DOWN THE RIVER IN A CANOE.--A STRANGE PASSENGER.--TALK WITH A
GORILLA.--LANDING THROUGH THE BREAKERS.--PREPARING TO CROSS THE
CONTINENT.--THE DEPARTURE.
ON the 18th of August, 1864, I sent back the vessel to England to the
Messrs. Baring, and early that morning we left my settlement and sailed
down the river in my largest canoe. We had a strange lot of passengers
with us. The most remarkable of them was Master Tom Gorilla; not far
from him, at the bottom of the canoe, alive and kicking, was a yellow
wild boar, which I had raised from a little bit of a fellow; and near
the boar were two splendid fishing eagles. Another canoe contained the
skins and skeletons of several gorillas, the skins of chimpanzees and
other animals, besides a great many insects, butterflies, and shells.
Tom had managed to get on top of the little house I had made for him,
and there he sat screaming. It was a good thing that the chain around
his neck kept him at a safe distance from us. This morning, as we came
down the river, he was fiercer than I had ever before seen him. Tom
was much stronger than Fighting Joe, with whom you became acquainted
in one of my preceding volumes, and consequently a more formidable
fellow to deal with. Happily, he could not come down upon us and bite
any of us. I could not help laughing when I saw him so angry. He could
not understand why he had been disturbed; he did not like the looks of
things around him, and his fierce and treacherous eyes did not bode us
any good.
I said to him, "Tom, you are going to the white man's country; I wish
you health. You are an ugly little rascal; all my kindness to you has
not made you grateful. The day that I am to bid you good-by sees you
as intractable as ever. You always snatch from my hands the food I
give you, and then bolt with it to the farthest corner of your abode,
or as far as the length of your chain will allow. I have to be very
careful with you, for fear of your biting me. Tom, you have a very
bad temper. When you are angry you beat the ground with your hands
and feet, just like a big, grown-up gorilla. I suppose, if you were
a full-grown gorilla, you would beat your chest. Tom," said I, "many
times you have woke me in the night by your sudden screams; often you
have tried to take your own life--I suppose it was because you could
not bear captivity. I have rescued you several times from death in your
attempts to strangle yourself with your chain, through rage at being
kept a prisoner. Oh, Tom, how often you have twisted that chain around
and around the post to which you were attached, until it became quite
short, and then pressed with your feet the lower part of the post,
till you almost succeeded in committing suicide by strangulation, and
would have succeeded if I had not come to your rescue. Tom, I have
been patient with you; I have taken care of you, and you have my best
wishes for a prosperous voyage, and I hope you will reach the white
man's country in safety."
The moment I paused in this address Tom would answer me with a growl.
"Tom, I have laid in a great deal of food for you on shipboard:
there are two hundred bunches of bananas and plantains, a great many
pine-apples, a lot of sugar-cane, and many barrels of berries and nuts;
so you will have plenty of food. But, Tom, you must try to eat the
white man's food, for the bananas and the berries will not last all
the voyage. Thus far I have not been able to cook you any of the white
man's food, though I have nearly starved you, and kept you for days
with hardly any food at all."
Another growl greeted this talk, as if to say, "I know what you say to
me."
"The captain will take you, Tom." Then I looked at Captain Berridge.
"Yes," said he; "Tom, all I ask of you is to keep well, and to reach
safely the country of the white men, so they may see how a young
gorilla looks."
By the time I had ended this queer conversation with Tom we had reached
our place of landing, and on the sea-shore several canoes were waiting
for us. The breakers were high; several canoes had been upset, and
their contents lost.
When I saw the state of the breakers, I concluded not to ship my
photographs, and I tried to prevail on the captain not to go on board
that day; "but," said he, "I have my life-preserver with me, and I
will run the risk." The large surf-canoe was got ready; Tom was put on
board with his house, and the first thing he did was to get on top of
it, where for a moment he yelled in affright at the foaming billows
around him, and then hid himself in his house. The men had to be on the
alert, and in the twinkling of an eye two stout fellows took Captain
Berridge in their arms and put him in the canoe. They started off at
once, passing the first breaker without accident; but the second, a
huge one, broke over the canoe, filling it with water, and very nearly
upsetting it. The wave went right over Master Tom, who gave a most
terrific howl, and the bath, instead of cooling his rage, made him more
violent than ever. The yellow wild boar gave several piercing screams,
and the poor eagles were almost drowned, for the live-stock were all
together.
I could not restrain my laughter at the rage of Tom; he did not seem at
all to like the taste of salt water. When the canoe returned, for upon
this attempt it was found impossible to pass the breakers, he jumped on
the top of his house, shaking himself, and looking fiercely all around.
No one dared to approach him after the canoe had landed, though really
I could not help laughing to see poor Tom in such a plight--it was so
unlike the woods where he had lived. I gave him a fine ripe banana,
which he ate voraciously, and he became more quiet afterward.
In the afternoon, just at low tide, before the sea began to rise again,
the captain, Tom, the wild pig, and the eagles went safely through the
breakers.
