WITH THE PASHA (_continued_).
Fortified stations in the Province--Storms at Nsabé--A nest of
young crocodiles--Lake Ibrahim--Zanzibari raid on Balegga
villages--Dr. Parke goes in search of the two missing men--The
Zanzibaris again--A real tornado--The Pasha's gifts to
us--Introduced to Emin's officers--Emin's cattle forays--The
_Khedive_ departs for Mswa station--Mabruki and his wages--The
Pasha and the use of the sextant--Departure of local
chiefs--Arrival of the _Khedive_ and _Nyanza_ steamers with
soldiers--Arrangements made to return in search of the
rear-column--My message to the troops--Our Badzwa road--A farewell
dance by the Zanzibaris--The Madi carriers' disappearance--First
sight of Ruwenzori--Former circumnavigators of the Albert
Lake--Lofty twin-peak mountain near the East Ituri River--Aid for
Emin against Kabba Rega--Two letters from Emin Pasha--We are
informed of an intended attack on us by chiefs Kadongo and
Musiri--Fresh Madi carriers--We attack Kadongo's camp--With
assistance from Mazamboni and Gavira we march on Musiri's camp
which turns out to be deserted--A phalanx dance by Mazamboni's
warriors--Music on the African Continent--Camp at Nzera-kum
Hill--Presents from various chiefs--Chief Musiri wishes for peace.
_May 4th._--Mswa, I am told, is 9 hours' distance from Nsabé camp by
steamer, thence to Tunguru is 5 hours, and to Wadelai 18 hours. The other
fortified stations are named Fabbo, east of Nile; Dufflé end of
navigation; Horiyu, Laboré, Muggi, Kirri, Bedden, Rejaf, and three or
four small stations inland, west of the Nile.
He has spoken in a more hopeful tone to-day of the prospects of returning
from the shores of the Albert, the Victoria Lake region appearing even
more attractive than at first. But there is something about it all that I
cannot fathom.
_May 6th._--Halt at Nsabé.
Another storm broke out to-day, commencing at 8 A.M., blowing from the
north-east. The previous gales were south-easters, veering to east.
Looking toward the steep slope of the plateau walls east and west of us,
we saw it shrouded in mist and vapour, and rain-clouds ominous of
tempests. The whole face of the Nyanza was foam, spray, and white
rollers, which, as they approached the shore, we saw were separated by
great troughs, very dangerous to any small craft that might be overtaken
by the storm.
_May 7th._--Halt at Nsabé.
While at dinner with me this evening, the Pasha informed me that Casati
had expressed himself very strongly against the route proposed to be
taken, _viâ_ Usongora, south, and advised the Pasha to take the Monbuttu
route to the Congo. From which I conclude that the Pasha has been
speaking to Casati about going home. Has he then altered his mind about
the Victoria?
_May 8th._--Halt at Nsabé.
Each day has its storm of wind and rain, loud thunder-claps, preceded by
a play of lightning flashes, most beautiful, but terrible.
Discovered a nest of young crocodiles, thirty-seven in number, having
just issued from their egg-homes. By-the-bye, to those unacquainted with
the fact, a crocodile has five claws on the fore feet, and only four
claws on the hinder. It has been stated that a crocodile raises the upper
jaw to devour, whereas the fact is it depresses the lower jaw like other
animals.
_May 9th, 10th._--Halt at Nsabé.
_May 11th._--Food supply is getting low. Five men have wandered off in
search of something, and have not returned since yesterday. I hope we are
not going to be demoralized again.
Mr. Jephson is suffering from a bilious attack.
Lake Ibrahim, or Gita Nzige according to the Pasha, is only an expansion
of the Victoria Nile, similar to that below Wadelai and Lake Albert, the
Upper Congo, and Stanley Pool. Consequently it has numerous channels,
separated by lines of islets and sand-bars. Both Gordon and Emin Pasha
have travelled by land along its right bank.
At 9 P.M. I received dismal intelligence. Four men, whom I observed
playing on the sandy shore of the lake at 4 o'clock, suddenly took it
into their heads to make a raid on some Balegga villages at the foot of
the plateau N.N.W. from here. They were surrounded by the natives, and
two of them seemed to have been killed, while the other two, who escaped,
show severe wounds.
_May 12th._--Halt at Nsabé.
This morning sent Doctor Parke with forty-five rifles to hunt up the two
missing men. One of them came in at 9 a.m. after a night spent in the
wilderness. He has a deep gash in the back from a spear that had been
hurled at him. Fortunately it did not penetrate the vital parts. He tells
me he was exchanging meat for flour when he heard rifle shots ahead, and
at once there was general alarm. The natives fled one way and he fled
another, but presently found himself pursued, and received a spear wound
in the back. He managed to outrun the pursuer, until in the deep grass of
watercourse he managed to hide while a number of natives were searching
for him. He lay there all night, and when the sun was up, lifted his head
to take a look round, and seeing no one, made his way to the camp.
