fundamentally distinct objects for which we acquire territory. We
acquire territory for generations yet unborn, trusting thereby to find
an outlet for surplus population in the congested days to come. It is
to the future benefit of the race that we look. We expect no immediate
return. It is as with a man who starts farming, and with an eye to the
future buys the call on the surrounding country. But with the Belgians
it is quite different. They expect immediate returns. They say this
country is no good, we can get no ivory or rubber, why do we stay here?
And they are advising the evacuation of the Nile stations. It is as
with a man who leases a vast tract of country and cuts down all the
timber for sale, hoping thereby to obtain a large and immediate return
on his money, ignoring the future, or believing his lease to be merely
temporary. The greatest difficulty with which the Belgians have to
contend--one that paralyzes all their efforts, however genuine--is the
character of the tribes from whom they recruit their soldiers. I
myself, having had experience of Manyema, can fully appreciate their
difficulties in this respect. The majority of the tribes drawn upon are
cannibals, and they are so low in the scale of civilization, and in many
cases so vice-sodden from their association with Arabs of the Tippoo Tib
fraternity, that it is impossible to make any impression upon them.
Most natives can be touched in their pride or sense of the
responsibility of a soldier's position. But these brutes are mere
brutes, feeling the whip if it is laid on sufficiently thoroughly, and
nothing else. As I pointed out to Inspector Chaltin, if the Congo State
would draw its soldiers mainly from the northern tribes, such as the
Makrakas and Niam-Niams, they would obtain the raw material that could
be trained to a sense of responsibility and self-esteem. The ruffians
that they employ at present cannot be trusted for one hour away from the
superintendence of a white man. Cases of outrages committed by the
mail-carriers on even the natives on the British side of the river are
of daily occurrence. I can bear witness to the distress that they
caused Inspector Chaltin, but they are inevitable with the existing
state of the Free State forces. Another potent factor is the inadequacy
of the commissariat arrangements; the Belgians are at present
endeavouring to maintain about one thousand five hundred men in a
country destitute of supplies. They have to make expeditions ten days'
march into the interior to obtain any supplies at all. And I am
convinced by the frequency of the shooting affrays that their methods of
obtaining these supplies are not, in our ideas, legitimate. Knowing,
too, the difficulty that we have in buying provisions for one hundred
men only on the British side, and having seen the trade goods taken out
by the Belgians, I am sure that "commandeering" is largely resorted to.
Anyhow it is significant that all the natives on the Congo Free State
side are retiring further and further inland, while the natives on the
British side are rapidly resettling on the river-bank, from which they
were driven by the Dervishes. Owing to the difficulty that the Belgians
find in obtaining supplies, the ration per man is one small cup of
millet a day; out of this he has probably to feed a slave boy, one or
two wives, and Heaven knows how many children. Yet they all look sleek
and fat. How do they manage it? The conclusion is obvious. When I was
hunting with Captain Dugmore, the local natives on our side dare not go
alone into the bush, as they said that they would be caught and eaten.
Another great source of weakness is the Belgian method of treating their
natives. They are too familiar with them, and then, when, as the
inevitable result, the natives become impertinent, brutally severe. In
treating natives it is indispensable to emphasize the distinction
between black and white, yet at the same time to let the native see that
you respect him in his own line, but take your own absolute superiority
for granted. Hair-splitting justice is a _sine qua non_; and, I
believe, herein lies our success with inferior peoples; it is the one
thing that they can understand, and which inspires more respect than
anything else.
On the third day we met the first Dinkas, miserable, amphibious objects,
eking out a precarious existence on a semi-submerged island; here we
camped, in a visible--nay, tangible--atmosphere of rotting fish,
mud-caked niggers, marabouts, and kites; and at sunset, with a
long-drawn expectant howl the mosquitoes arrived: little ones, big ones,
black ones, mottled ones, a whirling, wailing fog of miniature vampires,
that kept up the mournful dirge till the cold hour before sunrise, when
with a sigh of relief we pushed off in our boat, and after five hours'
paddling reached Bohr, which lies on the right bank at a sudden bend of
the river. The original zaribas of the Dervishes and the more
substantial earthworks thrown up when they heard of the occupation of
Kero are already falling to pieces, and the elephant now takes his
midday siesta midst the grinning skulls and calcined bones that are
scattered about, all equally regardless of the wanton brutality of the
near past. The past fades fast in Africa; yet another year, and the
cotton-bush will have hid the mouldering relics of the earthworks, and
the white ant will have seen the last grin of those gruesome jaws.
