chap, i.] JOHANN SCHMIDT. J 9 
party, I loaded the boats with an extra quantity of 
corn, making a total of a hundred urdeps (rather ex¬ 
ceeding 400 bushels). I had arranged the boats to* 
carry twenty-one donkeys, four camels, and four 
horses; which I hoped would render me independent 
of porters, the want of transport being the great diffi¬ 
culty. The saddles, packs, and pads, were all made 
under my own superintendance; nor was the slightest 
trifle neglected in the necessary arrangements for 
success. In all the detail, I was much assisted by a 
most excellent man whom I had engaged to accompany 
me as my head man, a German carpenter, Johann 
Schmidt. I had formerly met hiffi hunting on the 
banks of the Settite river, in the Base country, where 
he was purchasing living animals from the Arabs, for 
a contractor to a menagerie in Europe; he was an 
excellent sportsman, and an energetic and courageous 
fellow; perfectly sober and honest. Alas ! “ the spirit 
was willing, but the flesh was weak,” and a hollow 
cough, and emaciation, attended with hurried respira¬ 
tion, suggested disease of the lungs. Day after day he 
faded, gradually, and I endeavoured to persuade him 
not to venture upon such a perilous journey as that 
before me : nothing would persuade him that he was 
in danger, and he had an idea that the climate of 
Khartoum was more injurious than the White Nile, 
and that the voyage would improve his health. Full 
of good feeling, and a wish to please, he persisted in 
working and perfecting the various arrangements, when 
he should have been saving his strength for a severer 
trial. Meanwhile, my preparations progressed. I had 
clothed my men all in uniform, and had armed them 
with double-barrelled guns and rifles. I had explained 
to them thoroughly the object of my journey, and that 
implicit obedience would be enforced, so long as they 
were in my service; that no plunder would be per¬ 
mitted, and that their names were to be registered at 
the public Divan before they started. They promised 
fidelity and devotion, but a greater set of scoundrels 
€ 2 
