courses and some luscious kinds of fruit, amongst which the
_ceil-de-boeuf_ was particularly soothing; and delicious Algerian wine
flowed freely round the festive board. There are two or three white
sisters at the station; it was very sad to see how ill they looked.
After dinner, some natives brought in a large catch of fish, amongst
which was a splendid kind of white-fleshed salmon. The Fathers informed
me that this fish, at that time of the year, runs up the small streams,
and jumps up waterfalls of considerable height.
The charming point about these white Fathers is that they never ply one
with fantastic accounts of the work which they are doing. When we
regretfully took our leave, they presented us with several large baskets
of potatoes, tomatoes, pomegranates, and many other fruits and
vegetables.
Along this shore there are enormous dug-out canoes, and we were carried
to and from the steamer in one very fine specimen, probably 40 ft. in
length.
On the run up to M'towa, we encountered a terrific sea, and were for
several hours in imminent danger of turning turtle. The wind rushes
down the narrow gulleys between the mountains that enclose the lake, and
lashes the waters into a very frenzy. The arrival of these squalls is
very sudden and impossible to predict; consequently, sailing on Lake
Tanganyika is a most dangerous amusement. All the natives were most
abominably ill, everything was wet, and the cabin and the captain formed
an impossible combination.
Early in the morning the tempest subsided and we made M'towa, which is
the chief Congo station on the lake. Here all the officials in the
district had collected, having ignominiously fled from the rebels. One
gentleman who had retired from a station further up the lake, had thrown
all the station ammunition and ivory into the lake, solely on a report
that the rebels were within a hundred miles. The rebels, hearing of the
action, went to the place and quietly fished up both the ivory and the
cartridges, thereby gaining a new lease of life. At M'towa the Belgians
had built elaborate defences and had protected all the approaches with
barbed wire; and in case the rebels should come they had cut down all
the bananas, and were consequently short of food. There were one or two
unfortunate Scandinavians in the service, who were being thrown out as
pickets. One of these gentlemen came and asked us for some poison, in
case he should be caught by the rebels with his totally inadequate
force.
This chaotic condition has now lasted for five years, and there appears
to be no man capable of grappling with the situation; it seems to me a
great pity that they did not allow Commandant Henry, whom I afterwards
met on the Nile, to follow up his preliminary successes against the
rebels. Had he been given a free hand, in all probability the
revolution would have been crushed long since.
Mr. Mohun's expedition was camped on a hill about a mile from the
Government station, and they complained of most indifferent treatment at
the hands of the local officials. Although they had been ready to start
operations for more than six weeks, the officials had failed to provide
them with any labour. It was obvious that there was much jealousy and
friction between the expedition and the authorities. Fortunately, the
King of the Belgians had sent Mr. Mohun a supplementary commission,
which would give him the free hand necessary to the successful carrying
out of his difficult task.
I was very pleased to again meet Sharp, as we had been separated for
nearly three months. He was looking very ill, having only recently been
laid up with fever in Ujiji. Dr. Castellote, the medical officer of Mr.
Mohun's expedition, and who I am grieved to learn has recently died of
fever, hearing of Sharp's sorry plight, crossed the lake and brought him
over to the comparatively healthy uplands near M'towa.
Sharp had visited the station of the white Fathers on the east coast of
the lake, where we had only put in to obtain wood. He told me that
there was an elaborate church of brick with stained-glass windows, where
he had attended service. He had been much amused at watching dirty
little nigger boys from the village passing in at one door, draped in
the usual filthy strip of greasy cloth, and presently emerging from
another door clad in scarlet cassocks and lace tippets, waving censers,
etc.
Bidding a regretful farewell to our good telegraph friends, and wishing
them every luck in their venture, Sharp and I, with a mean temperature
of 104 deg., repaired across the lake to Ujiji.
It was with feelings of curiosity that I looked out for the first time
on the one historic spot in Central Africa. A few mango trees and a few
white buildings scattered about on the top of the long, gently sloping
shore of the lake: such was Ujiji, the meeting-place of Stanley and
Livingstone, and the heart of the great slave-raiding ulcer of the past.
