AN ANTELOPE HUNT.--GUINEA-WORMS, WHITE ANTS, AND GREAT SNAKES.
The steamer remained a day at Fashoda, and then proceeded on her voyage,
her next halting-place being at the mouth of the Sobat, which is an
affluent of the White Nile, and has its source in the mountains near the
Indian Ocean. Its water is considered superior to that of the Nile for
drinking purposes, and a supply was taken on board for the use of the
passengers and crew.
[Illustration: SCENE ON THE WHITE NILE ABOVE THE SOBAT.]
They now entered a succession of marshes and low ground, where the river
frequently divided into several channels, and was often partially
blocked with great masses of weeds and other tropical vegetation. A
short distance above the Sobat, Frank and Fred had their first view of a
wild elephant, or rather of a troop of half a dozen or more. They were
not at all disturbed by the proximity of the steamer. One was lying
comfortably on the ground, and the rest stood watching the boat while
it passed up the stream a few hundred yards from them. On the opposite
bank of the river was a Shillook village, and beyond it the dry grass
was burning furiously and sending up a vast column of smoke. The boys
were much excited over their view of the elephants, and greatly wished
they could land and take a shot at the beasts. Doctor Bronson told them
they would have an opportunity to hunt elephants before many days, and
with this assurance they were contented.
Elephants roam the country on both banks of this part of the Nile, but
they are less numerous than farther up the valley. They are hunted for
their ivory by the natives, and occasionally the white man gets a chance
at them. Every year they increase in scarcity and in shyness, so that
the stranger's chance of sport among this huge game is not very good.
Occasionally they visit the fields of the natives during the night, and
do a great deal of damage by trampling down the crops and eating the
growing plants. The negroes take advantage of their depredations to make
pitfalls for them, and in this way a large elephant sometimes finds
himself a prey to the hunter.
As they ascended the Nile above the mouth of the Sobat, Abdul pointed
out the spot where the "sudd" formerly obstructed the river, and caused
great inconvenience.
The sudd had been mentioned before, but only briefly, and one of the
youths asked Abdul to describe it to them.
"From here to Gondokoro," said Abdul, "a distance of nearly eight
hundred miles, you will find the White Nile running through a series of
marshes and lowlands; in many places it spreads out over a wide area,
and forms a large number of channels among islands of greater or less
extent. You have already observed that the grass and reeds come drifting
with the current, and occasionally masses of them form to such an extent
that they take the shape of floating islands.
"This floating stuff sometimes becomes caught and imprisoned at low
water, and it remains there, growing day by day, till the annual flood
brings down so large a current that it is swept away. One year the flood
was not sufficient to remove it, and it remained from one season till
the next.
"Then it increased till it fairly drove the river from its bed, or
rather caused it to spread out and form new channels. It became a bog,
through which the water percolated or ran in unknown channels, and
furnishing a foundation for masses of vegetation, that sprung up and
flourished under the effect of tropical heat and moisture.
"This state of affairs continued for six or eight years, and the White
Nile apparently ceased to exist, by reason of the great dam of reeds and
other plants that choked the channel and made navigation impossible.
This dam was the sudd of which we have been speaking.
[Illustration: HAULING A STEAMBOAT THROUGH A CANAL CUT IN THE SUDD.]
"It remained here when Baker Pacha ascended the Nile on his expedition
for the suppression of the slave-trade. His advance was retarded for
many months by the sudd; he was obliged to cut channels through it, and
then haul his boats along from one strip of open water to another. Many
of his men died from exposure and hard work in passing the sudd, and
there were fears at one time that it would cause a total abandonment of
the expedition.
"The sudd was full of insects, that caused great suffering to all
concerned, and the air at all times was thick with mosquitoes. One of
the most dreaded pests was the 'guinea-worm,' that embeds itself in the
feet or ankles, and produces a disagreeable and often dangerous sore.
This worm is peculiar to the tropics, and is justly feared by all
persons liable to its attacks. It makes a slight puncture in the
skin--generally in or near the foot--and lays its eggs there. They are
hatched in from two months to a year, and the puncture is so minute that
its presence is not known until the eggs are developed."
One of the boys asked if the worm ever caused the death of the person
attacked.
