THROUGH ANKORI TO THE ALEXANDRA NILE.
The routes to the sea, _viâ_ Uganda, through Ankori, to Ruanda, and
thence to Tanganika--We decide on the Ankori route--We halt at
Kitété, and are welcomed in the name of King Antari--Entertained by
Masakuma and his women--A glad message from King Antari’s
mother--Two Waganda Christians, named Samuel and Zachariah, appear
in camp: Zachariah relates a narrative of astounding events which
had occurred in Uganda--Mwanga, King of Uganda; his behaviour--Our
people recovering from the fever epidemic--March up the valley
between Iwanda and Denny Range--We camp at Wamaganga--Its
inhabitants--The Rwizi Eiver crossed--Present from the king’s
mother--The feelings of the natives provoked by scandalous
practices of some of my men--An incident illustrating the different
views men take of things--Halt at the valley of Rusussu--Extract
from my diary--We continue our journey down Namianja Valley--The
peaceful natives turn on us, but are punished by Prince Uchunku’s
men--I go through the rite of blood-brotherhood with Prince
Uchunku--The Prince’s wonder at the Maxim gun--A second deputation
from the Waganda Christians: my long cross-examination of them:
extract from my journal--My answer to the Christians--We enter the
valley of Mavona--And come in sight of the Alexandra Valley--The
Alexandra Nile.
On the evening of July 3rd the officers of the Expedition were summoned
to my friend to assist me in the decision as to which of the following
routes we should adopt for our seaward march. They were told thus:--
“Gentlemen,--We are met to decide which route we shall choose to travel
to reach the sea. You deserve to have a voice in the decision. I will
give you impartially what may be said for or against each.
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 3.
Ankori.]
“I. As to the route _viâ_ Uganda along my old road to the mouth of the
Katonga. If, as in the old days, the king was friendly, I could take the
Expedition to Dumo, on the Victoria Lake, and I would find means to
borrow his canoes to transport us to Kavirondo, whence, after preparing
live stock and grain, we could start for Kikuyu, and thence to Mombasa.
But Mwanga is not Mtesa; the murderer of Bishop Hannington can be no
friend of ours. If we proceeded to Uganda, we should have two
alternatives before us; to fight, or give up our arms. If we did either
we should only have undergone all this trouble to uselessly sacrifice
those whom we have in our charge.
“II. As to the route southerly direct through Ankori. In 1876 Antari,
the king, paid tribute to the King of Uganda. He pays it still, no
doubt. Scores of Waganda must be at the capital. They are clever enough
to hope that they would win favour of Mwanga if they could get a few
hundred rifles and ammunition for him. What they may not be able to
effect by fraud they may attempt to do by force. Long before we reached
the Alexandra Nile, a force of Waganda and Wanyankori would have
arrested our flight, and a decisive struggle would take place. Antari
himself is well able to prevent us marching through his territory, for
by my estimate he must be able to muster 200,000 spears, in case of an
invasion. 10,000 spears would be quite enough to stop our little force.
What he will do no one knows. With fifty Zanzibaris I could find my way
through the wilderness. With 600 such people as the Pasha has with him
attached to us the wilderness is impossible. We must, therefore, be
prepared for the worst.
“III. The two first routes lead up those plateau walls that you see
close by. The third and last skirts for a day’s march the base, and then
proceeds south to Ruanda, and through it to Uzigé and the Tanganika,
whence we could send messengers to Ujiji, or to Kavalla, to bring canoes
or boats to us. We could then proceed homeward from Ujiji _viâ_
Unyanyembé to Zanzibar, or to the south end of the Lake Tanganika, and
thence to Nyassa, and so down the Shire and Zambezi to Quilimane. But
long before we could reach the Tanganika every art that we know will
have been well tested. I know that it is almost a proverb with the Arab
that it is easier to get into Ruanda than to get out of it. An Arab
caravan went there about eighteen years ago, and never returned.
Mohammed, the brother of Tippu-Tib, has tried to penetrate Ruanda with
600 guns, and failed. I do not think there is force enough in Ruanda to
stop us, and if there were no other road, of course there would be no
debating as to what we should do, but go straight ahead. It is an
interesting country, and I should like to see its interesting king and
people. But it is a long journey.
“Thus you have the shortest road _viâ_ Lake Victoria and Kavirondo, but
with the Waganda, with whom we must reckon. You have the next shortest
road, _viâ_ Ankori and Karagwé, but with Waganda and Ankori combined.
You have the longest route through Ruanda.”
After an animated discussion it was concluded to refer it to me, upon
which the Ankori route was elected.
Accordingly instructions were issued to prepare five days’ provisions,
that from the free provisions obtained from the Nyanza we might be well
into Ankori before beginning the distribution of beads and cloth to
about 1000 people, and also permission to assist themselves gratuitously
was withdrawn, and the criers were sent through the camp proclaiming in
the several languages that any person detected robbing plantations, or
convicted of looting villages, would be made a public example.
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 4.
Kiteté.]