The fort of the Dervishes was of very considerable extent; about five
hundred yards by six hundred yards, the long side lying on the river.
There are still signs of a primitive effort at drainage, and the
enormous quantity of cotton shrubs are a proof of the suitability of the
soil to this product could it be brought within touch of a market.
There are also unlimited numbers of gum-trees and tamarinds.
We had a few dynamite cartridges with us, and we obtained a good supply
of fish by a couple of explosions. Amongst the numerous kinds that
floated up to the surface was a curious fish similar to the species that
I have mentioned as having been brought to me from the Ruo river near
Chiromo. It was a long, eel-like fish, with the eyes covered by skin,
the dorsal fin running down to and joining the diminutive tail. The
snout was long and tubular, and the flesh lay in long, thin, delicate
flakes like the flesh of the skate. Another species had the head and
fore-part of the body encased in an adamantine shield armed with
dangerous spikes on the back and by the pectoral fins. Its tail was
shaped like the tail of a shark, which it resembles in general form,
although the mouth was not underneath as with the shark's. A third
species, very common all over this section of the Nile, much prized, and
justly so, for the richness of its flesh, is covered with
disproportionately enormous scales of circular form; its general form
approximates to that of a red mullet. The commonest kind was the
gorgeous tiger-fish, which is one of the most beautiful fish that swim.
There are large numbers of natives in the vicinity, and when we had at
length convinced them of our pacific intentions, they brought milk and
quantities of fish and fowls. It appears that such was the anxiety of
the Dervishes in departing that the Dinkas succeeded in relieving them
of their cattle. As a protection against mosquitoes the natives smother
themselves in wood-ash, and the long lines of tall, gaunt, grey spectres
slowly threading their way into the bush, each with a bright,
broad-bladed spear, and a small gourd of milk or a decaying fish,
present a very curious spectacle. Having stopped for a day to buy
supplies, amongst which was a goat, rather less meaty than my hand,
whose two hind legs combined would have had no chance against an English
mutton-chop, we once more launched forth into the weary waste. We
camped successively on a mud-bank tenanted by a few forlorn natives,
from whom we obtained a small supply of grain at an exorbitant rate, and
on a network of sun-dried hippo-holes whose authors resented our
intrusion all night, expressing their disapproval by that strange
variety of coughs, bellows, grunts, squeals, and roars peculiar to that
misshapen pachyderm. Here we fired the 20 ft. reeds to modify the
mosquito plague. They were very dry except at the base, and the
terrific sheet of flame, capped by a vast cloud of smoke catching the
red lights from the fire, afforded a picture of indescribable grandeur.
It thundered away like a mighty sea of molten iron, licking up the
country as it sped eastward; and we "smiled loud out" to think of the
billions of mosquitoes that were perishing in its line; and the funny
old hippo roared in astonishment, blinking their pink eyes at the
alarming spectacle.
On the third day, having seen throughout the whole voyage from Bohr one
tree at a distance of several miles, we were startled during lunch by
the cry of "Steamer!" and rounding a bend in the river we saw the
British steam-tub labouring up-stream with a bunch of ribbons that had
once been a Jack flying at her stern. She was soon alongside, and we
found on board Mr. Mulders, a naturalized American Dutchman, who built
the Belgian steamer, in command, and two Belgians, one of whom was
confined to his bed by a severe attack of sciatica which necessitated
his return to Kero. In answer to our eager inquiries we learnt that
they had spent the three months in the sudd, making prodigious efforts
to cut a channel, and that eventually, after living waist-deep in water,
sleeping on water, eating strange birds and being eaten by mosquitoes,
steaming for miles in search of a stick or grain, they had abandoned
their steamer, leaving her in charge of a few Askaris, and the whole
party, including the French officer from Shambeh, who daringly followed
them in a flotilla of native canoes, had started in the boats with the
idea of dragging them by main force over the vegetation. The British
boat was sent back with the sick men for supplies and mails, and with
orders to return and patrol the vicinity of the obstructions at
intervals of a week, blowing her whistle and endeavouring to find out
whether the party would return, and, if no news had been obtained by the
middle of March, to return with the Belgian steamer to Kero.
