RETREAT OF THE FIFTEEN HUNDRED.
The start--Stanley’s illness--Mutiny--On the march--Skirmishes
with the Warasura--Crossing the Semliki--The affluent of
Lake Albert--In the valley--Mountains of the Moon--Speke’s
geographical genius--Alpine climbing--The Usongora--Town of
Kative--Lake Albert Edward--Sources of the Nile.
In the history of antiquity there is the record of a retreat above all
others great and glorious. It was that of the 10,000 Greeks who after
the battle of Cunaxa, through perils and dangers of every kind, without
food, without guides, through wild and terrible country, pursued and
harassed by Artaxerxes and his Persians, at last attained their native
land. A thousand miles from the sea which they had thought never to
behold again, they accomplished their march in 120 days, mainly owing
to the skill and courage of their leaders. Of these Xenophon, who was
one of the heroes of this memorable campaign, afterwards became its
immortal historian.
We are now face to face with an achievement of a similar kind; which
cannot fail to take its place in the pages of the world’s history, and
which will have for its narrator the man who has accomplished the deed.
It is true there were not 10,000 men that Stanley had to convoy to
the shore of the Indian Ocean; but his caravan included many helpless
women, children, and slaves. Instead of brave and well-disciplined
forces, he had to control artful and cowardly Egyptians, timid negroes,
and Zanzibaris, who though loyal, were lazy. On the other hand, it was
not 1000 but more than 1500 miles that he had to travel before reaching
the harbour of safety, a distance equal to that covered in Napoleon’s
retreat from Moscow.
Moreover, he was in the heart of the dark continent, beneath the
burning rays of an equatorial sun, on the threshold of that mysterious
region, the birthplace of the Nile, of which centuries of research
failed to unveil the secrets.
And whilst he has thus thrown the achievements of the 10,000 into the
shade, he has revealed an unknown country to the eyes of science, has
introduced new nations to the world of history, has found the solution
to the long-tried problem of the origin of the “Father of rivers.”
On April 10th, 1889, the camp at Kavalli was raised, and the caravan
started, an interminable file of soldiers, porters, women, and
children, carrying provisions, ammunition, and baggage of all sorts,
and accompanied by all the cattle that could be procured. The retreat
had commenced.
They encamped at Mazamboni’s on the 12th. The same night Stanley was
struck down with severe illness, which well-nigh proved fatal. For
some time his life was in danger, but thanks to his good constitution,
and the careful nursing and attention of Dr. Parke, the disorder was
overcome, and the patient was convalescent.
Stanley’s illness delayed the advance of the caravan for twenty-eight
days. During that time several conspiracies were afloat in the camp
amongst Emin’s soldiers. Only one, however, was attempted to be
realised. The ringleader, a slave of Awach Effendi’s, whom Stanley had
made free at Kavalli, was arrested, and after court-martial, which
found him guilty, was immediately executed. From that time there was no
further breach of discipline.
By May 8th, the column was able to resume its march. The route was to
the south, skirting the region of the forests, which Stanley with his
present party would not have dared to face, as the Egyptians seemed
to have very vague notions about the journey. Besides, there was the
question of food, which would prevent a company of 1500 people from
attempting a passage through a district where caravans of only 200 or
300 had sometimes narrowly escaped perishing with hunger. Nevertheless,
though much has been said to the contrary, Stanley never regretted
that he went to Emin’s relief by way of the Aruwimi, instead of from
Zanzibar through the Masai country. This may be seen from the following
extract from a letter that he wrote to Sir William Mackinnon:--
“By-the-bye, Emin Pasha said it was very lucky I did not approach him
from the east by way of the Masai and Ukedo, or Langgo as he calls it.
The Langgo land is a great waterless desert for the most part. Even if
we had been able to pierce through the Wakedi, it is doubtful if the
want of food and water had not annihilated the expedition.... Now that
we know the Ituri so well, I feel convinced that we could not have
chosen a better route.”
All the district extending southwards to the Muta Nzigé has recently
fallen under the sovereignty of Kabrega, the rapacious potentate of
Unyoro, who has made a bold push in this direction, his bands of
marauders keeping the entire neighbourhood in a state of agitation.
