far when they saw an enormous canoe of Kamrasi's, full of well-armed
men, approaching them. The canoe turned, as if the people were afraid,
and the Waganda followed. At length, however, the chased canoe turned,
and the shore was soon lined with armed men, threatening them with
destruction. Another canoe now appeared. It was getting dark. The
only hope of escape seemed by retreating. Speke ordered his fleet to
keep together, promising ammunition to his men if they would fight. The
people in one boat, however, were so frightened that they allowed her to
spin round and round in the current. The Wanyoro were stealing on them,
as they could hear, though nothing could be seen. One of the boats kept
in-shore, close to the reeds, when suddenly she was caught by
grappling-hooks. The men cried out: "Help, Bana! they are killing us."
Speke roared in reply: "Go in, and the victory will be ours." When,
however, three shots were fired from the hooked boat, the Wanyoro fled,
leaving one of their number killed and one wounded, and Speke and his
party were allowed to retreat unmolested.
Speke, after proceeding up the river some distance, determined to
continue the journey by land, following the track Grant had taken.
Grant's camp was reached on the 20th, and the next day a messenger
arrived from Kamrasi, saying that the king would be glad to see them,
and the march was ordered to Unyoro.
The frontier was again passed, when the country changed much for the
worse. Scanty villages, low huts, dirty-looking people clad in skins,
the plantain, sweet potato, _sesamum_, and millet forming the chief
edibles, besides goats and fowls. No hills, except a few scattered
cones, broke the level surface of the land, and no pretty views cheered
the eye. They were now getting to a distance from the rain-attractive
influences of the Mountains of the Moon, and vegetation decreased
proportionately. Their first halt was on the estate of the chief
Kidjwiga. Scarcely had they been established than a messenger page from
Mtesa, with a party of fifty Waganda, arrived to enquire how Bana was,
and to remind him of the gun and other articles he had promised to send
up from Gani.
The natives ran off as they passed through the country, believing them
to be cannibals. They supposed that the iron boxes which the porters
carried on their shoulders each contained a couple of white dwarfs,
which were allowed to fly off to eat people. They, however, gained
confidence, and soon flocked round the Englishmen's huts.
On arriving at the end of their day's march on the 2nd of September,
they were told that elephants had been seen close by. Grant and Speke,
therefore, sallied forth with their guns, and found a herd of about a
hundred, feeding on a plain of long grass. Speke, by stealing along
under cover of the high grass, got close to a herd, and fired at the
largest. The animals began sniffing the air with uplifted trunks, when,
ascertaining by the smell of powder that their enemy was in front of
them, they rolled up their trunks, and came close to the spot where he
was lying under a mound. Suddenly they stopped, catching scent of the
white man, and lifting their heads high, looked down upon him. Speke
was now in a dangerous position, for, unable to get a proper front shot
at any of them, he expected to be picked up or trodden to death. As he
let fly at their temples, they turned round and went rushing away at a
much faster pace than they came. They, however, soon stopped, and began
to graze again. Though several were wounded, none were killed.
Bombay was now despatched to King Kamrasi, with a request from the
travellers for an early interview. Goats, flour, and plantains were
brought to them, and Kidjwiga became very indignant that the flour was
not all given to him, as he, having been appointed their guide and
protector, considered that it ought to have been.
At last they received an invitation from Kamrasi. As on a previous
occasion, only some dirty huts were offered to Speke. He insisted on
being lodged in the palace. Bombay, who had been kept there, now
arrived, and they were informed that better accommodation was preparing
for them. The king had been very communicative to Bombay.
The monarch, however, got tipsy, and was consequently unable to receive
his guests. Next day he sent some _pomba_, fowls, and plantains as a
present.
They were, however, after this still kept waiting several days. At last
Speke sent to say that if the king did not wish to see the white men,
they would proceed on their journey to Gani. This had the desired
effect; and, in their usual style, with the Union Jack floating above
their heads, they approached the palace.
