A chief’s a rod,
An honest man’s the noblest work of God.
As I am writing this (March 30th, 1884), I cannot help thinking that, had Gordon Pasha been sent out to the Soudan nine months ago, before the wave of rebellion had increased to raging billows, sweeping over the land, we should have been spared the painful events which have taken place there quite lately, and by this time the Mahdi would have been little heard of. Then Gordon Pasha would have come on them like the noon-day sun, and all the tribes would have flocked round him as a deliverer, whilst the Mahdi would have been powerless, and relegated to the obscurity from which he had sprung. What a country Egypt and the Soudan might become under British rule! In Lower Egypt we should form a net-work of canals in communication with the Nile, as in the days of Pharaoh; then thousands upon thousands of acres, which to-day look sterile deserts, would be made to yield enormous quantities of sugar-cane, cotton, flax, dhurra, &c., and at least two crops in the year could be obtained. Politics I have nothing to do with. I am simply giving an expression to an opinion which I formed when in the Soudan and Egypt. This opinion I expressed in January, 1882, when in the Soudan, and subsequently very many times since in England. It is a source of great satisfaction to me that so eminent an authority as Sir Samuel Baker, F.R.G.S., entertains the same ideas. As things now are, extensive cultivation in the Soudan would be almost useless, the only means of exporting their products being by the very slow method of camels to the nearest sea-port; taxes would increase, and the only people who would derive any benefit would be the Egyptians, not the Arabs. If we ruled there we would appoint an English governor, who would let the Arabs live on their own industry, if they had any, and, if not, bring the fallaheen there, and take only a reasonable share of taxation. We should put down a railway from Souâkin to Kassala, from there to Massawah and elsewhere. We should sink wells, and erect engines which would pump up sufficient water to irrigate thousands of acres of the most fertile land. These lands require no manuring, nothing but clearing, scratching the rich alluvial deposit, and putting in the seeds. The crops when gathered could then be transported by rail to Souâkin, which would soon become a flourishing port, could, in fact, be transferred direct from central Africa to any English port within three weeks or so. Senna, coffee, tobacco, cotton, sugar, flax, dhurra, wheat, oats, oranges, lemons, and I don’t know what, could be grown there without the least trouble, besides which, hides, honey, beeswax, and other things would be abundant. I was so struck, soon after we left Kassala, with the immensely fertile appearance of the soil, and the vast extent of country capable of cultivation, and of producing two crops a year at least, that I mentioned this to Mr. Colvin, as we rode side by side on our camels, afterwards making a note of the same in my diary.
Every night of our stay at Kassala the monotonous beating of the tom-tom would commence about 8 p.m. and continue incessantly till about twelve, accompanied by the most extraordinary shrill trilling note of a female every now and then. It seems there had been a death in the family, and on all occasions of great joy and sorrow this unpleasant musical entertainment is at once provided. Mosconas tells me that, after a death, the mourners go on in this kind of way every night for about a month, and a very irritating performance it is to our untutored English auditory nerves. We found the white ants very troublesome here. They are very destructive little insects, and, I believe, will destroy everything but iron and stone. If a strong, solid, leather portmanteau be left on the ground for two or three nights, they will destroy it, but if two stones, sufficient to raise it an inch or two from the ground, be placed underneath, they will not touch it, and if we encamp on sand we are safe from them. They destroyed all the matting laid down in our tents during the few days that we were here, although it was taken up and beaten every day. Scorpions as well as white ants were frequently found underneath the matting. This is very cheap, indeed; we therefore secured a fresh lot.
CHAPTER XIII.
LEAVE KASSALA—CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY—MEET BENI-AMIR ARABS ON THE RIVER BED—THE BAOBOB TREE.
All being ready, we started off from Kassala at 3 p.m. on the 17th January, intending to reach Heikota within three days. We encamped at 8 p.m., and next day were off at 9 a.m., marching until 6 p.m.—temp. 90° in shade. Fine trees became more numerous; the country looked much greener, and water was usually obtainable every day simply by digging a few feet in the sandy river-bed. This day we passed through a large field of dhurra. To guard this from elephants, birds, and buffaloes several platforms were erected in different parts of the field about 10 or 12 feet high, and on these boys and men spent the whole day unsheltered from the scorching rays of the sun—which was like a ball of fire—cracking whips and uttering hideous noises. We came across distinct and recent tracks of a lion, two full-grown and one young elephant. I also saw a few monkeys, a musk cat, several young tiger-cats and hundreds of guinea-fowl. We shot on the march one eagle, two ariels, and two gazelles; the latter are not so hard and dry as those in the desert.