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 Unyanyembé. The Mirambo war. Thoughts on Sir S. 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.
By the arrival of the fast Ramadân on the 14th November, and a Nautical
Almanac, I discovered that I was on that date twenty-one days too fast
in my reckoning. Mr. Stanley used some very strong arguments in favour
of my going home, recruiting my strength, getting artificial teeth, and
then returning to finish my task; but my judgment said, "All your
friends will wish you to make a complete work of the exploration of the
sources of the Nile before you retire." My daughter Agnes says, "Much as
I wish you to come home, I would rather that you finished your work to
your own satisfaction than return merely to gratify me." Rightly and
nobly said, my darling Nannie. Vanity whispers pretty loudly, "She is a
chip of the old block." My blessing on her and all the rest.
It is all but certain that four full-grown gushing fountains rise on the
watershed eight days south of Katanga, each of which at no great
distance off becomes a large river; and two rivers thus formed flow
north to Egypt, the other two to Inner Ethiopia; that is, Lufira or
Bartle Frere's River, flows into Kamolondo, and that into Webb's
Lualaba, the main line of drainage. Another, on the north side of the
sources, Sir Paraffin Young's Lualaba, flows through Lake Lincoln,
otherwise named Chibungo and Lomamé, and that too into Webb's Lualaba.
Then Liambai Fountain, Palmerston's, forms the Upper Zambesi; and the
Lunga (Lunga), Oswell's Fountain, is the Kafué; both flowing into Inner
Ethiopia. It may be that these are not the fountains of the Nile
mentioned to Herodotus by the secretary of Minerva, in Sais, in Egypt;
but they are worth discovery, as in the last hundred of the seven
hundred miles of the watershed, from which nearly all the Nile springs
do unquestionably arise.
I propose to go from Unyanyembé to Fipa; then round the south end of
Tanganyika, Tambeté, or Mbeté; then across the Chambezé, and round south
of Lake Bangweolo, and due west to the ancient fountains; leaving the
underground excavations till after visiting Katanga. This route will
serve to certify that no other sources of the Nile can come from the
south without being seen by me. No one will cut me out after this
exploration is accomplished; and may the good Lord of all help me to
show myself one of His stout-hearted servants, an honour to my children,
and, perhaps, to my country and race.
Our march extended from 26th December, 1871, till 18th February, 1872,
or fifty-four days. This was over 300 miles, and thankful I am to reach
Unyanyembé, and the Tembé Kwikuru.
I find, also, that the two headmen selected by the notorious, but covert
slave-trader, Ludha Damji, have been plundering my stores from the 20th
October, 1870, to 18th February, 1872, or nearly sixteen months. One has
died of small-pox, and the other not only plundered my stores, but has
broken open the lock of Mr. Stanley's storeroom, and plundered his
goods. He declared that all my goods were safe, but when the list was
referred to, and the goods counted, and he was questioned as to the
serious loss, he at last remembered a bale of seven pieces of merikano,
and three kaniké--or 304 yards, that he evidently had hidden. On
questioning him about the boxes brought, he was equally ignorant, but at
last said, "Oh! I remember a box of brandy where it went, and every one
knows as well as I."
_18th February, 1872._--This, and Mr. Stanley's goods being found in his
possession, make me resolve to have done with him. My losses by the
robberies of the Banian employed slaves are more than made up by Mr.
Stanley, who has given me twelve bales of calico; nine loads = fourteen
and a half bags of beads; thirty-eight coils of brass wire; a tent;
boat; bath; cooking pots; twelve copper sheets; air beds; trowsers;
jackets, &c. Indeed, I am again quite set up, and as soon as he can send
men, not slaves, from the coast I go to my work, with a fair prospect of
finishing it.
_19th February, 1872._--Rest. Receive 38 coils of brass wire from Mr.
Stanley, 14-1/2 bags of beads, 12 copper sheets, a strong canvas tent,
boat-trowsers, nine loads of calico, a bath, cooking pots, a medicine
chest, a good lot of tools, tacks, screw nails, copper nails, books,
medicines, paper, tar, many cartridges, and some shot.
_20th February, 1872._--To my great joy I got four flannel shirt from
Agnes, and I was delighted to find that two pairs of fine English boots
had most considerately been sent by my friend Mr. Waller. Mr. Stanley
and I measured the calico and found that 733-3/4 yards were wanting,
also two frasilahs of samsam, and one case of brandy. Othman pretended
sickness, and blamed the dead men, but produced a bale of calico hidden
in Thani's goods; this reduced the missing quantity to 436-1/2 yards.
_21st February, 1872._--Heavy rains. I am glad we are in shelter. Masudi
is an Arab, near to Ali bin Salem at Bagamoio. Bushir is an Arab, for
whose slave he took a bale of calico. Masudi took this Chirongozi, who
is not a slave, as a pagazi or porter. Robbed by Bushir at the 5th camp
from Bagamoio. Othman confessed that he knew of the sale of the box of
brandy, and brought also a shawl which he had forgotten: I searched him,
and found Mr. Stanley's stores which he had stolen.
_22nd February, 1872._--Service this morning, and thanked God for safety
thus far. Got a packet of letters from an Arab.
_23rd February, 1872._--Send to Governor for a box which he has kept for
four years: it is all eaten by white ants: two fine guns and a pistol
are quite destroyed, all the wood-work being eaten. The brandy bottles
were broken to make it appear as if by an accident, but the corks being
driven in, and corks of maize cobs used in their place, show that a
thief has drunk the brandy and then broken the bottles. The tea was
spoiled, but the china was safe, and the cheese good.
_24th February, 1872._--Writing a despatch to Lord Granville against
Banian slaving, and in favour of an English native settlement transfer.
_25th February, 1872._--A number of Batusi women came to-day asking for
presents. They are tall and graceful in form, with well-shaped small
heads, noses, and mouths. They are the chief owners of cattle here. The
war with Mirambo is still going on. The Governor is ashamed to visit me.
_26th February, 1872._--Writing journal and despatch.
_27th February, 1872._--Moene-mokaia is ill of heart disease and liver
abscess. I sent him some blistering fluid. To-day we hold a Christmas
feast.
_28th February, 1872._--Writing journal. Syde bin Salem called; he is a
China-looking man, and tried to be civil to us.
_5th March, 1872._--My friend Moene-mokaia came yesterday; he is very
ill of abscess in liver, which has burst internally. I gave him some
calomel and jalap to open his bowels. He is very weak; his legs are
swollen, but body emaciated.
_6th March, 1872._--Repairing tent, and receiving sundry stores,
Moenem-okaia died.
_7th March, 1872._--Received a machine for filling cartridges.
_8th and 9th March, 1872._--Writing.
_10th March, 1872._--Writing. Gave Mr. Stanley a cheque for 5000 rupees
on Stewart and Co., Bombay. This 500_l._ is to be drawn if Dr. Kirk has
expended the rest of the 1000_l._ If not, then the cheque is to be
destroyed by Mr. Stanley.
_12th March, 1872._--Writing.
