With great solemnity Katchiba broke a branch from a tree, upon the

leaves of which he spat in several places. This branch, thus blessed

with holy water, was laid upon the ground, and a fowl was dragged around

it by the chief; and our horses were then operated on precisely in the

same manner as had been enacted at Farajoke. This ceremony completed, he

handed the branch to his brother (our guide), who received it with much

gravity, in addition to a magic whistle of antelope's horn that he

suspended from his neck. All the natives wore whistles similar in

appearance, being simply small horns in which they blew, the sound of

which was considered either to attract or to drive away rain, at the

option of the whistler. No whistle was supposed to be effective unless

it had been blessed by the great magician Katchiba. The ceremony being

over, all commenced whistling with all their might; and taking leave of

Katchiba, with an assurance that we should again return, we started

amidst a din of "toot too too-ing" upon our journey. Having an immense

supply of ammunition at Latooka, I left about 200 lbs. of shot and ball

with Katchiba; therefore my donkeys had but little to carry, and we

travelled easily.

That night we bivouacked at the foot of the east-side of the pass at

about half-past five. Ibrahimawa, the Bornu man whom I have already

described as the amateur botanist, had become my great ally in searching

for all that was curious and interesting. Proud of his knowledge of wild

plants, no sooner was the march ended than he commenced a search in the

jungles for something esculent.

We were in a deep gorge on a steep knoll bounded by a ravine about sixty

feet of perpendicular depth, at the bottom of which flowed a torrent.

This was an excellent spot for a camp, as no guards were necessary upon

the side thus protected. Bordering the ravine were a number of fine

trees covered with a thorny stem creeper, with leaves much resembling

those of a species of yam. These were at once pronounced by Ibrahimawa

to be a perfect god-send, and after a few minutes' grubbing he produced

a basketful of fine-looking yams. In an instant this display of food

attracted a crowd of hungry people, including those of Ibrahim and my

own men, who, not being botanists, had left the search for food to

Ibrahimawa, but who determined to share the tempting results. A rush was

made at his basket, which was emptied on the instant; and I am sorry to

confess that the black angel Saat was one of the first to seize three or

four of the largest yams, which he most unceremoniously put in a pot and

deliberately cooked as though he had been the botanical discoverer. How

often the original discoverer suffers, while others benefit from his

labours! Ibrahimawa, the scientific botanist, was left without a yam,

after all his labour of grubbing up a basketful. Pots were boiling in

all directions, and a feast in store for the hungry men who had marched

twenty miles without eating since the morning.

The yams were cooked; but I did not like the look of them, and seeing

that the multitude were ready, I determined to reserve a few for our own

eating should they be generally pronounced good. The men ate them

voraciously. Hardly ten minutes had elapsed from the commencement of the

feast when first one and then another disappeared, and from a distance I

heard a smothered but unmistakeable sound, that reminded me of the

lurching effect of a channel steamer upon a crowd of passengers.

Presently the boy Saat showed symptoms of distress, and vanished from

our presence; and all those that had dined off Ibrahimawa's botanical

specimens were suffering from a most powerful "vomi-purgatif." The

angels that watch over scientific botanists had preserved Ibrahimawa

from all evil. He had discovered the yams, and the men had stolen them

from him; they enjoyed the fruits, while he gained an experience

invaluable at their expense. I was quite contented to have waited until

others had tried them before I made the experiment. Many of the yam

tribe are poisonous; there is one variety much liked at Obbo, but which

is deadly in its effects should it be eaten without a certain

preparation. It is first scraped, and then soaked in a running stream

for a fortnight. It is then cut into thin slices, and dried in the sun

until quite crisp; by this means it is rendered harmless. The dried

slices are stored for use; and they are generally pounded in a mortar

into flour, and used as a kind of porridge.

The sickness of the people continued for about an hour, during which

time all kinds of invectives were hurled against Ibrahimawa, and his

botany was termed a gigantic humbug. From that day he was very mild in

his botanical conversation.

On the following morning we crossed the last range of rocky hills, and

descended to the Latooka valley. Up to this point, we had seen no game;

but we had now arrived in the game country, and shortly after our

descent from the rocks we saw a herd of about twenty Tetel (hartebeest).

Unfortunately, just as I dismounted for the purpose of stalking them,

the red flags of the Turks attracted the attention of a large party of

baboons, who were sitting on the rocks, and they commenced their hoarse

cry of alarm, and immediately disturbed the Tetel. One of the men, in

revenge, fired a long shot at a great male, who was sitting alone upon a

high rock, and by chance the ball struck him in the head. He was an

immense specimen of the Cynocephalus, about as large as a mastiff, but

with a long brown mane like that of the lion. This mane is much prized

by the natives as an ornament. He was immediately skinned, and the hide

was cut into long strips about three inches broad: the portion of mane

adhering had the appearance of a fringe; each strip was worn as a scarf;

thus one skin will produce about eight or ten ornaments.

I sent my men to camp, and, accompanied by Richarn, mounted on my horse

"Mouse," I rode through the park-like ground in quest of game. I saw

varieties of antelopes, including the rare and beautiful maharif; but

all were so wild, and the ground so open, that I could not get a shot.

This was the more annoying, as the maharif was an antelope that I

believed to be a new species. It had often disappointed me; for although

I had frequently seen them on the south-west frontier of Abyssinia, I

had never been able to procure one, owing to their extreme shyness, and

to the fact of their inhabiting open plains, where stalking was

impossible. I had frequently examined them with a telescope, and had

thus formed an intimate acquaintance with their peculiarities. The

maharif is very similar to the roan antelope of South Africa, but is

mouse colour, with black and white stripes upon the face. The horns are

exactly those of the roan antelope, very massive and corrugated, bending

backwards to the shoulders. The withers are extremely high, which give a

peculiarly heavy appearance to the shoulders, much heightened by a large

and stiff black mane like that of a hog-maned horse. I have a pair of

horns in my possession that I obtained through the assistance of a lion,

who killed the maharif while drinking near my tent; unfortunately, the

skin was torn to pieces, and the horns and skull were all that remained.

Failing, as usual, in my endeavours to obtain a shot, I made a

considerable circuit, and shortly observed the tall heads of giraffes

towering over the low mimosas. There is no animal in nature so

picturesque in his native haunts as the giraffe. His food consists of

the leaves of trees, some qualities forming special attractions,

especially the varieties of the mimosa, which, being low, permit an

extensive view to his telescopic eyes. He has a great objection to high

forests. The immense height of the giraffe gives him a peculiar

advantage, as he can command an extraordinary range of vision, and

thereby be warned against the approach of his two great enemies, man and

the lion. No animal is more difficult to stalk than the giraffe, and the

most certain method of hunting is that pursued by the Hamran Arabs, on

the frontiers of Abyssinia, who ride him down and hamstring him with the

broadsword at full gallop. A good horse is required, as, although the

gait of a giraffe appears excessively awkward from the fact of his

moving the fore and hind legs of one side simultaneously, he attains a

great pace, owing to the length of his stride, and his bounding trot is

more than a match for any but a superior horse.

The hoof is as beautifully proportioned as that of the smallest gazelle,

and his lengthy legs and short back give him every advantage for speed

and endurance. There is a rule to be observed in hunting the giraffe on

horseback: the instant he starts, he must be pressed--it is the speed

that tells upon him, and the spurs must be at work at the very

commencement of the hunt, and the horse pressed along at his best pace;

it must be a race at top speed from the start, but, should the giraffe

be allowed the slightest advantage for the first five minutes, the race

will be against the horse.

I was riding "Filfil," my best horse for speed, but utterly useless for

the gun. I had a common regulation-sword hanging on my saddle in lieu of

the long Arab broadsword that I had lost at Obbo, and starting at full

gallop at the same instant as the giraffes, away we went over the

beautiful park. Unfortunately Richarn was a bad rider, and I, being

encumbered with a rifle, had no power to use the sword. I accordingly

trusted to ride them down and to get a shot, but I felt that the

unsteadiness of my horse would render it very uncertain. The wind

whistled in my ears as we flew along over the open plain. The grass was

not more than a foot high, and the ground hard; the giraffes about four

hundred yards distant steaming along, and raising a cloud of dust from

the dry earth, as on this side of the mountains there had been no rain.

Filfil was a contradiction; he loved a hunt and had no fear of wild

animals, but he went mad at the sound of a gun. Seeing the magnificent

herd of about fifteen giraffes before him, the horse entered into the

excitement and needed no spur--down a slight hollow, flying over the dry

buffalo holes, now over a dry watercourse and up the incline on the

other side--then again on the level, and the dust in my eyes from the

cloud raised by the giraffes showed that we were gaining in the race;

misericordia!--low jungle lay before us--the giraffes gained it, and

spurring forward through a perfect cloud of dust now within a hundred

yards of the game we shot through the thorny bushes. In another minute

or two I was close up, and a splendid bull giraffe was crashing before

me like a locomotive obelisk through the mimosas, bending the elastic

boughs before him in his irresistible rush, which sprang back with a

force that would have upset both horse and rider had I not carefully

kept my distance. The jungle seemed alive with the crowd of orange red,

the herd was now on every side, as I pressed the great bull before me.

Oh for an open plain! I was helpless to attack, and it required the

greatest attention to keep up the pace through the thick mimosas without

dashing against their stems and branches. The jungle became thicker, and

although I was in the middle of the herd and within ten yards of several

giraffes, I could do nothing. A mass of thick and tangled thorns now

received them, and closed over the hardly-contested race--I was beaten.

Never mind, it was a good hunt--first-rate--but where was my camp? It

was nearly dark, and I could just distinguish the pass in the distance,

by which we had descended the mountain; thus I knew the direction but I

had ridden about three miles, and it would be dark before I could

return. However, I followed the heel tracks of the herd of giraffes.

Richarn was nowhere. Although I had lost the race, and was disappointed,

I now consoled myself that it was all for the best; had I killed a

giraffe at that hour and distance from camp, what good would it have

been? I was quite alone; thus who could have found it during the night?

and before morning it would have been devoured by lions and hyenas;

inoffensive and beautiful creatures, what a sin it appeared to destroy

them uselessly! With these consoling and practical reflections I

continued my way, until a branch of hooked thorn fixing in my nose

disturbed the train of ideas and persuaded me that it was very dark, and

that I had lost my way, as I could no longer distinguish either the

tracks of the giraffes or the position of the mountains. Accordingly I

fired my rifle as a signal, and soon after I heard a distant report in

reply, and the blaze of a fire shot up suddenly in the distance on the

side of the mountain. With the help of this beacon I reached the spot

where our people were bivouacked; they had lighted the beacon on a rock

about fifty feet above the level, as although some twenty or thirty

fires were blazing, they had been obscured by the intervening jungle. I

found both my wife and my men in an argumentative state as to the

propriety of my remaining alone so late in the jungle; however, I also

found dinner ready; the angareps (stretcher bedsteads) arranged by a

most comfortable blazing fire, and a glance at the star-lit heavens

assured me of a fine night--what more can man wish for?--wife, welcome,

food, fire, and fine weather?