I am never quite satisfied as to the manner of these accidents, whether
the natives or the Zanzibaris are the aggressors. The latter relate with
exceeding plausibility their version of the matter, but they are such
adepts in the art of lying that I am frequently bewildered. The
extraction of the truth in this instance seems to be so hopeless that I
tell them I judge of the matter thus:
"You Zanzibaris, so long as you receive five or six pounds of flour and
as many pounds of meat daily, become so lazy, you would not go to the
steamer for more to provide rations while she would be absent. She has
been gone now several days, your rations are nearly exhausted, of course,
for who can supply you with as much meat as you can waste, and you left
camp without permission, to steal from the Balegga. There was quite a
party of you, I hear, and most of you, on seeing the village fairly
crowded with natives, were more prudent than others, and traded a little
meat for flour, but your bolder companions passed on, and began to loot
fowls. The natives resented this, shot their arrows at the thieves, who
fired in return, and there was a general flight. One of your number has
been killed. I have lost a rifle, and three more of you have been
wounded, and will be unfit for work for a long time. That is the truth of
the matter, and therefore I shall give you no medicines. Cure your own
wounds if you can, and you three fellows, if you recover, shall pay me
for my rifle.
_May 13th._--Halt at Nsabé.
The doctor returned from his quest of the missing without further
incident than burning two small villages and firing a few shots at
distant parties. He was unable to recover the body of the Zanzibari, or
his Winchester rifle. Where he fell was marked with a good deal of blood,
and it is probable that he wounded some of his foes.
A real tornado blew last night. Inky clouds gathering to the S.E.E. and
N.E. prepared us somewhat for a wet night, but not for the fearful volume
of wind which pressed on us with such solid force as to wreck camp and
lay low the tents. The sound, as it approached, resembled that which we
might expect from the rupture of a dam or the rush from a collapsed
reservoir. The rain, swept by such a powerful force, pierced everywhere.
No precaution that we had been taught by past experience of this Nyanza
weather availed us against the searching, penetrative power of the rain
and its fine spray. From under the huts and tents, and along the ridge
poles, through close shut windows, ventilators, and doors, the tornado
drove the rain in until we were deluged. To contend against such power of
wind and water in a pitchy darkness in the midst of a deafening uproar
was so hopeless a task that our only refuge was to bear it in silence and
with closed lips. Daylight revealed a placid lake, a ragged sky, plateau
tops buried in masses of vapour, a wrecked camp, prostrate tents, and
soaking furniture. So terrible was the roar of the surf that we should
have wished to have viewed the careering rollers and tempestuous face of
the lake by daylight. It is to be hoped that the old _Khedive_ was safely
harboured, otherwise she must have foundered.
_May 14th._--Halt at Nsabé.
The steamer _Khedive_ arrived this afternoon, bringing in a supply of
millet grain and a few milch cows. The Pasha came up smiling with welcome
gifts for each of us. To me he gave a pair of stout walking shoes in
exchange for a smaller pair of boots to be given him on my return with
the rear column. Mr. Jephson was made happy with a shirt, a singlet, and
a pair of drawers; while Dr. Parke. whose grand kit had been stolen by an
absconding Zanzibari, received a blue jersey, a singlet, and a pair of
drawers. Each of us also received a pot of honey, some bananas, oranges,
and water melons, onions, and salt. I also received a pound of "Honey dew
Tobacco" and a bottle of pickles.
These gifts, such as clothes, that our officers have received from Emin
Pasha, reveal that he was not in the extreme distress we had imagined,
and that there was no necessity for the advance to have pressed forward
so hurriedly.[N] We left all our comforts and reserves of clothing
behind at Yambuya, that we might press on to the rescue of one whom we
imagined was distressed not only for want of means of defence from
enemies, but in want of clothing. Besides the double trip we have made to
Lake Albert, I fear I shall have to travel far to go to the rescue of
Major Barttelot and the rear column. God only knows where he is. He may
not have left Yambuya yet, and if so we shall have 1300 miles extra
marching to perform. It is a terribly long march through a forbidding
country, and I fear I shall lose many and many a good soul before it is
ended. However, God's will be done.
He introduced to me to-day Selim Bey and Major Awash Effendi, and other
officers. I had suggested to him two or three days ago that he could
assist me greatly if he constructed a small station on Nyamsassi Island,
where we would be sure to have easy communication with his people, on
which he also could store a reserve of corn ready for the arrival of the
united Expedition, and he readily promised me. But I confess to
experiencing some wonder to-day when he turned to Awash Effendi, the
Major, and said, rather pleadingly I thought, "Now promise me before Mr.
Stanley that you will give me forty men to build this station, which Mr.
Stanley so much desires." There is something about this that I do not
understand. It is certainly not like my ideal Governor, Vice-King, and
leader of men, to talk in that strain to subordinates.
Had another conversation with Emin Pasha to-day, from which I feel
convinced that we shall not only have to march to the Albert Nyanza
again, but that we shall have to wait afterwards at least two months
before he can get his people together. Instead of setting to work during
our absence to collect his people and prepare for the journey, it is
proposed to wait until my return with the rear column, when it is
expected I shall go as far as Dufflé to persuade the people to follow me.
He still feels assured his people will not go to Egypt, but may be
induced to march as far as the Victoria Nyanza.
