"January 1st, 1871.—At 1.30 P.M., I started the kyassas, having kept back twenty men from their complement of troops to man the vessel we have saved. Abdullah, the Shillook, came, and I gave him an order to receive half the corn that I left at Tewfikeeyah. This is a reward for Quat Kare, for having assisted to raise the sunken vessel with his people. The extraordinary rise in the river this season has destroyed a large portion of the Shillook crops, therefore the present of corn will be most acceptable to the old king.
"January 2.—At 8.35 A.M., we started in tow of the steamer. Wind fresh from the north. At 2.40 P.M. we passed the second of the three noggurs that sailed yesterday, and at 3 P.M. we passed the third exactly at the Giraffe junction. We have thus been six hours and twenty-five minutes from the Sobat to the Giraffe junction. Thermometer, 6 A.M., 66 degrees; noon, 86 degrees.
"January 3.—Last midnight stopped at a forest cutting wood; we started at 3.50 P.M. One of the rear boats came in sight at 11 A.M., which reached us at 3.40 P.M.
"January 4.—At 5.50 A.M. we actually overtook the nine vessels with Tayib Agha that we had left seventeen days ago; these miserable people have thus been wasting their time. The trading vessel of Jules Poncet, that left the Sobat only six days ago, is in sight ahead; thus she has in six days passed the boats that have been twenty-four days from the same starting-point. I took the sail belonging to the wrecked noggur from one, and passed ahead of all, except one that I kept back for repairs while we cut wood at the forest.
"January 5.—Arrived at Kutchuk Ali's station at 10.30 A.M., and took in wood. The country is all flooded, and both the natives and the traders are without corn, the crops having been destroyed by the extraordinary rise of the river. The people have no other grain than the scanty supply yielded by the seeds of the lotus, which they collect from the river. I met several men who had formerly served under Ibrahim, when we accompanied Khoorshood Agha's party to Unyoro many years ago.
"January 6.—Cutting wood. I wrote to Colonel Tayib Agha, desiring him to take in as much fuel as his vessels can stow, as there is no wood ahead. The vakeel of the station supplied five cows and six goats. I gave him five urdeps of dhurra (22 bushels). We started at 4 P.M.
"January 7.—During the night, at 12.40 A.M., to my intense disgust, we passed a great number of our vessels with Raouf Bey. Shortly after, we passed others, together with the boat of Achmet Effendi, bimbashi. These officers and people are incorrigible; they have idled their time on the road to such an extent that I can only conclude it is done purposely. We wasted about an hour during the night in stopping to make inquiries.
"At 11.30 A.M., we passed the solitary ambatch bush on the west bank where the steamer smashed her paddle last year. The wind is strong from the north. Last year we were five hours from the ambatch bush to the dubba. We shall therefore arrive to-day at about 4 P.M. We have been exactly 19 1/2 hours steaming from Kutchuk Ali's station to the ambatch. We left Tewfikeeyah at 11 o'clock; we have therefore been twenty-seven days to the spot at the dubba that we should reach this evening. Last year we left Khartoum on 8th February, and we arrived at the station in the following order:—
"February 15th—Fashoda. 16th—Sobat junction. 18th—Bahr Giraffe junction. March 2nd—arrived at the forest beyond Kutchuk Ali's station. This is the same spot where we overtook Raouf Bey last night, he having left Tewfikeeyah on 11th December. Thus he has been twenty-six days from Tewfikeeyah in reaching the spot this year which he arrived at from the great distance of Khartoum in our former voyage in twenty-two days! Last year the fleet was fourteen days on the voyage from the Sobat to the above spot; this year they have been twenty-six days! I believe thoroughly that they delay purposely, in the hope of thwarting the expedition.
"Last year the whole fleet assembled at the dubba in twenty days from
Fashoda.