoom merchants, or that it only serves as a cloke to disguise the far more lucrative slave trade. These two occupations have far less to do with one another than is frequently supposed. If it had not been for the high value of ivory, the countries about the sources of the Nile would even now be as little unfolded to us as the equatorial centre of the great continent: they are regions which of themselves could produce absolutely nothing to remunerate transport. The settlements owe their original existence to the ivory trade; but it must, on the other hand, be admitted that these settlements in various ways have facilitated the operations of the regular slave-traders. Without these depôts the professional slave-traders could never have penetrated so far, whilst now they are enabled to pour themselves into the negro countries annually by thousands, on the roads over Kordofan and Darfur.
MERCHANT SERIBAS.
The merchants of Khartoom, to whom I have alluded, maintain a great number of settlements in districts as near as possible to the present ivory countries, and among peaceful races devoted to agriculture. They have apportioned the territory amongst themselves, and have brought the natives to a condition of vassalage. Under the protection of an armed guard procured from Khartoom, they have established various depôts, undertaken expeditions into the interior, and secured an unmolested transit to and fro. These depôts for ivory, ammunition, barter-goods, and means of subsistence, are villages surrounded by palisades, and are called Seribas.[7] Every Khartoom merchant, in the different districts where he maintains his settlements, is represented by a superintendent and a number of subordinate agents. These agents command the armed men of the country, determine what products the subjected natives must pay by way of impost to support the guards, as well as the number of bearers they must furnish for the distant exploring expeditions; they appoint and displace the local managers; carry on war or strike alliances with the chiefs of the ivory countries, and once a year remit the collected stores to Khartoom.
Both the principal districts of the Khartoom ivory trade are accessible by the navigation of the two source-affluents together forming the White Nile, viz. the Bahr-el-Ghazal and the Bahr-el-Gebel. The name Bahr-el-Abiad is understood in Khartoom to include the entire domain of the Nile and its affluents above this town, but in its true and more limited sense it signifies only the united mainstream as far as the mouth of the Sobat, “White Nile.” Two less important centres are approached by the channels of the Sobat and the Giraffe. The landing-places, called Meshera, are in all cases at a distance of some days’ journey from the depôts. The trade winds and the rainy seasons both have their effect in determining the time of year in which progress can be made. They render the passage up stream practicable only from December to January, and limit the valley journey to June, July, and August. On the Bahr-el-Gebel the extreme point of navigation is the well-known Gondokoro in lat 5° N., the termination of a series of voyages of discovery. On the Bahr-el-Ghazal a kind of cul-de-sac leads to the only existing Meshera. Beyond this, the Khartoom people have already advanced 5° in a southerly, as well as in a westerly direction. In the district of the Gazelle River, the Niam-niam countries form a great source of the ivory-produce; of the ways which were available, this was the direction which appeared to promise the best opening for the prosecution of my object. Accordingly, I determined to proceed by the Gazelle, and concluded my contract with the Coptic Ghattas. He engaged to supply the means of subsistence, and to furnish me with bearers and an adequate number of armed men. He also placed at my disposal a boat for the journey, and it was expressly stipulated that I should be at liberty to join all the enterprises and excursions of his own people.
The Governor-General laid similar obligations for my protection on all the other chief merchants who had possessions in the territory of the Gazelle. Duplicates of all the agreements were prepared; one copy being retained by me, the counterparts were deposited with the local government at Khartoom. After these necessary provisions for my security had been adjusted, there was nothing now to hinder me from commencing my real journey. Never before had the Egyptian Government done so much indirectly to co-operate with a scientific traveller; and it was with no little satisfaction that I regarded my budget of documents, which would unlock for me so considerable a section of Central Africa.
EMBARKATION ON THE WHITE NILE.
In order to have continually about me a number of people upon whose fidelity and attachment I might fairly rely under all circumstances, I took into my service six Nubians, who had settled in Khartoom with their wives and children, and who resided there, and had already travelled in different parts of the Upper Nile. All had previously served under other Europeans. Riharn, the cook, had accompanied the Consul Petherick on his ill-fated journey of 1863. Their conduct in no way disappointed me, and I had never any serious cause of complaint against any of them.
At last, all preparations had so far prospered that the journey to the Gazelle River might be commenced on the 5th of January 1869. A little concession had, however, to be made to the superstitious representations of the Khartoom people. Wednesday and Saturday, as days of ill-omen, were excluded from the times of departure. Somehow or other this introduced a parley which entailed a little delay. Protestations, I knew, availed but little, and my common sense suggested unconditional submission to the custom of the country. Not simply was it impossible to convince the people of the absurdity of any superstition of theirs, but what was of more moment, they would be sure, on the very first occasion of any mischance, to attribute it to the perverseness of the Frank. They would have looked idly and helplessly on if I had persisted in carrying out my will in opposition to the decrees of fate.