in the edge of the water or in a moist place. The leaves and flowers were upheld above the surface by strong stalks. The pods and seeds of the lotos are eaten by the natives in Central Africa, and sometimes form their only article of food.
The Lotos-eaters, or Lotophagi, were described by Herodotus, who was vainly urged to eat of the plant. It was supposed that one who had eaten of the lotos would lose all desire to return to his native land, and be content to pass the rest of his days in dreamy rest. Tennyson has made use of this idea in one of his most charming poems.
A club known as the Lotos was formed in New York some years ago, and is yet in successful operation. But the digestive organs of its members and their guests are exercised upon beefsteak, potatoes, and kindred edibles much oftener than upon the African plant. In fact, I have never yet seen the article on their menu.
Further up the Nile its banks are covered with a dense vegetation which includes many kinds of tropical plants. The lotos rises from the water’s edge, and close beside it may be seen the papyrus, the plant whose name is preserved in the word “paper.”
As the expedition went back the channel which had been cut with so much labor was found to be freshly choked so that the return movement was nearly as slow as the advance.
On the advance up the river the governor of Fashooda, a station on the White Nile, had warmly commended the Khedive’s plan for suppressing the slave trade, and wished Baker the best of success. On the latter’s unexpected return he found the governor shipping a cargo of slaves down the river, and that several villages in the vicinity had been robbed of their inhabitants in order that the governor could make up his cargo. Baker captured the boat containing the slaves and had the captives brought out. There were seventy-one of them in all, and an examination of the shore revealed eighty-four additional slaves guarded by the governor’s soldiers!
The governor tried to explain that the prisoners were held as hostages until the rest of the people should pay their taxes. But as there was no fixed tax in the country the whole story was rather lacking in texture, in fact, was altogether “too thin.” The governor was somewhat annoyed at having been caught, and his principal consolation was that slave dealing was the chief business of the Soudan country, and that therefore he was no worse than his fellows.