The bivouac in the wilderness has many charms; there is a complete

independence--the sentries are posted, the animals picketed and fed, and

the fires arranged in a complete circle around the entire party--men,

animals, and luggage all within the fiery ring; the sentries alone being

on the outside. There is a species of ironwood that is very inflammable,

and being oily, it burns like a torch; this grew in great quantities,

and the numerous fires fed with this vigorous fuel enlivened the bivouac

with a continual blaze. My men were busy, baking their bread. On such

occasions an oven is dispensed with. A prodigious fire is made while the

dough is being prepared; this, when well moistened, is formed into a

cake about two feet in diameter, but not thicker than two inches. The

fire being in a fit state of glowing ash, a large hole is scraped in the

centre, in which the flat cake is laid, and the red-hot embers are raked

over it; thus buried it will bake in about twenty minutes, but the dough

must be exceedingly moist or it will burn to a cinder.

On the following day we arrived at Latooka, where I found everything in

good order at the depot, and the European vegetables that I had sown

were all above ground. Commoro and a number of people came to meet us.

There had been but little rain at Latooka since we left, although it had

been raining heavily at Obbo daily, and there was no difference in the

dry sandy plain that surrounded the town, neither was there any

pasturage for the animals except at a great distance.

The day after my arrival, Filfil was taken ill and died in a few hours.

Tetel had been out of condition ever since the day of his failure during

the elephant hunt, and he now refused his food. Sickness rapidly spread

through my animals; five donkeys died within a few days, and the

remainder looked poor. Two of my camels died suddenly, having eaten the

poison-bush. Within a few days of this disaster my good old hunter and

companion of all my former sports in the Base country, Tetel, died.

These terrible blows to my expedition were most satisfactory to the

Latookas, who ate the donkeys and other animals the moment they died. It

was a race between the natives and the vultures as to who should be

first to profit by my losses.

Not only were the animals sick, but my wife was laid up with a violent

attack of gastric fever, and I was also suffering from daily attacks of

ague. The small-pox broke out among the Turks. Several people died; and,

to make matters worse, they insisted upon inoculating themselves and all

their slaves; thus the whole camp was reeking with this horrible

disease.

Fortunately my camp was separate and to windward. I strictly forbade my

men to inoculate themselves, and no case of the disease occurred among

my people, but it spread throughout the country. Small-pox is a scourge

among the tribes of Central Africa, and it occasionally sweeps through

the country and decimates the population.

Among the natives of Obbo, who had accompanied us to Latooka, was a man

named Wani, who had formerly travelled far to the south, and had offered

to conduct Ibrahim to a country rich in ivory that had never been

visited by a trader: this man had accordingly been engaged as guide arid

interpreter. In an examination of Wani I discovered that the

cowrie-shells were brought from a place called "Magungo." This name I

had previously heard mentioned by the natives, but I could obtain no

clue to its position. It was most important that I should discover the

exact route by which the cowries arrived from the south, as it would be

my guide to that direction. The information that I received from Wani at

Latooka was excessively vague, and upon most slender data I founded my

conclusions so carefully that my subsequent discoveries have rendered

most interesting the first scent of the position which I eventually

followed with success. I accordingly extract, verbatim, from my journal

the note written by me at Latooka on the 26th of May, 1863, when I first

received the clue to the Albert N'yanza: "I have had a long examination

of Wani, the guide and interpreter, respecting the country of Magungo.

Loggo, the Bari interpreter, has always described Magungo as being on a

large river, and I have concluded that it must be the Asua; but, upon

cross-examination, I find he has used the word 'Bahr' (in Arabic

signifying river or sea) instead of 'Birke' (lake). This important error

being discovered gives a new feature to the geography of this part."

According to his description, Magungo is situated on a lake so large

that no one knows its limits. Its breadth is such that, if you journey

two days east and the same distance west, there is no land visible on

either quarter, while to the south its direction is utterly unknown.

Large vessels arrive at Magungo from distant and unknown parts, bringing

cowrie-shells and beads in exchange for ivory. Upon these vessels white

men have been seen. All the cowrie-shells used in Latooka and the

neighbouring countries are supplied by these vessels, but none have

arrived for the last two years.

"His description of distance places Magungo on about the 2 degrees N.

lat. The lake can be no other than the 'N'yanza,' which, if the position

of Magungo be correct, extends much farther north than Speke had

supposed. The 'white men' must be Arab traders who bring cowries from

Zanzibar. I shall take the first opportunity to push for Magungo. I

imagine that country belongs to Kamrasi's brother, as Wani says the king

has a brother who is king of a powerful country on the west bank of the

Nile but that they are ever at war with each other.

"I examined another native who had been to Magungo to purchase Simbi

(the cowrie-shell); he says that a white man formerly arrived there

annually, and brought a donkey with him in a boat; that he disembarked

his donkey and rode about the country, dealing with the natives, and

bartering cowries and brass-coil bracelets. This man had no firearms,

but wore a sword. The king of Magungo was called 'Cherrybambi.'"

This information was the first clue to the facts that I subsequently

established, and the account of the white men (Arabs) arriving at

Magungo was confirmed by the people of that country twelve months after

I obtained this vague information at Latooka.

Arabs, being simply brown, are called WHITE men by the blacks of these

countries. I was called a VERY white man as a distinction, but I have

frequently been obliged to take off my shirt to exhibit the difference

of colour between myself and my men, as my face was brown.

CHAPTER IX.

THE TURKS ATTACK KAYALA.

On the 30th May, about an hour before daybreak, I was awoke by a rattle

of musketry, which continued some time in irregular volleys, and

subsided into a well-sustained and steady fire in single shots. On

leaving my hut, I found the camp of Koorshid's people almost empty,

while my own men were climbing on the roofs of their huts to obtain a

view towards the west. Nothing was in sight, although the firing still

continued at a distance of about a mile, apparently on the other side of

a belt of trees. I now heard that Koorshid's people had started at

between three and four o'clock that morning, by Commoro's request, to

attack a neighbouring town that had been somewhat rebellious. The firing

continued for about two hours, when it suddenly ceased, and I shortly

saw with a telescope the Turks' red ensign emerge from the forest, and

we heard the roll of their drum, mingled with the lowing of oxen and the

bleating of sheep. Upon nearer approach, I remarked a considerable body

of men, and a large herd of cattle and sheep driven by a number of

Latookas, while a knot of Turks carried something heavy in their arms.

They soon arrived, with about 2,000 head of cattle and sheep; but they

had lost one of their men, killed in the fight, and his body they

carried home for interment. It happened to be about the best man of the

party; really a very civil fellow, and altogether rather a pleasant

robber. At Commoro's instigation, the Turks had attacked the town of

Kayala; but the Latookas had fought so well, that the Turks found it

impossible to capture the town, which was, as usual, protected by

iron-wood palisades, upon which their bullets harmlessly flattened. Not

only the Latooka men had fought well, but their women broke up their

grinding-stones and defended the entrance by pelting their assailants

with the fragments; several of the Turks were wounded by the stones

thrown with such force by these brawny Amazons that some of the

gun-barrels were indented. Many of these brave women had been shot by

the dastardly Turks, and one was in the act of being carried off by the

"pleasant robber," when a native, running to her rescue, drove his spear

through his chest and killed him on the spot. Unfortunately for the

Latookas, some of their cattle had left the town to pasture just before

the attack took place; these were captured by the Turks, but not one

hostile foot had been able to penetrate their town. On the following day

the party were busily engaged in dividing the spoil, one third belonging

to the men as a bonus, while the remainder were the property of the

traders' establishment, or "Meri" (government), as they term the

proprietor. This portion was to be sent to Obbo as a place of security

and good pasturage, and the men were to engage in other razzias in

Latooka, and to collect a large number of cattle to be driven south to

exchange for ivory. Koorshid's camp was a scene of continual uproar, the

men quarrelling over the division of the spoil.

Journal--June 2nd.--The Turks are now busy buying and selling, each man

disposing of his share of the stolen cattle according to his wants: one

exchanges a cow to the natives for corn and meat; another slaughters an

ox, and retails small portions for merissa (beer), fowls, &c., the

natives flocking to the camp like vultures scenting flesh; others

reserve their cattle for the purpose of purchasing the daughters of the

natives for slaves under the name of wives, whom they will eventually

sell in Khartoum for from twenty to thirty dollars each. My men look on

in dismay at the happiness of their neighbours: like

"A Peri weeping at the gate

Of Eden, stood disconsolate,"

so may they be seen regarding the adjoining paradise, where meat is in

profusion, sweetened by being stolen; but, alas! their cruel master does

not permit them these innocent enjoyments.

Everything may be obtained for cattle as payment in this country. The

natives are now hard at work making zareebas (kraals) for the cattle

stolen from their own tribe and immediate neighbours, for the sake of

two or three bullocks as remuneration to be divided among more than a

hundred men. They are not deserving of sympathy; they are worse than

vultures, being devoid of harmony even in the same tribe. The chiefs

have no real control; and a small district, containing four or five

towns, club together and pillage the neighbouring province. It is not

surprising that the robber traders of the Nile turn this spirit of

discord to their own advantage, and league themselves with one chief, to

rob another, whom they eventually plunder in his turn. The natives say

that sixty-five men and women were killed in the attack upon Kayala. All

the Latookas consider it a great disgrace that the Turks fired upon

women. Among all tribes, from Gondokoro to Obbo, a woman is respected,

even in time of war. Thus, they are employed as spies, and become

exceedingly dangerous; nevertheless, there is a general understanding

that no woman shall be killed. The origin of this humane distinction

arises, I imagine, from their scarcity. Where polygamy is in force,

women should be too dear to kill; the price of a girl being from five to

ten cows, her death is equal to the actual loss of that number.

Fortunately for my party, who were not cattle lifters, there was the

usual abundance of game, and I could always supply myself and people

with delicious wild ducks and geese. We never were tired of this light

food as we varied their preparation. Sometimes I was able to procure a

goat, on which occasion a grand dish was made, the paunch being arranged

as a Scotch "haggis" of wild fowls' livers and flesh minced, with the

usual additions. My garden was flourishing; we had onions, beans,

melons, yams, lettuce, and radishes, which had quickly responded to

several invigorating showers; the temperature was 85 degrees F in the

shade during the hottest hours of the day, and 72 degrees F at night.

Salt is not procurable in Latooka; the natives seldom use it, as it is

excessively difficult to make it in any quantity from the only two

sources that will produce it; the best is made from goat's dung; this is

reduced ashes, and saturated; the water is then strained off, and

evaporated by boiling. Another quality is made of peculiar grass, with a

thick fleshy stem, something like sugarcane; the ashes of this produce

salt, but by no means pure. The chief of Latooka would eat a handful of

salt greedily that I gave him from my large supply, and I could purchase

supplies with this article better than with beads.

On the 4th of June, Ibrahim and eighty-five men started for Obbo in

charge of about 400 cows and 1,000 goats. Shortly after their departure,

a violent thunder-storm, attended with a deluge of rain, swept over the

country, and flooded the Latooka river and the various pools that formed

my game-preserves.

I looked forward to good duck-shooting on the morrow, as a heavy storm

was certain to be followed by large arrivals.

On the morning of the 5th, I was out at an early hour, and in a very

short time I killed eight ducks and geese. There was a certain pool

surrounded by a small marsh within half a mile of my camp, that formed

the greatest attraction to the wild fowl. There were two hegleek trees

in this marsh; and it was merely necessary to stand beneath the shelter

of either to insure good sport, as the ducks continually arrived at the

pool.

