RETURN OF DR. JUNKER.
Dr. Junker’s departure from Wadelai--The Bahr-el-Jebel
and Lake Albert--Salt pits at Kibiro--Unyoro--King
Kabrega--Mohammed Biri--Correspondence with Mr. Mackay--Marches
in Unyoro--Arrival at Rubaga--Uganda and its inhabitants--King
Mtesa and King Mwanga--Murder of Bishop Hannington--Emin
Pasha relieved--Passage of Lake Victoria--Arrival at Msalala
mission-station--Appeal to Europe--Arrival at Zanzibar.
On the 2nd of January 1886 Dr. Junker left Wadelai. He went on board
one of the steamers belonging to the station, accompanied by Vita
Hassan, an Egyptian doctor, who was on his way to Unyoro.
The two travellers ascended the Nile, at that part of its course
known as the Bahr-el-Jebel, and measuring nearly three miles across
from bank to bank. As far as Lake Albert navigation is unimpeded by
rapids, although it is rendered somewhat difficult by numerous islets
of reeds and papyrus, and by shallows where hippopotami congregate in
considerable numbers.
On the west the river is bordered by a chain of mountains, clothed
with sparsely-grown forest; on the eastern side the shore is flatter,
extending in wide prairie tracts dotted over with trees. Large herds
of elephants and antelopes seem to abound, as they come down to the
river-bank in the evening to drink.
The most important district on the western shore is Fanigoro, the
residence of the chief Okello. On this side of the river the population
is composed of the Aluri tribe; on the other side, which is equally
well inhabited, the country is occupied by the Shuli.
A short distance to the south of Fanigoro is the northernmost point
of Lake Albert (Muta Nzigé) which was discovered by Sir Samuel Baker
on the 14th of March 1864. Gessi Pasha was the first to complete its
circumnavigation in March and April 1876, since which date it has been
explored successively by Mason Bey and Emin Pasha. At its north-eastern
extremity, the Lake receives the Somerset Nile, the channel of the
overflow from Lake Victoria, and at its extreme south it receives the
Kakibi, a stream also recently investigated by Emin.
After a few days’ sailing Dr. Junker and his companion reached Kibiro,
on the east of the lake, where three large villages, the property of a
chief, Kagoro, are built close to the base of the mountains.
Kibiro is the leading trade-depôt of the district, and the sole
occupation of the people is the procuring and preparation of salt, for
which a demand is found not only in Unyoro, but likewise among the
Uganda on the east, and the Aluri on the west.
The main centre of the salt industry is almost adjacent to the
villages, in the midst of natural gorges and ravines, where blocks of
stone and masses of _débris_ lie in fantastic disorder. Little
streams of water permeate the heated soil, so that jets of vapour are
seen rising all around, the warm water being carried away by means of
troughs supported on stones. Groups of women and children are seen
gathering the earth impregnated with its saline particles into baskets,
which they fill up with water. The mud thus formed is filtered, with
the result that a pure white salt is extracted, which is made up into
cylindrical blocks, and wrapped in dried banana leaves. The salt-pans
render the district comparatively wealthy.
Having landed at Kibiro, Junker and Vita Hassan started off on foot,
eastwards, to the quarters of Kabrega, the Unyoro king.
Overhanging the villages is a series of terraces surmounted by two
isolated peaks, known as Rugoi and Kjente, between which a steep
footway leads to the abode of the monarch. The path is all amongst
blocks of stone and jagged points, the successive terraces rising like
bastions crowned with grassy plateaux, on which trees of any sort are
singularly rare. It was a task of ten hours’ perseverance to reach
the royal residence, which lies eastward of the river Kya, a little
affluent of Lake Albert.
In these unsettled regions the capital is continually being changed
according to the caprice of the ruler. At the time of Baker’s
expedition in 1872, the headquarters were at Masindi; five years later,
when Emin Pasha made his first visit, they had been removed to Nyamoga;
and now quite recently they have been fixed at Giuaïa.