I asked him if the report was true that he had captured 13,000 head of
cattle during an incursion to the western cattle-lands.
"Oh, no; it is an exaggeration. A certain Bakhit Bey succeeded in taking
8000 head during a raid he made in Makraka, during Raouf Pasha's
Governor-Generalship; but he was severely censured for the act, as such
wholesale raiding only tended to depopulate a country. That has been the
greatest number of cattle obtained at one time. I have had occasion to
order forays to be made to obtain food, but 1600 head has been the
greatest number we have ever succeeded in obtaining at one time. Other
forays have resulted in bringing us 500, 800, and 1200 head."
Both yesterday and to-day have been very pleasant. The temperature of air
in shade, according to Fahrenheit, has been as follows:--
9 A.M. Breeze from S.E. 86°
10.30 A.M. 88°30"
1.30 P.M. 88°30"
7 P.M. 76°
Midnight 73°
6 A.M. 73°
Compensated aneroid. Mean 2·350 feet above sea.
_May 16th._--Nsabé Camp.
The steamer _Khedive_ departed this morning for Mswa Station and Tunguru,
and probably for Wadelai, to hurry up a certain number of porters to
replace our men lost by starvation in the wilderness. Captain Casati and
Mons. Vita Hassan, the Tunisian apothecary, have sailed with her.
In order to keep my men occupied, I have begun cutting a straight road
through the plain towards Badzwa Village. When we take our departure
hence we shall find our advantage in the shorter cut than by taking the
roundabout path by Nyamsassi Island and the site of old Kavalli.
Fetteh, our interpreter, wounded in the stomach at the skirmish of Bessé,
is now quite recovered, and is fast regaining his old weight.
Mabruki, the son of Kassim, so mangled by the buffalo the other day, is
slowly improving.
The man wounded by a spear in the back during his foray into the villages
of Lando, shows also signs of rapid recovery.
We live in hay-cock huts now, and may consider ourselves householders
(according to Emin Pasha) of the Albert Nyanza Province.
_May 17th._--Nsabé Camp.
Our road is now 2,360 paces long towards Badzwa Village.
_May 18th._-- Nsabé Camp.
Our hunters, when receiving cartridges, insist on their being laid on
the ground. Ill luck would follow if the cartridges were delivered to
them from the hand.
I have been instructing the Pasha in the use of the sextant the last two
days preparatory to taking lessons in navigation. His only surveying
instrument hitherto has been a prismatic compass, and as he has never
been taught to discover its variation, it is probable that his surveys
have been from magnetic bearings.
The son of Kassim, the victim to the fury of an angry buffalo, called me
this morning to his bedside, that I might register his last wishes
respecting the wages due to him. His friend Maruf and adopted brother
Sungoro are to be the legatees. Poor Mabruki desired to remember another
friend, but the legatees _begged him not to fill the Master's book with
names_. He was so dejected that I told him that the doctor had great
faith that he would recover. "You are in no danger. Your wounds are very
bad, but they are not mortal, and as the Pasha will take care of you in
my absence, I shall find you a strong man when I return. Why do you
grieve to-day?"
"Ah, it is because something tells me I shall never see the road again.
See, is not my body a ruin?" Indeed he was a pitiable sight, right eye
almost obscured, two ribs broken, right thigh and fork lacerated in the
most dreadful manner.
The Chief Mbiassi of Kavalli departed homeward two days ago. Mpigwa,
Chief of Nyamsassi, and his retinue left yesterday. Kyya-nkondo or
Katonza, for he has two names, also went his way (which, by the way, is
in the wilderness owing to a late visit of Kabba Rega's brigands), while
Mazamboni's people after entertaining the Pasha and his officers with a
farewell dance last night, took their leave this morning.
Three buffalo and a water buck were shot yesterday by two of our
hunters.
The last four days and nights have given us better thoughts of this
African land and lake shore than we previously entertained. The weather
has been somewhat warm, but the lake breeze blowing light and soft, just
strong enough to swing pendulous foliage, has been cooling and grateful.
The nights have been more refreshing. In a sky of radiant brightness the
moon has stood high above the plateau's crown, turning the lake into a
quivering silver plain, the lake surf so blustering and restless, rolls
in a slow and languid cadence on a gray shore of sand before the light
breath of an eastern wind. As if to celebrate and honour this peaceful
and restful life, the Zanzibaris and natives, who, last December were
such furious foes, rival one another with song and chorus and strenuous
dance to a late hour each night.
[Illustration: THE STEAMERS "KHEDIVE" AND "NYANZA" ON LAKE ALBERT.]
_May 19th._--Nsabé Camp.
Our road towards Badzwa is now three and a third miles long. We have but
to hoe up the grass along a line, and we have a beautiful path, with the
almost imperceptible rise of 1 foot in 200.
_May 20th._--Nsabé Camp.
Captured two small brown snakes of a slight coppery tint in my tent this
morning.
_May 21st._--Nsabé Camp.
