CHAPTER VIII.

Calamities by fire. Deliverance and escape. Six women-slaves burnt.

Barterings. Domestication of wild-cats. Plague of cockroaches.

Pillen-wasps. Agamæ and chameleons. Fever. Meteorology. Solar

phenomenon. A festal reception with an unfortunate result.

Disturbance of rest at night. Murmuring of prayers. Jewish

school. Orgies and drum-beating. Casting out devils. Resolve

to follow Aboo Sammat. Start towards the south. Passage of the

Tondy. Character of the forest. The water-bock. Scenery by

night. Shereefee’s attack. Seriba Duggoo. Consequences of the

steppe-burning. Seriba Dagguddoo. Burnt human bones and charred

huts. Tropics in winter. Two kinds of ant-hills. Arrival in

Sabby. Nocturnal festivities of the Bongo. Desolation of the

country. Goat-suckers. Abundance of game. The zebra-ichneumon.

The spectral mantis. Lions. Wonderful chase after hartebeests.

Snake and antelope at a shot.

So satisfactory was the condition of my health that it appeared to me

entirely to confute the opinion entertained by Europeans that a

prolonged residence in the tropics is destructive alike of physical

and moral energy. For those probably who live in indolent repose, and

who are surrounded by all the appliances of domestic comfort, who, so

far from undertaking the trouble of a journey, have scarcely the

activity to take a walk, there may be some ground for the presumption;

and more particularly may this be the case in Mohammedan countries

where slothfulness and _laissez faire_ are as contagious as gaping is

all the world over. But nothing of the kind is to be found for a

traveller whose elasticity is kept at all on the stretch, and who is

conscious of not having a minute to spare; the exercise of his

faculties will keep them in vigour as full as though he were still on

his native soil. For my own part, I could not help thinking of the

contrast between the rainy season which I spent here and that which,

in 1865, I had passed in Gallabat; now all was animated and cheerful;

life seemed free from care; my health was unimpaired, and I enjoyed

the most intimate converse with Nature; but then, on the contrary, it

had been a perpetual struggle between getting well and getting ill,

and I had never ceased to be haunted by the depressing influences of a

weary spirit.

However happily my time in the Seriba glided on, still it was not

altogether free from peril. An incident full of alarm occurred to me

on the night of the 22nd of May. The rain was coming down in torrents,

and about two hours after midnight a tremendous storm ensued. The

thunderclaps rattling through the woods sounded like an avalanche, and

coming rapidly one upon another, seemed to keep pace with the

lightning which gleamed through the darkness of the night. Suddenly

there was a shrieking of women’s voices, and at the same instant the

blackness of night was changed to the light of day, as the blaze of a

burning hut flared up aloft. The flaming structure was only separated

from my own quarters by my single granary. Aroused by the outcry I

sprang up; for to be caught asleep in an edifice constructed of straw

and bamboo is to be enveloped in fire, and is almost certain death.

The hazard was very imminent; in a very few minutes my hut must

apparently be in flames; the work of demolition began at once; my

powder was conveyed without delay to a place of safety; my chests and

my herbarium were then secured; all the smaller articles of my

furniture were thrown into great waterproof coverings and dragged out

_en masse_. Perhaps about half of my property had thus been placed out

of jeopardy when we observed that the wind bore the flames in a

different direction, and fortunately the light framework of the

burning roof gave way and it soon fell in; saturated as the straw was

with the rain it put a check to the further spreading of the flames.

Now was the time to draw our breath and look around; we could now give

over our hurry and scurry, and examine the real condition of things. I

stood almost petrified at the reflection how narrowly I had escaped

coming to utter grief on this unlucky night; I thought how deplorable

had been my lot if I had been reduced to a condition of nakedness and

want in this inhospitable land; I became alive to the sense of shame

with which I should have retraced my way back to Khartoom within a

year, and with my task unfinished; I was dispirited; I knew not what

might happen, and perhaps this fire was only a prelude to yet more

bitter experience.

[Sidenote: KILLED BY LIGHTNING.]

The tokkul which had been burnt down was hardly five-and-twenty paces

from my very bed. There, struck by lightning, six female slaves had

met their simultaneous death; a seventh had been untouched by the

electric fluid, and had contrived, half dead from burning, to effect

an escape from the flaming pile. When a clearance was made on the next

morning, after the ashes had been removed, the bodies of the ill-fated

women were found completely charred, lying closely packed together

just as they had gone to sleep in the hut around its centre support,

which had been the conductor of the lightning. They formed a ghastly

spectacle, at which even the native negroes could not suppress a

shudder, whilst the recently imported Niam-niam slaves made no

disguise of the relish with which they scented the odour of the burnt

flesh, as they helped to clear away the _débris_. Scarcely any

incident could befall a traveller more disquieting than this; it had

haunted me in my dreams all through my sojourn in the Soudan;

forebodings of it had stuck to my fancy, and now it appeared to be

well-nigh on the very point of literal fulfilment.

One of the Nubian soldiers had, amongst the six victims of the

conflagration, to bewail the loss of his sweetheart. To such a degree

did this bereavement prey upon him that he entirely lost his reason,

and so gave a considerable amount of trouble to the occupants of the

Seriba. An instance of affection like this never came to my knowledge

elsewhere in these districts.

As far as regards danger from fire, the settlement here was at a

disadvantage when compared with various Seribas in which the huts are

not crowded so closely together; but in other respects, such as the

more complete security of the territory itself, the abundance of

provisions, the rareness of mosquitoes, and the small number of white

ants, this Seriba had recommendations which put every other in the

shade. Very advantageous was the appearance at my door, morning after

morning, of the neighbouring Dinka, who brought every variety of their

productions for me to purchase. In this way I was kept amply provided

not only with yams and earthnuts, the purest of oil and the finest of

honey, but I was able readily to obtain all the corn I required for my

retinue. Moreover, it happened not unfrequently that I had some

natural production offered me of considerable rarity, and thus the

edge of my botanical curiosity was kept continually sharpened. In the

very depth of the rainy season by getting the eggs of some geese and

bustards, and even of some ostriches, I managed to counterbalance the

meagre produce of my poultry-breeding.

[Sidenote: SPEKE AND BAKER’S TRAVELS.]

Of these opportunities of seeing considerable numbers of the natives

gathered round me, I made the best use I could to obtain the

measurements of their bodies, an achievement on which I had set my

mind with some degree of pertinacity. At the end of one year’s

residence in the interior I had made a synopsis (under about forty

heads) of the measurements of nearly two hundred individuals, but

unfortunately very few of my memoranda are now forthcoming. During my

intercourse with the natives I very often allowed what pictures I had

to be exhibited, in order to satisfy their repeated inquiries. All

they saw stirred up their unfeigned delight, and continually prompted

them to ask in astonishment why they had not learnt the same things

from the “Turks,” and to express their conviction that that must be a

wonderful country where tools and guns were made. The indolent

Nubians, too, would pay me visits most assiduously till I was

absolutely weary of them. They would often make their appearance quite

early and I could only disengage myself from them by letting them have

my books and pictures about Africa to look through. The illustrations

in ‘Le Tour du Monde,’ in Speke’s ‘Travels,’ and in Baker’s ‘Hunting

Adventures,’ all alike furnished them with inexhaustible material for

question and answer. They shouted their approbation aloud, and crowned

their admiring estimate of any picture by crying out “bazyatoo” (the

very facsimile), again and again. The name which Speke’s book acquired

in the Seriba was ‘The History of King Kamrasi,’ while they called

Baker’s work ‘The Book of the Elephant Hunter.’

In the beginning of September I was able to make a despatch to the

river of my treasures I had collected, and to forward them by way of

Khartoom to Europe. I had upwards of forty packages, and to put them

together and make them secure was the business of a good many days.

Particularly laborious was it to sew them all upon skins, and still

more laborious, I do not doubt, to rip them up again when they reached

their destination; for during their transit across the parching

desert, the hides are not unfrequently so dried up that they become as

hard as tin. For the protection of my packages and to prevent the

botanical contents being invaded by insects or gnawed by rats, I had

no difficulty in providing the caoutchouc substance of the Carpodinus,

the “Mono” of the Bongo. This I obtained in a fresh condition, when it

has the appearance of a well-set cream, and washed it lightly over the

linen or the paper like a varnish. Not an insect found its way through

this coating, and my packages all arrived thoroughly uninjured in

spite of their being a twelvemonth on their way. Less adapted for the

purpose I found both the milky sap of the fig and of the butter tree,

because it is not so uniform in its character and does not admit of

being spread so readily.

The produce of Ghattas’s Company was this year four hundred loads,

being somewhere about 220 cwt., which would be worth in Khartoom

nearly 4000_l._ In order to reach this amount, certainly not less than

three hundred elephants had been destroyed, and probably considerably

more.

Although the ants at this spot did not abound in the wholesale way in

which they did in many other Seribas, there were nevertheless plenty

of inconveniences in my quarters, and like every other traveller I had

to get accustomed to them as soon as I could.

