MM. Desrioux and de Pommerelle were detained during the greater part
of the month of November in the harbour of Magungo. All their efforts
were directed to crossing the lake, and that was precisely what they
could not accomplish. Not only did they hesitate to entrust their
luggage and themselves to the frail boats used by the natives, but
they also found that they must resort to violence if they wished to
procure an adequate supply of even those dangerous and unsatisfactory
craft. The natives confounded our two travellers with the Arabs
engaged in the slave trade in these parts, and suspected them of a
desire to get possession of the neighbouring islands for the purpose
of laying in a stock of slaves, and they declined to lend a hand in
furtherance of that supposed object. Much precious time was
consequently lost in negotiations and in attempts at arrangements
which were settled at night only to be upset the next morning. As
soon as the Europeans, weary of the delay and incessant
disappointments to which they were exposed, proceeded to the beach
and appeared determined to lay violent hands on the boats, the
nagara, or drum, summoned the natives to arms, and hosts of black
people, armed with lances, responded to the call.
MM. Desrioux and de Pommerelle were, nevertheless, bent upon crossing
the lake at the particular point where they then were, because all
the information which they could obtain led them to believe that it
was narrower there than at any other part. The mountains directly in
front of them seemed also less inaccessible than those lying farther
to the south. On the other hand, if they were to proceed northwards
along the shore of the lake, they would not only be getting away from
their proper route, which lay north-west, but they would also find
the Nile and the Murchison Falls barring their onward progress.
They finally came to the resolution to dispense with boats, and to
construct for themselves large rafts or floats of timber. They would
not, it is true, be able to steer these at will, but M. Desrioux had
noticed that the cataract, in falling into the lake, displaced a
large volume of water, and formed a current which seemed to run in
the direction of the western bank. This current does not exist close
in shore at Magungo, being noticeable only about two or three
kilometers out in the open lake; the raft, however, by the aid of
large poles, could easily be propelled through the shallow water
until it reached it. In addition to this, their progress would be
facilitated by laying hold of the aquatic plants and the ambatch,
growing in abundance close to the shore, and only ceasing at the edge
of the current.
The natives would have opposed the construction of these rafts if
they had suspected their object, but as they never felt very secure
in their own canoes, they did not imagine for a moment that the
Europeans would care about trusting themselves to trunks of trees
fastened together with creepers.
The timber floats were finished in a few days, and, during the night
of the 25th November, the baggage and provisions of the caravan were
placed on board them. Every obstacle, however, was not yet swept
away; the bearers (_pagazis_) refused to embark or to trust their
precious lives to the one allotted to them. Fifty men only, born on
the M'rima coast, accustomed to the Indian Ocean, and, therefore, not
to be dismayed by Lake Albert, consented to follow their masters. As
for the Beluchs, who were braver than the bearers, and had often made
the passage from the island of Zanzibar to Bagamoyo, they made no
objection whatever to taking their places on board one of the rafts,
together with the two Frenchmen, their interpreters and guides.
The embarkation commenced towards midnight, and was not completed
until 3 a.m. At sunrise the flotilla was not more than two miles from
the shore, and had not reached the current. The natives, when they
discovered this novel mode of putting out to sea, gave utterance to
loud shouts, beat their drums, and lost no time in sending a perfect
storm of arrows after the fugitives, who, by this time, were well out
of range. A fleet of a hundred boats also put out in pursuit of the
Europeans, but a few bullets soon caused them to turn tail and make
for the shore again.
About 8 a.m., the water, which, up to that time had been of a
blackish hue in consequence of the quantity of ambatch wood, became
clearer; the floating islets of verdure, and the large aquatic plants
disappeared gradually, and the force of the current began to make
itself felt. Dr. Desrioux was not mistaken; the direction of the
current set directly towards the western shore of the lake, which the
expedition reached, without further obstacle, at noon, the strength
of the stream preventing the reeds from taking firm root in the
shallow water.
The landing, nevertheless, was a matter of considerable difficulty,
for the wind had risen, and the waves uplifted the rafts, and dashed
them against the shore, very rugged and broken at this point. At last
a small, sheltering creek was sighted, and in it they eventually
contrived to take refuge. It was high time they did so, as, although
it was not the rainy season, one of those terrible storms, so
frequent on Lake Albert, burst upon them in all its fury. The natives
on the other shore doubtless thought that the Europeans had been
shipwrecked, and without delay gave themselves up to the celebration
of an orgie in honour of that imaginary occurrence, an indirect
victory for themselves, as they supposed.
The coast was entirely deserted, either because the natives bad taken
to flight on witnessing the arrival of the strangers, or because the
sterility of the soil had long since driven away its former denizens.
In fact, the only thing to be seen between the lake and the mountain,
was a tongue of land, about a hundred yards broad, sandy and
uncultivated, the trees which grew up the mountains and along their
sides being too perpendicular to be of much account.
