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Miss Tinne Traveling. 
 
79^S /6 
 
 THE 
 
 Heroine of the White Iile; 
 
 l^at a Momaax §itr attir ^ar^ir. 
 
 A SKETCH OF THE REMARKABLE TRAVELS AND EXPERIENCES 
 OF MISS ALEXANDRINE TINNE. 
 
 By Prof. WILLIAM WELLS. 
 
 TWO ILLUSTRATION 
 
 ^ New York : /'? ' ' 
 
 CARLTON & LANAHAN. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO : E. THOMAS. 
 CINCINNATI: HITCHCOCK & WALDEN. 
 
 SUNDAY-SCHOOL DEPARTMENT. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 18V1, by 
 
 CARLTON & LANAHAN, 
 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 
NOTE. 
 
 ♦ ■ 
 
 THIS little work has been written with 
 a view of supplying the now loudly 
 expressed demand for a literature for our 
 Sunday-schools that will be both instruct- 
 ive and entertaining. Its truth is more 
 thrilling than fiction, and its simple story 
 stranger than romance. It is written 
 mainly for our older Sunday-school chil- 
 dren; but its pages may contain informa- 
 tion and lessons that will not be without 
 interest to any who may be inclined to 
 know more of Africa, and of the strange 
 career of a lady whose life was sacrificed 
 to her intense desire to penetrate its wilds 
 and its deserts, and be a herald of mercy 
 to its persecuted and benighted people. 
 
Chapter 
 
 I. "Why we call her a Heroine , 
 
 Paob 
 
 II. Her Birth and Early Life 16 
 
 III. Her First Tisits to Africa 22 
 
 IV. The First Great Expedition 32 
 
 Y. The Expedition fairly under "Way 40 
 
 YI. Holy Cross and Gondokoro 52 
 
 YII. A Nest of Yillains 62 
 
 YIII. Her Second Great Expedition T2 
 
 IX. The Expedition in the Wilderness 82 
 
 X. The Results of the Expedition. 9t 
 
 XI. Her Return to Cairo 101 
 
 XII. The Artist's Story 112 
 
 XIII.' Four Tears of Longing 125 
 
 XIY. Preparations for her Last Expedition 137 
 
 XY. The Fatal Journey 146 
 
8 Contents. 
 
 Chaptee Page 
 
 XVI. The Wild Tribes of the Desert 157 
 
 XYII. Over the Mountains to the Desert 167 
 
 XVIII. Into the Desert and out again 181 
 
 XIX. A GRAiiD Expedition 192 
 
 JllM;slrali0Ji9 
 
 Miss Tinne Traveling 2 
 
 The Nile Boat 23 
 
THE 
 
 HEROINE OF THE WHITE NILE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WHY WE CALL HEE A HEEOINE. 
 
 THE story of Alexandeine Tes'ne 
 (pronounced Tinnay) is full of ro- 
 mance, courage, and self-sacrifice. She has 
 done what many strong men feared to un- 
 dertake, and all her remarkable labors 
 seemed to be performed solely out of love 
 to the cause that she espoused so early in 
 life ; namely, that of exploring Africa, and 
 carrying intelligence to the poor negro, 
 and doing what lay in her power to abol- 
 
10 Heroine of the White Nile, 
 
 ish that most terrible scourge of Africa, 
 the internal slave-trade. 
 
 No woman before Miss Tinne ever un- 
 dertook this great task, and we have been 
 accustomed to rank as heroes and martyrs 
 the many noble men who have met their 
 death in trying to penetrate the trackless 
 deserts, slimy marshes, and dense forests 
 of Africa. 
 
 The only noble name on record that can 
 be at all classed with Miss Tinne is that 
 of Mrs, Baker, the devoted woman who 
 followed her fearless husband in his dan- 
 gerous journey to discover the sources of 
 the River Nile, and proved by her fidelity 
 to him in the hour of danger and suffering 
 what strength a woman's love can impart 
 to herself, and what protection and con- 
 solation it can afford to man in the most 
 trying hours of his existence. When Mr. 
 Baker returned from his famous journey, 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 1 1 
 
 and related in such touching words what 
 his wife had endured for his sake, how she 
 had faced every danger with him as he 
 pressed on, fearless of death, in his in- 
 tense desire to reach the wonderful lake 
 in the interior of Africa that he believed 
 to be the great source of the Nile, the 
 world applauded her. When he related 
 with trembling voice how she had stood 
 as a guardian angel at what they feared 
 might be his death-bed, consoling him 
 with her words of love, nursing him ten- 
 derly, sweetening his solitude, and sup- 
 porting for his sake the greatest trials in 
 a distant land, surrounded by none who 
 could sympathize with her, the world 
 loved her, because she had performed a 
 noble task under the most trying cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 But Alexandrine Tinne had no one to 
 tell her romantic story until she met her 
 
12 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 tragic fate, and lier bones were bleaching 
 on the sands of the desert. She, herself, 
 gave no account of it to the world, and 
 seemed indeed strangely to prefer that 
 nothing should be told or written about it. 
 It is said that she had a great dislike to 
 the publication of any of her adventures, 
 and performed her strange deeds either for 
 self-gratification or the actual good that 
 might come of them, but not that the 
 world might listen or applaud. 
 
 She was truly a pioneer in African dis- 
 covery, for she penetrated regions that had 
 never before been trodden by the foot of 
 the white race, except perhaps by some 
 of the unprincipled slave-dealers in search 
 of victims. She was immensely rich, and 
 expended her great fortune in these en- 
 terprises, not so much in the cause of dis- 
 covery or science, as in the desii-e to 
 become acquainted with the unknown 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 13 
 
 regions of the country that she had actu- 
 ally made her home. One of her journeys, 
 however, was expressly made in the pur- 
 suit of knowledge, and on this adventure 
 she took with her two of the most scien- 
 tific explorers of Germany at her own 
 expense. But this single exploration of 
 the endless marshes and sluggish water- 
 courses to the west of the White Nile 
 was sufficient of itself to give her an hon- 
 orable name among the long list of African 
 travelers who have lost their lives while 
 facing the dangers of this fatal quarter of 
 the globe. 
 
 It is certainly something very strange 
 that a young, rich, and beautiful woman, 
 brought up in the most refined and aristo- 
 cratic circles of Europe, could, by any pos- 
 sible means, find a pleasure in pressing 
 into the wild regions of the barbarous 
 negroes of inner Africa, facing the dangers 
 
14 Heroine of the White Nile, 
 
 of a terrible climate, risking the cruelties 
 of savage men, and foregoing all the con- 
 veniences and advantages of civilized life. 
 We naturally ask the question. What was 
 the motive? This we propose to discuss 
 in another place. 
 
 We here merely wish to say that Miss 
 Tinne finally met with a sudden and cruel 
 death irom those whom she was most be- 
 friending. This occurred but a few months 
 ago, and her special friends have simply 
 had time to prepare her story for the 
 world. She was a Holland lady, and 
 therefore not at all known on this side 
 of the ocean ; but we felt that the rich 
 materials that have by chance come into 
 our hands, would enable us to weave 
 a plain unvarnished tale of truth, more 
 attractive than many that are painted by 
 fiction, and thus we give, to the youth of 
 our Sunday-schools especially, this brief 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 15 
 
 account of the life and career of Alexan- 
 drine Tinne. 
 
 When they have finished it they will 
 say with us, that she was the Heroine of 
 Africa, or we shall feel that we have re- 
 lated her wonderful history in vain. 
 
CHAPTER n. 
 
 HER BIETH AJ^D EARLY LIFE. 
 
 HOLLAND is one of the most interest- 
 mg countries of Northern Europe, 
 and especially so to the genuine New 
 Yorker, because the city and the State 
 was originally founded by the Holland 
 Dutch, and we, descendants of the Knick- 
 erbockers, as the early Dutch settlers have 
 been called, always listen with interest to 
 any story that comes from the land of our 
 forefathers. 
 
 The capital of Holland is called "The 
 Hague," and is very pleasantly situated 
 near the sea- shore, with which it is con- 
 nected by a beautiful drive of six miles. 
 The town is a charming residence, espe- 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 17 
 
 cially for the summer, and is noted for its 
 churches, strange and quaint old buildings, 
 and rich museums of modern art. The 
 Hague is so pleasant a place of residence 
 that many people of wealth go there to 
 spend the summer, and to enjoy the re- 
 fined and intelligent society of the artists 
 and the Court; for it is here that the 
 Koyal Family resides during a goodly por- 
 tion of the year, giving life and refinement 
 to society. 
 
 The mother of Miss Tinne was a bar- 
 oness, and also lady of honor to the Queen 
 of Holland ; her family was distinguished 
 for its age, and especially for the devotion 
 to art of many of its members. This gave 
 the Baroness an influential position in 
 society, which was made more so by her 
 connection with the Queen, and her own 
 intelligence and refinement. Her hand 
 was sought in marriage by a very wealthy 
 
1 8 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 Englisli merchant, and she thus became 
 Mrs. Tinne, and the mistress of a royal 
 fortune. 
 
 Alexandrine was born at the Hague in 
 the year 1839. But her father died when 
 she was but ^n% years old and therefore 
 too young to have any distinct remem- 
 brance of him. He left his infant daugh- 
 ter the richest heiress in all Holland. The 
 mother cared tenderly for her education, 
 and she enjoyed every advantage that 
 wealth and high position could secure. 
 As soon as she was old enough she asso- 
 ciated with all the coui^tly families, and 
 became a special favorite of the Queen of 
 Holland, who took a great interest in her 
 training, and desired to make her an orna- 
 ment of the royal circles. 
 
 This Queen is said to be a most refined 
 and intelligent lady, with more intellect 
 and good sense than is usually possessed 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 19 
 
 by queens, and she perceived in Alexan- 
 drine tlie material for making a noble and 
 influential woman; this, with her love to 
 the beautiful girl on her mother's account, 
 induced the Queen to offer her access to 
 all the Courts of Europe if she desired a 
 royal career. But Miss Tinne seemed to 
 have no love for fashionable and courtly 
 society, and at a very early age developed 
 a remarkable disposition for adventure. 
 As a mere child she v^ould mount the 
 wildest torses, and, like an amazon, guide 
 and control them with the skill only pos- 
 sessed by the experienced horseman. 
 
 When but a girl in her earliest teens 
 she began to show a spirit of adventure, 
 and an ardent desire to see the world. 
 This soon grew into a passion, that held 
 her as with the strongest fetters, and, for- 
 getting her youth and beauty, and her 
 opportunity to shine as a brilliant lady at 
 
20 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 the first Courts of Europe, she resolved to 
 travel wherever she could see what was 
 strange, and nev^', and wild. As the heir- 
 ess of millions she was able to gratify this 
 ruling passion, and she seems to have re- 
 solved to do so the moment she was old 
 and strong enough to endure the fatigue. 
 
 But she anticipated no pleasure in what 
 was tame and commonplace, and only 
 panted after the wild and grand in nature. 
 Thus her first great journey was to the 
 North Cape, away up toward the frozen 
 oceans, where she could revel in the 
 romantic grandeur of the wild cliffs of 
 Norway. This enterprise she carried out 
 under the protection of a celebrated Nor- 
 wegian artist, famous for his landscape 
 paintings of the peculiar twilights of the 
 long and brilliant northern nights. He 
 relates many pleasing anecdotes of the ad- 
 ventures of their journeyings in these high 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 21 
 
 northern regions, and of the bold enter- 
 prises of his remarkable wai'd and pupil. 
 
 She returned safe and sound to the 
 Hague from this joui^ney, but by no means 
 satisfied with adventure. Indeed, she had 
 just begun to develop the passion, in all 
 its strength, as she entered upon early 
 womanhood, and left all her girlishness 
 behind her. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 HEE FIEST YISITS TO AFEICA. 
 
 SHE had seen the wonders of the ex- 
 treme North, and now turned her 
 eyes to the distant South, because of the 
 many romantic stories related by venture- 
 some travelers returning from tropical 
 lands. She induced her mother and aunt 
 to accompany her on this visit, and their 
 route lay through Italy to Constantinople 
 and Smyrna, Palestine, and Cairo in 
 Egypt. 
 
 Indeed, some people say that Alexan- 
 drine inherited her love of adventure from 
 her mother, who, after the death of her 
 husband, was quite willing to spend the 
 large fortune which he had left her, in 
 
The Nile Boat 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 25 
 
 seeing the world. The daughter had there- 
 fore little trouble in inducing the mother 
 to accompany her in her new journeys, 
 and the mother's sister, a favorite aunt, 
 also joined the enterprising party of Dutch 
 ladies. 
 
 After many adventures they reached the 
 famous old town of Cairo, which they had 
 resolved to make their headquarters for 
 various excursions into inner Egypt. Here 
 they |)rocured a beautiful villa, and settled 
 down with a view of making themselves 
 at home for awhile. They were in the 
 Valley of the Mle, and near the Pyramids, 
 and these mysterious regions and strange 
 scenes exerted a great influence on the 
 character of Miss Tinne. As she heard 
 the wild and romantic stories of returning 
 adventurers from their endeavors to pene- 
 trate the secret glades of Upper Egypt, 
 and trace the Nile to its hidden source, her 
 
26 Heroine of the White Nile, 
 
 energetic soul seemed to breathe in the in- 
 spiration of being a sharer in these toils 
 and struggles. In her love for Oriental 
 customs she had adopted an Eastern style 
 of dress, that well suited her tall figure 
 and blonde complexion. She studied the 
 language with great diligence, and sur- 
 rounded herself almost exclusively with 
 African servants, both male and female. 
 
 Thus the ladies spent the first winter in 
 the Orient, and the mild southern climate 
 agreed so well with their health and their 
 tastes that they left Cairo with regret to 
 return to their home in Holland, for they 
 feared to pass a summer in these regions, 
 exposed to the danger of tropical fevers. 
 
 But the pleasures of the Hague could 
 not efface the memory of their Oriental 
 home, and in two years they were again 
 on their way to spend a second winter in 
 Egypt. This repeated visit and sojourn 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 2y 
 
 there seemed to exert a still greater influ- 
 ence than before on the im]3ressive nature 
 of Miss Tinne. She was deeply affected 
 by the rich and luxuriant nature that met 
 her here at every step, and then resolved 
 to spend her days in Africa. But even 
 Cairo and Lower Egypt were too much 
 under the influence of Europe, and in in- 
 tercouise with it, to suit her romantic taste. 
 She longed to go farther, and penetrate 
 this my^sterious quarter of the globe to its 
 depths. She, in company with her mother, 
 and a sister of the latter, fitted out an ex- 
 peditioQ to the Upper Nile, following in 
 the footsteps of those exj^lorers who were 
 laboring to unvail the secrets of the sources 
 of this famous river. 
 
 They extended their journey to within 
 a rew degrees of the equator, and visited 
 mmy of the wild regions that had scarcely 
 ever known the presence of white men, to 
 
28 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 say nothing of delicate and tender Eiiro- 
 j)ean ladies. This tour made them famous 
 for their astonishing endurance and the 
 courage with which they met and over- 
 came the difficulties that rose up against 
 them, and which were enough to frighten 
 strong men, and induce them to turn l)ack 
 But Alexandrine Tinne knew no fear. She 
 hraved all the fatigues and dangers of an 
 African climate, and all the inconveniBnces 
 and exposures which must meet a lady on 
 such a journey, without being for a mo- 
 ment turned from her determined purpose. 
 They returned safely from this journey 
 and again made their way to Holland, but 
 not to stay there. The intense desire to 
 know more of Africa had taken so strong 
 a hold of Miss Tinne that she could not 
 withstand it, and she remained only a sea- 
 son at home to set her affairs in order foi 
 a long absence. She now left the scenes 
 
Heroine of tJie White Nile. 29 
 
 and Mends of her childhood, as ifc proved, 
 for the last time, and, in company with 
 mother and aunt, repaired to Cairo to 
 spend another winter. This was in 1861, 
 and she had performed all these wonders 
 by the time she was twenty-two years of 
 age. She was not yet eighteen when she 
 made her first visit to the East. 
 
 They had no sooner arrived in Egypt 
 for the third time, when they abandoned 
 the idea of settling down in Cairo, and 
 began to look around for a fitting field 
 for an interesting and useful exploration. 
 About this time they made the acquaint- 
 ance of a worthy German missionary who 
 had traveled extensively in Eastern Africa, 
 and had even seen the lofty snow-crowned, 
 peaks under the very equator. He had 
 been a Christian Missionary to the King 
 of Schoa in Abyssinia, and had endeav- 
 ored to extend Christianity into that dis- 
 
30 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 tant region. At a later period lie had 
 even held fnendly relations with the fa- 
 mous King Theodore of Abyssinia. 
 
 He told the ladies of the wild and 
 romantic scenery in this beautiful land, 
 which is known as the African Switzer- 
 land, and painted to them all the beauties 
 of its healthy climate. At that time every 
 thing looked favorable and quiet, for King 
 Theodore had succeeded in subduing and 
 quieting many of the wild tribes around 
 his realm. From Massua, on the Ked 
 Sea, it would not be difficult to reach the 
 highlands of this comitry, and then all 
 dangers from the deadly climate of Africa 
 would be passed. His advice to them was 
 to undertake this journey into a region 
 entirely new, and make the acquaintance 
 of its victorious King, who was just then 
 aspiring to be the Emperor of Eastern 
 Africa, and the benefactor of his race. 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 3 1 
 
 Fortunately, circumstances prevented 
 them from undertaking this enterprise, 
 for, just at this period, King Theodore 
 seemed intoxicated with power, and be- 
 came, as some think, insane. He offered 
 to marry Queen Victoria of England, and, 
 when this good lady did not even deign to 
 answer his letters, he became so enraged 
 toward all Englishmen that he threw them 
 into chains, and treated them with great 
 cruelty, until the English Government sent 
 an expedition into the country by way of 
 the Eed Sea and totally annihilated him. 
 The hatred of the black tyrant finally ex- 
 tended to all foreigners, and had Miss 
 Tinne penetrated his kingdom she might 
 have been made a queen against her will. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 HER riEST GEEAT EXPEDITION. 
 
 THE Heroine of Africa decided to make 
 her first expedition to what is called 
 the White Nile, which is the large western 
 branch of this stream that joins the Blue 
 Nile, or eastern branch, and there forms 
 the great river of central and lower Egypt. 
 This notorious region has been the death 
 of many a noble explorer and missionary, 
 for its fearfal morasses and endless swamps 
 bear on their bosoms the seeds of the 
 rankest poison. If the white man breathes 
 this air it is almost certain death. 
 
 The question has been often asked why 
 the industrious and energetic emigrants of 
 Europe, who have peopled America, and 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 33 
 
 have even wandered into distant Australia, 
 and extended their dominion over a large 
 part of Asia, have not settled along the 
 rivers of Africa instead of simply visiting 
 their shores as dealers in ivory and slaves. 
 But this question is easily answered: 
 These river banks are the grave-yards of " 
 European explorers; all along these trop- 
 ical strands lie bleaching the bones of thou- 
 sands of white men who have rushed un- 
 bidden into these inhospitable regions, and 
 there met their death from the poison of 
 the air or the cruelty of the inhabitants. 
 These whitened skeletons seem to raise 
 their warning fingers as if to bid the white 
 man not to tread these shores, and yet 
 they will go. The bold and fearless men 
 who in the last ten years have laid down 
 their lives in this rash undertaking would 
 fill a long list ; for Englishmen, Germans, 
 and Frenchmen have vied with each other 
 
34 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 in their rasli endeavors to conquer this 
 country for commerce and religion. 
 
