THE FRIENDLY BATEKÉ.--GREAT SNAKES.--SOUDI'S STRANGE
ADVENTURES.--CAPTURED BY HOSTILE NATIVES.--DESCENDING RAPIDS AND
FALLS.--LOSS OF A CANOE.--"WHIRLPOOL RAPIDS."--THE _LADY ALICE_ IN
PERIL.--GAVUBU'S COVE.--"LADY ALICE" RAPIDS.--A PERILOUS DESCENT.--ALARM
OF STANLEY'S PEOPLE.--TRIBUTARY STREAMS.--PANIC AMONG THE
CANOE-MEN.--NATIVE VILLAGES.--INKISI FALLS.--TUCKEY'S CATARACT.--A ROAD
OVER A MOUNTAIN.--AMONG THE BABWENDÉ.--AFRICAN MARKETS.--TRADING AMONG
THE TRIBES.--SHOELESS TRAVELLERS.--EXPERIMENTS IN COOKING.--LIMITED
STOCK OF PROVISIONS.--CENTRAL AFRICAN ANTS.--"JIGGAS."--DANGERS OF
UNPROTECTED FEET.
Promptly at the hour all were in their places. Frank was ready with the
opened book, from which he read:
"On the 30th of March a messenger was despatched to Frank to
superintend the transport of the goods overland to where I had
arrived with the boat. The natives continued to be very amiable,
and food was abundant and cheap. They visited our camp from morning
to night, bringing their produce from a great distance. They are a
very gentle and harmless tribe, the western Bateké, and
distinguishable by four cicatrices down each cheek. They are also
remarkable for their numerous bird-snares--bird-lime being
furnished by the _Ficus sycamorus_--and traps. About sunset a
wide-spreading flock of large birds like parrots passed northeast
over our camp, occupying nearly half an hour in passing. They were
at too great an altitude to be recognized. Lead-colored
water-snakes were very numerous, the largest being about seven feet
in length and two and one half inches in diameter.
[Illustration: VILLAGE IDOLS.]
"Confined within the deep, narrow valley of the river, the hills
rising to the height of about eight hundred feet above us, and
exposed to the continued uproar of the river, we became almost
stunned during our stay of the 31st.
"On the 1st of April we cleared the Kalulu Fulls, and camped on the
right bank below them. Our two absentees on the left side had
followed us, and were signalling frequently to us, but we were
helpless. The next day we descended a mile and a half of rapids,
and in the passage one more canoe was lost, which reduced our
flotilla to thirteen vessels.
"About 2 P.M., to the general joy, appeared young Soudi and our two
absentees who the day before had been signalling us from the
opposite side of the river!
"Soudi's adventures had been very strange. He had been swept down
over the upper and lower Kalulu Falls and the intermediate rapids,
and had been whirled round so often that he became confused. 'But
clinging to my canoe,' he said, 'the wild river carried me down and
down and down, from place to place, sometimes near a rock, and
sometimes near the middle of the stream, until an hour after dark,
when I saw it was near a rock; I jumped out, and, catching my
canoe, drew it on shore. I had scarcely finished when my arms were
seized, and I was bound by two men, who hurried me up to the top of
the mountain, and then for an hour over the high land, until we
came to a village. They then pushed me into a house, where they lit
a fire, and when it was bright they stripped me naked and examined
me. Though I pretended not to understand them, I knew enough to
know that they were proud of their prize. They spoke kindly to me,
and gave me plenty to eat; and while one of them slept, the other
watched sharp lest I should run away. In the morning it was rumored
over the village that a handsome slave was captured from a strange
tribe, and many people came to see me, one of whom had seen us at
Ntamo, and recognized me. This man immediately charged the two men
with having stolen one of the white man's men, and he drew such a
picture of you, master, with large eyes of fire and long hair, who
owned a gun that shot all day, that all the people became
frightened, and compelled the two men to take me back to where they
had found me. They at once returned me my clothes, and brought me
to the place near where I had tied my canoe. They then released me,
saying, "Go to your king; here is food for you; and do not tell him
what we have done to you; but tell him you met friends who saved
you, and it shall be well with us."'