Nevertheless, the question of the hour was how to scale this lofty
mountain chain. At first sight the ascent appeared impracticable, and
M. Desrioux, in spite of all his courage, and the experience he had
acquired in the Alps and Pyrenees, would possibly have hesitated to
make the attempt, had it not been that amongst the escort there were
some soldiers who were natives of the mountainous district of
Usagara. Not only did these men make light of the ascent, but they
also laughed their less venturesome comrades out of all their fears.
A few Beluchs, natives of the coast, and sworn foes to mountains in
any shape, alone resisted both entreaty and ridicule. MM. de
Pommerelle and Desrioux did not take this defection very much to
heart, for they did not care about dragging the whole caravan with
them on to the mountain tops, whither neither baggage nor provisions
could be conveyed, or to regions, evidently uninhabited, where no
food could be obtained.
Fifty men were ample for the attempt, and each one of this number was
provided with a rifle, a lance to serve as an Alpenstock, an axe for
pioneer purposes, a cord wound round the waist, and a linen bag or
haversack, carried on the back, and containing provisions enough for
several days. Cartridges and powder were also served out in equal
proportions to every man.
The recalcitrant Beluchs and the few bearers who had mustered up
courage to cross the lake, were left on the shore under the command
of the jemadar. They were to await the return of the Europeans for
the space of one month; that time past, they were at liberty to
return to Zanzibar, where, on application at the Consulate, and on
production of a certificate given to them by MM. Desrioux and de
Pommerelle, they would receive the wages agreed upon.
On the 28th November, at sunrise, fifty Beluchs, after having
embraced their comrades with that ardour and effusion natural to the
entire black race, moved off in Indian file, and commenced the
ascent. For the first two days it was not so difficult as had been
anticipated. The forests through which the party passed, though
sometimes an obstruction, were more often an assistance. Every trunk
was a sort of fulcrum, and had the additional advantage of preventing
all chance of falling backwards down the more precipitous places. The
work was laborious and fatiguing, but frequent halts were made, and
the novelty of the style of march, and the role of mountaineer which
the negroes were playing, was a continual source of enjoyment to men
easily amused, and naturally of a cheerful disposition.
Very soon, however, the ascent became more difficult and more
dangerous; vegetation disappeared gradually; shrubs, too small to be
of any assistance, succeeded to the trees; huge masses of rock barred
the way, and much time was lost in getting round them. The caravan,
also, found itself completely isolated in these regions, just as a
ship would be if far from land and in an open, unexplored ocean. Not
only was there no trace of any habitation, but there was not even the
faintest sign that a human foot had ever passed that way. The
dwellers by the shores of the lake had evidently no liking for the
mountain, and very possibly, some superstition withheld them from
penetrating into these regions.
On the 3rd of December, the instruments brought by Dr. Desrioux
recorded an altitude of 1,800 metres above the level of Lake Albert.
(According to Baker, the lake itself is 2,720 feet above the level of
the sea). They were still far from having reached the topmost
summits, which reared themselves up towards the west like a granite
wall, and on that side completely shut out the horizon from view.
After so much arduous exertion, were they perforce to be stopped by
these last obstacles, and compelled to retrace their steps without
even having a bird's eye view of the countries hidden from their
sight only by a curtain of stone?
During one of their halts. Dr. Desrioux observed that a mountain,
which up to that time had been lost in the clouds, but had then just
emerged from its veil, was flat at the top, and had for its summit a
plateau instead of a point. He determined to reach this lofty spot,
whence, even if it did not prove to be the highest point, he could,
at all events, obtain a view of the western slope of the mountain.
The escort would have only been a source of delay in an ascent of
this kind; six men furnished with ropes and lances were quite
sufficient for his purpose. He selected the strongest and most
daring, and begged M. de Pommerelle, who for some time past had made
light of every obstacle, and was now anxious to accompany him, to do
nothing of the kind, but await his return with the remainder of the
escort.
He made his arrangements in the evening, and started at the first
glimmer of daylight on the 4th of December. After heroic exertion, he
reached his goal about two o'clock in the afternoon, and was at once
rewarded for his trouble. He found a vast plateau which, as he says
in his notes, may be likened to the fort of Venasque, in the
Pyrenees. Instead of having France to the north, and Spain to the
south, he saw on the eastern side. Lake Albert, the Murchison Falls,
and Magungo; on the western, several ranges of mountains, less lofty
than the one he had ascended, and, behind these mountains, through
the crevices and natural undulations in them, he beheld an extensive
plain.
He was the first European—nay, possibly the first man who had ever
reached the summit of the Blue Mountains, which, in this part of
Africa, cut the continent in two and separate the western provinces
from the eastern territory.