I was just entering into the sport with all my heart, when I heard a

shot fired in the Turks' camp, followed by loud yells, and I observed a

crowd of Latookas rushing from the camp towards their town. In a few

moments later, I heard the Turks' drum, and I saw people running to and

fro, and the Latookas assembling from the neighbourhood with lances and

shields, as though preparing for a fray. I had only two men with me, and

being nearly half a mile from camp, I thought it advisable to hasten

towards the spot, lest some contretemps should take place before my

arrival. Accordingly I hurried over the open plain, and shortly reached

my camp. I found my wife arranging the men at their posts, fearing a

disturbance. They had seen me hastening towards them, and I now went to

the Turks' camp, that was close by, and inquired the cause of alarm.

Never was I more disgusted. Already the vultures were swooping in

circles above some object outside the camp. It appeared that a native of

Kayala (the town lately attacked by the Turks) had visited Tarrangolle

to inquire after a missing cow. The chiefs, Moy and Commoro, brought him

to the Turks' camp, merely to prove that he had no evil intention. No

sooner was it announced that he was a native of Kayala than the Turks

declared he was a spy, and condemned him to be shot. The two chiefs, Moy

and Commoro, feeling themselves compromised by having brought the man

into such danger unwittingly, threw themselves before him, and declared

that no harm should befall him, as he belonged to them. Tearing them

away by the combined force of many men, the prisoner was immediately

bound, and led forth by his bloodthirsty murderers to death. "Shoot the

spy!" was hardly pronounced, when a villain stepped forward, and placing

the muzzle of his musket close to his left breast, he fired.

The man dropped dead, thus murdered in cold blood. The natives rushed in

crowds from the spot, naturally supposing that a general massacre would

follow so unprovoked an outrage. The body was dragged by the heels a few

paces outside the camp, and the vultures were its sextons within a few

minutes of the death.

It was with difficulty that I could restrain my temper under such

revolting circumstances. I felt that at an unlooked-for moment I might

be compromised in some serious outbreak of the natives, caused by the

brutal acts of the traders. Already it was declared unsafe to venture

out shooting without ten or twelve armed men as escort.

A mixture of cowardice and brutality, the traders' party became

exceedingly timid, as a report was current that the inhabitants of

Kayala intended to ally themselves to those of Tarrangolle, and to

attack the Turks in their camp. I accordingly strengthened my position

by building a tower of palisades, that entirely commanded all approaches

to my zareeba.

Latooka was already spoiled by the Turks: it was now difficult to

procure flour and milk for beads, as the traders' people, since the

attack on Kayala, had commenced the system of purchasing all supplies

with either goats or beef, which having been stolen, was their cheapest

medium of exchange. Although rich in beads and copper, I was actually

poor, as I could not obtain supplies. Accordingly I allowanced my men

two pounds of beads monthly, and they went to distant villages and

purchased their own provisions independently of me.

On the 11th June, at 7.20 A.M., there was a curious phenomenon; the sky

was perfectly clear, but we were startled by a noise like the sudden

explosion of a mine, or the roar of heavy cannon, almost immediately

repeated. It appeared to have originated among the mountains, about

sixteen miles distant due south of my camp. I could only account for

this occurrence by the supposition that an immense mass of the granite

rock might have detached itself from a high mountain, and, in falling to

the valley, it might have bounded from a projection on the mountain's

side, and thus have caused a double report.

June 13.---I shot ten ducks and geese before breakfast, including one of

the large black and white geese with the crimson head and neck. On my

return to camp I weighed this--exactly eleven pounds; this goose has on

either pinion-joint a sharp, horny spur, an inch in length. During my

morning stroll I met hundreds of natives running excitedly with shields

and spears towards Adda's village: they were going to steal the cattle

from a village about four miles distant; thus there will be a fight in

the course of the day. The Latooka stream is now full, and has the

appearance of a permanent river carrying a considerable body of water to

the Sobat.

I met with two thieves while duck-shooting this morning--the one an

eagle, and the other a native. The beautiful white-throated fish-eagle

may generally be seen perched upon a bough overhanging the stream, ready

for any prey that may offer. This morning I shot two ducks right and

left as they flew down the course of the river---one fell dead in the

water, but the other, badly hit, fluttered along the surface for some

distance, and was immediately chased and seized by a fish-eagle which,

quite reckless of the gun, had been watching the sport from a high tree,

and evinced a desire to share the results. My men, not to be done out of

their breakfast, gave chase, shouting and yelling to frighten the eagle,

and one of them having a gun loaded with buckshot, fired, and the

whirr-r of the charge induced the eagle to drop the duck, which was

triumphantly seized by the man.

The other thief was a native. I fired a long shot at a drake; the bird

flew a considerable distance and towered, falling about a quarter of a

mile distant. A Latooka was hoeing close to where it fell, and we

distinctly saw him pick up the bird and run to a bush, in which he hid

it: upon our arrival he continued his work as though nothing had

happened, and denied all knowledge of it: he was accordingly led by the

ear to the bush, where we found the duck carefully secreted.

June 14.---The natives lost one man killed in the fight yesterday,

therefore the night was passed in singing and dancing.

The country is drying up; although the stream is full there is no rain

in Latooka, the water in the river being the eastern drainage of the

Obbo mountains, where it rains daily.

Ibrahimawa, the Bornu man, alias "Sinbad the Sailor," the great

traveller, amuses and bores me daily with his long and wonderful stories

of his travels. The style of his narratives may be conjectured from the

following extracts: "There was a country adjoining Bornu, where the king

was so fat and heavy that he could not walk, until the doctors OPENED

HIS BELLY AND CUT THE FAT OUT, which operation was repeated annually."

He described another country as a perfect Paradise, where no one ever

drank anything so inferior as water. This country was so wealthy that

the poorest man could drink merissa (beer). He illustrated the general

intoxication by saying, that "after 3 P.M. no one was sober, throughout

the country, and from that hour the cows, goats, and fowls WERE ALL

DRUNK, as they drank the merissa left in the jars by their owners, who

were all asleep."

He knew all about England, having been a servant, on a Turkish frigate

that was sent to Gravesend. He described an evening entertainment most

vividly. He had been to a ball at an "English Pasha's in Blackwall," and

had succeeded wonderfully with some charming English ladies excessively

"decollete," upon whom he felt sure he had left a lasting impression, as

several had fallen in love with him on the spot, supposing him to be a

Pasha.

Such were instances of life and recollections of Ibrahimawa, the Bornu.

On June 16, Koorshid's people returned from Obbo. Ibrahim and a few men

had remained there, and distrusting the warlike spirit of the Latookas,

he now recalled the entire establishment from Tarrangolle, intending to

make a station at the more peaceful country of Obbo. An extract from my

journal on that day explains my feelings: "This is most annoying; I had

arranged my camp and garden, &c. for the wet season, and I must now

leave everything, as it is impossible to remain in this country with my

small force alone; the natives have become so bad (since the cattle

razzia) that a considerable armed party is obliged to go to the stream

for water. It is remarkably pleasant travelling in the vicinity of the

traders;--they convert every country into a wasp's nest;--they have

neither plan of action nor determination, and I, being unfortunately

dependent upon their movements, am more like a donkey than an explorer,

that is saddled and ridden away at a moment's notice. About sixty

natives of Obbo accompanied the men sent by Ibrahim to carry the

effects;--I require at least fifty, as so many of my transport animals

are dead." Nothing can exceed the laziness and dogged indolence of my

men; I have only four who are worth having,---Richarn, Hamed, Sali, and

Taher.

All the men in either camp were discontented at the order to move, as

they had made themselves comfortable, expecting to remain in Latooka

during the wet season. The two chiefs, Moy and Commoro, found themselves

in a dilemma, as they had allied themselves with the Turks in the attack

upon the neighbouring town, depending upon them for future support; they

were now left in the lurch, and felt themselves hardly a match for their

enemies. A few extracts from my journal will close our sojourn at

Latooka:

"June 18th.--The white ants are a curse upon the country; although the

hut is swept daily and their galleries destroyed, they rebuild

everything during the night, scaling the supports to the roof and

entering the thatch. Articles of leather or wood are the first devoured.

The rapidity with which they repair their galleries is wonderful; all

their work is carried on with cement; the earth is contained in their

stomachs, and this being mixed with some glutinous matter they deposit

it as bees do their wax. Although the earth of this country if tempered

for house-building will crumble in the rain, the hills of the white ants

remain solid and waterproof, owing to the glue in the cement. I have

seen three varieties of white ants--the largest about the size of a

small wasp: this does not attack dwellings, but subsists upon fallen

trees. The second variety is not so large; this species seldom enters

buildings. The third is the greatest pest: this is the smallest, but

thick and juicy;--the earth is literally alive with them, nor is there

one square foot of ground free from them in Latooka.

"June 19th.--Had a bad attack of fever yesterday that has been hanging

about me for some days. Weighed all the luggage and packed the stores in

loads of fifty pounds each for the natives to carry.

"June 20th.--Busy making new ropes from the bark of a mimosa; all hands

at work, as we start the day after to-morrow. My loss in animals makes a

difference of twenty-three porters' loads. I shall take forty natives as

the bad roads will necessitate light loads for the donkeys. I have now

only fourteen donkeys; these are in good condition, and would thrive,

were not the birds so destructive by pecking sores upon their backs.

These sores would heal quickly by the application of gunpowder, but the

birds irritate and enlarge them until the animal, is rendered useless. I

have lost two donkeys simply from the attacks of these birds;--the only

remaining camel and some of the donkeys I have covered with jackets made

of tent-cloth.

"June 21st.--Nil.

"June 22d.--We were awoke last night by a report from the sentry that

natives were prowling around the camp;--I accordingly posted three

additional guards. At a little after 2 A.m. a shot was fired, followed

by two others in quick succession, and a sound as of many feet running

quickly was heard passing the entrance of the camp. I was up in a

moment, and my men were quickly under arms: the Turks' drum beat, and

their camp (that was contiguous to mine) was alive with men, but all was

darkness. I lighted my policeman's lantern, that was always kept ready

trimmed, and I soon arrived at the spot where the shot had been fired.

The natives had been endeavouring to steal the cattle from the Turks'

kraal, and favoured by the darkness they had commenced burrowing with

the intention of removing the thorn bushes that formed the fence.

Unfortunately for the thieves, they were unaware that there were

watchers in the kraal among the cattle: it was a pitch dark night, and

nothing could be distinguished; but the attention of one of the sentries

was attracted by the snorting and stamping of the goats, that evidently

denoted the presence of something uncommon. He then perceived close to

him, on the other side the hedge, a dark object crouching, and others

standing, and he heard the bushes moving as though some one was at work

to remove them. He immediately fired; and the sound of a rush of men in

retreat induced both him and the other sentry to repeat the shot. By the

light of the lantern we now searched the place, and discovered the body

of a native lying close to the fence just above a considerable hole that

he had scraped beneath the thorns, in order to extract the stems that

were buried in the ground, and thus by drawing away the bushes he would

have effected an entrance. He had commenced operations exactly opposite

the sentry, and the musket being loaded with mould-shot, he had received

the contents at close quarters. Although he had tempted fate and met

with deserved misfortune, it was most disgusting to witness the

brutality of the Turks, who, tying ropes to the ankles, dragged the body

to the entrance of the camp, and wished for amusement to drive their

bayonets through the chest.

"Although dying, the man was not dead: a shot had entered one eye,

knocking it out; several had entered the face, chest, and thighs, as he

was in a stooping position when the gun was fired. I would not allow him

to be mutilated, and after groaning in agony for some time, he died. The

traders' people immediately amputated the hands at the wrists, to detach

the copper bracelets, while others cut off his helmet of beads, and the

body was very considerately dragged close to the entrance of my camp.

