SUFFERINGS OF SELIM, ABDULLAH, AND MUSSOUD--IN THE SLAVE-GANG--ISA
SEIZED WITH SMALL-POX--ISA LEFT BEHIND TO DIE--SELIM'S PRAYER--SELIM
PROPOSES TO ESCAPE--SELIM'S PREPARATION--SELIM'S ESCAPE--THE ROAR OF THE
KING OF THE FOREST--SELIM SHOOTS A LION--SELIM SHOOTS AN ANTELOPE--HE
SUFFERS FROM HUNGER--HE FALLS FAINTING TO THE GROUND--SELIM'S DESPAIR--
HIS REFLECTIONS--HE GIVES HIMSELF UP TO DIE.
Although the caravan started the day after the departure of Simba and
Moto, it could not of course travel so fast as two fugitives; so that
the journey, which only occupied a few days with our two friends, lasted
nearly a month with Ferodia's caravan.
Ferodia, the chief of the Watuta caravan, had besides four Arab slaves--
three of whom were perfectly white--nearly three hundred black slaves,
who had been captured in the battle of Kwikuru. If the report was
spread abroad that he possessed so many slaves, as would undoubtedly be
the case, he would soon be visited by traders from Unyanyembe and from
Kilwa, and perhaps, if he waited long enough, from Tette, on the Zambezi
river; so it was for his advantage to travel slowly, not only that the
rumour might have time to spread, but also to give the human cattle
plenty of time to recover from their wounds.
The marches were, therefore, commenced at six o'clock in the morning,
and seldom lasted longer than noon, as the first part of the country
through which he now travelled was extremely populous and rich, and each
chief was friendly to him and his men; but after the tenth day he neared
the debatable ground, consisting of extensive tracts of forest and
jungle, lying between Urori and Ututa, and inhabited by no living being,
except wild beasts. From the farthest westerly point of this debatable
tract, there were three long marches, or say ninety miles, to
Katalambula's country.
Having explained so much, let us glean what may be interesting to the
general reader of the incidents of this march relating to the slaves.
Besides suffering intensely from the heat, Selim, Abdullah, and Mussoud
suffered excessively from the loads which they were compelled to carry,
and which chafed their tender shoulders frightfully. For the first
three days they went entirely naked, as it must not be supposed that,
because the Watuta were rich in clothes, they possessed one yard too
much, or that they could have dispensed with a yard for the comfort of
slaves.
Slaves are cattle, are supposed too often to be able to live like
cattle, and are therefore treated like cattle. So these three hundred
slaves were chained--for chains, it must be confessed, were part of the
plunder which the Watuta had found in the Arab camp--by twenties; an
iron collar ran around the neck of each adult, while the boys, Selim,
Abdullah, Mussoud, Isa, and the negro boys, among whom, it must be
remembered, was our mischievous Niani, or the monkey, and others, were
tied by ropes around the waist, about six feet apart, the tallest first.
Of the adult slaves there were fifteen herds, or gangs of twenties,
each gang being superintended by a sub-chief or a trustworthy warrior,
and there was one gang of boys which were looked after by Tifum Byah.
I have already said that the slaves were cattle. The word cattle must
be understood by the reader in its most literal sense. Decency was
therefore out of the question. If one needed to wash his face in camp,
the whole gang, accompanied by the chief, were obliged to march out for
the convenience of this one. If from any cause a man required to fall
out of the line, there was a halt and a constant worrying of the
unfortunate wretch until the caravan had been overtaken. If one needed
a drop of water all had to stop. In all gangs and crews of slaves there
is always one calling for something or requiring something more than his
fellows; and this to the others is a source of vexation, because the
chief who has charge is soon irritated if such a proceeding is carried
too far, and he is not slow to avail himself of the rod to quicken the
footsteps of the lagging gang.
In the boy's gang, Isa was one of those who continually required to
halt, and all the boys suffered in consequence, especially Selim, whose
file-leader was the lagging and unfortunate lea.
Niani saw through the trick of lea in a very short time, and no doubt he
would have remained silent about it, had he not seen that his young
master Selim suffered through it. For two or three days of the march
Niani held his peace, but when Selim received a more than usually severe
beating from Tifum Byah, Niani exploded, and told the chief, to his
surprise, that he was whipping the wrong boy, that it was Isa who was
the cause of the stoppage; whereupon Isa received a severe punishment
with the ever-ready kurbash (hippopotamus-hide whip). While Selim had
been whipped Isa had never expressed any great sympathy with him, but
when he was punished himself his cries and groans were dreadfully long
and loud, and in the camp he was constantly bewailing his hard lot, and
always threatening that supple-minded and tough-bodied little negro
Niani for his expose of him.
On the evening of the fifth day after their arrival at camp, Niani, who
knew how to like and how to hate, said aloud to Selim, as soon as he had
an opportunity, that he would much prefer if Selim took his waist-cloth.
Selim refused it upon the ground that he would have none left for
himself.
"Oh, but, Master Selim," said Niani, "I am but a little nigger; no one
will mind me. I wanted to give it to you before, but I did not like to
offer my cloth to you, because it is dirty."
"Anything is better than nothing. I will take it with thanks, since you
say you don't want it; but won't you keep a little of it for yourself?"
"Not an inch," said Niani, resolutely. "I don't want a cloth anyhow--
never did want it; besides that is the cloth you gave me that night I
tripped Isa, and cruel Isa was going to put me on the fire."
