Return to the Zambesi--Bishop Mackenzie's grave--Frightful scenes with
crocodiles--Death of Mr. Thornton--African poisons--Recall of the
Expedition.
We put to sea on the 18th of October, and, again touching at Johanna,
obtained a crew of Johanna men and some oxen, and sailed for the Zambesi;
but our fuel failing before we reached it, and the wind being contrary,
we ran into Quillimane for wood.
Quillimane must have been built solely for the sake of carrying on the
slave-trade, for no man in his senses would ever have dreamed of placing
a village on such a low, muddy, fever-haunted, and mosquito-swarming
site, had it not been for the facilities it afforded for slaving. The
bar may at springs and floods be easily crossed by sailing-vessels, but,
being far from the land, it is always dangerous for boats. Slaves, under
the name of "free emigrants," have gone by thousands from Quillimane,
during the last six years, to the ports a little to the south,
particularly to Massangano. Some excellent brick-houses still stand in
the place, and the owners are generous and hospitable: among them our
good friend, Colonel Nunez. His disinterested kindness to us and to all
our countrymen can never be forgotten. He is a noble example of what
energy and uprightness may accomplish even here. He came out as a cabin-
boy, and, without a single friend to help him, he has persevered in an
honourable course until he is the richest man on the East Coast. When
Dr. Livingstone came down the Zambesi in 1856, Colonel Nunez was the
chief of the only four honourable, trustworthy men in the country. But
while he has risen a whole herd has sunk, making loud lamentations,
through puffs of cigar-smoke, over negro laziness; they might add, their
own.
All agricultural enterprise is virtually discouraged by Quillimane
Government. A man must purchase a permit from the Governor, when he
wishes to visit his country farm; and this tax, in a country where labour
is unpopular, causes the farms to be almost entirely left in the hands of
a head slave, who makes returns to his master as interest or honesty
prompts him. A passport must also be bought whenever a man wishes to go
up the river to Mazaro, Senna, or Tette, or even to reside for a month at
Quillimane. With a soil and a climate well suited for the growth of the
cane, abundance of slave labour, and water communication to any market in
the world, they have never made their own sugar. All they use is
imported from Bombay. "The people of Quillimane have no enterprise,"
said a young European Portuguese, "they do nothing, and are always
wasting their time in suffering, or in recovering from fever."
We entered the Zambesi about the end of November and found it unusually
low, so we did not get up to Shupanga till the 19th of December. The
friends of our Mazaro men, who had now become good sailors and very
attentive servants, turned out and gave them a hearty welcome back from
the perils of the sea: they had begun to fear that they would never
return. We hired them at a sixteen-yard piece of cloth a month--about
ten shillings' worth, the Portuguese market-price of the cloth being then
sevenpence halfpenny a yard,--and paid them five pieces each, for four-
and-a-half months' work. A merchant at the same time paid other Mazaro
men three pieces for seven months, and they were with him in the
interior. If the merchants do not prosper, it is not because labour is
dear, but because it is scarce, and because they are so eager on every
occasion to sell the workmen out of the country. Our men had also
received quantities of good clothes from the sailors of the "Pioneer" and
of the "Orestes," and were now regarded by their neighbours and by
themselves as men of importance. Never before had they possessed so much
wealth: they believed that they might settle in life, being now of
sufficient standing to warrant their entering the married state; and a
wife and a hut were among their first investments. Sixteen yards were
paid to the wife's parents, and a hut cost four yards. We should have
liked to have kept them in the ship, for they were well-behaved and had
learned a great deal of the work required. Though they would not
themselves go again, they engaged others for us; and brought twice as
many as we could take, of their brothers and cousins, who were eager to
join the ship and go with us up the Shire, or anywhere else. They all
agreed to take half-pay until they too had learned to work; and we found
no scarcity of labour, though all that could be exported is now out of
the country.
There had been a drought of unusual severity during the past season in
the country between Lupata and Kebrabasa, and it had extended north-east
to the Manganja highlands. All the Tette slaves, except a very few
household ones, had been driven away by hunger, and were now far off in
the woods, and wherever wild fruit, or the prospect of obtaining anything
whatever to keep the breath of life in them, was to be found. Their
masters were said never to expect to see them again. There have been two
years of great hunger at Tette since we have been in the country, and a
famine like the present prevailed in 1854, when thousands died of
starvation. If men like the Cape farmers owned this country, their
energy and enterprise would soon render the crops independent of rain.
There being plenty of slope or fall, the land could be easily irrigated
from the Zambesi and its tributary streams. A Portuguese colony can
never prosper: it is used as a penal settlement, and everything must be
done military fashion. "What do I care for this country?" said the most
enterprising of the Tette merchants, "all I want is to make money as soon
possible, and then go to Bombay and enjoy it." All business at Tette was
now suspended. Carriers could not be found to take the goods into the
interior, and the merchants could barely obtain food for their own
families. At Mazaro more rain had fallen, and a tolerable crop followed.
The people of Shupanga were collecting and drying different wild fruits,
nearly all of which are far from palatable to a European taste. The root
of a small creeper called "bise" is dug up and eaten. In appearance it
is not unlike the small white sweet potato, and has a little of the
flavour of our potato. It would be very good, if it were only a little
larger. From another tuber, called "ulanga," very good starch can be
made. A few miles from Shupanga there is an abundance of large game, but
the people here, though fond enough of meat, are not a hunting race, and
seldom kill any.
