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.
_1st November, 1869._--Being now well rested, I resolved to go west to
Lualaba and buy a canoe for its exploration. Our course was west and
south-west, through a country surpassingly beautiful, mountainous, and
villages perched on the talus of each great mass for the sake of quick
drainage. The streets often run east and west, in order that the bright
blazing sun may lick up the moisture quickly from off them. The dwelling
houses are generally in line, with public meeting houses at each end,
opposite the middle of the street, the roofs are low, but well thatched
with a leaf resembling the banana leaf, but more tough; it seems from
its fruit to be a species of Euphorbia. The leaf-stack has a notch made
in it of two or three inches lengthways, and this hooks on to the
rafters, which are often of the leaf-stalks of palms, split up so as to
be thin; the water runs quickly off this roof, and the walls, which are
of well-beaten clay, are screened from the weather. Inside, the
dwellings are clean and comfortable, and before the Arabs came bugs were
unknown--as I have before observed, one may know where these people have
come by the presence or absence of these nasty vermin: the human tick,
which infests all Arab and Suaheli houses, is to the Manyuema unknown.
In some cases, where the south-east rains are abundant, the Manyuema
place the back side of the houses to this quarter, and prolong the low
roof down, so that the rain does not reach the walls. These clay walls
stand for ages, and men often return to the villages they left in
infancy and build again the portions that many rains have washed away.
The country generally is of clayey soil, and suitable for building. Each
housewife has from twenty-five to thirty earthen pots slung to the
ceiling by very neat cord-swinging tressels; and often as many neatly
made baskets hung up in the same fashion, and much firewood.
_5th November, 1869._--In going we crossed the River Luela, of twenty
yards in width, five times, in a dense dripping forest. The men of one
village always refused to accompany us to the next set of hamlets, "They
were at war, and afraid of being killed and eaten." They often came five
or six miles through the forests that separate the districts, but when
we drew near to the cleared spaces cultivated by their enemies they
parted civilly, and invited us to come the same way back, and they would
sell us all the food we required.
The Manyuema country is all surpassingly beautiful. Palms crown the
highest heights of the mountains, and their gracefully bended fronds
wave beautifully in the wind; and the forests, usually about five miles
broad, between groups of villages, are indescribable. Climbers of cable
size in great numbers are hung among the gigantic trees, many unknown
wild fruits abound, some the size of a child's head, and strange birds
and monkeys are everywhere. The soil is excessively rich, and the
people, although isolated by old feuds that are never settled,
cultivate largely. They have selected a kind of maize that bends its
fruit-stalk round into a hook, and hedges some eighteen feet high are
made by inserting poles, which sprout like Robinson Crusoe's hedge, and
never decay. Lines of climbing plants are tied so as to go along from
pole to pole, and the maize cobs are suspended to these by their own
hooked fruit-stalk. As the corn cob is forming, the hook is turned
round, so that the fruit-leaves of it hang down and form a thatch for
the grain beneath, or inside it. This upright granary forms a
solid-looking, wall round the villages, and the people are not stingy,
but take down maize and hand it to the men freely.
The women are very naked. They bring loads of provisions to sell,
through the rain, and are eager traders for beads. Plantains, cassava,
and maize, are the chief food. The first rains had now begun, and the
white ants took the hint to swarm and colonize.
_6th, 7th, and 8th November, 1869._--We came to many large villages, and
were variously treated; one headman presented me with a parrot, and on
my declining it, gave it to one of my people; some ordered us off, but
were coaxed to allow us to remain over night. They have no restraint;
some came and pushed off the door of my hut with a stick while I was
resting, as we should do with a wild-beast cage.
Though reasonably willing to gratify curiosity, it becomes tiresome to
be the victim of unlimited staring by the ugly, as well as by the
good-looking. I can bear the women, but ugly males are uninteresting,
and it is as much as I can stand when a crowd will follow me wherever I
move. They have heard of Dugumbé Hassani's deeds, and are evidently
suspicious of our intentions: they say, "If you have food at home, why
come so far and spend your beads to buy it here?" If it is replied, on
the strength of some of Mohamad's people being present, "We want to buy
ivory too;" not knowing its value they think that this is a mere
subterfuge to plunder them. Much palm-wine to-day at different parts
made them incapable of reasoning further; they seemed inclined to fight,
but after a great deal of talk we departed without collision.
_9th November, 1869._--We came to villages where all were civil, but
afterwards arrived where there were other palm-trees and palm-toddy, and
people low and disagreeable in consequence. The mountains all around are
grand, and tree-covered. I saw a man with two great great toes: the
double toe is usually a little one.
_11th November, 1869._--We had heard that the Manyuema were eager to buy
slaves, but that meant females only to make wives of them: they prefer
goats to men. Mohamad had bought slaves in Lunda in order to get ivory
from these Manyuema, but inquiry here and elsewhere brought it out
plainly that they would rather let the ivory lie unused or rot than
invest in male slaves, who are generally criminals--at least in Lunda. I
advised my friend to desist from buying slaves who would all "eat off
their own heads," but he knew better than to buy copper, and on our
return he acknowledged that I was right.
_15th November, 1869._--We came into a country where Dugumbé's slaves
had maltreated the people greatly, and they looked on us as of the same
tribe, and we had much trouble in consequence. The country is swarming
with villages. Hassani of Dugumbé got the chief into debt, and then
robbed him of ten men and ten goats to clear off the debt: The Dutch did
the same in the south of Africa.