After considerable difficulty, we landed all our belongings by means of
some unstable dug-out canoes; and having piled them on the beach, left
them in charge of our boys, while we rode on donkeys, sent to us by the
Greek merchant, through a gruesome array of grinning skulls that still
lie scattered about the beach, the last relic of the days of Arab
predominance.
We were given beds in an old mission-house which is now tenanted by two
Greek traders, who, by their enterprise, richly deserve the success
which they are enjoying. The old mission-house is substantially built,
and is surrounded by enormous mango and guava trees.
Having fixed up our loads, we crawled up to the Government house to pay
our respects to Hauptmann Bethe, the German chief of the station; he is
a most delightful specimen of a German officer. He treated us with
every kindness and showered the most lavish hospitality upon us.
Without his cordial co-operation, we should never have been able to take
the route _via_ Kivu, on which we had set our hearts. He strongly
advised us to go by the hackneyed route by Tabora and the Victoria
Nyanza, the road by which Decle went from Ujiji to Uganda, and which is
the high-road for all the caravans that ply between the Victoria Nyanza
and Tabora, and Ujiji and Tabora. He informed us that it would be most
risky to take the route which we intended without at least a hundred
armed men.
He also told us that the Congolese rebels had sent a deputation to him
to tell him that they intended once more to attack the Belgians. They
asked whether, in the event of failure, they would be allowed to hand
their guns in to him, and to come over and settle in German territory.
This is an indication of the natives' feeling towards the Congo Free
State Administration.
Unfortunately both Sharp and I were too ill to see much of Ujiji and its
interesting people. Many charming old Arabs, clad in gorgeous array,
came and paid their respects, and sent us many presents, such as fruit,
eggs, and vegetables. It was sad to see these venerable old gentlemen
in their then condition, and to think of how, in the good old days gone
by, they had held undisputed sway over many, many thousand square miles.
The day after our arrival we lunched with Hauptmann Bethe and his staff.
We were plied with the most bewildering succession of drinks; starting
with port, then through successive courses of champagne, brandy, beer,
Vermouth, and claret, we slowly wended our way, with the temperature 110
deg. in the shade. This diet, the Germans informed us, was absolutely
essential to avoid fever. They protested that no teetotaller who had
arrived in Ujiji had ever left Ujiji for any other place in this world;
and certainly the Germans who were there were living examples of the
efficacy of their treatment.
The courtesy, assistance, and confidence which we received in the German
sphere shone bright in contrast with much of the treatment which we
received under our own flag; and our warmest thanks are due to those
whole-hearted Germans who are upholding the honour of the Fatherland on
the far distant shore of Tanganyika.
My fever, which had now lasted for more than three weeks, took a decided
turn for the worse, and I began to lose the proper control of my hands.
Sharp, on the other hand, was slightly better.
We witnessed several dances. It was quite easy to start one, by
providing the funds necessary to obtain a considerable quantity of
native beer, when the natives would arrive in hundreds in the
market-place and perform the wildest and most grotesque dances
imaginable. Hauptmann Bethe arranged a most elaborate one for our
edification.
At last, on April 12th, we had organized our caravan of one hundred and
thirty men, and made a start up the lake. We had been compelled to
leave some loads behind, and it was not till four in the afternoon that
the last man left the courtyard. We had had no difficulty in recruiting
as many men as we wanted, as the Germans afforded us every facility.
We only marched out sufficiently far to get our caravan quite clear of
Ujiji; and the Germans kindly sent out a few soldiers to avoid any
trouble with the men, the last farewell of the natives being invariably
accompanied by much pombe. However, they all turned up, and we got them
into some sort of order. I had brought from Nyassa sixteen boys--ten of
whom had been drilled for a few days by one of Mr. Mohun's Zanzibari
sergeants--two of them were kitchen boys, and the other four gun-bearers
and tent-pitchers: this made our caravan one hundred and fifty strong.