They found the monarch seated on a wooden stool, with cow-skins below
and leopards' above, on an elevated platform of grass, looking like a
pope in state, calm and motionless. His arms were adorned with
brass-wire rings, and his hair was worked up into peppercorn-like knobs;
his eyes were of a long shape, his face narrow, and nose prominent; yet,
though a well-made man, being above six feet high, he was inferior in
size to Rumanika.
Speke endeavoured to impress on the stupid-headed king that his only
object was to open up a communication along the Nile, by which boats
could bring up the produce and manufactures of other countries, to
exchange with his ivory.
The king evidently wished to detain them, in order that they might
assist him in putting down an insurrection which his two brothers had
raised against him. At last they determined to send Bombay on to
ascertain whether boats were really waiting for them.
Kamrasi was as eager to obtain gifts as any of the other chiefs, and,
having heard of their chronometer, which they had been observed using,
he was especially desirous to possess it, believing it to be some magic
instrument, and the means by which the travellers guided themselves
about the country. Speke told him that it was not his guide, but a
time-keeper, made for the purpose of knowing at what time to eat his
dinner. He told him it was the only one he possessed, but that, if he
would wait with patience, he would send him up one on his arrival at
Gani. He was too eager to possess the wonderful instrument to consent
to delay, and at last Speke, to satisfy him, placed it on the ground and
said it was his. He said he should like to buy another, and was
surprised to hear that it would cost five hundred cows. This increased
the surprise of the whole party, who could not believe that any person
in his senses would give five hundred cows for the mere gratification of
seeing at what time his dinner should be eaten.
Kamrasi was a thorough tyrant, and, at the same time, an arrant coward.
He kept up a perfect system of espionage, by which he knew everything
going forward in the country. His guards, in order that they might be
attached to his person, were allowed to plunder at will the rest of his
unfortunate subjects, who, if they offended him, were put to death
without mercy. If an officer failed to give him information, he was
executed or placed in the shoe, an instrument of torture not unlike the
stocks. It consists of a heavy log of wood, with an oblong slit through
it; the feet are placed in this slit, and a peg is then driven through
the log between the ankles, so as to hold them tightly. Frequently the
executioner drives the peg against the ankles, when the pain is so
excessive that the victim generally dies from exhaustion.
After the travellers had moved into better quarters, they were told that
Kamrasi intended to pay them a visit. The room was accordingly prepared
for his reception--hung around with mats, horns, and skins of animals,
and a large box, covered with a red blanket, was placed as a throne for
him to sit on. Speke then called out his men to form a guard of honour,
and ordered them to fire as soon as he appeared. No sooner did he
arrive than he wanted everything he saw: first their gauze mosquito
curtains, then an iron camp bed, next the sextant and thermometer. When
any books were shown him of birds and animals he wanted them, and was
much surprised when Speke positively refused. The important question
was put to him whether he would wish English traders to come up to his
country, and, in reply, he answered that it was what he desired above
all things; but, if the English would advance with guns, he would march
out with his army, and that, between them, his brothers, who were now
acting in rebellion, would be destroyed. He was evidently, however,
very angry at receiving no presents, and, getting up, walked straight
out of the hut. No _pomba_ was sent by him next day. They, however,
presented him with a gun. At first he was much afraid of firing it off,
and called one of Speke's men to do it for him.
