BOUND FOR THE INTERIOR--A SEA VOYAGE--A TORNADO--WE REACH THE
FERNAND-VAZ--SANGALA WISHES TO DETAIN ME--A NIGHT ALARM--PROSPECT
OF A WAR--ARRAYED FOR BATTLE--A COMPROMISE--MY COMMI FRIENDS.
I have been a great wanderer. On the 5th of February, 1857, I was
on board of a little schooner, of forty-five tons burden, bound for
the mouth of a river called Fernand-Vaz. From there I expected to
penetrate into the interior. I was on my way to a wild and unexplored
region.
The name of the schooner was the Caroline. She was full of provisions
and goods for the long journey I had to undertake; for I intended to
make a very long exploration before my return to America. The captain
was a Portuguese negro, Cornillo by name. The crew, seven in number,
were Mpongwes, Mbingos, and Croomen, not more than two of whom could
understand each other, and not a soul could properly understand the
captain. A fine prospect for the voyage!
I got aboard at daylight, and should have been glad to go immediately
ashore again; but, by dint of steady shouting, and a great deal of
standing idle, with a little work now and then, we got the anchor up
just at dusk. The captain did not like to leave port on Friday. I told
him I would take the responsibility. He asked what good that would do
him if he went to the bottom. It appears that the Portuguese have the
same absurd superstitions as many of the sailors of other nations.
No sooner had we got into the swell than our two black women, and every
man on board (except the captain), got sea-sick. The cook was unable to
get the breakfast next morning; and the men were lying about, looking
like dying fish.
We set sail from the Gaboon river, and hoped to get down to the Commi
country in five days. But for four days after starting we had light
wind and a contrary current; and, on the fifth day, we were caught in
such a storm at sea as I hope never to experience again.
The steering went on so badly when Captain Cornillo was below, that I
was forced to stand watch myself. I had been steering for four hours,
and had been perhaps one hour in my berth, when I was awakened from a
sound sleep by the captain's voice, giving orders to take down the
mainsail. I sprang on deck immediately, knowing there must be at least
a heavy squall coming. But no sooner did I cast my eyes to the leeward
than I saw how imminent the danger was. A tornado was coming down upon
us. The black clouds which had gathered about the horizon were becoming
lurid white with startling quickness. It seemed almost as if they were
lit up by lightning. The tornado was sweeping along and in a moment
would be upon us. As yet all was still--still as death. There was not a
breath of wind.
I turned to see if the mainsail was down, but found nothing had been
done. The captain was shouting from the wheel; the men were also
shouting and running about, half scared to death; and, in the pitchy
darkness (for I could not see my hands when held close before my
eyes), no one could find the halliards. In the midst of our trouble
the wind came roaring down upon us. I seized a knife, determined to
cut everything away; but just then somebody let go the halliards, and,
in the nick of time, the mainsail came half-way down. The tornado was
upon us. The jibs flew away in rags in a moment. The vessel was thrown
upon her beam ends. The water rushed over her deck, and the men sang
out that we were drowning; as, in fact, we should have been in a very
few minutes. Happily the wind shifted a little; and, by the light of
some very vivid lightning, we seized on the mainsail, like men that
felt it was their last hope, and pulled it down, holding it so that the
wind should not catch it again. The vessel righted, and in less than
twenty minutes the squall died away, and was succeeded by a driving
rain, which poured down in such torrents that in a very short time I
was drenched to the skin. The lightning and thunder were something
terrific. I was afraid of the lightning, striking us as the Caroline
had no lightning-rod, and we had powder enough on board to blow us
all to atoms. The deck was so leaky that even below I could not get
protection from the rain.
The next morning we had no jibs, and our other sails were severely
damaged. To add to our difficulties, no one on board, not even our
captain, knew where we were. At that time I knew not how to make
astronomical observations. The captain was in the habit of bringing up,
every day, an old quadrant; but about the use of it he knew as much as
a cow does about a musket.
At last we made the land. A canoe came on board, and we asked where
we were. We found that we must be somewhere near Cape St. Catherine,
and therefore a good many miles south of the mouth of the Fernand-Vaz,
the place where I was bound. So we turned about to retrace our path.
Sailing close in shore, when I passed the village of Aniambia, or Big
Camma, the natives came with a message from their king, offering me two
slaves if I would stay with him.
I was immovable, for I had set my heart on going to the Fernand-Vaz
river, of which I heard a good deal, from my friend Aboko, while in the
Cape Lopez regions. As we approached that river, the vast column of
water, pushing seaward, forced its separate way through the ocean for
at least four or five miles; and the water there was almost fresh, and
seemed a separate current in the sea.
At last we came to the mouth of the Fernand-Vaz, and our fame had
gone before us. Some of the Commi people, the inhabitants of the
Fernand-Vaz, had seen me before at Cape Lopez. The news had spread that
I wanted to settle at the village of a chief called Ranpano; so, as we
passed his seashore village, a canoe came off to ask me to land; but as
the breakers were rather formidable, I begged to be excused.
