LIFE AT FORT BODO.
Our impending duties--The stockade of Fort Bodo--Instructions to
Lieutenant Stairs--His departure for Kilonga-Longa's--Pestered by
rats, mosquitoes, &c.--Nights disturbed by the lemur--Armies of red
ants--Snakes in tropical Africa--Hoisting the Egyptian
flag--Arrival of Surgeon Parke and Captain Nelson from
Ipoto--Report of their stay with the Manyuema--Lieutenant Stairs
arrives with the steel boat--We determine to push on to the Lake at
once--Volunteers to convey letters to Major Barttelot--Illness of
myself and Captain Nelson--Uledi captures a Queen of the
Pigmies--Our fields of corn--Life at Fort Bodo--We again set out
for the Nyanza.
On arriving at West Ibwiri, about to build Fort Bodo, I felt precisely
like a "city man" returning from his holiday to Switzerland or the
sea-side, in whose absence piles of business letters have gathered, which
require urgent attention and despatch. They must be opened, read, sifted,
and arranged, and as he reflects on their import he perceives that there
are many serious affairs, which, unless attended to with method and
diligence, will involve him in confusion. Our holiday trip had been the
direct and earnest march to the Albert Lake, to serve a Governor who had
cried to the world, "Help us quickly, or we perish." For the sake of
this, Major Barttelot had been allowed to bring up the rear column, the
sick had been housed at Ugarrowwa's and Kilonga-Longa's stations, the
extra goods had been buried in a sandy caché at Nelson's starvation camp
or stored at Ipoto, the boat _Advance_ had been disconnected and hidden
in the bush, and Nelson and Surgeon Parke had been boarded with the
Manyuema, and everything that had threatened to impede, delay, or thwart
the march had been thrust aside, or eluded in some way.
But now that the Governor, who had been the cynosure of our imaginations
and the subject of our daily arguments, had either departed homeward, or
could, or would not assist in his own relief, the various matters thrust
aside for his sake required immediate attention. So I catalogued our
impending duties thus:--
To extricate Nelson and Parke from the clutches of the Manyuema, also to
bring up the convalescents, the _Advance_ steel boat, Maxim machine gun,
and 116 loads stored at Ipoto.
To construct Fort Bodo, to securely house a garrison; make a clearing;
plant corn, beans, tobacco, that the defenders may be secure, fed, and
comforted.
To communicate with Major Barttelot by couriers, or proceed myself to
him; to escort the convalescents at Ugarrowwa's.
[Illustration: VIEW OF FORT BODO.]
If boat was stolen or destroyed, then to make a canoe for transport to
the Nyanza.
If Barttelot was reported to be advancing, to hasten supplies of corn and
carriers to his assistance.
And first, the most needful duty was to employ every soul in the building
of the stockade, within which the buildings could be constructed at more
leisure, and without the necessity of having rifles slung to our
shoulders. During our absence the natives had burnt West Ibwiri, and
Boryo's fine village was a smoking ruin when we entered. But the finest
boards had been stripped off the buildings, and were stacked outside, and
the corn had been hastily removed to temporary huts in impervious bush
two hundred yards away. These were now invaluable to us.
By the 18th of January the stockade of Fort Bodo was completed. A hundred
men had been cutting tall poles, and bearing them to those who had sunk a
narrow trench outlining the area of the fort, to plant firmly and closely
in line. Three rows of cross poles were bound by strong vines and rattan
creepers to the uprights. Outside the poles, again, had been fixed the
planking, so that while the garrison might be merry-making by firelight
at night, no vicious dwarf, or ferocious aborigine might creep up, and
shoot a poisoned arrow into a throng, and turn joy to grief. At three
angles of the fort, a tower sixteen feet high had been erected, fenced,
and boarded, in like manner, for sentries by night and day to observe
securely any movement in the future fields; a banquette rose against the
stockade for the defenders to command greater view. For during the months
that we should be employed in realizing our stated tasks, the Manyuema
might possibly unite to assault the fort, and its defence therefore
required to be bullet-proof as well as arrow-proof.
