Stanley; and his heroic relief of Emin Pasha ... Illustrated

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1 STANLEY; AND HIS HEROIC RELIEF OF EMIN PASHA. BY E. P. SCOTT, Author os " Lectures on Africa" "Days in Antwerp" etc. ILLUSTRATED. LONDON : DEAN AND SON, 160a, FLEET STREET. INTKODUCTION. ADVENTURERS and their exploits have always had a great interest for Englishmen, and it is the love of adventure and travel inbred in us which has built up our mighty Empire — an Empire on which the sun never sets, and whose morning drum goes round the world. We can always think with pride of the reckless courage of those Elizabethan heroes who made a name for themselves on the Spanish Main, and raised into a greater prominence the supremacy of England as a maritime power ; of Captain Cook, whose peaceful voyages round the world, and renowned discoveries, opened up such a large portion of the globe to British skill, perseverance, and industry, and of the indomitable courage of the many others who assisted the work of building up the British Empire.

But even more should we think of those explorers who quietly but manfully — carrying their lives in their hands — have gone into unknown regions in order that they might be enabled to reveal to us the secrets that lie concealed therein. No country has had a more VI

Introduction

. devoted band of explorers than Africa, that land of extremes, where nature has been as niggardly in some parts as she has been over-generous in others — a land in which lone deserts and luxuriant vegetation abound, a land in which one man may gain untold wealth and another may find that nought but disease and possibly death await him. Of this gallant band we are forced to remember Mungo Park and the luckless fate which befell him, he being killed at Boussa on the Niger in 1805, when he had all but succeeded in tracing the course of that river down to its mouth. Of Major Laing, another intrepid British explorer, who was the first white man to reach the famed town of Timbuctoo in 1826, only to fall a victim to the cupidity of the warlike tribes of the Sahara, who murdered him while he was endeavouring to make his way to Morocco.

And in later times General Gordon, who nobly perished for the sake of those who had been entrusted to his care. Many others might be mentioned, equally unfortunate, but it will perhaps be as well to conclude with Dr. Living stone, who in his love for the African race could not settle down to his well-earned rest in England, but preferred to die in harness amongst the people whose welfare he had so much at heart. Happily his remains now repose in Westminster Abbey, whence his body was brought from Africa. All honour to these glorious dead. But there are some equally intrepid travellers among those still living, first and foremost of whom

INTRODUCTION.

. VII stands H. M. Stanley, whose recent letters must have stirred the hearts of all, detailing as they do the dangers which he encountered and successfully passed through before attaining his object — the rescue of Emin Pasha. The writer, who, in his travels in Africa, has been in the same latitude as Stanley, feels that many of those who " stop at home at ease " will be glad to know something of the habits and customs of the tribes living in Central Africa, in order that they may the better understand the perils which encompassed Stanley in his latest march through the " Dark Continent." The greatest obstacle to the opening up of Central Africa lies in the tribal system. When we first went to India we found the country divided into many powerful states or kingdoms, of large dimensions, under sovereigns whose word in their own dominions was law.

It was therefore easy to treat with them ; but in the greater part of Central Africa, with a few exceptions, the so-called kings are but the chiefs of their tribes, with little or no influence outside their own territory, which oftentimes contains but a few square miles and has but some few hundred inhabitants. Others may have some thousands of people under them, but these are all kept within the boundaries of the kingship, for should they stray into the territory of another tribe, and are captured, they are held as slaves. Thus it can be well understood what a difficulty it must prove to traverse a country where every few miles (should you

INTRODUCTION.

. come near a native town) you are liable to be attacked if you are not able to secure the goodwill of the king and the chiefs, who are in their turn governed to a great extent by the advice of the Ju-ju-Man, or head priest. The inhabitants of these countries are for the most part cruel, treacherous, dishonest and ruthless to a degree, fighting all who come near them ; they are generally engaged in warfare with some neighbouring tribe. It may perhaps be mentioned in passing that the natives prefer to worship those whom they consider to be the evil-minded gods, for they say that they have nought to fear from the good gods, and therefore it is better to propitiate those gods who can do them harm. Before drinking himself the native will always first pour a little liquid on the ground that his protecting deity may drink with him.

