Ismailia by Sir Samuel White Baker (affordable ebook reader .txt) 📕

the Baris; they were mere ruffians, and they longed for the arrival of Abou Saood, who would once more give them an opportunity of joining his people to plunder and enslave the tribes of the interior. It was in vain that I assured them of the impossibility of such proceedings, and that Abou Saood's people would not be permitted by the government to continue these atrocities. They ridiculed the idea, and declared that the traders would always continue in their old customs, notwithstanding the presence of the Khedive's officers. They said that no business could be done in any other way in those countries; they advised me to "take women and cattle, and then the natives would listen to my advice, but not otherwise."

It was utter folly to attempt negotiations with these people; they were the most brutal and obtuse savages. They had been abandoned by the missionaries as hopeless, and they would acknowledge nothing but force.

The troops were discontented. After all their fatigues, the promised land was starvation. There was still much work to be done, as the expedition was in fact only commencing. By degrees the Baris absented themselves entirely from our camp, and we were left to ourselves as utter strangers. The cattle were driven over to our fine pasturage daily, and returned at night to their island; but not an ox, or even a goat, was ever offered for sale, and all communication between us and the natives had apparently ceased.

It was quite impossible to allow this to continue. I gave the order, and once more the soldiers quietly surrounded the herd of cattle, and drove them to head-quarters as before. The old scene was re-enacted. The new sheik, Morbe, together with Allorron and many headmen, arrived. Again a long palaver took place, through the medium of Tomby, the interpreter, and the promises of good behaviour were renewed.

I informed them that I should not confiscate their cattle, but I should keep them as hostages for their good behaviour; at the same time, I should select a certain number of oxen as food for the troops, which should be paid for.

The meeting terminated with fresh assurances of goodwill . . . A few days elapsed, but the Baris did not return; we were completely abandoned.

On June 29th the camp was disturbed at night by an attempt of the natives to drive off some of the cattle. The sentry fired, but without effect. I foresaw trouble.

On June 1st I issued a General Order to the troops--

"The natives of the Bari having disobeyed the summons of the government, and having refused compliance with the regulations established, it has become necessary to compel them to obedience by force.

"In the event of hostilities, I specially forbid the capture of women, or children of either sex. Any officer or soldier disobeying this order will suffer death. "S. W. BAKER."

I felt certain that a breach of the peace was at hand, and I made arrangements accordingly. The troops were daily engaged in building the station, in which they were assisted by the sailors, all of whom were obliged to carry the material from a distance of two miles from the forest. A party of sawyers with a small escort of soldiers were settled in a camp about three miles from my station, as the distance was too great for a daily return from their work. One night they were attacked by the natives, who shot arrows and yelled for about an hour, but fortunately did not succeed in wounding any of the men, who were well protected by the trunks of some very large trees. The soldiers had fired away a considerable amount of ammunition in return, until they managed to escape during the darkness, and run away to head-quarters.

On 3rd June, at about 3 P.M., when the cattle were grazing in the beautiful park-like ground about a mile from head-quarters, some Baris, who had stealthily approached the herd by stalking from bush to bush, without being observed by the sleepy guards, made a sudden rush with loud yells among the cattle, and succeeded in driving off ten cows with which they swam the river without a shot being fired by the unready soldiers. (On this occasion the guards must have run away at the first onset of the natives.)

On the night of the 4th June two natives were captured by the sentries. These people had crept in the pitch darkness, until they had succeeded in entering the cattle zareeba. One of them confessed that a large body of natives was assembled in the high grass near the banks of the river, with the intention of attacking the camp during the night.

I immediately took eighteen men, and posted them in three parties of six at various points about a quarter of a mile from my station. They were to lie concealed in these positions, which commanded every approach to the camp.

At 10.30 P.M. I was aroused by the sound of firing, and upon arrival at the shot I found that the sentries had fired into the advanced party of natives, some of whom they declared to be wounded, but I could find no trace of blood.

Open war had commenced. The natives had deserted their villages on the portion of the island opposite to my camp. This was about seven miles in length, therefore, in return for the attacks made upon my people on our mainland, I determined to pay the Baris a visit.

I issued the necessary orders. At 3 A.M., on June 5th, five boats with sixty men dropped silently down the east channel of the river, with orders to land at the extreme end of the island. At the same time two companies of troops landed opposite my station, where they waited in the dark until the steamer, with myself and two companies on board, had rounded the head of the island, and had obtained a position in the west channel. The troops then advanced while the steamer ran easily down the strong current. Everything went well, but the noise of the paddles quickly gave the alarm, and the sound of a big drum in the distance was almost immediately responded to by many others from various points.