Selim then rose up to put this filthy piece of torn cotton cloth around
his waist; but as he was about to put it on, he saw his friends Abdullah
and Mussoud looking wistfully up; and their colour, as well as his own,
made them look all too nude for a country where all skins were black.
Without saying a word he measured the cloth in three equal pieces, and
tore it into three equal strips, one of which he presented to Abdullah,
another to Mussoud, and the other he reserved for himself. The two boys
rose up, blushing gratefully, and Abdullah said to Selim:
"Thy heart is as soft as fine gold. The cloth is not six inches wide,
but I feel more grateful to thee than ever I did when I received fine
daoles (rich gold-worked cloth) at the hand of my father, Mohammed, whom
may God preserve! A pure heart like thine will not long go unrewarded
at the hand of Allah."
"Thou mightest have given me a piece," said Isa to Selim, in a
complaining tone.
"How can you talk so, Master Isa?" asked Niani. "Your skin is as black
as mine; sure, you look as though you were clothed already. You should
be happy in having a black skin, instead of wanting a piece out of
nothing."
"A truce to your insolence, Niani, or I will come and break every bone
in your body," said Isa, angrily.
"You had better not, Isa, because I am a slave of Ferodia, the Mtuta
chief; and if you kill me, Ferodia will kill you," answered Niani.
"Well, then, hold your tongue, and don't torment me. I am sick of life
already, and sick in mind and body," said Isa.
"Dost thou suffer much, lea?" asked Selim.
"Indeed I do. My head aches as if it would split, and all down my back
run sharp pains. They are not the pains which that savage dog Tifum
made, but something else. I think there is something serious the matter
with me," moaned poor suffering Isa.
"I hope not," said Selim. "Cheer up, lea, my friend; we have only to
reach Katalambula to have rest. This march cannot last for ever."
"I shall never reach the country of the accursed Watuta," said Isa. "My
illness is too serious."
"Why, what can the matter be with thee, my friend?"
"Don't start, Selim, and don't curse me when I tell you that I have the
_jederi_ (the small-pox)."
"The small-pox! What makes thee think that?" Selim asked.
"I have seen it often enough, and have seen the men die on the road from
it, and I fear I shall die too," said Isa, mournfully.
The next morning Isa was very much worse, and it was obvious to every
one that the boy had it very badly, but he was not permitted to halt or
to be carried. Slaves are not carried: there are no means of carrying
sick slaves in Africa, and so he was driven along with the rest; but
about ten o'clock, after four hours' march, as they were approaching a
forest, the sick lad became delirious, and he began to reel like a
drunken man, and after a short time the load fell from his head, and as
Tifum came up raging furiously at this weakness, Isa fell across his
bale with his eyes half protruding from their sockets, and his tongue
hanging out. But Tifum had no sense of kindness in his heart; so he
began to flog the unfortunate wretch with all the force that an
unnatural cruelty alone could have impelled, until Selim, unable longer
to bear the disgusting sight, hurled the load he carried on his head
full at the head of the savage ruffian, and while he was down he
snatched the whip from his hand, and began to belabour him with all his
might until he was overthrown himself on the ground by the infuriated
Tifum, and belaboured in his turn until Tifum was obliged to desist lest
he might kill him.
Gutting the rope which joined the prostrate bodies of the boys, the one
insensible from violence, the other from a deadly sickness, he called
for a gourdful of water, and pouring it on Selim's head; soon restored
him to consciousness. Then the refined cruelty of the slave-traders,
and the utter abomination of the inhuman traffic, began to be exhibited.
Trembling with rage and merciless hate, he called for the long, heavy,
wooden yoke, which, furnished with two prongs a little apart from each
other, is used for the most refractory slaves. When green, this
yoke-tree weighs about thirty pounds, but dry it generally weighs about
twenty pounds. One of these tree-yokes had been prepared but a few days
before, so that it could not be much reduced in weight from what it
weighed originally. This was the clumsy, heavy instrument of torture
with which Tifum designed to encumber Selim's body.
After the neck of the half-unconscious lad was placed between the
prongs, the ends of the prongs were drawn together by means of a strong
cord, so that the head remained firmly imprisoned, while the huge
unwieldly tree of the yoke sloped behind him about ten feet off from his
shoulders.
In order to avoid employing a guard to carry the tree, the end was
lifted up and tied to Abdullah's shoulders and arm.
When things had thus been prepared for the continuance of the march
Tifum proceeded to the dying Isa, and seeing it was hopeless to expect
further work from him, as the look of death was already on his face, the
savage fiend bestowed a kick on the body, and swishing his kurbash
warningly, gave the hint to Selim, who was now the file-leader, to
proceed. In a short time the caravan was out of sight, while the
unfortunate Isa was left in the middle of the road to gasp his last,
unseen, unwept, and unhonoured.
On the twentieth day of the march it was found that little Mussoud was
attacked with the small-pox. Numbers of the slaves had already perished
from this fell disease; for as fast as they fell from the ranks and
could not rise again, despite repeated applications of the staff of a
spear, or a rod, or a kurbash, they were left to die the miserable death
of deserted sick where they fell, and not one thought was ever directed
to them again.
Thus when Mussoud became sick, the alarm of his brother Abdullah and his
friend Selim was extreme. They requested permission to share the burden
of his load by having it tied to the yoke-tree with which Selim's neck
was still furnished, but the slight request was refused, and when the
latter's eyes again flashed a dangerous light, Tifum, who saw that he
had a stubborn soul to deal with, replied with another dose of vigorous
lashing on the boy's shoulders until they were one mass of weals and
bruises.
