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THE LAST JOURNALS
OF
DAVID LIVINGSTONE,
IN CENTRAL AFRICA,
FROM 1865 TO HIS DEATH.
CONTINUED BY A NARRATIVE OF
HIS LAST MOMENTS AND SUFFERINGS,
OBTAINED FROM
HIS FAITHFUL SERVANTS CHUMA AND SUSI
BY HORACE WALLER, F.R.G.S.,
RECTOR OF TWYWELL, NORTHAMPTON.
IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. II.
[1869-1873]
WITH PORTRAIT, MAPS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1874.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Bad beginning of the new year. Dangerous illness. Kindness of
Arabs. Complete helplessness. Arrive at Tanganyika. The Doctor
is conveyed in canoes. Kasanga Islet. Cochin-China fowls.
Reaches Ujiji. Receives some stores. Plundering hands. Slow
recovery. Writes despatches. Refusal of Arabs to take letters.
Thani bin Suellim. A den of slavers. Puzzling current in Lake
Tanganyika. Letters sent off at last. Contemplates visiting the
Manyuema. Arab depredations. Starts for new explorations in
Manyuema, 12th July, 1869. Voyage on the Lake. Kabogo East.
Crosses Tanganyika. Evil effects of last illness. Elephant
hunter's superstition. Dugumbé. The Lualaba reaches the
Manyuema. Sons of Moenékuss. Sokos first heard of. Manyuema
customs. Illness.
CHAPTER II.
Prepares to explore River Lualaba. Beauty of the Manyuema
country. Irritation at conduct of Arabs. Dugumbé's ravages.
Hordes of traders arrive. Severe fever. Elephant trap. Sickness
in camp. A good Samaritan. Reaches Mamohela and is prostrated.
Beneficial effects of Nyumbo plant. Long illness. An elephant of
three tusks. All men desert except Susi, Chuma, and Gardner.
Starts with these to Lualaba. Arab assassinated by outraged
Manyuema. Returns baffled to Mamohela. Long and dreadful
suffering from ulcerated feet. Questionable cannibalism. Hears
of four river sources close together. Resumé of discoveries.
Contemporary explorers. The soko. Description of its habits. Dr.
Livingstone feels himself failing. Intrigues of deserters
CHAPTER III.
Footsteps of Moses. Geology of Manyuema land. "A drop of
comfort." Continued sufferings. A stationary explorer.
Consequences of trusting to theory. Nomenclature of Rivers and
Lakes. Plunder and murder is Ujijian trading. Comes out of hut
for first time after eighty days' illness. Arab cure for
ulcerated sores. Rumour of letters. The loss of medicines a
great trial now. The broken-hearted chief. Return of Arab ivory
traders. Future plans. Thankfulness for Mr. Edward Young's
Search Expedition. The Hornbilled Phoenix. Tedious delays. The
bargain for the boy. Sends letters to Zanzibar. Exasperation of
Manyuema against Arabs. The "Sassassa bird." The disease
"Safura."
CHAPTER IV.
Degraded state of the Manyuema. Want of writing materials.
Lion's fat a specific against tsetse. The Neggeri. Jottings
about Meréré. Various sizes of tusks. An epidemic. The strangest
disease of all! The New Year. Detention at Bambarré. Goître.
News of the cholera. Arrival of coast caravan. The
parrot's-feather challenge. Murder of James. Men arrive as
servants. They refuse to go north. Part at last with
malcontents. Receives letters from Dr. Kirk and the Sultan.
Doubts as to the Congo or Nile. Katomba presents a young soko.
Forest scenery. Discrimination of the Manyuema. They "want to
eat a white one." Horrible bloodshed by Ujiji traders. Heartsore
and sick of blood. Approach Nyañgwé. Reaches the Lualaba
CHAPTER V.
The Chitoka or market gathering. The broken watch. Improvises
ink. Builds a new house at Nyañgwé on the bank of the Lualaba.
Marketing. Cannibalism. Lake Kamalondo. Dreadful effect of
slaving. News of country across the Lualaba. Tiresome
frustration. The Bakuss. Feeble health. Busy scene at market.
Unable to procure canoes. Disaster to Arab canoes. Rapids in
Lualaba. Project for visiting Lake Lincoln and the Lomamé.
Offers large reward for canoes and men. The slave's mistress.
Alarm, of natives at market. Fiendish slaughter of women by
Arabs. Heartrending scene. Death on land and in the river.
Tagamoio's assassinations. Continued slaughter across the river.
Livingstone becomes desponding
CHAPTER VI.
Leaves for Ujiji. Dangerous journey through forest. The Manyuema
understand Livingstone's kindness. Zanzibar slaves. Kasongo's.
Stalactite caves. Consequences of eating parrots. Ill. Attacked
in the forest. Providential deliverance. Another extraordinary
escape. Taken for Mohamad Bogharib. Running the gauntlet for
five hours. Loss of property. Reaches place of safety. Ill.
Mamohela. To the Luamo. Severe disappointment. Recovers. Severe
marching. Reaches Ujiji. Despondency. Opportune arrival of Mr.
Stanley. Joy and thankfulness of the old traveller. Determines
to examine north end of Lake Tanganyika. They start. Reach the
Lusizé. No outlet. "Theoretical discovery" of the real outlet.
Mr. Stanley ill. Returns to Ujiji. Leaves stores there.
Departure for Unyanyembé with Mr. Stanley. Abundance of game.
Attacked by bees. Serious illness of Mr. Stanley. Thankfulness
at reaching Unyanyembé
CHAPTER VII.
Determines to continue his work. Proposed route. Refits.
Robberies discovered. Mr. Stanley leaves. Parting messages.
Mteza's people arrive. Ancient Geography. Tabora. Description of
the country. The Banyamwezi. A Baganda bargain. The population
of Unyamyembe. The Mirambo war. Thoughts on Sir Samuel Baker's
policy. The cat and the snake. Firm faith. Feathered neighbours.
Mistaken notion concerning mothers. Prospects for missionaries.
Halima. News of other travellers. Chuma is married
CHAPTER VIII.
Letters arrive at last. Sore intelligence. Death of an old
friend. Observations on the climate. Arab caution. Dearth of
Missionary enterprise. The slave trade and its horrors.
Progressive barbarism. Carping benevolence. Geology of Southern
Africa. The fountain sources. African elephants. A venerable
piece of artillery. Livingstone on Materialism. Bin Nassib. The
Baganda leave at last. Enlists a new follower
CHAPTER IX.
Short years in Buganda. Boys' playthings in Africa. Reflections.
Arrival of the men. Fervent thankfulness. An end of the weary
waiting. Jacob Wainwright takes service under the Doctor.
Preparations for the journey. Flagging and illness. Great heat.
Approaches Lake Tanganyika. The borders of Fipa. Lepidosirens
and Vultures. Capes and islands of Lake Tanganyika. High
mountains. Large Bay
CHAPTER X.
False guides. Very difficult travelling. Donkey dies of tsetse
bites. The Kasonso family. A hospitable chief. The River Lofu.
The nutmeg tree. Famine. Ill. Arrives at Chama's town. A
difficulty. An immense snake. Account of Casembe's death. The
flowers of the Babisa country. Reaches the River Lopoposi.
Arrives at Chituñkué's. Terrible marching. The Doctor is borne
through the flooded country
CHAPTER XI.
Entangled amongst the marshes of Bangweolo. Great privations.
Obliged to return to Chituñkué's. At the chiefs mercy. Agreeably
surprised with the chief. Start once more. Very difficult march.
