In Darkest Africa, Vol. 1; or, The Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of EquatoriaStanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)
History
In Darkest Africa, Vol. 1; or, The Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria
Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Emin Pasha, 1840-1892
Our Zanzibaris, by the side of these upright figures, seemed altogether a
beggarly troop, and more naked than ever. But I was not ashamed of them.
It was by their aid, mean as they appeared, that we had triumphed over
countless difficulties, and though they did not understand drill, nor
could assume a martial pose, the best of these Soudanese soldiers were
but children to them for the needs of a Relief Expedition. After this
little ceremony was over I delivered to the Pasha thirty-one cases of
Remington ammunition, and I went aboard the steamer, where I breakfasted
on millet cake fried in syrup, and a glass of new milk.
The steamer proved to be the _Khedive_, built by Samuda Brothers in 1869,
and is about ninety feet long by seventeen or eighteen feet wide; draught
five feet. Though nearly twenty years old, she is still serviceable
though slow. The upper works look well enough, but she is much patched
below water, I am told.
On board, besides the Pasha, were Casati, Vita Hassan, a Tunisian
apothecary, some Egyptian clerks, an Egyptian lieutenant, and some forty
Soudanese soldiers, besides a fine crew. Sometimes, from the familiar
sounds heard during moments of abstraction, I fancied myself at
Alexandria or on the Lower Congo; but, looking up, and taking a sweeping
view around, I became assured that I was on board of a steamer afloat on
Lake Albert. As we move slowly about a mile and a half from the shore
northward, the lofty mass of the plateau of Unyoro is to our right, and
to our left is an equally formidable plateau wall, the ascents and
descents of which we know so well. By a glance at the mass of Unyoro,
which is darkly blue, I see the reason Baker gave the name of Blue
Mountains to our plateau wall, for were we steaming along the Unyoro
shore the warm vapour would tint our plateau wall of similar colour. When
we have left Nyamsassi Island astern, a damp sheet of rock, wetted by the
stream we crossed yesterday in our descent, glistens in the sun like a
mirror, and makes it resemble a clear falling sheet of water. Hence Baker
gave it the name of a Cascade, as seen by him from the eastern side.
Dr. Junker and Dr. Felkin, especially in the _Graphic_ numbers of
January, 1887, made us expect a nervous, wiry, tall man of six feet, or
thereabouts, but in reality Emin Pasha does not exceed 5 feet 7 inches in
height. I remember that the former was anxious that the trousers ordered
in Cairo for his friend should be long enough in the extremities. About
six inches were cut off the legs before they fitted. He tells me he is
forty-eight years old. In appearance he does not indicate such an age;
his beard is dark almost to blackness, while his activity would befit a
man of thirty or thirty-five.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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