GORDON CHARLES GEORGE: (1833-1885) British Major General, known as 'Chinese Gordon'. An interesting

GORDON CHARLES GEORGE: (1833-1885) British Major General, known as 'Chinese Gordon'. An interesting

‘The natives are utterly uninteresting naked savages’

 

 

GORDON CHARLES GEORGE: (1833-1885) British Major General, known as ‘Chinese Gordon’. An interesting A.L.S., C. G. Gordon, two pages, 8vo, Entrance of Sobat River, 15^th July 1874, to Newsome. Gordon writes a social letter to his friend in London, in part, 'I am all right, and in good spirits. I am glad to say this is a good sign for when a man gets depressed he is likely to get fever…..I have had no news since I left Cairo except one batch of old letters……I never was so glad as I am at not having a large staff. The trouble I have had with the little one I have got was far more than I have had with the slavers. There is very little shooting as far as I can see. You come across large herds of Antelopes, but they are soon off, and are very shy. You see Ostriches & Giraffes, but if you kill one, what is the use of it? The natives are utterly uninteresting naked savages, nothing more than animals who are always hungry. My great amusement is my Doctoring the soldiers. I am now a pretty good medical man for the ordinary diseases. I go to bed as every one else does at sunset (the mosquitoes will not let you sit up) & rise at sunrise. Life ebbs away quietly and although I cannot expect to do much, I think I shall do something towards the welfare of these parts, at any rate I have made them more accessible by moving about quickly & showing people that they are not so far off as they have appeared to be'. A letter of good content. Some light age wear and minor creasing and with a couple of very small areas of paper loss to two edges, about VG

 

The Sobat River is a river of the Greater Upper Nile region in north-eastern South Sudan, Africa.