either in leopard or white monkey-skins, with cows' tails strapped on
behind, and two antelope horns fixed on their heads, while their chins
were ornamented with false beards made of the bushy ends of cows' tails.
These demon-like savages came round them, gesticulating and yelling,
pretending to attack them with spears and shields, and then engaged in
sham fights with each other.
Mr Baker, however, soon got rid of his satanic escort. Poor Mrs Baker
was naturally alarmed, fearing that it was the intention of the king to
waylay them and perhaps carry her off.
Soon after this, while crossing the Kafue river, the heat being
excessive, what was Mr Baker's horror to see his wife sink from her ox
as though shot dead. He, with his attendants, carried her through the
yielding vegetation, up to their waists in water, above which they could
just keep her head, till they reached the banks. He then laid her under
a tree, and now discovered that she had received a _coup de soleil_. As
there was nothing to eat on the spot, it was absolutely necessary to
move on. A litter was procured, on which Mrs Baker was carried, her
husband mechanically following by its side. For seven days continuously
he thus proceeded on his journey. Her eyes at length opened, but, to
his infinite grief, he found that she was attacked by a brain fever.
One evening they reached a village. She was in violent convulsions. He
believed all was over, and, while he sank down insensible by her side,
his men went out to seek for a spot to dig her grave. On awakening, all
hope having abandoned him, as he gazed at her countenance her chest
gently heaved; she was asleep. When at a sudden noise she opened her
eyes, they were calm and clear: she was saved.
Having rested for a couple of days, they continued their course, Mrs
Baker being carried on her litter. At length they reached the village
of Parkani. To his joy, as he gazed at some lofty mountains, he was
told that they formed the western side of the Luta Nzige, and that the
lake was actually within a march of the village. Their guide announced
that if they started early in the morning, they might wash in the lake
by noon. That night Baker hardly slept.
The following morning, the 14th of March, starting before sunrise, on
ox-back, he and his wife, with their attendants, following his guide, in
a few hours reached a hill from the summit of which "he beheld beneath
him a grand expanse of water, a boundless sea horizon on the south and
south-west, glittering in the noonday sun, while on the west, at fifty
or sixty miles distant, blue mountains rose from the bosom of the lake
to a height of about seven thousand feet above its level."
Hence they descended on foot, supported by stout bamboos, for two hours,
to the white pebbly beach on which the waves of the lake were rolling.
Baker, in the enthusiasm of the moment, rushed into the lake, and,
thirsty with heat and fatigue, with a heart full of gratitude, drank
deeply from what he supposed to be one of the sources of the Nile, not
dreaming of the wonderful discoveries Livingstone was making at that
very time many degrees to the southward. He now bestowed upon this lake
the name of the Albert Nyanza.
The dwellers on the borders of the lake are expert fishermen, and in one
of their villages, named Vakovia, the travellers now established
themselves.
His followers, two of whom had seen the sea at Alexandria, and who
believed that they should never reach the lake, were astonished at its
appearance, unhesitatingly declaring that though it was not salt, it
must be the sea.
Salt, however, is the chief product of the country, numerous salt-pits
existing in the neighbourhood, and in its manufacture the inhabitants
are chiefly employed.
Vakovia is a miserable place, and, in consequence of its damp and hot
position, the whole party suffered from fever.
Here they were detained eight days waiting for canoes, which Kamrasi had
ordered his people to supply. At length several were brought, but they
were merely hollowed-out trunks of trees, the largest being thirty-two
feet long. Baker selected another, twenty-six feet long, but wider and
deeper, for himself and his wife and their personal attendants, while
the luggage and the remainder of the people embarked in the former. He
raised the sides of the canoe, and fitted up a cabin for his wife, which
was both rain and sun-proof.
Having purchased some provisions, he started on a voyage to survey the
lake.
Vakovia is about a third of the way from the northern end of the lake.
His time would not allow him to proceed further south. He directed his
course northward, towards the part out of which the Nile was supposed to
flow.