_17th November, 1869._--Copious rains brought us to a halt at Muana
Balangé's, on the banks of the Luamo River. Moerekurambo had died
lately, and his substitute took seven goats to the chiefs on the other
side in order to induce them to come in a strong party and attack us for
Hassani's affair.
_20th to 25th November, 1869._--We were now only about ten miles from
the confluence of the Luamo and Lualaba, but all the people had been
plundered, and some killed by the slaves of Dugumbé. The Luamo is here
some 200 yards broad and deep; the chiefs everywhere were begged to
refuse us a passage. The women were particularly outspoken in asserting
our identity with the cruel strangers, and when one lady was asked in
the midst of her vociferation just to look if I were of the same colour
with Dugumbé, she replied with a bitter little laugh, "Then you must be
his father!"
It was of no use to try to buy a canoe, for all were our enemies. It was
now the rainy season, and I had to move with great caution. The worst
our enemies did, after trying to get up a war in vain, was to collect as
we went by in force fully armed with their large spears and huge wooden
shields, and show us out of their districts. All are kind except those
who have been abused by the Arab slaves. While waiting at Luamo a man,
whom we sent over to buy food, got into a panic and fled he knew not
whither; all concluded that he had been murdered, but some Manyuema whom
we had never seen found him, fed him, and brought him home unscathed: I
was very glad that no collision had taken place. We returned to Bambarré
19th December, 1869.
_20th December, 1869._--While we were away a large horde of Ujijians
came to Bambarré, all eager to reach the cheap ivory, of which a rumour
had spread far and wide; they numbered 500 guns, and invited Mohamad to
go with them, but he preferred waiting for my return from the west. We
now resolved to go due north; he to buy ivory, and I to reach another
part of the Lualaba and buy a canoe.
Wherever the dense primeval forest has been cleared off by man, gigantic
grasses usurp the clearances. None of the sylvan vegetation can stand
the annual grass-burnings except a species of Bauhinia, and occasionally
a large tree which sends out new wood below the burned places. The
parrots build thereon, and the men make a stair up 150 feet by tying
climbing plants (called Binayoba) around, at about four feet distance,
as steps: near the confluence of the Luamo, men build huts on this same
species of tree for safety against the arrows of their enemies.
_21st December, 1869._--The strong thick grass of the clearances dries
down to the roots at the surface of the soil, and fire does it no harm.
Though a few of the great old burly giants brave the fires, none of the
climbers do: they disappear, but the plants themselves are brought out
of the forests and ranged along the plantations like wire fences to keep
wild beasts off; the poles of these vegetable wire hedges often take
root, as also those in stages for maize.
_22nd, 23rd, and 24th December, 1869._--Mohamad presented a goat to be
eaten on our Christmas. I got large copper bracelets made of my copper
by Manyuema smiths, for they are considered very valuable, and have
driven iron bracelets quite out of fashion.
_25th December, 1869._--We start immediately after Christmas: I must try
with all my might to finish my exploration before next Christmas.
_26th December, 1869._--I get fever severely, and was down all day, but
we march, as I have always found that moving is the best remedy for
fever: I have, however, no medicine whatever. We passed over the neck of
Mount Kinyima, north-west of Moenékuss, through very slippery forest,
and encamped on the banks of the Lulwa Rivulet.
_28th December, 1869._--Away to Monangoi's village, near the Luamo
River, here 150 or more yards wide and deep. A man passed us, bearing a
human finger wrapped in a leaf; it was to be used as a charm, and
belonged to a man killed in revenge: the Arabs all took this as clear
evidence of cannibalism: I hesitated, however, to believe it.
_29th, 30th, and 31st December, 1869._--Heavy rains. The Luamo is called
the Luassé above this. We crossed in canoes.
_1st January, 1870._--May the Almighty help me to finish, the work in
hand, and retire through the Basango before the year is out. Thanks for
all last year's loving kindness.
Our course was due north, with the Luassé flowing in a gently undulating
green country on our right, and rounded mountains in Mbongo's country on
our left.
_2nd January, 1870._--Rested a day at Mbongo's, as the people were
honest.
_3rd January, 1870._--Reached a village at the edge of a great forest,
where the people were excited and uproarious, but not ill-bred, they ran
alongside the path with us shouting and making energetic remarks to each
other about us. A newly-married couple stood in a village where we
stopped to inquire the way, with arms around each other very lovingly,
and no one joked or poked fun at them. We marched five hours through
forest and crossed three rivulets and much stagnant water which the sun
by the few rays he darts in cannot evaporate. We passed several huge
traps for elephants: they are constructed thus--a log of heavy wood,
about 20 feet long, has a hole at one end for a climbing plant to pass
through and suspend it, at the lower end a mortice is cut out of the
side, and a wooden lance about 2 inches broad by 1-1/2 thick, and about
4 feet long, is inserted firmly in the mortice; a latch down on the
ground, when touched by the animal's foot, lets the beam run down on to
his body, and the great weight of the wood drives in the lance and kills
the animal. I saw one lance which had accidentally fallen, and it had
gone into the stiff clay soil two feet.
