The "Khedive," towing the flotilla, resumed her onward course; and,
except the sailors on watch, everybody on board was sound asleep.
Madame de Guéran had retired to her cabin, and her three companions,
enveloped from head to foot in coverings to protect them from the
mosquitoes, lay stretched at full length on the poop.
Miss Poles alone, indefatigable as ever, walked up and down the deck.
She passed in review the occurrences of the night, called to mind the
exploits of MM. de Morin and Périères, and debated within herself as
to the one on whom she should bestow her still wavering heart.
Daybreak found her still in suspense, but her attention was then
attracted to the sights surrounding her. A few yards from the steamer
were numbers of hippopotami, who saluted the dawn by wallowing in the
Nile; long lines of crocodiles basked in the first rays of the rising
sun; herds of huge buffaloes, with outstretched necks and lowered
heads, were drinking at the stream. In the distance, already lit up,
forests of mimosas and flowering soonts were seen surrounding a
village of the Baggara tribe, those hardy horsemen and bold bandits
who give only a grudging allegiance to the Egyptian Government. Soon
the river itself became animated; quite a fleet of light canoes,
hollowed out of the trunks of the tamarind trees, crowded round the
steamer, manned by fishermen of the Shillook tribe, who possess an
immense extent of territory on the western bank of the Nile. In
subjection to Egypt, this numerous, compact tribe, whose villages
form an unbroken line along the river, musters more than twelve
hundred thousand souls.
If civilization should ever penetrate into these territories, if the
innumerable river-side tribes would unite together in one common
interest, would obey one sole will, what tremendous power their ruler
would possess, what weighty influence would be brought to bear upon
the world by the African nation, now held in such contempt that even
the most insignificant of European kingdoms would scorn to be named
in the same breath with it! But the variety of religions, multiplied
_ad infinitum_, or, to speak more correctly, the diverse beliefs and
so-called religious superstitions will ever hold these tribes apart.
The Mahomedans have a horror, either instinctive or instilled, of all
these people, whom they stigmatise as pagans, and the latter, in
their turn, loath the very name of Islamism, a name which to them
means their own subjection and enslavement. Thanks to our
missionaries, Christianity, and it alone, may one day perhaps succeed
in uniting these scattered souls, and may replace ignorance and
superstition by knowledge and faith.
The passengers on board the "Khedive" saw nothing during the whole
day but the vanguard of the Shillooks, for the Baggaras were denizens
of the soil through which they were then passing. But on the morrow,
villages succeeded the fishermen's canoes, and as the flotilla hove
to for the purpose of laying in a stock of wood and durra, those on
board were not sorry to have an opportunity of inspecting a village
and making the acquaintance of its inhabitants.
A European who, without any transition stages, preparatory lessons,
or preliminary studies, might suddenly find himself in Africa proper,
in a Shillook village, would have some difficulty in persuading
himself that he was awake, and might feel induced to ask whether he
had not been transported, during sleep or by sudden death, to another
planet. Imagine a collection of comical mud huts, looking like a
large field of button mushrooms; round the majority of the huts a
cordon of dried dung, set on fire at night by the natives, for the
purpose of keeping the mosquitoes at a distance and frightening the
hippopotami and the lions; in the centre of the village, a species of
square with one shady spot, furnished by a solitary tree on which are
hung the drums, beaten, in case of alarm, to summon the inhabitants
to arms. In this square, on mats and buffalo skins, spread out here
and there, lie or squat the Shillooks, in utter laziness, sleeping or
slowly inhaling the smoke from large pipes with bowls of clay. They
are completely naked, but their bodies are encrusted with a thick
coating, either of cowdung, or cinders, intended to protect them from
the attacks of insects. Some are greyish in colour; these are the
poor people, who cannot afford any other covering than the cinders of
their own particular hearths. Others, the wealthy owners of a few
cattle, make use of dung, and are a dirty red. Even their faces do
not escape, every feature being hidden under the layers of filth
which, as far as appearances go, seem natural to their skin.
But, nevertheless, they are not entirely without the desire to
please, and, if they neglect their bodies, if coats of dirt take the
place of coats of cloth, they take the greatest pains with their
hair, devoting whole days to the adornment of it, and are quite
capable, on this score, of giving any number of points to the most
conceited of civilized beings. The hair, rendered stiff by the
application of clay or grease, is dressed in the shape of a fan, or a
top-knot, or a helmet above the head. The bird kingdom evidently
furnishes them with models, and, in this case, cocks and guinea fowls
take the place of the wax heads in vogue amongst Parisian
hairdressers.