The difficulties of the journey were not yet over. The first day's
voyage was delightful, the lake calm, the scenery lovely. At times the
mountains on the west coast were not discernible, and the lake appeared
of indefinite width. Sometimes they passed directly under precipitous
cliffs of fifteen hundred feet in height, rising abruptly out of the
water, while from the deep clefts in the rocks evergreens of every tint
appeared, and wherever a rivulet burst forth it was shaded by the
graceful and feathery wild date. Numbers of hippopotami were sporting
in the water, and crocodiles were numerous on every sandy beach.
Next night, however, the boatmen deserted, but, not to be defeated,
Baker induced his own people to take to the paddles. He fitted a paddle
to his own boat, to act as a rudder, but the men in the larger boat
neglected to do as he had directed them.
A tremendous storm of rain came down while he was at work. His own
canoe, however, being ready, he started. He was about to cross from one
headland to another, when he saw the larger canoe spinning round and
round, the crew having no notion of guiding her. Fortunately it was
calm, and, on reaching the shore, he induced several natives to serve as
his crew, while others went off in their own boats to assist the large
canoe.
He now commenced crossing a deep bay, fully four miles wide. He had
gained the centre when a tremendous storm came on, and enormous waves
rolled in over the lake. The canoe laboured heavily and occasionally
shipped water, which was quickly bailed out. Had this not been done,
the canoe would inevitably have been swamped. Down came the rain in
torrents, while the wind swept over the surface with terrific force,
nothing being discernible except the high cliffs looming in the
distance. The boatmen paddled energetically, and at last a beach was
seen ahead. A wave struck the canoe, washing over her. Just then the
men jumped out, and, though they were rolled over, they succeeded in
hauling the boat up the beach.
The shore of the lake, as they paddled along it, was thinly inhabited,
and the people very inhospitable, till they reached the town of
Eppigoya. Even here the inhabitants refused to sell any of their goats,
though they willingly parted with fowls at a small price.
At each village the voyagers changed their boatmen, none being willing
to go beyond the village next them. This was provoking, as delays
constantly occurred.
At length they reached Magimgo, situated inside an immense bed of reeds,
at the top of a hill, above the mouth of a large river. Passing up a
channel amidst a perfect wilderness of vegetation, they reached the
shore below the town. Here they were met by their guide, who had
brought their riding oxen from Vakovia, and reported them all well.
The chief of Magimgo and a large number of natives were also on the
shore waiting for them, and brought them down a plentiful supply of
goats, fowls, eggs, and fresh butter.
Proceeding on foot to the height on which Magimgo stands, they thence
enjoyed a magnificent view, not only over the lake, but to the north,
towards the point where its waters flow into the Nile.
Baker's great desire was to descend the Nile in canoes, from its exit
from the lake to the cataracts in the Madi country, and thence to march
direct, with only guns and ammunition, to Gondokoro. This plan he found
impossible to carry out.
Before their return to the canoes, Mr Baker himself was laid prostrate
with fever, and most of his men were also suffering.
They had heard, however, of a magnificent waterfall up the river. They
accordingly proceeded up it, and, as they got about eighteen miles above
Magimgo, a slight current was perceived. The river gradually narrowed
to about a hundred and eighty yards, and now, when the paddles ceased
working, the roar of water could be distinctly heard. Continuing on,
the noise became louder. An enormous number of crocodiles were seen,
and Mr Baker counted, on one sandbank alone, twenty-seven of large
size.
Reaching a deserted fishing village, the crew at first refused to
proceed further, but, on Mr Baker explaining that he merely wished to
see the falls, they paddled up the stream, now strong against them.
On rounding a point, a magnificent sight burst upon them. On either
side of the river were beautifully-wooded cliffs, rising abruptly to a
height of about three hundred feet, rocks jutting out from the intensely
green foliage, while, rushing through a gap which cleft the rock exactly
before them, was the river. It is here contracted from a grand stream
to the width of scarcely a hundred and fifty feet. Roaring fiercely
through the rock-bound pass, it plunged, in one leap of about a hundred
and twenty feet, perpendicularly into the dark abyss below, the
snow-white sheet of water contrasting superbly with the dark cliff that
walled the river, while the graceful palms of the tropics, and wild
plantains, perfected the beauty of the scene.
This was the great waterfall of the Nile, and was named the Murchison
Falls, in compliment to the president of the Royal Geographical Society.