Altogether Unyoro is one of the most important dominions in the country
of the great lakes. It includes the whole land to the south of the
Somerset Nile along the west boundary of Lake Albert; it consists
almost entirely of vast plains, broken by marshes, and studded with
acacia-woods. Bananas, prepared in various ways, are the staple food
of its people, and constitute the crop upon which they mainly depend.
Pasturage is good, and cattle abundant, as likewise are antelopes and
elephants.
In their commercial matters, the inhabitants seem active and adroit.
Unlike other Nile tribes they wear clothes, and the women of the Lango
districts are the best-looking and best-proportioned to be found
throughout the region.
Speke and Grant were amongst the earliest European travellers to
penetrate to Unyoro. In 1863 they stayed for several weeks at the court
of the king Kamrasi, a crafty character, who in the following year
caused Baker no inconsiderable trouble.
In 1872 Baker visited the country again, going this time with a
commission from the Khedive to annex Unyoro to the Egyptian Soudan.
He found the throne occupied by Kamrasi’s son Kabrega, who afterwards
became an ally of Emin’s, and afforded aid and protection to Dr. Junker
on his homeward way.
Concerning this young ruler, however, whose name is frequently
occurring in recent letters and despatches, there would seem to be
a wide diversity of opinion. After staying with him in 1872, Baker
writes:--“On the 26th of April I made my official visit to Kabrega,
my officers being in full uniform, and headed by a band of music. I
found him in his divan, a roomy, well-built structure, with hangings of
inferior printed calico brought from Zanzibar. He was himself dressed
in a piece of black striped bark. This son of Kamrasi, the descendant
of the victorious Gallas, and the sixteenth king of Unyoro, is a lout
about twenty years of age, awkward, unpleasant, cowardly, cruel,
cunning and perfidious to the last degree. He is nearly six feet high,
his complexion fair. His eyes are large, but too prominent; he has a
low forehead, projecting cheek-bones, and a wide mouth, with teeth as
white as ivory. His hands are well-shaped, the finger-nails, as well
as toe-nails, being clean and carefully cut. He wears sandals of raw
buffalo-hide, which are neatly made and turned in at the edges.”
This, certainly, is not a flattering portrait; but, in justice to the
original, it should be stated that Dr. Junker, who saw him fourteen
years afterwards, when he was consequently thirty-four years of age,
says that he “was very favourably impressed by the chief’s appearance,
and should consider him to be of a very amiable disposition.”
Latterly, no doubt, Kabrega has shown himself friendly to Europeans,
having not only several times sent Emin contributions of material
to assist him in his straits, but having done all in his power to
facilitate the conveyance of his correspondence to the coast.
Nevertheless, Casati, after staying at Giuaïa for nearly a year, seems,
like Baker, to have formed a mean opinion of Kabrega. In a letter to M.
Camperio, dated May 2, 1887, he writes:--
“Kabrega makes no secret of his evil intentions; nothing but falsehood
is on his lips. I shall, however, persevere in my mission, although
Emin urges me to abandon it. If I leave here, the road is closed behind
me; and unfortunately no other way is open.”
At Giuaïa Dr. Junker found some Arab traders who for some time had
settled in Kabrega’s domain, but he failed for a while to enter into
negotiations with them, because they were afraid that they should
be compromised by having transactions with him. One day, however,
he received a letter written in French from one of them, a certain
Mohammed Biri, which resulted in a subsequent interview.
This Mohammed proved to be a servant who had once been attached to
the Belgian station of Karema, having followed Captain Ramäckers to
Lake Tanganyika. After that officer’s death, he had returned to the
coast, and was now engaged in the ivory-trade in the districts in the
neighbourhood of the great lakes. He gave the doctor the latest news
of the Soudan, telling him that it had been abandoned by the British
troops; and he described the condition of Uganda, mentioning that some
European missionaries were resident there.
