Part 29

It was the evening of the 5th of May, 1865, when Sir Samuel and Lady Baker entered Khartûm, to be welcomed by the whole European population as if they had risen from the dead. On the 1st of July they left it for Berber. In making the passage of the Cataracts they narrowly escaped shipwreck; their boat, as it sped along under full sail before a high gale of wind, struck broadside upon a sandbank. About sixty yards below rose a ridge of rocks on which it seemed certain that the vessel would be driven, if it cleared the bank; so that to avoid Scylla was to rush into Charybdis. Sir Samuel, however, proved equal to the occasion. An anchor was laid up stream; the crew hauled on the cable, and the great force of the current pressing against the vessels’ broadside, she wore gradually round. All hands then laboured to clear away the sand, which, when loosened by their hands and feet, the swift full current rapidly carried away. For five hours they remained in this position, with the boat cracking, and half filled with water; however, a channel was opened at last, and slipping the cable, Sir Samuel hoisted sail, and with the velocity of an arrow, the head of the vessel swung round, and away she went, plunging through the swirling, boiling water, and clearing the rocks by a few inches.

They arrived at Berber, and procuring camels, started east for Souakim on the Red Sea, a distance of two hundred and seventy-five miles. There they obtained passage on board an Egyptian Government steamer, and in five days landed at Suez. Here ends the record of their heroic enterprise. {404}

INDEX.