To the river itself he gave the name of the Victoria Nile.
Having taken a view of the falls, and remained for some time admiring
them, narrowly escaping being upset by a huge bull hippopotamus, they
returned down the river to Magimgo.
Starting the next morning, both Mr and Mrs Baker suffering from fever,
while all their quinine was exhausted, they found that their oxen had
been bitten by the tsetse-fly, and were in a wretched condition,
unlikely to live. Their guide also deserted them, and the whole of
their carriers went off, leaving them on the Island of Patooam, in the
Victoria River, to which they had been ferried across.
It was now the 8th of April, and within a few days the boats in which
they had hoped to return down the Nile would leave Gondokoro. It was,
therefore, of the greatest importance that they should set out at once,
and take a direct route through the Shooa country.
The natives, not to be tempted even by bribes, positively refused to
carry them. Their own men were also ill, and there was a great scarcity
of provisions. War, indeed, was going on in the country to the east,
Patooam being in the hands of Kamrasi's enemies. It was on this account
that no Unyoro porters could be found.
They might have starved had not an underground granary of seed been
discovered, by the means of Bacheeta, in one of the villages burned down
by the enemy. This, with several varieties of wild plants, enabled them
to support existence.
The last of their oxen, after lingering for some time, lay down to die,
affording the men a supply of beef, and Saati and Bacheeta occasionally
obtained a fowl from one of the neighbouring islands, which they visited
in a canoe.
At length both Mr and Mrs Baker fully believed that their last hour
was come, and he wrote various instructions in his journal, directing
his head man to deliver his maps and observations to the British Consul
at Khartoum.
The object, it appeared, of Kamrasi in thus leaving them, was to obtain
their assistance against his enemies, and at length their guide,
Rehonga, made his appearance, having been ordered to carry them to
Kamrasi's camp.
The journey was performed, in spite of their weak state; and on their
arrival they found ten of the Turks left as hostages with Kamrasi by
Ibrahim, who had returned to Gondokoro. The Turks received them with
respect and manifestations of delight and wonder at their having
performed so difficult a journey.
A hut was built for their reception, and an ox, killed by the Turks, was
prepared as a feast for their people.
The next day the king notified his readiness to receive the traveller,
who, attiring himself in a Highland costume, was carried on the
shoulders of a number of men into the presence of the monarch. The king
informed him that he had made arrangements for his remaining at Kisoona.
As now all hope of reaching Gondokoro in time for the boats had gone,
Mr Baker, yielding to necessity, prepared to make himself at home. He
had a comfortable hut built, surrounded by a court-yard with an open
shed in which he and his wife could spend the hot hours of the day.
Kamrasi sent him a cow which gave an abundance of milk, also amply
supplying him with food.
Here the travellers were compelled to spend many months. Their stay was
cut short, in consequence of the invasion of the country by Fowooka's
people, accompanied by a large band of Turks under the trader Debono.
Kamrasi proposed at once taking to flight; but Baker promised to hoist
the flag of England, and to place the country under British protection.
He then sent a message to Mahomet, Debono's _vakeel_, warning him that
should a shot be fired by any of his people, he would be hung, and
ordering them at once to quit the country; informing them, besides, that
he had already promised all the ivory to Ibrahim, so that, contrary to
the rules of the traders, they were trespassing in the territory.
This letter had its due effect. Mahomet deserted his allies, who were
immediately attacked by Kamrasi's troops, and cut to pieces, while the
women and children were brought away as captives. Among them, Bacheeta,
who had once been a slave in the country, recognised her former
mistress, who had been captured with the wives and daughters of their
chief, Rionga.
After this Ibrahim returned, bringing a variety of presents for Kamrasi,
which, in addition to the defeat of his enemies, put him in excellent
humour.
Mr Baker was able to save the life of an old chief, Kalloe, who had
been captured; but some days afterwards the treacherous Kamrasi shot him
with his own hand.
At length the Turkish traders, having collected a large supply of ivory,
were ready to return to Shooa; and Mr Baker, thankful to leave the
territory of the brutal Kamrasi, took his leave, and commenced the
journey with his allies, who, including porters, women, and children,
amounted to a thousand people.
At Shooa he spent some months more encamped among the friendly Madi.
