The New York Herald Newspaper, June 8, 1872, Page 4

rt CENTRAL AFRICA. Travels Up the Nile and Across the Nubian Desert. DAHABEAH AND CAMEL TRAVEL COMPARED. Race on the Nile Between the Herald, Snowflake and Griffin. AT THE FIRST CATARACT. Narrow Escape from Drowning of General , Starring and a Herald Correspondent. RECEPTION AT KOROSKO. The Caravan, Attendants, Supplies and Route of Travel Through the Desert. DREARY DESERT SCENERY. A Pathway Paved with the | Bones of Ten Thousand Perished Camels. THE MIRAGE, SANDSPOUTS AND SIMOOMS The Commerce, Slave Trade and Ele- phant Shooting of the Soudan. TRIAL AND SUFFERINGS OF DESERT TRAVEL. Receptions, Escorts and Popular Demonstra- tions by the Fellahs and Bedouins. FUTURE OF CENTRAL AFRICA. BERBER, Nubian Desert, Jan. 31, 1872. 7 On the 15th inst. we disembarked from the Nile boat Herald and prepared to set out from Korosko to cross the Nubian Desert. Our camels were scat- tered along the bank of the Nile, and the'entire population of Korosko seemed concerned in our advent and departure. Governor Mohamet, as we called him, and Mahomet as he called himself, rep- resented the Viceroy, the Governor of Esoe and himself—the last monopolizing more than an even third of the trinity. Packing the train was a process about which we all ardently professed an ignorance, so we deftly turned the business over to the nineteen Nubian blacks whom the Viceroy's subordinates had selected to do the minor parts. NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY. JUNE 8, 1872——TRIPLE SHEET, “dahabeahs” asa squadron are lumbering concerns, With such pleasant adventures as I have described it may be imagined that we left the Herald with no joyous feelings, only to submit to all the imaginary trials of a camel's back. PREPARING FOR THE DESERT JOURNEY. We watched the packing and simultaneously dis- cussed the most comme i faut way to be prostrated on the ground. Aldermanic proportions were con- sidered needless appendages, and too densely packed brains were also deplored as inducing a dangerous top-heaviness, The blacks were smartly at werk by ten on the morning of the 15th, stowing their camets’ feed, durrah and barley, in their plaited saddle bags; filling the skins with water, and putting the crude baggage saddles in order, A water skinis the hide of a goat and is stripped from the animal as & man would remove a shirt from his body, The neck and other apertures are sowed up or wound with a strong string, and one leg is left in readiness to open by an easily adjusted knot. Each skin contains in the average five gal- lons of water. We caried eighty of them. More than one hundred camels had been driven in from the surrounding country, by order from the Vice- roy, and Mahomet Effendi told us that we could have as many as we desired. Fifty were declared to be enough, and we finally started with forty-two, three donkeys and nineteen servants. Abd-el- Wahed, the aged one-eyed cook, was the commis- sary of the occasion, and sedulously bestowed all his vigilance on three sheep, a coop full of chickens, and a desert range. We also took three large cir- cular wall tents, tendered us by the Governor of Assonan, We remained at Korosko only twenty- four hours, The town is delightfully situated at the base of high rocky mountains, in a quiet valley, overgrown with Iuxurlant ver- dure, But the habitations are not less wretched than those of the humblest Nile villages, In stroll- ing through the streets I met several Koroskoan ladies whose toilettes were neither sightly nor sa- vory, and upon being tendered a significant glance Tindicated that I was a misogynist, sRen the ladies retired, DEPARTURE OF THE CARAVAN FROM KOROSKO, By two o’clock the caravan was ready to move. It had provisions for fifteen days, water for eight, and two guides who had paced the desert highway for twenty years. The Governor, the Prefect, the telegraph operator, who is no inconsiderable per- sonage in these parts; the Sheik of the Desert, an aged, handsome, dignified Nubjan Arab, and the people of Korosko, were all at the river bank to see us off, The caravan started ahead and defiled by the narrow gorge, taking a slow, measured pace, induced by the 10,000 pounds ef baggage, water and supplies. As we were about to mount our dromedaries for the first time a boay Qi from the Griffen, which had hove in wee in the Morning, and we awaited the coming of our recent rivals, who pulled ashore to bidus goodby. A discussion im- mediately arose as to whether it would be advis- able to ride off and leave them in the lurch rather than make a “Yankee” spectacle for Punch in their presence, by being thrown from the saddle; but our apprehensions were soothed, and, after the compliments of the day, we were rail-fenced into the sky by that peculiar movement of the camel when he rises from his sprawling posture by hing- ing on his six joints, beginning at the forward hip. Preceded by the Governor and Prefect, we felt our way Brena! the nasty rocks and dificult paths which last for two hours after leaving Korosko. Half a mile beyond the town we halted and said the adieus, The scenery at THE NORTHERN POOR OF THE DESERT is most barren and desolate. Sloping hills of dark rock form a deep ravine, which is paved with boulders, shifting sands and dead camels. The rocks are too anguiur, their edges evidencing too loose a stratification, and the general features of the bluffs and crags too hard and irregular to believe that the extraordinary appearance of this section ofthe desert arose from any other than remote but violent convulsions. Indeed, volcanic action is evident to the most casual observer, After three hours of travel, and none of incident or adventure, we halted eight miles from Korosko and ENCAMPED UPON A SANDY PLAIN, unter the shelter of overshadowing hills. It had Nearly three weeks on board the Herald had en- gendered an involuntary reluctance to quit her beautiful cabins and charming decks only to wade through the scorching sands of the hottest of Afri- can deserts. Below we had smoked our long “chibooks,” discussed over and over again the en- tire range of African travel, entertained aged Sheyks and tiresome prefects over coffee and Koranie, and had in our humble way communicated with those engaged in the vulgar art of industry. From our divans on deck we had seen all that was once grand and imposing in Egypt's greatness—her ruins, her green fields and her swift river. We had succored natives at the point of death; and just above the first cataract had, by a happy accident, discovered a slave who was suffering from hunger, and a wound in the foot received from a spear when he was captured in the Soudan. He was re- duced to meatless bones, almost to a disembodied soul. A poultice, and THE MOST POTENT OF MEDICINES for these poor savages—food—were administered, Upon being given a cigar he proceeded to eat it. Such a combination of ignorance, misery and im- becility we had not met since leaving Cairo. A floating corpse, near Assonan, and the imminent danger of reducing two of our party to the same watery rigidity, illustrated at once THE LOST AND THE SAVED, Of the lost I can say no more than that the body ‘Was that of a biack, of whose death even coroners’ juries were profitiess tribunals. Of the saved, they were General Starring and your correspondent. We stripped, and just above the first cataract dove into