RETURNS TO UGANDA.
Leaves Kagehyi with Half his Expedition -- Arrival at Refuge Island --
Brings up the Rest -- Encamped on Refuge Island -- Interviewed by
Iroba Canoes -- Stanley’s Friendship Scorned -- The King of Bumbireh a
Hostage -- The Massacre of the Kytawa Chief and his Crew -- The
Punishment of the Murderers -- Its Salutary Effect upon their
Neighbors -- Arrival in Uganda -- Life and Manners in Uganda -- The
Emperor -- The Land -- _En-route_ for Muta Nzigé -- The White People
of Gambaragara -- Lake Windermere -- Rumanika, the King of Karagwé --
His Country -- The Ingezi -- The Hot Springs of Mtagata -- Ubagwé --
Msené -- Across the Malagarazi to Ujiji -- Sad Reflections.
On the 20th of June, Stanley again sailed from Kagehyi with his
expedition, having procured the loan of fifty canoes from Lukongeh, the
amiable King of Ukerewe, and arrived safely at Refuge Island, half way
to Uganda and two days’ sail from Bumbireh. This latter place was where
the savages had made the treacherous attack upon his expedition, so
graphically described in the previous chapter.
After a few days’ rest on Refuge Island they proceeded on their voyage,
and remembering the bitter injuries he had received from the natives of
Bumbireh, and the death by violence and starvation he and his party had
so narrowly escaped, Stanley resolved that, unless they should make
amends for their cruelty and treachery, he would attack them and
administer such punishment as would prove a salutary lesson, and teach
them the duty of hospitality to travellers in the future.
Stanley first sent a message to the natives of Bumbireh to the effect
that if they would deliver their King and the two principal chiefs under
him into his hands, he would make peace with them. This ultimatum was
received with contempt; but by a stratagem Stanley succeeded in getting
the King of Bumbireh brought to him, who was at once heavily chained.
Being in want of supplies for his party, Stanley sent to Bumbireh to
procure food; but the natives, instead of giving any, attacked his men,
wounding eight and killing a friendly chief, which was another reason
why Bumbireh should be punished.
Accordingly Stanley started off, on the following morning, with a force
of two hundred and eighty men--fifty muskets, two hundred and thirty
spearsmen--in eighteen canoes, and reached the island of Bumbireh about
two in the afternoon. The natives had evidently been anticipating some
trouble, for as they approached messengers were observed running fast to
a plantain grove that stood on a low hill commanding a clear open view
of a little port at the southern end of the island, from which they
concluded that the main force of the savages was hidden behind the
grove.
Perceiving that they were too strong to attack them in the plantain
grove, Stanley steered for the opposite shore, intending to disembark
his force there; but as soon as the natives saw this, they rose from
their coverts, and ran along the hill slopes to meet Stanley, which was
precisely what he wished they would do, and accordingly he ordered his
force to paddle slowly, so as to give them time. In half an hour the
savages were all assembled on the slope of a hill in knots and groups,
and after approaching within one hundred yards of the shore Stanley
formed his line of battle, the American and English flags waving as
their ensigns. Having anchored each canoe so as to turn its broadside to
the shore, he ordered a volley to be fired at one group which numbered
about fifty, and the result was ten killed and thirty wounded. The
savages, perceiving the danger of standing in groups, separated
themselves along the lake shore, and advanced to the water’s edge,
slinging stones and shooting arrows. Stanley then ordered the canoes to
advance within fifty yards of the shore, and to fire as if they were
shooting birds. After an hour the savages saw that they could not defend
themselves at the water’s edge, and retreated up the hill slope, where
they continued still exposed to the fire from the boats.
[Illustration: NATIVES CORALLING WILD GAME.]
Another hour was spent in this manner, after which Stanley caused the
canoes to come together, and told them to advance in a body to the shore
as if they were about to disembark. This caused the enemy to make an
effort to repulse their landing, and, accordingly, hundreds came down
with their spears ready on the launch. When they were close to the
water’s edge the bugle sounded a halt, and another volley was fired into
the dense crowd, which had such a disastrous effect on them that they
retired far up the hill, and the work of punishment had been
consummated.