Selim uttered not a word nor moan; he was getting to be past all feeling
of bodily pain, though his heart was keenly alive and sensitive. While
plodding along in this manner under the burning sun, no sound breaking
the soft shuffling sound of the tramp of naked feet of the slaves,
except a low moan now and then from poor little Mussoud, and Tifum had
retired to vent his spite upon those in the rear, it struck him as a
sudden idea that he was being punished more cruelly than the others
because, despite the fine religious education he had received, he had of
late, since he had been in bondage, forgotten the God of his fathers,
whom Amer had counselled him so often never to forget. His conscience
was not a whit more hardened; the reason of this neglect was the
delicacy he felt in approaching his God with unwashed hands and feet;
but now he determined to avail himself of the first opportunity of a
halt, and prepare himself for prayer.
After repeated prayers from the sick boy Mussoud to Tifum to give him
one little halt to rest, it was at last granted; more, however, to give
Tifum an opportunity to light his pipe than for the sake of the sick
boy.
No sooner had Tifum turned his back, than Selim bent down and began to
scrape together the dry, white, sandy dust from the road, and to rub his
feet, and hands, and face, and body with it, as if he were washing
himself; then turning his face to the north-east, in the direction of
Mecca, he began his prayer in a whisper:
"Oh, Thou who art the light of heaven and earth, whom all creatures
praise, unto whom all things belongeth, thou bounteous, wise, and
compassionate God! be gracious and merciful to one of the true
believers, who now standeth before Thy footstool.
"Thou art great, Thou art holy, Thou art almighty, Oh God! and unto
those who invoke Thee Thou hast promised, through Thy prophet Mohammed,
blessed be his name! to be attentive and to lend assistance.
"Thou all-knowing and gracious God! avert from me the torments of
Jehenna, which I suffer at the hands of these infidel savages.
"The unbelievers have laid cruel hands upon me, a true believer, and a
son of a true believer. Lo! they have bound me like unto a sheep about
to be slaughtered; they have laid their whips upon me, the cruel thongs
have cut into my bones, and with their sharp spears have they gashed me.
"Thou Powerful and Self-sufficient God! Thou hast promised to protect
the fatherless and the orphan, and to be solicitous for him, and to
punish those who oppress him.
"Thou compassionate and loving God! let the orphan's cries take the form
of prayers, and suffer them to ascend unto Thee before Thy footstool,
and do Thou bow down Thine head, and let them penetrate Thine ear.
"Thou one, only, and eternal God! hearken compassionately onto my
prayers, and rescue me from the unbelievers.
"Thou Lord of men, King of men, and God of men! save me from mine
enemies, by the promise Thou hast given unto all true believers through
Thy holy apostle Mohammed, and be Thy heart softened toward the orphan,
and hear his prayers."
When Selim had finished this urgent, sincere appeal to his God, he
prostrated himself to the earth, and then rose refreshed in body and
spirit.
Turning to Abdullah, who had been attending to his brother, he said:
"Abdullah, my friend, I feel refreshed and strong. I have a bright idea
in my head."
"I have seen you pray, Selim, and have wished that I could pray, too;
but my heart is too bitter for prayer. I feel as if I could curse all
men, and myself, and die. Poor Mussoud's days are numbered, I fear: and
if he dies, I do not care what becomes of me."
"But, my dear friend, the Kuran says: `When thou art in distress pray to
thy God and He will hear thee; His ear is open to the oppressed.'"
"I know it, Selim, but I cannot pray now. I fear I should curse God for
permitting his faithful to be treated as we have been. Listen to the
moans of my brother, and think of his being left to die all alone in the
road, because, if he cannot march, they will not let me remain with him!
But what is thy bright idea, Selim?"
"My idea is to run away to-night, and go to the depths of this forest.
Far better to die there than lead this life so wretched. If one of
these people can trust himself in the forest, why may I not do so? They
have not been able to kill me with all the weight of their cruelties.
The forest were far kinder than these inhuman Watuta."
"And my brother, what of him?"
"We will take him with us; and when we are alone, safe from our
pursuers, we will be able to nurse him. We will build ourselves a
strong little hut near some nice stream, where we shall be safe and
quiet; and while you are watching your sick brother, I will take my
spear and go out to gather wild fruit and honey. But, hush! Here comes
Tifum. Help Mussoud to his feet, and let him hold up until to-night."
Just then the stern signal to march was given, and the boys turned
industriously and submissively to their bales; and Mussoud feeling
relieved by the rest, the caravan set out at its usual pace.
About noon they halted in the forest, and, knowing that no danger from
men was to be feared in the forest, the Watuta were heedless of the
usual boma or brush fence around the camp.
The boy-gang being tied together, were of course inseparable, and
Abdullah, in his usual place, sat next to Selim, as they munched their
roasted Indian corn or their half-boiled holcus grains. Mussoud was
accustomed to sit next to Selim, but owing to his illness he was placed
outside the camp, as all the Watuta knew this disease was contagious,
and what danger lay to the whole unvaccinated camp by the dread presence
of the small-pox.
At night they were still together, Selim and Abdullah. Inside the
circle of the camp were men seated in circles near the fire, discussing
various topics. Outside the camp, in the deep, deep night was perfect
silence; not a sound broke upon the ear, save now and then the uneasy
growl of the hyena.