Ranpano's men wanted much to hug me; and were so extravagant in their
joy, that I had to order them to keep their hands off, their shining
and oily bodies having quite soiled my clothes. They went back to the
king to tell him the good news. I kept one of these men on board for a
pilot, being now anxious to get across the intricate bar, and fairly
into the river, before dark.
As we sailed along up the river, canoes belonging to different villages
shot out to meet us; and presently I had a crowd alongside anxious to
come on board, and sufficient almost to sink us. They took me for a
slaver at first, and their joy was unbounded; for there is nothing the
African loves so much as to sell his fellowmen. They immediately called
out their names in Portuguese: one was Don Miguel, another Don Pedro,
another Don Francisco. They began to jabber away in Portuguese. Where
they had learned this language I could not tell, unless it were in
Sangatanga. I could not understand them; so I sent my captain to talk
with them. He had some difficulty to persuade them that I came no such
errand as slave-trading. They insisted that I had, and that the vessel
looked exactly like a slaver. They said we must buy some of their
slaves; they had plenty of them.
They insisted that I should not go to Ranpano. I should put up a
factory in their place. They belonged to Elindé, a town just at the
mouth of the Fernand-Vaz, whose king is named Sangala. They praised the
power and greatness of Sangala, and decried poor Ranpano, until I had
to order all hands ashore for the night, being anxious to get a good
quiet sleep to prepare for the morrow.
During the night, the men on watch said they heard the paddling of a
canoe coming towards us. What could it be? Let us be ready. These men
might be coming to board us and make war. At length the canoe came
within hailing distance; we shouted to them. (I may say that the Commi
speak the same language as the Oroungou people--the inhabitants of
Cape Lopez.) They came, they said, with a message from King Sangala.
I recognised the voice of the head man in the canoe to be that of
Nchouga. He was brother of King Bango of Cape Lopez. Bango had accused
Nchouga of bewitching him, whereupon the latter, to save his life, fled
from the country; and having married one of the daughters of Sangala,
he came to his father-in-law for protection.
Nchouga was a very cunning fellow; fortunately I knew him well, and
he could not fool me so easily as he thought. He came to tell me that
Sangala was the master of all the river; that he was a very great king;
that he would not let me go to Ranpano, who was only a vassal of the
great Sangala; therefore, he advised me as a friend--an old friend--to
go ashore at Elindé.
I could read the cunning rogue. He had been one of the greatest rascals
of Cape Lopez, and his slave dealings had not improved him. So I sent
Nchouga off; I wanted to go to sleep. He had come out to test me; they
thought I was a green hand at slave-trading.
Early next morning Sangala sent off a boat for me. On my arrival at
Elindé, which village was about two miles from the river's mouth, I was
conducted to the best house. Hither presently came King Sangala, who,
in order to nerve himself for the occasion, had got drunk, and came
attended by a great crowd of eager subjects. He grew very angry when I
stated my intention of passing up the river, and going to Ranpano, and
also into the interior. He declared that I should not go; he was the
big king there and everywhere all over the world, and I must settle in
his town.
I declared that I should go on. Sometimes I wonder that they did not at
once make me a prisoner.
We had some sharp words, and I explained to his majesty that I was
an old African traveller, and saw through all his lies; that he was
not the big king of the country, as he said. Then he said I might go
wherever I liked, provided I would have a factory built in his village.
I said that I had no factory to build in his village; but I offered to
"dash" him (give him some presents).
He refused this offer; and now Ranpano, having just come, assured me
that I should be backed up. I told Sangala I should force my way up.
Sangala and all his people shouted with all their might that there
should be war; Sangala, as he got up to say so, reared and tumbled
down, he was so drunk.
So I left Sangala. By that time it rained so hard that no one followed
us. It is wonderful how a crowd is dispersed by a shower of rain.
A great palaver was looming up; the excitement had spread over the
country. In the meantime I had succeeded in going to Ranpano's village,
situated up the river, five or six miles above Elindé. Ranpano gave me
as much land as I wanted. My goods must come to his village; but it
seemed that they could not be brought there without great trouble. Our
canoes would be attacked by Sangala's people. Men would be killed; and
we might be routed, unless we had a powerful force.
One morning the war drums beat. All Ranpano's friends had gathered to
help fight Sangala. Canoe after canoe came in loaded with armed men,
with drums beating, and all hands shouting, and waving their swords,
guns, and spears. All were prepared to assist Ranpano's white man;
all were anxious to burn and plunder Elindé, ready even to die in the
undertaking. There was King Ritimbo, with two canoes and fifty men;
King Mombon, from Sanguibiuri, also had two canoes; altogether we had
no less than twenty big canoes, and could muster about three hundred
men, most of whom were drunk on _mimbo_ (palm-wine), and as noisy and
as ready for fight as drunkenness will make an African. The drums
were beaten, war songs were sung, and guns fired, as we paddled down
the river. All hands had their faces painted white, which is a sign
of war; and were covered with fetiches and other amulets. The white
chalk or ochre was a sovereign protection against danger, and their war
fetiches would prevent them from being killed. I could not recognise
old Ranpano, his body was so daubed with paint.