My want of space was a great difficulty. I was hardly at all better

off in the hut where I ordinarily lived than in an old overcrowded

lumber room. I had no cupboards and no small chests, and consequently

I was compelled to be ever packing up and unpacking my thousand bits

of property. The framework, of my own construction, which reached up

into the circular roof did something to increase my accommodation, and

I hung bags upon it containing my clothes and my linen, and a whole

host of little things besides I stuck into the straw thatch above.

Under such circumstances, no wonder that I had perpetual conflict with

rats, crickets, and cock-roaches, and that they were a constant source

of annoyance.

[Sidenote: NOXIOUS VERMIN.]

The only method which was really an effectual guarantee for the

protection of any articles from being gnawed to bits was to hang them

up; but whenever at nightfall I had any packages which could not be

suspended there was one device of which I made use, and which was

tolerably successful in keeping rats at a distance. One of the

commonest animals hereabouts was the wild cat of the steppes (_Felis

maniculata_). Although the natives do not breed them as domestic

animals, yet they catch them separately when they are quite young and

find no difficulty in reconciling them to a life about their huts and

enclosures, where they grow up and wage their natural warfare against

the rats. I procured several of these cats, which, after they had been

kept tied up for several days, seemed to lose a considerable measure

of their ferocity and to adapt themselves to an indoor existence so as

to approach in many ways to the habits of the common cat. By night I

attached them to my parcels, which were otherwise in jeopardy, and by

this means I could go to bed without further fear of any depredations

from the rats.

Quite helpless, however, did I appear with regard to the devastations

of the crickets, which found their way through my stoutest chests, ate

holes into all my bags, and actually fretted my very wearing-apparel

and body-linen. Subsequently I received a supply of borax, and this

turned out to be an adequate security against their mischief.

The encroachment of the wood-worms in the bamboos which composed my

hut developed itself into a nuisance of a fresh sort. To myself it was

a matter of great indifference whether the building collapsed sooner

or later, but just at present it was a great annoyance to me that all

day long there should be an unceasing shower of fine yellow dust,

which accumulated on everything till it lay as thick as my finger, and

almost exceeded the bounds of endurance.

Another noxious insect which was to be found in every hut was the

Pillen-wasp (_Eumenes tinctor_). This was nearly two inches long, and

had a habit of forming its nest in the straw right at the top of the

circular roof. Associated with eight or ten others it made a huge

cell, and flying in and out through the narrow doorway, which was the

only avenue for light, it came into constant collision with my face.

Its sting was attended by distracting agony far worse than the sting

of any bee. Throughout the entire year I was baffled by these wasps,

which were beautiful in colour, having wings of a fine violet blue. I

made many attempts to destroy their ingeniously-constructed nest, and

only succeeded after catching them in a butterfly-net and killing them

one by one.

Throughout the tropics the harmless kinds of lizards may invariably be

reckoned amongst the settlers in every house. Prettily marked skinks

(_Euprepes quinquelineatus_ and _E. pleurostictus_) enlivened my

abode, whilst the graceful gecko (_Hemidactylus verrucalutus_)

clambered up and down the walls just as frequently as in Egypt and in

Nubia. But more numerous than all were the sociable agamæ (_Agama

colonorum_), which kept nodding their heads, in a way that was

extremely irritating to the Mohammedans, who fancied that it was the

devil making fun of their prayers. I had previously repeatedly seen

this species of the lizard in the overhanging rocky crags of the

desert valleys on the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea; but here it

appeared to lodge itself quite as freely in the huts as in the woods.

The head of the male is of an orange-colour, and is easily detected

from a considerable distance. Very ridiculous are their movements when

any one approaches a tree upon which they are running up and down.

They betake themselves to the farther side of the stem, and keep

stopping at intervals, peeping out cunningly first from one branch and

then from another, their large eyes beaming with a most knowing

expression. Their favourite resort, however, in this district was the

old woodwork of the palisades, and there they mustered in thousands.

I was very much surprised, at the beginning of the rainy season, at

the large number of chameleons which at intervals clustered themselves

upon the sprouting foliage. The common African sort grows to a very

unusual size, and I saw several which could hardly be less than ten

inches long. Scarcely less abundant is the smaller and slimmer species

(_C. lævigatus_), which does not exhibit quite to the same extent the

changes of its colour. Rolling its eyes in a very remarkable manner it

answered the same purpose as the agama, with its nodding head, of

getting up a joke against the Mohammedan fanatics. “What is a

chameleon like?” I used to ask them, and not over delighted were they

when they were told that the chameleon, with its one eye up and the

other eye down, was a faki looking up to God in heaven, but at the

same time keeping a sharp look-out upon the dollars of earth.

[Sidenote: VALUE OF QUININE.]

Thoroughly free, as I have said, from fever, during March and April, I

persevered in taking my daily dose of ten grains or more of quinine;

but as the heat diminished, and as the rainy season at its height was

not so full of miasma, I gradually diminished, and in June and July

entirely gave up my uniform administration of the tonic. But quinine

still remained my sole medicine, my only resort in every contingency.

If ever I got a chill, if ever I was wet through, or was troubled with

any symptoms of indigestion, I lost no time in using it, knowing that

for any traveller in a region such as this, any indisposition whatever

is simply a doorway through which fever insidiously creeps and effects

its dangerous lodgment. Any sudden giddiness in the head, or any spasm

between the shoulders, or any failure in the functions of the limbs

were all, I do not doubt, warnings of the ill-omened visitor, which I

accepted in time to avert. Not only, as I have remarked, were fevers

here quite common, but my own attendant, who had accompanied me from

Alexandria, was prostrated some days by a very serious attack, and his

condition of health was so much impaired that he had to be sent back

on the next return of the boats. There were others, too, of my own

people who had to endure attacks of less severity.

Expecting, as I had been, a much larger fall of rain, I could not be

otherwise than much surprised at the meteorological facts which were

actually exhibited. Although the rainfall extends over a longer

period, the total average fall of water is less here than it is either

in Gallabat or in Upper Sennaar, where the rain lasts only from the

beginning of May to the beginning of October. There the rain, almost

without exception, fell every night, and all night from sunset till

daybreak; but here it was the result of experience that the rain

ordinarily was to be expected between noon and night. All travelling

consequently has to be accomplished before midday, and the journeyings

are necessarily shorter than in the dry winter months. It may be taken

as a rule that holds good very generally throughout the tropics that

if the sun rises clear or becomes clear shortly after rising, there

will pretty certainly be no rain for some four or five hours. In

Gallabat it was considered rather a feat to walk during the rainy

season from one house to another either in slippers or in Turkish

shoes, but here, day after day, such protection for the soles of the

feet was quite sufficient, even where the ground was not at all rocky.

[Sidenote: CLIMATE AND TEMPERATURE.]

European vegetables in Gallabat had generally been found to suffer

from the excessive wet, and others had either run into weeds or in

some way degenerated, but here, from May till August, we cultivated

many sorts successfully, and made good use of the intervals which,

sometimes for four or six days together, passed without any rain

whatever. To confirm what I have said, I adduce the facts that in

March 1869, in the centre of Bongoland (lat. 7° 20´ N.), the “Khareef”

was opened by four little showers; in April there were seven

considerable pourings; in May seven falls of rain, lasting several

hours; in June ten, in July eleven, and in August twelve. These must

not be reckoned as days of rain, for the truth is, an entire day of

uninterrupted rain never once occurred. The rainfall only up to June

was attended by tempests or thunderstorms, after which date the

violence of them gradually and almost entirely abated. Heuglin in 1863

had made the same observation. At the end of July there ensued an

entire change of temperature, and only in exceptionally hot afternoons

did the heat ever again reach the extreme point which it had done

previously; but even at its maximum it had never exceeded 95° Fahr. in

the huts, whilst in the open air it was ordinarily 2° lower. I could

now rejoice in a degree of heat scarcely above what is common in our

northern zone, and seldom registered a temperature above 77° Fahr. in

my own quarters. This fall in the thermometer is very beneficial and

refreshing to the European, whose skin, exhausted by repeated

perspiration, is very often distressed by a perpetual nettlerash.

The earliest rain which I observed this year fell while I was still at

the Meshera on the 2nd of March; and the 16th of that month was the

date on which the wind altered its course, and for the first time

deviated from its long-prevailing north-easterly direction.

The uniformity of climate in equatorial Africa contributes very much

to extend the range of particular species of plants. To this may be

added the absence of those mountain systems which elsewhere, as in

Asia, traverse the continent in all directions. Without let or

hindrance the trade-winds exert their influence over the entire

breadth of this region. Any interruption of the rainy season between

the two zenith positions of the sun, which in Bongoland are some

months apart, has never been authenticated. Although upon the

north-west terraces of Abyssinia the rainy season might appear,

through the influence of the mountains, to be obliterated or obscure,

yet it could always be traced; but nevertheless the whole aggregate of

circumstances which contribute to these precedents is not to be

estimated during the transitory observations of one short sojourn.

