RUWENZORI AND LAKE ALBERT EDWARD.
Importance of maps in books of travels--The time spent over my
maps--The dry bed of a lake discovered near Karimi; its computed
size--Lessons acquired in this wonderful region--What we learn by
observation from the Semliki valley to the basin of the twin
lakes--Extensive plain between Rusessé and Katwé--The Zeribas of
euphorbia of Wasongora--The raid of the Waganda made eighteen years
ago--The grass and water on the wide expanses of flats--The last
view and southern face of Ruwenzori--The town of Katwé--The Albert
Edward Nyanza--Analysis of the brine obtained from the Salt Lake at
Katwé--Surroundings of the Salt Lake--The blood tints of its
waters--The larger Salt Lake of Katwé, sometimes called Lake of
Mkiyo--The great repute of Katwé salt--The Lakists of the Albert
Edward: Bevwa, on our behalf, makes friends with the
natives--Kakuri appears with some Wasongora chiefs--Exploration of
the large Katwé lake--Kaiyura’s settlement--Katwé Bay--A black
leopard--The native huts at Mukungu--We round an arm of the lake,
called Beatrice Gulf, and halt at Muhokya--Ambuscade by some of the
Wara-Sura near the Rukoki: we put them to flight--And capture a
Mhuma woman--Captain Nelson and men follow up the rearguard of
Rukara--Halt at Buruli: our Wakonju and Wasongora friends leave
us--Sickness amongst us through bad water--The Nsongi river
crossed--Capture of a Wara-Sura--Illness and death among the
Egyptians and blacks--Our last engagement with the Wara-Sura at
Kavandaré pass--Bulemo-Ruigi places his country at our
disposal--The Pasha’s muster-roll--Myself and others are smitten
down with fever at Katari Settlement--The south side of Lake Albert
Edward and rivers feeding the Lake--Our first and last view, also
colour of the Lake--What we might have seen if the day had been
clearer.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June 15.
Karimi.]
[Illustration: PROFILE SKETCH OF RUWENZORI AND THE VALLEY OF THE
SEMLIKI.]
Critics are in the habit of omitting almost all mention of maps when
attached to books of travel. This is not quite fair. Mine have cost me
more labour than the note-taking, literary work, sketching, and
photographing combined. In the aggregate, the winding of the three
chronometers daily for nearly three years, the 300 sets of observations,
the calculation of all these observations, the mapping of the positions,
tracing of rivers, and shading of mountain ranges, the number of
compassbearings taken, the boiling of the thermometers, the records of
the varying of the aneroids, the computing of heights, and the notes of
temperature, all of which are necessary for a good map, have cost me no
less than 780 hours of honest work, which, say at six hours per day,
would make 130 working days. If there were no maps accompanying books of
this kind it would scarcely be possible to comprehend what was
described, and the narrative would become intolerably dry. I relegate
the dryness to the maps, by which I am relieved from tedious
description, at the same time that they minister to my desire of being
clear, and are beautiful, necessary, and interesting features of the
book; and I am firmly convinced that with a glance at the profile map of
Ruwenzori, the Semliki Valley, and Lakes Albert Edward and Albert, the
reader will know more of the grand physical features of this region than
he knew of the surroundings of Lake Michigan.
As we descend from Karimi to the basin of the Albert Edward the first
thing we become conscious of is that we are treading the dry bed of a
lake. We do not require a gifted geologist to tell us that. Five feet of
rise to the lake would increase its extent five miles to the north and
five miles to the south. Fifty feet of rise would restore the lake to
its old time-honoured condition, when its waves rolled over the pebbled
beach under the shadows of the forest near Mtsora. We find that we
really needed to pay this visit to the shores of the Albert Edward to
thoroughly understand the physical changes which have, within the last
few hundred years, diminished the former spacious lake to its present
circumscribed limits. We should be liable to censure and severe
criticism if we attempted to fix a hard and fast date to the period when
Lake Albert extended to the forest of Awamba from the north, and Lake
Albert Edward extended from the south over the plain of Makara to the
southern edge of the forest. But it does not need a clever mathematician
to calculate the number of years which have elapsed since the Semliki
channeled its bed deep enough to drain the Makara plain. It is easily
computable. The nitrous, saline, and acrid properties deposited over the
plain by the receding lake have not been thoroughly scoured out yet. The
grass is nutritious enough for the hardy cattle, the dark euphorbia, the
acacia, and thorn-bush find along the edges of the plain a little thin
humus of decayed grass; but nine-tenths of it is grassy plain, and the
tropic forest of Awamba cannot advance its borders. The case is the same
on the southern plain of the Albert. We find there a stretch of plain
twenty miles long devoted to poor grass, fatal to cattle; then we find
eight miles crossed with a thin forest of parachute acacias, with here
and there an euphorbia, and then we are in the old, old forest.