_4th January, 1870._--- The villagers we passed were civil, but like
noisy children, all talked and gazed. When surrounded by 300 or 400,
some who have not been accustomed to the ways of wild men think that a
fight is imminent; but, poor things, no attack is thought of, if it does
not begin on our side. Many of Mohamad's people were dreadfully afraid
of being killed and eaten; one man out in search of ivory seemed to have
lost sight of his companions, for they saw him running with all his
might to a forest with no path in it; he was searched for for several
days, and was given up as a murdered man, a victim of the cannibal
Manyuema! On the seventh day after he lost his head, he was led into
camp by a headman, who not only found him wandering but fed and lodged
and restored him to his people.
[With reference to the above we may add that nothing can exceed the
terror in which cannibal nations are held by other African tribes. It
was common on the River Shiré to hear Manganja and Ajawa people speak of
tribes far away to the north who eat human bodies, and on every occasion
the fact was related with the utmost horror and disgust.]
The women here plait the hair into the form of a basket behind; it is
first rolled into a very long coil, then wound round something till it
is about 8 or 10 inches long, projecting from the back of the head.
_5th, 6th, and 7th January, 1870._--Wettings by rain and grass
overhanging our paths, with bad water, brought on choleraic symptoms;
and opium from Mohamad had no effect in stopping it: he, too, had
rheumatism. On suspecting the water as the cause, I had all I used
boiled, and this was effectual, but I was greatly reduced in flesh, and
so were many of our party.
We proceeded nearly due north, through wilderness and many villages and
running rills; the paths are often left to be choked up by the
overbearing vegetation, and then the course of the rill is adopted as
the only clear passage; it has also this advantage, it prevents
footmarks being followed by enemies: in fact the object is always to
make approaches to human dwellings as difficult as possible, even the
hedges around villages sprout out and grow a living fence, and this is
covered by a great mass of a species of calabash with its broad leaves,
so that nothing appears of the fence outside.
_11th January, 1870._--The people are civil, but uproarious from the
excitement of having never seen strangers before; all visitors from a
distance came with their large wooden shields; many of the men are
handsome and tall but the women are plainer than at Bambarré.
_12th January, 1870._--Cross the Lolindé, 35 yards and knee deep,
flowing to join Luamo far down: dark water. (_13th._) Through the hills
Chimunémuné; we see many albinos and partial lepers and syphilis is
prevalent. It is too trying to travel during the rains.
_14th January, 1870._--The Muabé palm had taken possession of a broad
valley, and the leaf-stalks, as thick as a strong man's arm and 20 feet
long, had fallen off and blocked up all passage except by one path made
and mixed up by the feet of buffaloes and elephants. In places like this
the leg goes into elephants' holes up to the thigh and it is grievous;
three hours of this slough tired the strongest: a brown stream ran
through the centre, waist deep, and washed off a little of the adhesive
mud. Our path now lay through a river covered with tikatika, a living
vegetable bridge made by a species of glossy leafed grass which felts
itself into a mat capable of bearing a man's weight, but it bends in a
foot or fifteen inches every step; a stick six feet long could not reach
the bottom in certain holes we passed. The lotus, or sacred lily, which
grows in nearly all the shallow waters of this country, sometimes
spreads its broad leaves over the bridge so as to lead careless
observers to think that it is the bridge builder, but the grass
mentioned is the real agent. Here it is called Kintéfwétéfwé; on
Victoria Nyanza Titatika.
_15th January, 1870._--Choleraic purging again came on till all the
water used was boiled, but I was laid up by sheer weakness near the hill
Chanza.
_20th and 21st January. 1870._--Weakness and illness goes on because we
get wet so often; the whole party suffers, and they say that they will
never come here again. The Manyango Rivulet has fine sweet water, but
the whole country is smothered with luxuriant vegetation.
_27th, 29th, and 30th January, 1870._--Rest from sickness in camp. The
country is indescribable from rank jungle of grass, but the rounded
hills are still pretty; an elephant alone can pass through it--these are
his head-quarters. The stalks are from half an inch to an inch and a
half in diameter, reeds clog the feet, and the leaves rub sorely on the
face and eyes: the view is generally shut in by this megatherium grass,
except when we come to a slope down to a valley or the bed of a rill.
We came to a village among fine gardens of maize, bananas, ground-nuts,
and cassava, but the villagers said, "Go on to next village;" and this
meant, "We don't want you here." The main body of Mohamad's people was
about three miles before us, but I was so weak I sat down in the next
hamlet and asked for a hut to rest in. A woman with leprous hands gave
me hers, a nice clean one, and very heavy rain came on: of her own
accord she prepared dumplings of green maize, pounded and boiled; which
are sweet, for she said that she saw I was hungry. It was excessive
weakness from purging, and seeing that I did not eat for fear of the
leprosy, she kindly pressed me: "Eat, you are weak only from hunger;
this will strengthen you." I put it out of her sight, and blessed her
motherly heart.
I had ere this come to the conclusion that I ought not to risk myself
further in the rains in my present weakness, for it may result in
something worse, as in Marungu and Liemba.
The horde mentioned as having passed Bambarré was now somewhere in our
vicinity, and it was impossible to ascertain from the Manyuema where the
Lualaba lay.
In going north on 1st February we came to some of this horde belonging
to Katomba or Moene-mokaia, who stated that the leader was anxious for
advice as to crossing Lualaba and future movements. He supposed that
this river was seven days in front of him, and twelve days in front of
us. It is a puzzle from its north-westing and low level: it is possibly
Petherick's Bahr Ghazal. Could get no latitude.