Neither during the continuation of my wanderings towards the south did

I find any indication which seemed to evidence that two rainy seasons

had anywhere coalesced so as to become one continuous period of rain,

which sufficed throughout the year to maintain an uninterrupted

renewal of vegetation. Nowhere in the equatorial districts which I

visited (not even in the territory of the Monbuttoo, of which the

latitude is between 3° and 4° N.) did it appear that there ever failed

a uniform period for foliage to develop itself. Apparent exceptions

might be found where the condition of the soil is never otherwise than

wet throughout the year; but even in this low latitude there is a dry

season and a wet season, just as decided as in Nubia, twelve degrees

further to the north.

[Illustration: PHENOMENON ON THE 17ᵗʰ OF MAY 1869., HALF-PAST FIVE,

P.M. LAT 7° 25.´N.]

[Sidenote: SOLAR PHENOMENON.]

Between five and six o’clock on the afternoon of the 18th of May,

while I was absorbed in my writing, I was suddenly startled by the

outcry of a number of my people calling me to make haste out and

witness the singular appearance which was arresting their attention on

the south-west horizon. Great masses of clouds were covering the

declining sun, whilst all below the heavy cumulus the heavens gleamed

with the golden shimmer of a glorious sunset. Like a pile from the

mighty Alps, stern and imposing, surrounded by dazzling glaciers and

by many an avalanche, the central clouds of this great gathering

massed themselves in ponderous layers which rolled majestically to the

north. Starting out abruptly from the brilliant glare of the setting

sun, these layers on their upper edge distinctly assumed the form of

three vast swellings, while around the margin of each of these there

gleamed the light of an unearthly glory; colours of the richest hue

combined to give an effect as though each of the projecting

accumulations were circled by a rainbow. Midway between the vanishing

violet of the bow and the sombre ridge of cloud streamed a flood of

light which repeated itself upon the superior margin of the wondrous

spectrum. In three directions (issuing not directly as from the sun in

the centre of the mass, but as though two parhelia besides contributed

their power) there rose separately from each of the three tumescent

rolls of cloud shadowy beams of light embracing the whole firmament

above, whilst in addition to all this, there were secondary groups of

beams diverging from the angles where the rainbow arches intersected.

An appearance somewhat similar to these shadowed rays or streaks of

alternate light and shade, resulting from the unequal masses of the

floating clouds, has been recorded by Professor Tyndall as witnessed

in Algiers. The colour of the rainbows on their edge nearest to the

sun, and in consequence approximate to the clouds, was so remarkable

that it could not fail to excite my attention. Altogether it was a

spectacle not to be forgotten. The rainbow-like phenomenon had not the

appearance of being an ordinary arch repeated thrice, but was one

scallopped bow composed of three distinct but successive limbs: it

continued for about five minutes, and allowed me ample time to make a

sketch of its striking features.[36]

During September I found an opportunity to make a third excursion to

the Tondy, and had the good fortune to make some valuable additions to

my botanical store, but apart from this my days glided on without

variety, and I have no episodes of interest to relate.

Fastened down as I was for the present to one spot, I had to limit my

observations to its immediate neighbourhood, and accordingly with

considerable perseverance and at the cost of some trouble, and, I may

be permitted to add, of a good deal of soap, I went on taking the

measurements of many of the natives, who I thought might render me

service. There were hundreds of bearers, and after diligently

reckoning them up and instituting comparisons based on written

estimates and on a variety of portraits, I was able to satisfy myself

as to the characteristic features of their nationality which they

exhibit. I moreover devoted a considerable time to learn the dialects

of the district, and found that the facility with which the different

slaves had mastered Arabic in their intercourse with the Nubians was

of great assistance to me in my endeavours.

Now and then there would occur incidents that were somewhat ludicrous.

One day a visit from the superintendent of a distant Seriba was

announced, and Idrees was all on the alert to give his colleague a

fitting reception. The arrival was expected of Ali, the Vokil of

Biselli, under whose guidance Miss Tinné had passed the most memorable

year of her life. In readiness for the entrance of Ali into the

Seriba, the whole armed force was drawn up in double line before the

gate. Ali was not only Ali (“tall and strong”) by name, but he was in

fact a head taller than any of his retinue. Full of state, with

majestic mien, with the turban of the believer upon his head and the

splendid hezam of Tarablus around his loins, he was just entering the

military avenue when the soldiers fired their salute. The discharge

was rendered, and they all mutually smothered each other in smoke. But

the echoes of the salute were hardly silent, and wreaths of smoke

still hovered in the air, when all of a sudden the solemnity was

interrupted by the cry of “Russahs! russahs!” (bullets, bullets), and

one of the soldiers rushed from the ranks, dashed down his musket, and

seemed bereft of his senses. In truth, his _vis-à-vis_ had forgotten

to remove the charge from his rusty old gun, and the shots that had

been designed for the geese in some neighbouring marsh had terribly

punished the legs of his unfortunate comrade. The poor fellow applied

to me for assistance, but I could not help him otherwise than by a

kind word. I had not in my possession any instruments to extract the

shot, and so I did the best I could to pacify by quoting mysterious

texts, and by commending him to the mercy of Allah.

Rarely did a week elapse without the repetition of some such mischance

as this. Perpetually in peril myself of being shot, I was ever being

called upon to exercise my surgical skill either in bandaging

fractures, or in extracting balls great or small; but as most

frequently the shots found their way into the legs of the sufferers,

in the legs most frequently I allowed them to remain.

[Sidenote: PRAYERS OF THE PRIESTS.]

Although my fatigue by day made repose by night very essential to me,

my rest was sadly disturbed by the habits of my people. Quite

intolerable at times was the eternal babbling of their prayers, which,

beginning in the evening hours, were wearily prolonged, and nothing

could accustom me to the clamour which they made. They seemed at times

to drive me in my impatience well-nigh to distraction. Some priests

had arrived from Darfoor, who surpassed all else in the clamour they

raised. With a lot of gibberish utterly incomprehensible, through

their antiquated pronunciation, to any of the Nubians, they proceeded

to recite the verses of the Koran with the grinding monotony of a

mill. My own people, however, devoted Mohammedans as they were, on

these occasions took my part, and warned off the disturbers of my rest

from the proximity of the hut. I cannot tell whether they were not

such enthusiastic believers, or whether their animosity was excited by

the bombastic erudition of the Foorians, but they set to work in

earnest, and made a clearance as effectual as I had once seen

accomplished by the officers of the liberal-tyrannical government of

Muntass Bey in Suakin. That ruler, when I had last been residing in

his town, had had the unparalleled audacity to send his Khavasses into

the neighbouring mosque, and to threaten to make a free use of the

kurbatch if the prayers at night were not promptly stopped. He sent a

message to the effect that if the priests wanted to pray they need not

shriek, for Allah could hear just as well without the outcry. The

daring of such an intrusion had never been matched from the day of

creation onwards.

Idrees, the superintendent of the Seriba, had eleven sons all nearly

of the same age, a circumstance readily explained by his plurality of

wives. For these youths, whom the children of other residents were

allowed to join, he had instituted something like a regular Jewish

school, and no one who has ever had the chance of witnessing the

proceedings of such an institution can forget the sensation they left

upon his ears. Four times in the course of the four-and-twenty hours,

at intervals of four hours apart, does the chorus of voices in these

Nubian schools break out in alternate humming, and buzzing, and

shouting, occasionally varied by the didactic hammering of the master,

by the switch of his rod, and the consequent screams of the

youngsters, which were invariably followed by a louder and livelier

articulation. There is one school time just before sunset and another

very shortly after, so that every attempt at repose is certain to be

thwarted. However, I could always endure this disturbance with much

more equanimity than the humbug of the prayers; for, however

erroneous, according to our ideas, might be the method of instruction

in school, yet its object at least was laudable.

Occasions there were when nightly orgies were all the rage, and the

idle pretext under which these were maintained was that the plague of

flies permitted no rest. The Nubians, when they had made themselves

tipsy with their detestable merissa, had the habit of finding an

outlet for their hilarity in banging on the kettle-drums which hung at

the entrance of the Seriba. To me this abominable noise was a very

thorn in the flesh, and as the huge drums were very near my quarters,

and had broken my sleep often enough, I took the liberty of sprinkling

the parchment with a sufficient quantity of muriatic acid, so that the

next time they were drummed they split across. Till some new

kettle-drums were provided I could slumber in peace.

[Sidenote: AN INCANTATION.]

Another interruption to a quiet night occasionally arose from the

native wizards, who practised the mystery of casting out devils. I

told them that they must be very indifferent charmers if they were

unable to expel the devils by day as well as by night; but they did

not appear to see matters at all in that light. One occasion there was

in which, out of pure compassion, I permitted the proceedings to go

on, although the noise was so extreme that it would never have been

tolerated in the daytime. The wife of the Dinka interpreter in the

Seriba had been long suffering under some chronic disorder, and he had

undertaken a long day’s journey to fetch a very celebrated conjuror or

“Cogyoor” to treat her case. The incantation began in a strain which

would try the very stoutest of nerves: the strength of the wizard’s

lungs was astounding, and could have won a wager against a

steam-trumpet. The virtue of the proceeding, however, centred upon

this, and ventriloquism was called in to assist in producing a

dialogue between himself and the devil which possessed the patient. I

say the “devil,” because the Biblical expression has accustomed us to

the phrase, but I disapprove of the translation, and would rather say

the “demon.”