At every leisure hour my mind reverted to the lessons which I was
acquiring in this wonderful region. Time was when Ruwenzori did not
exist. It was grassy upland, extending from Unyoro to the Balegga
plateau. Then came the upheaval at a remote period; Ruwenzori was raised
to the clouds, and a yawning abyss 250 miles long and thirty miles broad
lay S.W. and N.E. The tropic rains fell for ages; they filled the abyss
to overflowing with water, and in time it found an outlet through what
is known under the modern name of Equatoria. The outflowing water washed
the earth away along its course, down to the bed-rock, and for countless
ages, through every second of time, it has been scouring it away, atom
by atom, to form Lower Egypt and fill the Mediterranean, and in the
meantime the bottom of the abyss has been silting up with the sediment
and débris of Ruwenzori, with the remains of uncountable generations of
fish, with unnumbered centuries of dead vegetation, until now, with the
wearing away of the dykes of rock and reefs in the course of the White
Nile, two lakes have been formed; and other dykes of rock appeared
between the lakes, first as clusters of islets, then covered with
grass; finally, they caught the soil brought down by glaciers, moraines
have connected rock to rock, and have formed a valley marvellous in its
growth of tropic forest, and on each side of this forest there are
plains undergoing the slow process of crystalline transformation, and on
their lake borders you see yet an intermediate stage in the daily
increasing mud, and animal and vegetable life add to the height of it,
and presently it will be firm dry ground. Now dip a punting-pole into
the shallows at the south end of Lake Albert, and the pole drops into
five feet of ooze. It is the sediment borne down from the slopes of
Ruwenzori by the tributaries into the Semliki, and thence by the Semliki
into the still waters of the lake. And if we sound the depths of Lake
Albert Edward, the pole drops through four or five feet of grey mud, to
which are attached thousands of mica flakes and comminuted scales and
pulverized bones of fish, which emit an overpowering stench. And atom by
atom the bed-rock between the forest of Awamba and the Lake Albert
Edward is being eroded and scoured away, until, by-and-by, the lake will
have become dry land, and through the centre of it will meander the
Semliki, having gathered the tributaries from Ruwenzori, the Ankori, and
Ruanda uplands, to itself; and in the course of time, when the nitrous
and acrid properties have been well scoured off the plain, and the humus
has thickened, the forest of Awamba will advance by degrees, and its
trees will exude oil and gum, and bear goodly fruit for the uses of man.
That is, in brief, what we learn by observation from the Semliki Valley
and the basin of the twin lakes, and what will be confirmed during our
journey over the tracts of lake-bed between Rusessé and Unyampaka.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June 16.
Rusessé.]
Between Rusessé and Katwé is an extensive plain, dipping down in a
succession of low terraces to the Nyama-gazani River, and covered with
pasture grass. This terraced plain is remarkable for its growth of
euphorbia, which have been planted by generations of Wasongora to form
zeribas to protect their herds from beasts of prey and for defence
against the archers and spearmen of predatory tribes, and which thickly
dot the plains everywhere. Many of these euphorbia, that stood in
circles round the clustered huts, were venerable patriarchs, quite five
centuries old; hence we assume that the Wasongora have been established
in this region for a long time, and that they formed a powerful nation
until the Waganda and Wanyoro, furnished with guns and rifles by Arabs,
came sweeping through the land on their periodic raids. Readers of
‘Through the Dark Continent’ will remember the story of the Katekiro’s
raid, that must have occurred about eighteen years ago, and of the
reported marvels said to have been met by the host, as they travelled
through a great plain where there were geysers spouting mud, hot
springs, intolerable thirst, immense loss of life, ruthless conflicts
between the native tribe and the Waganda, and bad water that killed
hundreds. We are now on the land which witnessed the raid of the
Waganda, and which then despoiled of its splendid herds of cattle. Since
that time Kabba Rega, with the aid of his musket-armed Wara-Sura, has
occupied the land, usurped the government of the country, and has
possessed himself of every cow. Captain Casati has informed me that he
once witnessed the return of the raiders from Wasongora, and saw the
many thousands of cattle which they had taken.
The wide expanses of flats, white with efflorescing natron, teeming with
hot springs and muddy geysers, turned out to be pure exaggerations of an
imaginative boy, and nothing of all the horrors expected have we seen
except perhaps a dreary monotony of level and uniformity of surface
features, grass fallen into the sere through drought, and tufts of rigid
euphorbia, so characteristic of poor soil. The silence of the plain is
due to the wholesale expatriation of the tribe; thirst, because, as we
near the Lake borders, the tributaries lie far apart; sickness, from the
habit of people drinking the stagnant liquid found in pits.
The grass of the plain grieved us sorely while travelling through it.
The stalks grew to the height of three feet, and its spikelets pierced
through the thickest clothing, and clung to every garment as we passed
by, and became very irritating and troublesome.
