An inspection of the map will show on the eastern coast an extensive
hiatus, which, from the scanty reports that have been gleaned, is most
certainly studded with high mountains, and drained by numerous and
powerful rivers; but no details have hitherto been obtained that
justified the laying down of either with any geographical accuracy. The
first accounts of the existence in central Africa of a great river were
brought to Etearchus, king of the Oasis of Ammon, by certain youths of
the Nassamonians, who, as related by Herodotus, "had been deputed to
explore her solitudes. After a journey of many days they were seized
and carried into captivity by some men of dwarfish stature, who
conducted them over marshy grounds, to a city in which all the
inhabitants were of the same diminutive appearance, and of a black
colour. This city was washed by a great river, now ascertained to be
the Niger, which flowed from west to east, and abounded in crocodiles."
The early Arabian geographers specifically mention large rivers
descending from the high mountain land to the southward of the blue
Nile, and flowing to the Indian ocean; and it is a curious fact, that
they designate one of these "the River of Pygmies." The Portuguese were
the next who spoke of this stream, upwards of two centuries ago; and
from the highlands of Abyssinia a clue to its origin and course has now
been obtained, which will serve in a great measure to supply the
existing deficiencies, and to cover the wide space of _terra incognita_
in Eastern Africa north of the equator.
The Gochob is described to rise in the great central ridge which is now
known to divide the waters that discharge themselves east into the
Indian Ocean, from those that flow west into the Bahr el Abiad, and more
southerly into the Atlantic. Spreading into a lake, and bearing on its
bosom a noble body of water, it is joined, fifteen days' journey south
of Enarea, by the Omo, a large tributary which rises beyond Tufftee in
Susa Maketch, in a jet of water playing the height of a spear shaft.
Half a day's journey below the point of junction, the united volume
rolls over a stupendous cataract called Dumbaro, the roar of which can
be heard many miles, whence pursuing its course to the south-east, it
forms the southern limit of Zingero, and finally disembogues into the
sea.
There seems every reason to believe that the Gochob must be identical
with the Kibbee of the best extant maps, described to be a very large
river coming from the north-west, and entering the sea near the town of
Juba, immediately under the equator. If not the Kibbee, it must be the
Quilimancy, which disembogues by several estuaries between Patta and
Malinda, four degrees further to the south; but all accounts of the
latter that have yet been collected from the coast, authorise the
adoption of the first hypothesis.
The general course of the Nile to the north, and of the Kibbee to the
south, are said to have been well-known to the Egyptians three thousand
years ago. The sacristan of the temple of Minerva in Thebes told
Herodotus that half the waters of the father of rivers flowed to the
north, and the other half to the south, and that they were produced by
the tropical rains. The currents experienced in five degrees north of
the equator, in the vicinity of the coast, confirm the opinion of a
great river rolling a vast body of water into the eastern ocean. At
their height during the prevalence of the monsoon in August and
September, they are known to sweep a vessel along at the rate of one
hundred and twenty miles a day, frequently exposing the inexperienced
navigator to the chance of shipwreck on Socotra, whereas before and
after the tropical rains the current is scarcely perceptible. Were this
caused by the monsoon, it would prevail equally over these latitudes
during the influence of the south-westerly winds; but the fact remains,
that it is felt only off the coast in about five degrees north latitude,
at the period alone when the river must be swollen with the volume of
water gathered from the highest mountain land in the interior.
Beyond Zingero, and considerably lower down the great river, is the
kingdom of Koocha, which is described to be hot, and subject to annual
rains of two months' duration. It extends on both sides, with a
numerous population inhabiting many large towns, of which Laade, Seylo,
Umpho, Jella, Gulta, Aara, and Wunjo, all on the northern bank, are the
principal. The houses are conical, and constructed of mud and bamboos,
which there grow abundantly. All the nation are Galla, with features
strictly those of the Negro, and their king is Bosha, the son of Laade,
surnamed, from the title of his war-steed, Abba Wabotoo, "I am he who
seizes."
In addition to the two umbrellas of state, the one composed of blue, and
the other of crimson, this chieftain is distinguished by a shield
covered with massive gold, and by many ornaments of the same precious
metal on his person. The costume of all classes consists of
party-coloured raiment--red, blue, and white, being mingled together in
profusion. Large pewter ear-rings are worn by the males; and by the
females, whose hair is braided in long ringlets, silver armlets,
anklets, and bracelets. Both sexes are great equestrians. The saddles
are covered with red imported leather, and the horses and mules are
large and abundant. Cultivation in every description of tropical grain
is universal; honey abounds in every quarter, and beer and hydromel are
manufactured by all.
Spices, odoriferous woods, and aromatic herbs, tea, coffee, oranges,
nutmeg, and ginger, are exceedingly plentiful. Precious stones are also
found, and bartered to certain white men, who, wearing shoes, trousers,
and hats, and having yellow hair, come with their merchandise in
rowing-boats thirty days from the sea. They bring blue calico, chintz,
pepper, tobacco, copper, cutlery, and "fire water," and receive in
exchange slaves, ivory, spices, and gold, which latter is brought in
large quantities from Douro.
Slaves being in great demand, and their acquisition extremely lucrative,
Bosha is at perpetual war with all the surrounding tribes, save during
the annual rains. The Dannagem, and the Danna-Oorkeshool Galla, are
attacked every year, as are also the Malee Galla, a people armed with
bows and arrows, who dig pits, throw up bamboo stockades, and place
pointed stakes in the ground to annoy the cavalry of Koocha, whose
horses being kept in the house all the year round, and abundantly fed,
are very superior. Murderers are punished according as they have dealt
with their victim--one or two or more spear wounds or blows with the
sword being inflicted by the nearest relative of the deceased--but all
thieves, delinquents, and poor people, are sold to the white traders,
and immense numbers of slaves of both sexes are brought down by the
Douro Galla, in rafts with high gunwales, containing six or eight
persons.
The great river, which in this kingdom is supplied by two large
tributaries--the Toreech, rising in the country of the Gama Gobo, and
the Teeto, coming from the Alla Galla--is the medium of all trade. It
is very broad, and, except during the rainy season, has little
perceptible motion. The volume of water is always large, and comes from
a great distance inland. Hippopotami and elephants abound; and the
_gimjah_, or tree tiger, which infests the borders, is greatly feared
for its ferocity, and prized for the beauty of its skin. Native crafts
reach the sea in fifteen days, and ivory, slaves, coffee, and a variety
of other merchandise, are constantly brought on rafts by the tribes
higher up; but the white people never go beyond Koocha, neither do the
interior tribes pass down to the sea.
The Gochob, of which the discovery promises important accessions in a
geographical as well as in a commercial point of view, may be
conjectured to be the "Bargamo," or great water, from beyond which the
Galla describe their hordes to have poured, when they invaded Abyssinia,
after being driven from the vast unexplored interior by the centrifugal
force yet unexplained. Like the barbarous nations who were made the
weapons of Divine chastisement upon the corrupted empire of Rome, they
also brought darkness and ignorance in their train, but were unable to
eradicate the true religion. Throughout the regions included between
the Nile, the Hawash, and the Gochob, which may properly be termed
Galla, none but their own tongue is spoken; whereas to the south of the
last-named river, the intruding population have lost their language and
become gradually incorporated with the aboriginal possessors of the
soil. Whatever may be the true magnitude of the river, it is clearly
navigated to a considerable extent by a white people, who reap a
lucrative harvest whilst draining the country of its population, by a
traffic which must reflect the blackest disgrace upon the name of any
civilised people, and is here not rendered the less infamous by the
fact, that many of their purchases are Christians.
Volume 3, Chapter X.