On the morning of the 4th we turned our backs to the Albert Edward
Nyanza, and followed a road leading east of south over the plain. In
about an hour the level flat assumed a rolling character freely
sprinkled over with bush clumps and a few trees. An hour’s experience
of this kind brought us to the base of the first line of hills, thence
up one ascent after another until noon, when we halted at Kitété, having
gained a thousand feet of altitude. We were received kindly, and
welcomed in the name of the King Antari. Messengers had arrived almost
simultaneously from Masakuma, the Governor of the Lake Province of
Ankori, that we should be received with all hospitality and honour, and
brought by degrees to him. Consequently, such is the power of emissaries
from authority, the villagers were ordered out of their houses with
cries of “Room for the guests of Antari! Room for the friends of
Masukuma! Ha, villains, don’t you hear? Out with you, bag and baggage!”
and so forth, the messengers every now and then taking sly glances at us
to note if we admired the style of the thing. We had not been long in
Ankori before we grasped the situation thoroughly. Ankori was the king’s
property. The people we should have to deal with were only the
governors, called Wakungu, and the king, his mother, brothers, sisters,
uncles, aunts, &c. Ankori was a copy of Uganda.
[Illustration: A VILLAGE IN ANKORI.]
From Kitété a considerable portion of the south-east extremity of Lake
Albert Edward appeared in view. We were a thousand feet above it. The
sun shone strongly, and for once we obtained about a ten-mile view
through the mist. From 312½° to 324° magnetic, the flats below were
penetrated with long-reaching inlets of the lake, surrounding numbers of
little low islets. To 17½° magnetic rose Nsinda Mountain, 2500 feet
above the lake; and behind, at the distance of three miles, rose the
range of Kinya-magara; and on the eastern side of a deep valley
separating it from the uplands of Ankori rose the western face,
precipitous and gray, the frowning walls of the Denny range.
[Illustration: EXPEDITION CLIMBING THE ROCK IN THE VALLEY OF ANKORI.]
Our course on the 5th was a steady ascent, E.N.E., to Kibwiga, at the
foot of the Denny range, Nsinda Mountain now bearing N.N.W. Opposite to
the village was Kinya-magara mountain. In the triangular valley between
these mountains the first herds of the Wanyankori were discovered.
[Illustration: EXPEDITION WINDING UP THE GORGE OF KARYA-MUHORO.]
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 7.
Kibwiga.]
We travelled in very close and compact order on the 7th up the pass
between the ranges of Kinya-magara and Denny, and having gained the
altitude of 6160 feet, the summit of Kinya-magara, and felt uncommonly
chilled by the cold winds, we descended 800 feet down the eastern slope
of the range to the chief village of Masakuma, the Governor of the Lake
Province of Ankori.
We found Masakuma to be a genial old fellow. With all our doings with
the Wara-Sura he was well acquainted, and at a great and ceremonious
meeting in the afternoon he insisted that we should tell our story, that
his sub-chiefs and elders might hear how the Wanyoro were beaten at
Mboga, Utuku, Awamba, Ukonju, Usongora, and were clean swept from Toro.
“There,” said he, “that is the way the thieves of Unyoro should be
driven from all the lands which they have plundered. Ah, if we had only
known what brave work was being done we should have gone as far as Mruli
with you,” which sentiment was loudly applauded.
The women of the chief then came out dressed with bead-worked caps and
bead tassels, and a thick roll of necklaces and broad breast-ornaments
of neat bead-work, and paid us the visit of ceremony. We had to undergo
many fine compliments for the good work we had accomplished, and they
begged us to accept their expressions of gratitude. “Ankori is your own
country in future. No subject of Antari will refuse the right hand of
fellowship, for you proved yourselves to be true Wanyavingi.”
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 8.
Kibwiga.]
Then the elders, grey-haired, feeble men, smitten with age, and in their
dotage advanced, and said, with the two hands spread out, palm upward,
“We greet you gladly. We see to-day, for the first time, what our
fathers never saw, the real Wachwezi, and the true Wanyavingi. Look on
them, oh people; they are those who made Kabba Rega run. These are they
of whom we heard that the Wara-Sura at the sight of them showed their
backs, and fled as though they had wings to their feet.”
Little did we anticipate such a reception as this from Ankori when we
debated, on the evening of July 3rd, what road we should take. And
though the terms Wachwezi and Wanyavingi did not seem to be very
euphonious, they were clearly titles of honour, and were accompanied
with an admiring regard from the chief Masakuma to the half-nude slave
women, who carried water and performed chores all day.
On the following day over 300 bunches of bananas and several pots of
banana wine were brought us as our rations during our stay. Deputations
from the neighbouring settlements also came, and the story of the chase
of the Wara-Sura, and the deliverance of the Salt Lakes were retold them
by Masakuma, and we were publicly thanked again for our services.
Indeed, considering how many tribes were affected by our interference,
we were not surprised at the general joy manifested. The story was the
“open sesame” to the riveted attention and affection of the Wanyankori.
Near sunset the runners despatched to the capital reappeared with a
message from the king’s mother, which, though diplomatic, was well
understood by us. It ran as follows:--
“Masakuma will furnish you with guides to show you the road to Karagwé.
Food will be given you at every camp so long as you are in Ankori. Goats
and cattle will be freely given to you. Travel in peace. The king’s
mother is ill now, but she hopes she will be well enough to receive you
when you again revisit the land. For from to-day the land is yours, and
all that is in it. Antari, the king, is absent on a war, and as the
king’s mother is ill and confined to her bed, there is none worthy to
receive you.”