the deliciously cool Nile. The current was Taunting fve miles an hour, and in endeavoring to catch the boat towing astern we missed the object, and were borne down towarl the cataract despite our endeavors to stem the tide. We hailed the Herald’s boat; but thee Arabs, mutely waiting for us to drown, so that “the dahabeah” could sail on, paid no attention to our hail. We pitched a key higher and shouted an octave louder, when the tmbeciles gave us an encouraging look, but again relapsed into their cool indifference. Finally Hassan, the Consular Janesary, who became famous by arrest- ing John Surratt in Alexandria, appeared on deck, and soon after the boat was cast loose, and after nearly halfan hour's struggling against the cur- rent, yet constantly drifting toward the ledge of the cataract, we narrowly esaped death by exhaus- tion or from the dangers below. Personally, the feeling that the crocodile had not yet taken Junch, made me feel a little anxious about my long pre. sence in the water. This incident, more serious shan I have made it, only serves to illustrate how Uttlc one can depend upon the Arabs in danger. Reckless of their own lives, lazy by nature, suscept- ible alone to that unholy sentiinent engendered by the doliar, they will not cross the street to alleviate @ pain or expend as: exertion to save a fellow being. A man’s only weapon is his nerve, and his compensation, if he survives a critical emergency, the ordinary forms of corporal indignation. From the Island Philae we had A PLEASANT RACE to within a few miles of Korosko, a distance of about sixty miles» At two o'clock on the afternoon of the 11th, just on the Tropic of Cancer, we found two English “dahabeahs” the Grifin and the Snowfake lying to, waiting for us to come up. We all started on the line of the Tropic of Cancer (23 deg., 80 min. N.), the Herald to leeward, the Snowfako on our weather beam, with the Griflin to windward, the trio being under fall sail. Our captain received orders to distance our competi- tors, commands which he did not obey; for the low, been our intention to make the stand as we did, in order tosend back to Korosko for any articles unpro- vided or forgotten ; but we found this unnecessary. ‘The tents were pitched after all the practical science possessed by the Egyptian, which is by no means ex- tensive. In matters pertaining to their own habits of life the Egyptian ls a very skilful person, but beyond, in the field of sports, with sails, guns or hardy pastimes, and in the use of tools, or in ama- teur engineering, he is as helpless as are the parlor boys of New York. That portion of this truth which we did not know at Korosko we had experienced at Aboo-Hanmed. OUR FIRST NIGHT ON THE DESERT waa eventful to all of us. Every member of the party had seen rough campaigning and Consul General Butler, General Starring and Mr. Morris, in Texas, Mexico, and among the mountains and plains and rivers of North and South Americ: though never before in the deserts of Cen! Africa. In the first place this trip has been made only by the most intrepid and famous travell If 1 do not err the Nubian Desert has been crossed only by Burkhardt, Bayard Taylor, the son of Sir Robert Peel, Captains Speke and_ Gran Petherick and wite, Sir Samuel and Lady the Tinnie family and suite, thirteen Aus! missionaries, Dr. Knoeblecher, Dr. Brownell, of New York, who died above Khartoum of gastric fever, and of whom I will speak again, and a few Greek and Italian merchants. Bayard Taylor and Dr. Brownell are the only Americans wio have ever been as high as Berber, Said Pacha was the first and only Viceroy of Egypt who ever visited the Soudan, and as a monarch he rode in a carriage and had many other conveniences which only vast fortunes can supply to the ordinary traveller. The route of the desert, while of great antiquity, has been closed several times by the government, on account of the frequent loss of life from want of water or the terrible simooms which, beginning at the Red Sea, sweep over its surface and bury every living thing, to say nothing of the intensity of the heat. Said Pacha was the last, I believe, to say “NO THOROUGHFARE |” closed that the Sondan as a province became nearly a foreign appendage. It is impossible to transport ivory and gum and the other Centrai African pro- ducts by the Nile from Berber to Korosko the year round, The Nile is too shallow, the cataracts too distance three times the short cut across the now probably the most frequently travelled ‘of any desert highway of the world. OUR CAMP APPARATUS entitle us to the claim of savages. We carried eight plates, knives and forks, four glasses, a green- We had no bedsteads of any kind—only blankets and rugs. When we bivouacked on the evening of the 15th inst. our first camp ented a very animated and picturesque app tent, in which we were to sleep, was the pivotal figure—giving us a circular area of ilfteen feet in diameter, A few yards distant was the kitch tent, raised upon this occasion for a dining tent, yet on the following evenings it was devoted to culinary sci¢ of Abdl-el-Wahed, who, though not actually cooking therein, used it as the reposi- tory of his stores, Two tents were thus suilicient for our household régime, and always formed the nucleus of our nomadic village, A few feet distant from the CHATEAU DE TOILE was the aged Abd-el-Wahed, with his immortal range, his one e his tongs, his ambitious coals and his hissing mutton, scurvy pigeons, and without potatoes, Abd-el-Wahed Was nestled among boxes, stoves, charcoal, and gathered about him all the elie of the third estate, who were his devoted friends and admirers. The baggage camels were disposed upon the ground a few yards distant, being fed their grain by the camel boys, and een, those loud, yelping sounds, @ compound of a hog’s grunt and a lion’s roar, which Were taken up, repeated by the other beasts and echoed by the hilis. The camels, de- nuded of their loads and water, the latter havin been corded upon mats, became quiet only with | sleep. Add to these scenes the deafening volubility of twonty Arabs and Nubians, each shouting with the voice of wounded [dignity, the seven-eighths nudity of the blacks, the elaborate wear of the up- per servants and all the small asperities of our a ul world—all these, with a reireshing desert 20, a clear atmosphere and @ fuil moon, gave us @ novel view of this strange life, a8 we were launched on the burning sea. THE SECOND DAY we struck our tents at half-past six in the morn- ing, and breakfasting upon eggs, mutton and potatoes, set out, unwearied by our eight miles’ sharp tron hull of the GriMn had been built for speed by Proadway Bey, of Cairo, while the Herald ‘was designed as the floating parlor of M. de Les- seps. The Griffin shot ahead and easily maintained the load, while it was a close struggle between tho Snowflake anid the Herald. One hour the Herald was ahoad a length; the next the Herald was astern a length, aud so it continued on ‘for tiftee days, until we MOORED BY THE MCD HUTS OP KOROSKO. meny hours before tho arrival of the Snowfake, Tho race was in no sense an exhibition of tie fine art of senmanship, and, as between the Herald and the Snowfake, was only a contest between the belmemen and the captains. Racing on the Nile could be made a very exciting and interesting pas- Ume ifit were properly patronized and the build. fg Of fess