 But that a woman should lead an expe- 
 dition into this deadly region was a new 
 revelation to the world, and the dwellers 
 on the banks of the Nile. She knew well 
 that, wholly aside from the fearful dangers 
 of the climate, the civil condition of the 
 country was not at all assuring, for the 
 continued annoyances and brutalities of the 
 slave-hunters had set all the negro tribes 
 in uproar, and there was a general war of 
 all against all, which would make a visit to 
 the region of the White Nile an extremely 
 dangerous enterprise. 
 
 This state of things, however, did not 
 frighten these courageous ladies, and they 
 accordingly made stupendous preparations 
 for their journey. They took provisions 
 to last them and their servants for a whole 
 year, and no less than ten camel-loads of 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 35 
 
 copper coin or money — about four thousand 
 dollars' worth — as this is about the only 
 money that is of any value there, and this 
 coin was said just then to be very scarce in 
 Nubia and Soudan, to which countries 
 they were going. On the 9 th of January, 
 1862, they went aboard their three Mle 
 boats, taking with them a large body of 
 well-armed servants, who formed a sort of 
 military escort. 
 
 Their starting was auspicious. The north 
 wind gently swelled their sails, and they 
 passed slowly by all the grand ruins on 
 the banks of the ancient river, and through 
 the first cataracts or rapids to Korosco. 
 Here they hired no less than one hundred 
 camels to convey the large company through 
 the Nubian desert to Abu-Hammed. The 
 object of this long land journey is to cut 
 off the great bend of the Nile, and shorten 
 the journey by more than one half But 
 
36 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 it is considered a very dangerous under- 
 taking, and parties are always advised by 
 the natives to follow the river, notwith- 
 standing its great length. 
 
 But the ladies determined to take the 
 shortest route, bade good-bye to the life- 
 giving river, and began for the lirst time 
 their march with a caravan, for their party 
 was so large that it formed a respectable 
 caravan of itself. They were soon upon 
 the yellow sands of the trackless desert, 
 and only found their way by the bleach- 
 ing bones of men and camels, and met no 
 living thing but a few hungry and cawing 
 crows, ready to snatch up any thing that 
 the party might leave behind, and more 
 than joyful should a poor camel fall by 
 the way, and afford them a bountiful meal 
 in picking the putrid flesh from its bones. 
 
 This short route from ^o\t to jDort on 
 the Nile, across the desert, is dangerous in 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 37 
 
 the most favorable season. A few years 
 ago a wliole Egyptian regiment perished 
 with thirst while crossing it, and the Gov- 
 ernor of Egypt ordered this murderous 
 passage to be abandoned ; but it so greatly 
 shortens the journey around the great west- 
 ern curve of the Nile that the temptation 
 to take it is very great. But, fortunately, 
 our adventurous ladies crossed it in safety, 
 thanks to the large sup23ly of water borne 
 by their camels. The Arabs of the cara- 
 van burst out in thanks to Allah (God) 
 when they saw that their dangers were 
 passed, and discovered the granite cliffs of 
 Abu-Hammed, with the lofty palms wav- 
 ing their crowns in the wind, and the 
 majestic Nile spreading out its broad flood 
 to the weary travelers. 
 
 They now continued their journey on 
 the eastern bank of the stream, up as far 
 as Khartoom, the capital of Egyptian Sou- 
 
38 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 dan, at the confluence of the White and 
 the Blue Nile. This is a very important 
 post, and the head-quarters of the general 
 Grovernor of all that region. This office 
 was at that time filled by Musa Pasha, an 
 unprincipled and cruel tyrant, who ruled 
 only by military power, and oppressed and 
 plundered the people. Miss Tinne was 
 destined to have much trouble with this 
 Prince, and at her first visit obtained such 
 an insight into the Turkish rule of this 
 land as to disgust her with all the opera- 
 tions of this Governor. 
 
 Although it was strictly forbidden by 
 the chief power in Constantinople to car- 
 ry on the horrible slave-trade, this ruler, 
 as all his predecessors, di^ but little else, 
 and thus amassed great wealth, and neg- 
 lected his duties as Grovernor. He very 
 soon saw that such an expedition as this 
 would find out too much of his doings in 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 39 
 
 the interior of the country, and lie there- 
 fore tried to place every possible impedi- 
 ment in its way. Miss Tinne saw the 
 object of his opposition to her expedition, 
 and imbibed a deep antipathy to all such 
 Turkish officials; she at the same time 
 clearly perceived an opportunity to do 
 great good to the African race, in endeav- 
 oring to suppress this domestic slave-trade, 
 and was delighted to have a new field for 
 her efforts besides that of simple explora- 
 tion. She conquered the opposition of 
 the Pasha, and obtained the means and 
 the privilege of continuing her journey 
 from Prince Halim, brother of the present 
 Viceroy. This Prince furnished her a 
 steamboat, in which she and all her party 
 continued their journey up the Mle in 
 May, in order to pass the rainy and sickly 
 season in a more healthy place than Khar- 
 toom. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE EXPEDITIOTT FAIRLY UNDER WAY. 
 
 LET US pause for a moment and con- 
 sider the situation, as tlie soldiers 
 say. Here is a young lady, but twenty- 
 two years of age, organizing an extensive 
 expedition like a military commander, gath- 
 ering men and camels by the hundreds, 
 and crossing the desert at a point so dan- 
 gerous that the Governor had forbidden 
 the undertaking. Then she meets and 
 overcomes the opposition of the local Gov- 
 ernor by appealing to a prince, and, by 
 her boundless energy, succeeds in obtain- 
 ing all the means for an extensive exjDlora- 
 tion of that portion of the Nile that had 
 been the greatest mystery and greatest 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 41 
 
 terror to all previous travelers. She is now 
 leaving the last post of supplies in case of 
 need, and also leaving behind her an enemy 
 in the Governor, an unwelcome visitor to 
 the scene of his cruelty and oppression. She 
 is about 'entering the boundless wilderness, 
 fall of dangers from men, and beasts, and 
 poisonous air. She is determined to go, 
 and we now declare her fairly under way. 
 On leaving Khartoom, a new and in- 
 teresting world was opened up to these 
 European ladies. For a time all seemed 
 very pleasant, and they sat leisurely and 
 securely on the deck of their steamer en- 
 joying the beautiful landscapes on the 
 shores of the White Nile, and comparing 
 them with the barren and sandy plains 
 that had hitherto bordered the main river 
 below. They soon entered the land of the 
 Schillook negroes, where the shores are 
 settled by a very numerous population, 
 
42 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 and are bordered by palm-trees, mimosas, 
 and acacias. In tMs luxuriant vegetation 
 are numerous troops of lively, chattering 
 monkeys, and swarms of beautiful tropical 
 birds. 
 
 One of these landscapes was so attract- 
 ive that Miss Tinne gave orders to the 
 steamer to land, and proposed stopping 
 there for awhile, building cabins, and 
 making themselves at home, with a view 
 of examining the interior of the country. 
 In the meantime the steamer was to leave 
 them, to go down stream again after sup- 
 plies. But no sooner did the servants of 
 Miss Tinne see the steamer's prow turned 
 away from them than they declared they 
 would not stay there, on account of the 
 savage beasts and the still more dangerous 
 slave-hunters that were prowling about 
 the vicinity, for nearly all her train were 
 negroes that the heartless traders would 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 43 
 
 gladly seize and carry oif. The steamer 
 was therefore quickly ordered back, when 
 they hurried on board and pursued the 
 voyage up the stream. 
 
 The native negroes all greeted her with 
 kindness, and thus far she met no enemies 
 except the Arab slave-traders, who fre- 
 quently approached her with propositions 
 to share in a slave-hunt, that, with her 
 forces and her steamer, they could make so 
 profitable. She always rejected the over- 
 tures of these wretches immediately, and 
 they left her in anger, swearing revenge at 
 her interference with their business. Along 
 this part of the river there are Moham- 
 medan settlements ruled by petty chiefs, 
 whose main business is to hunt slaves, and 
 send them in di^oves down the Nile to the 
 slave-marts of Egypt. 
 
 As we might naturally expect, the fame 
 of this wonderful woman had preceded 
 
44 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 her. The stories of her immense wealth 
 had. been told again and again, and end- 
 less were the accounts about her boats, her 
 camels and caravan, and the triumphant 
 journey that she was making up the Nile. 
 And when she landed, her beauty and gen- 
 tleness made her a great favorite; and, 
 above all, when the poor negroes saw 
 her prancing about like an amazon on a 
 sprightly steed, they declared her to be 
 the daughter of the great Grand Turk in 
 Stamboul, (Constantinople.) This notion 
 spread far and wide, over all the eastern 
 and northern part of Africa. It was car- 
 ried by the caravans into the distant oases 
 of Sahara, and ever increased as it traveled 
 onward. Some of the German explorers 
 heard it in distant regions, where the 
 foot of the white man had never before 
 trod. 
 
 She was the beautiful white daughter 
 
Herome of the White Nile. 45 
 
 of the Siiltan of all tlie Sultans, the great 
 ruler in Stamboul; and she was wander- 
 ing all over Africa, dispensing her gifts 
 with generous hands, and winning all 
 hearts — coming to visit, as a Mend, the 
 wide-extended regions of the Sultan's grand 
 domain in Africa. 
 
 This fame of the fairest daughter of the 
 Turk struck with awe even the Moham- 
 medan chiefs, and Mohammed-Cher, a 
 mighty ruler and notorious slave-trader, 
 who had his seat on this part of the Mle, 
 hastened to do her honor, and receive her 
 with royal pomp. He had imprisoned 
 thousands of poor negroes in the terrible 
 slave-yoke to drive them from their homes ; 
 he knew no one above him whom he would 
 call master ; he was the terror of the White 
 Nile, and the negroes trembled at his 
 name ; yet even he bowed before the beau- 
 tiful King's daughter from distant Stam- 
 
46 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 boul, and offered her the sovereignty of 
 Soudan. 
 
 And as she was revered by these slave- 
 hunters, whose savage bands often over- 
 whelmed in the quiet of the night the 
 villages of the blacks, shooting down men 
 like the beasts of the forest, carrying away 
 woman and children into captivity, and 
 burning whole villages, so did the ignorant 
 negroes with strange astonishment stand 
 before the dazzlingly white lady, and wor- 
 ship her as of royal birth. Every pale- 
 face that had hitherto visited the shores 
 of the White Nile had been that of a 
 slave-deale]', the very scum of the Greeks, 
 Italians, and Orientals, who have their 
 head-quarters in Khartoom; but here, on 
 the contrary, was the face of a white lady 
 who came to them with loving heart, and 
 full and generous hands. The fame of this 
 goodness, which had fortunately preceded 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 47 
 
 her, aided her very much in her intercourse 
 with the natives, and protected her from 
 any violence on the part of Shillooks, 
 whom the outrages of the slave-hunters 
 had embittered against all the pale-faces. 
 Once, when it was necessary for her steam- 
 er to land at one of their villages to obtain 
 wood, the crew were so much afraid of the 
 negroes that they refused to go ashore, but 
 Miss Tinne took ten soldiers and landed 
 fearlessly. She was kindly received as the 
 Sultan's daughter, and the throne of the 
 land was even offered to her if she would 
 aid them in driving out their arch-enemy, 
 Mohammed- Cher. 
 
 Alexandrine Tinne had, however, no de- 
 sire to become a queen, and therefore all 
 these enticing offers could not induce her 
 to remain among these Shillooks. Her 
 great wish just now was to explore some 
 of the unknown streams that flow into this 
 
48 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 portion of the White Nile, and help to 
 swell its current. The first that she en- 
 countered on her journey south was the 
 Lobat, which is not even yet well under- 
 stood, and whose character and course 
 were a subject of much controversy. An 
 Englishman named Petherick had ascended 
 it, and declared it to be navigable for some 
 considerable distance, and, relying on this 
 assertion. Miss Tinne ordered her steamer's 
 prow to be directed into this stream. But 
 she was soon obliged to return, as the 
 waters were too shallow for the vessel, 
 which ever and anon ran aground. This 
 excursion occupied ten days, and yielded 
 no valuable results. 
 
 The next point of interest was Lake No, 
 where the Gazelle River flows into the 
 White Nile from the west. This is called 
 a lake, but it is little more than a great 
 marshy basin, in which many travelers 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 49 
 
 have hopelessly wandered and lost them- 
 selves. Stagnant rivers surround it, and 
 with deceptive outlets and false channels, 
 mislead the explorer, and wear out the 
 energies of the body and the patience of 
 the soul. Many years ago a large expedi- 
 tion from Egypt sought in vain a way 
 out of this lake ; they found it a puzzling 
 labyrinth. 
 
 The impression which this notorious and 
 marshy waste left on the minds of these 
 ladies was, therefore, by no means a pleas- 
 ant one. x\s far as their eyes could see, 
 they perceived nothing but an endless 
 marsh, on whose slimy, stagnant waters 
 there occasionally appeared the dead trunk 
 of a fallen tree. The massive water-plants 
 and floating wood formed great moving 
 islands, slowly sailing about in the lazy 
 waters, almost without a direction and a 
 purpose. Hippopotami were plunging and 
 
50 Heroine of the White Nile, 
 
 snorting among the reeds, crocodiles were ly- 
 ing quietly round ready to seize their prey, 
 and great water-birds were standing as im- 
 moveable as statues ; while in the marshy 
 air millions of mosquitoes were humming, 
 and buzzing, and stinging. 
 
 This you will certainly say is no very 
 attractive spot for delicate European ladies, 
 brought up to indulge in all the luxuries 
 of life, and unaccustomed to hardship of 
 any kind. And we say the same thing, 
 although their steamer was provided with 
 every thing to make them comfortable 
 while they were on it. But such a repul- 
 sive landscape, and such a long and tortu- 
 ous journey to get through this lake into 
 the river beyond, will certainly discourage 
 them, and make them turn back. 
 
 But Alexandrine Tinne was born to be 
 a commander, and never hesitated in the 
 presence of difficulties. Indeed the more 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 5 1 
 
 of these the better, seemed to be her doc- 
 trine. And the wilder and more dismal 
 the country, and the more distant from 
 civilization, the better she seemed to enjoy 
 it. Here, in the morasses along the shores 
 of the White Nile, that are more danger- 
 ous than the burning sands of the desert, 
 was to be found the true test of her char- 
 acter. Here was the spot where w^as to 
 be decided the question whether she was 
 equal to the task she had undertaken or 
 had mistaken her vocation. She stood the 
 test. She had resolved to reach Gondo- 
 koro, a famous station far up the stream, 
 and though she saw that it would require 
 weeks of such trials and contests with 
 nature to reach her aim, she neverthe- 
 less stood firm and issued the command, 
 '"'•FoTwo/rdP'^ 
 
CHAPTEH VI. 
 
 HOLY CEOSS ANB GOISDOKOEO. 
 
 THE expedition now passed through 
 Lake No again into the White Mle, 
 and ascended its waters slowly to a famous 
 missionary station founded by the Austri- 
 ans, and known as Holy Cross. They in- 
 tended to make quite a stay here, but they 
 found nothing but a scene of decay and 
 death. A few years ago a Dominican 
 monk, with a few associates, resolved to 
 found a Mission here, in the endeavor to 
 convert to Christianity the wild negro 
 tribes living along these shores. Their 
 efforts were all in vain, The first great 
 difficulty for the white man is the climate, 
 and this seems almost insurmountable. 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 53 
 
 Miss Tinne found not tlie Mission but 
 the graves. Of sixty clergymen and lay- 
 assistants that the Missionary Society had 
 sent to that place, nearly all lay buried 
 in its soil; and the numerous mounds of 
 freshly made graves that every-where arose 
 here spoke loudly of the dangers of Africa. 
 There is a saying that the European 
 cannot wander with impunity among the 
 palm-trees, and these graves seemed to at- 
 test its truth. These deeds of death left a 
 deep impression on the mind of our heroine, 
 but did not discourage her. 
 
 Though this Mission was animated by 
 the best spirit, it could not maintain itself, 
 and no longer exists. It had two settle- 
 ments with a view of scattering among the 
 people the seeds of religion and civiliza- 
 tion. The Negroes were in the habit of 
 going nearly or quite naked; the mission- 
 aries gave them pantaloons, and tried to 
 ■ 4 ^ ■ 
 
54 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 teach them how to wear them. But it 
 was all iu vain; they would put them on 
 their arms, and then on their heads as a 
 head-dress, with the legs hanging down 
 their backs. 
 
 In Grondokoro, the seat of another Mis- 
 sion, they had built a little church in which 
 was a bell to call the natives to service. 
 But the wild Negroes would take the 
 church by storm, and day and night ring 
 the bell, and shriek and shout, and plunge 
 and whirl, like a band of crazy monkeys. 
 The j)ious men could do nothing with 
 them, and were obliged to leave their set- 
 tlements, which are now in ruins. 
 
 It is almost impossible to discover any 
 ideas of a God, or what is called natural 
 religion, in these poor creatures. They 
 believe in nothing but wizards and evil 
 spirits, who make rain or sunshine, and 
 cause disease and death. They seem like 
 
Herohie of the White Nile. 55 
 
 crafty, overgrown children, ready to receive 
 any and every impression, and change it 
 the next moment. It is almost impossible 
 for them to fix their attention for any time 
 on a single object, and they have not the 
 least power of reasoning. 
 
 Some of the tribes in that vicinity seem 
 to have notions like the Brahmins, and 
 adopt animals as gods — the cow especially. 
 They think that every thing about the 
 cow is sacred, and nothing unclean. They 
 take the greatest care of the cow, and will 
 let no indignity befall it. A story is told 
 of a proud woman of one of these tribes, 
 who was so powerful that she never went 
 out without an escort of warriors, but 
 would always seek an opportunity to lie 
 in cow's filth, and regarded it as a sacred 
 and healing ointment. It is not to be 
 wondered at that many good people have 
 despaired of ever being able to do good 
 
56 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 among these people, with their natural 
 degradation and their climate. Some of 
 the tribes visited by Miss Tinne, on excur- 
 sions made into the interior from Holy 
 Cross, were found to be totally destitute 
 of clothing. They seem to be poor miser- 
 able beings that herd together on the few 
 dry spots that these great marshes afford, 
 and live on bats, snakes, termites, or great 
 w^hite ants, and any other vermin that they 
 can obtain. Their only protection against 
 the weather is a covering of ashes. 
 
 Having satisfied herself with excursions 
 and investigations around the Mission of 
 Holy Cross, Miss Tinne now turned her 
 steamer's prow toward Gondokoro, an im- 
 portant station on the White Nile, scarcely 
 ^N% degrees from the equator. Her arrival 
 there caused great surprise, from the fact 
 that it was a most unusual season for 
 strangers to come, as the boats of Euro- 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 57 
 
 peans seldom arrive there before January 
 on account of the climate, which makes an 
 earlier visit dangerous. This place is now 
 largely visited by traders in ivory and 
 slaves, and has become an important sta- 
 tion for fitting out exploring expeditions 
 to the head-waters of the river. It was 
 then but rarely visited by strangers, and 
 had never before been favored with the 
 presence of so many European ladies. 
 