_13th March, 1872._--Finished my letter to Mr. Bennett of the _New York
Herald_, and Despatch No. 3 to Lord Granville.
_14th March, 1872._--Mr. Stanley leaves. I commit to his care my journal
sealed with five seals: the impressions on them are those of an American
gold coin, anna, and half anna, and cake of paint with royal arms.
Positively not to be opened.
[We must leave each heart to know its own bitterness, as the old
explorer retraces his steps to the Tembé at Kwihara, there to hope and
pray that good fortune may attend his companion of the last few months
on his journey to the coast; whilst Stanley, duly impressed with the
importance of that which he can reveal to the outer world, and laden
with a responsibility which by this time can be fully comprehended,
thrusts on through every difficulty.
There is nothing for it now but to give Mr. Stanley time to get to
Zanzibar, and to shorten by any means at hand the anxious period which
must elapse before evidence can arrive that he has carried out the
commission entrusted to him.
As we shall see, Livingstone was not without some material to afford him
occupation. Distances were calculated from native report; preparations
were pushed on for the coming journey to Lake Bangweolo; apparatus was
set in order. Travellers from all quarters dropped in from time to time:
each contributed something about his own land; whilst waifs and strays
of news from the expedition sent by the Arabs against Mirambo kept the
settlement alive. To return to his Diary.
How much seems to lie in their separating, when we remember that with
the last shake of the hand, and the last adieu, came the final parting
between Livingstone and all that could represent the interest felt by
the world in his travels, or the sympathy of the white man!]
_15th March, 1872._--Writing to send after Mr. Stanley by two of his
men, who wait here for the purpose. Copied line of route, observations
from Kabuiré to Casembe's, the second visit, and on to Lake Bangweolo;
then the experiment of weight on watch-key at Nyañgwé and Lusizé.
_16th March, 1872._--Sent the men after Mr. Stanley, and two of mine to
bring his last words, if any.
[Sunday was kept in the quiet of the Tembé, on the 17th March. Two days
after, and his birthday again comes round--that day which seems always
to have carried with it such a special solemnity. He has yet time to
look back on his marvellous deliverances, and the venture he is about to
launch forth upon.]
_19th March, 1872._--Birthday. My Jesus, my king, my life, my all; I
again dedicate my whole self to Thee. Accept me, and grant, Gracious
Father, that ere this year is gone I may finish my task. In Jesus' name
I ask it. Amen, so let it be.
DAVID LIVINGSTONE.
[Many of his astronomical observations were copied out at this time, and
minute records taken of the rainfall. Books saved up against a rainy day
were read in the middle of the "Masika" and its heavy showers.]
_21st March, 1872._--Read Baker's book. It is artistic and clever.
He does good service in exploring the Nile slave-trade; I hope he may be
successful in suppressing it.
The Batusi are the cattle herds of all this Unyanyembé region. They are
very polite in address. The women have small compact, well-shaped heads
and pretty faces; colour, brown; very pleasant to speak to; well-shaped
figures, with small hands and feet; the last with high insteps, and
springy altogether. Plants and grass are collected every day, and a fire
with much smoke made to fumigate the cattle and keep off flies: the
cattle like it, and the valleys are filled with smoke in the evening in
consequence. The Baganda are slaves in comparison; black, with a tinge
of copper-colour sometimes; bridgeless noses, large nostrils and lips,
but well-made limbs and feet.
[We see that the thread by which he still draws back a lingering word or
two from Stanley has not parted yet.]
_25th March, 1872._--Susi brought a letter back from Mr. Stanley. He had
a little fever, but I hope he will go on safely.
_26th March, 1872._--Rain of Masika chiefly by night. The Masika of 1871
began on 23rd of March, and ended 30th of April.
_27th March, 1872._--Reading. Very heavy rains.
_28th March, 1872._--Moenyembegu asked for the loan of a "doti." He is
starving, and so is the war-party at M'Futu; chaining their slaves
together to keep them from running away to get food anywhere.
_29th, 30th, 31st March, 1872._--Very rainy weather. Am reading 'Mungo
Park's Travels;' they look so truthful.
_1st April, 1872._--Read Young's 'Search after Livingstone;' thankful
for many kind words about me. He writes like a gentleman.
_2nd April, 1872._--Making a sounding-line out of lint left by Mr.
Stanley. Whydah birds are now building their nests. The cock-bird brings
fine grass seed-stalks off the top of my Tembé. He takes the end inside
the nest and pulls it all in, save the ear. The hen keeps inside,
constantly arranging the grass with all her might, sometimes making the
whole nest move by her efforts. Feathers are laid in after the grass.
_4th April, 1872._--We hear that Dugumbé's men have come to Ujiji with
fifty tusks. He went down Lualaba with three canoes a long way and
bought much ivory. They were not molested by Monangungo as we were.
My men whom I had sent to look for a book left by accident in a hut some
days' journey off came back stopped by a flood in their track. Copying
observations for Sir T. Maclear.
_8th April, 1872._--An Arab called Seyed bin Mohamad Magibbé called. He
proposes to go west to the country west of Katanga (Urangé).
[It is very interesting to find that the results of the visit paid by
Speke and Grant to Mtéza, King of Uganda, have already become well
marked. As we see, Livingstone was at Unyanyembé when a large trading
party dropped in on their way back to the king, who, it will be
remembered, lives on the north-western shores of the Victoria Nyassa.]
_9th April, 1872._--About 150 Waganga of Mtéza carried a present to
Seyed Burghash, Sultan of Zanzibar, consisting of ivory and a young
elephant.[17] He spent all the ivory in buying return presents of
gunpowder, guns, soap, brandy, gin, &c., and they have stowed it all in
this Tembé. This morning they have taken everything out to see if
anything is spoilt. They have hundreds of packages.
One of the Baganda told me yesterday that the name of the Deity is
Dubalé in his tongue.
_15th April, 1872._--Hung up the sounding-line on poles 1 fathom apart
and tarred it. 375 fathoms of 5 strands.
Ptolemy's geography of Central Africa seems to say that the science was
then (second century A.D.) in a state of decadence from what was known
to the ancient Egyptian priests as revealed to Herodotus 600 years
before his day (or say B.C. 440). They seem to have been well aware by
the accounts of travellers or traders that a great number of springs
contributed to the origin of the Nile, but none could be pointed at
distinctly as the "Fountains," except those I long to discover, or
rather rediscover. Ptolemy seems to have gathered up the threads of
ancient explorations, and made many springs (six) flow into two Lakes
situated East and West of each other--the space above them being
unknown. If the Victoria Lake were large, then it and the Albert would
probably be the Lakes which Ptolemy meant, and it would be pleasant to
call them Ptolemy's sources, rediscovered by the toil and enterprise of
our countrymen Speke, Grant, and Baker--but unfortunately Ptolemy has
inserted the small Lake "Coloe," nearly where the Victoria Lake stands,
and one cannot say where his two Lakes are. Of Lakes Victoria,
Bangweolo, Moero, Kamolondo--Lake Lincoln and Lake Albert, which two did
he mean? The science in his time was in a state of decadence. Were two
Lakes not the relics of a greater number previously known? What says the
most ancient map known of Sethos II.'s time?