"Generally he escapes with a dreadful sore, that may be months in
healing," said Doctor Bronson, who was standing near; "and not
unfrequently he loses the foot or leg where the sore is developed. If
the worm can be removed without breaking, and before it has created more
than a small sore like a pimple, no serious harm results; but the
operation is difficult, and requires great care on the part of both
doctor and patient."
"How is it performed?" Frank asked.
"When the vesicle breaks," the Doctor answered, "the end of the worm
shows itself and hangs outside. It is gently pulled and coiled round a
piece of linen or a small stick, like a section of a toothpick, and then
fastened over the wound with sticking-plaster and a compress. Twice a
day the performance is repeated, and as much as possible of the worm is
coiled away. It takes all the way from a fortnight to three or four
months to remove a worm in this way. The worms vary from six inches to
three yards in length, and their circumference is about that of small
wrapping-twine. If a worm is broken in the process of extraction it is
liable to cause inflammation, fever, deformities, loss of the limbs,
mortification, and death. So you see it is not to be trifled with."
"What a terrible scourge!" said one of the boys. "I shall take good care
not to go into the water in the region where this worm abounds."
"It has been known and mentioned in ancient as well as in modern
writings," the Doctor continued; "and some authorities argue that the
'fiery serpents' which attacked the Israelites in the wilderness were in
reality guinea-worms."
"How could that be?" Fred exclaimed. "They could not be anything like
serpents; and, besides, the pictures we have of the events of the Exodus
show that the Israelites were bitten by something larger than the little
threads you have described."
"That is quite true," was the reply; "but bear in mind that the pictures
in our books were not made at the time, but many centuries afterward.
The words in the original Hebrew--which are translated in our version as
'fiery serpents'--refer unmistakably to something which caused an
inflammatory wound, and do not describe the serpent any farther than
this. By the Greeks the _Filaria_, or guinea-worm, was reckoned among
the serpents, on account of its form as well as the results of its bite;
and those who have studied the subject say that the theory is supported
by the natural conditions of the country through which the Israelites
passed, while the mortality among them can be accounted for by their
ignorance of the proper treatment. From a scientific point of view, if
not from a popular one, the subject is an interesting study."
[Illustration: NESTS OF WHITE ANTS.]
Doctor Bronson paused, as his attention was drawn to some conical mounds
on the shore near which they were passing.
"They are ant-hills," said the Doctor, after a brief survey. "They are
made by the white ants, which are found in various parts of Africa, and
display considerable skill in the construction of their homes."
The steamer halted for wood at a point close to several of the mounds,
and thus gave the youths an opportunity to examine them. They found the
ant-hills varying in height from six to ten feet, and composed of a
yellowish earth, nearly as hard as brick, and quite capable of resisting
the action of the rain.
Abdul said the ants used the yellow earth below the black soil on the
surface. Their first move was to swallow it, and thus mix it with an
albuminous matter from their bodies, so as to give it the character of
cement. Then the substance was formed into the mound which rose above
the level of the highest floods. When the river is low the black soil is
uncovered, and the ants roam in the vicinity of the mounds; but at the
time of the inundation the entire country is under water, with the
exception of the mounds, which stand out like small islands.
[Illustration: A HERD OF ANTELOPE.]
From this point the ant-hills were numerous, and at the next
halting-place a group of antelopes was seen, with one of its number
stationed on a mound as a sentry. Finding the boat would be there a
sufficient time to permit the experiment, Doctor Bronson determined to
capture the sentinel, as an addition to the table of the steamer. Armed
with his rifle, he started on foot, carefully keeping several ant-hills
in range of the one where the sentry was standing, and never allowing
himself more than a glimpse of the creature's horns.
The sentinel did his duty thoroughly, and gave the Doctor no little
trouble to approach without being discovered. Creeping slowly from hill
to hill, he at last reached one about two hundred yards from that where
the sentinel stood. The animal was motionless, with the exception of
his head, which he turned from side to side occasionally, so as to take
in the entire horizon. His side was toward his enemy, so that he offered
an excellent mark. The rest of the herd was grazing near; but as the
sentinel was larger and a better prize than any of his companions, the
Doctor made no change of intention, and took aim at the one he had first
marked as his own.