 It was, besides, an unfortunate time for 
 their visit. A celebrated Maltese traveler 
 and slave-trader, a man detested for his 
 slave-hunting and cruelty, had just been 
 committing great depredations along the 
 river, and exasperating the negroes by his 
 inhumanity. They were so enraged that 
 they hid whenever they saw Europeans 
 coming, and from their ambush sought to 
 shoot down, with poisoned arrows, every 
 stranger that entered their territory. For 
 
58 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 this reason no excursions could be made 
 into tlie interior from Gondokoro. All 
 that Miss Tinue could do was to make a 
 little trip to a neighboring mountain, which 
 she desired to ascend on account of the 
 beautiful prospect to be enjoyed from its 
 summit. This she accomplished, and then 
 continued her journey up the Mle. But 
 even this she could not prosecute farther 
 than about twenty miles, on account of 
 cataracts in the river, and great blocks of 
 stones and rocks, which made all farther 
 
 * navigation impossible. 
 
 And the health of the ladies, which had 
 remained good until this time, now began 
 to suffer, and warned them of their danger. 
 They were all attacked with the fatal fever 
 
 * of the region, and it was thought safest to 
 return again to Khartoom. Altogether 
 they had traveled about seventeen hundred 
 miles, and, on calculating the expense of 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 59 
 
 the lotirney after their return to Khar- 
 toom, they found they had spent no less 
 than thirty thousand dollars. From this 
 fact we can form some idea of the money 
 required for African expeditions, and of 
 the vast fortune of this lady. But even 
 this great journey was only the forerunner 
 of much greater ones, that followed each 
 other in unbroken succession for about 
 seven years. 
 
 Miss Tinne simply returned to Khar- 
 toom to rest awhile, regain her health, and 
 prepare for new deeds. A great many 
 celebrated travelers were then working at 
 the problem of the Upper Nile, and this 
 fixed her ambition to rival them. Grant 
 and Speke were understood to be return- 
 ing from their very famous expedition, and 
 Mr. Baker was just then ascending the 
 river with a large company to meet them. 
 As Miss Tinne was returning to Khartoom 
 
6o Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 she met the brave Englishman sailing up 
 the river, and in the book which he 
 afterward wrote he alludes to the Dutch 
 ladies and the charming Miss Tinne, whom 
 he greeted with cannon, which attention 
 they returned by waving their handker- 
 chiefs as long as they could see the ves- 
 sels. Baker remarks that he then little 
 thought that he would never meet these 
 friendly forms again, and that so fear- 
 ful a fate would overwhelm the whole 
 company. 
 
 He is still the fearless exjDlorer, and is 
 just now engaged w^ith a large force in 
 penetrating the secrets of these wonder- 
 ful regions, and endeavoring to introduce 
 civilization and commerce among these 
 poor, ignorant, and tortured people. His 
 boldness may yet be his ruin, and a 
 tragic fate may easily overtake him, as 
 two of these ladies now lie buried in the 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 6i 
 
 swamps of the White Mle, and the lead- 
 ing spirit of them all has found an inhos- 
 pitable grave among the sands of the 
 desert. For the present we will follow 
 them to Khartoom. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 A NEST OF VILLAIIifS. 
 
 IT is well sometimes to call things by 
 tlieir right names, and this we judge 
 to be the right name for Khartoom. This 
 town is a sort of retreat and storehouse 
 for the travelers and traders of the Upper 
 JSTile. It lies right on the point of the 
 Delta, or triangle, formed by the meeting 
 of the White and the Blue Nile, as they 
 join to create the one grand river. It was 
 founded, or, at least, very greatly enlarged, 
 by the celebrated Egyptian ruler, Mehemed 
 Ali, at a period when he feared that the 
 Turkish Sultan might deprive him of 
 Egypt and Nubia. His intention was, in 
 that case, to make Khartoom the capital 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 63 
 
 of Soudan, and extend it into an immense 
 realm. 
 
 This town is considered tlie Gomorrah 
 of the Upper Nile, and is every way 
 worthy of the same punishment that over- 
 took that wicked city of old. It is so far 
 from the seat of central authority in Cairo 
 that it must be ruled by subordinate offi- 
 cials, and most of these are either morally 
 very degraded, or are ever ready to be 
 bought with a price for any wickedness 
 that will pay. The city, therefore, contains 
 within its walls a population of villains; 
 this, at least, is the deliberate judgment of 
 the celebrated French explorer Lejean, to 
 whom we are indebted for the information 
 of this chapter ; and he had the experience 
 of a long sojourn within its walls. 
 
 Under the pretense of dealing in ivory, 
 these traders carry on the slave-trade, and 
 even engage in cruel slave-hunts. They 
 
64 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 fit out little warlike bands, plunder tbe 
 homes, devastate the land, and carry off 
 tlie women and children, if they cannot 
 catch the men alive; they make a perfect 
 business of hunting and dealing in human 
 flesh. 
 
 Nearly all Europe has protested against 
 this domestic slave-trade, as it is called, 
 but it seems that nothing will bring the 
 Turks to reason but the force of arms. 
 The Egyptian government affirms that 
 there is no slave-trade carried on in that 
 region, and does not know what other 
 governments mean by making such a com- 
 plaint; and yet it remains a party to the 
 infamous business, and draws a profit from 
 it, for the very ai^my of Egypt is recruited 
 by these negro hunts. 
 
 Any one who in Khartoom has money 
 enough to hire a couple of boats, and fit 
 out sixty or seventy thieves and cut-throats 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 65 
 
 witli weapons, tries his luck in an expedi- 
 tion Tip the Nile. They go up the river as 
 far as possible, land near a village at night, 
 set lire to it, cut down all that ojffer any 
 resistance, and seize and bind in chains any 
 human being that they can find. Then 
 this load of human flesh is transported to 
 some place well enough known to the 
 officers of the viceroy, but who remain in 
 ignorance in view of a large bribe which 
 they receive to induce them not to inter- 
 fere. It is said that even the government 
 barracks have been used as places of 
 imprisonment for these poor unfortunate 
 wretches. 
 
 But we are sorry to say that it is not 
 merely Egyptians and Turks that carry 
 on this vile trade. These persons can hide 
 themselves behind their Koran, or Bible, 
 which says : You can keep as many slaves 
 as your right hand can acquire. No ! the 
 
66 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 worst and most ciniel slave-dealers are the 
 Europeans. They combine savage cruelty 
 with the basest and wildest excesses, and 
 remind one of the outrages of the Spaniards 
 in their conquest of America. Lejean 
 makes some few exceptions among the 
 European merchants of Khartoom, but 
 brands the most of them as lost to every 
 sentiment of manly honor. Greeks, Ital- 
 ians, Spaniards, Portuguese, and others 
 find their whole business in the negro race, 
 and he who possesses slaves is said to have 
 capital. In one instance, a former secretary 
 of a foreign legation distinguished him- 
 self for unheard-of cunning and cruelty; 
 but he, fortunately for the negroes whom 
 he abused, came to an early death from 
 excessive drunkenness. An Austrian then 
 bought out his slave-pen, and continued 
 the criminal business, while he was at the 
 same time writing to Europe about the 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 6/ 
 
 cruelty of the slave liunts, and Ms efforts 
 to put a stop to them. 
 
 With the highest impudence these vil- 
 lains will sail up the river displaying the 
 English, French, Austrian, Turkish, and 
 even the American flag. And wherever 
 they leave or found a station as a place of 
 resort, they make it a perfect nest of vice 
 in a little time. Men, women, and chil- 
 dren are turned into a crowd of vile drunk- 
 en beasts, and are used as decoys to bring 
 negroes to their station, that white men 
 may steal them. In this way Gondokoro 
 has become a shameless center of vice, and 
 the negro race far and near is becoming 
 greatly degraded. Many think that these 
 wicked wretches do the negroes more harm 
 in teaching them base wickedness than in 
 burning their villages and killing them, or 
 carrying them off into slavery. 
 
 These miserable men pretend to argue 
 
6S Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 that they are doicg the blacks a favor in 
 taking them from their home, and bringing 
 them into contact with ci\dlization. Thus 
 these cruelties are allowable in the eyes of 
 the Mohammedan because these negroes 
 may in this way be made followers of 
 Mohammed. Just as some Christians have 
 been base enough to argue in favor of the 
 slave-trade because it brings the negroes 
 into a land of Christianity. But the poor 
 negroes have not much faith in such Chris- 
 tianSj and the result is that the few mis- 
 sionaries who have the courage to endeavor 
 to approach them find all their labor to 
 be in vain. They naturally say : You are a 
 white man, you are a kidnapper of women 
 and children ; begone ! we have no faith 
 in you ! we curse you ! 
 
 From Khartoom these slaves are mostly 
 sent to Massua, on the Red Sea, and then 
 across to Jidda in Arabia. An Italian 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 69 
 
 gentleman from Bologna, who was for a 
 
 long time Englisli vice-consul at this port, 
 
 fought for awhile with the determination 
 
 of a brave man against this slave-trading. 
 
 He would sometimes attack the caravans 
 
 in person, and liberate the imprisoned 
 
 negroes. He tried to induce the English 
 
 consul in Aden, in Arabia, to join him in 
 
 this opposition to the slavers, but this 
 
 of&cer thought it iDJudicious to interfere 
 
 with slavery carried on under the Turkish 
 
 flag. This simple fact shows how little 
 
 even English officers in these ports are to 
 
 be relied on, and, of course, there is not 
 
 the least confidence to be placed in the 
 
 Egyptian and Turkish officers. If they do 
 
 not carry on the trade openly on their own 
 
 account they do it secretly, or they suffer 
 
 it in view of the money which they receive 
 
 as a bribe from the traders. An office 
 
 with a salary of a thousand dollars per 
 5 
 
70 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 anntim may in this way be made to yield 
 at least ten thousand. 
 
 Lejean calculates that from 1852 to 1862 
 the White Nile gave about six thousand 
 slaves annually, and that in each of the 
 following two years the number rose to 
 fifteen thousand. In this way it happens 
 that Africa is, of course, closed to honest 
 merchants, and they are deprived of a 
 market that might be very profitable for 
 them. The time has, we hope, now ar- 
 rived when a stop will be put to this in- 
 famous trade. The opening of the Suez 
 Canal from the Mediterranean to the Red 
 Sea will bring all the borders of this latter 
 body of water into close communication 
 with all the civilized countries of Europe. 
 These will probably very soon have their 
 fleets cruising in these regions for the pro- 
 tection of their owm commerce, and En- 
 gland, France, Austria, and Italy, can 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 71 
 
 scarcely consent to tlie continuance of a 
 traffic wMch is a disgrace to humanity. 
 These vessels of war will watch the consuls 
 of their respective nations in the various 
 ports, and not hesitate to punish any of 
 their own subjects engaged in this vile 
 occupation, which has done more toward 
 shutting out Africa from civilization than 
 the savage character of its people or the 
 inhospitable character of its deserts and 
 marshes. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HEE SECOIS^D GEEAT EXPEDITION. 
 
 BUT Alexandrine Tinne did not go to 
 Khartoom to rest. There were no 
 great attractions for her there among these 
 villains, whose crimes she had become well 
 acquainted with by experience, whose vices 
 she had seen with her own eyes, and whose 
 wickedness she was determined to thwart 
 by all the means in her power. 
 
 She sought Khartoom simply as a post 
 from which to fit out a second and still 
 greater expedition. The partial failure of 
 her first one had taught her many lessons 
 by which she hoped to profit, and had 
 shown her how much might be done to 
 alleviate the sad condition of the poor 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 73 
 
 negroes. But, above all, the exceeding in- 
 terest then being manifested by English, 
 German, and French explorers seemed to 
 fire up her spirit to new deeds. She de- 
 termined to have a share in the discoveries 
 hoped for in the vast regions west of the 
 White Nile, along the borders of the Ga- 
 zelle Eiver, and in the land of the M^m- 
 Nams. 
 
 This almost totally unexplored country 
 was then the great object of interest, and 
 the strangest stories concerning it were 
 told in Khartoom. Some declared the in- 
 habitants to be a race of men with tails, 
 and cannibals in the bargain — eating each 
 other with a relish. Others related most 
 remarkable things concerning the large and 
 numerous rivers that cross and recross each 
 other, and have never been explored. And 
 still others affirmed the existence of immense 
 lakes, which was just what all explorers 
 
74 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 thouglit to be the true sources of tlie Nile, 
 But these were all the loose and unreliable 
 stories of the ivory-dealers, who cared little 
 about the real truth so that they could 
 relate marvelous adventures. 
 
 Miss Tinne began to feel an ardent de- 
 sire to do something toward advancing the 
 condition of accurate geographical knowl- 
 edge of Africa. Her first great expedition 
 had partaken somewhat of the character 
 of a grand pleasure excursion, but she now 
 began to feel that the great outlay and 
 exertions that she was making ought to 
 bring positive usefulness to the world. 
 And to this she just now found a most 
 favorable opportunity. 
 
 Two devoted and enthusiastic travelers, 
 Heuglin and Steudner, had just returned, 
 worn out and poor, from a very extensive 
 and remarkable tour through x\byssinia, 
 to its King, Theodore, and were then in 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 75 
 
 Khartoom without means or hopes of doing 
 any thing more. They had ardently desired 
 to press forward into Waday, to learn, if 
 possible, something of the fate of their cele- 
 brated countryman, Edward Vogel, who 
 had not been heard from for a long time. 
 But another explorer, who had just been 
 traveling through Kordofan, proved to 
 them that this was an impossibility. They 
 were now without an object, and quite un- 
 willing to leave the scene of so many trials 
 and labors without having accomplished 
 some more positive results. 
 
 In this condition Miss Tinne found them, 
 and they being Germans and she from 
 Holland, they felt almost like fellow-coun- 
 trymen. She saw they were men of great 
 determination and accurate scientific cul- 
 ture, and offered them honorable positions 
 in her expedition, which they gladly ac- 
 cepted. Dr. Steudner was a celebrated 
 
76 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 botanist, and became at once the private 
 physician of Miss Tinne and the overseer 
 of the general health of the expedition. 
 Heuglin w^as a renowned ornithologist, 
 and knew all about the birds of Africa 
 better than he understood the men. With 
 such additions the expedition became a 
 scientific one, and had a definite object. 
 And besides these gentlemen there also 
 joined them a Baron from Holland, a rela- 
 tive of the ladies, who had been living for 
 some time in Soudan, and hunting African 
 beasts in company with a Prince of Co- 
 burg. This became, therefore, a very cele- 
 brated expedition, and some of the results 
 of it have been published in a work en- 
 titled, "Heuglin's Journey to the Kegion 
 of the White Nile." 
 
 It was arranged that Heuglin and Steud- 
 ner should precede the rest of the company 
 awhile, and sail up the Nile as far as a 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. yy 
 
 well-known station, called Meshra, there 
 to await the ladies, and learn all they could 
 as to the means of penetrating the high- 
 lands of the south-western sources of the 
 river, in the land of the Mam-Nams. This 
 Meshra — the word means an anchorage or 
 stopping-place — plays a very important 
 part in the commercial history of the Nile. 
 It is only a naiTow marshy pool, south 
 of the Gazelle Eiver, with which it is 
 connected. 
 
 This is the station to which the ivory- 
 dealers of Khartoom resort to take in their 
 cargoes, and it is sometimes filled with 
 their boats. The ivory itself is brought 
 thither from the settlements of the interior. 
 The climate there is extremely unhealthy, 
 and the whole region quite as swampy and 
 forbidding as that alluded to in speaking 
 of the White Nile. 
 
 Heuglin sailed through Lake No to the 
 
yS Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 Gazelle River, and reached Meshra after a 
 journey of twenty days. Heuglin was a 
 mighty hunter, and his passion led him to 
 make a study of all the birds in that part 
 of Africa that he visited. Therefore, while 
 on this journey, as on all others, he was 
 ever shooting birds, studying their nature, 
 habits, and j)lumage, and preserving and 
 taking with him as many specimens as he 
 could transport. 
 
 His connection with Miss Tinne's ex- 
 pedition gave him a fine opportunity to 
 indulge his taste, and extend his studies. 
 The beautiful birds of Africa are much in- 
 debted to him for an introduction to the 
 scientific world. And after many jour- 
 neys and a twelve years' sojourn in Africa 
 he returned to his native Germany, and is 
 now publishing the story of the birds 
 of ISTorth-eastern Africa. This work is a 
 monument of German diligence and learn- 
 
Heroine of the White Nile, 79 
 
 ing, and Ms countrymen are very proud 
 of it and of him. It shows that his labors 
 were inspired by love of knowledge, and 
 sustained by an unbounded enthusiasm. 
 
 He has proved himself perfectly at home 
 in the bird- world, which is one of the most 
 attractive fields of natural history, and 
 especially in that portion of it which is 
 most beautifal, and at the same time the 
 least known to the world and scientific 
 men, namely, the birds of Africa. And he 
 has not only described them with great 
 skill and clearness, but his cunning with 
 the pencil and the brush has enabled him 
 to take their portraits so accurately that 
 you woidd almost think that living birds 
 must fly up from the life-like pictures of 
 his book. He expects to devote years yet 
 to this monument of his life and labors in 
 Africa, and it will doubtless live an honor 
 to him when he is in the tomb. 
 
8o ■ Heroine of the White Nile, 
 
 But such monuments are not built with- 
 out a great deal of trying labor and hard- 
 ship, and he says of this very journey that 
 for miles and miles he wonld only find a 
 few square rods of dry land, and even these 
 were ant-hills built around the trunks of 
 fallen trees. Daily he would wander for 
 miles, wading in mire and water from one 
 to three feet deep, sometimes sinking away 
 down in the numerous elephant tracks. 
 At times he would come into regions 
 where the grass was so high as to be above 
 his head and prevent him from seeing any 
 thing around, while there was at the same 
 time an entire absence of trees. The only 
 way, then, in which he could find out 
 where he was, and what direction he ought 
 to take, was to ascend the ant-hills, which 
 are there sometimes as large as a negro 
 cabin. 
 
 Hundreds and hundreds of elephants 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 8i 
 
 were roaming joyously tLrough the swamps, 
 at times raising their trunks and uttering 
 loud cries, and then .with theii' large fan- 
 shaped ears driving away swarms of flies. 
 Some of them were followed by large 
 numbers of herons, the great wading bird 
 of the African swamps ; these birds would 
 sometimes light on them and fairly cov^er 
 them. Every now and then a great hippo- 
 potamus would go grunting through the 
 reeds, and then, with a mighty plunge, 
 throw himself into the neighboring river. 
 Herds of buffaloes were grazing on every 
 little solid spot, and especially in the 
 vicinity of the ant-hills, which they re- 
 semble in color; occasionally an antelope, 
 or a pair of them, would pass by with their 
 mighty antlers, or ascend a lofty ant-hill, 
 and from its summit proudly gaze over 
 their territory. 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 THE EXPEDITIOIS" HN^ THE WILDEENESS. 
 
 THE main body of the expedition was 
 now approaching this wilderness. Miss 
 Tinne and her mother had left Khartoom 
 with an immense train of followers and 
 baggage; the aunt had remained behind. 
 There were two European maids and an 
 Italian interpreter on the steamer, as spe- 
 cial servants to the heroine of the journey. 
 For the baggage and the ordinary men 
 and servants they had hired two passen- 
 ger and two freight boats. On these were 
 two hundred persons, thirty mules and 
 donkeys, four camels. Miss Tinne's riding- 
 horse, and ammunition and provisions for 
 ten months. 
 