One morning they found that their rain-guage had been removed, so they
sent Kidjwiga to say that they wished a magician to come at once and
institute a search for it. He soon returned with the adept: "An old
man, nearly blind, dressed in strips of old leather fastened to the
waist, and carrying in one hand a cow's horn primed with magic powder,
carefully covered on the mouth with leather, from which dangled an iron
bell. The old creature jingled the bell, entered their hut, squatted on
his hams, looked first at one and then at the other, enquired what the
missing things were like, grunted, moved his skinny arm round his head
as if desirous to catch the air from all four sides of the hut, then
dashed the accumulated air on the head of his horn, smelt it to see if
all was going right, jingled the bell again close to his ear, and
grunted his satisfaction. The missing article must be found. To carry
out the incantation more effectually, all the men were sent for to sit
in the open air before the hut, when the old doctor rose, shaking the
horn and tinkling the bell close to his ear. He then, confronting one
of the men, dashed the horn forward as if intending to strike him on the
face, then smelt the head and dashed it at another, and so on, till he
became satisfied that Speke's men were not the thieves. He then walked
into Grant's hut, inspected that, and, finally, went to the place where
the bottle had been kept. There he walked about the grass with his arm
up, and jingling the bell to his ear, first on one side and then on the
other, till the track of a hyaena gave him a clue, and in two or three
more steps he found it. A hyaena had carried it into the grass and
dropped it. Bravo for the infallible horn, and well done the king for
his honesty in sending it. Speke gave the king the bottle and gauge,
which delighted him amazingly, and the old doctor, who begged for
_pomba_, got a goat for his trouble."
News reached them soon after this of the death of Budja, one of the
officers who had attended them, and who it was said had died from being
bewitched by a charm put into a pot of _pomba_ by one of Kamrasi's
frontier officers, the poor fellow having evidently been poisoned.
The travellers were now in some anxiety about Bombay, who had not
returned from Gani. They received intelligence that the coronation
formalities of Mtesa were taking place, when upwards of thirty of his
brothers were to be burned to death.
Kamrasi had been presented with a Bible. As soon as he got hold of it,
he began to count the leaves, supposing that each page or leaf
represented one year of time since the beginning of creation. After
getting through a quarter of the book, he shut it up, on being told that
if he desired to ascertain the number more closely he had better count
the words.
Six weeks had been uselessly spent, when at length Bombay returned, his
attendants dressed in cotton jumpers and drawers, presents given them by
Petherick's outposts, though Petherick himself was not there. The
journey to and fro had been performed in fourteen days' actual
travelling, the rest of the time being frittered away by the guides.
Two hundred Turks were stationed at Gani, who were all armed with
elephant-guns, and had killed sixteen elephants.
On this, Speke sent a present to Kamrasi, and prepared for his
departure. The king, however, complained that he had not received
enough, and insisted on having the chronometer. He had himself sent a
present of spears; but Speke refused to accept them unless permission
for his departure was given. The only way indeed to treat these black
potentates is to act with the greatest firmness and determination.
At last the king promised to give them a parting interview, and to send
a large escort to accompany them to Petherick's boats. Several days,
however, passed before the interview took place, when the king again
asked for more presents, and even begged for the rings which he saw on
Grant's fingers, but without success. Speke had wished to take two of
the king's sons to be educated in England, but instead, he sent two
orphan boys, who, being both of the common negro breed, were so
unattractive in appearance that Speke declined receiving them. They had
been kept the whole time almost as prisoners, without being allowed by
the suspicious king to move about the neighbourhood, while no one had
been permitted to visit them. They were therefore thankful when at last
they persuaded the savage monarch to allow them to take their departure.
Canoes had been provided, and on the 9th of November they embarked in
one of them on the river Kuffo. Crowds were collected on the banks to
see them depart, shouting and waving adieus as they shot down the
stream. Among them was the only lady of rank they had seen, dressed in
yellow bark cloth, striped with black; she was flat-featured and plain.
Their canoes were formed of logs bound together.
Proceeding down the Kuffo, they entered, a few miles below Kamrasi's
residence, the White Nile, down which they floated four days to the
Falls of Karuma. The river had the appearance of a large lake, and
without a pilot they would have found it impossible to guess what
direction to take. It then assumed the appearance of a river a thousand
yards wide, covered with numberless moving and stationary islands,
amidst which hippopotami reared their heads. These islands were perfect
thickets of thorns, creepers, and small trees. Some went rolling round
and round, moved by the stream, which ran at the rate of a mile an hour.
Amidst them were seen the lofty papyrus, bending to the breeze, which
as they drove on, continually changing their relative positions, looked
like a fleet of felucca-rigged vessels.