The two best views obtained of Ruwenzori have been those obtained from
Karimi, up a long, narrow valley, and from the plain near the
Nyama-gazani River. The last was the farewell view, the great mountain
having suddenly cast its cloudy garments aside to gratify us once more.
In rank above rank the mountainous ridges rose until they culminated in
Ruwenzori. From the south it looks like a range of about thirty miles in
length, with as many blunt-topped peaks, separated from each other by
deep hollows. Up to this time we had estimated the height as about
17,000 feet, but the revelation of the southern face, shrouded with
far-descending fields of deep and pure snow, exalted it 1,500 feet
higher in the general opinion. I seized this opportunity to photograph
the scene, that other eyes might view the most characteristic image of
Ruwenzori. Here and there may be seen, as in the pencil sketches, the
dark patches, showing the more precipitous portions of the slopes, which
are too steep for the accumulation of snow. The greater exhibition of
snow on the southern face is due to the lesser height of the intervening
ridges, which on the north side shut out from view the snowy range.
A few miles beyond the Nyama-gazani River, which is forty feet wide and
a foot deep, clear as crystal and beautifully cool, we entered the town
of Katwé, the headquarters of Rukara, the commanding chief of the
Wara-Sura. He and his troops had left the town the night before, and
evidently in such haste that he was unable to transport the grain away.
The town of Katwé must have contained a large population, probably
2,000. As the surrounding country was only adapted for the rearing of
cattle, the population was supported by the sale of the salt of the two
salt lakes near it. It was quite a congeries of zeribas of euphorbia,
connected one with another by mazy lanes of cane hedges and inclosures.
It is situated on a narrow grassy ridge between the salt lake of Katwé
and a spacious bay of the Albert Edward Nyanza. In length the ridge is
about two miles, and in breadth half a mile from the shore of one lake
to the other.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June 17.
Katwé.]
By boiling point the Albert Edward Nyanza is 3,307 feet, the crest of
the grassy ridge of Katwé is 3,461 feet, and the Salt Lake is 3,265 feet
above the sea. So that the summit of the ridge was 154 feet above the
Salt Lake and 112 feet higher than the Albert Edward Lake, and the
difference of level between the two lakes was 42 feet. The town is
situated 0° 8′ 15″ south of the Equator.
[Illustration: THE LITTLE SALT LAKE AT KATWÉ.]
After seeing to the distribution of corn, I proceeded across the ridge,
and descending a stiff slope, almost cliffy in its upper part, after 154
feet of a descent, came to the dark sandy shore of the Salt Lake of
Katwé, at a place where there were piles of salt-cakes lying about. The
temperature of the water was 78·4° Fahrenheit; a narrow thread of
sulphurous water indicated 84°. Its flavour was that of very strong
brine.[32] Where the sand had been scooped cut into hollow beds, and the
water of the lake had been permitted to flow in, evaporation had left a
bed of crystal salt of rocky hardness, compacted and cemented together
like coarse quartz. The appearance of these beds at a distance was like
frozen pools. When not disturbed by the salt-gatherers, the shore is
ringed around with _Ukindu_ palms, scrubby bush, reedy cane, euphorbia,
aloetic plants; and at Mkiyo, a small village inhabited by salt-workers,
there is a small grove of bananas, and a few fields of Indian corn and
Eleusine coracana. Thus, though the lake has a singularly dead and
lonely appearance, the narrow belt of verdure below the cliffy walls
which encompass it, is a relief. Immediately behind this greenness of
plants and bush, the precipitous slopes rise in a series of horizontal
beds of grey compacted deposit, whitened at various places by thin
incrustations of salt. There are also chalky-looking patches here and
there, one of which, on being examined, proved to be of stalagmite. In
one of these I found a large tusk of ivory, bones of small animals,
teeth, and shells of about the size of cockles. There were several of
these stalagmite beds around the lake.
One remarkable peculiarity of the lake was the blood tints of its water,
or of some deposit in it. On looking into the water I saw that this
deposit floated, like congealed blood, on and below the surface. A man
at my request stepped in, and at random; the water was up to his knees,
and bending down soon brought up a solid cake of coarse-grained
crystallised salt, and underneath it was a blood-red tinge. This reddish
viscous stuff gives the lake, when looked at from the crest of Katwé
ridge, a purple appearance, as though a crimson dye had been mixed with
it.
Hundreds of dead butterflies of various colours strewed the beach. There
was not a fish seen in its waters, though its border seems to be a
favourite haunt for herons, storks, pelican, egrets.
The larger Salt Lake of Katwé, sometimes called Lake of Mkiyo, from the
village of that name, is about three miles long, and ranges from half to
three-quarters of a mile in width, and about three feet deep. The
smaller lake is in a round grassy basin about two miles east, and is a
round shallow pool half-a-mile across.
Every one acquainted with the above facts will at once perceive that
these salt basins are portions of the original lake occupying sunken
hollows, which were left isolated by the recession of the waters of the
Albert Edward Lake, and that evaporation has reduced the former sweet
waters into this strong brine.
