mosquitoes, I hurried to my camp to relieve Sharp's anxiety, meeting a
search-party of natives on the road. Next day I returned to Cavendish,
to see how the fever from which he was suffering had progressed. During
lunch a native rushed in, saying that he had been bitten by a
night-adder (one of the most deadly snakes in Africa). I promptly
collared him by the arm, stopped the circulation with some string, slit
his finger crosswise with my pocket-knife, exploded some gunpowder in
the cut, while Dodson administered repeated subcutaneous injections of
permanganate of potash. Meanwhile the arm, chest, and left side swelled
to the most appalling proportions. Cavendish then appeared on the scene
with a bottle of whisky, three parts of which we poured down his throat.
Then we told off three strong men to run the patient round the camp till
he subsided like a log into a drunken stupor. The following morning he
was still alive, but the swelling was enormous, and the colour of his
nails indicated incipient gangrene. Not knowing what else to do, we put
a pot on the fire, and made a very strong solution of the permanganate
which we kept gently simmering, while six stalwart natives forced the
unfortunate's hand in and out. His yells were fearful, but the cure was
complete. The swelling rapidly subsided, the nails resumed their normal
colour, and the following morning, with the exception of the loss of the
skin of his hand, he was comparatively well.
A note from Sharp informed me that the Portuguese ruffians of the
Gorongoza Development Co. had again raided our camp when he was out
shooting, had removed the whole concern, beaten, threatened to shoot,
and eventually made prisoners of all our boys.
This considerate proceeding they repeated with Mr. Illingworth's party.
Needless to remark, our protests were received by the British Consul
with the diplomatic interest due to the subject, a request to formulate
them on paper, and an intimation that our trouble would be superfluous,
as nothing could be done.
Having heard that another Portuguese official, who was reported to be
looking for me, was in the vicinity, I asked him to come to dinner.
Whereupon he refrained from arresting me, and asked me to stay with him
instead; accordingly I returned with him to his station, and the
following morning marched into Fontesvilla and caught the train to
Beira, where I found Sharp busy packing and sending off the trophies.
*CHAPTER III.*
*THE ZAMBESI AND SHIRE RIVERS.*
Though very loath to leave our happy hunting-grounds, we had to tear
ourselves away and make preparations for the long march north, so went
down to Durban to lay in a few necessaries, an extra .303 in case of
accidents, and to obtain the time and rate of our chronometer from the
observatory.
On our return to Beira we embarked on the _Peters_ for Chinde, finding
as fellow-passengers the Congo Telegraph Expedition under Mr. Mohun--six
white men, one hundred Zanzibaris, thirty donkeys, and a few cows, etc.
To our horror, on disembarking the next day, we found that all our heavy
luggage, tents, etc., had been put on the wrong boat at Beira, and were
on their way to Delagoa Bay. As the telegraph line is generally in a
state of collapse, owing to the white ants eating the posts, and to
vagaries on the part of the Portuguese or natives, it took some days to
inform the agent.
Chinde offers no attractions except to those who are waiting for a
home-going boat, so we made up our minds to go on to Chiromo, and have a
little shooting till our things turned up, and we could proceed on our
journey.
The African Lakes Corporation, to whom we had consigned a splendid
full-plate camera, denied any knowledge of it. We afterwards found that
it had passed through their hands, and had been stowed on a sunny and
rain-swept verandah for three months, with a result that may be
imagined. They had also inadvertently overlooked thirty of our cases of
provisions, which we found at the last moment in their store.
Having borrowed a tent from Mr. Mohun, and being tired of sardines as a
staple article of diet, we made a start up-river, only to find ourselves
worse off afloat than we had been ashore, the Company we had the
misfortune to travel by having apparently realized how to provide the
minimum of comfort with the maximum of charge.
On each side of the steamer a barge was made fast, so progress was not
rapid. It was the dry season. The river was very low, and intervals of
rest on sandbanks were of frequent occurrence. The banks being very
high, one very rarely saw the neighbouring country. No game was ever to
be seen, while on the broad river only an occasional native canoe or a
gunboat, bustling down-stream, broke the monotony.
Every night the boat tied up to lay in a supply of wood, sometimes near
a native village, and occasionally near a sugar plantation; at the
latter we were generally given some green vegetables, which were a great
boon.
