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Schuver in the Sudan (1881 - 1883) Between the Blue and the White Nile In August 1881 Schuver travelled to the Oromo region. [37] He presented himself to the local rulers as the ambassador oft he 'United Kingdom of Frankistan', and impressed people greatly when he let off a rifle-shot into the air, or allowed them to listen to the ticking of his watch. The regions of the Oromo were riven by internal rivalries, and were under threat from the Ethiopians, who were establishing increasing numbers of military colonies. In the course of one of Schuver's scouting trips in this area, he discovered a large lake which he named the Haarlemmermeer. [38] Sadly, it would appear later on that the stretch of water the Dutchman had taken for a lake was in fact merely the result of temporary flooding. In the spring of 1881 he returned to Fadasi, where he met a new travelling companion. This man was an unnamed Hungarian tramp who spoke eight languages, including Latin, but who - in Schuver's opinion - was useless for anything demanding an atom of intelligence. Between December 1881 and February 1882 the explorer penetrated the valley of the White Nile, the Berta region to the west of Fadasi, and the paradisical Kwama country to the south-west, until illness compelled him to return to Famaka. [39] From Famaka, Schuver began a journey at the end of April 1882, to the Blue Nile and the Sudanese-Ethiopian border region. [40] His companions, besides the Hungarian, were Luigi Mondo, an Italian monkey hunter working for a Hamburg zoo. The former slave Jaber was still a welcome help to Schuver, but he was reinforced by two other youths from the region, Khamis and Abina. At times Schuver's little party encountered some hostility when he was taken for a slave trader or Turkish spy, but there were no serious mishaps. What is more, Schuver was sensible enough not to venture into the region being annexed and colonised by the Ethiopians. | |