The loss of the savages was very great, as might naturally be expected,
considering they were so exposed on a shore covered only with short
grass. Forty-two were counted lying dead on the field, and over one
hundred were seen to retire wounded. Stanley’s spearsmen were very
anxious that he should allow them to land and utterly destroy the
Bumbirehs; but this he refused, saying that he had not come to destroy
the island, but to punish them for their treachery and attempted murder
of himself and party when they had put faith in their professed
friendship.
After leaving Bumbireh, Stanley next landed and camped at Dumo Uganda,
which is a two days’ march north of the Kagera River and two days south
of the Katonga River. This camp he selected for his expedition because
it was intermediate, whence he could start on a northwest, west, or
southwest course for the Albert Nyanza, after ascertaining from Mtesa
which was best: for between the Victoria Nyanza and the Albert Nyanza
are very powerful tribes, the Wasagara, Wa Ruanda, and Wasangora
especially, who were continually at war with Mtesa.
Here Stanley remained several days, until he could procure force
sufficient from Mtesa to pierce the hostile country through which alone
he could penetrate to the Albert Nyanza, the aim of his present
expedition. He himself was of opinion that unless the Emperor gave him a
force of fifty thousand men, it would be almost hopeless to expect that
they could hold their ground long enough to enable him to set out on a
two-months’ voyage of exploration and find on his return the expedition
still intact and safe. On presenting these views to the Emperor, he and
his chiefs assured Stanley that two thousand men were amply sufficient,
as Kabba Rega would not dare to lift a spear against the Waganda,
because it was he (Mtesa) who had seated Kabba Rega on the throne of
Kamrasi. Though not quite convinced with the assurances Mtesa gave him
that there would be no trouble, Stanley entreated him no further, but
accepted thankfully General Samboozi and two thousand men as escort.
The march across Uganda, west and northwest, was uninterrupted by any
event to mar the secret joy Stanley felt in being once more on the move
to new fields of exploration. The party made a bold show of spears and
guns while marching across the easy swells of pastoral western Uganda.
Arriving at the frontier of Unyoro, they made all warlike preparations,
and on January 5th entered Kabba Rega’s territory. The people fled
before them, leaving their provisions behind them, of which free use was
made. On the 9th they camped at the base of Mt. Kabuga, at an altitude
off 5500 feet above the sea. East of the low ridge on which they camped
the Katonga River was rounding from the north to the east on its course
toward Lake Victoria, and west of camp the Rusango River boomed hoarse
thunder from its many cataracts and falls as it rushed westward to Lake
Albert. From one of the many spurs of Kabuga they obtained a passing
glimpse of the king of mountains, Gambaragari, which attains an altitude
of between 13,000 and 15,000 feet above the ocean.
On the summit of this high mountain Stanley came across a strange,
pale-faced tribe of natives, complexion almost European--a handsome
race, some of the women being singularly beautiful. Their hair is kinky,
but inclined to brown in color. Their features are regular and lips
thin; but their noses, though well-shaped, are somewhat thick at the
point. Several of their descendants are scattered throughout Unyoro,
Ankori, and Ruanda, and the royal family of the latter powerful country
are distinguished by their pale complexions. The Queen of Sasua Islands,
in the Victoria Nyanza, is a descendant of this tribe.
Whence this singular people came Stanley was unable to determine,
further than to surmise from a clew which he mentions, viz.: that the
first King of Kishakka, a country to the southwest, was an Arab, whose
cimeter is still preserved with much reverence by the present reigning
family of Kishakka.
This mountain is an extinct volcano, and on the summit is a crystal
clear lake about five hundred yards in length, from the centre of which
rises a column-like rock to a great height. A rim of firm rock, like a
wall, surrounds the summit, within which are several villages, where the
chief of this singular tribe and his people reside.
The first King of Unyoro gave them the land around the base of the
Gambaragari mountain, wherein through many vicissitudes they have
continued to reside for centuries. On the approach of an invading army
they retreat to the summit of the mountain, the intense cold of which
defies the most determined of their enemies. Several years ago Emperor
Mtesa despatched his Prime Minister with about one hundred thousand men
to Gambaragari and Usongora; but though the great General of Uganda
occupied the slopes and ascended to a great height in pursuit, he was
compelled by the inclement climate to descend without having captured
more than a few black slaves, the pale-faced tribe having retreated to
their impregnable fortress at the summit.