The Shire having risen, we steamed off on the 10th of January, 1863, with
the "Lady Nyassa" in tow. It was not long before we came upon the
ravages of the notorious Mariano. The survivors of a small hamlet, at
the foot of Morambala, were in a state of starvation, having lost their
food by one of his marauding parties. The women were in the fields
collecting insects, roots, wild fruits, and whatever could be eaten, in
order to drag on their lives, if possible, till the next crop should be
ripe. Two canoes passed us, that had been robbed by Mariano's band of
everything they had in them; the owners were gathering palm-nuts for
their subsistence. They wore palm-leaf aprons, as the robbers had
stripped them of their clothing and ornaments. Dead bodies floated past
us daily, and in the mornings the paddles had to be cleared of corpses,
caught by the floats during the night. For scores of miles the entire
population of the valley was swept away by this scourge Mariano, who is
again, as he was before, the great Portuguese slave-agent. It made the
heart ache to see the widespread desolation; the river-banks, once so
populous, all silent; the villages burned down, and an oppressive
stillness reigning where formerly crowds of eager sellers appeared with
the various products of their industry. Here and there might be seen on
the bank a small dreary deserted shed, where had sat, day after day, a
starving fisherman, until the rising waters drove the fish from their
wonted haunts, and left him to die. Tingane had been defeated; his
people had been killed, kidnapped, and forced to flee from their
villages. There were a few wretched survivors in a village above the
Ruo; but the majority of the population was dead. The sight and smell of
dead bodies was everywhere. Many skeletons lay beside the path, where in
their weakness they had fallen and expired. Ghastly living forms of boys
and girls, with dull dead eyes, were crouching beside some of the huts. A
few more miserable days of their terrible hunger, and they would be with
the dead.
Oppressed with the shocking scenes around, we visited the Bishop's grave;
and though it matters little where a good Christian's ashes rest, yet it
was with sadness that we thought over the hopes which had clustered
around him, as he left the classic grounds of Cambridge, all now buried
in this wild place. How it would have torn his kindly heart to witness
the sights we now were forced to see!
In giving vent to the natural feelings of regret, that a man so eminently
endowed and learned, as was Bishop Mackenzie, should have been so soon
cut off, some have expressed an opinion that it was wrong to use an
instrument so valuable _merely_ to convert the heathen. If the attempt
is to be made at all, it is "penny wise and pound foolish" to employ any
but the very best men, and those who are specially educated for the work.
An ordinary clergyman, however well suited for a parish, will not,
without special training, make a Missionary; and as to their comparative
usefulness, it is like that of the man who builds an hospital, as
compared with that of the surgeon who in after years only administers for
a time the remedies which the founder had provided in perpetuity. Had
the Bishop succeeded in introducing Christianity, his converts might have
been few, but they would have formed a continuous roll for all time to
come.
The Shire fell two feet, before we reached the shallow crossing where we
had formerly such difficulty, and we had now two ships to take up. A
hippopotamus was shot two miles above a bank on which the ship lay a
fortnight: it floated in three hours. As the boat was towing it down,
the crocodiles were attracted by the dead beast, and several shots had to
be fired to keep them off. The bullet had not entered the brain of the
animal, but driven a splinter of bone into it. A little moisture with
some gas issued from the wound, and this was all that could tell the
crocodiles down the stream of a dead hippopotamus; and yet they came up
from miles below. Their sense of smell must be as acute as their
hearing; both are quite extraordinary. Dozens fed on the meat we left.
Our Krooman, Jumbo, used to assert that the crocodile never eats fresh
meat, but always keeps it till it is high and tender--and the stronger it
smells the better he likes it. There seems to be some truth in this.
They can swallow but small pieces at a time, and find it difficult to
tear fresh meat. In the act of swallowing, which is like that of a dog,
the head is raised out of the water. We tried to catch some, and one was
soon hooked; it required half-a-dozen hands to haul him up the river, and
the shark-hook straightened, and he got away. A large iron hook was next
made, but, as the creatures could not swallow it, their jaws soon pressed
it straight--and our crocodile-fishing was a failure. As one might
expect,--from the power even of a salmon--the tug of a crocodile was
terribly strong.
The corpse of a boy floated past the ship; a monstrous crocodile rushed
at it with the speed of a greyhound, caught it and shook it, as a terrier
dog does a rat. Others dashed at the prey, each with his powerful tail
causing the water to churn and froth, as he furiously tore off a piece.
In a few seconds it was all gone. The sight was frightful to behold. The
Shire swarmed with crocodiles; we counted sixty-seven of these repulsive
reptiles on a single bank, but they are not as fierce as they are in some
rivers. "Crocodiles," says Captain Tuckey, "are so plentiful in the
Congo, near the rapids, and so frequently carry off the women, who at
daylight go down to the river for water, that, while they are filling
their calabashes, one of the party is usually employed in throwing large
stones into the water outside." Here, either a calabash on a long pole
is used in drawing water, or a fence is planted. The natives eat the
crocodile, but to us the idea of tasting the musky-scented, fishy-looking
flesh carried the idea of cannibalism. Humboldt remarks, that in South
America the alligators of some rivers are more dangerous than in others.
Alligators differ from crocodiles in the fourth or canine tooth going
into a hole or socket in the upper jaw, while in the crocodile it fits
into a notch. The forefoot of the crocodile has five toes not webbed,
the hindfoot has four toes which are webbed; in the alligator the web is
altogether wanting. They are so much alike that they would no doubt
breed together.