I did not go on board. I took a bill of lading for Tom, and gave a
draft for one hundred pounds sterling to the captain, to be paid to him
by Messrs. Baring Brothers on the receipt of a live gorilla.
Would you like to hear the end of the story of Tom, which I heard on my
return?
After three weeks all the bananas, plantains, berries, and nuts which
he had not consumed were spoiled, and there was nothing left to give
Tom but white man's food, though, as long as he could get his native
aliment, the captain had tried in vain to make him eat of it. But
when the fruits had been exhausted Captain Berridge called the cook,
whereupon pies and puddings were made, and rice was boiled, plain and
with molasses, but all these dainties Tom rejected. Crackers were
offered him with no better result. Tom refused all kinds of food for
three days, and the fourth day he died of starvation, and to the day of
his death he was as ugly as the day he was captured.
A few days after the departure of the vessel, all the Commi chiefs met
at my request, for I was ready to leave the country, and we held a
grand palaver.
"I am your friend," said I to them; "I know that you love me. The
vessel has gone, and now I am ready to go to the other side of your
island" (I tried to make them understand that Africa was almost an
island). "The journey will be a long one. I may have to go through
a hundred tribes; there may be war; I may encounter hunger and
starvation. We shall sail and paddle over many rivers; I shall cross
over many mountains, and see many valleys and prairies. I am going
toward the spot where the sun rises."
"Oh! oh! oh!" shouted the chiefs.
"Yes," said I, "I have told you the truth; and now I want some of
your people to go with me. At the end of the long journey they will
find all that they most desire--all the coats, all the hats, all the
shirts, all the beads, all the guns, all the powder they want, and then
a vessel will bring them back to you. It will be a rough journey, and
perhaps some of those who go with me will never return again to you.
But so it is with you when you go trading; one after another dies on
the road, but it is not long before you go trading again. I want no man
to come with me by force--sent by his chief or father; I want free men,
with strong and brave hearts, who have heard all that I have said, so
that when we are pinched for food there may be no grumbling. I do not
go to make war, for war would stop our progress."
"What a talker our white man is!" they shouted. "Yes," said all the
Commi chiefs at once, "we will not forbid any one to go with you. You
have talked to us right; you have told us no lies. If a man comes back,
he will come back rich."
Great excitement prevailed among the Commi for several days after
my speech. Many young men wanted to follow me, but their families
objected. In the mean time I was busy packing up my large outfit.
"I will be satisfied," said I to myself, "if I can get twenty-five
Commi men to accompany me." But many had been frightened at my speech.
Nevertheless, a few days after what I have related to you, there
might have been seen several canoes on the river bank just opposite
my settlement. Among them were two very large war-canoes, the largest
in the country, which sat deep into the water, laden with the bulky
equipment which was to be used by me in crossing the immense wilderness
of Equatorial Africa. We were all ready to leave the country.
Many of the Commi people were to accompany me as far as Goumbi, while
the men who were to follow me were but few; but we were great friends.
My companions for the great expedition were ten altogether.
There was Igala, whom I considered my right-hand man, a warrior of
great repute, one of the most famous hunters of the country. He was
a negro of tall figure and noble bearing, cool and clear-headed in
face of danger, fierce as a lion, but with me docile and submissive.
Igala was to be my leader; he was to be foremost in the fight, if
fighting had to be done. He or I were to lead the van into the jungle,
and he was to keep a sharp lookout and see that the porters did not
run away with their loads. With twenty such men as Igala I would have
been afraid of nothing in Africa. Igala had a great reputation as a
fetich-man, and his war and hunting fetiches especially were thought by
the people to be very potent.
Next to Igala came Rebouka, a big, strapping negro, whose chief fault
was that he always bragged about the amount he could eat; and he had
really sometimes too good an appetite, for the fellow could eat an
enormous quantity of food. But Rebouka had many good qualities, one of
which was that he was a good fighting man, a very important one for me.
Igalo, bearing almost the same name with the fierce Igala, was a tall
young man, full of spirit and dash, impetuous, excitable, and I had
always my eye upon him for fear that he would get us into trouble. He
could fight well too.
My good boy Macondai, a fellow I had almost brought up, the only
sea-shore boy whom Quengueza had allowed to be with me in the country
of the Bakalai in former times, was also of my party.
Then came Mouitchi, a powerful negro, not a Commi, but a slave, who had
come into the Commi country when a mere boy. Mouitchi had been a slave
of Djombouai, Ranpano's nephew, but his freedom had been given him, and
now he wanted to be five years on the road, and to see the white man's
country. Mouitchi was very black, not very tall, a short-necked fellow,
and was the very type of the negro, with thick lips, and a big nose,
almost as flat as that of a gorilla.
Another of my fellows was Rapelina, a short, stout negro, young, but
strong as an ox. One of the chief faults of Rapelina was that he was
sulky and obstinate, but I could always get along with him. He was
a slave of Sholomba, another nephew of Ranpano, who did not want to
be behindhand in manifesting an interest in my expedition, and, as
Rapelina wished to accompany me, Sholomba gave him his freedom.