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 10.
Katara.]
It appeared that at the capital our prowess and numbers had been
exaggerated, from the reports of Bevwa and Kakuri; our long column in
single file was also imposing. The terrible Maxim machine gun also
contributed a moral influence, and the fact that the Wanyoro, or
Wara-Sura, had been chased out of so many countries, and that Ruigi,
King of Kitagwenda, had also spoken in our favour, coupled with the
nature of the service which had caused so many canoe cargoes of salt to
be disposed of at small cost; and, therefore, though the royal family
were disposed to be cordial and kind, they were not wholly without fear
that the party which had marched through southern Unyoro might in some
manner be a danger to Ankori.
Poor king’s mother; had she known how secretly glad I was with the best
message that I received in all Africa, she need not have entertained any
anxiety respecting the manner in which her message would be received.
For though we were tolerably well supplied with native cloth and beads,
we were poor in gifts worthy of royalty of such pretensions as those of
Ankori.
The country is said to be infested with lions and leopards, but we had
heard nothing of them during the night. A hyæna, however, broke into our
campfold on the first night at Masakuma’s, and dragged away a goat.
Two days’ short marches of four and three-quarters and three hours
respectively, enabled us to reach Katara on the 11th of July. Our road
had led through a long winding valley, the Denny range on our right and
the Ivanda on our left. The streamlets we now crossed were the sources
of the Rusango, which, flowing north towards the Edwin Arnold Mt., meet
the Mpanga flowing south from the Gordon Bennett and Mackinnon Cones.
The Mpanga we crossed as we marched parallel with the eastern shore of
the Lake Albert Edward.
Soon after arrival in camp two Waganda Christians named Samuel and
Zachariah, with an important following, appeared by the permission of
Antari. After greeting us, they said they wished to impart some
information if I could grant them a quiet hour. Expectant of the usual
praises of their king Mwanga, which every loyal Mganda, as I knew him,
was very prone to utter, we deferred the interview until evening. They
delivered a packet of gunpowder and percussion caps, the property of a
Manyuema, to me, which they had picked up on the road. This act was in
their favour, and I laid it down near my chair, but within a few minutes
it had been abstracted by a light-fingered Moslem.
When evening came Zachariah took upon himself to relate a narrative of
astonishing events which had occurred in Uganda last year. King Mwanga,
the son of Mtesa, had proceeded from bad to worse, until the native
Mohammedans had united with the Christians, who are called “Amasia,” to
depose the cruel tyrant because of his ruthless executions. The
Christians were induced to join the Mohammedans--proselytes of the Arab
traders--unanimously, not only because of Mwanga’s butcheries of their
co-religionists, but because he had recently meditated a wholesale
massacre of them. He had ordered a large number of goats to be carried
on an island, and he had invited the Christians to embark in his canoes
for their capture. Had they accepted his invitation, his intention had
been to withdraw the vessels after the disembarkation, and to allow them
to subsist on the goats, and afterwards starve. But one of the pages
betrayed his purposes, and warned the Christian chiefs of the king’s
design. Consequently they declined to be present.
The union of these two parties in the kingdom of Uganda was soon
followed by a successful attempt to depose him. Mwanga resisted for a
time with such as were faithful to him, but as his capitals, Rubaga and
Ulagalla, were taken, he was constrained to leave the country. He
departed in canoes to the south of Lake Victoria, and took refuge with
Said bin Saif _alias_ Kipanda, a trader, and an old acquaintance of mine
in 1871, who was settled in Usukuma. Said, the Arab, however,
ill-treated the dethroned king, and he secretly fled again, and sought
the protection of the French missionaries at Bukumbi. Previous to this
it appears that both English and French missionaries had been expelled
from Uganda by Mwanga, and deprived of all their property except their
underclothing. The French settled themselves at Bukumbi, and the English
at Makolo’s, in Usambiro, at the extreme south end of Lake Victoria.
After Mwanga’s departure from Uganda, the victorious Moslem and
Christian proselytes elected Kiwewa for their king. Matters proceeded
smoothly for a time, until it was discovered that the Moslem party were
endeavouring to excite hostility against the Christians in the mind of
the new King. They were heard to insinuate that, as England was ruled by
a queen, that the Christians intended to elevate one of Mtesa’s
daughters on the throne occupied by Kiwewa. This king then leaned to the
Moslems, and abandoned the Christians, but they were pleased to express
their doubts of his attachment to them and their faith, and would not be
assured of it unless he formally underwent the ceremony of circumcision.
The necessity of this Kiwewa affected not to understand, and it was then
resolved by the Moslems to operate on him by force, and twelve Watongoli
(colonels) were chosen to perform the operation. Among these colonels
was my gossip, Sabadu, to whom I was indebted for the traditional
history of Uganda. Kiwewa was informed of their purpose, and filled his
house with armed men, who, as the colonels entered the house, were
seized and speared one by one. The alarm soon spread through the
capital, and an assault was instantly made on the palace and its court,
and in the strife Kiwewa was taken and slain.
