12 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS, 1874.
which Gordon had to deal, consists of the country stretching from the Mediterranean nearly to the Equator, a length of almost 1,700. miles, with an average width of nearly 700 miles—or about the size of Europe, omitting Russia.
Colonel Gordon’s first expedition took him up the Nile as far as Lake Albert Nyanza, and even: some distance beyond, though he turned back at the border of King Mtesa’s country, having no mission
beyond Mrooli, and his further advance might have produced compli-
cations which he was anxious to avoid.
His remarks upon the disappointment that he must naturally have
felt at retracing his steps, when only a few miles from the Victoria Nyanza, are characteristic of the man.
‘You can imagine what I must feel about this bit of the Nile, for it is the only bit I have not done from Berber upwards to Lake Victoria! But reason says, Divide, and weaken your forces ; concentrate, and strengthen your forces ; and so my personal feelings must be thrown over.”
This is a specimen of how he acted throughout his long career ;
self was always thrown over when duty was in the way.
The principal object of Colonel Gordon’s first journey was to estab-
lish military posts all along the Nile, from Khartoum to the Lakes, and to put together a steamer on Lake Albert Nyanza. He succeeded
jn both these objects, although the difficulties which he had to over-
come were well-nigh insurmountable.
He was also commissioned to put down the Slave-trade—an appar- ently impossible task—but one in which he certainly made some pro-
gress, whilst he succeeded in striking terror into the hearts of the Slave-dealers.
Extracts From Letters, 1874
(Vide Dr. Hill’s Book.)
‘*T think the Khedive likes me, but no one else does; and I do not like them —I mean the swells, whose corns I tread on in all manner of ways. oD hee he I saw ————— at Suez. He agrees with me in our opinion of the rottenness of Egypt: itis all for the flesh, and in no place is human nature to be studied with such advantage. Duke of This wants steamer—say £600. Duke of That wants house, etc, All the time the poor people are ground down to get money for all this. Who art thou, to be afraid of aman? If He wills, I will shake all this in some way not clear to me now. Do not think that I am an egotist; I am like Moses, who despised the riches of Egypt. We have a King mightier than these, and more enduring riches and power in Him than we can have in this world. I will not bow to Haman, 4?