I consider this successful attempt of Capt. Gage of the 7th Dragoon
Guards, and Dr. Milne, as one of the most daring feats ever accomplished
in the history of African travel. They suffered indescribable hardships
for nearly four months, during all which time they hardly slept one
night on land; but were compelled to see the long hours of darkness
through, night after night, cramped up in a small boat or lying on the
vegetation, tormented by myriads of mosquitoes, and with very little
more substantial than native porridge to keep their spirits up. Day
after day, nothing but that vast expanse of weed of a hopelessness
beyond civilized conception; day after day dragging their boats through
and over stinking bogs and spongy masses of weed tenanted by a thousand
crocodiles--not knowing where they were, nor, in characteristic British
fashion, caring, yet ever keeping their face forward, strong in the
knowledge that perseverance must succeed. Their food ran short, and to
return was impossible. Had they not come unexpectedly upon Major
Peake's steamers they would probably all have perished. Very few people
can ever have any conception of the magnitude and apparent hopelessness
of their task. The terror of those stupendous wastes! They have eaten
like rust into my very heart, as they must do with all those who launch
forth into their seemingly unending desolation.
From information I found it was impossible to land anywhere north of
Bohr on the right bank, so decided that the only course open to me was
to return to that salubrious resort. Commandant Renier kindly offered
to take me on if I thought it worth while to make the attempt; however,
it was obviously useless, and with a heavy heart I started back on my
tracks. We steamed up-river until we came to the enormous Lake
Powendael, which lies between the river and the left bank six hours
north of Bohr, and there we anchored till morning, when we sent a boat
ashore in search of wood. The lake is about twenty miles by ten, and
very shallow, numerous banks covered with ducks, geese, pelicans, and
other strange birds showing above the surface. The Dervishes were
reported to have sunk their steamer here, but an exhaustive search by
the small boat failed to find sufficient water to cover it; probably it
was sunk in the channel near Abu-kuka or Shambeh, as these are almost
the only spots where it is possible to reach the left bank. The
following day we reached Bohr, and as one of my Wa Ruanda who had been
sick was finished off by mosquitoes, and my Dinka had bolted with what
he could lay his hands on, my numbers were reduced to my four Watonga,
two small boys, one Ruanda, the criminal lunatic, and the youth from
Kero. With these it was obviously impossible to start, and Commandant
Renier kindly offered me some Askaris. Five boys from Sierra Leone
turned up in answer to a call for volunteers, and with my numbers
swelled to the vast total of fourteen, I made a start on December 30th.
*CHAPTER XX.*
*IN DINKA-LAND.*
The native information as to my route was decidedly discouraging, but
knowing by now the value of native information, it was with reasonable
hopes of success that I disposed of my bed and other luxuries, and put
the first of three hundred miles behind me. As I started late, I camped
at the first large village that I met, a distance of six miles from
Bohr. Here there was an enormous population living round the extensive
lagoons that stretched in all directions, and after the first few
minutes of suspense, a brisk trade started in fish and grain, and
eventually in milk. On the following day we succeeded in dodging
several lagoons, but had to wade up to our necks and cross another
nearly a mile wide on a very treacherous layer of vegetation. Skirting
the edge of the water, we came on a herd of twenty elephant, and I
dropped a good bull with a couple of .303's in the head. The quantities
of goats and sheep possessed by the natives were extraordinary, enormous
herds grazing in every direction in the rich vegetation growing in the
swamps. After cutting off meat from the elephant, I followed one of the
numerous paths which led inland, and meeting hundreds of natives on the
way, arrived at a large, scattered village, where we camped.
The main population, which is very dense, lives in the bush at a
distance of sometimes several miles from the river, and water is one of
the most expensive supplies, though, except in seasons of severe
drought, such as when I passed through, there are evidently numerous
pools scattered all over the bush. Owing to the drought there was no
grain obtainable, and the natives were eating the seeds of a water-plant
resembling a crown-artichoke (the nenuphar) and the kernels of the
before-mentioned plums. A very affable and intelligent gentleman, who
had accompanied me for some miles, offered his services as guide, which
I gladly accepted, and after marching for an hour I arrived at another
extensive village. Here, as elsewhere, all the huts were isolated and
surrounded by a fence of thorns to ward off the lions, which were very
numerous. On the path we met hundreds and hundreds of natives, many of
enormous stature, 6 ft. 4 to 6 ft. 6, who were going to cut up the
elephant, and they were all very friendly. At the village I waited for
my boys to close up, but after some time one was still missing, and as
boys whom I sent back told me that they could not find him, I packed my
people and belongings into one of the thorn-fences, and went back with
one soldier and some Dinkas whom I persuaded to accompany me.