In the part of the world of which I am now writing, it may well be said that " the devil is not so black as he is painted," for the negroes generally think of him as being white, and whenever they start any new farms — deeming it necessary that the devil should come and bless their land — one of their priests is made up to represent him, with a whitened face and dressed in white cotton. Great deference is paid to his Satanic Majesty, some sweeping the way in front of him with palms, others fanning him when he gets uncomfortably warm ; and as he has to do a great deal of dancing like a Jack-in-the-Green this often happens.

INTRODUCTION.

. IX The superstition of the natives is great, and their fear of anything that they think pertains to magic is greater still. Anything that they cannot under stand, even such a trifling thing as lighting a safety match, they put down to magic, or as they call it in some parts Ju-Ju. They are more likely to be frightened by the electric light or fireworks than by guns, and to think the users of them must be superior beings to them selves, and greater magicians than their own Ju-Ju men. One of the best examples of this occurred at Onitscha on the Niger when it was being stormed by the English. The Ju-Ju house or temple was hidden by trees and other buildings, so that it could not be aimed at, had it been desired, but one of the rockets hitting a tree went off at an angle and struck the temple, which it set on fire ; and though all the rest of the fighting is well-nigh forgotten this incident is still remembered.

Years after, one of the natives in describing it to the writer said, " You white men savez for make proper Ju-Ju, you tell them thing to go and he got hit them Ju-Ju house and burn him." In plain English he (and all of his tribe, for the matter of that) thought that the white man was a magician, who had only to give his instructions to the rocket and it would do just as he desired. Africa having been the home of the slave trade for centuries it may perhaps be as well to describe the two forms into which it is divided, although it seems X

INTRODUCTION.

. almost unnecessary to say anything of that very cruel form, of which we have heard so much, — whole villages devastated, and the population slain or carried into captivity to be sold as slaves, at least those who survive the hazardous journey to the coast. The west coast used to be the great emporium of the slave trade, but now it is to the east coast that the slave dealers take their human merchandise. Where the factories (as they were called) on the west coast once stood, for the warehousing of the slaves until they could be conveniently shipped over the various bars, now stand buildings — still called factories — where the natives come without fear to exchange native produce for goods of all sorts manufactured by the white man. The other form of slavery is what is generally called domestic slavery, which is very different, as the slaves are never exported for sale.

Sometimes they are captives taken in battle ; sometimes they may be those who, leaving their own territory, have trespassed on that of another tribe ; or they may — and it is often the case — be those who have committed some crime. With the inhabitants of this part of Africa imprisonment for crime is unknown. Any offender proved guilty is either fined or killed. If he be fined and is unable to pay, he is sold as a slave until such time as he can work out his fine. If condemned to death amongst the cannibals — and, there are many cannibal tribes in Africa — he is eaten by his fellow-tribesmen. The negro is undoubtedly great in the art of poi-

INTRODUCTION.

. XI soning, each one making the poison himself from the plants of the forest. All being such adepts at the art, they are naturally suspicious that any one they may come in contact with may use his knowledge for their destruction ; consequently they will neither eat nor drink anything offered to them until the donor has himself partaken of the meat or drank from the same vessel that is offered to them. To write down all the habits and customs that prevail in Africa would need the whole of the space in this book, and this is merely the introduction to it; but it is to be hoped that what has been said of the tribes of Central Africa may help the reader to more fully understand the troubles and trials which Stanley had to undergo, and the difficulties and dangers which he had to pass through during his last journey across Africa.

E. P. S. London. PAGE 37 CONTENTS. CHAPTEK I. HISTORY OF THE SOUDAN IN MODERN TIMES. Ismail fears the Power of the Soudanese — Gordon and the Soudan — Advent of Europeans — The Slave Trade— Arabs succeed Europeans — Effect — Revival of Slave-hunting — Condition of the Soudan Thirty Years ago — Khedive moved to Action — Zebehr the King of Slave-dealers — He attacks Darfour— The Khedive assists Him — Zebehr's Troops — He goes to Cairo — His Son revolts and is defeated 17

Chapter II. The Equatorial Province And Its Government

Sir Samuel Baker is appointed — Gordon succeeds Him — Fortified Posts established at Mrooli and Masindi — Further Advance stopped — Native Governors — Emin — His History — Rising of the Mahdi — Defeats the Egyptian Troops — Gathers together an Army — Rebellion in Kordofan and Senaar — Anarchy prevails — Defeat of Yussuf Pasha — Emin cut off from Communication with Egypt -fl

Chapter III. Emin Pasha At Wadelai

News from Emin Pasha — Still holding the Equatorial Province — Fighting the Mahdists — Emin tries to escape — Is unsuccessful — Leaves Captain Casati at Kargwa — The formation of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition — Stanley accepts the Command .