The rebels then elected Karema to be King of Uganda, who was a brother
of the slain Kiwewa and the deposed Mwanga, and he was the present
occupant of the throne.
The Christians had repeatedly attacked Karema’s forces, and had
maintained their cause well, sometimes successfully; but at the fourth
battle they were sorely defeated, and the survivors had fled to Ankori
to seek refuge with Antari, who, it was thought, would not disdain the
assistance of such a force of fighting men in his various troubles with
Mpororo and Ruanda. There were now about 2,500 Christians at Ankori’s
capital, and about 2,000 scattered in Uddu.
Having heard that Mwanga had become a Christian, and been baptised by
the French missionaries during his stay with them in Bukumbi, the
Christians tendered their allegiance to him, and he came to Uddu to see
them, in company with an English trader named Stokes; but, as the means
of retaking the throne were small, Mwanga took possession of an island
not far from the Murchison Bay, and there he remains with about 250
guns, while Stokes, it is believed, had returned to the coast with ivory
to purchase rifles and ammunition at Zanzibar in the cause of Mwanga. Up
to this date the mainland of Uganda was under Karema, while the islands
recognised Mwanga, and the entire flotilla of Uganda, mustering several
hundred canoes, was at the disposition of the latter.
They then informed me that their appearance in my camp was due to the
fact that while at the capital they had heard of the arrival of white
men, and they had been sent by their compatriots to solicit our
assistance to recover the throne of Uganda for Mwanga.
Now, as this king had won an unenviable reputation for his excesses,
debaucheries, his executions of Christians in the most vile and
barbarous manner, and as he was guilty of causing Luba, of Usoga, to
murder Bishop Hannington and massacre over sixty of his poor Zanzibari
followers, though the story of Zachariah and Samuel was clear enough,
and no doubt true, there were strong reasons why I could not at once
place implicit credence in the conversion and penitence of Mwanga, or
even accept with perfect faith the revelations of the converts. I had
too intimate a knowledge of the fraudulent duplicity of Waganda, and
their remarkable gifts for dissimulation, to rush at this prospective
adventure; and even if I were inclined to accept the mission of
reinstating Mwanga, the unfulfilled duties of escorting the Pasha, and
his friend Casati, and the Egyptians, and their followers to the sea
prohibited all thoughts of it. But to African natives it is not so easy
to explain why their impulsive wishes cannot be gratified; and if
Kiganda nature remained anything similar to what I was acquainted with
in 1876, the Waganda were quite capable of intriguing with Antari to
interrupt my march. No readers of my chapters on the Waganda in ‘Through
the Dark Continent’ will doubt this statement. I therefore informed
Zachariah and Samuel that I should think of the matter, and give them my
final answer on reaching some place near the Alexandra Nile, where
supplies of food could be found sufficient for the party which I should
be obliged to leave behind in the event of my conforming to their wish,
and that it would be well for them to go back to the Waganda, ascertain
where Mwanga was at that time, and whether there was any news of Mr.
Stokes.
At Katara, Mohammed Kher, an Egyptian officer, died. Abdul Wahid Effendi
had chosen to remain behind at Kitega, and Ibrahim Telbass and his
followers had, after starting from Kitega, vanished into the tall grass,
and, it may be presumed, had returned to remain with his sick
countryman.
Our people were now recovered somewhat from that epidemic of fevers
which had prostrated so many of us. But the Pasha, Captain Casati,
Lieutenant Stairs, and Mr. Jephson were the principal sufferers during
these days. The night before we had slept at an altitude of 5,750 feet
above the sea. The long Denny Range was 700 feet higher, and on this
morning I observed that there was hoar frost on the ground, and during
this day’s march we had discovered blackberries on the road bushes, a
fruit I had not seen for two decades.
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 11.
Wamaganga.]
On a third march up the valley we had followed between Iwanda and Denny
Range; we reached its extremity, and, crossing a narrow neck of land,
descended into the basin of the Rwizi. By degrees the misty atmosphere
of this region was clearing, and we could now see about five miles
distance, and the contour of the pastoral plateau of Ankori. It was not
by any means at its best. It was well into the droughty season. The dry
season had commenced two months previously. Hilly range, steep cone,
hummock, and plain were clothed with grass ripe for fire. The herds were
numerous, and all as fat as prize cattle. In the valley between the
Denny and Iwanda ranges, we had passed over 4,000 cattle of the
long-horned species. The basin of the Rwizi, which we were now in, and
which was the heart of Ankori, possessed scores of herds.
We camped at Wamaganga on the 11th. Its inhabitants consist of Watusi
herdsmen and Wanyankori agriculturists. They represent the two classes
into which the people of Ankori are divided, and, indeed, all the tribes
of the pastoral regions, from the Ituri grass-land to Unyanyembe, and
from the western shores of the Victoria Lake to the Tanganika. The
Watusi women wore necklaces of copper bells, and to their ankles were
attached circlets of small iron bells. The language was that of Unyoro,
but there was a slight dialectic difference, and in their vocabulary
they had an expressive word for gratitude. “Kasingi” was frequently used
in this sense.
One of our men, whom we greatly regretted, died at this place of illness
which ended in paralysis, and another, a Nubian, disappeared into the
tall grass and was lost.
