Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-10-05
THE SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, OCTOBER s. 1884,
''And how long is it going to take this
r. roaab him

"And how long is it going to take this
expedition to reach himr"
sab, that is hard to answer. 1t is a
long distance up the Nile, and that is the
proposed route, From Cairo to the sec
Ond cataract, it can be navigated by small
steamers. This is 700 miles. Then after
this there comes another 700 miles of the
river that cannot be navigated. 1t is full
of cataracts and rapids and sandbars
and rocks. Only the little country boats
along there attempt to navigate it. The
only practicable way to cover this 700
miles will be by marching along the river.
This second 700 miles carries YOU to Ber-
Der. From that place to Kartoum, some
225 miles, the river is navigable at times
for small steamers, which have been car
ried there in pieces on camels' backs and
put together. But to transport an army
by this process would, of course, be diff
cult, if not impossible, and especially so
at the season of low water which Will
be at hand before the army can
get there. Thus it appears that
a very large proportion of the 1000 or
]. 700 miles between Cairo and KhartOum
must be marched over bad roads, ex-
posed to the attacks of hostile tribes, who
know the country thoroughly and 90
pretty well armed, and are never IA
tigued. 1t must be nearly or quite the
can reach Khartoum. 1t seems scarcely
possible that Gordon could hold out all
that time. Yet the recent dispatches in
dictate that he has done some pretty eff
fective service on the river at Khartoum,
and that NAV be able to keep him sup
piled with provisions, for the valley above
Khartoum is very fertile, and the supplies
of wheat and cattle are almost unlim-
ited."
"But are there no nearer and quicker
WAYS of reaching KhartOum?
Eyes. there are two nearer routes. One
of these is to go by the Red Sea-by rail
and steamer to Suakin, on the coast of
the Red Sea, which is reached in four
DAYS from Cairo, and which is, by the
travelled route, only 240 miles from Ber-
Der, which city, as l said, is but 225 miles
down the river from Khartoum. That
looks like an easy route, doesn't it? All
by rail and steamship except 240 miles.
Well, that $40 miles is the rub. 1t is
across a desert, with no water except
in wells sometimes several days. march
apart, and only sufficient when reached
to supply few hundred men. To march
an army across there without water
would, of course, be impossible, while to
carry water for the whole distance would
be as impossible as it would be to gain
the supply from the wells which can sup
ply DuI lew uuUuf6uSs 4 nave OlJeu udu
to wait at these wells several days to get
enough water for my force of a few hun
dred men. How then could they be Of
sufficient value for an army of thousands
should as would be required to
rescue Gordon? Why, Hicks Pasna
had 5000 camels, most of them to carry
water, and yet could carry but one days
supply. There is another route, but it is
so much worse than this that it is out Of
the question. 1t is across a bed of sand,
without an object in sight to mark the
way except the bones Of camels and oxen
which have persisted upon it. I have
counted in passing over this trail 400
skeletons to the mile. Indeed, they aver
age from 60, in the best portion of the
trail, up to 400 in the worst, and the dis
lance is nine days march.
''But, General, would not King John,
whom you suggest as the instrument for
the saving Of Gordon, have all these diff
culties to encounter and surmount?"
ono; for his country is nearer to Khar-
toum, and in the region watered by the
rains which fall in the upper Nile valley.
He could move down the Blue Nile to
Khartoum very readily. Beside that the
people of his country are just as indOmita-
Bile warriors as the Bedouins who roam
over those deserts accustOming them
selves to go fOrty-eight hours without
water, and TO endure a thousand incOnve.
niences that render that whole section
what it is-a graveyard for Europeans"