One of the crocodiles which was shot had a piece snapped off the end of
his tail, another had lost a forefoot in fighting; we saw actual leeches
between the teeth, such as are mentioned by Herodotus, but we never
witnessed the plover picking them out. Their greater fierceness in one
part of the country than another is doubtless owing to a scarcity of
fish; in fact, Captain Tuckey says, of that part of the Congo, mentioned
above, "There are no fish here but catfish," and we found that the lake
crocodiles, living in clear water, and with plenty of fish, scarcely ever
attacked man. The Shire teems with fish of many different kinds. The
only time, as already remarked, when its crocodiles are particularly to
be dreaded, is when the river is in flood. Then the fish are driven from
their usual haunts, and no game comes down to the river to drink, water
being abundant in pools inland. Hunger now impels the crocodile to lie
in wait for the women who come to draw water, and on the Zambesi numbers
are carried off every year. The danger is not so great at other seasons;
though it is never safe to bathe, or to stoop to drink, where one cannot
see the bottom, especially in the evening. One of the Makololo ran down
in the dusk of the river; and, as he was busy tossing the water to his
mouth with his hand, in the manner peculiar to the natives, a crocodile
rose suddenly from the bottom, and caught him by the hand. The limb of a
tree was fortunately within reach, and he had presence of mind to lay
hold of it. Both tugged and pulled; the crocodile for his dinner, and
the man for dear life. For a time it appeared doubtful whether a dinner
or a life was to be sacrificed; but the man held on, and the monster let
the hand go, leaving the deep marks of his ugly teeth in it.
During our detention, in expectation of the permanent rise of the river
in March, Dr. Kirk and Mr. C. Livingstone collected numbers of the wading-
birds of the marshes--and made pleasant additions to our salted
provisions, in geese, ducks, and hippopotamus flesh. One of the comb or
knob-nosed geese, on being strangled in order to have its skin preserved
without injury, continued to breathe audibly by the broken humerus, or
wing-bone, and other means had to be adopted to put it out of pain. This
was as if a man on the gallows were to continue to breathe by a broken
armbone, and afforded us an illustration of the fact, that in birds, the
vital air penetrates every part of the interior of their bodies. The
breath passes through and round about the lungs--bathes the surfaces of
the viscera, and enters the cavities of the bones; it even penetrates
into some spaces between the muscles of the neck--and thus not only is
the most perfect oxygenation of the blood secured, but, the temperature
of the blood being very high, the air in every part is rarefied, and the
great lightness and vigour provided for, that the habits of birds
require. Several birds were found by Dr. Kirk to have marrow in the
tibiae, though these bones are generally described as hollow.
During the period of our detention on the shallow part of the river in
March, Mr. Thornton came up to us from Shupanga: he had, as before
narrated, left the Expedition in 1859, and joined Baron van der Decken,
in the journey to Kilimanjaro, when, by an ascent of the mountain to the
height of 8000 feet, it was first proved to be covered with perpetual
snow, and the previous information respecting it, given by the Church of
England Missionaries, Krapf and Rebman, confirmed. It is now well known
that the Baron subsequently ascended the Kilimanjaro to 14,000 feet, and
ascertained its highest peak to be at least 20,000 feet above the sea.
Mr. Thornton made the map of the first journey, at Shupanga, from
materials collected when with the Baron; and when that work was
accomplished, followed us. He was then directed to examine geologically
the Cataract district, but not to expose himself to contact with the
Ajawa until the feelings of that tribe should be ascertained.
The members of Bishop Mackenzie's party, on the loss of their head, fell
back from Magomero on the highlands, to Chibisa's, in the low-lying Shire
Valley; and Thornton, finding them suffering from want of animal food,
kindly volunteered to go across thence to Tette, and bring a supply of
goats and sheep. We were not aware of this step, to which the generosity
of his nature prompted him, till two days after he had started. In
addition to securing supplies for the Universities' Mission, he brought
some for the Expedition, and took bearings, by which he hoped to connect
his former work at Tette with the mountains in the Shire district. The
toil of this journey was too much for his strength, as with the addition
of great scarcity of water, it had been for that of Dr. Kirk and Rae, and
he returned in a sadly haggard and exhausted condition; diarrhoea
supervened, and that ended in dysentery and fever, which terminated
fatally on the 21st of April, 1863. He received the unremitting
attentions of Dr. Kirk, and Dr. Meller, surgeon of the "Pioneer," during
the fortnight of his illness; and as he had suffered very little from
fever, or any other disease, in Africa, we had entertained strong hopes
that his youth and unimpaired constitution would have carried him
through. During the night of the 20th his mind wandered so much, that we
could not ascertain his last wishes; and on the morning of the 21st, to
our great sorrow, he died. He was buried on the 22nd, near a large tree
on the right bank of the Shire, about five hundred yards from the lowest
of the Murchison Cataracts--and close to a rivulet, at which the "Lady
Nyassa" and "Pioneer" lay.
No words can convey an adequate idea of the scene of widespread
desolation which the once pleasant Shire Valley now presented. Instead
of smiling villages and crowds of people coming with things for sale,
scarcely a soul was to be seen; and, when by chance one lighted on a
native, his frame bore the impress of hunger, and his countenance the
look of a cringing broken-spiritedness. A drought had visited the land
after the slave-hunting panic swept over it. Had it been possible to
conceive the thorough depopulation which had ensued, we should have
avoided coming up the river. Large masses of the people had fled down to
the Shire, only anxious to get the river between them and their enemies.