The women, occupied in household affairs, obliged to nurse the
babies, who may be seen grovelling in all the mud in the village, and
entrusted with the care of the cattle, for which they have a
prodigious respect, devote less time to their hair, contenting
themselves with a little frizzing or a curl here and there. By way of
making up for this, they pay a certain amount of respect to their
bodies, and they fasten round their waists, before and behind, pieces
of calf's skin, which hang down as far as their knees, forming thus a
garment something like a pair of bathing drawers, but permitting a
complete side view of their thighs and legs. This covering,
incomplete though it be, is only used by the married women. The young
girls remain quite naked until their marriage, and that, for certain
reasons which will be explained, is frequently deferred until late in
life. Amongst the Shillooks the man alone provides the dowry,
consisting of a number of cattle, varying according to his means,
which become the property of his father-in-law. If the wife is sent
back by her husband or leaves him, her father has to repay the dowry,
and it is consequently to his interest to prevent all squabbles, if
possible, and, if not, to bring about a speedy reconciliation. The
introduction of this custom into France might possibly have its
advantages. At all events our Parisian mothers-in-law, instead of
fanning the flame, would exert themselves to put it out. In the
meanwhile, until this suggested reform is carried out, we may
congratulate the Shillook ladies on their primitive mode of dress. We
shall very soon come to lands where man alone is clothed, and woman,
whether girl, wife, or widow, young or old, ugly or pretty, never by
any chance puts anything on.
None of the Shillooks, however rich in cattle, thought of offering
even a cup of milk to the Europeans. Their laziness, stronger than
their curiosity, chained them to the spot where they had first been
seen. They opened their large eyes, scanned the strangers from head
to foot, but remained unmoved. Enveloped in their dirt, of one sort
or another, their inert bodies might have been taken for abandoned
corpses, or mummies of ancient Egypt.
As the Europeans were leaving the village, a few natives thought fit
to follow them. They looked like dusky shadows, with their lazy mode
of walking, their wonderfully skinny limbs, their flat chests and
their small heads, made to appear smaller still by the immense
coiffure on top of them. Some were armed with long serrated lances,
others with club-headed, sharp-pointed sticks. Eminently practical,
the Shillooks make their weapons serve also as fishing-tackle; they
disdain the bow and arrow, and replace them by a kind of harpoon,
intended for the benefit of the crocodiles and hippopotami.
They appeared, moreover, disposed to give their visitors an
opportunity of witnessing their mode of fishing, and some of them
brought with them their light canoes, which they never leave on the
banks of the Nile, carrying them, after each expedition, on their
shoulders back to the village.
Night was falling as the handful of Europeans, followed by a few
natives, wended their way towards the river and their flotilla. The
hour was propitious for a hippopotamus hunt. This animal, after
disporting himself in the river during the day, betakes himself in
the evening to some plain or pasture land, where he grazes like other
ruminants, his amphibious qualities enabling him to vary his
pleasures. The hunters let him go inland, and as soon as they know
his retreat they approach him with lighted torches, shouting and
beating their drums. The hippopotamus, in alarm and anxious to regain
the river, goes back there by the way he came. Then another set of
hunters, posted on either side of his path, let fly at him with their
formidable harpoons, to each of which is attached, by means of a line
about twenty feet long, a float or buoy. The wounded animal carries
away with him the shaft which has pierced him, rushes to the Nile and
plunges down to a considerable depth under water, the better to hide
himself. But the buoys float on the surface, showing his course, and
when, weakened by loss of blood, he rises to the surface of the
stream, he is attacked anew, despatched and dragged to the shore to
be cut up.
The Europeans assisted at an attack made after this fashion upon a
magnificent male hippopotamus, and, from the boats which had brought
them from the "Khedive," they had a capital view of every incident of
the hunting or fishing, by whichever name it may be called. For more
than an hour the animal struggled against death, dyeing the water of
the Nile with his blood, and from time to time, coming up to the
surface, he raised his enormous head, noisily inhaled the fresh air,
and fixed his eyes on the tiny canoes surrounding, and gradually
closing in upon him.
M. de Morin, desirous of putting an end to the creature's sufferings,
fired and hit him in the head. The hippopotamus gave vent to a
fearful roar, leaped almost out of the water, and then plunged
beneath the stream, once more leaving behind him a rather dangerous
eddy. The natives protested, when they saw M. de Morin take up his
gun, fearing, no doubt, that if he killed the beast he would lay
claim to it. But when they saw that the shot had not taken effect,
they passed, without any intermediate stage, from extreme anger to
uncontrollable and very obstreperous mirth. Shrieks of laughter
resounded from all the canoes, and every finger was pointed in
ridicule at the clumsy white man, who, though carrying thunder and
lightning with him, in the shape of a gun, yet missed his aim.