One would have supposed these terrible fellows were bent upon the most
bloody of raids. I wondered if all this uproar would end in smoke; I
thought it would; nor was I disappointed. As these terrible warriors
approached the village of Elindé they became less demonstrative. When
they came in sight of Sangala's town, they pushed over to the other
shore, out of the way, and took care to keep the Caroline between the
enemy and themselves. The sight of Sangala's warriors had wrought a
wonderful change in their warlike feelings. They really began to think
that there might be some fighting.
We found that Sangala had also gathered his friends, and had about one
hundred and fifty men ready for the fight, who probably felt about as
courageous as my men did. These fellows were painted more outrageously
than mine, having red as well as white applied in broad stripes. They
looked like so many devils shouting and firing guns, each side knowing
their mutual lack of courage, and thinking it prudent to scare the
other in advance.
My men fired guns, sung, and danced war dances. I went on board my
schooner. One small canoe on Sangala's side, with two men, who were
unarmed, started from the shore towards us. This of course meant a
palaver; they came on board of the Caroline, where I was. I sent word
to Sangala, pointing to two little guns we had on deck, that if he
stopped me I would blow his canoes out of the water with grape-shot,
and would then go and bring a man-of-war to finish him up. I loaded my
guns and pistols before them. I made my men put good charges into their
pieces, and showed Sangala's men the bag of bullets I loaded them with,
and then sent them back, and awaited the event.
I spied them with a glass. As soon as they landed the people surrounded
them; there was a grand palaver.
Presently, from Sangala, came a small canoe to ask me ashore. Sangala
sent his Konde (chief wife) to be hostage for my safety. I determined
to go ashore, and, to show these negroes that I had no fear of them, I
took the woman along with me, to her great joy. Ranpano and his brother
kings protested against my rashness as they thought it. "Why not keep
Sangala's woman on board?" said they. But I told them it was not the
fashion of white people to fear anything. They looked at me as if to
say, "If you are not afraid we are." All this had its effect upon them,
and Ranpano and his brother kings were evidently impressed, and so also
was old Sangala when he saw me come with his wife by my side.
We met on neutral ground outside his town. His army was drawn up in
battle array, and made a fine savage display, many of the men wearing
beautiful leopard skins about their waists. They came up to us at full
trot, when we were seated, and made as though they would spear us all;
and, if Sangala had not been close to me, I should have thought it was
to be the end of us all. Ranpano kept whispering in my ears, "Why did
you not keep Sangala's wife on board?"
But this advance upon us was only a kind of military salute. Sangala,
this time, had become more gentle; he was not drunk, and, thinking that
perhaps there might really be a fight, he had become very quiet. He did
not wish to push matters to extremity.
Presently, Sangala said he would let me pass if I would give him a
barrel of rum, a big one. I refused. I said I had none. He insisted
that they must rejoice and get drunk. He wanted to get drunk for
several days, and drink rum to his heart's content. At last, the
palaver was settled, and I gave him many presents; and thereafter King
Sangala became one of my best friends.
Ranpano was delighted; he hugged Sangala; he swore eternal friendship,
and said that he loved him with all his heart. Sangala returned these
compliments. We made a sign, agreed upon to our men, that everything
was settled. Immediately they fired guns, embarked in their canoes, and
came over to Sangala's village. They made a fine display, as all their
canoes came in a line, and they were singing their war songs.
They were met by Sangala's warriors; and they made a rush towards each
other as if they were to have a real fight, and then all was over and
they laughed over the palaver, and swore that they would not hurt each
other for the world.
I need not say how glad I was that everything had ended so well.
Captain Cornillo, when everything looked black, swore that he never
would come again to this wild country; and the crew said I wanted them
all to be murdered.
I found these Commi very good people. I took ashore canoe after canoe,
loaded with goods which might well tempt these poor negroes sorely.
Many of the things were brought loose to Ranpano's; and yet not a
single thing was stolen, not even the value of a penny. They were proud
that I had come to settle among them. I was the first white man who had
done so.
I love these Commi people dearly; and I am sure they all love me also.
They took such great care of me. Ranpano was a very good king, and he
always tried to please me, and so did his people. Now and then they
did wrong; but these poor people knew no better, and they were sorry
afterwards. Not one would have tried to do me an injury, and I could
sleep with my doors wide open.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: AFRICAN BALL. KING OLENGA-YOMBI DANCING.
CHAP. XII.]
[Illustration]