EXPLORATION OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA.
The voyage continued along the northern and then along the western shore
of the lake, revealing at almost every turn new features of scenery and
some new formation of land or new characteristic of the people, till the
journey was like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope. A tribe friendly and
trusting would be succeeded by one suspicious or treacherous, so that it
was impossible to be governed by any general rule, and Stanley was
compelled to be constantly on the alert, watching the motions of each
tribe without reference to the actions of the last, and laying his plans
accordingly. He continued his course down the western shore toward his
camp from which he started, finding this side more densely populated
than the others, and the tribes that occupied it of a more independent,
fearless character, and more inclined to hostilities.
At Uvuma, an independent country and the largest on the Victoria Nyanza,
the hostility took a more determined form. The natives made signs of
friendship to induce Stanley's party to come near the shore. They did
so, sailing up to within a few yards of it. At that point a large
number of natives were hid behind the trees, who suddenly emerged and
hurled a shower of huge stones at the boat in order to sink it. Stanley
instantly ordered the helm to be put hard up, and the boat was quickly
steered away from the dangerous spot, but not before Stanley, enraged at
this act of treachery, leveled his revolver at the wretches and dropped
one of them.
Going on some miles farther, they entered a channel between some islands
and the shore, where they discovered a fleet of canoes, thirteen in
number, with over one hundred warriors in them, armed with shells, and
spears, and slings. The foremost one had some sweet potatoes aboard,
which one of the natives held up as though he wished to trade. Stanley
ordered the crew to cease rowing, but as the breeze was light the sail
was kept up, and the progress was so slow that this canoe soon came up.
While he was bargaining for the potatoes, the other boats approached and
completely surrounded the Lady Alice and began to reach over and seize
everything they could lay hands on. Stanley warned them away with his
gun, when they jeered at him and immediately seized their spears, while
one man held up a string of beads he had stolen and dared Stanley to
catch him. With that promptness which has many a time saved his life,
the latter drew his revolver and shot the villain dead. Spears instantly
flashed in the air, but Stanley seizing his repeating rifle poured shot
after shot into them, knocking over three of them in as many seconds,
when the amazed warriors turned in flight. He then seized his elephant
rifle and began to pour its heavy shot into their canoes, throwing them
into the wildest confusion. As they now continued on their way, an
occasional shot from the big gun waked the echoes of the shore to
announce beforehand what treatment treachery would receive.
As they kept on to the northward, they felt the current drawing them on,
and soon they came to the Ripon Falls, their foam and thunder
contrasting strangely with the quietness of the lake a short time
before, and the silence and tranquility of the scene. It was the Nile
starting on its long journey to the Mediterranean, fertilizing Egypt in
its course. Coasting westerly, they came to the island of Krina, where
they obtained guides to conduct them to King Mtesa, the most renowned
king of the whole region. Sending messengers to announce to the king his
arrival, Stanley continued to coast along Uganda, everywhere treated
with kindness, so far as words went, but very niggardly in fact.
He here observed a curious phenomenon. He discovered an inlet in which
there was a perceptible tide, the water flowing north for two hours and
then south for the same length of time. On asking the guides if this was
usual, they said yes, and it was common to all the inlets on the coast
of Uganda. At Beya they were welcomed by a fleet of canoes sent to
conduct them to the king.
On the 4th of April, Stanley landed, amid the waving of flags, volleys
of musketry and shouts of two thousand people, assembled to receive him.
The chief officer then conducted him to comfortable quarters, where,
soon after, sixteen goats, ten oxen, with bananas, sweet potatoes,
plantains, chickens, rice, milk, butter, etc., etc., in profuse
quantities were sent him.
In the afternoon, the king sent word to his guest, that he was ready to
receive him. Issuing from his quarters, Stanley found himself in a
street eighty feet broad and half a mile long, lined with the personal
guards, officers, attendants and retinue of the king, to the number of
three thousand. At the farther end of this avenue was the king's
residence, and as Stanley advanced he could dimly see the form of the
king in the entrance, sitting in a chair. At every step volleys of
musketry were fired and flags waved, while sixteen drums beaten together
kept up a horrible din. As he approached the house, the king, a tall,
slender figure, dressed in Arab costume, arose and advancing held out
his hand in silence, while the drums kept up their loud tattoo. They
looked on each other in silence. Stanley was greatly embarrassed by the
novelty of the situation, but soon the king, taking a seat, asked him to
be seated also, while a hundred of his captains followed their example.
[Illustration: RECEPTION OF MTESA'S BODY GUARD, PRIME MINISTER AND
CHIEFS.]
Lifting his eyes to the king, Stanley saw a tall and slender man, but
with broad, powerful shoulders. His eyes were large, his face
intelligent and amiable, while his mouth and nose were a great
improvement on those of the ordinary negro, being more like those of a
Persian Arab. As soon as he began to speak, Stanley was captivated by
his courteous, affable manner. He says that he was infinitely superior
to the sultan of Zanzibar, and impressed you as a colored gentleman who
had learned his manners by contact with civilized, cultivated men,
instead of being, as he was, a native of Central Africa, who had seen
but three white men before in his life. Stanley was astonished at his
innate polish and he felt he had found a friend in this great king of
this part of the country, where the tribal territories are usually so
small. His kingdom extends through three degrees of longitude and almost
as many of latitude. He professes Islamism now, and no cruelties are
practised in his kingdom. He has a guard of two hundred men, renegades
from Baker's expedition, defalcators from Zanzibar, and the _elite_ of
his own kingdom.