Herome of the White Nile. 83 
 
 But tMs great number of servants and 
 soldiers, and this mass of baggage and 
 ornaments and utensils of all kinds, proved 
 to be a fatal mistake ; so heavy were some 
 of the lighter things that the glass beads 
 weighed no less than three thousand 
 pounds, and there were about twelve thou- 
 sand ornamental shells; these are greatly 
 prized by the negroes as ornaments for 
 their persons, and will go farther than 
 money in buying food and favors. , On 
 many occasions it proved almost impossible 
 to move the ponderous train containing all 
 these things; and this difficulty would 
 sometimes bring the expedition to a dead 
 halt, and very frequently added to the 
 troubles of the enterprise. The whole 
 affair looked very grand, however, on leav- 
 ing Khartoom ; and the stately expedition 
 set sail amid the firing of cannon and the 
 waving of handkerchiefs. But, alas ! how 
 
84 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 little they then thought that of all this 
 troop so few would ever return. 
 
 After many troubles and hinderances, 
 this fleet, with its heroic leader, landed 
 safely in Meshra. As it entered the port 
 it formed one of the most brilliant spec- 
 tacles of the kind that had ever been seen 
 in the interior of Africa. Twent}^ Nile 
 boats lying there at anchor had run up 
 their flags in honor of the ''' Sultan's daugh- 
 ter," and their crews received the strangers 
 with volleys of musketry that were an- 
 swered by the arriving boats. 
 
 The first thing to be performed there 
 was to see that all the necessary things for 
 the great journey were on hand, and an 
 investigation proved unfortunately that 
 many things were still needed, notwith- 
 standing the great outlay in money that 
 had already been made; indeed, so mauy 
 things were still wanting that it was neces- 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 85 
 
 sary to send the Baron witli the steamer 
 back to Khartoom to purchase the needed 
 supplies. This was a most unpleasant 
 place for a delay, for the region was very 
 unhealthy, and a few square rods was about 
 all the dry land that could be obtained for 
 the accommodation of all these people. 
 
 The first object of the travelers was to 
 reach the Kosanga River, which comes 
 from the west about eighty miles in a 
 direct line from Meshra. One can obtain 
 some idea of the difficulty of traveling in 
 these regions from the fact that the com- 
 pany was only able to reach this point 
 after great difficulty and the most stupend- 
 ous exertions, and that tliey could not 
 reach the great aim of their journey, which 
 was the unknown land of the Mam-Nams. 
 Some of the camels that had been brought 
 through the swamps as far as Meshra had 
 
 abeady died on account of their unaccus- 
 6 
 
S6 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 tomed and fearful exertions ; the remaining 
 beasts of burden were not sufficient to 
 transport the baggage, and the Khartoom 
 traders settled in Meshra were glad to lay- 
 all sorts of impediments in the way of the 
 expedition. They were exceedingly angry 
 that Miss Tinne had come into "their 
 land," as they called it, to spy into their 
 shameful dealings with the negroes, and 
 be a spectator of their cruel kidnaj)ping. 
 
 Heudin and Dr. Steudner therefore re- 
 solved to venture into the iuterior to try 
 their fortune in hiring black porters for 
 the baggage, whom they could send to 
 Meshra, where the ladies were to await 
 them. We will follow them then for 
 awhile, for on their exertions and success 
 will depend the advance of the entire ex- 
 pedition. 
 
 Pressing on through the marshes and 
 swamps toward the west, they at last 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 8/ 
 
 arrived at the higher and woody region 
 through which flows the river Djour, which 
 finally empties into the Gazelle. They 
 found this country filled, every-where, with 
 the only articles that had nntil then been 
 used in trade, namely, glass beads and 
 copper bracelets; these were every- where 
 •used as money, and as the people had an 
 abundance of them, they found it almost 
 impossible to buy the necessary food for 
 themselves and servants. x\nd it was also 
 almost impossible to obtain pack-men, or 
 porters, among the negroes even with the 
 largest offers of copper, because the ivory- 
 dealers of Khartoom, who often hired ne- 
 groes to go with their caravans as porters, 
 seldom paid them and sent them back to 
 their houses, but were far more likely to 
 chain them in the slave-yoke on the way, 
 and send them as booty to the Nile, to be 
 sold to the Arab slave-traders. 
 
88 Herome of the White Nile. 
 
 This base deception had frightened the 
 negroes, who not only were unwilling to 
 join caravans to be plundered, stolen, or 
 miu'dered, but were quite likely to get out 
 of the way of all that came, or attack them 
 if they were strong enough. The natives 
 could not distinguish innocent travelers, 
 who were their friends, from those who 
 were their most brutal enemies, and there- 
 fore good men were obliged to sujQfer, which 
 was especially the case just now with 
 Heuglin and Steudner. 
 
 Therefore, as they could hire no porters 
 on the banks of the Djour, they went 
 farther to the west. To increase their mis- 
 fortune, they were both violently attacked 
 by the fever; the climate began to show its 
 fatal influence. They commenced also to 
 run out of provisions, and especially of 
 just those things that they most needed 
 in case of sickness. No wonder, then, that 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 89 
 
 both continued to grow weaker and weak- 
 er, so that even the largest doses of quinine 
 did not seem at all to affect the fever that 
 was penetrating to the very marrow of 
 their bones. Thus exhausted, they reached 
 the village of Wau, a little west of the 
 river, and here the climate claimed its first 
 victim of the expedition. In spite of all 
 the aid that his friend and companion 
 Heuglin could afford him, Dr. Steudner 
 fell a prey to the repeated attacks of the 
 fatal fever. His mourning comrade buried 
 him under a group of trees, and was 
 obliged to hurry on to the Bongo land in 
 search of assistance. Here he succeeded 
 in procuring about one hundred and fifty 
 pack-carriers, and with them hastened to 
 Meshra. The ladies were delighted to see 
 him, for he had been absent nearly six 
 weeks in performing his difficult task. 
 But matters were little better in Meshra : 
 
90 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 tlie mother of Miss Tinne was very sick 
 of the fever, that had taken a fatal hold 
 on her, and never left her, and nearly all 
 the other members of the expedition were 
 suffering from this fearful pest of Africa. 
 
 We can therefore imagine the joy of 
 these sorely tried ladies after the long de- 
 lay when they saw their friend return with 
 a band of porters, and their sorrow when 
 they learned at what a sacrifice they had 
 been obtained. The death of the Doctor 
 cast a gloom over all, and seemed to fore- 
 bode the disasters that were in store for 
 them. And then they were all astounded 
 at the enormous demands of these men for 
 carrying the baggage to Kosanga River, 
 only seventy-five miles distant; they were 
 to receive no less than one thousand dol- 
 lars and their food. 
 
 In order to proceed through these mo- 
 rasses and the ever-widening water-courses 
 
Heroine of the White Nile, 91 
 
 of these interminaljle swamps, Miss Tinne 
 purchased of the English Consul, who had 
 just arrived in Meshra on a trading jour- 
 ney, a boat made of gum elastic, or India 
 rubber, that could be inflated by means of 
 large bellows when it was needed for use, 
 and then emptied of air, and carried by 
 about six men ; this was of great use to 
 her. 
 
 In the meanwhile the Baron had ar- 
 rived from Khartoom with a new supply 
 of provisions; but the tropical rains had 
 also come by the time the expedition was 
 prepared to start. The land had previous- 
 ly been one great marsh, but the pouring 
 floods now turned it into one great lake. 
 Through this it was necessary to wade, or 
 swim, or sail, in order to advance, and ad- 
 vance they must in order to get into the 
 higher land, away from the valley of the 
 river, where they would all have been 
 
92 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 drowned. We can imagine the condition 
 of the ladies under these circumstances, 
 and yet they never lost courage. The 
 water fell in streams from the clouds ; the 
 land, as far as the eye could reach, was 
 one great watery surface, and very often 
 they had not a dry thread on their backs ; 
 and, to make the matter worse, the inter- 
 mittent fever was shaking them to pieces. 
 
 In this condition they arrived at the 
 Djour, which was already a swollen, stormy 
 flood ; the Europeans crossed it safely with 
 their rubber boat, but a large portion of 
 the provision was thoroughly soaked or 
 entirely lost. At last they arrived at the 
 settlement of an Italian named Biselli, situ- 
 ated in Bongo. This man, like most of his 
 fellows in Africa, carried on a profitable 
 trade in slaves and ivory; and we need, 
 therefore, hardly say that the expedition 
 was not very warmly w^elcomed by him. 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 93 
 
 It interfered with his occupation, and 
 greatly increased the price of all kinds of 
 supplies from the unusual demand that it 
 made, and the fame of the wealth of Miss 
 Tinne, of which every one was inclined to 
 take advantage. 
 
 i< It also happened just then that there 
 was almost a famine in that region ; neither 
 cattle nor grain could be obtained for the 
 highest prices, and sometimes the ladies, 
 who were now both sick, could scarcely 
 obtain a bowl of broth, but were obliged 
 to eat the sour and unpalatable bread 
 made of a coarse grain called doura. In 
 addition to this, the rain continued to pour 
 down in torrents, although they were away 
 from the swampy region, and in the higher 
 forest land, that was covered with trees 
 and resembled a beautiful park. The copi- 
 ous rains after the dry season gave new 
 life to vegetation, and the numerous climb- 
 
94 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 ing plants wound rotind and round the 
 trees in all tlie fresh and beautiful green 
 of spring. 
 
 Things continued to grow worse every 
 day; the Italian became more and more 
 unfriendly, and the animals for baggage 
 and for riding sickened and died, one after 
 another. Messengers had again been sent 
 to Khartoom after provisions, but one could 
 scarcely count on their return before six 
 months. In addition to this they learned 
 that the Kosanga Eiver was so swollen 
 with the floods that it would be impos- 
 sible to carry the baggage across it. And 
 to transport four hundred loads of bag- 
 gage to that river, only distant about three 
 days' journey, the Italian trader demanded 
 sixteen hundred dollars. Miss Tinne was 
 about to yield even to this shameless de- 
 mand, when circumstances rendered this 
 course unnecessarv. 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 95 
 
 The sickness of Iier motlier became more 
 and more alarming; they had used up all 
 their medicine, and in spite of the most 
 affectionate and self-sacrificing care of the 
 daughter, who passed dav and night by 
 the mother's side, she yielded to the slow 
 disease that had been so long exhausting 
 all her strength. Her death, and the sad 
 condition of the expedition, put an end to 
 the enterprise, and Miss Tinne resolved to 
 return. She, however, offered the remains 
 of her supplies to Heuglin if he wished to 
 press forward; but his means were too 
 limited to justify him in undertaking an 
 extensive journey, and he also resolved to 
 return with her. 
 
 But their misfortunes were not yet at 
 an end; blow seemed to follow blow. 
 Heuglin had a friend who was a German 
 gardener; he had hastened on ahead to 
 reconnoiter the region of the Kosanga 
 
96 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 Mountains. He, too, suddenly died of the 
 dysentery. The two European maid-serv- 
 ants of Miss Tinne followed him to the 
 grave, and then the Italian interpreter, not 
 to mention the many native servants 
 that also died. Thus six Europeans had 
 died during the expedition, and the only 
 ones that arrived in Khartoom were Miss 
 Tinne, Heuglin, and the Baron; and the 
 first news they received in Khartoom was 
 that of the death of Miss Tinne's aunt, the 
 Baroness. 
 
' 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 THE EESXJLTS OF THE EXPEDITION. 
 
 YOU will naturally say tliat these were 
 mere waste of money, suffering, and 
 death. But not so. The cosi^, it is true, 
 was great and terrible ; yet there was some- 
 thing gained. Science was greatly en- 
 riched by it. Heuglin brought back with 
 him a large collection of rare birds, and a 
 very rich experience in relation to the bird- 
 world of Africa. This, as we have before 
 said, is now being published in a beautiful 
 and useful fonxi. The same profit would 
 have been gained for the world of plants 
 but for the sad death of poor Dr. Steud- 
 ner ; he had gained a great deal of infor- 
 mation, but it died with him. 
 
98 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 Then a great deal of important informa- 
 tion was obtained regarding the manners 
 and customs of the various unknown tribes 
 of this region; and the personal experi- 
 ence of the members of the expedition was 
 largely increased by what they learned of 
 the cannibal tribes living in the southern 
 country of Ni^m-Nam. The position of 
 the station of Meshra, on the Mle, was 
 definitely settled, as well as the course of 
 the Djaur and Kosanga rivers. In short, 
 all of the confused water-courses to the 
 west of the White Nile were made much 
 more intelligible by the accounts of this 
 enterjDrise. 
 
 This expedition brought news for the 
 first time of the existence of the Senna 
 River, w^hich flows west war dly in the 
 country of the Ni^ms, is broader than the 
 White Nile, and is navigable for large 
 boats. But of very special interest was 
 
Heroine of the White Nile, 99 
 
 the knowledge brought of the existence of 
 a large lake in the south, with flat shores ; 
 the people living on the northern end of 
 this lake reported that they had sailed 
 south for twenty-four hours without being 
 able to discover the land of the opposite 
 shore. Just at that time English explor- 
 ers were searching every-where for large 
 inland lakes as sources of the Nile, and 
 since then have discovered some very large 
 and important ones. But this lies farther 
 w^est than any of theirs, and an Italian 
 trader traveling through the land has 
 since discovered it, and reported it to the 
 European world. Miss Tinne's expedition 
 deserves the credit of having given the first 
 information of it to the world. 
 
 The expedition was obliged to remain 
 till the end of the rainy season, as it was 
 almost impossible to travel ; during all this 
 time a large amount of valuable informa- 
 
100 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 tion was gained about the general char- 
 acter of the country. The rainy season 
 there lasts until about the middle of Octo- 
 ber, then they have beautiful weather ; the 
 floods subside, and the birds again appear 
 in numbers. They had large quantities of 
 vegetables and wild honey, and the health 
 of the surviving European members of the 
 expedition began to improve. They now 
 began to think of returning, but could not 
 do so until about January, because the 
 vessels would not arrive at Meshra, from 
 Khartoom, before that time. 
 
 They finally arrived safely at Meshra, 
 and found a good supply of provisions 
 awaiting them there, and, after a good rest, 
 they commenced the return jom-ney. This 
 was not without its difficulties, arising 
 mainly from the interference of the natives 
 on the one hand and the slave-traders on 
 the other. The negroes thought the expe- 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. loi 
 
 dition was coming to get slaves, and the 
 traders knew that it was trying to pry into 
 and break up their trade. 
 
 After they had passed Lake No and en- 
 tered the White Mle they came upon an 
 immense barrier of trees and plants, which 
 the Shillook neo:roes had constructed with 
 a view of barring up the river. It was 
 made, indeed, of every thing in the vege- 
 table line that they could collect together, 
 and formed a large island, on which one 
 could walk about with dry feet. It took 
 the hard labor of about one hundred and 
 fifty men for two days to break a passage 
 through it. 
 
 At Hellet, where the mighty Moham- 
 med-Cher had wished to proclaim Miss 
 Tinne Queen of Soudan, a great change 
 had taken place. This man-stealer had 
 been driven away, and an Egyptian officer 
 
 was ruler in his place. 
 
 7 
 
102 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 Farther down tlie stream tlie expedition 
 encountered some of the river pirates or 
 slave-stealers, and had a sharp skirmish 
 with them; shots were exchanged, and 
 finally one of the piratical boats was cap- 
 tured, and brought to Khartoom for trial 
 and punishment. Miss Tinne at last reached 
 this head-quarters for Central Africa, after 
 an absence of a year and a half She had 
 spent nearly three years in Soudan, and 
 during this time this mysterious and bar- 
 barous land had become to her as a home, 
 notwithstanding all the terrors of its cli- 
 mate and the cruelty and degradation of 
 its people. 
 
 She had become better acquainted with 
 it than any other explorer, and had defi- 
 nitely settled a great many geographical 
 points. If she had done nothing else than 
 ^^ the position of Meshra, at the head of 
 Gazelle River, as a convenient harbor and 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 103 
 
 stopping-place for expeditions, her labors 
 would have entitled her to the gratitude 
 of subsequent travelers, as this knowledge 
 was of prime importance to them in 
 making their arrangements for expeditions. 
 Even her failures had taught the world a 
 great and useful lesson; some one must 
 suffer and make mistakes in these great 
 enterprises, while gaining the knowledge 
 necessary to make them a success. 
 
 Those who profit by this experience are 
 apt to reap all the credit, as w^as the case 
 with a subsequent expedition to these 
 same regions by the celebrated Frenchman 
 whom we have already named. Indeed, 
 Miss Tinne was the first to suggest to the 
 world that Africa was only to be con- 
 quered by great expeditions, such as she 
 with her vast wealth, or a sovereign with 
 his advantages, could undertake. A great 
 many little bands of two, three, or five 
 
104 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 undaunted men had undertaken the task 
 of exploration. Some had never returned ; 
 others came back to relate their marvel- 
 ous stories, and entertain and instruct the 
 world. 
 
 Miss Tinne desired to take with her a 
 force that could make itself felt for the 
 moral and material welfare of Africa, and, 
 although she seemed to do but little, she 
 certainly laid the foundation of new efforts 
 that will, probably, regenerate the land. 
 Just now a monster expedition is making 
 its way up the Nile to the extreme interior, 
 which received its impetus from the fact 
 that Miss Tinne's example caused men to 
 think it possible and desirable. 
 
 And, lastly, among the results of this 
 expedition, we must not omit a strange 
 collection of native negroes, which Miss 
 Tinne brought with her to illustrate the 
 different types of the various tribes that 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 105 
 
 slie met with. While Heuglin was study- 
 ing and capturing the birds, she was busy 
 among the inhabitants, and wherever she 
 found peculiarly formed individuals, who 
 were evidently the representative of an- 
 other branch of the race, she captured 
 them loy kindness, and brought them along. 
 They were, indeed, glad to come with her, 
 for they were mostly recaptured slaves that 
 had been stolen far in the interior. 
 
 She had eighteen of these specimens of 
 varieties of tlie race, and they attracted so 
 much attention among intelligent and sci- 
 entific men that they were first painted 
 by a skillful artist, and finally engraved 
 and printed in the great illustrated papers 
 of Germany. 
 
 But the greatest result of this expedition 
 was, doubtless, the moral blow it struck 
 at the internal slave-trade. Before her 
 visit to these regions little else was done 
 
io6 
 
 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 in them; just now the Viceroy is sustain- 
 ing a great expedition, whose main object 
 is to suppress the slave-trade and intro- 
 duce the blessings of civilization. 
 
 Who, therefore, shall say that her efforts, 
 trials, and sufferings were in vain % 
 
CHAPTEK XL 
 
 HEE EETUEIS^ TO CAIEO. 
 
 THERE were no attractions for Miss 
 Tinne in Khartoom; for, in the first 
 place, she had begun an action against its 
 Governor on account of his complicity 
 with the slave-trade, and was about to re- 
 quest the Pasha of all Egypt to remove 
 him because he carried on this trade in 
 human flesh. Of this she had obtained a 
 multitude of proofs. And then, in the 
 next place, the state of her health abso- 
 lutely demanded rest and a more healthy 
 climate. The few survivors of the expedi- 
 tion were almost broken down by its trials 
 and dangers. Leaving, therefore, the main 
 body of her attendants to come down the 
 
I08 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 river in their boats, she proceeded by cara- 
 van to the Eed Sea ; then, at the port of 
 Suakim, she embarked on a steamer for 
 Suez, and arrived safely in Cairo. 
 
 Now you will say that she set out im- 
 mediately for her European home and 
 friends ; but not so ! She resolved to make 
 the land that contained the precious re- 
 mains of her mother and aunt her future 
 home, strange as it may seem. Her step- 
 brother, learning of her great misfortunes, 
 hastened to Egypt to comfort her in her 
 affliction, and accompany her to Europe. 
 But he returned without accomplishing 
 his oljject ; his sister absolutely refused to 
 leave Africa. 
 