The steamer now ran at half speed along the river, the intention of cutting off any native canoes, or intercepting any herds of cattle that might be passing to the west mainland. Every arrangement was well carried out; but, unfortunately, as we were running at about nine miles an hour, the steamer suddenly struck upon a sand-bank, where she remained fixed.

After some vain attempts to float her, I instructed Raouf Bey to do his best with her, and act, according to circumstances, at his own discretion, while I left the steamer in the dingy, accompanied by Lieutenant Baker and six soldiers of the "Forty Thieves," with the intention of joining the two companies under Lieutenant-Colonel Abd-el-Kader, who were marching down the island from south to north.

We rowed down the stream for forty-five minutes along the west bank of the island. I had calculated the distance by time, and having allowed for the delay on the steamer and the pace at which the troops under Abd-el-Rader would march, I concluded that we should now land somewhere near them. This turned out correct, as we joined his party a few minutes after we had left the boat. I immediately detached a sergeant and nineteen men to march along the east bank until they should meet my boat, which had been ordered to continue along the west bank until it should turn round the tail of the island, when it was to return home by the east channel, that would lead direct to my station.

We had not seen any Baris upon the island, which appeared to be quite deserted. The character of the ground had changed. We had left the dry portion, which had been lately sown with dhurra, and we had arrived among scattered masses of tall reeds growing from mud lately hardened by the sun and full of deep cattle-ruts.

I threw out skirmishers, as we shortly entered a bad piece of country. At this moment wo heard shots fired at the tail of the island, about two miles in our front.

We pushed on at the double, until stopped by a deep channel of the river about thirty yards wide. On the other side we now heard the horns of the natives and the lowing of cattle. It was necessary to skirt the banks of the channel through thick forest; thus, following the stream, we shortly arrived at the main river, just in time to see the natives at a distance of a quarter of a mile swimming a large herd of cattle across the stream to the east shore, where they landed and safely gained the forest. They were quickly pursued by the troops who, having landed at the tail of the island, were in chase; and being supplied with boats, they crossed over the river and followed hard upon the track of the retreating cattle.

The Baris did not suspect that they would be followed to the main shore; thus upon reaching the forest they continued their retreat leisurely. My black troops were wonderful runners; thus, when once upon the track of the herd, they went along like hounds and overtook the Baris, who had no idea of the pursuit until the soldiers were among them. The affair ended by the capture of a portion of the herd, and the return to camp at 5.30 P.M. We had eaten nothing since the previous evening, as the boat containing our breakfast had not yet appeared. We had been on our legs in the sun for fourteen hours, thus we were ready for dinner on the return to camp. I was anxious about the missing boat. On the following day, June 6, at 4.40 P.M., the lost dingy arrived with her crew all safe. They had missed their way by taking a wrong channel of the river, which led them into a labyrinth of high reeds, where they were obliged to pass the night among clouds of mosquitoes.

On the following day they began the tedious journey by rowing homeward against the stream. They came suddenly upon a large body of natives, who immediately attacked them with arrows, one of which went through the trousers of a soldier. My men told a long story, and made themselves out to be perfect heroes; but my servants and the boatmen told a very different tale, and declared that they had thrown themselves down in the bottom of the boat to avoid the arrows, and my servant, Mohammed Haroon, had himself fired my heavy gun loaded with mould shot at the enemy.

On 7th June I discovered that the Baris of Gondokoro had leagued themselves with the natives of Belinian against us.

They had attacked conjointly on several occasions. On this day the natives in force having, as usual, crept stealthily from bush to tree without being perceived by the soldiers, made a sudden rush upon the cattle guards, and shot one soldier with an arrow and wounded another with a lance. I immediately gave orders for an attack on Belinian that night. At 12.30 A.M. I left my station on horseback, accompanied by Lieutenant Baker and Mr. Higginbotham, together with Lieutenant-Colonel Abdel-Kader and twenty men of the "Forty Thieves." Not a word was spoken, as it was important to march without the slightest noise that might alarm the native scouts who were generally prowling about throughout the night. We arrived at head-quarters, a mile and a half distant, where four companies with one gun had been ordered to be in readiness.