A

A’damáwa, 116; capital of 119

Africa, exploration in, 365, 366

Agadez, 97; customs of inhabitants of, 98

Alatou Mountains, the, 222, 225, 227

Albert Nyanza, the, 391–393

Aliyú, the Emir, 135

Altai, lakes of the, 193

Altin-Kool, Lake, 195

Alty-Kuduk, camp of, 277

American camp at Valverde, 70

American trapper, an, 71

Amu-Daria, the, 278, 350, 351

Ara, river, the, 226

Aral, Lake or Sea of, 343

Arkansas valley, 80

Asben, Mount, 96

Asua, river, 384

Atado, town of, 386

Atkinson, Thomas Witlam, travels in Siberia and Central Asia, 157–228

Australia, sketch of discovery in, 293–295

B

Bacsi, the, enchantments of, 29

Badakshan, the river, 14

Badámuni, 130

Bielouka Mountains, the, 206

Bagara Arabs, the, 382

Bagirmi, 121

Bagma, 116

Baikal Lake, 228

Baker, Sir Samuel and Lady, discover the Albert Nyanza, 238

Baker, Lady, illness of, 390–392

Baker, Sir Samuel, travels in Africa, 365–404

Barnaoul, mines of, 186

Barth, Dr., African travels of, 90–156

Bear, adventure with a, 189

Beaver-trapping, 79

Bénuwé, the river, 118

Berber, 403

Boiling Spring River, legend of, 84

Bokhara, 323

Bornú, 105; capital of, 106

Bronze-wing pigeon, the, 305, 306

Búdduma, or African Lake pirates, 110

Bull-tailing, Mexican sport of, described, 57

Burnaby, Major, travels in Khiva, 325–364

C

Caldwell, Bishop, quoted, 45

Cambaluc, visited by Marco Polo, 32

Camels in Australia, 308–310, 315; in Turkistan, 341, 342

Cameron, Lieutenant, 366

Chandu, city of, described, 25

Chihuahua, 67

Chinese, curious superstition of the, 43

Coleridge, quoted, 31

Comanche Indians, the, story of, 56, 59

Cossack officer, a, adventure of, 191

D

D’Ablaing, Baron, 247

Darma Tsyren, Mr. Atkinson’s visit to, 215

Demons’ Mountain, the, 92

“Devil-dancing,” 45

Diamond-sparrow, the, 300, 301

Doré, African town of, 142

Durango, Mexican town of, 59

E

Ekaterineburg, 164

Elephant-hunting, 381, 382

El Gallo, sport of, described, 66

Eremil, river, 223

Errington, Port, 239

Escamilla, story of, 60–63

F

Flinders, Lieutenant, 293

Fogha, valley of, 138

Frost-bitten, 338–340

Fulbi, the, 101

G

Ghat, oasis of, 95

Ghûls, the, 19

Glenelg, 322

Gobi, the Great Desert of, 17, 18, 212–214

Golden Lake, the, 195

Gondokoro, 247, 374, 375

Grant, Captain, 241, 368, 377

H

Heiligenkreuz, missionary settlement of, 246

Heughlin, Dr., 249

Hommaire de Hell, Madame, quoted, 19

I

Ivory-dealers, the African, 255

J

Jana-Daria, desert of, 349

Jornada del Muerto, the, 69

K

Kaiping-fu, described, 25

Kalenderhana, 349

Kalmucks, the, manners and customs of, 198, 199

Kamrasi, the chief of Unyoro, 388, 389, 398

Kanó, town of, 100

Kara-Kalpaks, the, 263

Karakorum Mountains, the, 197

Karuma Falls, the, 386

Kasala, 260, 335, 336, 343, 364

Katchiba, African chief, 383

Katounaia, the, 200

Katséna, town of, 100

Kauffmann, General, 280

Khala-Ata, fortress of, 274

Khan of Khiva, palace of, 283; description of, 285, 357–359

Khartûm, town of, 234, 370, 402

Khiva, described, 282, 283, 285, 287, 355, 356, 360

Khivans, the, account of, 281

Kibitka, a, described, 179, 180, 264, 344, 346

Kirghiz chief, a, description of, 182, 183

Kirghiz tribes, the, habits of, 178–182, 264–267

Kolyvan Lake, 169

Kongo, the, 367

Kublai Khan, Marco Polo’s visit to the court of, 25

Kúkáwa, in Bornú, 106

Kyzil-Kum, desert of, 261, 263

L

Latookas, tribe of the, 379–381

Lepson, river, 225

Lindsay, Hon. Robert, quoted, 41

Livingstone, Dr., 364, 365

Lop, or Lob, city of, 17

Luta N’zige, the, 377

M

MacGahan, Mr. J. A., with the Russian army in Khiva, 260–292

Maduwári, 111

Magango, 395

Mal Pais, the, description of, 55

Mapimi, 67

Marco Polo, travels of, in Central Asia, 1–48

Másená, 124

Mexicans, the, character of, 49; sports of, 59

Mexico, geographical characteristics of, 50, 51

Mongols, the, habits of, 20–22

Morzouk, 91

Muna Aim, story of, 267, 268

Múniyo, 129

Murchison Falls, the, 396

N

Nicholas, the Grand-Duke, 280

Niger, the, description of, 139; basin of, 367

Nile, the, scenery of, 235, 236, 371, 400, 401; basin of, 367

Nô, Lake, 243, 244

Nor-Zaisan, Lake, 176

Nuehr tribe, the, 372

O

Oakover, river, 315, 320

Obbo, 383

Oogentel, 353

Orenburg, 335

Overweg, Mr., joins Dr. Barth, 112; death of, 128

P

Pamir, table-land of, described, 16

Pardalote, the, 300, 301

Peking (anc. Cambaluc), 32

Perovsky, Fort, 261

Petro-Alexandrovsky, 361, 362

Phayre, Sir A., quoted, 54

Pike’s Peak, 88

Porcupine-grass, 299

Palque, Mexican drink of, described, 51

Q

Queretaro, 51

R

Ramusio, quoted, 9

Rancho, a Mexican, described, 66

Reg, Lake, 249

Richardson, Mr. James, African traveller, death of, 106

Rio Colorado, the, 78

Rocky Mountains, in the, 74, 75