When the stockade was completed, the massive uprights, beams, hundreds of
rafters, thousands of climbers, creepers, vines, for the frames of the
officers' buildings, storerooms, kitchens, corn-bins, outhouses, piles of
phrynia leaves for roofing the houses, had to be collected, and then when
the gross work was so far advanced on the evening of the 18th, Lieutenant
Stairs was summoned to receive his special instructions, which were
somewhat as follows:--
"You will proceed to-morrow with a hundred rifles to Ipoto, to see what
has become of Nelson, Parke, and our sick men, and if living to escort
every man here. You will also bring the boat _Advance_, and as many goods
as possible. The last letters from Nelson and Parke informed us of many
unpleasant things. We will hope for the best. At any rate, you have one
hundred men, strong and robust as the Manyuema now, and their march to
the Albert Lake has made men of them. They are filled with hate of the
Manyuema. They go there independent, with corn rations of their own. You
may do what you like with them. Now, if Nelson and Parke have no
complaints of hostility other than general niggardliness and sulkiness of
the Manyuema, do not be involved in any argument, accusation, or
reproach, but bring them on. If the boat is safe, and has not been
injured, halt but one day for rest, and then hoist her up on your
shoulders and carry her here. But if the survivors will prove to you that
blood has been shed by violence, and any white or black man has been a
victim, or if the boat has been destroyed, then consult with the
surviving whites and blacks, think over your plans leisurely, and let the
results be what they ought to be, full and final retaliation. That is
all, except remember for God's sake that every day's absence beyond a
reasonable period necessary for marching there and back, will be dooming
us here to that eternal anxiety which follows us on this Expedition
wherever we go. It is enough to be anxious for Barttelot, the Pasha,
Nelson and Parke and our sick men, without any further addition."
Three cows were slaughtered for meat rations for Stairs' Expedition, each
man received 120 ears of corn, goats, fowls, and plantains were taken for
the commander and his two friends, and the party set off for
Kilonga-Longa on the 19th.
Stairs' party at muster consisted of-- The garrison numbered--
88 men. 60 men.
6 chiefs. 3 cooks.
1 officer. 4 boys.
1 boy. 3 whites.
1 cook. --
1 Manyuema. 70
--
98
After the departure of Stairs, I commenced the construction of a corn-bin
to store 300 bushels of Indian corn, and to plaster the interior of
head-quarters. Jephson busied himself in levelling floor of officers'
house. Men carried clay, others rammed and tamped. Some men were on the
roofs arranging the large-leaved phrynia one above the other on a kind of
trestle frame, others formed ladders, made clay-dough for the walls,
doors and windows for the houses, built kitchens, excavated latrines, or
dug the ditch--ten feet wide, six feet deep--through a hard yellow clay,
that lay under the twenty-four inches of humus and loam of the clearing.
When the houses were completed, we made a whitewash out of wood ashes,
which gave them a clean and neat appearance.
[Illustration: PLAN OF FORT BODO AND VICINITY. _By Lieut. Stairs, R.E._]
On the 28th, head-quarters was ready for occupation. We had cleared three
acres of land, cut down the bush clean to the distance of 200 yards from
the fort, chopped the logs--the lighter were carried away, the heavier
were piled up--and fire applied to them, and the next day folded the
tents and removed to our mansions, which, as Jephson declared, were
"remarkably snug." There was at first a feeling of dampness, but a
charcoal fire burning night and day soon baked the walls dry.
To February 6 we extended the clearing, but discovering that natives were
prowling about the fort, planting poisoned splinters in the paths,
cutting down the bananas, and bent on general mischief, half of the
garrison were divided into two parties of patrols, to scour the
plantations and the adjoining forest. On this day's explorations several
camps of dwarfs were found at the distance of a mile from the fort, with
stores of plantains in their possession. They were thoroughly rousted
out, and their camps were destroyed.
After a few days' experiences of life in the buildings we found we were
to be annoyed by hosts of rats, fleas, and microscopically small
mosquitoes. The rats destroyed our corn and bit our feet, sported
wantonly over our faces, and played hide-and-seek under our bedclothes.
It seems that by their wondrous craft they had discovered the natives
were about to burn West Ibwiri, and had migrated in time out of harm's
way into the deep bush and the corn fields, and they probably had a dim
idea that such an eligible place would not remain long without tenants.
When the commodious houses of the Europeans were erected, with spacious
lofts, and corn-bins with an inexhaustible supply of grain, they had
waited until everything was prepared; but in the meantime the strange
white men had excavated a long and deep ditch half round the fort, the
walls of which had been carved perpendicularly out of the clay, into
which, in their scurry and hurry to take possession, several families of
rats tumbled, and one morning "Randy," the fox-terrier, leaped in among
them, and exterminated the unfortunates. Still, from the Zanzibari
village some wise old rats had found safe entrance and multiplied so fast
that, until we became accustomed to their playful though rude sport, we
thought them to be an intolerable nuisance.