"Well, Abdullah," said Selim, "the night has come, and thou must decide
what thou wilt do."
"Dear Selim, I cannot go and leave my brother. Poor Mussoud will not
live till to-morrow morning. I am afraid he is very ill to-night. His
head was so hot, and he did not seem to know me. If thou goest away I
shall be alone of us all. Poor Isa is dead already; Mussoud is dying;
and thou wilt be gone; and I shall be alone."
"Well, Abdullah, if thou dost not go, I shall. I am tired of this life.
I wish to die. I am not afraid of death, but it shall never be said
that Selim, the son of Amer, died like an ass in the road, to be spurned
by the foot of that dog Tifum, like poor Isa was. If I am to die, let
me die like an Arab, with none but my God to pity my wretchedness, with
none but the birds of the air around my bed. Do me this favour,
Abdullah, friend of my heart. If Mussoud still lives in the morning,
tell him Selim is gone, and give him one kiss for me; and before thou
goest to sleep thou must give me one, for when thou wakest up in the
morning, Selim, the son of Amer, will be gone. The lashing of this
clumsy yoke around my neck is already loose; it only requires a second
to be free."
"I thank thee, Selim, for this thought of my brother. I wish thee God's
peace and blessing. If I live after this hard march, I shall dream and
ever think of thee, and shall sometimes whisper thy name in my prayers,
that the angels may carry it to thy ear, and that some memory of
Abdullah, thy friend, may be preserved in thy heart. Thou art a true
Arab, son of Amer, a true friend; thy soul is a jewel, brighter and
purer than the diamond. On the road to thy home look up at night to
those seven stars which thou seest together, and say to thyself,
`Abdullah thinks of me. Poor Abdullah!' May the holy Mohammed take
thee to thy mother, and when thou art welcomed back to thy friends,
think of my mother, and bear to her the kindly remembrance of her son.
Selim, dear friend, I am about to compel myself to sleep, that I may be
ready for my morrow's work. See! I kiss thee with the kiss of lasting
friendship, and, since thou goest, be strong with Abdullah's faith that
Allah will save thee!"
They then both lay down, and, after a few uneasy tossings, Abdullah fell
asleep, while Selim also lay down to plan out his march. Suddenly he
remembered the parting words of Simba and Moto, and wondered to himself
how he had not thought of them before, as they would have enabled him to
bear up with a little more patience and fortitude the trials he had
undergone. But they came not too late; he felt that with such friends
as those he was not alone in the world, and he resolved on leaving the
camp to strike south, then wait a day in the woods, and afterwards
strike off through the forest until he came near to a village in Ututa,
and then lie in wait for some one who would direct him to Katalambula.
A cruel thought came across his mind once, to stab Tifum with his own
spear, but he instantly rejected it as unworthy of an Arab and the son
of Amer bin Osman.
The hours passed by, but not wearily, as Selim's thoughts had been busy.
All slept soundly, and the fires also seemed to have fallen into
drowsiness, for nothing but dull red embers marked the places where the
fires stood.
He muttered a short prayer to God for courage and strength, and the
lashings of the cruel yoke fell apart, and he drew his head through,
free. Free! not yet.
He stood up silently, walked straight to a tree deliberately but
noiselessly, chose a couple of spears, a gun, a powder horn, and a
cartouche box, and began to withdraw as stealthily as he had advanced.
It seemed an age to him, the time before he began to congratulate
himself that he was safe; for so precious were the articles in his
possession, and so rich seemed the prospect of freedom.
A few long strides brought him from tree to tree, and the more he
counted of these trees the more certain was he of safety. Tree after
tree was passed, their tall thick columns--taller and thicker by night--
formed a denser rampart between him and his enemies, an impenetrable
protection against pursuit.
Finally, he was free! Free he felt, freely he walked, freely he
thought, and the new idea, as it settled in his mind, seemed to fill him
to strangling, it had such power of expansion; the lungs were more
inflated, the stride became firmer, the head assumed a prouder air, and
the back of him straightened rigid!
He was impelled forward, fatigue seemed to fly from him, an eager
urgency of movement seemed to have come upon him; he was walking against
time for freedom!
An endless number of dark solemn trees were passed, countless numbers of
acres in front, behind, and around him, of this tree-covered upland, and
still it remained night. To darkness there seemed no end, nor did he
want it to have end; he wished it would ever remain night and his
enemies ever sleep.
But though the night was long, and friendlily sheltered him with its
kind mantle of impenetrability, through which a fugitive was not
visible, it had an end, for all things have an end; but Selim and the
Watuta camp were far apart!
Daylight--a dull grey mantle seemingly, which night had put on for a
fickle change--appeared, but greyer and greyer it came through the
foliage above; it then came pale, and then a steely blue. A streak of
silver light shot athwart his path; the foliage was a bright green, and
the leaves moved responsively, gently sighing to the morning wind!
How cool, how fresh it was! How newly-born seemed the world, while the
hum of busy insect life told him there were other creatures, after their
rest, rejoicing in the new light of day!
It became full day, for the sun, a round globe of living fire, or like a
fiery balloon, surged upward light and airily. But oh! with what
different feelings he gazed upon it now. Yesterday it was hateful with
its dry heat and blister, and its thirst-begetting warmth; to-day it was
like a huge lamp hoisted up to the sky to light the dim and lengthy
aisles of the forest. There was no heat nor thirst in its appearance,
nothing but strengthful vigour and cheery light!
