The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-10-02

must have the camels, and it was for the
business of Said Bev, the governor Of Kor-
dofan. to get them for me. Between Kor-
uoIAn and DHTfouE iio great, dry steppos
called in the Soudan atmoors. and these
strong tribe of bedouins called the
Hamr, or red Arabs. 1t struck Said Boy
that the Hamr were just the fellows to fur
nish my camels. for our journey would be
through a country which they knew more
or less we'll, and where they were not likely
to meet enemies. So far Said reasoned
we'll, but he did not reflect that these very
facts made it easier for them to run away.
Probably he did not think further that the
moment these Arabs crossed the frontier of
Darfour they would be in the land of a peo-
pie whose slaves and camels n cattle they
had stolen and whose mon they had killed
for generations and that we must 20 200
miles into that country. Perhaps Said
thought of these things; but it is not the
habit of the east to consider how a thing
can be done best. but how it can be done
easiest. At any rate camels were hard to
find and took what came and was glad to
get them.
And 30 in good time we set out on our
march Of $50 miles, making 4 great turn t }
the north to follow the line of the greatest
water supply, which was bad enough at
best. Day after day the silent string of
soft footed camels, and soldiers in white
uAko IA AOo boOoACb; uAAA A0a bioAs11
Arabs in pretty nearly nothing swung over
the sleepy, brown plains. Night after
night they slept under the glitterinR stars.
In the morning there was never a drop of
dew on the grass: by afternoon the ther-
mometer stood 100 degrees in the shade;
at night the temperature fell fast and one
was glad to sleep in flame and blankets.
1t ia no part of this story to describe the
march. When we got into the country of
the Hamr every care was taken to keep our
guides and camels. 1t is bad enough to be
set afoot in the wilderness anywhere; but
when the nearest water is two days of and
hard to find at that. to lose your camels
and guides is not simply q misfortune; it is
a tragedy. II may mean the death of many
of your people. If a guide was suspected
his weapons were taken away from him and
he had to travel with a rope around his
neck the other end of which was held by a
soldier. The officers and men were kept on
the alert on the march by frequent %inspec-
ton of the line. When the camels were
sent out to Craze a strong guard went with
them, and that. too, was often visited by n
responsible officer. 80 we crossed the at
moor and came to the wells of Foga with
out the loss OF a man, and only one camel
short. That unlucky beast Jagged u few
rods behind the herd coming in from the
/ pasture Just at nightfall and was caught by
lions. We thought that one camel out of
400 was not a heavy tribute to pay to the
great wilderness.
At the wells of Foga water is abundant
and easy to get at. What that means no
one knows unless he has travelled in n
thirsty land. From Ell Obeid to Foga, $50
miles, the only water We found WAS in wells
from two men and n cows tail" deep to
100 feet deep. Out of these wells the water
was lifted by the rudest leather buckets,
hauled up by ropes hand over hand. Even
with this feeble outfit most of the wells
could be dipped dry in two or three hours,
and under such circumstances camols must
go dry. Foga, therefore, III n natural placs
for q caravan 10 rest going or coming.
Here | found Ismail Pagha Ayoub encamped
with quite a body of troops. He was on his
way to the Nile with the honors of the
conquest of Darfour thick upon him. To
be sure most of those honors belonged
to another man, but Ismail wore them
very gracefully. He was governor general
of the boudan, n field marshal, and deco
rated with several orders. lie was a Cir
cassiRn, had started as amusioian in an in
fRntry regiment and "maue his ateer."
He really deserved most of the distinction
which he had won, for he was n man of tai
ent and force and pluck. lsmaii liked tho
company OF the men from She west
who could talk with him about the worlds
politics and warH, and about geography
and astronomy, and a hundred things of
which his own kind Of people knew moth
ing: 10 when | pitched my camp by his and
said that l would spend a week there he
kissed mo on both cheeks, at least on both
sides of my neck. for. | lodged my head
over his shoulder. We hunted and rode
together two or three days with goat en-