_2nd February, 1870._--I propose to cross it, and buy an exploring
canoe, because I am recovering my strength; but we now climb over the
bold hills Bininango, and turn south-west towards Katomba to take
counsel: he knows more than anyone else about the country, and his
people being now scattered everywhere seeking ivory, I do not relish
their company.
_3rd February, 1870._--Caught in a drenching rain, which made me fain to
sit, exhausted as I was, under an umbrella for an hour trying to keep
the trunk dry. As I sat in the rain a little tree-frog, about half an
inch long, leaped on to a grassy leaf, and began a tune as loud as that
of many birds, and very sweet; it was surprising to hear so much music
out of so small a musician. I drank some rain-water as I felt faint--in
the paths it is now calf deep. I crossed a hundred yards of slush waist
deep in mid channel, and full of holes made by elephants' feet, the path
hedged in by reedy grass, often intertwined and very tripping. I
stripped off my clothes on reaching my hut in a village, and a fire
during night nearly dried them. At the same time I rubbed my legs with
palm oil, and in the morning had a delicious breakfast of sour goat's
milk and porridge.
_5th February, 1870._--The drenching told on me sorely, and it was
repeated after we had crossed the good-sized rivulets Mulunkula and many
villages, and I lay on an enormous boulder under a Muabé palm, and slept
during the worst of the pelting. I was seven days southing to Mamohela,
Katomba's camp, and quite knocked up and exhausted. I went into winter
quarters on 7th February, 1870.
_7th February, 1870._--This was the camp of the headman of the ivory
horde now away for ivory. Katomba, as Moene-mokaia is called, was now all
kindness. We were away from his Ujijian associates, and he seemed to
follow his natural bent without fear of the other slave-traders, who all
hate to see me as a spy on their proceedings. Rest, shelter, and boiling
all the water I used, and above all the new species of potato called
Nyumbo, much famed among the natives as restorative, soon put me all to
rights. Katomba supplied me liberally with nyumbo; and, but for a
slightly medicinal taste, which is got rid of by boiling in two waters,
this vegetable would be equal to English potatoes.
_11th February, 1870._--First of all it was proposed to go off to the
Lualaba in the north-west, in order to procure _Holcus sorghum_ or dura
flour, that being, in Arab opinion, nearly equal to wheat, or as they
say "heating," while the maize flour we were obliged to use was cold or
cooling.
_13th February, 1870._--I was too ill to go through mud waist deep, so I
allowed Mohamad (who was suffering much) to go away alone in search of
ivory. As stated above, shelter and nyumbo proved beneficial.
_22nd February, 1870._--Falls between Vira and Baker's Water seen by
Wanyamwezi. This confirms my conjecture on finding Lualaba at a lower
level than Tanganyika. Bin Habib went to fight the Batusi, but they were
too strong, and he turned.
_1st March, 1870._--Visited my Arab friends in their camp for the first
time to-day. This is Kasessa's country, and the camp is situated between
two strong rivulets, while Mamohela is the native name, Mount Bombola
stands two miles from it north, and Mount Bolunkela is north-east the
same distance. Wood, water, and grass, the requisites of a camp abound,
and the Manyuema bring large supplies of food every day; forty large
baskets of maize for a goat; fowls and bananas and nyumbo very cheap.
_25th March, 1870._--Iron bracelets are the common medium of exchange,
and coarse beads and cowries: for a copper bracelet three large fowls
are given, and three and a half baskets of maize; one basket three feet
high is a woman's load, and they are very strong.
The Wachiogoné are a scattered tribe among the Maarabo or Suaheli, but
they retain their distinct identity as a people.
The Mamba fish has breasts with milk, and utters a cry; its flesh is
very white, it is not the crocodile which goes by the same name, but is
probably the Dugong or Peixe Mulher of the Portuguese(?). Full-grown
leeches come on the surface in this wet country.
Some of Katomba's men returned with forty-three tusks. An animal with
short horns and of a reddish colour is in the north; it is not known to
the Arabs(?).
Joseph, an Arab from Oman, says that the Simoom is worse in Sham
(Yemen?) than in Oman: it blows for three or four hours. Butter eaten
largely is the remedy against its ill effects, and this is also smeared
on the body: in Oman a wetted cloth is put over the head, body, and
legs, while this wind blows.
_1st May, 1870._--An elephant was killed which had three tusks; all of
good size.[7]
Rains continued; and mud and mire from the clayey soil of Manyuema were
too awful to be attempted.
_24th May, 1870._--I sent to Bambarré for the cloth and beads I left
there. A party of Thani's people came south and said that they had
killed forty Manyuema, and lost four of theirown number; nine villages
were burned, and all this about a single string of beads which a man
tried to steal!
_June, 1870._--Mohamad bin Nassur and Akila's men brought 116 tusks from
the north, where the people are said to be all good and obliging:
Akila's chief man had a large deep ulcer on the foot from the mud. When
we had the people here, Kassessa gave ten goats and one tusk to hire
them to avenge a feud in which his elder brother was killed, and they
went; the spoils secured were 31 captives, 60 goats, and about 40
Manyuema killed: one slave of the attacking party was killed, and two
badly wounded. Thani's man, Yahood, who was leader in the other case of
40 killed, boasted before me of the deed. I said, "You were sent here
not to murder, but to trade;" he replied, "We are sent to murder." Bin
Nassur said, "The English are always killing people;" I replied, "Yes,
but only slavers who do the deeds that were done yesterday."