At noon, Selim came to a quiet pool in the forest; the lotus flowers
rose like yellow cups above its surface, while the leaves lay languidly
flat. All around the rim the pool was garnished with these water
flowers of Africa; and, so decked, it looked like a great shallow dish
adorned with a pictured border! How delicious did the water taste! How
cool and tranquil the spot! What deep silence pervaded the forest at
noon! How soothing to the fugitive soul!
A little distance off he espied a large baobab, which had a hole in its
body. Walking to it and looking in, he saw the hole led to a large
hollow in the tree, as large as a small chamber. He crept in, for it
was empty, and there he laid down to rest, and finally he slept. He had
escaped, and was safe!
It was night when he awoke; he must have slept eight or ten hours; there
were no means of knowing how many. It was evidently a hard task to wake
up, for after the first movement indicating life, he lay still, and
tried to compel the sodden brain to recover its duty, and the eyes to
aid it by piercing that thick darkness of the natural chamber in which
he found himself. Bit by bit, the senses resumed the old order of
things. Mind stirred up, and gave its master to know that he had run
away from a most cruel slavery. Ah! yes! and, the keyword touched, all
became clear.
"The Watuta!--that torturing yoke-tree, and the sleepless nights it
caused me! my galled shoulders, my wealed back, my racking head! that
monster Tifum! that fierce man-animal whom pity never touched! that
pariah dog-face, repulsive in its animal malignity! those thick lips
which uttered such horrible blasphemy! that always-ready whip! Who can
forget him? May the foul mother who bore him, and her fouler son,
perish like one of those whose fate will be Al Hotamah!
"All is clear to my mind now. I am free! Arise, my soul, for further
freedom; the dark night is kinder than day. The wilderness will take
more pity on me than man. Shake thyself, son of Amer, thy mother is
patiently waiting for thee; thy kinsmen at Zanzibar still look for thee.
Courage, my heart, there is nothing to fear."
He rose to his feet and looked out. "Is that a beast, or is it my timid
fancy which creates such a shape? Hush, that was a step! a slow,
stealthy step of padded feet; no man alone in the wilds would walk on
all fours. Hush, but a moment. Ah! what is it?"
For just then an unearthly laugh--terrible in its satiric wildness of
tone--rang through the forest. It was startling for a moment, because
it was unexpected, and fearful, because it seemed to challenge all the
denizens of the wilds. "What beast can it be?
"Ah! I remember now. Moto has told me of it. It is only a hyaena, and
the hungry fellow has scented a prey. Not yet, my friend, can I be
thine. Selim is safe from thy jaws. He must see Zanzibar first, before
any of thy species can eat him. Oh God!--"
The satiric laugh of the hyaena was succeeded now by a roar which echoed
through the forest, and another and another succeeded it, which almost
deafened the lad with its volume and power. No animal but the dread
king of the forest could have emitted such sounds, and there is nothing
more startling than the first sudden bellowing outburst of his lungs--it
is so deep, so protracted; but, as if he expends the concentrated power
of his lungs in the first roar, the others which succeed it come out in
short, gasping, rasping sounds, which seem to chase one another as they
peal through the forest in quick succession. Though the first sudden
outburst is startling, even appalling, when unexpected, a certain
feeling of admiration quickly succeeds the first fear, at the volume and
the force of it, and at the echoes which it wakes up.
"It is a lion!" said Selim to himself when he had regained his
bewildered senses; "the king of beasts. I have often desired to see
thee and to hear thee, but I may not venture too near thee, as I fear
thy claws and thy cavernous mouth. Halt where thou art until dawn, my
friend, and I will look at thee well, but just now I will remain here.
Ah, that is right; thou comest nearer, but I have a gun, and there is a
bullet in it, O lion, so thou hadst better keep a respectful distance.
The window through which I look at thee is too small for thee to enter;
besides, king of beasts, I need no companion like thee in this small
chamber with me. How my bones would crack under thy strong jaws, and
what a delicious morsel thou wouldst deem me. The _hulwah_ of Muscat [a
species, of sweets made in Muscat, Arabia] were as nothing to it; the
honey of thy native wilds were bitter compared with my flesh, and bones,
and warm blood. Nay, I beseech thee keep thy distance, O lion. If thou
art hungry catch that laughing devil of a hyaena; but me, poor me, thou
wilt surely not harm me!"
But the lion had advanced nearer to the tree; he had also scented a
prey, and while he knew that the prey was contained within the tree, he
was doubtful whether he could obtain the wherewithal to satisfy his
hunger, and this was why he advanced roaring.
Arriving at the foot of the tree he halted, and stood looking up at the
tempting morsel. As if he heard and understood the low-spoken words
which the Arab youth addressed to him, he uttered another terrific roar.
This caused Selim to draw in instinctively and seize his gun, but at
the same instant the lion's form came bounding in at the hole through
which Selim had entered, where he clung tenaciously with his claws, and
endeavoured to drag himself in. Then Selim, with his heart in his mouth
at the dreadful presence, put the muzzle of the gun against the lion's
head and fired, and the monster fell dead outside.
Selim, finding it dangerous to leave his friendly shelter, resolved to
remain where he was until morning, and after he had listened, a long
time at the aperture of the tree, and became satisfied that the lion was
dead, he laid down again on the floor of his natural chamber, and,
happily for one in his situation, fell asleep once more.