As they were marching thence through the country inhabited by the Bari
tribe, they were attacked in a gorge by the natives. The latter were,
however, driven back; but the following night the camp was surrounded,
and poisoned arrows shot into it. One of the natives, who had ventured
nearer than the rest, was shot, when the rest, who could not be seen on
account of the darkness, retired. In the morning a number of arrows
were picked up.
On reaching Gondokoro, only three boats had arrived, while the trading
parties were in consternation at hearing that the Egyptian authorities
were about to suppress the slave trade and with four steamers had
arrived at Khartoum, two of which had ascended the White Nile and had
captured many slavers. Thus the three thousand slaves who were then
assembled at Gondokoro would be utterly worthless.
The plague also was raging at Khartoum, and many among the crews of the
boats had died on the passage. Mr Baker, however, engaged one of them,
a _diabiah_, belonging to Koorshid Pacha.
Bidding farewell to his former opponent, Ibrahim, who had since,
however, behaved faithfully, Mr Baker and his devoted wife commenced
their voyage down the Nile.
Unhappily the plague, as might have been expected, broke out on board,
and several of their people died among them. They chiefly regretted the
loss of the faithful little boy, Saati.
At Khartoum, which they reached on the 5th of May, 1865, they were
welcomed by the whole European population, and hospitably entertained.
Here they remained two months. During the time the heat was intense,
and the place was visited by a dust-storm, which in a few minutes
produced an actual pitchy darkness. At first there was no wind, and
when it came it did not arrive with the violence that might have been
expected. So intense was the darkness, that Mr Baker and his
companions tried in vain to distinguish their hands placed close before
their eyes: not even an outline could be seen. This lasted for upwards
of twenty minutes, and then rapidly passed away. They had, however,
felt such darkness as the Egyptians experienced in the time of Moses.
The plague had been introduced by the slaves landed from two vessels
which had been captured, and in which the pestilence had broken out.
They contained upwards of eight hundred and fifty human beings. Nothing
could be more dreadful than the condition in which the unhappy beings
were put on shore. The women had afterwards been distributed among the
soldiers, and, in consequence, the pestilence had been disseminated
throughout the place.
Mr Baker had the satisfaction of bringing Mahomet Her, who had
instigated his men to mutiny at Latooka, to justice. He was seized and
carried before the governor, when he received one hundred and fifty
lashes. How often had the wretch flogged women to excess! What murders
had he not committed! And now how he howled for mercy! Mr Baker,
however, begged that the punishment might be stopped, and that it might
be explained to him that he was thus punished for attempting to thwart
the expedition of an English traveller by instigating his escort to
mutiny.
The Nile having now risen, the voyage was recommenced; but their vessel
was very nearly wrecked on descending the cataracts.
On reaching Berber, they crossed the desert east to Sonakim on the Red
Sea. Hence, finding a steamer, they proceeded by way of Suez to Cairo,
where they left the faithful Richarn and his wife in a comfortable
situation as servants at Shepherd's Hotel, and Mr Baker had the
satisfaction of hearing that the Royal Geographical Society had awarded
him the Victoria Gold Medal, a proof that his exertions had been duly
appreciated. He also, on his arrival in England, received the honour of
knighthood.
Sir Samuel and Lady Baker, after a short stay at home, returned to
Egypt; Sir Samuel there having received the rank of pacha from the
Khedive, organised an expedition to convey steamers up the Nile, to be
placed on the waters of Lake Albert Nyanza, and with a strong hand to
put a stop to the slave trade, the horrors of which he had witnessed.
For many weary months he laboured in his herculean task, opposed in
every possible way by the slave-traders, and the treachery and open
hostility of the natives, overcoming obstacles which would have daunted
any but the most courageous and determined of men.
Reports of his defeat and destruction reached England; but happily they
proved to be false, and it is to be hoped that he and his heroic wife
will, ere long, return in safety to give an account of their adventures.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
DR. LIVINGSTONE'S THIRD GREAT EXPEDITION.
