M. Périères, not caring about the society of Miss Beatrice Poles, and
abandoned both by Madame de Guéran, who had retired for the night,
and by the two inveterate gamblers, took advantage of his isolation
to jot down his impressions of the journey. He kept the journal of
the expedition, and it is to him, and the information given to us by
him, that we owe the greater portion of our information.
At each halting-place, the sort of register kept by M. Périères was
placed by him on the camp bedstead in his hut, and in it everybody
was at liberty to enter his or her notes, ideas, or reflections. All
communications were anonymous; but this mingling of ideas, the
various modes of regarding events, the detached phrases and the
different circumstances recorded by the several reporters imparted a
tone of originality to the journal.
We do not intend to transcribe this register literally, but merely to
extract from it a few details of interest, and to follow generally
the route taken by the caravan, without stopping with it at every
straggling village through which it passed.
To these notes of the journey, written indiscriminately, under the
direction of the chief editor, M. Périères, we shall occasionally add
a page or two of more private information doe to the pen of one or
other of the travellers. Accident has placed in our possession these
leaves, torn out, as it were, from the private note-books of the
expedition, and we do not think we are guilty of any indiscretion in
giving publicity to them.
March, 1873.—For two days we have been passing through the western
portion of the territory inhabited by the Dinkas, a numerous people,
not only dwelling on the right bank of the White River, but divided
as well into various tribes scattered southward of the Grazelle
River. To our guide, Nassar, and most of the soldiers this district
was quite familiar, and we dreaded lest they should suddenly leave us
in the lurch for the peace and quietness of private life.
The habits of these tribes we find to be very similar to what we had
already seen. The Dinka, like the Shillook and the Nuehr, plasters
his face and body with cinders, but when he does condescend to divest
himself of this detestable coating, by taking a bath or smearing
himself with oil, his skin has the sheen and polish of dark bronze.
The Dinka betrays his nationality as soon as he opens his mouth, for
the incisor teeth of the lower jaw are invariably broken off, a
rigidly-observed custom or fashion, the object of which it is
impossible to determine.
The male Dinka, too, despises clothing and never puts any on except
he is obliged, as, for instance, when accompanying a caravan such as
ours. The females, on the other hand, are more scrupulously clothed
than all the other black women of the interior, two aprons of
untanned skin covering them, before and behind, from the hips to the
ankles.
Tattooing is confined to the men, and consists of ten lines,
radiating from the base of the nose to the forehead and temple. Heavy
rings of ivory, bracelets of hippopotamus hide, and the tails of cows
and goats also contribute to the adornment of this tribe.
Extreme cleanliness marks the interior of their dwellings, and fleas
and vermin are very rarely met with in this part of Africa. Possibly
these insects have a wholesome dread of the snakes, which live on
most intimate terms with the Dinkas, who pay them a sort of
reverence. Frequently they are treated like domestic animals and
called by name, and their slaughter is looked upon as a crime. This
veneration for snakes has been inculcated by the priests and
sorcerers, who are skilled in the science of divination, in
enchantments, and even in ventriloquism.
5th March.—We have just said good-bye to the inhabitants of Kudy, one
of the last villages belonging to the Dinkas, and we have every
reason to congratulate ourselves on the manner in which the caravan
has been treated. We quitted them on excellent terms, after having
procured a supply of milk and fruit, and several couple of oxen, in
exchange for iron-wire.
But, scarcely had we proceeded a mile on our way to the next halting-place
than we saw a whole swarm of natives rushing towards us,
apparently in a dreadful rage, menacing us with their ebony clubs and
barbed lances, the only weapons they know, and formidable ones they
are in their hands.