The Pasha is now able to read the sextant very well. He has also made an
advance towards finding index error; though he labours under the
infirmity of short sight, he is quick and devoted to his intention of
acquiring the art of observing by the instrument. At noon we took
meridian altitude for practice. He observed altitude was 70° 54' 40" at
one-and-half miles distant, height of eye five feet. Index error to add
3'15".
_May 22nd._--Nsabé Camp.
The steamers _Khedive_ and _Nyanza_, the latter towing a lighter,
appeared to-day about 9 A.M., bringing 80 soldiers, with the Major and
Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion, and 130 carriers of the Madi tribe. We
received gifts of raki (ten-gallon demijohn, a kind of Russian vodka,
from the Pasha's distillery, pomegranates, oranges, water-melons, and
more onions, besides six sheep, four goats, and a couple of strong
donkeys, one for myself and one for Doctor Park). The _Nyanza_ steamer is
about 60 feet by 12. I propose leaving the Albert Lake for my journey in
search of the rear column of the Expedition the day after to-morrow.
I leave with the Pasha, Mr. Mounteney Jephson, three Soudanese soldiers,
and Binza, Doctor Junker's boy, besides the unhappy Mabruki. Of the
baggage we carried here, exclusive of thirty-one cases Remingtons already
delivered, I leave two boxes Winchesters, one box of brass rods, lamp,
and sounding iron; also my steel boat, _Advance_, with her equipments.
In accordance with the request of the Pasha, I have drawn up a message,
which Mr. Jephson will read to the troops. It is as follows:--
Soldiers,--After many months of hard travel, I have at last reached
the Nyanza. I have come expressly at the command of the Khedive
Tewfik, to lead you out of here and show you the way home. For you
must know that the River el Abiad is closed, that Khartoum is in
the hands of the followers of Mohamed Achmet, that the Pasha Gordon
and all his people were killed, and that all the steamers and boats
between Berber and the Bahr-Ghazal have been taken, and that the
nearest Egyptian station to you is Wady Halfa, below Dongola. Four
times the Khedive and your friends have made attempts to save you.
First, Gordon Pasha was sent to Khartoum to bring you all home.
After ten months of hard fighting Khartoum was taken, and Gordon
Pasha was killed, he and his soldiers. Next came the English
soldiers under Lord Wolseley to try and help Gordon Pasha out of
his troubles. They were four days too late, for they found Gordon
was dead and Khartoum was lost. Then a Doctor Lenz, a great
traveller, was sent by way of the Congo to find out how you could
be assisted. But Lenz could not find men enough to go with him, and
so he was obliged to go home. Also a Doctor Fischer was sent by
Doctor Junker's brother, but there were too many enemies in the
path, and he also returned home. I tell you these things to prove
to you that you have no right to think that you have been forgotten
in Egypt. No, the Khedive and his Wazir, Nubar Pasha, have all
along kept you in mind. They have heard by way of Uganda how
bravely you have held to your post, and how stanch you have been to
your duties as soldiers. Therefore they sent me to tell you this;
to tell you that you are well remembered, and that your reward is
waiting for you, but that you must follow me to Egypt to get your
pay and your reward. At the same time the Khedive says to you,
through me, that if you think the road too long, and are afraid of
the journey, that you may stay here, but in that case you are no
longer his soldiers; that your pay stops at once; and in any
trouble that may hereafter befall you, you are not to blame him,
but yourselves. Should you decide to go to Egypt, I am to show you
the way to Zanzibar, put you on board a steamer and take you to
Suez, and thence to Cairo, and that you will get your pay until you
arrive there, and that all promotions given you will be secured,
and all rewards promised you here will be paid in full.
I send you one of my officers, Mr. Jephson, and give him my sword,
to read this message to you from me. I go back to collect my people
and goods, and bring them on to the Nyanza, and after a few months
I shall come back here to hear what you have to say. If you say,
Let us go to Egypt, I will then show you a safe road. If you say,
We shall not leave this country, then I will bid you farewell and
return to Egypt with my own people.
May God have you in His keeping.
Your good friend,
(Signed) Stanley.
_May 23rd._--Halt.
The Zanzibaris entertained the Pasha and his officers to-night with a
farewell dance. Though they are quite well aware of the dangers and
fatigue of the journey before them, which will commence to-morrow, there
are no symptoms of misgiving in any of them. But it is certain that some
of them will take their last look of the Pasha to-morrow.
_May 24th._--March to Badzwa village, 10 miles; performed it in 4 hours.
Emin Pasha marched a company along our new road at dawn this morning, and
halted it about two miles from the Lake. Having arranged the Madi
carriers in their place in the column, the advance guard issued out from
camp and took the road towards the west at 6.15 A.M. In half-an-hour we
found the Pasha's Soudanese drawn up in line on one side of the road.
They saluted us as we passed on, and the Pasha fervently thanked us and
bade us good-bye.
At the end of the new road twenty-one of the Madis broke from the line of
the column and disappeared towards the north rapidly. Fourteen men were
sent back to inform the Pasha, while we held on our way to Badzwa. About
a mile from the village there was another stampede, and eighty-nine Madis
deserted in a body, but not without sending a shower of arrows among the
rear guard. The doctor, believing that this was preliminary to an attack
on his small detachment, fired his rifle, and dropped a Madi dead, which
precipitated the flight of the deserters. The remaining nineteen out of
the 130 were secured.