_16th April, 1872._--Went over to visit Sultan bin Ali near
Tabora--country open, plains sloping very gently down from low rounded
granite hills covered with trees. Rounded masses of the light grey
granite crop out all over them, but many are hidden by the trees: Tabora
slopes down from some of the same hills that overlook Kwihara, where I
live. At the bottom of the slope swampy land lies, and during the Masika
it is flooded and runs westwards. The sloping plain on the North of the
central drain is called Kazé--that on the South is Tabora, and
this is often applied to the whole space between the hills north and
south. Sultan bin Ali is very hospitable. He is of the Bedawee Arabs,
and a famous marksman with his long Arab gun or matchlock. He often
killed hares with it, always hitting them in the head. He is about
sixty-five years of age, black eyed, six feet high and inclined to
stoutness, and his long beard is nearly all grey. He provided two
bountiful meals for self and attendants.
Called on Mohamad bin Nassur--recovering from sickness. He presented a
goat and a large quantity of guavas. He gave the news that came from
Dugumbé's underling Nseréré, and men now at Ujiji; they went S.W. to
country called Nombé, it is near Rua, and where copper is smelted. After
I left them on account of the massacre at Nyañgwé, they bought much
ivory, but acting in the usual Arab way, plundering and killing, they
aroused the Bakuss' ire, and as they are very numerous, about 200 were
killed, and none of Dugumbé's party. They brought fifty tusks to Ujiji.
We dare not pronounce positively on any event in life, but this looks
like prompt retribution on the perpetrators of the horrible and
senseless massacre of Nyañgwé. It was not vengeance by the relations of
the murdered ones we saw shot and sunk in the Lualaba, for there is no
communication between the people of Nyañgwé and the Bakuss or people of
Nombé of Lomamé--that massacre turned my heart completely against
Dugumbé's people. To go with them to Lomamé as my slaves were willing to
do, was so repugnant I preferred to return that weary 400 or 600 miles
to Ujiji. I mourned over my being baffled and thwarted all the way, but
tried to believe that it was all for the best--this news shows that had
I gone with these people to Lomamé, I could not have escaped the Bakuss
spears, for I could not have run like the routed fugitives. I was
prevented from going in order to save me from death. Many escapes from
danger I am aware of: some make me shudder, as I think how near to
death's door I came. But how many more instances of Providential
protecting there may be of which I know nothing! But I thank most
sincerely the good Lord of all for His goodness to me.
_18th April, 1872._--I pray the good Lord of all to favour me so as to
allow me to discover the ancient fountains of Herodotus, and if there
is anything in the underground excavations to confirm the precious old
documents (τἁ βιβλἱα), the Scriptures of truth, may He permit
me to bring it to light, and give me wisdom to make a proper use of it.
Some seem to feel that their own importance in the community is enhanced
by an imaginary connection with a discovery or discoverer of the Nile
sources, and are only too happy to figure, if only in a minor part, as
theoretical discoverers--a theoretical discovery being a contradiction
in terms.
The cross has been used--not as a Christian emblem certainly, but from
time immemorial as the form in which the copper ingot of Katañga is
moulded--this is met with quite commonly, and is called Handiplé
Mahandi. Our capital letter I (called Vigera) is the large form of the
bars of copper, each about 60 or 70 lbs. weight, seen all over Central
Africa and from Katañga.
_19th April, 1872._--A roll of letters and newspapers, apparently, came
to-day for Mr. Stanley. The messenger says he passed Mr. Stanley on the
way, who said, "Take this to the Doctor;" this is erroneous. The Prince
of Wales is reported to be dying of typhoid fever: the Princess Louise
has hastened to his bedside.
_20th April, 1872._--Opened it on 20th, and found nine 'New York
Heralds' of December 1-9, 1871, and one letter for Mr. Stanley, which. I
shall forward, and one stick of tobacco.
_21st April, 1872._--Tarred the tent presented by Mr. Stanley.
_23rd April, 1872._--Visited Kwikuru, and saw the chief of all the
Banyamwezi (around whose Boma it is), about sixty years old, and
partially paralytic. He told me that he had gone as far as Katañga by
the same Fipa route I now propose to take, when a little boy following
his father, who was a great trader.
The name Banyamwezi arose from an ivory ornament of the shape of the new
moon hung to the neck, with a horn reaching round over either shoulder.
They believe that they came from the sea-coast, Mombas (?) of old, and
when people inquired for them they said, "We mean the men of the moon
ornament." It is very popular even now, and a large amount of ivory is
cut down in its manufacture; some are made of the curved tusks of
hippopotami. The Banyamwezi have turned out good porters, and they do
most of the carrying work of the trade to and from the East Coast; they
are strong and trustworthy. One I saw carried six frasilahs, or 200
lbs., of ivory from Unyanyembé to the sea-coast.
The prefix "_Nya_" in Nyamwezi seems to mean place or locality, as Mya
does on the Zambesi. If the name referred to the "moon ornament," as the
people believe, the name would be Ba or Wamwezi, but Banyamwezi means
probably the Ba--they or people--Nya, place--Mwezi, moon, people of the
moon locality or moon-land.
_Unyanyembé_, place of hoes.
Unyambéwa.
Unyangoma, place of drums.
Nyangurué, place of pigs.
Nyangkondo.
Nyarukwé.
It must be a sore affliction to be bereft of one's reason, and the more
so if the insanity takes the form of uttering thoughts which in a sound
state we drive from us as impure.
_25th and 26th April, 1872._--A touch of fever from exposure.
_27th April, 1872._--Better, and thankful. Zahor died of small-pox here,
after collecting much ivory at Fipa and Urungu. It is all taken up by
Lewalé.[18]
The rains seem nearly over, and are succeeded by very cold easterly
winds; these cause fever by checking the perspiration, and are well
known as eminently febrile. The Arabs put the cause of the fever to the
rains drying up. In my experience it is most unhealthy during the rains
if one gets wet; the chill is brought on, the bowels cease to act, and
fever sets in. Now it is the cold wind that operates, and possibly this
is intensified by the malaria of the drying-up surface. A chill from
bathing on the 25th in cold water gave me a slight attack.
_1st May, 1872._--Unyanyembé: bought a cow for 11 dotis of merikano (and
2 kaniké for calf), she gives milk, and this makes me independent.
Headman of the Baganda from whom I bought it said, "I go off to pray."
He has been taught by Arabs, and is the first proselyte they have
gained. Baker thinks that the first want of Africans is to teach them to
_want_. Interesting, seeing he was bored almost to death by Kamrasi
wanting everything he had.
Bought three more cows and calves for milk, they give good quantity
enough for me and mine, and are small shorthorns: one has a hump--two
black with white spots and one white--one black with white face: the
Baganda were well pleased with the prices given, and so am I. Finished a
letter for the _New York Herald,_ trying to enlist American zeal to stop
the East Coast slave-trade: I pray for a blessing on it from the
All-Gracious. [Through a coincidence a singular interest attaches to
this entry. The concluding words of the letter he refers to are as
follows:--]
"All I can add in my loneliness is, may Heaven's rich blessing come down
on everyone, American, English, or Turk, who will help to heal the open
sore of the world."