About four years previous to this, when exploring the Tanganyika with
Livingstone, they heard that there existed a race of white men north of
the Uzigo. At that time Livingstone and Stanley smiled at the absurdity
of a white people living in the heart of Africa; but here Stanley
actually sees them, and discovers the truth of the report.
After leaving the Gambaragari mountain and its pace-faced inhabitants,
Stanley penetrated through the Unyoro country to the borders of the Lake
Albert; but finding it utterly impossible, through the determined
opposition of the natives, to procure any canoes, he was forced to
return to Uganda, to discover other routes and countries more amenable
to reason and open to friendly gifts than hostile Unyoro or incorrigible
Ankori.
The geographical knowledge acquired by their forcible push to the Albert
Nyanza was of the highest importance, and well repaid Stanley, even
though in the end he was forced to return. The lay of the plateau
separating the great reservoirs of the Nile, the Victoria and Albert
Nyanzas, the structure of the mountains and ridges, and the course of
the water-sheds, and the course of the rivers Katonga and Rusango have
been revealed. The great mountain Gambaragari and its singular people
have been discovered, besides a portion of a gulf of the Albert, which
Stanley called, in honor of Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice,
Beatrice Gulf.
This gulf, almost a lake itself, is formed by the promontory of
Usongora, which runs southwest some thirty miles from a point ten
geographical miles north of Unyampaka. The eastern coast of the gulf is
formed by the countries of Irangara, Unyampaka, Buhuju and Mpororo,
which coast-line runs a nearly south southwest course. Between Mpororo
and Usongora extend the islands of the maritime state of Utumbi. West of
Unsongora is Ukonju, on the western coast of Lake Albert, reputed to be
peopled by cannibals. North of Ukonju is the great country of Ulegga.
Coming to the eastern coast of Lake Albert we have Ruanda running from
Mpororo on the east to Ukonju on the west, occupying the whole of the
south and southeast coast of Lake Albert. North of Unyampaka, on the
east side, is Irangara, and north of Irangara the district of Toro.
Unyoro occupies the whole of the east side from the Murchison Falls of
the Victoria Nile to Mpororo; for Unyampaka, Toro, Buhuju and Irangara
are merely districts of Unyoro. The great promontory of Usongora, which
half shuts in Beatrice Gulf, is tributary to Kabba Rega, though governed
by Nyika, King of Gambaragara.
Usongora is the great salt field whence all the surrounding countries
obtain their salt. It is, from all accounts, a very land of wonders; but
the traveller desirous of exploring it should have a thousand Sniders to
protect him--for the natives, like those of Ankori, care for nothing but
milk and goatskins. Among the wonders credited to it are a mountain
emitting “fire and stones,” a salt lake of considerable extent, several
hills of rock salt, a large plain encrusted thickly with salt and
alkali, a breed of very large dogs of extraordinary ferocity, and a
race of such long-legged natives that ordinary mortals regard them with
surprise and awe. The Waganda, who have invaded their country for the
sake of booty, ascribe a cool courage to them, against which all their
numbers and well-known expertness with shield and spear were of little
avail. They are, besides, extremely clannish, and allow none of their
tribe to intermarry with strangers, and their diet consists solely of
milk. Their sole occupation consists in watching their cows, of which
they have an immense number; and it was to capture some of these herds
that the Emperor of Uganda sent one hundred thousand men, under his
Prime Minister, to Usongora. The expedition was successful, for by all
accounts the Waganda returned to their country with about twenty
thousand; but so dearly were they paid for with the loss of human life,
that it is doubtful whether such a raid will again be attempted to
Usongora.
Upon arriving at Karagwe, Stanley was enabled through the kindness of
the King, Rumanika, to explore the frontier of Karagwe as far north as
Mpororo, and south as Ugufu. The yacht _Lady Alice_ was conveyed to
Speke’s Lake Windermere, and the sections screwed together, and after
circumnavigating the lake, they entered the Kagera River, when it almost
immediately flashed across Stanley’s mind that he had made another grand
discovery--that he had discovered, in fact, the true parent of the
Victoria Nile.
