THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 221 



had a conference with the Khedive, in which the former plainly 

 indicated that the slave trade had to be suppressed, either by the 

 Egyptian government or some other power. This conference 

 stimulated Ismail, the Khedive, to action, and sending for Sir 

 Samuel Baker, he had an interview with him, which resulted in 

 placing him in command of an expedition for the suppression of 

 the nefarious traffic. 



To effect this grand reform it would be necessary to annex the 

 Soudan and that country lying within the Nile basin, that it 

 might be under the direct rulership of the Khedive. 



The expedition was fitted out with a lavish hand, as Baker was 

 directed to make all his preparations without regard to expense. 

 Under such liberal instructions, he had specially built in England 

 three small steamers and two life-boats for navigating the Nile. 

 These vessels were fitted with engines of the best construction, 

 and were to be carried across the Nubian desert in plates and 

 sections. 



In addition to the steamers were steam saw-mills, with a boiler 

 that weighed eight hundred pounds in one piece all of which 

 would have to be transported by camels for several hundred 

 miles across the Nubian desert, and by boats and camels alter- 

 nately from Alexandria to Gondokoro, a distance of about three 

 thousand miles. 



The English party accompanying the expedition consisted of 

 Sir Samuel Baker and his courageous wife ; Lieutenant Julian 

 A. Baker, R. N. ; Edward Higginbotham, civil engineer; Mr. 

 Wood, secretary ; Dr. Joseph Gedge, physician ; Mr. Marcopolo, 

 chief store-keeper and interpreter; Mr. Me William, chief engi- 

 neer of steamers ; Mr. Jarvis, chief ship-wright ; together with 

 Messrs. Whitfield, Samson, Hitchman and Ramsdell. Forty-five 

 thousand dollars were expended in stores, calculated to last the 

 expedition for four years. 



Six steamers, varying from forty to eighty horse-power, were 

 ordered to leave Cairo in June, together with fifteen sloops 

 and fifteen diahbeeahs total, thirty-six vessels to ascend the 

 cataracts of the Nile to Khartoum, a distance by river of about 