About a mile away I met my headman and my guide of the morning returning
with the delinquent, who was none other than the criminal lunatic. It
appears that he had decided to return home, and, as a preliminary, had
distributed my blankets, mosquito-curtain, and clothes amongst the
natives. By an extraordinary stroke of luck I recovered them intact,
with the trivial exception of one of my two shirts; it was due to my
guide, and he and the two men who brought them in were handsomely
rewarded; so was the runaway. The flies by day, the mosquitoes by
night, rendered life well-nigh impossible, and with visions of
impassable swamps, waterless deserts, and famine in front, I heartily
wished myself quit of Africa and all its abominations, as I have so
often done before, and shall no doubt so often do again. In the
afternoon, at the urgent request of many hungry Dinkas, I sallied forth
and slew a good bull elephant. I had chased him for several miles,
pouring in lead whenever I could see him, till at last he stood. This
gave me my chance, and he dropped to a shot in the head. But as I was
going up to inspect him, he suddenly rose and sloped away. I fired four
shots from the 10-bore at him as he passed. At the fourth he stopped,
turned his head towards me, and quite deliberately began to advance,
examining carefully with his trunk every palm-bush. There was no
unseemly haste about his action. He meant investigating the matter. My
position was most uncomfortable, as, if I fired, I should give him my
whereabouts, and certainly could not drop him; while, if I moved from
the cover of the diminutive palm-tree behind which I was standing, he
would immediately see me, and the country was too open to escape. So,
for lack of another alternative, I waited. On he came quite quietly,
that snake-like trunk writhing round every corner, till there were but
two more palm-trees between him and me: out went that trunk once more;
he stopped, swayed slowly to and fro, and fell with a mighty
crash--dead. His tusks must have weighed about 60 lbs. apiece. It was
heart-breaking to leave them lying there, and to think that I had had to
kill such a magnificent beast for the sake of his meat. The natives
were very much delighted, and evidently thought me a great institution,
and for several days afterwards I was pestered with requests to shoot
elephant, till I began to wish I had never seen such a beast. They
promised to take the tusks of those I had slain to Bohr, and to give
them to the steamer when she returned, but I don't suppose I shall see
them again.[#]
[#] They turned up seven years later, the natives having kept them for
me till a Government station was established.
The river, which is here one vast sea of grass, the opposite bank being
quite invisible even from an eminence of 20 ft., continually branches
inland in the form of long, narrow, meandering lagoons, which, I
suppose, are apologies for rivers in this part of the world. As some of
them are several miles in length, progress is very difficult, and every
moment I dreaded to see a new one. However, I successfully dodged most
of them, but had some trouble with one a mile broad, which we eventually
passed by wading, the water being in places up to my boys' necks. At
one time my small boy, with my revolver, prismatic compass, and coat,
disappeared completely, but was extricated by an obliging Dinka of about
6 ft. 7 in. The prevalence of crocodiles, and a slimy bottom pitted
with elephant-holes, did not facilitate matters.
Enormous numbers of Dinkas came to see me beaten by this obstruction;
and after two hours' exhausting conversation in signs, during which I
displayed all my remaining trade goods, I had still failed to induce a
guide to show me the way across. In native fashion they all wanted to
see what I would do. At last, utterly disgusted, I started to wade,
intending to swim if we could not manage otherwise, as I dare not waste
the two or three days that would be necessary to march round. When they
saw that I was quite determined, several came with me and showed me the
shallowest path across. They were hugely delighted when I presented them
with a Jubilee medal and some beads, but said that they dare not go any
further, as the next village was not their village, signifying that if
they went they would be speared. A short march soon brought us to the
village in question. The natives were rather nervous at first, but soon
brought us plenty of rotten fish and a little milk. Here my surviving
Ruanda man succumbed to the attacks of the mosquitoes, which defied
description; he had been ailing for some time, and being too desperate
to keep them off, he was literally sucked dry. It was absolutely
necessary to turn in half an hour before sunset and to make all the
preparations possible for the night. I piled all my belongings round the
edge of my net, and kept a green wood fire burning at each end: then I
lay inside, smoked native tobacco (of remarkable pungency), and prayed
for morning. As soon as the sun went down they started operations. It
was like having a tame whirlwind in one's tent. They could not possibly
have been worse: had there been thousands more it would not have
mattered, as not a single one more could have found room on any exposed
part of one's anatomy. Every night two or three hundred contrived to
enter my net; I have no idea how. The most pernicious and poisonous
kind was a very small black mosquito, that might possibly have
penetrated the mesh. I used to turn out in the morning feeling
perfectly dazed from the amount of poison that had been injected during
the night. The natives of the country obviate the nuisance by lining
their huts with a deep layer of burnt cow-dung, in which they lie. They
also smear a paste made of this ash and cow's urine all over their
bodies. The women carefully collect all the dung and spread it out to
dry. In the evening, when the cattle are brought in to be milked, they
burn it. The smoke serves to keep the flies from the beasts during the
milking. Then all the ash is collected and placed in the huts.