[It was felt that nothing could more palpably represent the man, and
this quotation has consequently been inscribed upon the tablet erected
to his memory near his grave in Westminster Abbey. It was noticed some
time after selecting it that Livingstone wrote these words exactly one
year before his death, which, as we shall see, took place on the 1st
May, 1873.]
_3rd May, 1872._--The entire population of Unyanyembé called Arab is
eighty males, many of these are country born, and are known by the
paucity of beard and bridgeless noses, as compared with men from Muscat;
the Muscatees are more honourable than the mainlanders, and more
brave--altogether better looking and better everyway.
If we say that the eighty so-called Arabs here have twenty dependants
each, 1500 or 1600 is the outside population of Unyanyembé in connection
with the Arabs. It is called an ivory station, that means simply that
elephant's tusks are the chief articles of trade. But little ivory comes
to market, every Arab who is able sends bands of his people to different
parts to trade: the land being free they cultivate patches of maize,
dura, rice, beans, &c., and after one or two seasons, return with what
ivory they may have secured. Ujiji is the only mart in the country, and
it is chiefly for oil, grain, goats, salt, fish, beef, native produce of
all sorts, and is held daily. A few tusks are sometimes brought, but it
can scarcely be called an ivory mart for that. It is an institution
begun and carried on by the natives in spite of great drawbacks from
unjust Arabs. It resembles the markets of Manyuema, but is attended
every day by about 300 people. No dura has been brought lately to Ujiji,
because a Belooch man found the son of the chief of Mbwara Island
peeping in at his women, and beat the young man, so that on returning
home he died. The Mbwara people always brought much grain before that,
but since that affair never come.
The Arabs send a few freemen as heads of a party of slaves to trade.
These select a friendly chief, and spend at least half these goods
brought in presents on him, and in buying the best food the country
affords for themselves. It happens frequently that the party comes back
nearly empty handed, but it is the Banians that lose, and the Arabs are
not much displeased. This point is not again occupied if it has been a
dead loss.
_4th May, 1872._--Many palavers about Mirambu's death having taken place
and being concealed. Arabs say that he is a brave man, and the war is
not near its end. Some northern natives called Bagoyé get a keg of
powder and a piece of cloth, go and attack a village, then wait a month
or so eating the food of the captured place, and come back for stores
again: thus the war goes on. Prepared tracing paper to draw a map for
Sir Thomas Maclear. Lewalé invites me to a feast.
_7th May, 1872._--New moon last night. Went to breakfast with Lewalé. He
says that the Mirambo war is virtually against himself as a Seyed Majid
man. They wish to have him removed, and this would be a benefit.
The Banyamwezi told the Arabs that they did not want them to go to
fight, because when one Arab was killed all the rest ran away and the
army got frightened.
"Give us your slaves only and we will fight," say they.
A Magohé man gave charms, and they pressed Mirambo sorely. His brother
sent four tusks as a peace-offering, and it is thought that the end is
near. His mother was plundered, and lost all her cattle.
_9th May, 1872._--No fight, though it was threatened yesterday: they all
like to talk a great deal before striking a blow. They believe that in
the multitude of counsellors there is safety. Women singing as they
pound their grain into meal,--"Oh, the march of Bwanamokolu to Katañga!
Oh, the march to Katañga and back to Ujiji!--Oh, oh, oh!" Bwanamokolu
means the great or old gentleman. Batusi women are very keen traders,
and very polite and pleasing in their address and pretty way of
speaking.
I don't know how the great loving Father will bring all out right at
last, but He knows and will do it.
The African's idea seems to be that they are within the power of a power
superior to themselves--apart from and invisible: good; but frequently
evil and dangerous. This may have been the earliest religious feeling of
dependence on a Divine power without any conscious feeling of its
nature. Idols may have come in to give a definite idea of superior
power, and the primitive faith or impression obtained by Revelation
seems to have mingled with their idolatry without any sense of
incongruity. (See Micah in Judges.)[19]
The origin of the primitive faith in Africans and others, seems always
to have been a divine influence on their dark minds, which has proved
persistent in all ages. One portion of primitive belief--the continued
existence of departed spirits--seems to have no connection whatever with
dreams, or, as we should say, with "ghost seeing," for great agony is
felt in prospect of bodily mutilation or burning of the body after
death, as that is believed to render return to one's native land
impossible. They feel as if it would shut them off from all intercourse
with relatives after death. They would lose the power of doing good to
those onceloved, and evil to those who deserved their revenge. Take the
case of the slaves in the yoke, singing songs of hate and revenge
against those who sold them into slavery. They thought it right so to
harbour hatred, though most of the party had been sold for
crimes--adultery, stealing, &c.--which they knew to be sins.
If Baker's expedition should succeed in annexing the valley of the Nile
to Egypt, the question arises,--Would not the miserable condition of the
natives, when subjected to all the atrocities of the White Nile
slave-traders, be worse under Egyptian dominion? The villages would be
farmed out to tax-collectors, the women, children and boys carried off
into slavery, and the free thought and feeling of the population placed
under the dead weight of Islam. Bad as the situation now is, if Baker
leaves it matters will grow worse. It is probable that actual experience
will correct the fancies he now puts forth as to the proper mode of
dealing with Africans.
_10th May, 1872._--Hamees Wodin Tagh, my friend, is reported slain by
the Makoa of a large village he went to fight. Other influential Arabs
are killed, but full information has not yet arrived. He was in youth a
slave, but by energy and good conduct in trading with the Masai and far
south of Nyassa, and elsewhere, he rose to freedom and wealth. He had
good taste in all his domestic arrangements, and seemed to be a good
man. He showed great kindness to me on my arrival at Chitimbwa's.
_11th May, 1872._--A serpent of dark olive colour was found dead at my
door this morning, probably killed by a cat. Puss approaches very
cautiously, and strikes her claws into the head with a blow delivered as
quick as lightning; then holds the head down with both paws, heedless of
the wriggling mass of coils behind it; she then bites the neck and
leaves it, looking with interest to the disfigured head, as if she knew
that therein had lain the hidden power of mischief. She seems to
possess a little of the nature of the _Ichneumon_, which was sacred in
Egypt from its destroying serpents. The serpent is in pursuit of mice
when killed by puss.
_12th May, 1872._--Singeri, the headman of the Baganda here, offered me
a cow and calf yesterday, but I declined, as we were strangers both, and
this is too much for me to take. I said that I would take ten cows at
Mtésa's if he offered them. I gave him a little medicine (arnica) for
his wife, whose face was burned by smoking over gunpowder. Again he
pressed the cow and calf in vain.
The reported death of Hamees Wodin Tagh is contradicted. It was so
circumstantial that I gave it credit, though the false reports in this
land are one of its most marked characteristics. They are "enough to
spear a sow."