models were encouraged. As it is, the travel o lay before, The bed of the desert began to descend as we pushed on nearly due south, through narrow defiles, opening into deep but small valleys. The mountain slopes during the ay part of the day were covered with deposits of black, flinty stone, while the sub-strata, as shown in the section, was of a lighter sandstone hoe, The general configuration reminded me of the dreary solitudes of the Franconia mountains without their green, snow and water. About nine o'clock we entered an open plain, sluiced by a shallow river bed that had evidently been a stranger rater for many ears. Indeed, appear- ances of water-courses ne nm seen on the way from Korosko, all tending toward the Nile. In entering the plain we noticed, by the sensitiveness of our compass needles, the presence of MAGNETIC IRON in the adjatent mountains to westward; and there- upon there flashed yo us pictures of possible gold mines, and a Pike's kin the Nubian desert. I will not attempt a feat in numeration by endea- voring to express the loads of treasure that were discussed for the next half hour. There were not #0 Trade suffered so severely when the route was | humerous and dangerous to navigate, and the | desert; hence this pathway was reopened, and is | Was quite simple, and yet not so primitive as to | painted pine table, upon which I am now writing, | and a few of the minor articles of table turniture. | The main | many ci en Espagne buiit as the reader may imagine; for iater in the journey one saw abundant deposits of the finest stones, and an astounding variety of jasper, cornellan and all the shades of marble, agate and state. I hazard the prophecy that all the minerals wél yet be found in this region, inasmuch 4s it will cost an almost impossible epter- prise to prove this prediction ill-based. As the day advanced the carcasses of decayed cameis became more frequent, and so often do they occur along the route, that there are now over 10,000 between Korosko and Berber, with their frameworks crumbling into dust. THR RUIN OF A CAMEL is almost the only relic of travel that one meets along the pathway, and in itself is the best illus- tration of this painful, dangerous journey of 400 miles, Camels die less from age than they do from fatigue and exhaustion, induced by heat and porter- age, and, like all other species thus sacrificed, they die bitter deaths, As soon as one becomes unfit for duty he lingers behind: the camel boy endeavors to whip him along to the nearest well, and, if he is doomed, he drops by the path, and in twenty-four hours is a rich meal for the greedy African vulture. After his membrane and tissue are no more he lies upon his side, the ribs forming rafters to all that is pura within. Heat, in a few weeks, bakes the ones into an orange yellow, and thus these melan- choly remains litter the desert highway and through deep sands, and among devious ways are gq's to the traveller that he may not lose his way; and gee carcasses, curiously enough, are the bases of al STATISTICS that you can gather on the desert. Let us suppose that the visible remains represent the deaths occurring during two years of trade and travel, and this is a fair hypothesis, Where one camel dies on the desert twenty live, the mortality being almost unknown in winter. This would make the number of camels traversing the desert annually 100,000, These figures do not, of course, imply that there are 100,000 different camels, but that 100,000 loads are transported across the desert on their backs. Testimate, also, that 20,000 natives and 100 traders cross annually, The greater part of the freight is ivory, and next in importance is gum, If 40,000 camel loads of ivory go down from the Soudan e year they represent the rise and fall of 10,000 elephants, rhinoceroses and hippopotami, What a vast treasure then has been gathered from this un- known Soudan during the many years it has been the sporting ground of such men as Bruce, Burk- hardt and Baker! A few bold, hardy Americans, with large bore rifles, will find more extended fields of protit in this prison house of Lower Egypt than in filibustering away their lives in the tropics of South America There is much popular ignor- ance concerning THE DESERT CAMEL, A good one is worth $50, and this is when he ts ten years ofage. He is ready for riding at four years of age, when his training must begin to make him a dromedary, though blood tells with the camel as it doeswith man, The camel generally expires before forty. The best of themcan go eight days without water in winter and four in summer, | though the Sheik of the Moorad Wells expected to | bait a credulous traveller by asserting that his dromedaries could live three months without water. By noon we began to emerge upon THE SUBLIMEST SCENERY OF THE DESERT. The route lay through the centre of grand ellipti- cal amphitheatres, which called to mind the Coli- seum at Rome and the exhumed arena at Pom- peii. These natural structures, floored over by hard, gravelly sand, with lofty, semicircular sides, and vaulted only by the blue sky, are among the randest primitive formations I have ever seen. rom the maroon shade of the sand to the dark, craggy appearance of the terraced rocks there is as much variety as can be found in landscape without verdure and in solitude without civilization. These amphitheatres are linked together by narrow pas- sages, and often so perfect were the formations that four doorways, breaking the bird's-eye view into quadrants, were often seen. It requires no vivid imagination to picture most any kind of a structure irom a sentinel’s house to a huge fortress. We were not long in making the acquaintance of our guide, a dark black, athletic Ababdah, forty years of age, who preceded the caravan and was always ready to give questionable information. But, strange to say, he ignored time, did not know the points of the compass and only knew the direc- tion by the sun, Still there was an unerring way by which to always REGULATE OUR WATCHES. The Arab when he prays kneels toward Mecca, and always to the east. It is said that even the youngest never fails to bend, almost accurately, in that direction. Thus in the form of living flesh we had the Arab, by whom to find the variation of the compass, and with the corrected bearing could find, when the sun bore due south or otherwise, the true meridian, and consequently noon. At five o'clock on THE SECOND DAY WE WENT INTO CAMP thirty-five miles from Korosko. The weather up. to this point had been very mild, and during the night acool breeze had necessitated a generous covering to keep out the cold. We slept with a matting next te the sand and were covered by the ordinary blankets. The interior of our canvas house was a marvel of comfort. Our blankets were spread around the inner circumference, our saddle bags were at our heads, our “zamzimeahs” (water pouches) within reach, and our camp trunk served as a table, while a mat supported our dinner on the sand. Clouds of tobacco smoke kept out the vi- | cious flea, and nothing invaded our household more | imposing’ than aslimy lizard. As one might im- ae the topics of the day were often handled with emphatic candor, when we found it conve- nient to deal with all the large measures of politi- | | caleconomy. On the particular evening of which I | am writing “the relations between the bushel of