At the same time the warm dry clay floors began to breed fleas by
myriads. Poor "Randy" was most miserable from these vexatious torments.
We were in no better plight. While dressing they made our limbs black
with their numbers. To suppress this pest we had recourse to keeping the
floors constantly damp, and to sweeping the floors twice a day.
The ordinary mosquito netting was no protection against the mosquitoes of
the clearing. They sailed through the open work as mice would creep
through antelope nets, and the only remedy was to make mosquito curtains
out of cotton muslin, which happily succeeded, but half suffocated the
sleepers.
Our soap had long ago been exhausted, and as a substitute, though it was
not agreeable to the smell, and was an altogether unsaleable article, we
manufactured a soft soap out of castor-oil and lye, and, after a few
experiments, succeeded in turning out a hard ball-like substance, which
had all the desired effect.
Every night, from Yambuya to the plains, we had been troubled by harsh
screams from the lemur. It began at a startling loud key, very
deliberate, and as it proceeded the sounds became louder, quicker, and
higher, in a quick succession of angry, grating, wailing cries. In the
darkness and silence of the night, they sounded very weird. Soon, from a
distance of perhaps 200 yards, commenced a response in the same strain,
from another sexual mate. Sometimes two or three pairs of these would
make sleep impossible, if any indisposition had temporarily disturbed the
usual rest.
Armies of red ants would sometimes invade the fort from the clearing;
their columns were not interrupted by the ditch. In long, thick, unbroken
lines, guarded by soldiers on either flank, the innumerable insects would
descend the ditch and ascend the opposite sides, over the parapets,
through the interstices of the poles, over the banquette, and down into
the plaza of the fort, some columns attacking the kitchen, others
headquarters, the officers' mess-house, and woe betide any unlucky naked
foot treading upon a myriad. Better a flogging with nettles, or cayenne
over an excoriated body, or a caustic bath for a ravenous itch, than
these biting and venomous thousands climbing up the limbs and body,
burying themselves in the hair of the head, and plunging their shining,
horny mandibles into the flesh, creating painful pustules with every
bite. Every living thing seems disturbed at their coming. Men are
screaming, bellowing with pain, dancing, and writhing. There is a general
rustle, as of a host of migrant creatures among the crisp dry phrynia
leaves overhead. The rats and mice, snakes, beetles, and crickets are
moving. From a slung cot I have observed, by candle-light, the avengers
advancing over the floor of my house, scaling the walls, searching the
recesses of every layer of leaves, skirmishing among the nooks and
crannies, mouse-holes, and cracks; heard moaning and crying of little
blind mice, and terrified squealing of motherly and paternal rats, and
hailed them as a blessing, encouraging them along on their career of
destruction, until presently some perverse and undisciplined tribes would
drop from the roof on my cot, and convert their well-wisher into a
vindictive enemy, who, in his rage, would call aloud for hot glowing
embers and roast them alive by thousands, until the air was heavy with
the odour of frizzling and frying ants. Bad luck to them!
While digging in the stiff yellow clay, to form the ditch, we have come
across burnt wood in the hard compacted material, 5 feet below the
surface of the humus. Yet there were stately trees, 100, 150, and 200
years old, above. The site was level, and apparently undisturbed.
One of our surprises has been the immunity we have enjoyed from
snake-bites in tropical Africa. The continent swarms with reptiles of all
kinds, from the silvery and blind typhlops to the huge python; but while
travelling and navigating over 24,000 miles of land and water in Africa,
only two men have been wounded, neither of which cases proved mortal. But
the instant we begin clearing a forest, or hoeing a field or a roadway,
we begin to realize the dangers we have escaped. During the work of
clearing the prostrate logs, and rooting out the bushy undergrowth and
preparing for cultivation, we came across many specimens, some remarkably
beautiful. Coiled in the bushes, green as a tender young wheat-blade,
were the slender whip-snakes, which dropped down among the men when the
bill-hook was applied to destroy their perches. Various species of the
Dendrophis, of brilliant colouring, also were revealed. Three bloated
puff-adders, gorgeous in their complicated system of decorations, were
killed; four horned snakes crept out of their holes to attack and be
slain; one of the Lycodontidæ, curious for its long fangs, was roasted
out of its hiding-place, while several little, blind, blunt-headed,
silvery snakes, not much larger than earthworms, were turned up by the
hoes. Tortoises were very common, and the mephitis left frequent traces
of his existence.