_13th May, 1872._--He will keep His word--the gracious One, full of
grace and truth--no doubt of it. He said, "Him that cometh unto me, I
will in nowise cast out," and "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name I
will give it." He WILL keep His word: then I can come and humbly
present my petition, and it will be all right. Doubt is here
inadmissible, surely.--D.L.
Ajala's people, sent to buy ivory in Uganda, were coming back with some
ten tusks and were attacked at Ugalla by robbers, and one free man
slain: the rest threw everything down and fled. They came here with
their doleful tale to-day.
_14th May, 1872._--People came from Ujiji to-day, and report that many
of Mohamad Bogharib's slaves have died of small-pox--Fundi and Suliman
amongst them. Others sent out to get firewood have been captured by the
Waha. Mohamad's chief slave, Othman, went to see the cause of their
losses received a spear in the back, the point coming out at his
breast. It is scarcely possible to tell how many of the slaves have
perished since they were bought or captured, but the loss has been
grievous.
Lewalé off to Mfutu to loiter and not to fight. The Bagoyé don't wish
Arabs to come near the scene of action, because, say they, "When one
Arab is killed all the rest ran away, and they frighten us thereby. Stay
at M'futu; we will do all the fighting." This is very acceptable advice.
_16th May, 1872._--A man came from Ujiji to say one of the party at
Kasongo's reports that a marauding party went thence to the island of
Bazula north of them. They ferried them to an island, and in coming back
they were assaulted by the islanders in turn. They speared two in canoes
shoving off, and the rest, panic-struck, took to the water, and
thirty-five were slain. It was a just punishment, and shows what the
Manyuema can do, if aroused to right their wrongs. No news of Baker's
party; but Abed and Hassani are said to be well, and far down the
Lualaba. Nassur Masudi is at Kasongo's, probably afraid by the Zula
slaughter to go further. They will shut their own market against
themselves. Lewalé sends off letters to the Sultan to-day. I have no
news to send, but am waiting wearily.
_17th May, 1872._--Ailing. Making cheeses for the journey: good, but
sour rather, as the milk soon turns in this climate, and we don't use
rennet, but allow the milk to coagulate of itself, and it does thicken
in half a day.
_18th-19th May, 1872._--One of Dugumbé's men came to-day from Ujiji. He
confirms the slaughter of Matereka's people, but denies that of
Dugumbé's men. They went to Lomamé about eleven days west, and found it
to be about the size of Luamo; it comes from a Lake, and goes to
Lualaba, near the Kisingité, a cataract. Dugumbé then sent his people
down Lualaba, where much ivory is to be obtained. They secured a great
deal of copper--1000 thick bracelets--on the south-west of Nyangwé, and
some ivory, but not so much as they desired. No news of Abed. Lomamé
water is black, and black scum comes up in it.
_20th May, 1872._--Better. Very cold winds. The cattle of the Batusi
were captured by the Arabs to prevent them going off with the Baganda:
my four amongst them. I sent over for them and they were returned this
morning. Thirty-five of Mohamad's slaves died of small-pox.
_21st May, 1872._--The genuine Africans of this region have flattened
nose-bridges; the higher grades of the tribes have prominent
nose-bridges, and are on this account greatly admired by the Arabs. The
Batusi here, the Balunda of Casembe, and Itawa of Nsama, and many
Manyuema have straight noses, but every now and then you come to
districts in which the bridgeless noses give the air of the low English
bruiser class, or faces inclining to King Charles the Second's spaniels.
The Arab progeny here have scanty beards, and many grow to a very great
height--tall, gaunt savages; while the Muscatees have prominent
nose-bridges, good beards, and are polite and hospitable.
I wish I had some of the assurance possessed by others, but I am
oppressed with the apprehension that after all it may turn out that I
have been following the Congo; and who would risk being put into a
cannibal pot, and converted into black man for it?
_22nd May, 1872._--Baganga are very black, with a tinge of copper colour
in some. Bridgeless noses all.
_23rd May, 1872._--There seems but little prospect of Christianity
spreading by ordinary means among Mohamadans. Their pride is a great
obstacle, and is very industriously nurtured by its votaries. No new
invention or increase of power on the part of Christians seems to
disturb the self-complacent belief that ultimately all power and
dominion in this world will fall into the hands of Moslems. Mohamad will
appear at last in glory, with all his followers saved by him. When Mr.
Stanley's Arab boy from Jerusalem told the Arab bin Saleh that he was a
Christian, he was asked, "Why so, don't you know that all the world will
soon be Mohamadan? Jerusalem is ours; all the world is ours, and in a
short time we shall overcome all." Theirs are great expectations!
A family of ten Whydah birds _(Vidua purpurea)_ come to the
pomegranate-trees in our yard. The eight young ones, full-fledged, are
fed by the dam, as young pigeons are. The food is brought up from the
crop without the bowing and bending of the pigeon. They chirrup briskly
for food: the dam gives most, while the redbreasted cock gives one or
two, and then knocks the rest away.
_24th May, 1872._--Speke at Kasengé islet inadvertently made a general
statement thus: "The mothers of these savage people have infinitely less
affection than many savage beasts of my acquaintance. I have seen a
mother bear, galled by frequent shots, obstinately meet her death by
repeatedly returning under fire whilst endeavouring to rescue her young
from the grasp of intruding men. But here, for a simple loin-cloth or
two, human mothers eagerly exchanged their little offspring, delivering
them into perpetual bondage to my Beluch soldiers."--_Speke_, pp. 234,5.
For the sake of the little story of "a bear mother," Speke made a
general assertion on a very small and exceptional foundation. Frequent
inquiries among the most intelligent and far-travelled Arabs failed to
find confirmation of this child-selling, except in the very rare case of
a child cutting the upper front teeth before the under, and because this
child is believed to be "moiko" (_unlucky_), and certain to bring death
into the family. It is called an Arab child, and sold to the first Arab,
or even left at his door. This is the only case the Arabs know of
child-selling. Speke had only two Beluch soldiers with him, and the idea
that they loaded themselves with infants, at once stamps the tale as
fabulous. He may have seen one sold, an extremely rare and exceptional
case; but the inferences drawn are just like that of the Frenchman who
thought the English so partial to suicide in November, that they might
be seen suspended from trees in the common highways.
In crossing Tanganyika three several times I was detained at the islet
Kasengé about ten weeks in all. On each occasion Arab traders were
present, all eager to buy slaves, but none were offered, and they
assured me that they had never seen the habit alleged to exist by Speke,
though they had heard of the "unlucky" cases referred to. Everyone has
known of poor little foundlings in England, but our mothers are not
credited with less affection than she-bears.
I would say to missionaries, Come on, brethren, to the real heathen. You
have no idea how brave you are till you try. Leaving the coast tribes,
and devoting yourselves heartily to the savages, as they are called, you
will find, with some drawbacks and wickednesses, a very great deal to
admire and love. Many statements made about them require confirmation.
You will never see women selling their infants: the Arabs never did, nor
have I. An assertion of the kind was made by mistake.