Robbery exposed. Fresh attack of illness. Sends scouts out to
find villages. Message to Chirubwé. An ant raid. Awaits news
from Matipa. Distressing perplexity. The Bougas of Bangweolo.
Constant rain above and flood below. Ill. Susi and Chuma sent as
envoys to Matipa. Reach Bangweolo. Arrive at Matipa's islet.
Matipa's town. The donkey suffers in transit. Tries to go on to
Kabinga's. Dr. Livingstone makes a demonstration. Solution of
the transport difficulty. Susi and detachment sent to Kabinga's.
Extraordinary extent of flood. Reaches Kabinga's. An upset.
Crosses the Chambezé. The River Muanakazi. They separate into
companies by land and water. A disconsolate lion. Singular
caterpillars. Observations on fish. Coasting along the southern
flood of Lake Bangweolo. Dangerous state of Dr. Livingstone
CHAPTER XII.
Dr. Livingstone rapidly sinking. Last entries in his diary. Susi
and Chuma's additional details. Great agony in his last illness.
Carried across rivers and through flood. Inquiries for the Hill
of the Four Rivers. Kalunganjovu's kindness. Crosses the Mohlamo
into the district of Ilala in great pain. Arrives at Chitambo's
village. Chitambo comes to visit the dying traveller. The last
night. Livingstone expires in the act of praying. The account
of what the men saw. Remarks on his death. Council of the men.
Leaders selected. The chief discovers that his guest is dead.
Noble conduct of Chitambo. A separate village built by the men
wherein to prepare the body for transport. The preparation of
the corpse. Honour shown by the natives to Dr. Livingstone.
Additional remarks on the cause of death. Interment of the heart
at Chitambo's in Ilala of the Wabisa. An inscription and
memorial sign-posts left to denote spot
CHAPTER XIII.
They begin the homeward march from Ilala. Illness of all the
men. Deaths. Muanamazungu. The Luapula. The donkey killed by a
lion. A disaster at N'kossu's. Native surgery. Approach
Chawende's town. Inhospitable reception. An encounter. They take
the town. Leave Chawende's. Reach Chiwaie's. Strike the old
road. Wire drawing. Arrive at Kumbakumba's. John Wainwright
disappears. Unsuccessful search. Reach Tanganyika. Leave the
Lake. Cross the Lambalamfipa range. Immense herds of game. News
of East-Coast Search Expedition. Confirmation of news. They
reach Baula. Avant-couriers sent forwards to Unyanyembé. Chuma
meets Lieut. Cameron. Start for the coast. Sad death of Dr.
Dillon. Clever precautions. The body is effectually concealed.
Girl killed by a snake. Arrival on the coast. Concluding remarks
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Full-page Illustrations.
1. EVENING. ILALA. 29TH APRIL, 1873
2. UGUHA HEAD-DRESSES
3. CHUMA AND SUSI. (From a Photograph by MAULL & Co.)
4. MANYUEMA HUNTERS KILLING SOKOS
5. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG SOKO
6. A DANGEROUS PRIZE
7. FACSIMILE OF A PORTION OF DR. LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNAL
8. THE MASSACRE OF THE MANYUEMA WOMEN AT NYANGWE
9. THE MANYUEMA AMBUSH
10. "THE MAIN STREAM CAME UP TO SUSI'S MOUTH"
11. THE LAST MILES OF DR. LIVINGSTONE'S TRAVELS
12. FISH EAGLE ON HIPPOPOTAMUS TRAP
13. THE LAST ENTRY IN DR. LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNALS
14. TEMPORARY VILLAGE IN WHICH DR. LIVINGSTONE'S BODY
WAS PREPARED
Smaller Illustrations.
1. LINES OF GREEN SCUM ON LAKE TANGANYIKA
2. MODE OF CATCHING ANTS
3. DR. LIVINGSTONE'S MOSQUITO CURTAIN
4. MATIPA AND HIS WIFE
5. AN OLD SERVANT DESTROYED
6. KAWENDÉ SURGERY
MAP OF CONJECTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL AFRICA,
FROM DR. LIVINGSTONE'S NOTES
CHAPTER I.
Bad beginning of the new year. Dangerous illness. Kindness of
Arabs. Complete helplessness. Arrive at Tanganyika. The Doctor
is conveyed in canoes. Kasanga Islet. Cochin-China fowls.
Beaches Ujiji. Receives some stores. Plundering hands. Slow
recovery. Writes despatches. Refusal of Arabs to take letters.
Thani bin Suellim. A den of slavers. Puzzling current in Lake
Tanganyika. Letters sent off at last. Contemplates visiting the
Manyuema. Arab depredations. Starts for new explorations in
Manyuema, 12th July, 1869. Voyage on the Lake. Kabogo East.
Crosses Tanganyika. Evil effects of last illness. Elephant
hunter's superstition. Dugumbé. The Lualaba reaches the
Manyuema. Sons of Moenékuss. Sokos first heard of. Manyuema
customs. Illness.
[The new year opened badly enough, and from letters he wrote
subsequently concerning the illness which now attacked him, we gather
that it left evils behind, from which he never quite recovered. The
following entries were made after he regained sufficient strength, but
we see how short they necessarily were, and what labour it was to make
the jottings which relate to his progress towards the western shore of
Lake Tanganyika. He was not able at any time during this seizure to
continue the minute maps of the country in his pocket-books, which for
the first time fail here.]
_1st January, 1869._--I have been wet times without number, but the
wetting of yesterday was once too often: I felt very ill, but fearing
that the Lofuko might flood, I resolved to cross it. Cold up to the
waist, which made me worse, but I went on for 2-1/2 hours E.
_3rd January, 1869._--I marched one hour, but found I was too ill to go
further. Moving is always good in fever; now I had a pain in the chest,
and rust of iron sputa: my lungs, my strongest part, were thus affected.
We crossed a rill and built sheds, but I lost count of the days of the
week and month after this. Very ill all over.
_About 7th January, 1869._--Cannot walk: Pneumonia of right lung, and I
cough all day and all night: sputa rust of iron and bloody: distressing
weakness. Ideas flow through the mind with great rapidity and vividness,
in groups of twos and threes: if I look at any piece of wood, the bark
seems covered over with figures and faces of men, and they remain,
though I look away and turn to the same spot again. I saw myself lying
dead in the way to Ujiji, and all the letters I expected there useless.
When I think of my children and friends, the lines ring through my head
perpetually:
"I shall look into your faces,
And listen to what you say,
And be often very near you
When you think I'm far away."
Mohamad Bogharib came up, and I have got a cupper, who cupped my chest.
_8th and 9th January, 1869._--Mohamad Bogharib offered to carry me. I am
so weak I can scarcely speak. We are in Marungu proper now--a pretty but
steeply-undulating country. This is the first time in my life I have
been carried in illness, but I cannot raise myself to the sitting
posture. No food except a little gruel. Great distress in coughing all
night long; feet swelled and sore. I am carried four hours each day on a
kitanda or frame, like a cot; carried eight hours one day. Then sleep in
a deep ravine. Next day six hours, over volcanic tufa; very rough. We
seem near the brim of Tanganyika. Sixteen days of illness. May be 23rd
of January; it is 5th of lunar month. Country very undulating; it is
perpetually up and down. Soil red, and rich knolls of every size and
form. Trees few. Erythrinas abound; so do elephants. Carried eight hours
yesterday to a chief's village. Small sharp thorns hurt the men's feet,
and so does the roughness of the ground. Though there is so much slope,
water does not run quickly off Marungu. A compact mountain-range flanks
the undulating country through which we passed, and may stop the water
flowing. Mohamad Bogharib is very kind to me in my extreme weakness; but
carriage is painful; head down and feet up alternates with feet down and
head up; jolted up and down and sideways--changing shoulders involves a
toss from one side to the other of the kitanda. The sun is vertical,
blistering any part of the skin exposed, and I try to shelter my face
and head as well as I can with a bunch of leaves, but it is dreadfully
fatiguing in my weakness.