The shot had its effect. As the smoke cleared away the antelope sunk to
its knees for an instant, and then rolled to the ground, where it lay,
quite dead. The balance of the herd fled, and the hunter, after
reloading his rifle, ran forward to survey the effect of his shot.
Mounting to the summit of the ant-hill, he waved his handkerchief three
times, which had been agreed upon to announce a successful shot. As soon
as the signal was seen four men were sent from the boat to carry away
the game. The boys walked out to meet the Doctor and congratulate him on
his morning's work, and also to see the dead antelope. Frank pronounced
him "a beauty," and Fred said he was the finest animal of the kind he
had ever seen.
"His scientific name is _Damalis Senegalensis_," said Doctor Bronson,
"and he belongs to the family _Antilopeæ_, of which there are many
varieties. Africa has more of them than the rest of the world together,
and they surpass all others in beauty and numbers. There are no
antelopes in Madagascar or Australia. There are a few varieties in Asia,
and only one each in Western Europe and America. Look at the one I have
just killed; it will weigh at least four hundred pounds when dressed,
and if you measure him at the shoulder, as you would a horse, you will
find he is nearly five feet high. I doubt if any one ever saw so large
an antelope as this in America."
Frank made note of the fact that the prize which had fallen to the
Doctor's rifle had a skin which glistened like that of a carefully-kept
horse, and was in excellent condition. The face and ears were black, and
there was a strip of black along the shoulder and down the back and
legs. The tail was longer than that of the American antelope, and had a
tuft of hair at the end.
After looking at the antelope, and seeing him dressed and quartered, the
boys tried to break into one of the ant-hills, in order to examine the
interior. They found it nearly as hard as stone, and as they had brought
no pickaxes or other digging tools from the steamer they soon abandoned
the effort. Abdul said they would find the inside full of passages,
leading to a chamber in the centre, where the ants made their home
during the season of floods. The ants are divided into workers,
soldiers, and idlers, and thus Frank thought they evinced an affinity
with the human race. Doctor Bronson told him the workers were much more
numerous than the soldiers; the latter were five or six times as large
as the workers, and had powerful jaws, with which they could bite
severely.
Fred asked if these ants were "slave-makers." He had read of
slave-making ants, and thought, naturally enough, that in the land of
the human slave-hunter and slave-owner the ants might follow the example
of their betters.
"These are not the slave-makers," was the reply, "or at any rate it has
not been clearly demonstrated that they indulge in the practice of
maintaining involuntary servants. The one known as a slave-maker is a
red ant, somewhat smaller than the one before us. His habits have been
studied, so that there is no doubt of his slave-holding propensities.
[Illustration: A SLAVE-MAKING ANT, MAGNIFIED.]
"These red ants go out in large numbers and make war upon a species of
black ant that lives in the same region with themselves. When they have
conquered the settlement they invade the nest of their victims and carry
away the eggs or cocoons containing the undeveloped young; these they
transport to their own nest, and they also take along a sufficient
number of the black ants to take care of the young as they are hatched.
It is exactly the same as if a party of slave-hunters should invade a
negro village and carry off all the infants they could find, together
with enough of the negro women to feed and care for the young prisoners.
The captive ants hatched in the nest become slaves as soon as they are
large enough to work, and whether the old ones are retained when the
children no longer require their attention has not been ascertained."
"What a curious piece of information!" exclaimed one of the boys. "It
sounds like a fiction, but I suppose the naturalists have removed all
doubts concerning it."
"Yes," answered Doctor Bronson; "you can read of it in any work on
natural history where the habits of ants are set forth."
By the time they reached the boat she was ready to move on, and in a
little while the scene of the antelope hunt was left behind.
In this part of the Nile few sailing or other boats were seen.
Occasionally the natives were on the water with their canoes or their
rafts of reeds, such as we have already seen, but they almost invariably
propelled these diminutive craft by means of oars. Once in a while the
boat of a trader from Khartoum was passed, and in one place a dozen or
more of these craft were assembled in front of a native village. Abdul
said they were probably waiting the arrival of a convoy of ivory from
the interior, and it might be they were taking in a few slaves, in
addition to the other products of the country.