Most of the food had been left behind; and famine and starvation had cut
off so many, that the remainder were too few to bury the dead. The
corpses we saw floating down the river were only a remnant of those that
had perished, whom their friends, from weakness, could not bury, nor over-
gorged crocodiles devour. It is true that famine caused a great portion
of this waste of human life: but the slave-trade must be deemed the chief
agent in the ruin, because, as we were informed, in former droughts all
the people flocked from the hills down to the marshes, which are capable
of yielding crops of maize in less than three months, at any time of the
year, and now they were afraid to do so. A few, encouraged by the
Mission in the attempt to cultivate, had their little patches robbed as
successive swarms of fugitives came from the hills. Who can blame these
outcasts from house and home for stealing to save their wretched lives,
or wonder that the owners protected the little all, on which their own
lives depended, with club and spear? We were informed by Mr. Waller of
the dreadful blight which had befallen the once smiling Shire Valley. His
words, though strong, failed to impress us with the reality. In fact,
they were received, as some may accept our own, as tinged with
exaggeration; but when our eyes beheld the last mere driblets of this cup
of woe, we for the first time felt that the enormous wrongs inflicted on
our fellow-men by slaving are beyond exaggeration.
Wherever we took a walk, human skeletons were seen in every direction,
and it was painfully interesting to observe the different postures in
which the poor wretches had breathed their last. A whole heap had been
thrown down a slope behind a village, where the fugitives often crossed
the river from the east; and in one hut of the same village no fewer than
twenty drums had been collected, probably the ferryman's fees. Many had
ended their misery under shady trees--others under projecting crags in
the hills--while others lay in their huts, with closed doors, which when
opened disclosed the mouldering corpse with the poor rags round the
loins--the skull fallen off the pillow--the little skeleton of the child,
that had perished first, rolled up in a mat between two large skeletons.
The sight of this desert, but eighteen months ago a well peopled valley,
now literally strewn with human bones, forced the conviction upon us,
that the destruction of human life in the middle passage, however great,
constitutes but a small portion of the waste, and made us feel that
unless the slave-trade--that monster iniquity, which has so long brooded
over Africa--is put down, lawful commerce cannot be established.
We believed that, if it were possible to get a steamer upon the Lake, we
could by her means put a check on the slavers from the East Coast; and
aid more effectually still in the suppression of the slave-trade, by
introducing, by way of the Rovuma, a lawful traffic in ivory. We
therefore unscrewed the "Lady Nyassa" at a rivulet about five hundred
yards below the first cataract, and began to make a road over the thirty-
five or forty miles of land portage, by which to carry her up piecemeal.
After mature consideration, we could not imagine a more noble work of
benevolence, than thus to introduce light and liberty into a quarter of
this fair earth, which human lust has converted into the nearest possible
resemblance of what we conceive the infernal regions to be--and we
sacrificed much of our private resources as an offering for the promotion
of so good a cause.
The chief part of the labour of road-making consisted in cutting down
trees and removing stones. The country being covered with open forest, a
small tree had to be cut about every fifty or sixty yards. The land near
the river was so very much intersected by ravines, that search had to be
made, a mile from its banks, for more level ground. Experienced
Hottentot drivers would have taken Cape wagons without any other trouble
than that of occasionally cutting down a tree. No tsetse infested this
district, and the cattle brought from Johanna flourished on the abundant
pasture. The first half-mile of road led up, by a gradual slope, to an
altitude of two hundred feet above the ship, and a sensible difference of
climate was felt even there. For the remainder of the distance the
height increased,--till, at the uppermost cataract, we were more than
1200 feet above the sea. The country here, having recovered from the
effects of the drought, was bright with young green woodland, and
mountains of the same refreshing hue. But the absence of the crowds,
which had attended us as we carried up the boat, when the women followed
us for miles with fine meal, vegetables, and fat fowls for sale, and the
boys were ever ready for a little job--and the oppressive stillness bore
heavily on our spirits. The Portuguese of Tette had very effectually
removed our labourers. Not an ounce of fresh provisions could be
obtained, except what could be shot, and even the food for our native
crew had to be brought one hundred and fifty miles from the Zambesi.
The diet of salt provisions and preserved meats without vegetables, with
the depression of spirits caused by seeing how effectually a few wretched
convicts, aided by the connivance of officials, of whom better might have
been hoped, could counteract our best efforts, and turn intended good to
certain evil, brought on attacks of dysentery, which went the round of
the Expedition--and, Dr. Kirk and Charles Livingstone having suffered
most severely, it was deemed advisable that they should go home. This
measure was necessary, though much to the regret of all--for having done
so much, they were naturally anxious to be present, when, by the
establishing ourselves on the Lake, all our efforts should be crowned
with success. After it had been decided that these two officers, and all
the whites who could be spared, should be sent down to the sea for a
passage to England, Dr. Livingstone was seized in May with a severe
attack of dysentery, which continued for a month, and reduced him to a
shadow. Dr. Kirk kindly remained in attendance till the worst was
passed. The parting took place on the 19th of May.
