As Mr Baker heard that a party were expected at Gondokoro from the interior with ivory in a few days, he determined to await their arrival, in hopes that their porters would be ready to carry his baggage.
In the mean time he rode about the neighbourhood, studying the place and people.
“The native dwellings are the perfection of cleanliness. The domicile of each family is surrounded by a hedge of euphorbia, and the interior of the enclosure generally consists of a yard neatly plastered with a cement of ashes, cow-dung, and sand. Upon this cleanly-swept surface are one or more huts, surrounded by granaries of neat wicker-work, thatched, and resting upon raised platforms. The huts have projecting roofs, in order to afford a shade, and the entrance is usually about two feet high.
“The natives are of the Bari tribe. The men are well grown, and their features are good, the woolly hair alone denoting their negro blood.
“They use poisoned arrows, but, as their bows are inferior and they are bad marksmen, they do not commit much mischief with them.”
Gondokoro was a perfect hell—a mere colony of
cut-throats. The Egyptians might easily have sent a few officers and two or three hundred men from Khartoum to form a military government, and thus impede the slave trade; but a bribe from the traders to the authorities was sufficient to ensure an uninterrupted asylum for any amount of villainy. The camps were full of slaves, and the Bari natives assured Mr Baker that there was a large depot of slaves in the interior, belonging to the traders, that would be marched to Gondokoro for shipment a few hours after his departure. He was looked upon as a stumbling-block to the trade. Several attempts were made to shoot him, and a boy was killed by a shot from the shore, on board his vessel. His men were immediately tampered with by the traders, and signs of discontent soon appeared among them. They declared that they had not sufficient meat, and that they must be allowed to make a razzia upon the cattle of the natives to procure oxen. This demand being refused, they became more insolent, and accordingly Mr Baker ordered the ringleader, an Arab, to be seized and to receive twenty-five lashes. Upon his vakeel approaching to capture the fellow, most of the men laid down their guns and, seizing sticks, rushed to his rescue. Mr Baker, on this, sprang forward, sent their leader by a blow of his fist into their midst, and then, seizing him by the throat, called to Saati for a rope to bind him. The men, still intent on their object, surrounded Mr Baker, when Mrs Baker, landing from the vessel, made her way to the spot. Her sudden appearance caused the mutineers to hesitate, when Mr Baker shouted to the drummer boy to beat the drum, and then ordered the men to fall in. Two-thirds obeyed him, and formed in line, while the remainder retreated with their ringleader. At this critical moment Mrs Baker implored her husband to forgive the mutineer, if he would kiss his hand and beg his pardon. This compromise completely won the men, who now called upon their ringleader to apologise, and all would be right. This he did, and Mr Baker made them rather a bitter speech and dismissed them.
This, unhappily, was only the first exhibition of their mutinous disposition, which nearly ruined the expedition, and might have led to the destruction of the travellers.
A few days afterwards guns were heard in the distance, and news arrived that two white men had arrived from “the sea”! They proved to be Grant and Speke, who had just come from the Victoria Nyanza. Both looked travel-worn. Speke, who had walked the whole distance from Zanzibar, was excessively lean, but in reality in good tough condition. Grant’s garments were well-nigh worn-out, but both of them had that fire in the eye which showed the spirit that had led them through many dangers.