On the 12th we marched along the Rwizi, and after an hour and a half
crossed the stream, which had now spread into a swamp a mile wide,
overgrown with a flourishing jungle of papyrus. Our drove of cattle was
lessened by twenty-four head in crossing this swamp. An hour’s distance
from the terrible swamp we camped in the settlement of Kasari.
The King’s mother sent us four head, and the King three head of cattle
and a splendid tusk of ivory, with a kindly message that he hoped he and
I would become allied by blood-brotherhood. Among the messengers
employed was a prince of the blood-royal of Usongora, a son of King
Nyika, as pure a specimen of Ethiopic descent as could be wished. The
messengers were charged to escort us with all honour, and to provide for
our hospitable entertainment on the way.
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 12.
Kasari.]
Though it is very economical to be the guest of a powerful African king,
it has its disadvantages, for the subjects become sour and discontented
at the great tax on their resources. They contrive to vex us with
complaints, some of which are fabricated. Our men also, emboldened by
their privileges, assume far more than they deserve, or are entitled to
in strict justice. They seized the milk of the Wanyankori, and it is
considered to be a great offence for a person who is accustomed to eat
vegetables to put his lips to a milk vessel, and a person who cooks his
food is regarded as unfit to touch one, as it causes the death of cattle
and other ill effects. Seven of our men were charged with these awful
crimes, and the herdsmen, who are as litigious as the Aden Somalis, came
in a white heat to prefer their complaints. It cost me some
inconvenience to judge the people and soothe the wounded feelings
provoked by such scandalous practices.
On the 14th we arrived at Nyamatoso, a large and prosperous settlement,
situated at the northern base of the Ruampara range, when orders were
issued to provide seven days’ rations of banana flour, because of the
abundance of this fruit in the vicinity.
Mpororo is S.S.W. from this place. A few years ago Antari advanced and
invaded it, and after several sanguinary encounters the people and their
king became tributary to him. Ruanda begins from a line drawn to the
W.S.W., and is ruled over by King Kigeri. Not much information could be
gleaned respecting it, excepting that it was a large country, described
as equal from Nyamatoso to Kafurro. The people were reported to be
numerous and warlike, allowing no strangers to enter, or if they enter
are not allowed to depart.
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 14.
Nyamatoso.]
One of our officers, feeble from many fever attacks, animadverted
fiercely against the Wanyankori on this day, and I repeat this incident
to illustrate the different views men take of things, and how small
events prejudice them against a race. He said, “Yesterday you know the
sun was scorchingly hot, and the heat, the long march, and a slight
fever, made me feel as if I would give anything for a drink of cool
water. I came to that little village on the plain, and I asked a man,
who was insolently regarding us, and standing before the door of his
hut, to give me a little water to drink. Do you think he did so? He
pointed to the swamp, and with his spear to the black ooze, as if to
say, ‘There you are, help yourself to what you want!’ How can you call
these people a fine race? I don’t understand where you get your ideas
from. Is that fine, to refuse a man a drink of water? If that man had
what he deserved--ah, well, it is no use talking.”
“My dear good fellow,” I answered, “have a little patience, and I will
show you another view that might be taken of that man. Have you lost
your pocket mirror? If you have, I will lend you mine, and you will see
a most ungracious face, garnished with bristles, something like a thin
copy of William de la Marck unshaved, half starved, and sick. Your eyes
appear smaller than ever, and look lustreless and dead. Your lanky body
is clothed in rags. When you were in London I was charmed with your
appearance. Adonis was nothing to you, but now, alas! excuse me, we have
all a most disgraceful appearance; but you, when you have a fever! Well,
look in a glass, and examine yourself! Now this native saw such a man,
with such an unlovely aspect, coming to him. How did you ask him? Did
you give him one of your charming smiles, that would make a buffalo
pause in his charge; I doubt it. You were tired, feverish, thirsty--you
said imperiously, ‘Give me a drink of water,'--and your manner
added--‘instantly or----.’ Why should he, a freeman, before his own
doorway obey such a command? He did not know you from Adam, and probably
your appearance suggested it would not be pleasant to cultivate your
acquaintance. Are you going to join the clique of travellers who can
never recognise the good that is in Africa and the Africans? To your
utter confusion, unfortunate man, let me tell you the story of an
occurrence that happened yesterday to one of your own personal friends.
The man of whom he tells the story was probably a brother or a cousin of
this same individual who has incurred your severe displeasure.
“This officer had a bad attack of fever; he was seized with a vertigo,
he reeled, and sank in the grass by the wayside. The rear guard
commander saw him not, and passed him by, little thinking a sick comrade
lay fainting and almost unconscious near him. By-and-by a native warrior
came armed with spear, bow, and arrows. He saw there was something in
the grass. He went to the spot and saw one of our officers, helplessly
lying before him. If he were a brute he might have driven that sharp
spear of his into him, and we should have lost one of our number. But
this man, listen, did nothing of the kind; and though he had never heard
the story of the kindly Samaritan, went away, and in half-an-hour
returned with a half-gallon, gourd filled with fresh and cool milk, and
gave it to him to drink, and in a short time our friend rose up
strengthened, and marched to camp to tell me the kindly story. No Red
Cross official he; to the kindly sentiments of charity and mercy dinned
into the ears of the English race for sixteen centuries he was an utter
stranger. This is not like that English missionary who refused that
Dutch captain, of whom we have heard, the drink of water, and therefore
the race that can show one instance of such human kindness deserves to
be called a fine race. Do you doubt the story? Here is our friend; ask
him yourself.