On the third day, a strong breeze coming on, these floating islands
melted away or were driven on shore. They landed every evening to
sleep, having to push their way between a wide belt of reeds, rushes,
and convolvuli.
They passed some attractive scenery. In one place a hill rose eight
hundred feet above the water, and on the Kidi side the ground was
undulating and wild, covered with handsome trees, with flowering
creepers clinging to their boughs, now in rich bloom and presenting
every variety of colour.
The king having given his officers directions to supply the travellers
with food, they had some exciting chases after canoes, which took to
flight as soon as their object was discovered. No sooner was one
overtaken than their Wanyoro escort robbed her of bark, cloth, liquor,
beads, spears, and everything on board, the poor owners being utterly
helpless. Their Seedees, however, seeing the injustice of this,
recovered the stolen property, and restored it to the proper owners.
Their cattle and the main body of their escort had gone by land.
On the 19th of November they reached the Karuma Falls, so-called, the
blacks say, because the familiar of a certain great spirit placed stones
across the river to break its waters as they flow down, and, as a reward
for his services, the spot was called after him.
They were here kept some days, preparing to cross the Kidi wilderness.
They were still in the territories of Kamrasi. The governor of the
district, a very great man, who sits on a throne only a little inferior
to the king's, called upon them, and was provided accordingly with a box
on which to rest. His idea was that his own people had been once half
black and half white. He could only account for it by supposing that
the country formerly belonged to white men, who had been driven out by
the blacks, and that the former were now coming back to retake it. The
travellers relieved his apprehensions by telling him that his ancestors
were all at one time white, till they crossed the sea and took
possession of the country.
Before they started, Kidjwiga sacrificed two kids, one on each side of
the river, flaying them, with one long cut, each down their breasts and
bellies; the animals were then spread eagle-fashion on the grass, that
the travellers might step over them and obtain a prosperous journey.
A messenger arrived from the king urging them to stop, as he was afraid
that his rebel brother, Rehonga, might attack them; but they, believing
that he had interested motives, commenced their march. The day was
rainy, and the road lay across swamps, through thick jungle and long
grasses. This continued for a couple of days, when, at length, they
found themselves on the borders of a high plateau. Elephants and
buffaloes were seen, and the guide, to make the journey propitious,
plucked a twig, stripped off the leaves and branches, and, waving it up
the line of march, broke it in two, and threw portions on either side of
the path.
They had, however, again quickly to plunge into the tall grass, above
their heads, and to cross numerous swamps.
On the 29th they reached the habitations of men at Koki, in Gani--a
collection of conical huts on the ridge of a small chain of hills.
Knots of naked men were seen perched like monkeys on the granite blocks,
anxiously watching their arrival. A messenger was sent to the governor,
Chongi, who despatched the principal people in the place to welcome
them. These people, covered with war paint--something like clowns in a
fair--rushed down the hill with their spears full tilt, and, performing
various evolutions, conducted them to the governor, who advanced,
attended by his familiar--he holding a white hen, the latter a gourd of
_pomba_ and a little twig.
The chief, having greeted them cordially, and swinging the fowl by one
leg and sprinkling the contents of the gourd over them, led them to his
magic-house, which being sprinkled in the same way, he finally spread a
cow-skin under a tree, bidding them sit on it, and then presented them
with a bowl of _pomba_.
These people were entirely naked, but were covered with beads and brass
ornaments, even the women having only a few fibres hanging like tails
before and behind. Their hair was dressed in the most fantastic
fashion. They also carried diminutive stools, on which they sat
wherever they went.
The travellers had great difficulty, in getting porters, who would never
agree until the king's soldiers had seized their women and cattle, and
they frequently had to zig-zag from village to village to obtain them.
These curious people might be seen sitting on the rocks or in the shade
of the trees, dressing each other's hair or forming their pigtails,
which are turned up and covered with fine wire. Indeed, they seemed to
have little else to do, and were generally observed standing in
conceited or ridiculous attitudes. The children are carried on the
backs of the women, supported by straps, and the head of the infant is
shaded by a reversed gourd from the heat of the sun.
