General C.G. Gordon | Autograph letter signed, to Col. Nugent, travelling down the White Nile, October 1874

General C.G. Gordon

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

Describing his journey southwards on the White Nile towards Lake Albert, giving his planned itinerary with a sketch map and detailing the discomforts of the voyage ("...it is impossible to sleep from 7pm till 6am [...] you cannot sit still a moment without being bitten by some fly or mosquito [...] it is a real misery..."), 4 pages, 8vo, [, 27 to 29 October [1874], dust-staining to final page, signature somewhat faded

[with:] fragment of a second letter, presumably also to Nugent, discussing his work in Equatoria, the ivory trade, and the enervating effects of constant ill health, 2 pages, 8vo, n.p., n.d.

"...29.Oct. I am making arrangements to take up from here to Fatiko 2 days from this, thence Aupua 3 days further thence Magungo 2 days further total 7 days a small boat in pieces easily put together, a lot of sailors, rope, sail cloth, oakum &c. in hope that on my descent on Magungo I may capture some of the large canoes which ply on the lake, and which hold 40 men each. When I have made the Station there, I mean to come down the River to Dufli. I am also searching a good place to put the steamer together..."

In January 1874 Gordon took up his appointment under the khedive of Egypt as Governor of Equatoria in succession to Sir Samuel Baker, with instructions to establish a chain of military stations down the White Nile from Gondokoro all the way to the source of the river in Buganda, to annex Buganda itself, and then to launch Baker's steamers on Lake Albert and Lake Victoria. The chief object of his governorship was the suppression of the regional slave trade.

PROVENANCE

Sotheby's, London, 18 December 1986, lot 282