 She was very much ojDpressed in spirit 
 on account of the death of the mother 
 whom she loved dearly, and who loved 
 her so much as to be willing to follow her 
 in her strange adventures. And to this 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 109 
 
 was added the grief of the loss of so many 
 other friends in an enterprise of her own 
 instigation. She seemed to desire retire- 
 ment for a time, and settled in Cairo, 
 where, as a woman, she could hide herself 
 from society as much as she pleased. 
 
 To occupy her mind, she began to pay 
 more and more attention to her oriental 
 tastes, and, in accordance with her resolve 
 never again to return to Europe, she sought 
 to become entirely a daughter of the East. 
 She carried this inclination to such an ex- 
 tent that some of her friends and acquaint- 
 ances began to doubt her soundness of 
 mind, and others to question the propriety 
 of her conduct. Even scandal did its work. 
 But these attacks on her character fell 
 harmless to the ground. All that could 
 be proved was that Miss Tinne was ex- 
 ceedingly strange and eccentric, and those 
 who could not comprehend her, or did not 
 
no Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 sympathize with her, felt like Unding fault 
 with her. 
 
 She had long ago discarded all European 
 fashions, and adopted the beautiful flow- 
 ing dress of the Arabian ladies, which so 
 fittingly clothed her fine tall figure. She 
 would have none but Arabian or African 
 servants around her, and in her house she 
 sat on divans, like the Orientals, instead of 
 using the European chair. Every thing 
 around her bore an oriental stamp, and she 
 was indeed likely to become in feeling a 
 daughter of the grand ruler of Stamboul. 
 She had hired a house in the older town 
 of Cairo, where Europeans seldom pene- 
 trate, and she consequently saw but little 
 of them, and her presence was scarcely 
 known to them. 
 
 By mere accident one day she met a 
 friend whom she had formerly known and 
 esteemed; she greeted him, and bid him 
 
Heroijte of the White Nile. 1 1 1 
 
 come and see her in her oriental retreat. 
 He was a German artist, named Gentz, 
 who had spent some time in the East 
 taking pictures of oriental life, and there- 
 fore had sharp eyes for all that was inter- 
 esting. He visited his friend, and has 
 painted her surroundings not only with 
 pencil but with pen, and he tells his story 
 so gracefully that we give it as a model 
 one to our readers. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE AETIST'S STOEY. 
 
 ONE day, while promenading in the 
 Grand Allee of the Schubrah in 
 Cairo, where all the fine carriages of the 
 harems of the Grand Khedive of Egypt 
 and the Pashas were rolling by in state, 
 a friendly motion of a hand and head in 
 one of the carriages greeted me, and I 
 perceived that it came from a vailed lady, 
 enveloped in dazzling silk. My astonish- 
 ment was great, but that of my companion 
 was greater, for he had lived for many 
 years in Egypt, and knew the stern cus- 
 toms that bind oriental ladies. 
 
 I first thought it an intentional and 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 113 
 
 jesting mystification, until I learned from 
 one of tlie accompanying servants that the 
 inmate of the carriage was Miss Tinne. 
 I had made her acquaintance through 
 Heuglin, at the time of her grand expedi- 
 tion to the region of the Gazelle Eiver, at 
 the same time that I made the acquaint- 
 ance of the English Consul for Central 
 Africa, who, with his wife, was ascending 
 the river by orders of the English govern- 
 ment, to meet Speke and Grant on their 
 return. After years of hardship they had 
 returned again into the regions of civiliza- 
 tion, and I was the first European who 
 had the pleasure of congratulating them, 
 on their return, at their success in over- 
 coming so many terrible difficulties. 
 
 Miss Tinne was at that time extremely 
 low-spirited. She had lost mother and 
 aunt on the fatal journey, in consequence 
 of the deadly climate, and by whom sho 
 
114 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 was very ardently loved. And Dr. Steud- 
 ner, her physician, vv^liom she greatly 
 esteemed, became also a victim, as did 
 one after another of her faithful European 
 maids. Death had robbed her of nearly 
 every dear relative, and taken from her all 
 the European connections v^ith her home. 
 She seemed resolved to leave things in 
 this condition, and repeatedly declared 
 that she would never again visit Europe, 
 although her step-brother had kindly has- 
 tened to her assistance and escort. 
 
 She stood firm against all enticements 
 in this direction, and was maturing a plan 
 to build a castle near Cairo, on the Island 
 of Ehodes, in the Nile, where the gardens 
 of Ibraham Pasha were proud in the 
 beauty of southern vegetation. For this 
 purpose she had engaged the services of 
 the architect of the Viceroy, a German 
 from Wiesbaden ; he had built the royal 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 115 
 
 palace of Ghesirali, and slie desired Mm to 
 present plans to Ler. She was also nego- 
 tiating with a celebrated architect for 
 Moorish styles, my friend for many years, 
 who was unfortunately snatched from a 
 field of great usefulness by an attack of 
 the fearful small-pox. 
 
 In her plans for building Miss Tinne ran 
 into the most eccentric styles. Nothing 
 was sufficiently fantastical or labyrinthine 
 for her. The Arabian architecture, with 
 its winding and involved arabesques, and 
 the irregularity in the height of adjoining 
 rooms — with its projections and ranges of 
 columns — was well calculated to satisfy this 
 desire. The Viceroy of Egypt, however, 
 who did not fancy this Holland lady for a 
 neighbor, interfered with her architectural 
 plans. She had brought before him an 
 accusation against the Governor of Khar- 
 toom on account of ill-treatment received 
 
1 16 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 at Ms hands, and demanded Ms dismissal. 
 Tlie Viceroy did not wish to grant this re- 
 quest, although the injustice done the lady- 
 was clear. This was his main interest in not 
 wishing her to make a permanent settle* 
 ment in Egypt, and especially so near him. 
 As nearly two thirds of the land in that 
 region belongs to the Viceroy, and almost 
 all the remaining third to the mosques, 
 there was no difficulty in exerting such an 
 influence on the owners that Miss Tinne 
 could not secure ground enough, in any 
 acceptable place, for her proposed castle. 
 Thus she finally left the Nile on her own 
 steamer, to coast along the shores of the 
 Mediterranean. For a time her vessel lay 
 at Civita Vecchia, whence she made many 
 visits to Eome. It was natural that her 
 appearance here, surrounded by her troop 
 of black servants, excited a great deal of 
 curiosity. 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 1 1 7 
 
 She finally resolved on a journey from 
 Tripoli through the desert to Timbuctoo, 
 and for this purpose endeavored to secure 
 the company of Rohlfs, who had just 
 returned from a most daring adventure 
 across the trackless desert of Morocco. 
 But, unfortunately for her, the noble young 
 traveler had just received orders from 
 the King of Prussia to accompany the 
 English expedition to Abyssinia; this 
 forced him to decline the invitation of 
 Miss Tinne. 
 
 It is difficult to describe the labyrinth- 
 ine confusion of oriental cities to one who 
 has never seen them. I myself, having 
 lived in^many of them, could not again find 
 the dwelling of Miss Tinne in Old Cairo, 
 although Heuglin had conducted me there 
 the first time. But the native smartness 
 of the donkey-boys of Cairo helped me out 
 of my difficulty. These boys with their 
 
 8 
 
1 1 8 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 donkeys are like the cabs and cabmen of 
 European cities. 
 
 As I was groping about in Old Cairo, 
 peering into every street to discover some 
 sign of Miss Tinne's house, one of these 
 donkey-boys, with large sphinx-like eyes, 
 said to me, " Effendi, are you looking for 
 the Dutch Countess ? " for by this title the 
 generous lady had acquired a reputation 
 among the donkey-owners of the old city. 
 The Egyptians are inborn tormentors of 
 beasts, and especially of the poor donkey. 
 Induced by her warm and sympathizing 
 heart. Miss Tinne had taken some of the 
 half-murdered animals from the boys, to 
 nurse and cure them. This fact had be- 
 come known, and thus it happened that 
 very soon from all quarters sick donkeys, 
 and other mangy and worn-out beasts, 
 were sent to the "Dutch Countess" to be 
 cured. Her mansion bid fair to be turned 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 1 19 
 
 into a donkey hospital, when she was at 
 last obliged to refuse admission to any 
 more patients. 
 
 On the outside Miss Tinne's house re- 
 sembled a dilapidated ruin. I was led 
 through the dark passages of the lower 
 story, taking the place of our cellars, of 
 which there are none on the Nile, and ar- 
 rived, by the attention of my little Egyp- 
 tian guide, in an open yard, where I could 
 again breathe freely. The dark azure-blue 
 sky, and the golden crowns of three lofty 
 palms lighted by a burning sun, lent to 
 the ruin-like structure that picturesque 
 tint that artists so rejoice to find. 
 
 On some stone steps in the open air, 
 which led to the dilapidated rear build- 
 ings, some monkeys were sunning them- 
 selves. Little negro slaves, boys and girls, 
 lay in the warm sunshine on the ground; 
 large negresses from Soudan inquisitively 
 
120 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 stuck out of broken window-panes their 
 wooley heads, with brilliant eyes and teeth. 
 Long-haired ISTubian grayhounds, trained 
 to the chase of the gazelle, came jumping 
 and j)laying toward me. An old white- 
 haired Berber, such as is usually found 
 tending the doors in Egyptian houses, re- 
 ceived my card, to announce me to the 
 mistress of the strange establishment. 
 
 Having soon returned, he led me into a 
 second court, where I passed by large open 
 rooms containing an immense collection 
 of curiosities illustrating the manners and 
 customs of the Central Africans; it re- 
 quired no less than fifty camels to trans- 
 port these from the interior of Africa. 
 Among these were curious weapons, stuffed 
 birds, antlers of the antelope, horns of the 
 rhinoceros, and all the household utensils 
 of the various tribes of Soudan. These 
 were lying around still unarranged. 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. I2I 
 
 Miss Tinne comes to meet me ; she wears 
 an oriental turban wound round her Lead, 
 and an Egyptian dress, with long flowing 
 sleeves of changeable gray silk; this was 
 thrown over a black mourning dress. Her 
 feet were covered in Arabian style with 
 long morocco boots. The tall, beautiful, 
 pale figure, affected by grief and sickness, 
 with her decidedly intellectual features, 
 and easy, refined manners, could not but 
 leave a pleasant impression on every one. 
 
 Her reception-room, into which I was 
 conducted, was an ancient harem, one side 
 of which was composed entirely of win- 
 dows. From the outside it was not pos- 
 sible to look into the room, because the 
 windows were covered with finely carved 
 and grated bow window-frames; through 
 these a soft and delicate light was shed into 
 the room, which produced a sort of mys- 
 tical charm. The floor was composed of 
 
122 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 inlaid marble of various colors, and the 
 ceiling of wainscoting, adorned with fancy 
 carvings in the Turkish style. 
 
 All around the walls were the usual 
 Turkish divans, instead of chairs, the frames 
 of which were formed of wood of the palm- 
 tree. In the center of the room were a few 
 peculiar low seats, resting on three sup- 
 ports, and most whimsically carved ; these 
 were from the land of the Ni^m-Nams. 
 The only piece of European furniture was 
 a small, modest wooden table, on which 
 was a large Arabian lantern, such as are 
 to-day in use among the Turkish Pashas. 
 By the side of this were scattered the 
 books and drawings of Heuglin. 
 
 For me as an artist this visit to Miss 
 Tinne was of the greatest interest, because 
 it afforded me au opportunity to take 
 sketches of the many slaves of every tribe 
 from the most inaccessible regions of Af- 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 123 
 
 rica. She yielded to my wishes in this 
 respect with great readiness and kindness. 
 Among the girls I especially observed one 
 yoTiDg creature about fourteen years old, 
 of the tribe of the Gallas, which is cele- 
 brated for its beauty. She might have sat 
 for a model of a queen of her race. The 
 children hastened to show me their arms 
 and breasts, that I might admire the scor- 
 pions, serpents, and crocodiles that were 
 tattooed on them in the most unique and 
 fantastic forms. 
 
 These eighteen remarkable specimens of 
 the black and brown races Miss Tinne in- 
 formed me had voluntarily followed her, 
 because in theii* wild native land they 
 were continually exposed to the fearful 
 cruelties of the never-ceasing slave-trade. 
 From a missionary who had seen her in 
 the interior of AMca, I learned that she 
 had often taken a severely wounded slave 
 
1 24 Heroine of tJie White Nile. 
 
 on her own beast, and herself waded for 
 hours in the deejDest mire. She certainly 
 had a most sympathizing heart. 
 
 While I was sketching her negroes she 
 would sit in Arabian style on the floor, 
 looking at me, and seemed never to grow 
 weary in recounting to me her adventures. 
 The extensive marshy regions about the 
 sources of the Mle appeared to have re- 
 called to her memory her early Holland 
 home; the boundless green meadows on 
 which her young eyes had rested rose 
 vividly to her eyes. Indeed, she com- 
 plained of being sometimes satiated with 
 verdure, and longed for the dry and yel- 
 low sands of the desert. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FOUE YEAES OF LO]S^GI]^a. 
 
 THE artist closed Ms story with an ex- 
 pression whicli gives us tbe key-note 
 for the present chapter. Miss Tinne had 
 withdrawn into a species of solitude, and 
 seemed desirous of shunning the ordinary 
 world. And thus she lived for about four 
 years, in which time but little was known 
 or heard about her. But her heart was 
 by no means satisfied ; it was filled with an 
 undefined longing after something. She 
 first proposed to build a fairy-like, oriental 
 home in the midst of the Nile, where she 
 could ever behold its rolling waters, see its 
 luxuriant gardens, and be surrounded by 
 
 m 
 
126 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 the creatures whom she had rescued from 
 the cruelties of bondage. 
 
 We have related how she was thwarted 
 in this intention, and given a picture of 
 her home in Cairo, where the artist found 
 her cut off from all European associations, 
 and surrounded by servants and arrange- 
 ments that would as far as possible keep 
 her in the interior of Africa. She seemed 
 for a time to devote herself almost entirely 
 to the task of indulging these beings in 
 whatever they might desire. She kept a 
 perfect swarm of them around her, and 
 thus erected a little world in her own 
 domain. 
 
 They soon showed their natural inclina- 
 tion to lead a loose and easy life, and use 
 their mistress's heart and money to make 
 lords of themselves instead of servants. 
 Miss Tinne was so willing to yield to all 
 Oriental ways that she permitted her 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 127 
 
 chief servants to have several wives, as is 
 tlie custom all over the East v^ith those 
 who are rich enough to keep up an estab- 
 lishment. This brought into her house- 
 hold a new element and increased numbers. 
 The subordinate servants soon claimed the 
 same favor, which she had not the heart 
 to deny them, and so in a short time she 
 had around her a perfect colony of serv- 
 ants, with their numerous wives and chil- 
 dren. These she all retained, and thus her 
 later journeys bore the appearance of great 
 emigrant-trains, with women, children, and 
 all the household gods. 
 
 As she did not feel like mingling with 
 the world, she adopted the Oriental fashion 
 of exclusiveness within her own walls, but 
 here her subjects were so numerous that 
 she did not want for society, and that, for 
 the present, of a kind in accordance with 
 her own strange caprices. These children, 
 
128 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 and a pack of beautiful Egyptian honnds, 
 afforded her many an hour of favorite 
 amusement. 
 
 In connection with her dogs is told an 
 amusing story of a young German student 
 who for a time became a member of her 
 household as master of the hounds. He 
 had read in his German home, on the 
 river Elbe, of the thrilling adventures in 
 Africa of the celebrated German traveler 
 Rohlfs, and the story of them set him 
 almost mad on the subject. He became 
 crazy to penetrate the jungles and marshe^^^, 
 and cross the desert in search of adven- 
 tures. He had no means, and no hopes, 
 and not the least prospect of being success- 
 ful in this line of duty. 
 
 But jDresently he hears that E-ohlfs is 
 preparing for a new expedition, and he re- 
 solves to go along whether he can or not. 
 He leaves his home, and after the most 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 129 
 
 wonderful adventures, deprivations, hard- 
 ships, and dangers, he succeeds in reaching 
 Africa, and finding the renowned traveler. 
 But what could Rohlf do with a mere boy, 
 with no means in his pocket, and an educa- 
 tion so unfinished that his experience and 
 observations could be of no possible use 
 to the world. He told the young madcap 
 that he could not possibly grant him his 
 wish, but recommended him to Miss Tinne, 
 who might, perhaps, find some way to 
 make him useful. 
 
 The lady did not want him, but in the 
 kindness of her heart could not turn him 
 away in a strange and distant land, and 
 thus installed him as master of her Ara- 
 bian grayhounds. He continued to per- 
 form the duties of this office until about a 
 month before she began her last journey, 
 but about this time one of the dogs died, 
 and she made this the occasion to dismiss 
 
130 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 the useless keeper. The young man owes 
 his own life to the dog's death, for had he 
 gone on the last expedition he would 
 never have returned alive. 
 
 Some persons who did not like Miss 
 Tinne's special favor for colored surround- 
 ings said the mistake in the young man 
 w^as his color; had he been of jetty black 
 he would have found a warmer welcome. 
 But the truth was that the lady had ac- 
 quired a certain dislike for every thing of 
 a European stamp, and wanted nothing of 
 that origin around Iter. And the question 
 was very naturally and frequently asked, 
 "Why? 
 
 The lady herself never answered the 
 question; many busybodies have tried to 
 do so, and thus have retailed a great vari- 
 ety of stories. Some say that the fame of 
 her wealth, her beauty, and her natural 
 talents, with her accomplishments, attracted 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 131 
 
 the attention of a great many gentlemen, 
 who thus became suitors for her hand. 
 She suspected that their object was more 
 her fortune than herself, and rejected them, 
 preferring to exhaust the love of her heart 
 in exciting travel, and devotion to hu- 
 manity wherever she could find a fitting 
 object for care and labor. The gossips 
 say that two noblemen followed her as 
 far as Khartoom, in the hopes of present- 
 ing to her greater attractions than she 
 could find in the swamps of the Upper 
 Nile. 
 
 Thus the most remarkable stories were 
 floating in society regarding her antipathy 
 to the golden chains of marriage, and her 
 mania for a life of adventure. People 
 seemed desirous of knowing the motives 
 that could draw her away from home and 
 friends, into wild and dangerous lands, and 
 cause her to find more pleasure in associa- 
 
132 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 ting with tlie barbarous or half-civilized, 
 than with the I'efined and cultivated of her 
 own race. 
 
 Some find the impulse in the following 
 sad story, which, if true, will go far toward 
 inducing us to pardon many of her foibles. 
 At the time when she was still living in 
 her native city of the Hague, she made 
 the acquaintance of a distinguished foreign 
 gentleman, who was connected with one 
 of the German embassies. x\mong the 
 many claimants who strove to gain this 
 lady, so distinguished for her personal and 
 intellectual gifts, he was the one favored 
 above all others. But their association, 
 begun under such favorable auspices, came 
 to a very sad close ; the chosen one proved 
 finally to be a very unworthy and unde- 
 sirable man. He was obliged to leave 
 Holland very suddenly, and all his subse- 
 quent efforts to approach Miss Tinne re- 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 133 
 
 mained unavailing; but he followed her 
 even to Egypt. 
 
 It is probable that all the many stories, 
 scattered broadcast concerning Miss Tinne's 
 aversion to marriage, may be reduced to 
 this attested one. This deception left a 
 bitter thorn in her breast, and may have 
 induced her to shun the society where she 
 met with so galling and painful an experi- 
 ence, and added strength to the resolution 
 to give free play to her inclination for 
 travel and adventure. 
 