Salt is a valuable article, eagerly sought after by the tribes round
about. The reputation of this deposit had reached Kavalli, where I first
heard of the greater Salt Lake as “Katto.” Flotillas of canoes come from
Makara, Ukonju, Unyampaka, Ankori and Ruanda, loaded with grain, to
barter for this article. Caravans arrive from eastern Ukonju, north
Usongora, Toro and Uhaiyana, to trade millet, bark cloth, beans, peas,
tullabun or eleusine, sesame, iron tools, weapons, &c., for it. The
islanders of Lake Albert Edward freight their little vessels with the
commodity, and with dried fish make voyages to the western and southern
shores, and find it profitable to carry on this exchange of produce. The
possession of Katwé town, which commands the lakes, is a cause of great
jealousy. The Wasongora owned it formerly, then Antari of Ankori.
Kakuri, the island chief, became heir to it, when finally Kabba Rega
heard of the rich deposits, and despatched Rukara to occupy the town.
Our march into Ukonju had instantly caused the Wara-Sura to evacuate the
plain of Makara, and our approach to Katwé had caused a speedy flight of
Rukara and his army of musketeers and spearmen. Wakonju, to the number
of 150 men in our camp, and Wasongora were joining, and supplying us
with information gratuitously.
In the afternoon of the first day’s arrival at Katwé we saw a flotilla
of canoes approaching from an island distant about three miles from the
shore. The crews were cautious enough to keep just within hail. We were
told that they had been sent by Kakuri to ascertain what strangers were
those who had frightened Rukara and his Wara-Sura from the land, for
they had done good service to Kakuri and “all the world” by their acts.
We replied in a suitable manner, but they professed to disbelieve us.
They finally said that if we “burned the town of Katwé they would accept
it as a proof that we were not Wara-Sura.” Accordingly, the villages
near the shore were fired, and the crews cheered the act loudly.
The speaker said “I believe you to be of the Wanyavingi now. Sleep in
peace, and to-morrow Kakuri shall come with gifts to give you welcome.”
Then Bevwa, chief of our Wakonju, stood on a canoe which was in the lake
and asked, “Ah, you children of Kakuri, the great chief of the sea, do
you remember Kwaru-Kwanzi, who lent Kakuri’s sons the spears to defend
the land from the Wara-Sura robbers. Lo! Kwara-Kwanzi, a true son of the
Wanyavingi, is here again. Rejoice, my friends, Rukara and his thieves
have fled, and all the land will rise as one man to follow in pursuit of
them.”
The crews clapped hands, applauding, and half-a-dozen little drums were
beaten. Then the principal speaker of the islanders said, “Kakuri is a
man who has not had a tooth drawn yet, and he is not going to have one
drawn by any Mrasura alive. We have caught a dozen Wara Sura as they
were flying from Makara because of these strangers. Kakuri will see that
they die before the sun sets, and to-morrow he will see the chief of the
strangers face to face.”
When they had paddled away, Bevwa was questioned as to these Wanyavingi.
What were they? Were they a tribe?
Then Bevwa looked hard at me and said--
“Why do you ask? Do you not know that we believe you to be of the
Wanyavingi? Who but the Wanyavingi and Wachwezi are of your colour?
“What, are they white people like us?”
“They have no clothes like you, nor do they wear anything on their feet
like you, but they are tall big men, with long noses and a pale colour,
who came, as I heard from our old men, from somewhere beyond Ruwenzori,
and you came from that direction; therefore must be of the Wanyavingi.”
“But where do they live?”
“Ruanda, and Ruanda is a great country, stretching round from east of
south to S.S.W. Their spears are innumerable, and their bows stand
higher than I. The king of Usongora, Nyika, was an Myavingi. There are
some men in these parts whom Kabba Rega cannot conquer, and those are in
Ruanda; even the King of Uganda will not venture there.”
When Kakuri appeared next morning he brought us gifts, several fish,
goats, bananas and beans. Some Wasongora chiefs were with him, who
offered to accompany us, in the hope that we should fall in with some
of the bands, as we journeyed towards Toro and Uhaiyana. The island
chief was a physically fine man, but not differing in complexion from
the dark Wakonju; while the Wasongora were as like in features to the
finest of the Somali types and Wa-galla as though they were of the same
race.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June 18.
Katwé.]
Kakuri was requested to bring his canoe in the afternoon, and freight
them with salt to deposit on his island, as I would have to continue my
journey eastward in a day or two. Therefore all the afternoon about 100
islanders were busy transporting salt to Kakuri Island, and the Wakonju
who followed us did a good business by assisting them. They walked into
the lake to a distance of 100 yards, the depth being up to their knees,
and stooping down, conveyed great cakes of the crystallized salt to the
shore, and across the ridge to the canoes in the Albert Edward Lake.
