chap, xviii.] RETREAT OF THE SLAVES. 4? 1 
“ The White Nile was dammed up by a freak of 
nature, and the crews of thirty vessels had been occu¬ 
pied five weeks in cutting a ditch through the obstruc¬ 
tion, wide enough to admit the passage of boats.” 
Such was the intelligence received by the latest arrival 
from Khartoum. No boats having been sent for me, I 
engaged the diahbeah that had arrived for Koorshid’s 
ivory;—this would return empty, as no ivory could be 
delivered at Gondokoro. The prospect was pleasant, as 
many men had died of the plague on board our vessel 
during the voyage from Khartoum ; thus we should be 
subject to a visitation of this fearful complaint as a 
wind-up to the difficulties we had passed through 
during our long exile in Central Africa. I ordered the 
vessel to be thoroughly scrubbed with boiling water 
and sand, after which it was fumigated with several 
pounds of tobacco, burnt within the cabin. 
Three days were employed in ferrying the slaves, 
across the river in the two noggurs, or barges, as they 
must be returned to their respective stations. 1 re¬ 
joiced at the total discomfiture of the traders, and, 
observing a cloud of smoke far distant to the north, I 
spread the alarm that a steamer was approaching from 
Khartoum ! Such was the consternation of the traders' 
parties at the bare idea of such an occurrence that 
they prepared for immediate flight into the interior, as 
they expected to be captured by Government troops 
sent from Khartoum to suppress the slave-trade. Pro¬ 
fiting by this nervous state of affairs, I induced them to 
allow the boat to start immediately, and we concluded 
all our arrangements, contracting for the diahbiah at 
4,000 piastres (£40). The plague having broken out 
at Gondokoro, the victims among the natives were 
dragged to the edge of the cliff and thrown into the 
river ;—it is impossible to describe the horrible efflu¬ 
vium produced by the crowds of slaves that had been 
confined upon the limited area of the station. At 
length the happy moment arrived that we were to quit 
the miserable spot. The boat was ready to start—we 