 Those who were not acquainted with 
 her, and not aware of the influences that 
 impelled her, and who knew nothing of 
 her but her adventurous and strange ex- 
 peditions, naturally acquired very peculiar 
 and not very favorable ideas regarding her 
 mode of life. And, in the demoralized 
 and gossiping Orient, whose inhabitants 
 
 could not at all comprehend so strange a 
 9 
 
134 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 soul in a woman, there was no lack of 
 ill-humored stories concerning her. But 
 not a single slander of them all proved 
 true. Those who were favored with her 
 friendship, and knew her well on account 
 of having traveled with her, praise the 
 purity of her character, her magnanim- 
 ity, and her astonishing generosity. But 
 they, at the same time, do not conceal 
 many rough, peculiar, and strange phases 
 of her character, which, perhaps, received 
 new strength by her life in the wilds of 
 Africa. 
 
 But, whatever may have been the mo- 
 tives, she was thoroughly wedded to Orien- 
 tal life, and her four years' residence in 
 Cairo seemed only one continuous longing 
 to engage in some new enterprise. This 
 desire she satisfied by occasional journeys 
 throughout the waters and to the ports 
 of the Mediterranean. She purchased a 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 135 
 
 steamboat, and, always accompanied by a 
 portion of her black attendants, visited 
 nearly every important port of the Medi- 
 terranean. Thus she saw Smyrna, Con- 
 stantinople, ISTaples, and Rome. 
 
 Then she returned to the northern shores 
 of x\frica, and left no prominent place 
 here unvisited. She remained a longer 
 or shorter time at Algiers, Tunis, and 
 Tripoli. At this last station her attention 
 was attracted by the large caravans arriv- 
 ing from the south. These traveled over 
 the golden sands of the desert, from points 
 as distant as Lake Tchad, coming to the 
 Mediterranean richly laden with the pro- 
 ductions of those marvelous regions in the 
 heart of Africa. 
 
 The accounts of such travelers as Barth, 
 Vogel, and Eohlfs reached her ears, and 
 increased her interest in this portion of 
 Africa, and she soon felt that she had 
 
136 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 found the field for whicli she had so long 
 been sighing. She resolved on visiting 
 the Mohammedan regions of Sondan, as she 
 had already visited the pagan portions of 
 it in the distant east and south. 
 
CHAPTEK XIV. 
 
 PEEPAEATIOlJirS FOE HEE LAST EXPEDITION. 
 
 OUR heroine uow proceeded to break 
 up her household in Cairo, and pre- 
 pared to visit the wild children of nature 
 in the deepest interior of Africa. She felt 
 that among them at least she was a Queen, 
 for they continued to regard her as the 
 dazzling daughter of the Sultan, who came 
 among them as a ministering angel of love 
 and kindness, ready to lavish her vast 
 wealth on them with a generous hand. 
 
 She knew that she was undertaking a 
 most dangerous enterprise, for the tribes 
 of these deserts are cruel and deceitful, 
 and she desired to make her expedition as 
 
138 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 secure as possible. She seldom or never 
 asked any of her European friends to pro- 
 tect her, butj nevertheless, while in Tunis 
 she endeavored to obtain the protection 
 of the Consul from Holland to view the 
 city, and make other arrangements for her 
 safety. To this end she had procured let- 
 ters of recommendation to him from the 
 Dutch government at the Hague. 
 
 Now she had ever created quite an ex- 
 citement with her splendid train of black 
 servants, and equipages of various kinds, 
 and had ever been a highly honored and 
 admired guest. But in Tunis she was 
 destined to meet with quite a cool recep- 
 tion from one of her own countrymen on 
 account of her dress. We have already 
 said that she had long ago discarded all 
 European fashions, and adopted the beau- 
 tiful and flowing robes of the Arabian 
 ladies. It was in this garb that she ap- 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 139 
 
 peared in Tunis, wMcli is one of the finest 
 cities on the African coast, and is called 
 the Paris of the Barbary States. 
 
 She immediately called on the Dutch 
 (Consul, and through his servant requested 
 an audience. We judge he must have 
 been a rather sour and crusty old gentle- 
 man, entirely behind the times in the mat- 
 ter of allowing the ladies to do what they 
 please in the line of novelty and enterprise. 
 He sent word that it was not his custom 
 to receive Arabian ladies, and refused to 
 see her. What he meant was simply this, 
 that no Arabian lady would ever be seen 
 traveliug through the country or the city 
 in that manner, and especially calling on 
 government officers; and as she had chos- 
 en to present herself as an Arabian lady, 
 he was bound to regard her as he would 
 have regarded one of them under the cir- 
 cumstances, not worthy of his attention. 
 
140 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 Miss Tinne was not to be bluffed off in 
 this way, and sent a second request for 
 permission to see the official representative 
 of her government. She at last conquered 
 an audience, but the ill-natured Consul 
 said to her, "Miss, when the Dutch gov- 
 ernment gave you letters of recommenda- 
 tion to me, I felt assured that I might ex- 
 pect to meet a respectable lady, and now 
 what must I behold % A Bedouin ! " 
 And thus the Consul, in no flattering 
 terms, continued to decline to be her guide 
 through Tunis unless she would put on a 
 European dress; this she refused to do, 
 and immediately left the city. As an 
 Arabian lady, she could not have passed 
 through the city without insult, unless 
 under consular protection, simply because 
 it is not the custom of the country. We 
 consider the old Consul a pretty thick- 
 headed Dutchman, for having so little 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 141 
 
 appreciation of youtli, beauty, and en- 
 terprise. 
 
 But Miss Tinne was frequently obliged 
 to suffer for her independence as a woman, 
 especially in the East, where it is not the 
 custom of a lady of rank to leave her 
 house unless thickly vailed, and accom- 
 panied by a corps of body-guards, in shape 
 of a train of black slaves. Her friends 
 always blamed her for carrying her aver- 
 sion to men so far as to undertake most of 
 her journeys without putting herself and 
 troop under the protection and command 
 of intelligent, learned, and courageous men. 
 The results of her extensive wanderings 
 thus remain of comparative insignificance, 
 considering their vast outlay and great 
 danger. 
 
 If, with her wealth, she had always 
 associated with her a band of scientific ex- 
 plorers, the world would have profited 
 
142 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 mucli more from her expeditions, and have 
 given her a much greater meed of praise, 
 j, And then the dangers of her journeys 
 were greatly increased by the absence of a 
 determined and stern ruler, who might 
 control and awe the negro train that ac- 
 companied her, for her retinue was mostly 
 composed of negroes. 
 
 And even many of these were the worst 
 that she could have selected for her expe- 
 dition, for they were such as had, from 
 childhood up, been accustomed to an easy, 
 lazy life, and had lived in Egypt, Tripoli, 
 Algiers, and other half-civilized countries, 
 and had thus lost all their warlike quali- 
 ties, if they indeed ever possessed these 
 necessary qualifications for such an expedi- 
 tion as she was planning. 
 
 This, then, seems to have been the great 
 mistake of this final undertaking, that she 
 did not commit the control of her servants 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 143 
 
 to a sort of military commander, and did 
 not secui'e a more efficient set of negroes 
 that might have defended her in case of 
 attack. For she was undertaking the most 
 dangerous task of her life, and too confi- 
 dently trusting her life and fortunes to some 
 of the most savage and notorious of the 
 cruel tribes of the trackless Sahara, many 
 of whom go, like the Egyptian women, 
 with their faces always covered, that they 
 may not be discovered in their crimes. 
 
 She endeavored to secure the services of 
 Rohlfs, the great explorer of this region, 
 to accompany her as scientific guide and 
 assistant, he having just returned from 
 Bornou, after a brilliant though perilous 
 tour, with presents for the King of Prussia. 
 But just at this period commenced the 
 war between the English and the King of 
 Abyssinia, and the Prussian monarch had 
 authorized EohJfs to accompany the En- 
 
144 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 glish troops as his convoy, witli a view of 
 gaining all the information possible about 
 this romantic land. Rohlfs was, therefore, 
 obliged to decline the offer of Miss Tinne, 
 and this circumstance probably cost her 
 her life, for his presence, courage, and ex- 
 perience might have rescued her from 
 the treachery that brought her to an un- 
 timely end. 
 
 Alone and unaided she, therefore, pro- 
 ceeded to fit out her expedition in Tripoli, 
 the port on the Mediterranean where she 
 could most easily obtain supplies for an 
 undertaking of such magnitude. She gath- 
 ered a caravan of fifty persons and seventy 
 camels, and with these she proposed to 
 proceed first to Mourzook, the capital of 
 Fezzan, and thence to Bornou. There 
 would be no very marked dangers or 
 troubles thus far, but this was by no 
 means the end. 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 145 
 
 The plans of Miss Tinne were far more 
 venturesome and magnificent than this. 
 She proposed, after reaching the famous 
 Lake Tchad, about which so much has been 
 written, not to return by the same route, 
 but to proceed to the East, through Cen- 
 tral Africa, passing over Waday, Darfor, 
 and Cordofan, and thus reach the White 
 Nile again. Had she succeeded in accom- 
 plishing this daring undertaking her name 
 would, for all time, have held the first 
 rank among African travelers, for no Eu- 
 ropean had up to that time been able to 
 perform that feat. Vogel and Beurmann 
 had lost their lives in merely attempting 
 it, and other explorers, starting from the 
 east to pass over Darfur and Waday, had 
 been obliged to stand still at the n^v^ 
 threshold of this realm. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE FATAL JOUENEY. 
 
 WITH higli hopes and flattering pros- 
 pects, a numerous caravan collected 
 in Tripoli on the morning of January 
 twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and sixty- 
 nine. Fifty persons and seventy camels 
 had been engaged by this heroic adven- 
 turess, and her retinue consisted almost 
 wholly of Arabs and Negroes; some of 
 the latter she had brought with her from 
 the region of the White Nile. 
 
 She had but three European attendants, 
 two Dutch sailors, to whom she had be- 
 come attached while they were serving 
 during her cruises in the Mediterranean, 
 
Heroine of the White Nile, 147 
 
 and the young German student of whom 
 we have previously spoken. Fortunately, 
 a favorite dog died while under his care, 
 and Miss Tinne felt that this was an op- 
 portunity to get rid of him. He was sent 
 back, and may thank the dog that he is 
 now alive. 
 
 The great caravan made but slow prog- 
 ress, and did not reach the first stopping- 
 place in Fezzan until about the first of 
 March. Here they made quite a long talt 
 before entering the stony desert that ex- 
 tends from that point to Mourzook. Trav- 
 eling thus slowly, her fame preceded her. 
 Far and near these savage Arabs heard of 
 the rich Sultan's daughter. Every-where 
 she was greeted as Banher-Hey^ the daugh- 
 ter of the King ; every-where they talked 
 of her colossal wealth, and with greedy eyes 
 gazed at her immense baggage-train, which 
 they thought heavy with hidden gold. 
 
148 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 Having arrived in Mourzook, the well- 
 known oasis city in Fezzan, Miss Tinne 
 was attacked by a serious illness, that de- 
 tained her for some time. After her re- 
 covery she made an arrangement with a 
 chief of the Tawarek tribe, named Ichnu- 
 chen, living beyond the Turkish territory, 
 at Ghat. She proposed spending the sum- 
 mer in his domains, living in a tent, with 
 a view of recovering her strength fully, 
 and waiting for the rich presents which 
 she had ordered for the Sultan of Bornon, 
 and which were to be sent to her from 
 Tripoli. 
 
 This chief seemed to be honest; he 
 cheerfully promised his protection, and 
 offered to send her an escort to bring her 
 from Mourzook. 
 
 She had a personal interview with this 
 chief of the desert, some distance south of 
 Mourzook, and a friendly alliance was 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 149 
 
 formed between them, he treating her as 
 the chief of her band. But he was just at 
 this moment engaged in a campaign against 
 some rebellious tribes, and could not, as 
 she desired, accompany her to Grhat. She 
 therefore returned to Mourzook and waited 
 for an escort. 
 
 But, instead of one, there appeared two 
 escorts, both led by chiefs that were tribu- 
 tary to Ichnuchen. Only one of these was 
 the real envoy from Ghat, the other as- 
 sumed to be. The deceiver, however, was 
 the more cunning, and induced Miss Tinne 
 to place herself under his protection. He 
 had set a trap for her, and she had unfor- 
 tunately fallen into it. A Sheik in Mour- 
 zook wrote to Tripoli, "Her foreordained 
 fate drew her into this abyss," in an ac- 
 count of all the particulars, that he sent to 
 that city, of her brutal murder. These 
 
 Turks are nearly all fatalists ; they believe 
 10 
 
150 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 til at whatever is to be, will be, and do 
 what we will, we cannot avoid a fate that 
 is foreordained to us. 
 
 The false chief was an enemy of Ich- 
 nnchen, and desired to revenge himself; 
 he thought he could do it in no more 
 practical way than to murder his Mend 
 and alty. But he, doubtless, at the same 
 time looked forward to robbing the rich 
 caravan, and stealing and selling all the 
 negroes in Miss Tinne's train; this would 
 be a rich revenge and a profitable business 
 operation. In his band were some fugi- 
 tive Arabians from Tripoli, who had left 
 there on account of their crimes, and were 
 supporting themselves in the desert from 
 robbery. A little band of ^% or six 
 seemed to have planned the murder, and 
 the false chief consented to it for a portion 
 of the plunder. About the middle of 
 July the ill-fated lady started with the 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 151 
 
 traitors for Ghat. In a few days she 
 reached a halting station south-west of 
 Mourzook, and here the terrible event 
 occurred. 
 
 Without anxiety, suspicious of no evil, 
 firmly believing in the ultimate success of 
 her journey, and full of lofty ideas con- 
 cerning the fature, she entered the terri- 
 tory of the Tawareks, v^hose friendly chief 
 she expected soon to meet. The foul deed 
 was accomplished on the morning after her 
 arrival at this station. 
 
 As the camel-drivers were loading up 
 the camels for the journey of the day a 
 quarrel arose among them, and the Dutch 
 sailors hastened out to put a stop to it, 
 but unfortunately without their arms. At 
 this moment Miss Tinne was standing in 
 the door of her tent with the Tawarek 
 chief, whom she had strangely enough 
 favored with her confidence, and had just 
 
152 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 invited him to inspect the wonders and 
 curiosities of her camp. She stepped for- 
 ward for a moment to inquire after the 
 cause of the trouble, and assist in allaying 
 it, when she was instantly struck down 
 from behind with the blow of a sword. 
 
 She had received two wounds; first, a 
 saber-blow on the right hand, that com- 
 pletely separated it from the body, and 
 then a musket-shot through the breast. 
 The former was doubtless given to pre- 
 vent her from using her revolver, acd 
 by the faithless chief behind her. The 
 shot was fired by one of the treacherous 
 Arabs. At her cries for assistance her 
 Dutch servants hastened to her side, 
 but they were also murdered; one was 
 shot, and the other pierced through by 
 a lance. 
 
 The Tawareks now fell upon the iron 
 water-chests, believing that these contained 
 
Herome of the White Nile. 1 53 
 
 er great treasures, and thus robbery was, 
 QO doubt, the main impulse to the terrible 
 deed. Her faithful negroes, who clung to 
 her with ardent attachment, were power- 
 less in the hour of danger, and in the 
 presence of these wild Arabs. They were 
 immediately seized, manacled, and led 
 away to be sold as slaves. But a few of 
 her band escaped. These made their way 
 to Mourzook to inform the Turkish author- 
 ities of the terrible crime. These Sheiks 
 took measures immediately to pursue the 
 murderers, obtain what they could of the 
 remnant of Miss Tinne's effects, and bury 
 her body. 
 
 In this they were partially successful. 
 They caught some of the murderers, recov- 
 ered a part of her property, and also a 
 young negress, named Jasmina. For a 
 time the Turks were inclined to suspect 
 and punish the principal chief, Ichnuchen, 
 
154 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 with whom Miss Tinne formed the alliance 
 to go to his territory, and under whose 
 protection she had placed herself. But he 
 proved that he had no sort of connection 
 with the escort that betrayed the unfor- 
 tunate lady, and he even assisted the 
 authorities in pursuing the traitors and 
 assassins. 
 
 Thus the lust of gold incited these rob- 
 ber-chiefs to cut down in her prime a lady 
 who bid fair to devote a long life and a 
 boundless fortune to the welfare of Africa. 
 She was but thirty years old, and quite 
 able by birth and wealth, and personal 
 power and accomplishments, to have min- 
 gled with the highest ranks of society; but 
 the brilliancy and pomp of court life 
 seemed to have no charms for her. She 
 preferred to wander in the wilds of Africa, 
 and brave the dangers of Barbary. Ever 
 restless, she seemed only happy when her 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 155. 
 
 feet were treading some unknown and dis- 
 tant region. 
 
 As a bold traveler, no woman has sur- 
 passed her ; in this sphere she towers high 
 above all her sisters. Human knowledge 
 has been greatly enriched by her investiga- 
 tions, and she was just learning how much 
 good she might do in this field, when she 
 fell a victim to her too trusting confidence. 
 But her greatest honor, and the highest 
 claim to the esteem of the world, and the 
 black race in particular, she gained in her 
 restless efforts to unvail the horrors of the 
 slave-trade, and expose and punish those 
 who live by this nefarious traffic. 
 
 Her large-hearted generosity in carrying 
 out her enterprises, and her persistency 
 and endurance under the most unfavor- 
 able circumstances, insure for her name 
 an honorable mention in the history of 
 travels and discoveries. In Alexandrine 
 
156 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 Tinne the world has lost a remarkable 
 woman, and Africa one of the boldest of 
 her pioneers. She has left behind her a 
 history strongly illuminated by the halo 
 of romance. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE WILD TEIBES OF THE DESEET. 
 
 THE heroine's story is finished, and she 
 can no longer wander among these 
 wild tribes of the desert; but we feel as 
 if our story will lose nothing in interest 
 by a slight examination of the land and 
 the people among whom she was thus 
 sadly and cruelly sacrificed. A recent 
 journey by Rohlfs, who has done so much 
 to open up the mysteries of this land 
 and people to the world, and whom Miss 
 Tinne would gladly have attached to her 
 expedition, gives us some very rare and 
 valuable information regarding them. 
 
 Rohlfs in his second journey passed 
 through Morocco, across the great Atlas 
 
158 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 chain of mountains and the Desert of Sa- 
 hara. His first journey had been one of 
 great danger, from which he scarcely re- 
 turned alive. These wild Arabs attacked 
 him in the Desert, and wounded him se- 
 verely; the fearfnl climate, which no Eu- 
 ropean can withstand, unless gradually 
 accustomed to it by a lengthened sojourn 
 in the torrid zone, nearly killed him ; and 
 the terrible hardships of a journey across 
 the Desert seemed to him almost more 
 than the most hardy traveler could sup- 
 port. And still he wanted to go, and 
 would go a second time; determined, if 
 possible, this time to press forward to the 
 interior of Soudan. 
 
 But how different were his prepara- 
 tions and surroundings from those of Miss 
 Tinne ! He was so poor that he could 
 scarcely obtain money to go in the hum- 
 blest way. He started with but one serv- 
 
Heroine of the White Nile, 159 
 
 ant and guide from Tangiers in Morocco, 
 to go to Ufan, to visit the Grand Scherif. 
 Hadj -Absalom, who had shown him much 
 kindness formerly, and from whose influ- 
 ence he hoped to receive assistance in the 
 greatest portion of the territory that he 
 desired to explore. 
 