"The other two men, seeking for means to cross the river, met Soudi
sitting by his canoe. The three became so much encouraged at one
another's presence that they resolved to cross the river rather
than endure further anxiety in a strange land. Despair gave them
courage, and though the river was rapid, they succeeded in
crossing, a mile below the place they had started from, without
accident.
"On the 3d of April we descended another mile and a half of
dangerous rapids, during which several accidents occurred. One
canoe was upset which contained fifty tusks of ivory and a sack of
beads. Four men had narrow escapes from drowning, but Uledi, my
coxswain, saved them. I myself tumbled headlong into a small basin,
and saved myself with difficulty from being swept away by the
receding tide.
[Illustration: HILLY REGION BACK FROM THE RIVER.]
"Our system of progress was to begin each day with Frank leading
the expedition overland to a camp at the head of some inlet, cove,
or recess, near rapids or falls, where, with the older men, women,
and children, he constructed a camp; the working party, consisting
of the younger men, returning to assist me with the canoes down
to the new camp. Anxious for the safety of the people, I
superintended the river work myself, and each day led the way in
the boat. On approaching rapids I selected three or four of the
boat's crew (and always Uledi, the coxswain), and clambered along
the great rocks piled along the base of the steeply sloping hills,
until I had examined the scene. If the rapids or fall were deemed
impassable by water, I planned the shortest and safest route across
the projecting points, and then, mustering the people, strewed a
broad track with bushes, over which, as soon as completed, we set
to work to haul our vessels beyond the dangerous water, when we
lowered them into the river, and pursued our way to camp, where
Frank would be ready to give me welcome, and such a meal as the
country afforded.
"At Gamfwé's the natives sold us abundance of bread, or rolls of
pudding, of cassava flour, maize, cassava leaves, water-cresses,
and the small Strychnos fruit, and, for the first time, lemons.
Fowls were very dear, and a goat was too expensive a luxury in our
now rapidly impoverishing state.
"On the 8th we descended from Gamfwé's to 'Whirlpool Narrows,'
opposite Umvilingya. When near there we perceived that the eddy
tides, which rushed up river along the bank, required very delicate
and skilful manoeuvring. I experimented on the boat first, and
attempted to haul her by cables round a rocky point from the bay
near Whirlpool Narrows. Twice they snapped ropes and cables, and
the second time the boat flew up river, borne on the crests of
brown waves, with only Uledi and two men in her. Presently she
wheeled into the bay, following the course of the eddy, and Uledi
brought her in-shore. The third time we tried the operation with
six cables of twisted rattan, about two hundred feet in length,
with five men to each cable. The rocks rose singly in precipitous
masses fifty feet above the river, and this extreme height
increased the difficulty and rendered footing precarious, for
furious eddies of past ages had drilled deep circular pits, like
ovens, in them, four, six, even ten feet deep. However, with the
utmost patience we succeeded in rounding these enormous blocks, and
hauling the boat against the uneasy eddy tide to where the river
resumed its natural downward flow. Below this, as I learned, were
some two miles of boisterous water; but mid-river, though foaming
in places, was not what we considered dangerous. We therefore
resolved to risk it in mid-stream, and the boat's crew, never
backward when they knew what lay in front of them, manned the boat,
and in fifteen minutes we had taken her into a small creek near
Umvilingya's landing, which ran up river between a ridge of rocks
and the right bank. This act instilled courage into the canoe-men,
and the boat-boys having volunteered to act as steersmen, with
Frank as leader, all manned the canoes next morning, and succeeded
in reaching my camp in good time without accident, though one canoe
was taken within two hundred yards of Round Island Falls, between
Isameh's and Umvilingya's.
"At this place Frank and I treated ourselves to a pig, which we
purchased from the chief Umvilingya for four cloths, we having been
more than two weeks without meat.
[Illustration: "LADY ALICE" OVER THE FALLS.]
"On the 10th, having, because of illness, intrusted the boat to
Manwa Sera and Uledi, they managed to get her jammed between two
rocks near the entrance to Gavubu's Cove, and, as the after-section
was sunk for a time, it appeared that the faithful craft would be
lost here after her long and wonderful journey. Springing from my
bed upon hearing of the threatened calamity, I mustered twenty
active men and hastened to the scene, and soon, by inspiring every
man to do his best, we were able to lift her out of her dangerous
position, and take her to camp apparently uninjured.
