What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile | Page 2

Adventures in Somali Land.

Chapter I
. Introduction to the Journal.
Projects and Hobbies--life in India--lord Clyde and Sir James
Outram--the Position and Physical Geography of the Somali
Country--the Nogal Country, and Historical Sketches--Costume and
Customs.

It was in the year 1849, at the expiration of the Punjaub campaign,
under Lord Gough, where I had been actively engaged as a subaltern
officer in the (so-called) fighting brigade of General Sir Colin
Campbell's division of the army, adding my mite to the four successive
victorious actions--Ramnugger, Sadoolapore, Chillianwallah, and
Guzerat--that I first conceived the idea of exploring Central Equatorial
Africa. My plan was made with a view to strike the Nile at its head, and
then to sail down that river to Egypt. It was conceived, however, not for
geographical interest, so much as for a view I had in my mind of
collecting the fauna of those regions, to complete and fully develop a
museum in my father's house, a nucleus of which I had already formed
from the rich menageries of India, the Himalaya Mountains, and Tibet.
My idea in selecting the new field for my future researches was, that I
should find within it various orders and species of animals hitherto
unknown. Although Major Cornwallis Harris, Ruppell, and others had
by this time well-nigh exhausted, by their assiduous investigations, all
discoveries in animal life, both in the northern and southern extremities
of Africa, in the lowlands of Kaffraria in the south, and the highlands of
Ethiopia in the north, no one as yet had penetrated to the centre in the
low latitudes near the equator; and by latitudinal differences I thought I
should obtain new descriptions and varieties of animals. Further, I
imagined the Mountains of the Moon were a vast range, stretching
across Africa from east to west, which in all probability would harbour
wild goats and sheep, as the Himalaya range does. There, too, I thought
I should find the Nile rising in snow, as does the Ganges in the
Himalayas.
The time I proposed to myself for carrying this scheme into operation
was my furlough--a lease of three years' leave of absence, which I
should become entitled to at the expiration of ten years' service in India;
but I would not leave the reader to infer that I intended devoting the
whole of my furlough to this one pursuit alone. Two of the three years
were to be occupied in collecting animals, and descending by the valley
of the Nile to Egypt and England, whilst the third year was to be spent
in indulgent recreations at home after my labours should be over.
I had now served five years in the Indian army, and five years were left
to serve ere I should become entitled to take my furlough. During this
time I had to consider two important questions: How I should be able,

out of my very limited pay as a subaltern officer, to meet the heavy
expenditure which such a vast undertaking would necessarily involve?
and how, before leaving India, I might best employ any local leave I
could obtain, in completing my already commenced collections of the
fauna of that country and its adjacent hill-ranges?[1]
Previous experience had taught me that, in the prosecution of my chief
hobby, I would also solve the problem of the most economical mode of
living. In the backwoods and jungles no ceremony or etiquette
provokes unnecessary expenditure; whilst the fewer men and material I
took with me on my sporting excursions the better sport I always got,
and the freer and more independent I was to carry on the chase. I need
now only say I acted on this conviction, and I think, I may add, I
managed it successfully; for there are now but few animals to be found
in either India, Tibet, or the Himalaya Mountains, specimens of which
have not fallen victims to my gun. Of this the paternal hall is an
existing testimony. Every year after the war I obtained leave of absence,
and every year I marched across the Himalayas, and penetrated into
some unknown portions of Tibet, shooting, collecting, and mapping the
country wherever I went. My mess-mates wondered how it was I
succeeded in getting so much leave; but the reason was simply this, and
I tell it that others may profit by it:--The Commander-in-Chief, Sir
William Gomm, observing to what good account I always turned my
leave, instead of idling my time away, or running into debt, took great
pleasure in encouraging my hobby; and his Staff were even heard to
say it would be a pity if I did not get leave, as so much good resulted
from it.
The 3d September 1854 completed my tenth year's servitude in India,
and on the succeeding day, the 4th, I