In the most penetrating tone, something like the cackling of

frightened hens, only a thousand times louder, the sorcerer began the

enchantment, which consisted of several acts. The first act lasted two

hours without intermission, and unless it were heard it could never be

imagined. I was assured that this introduction was quite

indispensable—as a means of intimidating the devil and compelling him

to reply, it could not by any means be omitted from the execution of

the charm. The dialogue which followed between the wizard and the

devil was carried on by the artifice of ventriloquism. The wizard made

all kinds of inquiries as to the devil’s name, the period of his

possession of the woman, his proceedings, and his whereabouts, and

then went on to ask about his lineage, his kinsfolk, and

acquaintances. When for an hour or more the wizard had interrogated

him till he had got all the answers he wanted, he set to work to

provide the real remedy. Hurrying away into the wood, he got some root

or herb, which perchance in many cases contributes to a cure. It all

vividly reminded me of the clap-trap which advertisers and quacks are

accustomed to employ, and how it may happen that they get hold of some

simple and long-known material, which, under some marvellous name,

they impose as a novelty upon the public. Puffing is part of their

trade, and without a good deal of noise their business will not thrive

in Europe any more than in Africa.

[Sidenote: JOINING ABOO SAMMAT.]

The rainy season in due time came to its end. For seven months and a

half I had now been quietly quartered in the Seriba of Ghattas; but a

change was now impending, as I had resolved to quit my limited range

and to attach my fortunes to the care of Aboo Sammat, whom I have

already mentioned. Repeatedly he had invited me, at his own expense,

to visit with him the Niam-niam lands, and I had determined to follow

the advice of my people, who knew his character, and to accept his

offer. I discovered that he had penetrated considerably further to the

south than any other, and that he had more than once crossed that

problematic stream of the Monbuttoo which was said to flow quite

independently of the Nile system towards the west. The prospect of

visiting the Niam-niam would be much more restricted if I were to

remain attached to the expeditions of Ghattas’s Company, as they had

hitherto been confined to those nearest and most northerly districts

of that country of which the first knowledge in Europe had been

circulated by Piaggia.

I could not be otherwise than aware of the questionableness of giving

up my safe quarters, and exchanging my security for the uncertain

issues of a wandering life in Central Africa, but irresistible was the

inducement to enlarge my acquaintance with the country and to find a

wider field for my investigations. The season of the year was,

moreover, quite in favour of pushing farther on than I had previously

contemplated. Full of expectation, therefore, I turned my hopes

towards the south, in an eastern direction, towards that untraversed

region between the Tondy and the Rohl, which already is just as truly

subject to the Khartoomers as that in which I had been sojourning.

In my immediate neighbourhood I had tolerably well exhausted the

treasures of the botanical world; after the rains were over there was

a comparative barrenness in the productions of nature. I made, indeed,

my daily excursions, but they reached only to places which I had

previously inspected. A sense of irksomeness began to predominate, and

every tree of any magnitude, every ant-hill had become so familiar

that they had entirely lost the charm of novelty.

Aboo Sammat, in the most complimentary way, had made me a variety of

presents: by special messengers he had conveyed to me animal and

vegetable curiosities of many sorts. He once sent me the munificent

offering of a flock of five-and-twenty sheep; and at my own desire,

but at his cost, he furnished me with a young interpreter to teach me

the dialect of the Niam-niam. In the middle of November, on his return

from the Meshera, he would take our Seriba on his way, and I resolved

to join him.

The people at Ghattas’s quarters endeavoured, but to no purpose, to

dissuade me; they represented in very melancholy colours the misery to

which I should inevitably be exposed in the desert life of Aboo

Sammat’s district, which was every now and then threatened with

starvation. There would be no lack of monuments of antiquity

(“antigaht,” as they called them), or of hunting, or of wild beasts,

but I must be prepared for perpetual hunger. Against all this, however

true it might be, I consoled myself with the reflection that Aboo

Sammat would certainly manage to keep me in food, and the difference

of one more or less in number could not be very serious.

Another important reason which weighed with me was the saving of

expense in the way of travelling. The mere cost of bearers for a

journey through the Niam-niam lands would be some thousand dollars,

which, according to contract, would go into the pocket of Ghattas:

this would entirely be avoided if Aboo Sammat fulfilled his promise,

and there was nothing to induce me to suppose that he was otherwise

than a man of his word.

Nothing now seemed longer to detain me in the Dyoor or Bongo

countries: accordingly, resolved to make a start, I packed up my goods

without delay, and made the Governor acquainted with my intention. A

regular commotion followed in the Seriba: the clerks and notaries

produced the contract which had been signed at Khartoom, and attempted

not only to demonstrate that Aboo Sammat had no right to receive me,

but that Ghattas had the sole responsibility of my weal and woe, and

must answer, at the peril of his head, for any misfortune that might

befall me while I was under the tutelage of Aboo Sammat. The distorted

character of their logic was manifest as soon as the evidence was

shown that Ghattas was under obligations to me and not I to him.

[Sidenote: PASSAGE OF THE TONDY.]

After I had made all my arrangements to store the collections which

had accumulated since my last despatch, I prepared to quit my

bountiful quarters and to start by way of Koolongo over the desolation

of the wilderness towards the south. The baggage which I found it

necessary to take, I limited to thirty-six packages. The Nubian

servants, three slaves, and the interpreter, composed my own retinue,

but Aboo Sammat’s entire caravan, counting bearers and soldiers,

consisted altogether of about 250 men. I myself joined the main body

at Kulongo, where preparations had just been completed for the passage

of the Tondy, which was then at high flood.

The regular progress began on the 17th of November. A march of an hour

brought us to the low plain of the Tondy, where four Bongo bearers

were ready for me with a kind of bedstead, on which I reclined at my

ease as they conveyed me upon their shoulders above the many places

which were marshy or choked with rushes, till they reached the ferry

that Aboo Sammat had arranged. This ferry consisted of a great raft of

straw upon which the packages were laid in separate lots, and to which

most of the bearers clung while it was towed across by a number of

swimmers who were accustomed to the stream. The Nubians floundered

like fish in the strong current, and had some work to do in saving

many a “colli,” which, in the unsteadiness of the passage, was thrown

out of its equilibrium. The river, by its right bank, was running at

the rate of 120 feet a minute and was about 200 feet across. Nearly

exhausted as I was by the violence of the stream, when I approached

the further side I was grasped hand and foot by a number of the

swimmers, who brought me to land as if I had been a drowning man.

Beyond the river the land was less affected by any inundation, and

after a few minutes we came to a steep rocky highland which bounded

the way to the south. Rising to an elevation of little more than 200

feet, we had a fine open view of the depressed tract of land through

which the Tondy meanders. Its windings were marked by reedy banks; the

mid-day sun gleamed upon the mirror of various backwaters, and the

distance revealed a series of wooded undulations. Tn a thin dark

thread, the caravan wound itself at my feet along the green landscape,

as I have endeavoured to depict it in the annexed illustration. The

height on which we stood was graced by a beautiful grove, where I

observed a fresh characteristic of the region, viz., the alder-like

Vatica, a tree of no great size, but which now appeared in detached

clumps. In the foreground of the picture are represented some of the

most charming types of vegetation in the bushwood; on the left is the

large-leaved blue-green _Anona senegalensis_; on the right, the

_Grewia mollis_, a shrub with long twigs that supplies an abundance of

bast and string wherever it grows. The little tree of the pine genus

is the willow-leaved Boscia, which is a constant inhabitant of the

Upper Nile district.

It was getting late in the day before we had assembled our whole troop

upon the plateau. Very short, consequently, was our march before we

halted for the night. The spot selected for the purpose had formerly

been a small Seriba belonging to Ghattas; but in consequence of the

Bongo who had settled there having all deserted, and of the difficulty

of maintaining any intercourse with other Seribas during the rainy

season, it had been abandoned. It was a district of utter desolation,

far away from any other settlements.

[Illustration: THE DEPRESSION OF THE TONDY.]

[Sidenote: DOGGOROO RIVER.]

A brook, which in July and August becomes swollen to a considerable

stream, flowed past our quarters for the night, and joined the Tondy

at the distance of a few leagues. To this rivulet, which has its

source in the Madi country, in lat. 5° 10´ N., the Bongo give the name

of the Doggoroo, whilst it is known as the Lehssy in the districts

which divide the territories of the Bongo from the Niam-niam. Up the

stream we followed its course for two hours, keeping along the edge of

a pleasant park-like country, till we arrived at some thickets, which

we had to penetrate in order to reach the banks of the stream.

Sluggish here was the water’s pace; its breadth was about thirty feet,

and it was sufficiently shallow to be waded through, scarcely rising

above our hips; on our return in the following year the passage

involved us in considerable difficulty. Beyond the Doggoroo the ground

made a gradual but decided rise, and for more than forty miles the

ascent was continuous. It was the first elevation of the ground of any

importance which I had yet seen anywhere south of the Gazelle; for

here was a broad offshoot of the southern highlands, which, according

to the statements of the natives, serve as a watershed for the

coalescing streams of the Tondy and the Dyau (Roah).