Having found a cumbrous and heavy canoe, but somewhat large, on the
19th, it was manned with twelve men, and I set out to explore. At about
11 A.M. I had got to a distance of eight miles, and halted in front of
Kaiyura’s settlement, which consisted of eighty-one large huts, and was
rich in goats and sheep. Kaiyura is a Msongora, who so far remained
unconquered by the Wara-Sura. The craft that we were voyaging was too
clumsy and lopsided to venture far out into the lake, for with the
slightest breeze the water leaped in, but I was quite a mile from the
shore during most of the trip, and the lead was cast every few minutes,
but the deepest water I obtained was fifteen feet, while it sank over
three feet in a soft ooze. About 400 yards from the shore a long
sounding pole was used, and each time it dropped four feet into the
ooze, which emitted a most horrible stench, like that of a sewer, when
it came out.
In the early part of the day the face of the Lake was as smooth as a
mirror, of a grey-green colour. The shore was remarkable for the great
number of butterflies, and many floated dead on the surface of the
water.
There were two islands standing in the middle of Katwé Bay, and rising
about 100 feet above the water. One of them was distinguished for a
chalky-coloured cliff. They contained large settlements, and were
evidently well populated.
On returning to Katwé I saw a great black leopard about 250 yards off,
just retreating from the Lake side, where he had been slaking his
thirst. He disappeared before we could paddle the unwieldy craft nearer
the shore.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June 19.
Katwé.]
The only advantage I derived from my day’s exploration was the complete
survey of the bay, and obtaining a view beyond the headland of Kaiyura
into the chaotic and formless void. The haze was as thick as a fog, and
nothing could be distinguished further than three miles.
On the 20th of June the Expedition marched out from Katwé, and escorted
by a large number of Wasongora chiefs and herdsmen, and our Wakonju
friends, filed to the eastward, along a path that skirted the greater
Salt Lake, and dipped down into the grassy round basin of the lesser
briny lake. Surmounting the ridge eastward of the basin, we descended
into a great plain, which evidently had but recently been covered with
the waters of the Albert Edward. Pools still existed, and narrowed
tongues of swamp, until, after a march of eighteen and a half miles, we
arrived at Mukungu, in Unyampaka, of Toro, Chief Kassessé, whose name
was made familiar to me in January 1876.
Opposite the half-dozen zeribas of Mukungu was the long low island
called Irangara. The narrow arm of the Lake, about 150 yards across,
wound around it, and between the Islands of Katero, Kateribba, and four
or five others east of Irangara, with great floating masses of pistia
plants. Far across through the mist over the islands loomed the
highlands of Uhaiyana, and to the south we had the faintest image of
Kitagwenda, Chief Ruigi, and I knew then that we stood west of the arm
of the Lake we had called Beatrice Gulf.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June 20.
Mukungu.]
The cattle had been driven across into the Island of Irangara,
everything of value had been deported away, and a monstrous herd had but
lately left Mukungu for Buruli, urged to fast travel by the retreating
Rukara and his army. The huts of the chiefs showed that these people of
Mukungu were advanced in the arts of ornamental architecture. A house
which the Pasha occupied was one of the most ornate I had seen. The hut
was twenty feet in height and about twenty-five feet in diameter, with a
doorway brilliant in colouring like a rude imitation of the stucco work
of primitive Egyptians. The doorway was ample--six feet high and six
feet wide, with a neat arched approach. Plastered partitions divided the
interiors into segments of circles, in which were sunk triangles and
diamond figures, lines of triangles surmounting lines of diamonds, the
whole pointed in red and black. One division before the wide doorway was
intended as a hall of audience--behind the gaily-decorated partition was
the family bed-chamber; to the right were segments of the circle devoted
to the children.
[Illustration: SECTION OF A HOUSE NEAR LAKE ALBERT NYANZA.]
Every zeriba, besides being protected by an impenetrable hedge of
thorn-bush, had within a circular dyke of cow-dung, rising five feet
high. These great circular heaps of refuse and dung were frequently met
in Usongora, and will remain for a century to indicate the site of the
settlements, when village and generation after generation have
disappeared.
The river-like arms of the Lake, now narrowing and broadening, swarmed
with egrets, ducks, geese, ibis, heron, storks, pelicans, snipes,
kingfishers, divers, and other water-birds.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June 21.
Muhokya.]
The next day we followed the track of Rukara and his army and droves,
and made a westerly and then northerly course to round the prolonged arm
of the Lake called Beatrice Gulf. A few years ago it must have spread to
a great distance. The plain was perfectly flat, and long reaching,
shallow, tongues of water projected far inland, which we had to cross.
As we advanced north, the hills of Toro appeared in view, and having
approached them we turned north-easterly, and after a march of eleven
miles, halted at Muhokya, a small village, equidistant from the Lake and
Mountain. The scouts in ranging around the outskirts, captured a
deserter from Rukara’s army, who informed us that the Wara Sura were at
Buruli.