Various other tribes sent large presents to the Arabs to avert assaults,
and tusks too were offered.
The rains had continued into June, and fifty-eight inches fell.
_26th June, 1870._--Now my people failed me; so, with only three
attendants, Susi, Chuma, and Gardner, I started off to the north-west
for the Lualaba. The numbers of running rivulets to be crossed were
surprising, and at each, for some forty yards, the path had been worked
by the feet of passengers into adhesive mud: we crossed fourteen in one
day--some thigh deep; most of them run into the Liya, which we crossed,
and it flows to the Lualaba. We passed through many villages, for the
paths all lead through human dwellings. Many people presented bananas,
and seemed surprised when I made a small return gift; one man ran after
me with a sugar-cane; I paid for lodgings too: here the Arabs never do.
_28th June, 1870._--The driver ants were in millions in some part of
the way; on this side of the continent they seem less fierce than I have
found them in the west.
_29th June, 1870._--At one village musicians with calabashes, having
holes in them, flute-fashion, tried to please me by their vigorous
acting, and by beating drums in time.
_30th June, 1870._--We passed through the nine villages burned for a
single string of beads, and slept in the village of Malola.
_July, 1870._--While I was sleeping quietly here, some trading Arabs
camped at Nasangwa's, and at dead of night one was pinned to the earth
by a spear; no doubt this was in revenge for relations slain in the
forty mentioned: the survivors now wished to run a muck in all
directions against the Manyuema.
When I came up I proposed to ask the chief if he knew the assassin, and
he replied that he was not sure of him, for he could only conjecture who
it was; but death to all Manyuemas glared from the eyes of half-castes
and slaves. Fortunately, before this affair was settled in their way, I
met Mohamad Bogharib coming back from Kasonga's, and he joined in
enforcing peace: the traders went off, but let my three people know,
what I knew long before, that they hated having a spy in me on their
deeds. I told some of them who were civil tongued that ivory obtained by
bloodshed was unclean evil--"unlucky" as they say: my advice to them
was, "Don't shed human blood, my friends; it has guilt not to be wiped
off by water." Off they went; and afterwards the bloodthirsty party got
only one tusk and a half, while another party, which avoided shooting
men, got fifty-four tusks!
From Mohamad's people I learned that the Lualaba was not in the N.W.
course I had pursued, for in fact it flows W.S.W. in another great bend,
and they had gone far to the north without seeing it, but the country
was exceedingly difficult from forest and water. As I had already seen,
trees fallen across the path formed a breast-high wall which had to be
climbed over: flooded rivers, breast and neck deep, had to be crossed,
the mud was awful, and nothing but villages eight or ten miles apart.
In the clearances around these villages alone could the sun be seen. For
the first time in my life my feet failed me, and now having but three
attendants it would have been unwise to go further in that direction.
Instead of healing quietly as heretofore, when torn by hard travel,
irritable-eating ulcers fastened on both feet; and I limped back to
Bambarré on 22nd.
The accounts of Ramadân (who was desired by me to take notes as he went
in the forest) were discouraging, and made me glad I did not go. At one
part, where the tortuous river was flooded, they were five hours in the
water, and a man in a small canoe went before them sounding for places
not too deep for them, breast and chin deep, and Hassani fell and hurt
himself sorely in a hole. The people have goats and sheep, and love them
as they do children.
[Fairly baffled by the difficulties in his way, and sorely troubled by
the demoralised state of his men, who appear not to have been proof
against the contaminating presence of the Arabs, the Doctor turns back
at this point.]
_6th July, 1870._--Back to Mamohela, and welcomed by the Arabs, who all
approved of my turning back. Katomba presented abundant provisions for
all the way to Bambarré. Before we reached this, Mohamad made a forced
march, and Moene-mokaia's people came out drunk: the Arabs assaulted
them, and they ran off.
_23rd July, 1870._--The sores on my feet now laid me up as
irritable-eating ulcers. If the foot were put to the ground, a discharge
of bloody ichor flowed, and the same discharge happened every night with
considerable pain, that prevented sleep: the wailing of the slaves
tortured with these sores is one of the night sounds of a slave-camp:
they eat through everything--muscle, tendon, and bone, and often lame
permanently if they do not kill the poor things. Medicines have very
little effect on such wounds: their periodicity seems to say that they
are allied to fever. The Arabs make a salve of bees'-wax and sulphate of
copper, and this applied hot, and held on by a bandage affords support,
but the necessity of letting the ichor escape renders it a painful
remedy: I had three ulcers, and no medicine. The native plan of support
by means of a stiff leaf or bit of calabash was too irritating, and so
they continued to eat in and enlarge in spite of everything: the
vicinity was hot, and the pain increased with the size of the wound.
_2nd August, 1870._--An eclipse at midnight: the Moslems called loudly
on Moses. Very cold.