I had a severe relapse after a very hot day. Mohamad gave me medicines;
one was a sharp purgative, the others intended for the cure of the
cough.
_14th February, 1869._--Arrived at Tanganyika. Parra is the name of the
land at the confluence of the River Lofuko: Syde bin Habib had two or
three large canoes at this place, our beads were nearly done, so I sent
to Syde to say that all the Arabs had served me except himself. Thani
bin Suellim by his letter was anxious to send a canoe as soon as I
reached the Lake, and the only service I wanted of Syde was to inform
Thani, by one of his canoes, that I was here very ill, and if I did not
get to Ujiji to get proper food and medicine I should die. Thani would
send a canoe as soon as he knew of my arrival I was sure: he replied
that he too would serve me: and sent some flour and two fowls: he would
come in two days and see what he could do as to canoes.
_15th February, 1869._--The cough and chest pain diminished, and I feel
thankful; my body is greatly emaciated. Syde came to-day, and is
favourable to sending me up to Ujiji. Thanks to the Great Father in
Heaven.
_24th February, 1869._--We had remarkably little rain these two months.
_25th February, 1869._--I extracted twenty _Funyés_, an insect like a
maggot, whose eggs had been inserted on my having been put into an old
house infested by them; as they enlarge they stir about and impart a
stinging sensation; if disturbed, the head is drawn in a little. When a
poultice is put on they seem obliged to come out possibly from want of
air: they can be pressed out, but the large pimple in which they live is
painful; they were chiefly in my limbs.
_26th February, 1869._--Embark, and sleep at Katonga after seven hours'
paddling.
_27th February, 1869._--Went 1-3/4 hour to Bondo or Thembwé to buy food.
Shore very rough, like shores near Capréra, but here all is covered with
vegetation. We were to cross to Kabogo, a large mass of mountains on the
eastern side, but the wind was too high.
_28th February, 1869._--Syde sent food back to his slaves.
_2nd March, 1869._--Waves still high, so we got off only on _3rd_ at 1h.
30m. A.M. 6-1/2 hours, and came to M. Bogharib, who cooked bountifully.
_6th March, 1869._--5 P.M. Off to Toloka Bay--three hours; left at 6
A.M., and came, in four hours, to Uguha, which is on the west side of
Tanganyika.
_7th March, 1869._--Left at 6 P.M., and went on till two canoes ran on
rocks in the way to Kasanga islet. Rounded a point of land, and made for
Kasanga with a storm in our teeth; fourteen hours in all. We were
received by a young Arab Muscat, who dined us sumptuously at noon: there
are seventeen islets in the Kasanga group.
_8th March, 1869._--On Kasanga islet. Cochin-China fowls[1] and Muscovy
ducks appear, and plenty of a small milkless breed of goats. Tanganyika
has many deep bays running in four or five miles; they are choked up
with aquatic vegetation, through which canoes can scarcely be propelled.
When the bay has a small rivulet at its head, the water in the bay is
decidedly brackish, though the rivulet be fresh, it made the Zanzibar
people remark on the Lake water, "It is like that we get near the
sea-shore--a little salt;" but as soon as we get out of the shut-in bay
or lagoon into the Lake proper the water is quite sweet, and shows that
a current flows through the middle of the Lake lengthways.
Patience was never more needed than now: I am near Ujiji, but the slaves
who paddle are tired, and no wonder; they keep up a roaring song all
through their work, night and day. I expect to get medicine, food, and
milk at Ujiji, but dawdle and do nothing. I have a good appetite, and
sleep well; these are the favourable symptoms; but am dreadfully thin,
bowels irregular, and I have no medicine. Sputa increases; hope to hold
out to Ujiji. Cough worse. Hope to go to-morrow.
_9th March, 1869._--The Whydah birds have at present light breasts and
dark necks. Zahor is the name of our young Arab host.
_11th March, 1869._--Go over to Kibizé islet, 1-1/2 hour from Kasanga.
Great care is taken not to encounter foul weather; we go a little way,
then wait for fair wind in crossing to east side of Lake.
_12th March, 1869._--People of Kibizé dress like those in Rua, with
cloth made of the Muabé or wild-date leaves; the same is used in
Madagascar for the "lamba."[2] Their hair is collected up to the top of
the head.
From Kibizé islet to Kabogo River on east side of Lake ten hours; sleep
there. Syde slipped past us at night, but we made up to him in four
hours next morning.
_13th March, 1869._--At Rombolé; we sleep, then on.
[At last he reached the great Arab settlement at Ujiji, on the eastern
shore of Tanganyika. It was his first visit, but he had arranged that
supplies should be forwarded thither by caravans bound inland from
Zanzibar. Most unfortunately his goods were made away with in all
directions--not only on this, but on several other occasions. The
disappointment to a man shattered in health, and craving for letters and
stores, must have been severe indeed.]
_14th March, 1869._--Go past Malagarasi River, and reach Ujiji in 3-1/2
hours. Found Haji Thani's agent in charge of my remaining goods.
Medicines, wine, and cheese had been left at Unyanyembé, thirteen days
east of this. Milk not to be had, as the cows had not calved, but a
present of Assam tea from Mr. Black, the Inspector of the Peninsular and
Oriental Company's affairs, had come from Calcutta, besides my own
coffee and a little sugar. I bought butter; two large pots are sold for
two fathoms of blue calico, and four-year-old flour, with which we made
bread. I found great benefit from the tea and coffee, and still more
from flannel to the skin.
_15th March, 1869._--Took account of all the goods left by the
plunderer; sixty-two out of eighty pieces of cloth (each of twenty-four
yards) were stolen, and most of my best beads. The road to Unyembé[3] is
blocked up by a Mazitu or Watuta war, so I must wait till the Governor
there gets an opportunity to send them. The Musa sent with the buffaloes
is a genuine specimen of the ill-conditioned, English-hating Arab. I was
accosted on arriving by, "You must give me five dollars a month for all
my time;" this though he had brought nothing--the buffaloes all
died--and did nothing but receive stolen goods. I tried to make use of
him to go a mile every second day for milk, but he shammed sickness so
often on that day I had to get another to go; then he made a regular
practice of coming into my house, watching what my two attendants were
doing, and going about the village with distorted statements against
them.
I clothed him, but he tried to make bad blood between the respectable
Arab who supplied me with milk and myself, telling him that I abused
him, and then he would come back, saying that he abused me! I can
account for his conduct only by attributing it to that which we call
ill-conditioned: I had to expel him from the house.
I repaired a house to keep out the rain, and on the _23rd_ moved into
it. I gave our Kasanga host a cloth and blanket; he is ill of pneumonia
of both lungs.
_28th March, 1869._--Flannel to the skin and tea very beneficial in the
cure of my disease; my cough has ceased, and I walk half a mile. I am
writing letters for home.
_8th April, 1869._--Visited Moené Mokaia, who sent me two fowls and
rice; gave him two cloths. He added a sheep.