After a few miles of road were completed, and the oxen broken in, we
resolved to try and render ourselves independent of the south for fresh
provisions, by going in a boat up the Shire, above the Cataracts, to the
tribes at the foot of Lake Nyassa, who were still untouched by the Ajawa
invasion. In furtherance of this plan Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Rae
determined to walk up to examine, and, if need be, mend the boat which
had been left two seasons previously hung up to the limb of a large shady
tree, before attempting to carry another past the Cataracts. The
"Pioneer," which was to be left in charge of our active and most
trustworthy gunner, Mr. Edward D. Young, R.N., was thoroughly roofed over
with euphorbia branches and grass, so as completely to protect her decks
from the sun: she also received daily a due amount of man-of-war
scrubbing and washing; and, besides having everything put in shipshape
fashion, was every evening swung out into the middle of the river, for
the sake of the greater amount of air which circulated there. In
addition to their daily routine work of the ship, the three stokers, one
sailor, and one carpenter--now our complement--were encouraged to hunt
for guinea-fowl, which in June, when the water inland is dried up, come
in large flocks to the river's banks, and roost on the trees at night.
Everything that can be done to keep mind and body employed tends to
prevent fever.
While we were employed in these operations, some of the poor starved
people about had been in the habit of crossing the river, and reaping the
self-sown mapira, in the old gardens of their countrymen. In the
afternoon of the 9th, a canoe came floating down empty, and shortly after
a woman was seen swimming near the other side, which was about two
hundred yards distant from us. Our native crew manned the boat, and
rescued her; when brought on board, she was found to have an arrow-head,
eight or ten inches long, in her back, below the ribs, and slanting up
through the diaphragm and left lung, towards the heart--she had been shot
from behind when stooping. Air was coming out of the wound, and, there
being but an inch of the barbed arrow-head visible, it was thought better
not to run the risk of her dying under the operation necessary for its
removal; so we carried her up to her own hut. One of her relatives was
less scrupulous, for he cut out the arrow and part of the lung. Mr.
Young sent her occasionally portions of native corn, and strange to say
found that she not only became well, but stout. The constitution of
these people seems to have a wonderful power of self-repair--and it could
be no slight privation which had cut off the many thousands that we saw
dead around us.
We regretted that, in consequence of Dr. Meller having now sole medical
charge, we could not have his company in our projected trip; but he found
employment in botany and natural history, after the annual sickly season
of March, April, and May was over; and his constant presence was not so
much required at the ship. Later in the year, when he could be well
spared, he went down the river to take up an appointment he had been
offered in Madagascar; but unfortunately was so severely tried by illness
while detained at the coast, that for nearly two years he was not able to
turn his abilities as a naturalist to account by proceeding to that
island. We have no doubt but he will yet distinguish himself in that
untrodden field.
On the 16th of June we started for the Upper Cataracts, with a mule-cart,
our road lying a distance of a mile west from the river. We saw many of
the deserted dwellings of the people who formerly came to us; and were
very much struck by the extent of land under cultivation, though that,
compared with the whole country, is very small. Large patches of mapira
continued to grow,--as it is said it does from the roots for three years.
The mapira was mixed with tall bushes of the Congo-bean, castor-oil
plants, and cotton. The largest patch of this kind we paced, and found
it to be six hundred and thirty paces on one side--the rest were from one
acre to three, and many not more than one-third of an acre. The
cotton--of very superior quality--was now dropping off the bushes, to be
left to rot--there was no one to gather what would have been of so much
value in Lancashire. The huts, in the different villages we entered,
were standing quite perfect. The mortars for pounding corn--the stones
for grinding it--the water and beer pots--the empty corn-safes and
kitchen utensils, were all untouched; and most of the doors were shut, as
if the starving owners had gone out to wander in search of roots or
fruits in the forest, and had never returned. When opened, several huts
revealed a ghastly sight of human skeletons. Some were seen in such
unnatural positions, as to give the idea that they had expired in a
faint, when trying to reach something to allay the gnawings of hunger.
We took several of the men as far as the Mukuru-Madse for the sake of the
change of air and for occupation, and also to secure for the ships a
supply of buffalo meat--as those animals were reported to be in abundance
on that stream. But though it was evident from the tracks that the
report was true, it was impossible to get a glimpse of them. The grass
being taller than we were, and pretty thickly planted, they always knew
of our approach before we saw them. And the first intimation we had of
their being near was the sound they made in rushing over the stones,
breaking the branches, and knocking their horns against each other. Once,
when seeking a ford for the cart, at sunrise, we saw a herd slowly
wending up the hill-side from the water. Sending for a rifle, and
stalking with intense eagerness for a fat beefsteak, instead of our usual
fare of salted provisions, we got so near that we could hear the bulls
uttering their hoarse deep low, but could see nothing except the mass of
yellow grass in front; suddenly the buffalo-birds sounded their alarm-
whistle, and away dashed the troop, and we got sight of neither birds nor
beasts. This would be no country for a sportsman except when the grass
is short. The animals are wary, from the dread they have of the poisoned
arrows. Those of the natives who do hunt are deeply imbued with the
hunting spirit, and follow the game with a stealthy perseverance and
cunning, quite extraordinary. The arrow making no noise, the herd is
followed up until the poison takes effect, and the wounded animal falls
out. It is then patiently watched till it drops--a portion of meat round
the wound is cut away, and all the rest eaten.