Captive children are often sold, but not by their mothers. Famine
sometimes reduces fathers to part with them, but the selling of
children, as a general practice, is quite unknown, and, as Speke put it,
quite a mistake.
_25th and 26th May, 1872._--Cold weather. Lewalé sends for all Arabs to
make a grand assault, as it is now believed that Mirambo is dead, and
only his son, with few people, remains.
Two Whydah birds, after their nest was destroyed several times, now try
again in another pomegranate-tree in the yard. They put back their eggs,
as they have the power to do, and build again.
The trout has the power of keeping back the ova when circumstances are
unfavourable to their deposit. She can quite absorb the whole, but
occasionally the absorbents have too much to do; the ovarium, and
eventually the whole abdomen, seems in a state of inflammation, as when
they are trying to remove a mortified human limb; and the poor fish,
feeling its strength leaving it, true to instinct, goes to the entrance
to the burn where it ought to have spawned, and, unable to ascend, dies.
The defect is probably the want of the aid of a milter.
_27th May, 1872._--Another pair of the kind (in which the cock is
redbreasted) had ten chickens, also rebuilds afresh. The red cock-bird
feeds all the brood. Each little one puts his head on one side as he
inserts his bill, chirruping briskly, and bothering him. The young ones
lift up a feather as a child would a doll, and invite others to do the
same, in play. So, too, with another pair. The cock skips from side to
side with a feather in his bill, and the hen is pleased: nature is full
of enjoyment. Near Kasanganga's I saw boys shooting locusts that settled
on the ground with little bows and arrows.
Cock Whydah bird died in the night. The brood came and chirruped to it
for food, and tried to make it feed them, as if not knowing death!
A wagtail dam refused its young a caterpillar till it had been
killed--she ran away from it, but then gave it when ready to be
swallowed. The first smile of an infant with its toothless gums is one
of the pleasantest sights in nature. It is innocence claiming kinship,
and asking to be loved in its helplessness.
_28th May, 1872._--Many parts of this interior land present most
inviting prospects for well-sustained efforts of private benevolence.
Karagué, for instance, with its intelligent friendly chief Rumainyika
(Speke's Rumanika), and Bouganda, with its teeming population, rain, and
friendly chief, who could easily be swayed by an energetic prudent
missionary. The evangelist must not depend on foreign support other
than an occasional supply of beads and calico; coffee is indigenous, and
so is sugar-cane. When detained by ulcerated feet in Manyuema I made
sugar by pounding the cane in the common wooden mortar of the country,
squeezing out the juice very hard and boiling it till thick; the defect
it had was a latent acidity, for which I had no lime, and it soon all
fermented. I saw sugar afterwards at Ujiji made in the same way, and
that kept for months. Wheat and rice are cultivated by the Arabs in all
this upland region; the only thing a missionary needs in order to secure
an abundant supply is to follow the Arab advice as to the proper season
for sowing. Pomegranates, guavas, lemons and oranges are abundant in
Unyanyembé; mangoes flourish, and grape vines are beginning to be
cultivated; papaws grow everywhere. Onions, radishes, pumpkins and
watermelons prosper, and so would most European vegetables, if the
proper seasons were selected for planting, and the most important point
attended to in bringing the seeds. These must never be soldered in tins
or put in close boxes; a process of sweating takes place when they are
confined, as in a box or hold of the ship, and the power of vegetating
is destroyed, but garden seeds put up in common brown paper, and hung in
the cabin on the voyage, and not exposed to the direct rays of the sun
afterwards, I have found to be as good as in England.
It would be a sort of Robinson Crusoe life, but with abundant materials
for surrounding oneself with comforts, and improving the improvable
among the natives. Clothing would require but small expense: four suits
of strong tweed served me comfortably for five years. Woollen clothing
is the best; if all wool, it wears long and prevents chills. The
temperature here in the beginning of winter ranges from 62° to 75° Fahr.
In summer it seldom goes above 84°, as the country generally is from
3600 to 4000 feet high. Gently undulating plains with outcropping
tree-covered granite hills on the ridges and springs in valleys will
serve as a description of the country.
_29th May, 1872._--Halima ran away in a quarrel with Ntaoéka: I went
over to Sultan bin Ali and sent a note after her, but she came back of
her own accord, and only wanted me to come outside and tell her to
enter. I did so, and added, "You must not quarrel again." She has been
extremely good ever since I got her from Katombo or Moene-mokaia: I
never had to reprove her once. She is always very attentive and clever,
and never stole, nor would she allow her husband to steal. She is the
best spoke in the wheel; this her only escapade is easily forgiven, and
I gave her a warm cloth for the cold, by way of assuring her that I had
no grudge against her. I shall free her, and buy her a house and garden
at Zanzibar, when we get there.[20] Smokes or haze begins, and birds,
stimulated by the cold, build briskly.
_30th May, 1872, Sunday._--Sent over to Sultan bin Ali, to write another
note to Lewalé, to say first note not needed.
_31st May, 1872._--The so-called Arab war with Mirambo drags its slow
length along most wearily. After it is over then we shall get Banyamwezi
pagazi in abundance. It is not now known whether Mirambo is alive or
not: some say that he died long ago, and his son keeps up his state
instead.
In reference to this Nile source I have been kept in perpetual doubt and
perplexity. I know too much to be positive. Great Lualaba, or Lualubba,
as Manyuema say, may turn out to be the Congo and Nile, a shorter river
after all--the fountains flowing north and south seem in favour of its
being the Nile. Great westing is in favour of the Congo. It would be
comfortable to be positive like Baker. "Every drop from the passing
shower to the roaring mountain torrent must fall into Albert Lake, a
giant at its birth." How soothing to be positive.
_1st June, 1872._--Visited by Jemadar Hamees from Katanga, who gives the
following information.
UNYANYEMBÉ, _Tuesday_.--Hamees bin Jumaadarsabel, a Beluch, came here
from Katanga to-day. He reports that the three Portuguese traders, Jão,
Domasiko, and Domasho, came to Katanga from Matiamvo. They bought
quantities of ivory and returned: they were carried in Mashilahs[21] by
slaves. This Hamees gave them pieces of gold from the rivulet there
between the two copper or malachite hills from which copper is dug. He
says that Tipo Tipo is now at Katanga, and has purchased much ivory from
Kayomba or Kayombo in Rua. He offers to guide me thither, going first to
Meréré's, where Amran Masudi has now the upper hand, and Meréré offers
to pay all the losses he has caused to Arabs and others. Two letters
were sent by the Portuguese to the East Coast, one is in Amran's hands.
Hamees Wodin Tagh is alive and well. These Portuguese went nowhere from
Katanga, so that they have not touched the sources of the Nile, for
which I am thankful.
Tipo Tipo has made friends with Merosi, the Monyamwezé headman at
Katanga, by marrying his daughter, and has formed the plan of assaulting
Casembe in conjunction with him because Casembe put six of Tipo Tipo's
men to death. He will now be digging gold at Katanga till this man
returns with gunpowder.