_13th April, 1869._--Employed Suleyman to write notes to Governor of
Unyembé, Syde bin Salem Burashid, to make inquiries about the theft of
my goods, as I meant to apply to Syed Majid, and wished to speak truly
about his man Musa bin Salum, the chief depredator.
Wrote also to Thani for boat and crew to go down Tanganyika.
Syde bin Habib refused to allow his men to carry my letters to the
coast; as he suspected that I would write about his doings in Rua.
_27th April, 1869._--Syde had three canoes smashed in coming up past
Thembwé; the wind and waves drove them on the rocks, and two were
totally destroyed: they are heavy unmanageable craft, and at the mercy
of any storm if they cannot get into a shut bay, behind the reeds and
aquatic vegetation. One of the wrecks is said to have been worth 200
dollars (40_l._).
The season called Masika commenced this month with the usual rolling
thunder, and more rain than in the month preceding.
I have been busy writing letters home, and finished forty-two, which in
some measure will make up for my long silence. The Ujijians are
unwilling to carry my letters, because, they say, Seyed Majid will order
the bearer to return with others: he may say, "You know where he is, go
back to him," but I suspect they fear my exposure of their ways more
than anything else.[4]
_16th May, 1869._--Thani bin Suellim sent me a note yesterday to say
that he would be here in two days, or say three; he seems the most
active of the Ujijians, and I trust will help me to get a canoe and men.
The malachite at Katañga is loosened by fire, then dug out of four
hills: four manehs of the ore yield one maneh of copper, but those who
cultivate the soil get more wealth than those who mine the copper.
[No change of purpose was allowed to grow out of sickness and
disappointment. Here and there, as in the words written on the next day,
we find Livingstone again with his back turned to the coast and gazing
towards the land of the Manyuema and the great rivers reported there.]
_17th May, 1869._--Syde bin Habib arrived to-day with his cargo of
copper and slaves. I have to change house again, and wish I were away,
now that I am getting stronger. Attendants arrive from Parra or Mparra.
[The old slave-dealer, whom he met at Casembe's, and who seems to have
been set at liberty through Livingstone's instrumentality, arrives at
Ujiji at last.]
_18th May, 1869._--Mohamad bin Saleh arrived to-day. He left this when
comparatively young, and is now well advanced in years.
The Bakatala at Lualaba West killed Salem bin Habib. _Mem._--Keep clear
of them. Makwamba is one of the chiefs of the rock-dwellers, Ngulu is
another, and Masika-Kitobwé on to Baluba. Sef attached Kilolo N'tambwé.
_19th May, 1869._--The emancipation of our West-Indian slaves was the
work of but a small number of the people of England--the philanthropists
and all the more advanced thinkers of the age. Numerically they were a
very small minority of the population, and powerful only from the
superior abilities of the leading men, and from having the right, the
true, and just on their side. Of the rest of the population an immense
number were the indifferent, who had no sympathies to spare for any
beyond their own fireside circles. In the course of time sensation
writers came up on the surface of society, and by way of originality
they condemned almost every measure and person of the past.
"Emancipation was a mistake;" and these fast writers drew along with
them a large body, who would fain be slaveholders themselves. We must
never lose sight of the fact that though the majority perhaps are on the
side of freedom, large numbers of Englishmen are not slaveholders only
because the law forbids the practice. In this proclivity we see a great
part of the reason of the frantic sympathy of thousands with the rebels
in the great Black war in America. It is true that we do sympathize
with brave men, though we may not approve of the objects for which they
fight. We admired Stonewall Jackson as a modern type of Cromwell's
Ironsides; and we praised Lee for his generalship, which, after all, was
chiefly conspicuous by the absence of commanding abilities in his
opponents, but, unquestionably, there existed besides an eager desire
that slaveocracy might prosper, and the Negro go to the wall. The
would-be slaveholders showed their leanings unmistakably in reference to
the Jamaica outbreak; and many a would-be Colonel Hobbs, in lack of
revolvers, dipped his pen in gall and railed against all Niggers who
could not be made slaves. We wonder what they thought of their hero,
when informed that, for very shame at what he had done and written, he
had rushed unbidden out of the world.
_26th May, 1869._--Thani bin Suellim came from Unyanyembé on the 20th.
He is a slave who has risen to freedom and influence; he has a
disagreeable outward squint of the right eye, teeth protruding from the
averted lips, is light-coloured, and of the nervous type of African. He
brought two light boxes from Unyembé, and charged six fathoms for one
and eight fathoms for the other, though the carriage of both had been
paid for at Zanzibar. When I paid him he tried to steal, and succeeded
with one cloth by slipping it into the hands of a slave. I gave him two
cloths and a double blanket as a present. He discovered afterwards what
he knew before, that all had been injured by the wet on the way here,
and sent two back openly, which all saw to be an insult. He asked a
little coffee, and I gave a plateful; and he even sent again for more
coffee after I had seen reason to resent his sending back my present. I
replied, "He won't send coffee back, for I shall give him none." In
revenge he sends round to warn all the Ujijians against taking my
letters to the coast; this is in accordance with their previous conduct,
for, like the Kilwa people on the road to Nyassa, they have refused to
carry my correspondence.
This is a den of the worst kind of slave-traders; those whom I met in
Urungu and Itawa were gentlemen slavers: the Ujiji slavers, like the
Kilwa and Portuguese, are the vilest of the vile. It is not a trade, but
a system of consecutive murders; they go to plunder and kidnap, and
every trading trip is nothing but a foray. Moené Mokaia, the headman of
this place, sent canoes through to Nzigé, and his people, feeling their
prowess among men ignorant of guns, made a regular assault but were
repulsed, and the whole, twenty in number, were killed. Moené Mokaia is
now negotiating with Syde bin Habib to go and revenge this, for so much
ivory, and all he can get besides. Syde, by trying to revenge the death
of Salem bin Habib, his brother, on the Bakatala, has blocked up one
part of the country against me, and will probably block Nzigé, for I
cannot get a message sent to Chowambé by anyone, and may have to go to
Karagwé on foot, and then from Rumanyika down to this water.
[In reference to the above we may add that there is a vocabulary of
Masai words at the end of a memorandum-book. Livingstone compiled this
with the idea that it would prove useful on his way towards the coast,
should he eventually pass through the Masai country. No doubt some of
the Arabs or their slaves knew the language, and assisted him at his
work.]
_29th May, 1869._--Many people went off to Unyembé, and their houses
were untenanted; I wished one, as I was in a lean-to of Zahor's, but the
two headmen tried to secure the rent for themselves, and were defeated
by Mohamad bin Saleh. I took my packet of letters to Thani, and gave two
cloths and four bunches of beads to the man who was to take them to
Unyanyembé; an hour afterwards, letters, cloths, and beads were
returned: Thani said he was afraid of English letters; he did not know
what was inside. I had sewed them up in a piece of canvas, that was
suspicious, and he would call all the great men of Ujiji and ask them if
it would be safe to take them; if they assented he would call for the
letters, if not he would not send them. I told Mohamad bin Saleh, and he
said to Thani that he and I were men of the Government, and orders had
come from Syed Majid to treat me with all respect: was this conduct
respectful? Thani then sent for the packet, but whether it will reach
Zanzibar I am doubtful. I gave the rent to the owner of the house and
went into it on 31st May. They are nearly all miserable Suaheli at
Ujiji, and have neither the manners nor the sense of Arabs.
[We see in the next few lines how satisfied Livingstone was concerning
the current in the Lake: he almost wishes to call Tanganyika _a river_.
Here then is a problem left for the future explorer to determine.