In making his advance, Stanley did not escape the necessity of using
powder and shot. First, the warlike Warasura, the name given to the
Wanyoro in that district, congregated near the village of Buhobo, and
endeavoured to waylay the caravan. They were routed, and fled in all
directions.
Then two days later, whilst crossing the Semliki, the war-cry was heard
again, and a well-directed volley of arrows was discharged upon their
rear. Guns were again brought into use, and the natives were chased for
some distance. Henceforward the course was clear.
Stanley was now on the threshold of a land of wonders. The valley of
the Semliki lay outstretched before him, extending to the south-west
far as the eye could reach. In its midst, bending now to the
north-east, now to the north-west, 80 to 100 yards wide, and averaging
9 feet in depth, flowed the river, its rapid current bearing the
ample volume of its waters towards the Albert Nyanza. On either hand
were fertile plains, dotted over with villages, groves of bananas
and acacias, well cultivated fields, and splendid pastures. These
are bounded east and west by ridges of hills rising from 300 to 900
feet above the level of the valley, and crowned by vast plateaus that
slope gradually eastwards to the Congo, and on the north-west join the
table-land of Unyoro.
In the central portion of this latter region the hills rise ridge upon
ridge, and there is one great mountain chain that culminates in a
snow-clad peak, probably 17,000 feet in height, the Ruwenzori, known by
the natives as the “Cloud-King.”
Ancient writers were well aware that beyond the sands of the desert
lay a system of inland lakes connected by streams that together formed
the Nile; behind these lakes, they averred, was a chain of mighty
mountains, to which they gave the name of “Mountains of the Moon.” The
earliest explorers of Eastern Africa imagined that in Mounts Kenia and
Kilima-Njaro, those other snow-peaks of the equatorial regions, they
had discovered these mountains of the moon; but Captain Speke, with the
marvellous clairvoyance of which he gave so many proofs during his
short career, marked them on his map as lying between Lake Albert and
Lake Tanganyika. Utilising with a rare sagacity the information that he
picked up from the natives along his route, he came to the conclusion
that away to the north-west was a lake--Muta Nzigé--and that this lake
was bounded by a lofty mountain range that could be no other than the
ancient Mountains of the Moon.
Twenty years ago this hypothesis was the cause of much scientific
discussion. Speke’s assertions were violently attacked, especially by
Captain Burton, his fellow traveller. Then the matter was forgotten.
But direct observation has proved that Speke was right. Stanley has
now brought the Mountains of the Moon within the range of positive
knowledge, and that in the very locality which Speke had indicated,
thus rendering a striking tribute to the geographical genius of his
illustrious predecessor.
To Europeans the mysteries of this ancient range have always been
the subject of much curiosity, and almost all the officers of the
expedition had a keen desire to distinguish themselves as climbers
of these African Alps. Lieutenant Stairs succeeded in attaining the
greatest altitude, but had the mortification to find two deep gulfs
between him and the snowy mount proper.
Early on the morning of June 6th, accompanied by some forty Zanzibaris,
he left the camp, and commenced the ascent of the mountain. For the
first 300 yards the climbing was fairly good, the path being through
long rank grass. At 8.30 the thermometer registered 75° F. The aspect
of the country here became different, and on all sides there could be
seen dracænas, and here and there an occasional tree-fern and Mwab palm.
At 10.30, after some sharp climbing, the mountaineers reached the last
settlement of the natives. The thermometer then read 84° F. Beyond the
settlement the way led through a forest of bamboos, which became denser
as they ascended. They now noticed a complete and sudden change in the
air; it became much cooler and more pure and refreshing, and in another
two hours the thermometer had fallen to 70°. It was now past midday.
Right ahead of them, rising in one even slope for 1200 feet, stood a
peak, which they now started to climb. The ascent was most difficult,
as in some places it was covered with arborescent bushwood some 20 feet
high, and in others with a thick spongy carpet of wet slippery moss,
studded with blue violets and lichens.
Shortly after 4 P.M. they halted to encamp for the night at an
altitude of 8500 feet. On turning in, the thermometer registered only
60°, and the Zanzibaris, who were lightly-clad, felt the cold very much.
