8 ARRIVAL AT KHARTOUM. [chap. i. 
numerous hippopotami and the natural inhabitants of 
the river. 
Having completed the exploration of the various 
affluents to the Nile from Abyssinia, passing through 
the Base country and the portion of Abyssinia occupied 
by Mek Nimmur, I arrived at Khartoum, the capital 
of the Soudan provinces, on the 11th June, 1862. 
Khartoum is situated in lat. 15° 29', on a point 
of land forming the angle Between the White and 
Blue Niles at their junction. A more miserable, 
filthy, and unhealthy spot can hardly be imagined. 
Far as the eye can reach, upon all sides, is a sandy 
desert. The town, chiefly composed of huts of un¬ 
burnt brick, extends over a flat hardly above the level 
of the river at high-water, and is occasionally flooded. 
Although containing about 30,000 inhabitants, and 
densely crowded, there are neither drains nor cesspools : 
the streets redolent with inconceivable nuisances, 
should animals die, they remain where they fall, to 
create pestilence and disgust. There are, nevertheless, 
a few respectable houses, occupied by the traders of 
the country, a small proportion of wdiom are Italians, 
French, and Germans, the European population num¬ 
bering about thirty. Greeks, Syrians, Copts, Arme¬ 
nians, Turks, Arabs, and Egyptians, form the motley 
inhabitants of Khartoum. 
There are consuls for France, Austria, and America, 
and with much pleasure I acknowledge many kind 
attentions, and assistance received from the two former, 
M. Thibaut and Herr Hansall. 
Khartoum is the seat of government, the Soudan 
provinces being under the control of a Governor- 
General, with despotic power. In 1861, there were 
about six thousand troops quartered in the town; a 
portion of these were Egyptians; other regiments were 
composed of blacks from Kordofan, and from the 
White and Blue Nile, with one regiment of Arnouts, 
and a battery of artillery. These troops are the curse 
of the country : as in the case of most Turkish and 