Although the Doctor proved by experiments during his lengthy stay at
Ujiji that the set is towards the north, his two men get over the
difficulty thus: "If you blow upon the surface of a basin of water on
one side, you will cause the water at last to revolve round and round;
so with Tanganyika, the prevailing winds produce a similar
circulation.". They feel certain there is no outlet, because at one time
or another they virtually completed the survey of the coast line and
listened to native testimony besides. How the phenomenon of sweet water
is to be accounted for we do not pretend to say. The reader will see
further on that Livingstone grapples with the difficulty which this Lake
affords, and propounds an exceedingly clever theory.]
Tanganyika has encroached on the Ujiji side upwards of a mile, and the
bank, which was in the memory of men now living, garden ground, is
covered with about two fathoms of water: in this Tanganyika resembles
most other rivers in this country, as the Upper Zambesi for instance,
which in the Barotsé country has been wearing eastwards for the last
thirty years: this Lake, or river, has worn eastwards too.
_1st June, 1869._--I am thankful to feel getting strong again, and wish
to go down Tanganyika, but cannot get men: two months must elapse ere we
can face the long grass and superabundant water in the way to Manyuema.
[Illustration: Lines of Green Scum]
The green scum which forms on still water in this country is of
vegetable origin--confervæ. When the rains fall they swell the lagoons,
and the scum is swept into the Lake; here it is borne along by the
current from south to north, and arranged in long lines, which bend from
side to side as the water flows, but always N.N.W. or N.N.E., and not
driven, as here, by the winds, as plants floating above the level of the
water would be.
_7th June, 1869._--It is remarkable that all the Ujiji Arabs who have
any opinion on the subject, believe that all the water in the north, and
all the water in the south, too, flows into Tanganyika, but where it
then goes they have no conjecture. They assert, as a matter of fact,
that Tanganyika, Usigé water, and Loanda, are one and the same piece of
river.
Thani, on being applied to for men and a canoe to take me down this line
of drainage, consented, but let me know that his people would go no
further than Uvira, and then return. He subsequently said Usigé, but I
wished to know what I was to do when left at the very point where I
should be most in need. He replied, in his silly way, "My people are
afraid; they won't go further; get country people," &c. Moenegheré sent
men to Loanda to force a passage through, but his people were repulsed
and twenty killed.
Three men came yesterday from Mokamba, the greatest chief in Usigé,
with four tusks as a present to his friend Moenegheré, and asking for
canoes to be sent down to the end of Urundi country to bring butter and
other things, which the three men could not bring: this seems an
opening, for Mokamba being Moenegheré's friend I shall prefer paying
Moenegheré for a canoe to being dependent on Thani's skulkers. If the
way beyond Mokamba is blocked up by the fatal skirmish referred to, I
can go from Mokamba to Rumanyika, three or four or more days distant,
and get guides from him to lead me back to the main river beyond Loanda,
and by this plan only three days of the stream will be passed over
unvisited. Thani would evidently like to receive the payment, but
without securing to me the object for which I pay. He is a poor thing, a
slaveling: Syed Majid, Sheikh Suleiman, and Korojé, have all written to
him, urging an assisting deportment in vain: I never see him but he begs
something, and gives nothing, I suppose he expects me to beg from him. I
shall be guided by Moenegheré.
I cannot find anyone who knows where the outflow of the unvisited Lake
S.W. of this goes; some think that it goes to the Western Ocean, or, I
should say, the Congo. Mohamad Bogharib goes in a month to Manyuema, but
if matters turn out as I wish, I may explore this Tanganyika line first.
One who has been in Manyuema three times, and was of the first party
that ever went there, says that the Manyuema are not cannibals, but a
tribe west of them eats some parts of the bodies of those slain in war.
Some people south of Moenékuss[5], chief of Manyuema, build strong clay
houses.
_22nd June, 1869._--After listening to a great deal of talk I have come
to the conclusion that I had better not go with Moenegheré's people to
Mokamba. I see that it is to be a mulcting, as in Speke's case: I am to
give largely, though I am not thereby assured of getting down the river.
They say, "You must give much, because you are a great man: Mokamba will
say so"--though Mokamba knows nothing about me! It is uncertain whether
I can get down through by Loanda, and great risk would be run in going
to those who cut off the party of Moenegheré, so I have come to the
conclusion that it will be better for me to go to Manyuema about a
fortnight hence, and, if possible, trace down the western arm of the
Nile to the north--if this arm is indeed that of the Nile, and not of
the Congo. Nobody here knows anything about it, or, indeed, about the
eastern or Tanganyika line either; they all confess that they have but
one question in their minds in going anywhere, they ask for ivory and
for nothing else, and each trip ends as a foray. Moenegheré's last trip
ended disastrously, twenty-six of his men being cut off; in extenuation
he says that it was not his war but Mokamba's: he wished to be allowed
to go down through Loanda, and as the people in front of Mokamba and
Usigé own his supremacy, he said, "Send your force with mine and let us
open the way," so they went on land and were killed. An attempt was made
to induce Syde bin Habib to clear the way, and be paid in ivory, but
Syde likes to battle with those who will soon run away and leave the
spoil to him.
The Manyuema are said to be friendly where they have not been attacked
by Arabs: a great chief is reported as living on a large river flowing
northwards, I hope to make my way to him, and I feel exhilarated at the
thought of getting among people not spoiled by contact with Arab
traders. I would not hesitate to run the risk of getting through Loanda,
the continuation of Usigé beyond Mokamba's, had blood not been shed so
very recently there; but it would at present be a great danger, and to
explore some sixty miles of the Tanganyika line only. If I return
hither from Manyuema my goods and fresh men from Zanzibar will have
arrived, and I shall be better able to judge as to the course to be
pursued after that. Mokamba is about twenty, miles beyond Uvira; the
scene of Moenegheré's defeat, is ten miles beyond Mokamba; so the
unexplored part cannot be over sixty miles, say thirty if we take
Baker's estimate of the southing of his water to be near the truth.
Salem or Palamotto told me that he was sent for by a headman near to
this to fight his brother for him: he went and demanded prepayment; then
the brother sent him three tusks to refrain: Salem took them and came
home. The Africans have had hard measures meted out to them in the
world's history!
_28th June, 1869._--The current in Tanganyika is well marked when the
lighter-coloured water of a river flows in and does not at once mix--the
Luishé at Ujiji is a good example, and it shows by large light greenish
patches on the surface a current of nearly a mile an hour north. It
begins to flow about February, and continues running north till November
or December. Evaporation on 300 miles of the south is then at its
strongest, and water begins to flow gently south till arrested by the
flood of the great rains there, which takes place in February and March.
There is, it seems, a reflux for about three months in each year, flow
and reflow being the effect of the rains and evaporation on a lacustrine
river of some three hundred miles in length lying south of the equator.
The flow northwards I have myself observed, that again southwards rests
on native testimony, and it was elicited from the Arabs by pointing out
the northern current: they attributed the southern current to the effect
of the wind, which they say then blows south. Being cooled by the rains,
it comes south into the hot valley of this great Riverein Lake, or
lacustrine river.
In going to Moenékuss, the paramount chief of the Manyuema, forty days
are required. The headmen of trading parties remain with this chief (who
is said by all to be a very good man), and send their people out in all
directions to trade. Moenemogaia says that in going due north from
Moenékuss they come to a large river, the Robumba, which flows into and
is the Luama, and that this again joins the Lualaba, which retains its
name after flowing with the Lufira and Lofu into the still unvisited
Lake S.S.W. of this: it goes thence due north, probably into Mr. Baker's
part of the eastern branch of the Nile. When I have gone as far north
along Lualaba as I can this year, I shall be able to judge as to the
course I ought to take after receiving my goods and men from Zanzibar,
and may the Highest direct me, so that I may finish creditably the work
I have undertaken. I propose to start for Manyuema on the 3rd July.
