xvi INTRODUCTION. 



it. This was a difficult and dangerous undertaking, for they 

 had rooted themselves very firmly in the soil, and most of the 

 officials in Emin's employ were in full sympathy with them. 

 Emin was entirely alone ; no friend or helper was near. 

 Indeed, with the exception of a few months when Lupton Bey 

 was his second in command, he has been alone from the day of 

 his appointment in March 1878 until the present time. When 

 at Lado, he had also other duties to perform ; the chief hospital 

 of the province was there, and every morning he might be seen 

 at 6 A.M. going round its wards or engaged in prescribing for 

 the numerous patients. 



By the end of 1882, Emin Bey (for he received that title at 

 the end of 1879) had the satisfaction of being able to report 

 that not only was his province in a state of peace and content- 

 ment, but that he had entirely banished the slave-dealers from 

 his borders. He had also got rid of nearly all the Egyptian 

 soldiers, replacing them by natives whom he had trained to 

 arms.** He had added large districts to his province, not by the 

 use of the sword, but by personal negotiation with native chiefs. 

 To all this must be added the cultivation of cotton, of indigo, 

 of coffee and rice, the establishment of a regular weekly post 

 through his dominions, the rebuilding of nearly all his stations, 

 the construction of better and more permanent roads, the in- 

 troduction of camels, and the transport of goods by oxen ; and 

 last, but not least, he was able in that year to show a net 

 profit of £8000, whereas on his taking up the reins of govern- 

 ment, there was a deficit of ^3 2,000 per annum. The com- 

 mercial value of the province may be estimated by this successful 

 state of affairs, which was brought about notwithstanding the 

 fact that during the six years, 1878— 84, only nine steamers 



* Although not a soldier by profession, Emin was obliged to act as Commander- 

 in-Chief as well as civil Governor of the Equatorial Province. Referring to this, 

 he remarks in one of his letters : — " What will they expect next from an M.D. ? I 

 have been made a Governor, and now I am expected to try and qualify as a 

 ' General in strategy ' ! " 