Chapter IV. Life Of Stanley

His early Life — Runs away from School — His Temperament and Appearance — Works his Passage to America — Finds Employment — Adopted by his Master — Assumes the Name of Stanley — His Master dies — Stanley thrown on the World again — Joins the CONTENTS. XIV PAGE Confederate Army— Is taken Prisoner— Returns to England- Goes back to America— Joins the Federal Navy— Acts as Corre spondent in the " Far West "—Engaged by the New York Herald —Proceeds to Abyssinia— Civil War in Spain— His Historic In terview with Mr. Gordon Bennett : But find Livingstone ! . .43

Chapter V. Life Of Stanley

(CONTINUED). Arrives at Zanzibar— Reaches the East Coast— News of Livingstone —Roads in Africa— Stanley has his first Fever— In the Desert— A Land of Plenty— Tribute demanded— Unyanyembe— Finds bis Caravans — Luxurious Living in Central Africa — Joins the Arabs against Mirambo— The Result— Kalulu— An African Chief— A Palaver — Reaches Ujiji — Meeting with Livingstone — Joint Exploration of Lake Tanganika — Livingstone returns with Stanley to Unyanyembe — Their Parting— Stanley reaches Zanzibar in safety — Returns to Europe 49

Chapter VI. Life Of Stanley

(CONTINUED). Ashantee War — A fresh African Expedition — Leaves England — Arrives at Zanzibar — Reaches Mainland — The Death of the first White Man — Victoria Nyanza — King Mtesa — His Reception of Stanley — Stanley circumnavigates the Lake — Death of Barker — March to the Lualaba — Meets Tippoo Tib — Cannibals and Dwarfs — Tippoo Tib leaves him — " Meat, Meat ! "—Stanley Falls — Stanley Pool — Death of Kalulu — Death of Pocock — Reaches the Atlantic —Returns Home — Founds the Congo Free State — Expedition to relieve Emin Pasha 63

Chapter VII. News From The Congo

Stanley's first Letter — Leaves the Lower Congo — Short Marches — Steamers on the Congo — Scarcity of Food — Abundance Four Days ahead — European Officers iu Good Health . . .71

Chapter VIII. Stanley And The Missionaries

The Expedition arrives at Stanley Pool — Scarcity of Food — Fears of Starvation — The Motto of the Missionaries — How Stanley helped them in 1883 — Their Return for his Kindness — Mr. Billington consults his Bible — Stanley's Interview with the Governor — Sends a Guard to the Henry Reed — The Faith, Hope, and Charity of some Missionaries — List of the Steamers employed and their Cargoes 7G CONTENTS. XV

Chapter IX. En Route

PAGE Tke Peace breaks her Rudder — Return to Leopoldville — The Peace breaks down— The Stanley nearly wrecked — Arrive at Bolobo — Tbe Engineer of the Peace gets a Wrinkle — The Men wax Fat — Disposition of the Members of the Expedition — Tippoo Tib — Reach Yambuya — Capture the Village — The Natives come in — And are treated well — Soon, Soon En Avant . . . .85

Chapter X. En Avant

Major Barttelot's Return — Reports Tippoo Tib warmly welcomed — Said-bin-Hubub— Tippoo Tib appointed Governor of Stanley Falls — Orders all Raids to cease — Requires State Troops to aid Him — Fight at M'bungu — Tippoo Tib's men wounded — Good-bye 92

Chapter XI. Through The Gloom Of The Forest To Sunshine

Stanley's Letter— Instructions to Major Barttelot — The Expedition impeded by the Natives — The First Death — Lieutenant Stairs wounded by a Poisoned Arrow — Mr. Jephson loses his "Way — Desertions — At Ugarrowwa's — Starvation — Kilinga-Longa — The Arab's Devastation — A Region abounding with Food — The Death Penalty — The Land of Promise and Plenty — Mazamboni — The First Beef — A Battle — Success — The Albert Nyanza in Sight — Blood Brotherhood — No Boats — In Ibwiri again — Stanley falls 111 — Mazamboni becomes Friends — A. Letter from Emin Pasha — The Egyptian Garrison — Meeting Emin Pasha — Stanley returns for Major Barttelot — Meeting at Bunalya — Stanley reported Dead — A new Mountain — Emin does not care to Leave — His Conversation with Stanley U5