[Illustration: NATIVE MILL FOR GRINDING CORN.]
"The lower end of Gavubu's Cove was reached on the 11th, and the
next day by noon the land party and canoes were taken safely to the
lower end of Garafwé's Bay. As our means were rapidly diminishing
in this protracted struggle we maintained against the natural
obstacles to our journey, we could only hope to reach the sea by
resolute and continual industry during every hour of daylight. I
accordingly instructed the canoe-men to be ready to follow me, as
soon as they should be informed by a messenger that the boat had
safely arrived in camp.
"The commencement of "Lady Alice" Rapids was marked by a broad
fall, and an interruption to the rapidly rushing river by a narrow
ridgy islet of great rocks, which caused the obstructed stream to
toss its waters in lateral waves against the centre, where they met
waves from the right bank, and overlapping formed a lengthy dyke of
foaming water.
"Strong cane cables were lashed to the bow and stern, and three men
were detailed to each, while five men assisted me in the boat. A
month's experience of this kind of work had made us skilful and
bold. But the rapids were more powerful, the river was much more
contracted, and the impediments were greater than usual. On our
right was an upright wall of massive boulders terminating in a
narrow terrace three hundred feet high; behind the terrace, at a
little distance, rose the rude hills to the height of twelve
hundred feet above the river; above the hills rolled the
table-land. On our left, four hundred yards from the bouldery wall,
rose a lengthy and stupendous cliff line topped by a broad belt of
forest, and at its base rose three rocky islets, one below another,
against which the river dashed itself, disparting with a roaring
surge.
"We had scarcely ventured near the top of the rapids when, by a
careless slackening of the stern cable, the current swept the boat
from the hands of that portion of her crew whose duty it was to
lower her carefully and cautiously down the fall, to the narrow
line of ebb-flood below the rocky projection. Away into the centre
of the angry, foaming, billowy stream the boat darted, dragging one
man into the maddened flood, to whom, despite our awful position,
I was able to lend a hand and lift into the boat.
[Illustration: FALLS ON A TRIBUTARY STREAM.]
"'Oars, my boys, and be steady! Uledi, to the helm!' were all the
instructions I was able to shout, after which, standing at the bow
of the boat, I guided the coxswain with my hand; for now, as we
rode downward furiously on the crests of the proud waves, the human
voice was weak against the overwhelming thunder of the angry river.
Oars were only useful to assist the helm, for we were flying at a
terrific speed past the series of boulders which strangled the
river. Never did the rocks assume such hardness, such solemn
grimness and bigness, never were they invested with such terrors
and such grandeur of height, as while we were the cruel sport and
prey of the brown-black waves, which whirled us round like a
spinning-top, swung us aside, almost engulfed us in the rapidly
subsiding troughs, and then hurled us upon the white, rageful
crests of others. Ah! with what feelings we regarded this awful
power which the great river had now developed! How we cringed under
its imperious, compelling, and irresistible force! What lightning
retrospects we cast upon our past lives! How impotent we felt
before it!
"'La il Allah, il Allah!' screamed young Mabruki. 'We are lost!
yes, we are lost!'
[Illustration: AN UPLAND STREAM AND NATIVE BRIDGE.]
"After two miles we were abreast of the bay, or indentation, at
which we had hoped to camp, but the strong river mocked our efforts
to gain it. The flood was resolved we should taste the bitterness
of death. A sudden rumbling noise, like the deadened sound of an
earthquake, caused us to look below, and we saw the river heaved
bodily upward, as though a volcano were about to belch around us.
Up to the summit of this watery mound we were impelled; and then,
divining what was about to take place, I shouted out, 'Pull, men,
for your lives!'