About two hours after dawn he awoke, and immediately going to the
window, he looked down, and when he saw the dead lion stretched stiff at
the foot of the tree, he said to himself:
"He would have it; he would not listen to me. Like Tifum he revelled in
his strength, and was conscious of his might, and, like him, he wished
to rend and tear me, but I have a gun, and I would that Tifum came after
me, so that I could give him the same answer I gave this lion."
As he spoke, he placed his spears outside, then his: gun, then went out
himself, and, taking his weapons up, he stood by the body of the lion.
The following thoughts, though unexpressed, ran through his mind:
"Behold! how strong this lion was early last night--how proud his pace
as he roamed through the silent forest looking for his prey! All the
animals ran from before him, and left him lone in his proud strength.
As if they knew his power, the echoes submissively sent his voice
pealing through the long colonnades of the forest, like the heralds
trumpeting the approach of a king. His eyes pierced the darkness and
searched the night, his nostrils scented prey and blood, and he came and
stood before me, the relentless tyrant of the wilderness! His great,
flaming eyes glowed red with rage, his nostrils dilated wide as he
thought of his hunger and the prospective feast; he pawed the ground and
whirled his tail in fury, and tossing his mane back impatiently, he
sprang at me and met his death.
"Now, how weak! An unarmed infant might play with his mane and pull at
his great teeth. There lies no more danger in him; and as he is, so may
all my enemies be! Farewell, thou lion! I would have preferred thou
were not so unclean. My hunger is now sharp, and woe befall the hoofed
animal I meet, but thee I may not eat."
Then Selim, shouldering his gun and spears, having observed the sun, and
found out the direction he intended to go, strode on, looking keenly to
the right and left for any game that might promise him relief from the
gnawing pangs of hunger he began to feel. He had been now thirty-six
hours without food, for he had disdained to steal the rations of his
comrades, as he might have done, knowing from experience that the slave
who lost his rations or consumed them before the next distribution of
food was very apt to suffer, as none of his fellows, having nothing too
much for himself, could find charity enough in his own destitution to
share with him.
Thirty-six hours is a long period for a growing boy to be without food,
and Selim began to feel it. There were none of those wild fruit-trees,
so common in Ukonongo, and Kawendi, and Usowa, the mbembu, the singwe
(the wild wood-peach and plum); no wild grape nor nux vomica fruit, as
in the south-eastern forests of Urori. The long, extensive plain south
of the Cow River seems to have made two zones, different from each
other, of Southern Unyamwezi and South-western Urori. The trees in this
forest were more adapted for building purposes; but had Selim understood
the ways of wild life in the forest, had he been anything but the
tenderly-nurtured and pampered youth from Zanzibar, even here he might
have found plenty of eatable roots. There was no lack of these about
him; the roots of those long, slender, primate-leafed plants, on which
he trod, he would have found to be as nutritious as the yams of
Zanzibar. But the boy was innocent of this knowledge, and so he kept
on, seldom looking on the ground, except when he began to feel
disheartened.
As it was approaching sunset, however, he espied a small antelope
crouching behind the bushes about fifty yards from him. Lifting his
gun, with a prayer for success, he fired, and the animal, after making
two or three convulsive leaps, fell wounded on its side. Hurrying up,
he caught it as it was about to rise to its feet, and using one of his
spears as a knife, looked towards the north-east, in the direction of
Mecca, and uttering his fervent "Bismillah"--(in the name of God!) the
pious youth cut its throat.
Then, proceeding with the work of preparing the meat, he cut off the
head, skinned the animal, and extracted the inward parts, which he left
for the hyaenas, while the eatable portions he conveyed to the fork of a
great tree, where he intended to rest that night.
Hastily collecting some dry leaves, twigs, and sticks, he conveyed these
also to the fork of the tree, and with the aid of some powder, he
succeeded, after much patient work, in making a fire, over which he
placed whole pieces of the antelope to roast, or rather to warm, for his
ravenous hunger would not permit him to wait for the roast.
Had Selim understood the art of travelling, he would, of course, have
cut the meat into thin strips, and have dried them slowly over the fire,
and by this means have furnished himself with sufficient food for two or
three days. But not knowing the art, he had placed all the pieces over
the fire at once, believing, doubtless, like many other hungry people,
that he could eat them all at one meal. Before, however, he had eaten
half of one leg, he felt gorged; and feeling tired, put out the fire,
raked all the ashes away, and when the fire-place had cooled somewhat,
he laid himself down, with his legs coiled, and went to sleep.
In the morning, before starting on his journey again, he ate the other
half of the leg, out of which he had formed his supper, and tying the
other three legs together, he descended the tree and resumed his march.
During that day he was more bent upon walking than upon anything else;
consequently he made a good day's march. At night, when he began to eat
his supper, perched, like the night before, in the fork of a great tree,
he perceived the meat was tainted, but as he had no other means of
gratifying his hunger, he suppressed the rising nausea, and contentedly
ate the ill-smelling meat.
In the morning the meat swarmed with maggots, and he tossed it from him
with disgust, and, without breakfast, resumed his journey. During the
morning he travelled, at noon he rested; and for a couple of hours in
the afternoon he contrived to hold on, until, faint with hunger, he was
compelled to halt and go to sleep supperless also.