 He had been able to secure good letters 
 of recommendation from the English Em- 
 bassador in Tangiers, and had with him a 
 few presents; these obtained for him a 
 favorable reception, and most generous 
 treatment during quite a long stay, al- 
 though the Scherif well knew that he was 
 dealing with a Christian, and a very in- 
 quisitive traveler. Having gained the 
 good graces of this chief, and received a 
 large number of recommendations from 
 him to all his friends and subordinate 
 chiefs through entire Morocco to Tuat and 
 Timbuctoo, Eohlfs started on his perilous 
 
l6o Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 journey. Without these protections, to- 
 gether with the greatest foresight on his 
 part, it would have been impossible for 
 him to have traveled through these regions, 
 inhabited by the most suspicious, faithless, 
 and plundering bands of Arabs. 
 
 The celebrated Dr. Barth, on passing 
 through these lands, found his only safety 
 in assuming the name of an Arab chief, 
 and calling himself Abd-el-Hirim. And 
 thus Kohlfs took the name .Mustapha, and 
 pretended to be a descendant of Moham- 
 med's uncle. These cheating assumptions 
 seem to be so common there that one needs 
 only a sort of brazen courage to carry it 
 out. Eohlfs once had a hearty laugh on 
 meeting with a chieftain who pretended to 
 be of the same noble descent, and solemnly 
 acknowledged him as a veritable cousin. 
 
 This system of deception is by no means 
 a pleasant feature of the case, and one 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. i6i 
 
 whicli we would rather not have to record ; 
 but the explorer says that he found it was 
 this or nothing, and felt himself obliged to 
 adopt the fashion of the country if he de- 
 sired to see it ; just as the celebrated Ger- 
 man missionary, Father Hue, many years 
 ago traveled through China disguised, at 
 least, as a native Chinaman, because he 
 would in no other way have been allowed 
 to pursue his journey. 
 
 Sometimes he passed as the relative of 
 his friend, the Scherif, and, as this latter 
 was almost worshiped as a saint, our trav- 
 eler got along very well. Man-worship 
 seems to be nowhere greater than among 
 these tribes. The Berbers can scarcely 
 understand Arabic, and cannot read the 
 Koran ; they care but little about Moham- 
 medan ceremonies, do not wash before 
 prayers, and obtain representatives to per- 
 form the various fasts for them; and they 
 
1 62 Heroijie of the White Nile. 
 
 revere almost as their own saints the family 
 of the Scherif, and call him their Sheik, 
 or Euler. 
 
 At times a gang of robbers would be 
 just on the point of pouncing on Ms bag- 
 gage, when he would declare it to be the 
 property of the Scherif, or under his pro- 
 tection; the worst of thieves would then 
 fall down and kiss and worship it, and 
 seek by touching the articles to draw a 
 blessing from them for sick and well. 
 
 Sometimes they forced him to act as 
 Sheik himself, and insisted that he should 
 cure them by spitting on them, or permit- 
 ting them to touch him. He was often 
 obliged to make charms for them to wear 
 or drive the evil spirit out of their houses. 
 In one case this latter power was killing 
 all the sheep and goats. When they wished 
 him to intervene, he recommended them to 
 tear up some rotten floors and substitute 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 163 
 
 good ones, and then wrote a proverb over 
 their door — this seemed to satisfy them. 
 
 In nearly all Africa the natives insist 
 that intelligent Europeans are physicians, 
 and fairly waylay them for medical assist- 
 ance. A party recently ascending the Nile 
 in a private boat were overtaken by the 
 messengers of a certain chief, who insisted 
 on their returning to cure him. It was 
 in vain that the gentleman said again 
 and again that they knew nothing about 
 the business of curing sick people; they 
 were fairly forced to put back and stop 
 for the night, and were received and treat- 
 ed like kings for the very ordinary and 
 common-sense advice that they were able 
 to give. 
 
 And thus Kohlfs was made a doctor in 
 spite of himself; in nearly all the towns 
 and villages where he stopped, the sick 
 were brought to him in great numbers. 
 
164 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 The old people always wanted very harsli 
 treatment ; nothing would suit them short 
 of bleeding by cups, or a torturing by 
 strong plasters that would draw great 
 water-blisters, like Spanish-fly ointment. 
 Muley-Ishmael, the chief of one of these 
 towns, swore by the beard of the Prophet 
 that Rohlfs must be the private physician 
 of the Sultan of all the Faithful, because 
 no other doctor ever had a salve so power- 
 ful that it would draw water out of the 
 body wherever it was placed. 
 
 He was most frequently called on to 
 cure diseases of the eyes, and for this pur- 
 pose was sometimes taken into the most 
 secret and retired portions of their houses 
 to treat their wives, whom no stranger is 
 ordinarily allowed to look upon. All over 
 Africa the disease of the eyes is very com- 
 mon, on account of the drifting sand, and 
 the uncleanliness regarding them. And 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 165 
 
 many of their diseases are so clearly tlie 
 
 result of neglect and superstition that any 
 
 man of sense can give them much useful 
 
 advice, so that they willingly bestow on 
 
 him the title of doctor. 
 
 But Rohlfs found the whole of these 
 
 Moslems most deceitful and unreliable ; an 
 
 oath was not of the slightest import in a 
 
 bargain ; they would swear by the Prophet 
 
 one moment, and the very next break all 
 
 their promises* and begin to rob, plunder, 
 
 and murder. Of one of these tribes it had 
 
 become a saying that they would rob and 
 
 murder God and the Prophet themselves 
 
 if these should appear in person among 
 
 them. Their morals are also in a very 
 
 low state; as Mohammedans they were 
 
 permitted to have a house full of wives if 
 
 they could support them ; but the most of 
 
 them, being too poor to do this, would turn 
 
 off one wife as soon as they found the 
 11 
 
1 66 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 slightest pretext to get rid of her, and 
 then take another. And thus their towns 
 were full of forsaken wives. 
 
 They bury their dead without a coffin, 
 and make a fearful howling at the grave, 
 which Rohlfs considered all put on for 
 effect or display. They are also extremely 
 intolerant toward those of a different re- 
 ligious belief from themselves, and it is 
 most wise not to get into a discussion with 
 them about the matter, for the}^ are always 
 anxious for a strife of this kind, and have 
 but one answer to all objections, "Thus 
 it stands in the Koran," a book that they 
 affirm was written by God's own hand for 
 their Prophet, Mohammed. Even in Al- 
 giers the Moslems think that the surest 
 way to gain Paradise is to kill a Christian, 
 and were it not for the fear of the laws 
 they would frequently do this. 
 
CHAPTEE XVn. 
 
 OTEE THE MOUNTAINS TO THE DESEET. 
 
 w 
 
 E have dwelt some time on tlie 
 character of these tribes, to make 
 more clear tlie great difficulties to be en- 
 countered in traveling among them, and to 
 be able to appreciate what Miss Tinne 
 proposed to encounter had her life been 
 spared. We shall now go with Rohlfs 
 through his bold journey, and look at the 
 principal deeds that he performed, and 
 some of the dangers and trials that he 
 encountered. 
 
 Early in May Eohlfs started for the 
 Atlas Mountains, and was ever careful on 
 the ascent to watch against the robber 
 hordes that infest these heights. His ob- 
 
1 68 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 ject was to learn the character of these 
 comparatively unknown highlands, and 
 come through a pass to the plains on the 
 southern side. He describes nature as 
 magnificent in the extreme, and speaks 
 especially of the vast difference between the 
 intolerable heat of the lowland and the 
 unexpected cold of these higher regions. 
 
 He found the vegetable world on the 
 ascent much more familiar and home-like 
 than he had expected. There were first 
 mighty forests with larch, trees nearly ^nq 
 feet in diameter, then iron oaks and thistle- 
 trees, and finally the lignum vitse and 
 juniper. On the ground he found butter- 
 cups. May lilies, and Alpine roses, so that 
 one could easily imagine one's self to be in 
 Switzerland. On the lofty plains, or table- 
 lands, that he passed over were growing 
 barley and Turkish wheat. On the thir- 
 teenth of May they perceived the snowy 
 
Heroine, of the White Nile. 169 
 
 summit of the Atlas, and on the twentieth 
 they reached the very crest, having passed 
 a beautiful mountain lake enlivened by 
 swarms of ducks. Here, in the highlands, 
 they first saw the villages surrounded by 
 tall and strong hedges made out of the 
 trunks of trees, as a protection against 
 the numerous lions. Eohlfs is supposed 
 to be the first explorer who crossed the 
 Atlas chain in this region. He reported 
 it as mostly composed of sandstone on 
 the northern, and granite on the southern 
 declivity. 
 
 On making the descent he came down 
 into the beautiful valley of the Grer Eiver, 
 which he declares a rival of Italy in the 
 luxuriance of its vegetation and natural 
 productions. They traveled through nar- 
 row gorges whose sides rose ^y^ hundred 
 feet in rocky walls above the stream. But 
 the well-built roads and convenient bridges 
 
I/O Heroine of the White Nile, 
 
 of Switzerland were absent, and it was 
 often necessary to ride or swim over streams, 
 where they encountered many mishaps on 
 account of the rapidity of these mountain 
 torrents. 
 
 At last they reached the border of the 
 desert, and saw the tirst date-trees. And, 
 still on their horses, they passed several 
 small oases, and arrived, on the first of 
 July, after many dangers from the sirocco 
 and the robbers, safely at Abuam, the 
 capital of the Oasis of Tafiles. 
 
 This city of the oasis he describes in 
 very genial terms. Abuam is the central 
 trading point for the whole desert. The 
 wares of Algiers and Morocco, the prod- 
 ucts of Tawat and those of Soudan, all 
 meet here. There can be no more vari- 
 egated or animated scene than the picture 
 presented by the fair or market held here 
 three times a week. As wood is scarce, all 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 171 
 
 the booths, as, indeed, all the houses of the 
 villages, are made of clay, so that they look 
 like great mole-hills. And, as in all cities 
 of Morocco, these booths form streets, and 
 each street has its special trade. 
 
 Merchants from Fez have exclusive pos- 
 session of the streets for cloth, cotton, and 
 silk goods ; other streets contain the oil, 
 butter, and soap shops; and thus the 
 dealers in weapons and clothes have theirs, 
 and so on to the end of the catalogue. 
 Some passages are exclusively devoted to 
 French and English goods, of which there 
 is a large assortment. Vegetables, fruit, 
 salt, cattle, etc., are found crowded together 
 in other places. The dates of Tafilet are 
 considered the best of the entire desert, 
 and are sent to all points. Then ostrich 
 feathers, gold-dust, and slaves, are brought 
 to this market from Soudan. 
 
 The inhabitants of this region are the 
 
172 Heroine of the White Nile, 
 
 most fanatical of Mohammedans, and fairly 
 annoyed Rohlfs in the desire to know 
 whether he was a genuine Moslem in all 
 respects. Near their city they have raised 
 monuments to the founder of the dynasty 
 of Morocco, and also to some of the most 
 celebrated of their saints, and to these 
 shrines pilgrimages are made from all 
 directions. 
 
 At this point Rohlfs prepared himself 
 for his journey across the desert. He hired 
 two camels from the owner of a caravan, 
 who afterward cheated him in the most 
 contemptible way. Having provided him- 
 self with water and provisions for a ten 
 days' journey, he started in the early part 
 of July. And now, for a moment, com- 
 pare his simple and humble preparations 
 with those of Miss Tinne : simply himself 
 and servant, and only two camels to carry 
 the absolute necessaries of life : and with 
 
Heroine of the White Nile, 173 
 
 these ha boldly enters the dangerous and 
 inhospitable desert. 
 
 He found the heat intolerable, even 
 worse than he had expected; and their 
 thirst, in the broiling sun, was so great 
 that each of them drank more than ten 
 quarts of water per day. The camels were 
 loaded with the baggage, they, therefore, 
 were obliged to walk; and although they 
 became somewhat accustomed to the heat, 
 they sometimes almost sank down from 
 exhaustion and fatigue. They lost a good 
 deal of flesh in the journey, but at last 
 safely passed the first sandy region that 
 extends to the south, and arrived at the 
 oasis city of Karfas toward the end of 
 July. 
 
 These portions of the desert are not en- 
 tirely destitute of water nor vegetation. 
 But the terribly monotonous plain is but 
 seldom enlivened by a visible water-course. 
 
1/4 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 There are, however, not a few streams that 
 trickle through the sand below the surface, 
 slowly following a steady and regular 
 course, like those visible on the surface. 
 Above these hidden streams one can easily 
 dig a well and reach water without pene- 
 trating very deep. Many of these wells 
 remain, and are covered with a stone, as 
 well as surrounded by palm-trees, but not 
 unfrequently the water is saltish and bit- 
 ter. The banks of these streams, which .are 
 often visible in winter and disappear in 
 summer, are often planted with rows of 
 palms. 
 
 The (iate-palm among trees is to the 
 Arab what the camel is among beasts; 
 that alone renders life possible even in 
 these oases. These poor tribes of the 
 desert seldom taste meat, and are rarely 
 able to eat enough to satisfy their hunger ; 
 many of them live almost exclusively on 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 175 
 
 elates. A story is told of one of these 
 cMldren of tlie sand, who, on Ms journey, 
 was almost famished for want of food ; at 
 last he approached a green spot, and dis- 
 covered lying there a large sack, appar- 
 ently left by some wanderer who found 
 it too heavy for his beast. " Ah ! " said 
 the hungry man, " God be thanked ; there 
 is a sack of dates ! how will I refresh my- 
 self with them, and gather strength for my 
 journey!" He rushed up to the sack, 
 hastily opened it, gazed a moment, and 
 then sank fainting to the earth, exclaiming, 
 " Alas ! they are only pearls ! " 
 
 Pearls and precious stones are of little 
 value to those fainting for want of food, 
 and the date is more precious on the desert 
 than would be multitudes of jewels and 
 piles of gold* And the only condition on 
 which it will consent to thrive is water. 
 Wherever this precious element is present 
 
176 Heroine of the White Nile, 
 
 date-trees may be planted. Where there 
 are copious springs and wells, there, in the 
 midst of the desert, will thrive and bloom 
 the most beautiful date-gardens, in whose 
 shade will also grow various tropical vege- 
 tables. In some places, where there is 
 always moisture far below the surface of 
 the ground, a deep well is dug, and the 
 date-tree is planted in this, so that one sees 
 the strange sight of the summit of a palm- 
 tree peering forth from the bosom of the 
 earth. The natives take, therefore, great 
 care of the palm-tree in the season of the 
 blossoms to secure their fruitfulness, and 
 gather two crops a year, one in May, and 
 another in September. 
 
 It is consequently considered a great 
 crime to Mil a date-tree; even in the con- 
 tinued wars that the inhabitants of the 
 desert are ever waging against each other, 
 the date-tree is always spared. An enemy 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 177 
 
 will destroy the streams if possible, will 
 cut them off or fill up the wells, but he 
 never cuts down the date- tree. 
 
 Abd-el-Kader was one of the wildest of 
 the desert chiefs, whose fame was sung 
 in many a ballad, for he was an indomi- 
 table warrior, and a terror to his enemies. 
 While he was yet a youth a certain hostile 
 tribe murdered his father; against these 
 cruel enemies Abd-el-Kader performed his 
 first deeds of heroic valor; he was so ex- 
 asperated at them that he destroyed all 
 the palm-trees in their domains. Rohlfs 
 became acquainted with him, and spent 
 several months under his hospitable pro- 
 tection. As an old man, he spent his days 
 in peace, and employed all his time in 
 planting new gardens, in the hope of thus 
 partially atoning for that great crime of his 
 youth. He always prayed to God to for- 
 give him for thus cutting down the palm- 
 
178 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 trees, wMcli tlie Mussulmans consider so 
 great a crime. 
 
 One day he was relating his warlike 
 deeds to Eohlfs, when he suddenly stopped 
 and said: "Was I right in cutting down 
 my enemies' trees?" "No," was the re- 
 ply, "for here, in the desert, the palm 
 is the sole support of man." This an- 
 swer pleased him, for the voice within 
 him had often told him that in this he 
 had done wrong, although, hitherto, all his 
 subjects, and even his priests, had tried 
 to make him believe that his deed was 
 justifiable. 
 
 Next to the date-tree in value is the 
 camel, and this useful beast even adds 
 largely to the value of the tree, by ena- 
 bling the natives to reach the plantations 
 in the season when attention is required to 
 the blossoms. The date is never a perfect 
 tree ; that is, it cannot bear fruit unless its 
 
Heroine of the White Nile, 179 
 
 blossoms are fertilized by contact with the 
 blossoms of other trees. These different 
 kinds are easily distinguished by the na- 
 tives, as they are well known, and, there- 
 fore, in the blossoming season they need 
 to hurry to the different date-gardens to 
 fructny the trees by the contact of blos- 
 soms of the opposite kind. 
 
 Now our readers may, perhaps, suppose 
 that hurry is not the word to use in speak- 
 ing of the camel, and it is true that he 
 cannot surpass the horse in speed on a 
 short journey. But what he lacks in 
 speed, he makes up in endurance ; he will 
 out-travel the horse in a long journey, and 
 is even used to run down the swift-footed 
 ostrich. Camels will chase the ostrich till 
 these birds fall down dead. Therefore the 
 children of the desert prize the camels 
 above all gifts, and bestow on them the 
 greatest care and study. The Bedouin 
 
i8o Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 knows the tracks of bis own camels, and 
 will distinguish the male and female camel 
 by the diflPerence of the tracks in the sand, 
 as he will even tell the age of a beast by 
 the smell. 
 
CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 INTO THE DESEET AOT) OUT AGAEN". 
 
 ABOUT the last of July EoHfs plunged 
 into the barren desert, following the 
 dry bed of a river that led him through a 
 large province of Morocco called Tawat. 
 This immense waste is so poor and bar- 
 ren that its inhabitants can scarcely find 
 enough to support life, and are conse- 
 quently extremely unreliable and thievish. 
 He stopped for a short time only at the 
 Oases of Tennay and Tamentit. This Ta- 
 mentit is a city of six thousand inhabit- 
 ants, and has one temple and six mosques. 
 This temple contains a very sacred relic 
 in the form of a stone, that is said to have 
 fallen from heayen; it was of silver when 
 
 12 
 
1 82 Heroine of the White Nile, 
 
 it came down, and, as the story goes, turned 
 into iron. Of course this is a capital stone 
 for the Mohammedans of the region to 
 make a pilgrimage to, for it seems to them 
 like the black stoDe at Mecca, on which 
 they say that Abraham was preparing to 
 slaughter Isaac. And Eohlfs here corrects 
 a very prevalent error regarding the fa- 
 mous black stone of Mecca. It is generally 
 supposed that Mohammed ordered pil- 
 grimages to be made to this sacred relic, 
 but it appears that these were instituted 
 before his time, and that he merely al- 
 lowed them to be continued under his 
 sanction. 
 
 The principal product of this land of 
 Tawat is also dates, of which there are 
 said to be as many different varieties as 
 we find among our apples; but there are 
 also many other kinds of fruits. The in- 
 habitants are peaceable, but much given to 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 183 
 
 the use of opium ; they do not drink strong 
 liquors, but this opium ruins them about 
 as much as rum would. 
 