On the 22nd we continued our march, a plain, level as a billiard table,
lay spread to our right, about forty feet below a terrace, over which we
were travelling, and the south-eastern flank of Ruwenzori range lay to
our left, projected into capes, terminated mostly by conical hills, with
spacious land bays, reaching far inland, between. We crossed these
little streams and two considerable rivers, the Unyamwambi and Rukoki,
the first being plentifully strewn with large round cobblestones, smooth
and polished from the powerful rolling they had received by the
impetuous torrent.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June 22.
Buruli.]
Arriving near the Rukoki, whose banks were hidden by a tall growth of
reedy cane, the vanguard suddenly received a volley from a large number
of musketeers, hidden in the thick brake. The Wasongora and Wakonju
were, unfortunately, in the van, leading the way, and these fell into a
heap in the river, their sharp spears as they frantically struggled in
their fright, more dangerous to us than the concealed enemy. However,
the loads were dropped, and in a few minutes we had two full companies
charging through the brake with admirable unconcern, just in time to see
the rear guard of the Wara-Sura breaking out of their coverts. Some
lively firing followed, but wars with natives require cavalry, for
every person seems to be on the perpetual run, either advancing or in
retreat. Some of the Wara-Sura fled south, some ran up the mountains to
avoid the pellets of our rifles. After seeing them all in full flight,
the companies returned, and we lifted our loads and resumed our march to
Buruli, whose extensive groves of banana plantations soon appeared in
view, and promised a rare supply of food.
Just before reaching the ambuscade we had passed a slaughtered goat,
that had been laid across the path, around which had been placed a score
or so of yellow tomato-like fruit, the product of a very common bush. We
all knew that it implied we had better beware of vengeance, but the
natives, confident in us, had not hesitated to advance; nevertheless the
ambuscade was a great shock to them.
In the afternoon the Wara-Sura were pursued by scouts, and ascertained
to be joining their scattered parties, and proceeding on an E.N.E.
course across the plain. The scouts, unable to contain themselves, sent
a few bullets after them, lending an impulsion to their flight. Their
baggage was thrown away; the sticks were seen being applied to their
prisoners, until several, frantic with fear and pain, threw their loads
away, and deserted to the arms of the scouts. Many articles were picked
up of great use that were discarded by the fugitives, and among the
prisoners was an Mhuma woman, of very pleasing appearance, who gave us
much information respecting Rukara and his vast herds of cattle.
Early next morning Captain Nelson was despatched with one hundred
rifles, and fifty Wakonju and Wasongora spearmen to follow up the
rear-guard of Rukara, and if possible overtake the enemy. He followed
them for twelve miles, and perceiving no signs of them returned again to
Buruli, which we reached well after sunset, after a most brilliant
march.
I was told of two hot springs being some miles off, one being near a
place called Iwanda, N. by E. from Buruli, the other, “hot enough to
cook bananas,” N. E. near Luajimba.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June 25.
Nsongi
River.]
We halted two days at Buruli, as we had performed some splendid marching
on the plains. The paths were good, broad, clear of thorns, stones,
roots, red ants, and all obstructions. At the same time, when abundant
food offered, it was unwise to press the people. Before leaving this
prosperous settlement, our Wakonju and Wasongora friends begged
permission to retire. Each chief and elder received our gifts, and
departed to our regret. Bevwa and his Wakonju were now eighty-five miles
distant from their homes, and their good nature, and their willingness
and unobtrusiveness, had quite won our hearts.
A march of twelve miles took us on the 25th across a very flat plain,
level as a bowling-green, intersected by five streams, and broad tongues
of swamp, until about half-way it heaved up in gentle undulations,
alternated by breadths of grassy plain. Thick forests of acacia crested
these land swells, and on the edges of the subsident flats grew three
species of euphorbia, stout fan palms, a few borassus, and _Ukindu_
palms. A little after noon we camped in a forest an hour’s march from
the Nsongi River.
It had evidently been often used as camping ground by Wara-Sura bands
and Toro caravans bound for the Salt Lakes, and as water was far, the
tired cooks used the water from some pits that had been excavated by
thirsty native travellers. This water created terrible sickness amongst
us.
The next day we crossed the Nsongi, a river fifty feet wide and thirty
inches deep, and immediately after we began to ascend to the lofty
uplands of Uhaiyana, which form, with Eastern Toro, Kitagwenda, and
Ankori, the eastern wall of the basin of the Lake Albert Edward. We
encamped near noon on a broad plainlike terrace at Kawandaré in
Uhaiyana, 3,990 feet above the sea, and about 680 feet above the Lake.
The Wara-Sura were on the alert, and commenced from the hill-tops, but
as the advance rushed to attack they decamped, leaving one stout
prisoner in our hands, who was captured in the act of throwing a spear
by one of the scouts who had crept behind him.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June 26.