The dagala or nsipé, a small fish caught in great numbers in every
flowing water, and very like whitebait, is said to emit its eggs by the
mouth, and these immediately burst and the young fish manages for
itself. The dagala never becomes larger than two or three inches in
length. Some, putrefied, are bitter, as if the bile were in them in a
good quantity. I have eaten them in Lunda of a pungent bitter taste,
probably arising from the food on which the fish feeds. Men say that
they have seen the eggs kept in the sides of the mouth till ready to go
off as independent fishes. The nghédé-dégé, a species of perch, and
another, the ndusi, are said to do the same. The Arabs imagine that fish
in general fall from the skies, but they except the shark, because they
can see the young when it is cut open.
_10th July, 1869._--After a great deal of delay and trouble about a
canoe, we got one from Habee for ten dotis or forty yards of calico, and
a doti or four yards to each of nine paddlers to bring the vessel back.
Thani and Zahor blamed me for not taking their canoes for nothing; but
they took good care not to give them, but made vague offers, which
meant, "We want much higher pay for our dhows than Arabs generally
get:" they showed such an intention to fleece me that I was glad to get
out of their power, and save the few goods I had. I went a few miles,
when two strangers I had allowed to embark (from being under obligations
to their masters), worked against each other: so I had to let one land,
and but for his master would have dismissed the other: I had to send an
apology to the landed man's master for politeness' sake.
[It is necessary to say a few words here, so unostentatiously does
Livingstone introduce this new series of explorations to the reader. The
Manyuema country, for which he set out on the 12th of July, 1869, was
hitherto unknown. As we follow him we shall see that in almost every
respect both the face of the country and the people differ from other
regions lying nearer to the East Coast. It appears that the Arabs had an
inkling of the vast quantities of ivory which might be procured there,
and Livingstone went into the new field with the foremost of those
hordes of Ujijian traders who, in all probability, will eventually
destroy tribe after tribe by slave-trading and pillage, as they have
done in so many other regions.]
Off at 6 A.M., and passed the mouth of the Luishé, in Kibwé Bay; 3-1/2
hours took us to Rombola or Lombola, where all the building wood of
Ujiji is cut.
_12th July, 1869._--Left at 1.30 A.M., and pulled 7-1/2 hours to the
left bank of the Malagarasi River. We cannot go by day, because about 11
A.M. a south-west wind commences to blow, which the heavy canoes cannot
face; it often begins earlier or later, according to the phases of the
moon. An east wind blows from sunrise till 10 or 11 A.M., and the
south-west begins. The Malagarasi is of considerable size at its
confluence, and has a large islet covered with eschinomena, or pith hat
material, growing in its way.
Were it not for the current Tanganyika would be covered with green scum
now rolling away in miles of length and breadth to the north; it would
also be salt like its shut-in bays. The water has now fallen two feet
perpendicularly. It took us twelve hours to ascend to the Malagarasi
River from Ujiji, and only seven to go down that distance. Prodigious
quantities of confervæ pass us day and night in slow majestic flow. It
is called Shuaré. But for the current Tanganyika would be covered with
"Tikatika" too, like Victoria Nyanza.
_13th July, 1869._--Off at 3.15 A.M., and in five hours reached Kabogo
Eiver; from this point the crossing is always accomplished: it is about
thirty miles broad. Tried to get off at 6 P.M., but after two miles the
south wind blew, and as it is a dangerous wind and the usual one in
storms, the men insisted on coming back, for the wind, having free
scope along the entire southern length of Tanganyika, raises waves
perilous to their heavy craft; after this the clouds cleared all away,
and the wind died off too; the full moon shone brightly, and this is
usually accompanied by calm weather here. Storms occur at new moon most
frequently.
_14th July, 1869._--Sounded in dark water opposite the high fountain
Kabogo, 326 fathoms, but my line broke in coming up, and we did not see
the armed end of the sounding lead with sand or mud on it: this is 1965
feet.
People awaking in fright utter most unearthly yells, and they are joined
in them by all who sleep near. The first imagines himself seized by a
wild beast, the rest roar because they hear him doing it: this indicates
the extreme of helpless terror.
_15th July, 1869._--After pulling all night we arrived at some islands
and cooked breakfast, then we went on to Kasengë islet on their south,
and came up to Mohamad Bogharib, who had come from Tongwé, and intended
to go to Manyuema. We cross over to the mainland, that is, to the
western shore of the Lake, about 300 yards off, to begin our journey on
the 21st. Lunars on 20th. Delay to prepare food for journey. Lunars
again 22nd.
A strong wind from the East to-day. A current sweeps round this islet
Kiséngé from N.E. to S.E., and carries trees and duckweed at more than
a mile an hour in spite of the breeze blowing across it to the West. The
wind blowing along the Lake either way raises up water, and in a calm it
returns, off the shore. Sometimes it causes the current to go
southwards. Tanganyika narrows at Uvira or Vira, and goes out of sight
among the mountains there; then it appears as a waterfall into the Lake
of Quando seen by Banyamwezi.
_23rd July, 1869._--I gave a cloth to be kept for Kasanga, the chief of
Kasengé, who has gone to fight with the people of Goma.
_1st August, 1869._--Mohamad killed a kid as a sort of sacrifice, and
they pray to Hadrajee before eating it. The cookery is of their very
best, and I always get a share; I tell them that I like the cookery, but
not the prayers, and it is taken in good part.
_2nd August, 1869._--We embarked from the islet and got over to the
mainland, and slept in a hooked-thorn copse, with a species of black
pepper plant, which we found near the top of Mount Zomba, in the
Manganja country,[6] in our vicinity; it shows humidity of climate.
_3rd August, 1869._--Marched 3-1/4 hours south, along Tanganyika, in a
very undulating country; very fatiguing in my weakness. Passed many
screw-palms, and slept at Lobamba village.
_4th August, 1869._--A relative of Kasanga engaged to act as our guide,
so we remained waiting for him, and employed a Banyamwezi smith to make
copper balls with some bars of that metal presented by Syde bin Habib. A
lamb wasstolen, and all declared that the deed must have been done by
Banyamwezi. "At Guha people never steal," and I believe this is true.
_7th August, 1869._--The guide having arrived, we marched 2-1/4 hours
west and crossed the River Logumba, about forty yards broad and knee
deep, with a rapid current between deep cut banks; it rises in the
western Kabogo range, and flows about S.W. into Tanganyika. Much dura or
_Holcus sorghum_ is cultivated on the rich alluvial soil on its banks by
the Guha people.
_8th August, 1869._--West through open forest; very undulating, and the
path full of angular fragments of quartz. We see mountains in the
distance.
_9th-10th August, 1869._--Westwards to Makhato's village, and met a
company of natives beating a drum as they came near; this is the peace
signal; if war is meant the attack is quiet and stealthy. There are
plenty of Masuko trees laden with fruit, but unripe. It is cold at
night, but dry, and the people sleep with only a fence at their heads,
but I have a shed built at every camp as a protection for the loads, and
sleep in it.
Any ascent, though gentle, makes me blow since the attack of pneumonia;
if it is inclined to an angle of 45°, 100 or 150 yards make me stop to
pant in distress.