"A few frantic strokes drove us to the lower side of the mound, and
before it had finished subsiding, and had begun its usual fatal
circling, we were precipitated over a small fall, and sweeping down
towards the inlet into which the Nkenké Cataract tumbled, below the
lowest lines of breakers of the Lady Alice Rapids. Once or twice we
were flung scornfully aside, and spun around contemptuously, as
though we were too insignificant to be wrecked; then, availing
ourselves of a calm moment, we resumed our oars, and soon entering
the ebb-tide, rowed up river and reached the sandy beach at the
junction of the Nkenké with the Livingstone. Arriving on shore, I
despatched Uledi and young Shumari to run to meet the despairing
people above, who had long before this been alarmed by the
boat-boys, whose carelessness had brought about this accident, and
by the sympathizing natives who had seen us, as they reported, sink
in the whirlpools. In about an hour a straggling line of anxious
souls appeared; and all that love of life and living things, with
the full sense of the worth of living, returned to my heart, as my
faithful followers rushed up one after another with their exuberant
welcome to life, which gushed out of them in gesture, feature, and
voice. And Frank, my amiable and trusty Frank, was neither last nor
least in his professions of love and sympathy, and gratitude to Him
who had saved us from a watery grave.
[Illustration: THE NKENKÉ RIVER ENTERING THE LIVINGSTONE BELOW THE
LADY ALICE RAPIDS.]
"The land party then returned with Frank to remove the goods to our
new camp, and by night my tent was pitched within a hundred yards
of the cataract mouth of the Nkenké. We had four cataracts in view
of us: the great river which emptied itself into the baylike
expanse from the last line of the Lady Alice Rapids; two miles
below, the river fell again, in a foamy line of waves; from the
tall cliff south of us tumbled a river four hundred feet into the
great river; and on our right, one hundred yards off, the Nkenké
rushed down steeply like an enormous cascade from the height of one
thousand feet.
"Very different was this scene of towering cliffs and lofty
mountain walls, which daily discharged the falling streams from the
vast uplands above and buried us within the deafening chasm, to
that glassy flow of the Livingstone by the black, eerie forests of
Usongora, Meno, and Kasera, and through the upper lands of the
cannibal Wenya, where a single tremulous wave was a rarity. We now,
surrounded by the daily terrors and hope-killing shocks of these
apparently endless cataracts, and the loud boom of their baleful
fury, remembered, with regretful hearts, the Sabbath stillness and
dreamy serenity of those days. Beautiful was it then to glide among
the lazy creeks of the spicy and palm-growing isles, where the
broad-leafed Amomum vied in greenness with the drooping fronds of
the Phrynium, where the myrrh and bdellium shrubs exhaled their
fragrance side by side with the wild cassia, where the capsicum
with its red-hot berries rose in embowering masses, and the
Ipomoea's purple buds gemmed with color the tall stem of some
sturdy tree. Environed by most dismal prospects, forever dinned by
terrific sound, at all points confronted by the most hopeless
outlook, we think that an Eden which we have left behind, and this
a watery hell wherein we now are.
"Though our involuntary descent of the Lady Alice Rapids from
Gamfwé's Bay to Nkenké River Bay--a distance of three
miles--occupied us but fifteen minutes, it was a work of four days
to lower the canoes by cables. Experience of the vast force of the
flood, and the brittleness of the rattan cables, had compelled us
to fasten eight cables to each canoe, and to detail five men to
each cable for the passage of the rapids. Yet, with all our
precautions, almost each hour was marked with its special accident
to man or canoe. One canoe, with a man named Nubi in it, was torn
from the hands of forty men, swept down two miles, and sunk in the
great whirlpool. Nubi clung to his vessel until taken down a second
time, when he and the canoe were ejected fifty yards apart, but,
being an expert swimmer, he regained it in the Nkenké basin, and
astride of its keel was circling round with the strong ebb-tide,
when he was saved by the dashing Uledi and his young brother
Shumari.
"While returning to my labors along the bouldery heap which lined
the narrow terrace opposite the islets, I observed another canoe,
which contained the chief Waldi Rehani and two of my boat-bearers,
Chiwonda and Muscati, drifting down helplessly near the verge of
some slack water. The three men were confused, and benumbed with
terror at the roar and hissing of the rapids. Being comparatively
close to them, on the edge of a high crag, I suddenly shot out my
voice with the full power of my lungs, in sharp, quick accents of
command to paddle ashore, and the effect was wonderful. It awoke
them like soldiers to the call of duty, and after five minutes'
energetic use of their paddles they were saved. I have often been
struck at the power of a quick, decisive tone. It appears to have
an electric effect, riding rough-shod over all fears, indecision,
and tremor, and, just as in this instance, I had frequently up
river, when the people were inclined to get panic-stricken, or to
despair, restored them to a sense of duty by affecting the
sharp-cutting, steel-like, and imperious tone of voice, which
seemed to be as much of a compelling power as powder to a bullet.