A second message was therefore sent to the Pasha acquainting him with the
events of the march.
When about five miles from Nsabé Camp, while looking to the south-east,
and meditating upon the events of the last month, my eyes were directed
by a boy to a mountain said to be covered with salt, and I saw a peculiar
shaped cloud of a most beautiful silver colour, which assumed the
proportions and appearance of a vast mountain covered with snow.
Following its form downward, I became struck with the deep blue-black
colour of its base, and wondered if it portended another tornado; then as
the sight descended to the gap between the eastern and western plateaus,
I became for the first time conscious that what I gazed upon was not the
image or semblance of a vast mountain, but the solid substance of a real
one, with its summit covered with snow. I ordered a halt and examined it
carefully with a field-glass, then took a compass bearing of the centre
of it, and found it bear 215° magnetic. It now dawned upon me that this
must be the Ruwenzori, which was said to be covered with a white metal or
substance believed to be rock, as reported by Kavalli's two slaves.
This great mountain continued to be in sight most distinctly for two
hours, but as we drew nearer to Badzwa at the foot of the plateau, the
lofty wall of the plateau hid it from view.
This discovery was announced to the Pasha in the second message I sent.
When I come to reflect upon it, it strikes me as singular that neither
Baker, Gessi, Mason, or Emin Pasha discovered it long ago.
Gessi Pasha first circumnavigated the Albert Lake, steaming along the
western shore towards the south, rounding the southern end of the lake
and continuing his voyage along the eastern shore.
Mason Bey, in 1877, is the next visitor, and he follows the track of
Gessi with a view of fixing positions by astronomical observations, which
his predecessor was unable to do.
Emin Pasha, eleven years later, comes steaming south in quest of news of
the white men reported to be at the south end of the Lake.
If a fair view of this snowy mountain can be obtained from the plain of
the Nyanza, a much better view ought to be obtained from the Lake, and
the wonder is that none of these gentlemen saw it. Whereas Baker, casting
his eyes in its direction, on a "beautifully clear day," views only an
illimitable Lake.
Messrs. Jephson and Parke, while carrying the boat from Kavalli's to the
Lake, report that they saw snow on a mountain, and the latter officer,
pointing to the little range of Unya-Kavalli, inquired of me on his
return if it was possible that snow would be found on such hills. As
their highest peak cannot be 5,500 feet above the sea, I replied in the
negative, but the doctor said that he was equally certain that he had
seen snow. I explained to him then that a certain altitude of about
15,000 feet in the Equatorial regions is required before rain can be
congealed into permanent snow; that there might be a hail-storm or a fall
of snow, caused by a cold current, even on low altitudes in a tropic
region, but such cold would only be temporary, and the heat of tropic
waters or tropic soil would in a few moments cause the hail and snow to
disappear. Standing as we were in camp at Bundi, on the crest of the
plateau, in plain view of Unya Kavalli and other hills, there was no
height visible anywhere above 6000 feet of an altitude above the sea.
Considering the above facts, it will be evident that it requires a
peculiar condition of the atmosphere to enable one to see the mountain
from a distance of 70 miles, which I estimate it at. Near objects, or
those 10, 15, or 20 miles, an ordinarily clear atmosphere may enable us
to distinguish; but in such a humid region as this is, on a bright day
such a quantity of vapour is exhaled from the heated earth, that at 30
miles it would be intensified into a haze which no eyesight could
penetrate. But at certain times wind-currents clear the haze, and expose
to the view objects which we wonder we have not seen before. As, for
instance, in December last, returning from Nyanza to Fort Bodo, I took
compass bearings of a lofty twin-peak mountain from a table hill near the
East Ituri River. I noted it down that the twin-peak mass was already
seen, and I pointed it out to Mr. Jephson. Strange to say, I have never
seen it since, though I have been twice over the ground.
Kavalli passed our camp this afternoon with 400 men to assist Emin Pasha
in a demonstration he proposes to make against Kabba Rega. Katonza and
Mpigwa of Nyamsassi will also, perhaps, lend an equal number to his
assistance.
I received the following letters to-day from the Pasha. When he talks of
pride and joy at being in our company, I think we are all unanimous in
believing that he has given us as much pleasure as we have given him.
Nsabé Camp,
_25th May, 1888_, 5 A.M.
Dear Sir,
I should not need to tell you how distressed I have been when I
heard of the misfortune happened by the desertion of our Madi
people. I at once sent out different searching parties, but I am
sorry to state that up to noon their efforts were of no avail,
although Shukri Agha and his party, who went yesterday to Kahanama,
have not returned.
By a mere chance it happened that when Dr. Parke came a boat from
Mswa station had arrived, bringing me intelligence of the arrival
there of 120 porters from Dufflé. I therefore started immediately
the _Khedive_ steamer to bring them here, and expect her back this
very night, when, at her arrival, I shall start the whole gang,
accompanied by a detachment of my people.
