![BAKER, Sir Samuel White (1821-1893) ["Baker of the Nile"]. Autograph letter signed to Sir Henry Rawlinson, Khartoum, 2 July 1873, the last paragraph cancelled by an editor, 4 pages, folio; tipped onto an album leaf together with two carte-de-visite photographs of Baker, and a letter and photograph of Florence Baker, letters of the 3rd Duke of Sutherland and the 15th Earl of Derby tipped onto verso; together with four fragments containing his signature (one a fragment of an autograph letter mentioning the Albert Nyanza and a set of mountains, another with the title 'On the tribes of the Nile Basin') and two further photographs of Baker, and one of Sir George Grey.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2004/CKS/2004_CKS_06890_0485_000(074603).jpg?w=1)
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BAKER, Sir Samuel White (1821-1893) ["Baker of the Nile"]. Autograph letter signed to Sir Henry Rawlinson, Khartoum, 2 July 1873, the last paragraph cancelled by an editor, 4 pages, folio; tipped onto an album leaf together with two carte-de-visite photographs of Baker, and a letter and photograph of Florence Baker, letters of the 3rd Duke of Sutherland and the 15th Earl of Derby tipped onto verso; together with four fragments containing his signature (one a fragment of an autograph letter mentioning the Albert Nyanza and a set of mountains, another with the title 'On the tribes of the Nile Basin') and two further photographs of Baker, and one of Sir George Grey.
BAKER ON HIS ACHIEVEMENTS AS GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE EQUATORIAL NILE BASIN, ON THE SEARCH FOR LIVINGSTONE, AND ON THE ORIGINS OF THE NILE. The letter begins with news of the success of a new steamer in negotiating 'Baker's Giraffe', a stretch which he has found much changed: 'Thanks to the great labour that I bestowed upon the river in 1871, my canals have turned into permanent channels of deep water'; Baker sums up his achievements on his impending retirement: 'I left everything in most satisfactory order throughout my territory - The Government firmly established - The natives contented and paying their corn tax - The slave hunters driven out of the country - The officers and troops in good health and spirits'; Baker commends the positive opposition of the Viceroy to the slave trade, and describes the progress made in rendering the White Nile navigable.
A letter from Rawlinson has acquainted Baker with the death of Sir Roderick Murchison, and also with the 'cheering' news of Livingstone's safety [he had been 'found' by Stanley in November 1871]: Baker is however 'astonished' at Livingstone's news that Lake Tanganyika does not have any northern outlet or connection with the Albert Nyanza. His particular grounds for this astonishment are his attempts to trace the explorer through the agency of King Mtese of Uganda - attempts which journeying north. Mtese's messengers had reported that Lake Tanganyika and the Albert Nyanza were one and the same, and 'That you can travel by boat from Ujiji to the North end of the Albert lake -- but that you must have a guide … I am by no means fond of geographical theories but the natives' descriptions were so clear that I accepted [this] as a fact'. The letter closes with a jaundiced view of the ingratitude of his Egyptian employers -- 'an Oriental mode of honesty that is hardly appreciated'. This paragraph has been cancelled and annotated 'Private' by a later hand.
Baker had been appointed Governor-General of the equatorial Nile basin on 1 April 1869 for four years, with a remit which comprised 'the subjection to Egyptian authority of the countries situate south of regular commerce, and the opening to navigation of the great lakes about the Equator' (DNB). In view of his limited time in office, the extent of his success in these tasks was remarkable.
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BAKER ON HIS ACHIEVEMENTS AS GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE EQUATORIAL NILE BASIN, ON THE SEARCH FOR LIVINGSTONE, AND ON THE ORIGINS OF THE NILE. The letter begins with news of the success of a new steamer in negotiating 'Baker's Giraffe', a stretch which he has found much changed: 'Thanks to the great labour that I bestowed upon the river in 1871, my canals have turned into permanent channels of deep water'; Baker sums up his achievements on his impending retirement: 'I left everything in most satisfactory order throughout my territory - The Government firmly established - The natives contented and paying their corn tax - The slave hunters driven out of the country - The officers and troops in good health and spirits'; Baker commends the positive opposition of the Viceroy to the slave trade, and describes the progress made in rendering the White Nile navigable.
A letter from Rawlinson has acquainted Baker with the death of Sir Roderick Murchison, and also with the 'cheering' news of Livingstone's safety [he had been 'found' by Stanley in November 1871]: Baker is however 'astonished' at Livingstone's news that Lake Tanganyika does not have any northern outlet or connection with the Albert Nyanza. His particular grounds for this astonishment are his attempts to trace the explorer through the agency of King Mtese of Uganda - attempts which journeying north. Mtese's messengers had reported that Lake Tanganyika and the Albert Nyanza were one and the same, and 'That you can travel by boat from Ujiji to the North end of the Albert lake -- but that you must have a guide … I am by no means fond of geographical theories but the natives' descriptions were so clear that I accepted [this] as a fact'. The letter closes with a jaundiced view of the ingratitude of his Egyptian employers -- 'an Oriental mode of honesty that is hardly appreciated'. This paragraph has been cancelled and annotated 'Private' by a later hand.
Baker had been appointed Governor-General of the equatorial Nile basin on 1 April 1869 for four years, with a remit which comprised 'the subjection to Egyptian authority of the countries situate south of regular commerce, and the opening to navigation of the great lakes about the Equator' (DNB). In view of his limited time in office, the extent of his success in these tasks was remarkable.
(8)
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