This was a statement that could not fail to arrest Junker’s attention.
It raised his spirits, and he wrote off at once to the Uganda
missionaries. Not that it was an easy matter to get into correspondence
with them, and he had to wait six weeks in anxious suspense before an
answer was brought back. At length, in February, a messenger arrived
from Mr. Mackay of the English mission, bringing the most recent
intelligence from Europe, Egypt, and Zanzibar.
“That day of the arrival of the courier,” writes the doctor, “was truly
a red-letter day to me!” For three years he had had no communication
with the civilised world.
Mr. Mackay confirmed and related in detail the disastrous tidings from
the Soudan; he represented as still very critical the situation of the
missionaries in Uganda, where on the 31st of the preceding October
Bishop Hannington had been murdered at the instigation of the king; and
he likewise stated that a relief-expedition had been organised, and had
started from Zanzibar in August under the charge of Dr. Fischer, but
that it had been prohibited from passing through Uganda, and had been
compelled to return. His advice to Dr. Junker was to use the greatest
caution, and by no means at present to venture without permission
into the territory of the bloodthirsty Mwanga, as the life of any
European was there in perpetual peril. Finally, he enclosed three
letters addressed to Emin Bey; one from Nubar Pasha, the Egyptian Prime
Minister, instructing him to abandon the province of the Equator; one
from Sir John Kirk, the English Consul at Zanzibar; and the third from
the Sultan, Saïd-Bargash.
Then followed three weary and disheartening months. Acting on Mr.
Mackay’s counsel, Junker applied to Mwanga for permission to pass
through his dominions. He knew well enough that elsewhere there was no
chance of purchasing materials for the relief of Emin, nor any chance
of finding for himself means to reach the coast. Pending the receipt
of a reply, he made a move nearer to the Uganda frontier, but on the
way he had the misfortune to injure himself seriously by a fall, and
at the same time found himself in perplexity through the desertion of
his porters, whilst to add to his difficulties it was discovered that
hostilities were recommencing between Unyoro and Uganda.
This state of warfare may be said to be chronic. The two kingdoms are
only separated by a small intervening tract which is overrun by troops
of armed marauders. Across this runs the natural route for caravans,
and all the Arab and native traders, travelling between Lake Victoria
or Lake Albert and the Soudan, have to be protected by an escort, and
so dangerous is the country that the march is most frequently made by
night.
After meeting with many obstacles and effecting some hair-breadth
escapes, Junker found himself safely over this debateable land, and
having obtained the permission for which he had asked, he entered the
Uganda territory, and arrived in May at Rubaga, King Mwanga’s capital.
Of all the large states in the basin of Lake Victoria, none is so
well known as that of Uganda. It encompasses the north and north-west
sides of the Lake, and its area can hardly be estimated at much less
than 20,000 square miles. According to the accounts of the travellers
who have gone through it, there seems little doubt that it is one of
the finest parts of Equatorial Africa, its soil near the Lake being
exceptionally fertile. The forests are luxuriant, containing trees of
the largest growth; beyond these are plains abundant in pasturage for
cattle, bananas and fig-trees flourishing in perfection. Further west,
the country changes its character, and instead of woods and prairies,
there are imposing hills rifted into valleys, that echo with the
rushing of torrents and the roar of cataracts.
The first chief of Uganda who was ever visited by Europeans was
the notorious Mtesa, who has been repeatedly pourtrayed by Speke,
Chaillé-Long, Stanley, Linant de Bellefond, and others. Always ready to
welcome the white man with cordiality, in 1880 he had advanced so far
as to make up his mind to despatch an embassy to Europe.