wheat and the gold doliar” were amplified into the late hours, and then the Consul General favored us | with commentaries on Bayard T: , Petherick | and Baker, whose works were of THIRD DAY IN THE DESERT, The next morning, the 17th of January, we saw | the Sonthern Cross for the first time and started | again on our southward tour at half-past six A, M. Tue view broadened and lengthened throughout the day and the sun grew fierce and intolerable. We bogan to feel the effects of the heat and fatigue, and yet not to any degree of severity, On the third day, a8 on the second, we m veral caravans along the route, bearing gum, ivory and slaves to the Korosko markets. THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF KOROSKO, had, it appeared, In a spirit of ‘4measure for meas- ure,” purchased of the merchant of Shendy two small negro boys of the densest opacity, They were seated on a jaded camel, and the two gentie- men were on eitheigside, riding donke) We rode up to the cavalcade. The dealers stopped. “Who have you there y’ | es.” | “Where “Shend ‘How much is a man worth im that country?" “Fifty or a hundred dollars—that depends.” (The Austrian dollar is the current money of the Soudan.) “sow much more is & woman worth than a man ” “Considerable.” “Why 2 “Because she knows household affairs.” “How long are you from Berber ?"" “One month.”* rom ?) ” “Good-by! and with a “God be with you,” the two gentlemen of Korosko turned their fa north. ward. They were commonly clad Arabs, and thought nothing of the trafic in which they were engaged, which, I need not say, is unlawful, and is | discountenanced by the government. Still, a cer | tain form of | INVOLUNTARY SERVITU" must exist for ages hence in Africa. The system of slavery is interwoven with the Mosiem religion; | the precepts of the Koran teach it and uphold it, and it is a part of the domestic organization of every household. That it has been mollified, and that slavery can be much more ameliorated, I think beyond dispute. There is not, in the average, t ditference between master and slave ag in the United States, and there is no n why the trafic should not be summarily re- | i | | | pressed in all its brutal aspects. To put absolute | | freedom to the Egyptian as a principle of human | | liberty would be to state a precept which he could | not understand; to endeavor to preach it among | | the dealers of the Soudan is at the peril of your Iife. | The two boys were healthy and fat—picturesque | exemplars of the genus homo, with a heavy im- | mobility of face characteristic of tueir stolid pro- genitors. UNDER WAY our caravan presented a most interesting scene. Usually preceded by the guide, General Starring, | Consul General Butler, Mr. Morris and your cor- respondent led the march on four riding ‘dromeda- ries, followed closely by Hassan, the “Chasseur,” and other personal servants of the party. In the Morning it was our custom to start out from camp | and jeave the baggage nels to be packed to fol- | low on later. We haltec 0 . M. for lunch, and rested until the caravan ad overtaken us and had the saddle bags and the rider with his hat wound | round with puggery, doing his best to urge on the beast With a Koorbach, gave us an appearance Which attracted the attention of every passing train. In fine, to cross the desert was in itself re- garded asa marvellous thing a White man, and as our journey had been mac nown by telegram and letter ail along the route we were everywhere treated with respect. Ten hours, day after day, in the saddle under ; A SCORCHING SUN, grows monotonous. We exhausted most every subject of conversation, and, from chafing each other, by an unhappy elision fell to chafing our- selves. Itwas at this point that we began to feel the tour, With what heyday airs even the best of travellers begins his voyage! With what fresh recollections he closes a severe journey! ‘The first day it was— “What nonsense, this camel business! Easy as rid- ing a mule. I really oniey it; already a camel i ad The second day—‘“Not bad; what healthy, bracing air; how little fatigue ; how the books misrej resent it! I told you what Baker said was grossly exaggerated.” The third day—“It's getting hot; m:; face pains me; ed are beginning to bake ;? and the fourth—‘The books are not so far out of the way after all;At is @ hard journey ;” and on the eighth day you are thankful that the long siege of sand and sun has brought you to the Nile, Grant, in his “Walk Across Africa,” expands himself on the joys of his first three days as a dromedarian, and then contracts his admiration of the remainia thirteen, The mere art of riding is not difficult. small man is sure to be little troubled; but an extra weight does not conduce to perfect enjoyment. few days, however, gives you all the accomolish- | | and were really handsome Ababdahs. ments of the Arab, and there is no animal safer or pleasanter in the world. Although accustomed to orsemanship I do not think that the camel is as severe for long riding as the noble animal. The speed of the camel, when he walks, is two anda half miles an hour; om a trot, five; and he can be beaten into ten miles an hour. It was on the third day that we began to ap- proach the shores of MIRAGE SEAS, These atmospheric phenomena on the Nubian desert are not only very perfect imitations of the real lakes, but have in past times invelgled people away to perish from heat and thirst, During the reign of Safd Pacha, when a body of troops was crossing the desert, stricken with a terrible thirst, they beheld a few miles off an apparent lake, over- shadowed with trees and bordered with verdure and shrubbery. In deflance of orders, and though told that it was an illusion, they broke ranks and scattered off in pursuit of the sheet of water, and chasing it, though it receded with the pace of their approach, they at last sank down from their ill-spent efforts and died. A mirage breaks the dreary view, and its only utility is for scenic effect. Throughout the 17th of January we were seemingly almost encompassed by this imponderable mirror. It reflected the rocks, mountains and stray mimosa trees and reproduced, by inverted image, every prominent object of the extended landscape. By two o'clock the mirage had the blue of polished platinum, and lay like a motionless sea stretchin; away from the craggy bluffs. As I looked ahes from the saddle of my camel I could see the wither- ing heat radiating from the sands, illuminated by the sun’s glare, rising from the bed of the desert in rippling waves and forming this wonderful effect. Sometimes so intense was the heat that it danced within a few yards of our camels and gave motion to cre. object within its area, One line of rocks stretching before me at a distance of 200 yards kept common time and looked like a regiment of men marching off the field in line of battle, And thus even are the vast wastes furnished with the semblance of seas ana peopled with the semblance of men, When I started from Cairo I made it a point to buy some green orgies, to break the monotony of the sandy view, but found that there was ample diversity in the scenes I have described. Tne tem- perature during the first three days did not exceed eighty-six degrees, at two P. M., and the lowest was forty-two degrees, during the nights, which were cold. This registered heat, however, in the desert 1s far different from the