Allow me to be the first to congratulate you on your most splendid
discovery of a snow-clad mountain. We will take it as a good omen
for further directions on our road to Victoria.[O] I propose to
go out on your track to-day or to-morrow, just to have a look at
this giant.
In expectance of two words of you this morning I venture to offer
you my best wishes for the future. I always shall remember with
pride and joy the few days I was permitted to consort with you.
Believe me, dear Sir,
Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) Dr. M. Emin.
Nsabé Camp,
_26th May, 1888_, 2:30 A.M.
Dear Sir,
Your very welcome and most interesting note of yesterday has
reached me at the hands of your men. The steamer has come in this
very instant, but she brought only eighty-two carriers, the rest
having run away on the road between Tunguru and Mswa. I send,
therefore, these few men, accompanied by twenty-five soldiers and
an officer, hoping they may be of some use to you. Their arms
having been collected I handed them to the officer, from whom you
will kindly receive them. We heard yesterday evening that your
runaways had worked their way to Muganga, telling the people they
were sent by me.
The ten men you kindly sent here accompanying the carriers as well
as Kavalli and his men. Having caught yesterday a spy of
Ravidongo[P] in Katonza's Camp, I told this latter he would
better retire, and he acted on this advice. I have acquainted
Kavalli with my reasons for not interfering just now with
Ravidongo, and have asked him to return to you. He readily
assented; he had some presents, and starts now with the courier. He
entreats me, further, to beg you to send some of your men to take
hold of his brother Kadongo, who stays, says he, with the Wawitu
somewhere near to his residence.
I shall try hard to get a glimpse of the new snow mountain, as well
from here as from some other points I propose to visit. It is
wonderful to think how, wherever you go, you distance your
predecessors by your discoveries.
And now as this, for some time at least, is probably the last word
I will be able to address you, let me another time thank you for
the generous exertions you have made, and you are to make for us.
Let me another time thank you for the kindness and forbearance you
have shown me in our mutual relations. If I cannot find adequate
words to express what moves me in this instant you will forgive me.
I lived too long in Africa for not becoming somewhat negrofied.
God speed you on your course and bless your work!
Yours very faithfully,
(Signed) Dr. Emin.
_May 25th and 26th._--Halt at Badzwa. The Pasha has abandoned his idea of
making a demonstration against Unyoro, and his allies, who have much to
avenge, have been quickly dismissed homeward.
In the afternoon Balegga descended from Bundi Hill Village, and secretly
informed us that Kadongo and Musiri--the latter a warlike and powerful
chief--have banded their forces together and intend to attack us on the
road between Gavira's and Mazamboni's. We have given neither of them any
cause for this quarrel, unless our friendship with their rivals may be
deemed sufficient and legitimate. I have only 111 rifles and ten rounds
of ammunition for each rifle, to reach Fort Bodo, 125 miles distant. If
any determined attack is made on us in the open country, a few moments'
firing will make us helpless. Therefore I shall have to resort to other
measures. It was held by Thomas Carlyle that it was the highest wisdom to
know and believe that the stern thing which necessity ordered to be done
was the wisest, the best, and the only thing wanted there. I will attack
Kadongo first, and then march straight upon Musiri, and we will spend our
last shots well, if necessary. It may be this bold movement will upset
the combination.
The Pasha has acted quickly. Eighty-two fresh carriers arrived at noon,
under a strong guard, and three soldiers specially detailed to accompany
me. On their delivery to us, each Zanzibari received a Madi to guard. At
half-past three in the afternoon we commenced the steep ascent up the
terrible slope of the plateau, with a burning sun in our front, and
reached the crest at Bundi camp at 6.30 P.M., a half-hour after sunset.
After placing strong guards round the camp, I selected a band of forty
rifles of the choicest men under two Zanzibari chiefs, and prepared them
for a surprise party to attack Kadongo's camp by night. A few of our
native allies volunteered to show the hill village he was occupying.
At 1 A.M. the party was despatched.
_May 27th._--At 8 A.M. the party detailed against Kadongo returned,
having effected their mission most successfully, but Kadongo himself
escaped by crying out that he was a friend of "Bula Matari." No cattle
or goats were taken, because the place was only occupied by Kadongo's
band for temporary purposes.
We then lifted our burdens and began our march towards Gavira's. We had
barely started when we discovered a large band of men advancing towards
us, preceded by a man bearing a crimson flag, which at a distance might
be taken for that of Zanzibar or Egypt. We halted, wondering what party
this might be, but in a few moments we recognised Katto, Mazamboni's
brother, who had been sent by his chief to greet us and learn our
movements. We admired the aptness of these people in so soon learning to
follow the direction given to them, for had not the flag held us in
suspense, we might have injured our friends by taking them for the van of
Musiri's war-party.
Retaining a few of them to follow us, I ordered Katto to return quickly
to Mazamboni, his brother, and secretly inform him that as Musiri
intended to attack us on the road, I intended to attack him at dawn the
day after to-morrow, and that I expected from Mazamboni, as my ally, that
he would bring as many men as he could sometime that next day. Katto
declared the thing possible, though it was a short notice for the
distance to be travelled. We were at the time six miles from Gavira's,
thence to Mazamboni's village was thirteen miles, and back again to
Gavira's would be another thirteen miles, and in the meantime some delay
would be necessary to secretly muster a sufficient body of warriors
becoming Mazamboni's rank, and prepare rations for a few days.