A glance at Speke’s map will show the reader that he calls the river the
Kitangule River, and that he has two tributaries running to it, called
respectively the Luchuro and the Ingezi. Speke, so wonderfully correct,
with a mind which grasped geographical knowledge with great acuteness,
and arranged the details with clever precision and accuracy, Stanley
thinks is seriously in error in calling this noble river Kitangule.
Neither Waganda nor Wanyamba know it by that name; but they all know the
Kagera River, which flows near Kitangule. From its mouth to Wrundi it is
known by the natives on both banks as the Kagera River. The Luchuro, or
rather Lukaro, means “higher up,” but is no name of any river.
While exploring the Victoria Lake, Stanley had ascended a few miles up
the Kagera, and was even then struck with its great volume and depth, so
much so as to rank it as the principal affluent of the Victoria Lake. On
this occasion he discovered, on sounding, that it was fifty-two feet
deep and fifty yards wide. Proceeding on his voyage up the river for
three days, he came to another lake about nine miles in length and a
mile in width, situate on the right hand of the stream. At the southern
end of this lake they came to the island of Unyamubi, a mile and a half
in length. Ascending the highest point on the island, the secret of the
Kagera or Ingezi was revealed.
Standing in the middle of the island, he perceived it was about three
miles from the coast of Karagwe and three miles from the coast of
Kishakka west, so that the width of the Ingezi at this point was about
six miles, and north it stretched away broader, and beyond the horizon
green papyri mixed with broad gray gleams of water. He also discovered,
after further exploration, that the expanses of papyri floated over a
depth of from nine to fourteen feet of water; that the papyri, in
fact, covered a large portion of a long, shallow lake; that the river,
though apparently a mere swift flowing body of water, confined
apparently within proper banks by dense tall fields of papyri, was a
mere current, and that underneath the papyri it supplied a lake varying
from five to fourteen miles in width and about eighty geographical miles
in length.
[Illustration: A SHORE SCENE ON LAKE WINDERMERE.]
On exploring the Kagera throughout its entire length (eighty miles)
Stanley found that it maintains almost the same volume and almost the
same width, discharging its surplus waters to the right and to the left,
as it flows on, feeding, by means of the underground channels what might
be called by an observer on land, seventeen separate lakes, but which
are in reality one lake, connected together underneath the fields of
papyri, and by lagoon-like channels meandering tortuously enough between
detached fields of the most prolific reed. The open expanses of water
are called by the natives so many “rwerus” or lakes; the lagoons
connecting them and the reed-covered water are known by the name of
“ingezi.” Lake Windermere is one of these rwerus, and is nine miles in
extreme length and from one to three miles in width. By boiling point
Stanley ascertained it to be at an altitude of 3760 feet above the
ocean, and about 320 feet above Lake Victoria.
On returning from his voyage of exploration, he resolved on an overland
journey to the hot springs of Mtagata, which have obtained considerable
renown throughout all the neighboring countries for their healing
properties. Two days’ severe marching towards the north brought them to
a deep, wooded gorge wherein the hot springs are situated. Here they
discovered a most astonishing variety of plants, herbs, trees and
bushes; for here Nature was in her most astonishing mood. She shot forth
her products with such vigor that each plant seemed to strangle the
other for lack of room. They so clambered over one another that small
hills of brush were formed, the lowest in the heap stifled by the
uppermost, and through the heaps thus formed tall invules shot forth an
arrow’s flight into the upper air, with globes of radiant, green foliage
upon their stem-like crowns.
These springs issued in streams from the base of a rocky hill, and when
Fahrenheit’s thermometer was placed in the water, the mercury rose to
129 degrees. Four springs bubbled upward from the ground through a depth
of dark, muddy sediment, and had a temperature of 110 degrees. These
were the most favored by the natives, and the curative reputation of the
springs was based on the properties of the water.