Sharp ignored the mosquitoes the first night, and in consequence
suffered severely from blood poisoning of the hands. The path led
through a fertile country, but as the high grass overhung the narrow
track, it was very wet travelling and not conducive to a speedy recovery
from fever. The way became gradually worse and we had many sharp rises
to face, and many small streams to cross, while satisfactory
camping-grounds were hard to find. On the fourth day, after a struggle
up an almost perpendicular hill, we camped at an elevation of nearly
6,000 ft., and obtained some lovely views over the country to the
east--high, tree-covered hills, with a few native huts and their
accompanying gardens in clearings where the ground was not too steep,
and, down below, deep valleys covered with dense bush--while to the west
we could just catch a glimpse of the lake backed by the rugged and
forbidding-looking hills on the Congo side.
A cold white mist came up in the afternoon, and put all thoughts of
scenery away, driving us to refuge in tightly-closed tents.
Next day we mounted still higher--about 7,000 ft.--and the scenery amply
repaid the exertion. From thence we made a rapid descent by a path so
steep and rough that we had to glissade at times with the aid of a
strong spear. At the villages here we found the people wearing wooden
tweezers on their noses; on inquiry we discovered that they injected
snuff mixed with water, and then put the apparatus on to keep the
concoction from wasting away at once. A day or two later we reached the
lake-shore, and the path, such as it was, came to an end. We now had to
make our way along the shingle. The bush overhung the water every few
yards, and as it was mostly mimosa, or other equally prickly matter, we
had to wade round to avoid it--often up to our middles in the
water--while an occasional mountain torrent necessitated our being
carried on our boys' shoulders. As the lake was swarming with
crocodiles, this was rather exciting. Our Nyassa boys, who had earned
the name of the Guinea-fowls, owing to their dress of dark-blue
bird's-eye cotton and greeny-blue fezzes, had been a great comfort,
pitching our tents and doing all the little odd jobs inseparable from
camp life, and we were congratulating ourselves on having some natives
of a different race to our Manyema porters.
The heat and continual wetting now began to tell on the fever which we
had not been able to shake off, so we hired two big canoes, and putting
our deck-chairs in the largest, over which we rigged up an awning, we
proceeded by water while our boys plodded through the shingle. On
reaching the halting-place after our first day's canoeing, we were
horrified to find that our ten Askaris and the cook had bolted, leaving
their rifles and bayonets on the path. Though I was bad with fever I
got a fresh crew for the big canoe, and made all haste back to our last
night's camp. Nothing was to be seen or heard of the fugitives, and
though I offered the Sultani (chief) of the village heavy rewards for
each captive, we never heard any more of them, but trust that they did
not escape their deserts when they reached Ujiji, if the natives on the
way let them go free, which is more than doubtful. I had left Sharp to
try his 'prentice hand at cooking, and returning wet through, very tired
and full of fever, found his attempt at soup had ended in a few bones
and a blob of fat at the bottom of the pan! The heat was intense, never
a breath of air, and no shade, while the rays of the burning sun were
refracted from the face of the water. At every camp one or more of the
neighbouring chiefs came to pay his respects, bringing with him a
present, according to his standing, of pombe, native beer, bananas,
three or four fowls, and in the case of a big "swell," two or three
goats or sheep. Each chief was followed by as large a retinue as he
could gather, and most of them were dressed in semi-Arab fashion--a
long, white shirt or "kanzu," a coloured cloth, and a turban or white
head-dress. The natives had many knives of local manufacture, the
sheaths of which were ornamented with well-carved patterns, while their
spears were very thin and light, and often adorned with brass and copper
wire. Of course we had to make return presents of cloth and beads to an
equal value. Eggs were rather hard to obtain, and it was still more
difficult to make the natives believe that we did not want them for
electioneering purposes. My fever was now so bad that I had to depute
my baking to Sharp, who was becoming quite a passable cook under my
tuition, and retire to bed as soon as I could get my tent pitched. To
add to our enjoyment Sharp got a sunstroke and a dose of fever, and we
were consequently reduced to the most pitiable plight. My temperature
went up to 106.9, and left me too weak to move, while Sharp, ill as he
was, made superhuman efforts to look after me. At last, after several
days of intolerable misery, we eventually arrived at Usambara, where the
German official, Lieutenant von Gravert, took us in hand. Under his
care we recovered slightly.
