TURKISH     EMPIRE-EGYPT.                       
 1207

in the usual manner. These cattle Sir Samuel Baker took by force from Abou
Saood
',ithout paying for them. Sir Samuel must have been quite aware that Abou
Saood
'could only obtain them in the manner he did when he made the agreement with
his
firm in Khartoum. I am not aware that Sir S. Baker ever made any recompense
to
the Shir tribe for the loss of their cattle, although quite within his power
to do so.
  It is quite true that we overtook three boats with a number of slaves on
board, and
I have no doubt that the boats belonged to Abou Saood's firm. It was very
fortunate
for us we came up with the slave-deilers, as without their assistance we
could not have
got through the Sud in the Bahir Giraffe until the river rose. Delay in that
dreadful
Tegion would have been attended with great disaster in the state of health
we were all
in. The slave-dealers gave their assistance with a hearty good will, and
Sir Samuel
rewarded the head man of the slave-fleet with suitable presents, and parted
with mu-
tual good wishes.
  If Sir Samuel Baker wishes at any time for my testimony as to the barbarous
man-
ner in which the expedition was conducted, the wholesale murders, pillage,
and ruin
of the country, he is welcome to it. Or should the Royal Geographical Society,
or any
body of gentlemen, wish for any information respecting that futile expedition,
I shall
be glad to give it previous to my departure from this country. Sir Samuel
Baker
states that he gave Colonel Gordon assistance and advice as to the construction
of his
iron carts and other means of transport. He may have done ýo, but
Colonel Gordon
never acted upon it, they having been designed and ordered by me at Colonel
Gordon's
request, I having been in his employ for some weeks previous to his departure
for
Egypt.
                                                           J. MIWILLIAM,
                                          Chief Engineer late White Nide
Expedition.
   8 BALMORAL TERRACE, ABERDEEN, Ju1y 2S.



                      SIR SAMUEL BAKER'S EXPEDITION.
 To the Editor:
   SiR: Mr. Baker, in t-he Mail of the 5th instant, states that the reason
why Sir S.
 Baker did not return the cattle he took from Abou Sooad to the Shir tribe,
was because
 they had massacred a small detachment of government soldiers under the impression
 that they were accomplices of Abou Sooad. This is not correct. Sir Samuel,
on his
 way up to Gondokoro, left an officer and five men with one of the chiefs
of the Shir
 tribe. Soon after this, the chief, thinking fire-arms a great source of
strength, made a
 raid on one of his neighbors. Four out of the five soldiers went with him,
and got killed
 in fair fight. The officer and remaining soldier were sick and staid at
home. They
 were well taken care of by the natives, and afterward came up to Gondokoro.
Sir Samuel"
 gave me this version 9f the affair himself, after the return of the survivors,
in the
 presence of Mr. Baker and other members of the expedition. Mr. Baker also
states that
 Sir Samuel had no intention of allowing raids to be made on the natives
in the future.
 One of the first acts of Sir Samuel, after the farce of annexing the country
had been
 gone tbhrough, was to make a raid on a small tribe near us, taking their
cattle to the
 number of 5,000, besides some thousands of sheep; he also took possession
of all their
 plantations of grain, leaving the people in a state of starvation. Orders
were issued
 at the same time that all natives found near the camp were to be shot down,
irrespeet-
 iye of age or sex. This was strietly carried out. The brutal details of
these cold-
 blooded murders I would rather not relate. Out of the numerous raids made
upon the
 unoffending natives near Gondokoro, many'of them were led by Sir Samuel
in person,
 aand cattle and sheep to the number of over 30,000 captured, and their houses
plundered
 and wantonly burned down. Their cattle were not stolen solely for the use
of the
 troops in camp, but were to be given to various tribes up the country on
condition of
 their serving Sir Samuel. Naturally, the poor creatures resisted as well
as they could,
 but what could they do against fire-arms? Mr. Baker further states that
Sir Samuel
 always wished to preserve peace, but when the Bari war broke out, the only
chance of
 .success depended on military vigor. The only Bari war that ever existed
was a night
 attack on our cattle-inclosures by the Laquoi tribe, which was not successful.
None
 of our troops were either killed or wounded in the affair. After this Sir
Samuel made
 war on the Belignan tribes, massacring them in great numbers, and burning
up their
 country. They had taken no part in the raid made by the Laquos on our cattle,
but
 ;as they were not so powerful, and were much more convenient to be got at,
Sir 'Samuel
 preferrcd to operate on them as an example' to the Laqluois tribe.
    Mr. Baker remarks that. rhe ruins of Coomassie are no disgrace to the
B3ritish troops,
  neither are the deaths occasioned by war to be avoided. Quite true, but,
any com-
  parison between the British expedition to tire west coast of Africa and
Sir Samuel
  Baker's central African expedition is odious in the extreme.
    Mr. Baker concludes with sayixng t~hat if a military expedition is' sent
to annex an
  ;extensive country, war is a natural consequence, as the history of the
world cnn tes-