Petherick sought for ivory only, but those who followed him soon found that slave-raiding was more profitable than elephant hunting.
For a considerable portion of the period between 1853 and 1865 John Petherick, a Welshman, originally a mining engineer, explored the Ghazal region, particularly the main stream and the Jur.
The successors of Mehemet Ali, in an endeavour to make the country more profitable, extended their conquests to the south, and in 1853 and subsequent years trading posts were established on the Upper Nile, the pioneer European merchant being John Petherick, British consular agent at Khartum.'