Chapter XII. The Interior Of The

"DARK CONTINENT." One Hundred aud Sixty Days in the Forest — State of the Forest — Dwarfs — Aborigines — Rainy Season — The Grassland — Plenty — " Beauty and the Beast " — The Bazanza Tribe — Fighting — Fort Bodo — The Boat brought up — Meets Emin Pasha — Returns for the Rear Column — Doubts, Difficulties, and Disappointments . 119

Chapter XIII. Emin Pasha And The Relief Expedition

Emin Pasha and Mr. Jephson — The Rear Column — Progress up River — Cast off the Canoes — Small-pox — The Dui River — Starvation — — Fort Bodo again — No News of Emin — Letter from Mr. Jephson — His Adventures — Stauley's Letter to Jephson — Letter from Emin — His Arrival at the Camp — His Doubts .... CONTENTS. PAGE 159 185 202 216

Chapter XIV. The Expedition Starts For The Coast

More Difficulties — Deputation of Egyptian Officers— Return of Lieutenant Stairs— A Bad Beginning — Bad News from Wadelai — Dr. Parke — Prevailing Sickness — The Refugees and their Baggage — Letter from Selim Bey — A Conference — The Decision — Arguments with Emin— The Rebels — A Muster of the Egyptians — Departure from Kavalli's — Stanley 111 — Delay — Another Conspiracy — Selim Bey's Last Communication — King of Unyoro — A Snowy Mountain Range — The Semliki River — Ruwenzori — A Salt Lake — An Open Sesame — Fever — The Albert Edward Nyanza

Chapter XV. Fanaticism Of The Mahdists

Latter from Emin Pasha — Letter from Father Schynze — The Arab's Fear — The King of Uganda burns his Brothers and Sisters — Effect of Major Wissmann's "Victories — Letter from Mr. Jephson — Letter from the Mahdi's General — Wishes Emin to come over — His Account of the Soudan War — Death of Gordon — Spears burning at their Points — Letters from Lupton Bey — Letter from Mr. Jephson

Chapter XVI. Stanley And His Calumniators

Mr. A. M. Mackay — Stanley's Reply to His Calumniators — The White Pasha — Requirements of the Egyptian Government — Major Barttelot and Tippoo Tib — Coolness — Instructions to Major Barttelot — The Rumoured Atrocities on the Congo — Stanley refutes Them

Chapter XVII

A SUMMARY. A Resume of Stanley's Travels — The Sullen Forest Fighting — Emin a Prisoner — His Rescue — Incidents on the Road Home .

Chapter XVIII. Journeying To The Coast

Geographical Discoveries — Lake Albert — Baker's Ideas — The Blue Mountains — A Table Mountain — Gordon and the Victoria Nyanza — Ruwenzori — Snow — Source of the Lowwa — Captain Casati and Kaba Rega — The Native Tribes — Loyalty of Emin to his Men — Stanley's Policy with the Natives — Bullets enough — Arrival of the Expedition at Mpwapwa 221

Chapter XIX. Success

Stanley and the New York Herald— End of the Expedition — Trust in Providence — Arrival at Bagamoyo — Serious Accident to Emin Pasha — Arrival at Zanzibar STANLEY; AND HIS HEROIC RELIEF OF EMIN FASHA.

Chapter I. History Of The Soudan In Modern Times

Ismail fears the Power of the Soudanese — Gordon and the Soudan- Advent of Europeans— The Slave Trade — Arabs succeed Europeans — Effect — Revival of Slave-hunting — Condition of the Soudan Thirty Years ago — Khedive moved to Action — Zebehr the King of Slave-dealers — He attacks Darfour — The Khedive assists Him — Zebehr's Troops — He goes to Cairo — His Son revolts and is defeated. IT may perhaps be as well to give a brief account of the history of the Soudan in modern times, before relating the gallant efforts of Stanley and those who accompanied him to relieve Emin Pasha from his virtual imprisonment in the province of which he was the Governor. This must of course include the events which led to Emin going there, and which afterwards cut him off from communicating with the outer world for such a length of time that it was generally believed that he had fallen into the hands of the STANLEY ; AND HIS Mahdi, or, having been betrayed by his own men, was perhaps a captive, or, more probably, dead.

