The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-03-10
FIGHT on THE UPPER NILE.
COT. u. q. PROur VENTURES 4 FEW
SUGGESTIONS
Array, and Governor Of the Esua-
torial Provinces, Says the Arrival

Assuming that French expedition from
the korgo has reached Fashoda. on the
White Nile, 80 miles south or khartoums
"a matter still in serious doubt. what 10
the significance Of such an event? What
does Ii mean 10 the nations of Europe!
What does il mean 10 Africa A man
who has marched from the Red Sea TO
the western frontier Of Darfour tsay l,lo0
miles,. and as far south as Mrool, within
Loo miles Of the Victoria Nyanza, and say,
l.5eo miles beyond Khartoum as the Nile
runs; a man who has IN the line OF his
duty made maps and written reports on
the regions so traversed. may claim to
be. In a narrow. official sort Of way. an
authority on the Egyptian Soudan and the
country OF the upper Nile. l know just
enough to know that do not possess the
Informal ton TO answer the questions with
which the article starts out. Probably
there are not many men who have that
information. But ! venture these prop
ositions
The arrival Of the French expedition at
Fashoda has no local military importance
whatever. 1t can have no direct effect on
the campaign OF the English Egyptian
forces. but ii has a certain diplomatic i'm
po-tance. Any real contest between the
British and the French for the control OF
the Upper Nile Valley must be fought out
elsewhere than In Africa
To have moved half a dozen white men
and few scores of negroes from the
French territory on the kongo to Fashoda
on the Nile Is no small achievement. 1t
was q matter OF time and money. OF en-
durance, pluck, tact and patience. But
such force I'm itself could have no more
influence In the Soudan fighting than the
injection Of a underground sub-freshman
into Yale-Princeton football game. The
mere suggestion OF bringing into the field
%.,r A~h
from that direction is laughable.
From the outlying French posts on the
Kongo they must traverse, let US say.
1900 miles Of African Wilderness coun-
try sparsely inhabited. without beasts OF
burden, without even nayiSable streams;
a country in which the camel cannot live,
and in which for many months Of every
year the fevers are pestilential. / passed
two rainy seasons In Ksrdofan and OAR
fourth the high. dry steppe country. far
TO the north Of the -el-Ghazel coun-
try. which term Is a sufficiently accurate
general designation Of the swampy re-
gions west of the White Nile and south
of the Bahr-el- Ghaxal. Those regions lie
in the path OF any approach from the
Kongo to Fashoda.
For three months the south wind came
to US from over those swamps. and al
though We were in the high country. well
fed. well housed. with plenty Of quinine.
per cent. OF my command died in four
months the first rainy season. and the
mortality was greater the second season.
The surgeon of my expedition gave me the
following figures from the official regis
ter of the military hospital at FL Obeid:
Entered during the four months Of the
rainy season, s72: died in the same period,
632. These patients came from perhaps
1000 troops At that rate battalion would
be exterminated In three years. Probably
these figures have never been printed be-
fore. When my report was printed at the
war ONCE in Cairo these facts were left
out. They show two or three things. one
of which is that the death rate among
troops commanded by an American officer
was only about one-fifth of that among
the same kind of troops commanded by
the Turks. Circassans Arabs. and Kurds.
No doubt the English have been able to
produce still better results through longer
experience and more complete control.
Another thing that these figures show
or strongly suggest is that military col
umn moving across the Bahr-el- Ghazal
country would have to fight for It's life
against fever and would have little ener-
gy lef; for other struggles II would cross
a country where the malariaI poison is
much more intense than in Kordofan,
where my record was made. II could not
pass the rainy season in comfortable adobe
barracks. but at the best In huts on the
borders OF the swamp country. Dr. Liv-
ingstone wrote: Important results can
hardly be looked for when ones vitality
Is preoccupied with wrestling with the
uahealthiness CT the situation night and
day"
But leaving out the effect Of climate.
the cost OF such an invasion in time and
money. would alone prohibit IT, We think
that II costs a good deal to get food and
lat - ~.
,ar picnic compared with taking stores 10
the port of departure on the upper Rongo
and thence through 1880 miles OF wilder
ness on the heads of carriers From the
report OF Capt. Macdonald r. F.. on the
project of a railroad from Mombasa TO
Uganda. I estimated that the cost OF
transport over that e57 miles IL about
s.. 40 a ton. The cost for twice or three
times the distance through a more Diff
cult and less healthfui country. where no
carrier system has ever been organized
might easily be three times IA much That
Is mere guess. but IL shows one or the
controlling conditions.
IL may be said that a very few white
men planted on the Upper Nile, across
the British advance might organize re-
sistance and might teach the natives how
TO fight. The first military power that
the Anglo Egyptian has 20 face and con-
qier IS that Of the Soudan Arabs and
Danagla under the khaifa. The fght!ng
quality or strength OF ;hese people can be
little affected by the presence among them
~ fsw casual white men. They have
artillery and hreech-ioaGing rifles and
ammunition and steamboats, and arse
nals. They have the disciplined black In
fantry who surrendered TO the mahdi in
his frst wars. and they have the gallant
spearmen OF the desert. A genius. white
or black. appearing among them might
prosong their resistance 10 the inexura bic
and inevitable Fngiishrnan who Is push
ing southwark in the thorough and steady
way Of his race. Eut barring the i'm
probable genius. no msn can help them.
When in the course 81 time The kha-
Hfa is conquered. x 10 couceiva bic that
an annoying resistance might b. organ
ixesl amenR the Shilloaks. the numerous
and powerful negro tribe occupying the
country about Fash0da and further south
L. Il ~ SAtff--t-.