"June 22nd.--Finding that the disgusting Turks had deposited the dead

body almost at my door, I had it removed a couple of hundred yards to

leeward. The various birds of prey immediately collected--buzzards,

vultures, crows, and the great Marabou stork. I observed a great

bare-necked vulture almost succeed in turning the body over by pulling

at the flesh of the arm at the opposite side to that where it stood. I

have noticed that birds of prey invariably commence their attack upon

the eyes, inner portions of the thighs, and beneath the arms, before

they devour the coarser portions. In a few hours a well-picked skeleton

was all that was left of the Latooka."

We were to start on the following day. My wife was dangerously ill with

bilious fever, and was unable to stand, and I endeavoured to persuade

the traders' party to postpone their departure for a few days. They

would not hear of such a proposal; they had so irritated the Latookas

that they feared an attack, and their captain, or vakeel, Ibrahim, had

ordered them immediately to vacate the country. This was a most awkward

position for me. The traders had induced the hostility of the country,

and I should bear the brunt of it should I remain behind alone. Without

their presence I should be unable to procure porters, as the natives

would not accompany my feeble party, especially as I could offer them no

other payment but beads or copper. The rains had commenced within the

last few days at Latooka, and on the route towards Obbo we should

encounter continual storms. We were to march by a long and circuitous

route to avoid the rocky passes that would be dangerous in the present

spirit of the country, especially as the traders possessed large herds

that must accompany the party. They allowed five days' march for the

distance to Obbo by the intended route. This was not an alluring

programme for the week's entertainment, with my wife almost in a dying

state! However, I set to work, and fitted an angarep with arched hoops

from end to end, so as to form a frame like the cap of a wagon. This I

covered with two waterproof Abyssinian tanned hides securely strapped;

and lashing two long poles parallel to the sides of the angarep, I

formed an excellent palanquin. In this she was assisted, and we started

on 23d June.

Our joint parties consisted of about three hundred men. On arrival at

the base of the mountains, instead of crossing them as before, we

skirted the chain to the northwest, and then rounding through a natural

gap, we ascended gradually towards the south.

On the fifth day we were, at 5 A.M., within twelve miles of Obbo, and we

bivouacked on a huge mass of granite on the side of a hill, forming an

inclining plateau of about an acre. The natives who accompanied us were

immediately ordered to clear the grass from the insterstices of the

rocks, and hardly had they commenced when a slight disturbance, among

some loose stones that were being removed, showed that something was

wrong. In an instant lances and stones were hurled at some object by the

crowd, and upon my arrival I saw the most horrid monster that I have

ever experienced. I immediately pinned his head to the ground and

severed it at one blow with my hunting-knife, damaging the keen edge of

my favourite weapon upon the hard rock. It was a puff adder of the most

extraordinary dimensions. I then fetched my measuring-tape from the

game-bag, in which it was always at hand. Although the snake was only 5

ft. 4 in. in length it was slightly above 15 inches in girth. The tail

was, as usual in poisonous snakes, extremely blunt, and the head

perfectly fiat, and about 2 1/2 inches broad, but unfortunately during

my short absence to fetch the measure the natives had crushed it with a

rock. They had thus destroyed it as a specimen, and had broken three of

the teeth, but I counted eight, and secured five poison-fangs, the two

most prominent being nearly an inch in length. The poison-fangs of

snakes are artfully contrived by some diabolical freak of nature as

pointed tubes, through which the poison is injected into the base of the

wound inflicted. The extreme point of the fang is solid, and is so

finely sharpened that beneath a powerful microscope it is perfectly

smooth, although the point of the finest needle is rough. A short

distance above the solid point of the fang the surface of the tube

appears as though cut away, like the first cut of a quill in forming a

pen: through this aperture the poison is injected.

Hardly had I secured the fangs, when a tremendous clap of thunder shook

the earth and echoed from rock to rock among the high mountains, that

rose abruptly on our left within a mile. Again the lightning flashed,

and almost simultaneously, a deafening peal roared from the black cloud

above us, just as I was kneeling over the archenemy to skin him. He

looked so Satanic with his flat head, and minute cold grey eye, and

scaly hide, with the lightning flashing and the thunder roaring around

him; I felt like St. Dunstan with the devil, and skinned him. The

natives and also my men were horrified, as they would not touch any

portion of such a snake with their hands: even its skin was supposed by

these people to be noxious. Down came the rain; I believe it could not

have rained harder. Mrs. Baker in the palanquin was fortunately like a

snail in her shell; but I had nothing for protection except an oxhide:

throwing myself upon my angarep I drew it over me. The natives had

already lighted prodigious fires, and all crowded around the blaze; but

what would have been the Great Fire of London in that storm?

In half an hour the fire was out; such a deluge fell that the ravine

that was dry when we first bivouacked, was now an impassable torrent. My

oxhide had become tripe, and my angarep, being covered with a mat, was

some inches deep in water. Throwing away the mat, the pond escaped

through the sieve-like network, but left me drenched. Throughout the

night it poured. We had been wet through every day during the journey

from Latooka, but the nights had been fine; this was superlative misery

to all. At length it ceased--morning dawned; we could not procure fire,

as everything was saturated, and we started on our march through forest

and high reeking grass. By this circuitous route from Latooka we avoided

all difficult passes, as the ground on the west side of the chain of

mountains ascended rapidly but regularly to Obbo. On arrival at my

former hut I found a great change; the grass was at least ten feet high,

and my little camp was concealed in the rank vegetation. Old Katchiba

came to meet us, but brought nothing, as he said the Turks had eaten up

the country. An extract from my journal, dated July 1, explains the

misery of our position.

"This Obbo country is now a land of starvation. The natives refuse to

supply provision for beads; nor will they barter anything unless in

exchange for flesh. This is the curse that the Turks have brought upon

the country by stealing cattle and throwing them away wholesale. We have

literally nothing to eat except tullaboon, a small bitter grain used in

lieu of corn by the natives: there is no game; if it existed, shooting

would be impossible, as the grass is impenetrable. I hear that the Turks

intend to make a razzia on the Shoggo country near Farajoke; thus they

will stir up a wasp's nest for me wherever I go, and render it

impossible for my small party to proceed alone, or even to remain in

peace. I shall be truly thankful to quit this abominable land; in my

experience I never saw such scoundrels as Africa produces--the natives

of the Soudan being worse than all. It is impossible to make a servant

of any of these people; the apathy, indolence, dishonesty combined with

dirtiness, are beyond description; and their abhorrence of anything like

order increases their natural dislike to Europeans. I have not one man

even approaching to a servant; the animals are neglected, therefore they

die. And were I to die they would rejoice, as they would immediately

join Koorshid's people in cattle stealing and slave hunting;--charming

followers in the time of danger! Such men destroy all pleasure, and

render exploration a mere toil. No one can imagine the hardships and

annoyances to which we are subject, with the additional disgust of being

somewhat dependent upon the traders' band of robbers. For this miserable

situation my vakeel is entirely responsible; had my original escort been

faithful, I should have been entirely independent, and could with my

transport animals have penetrated far south before the commencement of

the rainy season. Altogether I am thoroughly sick of this expedition,

but I shall plod onwards with dogged obstinacy; God only knows the end.

I shall be grateful should the day ever arrive once more to see Old

England."

Both my wife and I were excessively ill with bilious fever, and neither

could assist the other. The old chief, Katchiba, hearing that we were

dying, came to charm us with some magic spell. He found us lying

helpless, and he immediately procured a small branch of a tree, and

filling his mouth with water, he squirted it over the leaves and about

the floor of the hut; he then waved the branch around my wife's head,

also around mine, and completed the ceremony by sticking it in the

thatch above the doorway; he told us we should now get better, and

perfectly: satisfied, he took his leave. The hut was swarming with rats

and white ants, the former racing over our bodies during the night, and

burrowing through the floor, filling our only room with mounds like

molehills. As fast as we stopped the holes, others were made with

determined perseverance. Having a supply of arsenic, I gave them an

entertainment, the effect being disagreeable to all parties, as the rats

died in their holes, and created a horrible effluvium, while fresh hosts

took the place of the departed. Now and then a snake would be seen

gliding within the thatch, having taken shelter from the pouring rain.

The smallpox was raging throughout the country, and the natives were

dying like flies in winter. The country was extremely unhealthy, owing

to the constant rain and the rank herbage, which prevented a free

circulation of air, and from the extreme damp induced fevers. The

temperature was 65 degrees Fahr. at night, and 72 degrees during the

day; dense clouds obscured the sun for many days, and the air was

reeking with moisture. In the evening it was always necessary to keep a

blazing fire within the hut, as the floor and walls were wet and chilly.

The wet herbage disagreed with my baggage animals.

Innumerable flies appeared, including the Tsetse, and in a few weeks the

donkeys had no hair left, either on their ears or legs; they drooped

and died one by one. It was in vain that I erected sheds, and lighted

fires; nothing would protect them from the flies. The moment the fires

were lit, the animals would rush wildly into the smoke, from which

nothing would drive them, and in the clouds of imaginary protection they

would remain all day, refusing food. On the 16th of July my last horse,

Mouse, died; he had a very long tail, for which I obtained A COW IN

EXCHANGE. Nothing was prized so highly as horse's tails, the hairs being

used for stringing beads, and also for making tufts as ornaments, to be

suspended from the elbows. It was highly fashionable in Obbo for the men

to wear such tufts, formed of the bushy ends of cow's-tails. It was also

"the thing" to wear six or eight polished rings of iron, fastened so

tightly round the throat as to almost choke the wearer, somewhat

resembling dog-collars.

On 18th July, the natives held a great consultation, and ended with a

war-dance; they were all painted in various patterns, with red ochre and

white pipe-clay; their heads adorned with very tasteful ornaments of

cowrie-shells, surmounted by plumes of ostrich-feathers, which drooped

over the back of the neck. After the dance, the old chief addressed them

in a long and vehement speech; he was followed by several other

speakers, all of whom were remarkably fluent, and the resolution of the

meeting was declared "that the nogaras were to be beaten, and men

collected to accompany the Turks on a razzia in the Madi country."

Ibrahim started with 120 armed men and a mass of Obbo people on the

marauding expedition.

On the following day Katchiba came to see us, bringing a present of

flour. I gave him a tin plate, a wooden spoon, the last of the tea-cups,

and a tinsel paper of mother-of-pearl shirt buttons, which took his

fancy so immensely, that my wife was begged to suspend it from his neck

like a medal. He was really a very good old fellow--by far the best I

have seen in Africa. He was very suspicious of the Turks, who, he said,

would ultimately ruin him, as, by attacking the Madi tribe, they would

become his enemies, and invade Obbo when the Turks should leave. Cattle

were of very little use in his country, as the flies would kill them; he

had tried all his magic art, but it was of no avail against the flies;

my donkeys would all assuredly die. He said that the losses inflicted

upon the various tribes by the Turks were ruinous, as their chief means

of subsistence was destroyed; without cattle they could procure no

wives; milk, their principle diet, was denied them, and they were driven

to despair; thus they would fight for their cattle, although they would

allow their families to be carried off without resistance; cattle would

procure another family, but if the animals were stolen, there would be

no remedy.

Flies by day, rats and innumerable bugs by night, heavy dew, daily rain,

and impenetrable reeking grass rendered Obbo a prison about as

disagreeable as could exist.