Another day dawned, and Selim, descending from his perch, resolutely
determined upon prosecuting his journey. The forest was unusually
silent and deserted; not an animal crossed his path; a few kites alone
hovered above. Hour after hour he dragged his weakened legs along till
the sun was sinking over the western horizon. He had seen no water on
this day, and thirst sharply and severely attacked his frame.
And still another day dawned. Hunger and thirst had made great inroads
on his strength, and had begun to sap his resolution. If he had but
known that a few hours ahead of him lay the corn-fields of the Watuta
villages, or if he had but known that only a mile north of the line he
traversed lay the road over which Ferodia's caravan had travelled two
days before! But enveloped round about by the great forest, to which
there seemed to be no end, he knew nothing,--tiny mite that he was,
alongside of one of those straight-stemmed and towering trees,--beyond
the thin line of vision which his low stature permitted him. Could he
only have seen one foot above those trees, he had been safe, and could
have directed his steps whither he desired. But he could barely see the
sky, so dense was the foliage and so closely did each tree's branches
embrace the other. How hard it is to strive to attain the end of the
interminable! What a seeming waste of strength is it to ever work and
work to span the infinite! How disheartening it is to one to feel that
he can never live to see the end of the endless! Interminable,
infinite, and endless seemed this forest to the wearied, hungry, and
thirsty Selim. He strained his eyes ever in his front, hoping that
every low swell of the ground would enable him to see something
encouraging; he looked in all directions for anything bearing the
semblance of a living creature, of beast, or fowl; he looked upwards,
striving to gain a glimpse of the serene face of heaven, which, in his
present state of mind and body, would have afforded him momentary
relief. Had he been more experienced in African travelling he would
have known how to procure water; he would have known that in any one of
those hollows a few hours' excavation with a pointed stick would have
procured him water, and that if there were not roots to satisfy a
craving stomach, then the land would be poor indeed. Knowing nothing,
however, of these things, he wasted the precious hours in resting, and
then plunging nervously on his way, until his body was obliged to
confess its weakness and his starved legs refused to go. When much time
was thus wasted, again he would rise to again fall; and, finally, he
fell fainting to the ground. Poor boy! he was paying dearly for the
desire of his father to increase his riches by the bartering of cloth
and flimsy beads for human creatures!
After a fainting fit, which lasted some minutes, he sat up, but was too
weak to remain long even in that condition, and he fell back; and while
thus prostrate, with his eyes upward, thought was busy with the
pleasures he had been obliged to leave, and the more his body suffered
the more his thoughts loved to revel in the luxurious scenes he had
known. Groaning from sheer agony of body, he cried aloud:
"Ah, for one sight of the foaming wave of the Zangian Sea, which curled
at morn into graceful wreaths like liquid flowers as the monsoon gently
kissed it! One glance, if nothing more, of the snowy strand whereon I
have sported often with my playmates, little Suleiman, and lea, and
Abdullah before we plunged gaily into the foam and spray with which each
moment the sea drenched the margin of the island. How oft, as nude I
lay stretched on the warm sandy shore, the great sun descending towards
the continent, have I watched the great ships idly rocking on that sea
which in its deep dissolving bosom of blue depths reflected as a mirror
the spotless azure of the sky! Happy days! Memory recalls so much that
a thousand years would never obliterate. My dear father's happy
household gathered under the shade of the towering mangoes, whose rich
fruit, golden, and purple, and brown, hung so temptingly over my head;
the evening zephyr wind gently brushing by the light leaves as it
rustled through from one tree to another with its welcome whispers,
bending, as it flew, the tops of the kingly cocoa and the fragrant
cinnamon, wafting the rich green bough of the orange, whose precious
fruit was as a balm to my soul. Now could I but feel one in my fevered
hand! What ample wealth does not my mind bring before my sickened eyes!
The amber-coloured stalk of the sugar-cane and its luscious juice; dark
green leaves of orange and mangoe; great cocoa-nuts, with their
nutritious milk; the brilliant pomegranate, with its sweet soothing
odour and thirst-assuaging pippins; the soft, rich guava, with its
health-giving meat; the lime, with its yellow, golden fruit, at the mere
sight of which fever and thirst are forgotten; and melons, whose deep
green skins cover such crisp, sweet treasures. Ah! there is no place on
earth to me like the beautiful island of Zanzibar. It is blessed by the
beneficent God with Eden's wealth. Streams laugh with gladness and
murmur with joy. Fresh, healthy winds blow over it, laden with the
fragrance of earth's dearest and best treasures. God has blessed it
with abundance, and has caused its warm bosom to heave with triumph.
Lo! its gardens pass by me one after another; happy homes stand in their
midst; the pride of my race sit happy under the shade of their orange
trees, surrounded by their dependents, whose faces seem kindled with the
quiet rapture which fills them. Trees and flowers, houses and gardens,
men and women, hills and valleys, the sea and streams,--all of
Zanzibar,--come nearer to the unhappy and forsaken son of great Amer bin
Osman.
"Come nearer, nearer still, to your kinsman Selim, Let me embrace ye
before my destiny is accomplished!
"No! no! Ah, ye are unkind! Gaze in pity upon my abject condition!
Look down upon me, ye that are elated with pleasure. Mark my
surroundings! This great, silent wilderness of forest, to which there
is no end; it stretches from sunset to sunrise, from sea to sea; it
excludes light and air; it smothers the earth with its limitless length
and breadth. Through its thick, heavy drapery of leafage--I may not
breathe, neither be warmed, by ever a single sun-ray.