 Again the traveler crossed another fear- 
 fully barren desert, and journeyed toward 
 Ain Salah, the capital of this realm, where 
 he found the afore-mentioned Bedouin chief, 
 Abd-el-Kader, who accorded him a kind 
 reception. This was a great boon to him, 
 for his money began to melt away, and 
 this, with many other mishaps, proved to 
 him that he could not continue the jour- 
 ney to Timbuctoo, as he had projected. 
 He therefore stayed with his powerful 
 friend until the end of October, and saw 
 the swallows arrive from Europe, which 
 pass their winters in this milder climate. 
 He also had the opportunity of here seeing 
 and admiring the fat or "thick women." 
 The fattest women are here considered the 
 prettiest, and measures are therefore taken 
 
184 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 when they are quite young to make them 
 grow enormously large, and this great cor- 
 pulency they mostly owe to a very gener- 
 ous supply of camel's milk and butter. 
 
 About the beginning of November 
 Kohlfs found a caravan preparing to leave 
 for Tripoli, and he resolved to bid good-bye 
 to Abd-el-Kader, and join it on his return 
 journey to his home. They passed through 
 a long sandy waste, in the land of the fierce 
 Tawareks, and suffered both from hunger 
 and thirst. For awhile they were obliged 
 to live on locusts, that sometimes fly in such 
 swarms that they darken the air. These 
 are a species of grasshopper, that come at 
 times in such multitudes that they devour 
 every living thing like plant or vegetable, 
 and then invade tents and even houses. 
 Fortunately, they may in turn be eaten 
 in case of need, although they are no great 
 delicacy. Of John the Baptist it is said 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 185 
 
 that his food was locusts and wild honey, 
 while he was in the wilderness. 
 
 Sometimes they are dried, then ground 
 fine and mixed with fl.our, and made into 
 cakes and baked; or they are simply salt- 
 ed, as we salt mackerel, and then eaten; 
 or they are smoked like herring, or boiled, 
 or roasted, or stewed, or fried in butter. 
 Thus you see there are many ways of pre- 
 paring them to tickle the palate. Rohlfs 
 pulled off their wings, took out their in- 
 sides, and then sprinkled them with pep- 
 per and salt. In this form they tasted so 
 good to him that he recommends French 
 cooks to put them in their bill of fare, and 
 they would doubtless look quite as well 
 there as frogs and snails. 
 
 About the end of November the caravan 
 arrived in the old town of Ghadames, 
 which was founded by the ancient Romans, 
 and contains a great many Roman antiqui- 
 
1 86 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 ties. It is now a very celebrated trading 
 mart within the realms of Tripoli, and is 
 connected by good roads witb that famous 
 sea-port on the northern coast. Rohlfs 
 examined all the most interesting of the 
 Roman ruins, and then made his way 
 safely to Tripoli, where he arrived about 
 Christmas, and soon informed his anxious 
 friends in Europe of his safe return to 
 civilization. 
 
 He had been nine months a wanderer in 
 these lands, where he was only safe so long 
 as he bought the favor of influential per- 
 sons by valuable presents, or obtained it, as 
 he did several times, through some special 
 favor. He was shamefully imposed upon, 
 whenever they could do so, and they would 
 have robbed him of every penny, if he had 
 not been as skillful in guarding his pennies 
 . as they were in obtaining them. He per- 
 formed all this journey at an expense of 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 187 
 
 about one thousand dollars, and came back 
 greatly disappointed that he could not 
 reach Timbuctoo. 
 
 We are much indebted to him for a 
 great deal of accurate and useful knowl- 
 edge regarding the oasis-cities of Tawat, 
 and especially for his reports about the 
 oases of Tidikelt and Ain Salah. His in- 
 vestigations about the commercial roads 
 and trading relations of these people are 
 very valuable, as are also his descriptions 
 of their national character. The science 
 of geography has been much enhanced by 
 his accounts of these almost unknown 
 lands, and he has enriched the maps of 
 Northern Africa with some names and 
 routes that have not hitherto been found 
 on it. 
 
 It is to be regretted that astronomical 
 science has reaped nothing from his jour- 
 ney. But if he could have carried instru- 
 
1 88 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 ments with him they would have availed 
 him nothing, for it would have been im- 
 possible for him to have used them in 
 making observations. The suspicions of 
 the inhabitants were so great that he was 
 obliged to be very careful in the use of his 
 thermometer and barometer; with a little 
 unguardedness on his part they would 
 have declared him a sorcerer, and stoned 
 or burned him. He was not even always 
 allowed to write down his observations. 
 Therefore the natural sciences have not 
 gained much by his journey; but what he 
 saw with his eyes and heard with his ears 
 they could not prevent him from bringing 
 away, and with this booty he has made a 
 very interesting book. 
 
 Rohlfs subsequently made another jour- 
 ney to Bornou, following just the route 
 that Miss Tinne proposed to take. He 
 returned safely with presents from the 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 189 
 
 Sultau to the King of Prussia. The King 
 dispatched another traveler to Bornou 
 with royal presents in return, having or- 
 dered Rohlfs to accompany the x\byssinian 
 expedition. 
 
 This explorer, Dr. l^achtigall, has been 
 arrested on his way, and is now besieged 
 by these very thieves and murderers that 
 assaulted Miss Tinne. They learned of 
 his valuable presents for the Sultan, and 
 thought they would prefer having them 
 for themselves. He, finding that he was 
 sure to be pursued and robbed, has left 
 his royal presents in Mourzook to the very 
 doubtful honesty and protection of the 
 natives there, and now lays his case before 
 the King, and seeks protection. There is 
 only one way of managing the affair, and 
 that is, to give him brave men enough to 
 fight his way through. 
 
 Rohlfs, who has in the meanwhile 
 
1 90 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 retui'ned, now offers to head a fighting 
 column to punish these murderers of Miss 
 Tinne, assist the Doctor, and rescue the 
 presents, and proceed with them to Bor- 
 nou. But this requires men and means 
 that can only be afforded by the govern- 
 ment ; and the question is just now being 
 discussed, as to how far this would be feas- 
 ible and expedient. Prussian soldiers could 
 not land withont the permission of the 
 government of Tripoli, and this latter hesi- 
 tates to permit foreign soldiers to land on 
 its shores to come into contact with tribes 
 that are so nearly on its border. 
 
 The scientific men are urging the gov- 
 ernment to send the force, and think that 
 a few Prussian soldiers, with needle-guns, 
 would instill a wholesome respect into 
 the Tawareks. Eohlfs says that when he 
 was in a similar situation in Mourzook, 
 the Governor there laughed at him for 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 191 
 
 coming with a couple of servants to make 
 the journey to Soudan. He said that the 
 greatest trouble by far was from these 
 robber tribes, and suggested that with 
 about thirty good soldiers he could fight 
 his way through, and with fifty even take 
 the Sultan himself, who was, every year, 
 half frightened to death by the raids of 
 these Bedouins into his kingdom, though 
 they could never muster more than fifty 
 old muskets. These facts show us the fear- 
 ful dangers to which the unsuspecting Miss 
 Tinne exposed herself when she trusted 
 to the fidelity and love of the Arabs of 
 the desert. 
 
 ■ 
 
CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 A GEAND EXPEDITIOIT. 
 
 WITH this chapter our story will 
 close, though some of our readers 
 may think that it is already told. But as 
 we felt that the explorations of Kohlfs 
 would be a fitting sequel to the unfinished 
 labors of Miss Tinue on the Desert of 
 Sahara and in Central Soudan, so we can 
 scarcely end our story without a 'brief 
 allusion to a grand expedition now in 
 progress on the Nile, which, in spirit, is 
 carrying out the noble plans that the 
 Heroine of Africa dimly conceived and ar- 
 dently longed for. 
 
 We have already spoken of the cele- 
 brated English explorer of the Nile coun- 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 193 
 
 tries, Sir Samuel Baker, and have alluded 
 to the fact, that on returning from one of 
 his early explorations he met the expedi- 
 tion of Miss Tinne, and gave it his hearti- 
 est greetings and good wishes as it passed 
 up the Nile apparently to conquer the 
 countries that he had merely seen. It 
 would seem that this campaign of Miss 
 Tinne must have inspired him with the 
 thought not only of studying Africa, but 
 of conquering it for humanity, civilization, 
 and religion. And he is now engaged in 
 this noble work on a scale that leaves all 
 other expeditions far in the background, 
 and bids fair to put an end to slavery all 
 along the Mle territory, and in its place 
 to substitute agriculture and the arts of 
 peace, as a means to the happiness of these 
 half-civilized negro kingdoms. 
 
 Baker has undertaken a noble though 
 a very difficult task. In his celebrated 
 
194 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 work concerning his extensive travels in 
 Egypt, he declares that he never met a civil 
 officer in the country who did not consider 
 the slave-trade a necessary and benevolent 
 institution. But he has had a marvelous 
 success in convincing the Viceroy and 
 ruler of all Egypt to the contrary, and 
 gaining his sympathy and support in the 
 endeavor to suppress this most cruel traffic 
 that human beings ever engaged in. 
 
 And the times have been propitious to 
 this great enterprise. The opening of the 
 famous canal from the Mediterranean Sea 
 across the Isthmus of Suez to the Red Sea 
 has sent the influence of Western Europe 
 sailing through the desert, and the Vice- 
 roy has caught the infection of civilization 
 and humanity, and begins to see that it 
 will pay far better to develop the land 
 after the example of cultivated and Chris- 
 tian countries, than to keep such immense 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 195 
 
 tracts merely as great hunting grounds for 
 slaves. 
 
 He has therefore virtually taken Sir 
 Samuel Baker into his employ, and given 
 him the authority and the means to go up 
 and possess the land in the interest of 
 humanity. And the ruler of Egypt pays 
 all the costs of this great enterprise, fur- 
 nishes Baker with all the necessary men 
 and outfit, and gives him unlimited au- 
 thority to take the land in the name of 
 the Viceroy; and from Gondokoro on the 
 White Nile, which we will remember as 
 the station that Miss Tinne made such 
 efforts to reach, away up to the southern 
 end of the newly discovered Albert Ny- 
 anza lake, he is to gather all the scat- 
 tered tribes and roving hordes in these 
 regions, that live mainly from the profits 
 of the slave-trade, and gain them over to 
 civilization and peaceful pursuits. 
 
196 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 But, you will ask. Low is he to perform 
 so great a task — so perilous and difficult 
 an undertaking? In an answer to this 
 question, we ask you to listen to the story 
 of his outfit; it is something unheard of 
 in the annals of African exploration. 
 
 Baker has at his disposal a corps of 
 nearly two thousand men. A fleet of ten 
 steamers and thirty sailing vessels carry 
 these up the Nile. The most of these are 
 soldiers, many of them are tillers of the 
 soil or what we would call farmers, and 
 fifty of them are ship-builders, who go to 
 build boats, with which to navigate the 
 waters of this new lake. He makes his 
 grand rendezvous on the river at that 
 notorious town to which we devoted the 
 chapter headed a " Nest of Villains." This 
 center of the slave-trade is now to be used 
 as the main post and support of an expedi- 
 tion to wipe out the foul blot from Egypt. 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 197 
 
 Large amounts of stores of all kinds are 
 now being sent to Khartoom ; the steam- 
 ers and other vessels are making their way 
 up the river. But Sir Samuel Baker him- 
 self was too impatient to sail up the slow 
 and winding Nile, and he, with his ever 
 faithful Avife, some of his principal officers, 
 and about seven hundred men, took pas- 
 sage at Suez on the Red Sea in steamers, 
 and landed at the port of Suakim. Here 
 they got up a stupendous caravan and 
 crossed the desert on camels, about a hun- 
 dred miles to Khartoom, where they ar- 
 rived safely long before the expedition 
 from below had made its appearance. 
 
 This suggested to Baker the feasibility 
 of a railroad from Port Suakim through 
 this sandy waste to Khartoom. Think of 
 the steam-cars rattling past the caravans, 
 astonishing the living ships of the desert 
 as they shoot by, and striking terror to the 
 
 13 
 
198 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 heart of the ruffled slave-drivers as they 
 urge on their bands of captive slaves to 
 the Red Sea, to take them over into 
 Arabia and sell them ! Baker argues that 
 such a road would soon put an end to this 
 route for the slavers, and be a most profit- 
 able channel to convey all the rich prod- 
 ucts of the Upper Mle — the ivory, the 
 cotton, and other treasures of that fertile 
 land — to the sea, and thence by steamers 
 to the world. 
 
 If he is successful the road will be built, 
 and will greatly aid in the development 
 of the country, by giving easy access to it, 
 and a grand outlet to its resources, which 
 will thereby become a thousand times 
 more valuable. And this is the lesson 
 that Baker desires to teach to the petty 
 chieftains in his course, namely, that it will 
 pay materially, for this is the only motive 
 that will now reach them. The Viceroy of 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 199 
 
 Egypt has already learned this lesson, and 
 is now eager to have his land furnish him 
 money for his treasury, rather than slaves 
 for other countries. 
 
 After Khartoom the next main station 
 v^ill be Gondokoro, about one hundred 
 and fifty geographical miles up the stream. 
 From this point all the way up the White 
 Nile to Nyanza Lake, and into the inte- 
 rior, he will establish posts about eighty 
 miles apart. These posts will be governed 
 by agents, who v^ill be empowered to deal 
 with the natives; and for this purpose 
 they will be supplied with all kinds of 
 articles which these wild beings enjoy and 
 prize, such as beads and trinkets, and 
 many other things that will be more useful 
 to them. These the traders will exchange 
 for the products that the inhabitants can 
 bring, especially ivory, honey, wax, and 
 hides. 
 
 Mi 
 
200 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 Baker will seize and liberate all the 
 slaves that he finds in the hands of their 
 oppressors, and give them some fertile spot 
 on the river near the posts as their home. 
 Each liberated slave is to be provided 
 with a certificate on which is written his 
 name, the date of his deliverance, and the 
 circumstances attending it; this certificate 
 is to be the proof to all that he is a free 
 man. Then a register of all these liberated 
 slaves is to be kept by the agent, and any 
 of the traders who are afterward found in 
 possession of such negroes will be severely 
 punished. 
 
 One great object of the expedition is to 
 encourage the raising of cotton, for which 
 the climate and soil of Egypt are admira- 
 bly adapted, as are also the negroes to the 
 labor. The demand for cotton is daily in- 
 creasing all over the world, and it is be- 
 coming more and more of a necessity all 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 201 
 
 the time for all classes of society, the poor 
 as well as the rich. Now cotton is dearer 
 and scarcer than it need be ; any plan that 
 will contribute to render it plenty and 
 cheap will be a blessing to all mankind. 
 Therefore a great end will be attained if, 
 at the same time, the world, can obtain 
 cotton of Egypt, and give the negroes a 
 certain supply of comforts in exchange for 
 the cotton that they can raise at home. 
 
 Therefore these liberated slaves are to 
 receive cotton-seed, and farming utensils 
 of all kinds, as well as water-wheels to 
 draw up the water from the river and irri- 
 gate the land in the dry season. They are 
 to be taught and controlled by overseers, 
 who are to be chosen from among the best 
 men of the expedition, w^ho are to be left 
 in groups of from four to six at the posts 
 along the route. These men are soldiers 
 and farmers at the same time, like most of 
 
202 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 the peasant classes of Lower Egypt, and 
 can therefore defend themselves, and teach 
 the negroes how to do so, while they are 
 learning how to till their rich soil. 
 
 The farther they ascend the stream, and 
 approach the region of rich soil and gen- 
 erous rain, the more easy will it be to 
 produce cotton without the severe labor 
 required in Lower Egypt, and this will 
 probably induce many from that section 
 to ascend the stream to" richer regions, and 
 thus, by their example and influence, con- 
 tribute to spread abroad the useful knowl- 
 edge of agriculture to the dwellers on the 
 Nile. 
 
 When it is found necessary, military 
 colonies will be founded to force the native 
 tribes to live at peace with each other, and 
 around these colonies large tracts of land 
 will be cultivated with grain, to prevent 
 the danger of famine from the collection 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 203 
 
 of large bodies of tlie natives in one spot 
 for protection and oversight. 
 
 The Mle can be navigated with steam- 
 ers as far up as Gondokoro. Just above 
 this point commence the upper cataracts, 
 that continue a long distance, and then the 
 river is navigable again as far as the new- 
 ly discovered lake, Albert I^yanza. Along 
 this unnavigable portion of the stream a 
 good road will be constructed, passable for 
 camels, horses, and all kinds of wagons. 
 
 The steamers will ascend the river to 
 Gondokoro, where they will be taken apart 
 and loaded on camels and wagons, and thus 
 transported to the navigable waters again. 
 This seems like idle talk, but it is not. 
 The vessels are all made of iron or steel, 
 and are firmly screwed together ; they can 
 thus be unscrewed when necessary and 
 transported by land; many have already 
 V)een thus carried across the desert on 
 
204 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 camels' backs. ISTor are they, for this rea- 
 son, toy-boats. Each one measures what 
 the seamen call one hundred and fifty 
 tons, which makes quite a respectable 
 steamer. 
 
 When these have been placed in their na- 
 tive element after their land journey, they 
 will proceed up the river to Lake Nyanza, 
 then into this body of water and all 
 around its shores on a voyage of discovery. 
 And for bays and places that the steamers 
 cannot enter, Baker has steel life-boats and 
 other little craft, so that he will be able 
 to penetrate all these shores and found 
 military and trading settlements where as 
 yet the face of a civilized white man has 
 never been seen. And lastly, there is a 
 small isthmus between this lake and its 
 consort, the Victoria Nyanza, and at this 
 point the steamers will be again taken 
 apart, transported over the land, and 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 205 
 
 launched into these waters, that English 
 explorers have named after their beloved 
 Queen. It is now almost unknown, but a 
 few steamers on its surface will soon plow 
 over its waters, and open up a host of 
 secrets to the civilized world, and its shores 
 to the light of civilization and the bless- 
 ings of Christianity; for these latter can- 
 not lag far behind the enterprises of the 
 soldier, the trader, and the tiller of the 
 soil. 
 
 Now we may well ask. Is this plain 
 common sense, or is it all a foolish dream ? 
 For thousands of years men have been try- 
 ing to discover these hidden springs of the 
 river that waters and fertilizes the sacred 
 land of ancient days, and a thousand times 
 the effort has been abandoned in despair. 
 But now these dark, savage, and cruel 
 men, who people those mysterious shores, 
 are to be suddenly awakened out of their 
 
J) 
 
 206 Heroine of the White Nile. 
 
 long sleep, not by degrees, but by the sud- 
 den flashes of the brightest light, and the 
 noblest triumphs of civilization. 
 
 Think of them gazing on these noble 
 structures that seem almost to have the 
 spirit of man within them as they walk 
 the waters like creatures of life ! See these 
 poor, wild, untutored men as they view 
 with astonishment all the enticing produc- 
 tions of our skill, of the use of which they 
 can have no possible conception ! 
 
 The very thought of this is inspiring, 
 and we onl}^ hope that the noble Baker 
 will be able to realize all his expectations. 
 There are many that think he is now 
 building castles in the air, that he will see 
 dissolve into empty vapor as he proceeds. 
 But all good men hope for his full and 
 complete success, and applaud his enthusi- 
 asm in so good a cause. But should he 
 fail, he will at least learn many lessons to 
 
 K D 1 4 
 
Heroine of the White Nile. 207 
 
 teach the world, so that others at later 
 periods may take up his work and lead it 
 on to comjDletion. In this age the world 
 cannot go backward, and the examples of 
 Miss Tinne and Sir Samuel Baker cannot 
 be lost on the future. 
 
 And now that this story is told, many 
 parts of it may seem like romance ; but it 
 is sober truth, and proves the old saying, 
 that truth is stranger than fiction, and we 
 hope, in this case, it may prove more 
 agreeable, as we know it must be more 
 profitable than mere tissues of excited 
 fancy, or revelings of wayward imagina- 
 tions. 
 
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