504 TWYFORD ON THE SOURCES OF THE WHITE NILE. [June 22, 1857. 



boats on the 19tli of the following month ; it having been arranged 

 at Cairo, that with M. Pouchet the doctor, and Mr. Clagne the pho- 

 tographer, I should proceed with my flotilla to Berber, up the river, 

 there to be joined by M. d'Escayrac de Lauture and the rest of 

 the party. 



Under instnictions from the Government I had collected at Cairo 

 one steamer of 30 horse-power, one of 15, and four of the large-sized 

 coTintry boats heavily laden with waggons, which were considered 

 necessary for the expedition, with four ordinary ship-boats. 



I was furnished with a guard of sixty soldiers and sailors, and 

 invested with the command of this— the nautical— part of the 

 expedition. 



Having left Cairo on the 19th of October, 1856, we were towed 

 by two large steamers as far as the first cataract, where we aiiived 

 on the 31st of same month. 



As so many country boats now pass over this cataract eveiy year, 

 the difficulty is greatly diminished as regards that sort of craft, but, 

 as far as steamers are concerned, it is very different, for with the 

 exception, I believe, of the two steamers that conveyed Mahomet Ali 

 and his suite to Korosko, about the year 1820, the steamer under 

 my charge is the only one that has been cari'ied over.* The chief 

 difficulties I encountered here arose from the dislike that the sailors 

 had to pass over the cataracts in the steamers, and the terror with 

 which the natives viewed the proceeding altogether. 



Nothing short of my immediate presence in each boat, as it went 

 over, would induce any of them to work at all. It took about a day 

 to pass each boat over, having frequently upwards of 600 men all 

 pulling or pretending to pull at once. It was entirely owing to 

 my being there too late in the year that I failed in getting the large 

 steamer over, for I am persuaded that it would be comparatively 

 easy to pass any vessel, not drawing more than 10 feet of water, 

 over the first cataract in the months of July and August. For this 

 reason we left the largest steamer behind, as when once the Nile 

 has commenced falling it does so with amazing rapidity. 



The first cataract is nothing more than a very narrow and shallow 

 succession of channels, through which the water pours with great 

 rapidity at the rate of 6 or 8 miles an hour. About 3 miles from 



* With reference to a paragraph that appeared in * The Papers ' that I had lost 

 one of the steamers under my charge in ascending the first cataract, I beg to state 

 that this assertion was incorrect. The facts of the case were these: — Finding 

 I was not able to get my second (the largest of the two) steamer up the cataract, 

 I left it at Assouan ; but a steamer belonging to the Pasha, that was at Assouan 

 at the same time, was lost in an attempt to ascend the cataract, which probably 

 led to the above mistake. 



