New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-11-26
SIR SAMUEL BAKER.
NARRATIVE OF HIS EXPEDITION lNlo
AFRICA.


sTRUCuoNs FROM THE KHEDl'h-AN i-Ni"
TANNING NARRATIVE OF ADVENTURES
,rRoM TUE REGULAR coRREsfoNDLNl of i"n I:I;a
LONDON Nov 9-Sir samuel BAKERS isna'N"'
is nnhlished bv Messrs Macmillan In TWO hahoSoinc
octave Volumes with copous illustrations, anu III
tho GOOD nrint for which this house has deserved
renntation The title page describes the book as
narrative of the Expedition to Central Africa 1or
,ho suppression of the Slave Trade, organized by
Ismail. Khedive Of Egypt. This raises afresh the
controversy which sprang up long ago whether SIT
Samuel Bakers Expedition was really. o. mainly an
Fxpedition for the Suppression of the slave
Trade or for the conquest and annexation 10
Egypt Of certain countries in Central Africa
tolerably satisfactory answer may be found III the
book and even IN the first chapter OF It, where Is
given the frman of the Khediye, on which Slr
Samuel Bakers authority rested. The FIRST con
sideratOn on which it rests is to the ehect that
neither nor laws nor security exstln tue
countries of the Nile Basin. The first decree in it
directs the organization of force Ito suDdue 10
our authority the countries situated to the south OF
Gondokorov In both parts of the frman the sup
preston of the slave trade is put second suspect
this was the order which things took in the hhe-
dives mind We may credit him, as Sir Sdmnei
Baker does. with "A sincere desire TO aoolSh
slaye-huntng without being obliged 10 suppose
that he valued abolition more than conquest
In any case there need be no further question
about Sir Samuel Bakers intentions lie accepted
a commission from the Khediye which made MN
Pasha Major-GeneTal, GOvernOr-General OF the
Equatorial Nile Basin, for four years, at S'O'oOo
wear He did his best to annex his territory ana 10
clear If If the slave trade In neither effort did he
completely succeed or completely fail But what
Egypt and humanity have lost his book gains III
would have been far less interesting had recorded
n series of unbrOken tTiumphs. Baker Is never 50
good as when he is describing his struggles with al
yersity, unless it be, as OF old. IN his huh'hs
scenes Perhaps his best passage is his account OF
his retreat from Masindi-a sixteen days marcn
through ambuscades. But that Is only one OF many
which record an almost continuous struggle either
with nature or with his fenow-men, and III his de-
seriptions as in the events themselves, Baker is
almost always equal to the occasion. He Is care
less but most spirited writer. Probably the same
Judgment might be passed on him as military
commander though at times-and notably IN the
preparations for his expedition-he showed himself
full of forethought and prudence To the great ser
vices of his wife, who accompanied him, he pays
tribute in which everybody will heartily join. Her
heroism and good sense Shine out wherever she Is
seen.
Asa traveller. Sir Samuel Baker appears through
out this Journey with the old characteristics more
strongly marked than There is the same I'M
cOnqueraDle energy, INC sdlho COul"S0' INC S"iO
force of will imposing itself on all about him, the
same contempt for the negro. and the same delight
in sport Although.now he is MajorGeneral Baker
and Pasha and in command of regular army-as
regular that is as Egypt can furnsh-he is neither
more nor less than when he led his expeditions as
private individual Not a great general, perhaps,
but Injured to savage warfare, and as fond
rs ever of a taking his share of whatever
fighting is gong on. There is something
which almost proyOkes a smile in the bOyish eager
ness this geueran-chief shows to get at bis enemy,
in no matter what sort of afiray Iu the attack ON
the Beinian he leads a company Of skirmishers
through forest. and regularly drove the covert"
In the fight with the slave hunters under Wat-el-
Mex al Fatiko he figures first as a sharpshOoter:
perceived a III ssr'nsn's e"r With
black trowsers this fellow kuelt ana fired. lnmed-
ately took a shot at him with the "Dutchman," and
without delay kept loading and firing my favorte
ltc breecbIoader at every man Of enemy that
deoCntly dressed.
But perceiying that in a conflict carried on by
"biding behind huts and popping from cover" he
would lose men, whom he could not afford to lose
he changed his tactics. Collecting his body-guard'
the Forty Thieves" $50 called because they never
stole anything. be formed them in line and " LED
them at fun speed with fixed bayonets against the
enemy whom he rcckons go strong The slave
hunters were regularly crumpled up and would
have been bayoneted to a man had they not fed.
There is picture of this charge Sir Samuel figuring
cospicuoIIsv in his helmet the left of the line.
What would Gen. Mcclellan say to this sort OF
thingi Ii is plain that the ideas of commandments
chief differ There plenty Of other incidents not
unlike these. From beginning to end Sir Samuel
carried bis rifle in his hand, and is ready to jump
out of bed at midnight in pursuit Of burglar as to
lead foray at the head of half his army into hos
tile territory.
b,~l,i !, ho lol.
stacies is not less admirable Read the narrative OF
the voyage from KhartOum to GOndokoro. The
first attempt was falare. The White Nile was
found to be choked up by floating RATS Of vegeta
tion and it was necessary to make detOur by the
Balr Giraffe. which hardly more nayigable.
Bakers description of the will answer for the
other:
The immense number of floating islands which are con
stauty passing the stream OF the White Nile had
no exit, thus they were sucked under tnc original
Obstruction by the force Of the stream, which passed
through channel until the subterranean
passage became chokcd with a wondrous accumulation
of vegetable matter. The entire river became marsh,
beneath which, by the pressure Of water, the
stream oozcd through nnuDerablc small channels. In
fact the Nile had disappeared. vessel arriving
from KhartOum, IN her passage TO Gondokoro, would
find after passing through a broad river OF clear water
that her bow would suddenly strike against bank of
solid. compressed vegetation-h was the natural dam
that had been formed TO uuSBOwA extent the river
ceased TO exist.
This process. had been going on for five or six
years. The Bahr Giraffe. before supposed TO be an
independent river, having been explored by the
slaye-traders proved TO be merely q branch of the
White Nile, and they had used it to turn this OBJ
struction. But Baker had been much delayed at
Khartoum by the hostility aud supineness of the
Egyptian authorities in the preparations for the
,.odi.,o, thot WI hon ne left Feb \ 1870 he was too