Owing to natural difficulties no attempts seem to have been made to annex the Soudan to Egypt proper, notwithstanding that it was a fruitful country, and likely to prove of considerable commercial advantage, until Ismail became the ruler of Egypt, and began somewhat to fear the power of the Soudanese. General Gordon, writing of Egypt and the Soudan, said : — "Egypt in her greatest days never seems to have extended further south than Wadi Haifa. There are certainly near Khartoum some ancient ruins of the time of the Pharaohs, and at Merowa there are some pyramids ; but the occupation of these large regions was only ephemeral. To what was due the apparent indifference to conquest on the part of ancient Egypt ? The explanation is to be found in the difficulty of access to the Soudan — the Country of the Blacks, as the word means.

From Wadi Haifa southwards to Hannech — a distance of one hundred and eighty miles — an utter desert extends, spreading also for miles and miles east and west both sides of the Nile. For the same length the river also is encumbered with ridges of rock. " Any invader who should have succeeded in passing the waste tract would have found deployed against him the warlike tribes of the Soudan. Ancient Egypt might certainly have penetrated from Suakim on the Red Sea to Berber on the Nile, but her forces coming by this route would have to cross a desert of two hundred and eighty miles, and would equally have to face the enemy at the end of their wearisome march. It was therefore this boundary of the desert that kept the warlike and independent tribes of the Soudan quite apart from the inhabitants of Egypt proper, and has made the Soudanese and the Egyptians two distinct peoples, that have not the least sympathy with one another."

Owing, however, to the improvements made in the arms of modern warfare, Egypt had such an advantage over the savage tribes of the Soudan, that she was able to pass the barrier spoken of by General Gordon ; and began some sixty years ago to extend her frontiers southwards. Under Mehemet Ali, Nubia, Kordofan, and Senaar were added to her territories. In the year 1853 the most southern Egyptian post on the Nile was in latitude 13° 45", that is, say, about one hundred and twenty miles south of Khartoum ; where as under Gordon (1874-80), who had been appointed governor of the whole of the Soudan, and responsible only to the Khedive, the fortified posts were to be found between the Lakes Albert and Victoria Nyanza. This line of conquest did not merely follow the course of the Nile, but extended east and west.

By the subjugation of Darfour the Egyptian frontier came within eighteen days' march of Lake Tchad, while in the east, lands were annexed which are washed by the lower part of the Red Sea and by the Gulf of Aden. In the advance south from Khartoum the way was opened by a succession of merchant adventurers. In the year 1853 Mr. John Peterick, the English STANLEY ; AND HIS consul in the Soudan, started on the first trading voyage to the upper waters of the White Nile. Others followed in his wake, tempted by the cheapness and abundance of ivory in the first place ; but later on the profits to be made out of the slave trade proved a greater inducement still. Far up in the country of the Bahr Ghazal, posts were fortified by these traders, and held for them by bands of armed men under the command of Arabs.

This no doubt was necessary in such a savage country, and all would have gone well for the opening up of this region to commerce and civilisation, had not the traders soon found that slave hunting was likely to pay them a great deal better than dealing in ivory. Consequently, it was not long before raids were made on the neighbouring villages, and their inhabitants carried off to be sold into slavery. The commerce in human flesh and blood proved very profitable to the Europeans who were engaged in this nefarious traffic until about 1860, when the scandal became so great that it had to be given up. But a worse evil still, befell the poor negroes ; for when the Europeans cleared out of their stations they sold them to the Arabs who had previously been acting as their agents. These Arabs paid in addition a rental to the Egyptian Government.

As may be supposed, the unhappy natives gained nothing, but rather lost by the change, for the new masters carried slave-hunting to an extent quite unknown during the time of the European traders. Being supplied both by the traders at Khartoum and the Egyptian Government with firearms and ammuni tion, it is not to be wondered at that the Arabs found the path of plunder an easy one. They trained many of the negro boys, whom they had enslaved, to the use of arms, so that with their aid they were enabled to go almost to what length they liked in their acts of kidnapping and robbery ; and the misery and ruin that these men must have caused amongst the un offending negroes is beyond all imagining. Unhappily, owing to England's refusal to have any thing to do with the Soudan, this dreadful suffering, which was checked, if not almost extirpated, by Gordon, is begun again in full force with all its cruelties and horrors.