While kites, the most daring of their tribe, soared above every clearing
in the forest, we never met a single vulture until we reached the
grass-land. A few white-collared eagles now and then made their
appearance, but there were parrots innumerable. From grey dawn to dusk
these birds always and everywhere made their presence known. A few herons
occasionally rested on trees in the clearing towards evening. They were
probably fatigued with their flight from the Nyanza. The black ibis and
wagtails were our constant companions in the wilds. Trees with weaver
birds and their nests were a feature near every forest village. The
neighbourhood, and finally our plantations, even within a dozen yards of
the fort, were visited by troops of elephants. Buffalo and wild-hog
tracks were common, but we were not naturalists. None of us had leisure,
and probably but little taste, for collection of insects, butterflies,
and birds. To us an animal or a bird was something to eat, but with all
our efforts we seldom obtained anything. We only noted what happened to
catch our eyes or cross our track. We had too many anxieties to be
interested in anything save what was connected with them. If a native or
a Zanzibari picked up a brilliant longicorn beetle or hawk-moth, or fine
butterfly, or a huge mantis, or brought birds' eggs, or a rare flower, a
lily or an orchid, a snake or a tortoise, my mind wandered to my own
special business, even while gazing at and approving the find. My family
was altogether too large to permit frivolity; not an hour passed but my
fancies fled after Stairs at Ipoto; or my thoughts were filled with
visions of Barttelot and Jameson struggling through the forest,
overwhelmed with their gigantic task, or they dwelt upon the mystery
surrounding the Pasha, or upon the vicious dwarfs and the murderous
Balessé and their doings, or upon the necessities of providing, day after
day, food and meat for the present, as well as for future months.
On the 7th of February the sounding line was stretched out to measure out
the approaches to the gates of the fort, and most of the garrison were
employed for several days in cutting broad, straight roads, east and
west, for quick travel and easy defence. Mighty logs were cut through and
rolled aside, the roads were cleaned, so that a mouse might be detected
crossing them at 200 yards off, a bridge was built across the stream west
of the fort, by which the scouts were enabled to proceed from each of the
plantations in a short time, by night or by day. It may well be imagined
what effect this flood of light had upon the crafty natives, who
preferred burrowing in dark shades, and creep under the lee of monster
logs, furtively spying out opportunities for attack. They felt that they
could not cross the road at any point without becoming a target for a
sentry's rifle, or their tracks would betray them to the patrols.
On the next morning we raised a flag-staff 50 feet high, and as the
Egyptian flag was hoisted up, the Soudanese were permitted to salute it
with twenty-one rounds.
We had scarcely finished the little ceremony when a shot was fired at the
end of the western road, the sentry at the tower commanding it sang out,
"Sail ho," and we knew the caravan was coming in from Ipoto.
Surgeon Parke was the first to arrive, looking wonderfully well, but
Nelson, who suffered from sore feet, and entered the fort an hour later,
was prematurely old, with pinched and drawn features, with the bent back
and feeble legs befitting an octogenarian.
The following account will speak for itself, and will prove that the stay
of these officers at the Manyuema village required greater strength of
mind and a moral courage greater than was needed by us during our stormy
advance across the grass-land. They were not inspired by energising
motives to sustain or encourage them in their hour of suffering from
physical prostration, sickness, and the wearying life they led among
those fearful people, the Manyuema, whereas we had been borne up by the
novelties of new scenes, the constant high pitch of excitement, the
passion of travel and strife. They suffered from the want of the
necessaries of life day after day, while we revelled in abundance, and
the greatest difficulty of all was to bear all these sufferings inflicted
upon them by Ismailia, Khamis, and Sangarameni, who were slaves of
Kilonga-Longa, who was the slave of Abed bin Salim, of Zanzibar, sweetly
and pleasantly.
_Report of Surgeon_ T. H. Parke, _Army Medical Department, in medical_
_charge of E. P. R. Expedition._
Fort Bodo, _8 February, 1888_.