Ruxton, Mr. George F., travels in Mexico, 49–89

S

Sagárti, the, 111

Samara, Russian town of, 331

Santa Fé, 73

Say, town of, 139

Sesamum, the, cultivation of, 385

Shamo, country of, 114

Shillooks, the, character of, 242–244, 371

Shir, the, African tribe of, 373

Shooa, described, 384, 385, 399

Snake Indians, the, 85

Snow-storm in Arkansas, 81

Sobat, the, 371

Somerset, the, 386, 391

Sourays, the, 111

Speke, Captain, travels of, 368, 369, 377

Stanley, Mr. H. M., 368

Steudner, Dr., death of, 250

Syr-Daria, the, 260, 345

T

Tartars, the, described by Marco Polo, 20–25

Tasáwa, 100

Tchad, Lake, 110, 120

Terekli, 340

Thian-Shan, the, 325

Tibet, description of, 40–43

Timbuktu, described, 150

Tinné, Alexina, travels of, in the Soudan, 230–259

Tiska, Mount, 96

Tollogo, 378

Towaregs, the, 92, 95

Traveller’s Tree, the, 400

Turkistan, boundaries and divisions of, 325, 326

U

Uafour river, 389

Unyoro, country of, 387, 388

U’shek, 129

Uzbegs, the, customs of, 288; a house of, 289, 290; dance of, 290, 291

V

Vacovia, 394

Valverde, American camp at, 70

Venice, rivalry of, with Genoa, 12

Victoria Nyanza, the, 369

Victoria White Nile, the, 386, 395

Volga, the, sleighing on, 330

W

Wakkala, 379

Warburton, Colonel Egerton explores West Australia, 293–324

White Nile, the, 244

Wood, Captain John, quoted, 16

Wordsworth, quoted, 60

Y

Yule, Colonel, quoted, 1, 2, 17

Yuz-Kudak, valley of, 271

Z

Zacatero, 68

Zambési, the, 367

Zindu, 131

NOTES

{3} The roc, a gigantic bird, which figures in the Eastern fable of Sinbad the Sailor.

{12} A rich, quaint, walled-up doorway, in semi-Monastic, semi-Byzantine style, still extant in the Corte del Sabbrin, or Corta Sabbonicia, is nearly all that remains of the house of Messer Marco Palo.

{17} A summary of the Russian explorations of the Pamir, by Sievertzof, has been published in Kettler’s “Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Geographie.”

{22} _Cuir-bouilli_, leather softened by boiling, during which process it took any form or impression required, and afterwards hardened.

{35} Probably _malachite_, or carbonate of copper.

{41} The Hon. Robert Lindsay writes:—“At night each man lights a fire at his post, and furnishes himself with a dozen joints of the large bamboo, one of which he occasionally throws into the fire, and the air it contains being rarefied by the heat, it explodes with a report as loud as a musket.”—“Lives of the Lindsays,” iii. 191.

{89} G. F. Ruxton, “Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains.” London, 1861.

{156} Heinrich Barth, “Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa.” Second edition. London, 1857.

{159} The scenery of the Tchossowaia valley is warmly praised by Sir Roderick Murchison. “A more picturesque river-gorge,” he says, “was certainly never examined by geologists. Between the hamlet of Kinist and Ust-Koiva we passed through scenes even surpassing in beauty those higher up the stream, and to which it would require the pencil of a professed artist to do justice. The river runs in a limestone gorge, in which are cliffs of every variety of form, occasionally exposing large caverns along their vertical faces, with trees and flowers grouped about in the clefts—rocks varying in colour from black to white.”—“Geology of the Oural,” p. 188.

{166} A four-wheeled waggon, made without either nail, bolt, or springs.

{211} Mrs. Somerville, “Physical Geography,” i. 105.

{212} Humboldt, “Ansichten der Natur,” i. 8.

{228} T. W. Atkinson, “Oriental and Western Siberia.” London, 1858.

{249} It is, in reality, nothing more than a curve of the river, which forms an island of about half a mile in length, called Meschra-el-Reg.

{259} Augustus Petermann, _Mittheilungen_; Dr. Heughlin, “Reise in das Gobiet, des Weissen Nil, etc.”

{302} These consist of a few links of chain, with a swivel in the middle, and a steel strap with a buckle at either end. They are fastened round the animal’s fore-legs just above the hoof, so as to confine the feet together, and render straying difficult.

{324} Colonel Egerton Warburton, C.M.G., “Journey across the Western Interior of Australia,” with Introduction, etc., by C. H. Eden. Edited by H. W. Bates. London, 1875.

{359} During the viceroyalty of Lord Northbrook.

{364} “A Ride to Khiva: Travels and Adventures in Central Asia.” By Fred Burnaby, Captain, Royal Horse Guards. Second edition. London, 1876.

{369} Our gallant explorer was not knighted until 1866, but throughout this chapter we shall use the title by which he is so well and so honourably known.

{404} Sir Samuel White Baker, “The Albert Nyanza, Great Basin of the Nile, and Explorations of the Nile Sources.” London, 1866.