The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-17 00:00:00

Lady Explorers of the Nile,

At the meeting of the Historic Society, on Thursday, Mr.
Dl'Quie presiding, Mr. J. A. Tinne, F.R.G.S., read a paper
on "Geographical Researches and Discoveries in Centtal
Africa, by three Dutch ladies." The paper was illustrated
by valuable unpublished maps, prepared for the occasion,
three hI r
inn wash
ladies,g greeted wwi tehr
were
loudhis spt pe
rl as
and kindly lent by the Geographical Society, On rising,,
u
for purpose of visiting the Nile and the
leftse. thlel eHsaagi said
Hague
in
Lying previously visited Egypt
July, 1861,
counige4 adjacent to it,
twice, in 1856 and in 1858. They arrived at Alexandria,
wintered at Cairo, and proceeded up the Nile on the 9th off
January, 1862. They had a large party with them, which
included a strong guard of soldiers, and they also had a
quantity of stores. The first point of interest was their
journey across the desert of Nubia, which, to their astonish-.
nient, they found to be a romantic country, fureiehing
plentifes' supply of herbs, and not destitute of water. They.
visited, in the course of their passage through the desert„
Mr A. Melly's tomb, at Gagee. Mr Melly, who was a Lim-
peal merchant, died in the desert in 1851 whilst visiting the-
counts :7 with his family. Proceeding onward to Khartum,
the party tra-vessed the Blue Nile, which they considered the
reverse of pretty, and thence to the White Nile, with which
they were delighted. They found it a beautiful ornamented
water, richly wooded. An interesting incident was here re-
lated of the redemption of several slaves by the ladies. The
travellers selected a station at the foot of a chain of moun-
tains called the D'Jehel Hemays, in which to pass the sure-
mer season. It was on the east bank of the White Nile.
Here they remained till the 7th July, at which date they
proceeded up the river. The youngest lady of the party wets
everywhere taken to be the daughter of the Sultan, and in
several countries the people entreated her to become their
queen. The party next made an excursion up the Sobat
River, returning to the Nilo to Lake No, beyond which they
found the river abounding in splendid vegetation, but the:
navigation was dangerous. On Sept, 4 they arrived at St..
Croix, a station of Austrian Roman Catholic missionaries,
The band of missionaries originally consisted of 30 mem-
bers; only three remained at the time of the visit, and on the
return of the party down the river these three came away.
One of the ladies made an excursion into the interior for
8 days, and found the country exceedingly beautiful, and
was delighted with everything she saw. On the 15th Sep-
;ember they resumed their journey up the river, the scenery
improving as they advanced. The next stopping place was
Gondokoro, which abounded with more magnificent scenery
than any they had yet witnessed. They had been informed
that above this point the river was not navigable. They,
however, attempted to pass on further, but after 5 hours'
labour they found it impracticable and turned back. They
meationed that the people living in the neighbourhood rid -
culed the idea of there being but one source of the Nile,.
They would have gone across the country, but abandoned
the attempt on account of the amount of marauding that was
being carried on. One of the ladies suffered very much from
exposure to the sun. On the 22d October they commenced
the return journey, and arrived at Khartum in November,
1862, The sail down the river, occupied 170 hours, being
only about one-half the time occupied in the voyage up.
They remained at Khartum until February 1863, refitting.
They started again in that month with restored health, after
spending a cold winter, sometimes stormy, but the weather
always bracing, At this time the ladies were joined by a.
Dutch gentleman named Baron D'Ablaing, and two scien-
tific Germans—Dr.T, Von Henglin and Dr. Steudner. They
purposed ascending a great western tributary of the Nile, the,
Bhazal, and so proceeding as far as possible southwestward.
On Feb. 5 they again arrived at Lake No and set forth up the.
Bhazal, where they were astonished at the number of ani-
mals, birds, and fishes that abounded on every hand. They
next disembarked at Lake Bek, where they found 35 trading
vessels waiting for cargoes. One of the German gentlemen
purposed on March 25 to find a suitable champaign between
this point and the mountains of Caaingo. Both the Ger-
mans, however, fell sick, and one of them, Dr Steudner,
died on April 10 of fever. There were many other delays,
so that it was May 12 before the party was prepared to ad-
vance. At that time they had a very large retinue, he-
eluding 120 soldiers, in their service. During the absence
of the German gentlemen the ladies were visited by Mt
Petherick, the late British Consul at Khartum, and his
who were greatly dejected at the ill-health they had met with
in their search for Capts. Spoke and Grant. In their letters
to him (Mr Tinne) the ladies requested him to take every
opportunity that might present itself to relieve the minds
of the people in this country from the unfavourable opinions
with which Mr. Petherick was regarded. Captains Spekes

and Grant, they said, had been prejudiced against him by a
man whose nephew he had caused to be apprehended for slave
trade. The ladies went forward on May 17, at which time
the surviving Dutch gentleman, Dr. T. Von Heuglin, was

too ill to be removed, and the Dutch gentleman and Mr.
Petherick remained behind to take care of him. A succes-
sion of severe storms and cold brought on fever in one of
the ladies, and for some time she lay at the point of death.
At the same time the soldiers mutinied, and troubles ac-
cumulated, but at the date of the last advices, the 2d of.
July, 1863, they were induced to proceed further into the
country, which was still described as exceedingly beautiful,
and surprising all the expectations of the party. In many
places they had been received with the greatest hospitality,
but they had suffered a great deal from imposition and ex-
tortion, and also from the climate, which told considerably
upon their healths. Mr Tinne resumed his seat amid loud.
applause. A discussion followed, in the course of which
Mr P. B M'Quie thanked Mr Tinne for the observations ha
had made respecting Mr Petherick, He said that that
gentleman's reports and accounts were now in the posses-
sion of the Royal Geographical Society, and would be pub-
lished Shortly. They would free Mr Petherick from the
charges which had been made against him. The Govern-
ment had chosen to abolish the consulate of Khartum with-
out any reasonable grounds, and also to identity Mr Pethe-
rick with the slave trade, but it would be found that for the
charge there was no foundation whatever.