Poisoned arrows are made in two pieces. An iron barb is firmly fastened
to one end of a small wand of wood, ten inches or a foot long, the other
end of which, fined down to a long point, is nicely fitted, though not
otherwise secured, in the hollow of the reed, which forms the arrow
shaft. The wood immediately below the iron head is smeared with the
poison. When the arrow is shot into an animal, the reed either falls to
the ground at once, or is very soon brushed off by the bushes; but the
iron barb and poisoned upper part of the wood remain in the wound. If
made in one piece, the arrow would often be torn out, head and all, by
the long shaft catching in the underwood, or striking against trees. The
poison used here, and called _kombi_, is obtained from a species of
_strophanthus_, and is very virulent. Dr. Kirk found by an accidental
experiment on himself that it acts by lowering the pulse. In using his
tooth-brush, which had been in a pocket containing a little of the
poison, he noticed a bitter taste, but attributed it to his having
sometimes used, the handle in taking quinine. Though the quantity was
small, it immediately showed its power by lowering his pulse which at the
time had been raised by a cold, and next day he was perfectly restored.
Not much can be inferred from a single case of this kind, but it is
possible that the kombi may turn out a valuable remedy; and as Professor
Sharpey has conducted a series of experiments with this substance, we
look with interest for the results. An alkaloid has been obtained from
it similar to strychnine. There is no doubt that all kinds of wild
animals die from the effects of poisoned arrows, except the elephant and
hippopotamus. The amount of poison that this little weapon can convey
into their systems being too small to kill those huge beasts, the hunters
resort to the beam trap instead.
Another kind of poison was met with on Lake Nyassa, which was said to be
used exclusively for killing men. It was put on small wooden
arrow-heads, and carefully protected by a piece of maize-leaf tied round
it. It caused numbness of the tongue when the smallest particle was
tasted. The Bushmen of the northern part of the Kalahari were seen
applying the entrails of a small caterpillar which they termed 'Nga to
their arrows. This venom was declared to be so powerful in producing
delirium, that a man in dying returned in imagination to a state of
infancy, and would call for his mother's breast. Lions when shot with it
are said to perish in agonies. The poisonous ingredient in this case may
be derived from the plant on which the caterpillar feeds. It is
difficult to conceive by what sort of experiments the properties of these
poisons, known for generations, were proved. Probably the animal
instincts, which have become so obtuse by civilization, that children in
England eat the berries of the deadly nightshade (_Atropa belladonna_)
without suspicion, were in the early uncivilized state much more keen. In
some points instinct is still retained among savages. It is related that
in the celebrated voyage of the French navigator, Bougainville, a young
lady, who had assumed the male attire, performed all the hard duties
incident to the calling of a common sailor; and, even as servant to the
geologist, carried a bag of stones and specimens over hills and dales
without a complaint, and without having her sex suspected by her
associates; but on landing among the savages of one of the South Sea
Islands, she was instantly recognized as a female. They began to show
their impressions in a way that compelled her to confess her sex, and
throw herself on the protection of the commander, which of course was
granted. In like manner, the earlier portions of the human family may
have had their instincts as to plants more highly developed than any of
their descendants--if indeed much more knowledge than we usually suppose
be not the effect of direct revelation from above.
The Mukuru-Madse has a deep rocky bed. The water is generally about four
feet deep, and fifteen or twenty yards broad. Before reaching it, we
passed five or six gullies; but beyond it the country, for two or three
miles from the river, was comparatively smooth. The long grass was
overrunning all the native paths, and one species (_sanu_), which has a
sharp barbed seed a quarter of an inch in length, enters every pore of
woollen clothing and highly irritates the skin. From its hard, sharp
point a series of minute barbs are laid back, and give the seed a hold
wherever it enters: the slightest touch gives it an entering motion, and
the little hooks prevent its working out. These seeds are so abundant in
some spots, that the inside of the stocking becomes worse than the
roughest hair shirt. It is, however, an excellent self-sower, and fine
fodder; it rises to the height of common meadow-grass in England, and
would be a capital plant for spreading over a new country not so
abundantly supplied with grasses as this is.
We have sometimes noticed two or three leaves together pierced through by
these seeds, and thus made, as it were, into wings to carry them to any
soil suited to their growth.
We always follow the native paths, though they are generally not more
than fifteen inches broad, and so often have deep little holes in them,
made for the purpose of setting traps for small animals, and are so much
obscured by the long grass, that one has to keep one's eyes on the ground
more than is pleasant. In spite, however, of all drawbacks, it is vastly
more easy to travel on these tracks than to go straight over uncultivated
ground, or virgin forest. A path usually leads to some village, though
sometimes it turns out to be a mere game track leading nowhere.
In going north, we came into a part called Mpemba where Chibisa was owned
as chief, but the people did not know that he had been assassinated by
the Portuguese Terera. A great deal of grain was lying round the hut,
where we spent the night. Very large numbers of turtledoves feasted
undisturbed on the tall stalked mapira ears, and we easily secured plenty
of fine fat guinea-fowls--now allowed to feed leisurely in the deserted
gardens. The reason assigned for all this listless improvidence was
"There are no women to grind the corn--all are dead."
The cotton patches in all cases seemed to have been so well cared for,
and kept so free of weeds formerly, that, though now untended, but few
weeds had sprung up; and the bushes were thus preserved in the annual
grass burnings. Many baobab-trees grow in different spots, and the few
people seen were using the white pulp found between the seeds to make a
pleasant subacid drink.