Sir,--I have the honour to forward this report for your
information. In compliance with your orders dated 24th October,
1887, I remained at the Manyuema Camp to take charge of invalids
and impedimenta left there on your departure, 28th October, up to
the time the relief party arrived, 25th January, 1888. Of those
invalids whom you left at camp, seven were sufficiently recovered
to send on with Captain Jephson, 7th November; those remaining were
increased in number by the arrival of Captain Nelson, his two boys,
and two men, 3rd November; also headman Umari and nine men, who
were found in a starving condition in the bush by Kilonga-Longa,
and brought to camp by him 9th January; this made a total of one
sick officer and thirty-nine invalids remaining in camp; of this
number Captain Nelson and sixteen men left with the relief party.
Twelve men were away on a journey looking for food, therefore
remain at Manyuema Camp, and eleven deaths occurred; this extremely
high mortality will no doubt astonish you, especially as it was
entirely due to starvation, except in two instances only. From the
time you left the Manyuema Camp until our departure, 26th January,
the chiefs gave little or no food to either officers or men; those
men who were sufficiently strong to do a good day's work, sometimes
got as many as ten heads of corn (Indian) per man, but as the
working men were not constantly employed, their average ration of
corn was about three per day; those invalids unable to work, of
whom there were many, received no food from the chiefs, and were
therefore obliged to exist on herbs. Remembering the wretched and
debilitated condition of all these men, both from privation and
disease, you will readily understand that the heartless treatment
of the Manyuema chiefs was sufficient to cause even a much greater
mortality.
The men were badly housed, and their scanty clothing consisted of
about half a yard of native bark-cloth, as they sold their own
clothes for food; they experienced not only the horrors of
starvation, but were cruelly and brutally treated by the Manyuema,
who drove them to commit theft by withholding food, and then scored
their backs with rods, and in one case speared a man to death
(Asmani bin Hassan) for stealing.
Captain Nelson arrived in a very weak condition, requiring good
food and careful treatment. He visited the chiefs, and made them
handsome presents of articles costing about £75, with a view to win
their sympathy; however, they continued to give little or no food
to officers or men: they said that no arrangement had been made for
provisioning Captain Nelson, and any food they sent to me was
entirely of their own generosity, as no arrangement had been made
by you. I asked them to let me see the written agreement between
you and them, which they did; also another document written in
Arabic characters, which I could not read. In their agreement with
you I saw that they had promised to provision the officers and men
whom you would leave. I appealed to them, and remonstrated with
them, nevertheless they supplied less and less food, until finally
they refused to give any on the plea that they had none. The height
of this generosity would be reached when they would send two or
three cups of Indian meal to feed Captain Nelson, myself and the
boys, until the next donation would turn up in six or seven days
afterwards. During the last seven weeks we did not receive any food
whatever from the chiefs. Owing to their refusal to give us food,
we were obliged first to sell our own clothes, and eight rifles
belonging to the Expedition to provide ourselves and boys with
food. I repeatedly reminded Ismaili (chief) of the conversation he
had with you in your tent the night before you left the camp, when
he promised to look after and care for the officers and men whom
you left in camp. Although the chiefs had no food to supply
according to their agreement, yet they had always plenty to sell,
their object being to compel us to sell the arms and ammunition for
food. I send you a complete list of effects left in my charge by
Captain Jephson, 7th November, all of which were correct when the
relief party arrived, with the following exceptions, viz.:--two
boxes Remington ammunition, and one rifle, which were stolen by a
Zanzibari (Saraboko), and, I believe, sold to the Manyuema chiefs.
Several attempts were made to steal the arms, boxes, &c.; on the
night of November 7th, the hut in which the baggage was stored was
set on fire with a view to taking everything with a rush in the
confusion, caused by the fire: however, their dream was frustrated,
as Captain Nelson, who was ever awake saw the blaze, and gave the
alarm just in time for ourselves and our boys to put out the fire
before it got to the baggage. I then had the tents pitched
according to your directions, not being able to do so earlier, as I
had no assistance. All the rifles, ammunition, boxes, &c., were
packed in the tents, one of which was occupied by Captain Nelson,
and the other by myself. Every effort was made to prevent things
being stolen; nevertheless, even Captain Nelson's blankets were
taken by a thief who got under the tent from behind. On another
occasion I heard a noise at my tent-door, and, jumping out of bed
quickly, I found a box of ammunition ten yards off, which had just
been taken out of my tent. The thief escaped in the dark.
On the night of January 9th, I heard a noise outside my tent, and,
suspecting a thief, I crept out noiselessly to the back, where I
caught "Camaroni," a Zanzibari, in the act of stealing a rifle
through a hole which he had cut in the tent for this offence. Life
at the Manyuema Camp was almost intolerable. Apart from
starvation, the people, their manner and surroundings, were of the
lowest order, and, owing to the mounds of fecal matter and
decomposing vegetation which were allowed to collect on the paths
and close to their dwellings, the place was a hotbed of disease.