Following the river, we made good progress till a halt was called by the
presence of a stupendous old bull elephant with magnificent tusks, who
was dozing on the path. We shouted to him to get out of the way, and he
slowly turned round, stalked towards us, and when within fifty yards
curled up his trunk, spread his ears, rumbled and came. Crash went
every load, and I found myself in a medley of tent and boxes, pots and
pans, with a double .303 loaded with soft-nosed bullets, looking at him
in amazement; but the shot fortunately turned him, and away he went,
screaming and trumpeting, giving my blankets a parting kick as he swung
round. This is the only time I have seen one aggressive without due
cause. Owing to the absence of water and the quantity of plum-trees, of
which they are very fond, there were enormous numbers of elephant along
the river-bank, and except where they were on the path we scarcely
noticed them, every day passing several herds. I was wild when I
thought of the prodigious but futile efforts that Sharp and I made round
the volcanoes to find them, when we had porters galore, while now,
having no porters, I looked upon them as a nuisance, owing to the delay
they caused. Here, and for some days afterwards, close to the line of
bush, there was a well-defined river with a stream of one and a half to
two miles an hour, which would be navigable for flat-bottomed punts.
The numbers of hippo were incredible, literally thousands and thousands.
At every two hundred yards there was a great purple bank of twenty,
fifty, or a hundred lying with their bodies half exposed, while others
were wandering about in every direction on the vegetation, islands, and
mud-banks. They practically ignored our presence, though we often
passed within ten yards of them. Other game was scarce; I only saw a
few waterbuck, bushbuck, and once the track of a giraffe, though plenty
of guinea-fowl, and a few ducks and geese; but these were of little use,
as, on opening my last box of shot-cartridges, they fell to pieces,
being eaten through and through with rust. At one village a native
produced a recent number of _Black and White_, carefully wrapped up in a
piece of goatskin, and pointed out with great glee a picture of Dreyfus;
as I had no interpreter, and the natives no longer understood my ten
words of pigeon Arabic, I have not the remotest conception how it came
into this outlandish spot. It was very difficult to obtain supplies,
owing to the general famine, so I shot another elephant, which came down
to water near camp, and made my boys smoke a three-days' supply of meat.
The following day we saw two large herds of elephant, one mainly
composed of good bulls. Some, showing splendid ivories, refused for a
long time to leave the path. We were compelled to stone them. Then,
making good progress, we camped opposite a ferry, which led to an island
where I could see some natives. They quickly collected, and in a few
minutes there was a crowd of several hundred, with a solid hedge of
spears glinting in the sun. At first they were very doubtful; then,
suddenly realizing that it was all right, they swarmed across, yelling
and whooping, and in one minute my diminutive camp was one howling black
mass. At first things looked rather anxious, but some slaps on the back
and a long-winded repetition of aram, which appears to be the local form
of salaam, quickly spread a broad grin over the mass; they brought me a
present of about thirty large fish, and there was soon a brisk trade in
milk, of which they had an unlimited supply, so that all my men had a
good wholesome feed. They proved very friendly, and I much regret that
our conversation was strictly limited to aram, which, however, appears
to have considerable significance, being invariably responded to by much
grunting and a peculiar clucking noise like the soliloquy of an old hen.
Every one in Dinka-land carries a long-bladed spear, a pointed
fish-spear, and a club made of a heavy purple wood, while the important
gentlemen wear enormous ivory bracelets round their upper arm; strict
nudity is the fashion, and a marabout feather in the hair is the essence
of _chic_. They are all beautifully built, having broad shoulders,
small waist, good hips, and well-shaped legs. The stature of some is
colossal. It was most curious to see how these Dinkas, living as they do
in the marshes, approximate to the type of the water-bird. They have
much the same walk as a heron, picking their feet up very high, and
thrusting them well forward. Their feet are enormous. Their colossal
height is, of course, a great advantage in the reed-grown country in
which they live. They are the complete antithesis of the pigmy, as the
country in which they live is the complete antithesis of the dense
forest that is the home of the dwarfs. Many of these strange African
peoples form most interesting reading to a student of evolution. The
adaptability of a race to its surroundings is wonderful. The favourite
pose of a Dinka is in reality the favourite pose of a water-bird. It is
most interesting to note that surroundings should produce a similar type
in families as remote from one another as birds and men.