But it should be remembered that a too frequent use of it spoils
its effect.
[Illustration: MODE OF PASSING BOATS OVER THE FALLS.]
"From the 18th to the 21st we were busy among rapids and
whirlpools, which brought us into Babwendé territory, where we
encamped. Nsangu, a village of the Basessé, was opposite our
camp, crowning with its palms and fields a hilly terrace projected
from the mountain range, at whose richly wooded slopes or cliffy
front, based with a long line of great boulders, we each day looked
from the right bank of the river. The villagers sent a deputation
to us with palm-wine and a small gift of cassava tubers. Upon
asking them if there were any more cataracts, they replied that
there was only one, and they exaggerated it so much that the very
report struck terror and dismay into our people. They described it
as falling from a height greater than the position on which their
village was situated, which drew exclamations of despair from my
followers. I, on the other hand, rather rejoiced at this, as I
believed it might be 'Tuckey's Cataract,' which seemed to be
eternally receding as we advanced. While the Bateké above had
constantly held out flattering prospects of 'only one more'
cataract, I had believed that one to be Tuckey's Cataract, because
map-makers have laid down a great navigably reach of river between
Tuckey's upper cataract and the Yellala Falls--hence our object in
clinging to the river, despite all obstacles, until that
ever-receding cataract was reached. The distance we had labored
through from the 16th of March to the 21st of April inclusive, a
period of thirty-seven days, was only thirty-four miles!
"On the 26th we reached the terrific fall described by the Basessé
people. The falls are called Inkisi, or the 'Charm;' they have no
clear drop, but the river, being forced through a chasm only five
hundred yards wide, is flanked by curling waves of destructive
fury, which meet in the centre, overlap, and strike each other,
while below is an absolute chaos of mad waters, leaping waves, deep
troughs, contending watery ridges, tumbling and tossing for a
distance of two miles. The commencement of this gorge is a lengthy
island which seems to have been a portion or slice of the
table-land fallen flat, as it were, from a height of one thousand
feet.
"The natives above Inkisi descended from their breezy homes on the
table-land to visit the strangers. I asked if there was another
cataract below. 'No,' said they, 'at least only a little one, which
you can pass without trouble.'
"'Ah,' thought I to myself, 'this great cataract then must be
Tuckey's Cataract, and the "little one," I suppose, was too
contemptible an affair to be noticed, or perhaps it was covered
over by high water, for map-makers have a clear, wide--three miles
wide--stream to the Falls of Yellala. Good! I will haul my canoes
up the mountain and pass over the table-land, as I must now cling
to this river to the end, having followed it so long.'
"My resolution was soon communicated to my followers, who looked
perfectly blank at the proposition. The natives heard me, and,
seeing the silence and reluctance of the people, they asked the
cause, and I told them it was because I intended to drag our
vessels up the mountain.
"Having decided upon the project, it only remained to make a road
and to begin, but in order to obtain the assistance of the
aborigines, which I was anxious for, in order to relieve my people
from much of the fatigue, the first day all hands were mustered for
road-making. Our numerous axes, which we had purchased in Manyema
and in Uregga, came into very efficient use now, for, by night, a
bush-strewn path fifteen hundred yards in length had been
constructed.
[Illustration: VILLAGE ON THE TABLE-LAND.]
"By 8 A.M. of the 26th our exploring-boat and a small canoe were on
the summit of the table-land at a new camp we had formed. As the
feat was performed without ostentation, the native chiefs were in a
state of agreeable wonder. After an hour's 'talk' and convivial
drinking of palm-wine they agreed, for a gift of forty cloths, to
bring six hundred men to assist us to haul up the monster canoes we
possessed, two or three of which were of heavy teak, over seventy
feet in length, and weighing over three tons. A large number of my
men were then detailed to cut rattan canes as a substitute for
ropes, and as many were brittle and easily broken, this involved
frequent delays. Six men under Kachéché were also despatched
overland to a distance of ten miles to explore the river, and to
prepare the natives for our appearance.