The water is pumped up from the river and distributed by channels over
the cane-swamps, and in the time to come, as more of the river-banks are
taken up by these Sugar Concessions, this drain on the water will make a
considerable difference to navigation in the dry season.
Amongst the legitimate productions of the cane, they here manufacture
Scotch whisky, the labels and bottles being imported from the home
markets in large quantities. The most important estate is managed by a
French company, superintended by ten Europeans (mainly French). The
system of irrigation is very complete, and the work of cleaning is done
by steam-ploughs, managed, of course, by Scotchmen. Mills are in course
of erection, and the bottles, thistle and all complete, will soon be in
requisition. Three hundred hectares are already planted, and the
Company intend immediately planting five hundred more.
There is another important Sugar Company, owned by the Portuguese and
managed by a Scotchman. The output from its extensive plantations
during the season, which lasts three months, amounts to one hundred and
twenty tons a week.
It is a dreary, hot, monotonous journey.
The river is most uninteresting, of great breadth, with low
grass-covered banks and destitute of trees, except near the delta, where
there are some thriving cocoanut plantations. The stream is cut up by
numerous islands and sandbanks, haunted by vast flocks of geese,
pelicans, and flamingoes.
At Senna there are a few miserable huts, and a few yet more miserable
Portuguese, and at Songwe there is an Indian settlement, where there is
some trade from the interior.
On reaching the Shire we were transferred to an animated tea-tray, by
courtesy called a steamer, which carried us to Chiromo. The food for
five Europeans for two and a half days consisted of one ancient duck,
three skinny fowls, and a few tins of sardines. There was no bread,
butter, milk, or Worcester sauce, without which life, or rather native
cookery, is intolerable. Luckily, at the villages on the way we were
able to buy fowls, eggs, and tomatoes.
Before reaching Chiromo we put in at the first B.C.A. post, Port Herald,
where dusky Napoleons ponder over wild orgies of the past. A broad road
planted with shade trees leads up to the collector's house, and
cross-roads, similarly planted, give quite a pleasant appearance to the
place, backed in the distance by a high mountain.
Chiromo is laid out at the junction of the Ruo and Shire rivers, while
on the north-west side the station is hemmed in by the vast Elephant
Marsh, now a closed game preserve, owing to the inconsiderate slaughter
in time past. Lions can be heard almost every night, and the day
previous to our arrival a lion appeared in the town in broad daylight,
and carried off a native. Though the available population turned out to
slay, he escaped untouched. Many shots were fired at him from many
varieties of guns, and the range varied from five to five hundred yards.
But still he wandered round, the least excited individual in the place.
Eventually the Nimrod of Chiromo, who arrived late, hurt his feelings by
tumbling off a tree on to his back. This was too much, and he
majestically stalked off into the Marsh, wondering at the inscrutable
ways of men.
Leopard spoor was also a common sight in the street in the morning,
while in the Ruo the crocodiles lived an easy life, with unlimited black
meat at their command near the bathing-places.
From its position, the town is the inland port of British Central
Africa, and with the fast-growing coffee industry will become a place of
considerable importance. Already the building plots command a high
price, and stands are being eagerly bought up by the African Flotilla
Company and Sharrers' Transport Company, who are rapidly ousting the
African Lakes Corporation from their position of hitherto unquestioned
monopolists. There are also several German traders who display
considerable activity, apparently with satisfactory results, and there
are rumours of a coffee combination, financed by a prominent German East
Coast firm, making their headquarters here.
A large estate on the right bank of the Shire, called Rosebery Park, is
owned by the African Flotilla Company, which makes excellent bricks, and
opposite the town a fibre-extracting company has started work. The
company has obtained Foulke's patent fibre-cleaning machine, and a
concession of the fibre-gathering rights over all Crown lands, and
another similar concession in the Portuguese territory.
The plant employed is Sanseveira, of which there are about twenty
varieties, the most common in the neighbourhood being _S. cylindrica_
and _S. guiniensis_; the former, owing to the greater ease with which it
can be worked, being the most valuable. The length of leaf is 3 to 6
ft., and the diameter about 3/4 in. I found it growing in immense
quantities on the plains round Chiperoni.
The treatment is very simple. The green stuff is put over rollers,
which take it past a rapidly revolving brush under a strong jet of
water. The resulting fibre is then dried in the shade, tied into
bundles, and is ready bleached for the market. Consequently the cost of
production is very low. The fibre is fine, strong, and clean, and the
waste is very small, the proportion of fibre to reed being 4 per cent.