_11th August, 1869._--Came to a village of Ba Rua, surrounded by hills
of some 200 feet above the plain; trees sparse.
_12th-13th August, 1869._--At villages of Mekhéto. Guha people. Remain
to buy and prepare food, and because many are sick.
_16th August, 1869._--West and by north through much forest reach
Kalalibébé; buffalo killed.
_17th August, 1869._--To a high mountain, Golu or Gulu, and sleep at its
base.
_18th August, 1869._--Cross two rills flowing into River Mgoluyé. Kagoya
and Moishé flow into Lobumba.
_19th August, 1869._--To the River Lobumba, forty-five yards Avide,
thigh deep, and rapid current. Logumba and Lobumba are both from Kabogo
Mounts: one goes into Tanganyika, and the other, or Lobumba, into and is
the Luamo: prawns are found in this river. The country east of the
Lobumba is called Lobanda, that west of it, Kitwa.
_21st August, 1869._--Went on to the River Loungwa, which has worn for
itself a rut in new red sandstone twenty feet deep, and only three or
four feet wide at the lips.
_25th August, 1869._--We rest because all are tired; travelling at this
season is excessively fatiguing. It is very hot at even 10 A.M., and 2½
or 3 hours tires the strongest--carriers especially so: during the rains
five hours would not have fatigued so much as three do now. We are now
on the same level as Tanganyika. The dense mass of black smoke rising
from the burning grass and reeds on the Lobumba, or Robumba, obscures
the sun, and very sensibly lowers the temperature of the sultriest day;
it looks like the smoke in Martin's pictures. The Manyuema arrows here
are very small, and made of strong grass stalks, but poisoned, the large
ones, for elephants and buffaloes, are poisoned also.
_31st August, 1869._--Course N.W. among Palmyras and Hyphené Palms, and
many villages swarming with people. Crossed Kibila, a hot fountain about
120°, to sleep at Kolokolo River, five yards wide, and knee deep: midway
we passed the River Kanzazala. On asking the name of a mountain on our
right I got three names for it--Kaloba, Chingedi, and Kihomba, a fair
specimen of the superabundance of names in this country!
_1st September, 1869._--West in flat forest, then cross Kishila River,
and go on to Kundé's villages. The Katamba is a fine rivulet. Kundé is
an old man without dignity or honour: he came to beg, but offered
nothing.
_2nd September, 1869._--We remained at Katamba to hunt buffaloes and
rest, as I am still weak. A young elephant was killed, and I got the
heart: the Arabs do not eat it, but that part is nice if well cooked.
A Lunda slave, for whom I interceded to be freed of the yoke, ran away,
and as he is near the Barna, his countrymen, he will be hidden. He told
his plan to our guide, and asked to accompany him back to Tanganyika,
but he is eager to deliver him up for a reward: all are eager to press
each other down in the mire into which they are already sunk.
_5th September, 1869._--Kundé's people refused the tusks of an elephant
killed by our hunter, asserting that they had killed it themselves with
a hoe: they have no honour here, as some have elsewhere.
_7th September, 1869._--W. and N.W., through forest and immense fields
of cassava, some three years old, with roots as thick as a stout man's
leg.
_8th September, 1869._--Across five rivers and through many villages.
The country is covered with ferns and gingers, and miles and miles of
cassava. On to village of Karun-gamagao.
_9th September, 1869._--Rest again to shoot meat, as elephants and
buffaloes are very abundant: the Suaheli think that adultery is an
obstacle to success in killing this animal: no harm can happen to him
who is faithful to his wife, and has the proper charms inserted under
the skin of his forearms.
_10th September, 1869._--North and north-west, over four rivers, and.
past the village of Makala, to near that of Pyana-mosindé.
_12th September, 1869._--We had wandered, and now came back to our path
on hilly ground. The days are sultry and smoking. We came to some
villages of Pyana-mosindé; the population prodigiously large. A sword
was left at the camp, and at once picked up; though the man was traced
to a village it was refused, till he accidentally cut his foot with it,
and became afraid that worse would follow, elsewhere it would have been
given up at once: Pyana-mosindé came out and talked very sensibly.
_13th September, 1869._--Along towards the Moloni or Mononi; cross seven
rills. The people seized three slaves who lagged behind, but hearing a
gun fired at guinea-fowls let them go. Route N.
_14th September, 1869._--Up and down hills perpetually. We went down
into some deep dells, filled with gigantic trees, and I measured one
twenty feet in circumference, and sixty or seventy feet high to the
first branches; others seemed fit to be ship's spars. Large lichens
covered many and numerous new plants appeared on the ground.
_15th September, 1869._--Got clear of the mountains after 1-1/2 hour, and
then the vast valley of Mamba opened out before us; very beautiful, and
much of it cleared of trees. Met Dugumbé carrying 18,000 lbs. of ivory,
purchased in this new field very cheaply, because no traders had ever
gone into the country beyond Bambarré, or Moenékuss's district before.
We were now in the large bend of the Lualaba, which is here much larger
than at Mpwéto's, near Moero Lake. River Kesingwé.
_16th September, 1869._--To Kasangangazi's. We now came to the first
palm-oil trees (_Elais Guineensis_) in our way since we left Tanganyika.
They had evidently been planted at villages. Light-grey parrots, with
red tails, also became common, whose name, Kuss or Koos, gives the chief
his name, Moenékuss ("Lord of the Parrot"); but the Manyuema
pronunciation is Monanjoosé. Much reedy grass, fully half an inch in
diameter in the stalk on our route, and over the top of the range
Moloni, which we ascended: the valleys are impassable.
_17th September, 1869._--Remain to buy food at Kasanga's, and rest the
carriers. The country is full of pahn-oil palms, and very beautiful. Our
people are all afraid to go out of sight of the camp for necessary
purposes, lest the Manyuema should kill them. Here was the barrier to
traders going north, for the very people among whom we now are, murdered
anyone carrying a tusk, till last year, when Moene-mokaia, or Katomba,
got into friendship with Moenékuss, who protected his people, and always
behaved in a generous sensible manner. Dilongo, now a chief here, came
to visit us: his elder brother died, and he was elected; he does not
wash in consequence, and is very dirty.
Two buffaloes were killed yesterday. The people have their bodies
tattooed with new and full moons, stars, crocodiles, and Egyptian
gardens.
_19th September, 1869._--We crossed several rivulets three yards to
twelve yards, and calf deep. The mountain where we camped is called
Sangomélambé.
_20th September, 1869._--Up to a broad range of high mountains of light
grey granite; there are deep dells on the top filled with gigantic
trees, and having running rills in them. Some trees appear with enormous
roots, buttresses in fact like mangroves in the coast swamps, six feet
high at the trunk and flattened from side to side to about three inches
in diameter. There are many villages dotted over the slopes which we
climbed; one had been destroyed, and revealed the hard clay walls and
square forms of Manyuema houses. Our path lay partly along a ridge, with
a deep valley on each side: one on the left had a valley filled with
primeval forests, into which elephants when wounded escape completely.
The forest was a dense mass, without a bit of ground to be seen except a
patch on the S.W., the bottom of this great valley was 2000 feet below
us, then ranges of mountains with villages on their bases rose as far as
they could reach. On our right there was another deep but narrow gorge,
and mountains much higher than on our ridge close adjacent. Our ridge
looked like a glacier, and it wound from side to side, and took us to
the edge of deep precipices, first on the right, then on the left, till
down below we came to the villages of Chief Monandenda. The houses here
are all well filled with firewood on shelves, and each has a bed on a
raised platform in an inner room.