The many months of tiresome inaction that I was forced to remain in this

position, I will not venture to inflict upon the reader, but I will

content myself with extracts from my journal from time to time, that

will exhibit the general character of the situation.

"Aug. 2d.--Several of my men have fever; the boy, Saat, upon receiving a

dose of calomel, asked, `whether he was to swallow the paper in which it

was wrapped?' This is not the first time that I have been asked the same

question by my men. Saat feels the ennui of Obbo, and finds it difficult

to amuse himself; he has accordingly become so far scientific, that he

has investigated the machinery of two of my watches, both of which he

has destroyed. I am now reduced to one watch, the solitary survivor of

four that formed my original family of timekeepers. Having commenced as

a drummer, Saat feels the loss of his drum that was smashed by the

camel; he accordingly keeps his hand in by practising upon anything that

he can adapt to that purpose, the sacred kettle inverted, and a tin cup,

having been drummed until the one became leaky, and the bottom of the

other disappeared.

"Saat and the black woman are, unfortunately, enemies, and the monotony

of the establishment is sometimes broken by a stand-up fight between him

and his vicious antagonist, Gaddum Her. The latter has received a

practical proof that the boy is growing strong, as I found him the other

day improving her style of beauty by sitting astride upon her stomach,

and punching her eyes with his fists, as she lay upon the ground

furrowing Saat's fat cheeks with her very dirty nails. It is only fair

to the boy to say that Gaddum Her is always the aggressor.

"It is absurd to see the self-importance of the miserable cut-throats

belonging to Koorshid's party, who, far too great to act as common

soldiers, swagger about with little slave-boys in attendance, who carry

their muskets. I often compare the hard lot of our honest poor in

England with that of these scoundrels, whose courage consists in

plundering and murdering defenceless natives, while the robbers fatten

on the spoil. I am most anxious to see whether the English Government

will take active notice of the White Nile trade, or whether diplomacy

will confine them to simple protest and correspondence, to be silenced

by a promise from the Egyptian Government to put a stop to the present

atrocities. The Egyptian Government will of course promise, and, as

usual with Turks, will never perform. On the other hand, the savages are

themselves bad; one tribe welcomes the Turks as allies against their

neighbours, and sees no crime in murder, provided the result be

'cattle.' This, of course, produces general confusion."

"AUG. 6TH.--The difficulties of procuring provisions are most serious:

the only method of purchasing flour is as follows. The natives will not

sell it for anything but flesh; to purchase an ox, I require molotes

(hoes): to obtain molotes I must sell my clothes and shoes to the

traders' men. The ox is then driven to a distant village, and is there

slaughtered, and the flesh being divided into about a hundred small

portions, my men sit upon the ground with three large baskets, into

which are emptied minute baskets of flour as the natives produce them,

one in exchange for each parcel of meat. This tedious process is a

specimen of Central African difficulties in the simple act of purchasing

flour. The Obbo natives are similar to the Bari in some of their habits.

I have had great difficulty in breaking my cowkeeper of his disgusting

custom of washing the milk bowl with cow's urine, and even mixing some

with the milk; he declares that unless he washes his hands with such

water before milking, the cow will lose her milk. This filthy custom is

unaccountable. The Obbo natives wash out their mouths with their own

urine. This habit may have originated in the total absence of salt in

their country. The Latookas, on the contrary, are very clean, and milk

could be purchased in their own vessels without fear."

"Aug. 8th--Having killed a fat ox, the men are busily engaged in

boiling down the fat. Care should be taken to sprinkle a few drops of

water in the pot when the fat is supposed to be sufficiently boiled;

should it hiss, as though poured upon melted lead, it is ready; but if

it be silent, the fat is not sufficiently boiled, and it will not keep.

"Three runaway female slaves were captured by Koorshid's people this

morning, two of whom were brutally treated. On the whole the female

slaves are well kept when very young, but well thrashed when the black

bloom of youth has passed."

"Aug. 11th.--At this season immense beetles are at work in vast

numbers, walking off with every species of dung, by forming it into

balls as large as small apples, and rolling them away with their hind

legs, while they walk backwards by means of the forelegs. Should a ball

of dung roll into a deep rut, I have frequently seen another beetle come

to the assistance of the proprietor of the ball, and quarrel for its

possession after their joint labours have raised it to the level.

"This species was the holy scarabaeus of the ancient Egyptians; it

appears shortly after the commencement of the wet season, its labours

continuing until the cessation of the rains, at which time it

disappears. Was it not worshipped by the ancients as the harbinger of

the high Nile? The existence of Lower Egypt depending upon the annual

inundation, the rise of the river was observed with general anxiety. The

beetle appears at the commencement of the rise in the river level, and

from its great size and extraordinary activity in clearing the earth

from all kinds of ordure, its presence is remarkable. Appearing at the

season of the flood, may not the ancients have imagined some connexion

between the beetle and the river, and have considered it sacred as the

HARBINGER of the inundation?

"There is a wild bean in this country, the blossom of which has a

delicious perfume of violets. I regret that I have not a supply of paper

for botanical specimens, as many beautiful flowers appeared at the

commencement of the rains. Few thorns and no gums form a strong contrast

to the Soudan, where nearly every tree and shrub is armed."

"AUG. 13TH.--I had a long examination of a slave woman, Bacheeta,

belonging to one of Koorshid's men. She had been sent two years ago by

the king, Kamrasi, from Unyoro, as a spy among the traders, with orders

to attract them to the country if appearances were favourable, but to

return with a report should they be dangerous people.

"On her arrival at Faloro, Debono's people captured her, and she was

eventually sold to her present owner. She speaks Arabic, having learnt

it from the traders' people. She declares that Magungo, the place of

which I have heard so much, is only four days' hard marching for a

native, direct from Faloro, but eight days' for the Turks; and that it

is equi-distant from Faloro and from Kamrasi's capital in Unyoro. She

had heard of the Luta N'zige, as reported to Speke, but she knew it only

by the name of 'Kara-wootan-N'zige.'

"She corroborated the accounts I had formerly received, of large boats

arriving with Arabs at Magungo, and she described the lake as a 'white

sheet as far as the eye could reach.' She particularized it as a

peculiar water, that was unlike other waters, as it would 'come up to a

water-jar, if put upon the shore, and carry it away and break it.' By

this description I understood 'waves.' She also described the 'Gondokoro

river,' or White Nile, as flowing into and out of the lake, and she

spoke of a 'great roar of water that fell from the sky.'

"I trust I may succeed in reaching this lake: if not, my entire time,

labour, and expenditure will have been wasted, as I throw sport entirely

aside for the sake of this exploration. Were I to think of shooting in

preference to exploring, I could have excellent sport on the Atabbi

river during the dry season, as also on the Kanieti, in the vicinity of

Wakkala; but I must neglect all but the great object, and push on to

Kamrasi's capital, and from thence to the lake. My great anxiety lies in

the conduct of Koorshid's party; should they make razzias south, I shall

be ruined, as my men will be afraid to advance through a disturbed

country. I MUST keep on good terms with the chief of the party, as I

depend upon him for an interpreter and porters.

"My plan is to prevail on Ibrahim to commence an ivory trade in

Kamrasi's country that might be legitimately conducted, instead of the

present atrocious system of robbery and murder. I like Koorshid, as he

is a bold-spoken robber instead of acting the hypocrite like the other

traders of Khartoum; thus, as he was the only man that was civil to me,

I would do him a good turn could I establish an honest trade between

Kamrasi and himself; at the same time, I should have the advantage of

his party as escort to the desired country. The case commercially lies

as follows:--

"Kamrasi's country, Unyoro, is a virgin land, where beads are hardly

known, and where the king is the despotic ruler, whose word is law. All

trade would be conducted through him alone, in the shape of presents, he

giving elephants' tusks, while, in return, Koorshid would send him beads

and various articles annually. Koorshid would thus be the sole trader

with Kamrasi according to White Nile rules, and the abominable system of

cattle robbery would be avoided.

"The great difficulty attending trade in a distant country is the want

of means of transport, one tribe, being generally hostile to the

adjoining, fears to afford porters beyond the frontier. If I can prove

that the Lake Luta N'zige is one source of the Nile with a navigable

junction, I can at once do away with the great difficulty, and open up a

direct trade for Koorshid. The Lake is in Kamrasi's own dominions: thus

he will have no fear in supplying porters to deliver the ivory at a

depot that might be established, either on the lake or at its junction

with the Nile. A vessel should be built upon the lake, to trade with the

surrounding coasts, and to receive the ivory from the depot. This vessel

would then descend from the lake to the While Nile, to the head of the

cataracts, where a camp should be formed, from which, in a few days'

march, the ivory would reach Gondokoro.

"A large trade might thus be established, as not only Unyoro would

supply ivory, but the lake would open the navigation to the very heart

of Africa. The advantage of dealing with Kamrasi direct would be great,

as he is not a mere savage, demanding beads and bracelets; but he would

receive printed cottons, and goods of various kinds, by which means the

ivory would be obtained at a merely nominal rate. The depot on the Luta

N'zige should be a general store, at which the vessel ascending from the

station above the cataracts would deliver the various goods from

Gondokoro, and from this store the goods would be disseminated

throughout the countries bordering the lake by means of vessels.

"The only drawback to this honest trade would be the general hatred of

anything honest by the Khartoumers; the charms of cattle razzias and

slave-hunting, with the attendant murders, attract these villanous

cut-throats to the White Nile expeditions, and I fear it would be

difficult to raise the number of armed men required for safety, were

legitimate trade the sole object of the ivory hunter.

"Even in Obbo, I believe that printed calicoes, red woollen shirts,

blankets, &c. would purchase ivory. The elevation of this country being

upwards of 3,600 feet, the nights are cold, and even the day is cold

during the wet season; thus clothing is required; this we see in the

first rudiments of covering, the skins of beasts used by the natives;

the Obbo people being the first tribe that adopts a particle of clothing

from the Shillook country (lat. 10 degrees) throughout the entire course

of the White Nile to this latitude (4 degrees 02 minutes). Kamrasi's

tribe are well covered, and farther south, towards Zanzibar, all tribes

are clothed more or less; thus Obbo is the clothing frontier, where the

climate has first prompted the savage to cover himself, while in the hot

lowlands he remains in a state of nakedness. Where clothing is required,

English manufacturers would find a market in exchange for ivory; thus

from this point a fair trade might be commenced.

"From Farajoke, in the Sooli country, lat. 3 degrees 33 minutes, up to

this date the most southern limit of my explorations, the lake is about

nine or ten days' march in a direct course; but such a route is

impossible, owing to Debono's establishment occupying the intervening

country, and the rules of the traders forbid a trespass upon their

assumed territory. Koorshid's men would refuse to advance by that route;

my men, if alone, will be afraid to travel, and will find some excuse

for not proceeding; from the very outset they have been an absolute

burthen upon me, receiving a monthly allowance of two pounds of beads

per head for doing literally nothing, after having ruined the

independence of my expedition by their mutiny at Gondokoro."

"AUG. 23d.--My last camel died to-day; thus all my horses and camels

are dead, and only eight donkeys remain out of twenty-one; most of these

will die, if not all. There can be no doubt that the excessive wet in

all the food, owing to the constant rain and dew, is the principal cause

of disease. The camels, horses, and donkeys of the Soudan, all thrive in

the hot dry air of that country, and are unsuited for this damp climate.