"By the evening of the 28th all our vessels were safe on the
highest part of the table-land. Having become satisfied that all
was going well in camp, and that Manwa Sera and his men were
capable of superintending it, with the aid of the natives, I
resolved to take Frank and the boat's crew, women, and children,
and goods of the expedition, to the frontier of Nzabi, and
establish a camp near the river, at a point where we should again
resume our toil in the deep defile through which the mighty river
stormed along its winding course.
[Illustration: A FIGURE IN THE MARKET-PLACE.]
"The Babwendé natives were exceedingly friendly, even more so than
the amiable Bateké. Gunpowder was abundant with them, and every
male capable of carrying a gun possessed one, often more. Delft
ware and British crockery were also observed in their hands, such
as plates, mugs, shallow dishes, wash-basins, galvanized iron
spoons, Birmingham cutlery, and other articles of European
manufacture obtained through the native markets, which are held in
an open space between each district. For example, Nzabi district
holds a market on a Monday, and Babwendé from Zinga, Mowa farther
down, and Inkisi, and Basessé, from across the river attend, as
there is a ferry below Zinga, and articles such as European salt,
gunpowder, guns, cloth, crockery, glass, and iron ware, of which
the currency consists, are bartered for produce such as
ground-nuts, palm-oil, palm-nuts, palm-wine, cassava bread and
tubers, yams, maize, sugar-cane, beans, native earthenware, onions,
lemons, bananas, guavas, sweet limes, pineapples, black pigs,
goats, fowls, eggs, ivory, and a few slaves, who are generally
Bateké or Northern Basundi. On Tuesday the district above Inkisi
Falls holds its market, at which Mowa, Nzabi, and the district
above Inkisi attend. On Wednesday the Umvilingya, Lemba, and Nsangu
districts hold a market. On Thursday most of the Babwendé cross the
river over to Nsangu, and the Basessé have the honor of holding a
market on their own soil. On Friday the market is again held at
Nzabi, and the series runs its course in the same order. Thus,
without trading caravans or commercial expeditions, the aborigines
of these districts are well supplied with almost all they require
without the trouble and danger of proceeding to the coast. From
district to district, market to market, and hand to hand, European
fabrics and wares are conveyed along both sides of the river, and
along the paths of traffic. By this mode of traffic a keg of powder
landed at Funta, Ambriz, Ambrizette, or Kinsembo, requires about
five years to reach the Bangala. The first musket was landed in
Angola in about the latter part of the fifteenth century, for Diogo
Cão only discovered the mouth of the Congo in 1485. It has taken
three hundred and ninety years for four muskets to arrive at
Rubunga in Nganza, nine hundred and sixty-five miles from Point de
Padrão, where Diogo Cão erected his memorial column in honor of the
discovery of the Congo.
[Illustration: AFRICAN MARKET SCENE.]
"We discovered cloth to be so abundant among the Babwendé that it
was against our conscience to purchase even a fowl, for, naturally,
the nearer we approached civilization cloth became cheaper in
value, until finally a fowl cost four yards of our thick sheeting!
Frank and I therefore lived upon the same provisions as our
people. Our store of sugar had run out in Uregga, our coffee was
finished at Vinya Njara, and at Inkisi Falls our tea, alas! alas!
came to an end.
[Illustration: VIEW IN THE BABWENDÉ COUNTRY.]