Captain Nelson was confined to his bed from sickness for over two
months, and I got blood-poisoning, followed by erysipelas, which
kept me in bed for five weeks. During our illness the chiefs paid
us frequent visits, but always with a view to covet something which
they saw in our tents. Their avarice was unbounded, and they made
agreements one day only to be broken the next. After the arrival of
Kilonga-Longa and his force of about 400, including women,
children, and slaves, food became really scarce, therefore the
Manyuema were obliged to send out large caravans to bring in food.
Twelve Zanzibaris who are absent accompanied these caravans in
search of food, and had not returned when I left the camp with the
relief party. Starvation was so great just before we left that the
native slaves seized one of their comrades, who had gone some
distance from the camp to draw water, cut him in pieces, and ate
him.
In conclusion, I may mention that Captain Nelson and myself did
everything we could to preserve a good feeling with the Manyuema
chiefs and people, and we parted on friendly terms.
T. H. Parke.
(_Surgeon A. M. D._)
_To_ H. M. Stanley, Esq.,
_Commanding E. P. R. Expedition_.
The contrast between the sadly-worn men who reached us from that hot-bed
of suffering at Ipoto and our beautifully sleek and glossy men who had
reached the Albert was most marked. Their flesh was wasted, their muscles
had become shrivelled, their sinews were shrunk, and their distinctive
and peculiar individualities seemed to have altogether vanished until it
had become a difficult matter to recognise them.
On the 12th of February Lieutenant Stairs and his column appeared with
every section of the boat in good order. He had been absent twenty-five
days, and his mission had been performed with a sacred regard to his
instructions and without a single flaw.
The evening of that date was remarkable for a discussion between the
headmen and ourselves as to our future steps. I discovered that all the
headmen were unanimous for proceeding to the Nyanza to launch the boat
and search for news of Emin. My desire was equally great to obtain news
of the Pasha; nevertheless, I think very little was required to induce me
to abandon the search for the Pasha to obtain news of Major Barttelot,
but officers and men were alike unanimous in their demand that we should
resolve the fate of Emin Pasha. A compromise was finally effected. It was
determined that couriers should be sent with our letters to Major
Barttelot, with a map of our route and such remarks as would be of
practical use to him. It was also decided that Lieutenant Stairs, after
two days' rest, should escort these couriers as far as Ugarrowwa's, and
see them safely across the river, and that on returning he should escort
the convalescents, who, too feeble to march, had been housed in that
settlement on the 18th September; that in order that Lieutenant Stairs
should "participate in the honour of being present at the relief of Emin
Pasha," we should wait for him until the 25th of March. Meantime we
should continue the work of enlarging our domain for corn and bean
planting, to prevent any scarcity of food while engaged in the forest.
The distance between Fort Bodo and Ipoto was seventy-nine miles,[K] or
158 miles the round journey, which had occupied Lieutenant Stairs
twenty-five days, at the average of six and one-third miles per day, but
he had reached Ipoto within seven days, and Jephson and Uledi had
accomplished the distance in the same time, that is, at an average rate
of travel of a little over eleven miles per day. Now, as Ugarrowwa was
104 miles beyond Ipoto, or 183 miles from Fort Bodo, it was estimated
that the journey of 366 miles which Stairs was now about to undertake
might be performed within thirty-four days, or at the rate of ten and
three quarter miles per day. This would be magnificent travelling,
especially in the forest, but as various circumstances might protract the
period, it was agreed that if we moved towards the Nyanza on the 25th
March, and as the carriage of the boat would necessitate short stages, we
should travel slowly, that he might have the opportunity of overtaking
us.
On the morning of the 16th February, at muster, it was proclaimed that
twenty first-class volunteers were required to convey our letters to
Major Barttelot, at £10 reward for each man if they succeeded in reaching
him, because, said I, "You have all combined to demand that we should
find the Pasha first. It is well. But I feel as anxious about the Major
as I do about the Pasha. We must find both. You who remember what we
suffered must feel what the Major and his friends feel, in those horrible
stretches of unpeopled woods, having no idea where they are going or what
is waiting for them. You know how grateful we should have been, had we
met anybody who could have warned us of the hunger and misery we should
meet. Therefore every man who volunteers must be acknowledged as the
fittest for this noble work by everyone here. Master Stairs, whom you all
know as a man who is never tired, and never says 'enough' when there is
something to be done, will show you the road as far as Ugarrowwa's, he
will see that you are ferried over with food, and cartridges sufficient,
and when you leave, you must race along our old road, which you cannot
lose, like men running for a big prize. These letters must be put into
the hands of the Major, that he and your brothers may be saved. Where are
these fifty dollar men?"