"Hark to the storm of wind sweeping over the tops of the giant trees!
How it expends its might in attempting to open even a slight gap, that
one of the true believers might see a glimpse of heaven before he dies!
But it may not be. Nature took ages to build this rampart and construct
this impregnable palisade, and the baffled tempest retreats, and leaves
me hopeless and despairing.
"The air is pregnant with deadly vapours; gigantic trees, fallen from
extreme age, lie prone on the ground, infested by myriads upon myriads
of creeping things; withered branches strew the ground thickly, and
their leaves, long since dead, lie damp and sappy, reeking with every
insect abomination. From afar, like the indistinct and distant sound of
thunder, is borne to my ears, after traversing aisles upon aisles, the
hungry lions' roar, suggestive of what may happen if relief comes not
early to the lonely Arab boy; and my quickened hearing catches strains
of a still fiercer meaning, the voice of the leopard calling to his
mate, mingled with the growls of the hyaena.
"Ah, cruel chance, that my fresh young life should be thus beset with
dangers which menace it. What sin has my infancy committed that my
youth must be punished so severely? What wrong have these boy-hands
performed, that their owner merits death? What guile has ever my
childhood's heart conceived for which my youth must pay the penalty?
What crime has ever my brain meditated, that I must be reft of my life
at so early an age? None,--none. I but ever acted as I knew how; not
wantonly, not recklessly, but just as instinct and nature, untutored,
impelled me to.
"I would my father had never felt the power of manhood, or met my
mother. I would my mother's womb, with its embryo, had withered up;
then had I not been born to encounter such evil days. From the evil day
Khamis bin Abdullah kindled in my father's breast knowledge of his
comparative poverty I date the birth of my misfortune; from that time
hard and evil days innumerable have I seen; mischance has succeeded
mischance, danger succeeded danger, one suffering has produced another.
"I saw my parent die as became the chief of his tribe. The friendly
shields, which endeavoured to shelter him from harm, averted not the
death which sought his lion heart; his companions in arms fell thickly
around him in heaps upon heaps of unnumbered dead; while I stood alone,
first to wonder at the strange phase of nature--death, then to mourn for
the great loss that had befallen me, then to suffer torture like that to
those who visit Eblis, and, finally, to wish that I had never seen the
light which animates the earth, or had died upon that fatal field of
battle. I, the son of great Amer, was made a slave by those hideous
Watuta, who are but monstrous apes, was stripped of my clothing to have
my modest youth shocked by the unbelievers' rude gaze. When, blushing
at their impertinence, I resented the rough behaviour, they bound and
scourged me, and they laughed and mocked me as the tortured flesh gave
way and hung in gory tatters, and the red blood dyed my limbs crimson.
Probed and pricked by their spears, they drove me to the journey amongst
a herd of other slaves, while the relentless sun streamed its rays upon
my naked and defenceless body, and I thought that all the agony of the
damned was not to be compared to that which I suffered. Ah, the
suffering that followed! The long, long days of marching, which seemed
to be interminable, the protracted pains from thirst, the weary, leaden
limbs that refused to be moved at my command, the long, long,
immeasurable road, the poor victims that fell never to rise again, whom,
nevertheless, I envied for their eternal relief from misery and poignant
pain. Their stolid faces upturned to heaven, blank and unmeaning; the
unwinking eyes, that must have once reflected domestic joys, gaped wide,
but were dim and glazed, and nothing more on earth would ever cause them
to cover that horrible, steady gaze on emptiness and vacancy; the greedy
vulture might peck at them, the kites might satiate themselves on their
entrails, the hyaena might gorge himself on their flesh, yet those once
sensitive eyes would never wink their discontent. This is death! It is
real death. It is the death which threatened me until, rendered
desperate by the keen terrors which filled me one night, I deserted that
ever-moving caravan, to find myself after a time in this strait, and the
terror of death has followed me hither. Every thought, and moan, and
cry speaks of it. For ever present is the fearful sight of death; it is
in this stagnant, oppressive air which I breathe; and the tomb which God
has raised above my head--in these lofty columns, bearing far up their
leafy roof--I see.
"Fit tomb for an Arab chief's son. A sultan of the Arab tribes might
envy me mine. But where are the mourners? There should be my kindred
weeping hot tears over Selim's early death. My mother, with her maids,
should be present to wash my limbs ere shrouding them with snowy shash
[fine bleached domestic, or cotton cloth]. There should be my
playfellows to chant a dirge over my early departure from this life; and
the holy Imam to repeat the prayers for the dead. There should be my
kinsmen to dig my grave, and women to weep. But I am alone, to die
without bidding farewell to my friends,--to die without taking with me
to that other world that last enduring look of love from all who
esteemed me, which must ever thrill the souls of those who leave
sympathising friends behind. Then come and welcome, cruel, cruel Death;
wreak thy will on me; my limbs are already chained to that earth of
which they are a portion; thou hast hedged me around with thy terrors
and affrighted my soul long enough; thou hast advanced and receded, as
though it were child's play; I have alternately felt strong and faint,
felt brave and weak. I may not balk thee longer!
"Farewell, happy island, with thy purling streams, thy orange-groves,
thou home of my happy childhood, home of my kindred!
"Farewell, thou solemn earth; ay, bend thine head with shame for the
frown with which thou hast regarded thy innocent child!
"Farewell, thou monster Death! Thou tyrant! I am conquered; and I--I
must--yield. I come, father, dear fa-ther!"