The paths are very skilfully placed on the tops of the ridges of hills,
and all gullies are avoided. If the highest level were not in general
made the ground for passing through the country the distances would at
least be doubled, and the fatigue greatly increased. The paths seem to
have been used for ages: they are worn deep on the heights; and in
hollows a little mound rises on each side, formed by the feet tossing a
little soil on one side.
_21st September, 1869._--Cross five or six rivulets, and as many
villages, some burned and deserted, or inhabited. Very many people come
running to see the strangers. Gigantic trees all about the villages.
Arrive at Bambarré or Moenékuss.
About eighty hours of actual travelling, say at 2' per hour = say 160'
or 140'. Westing from 3rd August to 21st September. My strength
increased as I persevered. From Tanganyika west bank say =
29° 30' east - 140' = 2° 20,'
2 20
-------
27° 10' Long.
Chief village of Moenékuss.
Observations show a little lower altitude than Tanganyika.
_22nd September, 1869._--Moenékuss died lately, and left his two sons to
fill his place. Moenembagg is the elder of the two, and the most
sensible, and the spokesman on all important occasions, but his younger
brother, Moenemgoi, is the chief, the centre of authority. They showed
symptoms of suspicion, and Mohamad performed the ceremony of mixing
blood, which is simply making a small incision on the forearm of each
person, and then mixing the bloods, and making declarations of
friendship. Moenembagg said, "Your people must not steal, we never do,"
which is true: blood in a small quantity was then conveyed from one to
the other by a fig-leaf. "No stealing of fowls or of men," said the
chief: "Catch the thief and bring him to me, one who steals a person is
a pig," said Mohamad. Stealing, however, began on our side, a slave
purloining a fowl, so they had good reason to enjoin honesty on us! They
think that we have come to kill them: we light on them as if from
another world: no letters come to tell who we are, or what we want. We
cannot conceive their state of isolation and helplessness, with nothing
to trust to but their charms and idols--both being bits of wood. I got a
large beetle hung up before an idol in the idol house of a deserted and
burned village; the guardian was there, but the village destroyed.
I presented the two brothers with two table cloths, four bunches of
beads, and one string of neck-beads; they were well satisfied.
A wood here when burned emits a horrid fæcal smell, and one would think
the camp polluted if one fire was made of it. I had a house built for me
because the village huts are inconvenient, low in roof, and low
doorways; the men build them, and help to cultivate the soil, but the
women have to keep them well filled with firewood and supplied with
water. They carry the wood, and almost everything else in large baskets,
hung to the shoulders, like the Edinburgh fishwives. A man made a long
loud prayer to Mulungu last night after dark for rain.
The sons of Moenékuss have but little of their father's power, but they
try to behave to strangers as he did. All our people are in terror of
the Manyéma, or Manyuema, man-eating fame: a woman's child had crept
into a quiet corner of the hut to eat a banana--she could not find him,
and at once concluded that the Manyuema had kidnapped him to eat him,
and with a yell she ran through the camp and screamed at the top of her
shrill voice, "Oh, the Manyuema have stolen my child to make meat of
him! Oh, my child eaten--oh, oh!"
_26th-28th September, 1869._--A Lunda slave-girl was sent off to be sold
for a tusk, but the Manyuema don't want slaves, as we were told in
Lunda, for they are generally thieves, and otherwise bad characters. It
is now clouded over and preparing for rain, when sun comes overhead.
Small-pox comes every three or four years, and kills many of the people.
A soko alive was believed to be a good charm for rain; so one was
caught, and the captor had the ends of two fingers and toes bitten off.
The soko or gorillah always tries to bite off these parts, and has been
known to overpower a young man and leave him without the ends of fingers
and toes. I saw the nest of one: it is a poor contrivance; no more
architectural skill shown than in the nest of our Cushat dove.
_29th September, 1869._--I visited a hot fountain, an hour west of our
camp, which has five eyes, temperature 150°, slightly saline taste, and
steam issues constantly. It is called Kasugwé Colambu. Earthquakes are
well known, and to the Manyuema they seem to come from the east to west;
pots rattle and fowls cackle on these occasions.
_2nd October, 1869._--A rhinoceros was shot, and party sent off to the
River Luamo to buy ivory.
_5th October, 1869._--An elephant was killed, and the entire population
went off to get meat, which was given freely at first, but after it was
known how eagerly the Manyuema sought it, six or eight goats were
demanded for a carcase and given.
_9th October, 1869._--The rite of circumcision is general among all the
Manyuema; it is performed on the young. If a headman's son is to be
operated on, it is tried on a slave first; certain times of the year are
unpropitious, as during a drought for instance; but having by this
experiment ascertained the proper time, they go into the forest, beat
drums, and feast as elsewhere: contrary to all African custom they are
not ashamed to speak about the rite, even before women.
Two very fine young men came to visit me to-day. After putting several
preparatory inquiries as to where our country lay, &c., they asked
whether people died with us, and where they went to after death. "Who
kills them?" "Have you no charm (Buanga) against death?" It is not
necessary to answer such questions save in a land never visited by
strangers. Both had the "organs of intelligence" largely developed. I
told them that we prayed to the Great Father, "Mulungu," and He hears us
all; they thought this to be natural.
_14th October, 1869._--An elephant killed was of the small variety, and
only 5 feet 8 inches high at the withers. The forefoot was in
circumference 3 feet 9 inches, which doubled gives 7 feet 6 inches; this
shows a deviation from the usual rule "twice round the forefoot = the
height of the animal." Heart 1-1/2 foot long, tusks 6 feet 8 inches in
length.
_15th October, 1869._--Fever better, and thankful. Very cold and rainy.
_18th October, 1869._--Our Hassani returned from Moené Kirumbo's; then
one of Dugumbé's party (also called Hassani) seized ten goats and ten
slaves before leaving, though great kindness had been shown: this is
genuine Suaheli or Nigger-Moslem tactics--four of his people were killed
in revenge.
A whole regiment of Soldier ants in my hut were put into a panic by a
detachment of Driver ants called Sirufu. The Chungu or black soldiers
rushed out with their eggs and young, putting them down and running for
more. A dozen Sirafu pitched on one Chungu and killed him. The Chungu
made new quarters for themselves. When the white ants cast off their
colony of winged emigrants a canopy is erected like an umbrella over the
ant-hill. As soon as the ants fly against the roof they tumble down in a
shower and their wings instantly become detached from their bodies. They
are then helpless, and are swept up in baskets to be fried, when they
make a very palatable food.
[Illustration: Catching Ants.]
_24th-25th October, 1869._--Making copper rings, as these are highly
prized by Manyuema. Mohamad's Tembé fell. It had been begun on an
unlucky day, the 26th of the moon; and on another occasion on the same
day, he had fifty slaves swept away by a sudden flood of a dry river in
the Obena country: they are great observers of lucky and unlucky days.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] On showing Chuma and Susi some immense Cochin-China fowls at a
poultry show, they said that they were not larger than those which
they saw when with Dr. Livingstone on these islands. Muscovy ducks
abound throughout Central Africa.--ED.
[2] The natural dress of the Malagash.
[3] The same as Unyanyembé, the half-way settlement on the great
caravan road from the coast to the interior.
[4] These letters must have been destroyed purposely by the Arabs, for
they never arrived at Zanzibar.--ED.
[5] It is curious that this name occurs amongst the Zulu tribes south
of the Zambesi, and, as it has no vowel at the end, appears to be of
altogether foreign origin.--ED.
[6] In 1859.