Of course at such times the Zanzibaris are easily roused to enthusiasm,
and every man considers himself a hero. Over fifty men came to the front
challenging any one to say aught against their manliness or courage, but
they had to undergo a searching criticism and bantering review from their
fellows and officers, their courage, powers of endurance, activity,
dispositions, strength, soundness of mind and body were questioned, but
at last twenty men satisfactory to Commander and people received rations,
and they were specially enrolled among the men of merit who for
distinguished service were to be rewarded with varying sums of money, in
addition to their pay, on reaching Zanzibar. Lieutenant Stairs left for
Ipoto and Ugarrowwa's at 9 o'clock with fowls, goats, corn, and plantain
flour rations for the long journey.
On the 18th my left arm, which had been very painful for four days
previously, developed a large glandular swelling, which our surgeon said
would prove to be an abscess.
[Illustration: _Stanford's Geographical Estab._]
The following is taken from my diary:--
_February 19th to March 13th_.--On Sunday night, the 19th, I was attacked
with inflammation of the stomach, which has been called by Dr. Parke
sub-acute gastritis, of so severe a character that during the first week
I had only a confused recollection of great pain in the arm and stomach,
and general uselessness. Dr. Parke has been most assiduous in his
application to my needs, and gentle as a woman in his ministrations. For
once in my life every soul around me was at my service, and I found
myself an object of universal solicitude night and day. My faithful
friends, Parke and Jephson, waited, and watched, and served. Poor Nelson
was himself a victim to ill-health, fevers, debility, eruptions and
ulcers, the effects of his terrible agony at Starvation Camp, but he
would come, sometimes tottering weakly, to express his sympathy. In the
afternoons the Doctor would permit the headmen to visit me, to convey to
the anxious Zanzibaris their personal opinions and views of my case.
During most of these twenty-three days I have been under the influence of
morphia, and the time has passed in unconsciousness. But I am now slowly
recovering. Two days ago the abscess, which had become very large, was
pierced, and I am relieved of that pain. Meanwhile my daily diet has
consisted of a pint of milk--thanks to the Balegga cow--mixed with water.
I am therefore so feeble as to be scarcely able to move.
During my illness I have to regret the loss of two good men, Sarmini and
Kamwaiya, who have been killed with arrows, and one of the headmen has
been severely wounded. This occurred during a patrolling tour as far as
the Ihuru, fourteen geographical miles due north from here. Uledi and a
party has discovered the haunts of the dwarfs and taller aborigines who
rob our plantain groves to be at Alessé and Nderi, fourteen geographical
miles east.
I find that Uledi has captured a Queen of the Pigmies, who is the wife of
the Chief of Indékaru. She was brought in to be seen by me with three
rings of polished iron around her neck, the ends of which were coiled
like a watch spring. Three iron rings were suspended to each ear. She is
of a light brown complexion, with broad round face, large eyes, and small
but full lips. She had a quiet modest demeanour, though her dress was but
a narrow fork clout of bark cloth. Her height is about four feet four
inches, and her age may be nineteen or twenty. I notice when her arms are
held against the light, a whity-brown fell on them. Her skin has not that
silky smoothness of touch common to the Zanzibaris, but altogether she is
a very pleasing little creature.
[Illustration: THE QUEEN OF THE DWARFS.]
_March 13th to April 1st_.--By the 25th I was well enough to be able to
move about a few hundred yards at a time. My arm was still stiff and I
was exceedingly feeble. Nelson has recovered somewhat from his successive
fits of illness. During my convalescence I have been supported each
afternoon to the centre of a lofty colonnade of trees, through which our
road to the Nyanza leads, where in an easy chair I have passed hours of
reading and drowsing.