Retonda, Ngoma, Igala-Yengo, boys, were three other slaves that wanted
to go to the white man's country, and so their freedom was also given
them. Ngoma and Macondai were to be my servants; Ngoma was to be my
cook, and Macondai was to wait upon me while eating.
Igala, Rebouka, Igalo, and Macondai belonged to the best blood of the
country; they were descended from men who had been great in their
tribe, but, as I said to them before we started, "Boys, there are to
be no distinctions among you; we all have stout hearts, and the white
men will thank us all alike if we succeed in our journey." I made Igala
chief over them, and his orders were to be implicitly obeyed.
You have now a pretty good idea of the men and boys who were to follow
me into that great equatorial jungle, and share my perils in countries
so wild that we had not the slightest idea what we should meet with,
either in the people or in the wild beasts.
I had a nice outfit for each one of my boys (for so I called them).
Each one of them had three thick blue woolen shirts, of the best
quality that I could find, and, with care, these would last the whole
of the journey.
They had, besides, each two pairs of thick canvas trowsers, which they
were to wear sometimes on the line of march to protect them against the
stings of insects, from thorns, and many other injuries; but ordinarily
the trowsers were to be worn only when making their appearance in the
villages. At such times the boys were also to wear red worsted caps.
So they were not to look like the olomeiga (bushmen), as they called
the interior people, whom they despised most thoroughly, being, they
said, the class from which the slaves came.
Every man had a good thick blanket to keep him warm at night, and
to protect him from the mosquitoes. I had given to each man a fine
gun; besides, they had each a pair of pistols, a bag to contain their
ammunition, and a huge hunting-knife.
For weeks before our departure I had drilled my men in the use of
their guns, or in practicing target-shooting, so that they might be
splendid shots from the start; and in this, of course, a great deal of
ammunition was wasted.
As the hour for our departure approached, the banks of the river
were crowded with people. It was on the 2d of October, 1864. That
unfortunate shipwreck had caused me a great loss of time, but at last
we were ready, and the people had come to see us off and say good-by.
Many a sad heart was on that shore; many a mother and sister thought it
was the last time they should see the men and boys that were going with
me. I felt the great responsibility I had assumed in taking away my men
from their people.
Every thing was ready, good-by had been said a hundred times, the men
had been in the canoes and had gone ashore again, when I said, "Boys,
let us break off. I know it is hard to leave home. Don't you think it
was hard for me to leave the white man's country?"
Igala, my right-hand man, my warrior, my hunter--Igala, with the heart
of a lion, was the only one left ashore. He could not tear himself
away from his little daughter, whom he tenderly loved, and who clung
closely to her father, the tears streaming from her eyes, and begging
him not to go with the white man on the okili mpolo (long road), for
he would never come back. It was a great trial for Igala. I could see
by the working of his face that his pangs at parting were severe. "Do
not cry, ouana amée (my child); I am coming back; we shall reach the
other side. I am going with Chally; I will bring plenty of beads from
the white man's country." Then, by a sudden effort, he left her and
jumped into my canoe; I gave the order for departure, and in the midst
of tremendous shouting and firing of guns we got in motion. I hoisted
the Stars and Stripes at the stern of my big canoe, and turned my head
toward the mouth of the river as if to catch a glimpse of the sea once
more.
As I looked at my men in that canoe my heart melted with love for them.
What a strong faith they must have had in me! They had left father,
mother, wife, sister, to follow me. I swore to myself that their
confidence in me should not be misplaced; henceforth they were to be
brothers to me.
[Illustration: THE DEPARTURE.]
That night, as we stood by the fire in our camping-ground, I said,
"Boys, you have left fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives, your
children, for me, because you would not permit me to go alone from
tribe to tribe; for you said, 'If you get sick, who shall take care of
you? if you are hungry, who shall get food for you? We will follow you
to the end of the journey to the other side of the island, for we know
that if you reach the white man you will bring us back to our country;
we know that, even if one white man should be willing to give ten
ship-loads of goods for one of us, you would not sell us.' Boys, you
have always heeded what I said to you; we are friends. When you come
back and walk in your villages, the people will say, 'Here are the men
with strong hearts; they went with Chally, and have seen what neither
black men nor white men had ever seen before.'"
Where we had stopped for the night lived a celebrated doctor who the
people believed could foretell events. His name was Oune-jiou-e-maré
(head of a bullock); he was about seventy years of age, and a
kind-hearted old man. As he enjoyed the reputation of being a great
prophet, my people asked him whether our journey would be prosperous.
He replied that we should go very far, and that a big chief would ask
Chally to marry his daughter, and then, if Chally married her, and gave
her all she asked, and made her heart glad, she would lead us from
tribe to tribe until we reached the far-off sea where we wished to go.
"Chally, you must marry that girl," they all shouted; "yes, you must."
The next day Ranpano left us, but not before I granted a strange
request of his. He wanted me to take off the garment I wore next to my
skin; "not," said he, "that I want it to wear, but I will keep it, and
then you will be sure to come back."
[Illustration]
[Illustration]