The strength is estimated at two and a half times that of the best
manilla.
The cost of fuel (wood) to run one engine for a day is only four
shillings, and as the fibre needs no cleaning, only one process is
necessary.
Mr. H. MacDonald, the Collector and Vice-Consul, royally entertained us
at his house, the only cool spot in Chiromo. His method of providing
fish for dinner was to fire a round from his .303 into the edge of the
river, when one or two fish would rise stunned to the surface.
The climate of the vicinity is very trying to Europeans; the heat is
intense, and, being a moist heat, is at times insufferable. We
repeatedly registered 115 deg. and 120 deg. in the shade, and owing to
the amount of vapour held suspended in the air, there was very little
diminution of temperature at night.
Periodical waves of fever prostrate the population when the wind blows
from the Elephant Marsh, and the death-rate assumes alarming
proportions. A form of Beri-Beri is also prevalent.
Large numbers of natives frequently apply for permission to come over
from the Portuguese country and settle in British territory, and the
population is thus becoming very dense, and food is easily obtainable in
large quantities.
*CHAPTER IV.*
*CHIPERONI.*
The Ruo, the main tributary of the Shire river, which two rivers at
their angle of confluence enclose Chiromo (native word, "the joining of
the streams"), rises in the Mlanje Hills, whence it flows in two main
streams which join about twenty-five miles north of its junction with
the Shire. Ten miles south of this are the beautiful Zoa Falls.
As there was every prospect of having to wait some weeks for the errant
loads, we made arrangements for some shooting, having heard great tales
of the rhinoceros on Mount Chiperoni, which lies about forty miles east
of the Ruo in Portuguese territory. Having been provided with porters
by Mr. MacDonald, and obtained a permit from the Portuguese, which
entitled us to carry a gun and shoot meat for the pot, we crossed the
river and marched up towards Zoa.
The country was exceedingly dry and burnt up: consequently the little
game that remained in the vicinity was concentrated near the water.
After some hard days' work under an impossible sun, I shot a
klipspringer, which, curiously enough, was down in the flat country, and
fully twenty miles from the nearest hills. The bristly hairs reminded
me of a hedgehog, and came out in great quantities during the process of
skinning. These antelopes are exceedingly heavy in the hind quarters,
short in the legs, and have the most delicate feet imaginable. We both
searched high and low for koodoo, which were reported to be plentiful,
but without effect, though I found a couple of worm-eaten heads lying in
the bush; and for some days we had no luck with sable, although there
was much fresh spoor; but eventually I succeeded in bagging a fair bull.
No antelope looks grander than an old bull sable, standing like a statue
under some tree, his mighty horns sweeping far back over his shoulders.
The bristling mane gives a massive appearance to his shoulders; there is
something suggestive of the goat about him, both in his lines and
carriage: a giant ibex!
One evening some natives came to camp with a wonderful catch of fish,
amongst which I noticed four different species. One was a long,
eel-shaped fish with a curious bottle snout, and very small teeth. The
eye, entirely covered with skin, was almost invisible. There is a
closely allied fish in the Nile. Another one resembled a bream with
very large fins. A third resembled a carp with enormous scales, and was
very poor eating. While the fourth, which I have never seen elsewhere,
and which was unknown to Mr. MacDonald, who is a keen naturalist,
resembled a heavily-built carp with large scales and prominent fins, and
was of a beautiful green colour.
Sharp having decided to go to the north of Nyassa to arrange transport
across the plateau, then returned to Chiromo, and I quickly followed.
But a few days later I again crossed into Portuguese territory, and
marched east along the telegraph line to M'Serrire on the Liadzi, a
tributary of the Shire.
The following morning, quietly strolling through some dense bush, I saw
two grand bull sable browsing on the tender shoots of a massive creeper.
I fired at the better of the two, and they both galloped away. It was
easy to follow their spoor in the soft, peaty soil, and a quarter of a
mile away I came on him lying dead. The shot had passed through both
lungs. In the evening, when tubbing, I was beset by bees who come in
clouds for the moisture, and after an exciting and one-sided conflict I
hurriedly withdrew, dashed in a state of nudity through the astonished
village, and sought refuge in a hut. The stings induced a severe fever,
and the next two days were spent in bed and indignant meditation.
Hearing that some old Cambridge friends of mine had arrived in Chiromo,
I marched in and spent a jovial evening with MacDonald, who was
entertaining them.
