The wild speculator borrows upon such terms, to rise suddenly like a rocket, or to fall like its exhausted stick.
Thus, honest enterprise being impossible, dishonesty takes the lead, and a successful expedition to the White Nile is supposed to overcome all charges.

There are two classes of White Nile traders, the one possessing capital, the other being penniless adventurers.

The same system of operations is pursued by both, but that of the former will be evident from the description of the latter.
A man without means forms an expedition, and borrows money for this purpose at 100 per cent.

after this fashion: he agrees to repay the lender in ivory at one-half its market value.

Having obtained the required sum, he hires several vessels and engages from 100 to 300 men, composed of Arabs and runaway villains from distant countries, who have found an asylum from justice in the obscurity of Khartoum.