"Had I been without transport animals, my expedition could not have left

Gondokoro, as there was no possibility of procuring porters. I had

always expected that my animals would die, but I had hoped they would

have carried me to the equator: this they would have accomplished during

the two months of comparative dry weather following my arrival at

Gondokoro, had not the mutiny thwarted all my plans, and thrown me into

the wet season. My animals have delivered me at Obbo, and have died in

inaction, instead of wearing out upon the road. Had I been able to start

direct from Gondokoro, as I had intended, my animals would have

delivered me in Kamrasi's country before the arrival of the heavy rains.

"There is an excellent species of gourd in Obbo; it is pear-shaped,

about ten inches long, and seven in diameter, with a white skin, and

warts upon the surface; this is the most delicate and the best-flavoured

that I have ever eaten.

"There are two varieties of castor-oil plant in this country--one with a

purple stem and bright red veins in the leaves, that is remarkably

handsome. Also a wild plantain, with a crimson stem to the leaf; this

does not grow to the height of the common plantain, but is simply a

plume of leaves springing from the ground without a parent stem."

"Aug. 30th.--Mrs. Baker and I made a morning call for the first time

upon old Katchiba by his express desire. His courtyard was cemented and

clean, about a hundred feet in diameter, surrounded by palisades, which

were overgrown with gourds and the climbing yam, Collolollo. There were

several large huts in the inclosure, belonging to his wives; he received

us very politely, and begged us to enter his principal residence; it was

simply arranged, being the usual circular hut, but about twenty-five

feet in diameter.

"Creeping on all fours through the narrow doorway, we found ourselves in

the presence of one of his wives, who was preparing merissa. The

furniture of the apartment was practical, and quite in accordance with

the taste of the old chief, as the whole establishment appeared to be

devoted to brewing merissa. There were several immense jars capable of

holding about thirty gallons: some of these were devoted to beer, while

one was reserved to contain little presents that he had received from

ourselves and the Turks, including a much-esteemed red flannel shirt:

these recherche objects were packed in the jar, and covered by a smaller

vessel inverted on the mouth to protect them from rats and white ants.

Two or three well-prepared ox-hides were spread upon the ground; and he

requested Mrs. Baker to sit on his right hand, while I sat upon the

left. Thus satisfactorily arranged, he called for some merissa, which

his wife immediately brought in an immense gourd-shell, and both my wife

and I having drunk, he took a long draught, and finished the gourd.

"The delightful old sorcerer, determined to entertain us, called for his

rababa: a species of harp was handed to him; this was formed of a hollow

base and an upright piece of wood, from which descended eight strings.

Some time was expended in carefully tuning his instrument, which, being

completed, he asked, 'if he should sing?' Fully prepared for something

comic, we begged him to begin. He sang a most plaintive and remarkably

wild, but pleasing air, accompanying himself perfectly on his harp,

producing the best music that I had ever heard among savages. In fact,

music and dancing were old Katchiba's delight, especially if combined

with deep potations.

"His song over, he rose from his seat and departed, but presently

reappeared leading a sheep by a string, which he begged us to accept. I

thanked him for his attention, but I assured him that we had not paid

him a visit with the expectation of receiving a present, and that we

could not think of accepting it, as we had simply called upon him as

friends; he accordingly handed the sheep to his wife, and shortly after

we rose to depart. Having effected an exit by creeping through the

doorway, he led us both by the hand in a most friendly way for about a

hundred yards on our path, and took leave most gracefully, expressing a

hope that we should frequently come to see him.

"On our return home we found the sheep waiting for us; determined not to

be refused, he had sent it on before us. I accordingly returned him a

most gorgeous necklace of the most valuable beads, and gave the native

who had brought the sheep a present for himself and wife; thus all

parties were satisfied, and the sheep was immediately killed for dinner.

"The following morning Katchiba appeared at my door with a large red

flag made of a piece of cotton cloth that the Turks had given him; he

was accompanied by two men beating large drums, and a third playing a

kind of clarionet: this playing at soldiers was an imitation of the

Turks. He was in great spirits, being perfectly delighted with the

necklace I had sent him."

"Oct. 6th.--I have examined my only remaining donkey: he is a picture of

misery--eyes and nose running, coat staring, and he is about to start to

join his departed comrades; he has packed up for his last journey. With

his loose skin hanging to his withered frame he looked like the British

lion on the shield over the door of the Khartoum consulate. In that

artistic effort the lion was equally lean and ragged, having perhaps

been thus represented by the artist as a pictorial allusion to the

smallness of the Consul's pay; the illustration over the shabby gateway

utters, 'Behold my leanness! 150l. per annum!'

"I feel a touch of the poetic stealing over me when I look at my

departing donkey. 'I never loved a dear gazelle,' &c.: but the practical

question, 'Who is to carry the portmanteau?' remains unanswered. I do

not believe the Turks have any intention of going to Kamrasi's country;

they are afraid, as they have heard that he is a powerful king, and they

fear the restrictions that power will place upon their felonious

propensities. In that case I shall go on without them; but they have

deceived me, by borrowing 165 lbs. of beads which they cannot repay;

this puts me to much inconvenience. The Asua river is still impassable,

according to native reports; this will, prevent a general advance south.

Should the rains cease, the river will fall rapidly, and I shall make a

forward move and escape this prison of high grass and inaction."

"Oct. 11th.--Lions roaring every night, but not visible. I set my men to

work to construct a fortified camp, a simple oblong of palisades with

two flanking projections at opposite angles to command all approaches;

the lazy scoundrels are sulky in consequence. Their daily occupation is

drinking merissa, sleeping, and strumming on the rababa, while that of

the black women is quarrelling--one ebony sister insulting the other by

telling her that she is as 'black as the kettle,' and recommending her,

'to eat poison.'"

"Oct. 17th.--I expect an attack of fever tomorrow or next day, as I

understand from constant and painful experiences every step of this

insidious disease. For some days one feels a certain uneasiness of

spirits difficult to explain; no peculiar symptom is observed until a

day or two before the attack, when great lassitude is felt, with a

desire to sleep. Rheumatic pains in the loins, back, and joints of the

limbs are accompanied by a sense of great weakness. A cold fit comes on

very quickly; this is so severe that it almost immediately affects the

stomach, producing painful vomiting with severe retching. The eyes are

heavy and painful, the head hot and aching, the extremities pale and

cold, pulse very weak, and about fifty-six beats per minute; the action

of the heart distressingly weak, with total prostration of strength.

This shivering and vomiting continues for about two hours, attended with

great difficulty of breathing. The hot stage then comes on, the retching

still continuing, with the difficulty of breathing, intense weakness and

restlessness for about an hour and a half, which, should the remedies be

successful, terminate in profuse perspiration and sleep. The attack

ends, leaving the stomach in a dreadful state of weakness. The fever is

remittent, the attack returning almost at the same hour every two days,

and reducing the patient rapidly to a mere skeleton; the stomach refuses

to act, and death ensues. Any severe action of the mind, such as grief

or anger, is almost certain to be succeeded by fever in this country. My

stock of quinine is reduced to a few grains, and my work lies before me;

my cattle are all dead. We are both weakened by repeated fever, and

travelling must be on foot."

CHAPTER X

LIFE AT OBBO.

For months we dragged on a miserable existence at Obbo, wrecked by

fever; the quinine exhausted; thus the disease worried me almost to

death, returning at intervals of a few days. Fortunately my wife did not

suffer so much as I did. I had nevertheless prepared for the journey

south; and as travelling on foot would have been impossible in our weak

state, I had purchased and trained three oxen in lieu of horses. They

were named "Beef," "Steaks," and "Suet." "Beef" was a magnificent

animal, but having been bitten by the flies, he so lost his condition

that I changed his name to "Bones." We were ready to start, and the

natives reported that early in January the Asua would be fordable. I had

arranged with Ibrahim that he should supply me with porters for payment

in copper bracelets, and that he should accompany me with one hundred

men to Kamrasi's country (Unyoro), on condition that he would restrain

his people from all misdemeanours, and that they should be entirely

subservient to me. It was the month of December, and during the nine

months that I had been in correspondence with his party I had succeeded

in acquiring an extraordinary influence. Although my camp was nearly

three-quarters of a mile from their zareeba, I had been besieged daily

for many months for everything that was wanted; my camp was a kind of

general store that appeared to be inexhaustible. I gave all that I had

with a good grace, and thereby gained the goodwill of the robbers,

especially as my large medicine chest contained a supply of drugs that

rendered me in their eyes a physician of the first importance. I had

been very successful with my patients; and the medicines that I

generally used being those which produced a very decided effect, both

the Turks and natives considered them with perfect faith. There was

seldom any difficulty in prognosticating the effect of tartar emetic,

and this became the favourite drug that was applied for almost daily; a

dose of three grains enchanting the patient, who always advertised my

fame by saying, "He told me I should be sick, and, by Allah! there was

no mistake about it." Accordingly there was a great run upon the tartar

emetic. Many people in Debono's camp had died, including several of my

deserters who had joined them. News was brought that, in three separate

fights with the natives, my deserters had been killed on every occasion,

and my men and those of Ibrahim unhesitatingly declared it was the "hand

of God." None of Ibrahim's men had died since we left Latooka. One man,

who had been badly wounded by a lance thrust through his abdomen, I

successfully treated; the trading party, who would at one time gladly

have exterminated me, now exclaimed, "What shall we do when the Sowar

(traveller) leaves the country?" Mrs. Baker had been exceedingly kind

to the women and children of both the traders and natives, and together

we had created so favourable an impression that we were always referred

to as umpires in every dispute. My own men, although indolent, were so

completely disciplined that they would not have dared to disobey an

order, and they looked back upon their former mutinous conduct with

surprise at their own audacity, and declared that they feared to return

to Khartoum, as they were sure that I should not forgive them.

I had promised Ibrahim that I would use my influence with the King of

Unyoro to procure him the ivory of that country;--I had a good supply

of beads, while Ibrahim had none; thus he was dependent upon me for

opening the road. Everything looked fair, and had I been strong and well

I should have enjoyed the future prospect; but I was weak and almost

useless, and weighed down with anxiety lest I might die and my wife

would be left alone.

The rains had ceased, and the wild grapes were ripe the natives brought

them in great quantities in exchange for a few beads. They were in

extremely large bunches, invariably black, and of a good size, but not

juicy--the flavour was good, and they were most refreshing, and

certainly benefited my health. I pressed about two hundred pounds of

grapes in the large sponging bath, but procured so little juice, and

that so thick, that winemaking proved a failure; it fermented, and we

drank it, but it was not wine. One day, hearing a great noise of voices

and blowing of horns in the direction of Katchiba's residence, I sent to

inquire the cause. The old chief himself appeared very angry and

excited. He said, that his people were very bad, that they had been

making a great noise and finding fault with him because he had not

supplied them with a few showers, as they wanted to sow their crop of

tullaboon. There had been no rain for about a fortnight.

"Well," I replied, "you are the rainmaker; why don't you give your

people rain?" "Give my people rain!" said Katchiba. "I give them rain if

they don't give me goats? You don't know my people; if I am fool enough

to give them rain before they give me the goats, they would let me

starve! No, no! let them wait--if they don't bring me supplies of corn,

goats, fowls, yams, merissa, and all that I require, not one drop of

rain shall ever fall again in Obbo! Impudent brutes are my people! Do

you know, they have positively threatened to kill me unless I bring the

rain? They shan't have a drop; I will wither the crops, and bring a

plague upon their flocks. I'll teach these rascals to insult me!"

