ORGANIZING A NEW EXPEDITION.
Arriving near Nyangwe, one of the first to meet Stanley was the Arab,
Tipo-tipo, or Tipo-tib, or Tippu-tib (which is the proper spelling
neither Cameron nor Stanley seems to know), who had once conducted
Cameron as far as Utotera or the Kasongo country. He was a splendid
specimen of a man physically, and just the one to give Stanley all the
information he wanted respecting Cameron's movements. He told him that
the latter wanted to follow the river to the sea, but that his men were
unwilling to go; besides, no canoes could be obtained for the purpose.
He also told him that after staying a long time at Kasongo, he had
joined a company of Portuguese traders and proceeded south.
One thing was clear: Cameron had not settled the great problem that
Livingstone wished of all things to solve--this great unfinished work
had been left for Stanley to complete, or to leave for some future, more
daring or more successful explorer. Could he get canoes--could he
surmount difficulties that neither Livingstone nor Cameron were able to
overcome? were the grave questions he asked himself. He had long
dialogues with Tipo-tipo and other Arab chiefs, all of whom dissuaded
him from attempting to follow the Lualaba by land, or trying to get
canoes. They told him frightful stories of the cannibals below--of
dwarfs striped like Zebras and ferocious as demons, with poisoned
arrows, living on the backs of elephants, of anacondas, of impenetrable
forests--in short, they conjured up a country and a people that no
stranger who placed any value on his life would dare to encounter.
The fact that the Lualaba flowed north to a distance beyond the
knowledge of the natives was doubtless one, and perhaps the chief,
reason why Livingstone suspected it emptied into the Nile. Stanley now
knew better. How far north it might flow before it turned he could not
say, yet he felt certain that turn west it would, sooner or later, and
empty into the Atlantic Ocean, and the possibility of his tracing it had
a powerful fascination for him. Its course he knew lay through the
largest half of Africa, which was a total blank. Here, by the way, it is
rather singular that Stanley, following Livingstone who alone had
explored Lake Bembe and made it the source of the Lualaba, adopts his
statement, while Cameron, on mere hearsay, should assert that its source
was in marshes. The river, after leaving the lake, flows two hundred
miles and empties into Lake Mweru, a body of water containing about one
thousand eight hundred square miles. Issuing from this, it takes the
name of Lualaba, which it holds and loses by turns as it moves on its
mighty course for one thousand one hundred miles, till it rolls, ten
miles wide at its mouth, into the broad Atlantic as the Congo.
Stanley, from first to last, seemed to have a wonderful power, not only
over the Arabs that composed his expedition as we have before mentioned,
but over all those with whom he came in contact in his explorations.
Notwithstanding all the horrors depicted as awaiting any attempt to
advance beyond Nyangwe, this Tipo-tipo agreed, for $5,000, to accompany
him with a strong escort a distance of sixty camps, on certain
conditions. That he would do it on any conditions was extraordinary,
considering the fact, if it was a fact, that the last attempt to
penetrate this hostile territory resulted in the loss of five hundred
men. The conditions were, that the march should commence from
Nyangwe--not occupy more than three months--and that if Stanley should
conclude, at the end of the sixty marches, that he could not get
through, he would return to Nyangwe; or if he met Portuguese traders and
chose to go to the coast in the direction they were moving, he should
detail two-thirds of his force to accompany said Tipo back to Nyangwe
for his protection.
[Illustration: SCENE IN CAMP AT NYANGWE.]
To all these Stanley agreed, except the one promising, if he concluded
to go on at the end of the sixty marches, to give him two-thirds of the
men of the expedition to see him safely back. On this article of
agreement there was a hitch, and Stanley showed his Yankee education, if
not Yankee birth, by putting in a last article, by which, if Tipo-tipo
through cowardice should fail to complete his sixty marches, he should
forfeit his $5,000, and have no escort for his return. Stanley then gave
him time to think of it, while he went to see young Pocoke and confer
with him. They went over the whole ground together, and Stanley told him
it was a matter of life and death with both of them; failure would be
certain and perhaps horrible death; success would be honor and glory. It
was a fearful picture he drew of the possible future, but Frank's ready
response was, "go on."
At this point Stanley reveals one of his strongest characteristics,
which we mentioned in the sketch of him at the beginning of the
book--the Napoleonic quality of relying on himself. Ordinary
well-established principles and rules often condemned the action of
Bonaparte--results approved them. So ordinary prudence would have turned
Stanley back as it did Cameron--the stories told him of the character of
the tribes in advance--the obstacles he would have to encounter, all the
mystery, perils and uncertainty of the future--the universal warning and
fearful prognostications of those who were supposed to know best--his
isolated condition in the heart of Africa--all things that could
surround a man to deter him in his actions, were gathered there around
that lonely man at that outpost of civilized enterprise; yet, falling
back on himself, rising superior to all outward influences, gauging all
the probabilities and possibilities by his own clear perceptions and
indomitable will, he determined to push forward. If he could not get
canoes, which he feared he could not any more than Cameron, then he
would try to follow the river by land; if that failed, he would make
canoes in the African forest; if he could not go peaceably, he would
fight his way, and not turn back till deserted by his own men and left
alone in the midst of a savage, hostile people. This determination,
under the circumstances, shows him to be no ordinary character, and
marks him as one who in a revolution would control the stormy elements
around him and mount to power or to the scaffold.