The country had assumed a more attractive appearance, with forests,
undulating ground covered with grass, and clusters of habitations,
frequently intercepted by running streams.
The party had now entered the country of the Madi, who are savage in
their appearance, and are similar to the Gani. Their houses are
cylinders of bamboo wicker-work, with steep roofs of bamboo and grass,
and are plastered inside, making them very warm.
On the 3rd of December, having pushed on in spite of the attempts of the
friendly chiefs to detain them, they came in sight of what they supposed
to be Petherick's outposts, in north latitude 3 degrees 10 minutes 33
seconds. The Seedees immediately began firing away their carbines.
Directly afterwards bang, crack, bang! was heard from the distant camp,
when, in an instant, every height was seen covered with men. The
travellers and their attendants hastened on, when before them appeared
three large red flags, heading a military procession which marched out
of the camp, with drums and fifes playing. Speke's party halted, when a
black officer, Mahamed, in Egyptian regimentals, hastened from the head
of his ragamuffin regiment, a mixture of Nubians, Egyptians, and slaves
of all sorts, which he had ordered to halt, and, throwing himself into
Speke's arms, began to hug and kiss him.
Petherick was enquired for. "He is coming," was the answer. "What
colours are those?"
"Oh, they are Debono's."
"Who is Debono?" was asked. "The same as Petric," answered Mahamed.
Mahamed soon had dinner for them, and they enjoyed a better repast than
they had done for many a day. Then the greatest treat was to come--
water with which to wash their hands, and the luxury of soap. The
remains of their repast was then placed before their faithful Seedees.
On retiring to their hut at night they offered up a prayer of
thankfulness to the Almighty for having preserved them through so many
difficulties, and at length, by His all-protecting arm, brought them in
safety to the boundary of civilisation after twenty-six months of
unceasing toil and anxiety. They had still, however, a considerable
distance to march before they were to meet with civilised men.
Their host, Mahamed, was little better than a land pirate, who plundered
and shot down the natives without compunction. Among his troops there
was not a true Turk, wool predominating on their heads. They were
adventurers, born from negro stock in the most southern Egyptian
dominions. Numbers of such characters are found at Khartoum, ready for
any employment. The merchants engage them there, and send them into the
interior under the command of a chief to collect ivory and slaves. They
were all married to women of the country, whom they had dressed in
cloths and beads.
Mahamed, like the black chiefs, wished to detain the travellers, that
they and their party might guard his camp, while he went off on an
expedition on his own account. He succeeded by depriving them of their
porters, and then marched out with his army--drums and fifes playing,
colours flying, guns firing, officers riding, some on donkeys, others on
cows. On the 31st the army returned, after having burned down and
plundered three villages, laden with ivory and driving in four slave
girls and thirty head of cattle.
A few days afterwards another example of Turkish barbarity came under
their notice. The head man of a village arrived with a large tusk of
ivory with which to ransom his daughter. Fortunately for him it had
been considered by the Turks wise to keep on terms with so influential a
man; and therefore, on receiving the tusk, Mahamed gave back the damsel,
adding a cow to seal their friendship.
At length, weary of Mahamed's procrastination, on the 11th of January
Speke ordered the march, telling Mahamed he might follow if he wished.
At first the villagers, supposing that the travellers were Turks, made
their escape in every direction, carrying what stores and cattle they
could; while others pulled down their huts, and marched off with the
materials to a distant site, to escape from their persecutors.
The people do this because the Turks, when they arrive at a village,
often pull down the huts and carry off the roofs to form a camp for
themselves outside the enclosure.
They also without ceremony rob the corn-stores, and should the owner
remonstrate, he is knocked down with the butt of a musket, and told he
is fortunate to escape being shot.
Finding that Speke was determined to move, Mahamed broke up his camp,
the whole party, including porters to carry the ivory tusks, amounting
to nearly a thousand men.
The Turks, as they marched along, helped themselves from the half-filled
bins of the unfortunate natives, who were starving, while the chiefs at
the different villages were quarrelling among themselves.