It has been a daily delight while helped to my leafy arcade to observe
the rapid change in the growth of the corn in the fields, and to see how
we have been encroaching upon the forest. Our cultivable area, after
being cleaned, hoed, and planted, was not long left with its bare brown
face naked. On a certain day it became green with the young corn blades,
it had sprouted by thousands as though at the word of command. Only
yesterday, as it were, we smiled to see the tender white stalk arched for
a spring under a slowly rising clod, a now the clods have been brushed
aside, the arched stalks have sprung upright, and the virgin plants have
unfolded their tender green crests. Day by day it has been a wonder how
the corn has thriven and grown, with what vigour the stalks have
thickened, enlarged in leaf, and deepened in green. Side by side in due
rank and order they have risen, the blades have extended towards one
another in loving embrace, until the whole has become a solid square
field of corn, the murmur of which is like the distant wash of a languid
sea over a pebbly beach.
This is the music to which I listen devoutly, while my medical friend
sits not far off on the watch, and sentries stand still at each end of
the avenue on guard. A gentle breeze blows over the forest and breathes
upon the corn, causing a universal shiver and motion throughout, and I
sit watching the corn tops sway and nod, and salute each other, with the
beautiful grace and sweet undertones of many wavelets, until drowsiness
overcomes me and seals my senses, and sleep bears me to the region of
fantasy. As the sun appears low in the west, and lights the underwood
horizontally with mellow light, my kind doctor assists me to my feet and
props me, as I wend to the Fort, my corn with dancing motion and waving
grace bidding me farewell.
In the warm teeming soil the corn has grown apace until it has reached a
prodigious height, tall as the underwood of the forest. Only a few weeks
ago I searched amid the clods for a sign of sprouting; a little later and
I might still have seen a scampering mouse; a few days ago it was breast
high; to-day I look up and I can scarcely touch the point of a
rapier-like blade with a five-foot staff, and a troop of elephants might
stand underneath undetected. It has already flowered; the ears, great and
swelling, lying snug in their manifold sheaths, give promise of an
abundant harvest, and I glow with pleasure at the thought that, while
absent, there need be no anxiety about the future.
I am resolved to-morrow to make a move towards the Nyanza with the boat.
This is the forty-sixth day of Stairs' absence. I had sent twenty
couriers--one of whom returned later--to Major Barttelot. Stairs and his
personal attendants numbered seven. I shall leave forty-nine in fort;
inclusive of Nelson there will be 126 men left to escort the boat to the
Nyanza. Total, 201 of advance column remaining out of 389, exclusive of
such convalescents as may be obtained at Ugarrowwa's.
Tippu-Tib has evidently been faithless, and the Major is therefore
working the double stages, some hundreds of miles behind; the nineteen
couriers are speeding towards him, and are probably opposite the Nepoko
at this date, and Stairs has found so many men yet crippled with ulcers
that he is unable to travel fast. With 126 men I attempt the relief of
Emin Pasha the second time. The garrison consists of all those who suffer
from debility, anæmia--who were fellow-sufferers with Nelson at
Starvation Camp--and leg sores, some of which are perfectly incurable.
The labour performed about the fort is extensive. Nelson has an
impregnable place. The fields of corn and beans are thriving, and of the
latter I have enjoyed a first dish to-day. The plantain groves appear to
be inexhaustible.
Our broad roads extend about half a mile each way. Ten scouts patrol the
plantations every morning, that the mischievous pigmies may not destroy
the supplies of the garrison, and that no sudden onsets of natives may be
made upon the field hands while at work.
Surgeon Parke accompanies us to the Nyanza to-morrow according to his own
earnest request. Though his place is in the fort with the invalids, there
are none who require greater attention than can be given by Captain
Nelson through his boys, who have been instructed in the art of bathing
the sores with lotions of carbolic acid and water.
[Illustration: WITHIN FORT BODO.]
Our men on the Sundays have amused themselves with performing military
evolutions after the method taught by General Matthews at Zanzibar. They
are such capital mimics that his very voice and gesture have been
faithfully imitated.
Life at Fort Bodo, on the whole, has not been unpleasant except for
Captain Nelson and myself. It is true we have fretted and never been
free from anxiety respecting the whereabouts and fate of our friends. We
have also been anxious to depart and be doing some thing towards
terminating our labours, but circumstances which we cannot control rise
constantly to thwart our aims. We have therefore striven to employ every
leisure hour towards providing unstinted supplies of food, in the hope
that fortune will be good enough veer round once in our favour, and bring
Barttelot and our friends Jameson, Ward, Troup, and Bonny, with their
little army of men, to Fort Bodo before our second return from the
Nyanza.
-----
[K] Seventy-nine miles one way, and eighty-four miles by
another way.