We arrived at Gavira's about noon. Here I proposed to Gavira to join me
in the attack, which the chief as readily promised.
_May 28th._--Halt. We have received abundant contributions of food for
our force, which numbers now 111 Zanzibaris, 3 whites, 6 cooks and boys,
101 Madis, and 3 soldiers belonging to the Pasha--total 224, exclusive of
a few dozen natives who voluntarily follow us.
An hour after sunset Mazamboni arrived in person with about 1000
warriors armed with bows and spears. His force was camped in the potato
fields between Gavira's and Musiri's district.
_May 29th._--At three o'clock a.m. we set out for Usiri on a N.W. road, a
bright moon lighting the way. About 100 of the boldest of Mazamboni's
corps preceded our force. The others fell in line behind, and Gavira's
tribe, represented by about 500 men, brought up the rear. A deep silence,
befitting our purpose, prevailed.
At 6 A.M. we reached the outskirts of Usiri, and in a few moments, each
chief having received his instructions, Dr. Parke, in charge of sixty
rifles to keep the centre, Katto, in charge of his brother's warriors to
form the left wing, and Mpinga and Gavira with his men to form the right,
the attacking force moved on swiftly.
The results were ludicrous in the extreme. Mpinga's Wahuma herdsmen had
given notice to Musiri's Wahuma herdsmen, and Mazamboni's Wahuma had been
just as communicative to their fellow-countrymen with the enemy.
Consequently the herdsmen had driven all the herds from Usiri by other
roads; a half of them arrived at Gavira's, and the other half at
Mazamboni's, just at the same morning when the attacking force poured
over the land of Usiri, and Musiri, the chief, after hearing of the
disaster to Kadongo, and of the mighty army to be brought against him,
took tender care that not one soul under his sway should be injured. The
land was quite empty of people, herds, flocks, and fowls, but the
granaries were heaped full of grain, the fields exhibited abundant crops
of potatoes, beans, young Indian corn, vegetables, and tobacco. I am
secretly glad of the bloodless termination of the affair. My object has
been gained. We have saved our extremely scanty supply of ammunition, and
the road is clear from further trouble. Mazamboni and Gavira, I believe,
were also delighted, though they expressed themselves mortified.
In one of the huts was discovered the barrel of a carbine and percussion
lock. The latter bore the brand of "John Clive III., 530." This is a
relic of Kabba Rega's visit, whose men were sadly defeated by Musiri
about a year ago.
In the afternoon Mazamboni's warriors, 1000 strong, joined to celebrate
the bloodless victory over Musiri in a phalanx dance. Dancing in Africa
mainly consists of rude buffoonery, extravagant gestures, leaping and
contortions of the body, while one or many drums keep time. There is
always abundance of noise and loud laughter, and it serves the purpose of
furnishing amusement to the barbarians, as the dervish-like whirling and
pirouetting give to civilised people. Often two men step out of a
semicircle of their fellow villagers, and chant a duet to the sound of a
drum or a horn amid universal clapping of hands, or one performs a solo
while dressed most fantastically in cocks' feathers, strings of rattling
gourds, small globular bells, and heaps of human, monkey, and crocodile
teeth, which are the African jewels; but there must always be a chorus,
the grander the better, and when the men, women, and children lift their
voices high above the drums, and the chatter and murmur of the crowd, I
must confess to having enjoyed it immensely, especially when the
Wanyamwezi are the performers, who are by far the best singers on the
African continent. The Zanzibaris, Zulus, Waiau, Wasegara, Waseguhha, and
Wangindo are in the main very much alike in method and execution, though
they have each minor dances and songs, which vary considerably, but they
are either dreadfully melancholiac or stupidly barbarous. The Wasoga,
Waganda, Wakerewé, Wazongora, around Lake Victoria, are more subdued, a
crude bardic, with something of the whine of the Orient--Mustapha, or
Hussein, or Hassan, moaning below lattices to the obdurate Fatima or
stony-eared Roxana. Except the Wanyamwezi, I have not heard any music or
seen any dance which would have pleased an English audience accustomed to
the plantation dances represented in a certain hall in Piccadilly until
this day, when the Bandussuma, under Katto, the brother of Mazamboni, led
the chief warriors to the phalanx dance. Half a score of drums, large and
small, had been beaten by half a score of accomplished performers,
keeping admirable time, and emitting a perfect volume of sound which must
have been heard far away for miles, and in the meantime Katto, and his
cousin Kalengé, adorned with glorious tufts of white cocks' feathers,
were arranging thirty-three lines of thirty-three men each as nearly as
possible in the form of a perfect and solid and close square. Most of
these men had but one spear each, others possessed two besides their
shields and quivers, which were suspended from the neck down the back.