"What would we not have given for a pair of shoes apiece? Though I
had kept one pair of worn-out shoes by me, my last new pair had
been put on in the jungles of doleful Uregga, and now six weeks'
rough wear over the gritty iron and clink-stone, trap, and granite
blocks along the river had ground through soles and uppers, until I
began to feel anxious. Frank had been wearing sandals made out of
my leather portmanteaus, and slippers out of our gutta-percha
pontoon; but climbing over the rocks and rugged steeps wore them to
tatters in such quick succession, that it was with the utmost
difficulty that I was enabled, by appealing to the pride of the
white man, to induce him to persevere in the manufacture of sandals
for his own use. Frequently, on suddenly arriving in camp from my
wearying labors, I would discover him with naked feet, and would
reprove him for shamelessly exposing his white feet to the vulgar
gaze of the aborigines! In Europe this would not be considered
indelicate, but in barbarous Africa the feet should be covered as
much as the body; for there is a small modicum of superiority shown
even in clothing the feet. Not only on moral grounds did I urge him
to cover his feet, but also for his own comfort and health; for the
great cataract gorge and table-land above it, besides abounding in
ants, mosquitoes, and vermin, are infested with three dangerous
insects, which prey upon the lower limbs of man--the 'jigga' from
Brazil, the guinea-worm, and an entozoon, which, depositing its
eggs in the muscles, produces a number of short, fat worms and
severe tumors. I also discovered, from the examples in my camp,
that the least abrasion of the skin was likely, if not covered, to
result in an ulcer. My own person testified to this, for an injury
to the thumb of my left hand, injured by a fall on the rocks at
Gamfwé's, had culminated in a painful wound, which I daily
cauterized; but though bathed, burned, plastered, and bandaged
twice a day, I had been at this time a sufferer for over a month.
"In the absence of positive knowledge as to how long we might be
toiling in the cataracts, we were all compelled to be extremely
economical. Goat and pig meat were such luxuries that we declined
to think of them as being possible with our means; tea, coffee,
sugar, sardines, were fast receding into the memory-land of past
pleasures, and chickens had reached such prices that they were rare
in our camp. We possessed one ram from far Uregga, and Mirambo, the
black riding-ass--the other two asses had died a few weeks
before--but we should have deserved the name of cannibals had we
dared to think of sacrificing the pets of the camp. Therefore--by
the will of the gods--contentment had to be found in boiled 'duff,'
or cold cassava bread, ground-nuts, or peanuts, yams, and green
bananas. To make such strange food palatable was an art that we
possessed in a higher degree than our poor comrades. They were
supplied with the same materials as we ourselves, but the
preparation was different. My dark followers simply dried their
cassava, and then, pounding it, made the meal into porridge.
Ground-nuts they threw into the ashes, and when sufficiently baked
ate them like hungry men.
[Illustration: NYITTI, AN AFRICAN POTATO.]
"For me such food was too crude; besides, my stomach, called to
sustain a brain and body strained to the utmost by
responsibilities, required that some civility should be shown to
it. Necessity roused my faculties, and a jaded stomach goaded my
inventive powers to a high pitch. I called my faithful cook, told
him to clean and wash mortar and pestle for the preparation of a
'high art' dish. Frank approached also to receive instruction, so
that, in my absence, he might remind Marzouk, the cook, of each
particular. First we rinsed in clear, cold brook-water from the
ravines some choice cassava, or manioc tops, and these were placed
in the water to be bruised. Marzouk understood this part very well,
and soon pounded them to the consistence of a green porridge. To
this I then added fifty shelled nuts of the _Arachis hypogoea_,
three small specimens of the _Dioscorea alata_, boiled and sliced
cold; a tablespoonful of oil extracted from the _Arachis
hypogoea_; a tablespoonful of wine of the _Elais Guineensis_, a
little salt, and sufficient powdered capsicum. This imposing and
admirable mixture was pounded together, fried, and brought into the
tent, along with toasted cassava pudding, hot and steaming, on the
only Delft plate we possessed. Within a few minutes our breakfast
was spread out on the medicine-chest which served me for a table,
and at once a keen appetite was inspired by the grateful smell of
my artful compound. After invoking a short blessing Frank and I
rejoiced our souls and stomachs with the savory mess, and flattered
ourselves that, though British paupers and Sing-Sing convicts might
fare better, perhaps, thankful content crowned our hermit repast."
[Illustration: UGOGO COOKING-POT.]
"That will do for this evening," said Frank, as he closed the book at
the end of the chapter. "We will leave Mr. Stanley and his only white
companion at their frugal feast, and congratulate them on their
ingenuity in making the most that was possible out of the limited
supplies which the native markets afforded them."
[Illustration: WILD BULL OF EQUATORIAL AFRICA.]