After we had proceeded in a south-easterly direction till we had

accomplished about a third of our journey to Sabby, the Seriba of

Mohammed Aboo Sammat, we had at no great distance the territory of the

Dinka upon our left. The adjacent clan is called the Goak, and a large

number of the Bongo have taken refuge amongst them to escape the

aggressions and stern oppression of the Nubians. The Dinka, for their

part, impressed the strange intruders with such awe that, since Malzac

(the well-known French adventurer, who for several years took up his

quarters on the Rohl), no one has repeated the attempt to establish a

settlement in their district. It is simply their wealth in cattle that

is a temptation to occasional raids, which are studiously accomplished

as far as possible without bloodshed. On the last stage between the

Tondy and the Doggoroo we repeatedly came across the traces of

elephants; but the trenches which had been designed to catch them had

not as yet been a success. Elephants seem to prefer to make their way

along the narrow paths which have been already trodden by the foot of

man through the high grass, notwithstanding that they are not

sufficiently broad to admit a quarter of their huge bodies.

After the rains are over and the steppe-burning accomplished, the

landscape reminded me very much of the late autumn-time of our own

latitudes. Many trees were entirely destitute of foliage; the ground

beneath them being strewn with yellow leaves or covered with pale sere

grass as far as the conflagration had spared it. One charming tree, a

kind of Humboldtia, was conspicuous amidst the shadowy groves. It has

seed-vessels a foot long, the seed itself being as large as a dollar,

whilst its magnificent leaf is a beautiful ornament to the wood

scenery wherever it abounds. The gay colours of the young shoots,

sprouting directly from the root, crimson, purple, brown, or yellow,

contribute in a large degree to this effective display. The foliage

generally is so light that it was quite easy to penetrate into these

woods, which constantly and agreeably relieved the barren aspect of

the region.

[Sidenote: THE WATERBOCK.]

A considerable number of antelopes from various quarters had been

killed by the hour in which we encamped for the night in a forest

glade. These antelopes belonged to the Waterbocks (_A. ellipsiprymna_),

of which the head is very remarkable, on account of the large

excrescences which obtrude from the side of the nostrils, in the same

way as in the wild buffalo. It has a fine sweeping pair of horns,

which crown its brow. The hair of this species of Waterbock is

extremely long and soft, and its skin is a very favourite decoration

of the Niam-niam. There is but little difficulty in getting an aim at

this animal, as its white haunches soon betray it amid the gloom of

the forest, where it is more frequently found either quite solitary or

in very small groups. I very much relished the tender flesh of the

kids, although it was somewhat deficient in fat.

[Illustration: The Central African Waterbock. (_Antilope

ellipsiprymna._)]

When morning dawned the only remnant of our supper was a pile of

crushed bones; for neither skin nor gristle had been spared by the

greedy negroes. The beast of prey disdains what a voracious man will

devour; the beast rejects what is tough, and gnaws only about the soft

and supple joints, whilst man in his gluttony roasts the very skin,

splits the bones, and swallows the marrow. Splintered bones,

therefore, here in the lines of traffic, just as they do in the

caverns of antiquity, afford a distinctive evidence of the existence

of men, whilst bones that have been gnawed only attest the presence of

lions, hyænas, jackals, and the like.

Few there are who have not read of the glory of the southern heavens;

rare is the traveller in the tropics who has not revelled in the

splendid aspect of the great arch above when illumined by the shining

of the moon. After a long hot march it may indeed happen that the

traveller is far too weary and worn-out to be capable of appreciating

the charm of any such beauties; in passive indifference, stretched

upon his back, he turns a listless eye unconcerned upwards to the sky,

till sleep overpowers him; and thus unconsciously he loses the highest

of poetic ecstacies. Soon the heaven bedecks itself with countless

numbers of fleecy clouds, which separate as flakes of melting ice, and

stand apart: the deep black firmament fills up the intervals, and

gives a richer lustre to the stars; then, circled by a rosy halo,

rises the gentle moon, and casts her silver beams upon the latest

straggler.

Meanwhile, far in the lonely wood, there has arisen, as it were, the

tumult of a market; the gossip of the chatterers is interrupted now

and then by the authoritative word of command of some superior

officer, while many a camp-fire is kindled and illuminates the distant

scene. To protect himself against the chilly air of night, each

separate bearer takes what pains he can, using what ashes he can get

for his covering. Wreaths of smoke hover over the encampment, a sense

of burning oppresses the eyes and makes sleep all but impossible, and

thus the attention is ever and again arrested by the moving orbs in

the heavens above. To the traveller it well might seem as if the

curtain of a theatre had been raised, and revealed a picture of the

infernal world where hundreds of black devils were roasting at as many

flames. Such were my nightly experiences as often as I journeyed with

a large number of bearers.

[Sidenote: SHEREEFEE.]

About noon on the third day, after marching about sixteen leagues from

Kulongo, we arrived at Duggoo, the chief Seriba of Shereefee, who

maintained some small settlements in this remote wilderness.

Notwithstanding the almost unlimited scope with regard to space, he

was on the bitterest terms of hostility with Aboo Sammat, his

neighbour in the south. A regular mediæval feud had broken out between

them, the nominal cause of the quarrel being that one of Shereefee’s

female slaves had been maltreated, and, having taken refuge with Aboo

Sammat, had not been restored; but the interchange of cuffs and blows

had been the actual ground of the discord. When two months previously

Aboo Sammat was despatching his ivory-produce of the year, consisting

of about 300 packages, to the Meshera, it was seized by the negroes as

it was being conveyed across Shereefee’s district. These negroes

attacked the defenceless bearers and massacred several of them; others

they wounded with arrows and lances, till the whole caravan was

overpowered, and every one throwing down his valuable burden made a

precipitate flight. The Khartoom soldiers belonging to Aboo Sammat

looked quietly on throughout the fray, for no attachment to their

master would have induced them to fire a shot against any of their

brethren.

Aboo Sammat, with all his property, was now in the desert, 150 miles

away from the boats. To enter into action against Shereefee he

hastened to the west, and induced a number of the controllers of

Seribas to repair to the scene of violence, and to insist upon

judgment being passed at Khartoom. But to accomplish this purpose he

had to travel hundreds of miles in a few weeks, during the rains, and

before his task was completed the proper time for shipment had

elapsed, the high waters had abated, and all his goods had to remain

at the Meshera to await another season, exposed all along to the too

probable attacks of the hostile Dinka. Aboo Sammat, so far from taking

the law into his own hands, had proceeded in the most legitimate way

to demand compensation; but Shereefee, not satisfied with the wrong he

had already perpetrated, spurred on his negroes to make repeated

incursions upon his rival’s territory. Sometimes he endeavoured to

entice Aboo Sammat’s Bongo people to desert, and sometimes sent his

own to commit all manner of outrage and depredation. Many of the poor

natives, the shuttlecocks of the fray, lost their lives in the

contention; and I enriched my collection of skulls by some splendid

specimens which I picked up on my way. “This was the spot,” said Aboo

to me, “where the thieves made their attack. You have seen for

yourself, and should speak up for me.”

Approaching the neighbourhood of the hostile Seriba we made a halt in

the open country, about half a league away. To put a good face on the

matter, and to make an impression upon Shereefee’s people, everybody

put on their best clothes, and Aboo Sammat’s soldiers came out in all

the gay colours of the fresh chintz which had just been acquired from

the stores of the Meshera. The Turkish cut of these garments

contributed in no small degree to the self-confidence of the men, and

the Kenoosian could fairly pride himself upon having a troop who, not

merely in externals, but in general discipline, were far superior to

the disorderly bands which, in dirty rags, were quartered at the other

Seribas. Every precaution was taken to guard against a sudden attack,

and patrols were sent out to protect the flanks of our extended line.

Ambushed in the thickets some armed Bongo were actually seen, but

these outlying sentinels as soon as they observed there was a white

man in the caravan, having heard of my presence in the country,

abstained from any exhibition of hostility. Thus unmolested we drew

close up to the Seriba, and Mohammed’s party bivouacked out in the

open country. Meanwhile I was received in the most friendly manner by

Shereefee’s brother, who was here in charge, and there was no

disposition to act towards a Frank in any way that might involve

difficulty at Khartoom. But I could not help thinking how narrowly all

my baggage might be escaping attack, and what a hopeless attempt it

might be to recover it.

[Sidenote: DUGGOO.]

The whole district, as I have mentioned, had been gradually rising in

terraces all the way from the Tondy; and only just before we reached

the Seriba, which was named Duggoo, after the superintendent of the

place, had we marched continuously up-hill for half a league; no

flowing water had hitherto been observed. On the south-west and

south-east were visible the highlands in the distance, whilst in front

of them were elevations of from 100 to 200 feet above the level of the

adjacent vale. One of these elevations was very close to Duggoo in the

north-east, whence from a bamboo jungle there streamed in the rainy

season a brook which fell into the Dyan. The recesses and caverns in

the red iron-stone reminded me of the great grotto at Kulongo, with

its swarms of fluttering bats (_Phyllorhinus caffra_) and vast

accumulation of guano.