On _17th August, 1870,_ Monanyembé, the chief who was punished by
Mohamad Bogharib, lately came bringing two goats; one he gave to
Mohamad, the other to Moenékuss' son, acknowledging that he had killed
his elder brother: he had killed eleven persons over at Linamo in our
absence, in addition to those killed in villages on our S.E. when we
were away. It transpired that Kandahara, brother of old Moenékuss, whose
village is near this, killed three women and a child, and that a trading
man came over from Kasangangayé, and was murdered too, for no reason but
to eat his body. Mohamad ordered old Kandahara to bring ten goats and
take them over to Kasangangayé to pay for the murdered man. When they
tell of each other's deeds they disclose a horrid state of bloodthirsty
callousness. The people over a hill N.N.E. of this killed a person out
hoeing; if a cultivator is alone, he is almost sure of being slain. Some
said that people in the vicinity, or hyænas, stole the buried dead; but
Posho's wife died, and in Wanyamesi fashion was thrown out of camp
unburied. Mohamad threatened an attack if Manyuema did not cease
exhuming the dead; it was effectual, neither men nor hyænas touched
her, though exposed now for seven days.
The head of Moenékuss is said to be preserved in a pot in his house, and
all public matters are gravely communicated to it, as if his spirit
dwelt therein: his body was eaten, the flesh was removed from the head
and eaten too; his father's head is said to be kept also: the foregoing
refers to Bambarré alone. In other districts graves show that sepulture
is customary, but here no grave appears: some admit the existence of the
practice here; others deny it. In the Metamba country adjacent to the
Lualaba, a quarrel with a wife often ends in the husband killing her and
eating her heart, mixed up in a huge mess of goat's flesh: this has the
charm character. Fingers are taken as charms in other parts, but in
Bambarré alone is the depraved taste the motive for cannibalism.
_Bambarré, 18th August, 1870._--I learn from Josut and Moenepembé, who
have been to Katañga and beyond, that there is a Lake N.N.W. of the
copper mines, and twelve days distant; it is called Chibungo, and is
said to be large. Seven days west of Katañga flows another Lualaba,
the dividing line between Rua and Lunda or Londa; it is very large,
and as the Lufira flows into Chibungo, it is probable that the Lualaba
West and the Lufira form the Lake. Lualaba West and Lufira rise by
fountains south of Katañga, three or four days off. Luambai and Lunga
fountains are only about ten miles distant from Lualaba West and
Lufira fountains: a mound rises between them, the most remarkable in
Africa. Were this spot in Armenia it would serve exactly the
description of the garden of Eden in Genesis, with its four rivers,
the Gihon, Pison, Hiddekel, and Euphrates; as it is, it possibly gave
occasion to the story told to Herodotus by the Secretary of Minerva in
the City of Saïs, about two hills with conical tops, Crophi and Mophi.
"Midway between them," said he, "are the fountains of the Nile,
fountains which it is impossible to fathom: half the water runs
northward into Egypt; half to the south towards Ethiopia."
Four fountains rising so near to each other would readily be supposed to
have one source, and half the water flowing into the Nile and the other
half to the Zambesi, required but little imagination to originate,
seeing the actual visitor would not feel bound to say how the division
was effected. He could only know the fact of waters rising at one spot,
and separating to flow north and south. The conical tops to the mound
look like invention, as also do the names.
A slave, bought on Lualaba East, came from Lualaba West in about twelve
days: these two Lualabas may form the loop depicted by Ptolemy, and
upper and lower Tanganyika be a third arm of the Nile.
Patience is all I can exercise: these irritable ulcers hedge me in now,
as did my attendants in June, but all will be for the best, for it is in
Providence and not in me.
The watershed is between 700 and 800 miles long from west to east, or
say from 22° or 23° to 34° or 35° East longitude. Parts of it are
enormous sponges; in other parts innumerable rills unite into rivulets,
which again form rivers--Lufira, for instance, has nine rivulets, and
Lekulwé other nine. The convex surface of the rose of a garden
watering-can is a tolerably apt similitude, as the rills do not spring
off the face of it, and it is 700 miles across the circle; but in the
numbers of rills coming out at different heights on the slope, there is
a faint resemblance, and I can at present think of no other example.
I am a little thankful to old Nile for so hiding his head that all
"theoretical discoverers" are left out in the cold. With all real
explorers I have a hearty sympathy, and I have some regret at being
obliged, in a manner compelled, to speak somewhat disparagingly of the
opinions formed by my predecessors. The work of Speke and Grant is part
of the history of this region, and since the discovery of the sources
of the Nile was asserted so positively, it seems necessary to explain,
not offensively, I hope, wherein their mistake lay, in making a somewhat
similar claim. My opinions may yet be shown to be mistaken too, but at
present I cannot conceive how. When Speke discovered Victoria Nyanza in
1858, he at once concluded that therein lay the sources of the Nile. His
work after that was simply following a foregone conclusion, and as soon
as he and Grant looked towards the Victoria Nyanza, they turned their
backs on the Nile fountains; so every step of their splendid achievement
of following the river down took them further and further away from the
Caput Nili. When it was perceived that the little river that leaves the
Nyanza, though they called it the White Nile, would not account for that
great river, they might have gone west and found headwaters (as the
Lualaba) to which it can bear no comparison. Taking their White Nile at
80 or 90 yards, or say 100 yards broad, the Lualaba, far south of the
latitude of its point of departure, shows an average breadth of from
4000 to 6000 yards, and always deep.
