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The Blue Nile Surpassing even his own previous audacity, Schuver evolved the daring plan to travel up the Blue Nile, then to explore the hinterland of hitherto unknown East Africa. The American Charles Stone encouraged him in this venture. [24] Like many officers, this man had lost his occupation with the ending of the American Civil War of 1861 - 1864, and had then sought refuge in service overseas, becoming Chief of Staff in the Egyptian Army in 1870. In that period the course of the Blue Nile was known as far as Lake Tana, thanks to Bruse's expedition of 1769 - 1772. However, what came after that point remained uncharted. For Westerners the Christian empire of Ethiopia (then known as Abyssinia) remained as legendary as it had been in the Middle Ages. Probably on Stone's order, the president of the Egyptian Cabinet, Riyad Pasha, provided Schuver with the necessary letters of introduction to the local authorities in the Sudan, since any information about the unknown territory to be explored would be very welcome, for military reasons.
After hasty preparations for his journey, Schuver boarded a ship on 1 January 1881 to travel up the Nile. On his journey he was to write to his uncle to send him the materials he needed for his expedition: scholarly books and journals about Africa, measuring instruments of various kinds, trinkets and knick-knacks and other luxury items to give as presents, and Havana cigars and Edam cheese for his own consumption. [26] These things had to be posted to Khartoum. In Egypt and the Sudan he would buy camels and donkeys locally, hire servants, and acquire weapons and other useful items. | |