The wide stretch of country between the Tondy and the Dyoor, extending

some seventy miles, had but three years since been a populous district

with many huts; now, however, it had only a few scattered habitations

of the Bongo, which were grouped in the vicinity of either Aboo

Sammat’s or Shereefee’s Seribas. Since the Bongo have been expelled by

the Dinka, nothing but elephants and antelopes have found their

pasture in those wild plains, which have once been cultivated.

Occasionally the ruins of the burnt villages were still extant, rising

above the rank grass. Nothing survived as direct evidence of the

habitation of men; what scanty remnants of dwelling-places the first

conflagration of the steppes had spared, either the ants or natural

decay had soon destroyed. The only remaining vestiges of the

occupation of the land are due to the richness of vegetation, and this

has left its characteristic traces. I could specify some fifty or

sixty plants which correspond so accurately with the weeds of other

cultivated countries that they are significant tokens of a former

presence of men. The preponderating Indian origin of all these plants

is very observable, and a better acquaintance with the geographical

facts connected with them would probably be as trustworthy an

indication of the various migrations of an uncivilized people who have

no history as either their dialect or their physical development.

Five leagues away from Duggoo we arrived at Dogguddoo, the second

Seriba of Shereefee, where he was then resident. Many a slough and

many a marsh had we to traverse on our progress, the result of the

rain which had been falling for months. Midway we paused for a rest

beside the relics of a great Bongo village, where stood the ruins of a

large fence of the same description as is seen around the present

Seribas. In the very centre of the village had stood, as is commonly

found, an exceedingly fine fig-tree (_F. lutea_), and there were

besides, a large number of tombs constructed of blocks of stone and

ornamented with strangely-carved posts; at some little distance was a

number of handmills that had been left behind, destined for some years

to come to be a memorial of the past. The spot, named after the

previous governor, was called Pogao. Shortly afterwards we arrived at

a charming little brook, known as the Mattyoo, which, under the shadow

of a pleasant copse-wood, went babbling over its red rocky bed, making

little cascades and rapids as it streamed along.

In consequence of the repeated burnings of the steppes, well-nigh all

vegetation was now blighted and impoverished: in particular the higher

districts presented an appearance of wretched desolation. Repeatedly,

in the winter landscape of the tropics, there are seen trees standing

in full foliage in the very midst of their dismantled neighbours; and

the loss of leaf would seem to be hardly so much an unconditional

consequence of the time of year as a collateral effect of locality or

condition of the soil.

After having for months together explored every thicket, and day after

day penetrated into the high grass on the river-banks, I could not

suppress my astonishmant at the absence of every description of

snakes. The Khartoomers suggest an explanation of this circumstance

which I am not disinclined to accept; they conjecture that in this

stony region there is a deficiency of that rich black soil which

splits like a glacier in the dry season, and makes riding in the

North-Eastern Soudan a very dangerous proceeding; and, consequently,

that there is neither a way for snakes to escape from the fires of the

blazing steppes, nor any of those lurking-places which are

indispensable for their resort.

[Sidenote: STEPPE-BURNING.]

Incalculable in its effect upon the vegetation of Central Africa must

be the influence of the annual steppe-burning, which is favoured by

the dryness of the seasons. The ordinary soil becomes replaced by

charcoal and ashes, which the rain, when it returns, as well as the

wind, sweeps right away into the valleys. The rock is, for the most

part, a very friable and weather-worn ironstone, and upon this alone

has everything that grows to make good its footing. The distinction,

therefore, as might be imagined, is very marked between vegetation

under such conditions, and vegetation as it displays itself by the

banks of rivers, where the abundant grass resists the progress of the

fire, and where, moreover, a rich mould is formed by the decay of

withered leaves. But even more than the impregnation of the soil with

alkalies, does the violence of flames act upon the configuration of

plants in general. Trees with immense stems, taking fire at the parts

where they are lifeless through age, will die entirely; and, where the

grass is exceptionally heavy, the fresh after-growth will perish at

the roots, or in other places will be either crippled or stunted.

Hence arises the want of those richly-foliaged and erect-stemmed

specimens which are the pride of our own forests; hence the scarcity

of trees, which are either old or well developed; and hence, too, the

abnormal irregularity of form which is witnessed at the base of so

many a stem and at the projection of so many a shoot.

Flowing without intermission, all through the year, close by

Dugguddoo, there is a brook which the Bongo have named the Tomburoo.

Its water hurries on at the rate of 170 feet per minute, its depth

hardly ever exceeds three feet, while its breadth varies from 20 feet

to 50. Its banks, about four feet high, were bounded by land subject

to inundations corresponding to the measurement of the stream. At a

league’s distance to the east, the general elevation of the soil began

afresh. The environs of the Seriba of Shereefee were only scantily

cultivated, as the Nubians and the Bongo lived by preference on the

produce of the plundering forages which they were accustomed to make

amongst the adjacent Dinka tribes, the Ayell and the Faryahl, towards

the north.

Exposing itself far and wide, there was the naked rock, the barrenness

of which was only interrupted at intervals by a scanty covering of

human bones! Carried off in groups, the captured slaves here succumbed

to the overwrought exertions of their march. At times they died

literally of starvation, as often there was no corn to be had in the

barren land. The overland dealers in slaves make their purchases here

at the most advantageous prices. In these eastern Seribas, as the

result of the perpetual raids upon the Dinka, there is always a

superabundance of the living black merchandise on hand, but very

rarely is there an adequate supply of food for their maintenance. The

traders proceed from Seriba to Seriba with their gangs, which they

maintain on whatever provisions they can get on the way. Where

destitution is an ordinary phase of things, it is self-evident that

the traffickers, having no resources to support a lengthened journey,

must, day after day, suffer considerable loss, and it is no unwonted

thing for their gangs to melt away by a dozen at a time. Burnt bones

of men and charred palisades of huts are too true an evidence of the

halting-places of Mohammedanism, and, day by day, more and more was my

imagination shocked by these horrid spectacles. In the very Seriba

there was even awaiting me afresh the miserable sight, to which no

force of habit could accustom me, of a number of helpless children,

perfect little pictures of distress and wretchedness, either orphans

or deserted by their mothers, and who dragged on a pitiable existence,

half-starved, burnt by falling into the fire in their sleep, or

covered with loathsome sores.

[Sidenote: LAND-SNAILS.]

Turning short off, almost at a right angle to our previous direction,

our way beyond Duggoroo, after seven leagues, over a country

well-wooded and rich in game, led us to the borders of Aboo Sammat’s

territory. Once again the land began to rise, and appeared to be all

but barren in water-courses of any kind. As we went along I picked up,

in a state of perfect preservation, several of the bleached skulls of

some of Aboo Sammat’s bearers, who, wounded in the murderous attack by

Shereefee’s people, had never been able to regain their homes. In a

bag, which one of my attendants constantly carried, I had a collection

made of a number of the great land-snails which, after the termination

of the rains, abounded in this region. The two kinds which appeared

most common were _Limnicolaria nilotica_ and _L. flammea_; of these,

the former is rather more than four inches in length, the latter

rather more than three. They invade the bushes and shrubs, and have a

great partiality for the tender leaves of the numerous varieties of

wild vine. They serve as food for a number of birds, the _Centropus

monachus_, the cuckoo of the climate, in particular having a keen

relish for them. Their shells are as thin as paper, a circumstance

which, like the brittleness in the egg-shells of hens, testifies to

the deficiency of chalk in the soil. I was in need of soap, and the

chief object which I had in taking the trouble to collect these shells

was to obtain what cretaceous matter I could, to enable me to make a

supply, no other method of getting it occurring to my mind. At night

we rested at a poor Seriba called Matwoly, where we were received in

some dilapidated huts, as the place, together with all its Bongo

adjuncts, for greater security against the attacks of Shereefee, was

about to be abandoned.

The wearisome monotony of the woods, now generally stripped of their

foliage, was enlivened by the fresh green of the Combretum, which here

long anticipates every other tree in putting forth its tender buds.

Gaily it stands apart from the uniform grey and brown of the

surrounding forest, thrown into yet higher relief by the yellow of the

mass of withered grass below, and showing itself brightly from the

half-shaded gloom of the wood beyond.

Although I had now advanced an entire degree nearer to the Equator,

being now in a latitude of 6° 20´ N., I still found that the landscape

around had charms to offer which were not inferior to the winter

beauties of the distant north. In the early morning I delighted to see

the rimy dew that had fallen on the sprouting grass, and which

frequently remained as late as nine o’clock; over the feathery

Pennisetum and the Agrostideæ it fell like a white veil, and the

bright drops sparkled like diamonds in the sunshine. The slender

gossamer, moreover, which stretched itself over the deeps and shallows

of the soil, and even over the footprints in the ground, appeared to

operate as a conductor of the dew, which congealed till it was like a

film of ice which crackles beneath the tread of a traveller in the

autumn.

[Sidenote: GREAT ANT-HILLS.]