same figure else- where. On the evening of the third day we passed through “The Gate of the Desert,” and the guide shouted, “Abdl-el-Kaadr” (God save the cameis), & stock ejaculation, and by & bogus cemetery full of bogus graves. It was (and now, for aught I know) the custom of the Sheik of the Desert to demand “bakshish’’ for passing this portal; and if it were not paid he would frighten the traveller by digging his grave and assuring him that it would soon be his last resting place. We were not thus troubled. We passed on to the plain and stopped for the night at BAHR-BELA-MA (the sea without water), Jackal tracks and the prints of camel’s and human feet, to- gether with wagon tracks, were the only signs of travel. The camel path, however, was well worn by constant treading, and only over sand drifts was it partially effaced. The wagon tracks, we came to the conclusion, were those made by the transportation of the stores sent up for Sir Samuel Baker in 1870; indeed, we were so informed by the guide. During our third day’s march, however, we stopped at a great rock, where Said Pacha had tried to sink a well, but had failed to find water. The names of several travel- lers unknown to fame were written or sculptured im the rock, THE FOURTH DAY. On the. 18th of January we started out witha walk, as had been our custom in the mornings before, Train after train passed us on the way to Korosko, laden with ivory and gum. I counted, during the day, over ten caravans and six hundred camels. It is the custom over this route to leave any merchandise that cannot be further trans- ported (because the camels break down) directly on the highways, and no one ever disturbs it. Bales of cotton and sacks of gum were often pointed out, with the assertion, “THEY HAVE BEEN THERE FOR YEARS.” In the afternoon we sought the shade ofa rocky elevation in vain, and had to lunch by the carcass ofa dead camel. We then remounted and rode on through an eet’ heat. The sun was right in our faces, and rolled slowly athwart the sky like a great ball of fire but a few yards distant. Our boots began to tighten, and the leather at length con- tracted so much that they were painful to wear. OUR NOSES BEGAN TO BLOSSOM, and our faces to peel, while our lips were 80 scorched and cracked that even to speak was ac- companied with suffering. We had all indulged in greasing our faces, and had at lunch, in a spirit of economy, used the oil of a sardine box for anoint- ing our lips and faces. Add to these little trials bad, hot water and a great fatigue, and the. char- acter of the journey may be understood. A semi- blindness also clouded the eyes, and a slight dizzi- ness was superinduced by the heat. We walked our camels through this furnace until sundown, when we applied fresh grease to our parched faces, peel then slept, near a range of pyramidal moun- ains, THE MOORAD WELLS. On the 19th inst. we set out for the Moorad Wells, which lay behind a distant range, bearing nearly south. About noon we entered a narrow valley, where many mimosa trees were growing. Among the hills to westward of this valley is the only rain water well yet discovered in the desert, and a portion of our baggage camels had set out that morning early to refill their skins. The appear- ance of the desert at this point indicates 4, THE PRESENCE OF VAST QUANTITIES OF WATER, jor trees flourish in the most arid sands. The mountains to westward look like huge sponges, ‘ and the rains which have fallen, perhaps for Tang in this vicinity have descended among these hills, and the waters have percolated into the natural reservoirs formed by the closer stratification of the rock. Thus the whole region may be called THE GRAND FILTER OF NORTHERN AFRICA, which may be utilized by future populations. What can be done with a waste that has so many ready advantages as the Nubian Desert ? In former letters | have described how, by irrigation from the Nile, its aried up water courses may be filled, and by transverse canal systems every one of it: ie nis tensive plateaus may become verdant flelds, achieved re is abundant building stone for houses, though mud seems to satisfy the ambition of the modern Egyptians; or the inhabitants might find it convenient to excavate along the side elevations of the rocky ridges, as they still do along the Loire. There are now over FORTY THOUSAND ABABDAH ARABS who inhabit the desert between Korosko and Shendy. They are savage when called to arms, but peaceful under the present Viceroy. They are very black, and in wise and formation of the head resemble the North American Indian. They keep their hair long and flayed out like the danoing dervishes of Cairo, particularly the Bicherines. Wearing a humoose—a garment which conceals only the obnoxious anatomy of man—they sustain life with a few dates and by such nutrition as can be found in camel's miik. They are armed with spears, broad two-edged swords and generally bear a shield, made from the hide of rhinoceros, They are expert upon the dromedaries, and live in tents made of palm-tree matting. A more Mberal spirit pervades their religion than is characteristic of the Egyptian. They do not veil their wives. I | should judge they ure a contented people. They are as far above our Indians in fidelity and frater- nity as one race can be above another, We were at three o'clock on the 19th four days from Korosko, We met during the afternoon a caravan bearing the ivory and gum of the American Consular Agentat Khartoum. We passed the greet- ings and demanded, “WHERE 13 BAKER 9” “He is sixty days from Khartoum.” “Where ?"" “On the Garzchal River.” “What is he doing there ?” “Building a settlement and annexing lands,” This made about the tenth person we had inter- Togated about Baker since leaving Cairo, and every one had told a different story, had given’ him a dif- ferent situation and had ascribed to him a different purpose, As to Livingstone, it were worse than idle 1o ask any native or trader of his whereabouts, for his name is utterly unknown in this country. I venture to say that Sir Samuel Baker himself is the only man at present in Ethiopia who knows Dr. Livingstone even by reputation. Upon APPROACHING MOORAD | we were met by an escort, under command of the Sheik of the Weils, the venerable Mahomet Ashed, The troopers were mounted upon fleet-footed dromedaries, were bareheaded, almost barebodied Their fea- tures were generally so regular and graceful that they looked effeminate in the face. The Sheyk’s son was particularly attractive. His hair grew closely on his head, as the fibres of a clothes-brush are fastened to its body, and it was so cut as to resem- gained an hour on the march, When we again took | ble the light waterfall of an American miss. The up the line, and by fast riding were by sundown | Sheyk was very proud of his boy, and boasted that again ahead to find camping ground. Each of the | his son could ride from Korosko to Aboo-lammed four dromedaries was caparisoned with the military | (240 miles) in five days—on one “Hayjeen.’ saddie furnished from the citadet at Cairo and the | We now passed under all the rigid forms red and white fringed overcloths, The presence of | of desert etiquette. The Sheyk formed his escort—twelve men—and C4 preceded our party, while he alternately rode with us and with his com- mand. At four o’clock in the afternoon we passed what Mrs, Petherick has termed “the garden of the desert,” and which is a painful misnomer, There are a few lofty paims, probably two hundred, stretching eastward and westward, at the foot of the mountains, behind which lies the Moorad set- tlement, They bear bitter dates, which are not eatable. A few were plucked for the party, They were hard and tasteless. Pushing ahead, we passed through a narrow defile cut in @ slate formation. The deposits were very rich and abundant, the stratification being regular and the slate itself of beautiful pea green. We now rode to westward some five miles, aud at nine o'clock in the evening we passed the stone huts of Moorad, having made more than half our distance (123 miles) in forty-one riding hours, and bivouacked close by the natron wells, THE SKEYK is avery dignified and kindiy old man, and has served at Moorad by government appointment for twenty-thr ears, He wears grayish beard, and resembles the elder Tyng, of St. George’s church in New York. He brought us camels’ milk Ww drink, and then led us to the wells, They are simply surface excava- tions, with the brackish water filling the reservoirs, and which, when exhausted by the camels, is re- filled by natural ow. The village consists of four stone huts, six feet pe and about twenty feet jae, and here the Sheyk lives with his family, Old Abdi—son of the only one—our cook, was here, injured by some indiscretion on the part ked him in the ad inert by one of the domestica’ who is al afck after Feaohing 8 Géiieral becom rated from town where they sell aracki. I tried top! the , and oar encertained that he Philanthropist on this evening by condoling with might lose ‘his way. Deaths are very common HED LOOKING PRISONER ‘A WRETO! who has been gent up to the Soudan by the Gover- nor of Lioot. It appears that the convict had been &@ professional use and that he had changed so often from a. to a Copt, and vice versa, b2 LP aig him asa bad ex- loyalty, concluded let him drive his trade ‘with the 8 of Ethiopia. He was 50 weak Ba bea and random tale, sol gave him a pittance, when he kissed my feet and went away. i the prison of political offenders, pen eoaen also THE SIXTH DAY OUT we left the plateau of Moorad and defiled through the gorge lank be eee ‘Hammed, ‘the morning was sultry and oppressi drew from the Cot nid General the exclamation.“ would not return by this route for $5,000 8 mile!” We had all py this become quite accustomed to our saddles, though not to the sun. A pho- that his story was a Dl tographer would have carried away the pictuy four scaling Americans, unsightly even Pistegted desert savages, We had, however, learned several useful lessons—one not to use grease on the skin in the face of further exposure, and second, not to travel by day time when ag can just as well per- form the march by night. Do not overload your camels; do not cramp your personal baggage and imagine that you can afford to throw away all the comiorts; and do not travel, as we did, without at least a flask full of brandy to freshen you after twelve hours in the saddie. 1 have heard many travellers describe how certain things are indis- pensable for this trip, but the truth is everything is required which one needs in making an ordinary SOUrEEY: You must not be too primitive on the one and or too luxurious on the other, : We had no use for our guns whatever until after Teaching Aboo-Hammed. All the birds were con- fined to vultures and crows, and the beasts to un- seen hyenas and jackals, As we journeyed on we invited the guide to summon THE “AFREET’? from his dungeon in the mountain, where, as le- gend says, he is wont to make hideous rattles on the drum by night, to intimidate passers. The Arabs believe in him and his puissance, - It is prob- able that some Ababdah Cagliostro is imposing on the native credulity. We left him alone in his glory. On the morning of the 2ist we passed over a sandy plain, and observed the incipient vegetation arising from a slight rain-fall. ‘The sands were gree. as far as the eye could reach with grass two inches high. ‘This may be taken as an evidence that the soil only needs irrigation to become fruit- ful and profitable. While halting during the heat of the day under a big tree, to wait for cooler hours, A GROUP OF DROMEDARY RIDERS appeared, dismounted, ana the Chief appeared to be Achmed Hasseen, son of the Governor of Berber and a Sheik of the Ababdahs. He had brought us watermelons from Aboo-Hammed, and talked to us of his tribe and people. It appears that the ex-Em- press Eugénie treated him witn great distinction at Assouan during her visit up the Nile. He ex- hibited a double-barrelled pistol presented to him by her ex-Majesty. It was a powerful, though awk- ward weapon, made by “Samson, London.’ “What do you know of Baker ?’’ I asked. “He is up the White River.” “How far from Khartoum ?”? “Thirty days.” “Can I go up there with facility?” “Formerly the Governor General would permit DO one to go; but he will allow you to go now.”’ Tn asking other questions I found the same melan- choly indifference to THE SOURCES OF THE NILE as exists among all the natives, Achmed Hasseen, his brother Mahomet Hasseen Calipha, Sheik of all the Ababdahs, and the Governor of Berber, offi- cials representing the most powerful aggregated in- fluence of Egypt, had never even heard of Speke and Grant, and, as to knowing about their discoveries, they have less knowledge than the North American Indian, Though no one can otherwise than admire the noble efforts of such bold men as Speke and Grant, it cannot be said that they are original ossessors of the secret of the sources of the White file, Arab traders knew it long before them, and the very ivory which the reader of the HERALD finds upon his breakfast knives as he reads this issue probably came from the buried tusks pre- served from raiding parties by the natives and buried for years by the shores of the Nyanzas. Instead of digging for the lost treasures of Captain Kidd or seeking the bullion on the foundered Hus- sar, it would be much more profitable to the daring capitalist to mine for ivory among the negro tribes of Ethiopia. After leaving our good friend Achmed we met KASSALI, THE GREEK MERCHANT, who-came with his caravans irom Khartoum, bear- ‘ng his menial and personal slaves, male and fe- male. Kassali speaks English excellently, and has been a great traveller. fe has been in every land, and speaks most all living languages. He said that he had been to Gondokoro in 1853, and had been stricken with the fever while there; otherwise he had experienced good health at Khartoum. He was saffron-yellow, avout sixty years of age, and his face was so wrapped up that alll could perceive babar two small black eyes and three-quarters of a smile. CARAVAN AFTER CARAVAN passed us on our eighth march, and I was curious enough to count the tusks of one, and they amounted to 480. I estimate that over $2,000,000 worth of ivory goes over the Nubian Desert an- nually, and in’ years afterward is dispersed into the homes of civilized people of every land. To secure the raw material is a science, of which I shall treat in another letter, and [ shall here con- tent myself with ae that it is in the (gen- enerally disappointed) ambition of every African traveller to slay an elephant. On the march we passed THE SIGNAL STONES, which are set up on the mountain tops and along the route to mark the pathway when