Karamulli.]
On first reaching the terrace we had passed through Kakonya and its
prosperous fields of white millet, sesamum, beans, and sweet potatoes.
Karamulli, a most important settlement lies E. by N. an hour’s journey
from Kakonya.
Soon after arriving in camp Yusuf Effendi, an Egyptian officer, died
from an indurated liver. This, I believe, was the sixth death among the
Egyptians. They had led such a fearful life of debauchery and licence in
their province that few of them had any stamina remaining, and they
broke down under what was only a moderate exercise to the Zanzibaris.
The effects of the water drank from the pits the day before commenced to
be manifested on reaching the camp--that is, in twenty-four hours. Over
thirty cases of ague had been developed among the Zanzibaris, two of the
European officers were prostrated, and I myself felt approaching
symptoms. The Pasha’s followers were reeling with sickness, and it was
reported that several were missing besides Manyuema.
On the 27th a halt was ordered. Lieutenant Stairs was sent back with his
company to endeavour to recover some of the lost people. Some passed him
on the road attempting to overtake the column. One woman belonging to
one of the Pasha’s followers was found speared through the body. He
arrived in time to save a Manyuema from sharing the same fate. These
utterly reckless people had acquired the art of evading the rear column
by throwing themselves into the grass and lying still until the officer
and his party had passed.
Altogether the sick cases had increased to 200. Egyptians, blacks of
Zanzibar, Soudan, and Manyuema were moaning and sorrowing over their
sufferings. The Pasha, Dr. Parke, and Mr. Jephson had also succumbed to
severe attacks.
On the 28th, led by one of the Wara-Sura prisoners, we made a short
march past the range of Kavandaré. The advance and main body of the
column filed through the pass unmolested, but the rear guard was
fiercely attacked, though the enemy turned to flight when the repeating
rifles began to respond in earnest, and this proved our last engagement
with Kabba Rega’s rovers called Wara-Sura.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June 29.
Chamlirikwa.]
We reached Chamlirikwa the next day, having meantime descended to the
level terrace at the foot of the eastern walls of the Albert Edward
basin, and on July 1st arrived at Kasunga-Nyanza in Eastern Unyampaka, a
place known to us in January, 1876, when I sent a body of Waganda to
search for canoes for the purpose of crossing the Lake then discovered.
Bulemo-Ruigi, the king, having heard our praises sounded by the
islanders of Kakuri, who had meanwhile crossed the Lake before us,
despatched messengers to place his country at our disposal with free
privileges of eating whatever gardens, fields, or plantations offered,
only asking that we would be good enough not to cut down banana stalks,
to which moderate request we willingly consented.
The Pasha on this day sent me his muster-roll for the beginning of the
month, which was as follows:--
44 officers, heads of families, and clerks.
90 married women and concubines.
107 children.
223 guards, soldiers, orderlies, and servants.
91 followers.
----
555
----
On the 3rd of July we entered Katari settlement, in Ankori, on the
borders of the Lake. At the camp of the 28th of June symptoms of fever
developed, and numbered me among those smitten down with the sickness,
which raged like a pest through all ranks, regardless of age, colour, or
sex, and I remained till the 2nd of July as prostrated with it as any
person. Having laid every one low, it then attacked Captain Nelson, who
now was the hardiest amongst us. It took its course of shivering,
nausea, and high fever, irrespective of medicine, and after three or
four days of grievous suffering, left us dazed and bewildered. But
though nearly every person had suffered, not one fatal case had
occurred.
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 3.
Katari.]
From the camp of the 28th, above which was visible Mt. Edwin Arnold, we
skirted the base of the upland, and two days later entered the country
of Kitagwenda. By Unyampaka E. is intended the Lake shore of Kitagwenda.
The entire distance thence to Katari in Ankori is an almost unbroken
line of banana plantations skirting the shore of the Lake, and fields of
Indian corn, sugar-cane, eleusine, and holcus, which lie behind them
inland, which are the properties of the owners of the half-dozen salt
markets dotting the coast. The mountainous upland looms parallel with
the Lake with many a bold headland at the distance, varying from three
to six miles.
We have thus travelled along the north, the north-west, and eastern
coasts of Lake Albert Edward. We have had abundant opportunities of
hearing about the south and western sides, but we have illustrated our
information on the carefully-prepared map accompanying these volumes.
The south side of the Lake, much of which we have viewed from commanding
heights such as Kiteté, is of the same character as the flat plains of
Usongora, and extends between twenty and thirty miles to the base of the
uplands of Mpororo and Usongora. Kakuri’s canoe-men have been frequent
voyagers to the various ports belonging to Ruanda and to the western
countries, and all around the Lake, and they inform me that the shores
are very flat, more extensive to the south than even to the north, and
more to the west than to the east. No rivers of any great importance
feed the Albert Edward Lake, though there are several which are from
twenty to fifty feet wide and two feet deep. The largest is said to be
the Mpanga and the Nsongi. This being so, the most important river from
the south cannot have a winding course of more than sixty miles, so that
the farthest reach of the Albertine sources of the Nile cannot extend
further than 1° 10′ south latitude.