Distant four and a half leagues to the south lay Aboo Sammat’s head

Seriba, known as Sabby, the name of its Bongo chief. Half-way upon our

march we crossed a considerable stream, which was called the Koddy. As

we forded its breadth of twenty feet, we found the water rising above

our hips. Here again the candelabra-euphorbia seemed to be abundant,

after having never been seen since I left the eastern bank of the

river Dyoor. An essential feature of the district between the Dyoor

and the Kohl is contributed by the small mushroom-shaped ant-hills

which, found as they are in many a part of Tropical Africa, here cover

the stony surface with their peculiar shapes. Formed exactly like the

common mushroom, the separate erections of the _Termes mordax_ are

grouped in little colonies. The main difference between the tenements

of these ants and those which construct conical domes as tall as a

man, consists in this, that they have a definite altitude, which

rarely exceeds thirty inches, and immediately that there is no further

space they raise new turrets and form fresh colonies. The materials,

too, of which this species of Termes constructs its edifice is neither

grey nor of a ferruginous red, but is simply the alluvial clay of the

place: it is so closely cemented together, that it defies the most

violent kicking to displace it, and is hardly less solid than

brickwork. The natives are very glad to employ it for the construction

of their huts; they break it into fragments with their clubs, and

moisten it till its substance yields. By the Bongo it is called

Kiddillikoo.

[Illustration: Mushroom-shaped white-ant hills.]

The red ferruginous clay is the only material out of which the great

ants (_Termes bellicosus_) construct their buildings. These are seldom

found elsewhere than in a wood, where the pointed shapes are never

seen. The neighbourhood of Sabby especially abounded in these

monuments of animal labour, and not a few of them were fifteen feet in

height. In altitude greater than in breadth, they reared themselves

like a large cupola surrounded by countless pillars and projecting

towers. At the first commencement of the building it embraces only

some isolated domes, which gradually are combined into one single

cluster, whilst the ramifications of the interior have entirely to be

reconstructed. When we reflect that the dimensions of the bodies of

these toiling ants (the female neuters) are not one thousandth part so

great as the structure that they upheave, we cannot refrain from

comparing their edifices with the most extensive cities which human

hands have reared. During my previous journey, I had found several

opportunities of investigating the secret habits of these wondrous

creatures. The life of the traveller in Africa is one continual

conflict against their aggressions. Once at the missionary station in

Gallabat, for seven days did the people work away with crowbars to

remove one of these erections, which had been accumulated in the

middle of the courtyard, and which was not only an impediment in the

way, but was a nuisance to the adjacent huts. At length they

penetrated to the royal chamber, and dragged forth the queen to the

daylight, from which she had carefully excluded her subjects.

All the ant-hills of which I was able to make a survey were

constructed upon the double-chamber system, the maze of cells being

divided apparently into two separate storeys. Adequately to describe

the marvellous interior of one of these haunts of the community would

require a volume of itself. No labyrinth of coral could be more

intricate; its walls are curiously cemented together, its chambers are

most carefully arranged and most amply stored with vegetable produce,

and there are magazines which teem with cakes and loaves. A regular

series of bridges conducts from place to place, and many a crossway

traverses the pile. To detail the wonders of these erections would tax

the patience of the reader, and the study of a life-time would not

exhaust the marvellous perfection of the organization which they

present.

[Sidenote: ABOO SAMMAT’S HEAD SERIBA.]

As might be conjectured, there is no want amongst these woods of

ant-hills such as these, which have ceased to be occupied, and which

consequently have been adopted as lurking-places by various kinds of

animals that shun the light and lead a troglodite existence. Here

skulks the aardvark or earth-pig (_Orycteropus_); here gropes the

African armadillo (_Manis_); hither resort wild boars of many a breed;

here may be tracked the porcupines, the honey-weasel, or ratel; here

go the zebra-ichneumons and the rank civet-cats; whilst here,

perchance, may be found what in this land is rare, an occasional

hyæna.

Thus, after seven days’ journeying over a country all but uninhabited,

on the 23rd of November I found myself at the head Seriba of my friend

and protector, who received me with true Oriental hospitality. First

of all, he had newly-erected for my use three pleasant huts, enclosed

in their own fence; his thoughtfulness had gone so far that he had

provided me with several chairs and tables; he had sent to a Seriba,

eight days’ journey distant, to obtain some cows, that I might enjoy

new milk every day; and, in short, he had taken the utmost pains to

insure me the best and amplest provisions that the locality could

supply. My attendants, too, who, together with their slaves, made up a

party of thirteen, were entertained as freely as myself: everything

contributed to keep them in good mood, and they were delighted jointly

and severally to throw in their lot with mine.

The natives, when they saw not only their own superior, but the

governors of other Seribas, treat me with such consideration,

providing me with a palanquin for every brook, came to the conclusion

that I was a magnate, and said to each other, “This white man is a

lord over all the Turks”—Turks being the name by which the Nubians

here wish to be known, although before a genuine Osmanli they would

not have ventured to take such a title. As Aboo Sammat used jocosely

to remark, they were accustomed at home to carry mud, but here they

carried a gun instead. It was a matter of congratulation to myself

that the people already had arrived at some apprehension of the

superiority of an European. It set me at my ease to observe that I had

nothing to fear as to being mistaken by the natives for one of the

same stock as the Nubian menials. Equally advantageous to me was it

that the same impression prevailed amongst the Niam-niam and the

distant Monbuttoo, to whose territories I was approaching, and

accordingly I entered upon my wanderings under what must be considered

favourable auspices.

Situated in a depression between undulating hills which stretch from

south-west to north-east, the settlement of Aboo Sammat was surrounded

by numerous Bongo villages and fields. Here he centred an authority

over his Bongo and Mittoo territories which stretched away for no less

than sixty miles. The residence of Aboo himself was about a league

away, where he kept his harem in retirement, his elder brother having

the charge of the principal Seriba. After I had settled myself as

conveniently as I could, I began afresh my accustomed rambles, so

that, in the same way as I had done in Ghatta’s Seriba, I might

familiarise myself with all the environs.

At this period, when vegetation was at a stand-still, the flora

presented little novelty, and whatever I found corresponded very much

with what I had already seen in the district between the Tondy and the

Dyoor. The woody places around Sabby were generally somewhat thicker;

there was neither the same expanse of low steppe-country, nor the same

frequent interruption of woods by grassy plains. Corresponding to this

density of growth of the forests there was a greater variety in the

fauna.

[Sidenote: ARRIVAL IN SABBY.]

Meanwhile, amidst my investigations, I did not lose sight of my

projected journey to the Niam-niam, and continually made what

preparation I could. I criticised very diligently the muscles and

measurements of the people, and very materially enlarged my

vocabulary. Although I was only half-way towards the country of the

Niam-niam, I found myself brought into connection with a considerably

large number of them, and subsequently I was enabled in a degree to

master their dialect. The report of the feud between Mohammed Aboo

Sammat and Shereefee had extended to Mohammed’s outlying Seriba in the

Niam-niam country, and had grown into a rumour that all his people had

been exterminated by Shereefee’s agents. For the purpose of obtaining

more reliable information the manager of the Seriba, ninety miles

away, had sent ten young men to Sabby, and their strange appearance

very much surprised me. Everything which I had hitherto seen of the

people served to strengthen my conviction that they were marked off

from the other population of Africa by a distinct nationality of their

own. Even the Bongo seemed here to arouse my interest more than at

Ghattas’s Seriba, where, on account of their longer period of

subjection, they had gradually lost very many habits and peculiarities

of their race. I spent accordingly a good deal of my leisure in making

sketches of their dwellings and their furniture, and in my numerous

excursions round the villages, I persisted in investigating

everything, however immaterial it might seem, as though I were

examining the vestiges of the prehistoric life of a palisaded colony.

The three slaves who accompanied me were now indispensable as

interpreters. Apart from them I could have prevailed very little in

overcoming the shyness and mistrust towards strangers which the

natives continually exhibited: an exterior survey did not satisfy me,

and I persevered till I gained admittance to the inside of several of

the huts, so that I could institute a regular domestic investigation.

Every corner was explored, and by this means many a strange implement

was brought to light, and many an unexpected discovery revealed.

The granaries of the Bongo were now quite full, as the harvest was

just over: all was consequently mirth and riot in the district, and

many a night’s rest did I find disturbed by the noisy orgies which

re-echoed from the shadowy woods. At full blast for hours together

were the long wooden trumpets, the loud signal-horns, the huge

trombones, and those immense drums for the construction of which the

strongest timber has been selected from the forests. The powers of

shrieking were put forth to the uttermost. Like the rolling of the

breakers of an angry sea, the noise rose and fell: alternate

screechings and howlings reached my ears, and hundreds of men and

women seemed to be trying which could scream the loudest. Incapable of

closing an eye for sleep while such infernal outcry was around, I went

several times to inspect the frantic scene of merriment. Nights when

the moon was bright were those most frequently selected for the

boisterous revelry; the excuse alleged being that the mosquitoes would

not let them rest, and therefore it was necessary to dance; but in

truth, there was no nuisance of flies here worth consideration: I was

not annoyed to anything like the same extent as upon my backward

journey on the White Nile.

[Sidenote: ORGIES OF THE NIGHT.]