The phalanx stood still with spears grounded until, at a signal from the
drums, Katto's deep voice was heard breaking out into a wild triumphant
song or chant, and at a particular uplift of note raised his spear, and
at once rose a forest of spears high above their heads, and a mighty
chorus of voices responded, and the phalanx was seen to move forward, and
the earth around my chair, which was at a distance of fifty yards from
the foremost line, shook as though there was an earthquake. I looked at
the feet of the men and discovered that each man was forcefully stamping
the ground, and taking forward steps not more than six inches long, and
it was in this manner that the phalanx moved slowly but irresistibly. The
voices rose and fell in sweeping waves of vocal sound, the forest of
spears rose and subsided, with countless flashes of polished iron blades
as they were tossed aloft and lowered again to the hoarse and exciting
thunder of the drums. There was accuracy of cadence of voice and roar of
drum, there was uniform uplift and subsidence of the constantly twirling
spear blades, there was a simultaneous action of the bodies, and as they
brought the tremendous weight of seventy tons of flesh with one regular
stamp of the feet on the ground, the firm and hard earth echoed the sound
round about tremulously. With all these the thousand heads rose and
drooped together, rising when venting the glorious volume of energy,
drooping with the undertone of wailing murmur of the multitude. As they
shouted with faces turned upward and heads bent back to give the fullest
effect to the ascending tempest of voices, suggestive of quenchless
fury, wrath and exterminating war, it appeared to inflate every soul with
the passion of deadly battle and every eye of the onlookers glowed
luridly, and their right arms with clenched fists were shaken on high as
though their spirits were thrilled with the martial strains; but as the
heads were turned and bowed to the earth we seemed to feel war's agony,
and grief, and woe, to think of tears, and widows' wails, and fatherless
orphans' cries, of ruined hearths and a desolated land. But again as the
mass, still steadily drawing nearer, tossed their heads backward, and the
bristling blades flashed and clashed, and the feathers streamed and gaily
rustled, there was a loud snort of defiance and such an exulting and
energising storm of sound that man saw only the glorious colours of
victory and felt only the proud pulses of triumph.
Right up to my chair the great solid mass of wildly chanting natives
advanced, and the front line lowered their spears in an even line of
bright iron; thrice they dropped their salute and thrice they rose, and
then the lines, one after another, broke into a run, spears clenched in
the act of throwing, staffs quivering, war-whoops ringing shrilly. The
excitement was intensified until the square had been transformed into
wheeling circles three deep, and after three circlings round the open
plaza, Prince Katto took his position, and round him the racing men
coiled themselves until soon they were in a solid circle. When this was
completed the square was formed, it was divided into halves, one half
returning to one end, the other half to the other end. Still continuing
the wild chant, they trotted towards one another and passed through
without confusion, exchanging sides, and then once more in a rapid
circling of the village common with dreadful gestures until the eye was
bewildered with the wheeling forms, and then every man to his hut to
laugh and jest, little heeding what aspects they had conjured by their
evolutions and chants within me, or any one else. It was certainly one of
the best and most exciting exhibitions I had seen in Africa.
[Illustration: A PHALANX DANCE BY MAZAMBONI'S WARRIORS.]
_May 30th._--March to Nzera-Kum Hill in Ndusuma, three hours.
We marched to Mazamboni's country to our old camp at Chongo, which name
the Zanzibaris have given to the hill of Nzera-Kum, and we had abundant
evidence that Mazamboni was deeply implicated in the acts of the Wahuma
herdsmen, for the track was fresh and large of many a fine herd of
cattle. Presently we came in sight of the fine herds, who, all
unconscious of trouble, were browsing on the fine pasture, and the
Zanzibaris clamoured loudly for permission to capture them. For an
instant only there was a deep silence, but Mazamboni, on being asked the
reason for the presence of Musiri's herds on his territory, answered so
straightforwardly that they belonged to the Wahuma who had fled from his
territory last December when he was in trouble with us, and now to avoid
the same trouble in Usiri had returned to their former place, and he had
not the heart to prevent them, that the order was given to move on.
_May 31st._--Halt. Mazamboni gave us a present of three beeves and
supplied our people with two days full rations of flour, besides a large
quantity of potatoes and bananas. A large number of small chiefs from the
surrounding districts paid visits to us, each bringing into camp a
contribution of goats, fowls, and millet flour. Urumangwa, Bwessa, and
Gunda have also made pacts of friendship with us. These villages form the
very prosperous and extensively cultivated district which so astonished
us by its abundance one December morning last year.
Towards evening I received a communication from Musiri, saying that as
all the land had made peace with me, he wished to be reckoned as my
friend, and that the next time I should return to the country he would be
prepared with suitable gifts for us.
As to-morrow I propose to resume the journey towards Fort Bodo and
Yambuya, let me set down what I have gleaned from the Pasha respecting
himself.
-----
[N] Yet, Emin Pasha wrote a letter on the 25th March, 1888,
to the Editor of Petermann's Magazine, fifty days
previously, which he concluded with the words, "If
Stanley does not come soon, we are lost."
[O] It is clear that he was smitten with the Victoria Lake
proposition.
[P] Ravidongo, one of the principal generals of Kabba Rega.