But though there was a scarcity of boats and other signs of commerce
there was no lack of animal life. Frank was looking out from the deck of
the steamer as it turned a bend in the river; suddenly he saw a large
animal not twenty yards away, standing where it had apparently been
drinking, at the edge of the river. As it caught sight of the boat it
sprung up the bank and disappeared in the thicket, giving vent to an
angry roar as it moved away.
"That was a lion," said Abdul, who happened to be looking in the same
direction, "and you will see more of his race as we proceed. Lions are
quite numerous in this part of the country, and in fact all over Africa,
and if you want to hunt them you can easily do so. And there are
leopards and other carnivorous animals here," he continued, "and several
varieties of serpents."
Fred asked if they were in the region of the huge pythons, that were
said to be large enough to swallow a man.
"We are not quite far enough for that," was the reply, "but you might
see some very good ones here if you went to the snaky localities.
Serpents ten or fifteen feet long exist here, but you must go nearer the
equator to find them of twenty feet.
"The natives say that a man should always cross his legs like a figure
four when he goes to sleep at night, otherwise he is liable to be
swallowed by a python. He is said to do his work so quietly that he does
not wake his victim, and can only be foiled in his attempt when the man
crosses his legs as I have described, and prevents both feet being taken
in at once."
"If you want a good story of an adventure with a snake," said Frank,
"let me tell you of Colonel Long's experience as he narrates it."
Fred agreed to be a good listener, and so Frank settled into his chair
and began the thrilling tale:
[Illustration: COLONEL LONG'S GREAT SNAKE.]
"Colonel Long says he was one day seated in his camp at Foueira, near
the borders of the Albert N'yanzi, when he saw several men approaching
with what he at first supposed was the trunk of a tree. It proved to be
a large boa-constrictor, or python, which had just been killed close to
the hut where he slept at night. It measured thirty feet in length, and
in diameter was the size of a child. One of his men had said that a huge
snake came every night to suck the cows in the camp; but the colonel had
taken the narrative as an apocryphal 'snake-story' and given it no
attention. The night before, his men were seated around the fire in the
hut next his own, and suddenly fled in terror at the sight of an
enormous head looking at them from an opening in the wall of the hut,
and at the same time countless small serpents were gliding at their
feet.
"The cause was now apparent, the colonel says: the boa had laid its eggs
on the outer wall of the hut, where they were hatched by the heat of the
atmosphere, and the mother had come there to meet them at the time of
their hatching. A strict and somewhat nervous watch was kept through the
night, but without any result. The next morning the snake was
intercepted while looking for its young, and despatched with several
charges of shot in its head and body. Colonel Long says that after that
incident he went to bed every night with the thought of the possibility
of being strangled in his sleep by one of these horrible visitors.
Luckily for him, and for us, there was no intimate friend of her
snakeship to pay him a call and seek revenge for her death."
Fred asked if the bite of the python was poisonous. Doctor Bronson
explained that the python belonged to the family of constrictors, like
the black snake of New England, and its bite was harmless. "It seizes
its prey with its mouth," said the Doctor, "but only for the purpose of
holding it. At the same instant it throws its folds about its victim and
crushes it with the immense power of its constricting muscles. Next it
proceeds to cover it with saliva, and then begins the process of
swallowing, which may occupy several hours.
"The swallowing is done by the contraction of the muscles of the head
and neck, aided by the teeth, which hook backward, so that when anything
has once entered it cannot be withdrawn. If a serpent of this species
begins to swallow anything that cannot be carried down it will choke to
death, and skeletons of pythons have been found with the skeletons of
deer, goats, buffalo, or other horned animals, in their jaws. The horns
had caused them to stick on the way, and as the snake could not let go
for a fresh hold he perished by strangulation, as a punishment for his
imprudence.
"Do not confound the python with the anaconda," said the Doctor, in an
explanatory tone. "The python belongs to the Old World, and the anaconda
to the New; the latter is found in Central and South America, in the
region of the tropics, while the former inhabits Africa and Asia. The
name 'boa' belongs to the entire family; but some of the naturalists say
it does not properly include the anaconda, which is amphibious in its
character, while the boa is not. However, that is a point so fine that
it is hardly worth our discussion, and we are not likely to become so
intimate with the snakes as to pass an opinion upon it."
[Illustration: PYTHON SEIZING ITS PREY.]