The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-21

covered a passage TO the river beyond the
barrier by the Bahr-G Giraffe, which proved
therefore to be an arm of the Nile, instead
of nn independent stream like the Sobat
In leaving Khartum with his hotlla, Sir
Samuel resolved to ascend by this newly-dis-
Coz cred passage.
He entered the lower mouth of the Giraffe
on the 18th February, in north latitude nine
degrees twenty-six minutes. The water was
ten feet deep, and the current about three
and half miles an hour, with a breadth,
from bank to bank, of about sixty yards.
At that time the river was about five feet
below the high-water mark of the flood sea-
son. The stream WAS winding, and had
mean course from the southwest Four
small granitic hills formed good landmarks in
the boundless flats within fifteen miles of the
junction, and fine forests bordered the river
for about thirty miles, diversified by plains of
extremely fertile soil. As the expedition pro-
oeeded the woods ceased altogether, and the
steamers depended on the supply of fuel
stored in the vessels in tow.
AT distance of about one hundred and
eighty miles up the Giraffe the dry land dis
appeared, and they sailed through boundess
marsh; the river narrowed, the current
diminished, and at length progress was
stopped altogether by dense grog With of
high grass This was in latitude degrees AZ
minutes 46 seconds, and two hundred and
seventy-two miles by dead reckoning from
the mouth. As the guides assured him that a
passage really existed through this to the
main Nile, Sir Samuel set one thousand men
to work to cut channel through the
obstruction; and, after thirty-two days
labor, a canal eight miles long was made
but only to fud the stream beyond
too shallow to float his steamers. He
compared the marsh grass to sugar cane in
thickness and toughness; aud the tangled
confusion of deoaying vegetation beneath it,
to depth of five or six feet, resembled a
mixture of fishing nets, ropes mud sailors,
swabs sponges, and canes, all compressed
together in firm mass, beneath which the
water was from ten to twelve feet deep; while
grass, about nine feet high covered the sur
face as far as the eye could reach from the
masthead. In the clear river. beyond the
obstruction, dry land appeared on either
bank, and forests within two miles. Herds
of antelopes and buffaloes were on the plains,
and the rifles secured supply of meat, which
was much needed.
From the point where the vessels grounded,
Sir Samuel proceeded, with Lieutenant
Baker, in small rowing-boat, hoping to find
deep water further ahead, but he found the
river impossible, and concluded that the
Giraffe was only practicable during the season
of flood. The whole fotilla of thirty-fou
vessels turned back the way they had
come, and as the rainy season had set in,
putting an end to further progress, he esta.
blished the equipment, from which he
wrote, at Towfkeeya, near the junction of the
Giraffe with the Nile. He intended to re.
main here till November, and then, with all
his force of two thousand men, cut passage
through the obstruction in the main river,
on his way to Gondokoro. He spoke cheer
fully of his prospects; his stores were all
safely warehoused and all his men in fail
health. Since his settlement at Towfkeeya
he had liberated three hundred and five
slaves, who were being carried down the
river by slave dealers; half of them the
property of the Turkish Governor of one of
| the Nile settlements.