On passing Malango, near the uppermost cataract, not a soul was to be
seen; but, as we rested opposite a beautiful tree-covered island, the
merry voices of children at play fell on our ears--the parents had fled
thither for protection from the slave-hunting Ajawa, still urged on by
the occasional visits of the Portuguese agents from Tette. The Ajawa,
instead of passing below the Cataracts, now avoided us, and crossed over
to the east side near to the tree on which we had hung the boat. Those
of the Manganja, to whom we could make ourselves known, readily came to
us; but the majority had lost all confidence in themselves, in each
other, and in every one else. The boat had been burned about three
months previously, and the Manganja were very anxious that we should
believe that this had been the act of the Ajawa; but on scanning the spot
we saw that it was more likely to have caught fire in the grass-burning
of the country. Had we intended to be so long in returning to it, we
should have hoisted it bottom upwards; for, as it was, it is probable
that a quantity of dried leaves lay inside, and a spark ignited the
whole. All the trees within fifty yards were scorched and killed, and
the nails, iron, and copper sheathing, all lay undisturbed beneath. Had
the Ajawa done the deed, they would have taken away the copper and iron.
Our hopes of rendering ourselves independent of the south for provisions,
by means of this boat, being thus disappointed, we turned back with the
intention of carrying another up to the same spot; and, in order to find
level ground for this, we passed across from the Shire at Malango to the
upper part of the stream Lesungwe. A fine, active, intelligent fellow,
called Pekila, guided us, and was remarkable as almost the only one of
the population left with any spirit in him. The depressing effect which
the slave-hunting scourge has upon the native mind, though little to be
wondered at, is sad, very sad to witness. Musical instruments, mats,
pillows, mortars for pounding meal, were lying about unused, and becoming
the prey of the white ants. With all their little comforts destroyed,
the survivors were thrown still further back into barbarism.
It is of little importance perhaps to any but travellers to notice that
in occupying one night a well-built hut, which had been shut up for some
time, the air inside at once gave us a chill, and an attack of fever;
both of which vanished when the place was well-ventilated by means of a
fire. We have frequently observed that lighting a fire early in the
mornings, even in the hottest time of the year, gives freshness to the
whole house, and removes that feeling of closeness and langour, which a
hot climate induces.
On the night of the 1st July, 1863, several loud peals of thunder awoke
us; the moon was shining brightly, and not a cloud to be seen. All the
natives remarked on the clearness of the sky at the time, and next
morning said, "We thought it was God" (Morungo).
On arriving at the ship on the 2nd July, we found a despatch from Earl
Russell, containing instructions for the withdrawal of the Expedition.
The devastation caused by slave-hunting and famine lay all around. The
labour had been as completely swept away from the Great Shire Valley, as
it had been from the Zambesi, wherever Portuguese intrigue or power
extended. The continual forays of Mariano had spread ruin and desolation
on our south-east as far as Mount Clarendon.
While this was going on in our rear, the Tette slave-hunters from the
West had stimulated the Ajawa to sweep all the Manganja off the hills on
our East; and slaving parties for this purpose were still passing the
Shire above the Cataracts. In addition to the confession of the Governor
of Tette, of an intention to go on with this slaving in accordance with
the counsel of his elder brother at Mosambique, we had reason to believe
that slavery went on under the eye of his Excellency, the
Governor-General himself; and this was subsequently corroborated by our
recognizing two women at Mosambique who had lived within a hundred yards
of the Mission-station at Magomero. They were well known to our
attendants, and had formed a part of a gang of several hundreds taken to
Mosambique by the Ajawa at the very time when his Excellency was
entertaining English officers with anti-slavery palavers. To any one who
understands how minute the information is, which Portuguese governors
possess by means of their own slaves, and through gossiping traders who
seek to curry their favour, it is idle to assert that all this slaving
goes on without their approval and connivance.
If more had been wanted to prove the hopelessness of producing any change
in the system which has prevailed ever since our allies, the Portuguese,
entered the country, we had it in the impunity with which the freebooter,
Terera, who had murdered Chibisa, was allowed to carry on his forays.
Belchoir, another marauder, had been checked, but was still allowed to
make war, as they term slave-hunting.
Mr. Horace Waller was living for some five months on Mount Morambala, a
position from which the whole process of the slave-trade, and
depopulation of the country around could be well noted. The mountain
overlooks the Shire, the beautiful meanderings of which are distinctly
seen, on clear days, for thirty miles. This river was for some time
supposed to be closed against Mariano, who, as a mere matter of form, was
declared a rebel against the Portuguese flag. When, however, it became
no longer possible to keep up the sham, the river was thrown open to him;
and Mr. Waller has seen in a single day from fifteen to twenty canoes of
different sizes going down, laden with slaves, to the Portuguese
settlements from the so-called rebel camp. These cargoes were composed
entirely of women and children. For three months this traffic was
incessant, and at last, so completely was the mask thrown off, that one
of the officials came to pay a visit to Bishop Tozer on another part of
the same mountain, and, combining business with pleasure, collected
payment for some canoe work done for the Missionary party, and with this
purchased slaves from the rebels, who had only to be hailed from the bank
of the river. When he had concluded the bargain he trotted the slaves
out for inspection in Mr. Waller's presence. This official, Senhor
Mesquita, was the only officer who could be forced to live at the
Kongone. From certain circumstances in his life, he had fallen under the
power of the local Government; all the other Custom-house officers
refused to go to Kongone, so here poor Mesquita must live on a miserable
pittance--must live, and perhaps slave, sorely against his will. His
name is not brought forward with a view of throwing any odium on his
character. The disinterested kindness which he showed to Dr. Meller, and
others, forbids that he should be mentioned by us with anything like
unkindness.
