  During this time Emin’s circumstances had taken a turn for the better. He had received letters through Biri from the coast. A regular postal service was established and his dreary isolation was at an end. He also learned that Dr. Fischer, the experienced explorer, had undertaken an expedition for his rescue in 1886, but only got as far as the Victoria Nyanza, for the Wagandans would not allow him to go further. He returned to Germany and died shortly afterwards in consequence of his hardships. Next Emin received an official despatch in French from Cairo, from the Egyptian government, informing him that it was not impossible they might have to evacuate the Soudan. In case this occurred, Emin was given full permission to leave the Equatorial Provinces and for this purpose he was authorized to draw upon the English Consul General at Zanzibar. Emin was bitterly incensed at the cold business tone of the government. It had not a word of thanks or of recognition of all his cares, troubles, and struggles for three years, not a word of regret that he was compelled to labor so many years without any support, and often hungry and in need. And not a word of encouragement for the task imposed upon him of taking the Egyptians home. An empty title, that of Pasha, was all the reward for his exertions. They fancied in Egypt that all Emin needed to do was to pack up his effects and go by the coast to Zanzibar. It never occurred to them that the greatest obstacle in Emin’s way was his own Egyptian officers and soldiers. While at Khartoum he had repeatedly notified the government that it ought to change garrisons every two years, but it had never made any reply. The larger part of his people, who had never left the country, wanted to stay at home and live as their ancestors had lived. For the Egyptians the Equatorial Provinces had become a second home and more of a Paradise than they had ever found in their native land. They had married and founded families, they had bought or stolen slaves, they had cattle and goats. As they could not have these things in Egypt, why should they leave such a country? Gordon had to meet the same difficulties when he undertook the evacuation of the entire Soudan. He too knew that such a problem could not be solved. Emin’s subordinates had very little confidence in the Egyptian government, for they had been without pay or provisions for a year. Again, the people could not understand why the government intended giving up the whole of the Soudan. No one had the most distant idea that the Mahdi’s troops could stand against the Egyptian army. Not a person in the Equatorial Provinces believed the reports of previous defeat or the destruction of Hicks Pasha’s army. So the efforts of Emin to concentrate his entire strength in the Soudan were fruitless. His officers had no intention of leaving Lado. Unfortunately the despatch referring to evacuation was in French. Its genuineness was not only doubted, but it was regarded as an invention of Emin’s. With the intention of going southward and thence to the east coast, Emin sent messengers to Lado to prepare his people for their departure. A letter informed him that in consequence of his orders revolt was spreading and no one would go to the south. If they were forced to go, they would seize all the weapons and supplies and kill all who opposed them. Signs of this revolt were speedily apparent. In the middle of March, 1886, the old subordinate officers and the people of Bornu, Adamana, and other places united in a plot to kill the officers at Lado as well as the Soudanese and found a free state. An Egyptian officer heard of it and reported it to his superior, who placed the leaders in chains, but some days later let them go unpunished—a mistaken clemency for such a time. In Dufile a sergeant fired at his officer, but missed him. During this time of uneasiness Emin undertook three journeys to the Albert Nyanza and discovered a large river flowing from the south, the one called Semliki by Stanley, and the last of the hitherto unknown Nile branches. For political reasons Emin devoted his entire attention to that region which appeared to him the one which they had selected for the retreat. Thereupon he proceeded with repairs on his two steamers. By the middle of April, 1887, twelve stations were in Emin’s possession, nearly all of them those which Gordon had intrusted to him in his time. In a letter to Dr. Felkir he writes: “We sow, harvest, spin, and live every day as if it were to continue forever. It is curious how one long shut away from the world develops his vegetative faculties. I shall not leave my people. We have had hard and troublous days together and I should consider it shameful to desert my post. We have known each other for long years and I do not believe that my successor could gain their confidence.” He is now preparing to leave the country with his people, but not until a relief expedition reaches him. That such an expedition is on the way he knows of a certainty. His European friends have communicated to him their intention of helping him to carry out his plans. |
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