So heavily had I been struck that it was with difficulty I regained my
breath and kept my seat. For some minutes the sand whirled about me so
thickly that Tiamo, only a leopard's leap away, became obscured in the
sudden darkness. With mouth and eyes filled with fine sand I
experienced a horrible sensation of being stifled, and clutched
frantically at my throat for air, but in a few moments the storm grew
less violent, and when I looked for the dwarf he had disappeared.
At first it seemed as though the strong wind had carried him completely
away, but in a few seconds I discovered him half buried, and struggling
in the great ridge of sand that had been formed behind us. Quickly I
hastened to his assistance and extricated him, when with his habitual
hideous grin, as if amused by his own words, he told me how, being of
small weight, the great wind had lifted him from the back of his ass,
and rolling him over, buried him in the loose sand.
His was indeed a narrow escape, but apparently he was little worse for
his exciting experience than myself, and even as we spoke the wind
abated, the sky cleared, the sandstorm swept northward on its course to
Lake Tsad, and the glaring sun shone again in the dead milk-white sky.
For half-an-hour we halted to rest, then recommenced with fresh vigour
the painful, tedious march over the dreary waste where Nature made a
pause.
Four long and wearying days we occupied in traversing that lonely plain,
at length descending into a fertile valley, through which a large river
ran towards the south-east. This, we learned from a group of
dark-skinned natives, who at first threatened us but afterwards became
friendly, was known to them as the Ba-bai. The men, savages of coppery
hue, were apparently hunters of the Bangbai, a powerful tribe who were
constantly carrying carnage and victory far and wide southward, in the
direction of the mighty Congo, and who were held in awe by all the
neighbouring tribes. Of these Tiamo, who found he could converse with
them in his native dialect, inquired whether they had any knowledge of
the rock we sought, but with one accord they shook their heads, and
replied, raising their bows and spears towards the sky. Their answer,
as rendered into Arabic by the dwarf, was,--
"Of the Rock of the Great Sin our fetish-men have told for long ages.
It is said to be far away in the sky. It cannot be on the earth, our
spear-men have travelled all over the earth, and none has seen it."
So, ever failing to find a clue, we continued our way through the lands
of the Gaberi and the Sara, along the bank of the Ba-bai, which
sometimes wound through wide, rocky wildernesses, at others through
valleys where palms and bananas grew in wondrous profusion, and often
through forests and mangrove swamps that occupied us many days in
traversing, where there was an equatorial verdure of eternal blossom and
the foliage was of brightest green.
All along the bank of the Ba-bai, as we ascended still further, pressing
deeper into the country of the pagans, there were forests of uniform
breadth, overshadowing warm, inert waters--forests full of poisonous
odours and venomous reptiles. This country, as all of the great land of
Central Africa, rested under a spell of sombre gloom and appalling
silence; yet it was a great relief for the eye, fevered and weary after
the glaring monotony of desert sands.
For a whole moon we continued our journey due south along the winding
river, until one night we came to a point where the waters broke off in
two directions to the north and to the south. Northward, I supposed it
would take us away into the desert again, therefore I chose the smaller
river running up from the south, and for many days we travelled onward,
learning from the natives of a strange little village, who seemed
generally well-disposed towards us, that the river was known to them as
the Bahar-el-Ardh, and that it had its source in the dense forest where
lived the fierce people called the Niam-niam, whose flights of poisoned
arrows had killed many of their bravest warriors.
Up this river we journeyed many days, until at length, near its source,
we came to a village of conical huts, the denizens of which viewed us
with suspicion, and threatened us with their long, razor-edged spears.
When, however, I had assured the chief, who sat before his little hut,
that I was not one of the Wara Sura, the soldiers of the dreaded
slave-raider, Kabba Rega, who periodically visited their country,
devastated their land and carried off their cattle, and we both became
convinced that friendship was possible, the mystery of our presence was
explained by Tiamo, that we were only travelling to discover a great
rock which was reported to be in their country. Had he ever heard of
such a rock?
He answered eagerly: "Meanest thou the Great Rock where dwelleth the
bird-god Zu, `the wise one'?"
"I know not thy gods, for I am a son of Al-Islam, and follower of the
Prophet," I replied, through the dwarf. "Tell me of thy bird-god."
"Zu dwelleth upon the summit of a high rock," he answered. "It was he
who stole the tablets of destiny and the secrets of the sun `god of
light,' and brought them down to earth, but he himself was banished to
the summit of the Rock of the Great Sin, where he dwelleth alone, and
may not descend among us."
"And the rock. Hast thou never seen it?"
"I have heard of it, but mine eyes have never gazed upon it. Our sacred
spots are always hidden from us."
"From whom hast thou heard mention of it?" I inquired of this chieftain
of the Niam-niam.
"Some men of the Avisibba, who were taken prisoners by me in a fight
long ago, made mention that one of their headmen had seen it. They knew
not its direction, but thought it was beyond the Forest of Perpetual
Night."
"And the Avisibba. Who are they? Where is their country?" I demanded,
eagerly.
"Continue up this river for twelve days, until thou comest to a point
where three streams diverge. Take the centre one, which in nine days
will lead thee through the country of Abarmo to Bangoya, thence,
travelling due south for fourteen days, thou wilt reach the great river
the Aruwimi, upon the banks of which dwell the man-eaters of the
Avisibba."
"Man-eaters!" I gasped. "Do they eat human flesh?"
The chief smiled as Tiamo put my question to him. "Yea," he answered.
"They eat their captives, therefore have a care of thine own skin.
Mention no word that thou hast seen me, or, being our enemies, thou wilt
assuredly die."
I thanked him for his directions, and prepared to resume my weary quest,
but he bade me be seated, and his wives prepared a feast for myself and
my dark companion. Heartily enough we ate, for the food we had brought
with us had given out long ago. One's living in that region, unexplored
only by ivory and slave-raiders, was, to say the least, precarious;
partaking of a savage's hospitality one day, and the next thanking Allah
for a single wood-bean. But through our many hardships Tiamo never
grumbled. He fingered his amulets, and presumably prayed to his gods,
but no word of dissatisfaction ever fell from his lips. Though gloomy
and taciturn, he proved an excellent travelling companion, and his
devotion towards his mistress Azala was unequalled. When his mind was
made up, he was a man of great nerve, fertile resource, and illimitable
daring. At the invitation of the chief of the Niam-niam, we smoked and
remained that night within his village, circular and stockaded to keep
out the wild animals, then at dawn gave him a piece of cloth and bade
him farewell.