Baker was given absolute control of the men under him and of the country designated in the Khedive’s decree. He had even the power of life and death, and from his decisions there was no appeal.
It was decided that one of the first steps necessary in suppressing the slave trade was to “annex” the country of the Nile basin to Egypt. This would make it subject to Egyptian laws and would tend to the establishment of commerce more surely than if the region should remain independent and uncivilized. The inhabitants could learn to read and write, and could buy whiskey and tobacco; they could get drunk and steal, and otherwise be honored citizens, as if they were subjects of the Queen of England or the President of the United States. Instead of going about in nakedness they would have strings of beads to wear around their necks, and if prosperous and obedient they might hope for rings on their fingers, and in time for bells on their toes. Christianity and contagious diseases would be introduced; they would have debating societies, spelling matches, and caucusses, and all kindred institutions of a free people, and they might look forward to that millennial period when city halls and courthouses, and prisons, and jails, would rise in their midst to enrich the Ethiopian Tweeds and Sweeneys of that happy time. The heathen should no longer live in blindness and bow down to wood and stone. He should go to a fine church on Fifth avenue, listen to a popular preacher, and sing his hosannas by proxy through the mouths of a carefully selected and liberally paid quartette. It was expected that the natives would rush anxiously forward to listen to the proclamation of annexation.
To aid them to come to a favorable decision Sir Samuel was provided with a suitable number of breech-loading rifles with plenty of fixed ammunition, and with about sixteen hundred men to handle the rifles properly. This military force included two hundred irregular cavalry and two batteries. With such a missionary outfit as this it was thought there would be no trouble in convincing the untutored savages that it was a good thing to be annexed and civilized. The arms and equipments were carefully selected, and for the further purpose of convincing the natives three steamboats—built in sections so that they could be carried on camels—were taken along. Then there was a large supply of English cloth of different kinds, all sorts of tools and toys, musical boxes, cheap watches, and odds and ends of different kinds enough to stock a variety store at Christmas time.
After many delays and difficulties the expedition was off for Khartoum where it arrived in course of time. The official and other residents of Khartoum were not over friendly to the expedition, as the most of them had an interest in the slave trade, directly or otherwise, and some of the principal operators were on intimate terms with the governor. The latter had done nothing toward getting ready the vessels necessary for the expedition, but he went to work soon after Baker’s arrival and displayed considerable activity. After a while the expedition moved on with the two steamers which had been put together, and with a fleet of thirty-one sailing vessels. Altogether the command of Baker Pasha was somewhat more than a thousand men, the original number having been diminished by sickness, death, and desertion.
He had a special corps of forty-six men selected as a body guard and commanded by an Egyptian lieutenant-colonel. As the most of them were originally convicts sent from Cairo to the Soudan the contingent was known as the “Forty Thieves.” They were a brave lot of rascals and did most excellent service.
In this army of enterprise commanded by Baker Pasha, it did not appear necessary that the men that went out for soldiers should be of the best quality. Anything will do as food for powder, and when they prove as courageous as did the “Forty Thieves,” the wisdom of the selection is to be commended.
Baker proceeded up the Nile from Khartoum as fast as the winds and steam could carry him, and had no trouble for some days. His difficulties began when he reached a point where the river was blocked with a mass of reeds and vegetable matter through which the water managed to soak. But the boats could not find any passage and the expedition was compelled to halt.
At length thirty vessels were ordered to form in line single file, to cut a canal through the high water grass, but the operation was very fatiguing to the men and put a goodly number of them on the sick list. They made about a mile and a half the first day, and on the next the whole fleet was pushed forward about five miles, the mass of vegetation having diminished in quantity. But on subsequent days they were not so fortunate, and finally were forced to stop altogether. The mass of vegetable matter steadily increased, and finding the passage impossible Baker gave the order to return.
Among the plants that formed part of this, vegetable mass was the lotos, the flower that was considered sacred among the ancient Egyptians, and was cultivated in the little ponds at the sides of their temples. It is a species of water lily. Eleven varieties of the lotos are known; but only one is now found in lower Egypt, the leaves and flowers of which float upon the water. From representations on the walls of temples and tombs it is supposed that the sacred flower of ancient Egypt generally grew