DR. LIVINGSTONE, WITH THIRTY FOLLOWERS, LANDS NEAR MOUTH OF ROVUMA--
PROCEEDS UP BANK OF RIVER--MISCONDUCT OF SEPOYS--LOSS OF ANIMALS--
REACHES LAKE NYASSA--THE BABISA CHIEF--ROGUISH ARAB--PROCEEDS WESTWARD--
VISITS THE CHAMBEZI--ARRIVES AT KAZEMBE'S CITY--LONDA--RECEPTIONS BY THE
KING AND HIS WIFE--LAKE MOPO--LAKE MOERO--THE LUALABA RIVER--PROCEEDS
DOWN IT--OTHER LARGE LAKES HEARD OF--COMPELLED TO RETURN EAST--TREACHERY
OF A MOOR--THREE YEARS OCCUPIED IN EXPLORING--SEVERE ILLNESS--MILD
CHARACTER OF NATIVES--CRUELTIES OF THE ARABS--RETURNS TO UJIJI.
Notwithstanding the dangers and hardships he had endured during the many
years spent in penetrating into the interior of Africa and exploring the
Zambesi, Dr Livingstone, unwearied and undaunted, felt an ardent desire
to make further discoveries, to open up a road for commerce, and, more
than all, to prepare the way for the the spread of the Gospel among the
benighted inhabitants of the mighty continent.
A year after he performed his adventurous voyage in the "Lady Nyassa" to
Bombay, he returned to Zanzibar to make arrangements for another
expedition.
For the particulars of the expedition we have to depend on the brief
letters he sent home at distant periods, and more especially on the
deeply-interesting account of Mr Stanley, who, when many had begun to
despair of the traveller's return, made his adventurous journey to find
him.
See "How I Found Livingstone," by Henry M Stanley. Sampson, Low and
Company, 1872.
The Governor of Bombay had given Dr Livingstone permission to take
twelve Sepoys, who, being provided with Enfield rifles, were to act as
guards to the expedition. He had brought nine men from Johanna, and
these, with seven liberated slaves and two Zambesi men, making thirty in
all, formed his attendants, and were considered sufficient to enable him
to pass through the country without having to fear any marauding attacks
from the natives.
Leaving Zanzibar in March, 1866, he landed in a bay to the north of the
mouth of the Rovuma River, early in the following month.
On the 7th of April he began his journey into the interior, moving along
the left bank of the river. His baggage consisted of bales of cloth and
bags of beads, with which to enable him to purchase food and pay tribute
to the chiefs through whose territories he might pass. He had, besides,
his chronometer, sextant, artificial horizon, and thermometers carried
in cases, as also medicines, and the necessary clothing and other
articles for himself. To carry the luggage he had also brought six
camels, three horses, two mules, and three donkeys.
The route he had chosen was beset with difficulties. For miles on the
bank of the river he found the country covered with dense jungle,
through which the axe was required to hew a way. There was, indeed, a
path which twisted and turned about in _every_ direction, formed by the
natives, sufficient for the passage of persons unencumbered by luggage,
but which it was found the camels could not possibly pass along, unless
the branches overhead were first cut down.
Greatly to his disappointment the Sepoys and Johanna men, unaccustomed
to such sort of labour, showed from the first a great dislike to be
employed in it, and, soon after they started, they began to use every
means in their power to ruin the expedition, in order to compel their
leader to return to the coast. So cruelly did they neglect and ill
treat the unfortunate camels and other animals, that in a short time
they all died. The doctor, however, obtained natives to carry on the
loads. They then tried to prejudice him in the minds of the natives by
bringing all sorts of false accusations against him. They likewise
behaved ill in a variety of other ways. To lighten their own shoulders,
they laid hands on any woman or boy they could find, and compelled them
to carry their arms and ammunition. Frequently also, after marching a
short distance, they would throw themselves down on the ground,
declaring that they were too much fatigued to move, and refused to
advance, often not making their appearance till the camp was formed in
the evening.
The doctor, feeling that even should he be attacked, they would probably
desert him, at length dismissed the whole of the Sepoys, and, providing
them with provisions, sent them back to the coast.
For several days together he and his remaining men travelled through an
uninhabited wilderness, and, being unable to obtain food, they suffered
much from hunger, while several of the men deserted. Reaching, however,
the village of a Wahiyou chief, situated on high ground above Lake
Nyassa, their wants were supplied.