Several weeks, in 1874, were spent at the court of this negro sovereign
by Stanley, who gives a very striking account of Uganda, its ruler, and
his military power. At a review of the army to which he was invited, he
computed that there could be no less than 150,000 soldiers, who were
then about to be led on an expedition against the Wahuma. The bodyguard
was composed of 600 picked men, all armed with rifles. Besides the
army, the chief’s harem, consisting of 5000 wives, concubines, and
slaves, was exhibited on parade. In Central Africa, as well as upon
the banks of the Upper Nile and the Congo, a large number of wives is
regarded as a proof of wealth; each woman has her market value, and
may at any time be exchanged for stuffs, guns, beads, cattle, or other
merchandise.
Mtesa’s navy was hardly less imposing than his army. On the lake were
230 war-canoes of all sizes; the largest was seventy-five feet long
and manned by sixty-four rowers. Altogether the naval force was eight
thousand men.
Some doubts have been expressed as to the accuracy of the foregoing
figures; yet when the testimony of such men as Wilson and Felkin,
missionaries who have resided in the country, is taken into account,
stating the population to exceed 5,000,000, and when moreover it is
remembered that every man is trained to arms, so as to be ready for
immediate service, the muster of 150,000 soldiers in time of war does
not lie outside the range of probability.
But whether this estimate be exaggerated or not, it is certain that
travellers are of one mind in declaring that of all the African states
Uganda is the most advanced in all matters pertaining to civilisation;
and since 1862, when Speke and Grant first made their way thither, no
other tribe has made so forward a stride in internal development.
Equally rich and diversified are the products of the soil; the climate
is by no means variable and comparatively healthy; the inhabitants
(numerous as it has been affirmed they are) are brave, intelligent, and
singularly open to the influences of civilisation, whether from Arabs
or Europeans. The Arabs from Zanzibar, quite as much as the English and
French missionaries, are struggling hard for mastery over the minds of
the people, and Islamism is making marked progress.
It has not taken much more than twenty years for Arab example to effect
a complete revolution in the costume of the natives. At the date of
Speke’s visit, clothing was worn to the most limited extent; but now
the Uganda as well as the Unyoro dress themselves from head to foot.
Arab garments have gradually replaced the “mbougu” of bark, and the
very poorest of the people are seen attired in haïk, shirt, waistband
and caftan, and wear tarbooshes or turbans on their heads.
Mtesa died in 1885; he was succeeded by his son Mwanga, who is now the
reigning sovereign.
No sooner was Mwanga on the throne than he began to feel uneasy about
the maintenance of his independence, and to have misgivings lest
the advance of Europeans on Lake Victoria should damage or diminish
his authority. Every fresh advent of an exploring party, every new
arrival of missionaries, and especially any display of military
strength, and--not least--the territorial acquisitions of the Germans
in Zanzibar, all served to arouse his suspicion and to increase his
apprehensions. As his alarm increased the position of the English
and French missionaries at Rubaga grew more and more critical; and
at last his fears that the white man would come and “eat up” all his
lands became so intense that he gave orders for all intruders to be
massacred. Hence resulted the cruel murder of Bishop Hannington, who
had ventured into Uganda with the hope of establishing a Christian
settlement. Out of a caravan of fifty who came with him, only four
escaped.
Such was the condition of the country into which Dr. Junker now dared
to enter. He was obliged to act with the utmost circumspection, and so
remained unmolested for six weeks in the royal capital. Moreover, as
the result of his patience, and through the mediation of Mr. Mackay, he
succeeded in effecting a purchase of stuffs for Emin Bey to the value
of 2000 dollars. Mohammed Biri, the merchant whom he had met in Unyoro,
chanced to be in Rubaga, and undertook the conveyance of the goods
to Wadelai, a good service which he faithfully executed after some
opposition on the part of the king, to the great relief of Emin and his
followers, who had been so far reduced towards a state of nudity, that
they had been compelled to clothe themselves with the skins of animals.