[Many busy calculations are met with here which are too involved to be
given in detail. At one point we see a rough conjecture as to the length
of the road through Fipa.]
On looking at the projected route by Meréré's I seethat it will be a
saving of a large angle into Fipa = 350 into Basango country S.S.W. or
S. and by W., this comes into Lat. 10' S., and from this W.S.W. 400' to
Long. of Katanga, skirting Bangweolo S. shore in 12° S. = the whole
distance = 750', say 900'.
[Further on we see that he reckoned on his work occupying him till
1874.]
If Stanley arrived the 1st of May at Zanzibar:--allow = 20 days to get
men and settle with them = May 20th, men leave Zanzibar 22nd of May =
now 1st of June.
On the road may be 10 days
Still to come 30 days, June 30 "
--
Ought to arrive 10th or 15th of July 40 "
14th of June = Stanley being away now 3 months; say he left Zanzibar
24th of May = at Aden 1st of June = Suez 8th of June, near Malta 14th of
June.
Stanley's men may arrive in July next. Then engage pagazi half a month =
August, 5 months of this year will remain for journey, the whole of 1873
will be swallowed up in work, but in February or March, 1874, please the
Almighty Disposer of events, I shall complete my task and retire.
_2nd June, 1872._--A second crop here, as in Angola. The lemons and
pomegranates are flowering and putting out young fruits anew, though the
crops of each have just been gathered. Wheat planted a month ago is now
a foot high, and in three months will be harvested. The rice and dura
are being reaped, and the hoes are busy getting virgin land ready.
Beans, and Madagascar underground beans, voandzeia and ground-nuts are
ripe now. Mangoes are formed; the weather feels cold, min. 62°, max.
74°, and stimulates the birds to pair and build, though they are of
broods scarcely weaned from being fed by their parents. Bees swarm and
pass over us. Sky clear, with fleecy clouds here and there.
_7th June, 1872._--Sultan bin Ali called. He says that the path by Fipa
is the best, it has plenty of game, and people are friendly.[22] By
going to Amran I should get into the vicinity of Meréré, and possibly be
detained, as the country is in a state of war. The Beluch would
naturally wish to make a good thing of me, as he did of Speke. I gave
him a cloth and arranged the Sungomazé beads, but the box and beads
weigh 140 lbs., or two men's loads. I visited Lewalé. Heard of Baker
going to Unyoro Water, Lake Albert. Lewalé praises the road by
Moeneyungo and Meréré, and says he will give a guide, but he never went
that way.
_10th June, 1872._--Othman, our guide from Ujiji hither, called to-day,
and says positively that the way by Fipa is decidedly the shortest and
easiest: there is plenty of game, and the people are all friendly. He
reports that Mirambo's headman, Merungwé, was assaulted and killed, and
all his food, cattle, and grain used. Mirambo remains alone. He has, it
seems, inspired terror in the Arab and Banyamwezi mind by his charms,
and he will probably be allowed to retreat north by flight, and the war
for a season close; if so, we shall get plenty of Banyamwezi pagazi, and
be off, for which I earnestly long and pray.
_13th June, 1872._--Sangara, one of Mr. Stanley's men, returned from
Bagamoio, and reports that my caravan is at Ugogo. He arrived to-day,
and reports that Stanley and the American Consul acted like good
fellows, and soon got a party of over fifty off, as he heard while at
Bagamoio, and he left. The main body, he thinks, are in Ugogo. Hecame
on with the news, but the letters were not delivered to him. I do most
fervently thank the good Lord of all for His kindness to me through
these gentlemen. The men will come here about the end of this month.
Bombay happily pleaded sickness as an excuse for not re-engaging, as
several others have done. He saw that I got a clear view of his
failings, and he could not hope to hoodwink me.
After Sangara came, I went over to Kukuru to see what the Lewalé had
received, but he was absent at Tabora. A great deal of shouting, firing
of guns, and circumgyration by the men who had come from the war just
outside the stockade of Nkisiwa (which is surrounded by a hedge of dark
euphorbia and stands in a level hollow) was going on as we descended the
gentle slope towards it. Two heads had been put up as trophies in the
village, and it was asserted that Marukwé, a chief man of Mirambo, had
been captured at Uvinza, and his head would soon come too. It actually
did come, and was put up on a pole.
I am most unfeignedly thankful that Stanley and Webb have acted nobly.
_14th June, 1872._--On 22nd June Stanley was 100 days gone: he must be
in London now.
Seyed bin Mohamad Margibbé called to say that he was going off towards
Katanga to-morrow by way of Amran. I feel inclined to go by way of Fipa
rather, though I should much like to visit Meréré. By the bye, he says
too that the so-called Portuguese had filed teeth, and are therefore
Mambarré.
_15th June, 1872._--Lewalé doubts Sangara on account of having brought
no letters. Nothing can be believed in this land unless it is in black
and white, and but little even then; the most circumstantial details are
often mere figments of the brain. The one half one hears may safely be
called false, and the other half doubtful or _not proven._
Sultan bin Ali doubts Sangara's statements also, but says, "Let us wait
and see the men arrive, to confirm or reject them." I incline to belief,
because he says that he did not see the men, but heard of them at
Bagamoio.
_16th June, 1872._--Nsaré chief, Msalala, came selling from Sakuma on
the north--a jocular man, always a favourite with the ladies. He offered
a hoe as a token of friendship, but I bought it, as we are, I hope, soon
going off, and it clears the tent floor and ditch round it in wet
weather.
Mirambo made a sortie against a headman in alliance with the Arabs, and
was quite successful, which shows that he is not so much reduced as
reports said.
Boiling points to-day about 9 A.M. There is a full degree of difference
between boiling in an open pot and in Casella's apparatus.
205°.1 open pot }
} 69° air.
206°.1 Casella }
About 200 Baguha came here, bringing much ivory and palm oil for sale
because there is no market nor goods at Ujiji for the produce. A few
people came also from Buganda, bringing four tusks and an invitation to
Seyed Burghash to send for two housefuls of ivory which Mtéza has
collected.
_18th June, 1872._--Sent over a little quinine to Sultan bin Ali--he is
ailing of fever--and a glass of "Moiko" the shameful!
The Ptolemaic map defines people according to their food. The
Elephantophagi, the Struthiophagi, the Ichthyophagi, and Anthropophagi.
If we followed the same sort of classification our definition would be
the drink, thus:--the tribe of stout-guzzlers, the roaring
potheen-fuddlers, the whisky-fishoid-drinkers, the vin-ordinaire
bibbers, the lager-beer-swillers, and an outlying tribe of the brandy
cocktail persuasion.
[His keen enjoyment in noticing the habits of animals and birds serves
a good purpose whilst waiting wearily and listening to disputed rumours
concerning the Zanzibar porters. The little orphan birds seem to get on
somehow or other; perhaps the Englishman's eye was no bad protection,
and his pity towards the fledglings was a good lesson, we will hope, to
the children around the Tembé at Kwihara--]
_19th June, 1872._--Whydahs, though full fledged, still gladly take a
feed from their dam, putting down the breast to the ground and cocking
up the bill and chirruping in the most engaging manner and winning way
they know. She still gives them a little, but administers a friendly
shove off too. They all pick up feathers or grass, and hop from side to
side of their mates, as if saying, "Come, let us play at making little
houses." The wagtail has shaken her young quite off, and has a new nest.
