General C.G. Gordon | Autograph letter signed, to Colonel Nugent, on his expedition down the White Nile, 1874

General C.G. Gordon

Autograph letter signed, to Colonel Charles Nugent, R.E.

describing in vivid detail his expedition down the White Nile south of Gondokoro, with a sketch land profile looking north back towards Gonodokoro, and a sketch map of the river south to Lake Albert, admitting to problems with his entourage ("....my little rows with the slave dealer soldiers, & how they want their way & I want mine [...] I think they would like to kill me, if they did not feel that they would, by doing so, fare worse...") and various other frustrations and difficulties including "that idiot of a gunman of mine" who lost a rifle, a hostile local sheikh, his distrust of his recently appointed deputy ("... I have been down to Gondokoro [...] to send off Abou Saoud at once, as he was I thought intriguing..."), and the fact that a "convoy of 1600 slaves & 160 cows" had just eluded hm, 6 pages, 8vo, '16 miles south of Gondoroko near Mt Raguf', 23 September to 6 October 1874, lacking integral blank, final leaf with minor loss not affecting text

"...Fat hippopotomi walking about on the island opposite this last night in moonlight, which made their fat sides gleam like silver..."

Gordon had been appointed Governor of Equatoria by the khedive of Egypt earlier that year, and, in accordance with his instructions, was now making a hazardous expedition in the unmapped and unnavigated river south of Gondokoro in order to establish a chain of military stations and deal with the illegal slave trade.

PROVENANCE

Phillips, 15 November 1977, lot 135; George Cosmatos: his sale, Sotheby's, London, 31 March 1998, lot 177