The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia
And the Sword Hunters of the Hamran Arabs

The renowned nineteenth-century British explorer Samuel W. Baker describes his travels in search of the source of the Nile.

Samuel White Baker (Author)

9781108033015, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 June 2011

680 pages, 24 b/w illus. 2 maps
21.6 x 14 x 3.8 cm, 0.85 kg

Published in 1867, Sir Samuel Baker's journal describes his expedition to Africa in search of the source of the Nile. Baker (1821–93), one of the most important British explorers of the nineteenth century, undertook a twelve-month journey to examine every individual tributary to the Nile, accompanied throughout by his wife Florence (whom he had first encountered in an Ottoman slave market). Reflecting his passion for exploring and his strength of character, Baker's highly descriptive, witty and fluid writing records his dangerous and difficult project, telling fascinating stories of the native people as well as relaying the facts of his exploration. From his hunting expeditions with the Hamran Arabs to his extensive journeys on camel-back and his life at camp, Baker's experiences are far removed from today's world, and his vivid descriptions provide the reader with an invaluable insight into what life was like in Africa in the mid-nineteenth century.

Preface
1. Above the cataract
2. The Cairo dragoman Mahomet
3. Wild asses of the desert
4. Route from Cassala to Souakim
5. The storm
6. Sheik Achmet Abou Sinn
7. The departure
8. The plagues of Egypt
9. Form a raft with the sponging bath
10. A few notes at Éhétilla
11. The ford
12. Old Neptune joins the party
13. The lions find the buffalo
14. A foreboding of evil
15. Antelopes on the Settite
16. Abou Do is greedy
17. We reach the Roy?n
18. A camel falls, and dies
19. Send a party to reconnoitre
20. Arrival at Metemma, or Gallabat
21. Fertility of the country on the banks of the Rahad
22. We leave the Dinder
Index.

Subject Areas: African history [HBJH]