A new detachment of Sikhs arrived under Lieut. Godfrey. It was splendid
to see the contrast between the manners of these magnificent men and
those of the local negro. The respect shown to all Englishmen by these
gentlemen of gentlemen, coupled with their proud carriage and air of
self-respecting-respectful independence, contrasted well with the
slouching, coarse insolence of the hideous African.
A naive individual arrived by the same boat for some official post, and
asked whether it was usual to leave cards on the converted natives and
their wives. He appeared to be a striking example of the appalling
ineptitude of many of the officials chosen for the difficult and serious
work they undertake.
Tales of rhinoceros and elephant fired me with the desire to make a trip
to Chiperoni, a large mountain mass east of the Ruo; but my ignorance of
the language made such an undertaking difficult, so that I wasted some
days in endeavouring to find a companion. Preparatory to starting, it
was necessary to make friends with the Portuguese official. The usual
man was away, and his _locum tenens_ was the captain of the gunboat,
which was moored to the bank opposite MacDonald's house.
From previous experience, I had learnt that with Portuguese and natives
everything depended on outward appearance; and, as my wardrobe was
little calculated to inspire respect, I went round the town and gathered
much gorgeous raiment, the finishing touch being supplied by the doctor
in the shape of a red-and-white medal ribbon, torn from a pocket
pincushion. Resplendent in such gauds, with a heavy riding-whip, spurs
(I had noticed that spurs are indispensable to Portuguese polite
society, even at sea), and balancing a No. 6 helmet on a No. 8 head, I
was rowed across the river in great pomp by the administration boat,
midst the blare of trumpets and waving of flags.
The Portuguese officer, a delightful gentleman, received me with open
arms, placed the whole country and all that was therein at my disposal,
and gave me a "Viesky-soda," insisting on drinking the same thing
himself--a stretch of hospitality that was attended with the direst
results.
The following morning, having given up all hopes of finding a companion,
I collected a dozen raw natives and a Chinyanja dictionary, and on
November 10th crossed the Ruo and marched twelve miles to the Liadzi, a
parallel stream to the Ruo, and also flowing into the Shire. Five miles
further I forded the Zitembi, another parallel stream of some volume.
This I followed up to a village called Gombi (little bank), which is
perched on a small cliff at the junction of the Zitembi with a feeder.
I had had considerable difficulty in obtaining guides, the natives being
very surly, and absolutely refusing any information of the best means of
reaching Chiperoni, or of the probability of sport, and at Gombi things
reached a climax, the chief telling me that he wanted no white man in
his country, that the Portuguese forced them to work for nothing, and
demanded a 5 r. hut tax, that my men would obtain no food, etc., etc.,
_ad nauseam_. However, seeing that I was not to be trifled with, he
changed his tone, and brought me flour and fowls, guides to show me
game, and a guide to Chiperoni for the morrow. In the afternoon I took
a walk round and shot some meat, seeing plenty of fresh rhino, buffalo,
eland, sable, and other buck spoor. The country seemed so promising
that I decided, if unsuccessful at Chiperoni, to return for a few days.
There was an albino woman in the village; all her children, to the
number of five, were also albino, and at several other villages in the
vicinity I saw specimens, which would argue a strong hereditary
tendency. In many of the villages in the higher valleys there were
numerous cases of goitre, some very pronounced, and an extraordinary
number of lepers and idiots. This was attributable to the isolating
influence of mountainous regions, through difficulty of communication,
and the consequent tendency to inbreed. The whole of the next day I
followed the Zitembi, till, at its junction with a large feeder, about
twenty-four miles from Gombi, there is a village called Chirombo. The
stream, which is a series of cascades, and lined with bamboo, is
exceedingly beautiful, and, by a reconnaissance on the morrow, I
ascertained that it rises on the north of Chiperoni. From here
Chiperoni has quite an imposing effect. It is a terraced cone deeply
seared by water-courses, and rises from the middle of a basin formed by
a circle of less prominent peaks, the most important of which is Makambi
to the west. Far away to the north-west were visible the heights of
Mlanje, while to the east stretched an unending forest-clad plain that
reaches to Mozambique. Woods of mahobahoba (the wild loquat) and many
flowering trees covered every rise, and the flat interior of the basin;
and the glorious golds, reds, russets, and browns of our autumn, which
in these climes beautify the landscape in spring, were at their richest,
while a carpet of vivid green and purple flowers lay spread beneath the
shade. It was a beautiful country, cool, even at midday, cold at night,
free from mosquitoes and flies, and every mile or so an ice-cold stream
came tumbling down behind its curtain of ferns and orchids.