M. de Morin was bent on having his revenge, and opportunely thought
of a certain piece of advice given by the hunters. Consequently, when
about ten minutes afterwards, the head of the animal re-appeared, he
aimed behind the ear, the vulnerable part, and the shot took effect.
A final roar, a dying groan was heard, a fresh stream of blood
mingled with the waters of the Nile, and the animal, not having
strength enough to get under water again, was towed ashore by the
line attached to the harpoon, and marked, as we have already said, by
a float.
To the great delight of the natives, M. de Morin, who was deemed to
be a personage of some importance in their eyes, apparently scorned
his share of the quarry, for he ordered the rowers to pull him to the
"Khedive." But the escort of the expedition, who were all together on
board the boat set apart for their use, had also followed with eager
eyes all the incidents of the chase, actuated, undoubtedly, by the
very natural feeling that hippopotamus flesh would be a variety in
their daily ration, that when well dried by the sun and properly
cooked it would afford them an excellent meal, and that, from every
point of view, it would be absurd to leave so savoury a prey to such
wretches, such contemptible heathens as the Shillooks. No sooner did
the thought strike them than a dozen soldiers jumped into the boat
belonging to their diahbeeah, landed, ran in amongst the natives,
and, seizing the rope by which they were hauling the hippopotamus
ashore, proceeded, in their turn, to tow the beast in the direction
of the flotilla.
The Shillooks at once gave vent to fearful yells; some rushed off to
the village for reinforcements, others beat the drum for assistance,
and, from all points of the compass, shoals of natives, club in hand
and canoe on back, appeared in sight, as if by enchantment.
The Nubians had, by this time, regained their boat. They had taken
the hippopotamus in tow, and were on the point of reaching their
diahbeeah, when more than a hundred canoes, placed in the water with
inconceivable rapidity, in a solid, compact mass, forming, as it
were, a single raft, and manned by a crowd of infuriated natives,
brandishing their arms and shrieking for vengeance, advanced against
the Franco-Egyptian flotilla.
The expenditure of a few rounds of ammunition would have done for the
Shillooks, notwithstanding their numbers. Nothing would have been
easier, either, than to run the "Khedive" full steam ahead right into
the middle of the canoes. But though such an act of barbarity might
find favour in some eyes, it was repulsive, not only to the
Europeans, but also to the Egyptian Commander, seeing that the
natives had not attacked until after provocation on the part of the
Nubian soldiers.
M. de Morin, who had been watching the turn of events from his boat,
now thought it high time to interfere. Telling his rowers to pull
alongside the boat occupied by the escort, he took hold of a hatchet
and, without further ado, cut the rope by which the hippopotamus was
being towed. The Shillooks stopped at once, and, forgetting all about
their intended revenge, only thought of regaining the spoil they had
so nearly lost.
Restitution having been thus made, M. de Morin bethought himself of
another necessary duty. He accordingly made for the vessel to which
the Nubians had just returned, grumbling and rather ashamed of their
failure. He called Nassar, reprimanded him sharply for having allowed
his men to attempt such an act of robbery, and ordered the immediate
administration, in his presence, of ten lashes with the cat-o'-nine-tails
to the back of each of the five men who had been the first to
quit their vessel. At this time, on the eve of the departure of the
Egyptian man-of-war, when the expedition was about to be left to its
own resources, it was of the greatest importance, for the safety of
all, to impose strict discipline on the escort, and to make it
perfectly clear that the power of punishment was vested in the
Europeans.
M. de Morin's firmness produced an excellent effect on all these men,
who are just as ready to bite the hand that pats them as they are to
lick the one that strikes them, provided always that the striker is
possessed of assured force and incontestable authority. The white man
rose a hundred degrees in the estimation of the negroes, and became
at once, in their eyes, the veritable chief of the caravan.
The flotilla now resumed its voyage up stream. Throughout the day the
town of Fashoda, the extreme limit of Egyptian rule, had been in
sight, and our travellers were now entering a new region, Negro-land
proper.
On the following day the expedition passed the mouth of the river
Sobat, latitude 9°21'14' north, and a few miles farther on reached
the Bahr Giraffe, a small river entering the Nile, between the Sobat
and the Bahr-el-Gazal. Some hours later they came to the last-named
river, and up it the Europeans, adhering strictly to their programme,
had to make their way, leaving the Egyptian steamer to continue on
her course up the White Nile as far as Gondokoro.
After having taken a cordial leave of the Commander of the "Khedive,"
of whom they could not speak too highly, Madame de Guéran and her
companions went on board the vessel set apart for their use. The tow-ropes
were cast off, the diahbeeahs hoisted their huge sails, and the
European expedition, unsupported and unprotected, obliged to rely
upon its own resources, veered off, under a parting salute from the
guns of the "Khedive."