it is drifted over by sand. We passed several droves of cattle with- out any water accompanying the train, and were amazed to find cows that look healthy and go four days without water. On that evening we were happy, for on the morrow we were to see the Nile once more, I strayed out that evening to essay “the special artist ;"’ but failing in the wsthetic ac- complishment, I wandered about in search of water. Eight days had drawn all the noxious mat- ter from the leathern water pouches, and the solu- tion was like a decoction of warm water distilled through a Chatham street boot. I laid down to read “Speke’s Journal of the Discovery of the Nile,” and when I came to a bright woodcut representing the ripping Nile peeing out among the rocks at Ripon falis1 felt a genuine sensation of thirst on the desert for the first time. We had tented that night phon Mokrat, about twenty miles from Aboo- fammed, and the next morning started at da; break for the Nile. The heat became so overpower- ing (100 degrees in the shade) at noon that we were obliged to draw under the shade of our tent, and while engaged at lunch and perspiration THE SHEYK MAHOMET HASSEEN, the noblest-looking African I have ever seen ap- proached with his personal staff and dismounted to welcome us. He hada splendid black Arab horse and his suite was mounted on dromedaries. He stood six feet two inches high, weighed over two hundred and fifty pounds and had a beardiess face, clear eye and dignified bearing. He was dressed in a long owing rove of white lady’s cloth, girded at the waist; a turban and Turkish boots completed his costume. We struck our camp and proceeded in state to Aboo-Hammed, the Sheyk riding on our flank and his warriors leading us with spears, bucklers and a bold mein, which defled even the intensity of the withering sun. We rode on for an hour, and it was singular to note the perfect time kept by the camel cavalry; but this was the only military feature of the squad, for no two men were uniformed alike. In fine, diversity of dress seemed the effort. Presently the doom palms flashed above the horizon, And Aboo-Hammed’s distant view Danced o’er the mirage seas, Ason the Ababdah warriors lew Before the burning breeze. IN SOUDAN. We defiled through the crowd of curious natives and were speedily shown into the Governor's apartment and seated on adivan, when we were offered coffee, sherbets of sugar, and then we clouded the apartment with smoke from the Sheik’s “chibooks.”’ The Nile flowed by our windows, and as far as the eye could reach was one sweep of the greenest green. An informal conversation then tpok place between the Consul General and the Sheik regarding our arrival in the Soudan. It was considered an extraordinary event for General Starring and Colonel Butler to have undertaken this trip, and to have actually accomplished the journey. Colonel Butler is the first Consul General ofany nation who has ever visited the Soudan, } When informed that America was 8,000 miles away the Sheyk was surprised, and inquired in what direction. The only way to make a desert Arab erstand distance 1s to tell him, for instance, ew York is $o many days away, measured by the average pi of a camel—thirty miles a day— that is to say, New York is distant from Aboo-Ham- med over nine months. At six o'clock a [hey of servants came in bear- ing a large composition tray supporting the incipi- ent dishes of A TURKISH DINNER. They were uncovered and an immensed turkey sub- mitted to the assaults of the Sheyk, Who with his right hand dove into the breast and dressing. We ail ate after the oriental custom—with our fingers. A sweet succeeded, and then a mutton stew, and the dinner continued with alternate plates of sweets and meats until forty-two courses had peen | served. General Lia | maingzained his compos- ure up to the twenty-sixth, the Consul General only showing faintness at the thirty-second, while Mr. Morris broke down on the fortieth. ‘The HERALD correspondent stood out to the Jast. It took nine slaves to serve the dinner. We spent the 24th of January in a fruitless search for crocodiles and hippopotami, and on the 25th STARTED WITH OUR ESCORT FOR BERBER, pslagyli g the desert along the right bank of the Nile, and only made about fifteen miles. During this day we passed splendid quarries of marble, jas- per, alabaster, cornelian and agate running in a vein, stretching off toward the Sea. The 26th we made an early start. We shot at several gazelle! but without effect. These ity creatures abound wherever river and desert are found together; but itis only by skilful stalking that they can be cap- ed, eeAbont noon we were forced to discontinue our march because JURST OVER THE DESERT fered uD the sands and dispersed them with “aagreeatie fury. My mouth and nostrils were filled with earthy atoms, and my cyes were the irri particles, The storm eee eo Oem ‘and terrific that it gained the force Of a tornado; obliterated the route of travel, and ‘One codid not see 100 fect, Shortly the storm for san uta are fre- ide finally rescued th dangerous } tion.” Sometimes @ 7 car blows forsweeks, i travel is impos- We stopped under the shelter of some Ababdah huts and lofty palms, by the bank of the Nile, while the waves were very high. Our host Was an almost nude Arab, with a family and several naked African cherubs, remarkable for their big bodies and short legs. He told us with an air of undoubted truth that one of his children had been swallowed by a crocodile while playing on the bank of the river, and that he had also lost a sister years before in the same manner. His life is a fair ex- emplar of the existence of the riparian Ababdahs. He had two mud huts and one matted tent, and cultivated ground on the opposite bank of the Nile, Among these people the women work like the me} while the small infants are confided to the care of children six or seven years of age. We dined that night by THE ROAR OF THE FIFTH CATARACT, HOMAR (Cataract of the Wild Asses). This Shelal is simply @ system of tortuous rapids rushing through tr- regular, dangerous rocks. Here again we came near losing General Starring, and Mr. Morris, too, who wandered among the crags ang re- mained till after dark. We slept the night of the twelfth day at the postal village of the province, having made a march of fifty miles during the day. ‘The only pust by which letters are borne from the Soudan to Korosko is the SecmueGaty post; then the mail ce, by foot, men, each one of whom runs with the bag for two hours and delivers it to his re- lef, and thus the system is continued to Roda, when tie rail carries it to Cairo. The extraordi- hary sum of seven dollars was paid for postage upon & HERALD letter addressed from Korosko to Cairo, The same envelope bore other letters, but as of ononeD welahe to make much difference. n the 27th of January we met man this time household t se arate STILL ON THE ROUTE, The telegraph operator at Berber was transporting his harem across the desert. It was a novel sight to behold the women in white veils, housed over by, canvas awnings, on the back of a camel, while a portion of the train had beds arranged at the same elevation, containing mothers and sucking infants stowed among pillows and linen, all suffering the Fooking motion of the beast. We remained the night in Guineyatoo, a flourishing mud village, where the construction of the huts, like that