Under all these considerations, with the fact that we had not found the
Rovuma so favourable for navigation at the time of our visit as we
expected, it was impossible not to coincide in the wisdom of our
withdrawal; but we deeply regretted that we had ever given credit to the
Portuguese Government for any desire to ameliorate the condition of the
African race; for, with half the labour and expense anywhere else, we
should have made an indelible mark of improvement on a section of the
Continent. Viewing Portuguese statesmen in the light of the laws they
have passed for the suppression of slavery and the slave-trade, and by
the standard of the high character of our own public men, it cannot be
considered weakness to have believed in the sincerity of the anxiety to
aid our enterprise, professed by the Lisbon Ministry. We hoped to
benefit both Portuguese and Africans by introducing free-trade and
Christianity. Our allies, unfortunately, cannot see the slightest
benefit in any measure that does not imply raising themselves up by
thrusting others down. The official paper of the Lisbon Government has
since let us know "that their policy was directed to frustrating the
grasping designs of the British Government to the dominion of Eastern
Africa." We, who were on the spot, and behind the scenes, knew that
feelings of private benevolence had the chief share in the operations
undertaken for introducing the reign of peace and good will on the Lakes
and central regions, which for ages have been the abodes of violence and
bloodshed. But that great change was not to be accomplished. The narrow-
minded would ascribe all that was attempted to the grasping propensity of
the English. But the motives that actuate many in England, both in
public and private life, are much more noble than the world gives them
credit for.
Seeing, then, that we were not yet arrived at "the good time coming," and
that it was quite impossible to take the "Pioneer" down to the sea till
the floods of December, we made arrangements to screw the "Lady Nyassa"
together; and, in order to improve the time intervening, we resolved to
carry a boat past the Cataracts a second time, sail along the eastern
shore of the Lake, and round the northern end, and also collect data by
which to verify the information collected by Colonel Rigby, that the
19,000 slaves, who go through the Custom-house of Zanzibar annually, are
chiefly drawn from Lake Nyassa and the Valley of the Shire.
Our party consisted of twenty natives, some of whom were Johanna men, and
were supposed to be capable of managing the six oxen which drew the small
wagon with a boat on it. A team of twelve Cape oxen, with a Hottentot
driver and leader, would have taken the wagon over the country we had to
pass through with the greatest ease; but no sooner did we get beyond the
part of the road already made, than our drivers encountered obstructions
in the way of trees and gullies, which it would have been a waste of time
to have overcome by felling timber and hauling out the wagon by block and
tackle purchases. The Ajawa and Manganja settled at Chibisa's were
therefore sent for, and they took the boat on their shoulders and carried
it briskly, in a few days, past all the Cataracts except one; then coming
to a comparatively still reach of the river, they took advantage of it to
haul her up a couple of miles. The Makololo had her then entirely in
charge; for, being accustomed to rapids in their own country, no better
boatmen could be desired. The river here is very narrow, and even in
what are called still places, the current is very strong, and often
obliged them to haul the boat along by the reeds on the banks, or to hand
a tow-rope ashore. The reeds are full of cowitch (_Dolichos pruriens_),
the pods of which are covered with what looks a fine velvety down, but is
in reality a multitude of fine prickles, which go in by the million, and
caused an itching and stinging in the naked bodies of those who were
pulling the tow-rope, that made them wriggle as if stung by a whole bed
of nettles. Those on board required to be men of ready resource with
oars and punting-poles, and such they were. But, nevertheless, they
found, after attempting to pass by a rock, round which the water rushed
in whirls, that the wiser plan would be to take the boat ashore, and
carry her past the last Cataract. When this was reported, the carriers
were called from the various shady trees under which they had taken
refuge from the sun. This was midwinter, but the sun is always hot by
day here, though the nights are cold. Five Zambesi men, who had been all
their lives accustomed to great heavy canoes,--the chief recommendation
of which is said to be, that they can be run against a rock with the full
force of the current without injury--were very desirous to show how much
better they could manage our boat than the Makololo; three jumped into
her when our backs were turned, and two hauled her up a little way; the
tide caught her bow, we heard a shout of distress, the rope was out of
their hands in a moment, and there she was, bottom upwards; a turn or two
in an eddy, and away she went, like an arrow, down the Cataracts. One of
the men in swimming ashore saved a rifle. The whole party ran with all
their might along the bank, but never more did we see our boat.
The five performers in this catastrophe approached with penitential
looks. They had nothing to say, nor had we. They bent down slowly, and
touched our feet with both hands. "Ku kuata moendo"--"to catch the
foot"--is their way of asking forgiveness. It was so like what we have
seen a little child do--try to bring a dish unbidden to its papa, and
letting it fall, burst into a cry of distress--that they were only
sentenced to go back to the ship, get provisions, and, in the ensuing
journey on foot, carry as much as they could, and thus make up for the
loss of the boat.
It was excessively annoying to lose all this property, and be deprived of
the means of doing the work proposed, on the east and north of the Lake;
but it would have been like crying over spilt milk to do otherwise now
than make the best use we could of our legs. The men were sent back to
the ship for provisions, cloth, and beads; and while they are gone, we
may say a little of the Cataracts which proved so fatal to our boating
plan.