The ascent was continued on the following day, and persevered in
until 10 A.M., when Lieutenant Stairs found his progress stopped by
an immense ravine, at the bottom of which there was dense bush. Here
he had his first glimpse of a snow-peak about 2½ miles away, and he
estimated that it would take at least a day and a half to reach the
snow-line. Unprovided as he was with food and warm clothing for his
men, he thought it better to return, hoping that at some future time a
more favourable opportunity for making the ascent would present itself.
The altitude reached by the party was 10,677 feet above the level of
the sea.
By about 3 P.M. Stairs and his men had rejoined the expedition. His
excursion had convinced him that the Ruwenzori range is of volcanic
origin, the extreme top of the peak having a distinct crater-like form.
A march of nineteen days brought the caravan to the south-west angle of
the range. On June 26th it left the Awamba, as that part of the Semliki
valley is called, and entered the plains of Usongora. These at present
are almost a desert, but there are traces of the recent existence of
a large population, which has been driven off by the raids of the
Warasura. The free-booting tribe here showed some signs of hostility.
But no fighting was necessary; the report that the caravan was
invincible had already preceded it, and on its appearance the Warasura
were seized with a panic and fled.
On July 1st the caravan made its entry into the important town of
Kative, well known for its salt-pit, which supplies not only Usongora,
but also Toro, Ankori, Mpororo, Ruanda, Ukonju, and many other
districts with salt.
Near Kative, Stanley found a definite solution to the problem of the
sources of the Nile. The Semliki, of which he had just ascended the
right bank, is none other than the channel which carries into Lake
Albert the overflow of another lake, known upon the maps as Muta Nzigé,
and of which he had a distant view in 1876. He now named it the Albert
Edward Nyanza, in honour of the “first British Prince who has shown a
decided interest in African geography.”
Compared with the Victoria, the Tanganyika, and the Nyassa, this upper
lake of the western Nile-system is small, though its length cannot be
less than 50 miles. It is about 3000 feet above the sea-level, that is,
1000 feet higher than Lake Albert. Between the two lakes, the Semliki
forms a series of falls and rapids.
Henceforward, thanks to Stanley, the upper Nile-system is clearly
defined. The Muta Nzigé is the reservoir of all the waters from the
west that by way of the Semliki fall into the Albert Nyanza, just as
the Victoria Nyanza is the reservoir for all the waters from the east
that by way of the Somerset also fall into Lake Albert.
And thus is verified the assertion of the Greek geographers--that the
Nile has its sources in two inland seas. The Muta Nzigé is the _palus
occidentalis_, the Victoria Nyanza is the _palus orientalis_.
The outpour of the lakes, the two streams of the Semliki and the
Somerset, commingle their waters in a third reservoir, the Albert
Nyanza, and re-issue conjointly under the name of the Bahr-el-Jebel,
which lower down is known as the Bahr-el-Abiad, or White Nile.
Speke, in 1859 and 1861, introduced an important factor into the
solution of the problem by the discovery of Lake Victoria; Baker, in
1863, by that of Lake Albert; and Stanley has completed the work in
1889 by verifying the Semliki as the connection between Lake Albert and
Muta Nzigé.
Rounding the north end of Lake Albert Edward, the caravan passed
through Usongora, Toro, Uhaiyama, and Unyampaka. Stanley had visited
the latter in 1876, and Ringi, the king, who was at war with Unyoro,
now received him with much hospitality. The natives of this district
were all friendly, as the reports of its good deeds in relieving the
country of the presence of the obnoxious Warasura had preceded the
caravan. It was the first really kind welcome it had had since leaving
Kavalli.
Stanley speaks in high terms of the comeliness of the various tribes
in this mountain district. He describes the natives of Usongora as a
fine race, but in no way differing from the finer types of men seen
in Karangwé and Ankori, and the Wahuma shepherds of Uganda. The Toro
natives also are a mixture of the higher class of negroes, and the
majority of the Wahuma can boast of features quite as regular, fine,
and delicate as Europeans.
A few days later the column left the shores of the Lake, and turning
south-eastwards, came on to the high table-land of Ankori. They were
now about 600 miles from Kavalli; more than 1000 had still to be
travelled before they would reach Zanzibar.
Their trials were not yet at an end; fresh difficulties had still to be
overcome.