“Besides, think of the hospitality we receive from them. A thousand men
subsisting freely and gratuitously on the produce of their plantations,
and their fields; plantains, beans, millet, sweet potatoes for food,
tobacco to smoke, and a free road, without levy of tax or blackmail!
How do you know that that man had not been vexed by many things before
you came? Perhaps some of our men had gibed at him in scorn, or looted
his house, or threatened his family just before you came. Come, try
again. Go into any of these villages about here. Ask kindly and
smilingly for anything--milk, butter, or tobacco--and I will guarantee
you will not be refused.
“And remember again, this country has only lately been conquered by
Antari. I am told that the king took forty women belonging to the chiefs
hereabouts, and distributed them as gifts to his bravest warriors, and
that all the principal chiefs were afterwards killed, and I do not
wonder that they resent the king laying such a tax upon them as the
provisioning of this multitude with us, and if you will observe the
conduct of the king’s messengers you will find that it is very
tyrannical and overbearing, and very little calculated to increase their
estimation of us.”
The Expedition proceeded up a pass in the pastoral range of mountains
called Ruampara, the western end of which I think abuts the line of
hills that bound the Albert Edward basin, and divides the basin of the
Rwizi from the Alexandra Nile, and after crossing several airy mountain
tops, descended into the bowl-like valley of Rusussu, whence rises the
stream Namianja. Here we halted three days to refresh the people.
Under date the 20th of July I find the following note in my diary:--
“This morning the fever that laid me low passed away. I have been a
little premature in saying that we were recovering from the ill
effects of that Usongora pit-water. No sooner is one of us well
than another is prostrated. The Pasha and I have been now three
times down with severe fever at the same time. Stairs’ fever left
him yesterday. Bonny’s temperature has been normal the last two
days. Casati fell ill on the 17th, was abed all day on the 18th,
and was up on the 19th. This is the way we exist now. There are
constant relapses into fever, with two or three days of insecure
health in the interval. Khamis Wadi Nassib has also died of
paralysis; and a Nubian has disappeared.
“Four Egyptian officers have begged me, on account of their
increasing ulcers, to be permitted to stay in Ankori. As we are
already loaded with sick whites and other Egyptians, feeble old
women and children, I am obliged to yield to their entreaties, and
they and their families will therefore stay here. As I expect the
Heir-apparent of Ankori daily to go through the process of
blood-brotherhood, I will be able to provide for their comfort.
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 20.
Rusussu.]
“It is a peculiar climate, this of Ankori. The cold gusty winds
sweeping from E. to S.E., and then N.E., create chest affections;
there is universal coughing, catarrhs, headaches; the great
variation between maximum and minimum temperature makes us all
unusually feverish. Yet I remember, in Jan., 1876, my followers and
myself were healthy and vigorous while crossing North Ankori, and
my private journals contain no notes like these I jot down daily.
Perhaps this excessive sickness is owing to the season, or to that
deadly pit-water, or it may be our cooks employ the black water of
the Rwizi, which drains a putrefying compost. It is the winter
season now, whereas January is spring.
“Dangers have less charms for the ear than distance creates for the
eye. The former is too often exaggerated out of all proportion to
the reality by the unrestrained tongue, while the latter, though
often hiding the hideousness of ravines, and the inaccessibility of
mountains or abysmal depths, glozes the whole with grace, flowing
contours, and smooth lines. We have frequently found it to be so on
this Expedition, and I fear the Egyptians who have disappeared from
the column, un-recommended by us, will find the dangers far more
real than they imagined would be the case as we repeated our
frequent warnings.”
On the 21st we resumed our march, and proceeded to follow a road that
ran down the valley parallel with the Namianja. Thistles of unusual
size, some sunflowers, and blackberry bushes lined the path. The stream
has three sources, a tiny thread of sweet water rising from a ferny
recess, a pool of nitrous and sulphurous water, and a little pond of
strong alkaline water. At the end of three hours’ march the stream was 5
feet wide, but its flavour was not much improved. Banana plantations
alternated with cattle-folds along the path.
The next day we started at dawn to continue our journey down the
Namianja Valley, which is narrow and winding, with spacious plats in the
crooked lines of mountains. In an hour we turned sharply from E. by N.
to S.E. by S. down another valley. Herd after herd of the finest and
fattest cattle met us as they were driven from their zeribas to graze on
the rich hay-like grass, which was green in moist places. After a short
time the course deflected more eastward, until we gained the entrance of
a defile, which we entered, to ascend in half an hour the bare breast of
a rocky hill. Surmounting the naked hill, we crossed its narrow summit,
and descended at once its southerly side, into a basin prosperous with
banana plantations, pasture, and herds, and took refuge from the glaring
and scorching sun in Viaruha village.
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 21.
Namianja.]