Marching round the southern face of Chiperoni for twenty miles, we came
to a long ridge or arete which I followed till within 500 ft. of the
summit, which is rocky and precipitous, but would offer no difficulty to
a man without a load. Here I camped on a small plateau in a glade of
mahobahoba. It was a delightful change after the sweltering heat of
Chiromo, and I could imagine myself again in Switzerland as I looked out
over miles of rolling upland and undulating forest. There were numerous
signs of elephant which were feeding on the small sugary loquats, but I
failed to find any, though I followed one spoor for many miles. From
here we worked round to the east face, till, being short of food, I was
obliged to follow one of the numerous streams down to the plain. Here
was a considerable but scattered population with a large number of
domestic pigeons, pigs, ducks, and cats. The pigs were the ordinary
bush-pig, while the pigeons, which were blue rocks, must have been
originally introduced by the Portuguese. The stream, which flows into
the Misongwe, a tributary of the Shire, is called the Machingiri, and
there are numerous signs of rhino, though few antelopes; however, I
managed to bag a good sable. As my boys were following very badly on the
paths, I cut straight across to Gombi through the forest, a very long,
waterless march, and on arrival found there was not one boy a hundred
yards behind; after that I had no further difficulty with them. At
Gombi I decided to stop for a few days, and the next morning, after
spooring a herd of sable for two hours, I shot a splendid bull.
I had told the chief, who was now most friendly, that I was going to
shoot sable, and he came and asked me what I intended to kill the next
day, and was much amused when I jokingly replied that I should bring
home a rhinoceros.
With this end in view I started early, at 5.30 a.m., and crossing the
river, skirted along the foot of the hills, and killed a bull
hartebeeste for the Mahomedan boys, who refuse to eat the meat of any
beast that has not had its throat cut before death. Although this is a
great nuisance (as cutting the throat spoils the head skin), it is right
to respect such customs, and I always made a point of killing something
else, so that they should not suffer for their belief.
At 7.30 I found fresh rhinoceros spoor which I followed under a blazing
sun till 12.30. The country had been very difficult, and I was just
beginning to despair when I heard a snort, and looking up, saw the rhino
trotting round the corner of an ant-hill, behind which he had been
sleeping. On seeing me he stopped, snorting, blowing, and stamping,
looking exceedingly nasty. I was carrying my .303, and turning round
for my 4-bore, I found that all my boys had bolted up a small thorn
tree, from the branch of which they were hanging like a cluster of bees.
They had thrown down the gun, and I was compelled to stoop down and
grope about for it in the undergrowth. The brute was blowing and
snorting only fifteen yards away, and I felt very uncomfortable, as in
my position I offered a magnificent target. However, at last I found
the gun, and firing past his cheek, hit him full on the edge of the
shoulder. Instantly there arose a very hell of sound, squealing,
stamping, and crashing of bushes and grass. The smoke hung like a pall
around me, and I thought he was charging. Having nowhere to run to, I
stayed where I was, and suddenly his huge mass dashed past the edge of
the smoke-cloud, and I saw him disappear at a tremendous pace into the
grass. We followed hard, but though he bled freely and lay down several
times, we did not come up to him again till 3 p.m., when we found him
standing at ten yards' distance in a bushy nullah far up in the hills.
I fired the 4-bore at his shoulder, knocking him down, but he rose
again, and tried to climb the far bank; so I fired the second barrel
hurriedly; the cartridge split at the back, and I was knocked over a
tree two yards behind. That stopped him, and three solid bullets from
the .303 finished him.
I found that the first shot had penetrated about 2 ft., smashing all the
shoulder, yet he travelled for two and a half hours, over the steepest
hills and through some precipitous water-courses.
In cutting off his head, I found an old iron native bullet in the muscle
of his neck.
We were terribly exhausted from the desperate work in a pitiless sun,
and hastily grilled a portion of his liver, which was excellent.
A twelve-mile trot brought us back to camp at 7 p.m., and the old chief
turned out in state to meet me, and falling upon his knees, rubbed his
face in the dust in token of admiration at my powers of prescience.