About thirty years ago Speke wrote of these ruf fianly traders on the White Nile : — " The atrocities committed by these traders are beyond civilised belief. They are constantly fighting, robbing, and capturing slaves and cattle. No honest man can either trade or travel in the country, for the natives have been bullied to such an extent that they either fight or run away, according to their strength or circumstances." Dr. Schweinfurth spent almost three years with the slave-hunters. In his book, the " Heart of Africa," he writes : " Twenty years ago hundreds of Dinka villages stood on this (the eastern) side of the river. As the result of the incessant ravages of Mohammed Kher, the whole of the eastern shore has degenerated into a forest waste. There are traces still existing, which demonstrate that large villages and extensive plots of cultivated land formerly occupied the scene where now STANLEY ; AND HIS all is desolation.

The population must have diminished by at least two-thirds." Sir Samuel Baker lays the guilt of the wasting of the Dinka tribe at the door of men holding high offices in the Egyptian Government. He had visited the country some years prior to his taking over the governorship of the province, and on assuming his command in 1869 wrote: "This country has been depopulated by ' razzias ' made for slaves by the present and former governors of Fashoda. ... I frequently rode on horseback about the country, and wherever I found a spot slightly raised above the general level, I was sure to discover quantities of broken property, the vestiges of villages which had at a former time been numerous." It was in 1864 that. Sir Samuel Baker first saw the White Nile ; and when he saw it again in 1872 he wrote: " It is impossible to describe the change which has taken place in this country since I last visited it.

It was then a perfect garden, producing all that man could desire. The villages were numerous, groves of plantations fringed the steep cliffs on the river's bank, and the natives were neatly dressed in the bark-cloth of the country. The scene has changed : all is a wilderness ; the population has fled ; not a village is to be seen. This is the certain result of the Khartoum traders. They kidnap the women for slaves, and plunder and destroy wherever they set their foot," Gordon, going up the Soubat River, wrote : " Not a soul to be seen for miles, all driven off by the slavers; in past years you could scarcely conceive such a waste or desert." For a time nothing was done to check this accursed traffic. There was, it is true, from time to time a certain " holy ostentation," and proclamations were issued freely.

But as Dr. Schweinfurth says : " An ineradicable tendency to slave-dealing has always shown itself in every government official, be he Turkish or Egyptian." At length the Khedive of Egypt was moved to action, not by pity for the poor negroes, but partly perhaps, by the pressure of the European powers, and most certainly by his own dread of the growth of a rival power, which seemed likely to dispute his sovereignty over Lower Egypt. The slave-hunters were now to be reckoned by thousands. They were strengthened by swarms of men who sought refuge in the wilds from the heavy burden of taxation laid on all those who dwell within the reach of the Egyptian Government, together with many who had either just left an Egyptian prison or feared that if they had their deserts they would soon find themselves in one.

In addition to these desperadoes, they had, moreover, large bands of armed slaves, whose obedience was secured not only by fear, but by the constant plunder of the weak and helpless. So powerful had they now become that they refused to pay to the Government the rents that had been agreed upon. Among these slave-dealers was one, who, by his wealth, his troops of slaves, and the number of his fortified stations, stood out from the others as a kind of king. So great was his power it even threatened the authority of the Khedive. His name was Zebehr Rahaman. Dr. Schweinfurth had STANLEY ; AND HIS found him surrounded with a court that was little less than princely in its details. Special rooms provided with carpeted divans were reserved as ante-chambers, and into these all visitors were conducted by richly dressed slaves.

The regal aspect of the halls of state was increased by the introduction of some lions, secured, as may be supposed, by sufficiently strong and massive chains. His wealth matched even his superstition. It was reported, upon good authority, that to foil the " black art " of an enemy, whose charms were a proof against lead, he had had twenty-five thousand dollars melted down into bullets, as the amulets did not apply to silver. Zebehr owned no less than thirty stations. These fortified posts were carried far into the centre of Africa, and all along the line, from one to another and round each one of them, far and wide, he held despotic sway. As early as 1869 the Egyptian Government en deavoured to put some curb upon his power ; and a few Egyptian troops were sent to the Bahr Ghazal under the command of a man, Belial, with whom Zebehr soon came to blows.