Behind his throne or arm-chair, stood his gun-bearers, shield-bearers
and lance-bearers, and on either side were arranged his chief courtiers,
governors of provinces, etc., while outside streamed away the long line
of his warriors, beginning with the drummers and goma-beaters. Mtesa
asked many intelligent questions, and Stanley found that this was not
his home, but that he had come there with that immense throng of
warriors to shoot birds. In two or three days, he proposed to return to
his capital at Ulagala or Uragara (it is difficult to tell which is
right). The first day, for Stanley's entertainment, the king gave a
grand naval review with eighty canoes, which made quite an imposing
display, which the king with his three hundred wives and Stanley viewed
from shore. The crews consisted of two thousand five hundred men or
more. The second day, the king led his fleet in person to show his
prowess in shooting birds. The third day, the troops were exercised in
general military movements and at target practice, and on the fourth,
the march was taken up for the capital.
In Mtesa Stanley sees the hope of Central Africa. He is a natural born
king and tries to imitate the manners, as he understands them, of
European monarchs. He has constructed broad roads which will be ready
for vehicles whenever they are introduced. The road they traveled
increased from twenty to one hundred and fifty feet as they approached
the capital, which crowned a commanding eminence overlooking a beautiful
country covered with tropical fruit and trees. Huts are not very
imposing, but a tall flagstaff and an immense flag gave some dignity to
the surroundings.
The capital is composed of a vast collection of huts on an eminence
crowned by the royal quarters, around which run five several palisades
and circular courts, between which and the city runs a circular road
from one hundred to two hundred feet in width, from whence radiate six
or seven magnificent avenues lined with gardens and huts.
The next day, Stanley was introduced into the palace in state. The
guards were clothed in white cotton dresses, while the chiefs were
attired in rich Arab costumes. This palace was a large, lofty structure
built of grass and cane, while tall trunks of trees upheld the
roof--covered inside with cloth sheeting. On the fourth day, the
exciting news was received that another white man was approaching the
capital. It proved to be Colonel Lerant de Bellfonds of the Egyptian
service, who had been dispatched by Colonel Gordon to make a treaty of
commerce with the king and the khedive of Egypt.
This Mtesa, we said, was a Mohammedan, having been converted by Khamis
Ben Abdullah some four or five years before. This Arab, from Muscat, was
a man of magnificent presence, of noble descent, and very rich, and
dressed in splendid Oriental costume. Mtesa became fascinated with him,
and the latter stayed with the king over a year, giving him royal
presents and dressing him in gorgeous attire.
No wonder this brilliant stranger became to such a heathen a true
missionary. But Stanley, in a conversation with the king, soon upset his
new faith, and he agreed at once to observe the Christian as well as the
Moslem Sabbath, to which his captains also agreed. He, moreover, caused
the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Golden Rule, "Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," to be written on a board for his
daily perusal. In stating this remarkable fact, Stanley says; "Though I
am no missionary, I shall begin to think I may become one if such
success is so feasible;" and exclaims, "Oh, that some pious, practical
missionary would come here. What a field and harvest, ripe for the
sickle of the Gospel. Mtesa would give him everything he
desired--houses, cattle, lands, ivory, etc. He might call a province his
own in one day." But he says he must not be a theological one, nor a
missionary of creeds, but a practical Christian, tied to no church or
sect, but simply profess God and His Son, and live a blameless life and
be able to instruct the people in building houses, cultivating land, and
in all those things that make up human civilization. Such a man, Stanley
says, would become the temporal saviour of Africa. Mtesa begged Stanley
to tell such men to come, and he would give them all they wanted.
The subjects of this heathen king number not far from two millions, and
Stanley affirms that one good missionary among them would accomplish
more toward the regeneration of Africa in one year than all other
missionaries on the continent put together. He suggests that the mission
should bring to Mtesa several suits of military clothes, heavily
embroidered, pistols, swords, dinner-service, etc., etc. This sounds
rather strange to the modern missionary, and seems like trusting too
much to "carnal weapons," but it is eminently practical. Anything to
give the missionary a firm footing on which to begin his labors is
desirable, if not wrong in itself or leading to wrong. For its own use
the mission should, he says, bring also hammers, saws, augers, drills
for blasting, and blacksmith and carpenter-tools, etc., etc. In short,
the missionary should not attempt to convert the black man to his
religious views simply by preaching Christ, but that civilization, the
hand-maiden of religion, should move side by side with it in equal step.
The practical effect of the missionary work, in order to influence the
natives, must not be merely a moral change, which causes the convert to
abjure the rites and follies of Paganism, but to lift the entire people,
whether converted or not to Christianity, to a higher plane of
civilization. We know there are different theories on this subject, but
we think that Stanley's mode might safely be tried. It was tried, after
a fashion, almost immediately, but the station has been broken up and
the missionaries murdered.
Perhaps it is as good a place here as anywhere to correct a wrong
statement that has been going the rounds of the papers, which puts
Stanley in a false light. It was not pretended that King Mtesa had
anything to do with this outrage, but that a tribe with which Stanley
had had a fight, killing some of its number, committed it in revenge for
what he did. The truth is, the mission was established by enthusiasts,
and some three or four started with false views and hopes entirely. Only
two of them reached the ground, one of them not being a minister. They
were, however, well received, and allowed to go to work. The king, or
chief of a neighboring tribe, had a daughter with whom a native fell in
love. This man was repugnant to the father, and he refused to let him
have his daughter for a wife. The consequence was they eloped and fled
to the island on which the missionaries were stationed, and placed
themselves under their protection and remained with them. The enraged
savage heard of this, and doubtless believing that the missionaries had
connived at the elopement--certainly harbored the fugitives against his
wish--attacked the station and murdered the missionaries. How much or
how little they were to blame, or, if not guilty of any wrong, how
unwisely they acted, they unfortunately do not live to tell us. But
Stanley's conduct in that region had nothing to do with the tragedy. It
was an act of wild justice by an enraged and savage chieftain, and
militates in no way against carrying out the project of Stanley.