She warbles prettily, very much like a canary, and is extremely active
in catching flies, but eats crumbs of bread-and-milk too. Sun-birds
visit the pomegranate flowers and eat insects therein too, as well as
nectar. The young whydah birds crouch closely together at night for
heat. They look like a woolly ball on a branch. By day they engage in
pairing and coaxing each other. They come to the same twig every night.
Like children they try and lift heavy weights of feathers above their
strength.
[How fully he hoped to reach the hill from which he supposed the Nile to
flow is shown in the following words written at this time:--]
I trust in Providence still to help me. I know the four rivers Zambesi,
Kafué, Luapula, and Lomamé, their fountains must exist in one region.
An influential Muganda is dead of dysentery: no medicine had any effect
in stopping the progress of the disease. This is much colder than his
country. Another is blind from ophthalmia.
Great hopes are held that the war which has lasted a full year will now
be brought to a close, and Mirambo either be killed or flee. As he is
undoubtedly an able man, his flight may involve much trouble and
guerilla warfare.
Clear cold weather, and sickly for those who have only thin clothing,
and not all covered.
The women work very hard in providing for their husbands' kitchens. The
rice is the most easily prepared grain: three women stand round a huge
wooden mortar with pestles in their hands, a gallon or so of the
unhusked rice--called Mopunga here and paddy in India--is poured in, and
the three heavy pestles worked in exact time; each jerks up her body as
she lifts the pestle and strikes it into the mortar with all her might,
lightening the labour with some wild ditty the while, though one hears
by the strained voice that she is nearly out of breath. When the husks
are pretty well loosened, the grain is put into a large plate-shaped
basket and tossed so as to bring the chaff to one side, the vessel is
then heaved downwards and a little horizontal motion given to it which
throws the refuse out; the partially cleared grain is now returned to
the mortar, again pounded and cleared of husks, and a semicircular toss
of the vessel sends all the remaining unhusked grain to one side, which
is lifted out with the hand, leaving the chief part quite clean: they
certainly work hard and well. The maize requires more labour by far: it
is first pounded to remove the outer scales from the grain, then steeped
for three days in water, then pounded, the scales again separated by the
shallow-basket tossings, then pounded fine, and the fine white flour
separated by the basket from certain hard rounded particles, which are
cooked as a sort of granular porridge--"Mtyéllé."
When Ntaoéka chose to follow us rather than go to the coast, I did not
like to have a fine-looking woman among us unattached, and proposed that
she should marry one of my three worthies, Chuma, Gardner, or Mabruki,
but she smiled at the idea. Chuma was evidently too lazy ever to get a
wife; the other two were contemptible in appearance, and she has a good
presence and is buxom. Chuma promised reform: "he had been lazy, he
admitted, because he had no wife." Circumstances led to the other women
wishing Ntaoéka married, and on my speaking to her again she consented.
I have noticed her ever since working hard from morning to night: the
first up in the cold mornings, making fire and hot water, pounding,
carrying water, wood, sweeping, cooking.
_21st June, 1872._--No jugglery or sleight-of-hand, as was recommended
to Napoleon III., would have any effect in the civilization of the
Africans; they have too much good sense for that. Nothing brings them to
place thorough confidence in Europeans but a long course of well-doing.
They believe readily in the supernatural as effecting any new process or
feat of skill, for it is part of their original faith to ascribe
everything above human agency to unseen spirits. Goodness or
unselfishness impresses their minds more than any kind of skill or
power. They say, "You have different hearts from ours; all black men's
hearts are bad, but yours are good." The prayer to Jesus for a new heart
and right spirit at once commends itself as appropriate. Music has great
influence on those who have musical ears, and often leads to conversion.
[Here and there he gives more items of intelligence from the war which
afford a perfect representation of the rumours and contradictions which
harass the listener in Africa, especially if he is interested, as
Livingstone was, in the re-establishment of peace between the
combatants.]
Lewalé is off to the war with Mirambo; he is to finish it now! A
continuous fusilade along his line of march west will expend much
powder, but possibly get the spirits up. If successful, we shall get
Banyamwezi pagazi in numbers.
Mirambo is reported to have sent 100 tusks and 100 slaves towards the
coast to buy gunpowder. If true, the war is still far from being
finished; but falsehood is fashionable.
_26th June, 1872._--Went over to Kwikuru and engaged Mohamad bin Seyde
to speak to Nkasiwa for pagazi; he wishes to go himself. The people sent
by Mirambo to buy gunpowder in Ugogo came to Kitambi, he reported the
matter to Nkasiwa that they had come, and gave them pombe. When Lewalé
heard it, he said, "Why did Kitambi not kill them; he is a partaker in
Mirambo's guilt?" A large gathering yesterday at M'futu to make an
assault on the last stockade in hostility.
[A few notes in another pocket-book are placed under this date. Thus:--]
_24th June, 1872._--A continuous covering of forests is a sign of a
virgin country. The earlier seats of civilization are bare and treeless
according to Humboldt. The civilization of the human race sets bounds to
the increase of forests. It is but recently that sylvan decorations
rejoice the eyes of the Northern Europeans. The old forests attest the
youthfulness of our civilization. The aboriginal woods of Scotland are
but recently cut down. (Hugh Miller's _Sketches_, p. 7.)
Mosses often evidence the primitive state of things at the time of the
Roman invasion. Roman axe like African, a narrow chisel-shaped tool,
left sticking in the stumps.
The medical education has led me to a continual tendency to suspend the
judgment. What a state of blessedness it would have been had I possessed
the dead certainty of the homoeopathic persuasion, and as soon as I
found the Lakes Bangweolo, Moero, and Kamolondo pouring out their waters
down the great central valley, bellowed out, "Hurrah! Eureka!" and gone
home in firm and honest belief that I had settled it, and no mistake.
Instead of that I am even now not at all "cock-sure" that I have not
been following down what may after all be the Congo.
_25th June, 1872._--Send over to Tabora to try and buy a cow from
Basakuma, or northern people, who have brought about 100 for sale. I got
two oxen for a coil of brass wire and seven dotis of cloth.
FOOTNOTES:
[17] This elephant was subsequently sent by Dr. Kirk to Sir Philip
Wodehouse, Governor of Bombay. When in Zanzibar it was perfectly tame.
We understand it is now in the possession of Sir Solar Jung, to whom
it was presented by Sir Philip Wodehouse.--Ed.
[18] Lewalé appears to be the title by which the Governor of the town
is called.
[19] Judges xviii.
[20] Halima followed the Doctor's remains to Zanzibar. It does seem
hard that his death leaves her long services entirely unrequited.--ED.
[21] The Portuguese name for palanquin.
[22] It will be seen that this was fully confirmed afterwards by
Livingstone's men: the fact may be of importance to future
travellers.--ED.