Having thus enjoyed the satisfaction of providing in some degree for
the needs of those whom he had left behind, Junker turned his thoughts
to the prosecution of his journey. He made a few hurried preparations,
and on the 22nd of July, embarking on one of the mission-boats, he set
out to cross Lake Victoria.
The great Nyanza, discovered by Speke on the 4th of August 1858, and
named by him after his own sovereign, is the largest lake-basin in
the whole continent of Africa. Its area is 21,500 square miles, so
that it is twice as large as Belgium; there is only one lake in the
world that exceeds it in size, namely, Lake Superior in Canada. Its
vast surface is studded with islands, some 250 of which are clustered
in the north-west into an archipelago known as Sesse, all of them
characterised by singular beauty.
Storms and waterspouts are of frequent occurrence; and contrary winds
with violent squalls compelled Dr. Junker more than once to take
refuge on some of the islands, so that it was not until the 16th of
August, twenty-six days after starting, that he reached the southern
extremity of the lake, where he landed near the village of Msalala,
the missionaries from the settlement there hastening to offer him
hospitality, and aiding him to procure the means for continuing his
journey to the coast.
Now secure from all the perils of barbarism, he wrote a letter to Dr.
Schweinfurth, expressing his emotion at his deliverance, after six
weeks’ sojourn in Uganda, from the hands of the bloody king who had
murdered the English bishop, and, at the same time, exhibiting his
deep anxiety on behalf of those whom he had left at Wadelaï, and who
had been so closely associated with him in trial and danger. A copy of
portions of this letter is appended:--
“ENGLISH MISSION, MSALALA,
SOUTHERN EXTREMITY OF LAKE VICTORIA,
_April 16th, 1886_.
“DEAR FRIEND,--Escaped from the clutches of Mwanga, of Uganda, I
reached this place this morning, and hasten to take advantage
of the first courier leaving the Mission for the coast, to send
you a few lines.
“Forty porters and a few Zanzibaris have been already engaged,
and in a few days I hope to continue my journey towards Ujiji,
thence to Bagamoyo.
“Is it possible that nothing is being done for these unfortunate
equatorial provinces?... Write, my dear friend, write!... Let
vigorous articles from your pen be at once the means of opening
the eyes of the public to the truth....
“For my part, I shall do what is possible. It is absolutely
necessary that Emin Bey should at once have relief. At Uganda I
managed to procure him 2000 dollars’ worth of cotton goods, in
spite of the obstacles which Mwanga threw in the way. These were
to be conveyed to him by a certain Mohammed Biri, but had not
been despatched when I was obliged to leave.
“European prestige here is already on the decline. It will be a
dire disgrace if Europe makes no effort now. Let Mwanga and his
agents be put down! Let Uganda be rescued from their power! Let
Emin Bey be delivered from danger! Let the equatorial provinces
be re-conquered!
These are the hopes that animate me as I come back to Europe.
Write to me, I pray you. Send me a long letter to Zanzibar.--I
close this in haste. Your affectionate friend, lost and found
again,
“WILHELM JUNKER.”
When, two months later, these lines were submitted to the public in
Egypt and in Europe, no one could read them unmoved; they made the
state of things so clear, and witnessed so unmistakably to the perilous
situation of Emin, exposed, without provisions or ammunition, to the
attack of hostile tribes, and especially to the treachery of the bloody
Mwanga, that the appeal of one who had shared his imprisonment, and
had escaped only by facing terrible risks, could not fail to arrest
attention and to excite a generous sympathy.
Helped forwards on his journey by the Msalala missionaries, Junker
reached Ujiji, near Tabora, on the 18th of September, whence he had the
escort of the renowned Tippoo Tib, the Arab trader, who had rendered
such signal service to Livingstone, Cameron, and Stanley, and without
further misadventure arrived at Zanzibar at the beginning of December.
On the 10th of January 1887, he landed at Suez, where he was met by his
brother, the banker of St. Petersburg, and by Dr. Schweinfurth.
He had spent seven years in the heart of Africa.