There were also minor obstacles attending this desperate effort to trace
the Lualaba to the sea. He had thirteen women in his expedition, wives
of his chief Arabs, some of them with young children, others in various
stages of pregnancy, who would be delivered of children before they
reached the Atlantic coast, and under what circumstances the hour of
travail might come no one knew. It might be in the hour of battle, or in
the desperate race for life, when one hour's delay would be total ruin
to the expedition and death to all. It might be in the struggle and
fight around a cataract, or in the day of extreme famine. A thousand
things had to be taken into consideration before resolving on this
desperate movement. But no matter, the obstacles might even be more
formidable than represented, the risk tenfold greater, his mind was made
up--the secrets of that mysterious river he would unlock, or his last
struggles and mysterious fate would add one more to the secrets it held.
At length the contract with Tipo-tipo to escort him sixty marches was
made and signed, and then Stanley informed his own men of it, and told
them that if at the end of that time they came across a caravan bound
for the west coast, part would join it, and the rest might, if they
wished, return to Nyangwe. They agreed to stand by the contract and
Stanley moved forward into Nyangwe. Here Stanley was received by one of
the two Arab chiefs that bear sway in the place, with becoming courtesy.
He seemed surprised at the orderly, quiet march of this force, and still
more when told that the distance from Tanganika, some three hundred and
forty miles, had been made in about forty days.
Stanley describes minutely the place and its political management, but
seems, like Livingstone and Cameron, to be particularly struck with its
market. This is held every fourth day, and from one to three thousand
people assemble to trade; most of the vendors are women, and the
animated manner in which trade is carried on amused Livingstone
exceedingly. Though he could not understand their language he could
interpret their gestures, which were very expressive. This pleasant
scene, however, was marred one day by a messenger stalking into the
market with ten jawbones of men tied to a string and hanging over his
shoulder, he boasting of having killed and eaten these men and
describing with his knife how he cut them up.
Early in the morning of the market-day the river, as far as its course
can be seen, presents a lively appearance. It is covered with canoes
loaded to their gunwales with natives and articles for the market piled
on each other, and they all press toward one point. Amid the laughter
and jargon of the natives, may be heard the crowing of cocks, and
squealing of pigs and the bleating of goats. Having reached the
landing-place, the men quietly shoulder their paddles and walk up the
bank, leaving the women to carry the articles up to the market-place.
These are placed in large baskets and slung on their backs by a strap
across their foreheads. When this great crowd of two or three thousand
are assembled the babel begins. But the talking and chaffering are done
by the women; the men move about paying but little attention to the
bartering, unless something important, as the sale of a slave, is going
on. The women do not walk about, but having selected a spot where they
propose to do business, they let down the basket, and spreading the
articles on the ground so as to appear to the best advantage, they squat
themselves in the basket, where they look like some huge shell-fish.
The vendors being thus stationary, the buyers also become so, and hence
it is always a close, jammed mass of human beings, screaming, sweating
and sending forth no pleasant odor, for three or four hours. They do not
break up gradually, but on the movement of some important person a
general scramble will commence, and in twenty minutes the whole two
thousand or more will be scattered in every direction. The markets of
this region are held on neutral ground by the various tribes, and their
feuds are laid aside for that day. Except at Nyangwe, uninhabited spots
are selected. The neighboring chiefs are always present, and can be seen
lounging lazily about. Stanley counted fifty-seven different articles
for sale, ranging from sweet potatoes to beautiful girls, while the
currency was shells, beads, copper and brass wire and palm cloth.
There are two foreign chiefs at the place, who are very jealous of each
other, as each wished to be regarded by the natives as the most
powerful. Sheikh Abed, a tall, thin old man with a white beard, occupies
the southern section of the town, and Muini Dugumbi the other. It has
not long been an Arab trading post, for Dugumbi is the first Arab that
came here, and that was no later than 1868, and pitched his quarters,
and now the huts of his friends, with their families and slaves, number
some three hundred. He is an Arab trader from the east coast, and soon
after his arrival he established a harem, composed of more than three
hundred slave women. Though a rollicking, joking man himself, his
followers are a reckless, freebooting set. The original inhabitants of
Nyangwe were driven out by Muini Dugumbi, and now occupy portions of
both sides of the river, and live by fishing, and are said to be a
singular tribe. Stanley estimated there must have been forty-two
thousand of them in the region previous to the coming of this Arab
chief, who spread desolation on every side. There remain to-day only
twenty thousand of this people.
Stanley remained here only about a week, for Tipo-tipo arriving on the
2d of November, he prepared to start on his unknown journey. The
expedition, when he mustered it on the morning of the 4th, numbered one
hundred and seventy-six, armed with sixty-three muskets and rifles, two
double-barreled guns and ten revolvers. Besides these, there were
sixty-eight axes, that Stanley, with great forethought, purchased,
thinking the time might come when he would need them as much as his
guns. Tipo-tipo brought with him seven hundred followers, though only
four hundred were to accompany the expedition the sixty marches.
Together, they made quite a little army, but many of them were women and
children, who always accompany the Arabs in their marches or forays;
still, the force, all drawn up, presented an imposing display. A hundred
of these were armed with flint-lock muskets, the rest with spears and
shields.