of alt Arab villages, very much resembles the cabin of the Hungarian peasant. We made a late start on the zsth of fa nere and rode through palm groves and tropical jungles, shooting at crocodiles and grouse from the river’s bank, suffering much from the heat. We rode over “the plain of the hippo- potamus” leading to Berber, and halted, near two o’clock, guests of the village of the Sheik’s tnele, We were treated to sherbets of sugar and coffee, ‘There I noted A SUBLIME PHENOMENON, . To northward were five equi-distant sandspouts rising Derprudisnlarly to a great height, and losin; their swelling capitals in the clouds. They seemet to stand as columns to the Vault of the sky, and the supernatural architecture was further heightened by mirage lakes, whose waters seemed to dash against the pillars as the green of doom-palms waived through the colonnade. The whole specta- cle appeared like the ruin of a supernal Pantheon, once reared by the bank of the mighty river. I saw one sandspout, which assumed the form of a bal- loon, dragging ts mouth over the plain. ONE HOUR FROM BERBER. » We met Atzar, the United States Consular Agent, at Khartoum, who had come out to welcome us. We found him a pleasant old Copt, ready to do every- thing for our comfort. He is one of the oldest and wealthiest merchants of the Soudan, Followl closely upon his heels came the Governor 0i Berber, with thirty natives, equerries habited in white, who assisted him to dismount from his white ass. The venerable Governor bade us wel- come, and we then started for the Moudin¢h (the Governor’s palace). Thousands of the villagers gazed at us with impudent curiosity as we rode through the streets of Berber on our camels, ARRIVED AT THE GATE OF THE PALACE, 300 soldiers, uniformed in white and armed with polished muskets, were drawn up in open ranks at present arms. They saluted us with a roll of drums and @ sounding o1 bugles, and we then dismounted before the door of the audience chamber, among hundreds of janissaries, pages, lackeys and minor menials. We were assured by the Governor that we had accomplished the trip from Cairo in the shortest time ever made by white men—in thirty-one days. It was, in a word, a very bitter physical experience across the desert, and we contemplated it with joy only after it had been finished. Over four hundred miles ot burning sands, through regions marked SHELAL BL by ‘savagery and the bones of perished travellers, had glutted our mental appetites with horrors, even one had not been totally unstrung by 104 hours in the saddle. Nore.—Arabic erthography is the most arbitrary of all spelling when reduced to English sounds. The few words Thave ventured to use in the native tongue are all of them susceptible to at least halt a dozen torms ot ort graphy and syilabication. “Sheyk” is also spelt ‘'sheikh,” “sheik,” “sheayk,” &c.; and other words, generic, geo- graphical and technical, are equally pliable. LORD GORDON. “Gordon Gordon” Called in Court but Fails to Appear—‘Driven Out of the State by the New York Judiciary”—The Complaint Dismissed. The famous Gould-Gordon suit, so fully reported from time to time in the HERALD, came up again yesterday morning before Judge Brady, in the Supreme Court, on a motion to strike out Gordon’s complaint. It will be remem- bered that on a previous occasion Gordon was di- rected to submit to an examination. He failed to appear, and the case was adjourned to give him an opportunity of returning from the West and pre- senting himself in Court for the purposes required. There was a large crowd in attendance, assome in- teresting developments were expected, Mr. D. D. Field called the attention of the Court to the order made in the case, that the complaint should be stricken out unless Gordon appeared for examination. Judge Brady said he remembered the order per- fectly, and thereupon requested the crier to call “GORDON—GORDON,”” which was done with lusty voice, but there was no response to the high sounding name. Mr. Field then moved that default be taken and that the complaint be stricken out. Mr. Strahan—Your Honor’s order in the matter was so peremptory that I have nothing to say in opposition. I received a letter from Mr. Gordon and sent a telegram to him in reply, but he had left the address before the communication arrived at ita destination. {have not had any means of commu- nication with Gordon since the order was made, and if the counsel on the other side insists on taking the default they can do so, Judge Brady observed that he felt disposed to give Mr. Gordon an Kaentatel sg to appear if the counsel could give any reasonable assurance that he would do so. Mr. Strahan said he had no more doubt that Gor- don would appear than that he was standing there. Mr. Field thought they should have some of the rounds of assurance. Ofcourse he did not doubt Mr. Strahan, but he would nevertheless like to have the grounds of assurance. The fact of the matter was, he did not believe he would ever appear. In short, he believed Gordon had left the country, He believed it was another case in which a boi had been driven from the State by the New York judi- ciary. He (Mr. Field) sympathized with some of his friends on the other side, particularly Horace F. Clark, his bondsman. RS ly is oe need not speak for Mr. Horace . Clark. Mr. Field—I don’t speak for him: I sympathize with him. rahan—He does not need any sympathy. id—There is nothing to be done but memorialize tne Legislature to protect foreign lords against the New York judiciary. Judge Brady—If Mr. Strahan can give reasonable assurance, founded upon anything that justifies it in his own mind that Mr. Gordon can appear upon some subsequent day, I would be willing, as I have already stated, to give him an opportunity to do foe but the assurance must be justified by some- thing. . Mt Strahan said it was foanded upon his whole knowledge of the case as counsel. ‘he idea sng- gested by the counsel on the other side was so pe- culiar that he did not want to refertoit. From the terms of the letter he had received from Mr. Gordon, there were certain discretions left with him not at all bearing upon this examination. He had not been able to communicate with his assoctate counsel, as intended, with the view of making proposais to the gentlemen on the other side, and he thonght the Better way would be to let the matter stand over until next Tuesday. Those proposals, how- ever, haa no reference to the appearance or non- appearance of Mr. Gordon in any way. ir. Root intimated that there were very stron; assurances that Gordon had left the country, an never intended to appe: After some further discussion Judge Brady made an order to the effect that the complaint of Gould against Gordon be dismissed, with the understand- ing that if Gordon appeared for examination on the 20th inst. the default would be opened. The other motions in the case were adjourned till that late. BOARD OF POLIOE JUSTICES, The Changes Mado at the Late Special Meeting. At the special meeting of the Board of Police Justices held Thursday afternoon the following changes were made:—Interpreter of the Court of cla Sessions, salary $ George Held, vice J. Jrdticktes Tema doveph shaw, James M.’ Baker, ice vice! ert H. acey, and Lawrence Collins, vicd jam 6 | . Robert Johnson, who has been so long and henjreoy wih the Court as its chief clerk, Was DOt as reported yoaterdare