With all this bluster, I saw that old Katchiba was in a great dilemma,

and that he would give anything for a shower, but that he did not know

how to get out of the scrape. It was a common freak of the tribes to

sacrifice the rainmaker, should he be unsuccessful. He suddenly altered

his tone, and asked, "Have you any rain in your country?" I replied that

we had, every now and then. "How do you bring it? Are you a rainmaker?"

I told him that no one believed in rainmakers in our country, but that

we understood how to bottle lightning (meaning electricity). "I don't

keep mine in bottles, but I have a houseful of thunder and lightning,"

he most coolly replied; "but if you can bottle lightning you must

understand rainmaking.

"What do you think of the weather today?" I immediately saw the drift of

the cunning old Katchiba; he wanted professional advice. I replied,

that he must know all about it, as he was a regular rainmaker. "Of

course I do," he answered, "but I want to know what YOU think of it."

"Well," I said, "I don't think we shall have any steady rain, but I

think we may have a heavy shower in about four days." (I said this as I

had observed fleecy clouds gathering daily in the afternoon). "Just my

opinion!" said Katchiba, delighted; "in four or perhaps in five days I

intend to give them one shower; just one shower; yes, I'll just step

down to them now, and tell the rascals, that if they will bring me some

goats by this evening, and some corn tomorrow morning, I will give them

in four or five days just one shower." To give effect to his declaration

he gave several toots upon his magic whistle. "Do you use whistles in

your country?" inquired Katchiba. I only replied by giving so shrill and

deafening a whistle on my fingers that Katchiba stopped his ears; and

relapsing into a smile of admiration he took a glance at the sky from

the doorway to see if any sudden effect bad been produced. "Whistle

again," he said; and once more I performed like the whistle of a

locomotive. "That will do, we shall have it," said the cunning old

rainmaker; and proud of having so knowingly obtained "counsel's opinion"

on his case, he toddled off to his impatient subjects.

In a few days a sudden storm of rain and violent thunder added to

Katchiba's renown, and after the shower, horns were blowing and nogaras

were beating in honour of their chief. Entre nous, my whistle was

considered infallible.

The natives were busy sowing the new crop just as the last crop was

ripening. It did not appear likely that they would reap much for their

labour, as the elephants, having an accurate knowledge of the season,

visited their fields nightly, and devoured and trampled the greater

portion. I had been too ill to think of shooting, as there was no other

method than to watch in the tullaboon fields at night; the high grass in

which the elephants harboured being impenetrable. Feeling a little

better I took my men to the field about a mile from the village, and dug

a hole, in which I intended to watch.

That night I took Richarn, and we sat together in our narrow grave.

There was no sound throughout the night. I was well wrapped up in a

Scotch plaid, but an attack of ague came on, and I shivered as though in

Lapland. I had several rifles in the grave; among others the "Baby,"

that carried a half-pound explosive shell. At about 4 A.M. I heard the

distant trumpet of an elephant, and I immediately ordered Richarn to

watch, and to report to me their arrival. It was extremely dark, but

Richarn presently sank slowly down, and whispered, "Here they are!"

Taking the "Baby," I quietly rose, and listening attentively, I could

distinctly hear the elephants tearing off the heads of the tullaboon,

and crunching the crisp grain. I could distinguish the dark forms of the

herd about thirty paces from me, but much too indistinct for a shot. I

stood with my elbows resting on the edge of the hole, and the heavy

rifle balanced, waiting for an opportunity. I had a papersight arranged

for night shooting, and I several times tried to get the line of an

elephant's shoulder, but to no purpose; I could distinguish the sight

clearly, but not the elephant. As I was watching the herd I suddenly

heard a trumpet close to my left, and I perceived an elephant quickly

walking exactly towards my grave. I waited with the rifle at my shoulder

until he was within about twelve paces; I then whistled, and he stopped,

and turned quickly, exposing his side. Taking the line of the foreleg, I

fired at the shoulder. The tremendous flash and smoke of ten drachms of

powder completely blinded me, and the sudden reaction of darkness

increased the obscurity. I could distinguish nothing; but I heard a

heavy fall, and a few moments after I could hear a rustling in the grass

as the herd of elephants retreated into the grass jungles. Richarn

declared that the elephant had fallen; but I again heard a rustling in

the high grass jungle within eighty yards of me, and this sound

continued in the same place. I accordingly concluded that the elephant

was very badly wounded, and that he could not move from the spot.

Nothing could be seen.

At length the birds began to chirp, and the "blacksmith" (as I named one

of the first to wake, whose two sharp ringing notes exactly resemble the

blows of a hammer upon an anvil) told me that it was nearly daybreak.

The grey of morning had just appeared when I heard voices, and I saw

Mrs. Baker coming along the field with a party of men, whom she had

brought down from the village with knives and axes. She had heard the

roar of the heavy rifle, and knowing the "Baby's" scream, and the usual

fatal effects, she had considered the elephant as bagged. The natives

had also heard the report, and people began to accumulate from all

quarters for the sake of the flesh. The elephant was not dead, but was

standing about ten yards within the grass jungle; however, in a short

time a heavy fall sounded his knell, and the crowd rushed in. He was a

fine bull, and before I allowed him to be cut up, I sent for the

measuring tape; the result being as follows:

From tip of trunk to fleshy end of tail . . . 26 feet 0.5 inches

Height from shoulder to forefoot in a perpendicular line 10 ft 6.5 in

Girth of forefoot .. . . . . . . . . . 4 ft 10.25 in

Length of one tusk in the curve . . . . . . . 6 ft 6 in

Ditto of fellow tusk (el Hadam, the servant) . . . . 5 ft 11 in

Weight of tusks, 80 lbs. and 69 lbs. = 149 lbs.

The ridiculous accounts that I have read, stating that the height of

elephants attains FIFTEEN feet, is simply laughable ignorance. A

difference of a foot in an elephant's height is enormous; he appears a

giant among his lesser comrades. Observe the difference between a horse

sixteen hands high and a pony of thirteen hands, and the difference of a

foot in the height of a quadruped is exemplified. The word being given,

the crowd rushed upon the elephant, and about three hundred people were

attacking the carcase with knives and lances. About a dozen men were

working inside as though in a tunnel; they had chosen this locality as

being near to the fat, which was greatly coveted.

A few days later I attempted to set fire to the grass jungle, but it

would not burn thoroughly, leaving scorched stems that were rendered

still tougher by the fire. On the following evening I took a stroll over

the burnt ground to look for game. No elephants had visited the spot;

but as I was walking along expecting nothing, up jumped a wild boar and

sow from the entrance of a large hole of the Manis, or great scaled

anteater. Being thus taken by surprise, the boar very imprudently

charged me, and was immediately knocked over dead by a shot through the

spine from the little Fletcher rifle, while the left-hand barrel rolled

over his companion, who almost immediately recovered and disappeared in

the grass jungle; however, there was pork for those who liked it, and I

went to the camp and sent a number of natives to bring it home. The Obbo

people were delighted, as it was their favourite game, but none of my

people would touch the unclean animal. The wild pigs of this country

live underground; they take possession of the holes made by the Manis:

these they enlarge and form cool and secure retreats.

A bad attack of fever laid me up until the 31st of December. On the

first day of January, 1864, I was hardly able to stand, and was nearly

worn out at the very time that I required my strength, as we were to

start south in a few days.

Although my quinine had been long since exhausted, I had reserved ten

grains to enable me to start in case the fever should attack me at the

time of departure. I now swallowed my last dose, and on 3d January, I

find the following note in my journal: "All ready for a start tomorrow.

I trust the year 1864 will bring better luck than the past, that having

been the most annoying that I have ever experienced, and full of fever.

I hope now to reach Kamrasi's country in a fortnight, and to obtain

guides from him direct to the lake. My Latooka, to whom I have been very

kind, has absconded: there is no difference in any of these savages; if

hungry, they will fawn upon you, and when filled, they will desert. I

believe that ten years' residence in the Soudan and this country would

spoil an Angel, and would turn the best heart to stone."

It was difficult to procure porters, therefore I left all my effects at

my camp in charge of two of my men, and I determined to travel light,

without the tent, and to take little beyond ammunition and cooking

utensils. Ibrahim left forty-five men in his zareeba, and on the 5th of

January we started. Mrs. Baker rode her ox, but my animal being very

shy, I ordered him to be driven for about a mile with the others to

accustom him to the crowd: not approving of the expedition, he bolted

into the high grass with my English saddle, and I never saw him again.

In my weak state I had to walk. We had not gone far when a large fly

fastened upon Mrs. Baker's ox, just by his tail, the effect of which was

to produce so sudden a kick and plunge, that he threw her to the ground

and hurt her considerably: she accordingly changed the animal, and rode

a splendid ox that Ibrahim very civilly offered. I had to walk to the

Atabbi, about eighteen miles, which, although a pleasant stroll when in

good health, I found rather fatiguing. We bivouacked on the south bank

of the Atabbi.

The next morning, after a walk of about eight miles, I purchased of one

of the Turks the best ox that I have ever ridden, at the price of a

double-barrelled gun---it was a great relief to be well mounted, as I

was quite unfit for a journey on foot.

At 4.30 P.m. we arrived at one of the villages of Farajoke. The

character of the country had entirely changed; instead of the rank and

superabundant vegetation of Obbo, we were in a beautiful open country,

naturally drained by its undulating character, and abounding in most

beautiful low pasturage. Vast herds of cattle belonged to the different

villages, but these had all been driven to concealment, as the report

had been received that the Turks were approaching. The country was

thickly populated, but the natives appeared very mistrustful; the Turks

immediately entered the villages, and ransacked the granaries for corn,

digging up the yams, and helping themselves to everything as though

quite at home. I was on a beautiful grass sward on the gentle slope of a

hill: here I arranged to bivouac for the night.

In three days' march from this point through beautiful park-like

country, we arrived at the Asua river. The entire route from Farajoke

had been a gentle descent, and I found this point of the Asua in lat N.

3 degrees 12 minutes to be 2,875 feet above the sea level, 1,091 feet

lower than Farajoke. The river was a hundred and twenty paces broad, and

from the bed to the top of the perpendicular banks was about fifteen

feet. At this season it was almost dry, and a narrow channel of about

six inches deep flowed through the centre of the otherwise exhausted

river. The bed was much obstructed by rocks, and the inclination was so

rapid that I could readily conceive the impossibility of crossing it

during the rains. It formed the great drain of the country, all its

waters flowing to the Nile, but during the dry months it was most

insignificant. The country between Farajoke and the Asua, although

lovely, was very thinly populated, and the only villages that I saw were

built upon low hills of bare granite, which lay in huge piles of

disjointed fragments.

On arrival at the river, while the men were washing in the clear stream,

I took a rifle and strolled along the margin; I shortly observed a herd

of the beautiful Mehedehet antelopes feeding upon the rich but low grass

of a sandbank in the very centre of the river. Stalking them to within a

hundred and twenty paces they obtained my wind, and, ceasing to graze,

they gazed intently at me. I was on the high bank among the bushes, and

I immediately picked out the biggest, and fired, missing my mark. All

dashed away except the animal at which I fired, who stood in uncertainty

for a few moments, when the second barrel of the Fletcher 24 rifle

knocked him over, striking him through the neck. Hearing the quick

double shot, my people came running to the spot, accompanied by a number

of the native porters, and were rejoiced to find a good supply of meat;

the antelope weighed about five hundred pounds, and was sufficient to

afford a good dinner for the whole party.