Considering that more than sixteen hundred years have elapsed since
Ptolemy put down the results of early explorers, and emperors, kings,
philosophers--all the great men of antiquity in short longed to know the
fountains whence flowed the famous river, and longed in
vain--exploration does not seem to have been very becoming to the other
sex either. Madame Tinné came further up the river than the centurions
sent by Nero Cæsar, and showed such indomitable pluck as to reflect
honour on her race. I know nothing about her save what has appeared in
the public papers, but taking her exploration along with what was done
by Mrs. Baker, no long time could have elapsed before the laurels for
the modern re-discovery of the sources of the Nile should have been
plucked by the ladies. In 1841 the Egyptian Expedition under D'Arnauld
and Sabatier reached lat. 4° 42': this was a great advance into the
interior as compared with Linant in 1827, 13° 30' N., and even on the
explorations of Jomard(?); but it turned when nearly a thousand miles
from the sources.
[The subjoined account of the soko--which is in all probability an
entirely new species of chimpanzee, and _not_ the gorilla, is
exceedingly interesting, and no doubt Livingstone had plenty of stories
from which to select. Neither Susi nor Chuma can identify the soko of
Manyuema with the gorilla, as we have it stuffed in the British Museum.
They think, however, that the soko is quite as large and as strong as
the gorilla, judging by the specimens shown to them, although they could
have decided with greater certainty, if the natives had not invariably
brought in the dead sokos disembowelled; as they point out, and as we
imagine from Dr. Livingstone's description, the carcase would then
appear much less bulky. Livingstone gives an animated sketch of a soko
hunt.]
_24th August, 1870._--Four gorillas or sokos were killed yesterday: an
extensive grass-burning forced them out of their usual haunt, and coming
on the plain they were speared. They often go erect, but place the hand
on the head, as if to steady the body. When seen thus, the soko is an
ungainly beast. The most sentimental young lady would not call him a
"dear," but a bandy-legged, pot-bellied, low-looking villain, without a
particle of the gentleman in him. Other animals, especially the
antelopes, are graceful, and it is pleasant to see them, either at rest
or in motion: the natives also are well made, lithe and comely to
behold, but the soko, if large, would do well to stand for a picture of
the Devil.
He takes away my appetite by his disgusting bestiality of appearance.
His light-yellow face shows off his ugly whiskers, and faint apology for
a beard; the forehead villainously low, with high ears, is well in the
back-ground of the great dog-mouth; the teeth are slightly human, but
the canines show the beast by their large development. The hands, or
rather the fingers, are like those of the natives. The flesh of the feet
is yellow, and the eagerness with which the Manyuema devour it leaves
the impression that eating sokos was the first stage by which they
arrived at being cannibals; they say the flesh is delicious. The soko is
represented by some to be extremely knowing, successfully stalking men
and women while at their work, kidnapping children, and running up trees
with them--he seems to be amused by the sight of the young native in his
arms, but comes down when tempted by a bunch of bananas, and as he lifts
that, drops the child: the young soko in such a case would cling closely
to the armpit of the elder. One man was cutting out honey from a tree,
and naked, when a soko suddenly appeared and caught him, then let him
go: another man was hunting, and missed in his attempt to stab a soko:
it seized the spear and broke it, then grappled with the man, who called
to his companions, "Soko has caught me," the soko bit off the ends of
his fingers and escaped unharmed. Both men are now alive at Bambarré.
The soko is so cunning, and has such sharp eyes, that no one can stalk
him in front without being seen, hence, when shot, it is always in the
back; when surrounded by men and nets, he is generally speared in the
back too, otherwise he is not a very formidable beast: he is nothing, as
compared in power of damaging his assailant, to a leopard or lion, but
is more like a man unarmed, for it does not occur to him to use his
canine teeth, which are long and formidable. Numbers of them come down
in the forest, within a hundred yards of our camp, and would be unknown
but for giving tongue like fox-hounds: this is their nearest approach to
speech. A man hoeing was stalked by a soko, and seized; he roared out,
but the soko giggled and grinned, and left him as if he had done it in
play. A child caught up by a soko is often abused by being pinched and
scratched, and let fall.
The soko kills the leopard occasionally, by seizing both paws, and
biting them so as to disable them, he then goes up a tree, groans over
his wounds, and sometimes recovers, while the leopard dies: at other
times, both soko and leopard die. The lion kills him at once, and
sometimes tears his limbs off, but does not eat him. The soko eats no
flesh--small bananas are his dainties, but not maize. His food consists
of wild fruits, which abound: one, Staféné, or Manyuema Mamwa, is like
large sweet sop but indifferent in taste and flesh. The soko brings
forth at times twins. A very large soko was seen by Mohamad's hunters
sitting picking his nails; they tried to stalk him, but he vanished.
Some Manyuema think that their buried dead rise as sokos, and one was
killed with holes in his ears, as if he had been a man. He is very
strong and fears guns but not spears: he never catches women.
Sokos collect together, and make a drumming noise, some say with hollow
trees, then burst forth into loud yells which are well imitated by the
natives' embryotic music. If a man has no spear the soko goes away
satisfied, but if wounded he seizes the wrist, lops off the fingers, and
spits them out, slaps the cheeks of his victim, and bites without
breaking the skin: he draws out a spear (but never uses it), and takes
some leaves and stuffs them into his wound to staunch the blood; he does
not wish an encounter with an armed man. He sees women do him no harm,
and never molests them; a man without a spear is nearly safe from him.
They beat hollow trees as drums with hands, and then scream as music to
it; when men hear them, they go to the sokos; but sokos never go to men
with hostility. Manyuema say, "Soko is a man, and nothing bad in him."