Usambara, with characteristic German thoroughness, has been well laid
out. Substantial buildings have been put up, good gardens made, and an
immense avenue of pawpaws and bananas planted from the Government House
to the lake shore. A small sailing-boat adds materially to the comfort
and efficiency of the commanding officer.
Every morning a large market is held, and the natives bring in enormous
supplies of fish, bananas, beans, grains of different sort (even rice),
and fowls. The German black troops keep splendid order, and the station
has the most flourishing air. I am a great believer in the Germans'
African methods. Of course they are severely handicapped by having such
a poor country to work upon. But their methods are thorough and
eminently practical, and not characterized by the stinginess which
paralyzes most of our African efforts. The men selected for the work
are given a practically free hand, and are not cramped by the ignorant
babblings of sentimentalism.
*CHAPTER IX.*
*THE RUSISI VALLEY.*
At last, on May 7th, we were sufficiently recovered to move, and bidding
farewell to our good friend, Lieutenant von Gravert, we left Usambara
and made a short march along the lake shore to Kijaga, a deserted
Government station near the most easterly mouth of the Rusisi.
Being still much too weak to walk, I was carried in a hammock slung from
a pole by a team of twelve natives of Usige kindly recruited for me by
Lieutenant von Gravert, who were to take me to Dr. Kandt's headquarters
on Kivu, where the climate of the highlands, it was hoped, would render
me sufficiently strong to continue my journey on foot.
After the trained "machila" teams of Nyassaland they were very crude,
and many amusing incidents arose from their inexperience. However, they
were willing, and served me very well.
The northern shore of the lake is flat and sandy, and for a long
distance from land the water is very shallow; even at a distance of two
miles hippopotami could walk on the bottom with their heads above water.
The natives are great fishermen, and own many dug-out canoes; they fish
mainly at night. There was little moon at the time, and we could see
scores of canoes punting about, each with a great flaming torch in the
bows, and the fishermen with poised spears eagerly scanning the water.
The effect of the number of dimly-defined canoes gliding to and fro on
the oily water, of the strong reflection of the flaming torches, and of
the phosphorescent wash was most picturesque.
The Rusisi, which is the outflow of Lake Kivu, falls into Lake
Tanganyika through five mouths, four of which are close together
slightly to the east of the centre of the northern shore, while the
fifth is on the extreme western point under the gigantic hills that line
the western shore. The enclosed deltas are very flat and swampy, and in
part covered with forest, the haunt of many elephant, a large portion of
which are said by the Arabs to be tuskless.
During many weary days of sickness at Usambara, I had gazed up that
mighty valley, the vast flat gently merging into endless vistas of
purple hills, behind winch lay the mysterious waters of Kivu and the
giant volcanoes (the pulse of Africa), flanked by two massive walls of
mountains--the path that led to the yet unknown, the first real stage of
the task that we had set ourselves! And for long it seemed as though I
had struggled thus far only to die at the very gate. The extraordinary
beauty of the scene fascinated me, and with its eddying mists and fading
hills, redolent of mystery, it seemed a fitting entry to an unknown
land.
At Kijaga we rose to find that our cook and the three boys whom we had
engaged at Usambara had bolted in the night, taking with them their
month's pay and two months' rations. We immediately sent a note in to
Von Gravert, and his police very cleverly caught them two days later,
although they tried to go down to Ujiji by a path that leads over the
hills at the back of the station. The capture was a very clever one,
and reflects great credit on the German administrative organization.
Our cow-boys were a great nuisance; they refused to go near one of the
cows which kicked, and they evidently considered that the little milk
they succeeded in extracting from the others had been earned by the
trouble of extraction, consequently what eventually arrived for us was
limited in quantity. A strong protest, backed by mild physical
correction, produced a larger quantity, but it was sour, and on inquiry
we found that they had drunk our fresh milk, and for a small
consideration purchased some sour milk from a neighbouring chief; they
foolishly brought it stone cold, ostensibly fresh from the cow. They
assured us that all the cows in that country produced sour milk.