The Mehedehet is about 13 hands high, with rough, brown hair like the

Samber deer of India. Our resting-place was on the dry, rocky bed of the

river, close to the edge of the shallow but clear stream that rippled

over the uneven surface. Some beautiful tamarind trees afforded a most

agreeable shade, and altogether it was a charming place to bivouac.

Although at Obbo the grass was not sufficiently dry to burn, in this

country it was reduced to a crisp straw, and I immediately set fire to

the prairies; the wind was strong, and we had a grand blaze, the flames

crackling and leaping about thirty feet high, and sweeping along with so

mad a fury that within an hour the entire country was a continuous line

of fire. Not a trace of vegetation remained behind; the country appeared

as though covered with a pall of black velvet. Returning from my work, I

found my camping place well arranged--beds prepared, and a good dinner

ready of antelope soup and cutlets. On waking the next morning, I found

that the Turks had all disappeared during the night, and that I was

alone with my people. It was shortly explained that they had departed to

attack some village, to which they were guided by some natives who had

accompanied them from Farajoke.

I accordingly took my rifle and strolled along the margin of the river

to look for game, accompanied by two of my porters. Although it was a

most likely country, being a natural park well timbered, with a river

flowing through the midst, there was a great scarcity of wild animals.

At length, in crossing a ravine that had stopped the progress of the

fire, an antelope (water buck) jumped out of a hollow, and, rushing

through the high grass, he exposed himself for an instant in crossing

the summit of a bare knoll, and received a ball from the little Fletcher

in the hindquarters. Although badly wounded, he was too nimble for my

natives, who chased him with their spears for about a quarter of a mile.

These fellows tracked him beautifully, and we at length found him hiding

in a deep pool in the river, and he was immediately dispatched.

After a long walk, during which I did not obtain another shot, I

returned to my resting-place, and, refreshed by a bathe in the cool

river, I slept as sound as though in the most luxurious bed in England.

On the following morning I went out early, and shot a small species of

antelope; and shortly after my return to breakfast, the Turks' party

arrived, bringing with them about three hundred head of cattle that they

had captured from the Madi tribe. They did not seem at all in good

spirits, and I shortly heard that they had lost their standard-bearer,

killed in the fight, and that the flag had been in great peril, and had

been saved by the courage of a young Bari slave. The ensign was

separated from the main party, and was attacked by four natives, who

killed the bearer, and snatched away the flag: this would inevitably

have been lost, had not the Bari boy of about fifteen shot the foremost

native dead with a pistol, and, snatching the flag from his hands, ran

with it towards the Turks, some of whom coming up at that instant, the

natives did not think it wise to pursue their advantage. A number of

slaves had been captured; among others, several young children, one of

whom was an infant. These unfortunate women and children, excepting the

infant, were all tied by the neck with a long leathern thong, so as to

form a living chain, and guards were set over them to prevent escape.

The Bari natives would make good soldiers, as they are far more

courageous than most of the savage tribes. The best men among the party

of Ibrahim are Baris; among them is a boy named Arnout; he is the

drummer, and he once saved his master in a fight by suddenly presenting

his drumstick like a pistol at several natives, who had attacked him

while unloaded. The natives, seeing the determined attitude of the boy,

and thinking that the drumstick was a firearm, ran off. We started at

daybreak on 13th January, and, ascending the whole way, we reached

Shooa, in latitude 3 degrees 4 minutes. The route throughout had been of

the same parklike character, interspersed with occasional hills of fine

granite, piled in the enormous blocks so characteristic of that stone.

Shooa was a lovely place. A fine granite mountain ascended in one block

in a sheer precipice for about 800 feet from its base, perfectly abrupt

on the eastern side, while the other portions of the mountain were

covered with fine forest trees, and picturesquely dotted over with

villages. This country formed a natural park, remarkably well watered by

numerous rivulets, ornamented with fine timber, and interspersed with

numerous high rocks of granite, which from a distance produced the

effect of ruined castles.

The pasturage was of a superior quality, and of the same description as

that of Farajoke. The country being undulating, there was a small brook

in every valley that formed a natural drain. Accordingly, the more

elevated land was remarkably dry and healthy. On arrival at the foot of

the abrupt mountain, we camped beneath an immense india-rubber tree,

that afforded a delightful shade, from which elevated spot we had a

superb view of the surrounding country, and could see the position of

Debono's camp, about twenty-five miles to the west by north, at the foot

of the Faloro hills.

By Casella's thermometer, I determined the altitude of Shooa to be 3,877

feet--1,002 feet above the Asua river, and 89 feet lower than

Farajoke. These observations of the thermometer agreed with the natural

appearance of the country, the Asua river forming the main drain in a

deep valley, into which innumerable rivulets convey the drainage from

both north and south. Accordingly, the Asua, receiving the Atabbi river,

which is the main drain of the western face of the Madi mountains, and

the entire drainage of the Madi and Shooa countries, together with that

of extensive countries to the east of Shooa, including the rivers Chombi

and Udat, from Lira and Umiro, it becomes a tremendous torrent so long

as the rains continue, and conveys a grand volume of water to the Nile;

but the inclination of all these countries tending rapidly to the

northwest, the bed of the Asua river partakes of the general incline,

and so quickly empties after the cessation of the rains that it becomes

nil as a river. By the mean of several observations I determined the

latitude of Shooa 3 degrees 04 minutes, longitude 32 degrees 04 minutes

E.

We were now about twelve miles south of Debono's outpost, Faloro. The

whole of the Shooa country was assumed to belong to Mahommed Wat-el-Mek,

the vakeel of Debono, and we had passed the ashes of several villages

that had been burnt and plundered by these people between Farajoke and

this point; the entire country had been laid waste.

There was no great chief at Shooa; each village had a separate headman;

formerly the population had occupied the lower ground, but since the

Turks had been established at Faloro and had plundered the neighbouring

tribes, the natives had forsaken their villages and had located

themselves among the mountains for security. It was the intention of

Ibrahim to break through the rules accepted by the White Nile traders,

and to establish himself at Shooa, which, although claimed by Debono's

people, would form an excellent point d'appui for operations towards the

unknown south.

Shooa was "flowing with milk and honey;" fowls, butter, goats, were in

abundance and ridiculously cheap; beads were of great value, as few had

ever reached that country. The women flocked to see Mrs. Baker, bringing

presents of milk and flour, and receiving beads and bracelets in return.

The people were precisely the same as those of Obbo and Farajoke in

language and appearance, exceedingly mild in their manner, and anxious

to be on good terms.

The cultivation in this country was superior to anything that I had seen

farther north; large quantities of sesame were grown and carefully

harvested, the crop being gathered and arranged in oblong frames about

twenty feet long by twelve high. These were inclined at an angle of

about sixty--the pods of the sesame plants on one face, so that the

frames resembled enormous brushes. In this manner the crop was dried

previous to being stored in the granaries. Of the latter there were two

kinds---the wicker-work smeared with cow dung, supported on four posts,

with a thatched roof; and a simple contrivance by fixing a stout pole

about twenty feet long perpendicularly in the earth. About four feet

from the ground a bundle of strong and long reeds are tied tightly round

the pole; hoops of wicker-work are then bound round them at intervals

until they assume the form of an inverted umbrella half expanded; this

being filled with grain, fresh reeds are added, until the work has

extended to within a few feet of the top of the pole; the whole is then

capped with reeds securely strapped: the entire granary has the

appearance of a cigar, but thicker in proportion about the middle.

Two days after our arrival at Shooa, the whole of our Obbo porters

absconded: they had heard that we were bound for Kamrasi's country, and

having received exaggerated accounts of his power from the Shooa people,

they had determined upon retreat: thus we were at once unable to

proceed, unless we could procure porters from Shooa. This was

exceedingly difficult, as Kamrasi was well known here, and was not

loved. His country was known as "Quanda," and I at once recognised the

corruption of Speke's "Uganda." The slave woman, "Bacheeta," who had

formerly given me in Obbo so much information concerning Kamrasi's

country, was to be our interpreter; but we also had the luck to discover

a lad who had formerly been employed by Mahommed in Faloro, who also

spoke the language of Quanda, and had learnt a little Arabic. I now

discovered that the slave woman Bacheeta had formerly been in the

service of a chief named Sali, who had been killed by Kamrasi. Sali was

a friend of Rionga (Kamrasi's greatest enemy), and I had been warned by

Speke not to set foot upon Rionga's territory, or all travelling in

Unyoro would be cut off. I plainly saw that Bacheeta was in favour of

Rionga, as a friend of the murdered Sali, by whom she had had two

children, and that she would most likely tamper with the guide, and that

we should be led to Rionga instead of to Kamrasi. There were "wheels

within wheels." It was now reported that in the past year, immediately

after the departure of Speke and Grant from Gondokoro, when Debono's

people had left me in the manner already described, they had marched

direct to Rionga, allied themselves to him, crossed the Nile with his

people, and had attacked Kamrasi's country, killing about three hundred

of his men, and capturing many slaves. I now understood why they had

deceived me at Gondokoro; they had obtained information of the country

from Speke's people, and had made use of it by immediately attacking

Kamrasi in conjunction with Rionga.

This would be a pleasant introduction for me on entering Unyoro, as

almost immediately after the departure of Speke and Grant, Kamrasi had

been invaded by the very people into whose hands his messengers had

delivered them, when they were guided from Unyoro to the Turks' station

at Faloro; he would naturally have considered that the Turks had been

sent by Speke to attack him; thus the road appeared closed to all

exploration, through the atrocities of Debono's people.

Many of Ibrahim's men, at hearing this intelligence, refused to proceed

to Unyoro. Fortunately for me, Ibrahim had been extremely unlucky in

procuring ivory; the year had almost passed away, and he had a mere

nothing with which to return to Gondokoro. I impressed upon him how

enraged Koorshid would be should he return with such a trifle; already

his own men declared that he was neglecting razzias, because he was to

receive a present from me if we reached Unyoro; this they would report

to his master (Koorshid), and it would be believed should he fail in

securing ivory. I guaranteed him 100 cantars (10,000 lbs.) if he would

push on at all hazards with me to Kamrasi, and secure me porters from

Shooa. Ibrahim behaved remarkably well. For some time past I had

acquired a great influence over him, and he depended so thoroughly upon

my opinion that he declared himself ready to do all that I suggested.

Accordingly I desired him to call his men together, and to leave in

Shooa all those who were disinclined to follow us.

At once I arranged for a start, lest some fresh idea should enter the

ever-suspicious brains of our followers, and mar the expedition.

It was difficult to procure porters, and I abandoned all that was not

indispensable--our last few pounds of rice and coffee, and even the

great sponging-bath, that emblem of civilization that had been clung to

even when the tent had been left behind.

On the 18th January, 1864, we left Shooa. The pure air of that country

had invigorated us, and I was so improved in strength, that I enjoyed

the excitement of the launch into unknown lands. The Turks knew nothing

of the route south, and I accordingly took the lead of the entire party.

I had come to a distinct understanding with Ibrahim that Kamrasi's

country should belong to ME; not an act of felony would be permitted;

all were to be under my government, and I would insure him at least 100

cantars of tusks.