Our first view, as well as the last, of Lake Albert Edward, was utterly
unlike any view we ever had before of land or water of a new region. For
all other virgin scenes were seen through a more or less clear
atmosphere, and we saw the various effects of sunshine, and were
delighted with the charms which distance lends. On this, however, we
gazed through fluffy, slightly waving strata of vapours of unknown
depth, and through this thick opaque veil the lake appeared like dusty
quicksilver, or a sheet of lustreless silver, bounded by vague shadowy
outlines of a tawny-faced land. It was most unsatisfying in every way.
We could neither define distance, form, or figure, estimate height of
land-crests above the water, or depth of lake; we could ascribe no just
limit to the extent of the expanse, nor venture to say whether it was an
inland ocean or a shallow pond. The haze, or rather cloud, hung over it
like a grey pall. We sighed for rain to clear the atmosphere, and the
rain fell; but, instead of thickened haze, there came a fog as dark as
that which distracts London on a November day.
The natural colour of the lake is of a light sea-green colour, but at a
short distance from the shore it is converted by the unfriendly mist
into that of pallid grey, or sackcloth. There is neither sunshine nor
sparkle, but a dead opacity, struggling through a measureless depth of
mist. If we attempted to peer under or through it, to get a peep at the
mysterious water, we were struck with the suggestion of chaos at the
sight of the pallid surface, brooding under the trembling and seething
atmosphere. It realised perfectly the description that “in the beginning
the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of
the deep.” This idea was strengthened when we looked up to examine the
composition of this vaporous mist, and to ascertain whether we might
call it haze, mist, or fog. The eyes were fascinated with the clouds of
fantastic and formless phantasms, the eerie figures, flakes, films,
globules, and frayed or wormlike threads, swimming and floating and
drifting in such numberless multitudes that one fancied he could catch a
handful. In the delirium of fevers I have seen such shapes, like
wriggling animalculæ, shifting their forms with the rapidity of
thought, and swiftly evolving into strange amorphous figures before the
dazed senses. More generally, and speaking plainly, the atmosphere
seemed crowded with shadowy, elongated organisms, the most frequent
bearing a rough resemblance to squirming tadpoles. While looking at the
dim image of an island about three miles from the shore, it was observed
that the image deepened, or got more befogged, as a thinner or thicker
horizontal stratum of these atmospheric shapes subsided downward or
floated upward; and following this with a fixed sight, I could see a
vibration of it as clearly as of a stream of sunbeams. From the crest of
a grassy ridge and the crown of a tall hill, and the sad grey beach, I
tried to resolve what was imaged but three miles away, and to ascertain
whether it was tawny land, or grey water, or ashen sky, but all in vain.
I needed but to hear the distant strains of a dirge to cause me to
imagine that one of Kakuri’s canoes out yonder on the windless lake was
a funereal barge, slowly gliding with its freight of dead explorers to
the gloomy bourne from whence never an explorer returned.
And oh! what might have been seen had we but known one of those
marvellously clear days, with the deep purified azure and that dazzling
transparency of ether so common to New York! We might have set some
picture before the world from these never-known lands as never painter
painted. We might have been able to show the lake, with its tender blue
colour, here broadening nobly, there enfolding with its sparkling white
arms clusters of tropic isles, or projecting long silvery tongues of
blazing water into the spacious meadowy flats, curving everywhere in
rounded bays, or extending along flowing shore-lines, under the shadows
of impending plateau walls, and flotillas of canoes gliding over its
bright bosom to give it life, and broad green bands of marsh grasses,
palms, plantains, waving crops of sugar-cane, and umbrageous globes of
foliage, to give beauty to its borders. And from point to point round
about the compass we could have shown the irregularly circular line of
lofty uplands, their proud hill bosses rising high into the clear air,
and their mountainous promontories, with their domed crowns projected
far into the basin, or receding into deep folds half enclosing fair
valleys, and the silver threads of streams shooting in arrowy flights
down the cliffy steeps; broad bands of vivid green grass, and spaces of
deep green forest, alternating with frowning grey or white precipices,
and far northward the horizon bounded by the Alps of Ruwenzori, a league
in height above the lake, beautiful in their pure white garments of
snow, entrancingly picturesque in their congregation of peaks and
battalions of mountain satellites ranged gloriously against the
crystalline sky.
But alas! alas! In vain we turned our yearning eyes and longing looks in
their direction. The Mountains of the Moon lay ever slumbering in their
cloudy tents, and the lake which gave birth to the Albertine Nile
remained ever brooding under the impenetrable and loveless mist.