The rear-guard were disconcerted on leaving Namianja Valley by the
hitherto peaceful natives turning out suddenly _en masse_ with
war-cries, and with very menacing gestures. They advanced to the attack
twice, without, however, doing more than levelling their spears and
threatening to launch them. On the third advance, conceiving that the
guard must be terribly frightened by their numbers, they shot some eight
or ten arrows, at which the Commander ordered a few harmless shots to be
fired, and this sufficed to send them scampering with loud cries up the
hills.
Close behind the rear-guard, but unknown to them, were advancing
Uchunku, the Prince Royal of Ankori, and his escort of musketeers and
spearmen, and a second deputation from the Waganda Christians. The
Prince, in obedience to his father, was on his way to our camp to
exchange blood and form a treaty with me. The Prince, hearing the shots,
demanded to know the reason, and some of the Wahuma herdsmen, who had
been spectators of the hostile play, explained, upon which the
musketeers were sent in chase, killed two of the Wanyankori, and
disarmed twenty of them.
At 2 P.M. Prince Uchunku and escort reached Viaruha, and instantly
requested an interview. He was a sweet-faced, gentle looking boy of
about thirteen or fourteen years old, a true Mhuma with the Abyssinian
features. He was accompanied by his governor, or guardian, an officer in
command of the spearmen and carbine-armed guards of the Prince. He gave
us two large steers; one had such massive and long horns, that made it
but a poor traveller, and had to be slaughtered for beef. The usual
friendly speeches were exchanged, and after he had fairly satisfied his
curiosity with viewing the strange sights in camp, it was arranged that
the ceremony should take place on the next day.
On the 23rd the ceremony passed off with considerable éclat. The
Zanzibaris, Soudanese, and Manyuemas were all under arms ready to salute
the Prince with a few discharges from their rifles, at the face of the
hill, about 400 yards away. The Maxim was also in order to assist with
its automatic action.
[Sidenote: 1889.
July 23.
Viaruha.]
The rite of blood brotherhood began with the laying of a Persian carpet,
upon which the Prince and I took our seats cross-legged, with left hands
clasped across the knees. The Professors of the Art advanced, and made
an incision in each left arm, and then each Professor took a small
portion of butter, and two leaflets, which served as platters, mixed it
with our blood, and then exchanging the leaves, our foreheads were
rubbed with the mixture. The ceremony was thus relieved of the
repulsiveness which accompanies it when performed among the Congo
tribes. Then the Prince, who was now my young brother, took me by the
hand into my hut to smile and to look pleased. His young heart was made
glad with some choice Cairene cloths, a necklace contributed by the
Egyptian women and the Pasha, of fine large beads, which captured his
affection by storm. His governor received a cow, and the guardsmen
received an ox to feast themselves with beef, and the Prince had, in his
turn, to give a fine goat to our Professor, for these offices, even in
Congo land, are in high honour, and must receive handsome fees.
The rifles then fired five rounds each, to the boy’s great admiration,
but the showers of the Maxim and the cloud of dust raised by the bullets
on the face of the opposite hill simply sent him into ecstasies, and to
prevent him crying his soul out in rapture, he laid his hand firmly over
his mouth. Opinions differed as to the reason of his covering his mouth,
and even in jest it is not good to be untruthful, but some said that he
feared his fine teeth would be snapped in pieces by excessive chattering
in terror, but I firmly maintain that it was from childlike wonder and
pleasure.
At any rate, I was publicly recognised as a son of Ankori, to be
hereafter permitted to range at will throughout the dominions of Antari,
with right of residence, and free access to every plantation in the
kingdom. Furthermore, the Prince swore in his father’s name, for so he
was commanded, that all white men entering Ankori must have a
recommendation from me, and then such kindness would be shown to them as
would be shown to me personally. Only the cattle, goats, and weapons
were exempted as private property, over which the king even has no
right, except when they belong to criminals.
With the Prince of Ankori was a second deputation from the Waganda
Christians. The result of my long cross-examination of them I embodied
in the following entry in my journal:--
“I feared I first heard of the expulsion of the missionaries from
Uganda that they had been inconsiderate, and impulsive, and acted
regardless of consequences, that though their conduct was strictly
upright and according to their code, their narrowness and want of
sympathy had caused them to commit errors of judgment; but the
Christian converts gave them an excellent character, and repeated
much of the good advice Mr. Mackay had bestowed on them, which were
undoubted proofs that though the yoke of Mwanga was exceedingly
heavy to them, the missionaries had in this abstained from meddling
in the politics of the country. Something like £50,000 must have
been expended on this mission since it was established. Were the
story of it truthfully written it would contain in itself all that
is needed to guide those interested in it. The tragic deaths of
Smith, O’Neil, Penrose, and Bishop Hannington, the mortal diseases
which cut off Dr. Smith, and, as Zachariah tells me, two more, one
of whom is called Bishop, the almost fruitless residence in Uganda
of Messrs. Wilson, Pearson, and Felkin, the splendid successes of
Mackay, and the industry and devotion of Ashe and Gordon. The
history of these gentlemen’s labours, successes, and failures could
not be penned without immediate comprehensiveness of the causes
which led some to triumph, where wisdom was exhibited, and rashness
failed.
