Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-03-22
RETURNING FROM THE NILE.
How the Men Nsre rested and Their
Opinion of the Natives


Two strongly built men, with bronzed
faces and wearing serge jackets, with belts
and blue trousers, with red stripes,
says the New York Times, stood yester-
day afternoon in the Barge Office in the
midst of a thrOng Of well-dressed PISS
/ sengers, who had Just arrived on the
Cunard steamship Oregon. These men,
whose appearance contrasted so strongly
with that OF the other passengers, were
Canadian Noyageurs returning from the
Soudan. With them was another we'll
built and brOnzed man, who wore an
Overcoat of fashionable cut, but whose
| trousers matched those of the two others,
and proclaimed him to be also a vOyageur
fresh from the dangers of the Soudan.
The voyageur with the overcOat gave his
name as +. c. Miller. The others were
Alexander COrc0ran and l.. II. Daughay.
"We were gone about six MONTHS" said
vOyageur Miller. eve had great deal
of difficult work to do, and passed through
some danger, but we did not meet the
enemy nor were we under fire. Our duty
was to steer the boats among the rapids.
There were $50 of us. The climate was
not well suited to us. 1t was very differ
ent from what we were used to in Canada.
About sixty of US were in the hospital.
They had been built by contract in Eng
land, and were only about three-eighths
Of an inch thick. They did not compare
with the long, sAallow-bowed, square
sterned boats that the natives used.
You could see a native skimming
along with his whole family and
all his goods in one of these. But
the tents and other equipments furnished
us By the British Government were of the
I Of
Wolseley? i don't want to say anything
about him. When l can't say anything
good about man, l say nothing at all
about him. Egypt struck me as a very
wild sort of country. 1t was rOugher and
barrener than anything had seen before.
The Nile is a treacherous stream along
the region of the cataracts. 1t is much
worse than the st. Lawrence. 1t is in
some parts full of eddies and currents
and rocks. No wonder so many boats
were upset. When one boat upset the
others near her had to 60 to her aid, and
all would be delayed. Why, we were
once 81 days in making a distance of only
about 70 miles.
The natives were very grasping, al
though they never were openly hostile to
us. They always charged heavily for
rescuing soldiers when they were upset.
| Why, one officer who was upset had to
promise the natives over ego before they
would pilot him through the eddies to the
shore. They could swim the Nile them
! selves because they understood the cur
rents, but stranger would be carried
first one way and then the other, and,
though a good swimmer, would stand
better chance OF being drowned than of
reaching the shore. There was good fish
ing in the Nile, but although lines were
served out to us we had little time for
using them. One fish, sort of salmon,
that was caught by one of our party
weighed 125 pounds. But all Nile salmon
are not as large. The African soldiers of
the British party were of no use what
Naval Brigade. Those fellows went up
the cataracts in fine style. If
they were hungry and they hap
pened to find goat roaming around off
went that goats head. The others were
too easy with the natives. We were
about eighteen days in reaching the foot
of the first cataract. 1 would take a boat
up some distance and then would return
for another. COrcOrAn steered one boat
the whole time. He went up as far as
Korti, which he left on Jan. 16. We can't
tell anything about the killing of a native
by some of the yOyageurs while going up
the Nile. The parties who did the killing
were not found, although there was a
thorough search made for them. None of
us saw the native killed. We returned
from the foot Of the cataracts by a Cook
excursion steamer. The vOyageurs were,
as a rule, treated very well and received
good pay. We got from $40 to $40 month
and all of our expenses were paid.''