Stanley says that he camped there for three days, and made free use of a
reserved spring; but excepting unusual cleanliness, he could not
conscientiously say that he enjoyed any benefit from the water.
Having thoroughly explored the valley of the Kagera, noting and locating
the minor lakes, mineral springs, and other features of the topography
of this hitherto unknown region, and after completing a map of the
Victoria Nyanza, which will prove one of the most important
contributions ever made to geographical science, solving as it does one
of its greatest problems, Stanley commenced his southward march to
Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, the place where he was so fortunate as to
discover the long-lost Livingstone.
[Illustration: THE HOT SPRINGS OF MTAGATA.]
He left the capital of Karagwe with brave intentions and high
aspirations. He had discovered that the Kagera River formed a great lake
about eighty miles in length and from five to fourteen miles in breadth,
and that at Kishakka the Kagera was still a powerful, deep-flowing
river; and curious reports from natives and Arabs had created curious
ideas within his mind as to the source of this noble river. Imbued with
the thought that by journeying a sufficient distance along its right
bank he might discover this source, he made ample preparations for the
crossing of a wide wilderness, packed ten days’ provisions of grain on
the shoulders of each man of the expedition, and on the 27th of March,
1876, set out for the uninhabited land.
After travelling for six days he reached Ubimba, the frontier of
Karagwe, where, behind a ridge which extends between Ubimba and the
lake, he saw the extreme south end of the lake he had so long followed,
and noticed a decided change in the formation of the broad valley of the
Kagera. The mountainous ridges bounding the western shore of the Kagera,
which, extending from Mpororo south, continue on a south by west course,
became broken and confused in southern Kishakka, and were penetrated
from the northwest by a wide valley, through which issued into the
Kagera a lake-like river called Akanyaru. Southwest was seen the course
of the Kagera, which, above the confluence of the Akanyaru with it, was
only a swift-flowing river of no very great depth or breadth. Such a
river might well be created by the drainage of eastern Urundi and
western Ubba. His attention was drawn from the Kagera to the lake-like
stream of Akanyaru, and several natives stated to him while looking
toward it that it was an effluent of the Kagera, and that it emptied
into the Albert Nyanza. Such an extraordinary statement as this could
not be received and transmitted as a fact without being able to
corroborate it on his own authority, and exploration of the north of the
Akanyaru proved that the Akanyaru is not an effluent but an affluent of
the Kagera.
Beyond the mouth of the Akanyuru, Stanley found it was impossible for
him to go, owing to the determined hostility and opposition of the
natives on the right and left banks of the river. Forced to abandon the
exploration of Lake Albert from this side of the Tanganyika, he marched
in the direction of Ubagwe, in western Unyamwezi, about fifteen days’
journey from Ujiji. He then proposed to proceed quickly to Ujiji,
explore the Tanganyika in his boat, and from Uzigo strike north to the
Albert; and if that road should not be open, to cross the Tanganyika and
travel north by a circuitous course to effect his purpose--the
exploration of Lake Albert.
The account of his arrival at Ujiji, the scene of his first great
success--the finding of Livingstone--is certainly characteristic, if not
truly pathetic. “At noon of the 27th of May, the bright waters of the
Tanganyika broke upon the view, and compelled me,” says Stanley, “to
linger admiringly for a while, as I did on the day I first beheld them.
By 3 P. M. we were in Ujiji. Muini, Mohammed bin Gharib, Sultan bin
Kassim, and Khamis the Baluch, greeted me kindly. Mohammed bin Sali was
dead. Nothing was changed much, except the ever-changing mud tembés of
the Arabs. The square or plaza where I met David Livingstone in
November, 1871, is now occupied by large tembés. The house where he and
I lived has long ago been burnt down, and in its place there remain only
a few embers and a hideous void. The lake expands with the same grand
beauty before the eyes as we stand in the market place. The opposite
mountains of Goma have the same blue-black color, for they are
everlasting, and the Liuché River continues its course as brown as ever
just east and south of Ujiji. The surf is still as restless, and the sun
as bright; the sky retains its glorious azure, and the palms all their
beauty; but the grand old hero, whose presence once filled Ujiji with
such absorbing interest for me was gone!”
[Illustration]