For the first fifteen miles the valley is absolutely flat, and deposits
of semi-fossilized shells indicate a historically recent upheaval.
There are two streams, the Mpanda and Kazeki, flowing from the east; the
former has a considerable volume of water.
The flat, which is about two miles wide, is covered with very short,
poor-looking grass, and dotted here and there with magnificent specimens
of the candelabra euphorbia, looking in the distance like gigantic
cabbages. An occasional palm-tree breaks the desolate monotony, and a
very occasional small antelope lends a suggestion of life.
To the west the Rusisi makes a long curve towards the enclosing mountain
range, and in places spreads out into swampy lagoons apparently of some
extent.
Our carriers had been giving much trouble, lagging behind and not
arriving till two or three hours after our arrival, hoping thereby to
escape fatigue duties. It was most desirable to have the caravan as
compact as possible on the march, in view of possible troubles with the
natives.
We allowed them, therefore, half an hour's margin, and every one who
arrived after that, without having obtained permission in the morning
for sickness or some valid reason, was made to stand with his load on
his head in the middle of camp as long as was deemed sufficient for his
particular case. We found this much more effectual as a punishment than
fines (a system to be deprecated, except in Government stations). The
native enjoys his afternoon nap, he likes to stroll into the
neighbouring villages, show his best clothes off before the local
beauties, and pass the time of day with the village cronies. It jars on
him to have to stand doing nothing while he sees his friends chatting
and discussing their bananas and the topics of the day. One such
punishment usually sufficed for at least a month, and a native must be
very much impressed to remember anything for as long as that.
Fifteen miles from Kijaga there is a bunch of large villages. The chief
is called Balamata. They are situated on the advance spur of a line of
conical peaks which divide the main valley into two sections: the
western branch, which trends north-west by north, is the valley of the
Rusisi; while the eastern branch, which trends north-east by north,
comes from Kirimbi and Imbo. Close to Balamata a small stream flows
from the central peaks towards the eastern valley, and as we did not
pass any stream of consequence, I imagine that this small stream and the
whole of the drainage of the valley loses itself in the swamp which I
could plainly see a few miles to the east.
Passing round the western side of Balamata's peaks, we found the country
similar to the first stage of the valley, flat and dotted with
euphorbia, the mean altitude being slightly higher than the lake level.
We passed over two extraordinary ravines dug out of the flat country.
One was evidently a dry stream-bed, but the other appeared to have no
outlet, and I could find no satisfactory clue to its origin.
The Rusisi here flows under the eastern wall; it is a large body of
water flowing through wide expanses of papyrus, and is probably
navigable for small steamers to a point forty miles north of the lake.
The population is very scanty. The scattered villages and their
cattle-pens are enclosed by artificial hedges of euphorbia.
A large stream, the Kagunozi, flows down from the east a few miles north
of Balamata's, and three miles further north is the village of Buvinka,
a chief of some importance.
North of Buvinka's, a large stream called the Kabulantwa flows into the
Rusisi from the east, which appears to be very broken and mountainous in
the distance. We had much difficulty in crossing the stream with our
cattle and goats, owing to the power of the current. Several goats were
washed away, but with the exception of two, all were eventually rescued
by the boys, who were expert swimmers. In places the stream narrowed
considerably, forming foaming rapids, and it was splendid to see some of
the Manyema shooting down like arrows in pursuit of an old billy-goat,
eventually dragging him half drowned on to the bank. Some of the cows
refused to enter the water, and had to be forcibly dragged across by
ropes.
Opposite the junction of the Kabulantwa and the Rusisi, the western
range of hills sends a long spur down into the valley, culminating in a
well-defined conical peak, which abuts on the river, and is a splendid
landmark for many miles north and south.
The dominant peaks at the back are very striking, and apparently at
least 7,000 ft. high; they are very rugged, and in parts heavily wooded.
A few miles north of the Kabulantwa the valley again splits into two;
the eastern branch is drained by a small and very rapid stream called
the Muhira, which appears to be a highroad for elephant crossing the
valley. The western branch is the valley of the Rusisi; it is very
flat, and covered with coarse grass with slight thorn-scrub at the
sides; part of it is marshy.