They live in communities of about ten, each having his own female; an
intruder from another camp is beaten off with their fists and loud
yells. If one tries to seize the female of another, he is caught on the
ground, and all unite in boxing and biting the offender. A male often
carries a child, especially if they are passing from one patch of forest
to another over a grassy space; he then gives it to the mother.
I now spoke with my friend Mohamad, and he offered to go with me to see
Lualaba from Luamo, but I explained that merely to see and measure its
depth would not do, I must see whither it went. This would require a
number of his people in lieu of my deserters, and to take them away from
his ivory trade, which at present is like gold digging, I must make
amends, and I offered him 2000 rupees, and a gun worth 700 rupees, R.
2700 in all, or 270_l._ He agreed, and should he enable me to finish up
my work in one trip down Lualaba, and round to Lualaba West, it would be
a great favour.
[How severely he felt the effects of the terrible illnesses of the last
two years may be imagined by some few words here, and it must ever be
regretted that the conviction which he speaks of was not acted up to.]
The severe pneumonia in Marunga, the choleraic complaint in Manyuema,
and now irritable ulcers warn me to retire while life lasts. Mohamad's
people went north, and east, and west, from Kasonga's: sixteen marches
north, ten ditto west, and four ditto E. and S.E. The average march was
6-1/2 hours, say 12' about 200' N. and W., lat. of Kasongo, say 4°
south. They may have reached 1°, 2° S. They were now in the Baléggé
country, and turned. It was all dense forest, they never saw the sun
except when at a village, and then the villages were too far apart. The
people were very fond of sheep, which they call ngombé, or ox, and tusks
are never used. They went off to where an elephant had formerly been
killed, and brought the tusks rotted and eaten or gnawed by "Déré" (?)--a
Rodent, probably the _Aulocaudatus Swindermanus_. Three large rivers
were crossed, breast and chin deep; in one they were five hours, and a
man in a small canoe went ahead sounding for water capable of being
waded. Much water and mud in the forest. This report makes me thankful I
did not go, for I should have seen nothing, and been worn out by fatigue
and mud. They tell me that the River Metunda had black water, and took
two hours to cross it, breast deep. They crossed about forty smaller
rivers over the River Mohunga, breast deep. The River of Mbité also is
large. All along Lualaba and Metumbé the sheep have hairy dew-laps, no
wool, Tartar breed (?), small thin tails.
A broad belt of meadow-land, with no trees, lies along Lualaba, beyond
that it is all dense forest, and trees so large, that one lying across
the path is breast high: clearances exist only around the villages. The
people are very expert smiths and weavers of the "Lamba," and make fine
large spears, knives, and needles. Market-places, called "Tokos," are
numerous all along Lualaba; to these the Barua of the other bank come
daily in large canoes, bringing grass-cloth, salt, flour, cassava,
fowls, goats, pigs, and slaves. The women are beautiful, with straight
noses, and well-clothed; when the men of the districts are at war, the
women take their goods to market as if at peace and are never molested:
all are very keen traders, buying one thing with another, and changing
back again, and any profit made is one of the enjoyments of life.
I knew that my deserters hoped to be fed by Mohamad Bogharib when we
left the camp at Mamohela, but he told them that he would not have them;
this took them aback, but they went and lifted his ivory for him, and
when a parley was thus brought about, talked him over, saying that they
would go to me, and do all I desired: they never came, but, as no one
else would take them, I gave them three loads to go to Bambarré; there
they told Mohamad that I would not give them beads, and they did not
like to steal; they were now trying to get his food by lies. I invited
them three times to come and take beads, but having supplies of food
from the camp women, they hoped to get the upper hand with me, and take
what they liked by refusing to carry or work. Mohamad spoke long to
them, but speaking mildly makes them imagine that the spokesman is
afraid of them. They kept away from my work and would fain join
Mohamad's, but he won't have them. I gave beads to all but the
ringleaders. Their conduct looks as if a quarrel had taken place between
us, but no such excuse have they.
I am powerless, as they have left me, and think that they may do as they
like, and the "Manyuema are bad" is the song. Their badness consists in
being dreadfully afraid of guns, and the Arabs can do just as they like
with them and their goods. If spears alone were used the Manyuema would
be considered brave, for they fear no one, though he has many spears.
They tell us truly "that were it not for our guns not one of us would
return to our own country." Moene-mokaia killed two Arab agents, and took
their guns; this success led to their asserting, in answer to the
remonstrances of the women, "We shall take their goats, guns, and women
from them." The chief, in reporting the matter to Moenemger(?) at Luamo,
said, "The Englishman told my people to go away as he did not like
fighting, but my men were filled with 'malofu,' or palm-toddy, and
refused to their own hurt." Elsewhere they made regular preparation to
have a fight with Dugumbé's people, just to see who was strongest--they
with their spears and wooden shields, and the Arabs with what in
derision they called tobacco-pipes (guns). They killed eight or nine
Arabs.
No traders seem ever to have come in before this. Banna brought copper
and skins for tusks, and the Babisa and Baguha coarse beads. The Bavira
are now enraged at seeing Ujijians pass into their ivory field, and no
wonder; they took the tusks which cost them a few strings of beads, and
received weight for weight in beads, thick brass wire, and loads of
calico.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Susi and Chuma say that the third tusk grew out from the base of
the trunk, that is, midway between the other two.--ED.