“No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit
for the kingdom of heaven. No man having accepted trust can in
honour do otherwise than continue in that trust until victory is
assured. I suppose, as the note of retreat had been sounded before
I left Africa, the council of the Christian Mission Society will
order Mr. Mackay to withdraw now. I hope not. The expulsion of the
missionaries and the dispersion of their Christian flocks would
strike any one else, looking at it from a layman’s point of view,
as the dawn of the day of victory. The shouts of triumph uttered by
the Mohammedans now in power should not dishearten, but should
inspire them to nobler and wiser efforts, to persevere patiently
and unremittingly. No great cause, no great work, or great
enterprise was ever successful without perfect faith that it was
worthy of unwearying effort and strenuous striving.
“Out of the 4,000 or 5,000 converts reported by Zachariah and
Samuel now in Ankori and Uddu, let us assume as 2,000 being due to
the labours of Mackay and his worthy associates. At £50,000, each
convert would appear to have cost £25. I am not one of those who
would always appeal to the state for help in such a crisis as this,
but to those able to spare out of great wealth, and who yet answer
that they must attend to those at home first, I would give the
reply of the wise Gentile woman--‘True, Lord, but the dogs pick up
crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’
“The success of the mission to Nyanza is proved by the sacrifices
of the converts, by their determined resistance to the tyrant, by
their successful deposition of him. I have read somewhere that the
recognition of belligerents is not permissible until it is proved
that they can hold their own. If this be so the Waganda converts
have proved that the mission was a success, and a most remarkable
success. The missionaries were compelled to bore deep down, and
after that the element sprang up spontaneously. After years of
baffling and unpromising work the converts flocked spontaneously to
the new church of Equatorial Africa. Princes and peasants, chiefs
and warriors came forward to be instructed in the Christian
religion, and to be taught the arts of reading and writing, and to
be the proud possessors of printed books in their own language,
treating of the Author of salvation and His sufferings on behalf of
humanity.
“The progress of this religion became alarming to the Mohammedans
and their native sympathisers, but it was not until the death of
the politic Mtesa that they could venture upon any plan to thwart
its growth. The accession of a boy-prince to the throne, and the
vices, banghi-smoking, drunkenness, and licentiousness, disclosed
the means whereby the Christians might be suppressed, and the
Moslems with a low, mean craftiness, and charged with concentrated
malice, were not slow to avail themselves of their opportunities.
The young king, despite the reputable character the whites had won
from all classes of the people, now regarded them with thoughts
foully perverted by unmeasured slander. To his distorted view the
missionaries were men banded together for the undermining of his
authority, for sapping the affections and loyalty of his subjects,
and for presently occupying the whole of Uganda. These various
expeditions, which as every one knew were roaming over the country,
now in Masai-land, presently in Usoga, then again in Usukuma and
Unyamwezi, the quarrels on the coast between Seyyid Barghash and
the Germans, the presence of war-ships at Zanzibar, the little
colonies of Germans studding the coast lands--what else could all
these movements aim at but the forcible conquest of Africa? Hence
an era of persecution was initiated by the order to burn and slay;
hence the _auto-da-fé_ in Uganda, the murder of Bishop Hannington,
and the massacre of his caravan in Usogo, the doom that ever seemed
to be imminent over the head of the faithful and patient Mackay,
and the menaced suspension of mission work. When the Christians had
scattered into their hiding places, and the jealousy of the Moslems
had cooled, the young King merged into an intolerable despot, and
murdered indiscriminately. Many an eminent person in the land fell
a victim to his suspicions, and was ordered to be either clubbed to
death or strangled. It was then the Mohammedans, fearing for
their own lives, solicited the aid of the Christians, and the
tyrant was compelled to flee the kingdom to find leisure to repent
during his Lake voyages, and finally to submit to be baptised.”[33]
Zachariah and Samuel were now informed that, owing to the impossibility
of leaving my charge, they had better trust to Mr. Stokes and Mr.
Mackay, and that if I could explain matters to their English friends I
would surely do so. Then, seeing that I was resolved on departure, five
of the Christians begged to be permitted to accompany me to the sea,
which permission was readily granted.
On the 24th, after winding in and out of several valleys, between
various pastoral ranges, which were black from recent fires, as the
grass everywhere was white with age and drought, we entered the valley
of Mavona, to descend gradually amid a thin forest of acacia sprinkled
with euphorbia, milkweed, thistles, and tall aloetic plants. The
settlement of Mavona produced abundantly quite a variety of garden
produce, such as peas, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, manioc, cucumbers,
banigalls, bananas, and plantain.
The next day, continuing down the Mavona valley for four and a half
hours, we suddenly came in sight of the Alexandra valley, and found that
the long line of hills which winded S.S.E. was on the Karagwé side of
the river. At this season the features of the land on both sides are
very forbidding, and unrelieved by any patch of cultivation, and
rendered more so by the fires, which have transformed every valley and
hill into wastes of black ashes and desolateness.
During the 26th and 27th we were ferried across the river in four double
sets of most uncouth canoes, and then the Ankori escort, the Waganda
converts, were dismissed, having satisfied Antari, and each of our
friends with such gifts as won their professions of gratitude.
The Alexandra Nile at this place was about 125 yards wide, and an
average depth of nine feet, flowing three knots per hour in the centre.