The following may be submitted as something like an ordinary programme

of these _soirées musicales_. Slowly and mournfully some decrepit old

man, or toothless old woman, begins with broken voice to babble out a

doleful recitative; ere long first one and then another will put in an

appearance from the surrounding huts, and point with the forefinger at

the original performer, as if to say that this is all his fault, when

suddenly, all together, they burst forth in universal chorus, taking

up the measure, which they work into a wondrous fugue. At a given

signal the voices rise in a piercing shriek, and then ensues a series

of incredible contortions; they jump, they dance, and roll themselves

about as though they had bodies of indian-rubber; they swing

themselves as if they were propelled with the regularity of machines;

it would almost seem as if their energy were inexhaustible, and as if

they would blow their trumpets till their lungs gave way, and hammer

at their drums till their fists were paralyzed. All at once everything

is hushed; simultaneously they make a pause; but it is only to fetch

their breath and recover their strength, and once more the tumult

breaks out intense as ever. The license of their revelry is of so

gross a character that the representation of one of my interpreters

must needs be suppressed. It made a common market-woman droop her eyes

and called up a blush even to a poor sapper’s cheek. Many of the

people had iron rings about their ankles with balls attached, and

these they rattled with such violence that their feet were bathed with

blood.

Go where I might, I found nothing but lamentation over the

impoverishment and desolation of the land, yet those who complained

were themselves responsible for its comfortless aspect. Whilst,

through the migration of the people, the country towards the north

during the last three years had been changed into a wilderness, the

Bongo, who clung to their homes and remained on their settlements, had

not only lost their former wealth in sheep, goats, and poultry, but

had even been too much driven to extremities to continue their

cultivation of corn, and were sufferers from what was little short of

famine. The Bongo asserted that in the first year that the Khartoomers

committed their depredations amongst them, they were so terrified lest

all their sheep, and goats, and poultry should be carried off, that,

without delay, they had them all killed, cooked, and eaten.

Eye-witnesses were not wanting who told me what had been the

astonishing quantities of poultry that once had teamed in every

village; but when there ceased to be any security for any one to

retain what he had, of course there ceased to be any interest in

making a store. If the harvest were prolific so that the granaries

were full, the settlers would revel in indulgence as long as their

resources held out; but for the greater portion of the year they had

to depend upon the produce of the woods and upon the proceeds of the

chase, which had often no better game to yield than cats, lizards, and

field-rats. Not that there was any actual fear of starvation, because

the supply of edible tubers and of wild fruits from the extensive

woods was inexhaustible and not ill-adapted to a negro’s digestion,

and because there was an abundance of the seed of wild grasses to be

collected, which replaced the scarcity of corn.

In productiveness the land around Sabby was not inferior to the

environs of Ghattas’s Seriba. The ears of sorghum here, as frequently

as there, reached to a weight of six pounds; but at the same time the

level tracts under cultivation were far less extensive, and in all the

rocky places could only produce a smaller yield. The natives, however,

never ventured to bring any of their grain to market, as I had been

accustomed to see them: whatever anyone possessed, he cautiously kept

out of the sight of the stranger. From all regular and systematic

agriculture, the natives were as a rule debarred, because in the

course of the year nearly every able-bodied man was compelled to go

and do duty as a bearer, and consequently for months together was a

stranger to his homestead, whilst he either plodded backwards and

forwards to the Meshera, or was engaged upon the Niam-niam

expeditions. Of copper, beads, and knick-knacks of every sort they

managed to increase their store, but in agriculture they decidedly

were retrograding. It was with them precisely as with their oppressors

from afar: just as in Nubia, there was a destiny of evil being

fulfilled upon the land, so here was the spectacle of a region

degenerating from prosperity into neglect and woe.

[Sidenote: GOAT-SUCKERS.]

Repeatedly in the evening hours I watched the ghost-like fluttering of

a long feathered goat-sucker of the species _Cosmetornis Spekii

Sclater_, observed by Speke[37] in Uganda, and which was to be

recognized by the astonishing elongation of the seventh and eighth

wing-quills, the latter of which reaches over twenty inches in length.

There was a second species of this genus, of which the male had the

same kind of prolonged shaft-feathers expanded at the end and

fluttering in the air like a peacock’s tail. This was the

_Macrodypterix longipennis_, a remarkable bird which the Arabs call

the “father of four wings,” because, as it chases the mice, it looks

as though it had a couple of satellites in attendance. Both these make

their earliest appearance about a quarter of an hour after sunset and

as the twilight passes rapidly into thorough night; I had, therefore,

only scanty opportunities of sending what were at best only stray

shots to bring them down. For the purpose of catching insects they

generally wheeled in circles at no great distance from the ground, but

as the range of their flight was very circumscribed and its rapidity

extremely great, it was somewhat difficult to get a good aim. However,

as the practice was repeated daily, I succeeded in securing a

considerable number of Speke’s interesting _Cosmetornis_. I should

mention that while I had been in Ghattas’s Seriba, sport of this kind

had very frequently been an evening recreation. The antipathy of this

aëronaut of the dusky evening to the clear light of day, seemed very

remarkable: it kept itself to the seclusion of the low bushwoods, and

when roused up would disappear again at the first ray of light; often

it would settle itself on the ground in a pile of leaves to which its

own hue corresponded, and it might then almost be trodden upon before

it could be stirred into flight.

During the incessant excursions which I kept making round Sabby I was

able to discriminate not less than twelve distinct species of

antelopes, of which I was successful in shooting several. Frequently

met with here is the antelope (_A. oreas_) which is known as the

Elend. During the rainy months it gathers in little groups of about

half-a-dozen in the drier districts on the heights, but through the

winter it is, like all its kindred, confined to the levels by the

river-sides. Upon the steppes through which flow the brooklets in the

proximity of Sabby the leucotis antelope is the most common of all

game, and many is the herd I saw which might be reckoned at a hundred

heads. Perhaps nowhere in the whole of North-east Africa would any one

have the chance of seeing such numerous herds of antelopes collected

together as travellers in the south are accustomed to depict. Assisted

by a whole clan of Kaffirs, the Boers on the 24th of August, 1860, had

a _battue_ in Honour of the Duke of Edinburgh, of which the result was

that between 20,000 and 30,000 antelopes are said to have been

enclosed. Of the more circumscribed district of the Nile the parts

that are most prolific in game are on the north-west declivity of the

Abyssinian highlands, on the Tacazze or Seteet, in the province of

Taka: there it is not an unknown circumstance for herds to be found

which exceed a total of 400 head, but they do not correspond in the

remotest degree with those which are depicted in the published

engravings of the South African hunt. Still poorer in numbers of

individuals are the antelopes in Central Africa proper, where the

uniform diffusion of men encloses smaller wastes than those which can

alone provide large lairs for game.

[Sidenote: ZEBRA-ICHNEUMON: MUCUNA URENS.]

Amongst the numerous smaller beasts of prey to which the regions that

I visited gave harbourage, the zebra-ichneumon was to me one of the

most interesting. I was very successful in securing living specimens

of this widely-scattered species, and could not suppress my

astonishment at the facility with which they were domesticated in my

dwelling; if ever they get established in a house there is no getting

rid of them. It is a saucy creature, and has neither fear to show nor

submission to yield to the authority of man. It resembles the wild cat

of the steppes in the ease with which it can be accustomed to a home

life. I found it exceedingly troublesome on account of the

pertinacious curiosity with which it peeped into all my cases and

boxes, upset my pots, broke my bottles, with no apparent object but to

investigate the contents. To accomplish its aim it made incessant use

of its long, taper, snuffling snout as a lever. But the most vexatious

art of which the animal was master was the skill it had in scenting

out the spots where my hens were accustomed to lay their eggs, and of

which it learnt the flavour before I had an opportunity of removing

them to a place of safety. It is moreover a tricky little animal; by

whisking and wagging its tail it assumes the appearance of fawning and

wheedling, but as soon as anyone touches it, he gets a good bite on

his finger. When hunted out and followed by dogs, it throws itself

down on its back, kicks its legs about, and grins and gnashes with its

teeth. To keep clear of being bitten the best way is to pounce upon it

by its tail and to let it hang dangling in the air.

One morning there arrived at the Seriba from the far distant

boundaries of the Bongo several wild-looking men, armed with bows and

arrows. In order to satisfy myself of the effectiveness of their

weapons, I set up a mark at a short distance, consisting of an earthen

vessel, in front of which I placed a good thick pad of straw, and over

all I threw a stout serge coat. Defying all the coverings, the arrow

penetrated the coat, made its way through the straw and knocked a hole

in the earthenware, which was nearly half-an-inch thick.

A plant there is here which is not very likely to be forgotten by

anyone who has made many excursions into the woods: I mean the _Mucuna

urens_. It is a sort of bean, of which the pods are enclosed in a

thick rind and the leaves are covered with pungent bristles. These

bristles are as brittle as fibres of glass and, broken off by the

wind, are dispersed in all directions over the foliage in the forests.

No one who explores the thickets can escape being punished by these

tiny prickles. The natives, who are naked, go amongst them with the

extremest caution. The stinging sensation they cause lasts about ten

minutes, but it may be alleviated by washing.

There is a kind of Christ’s Thorn (_Zizyphus Baclei_) which every

December yields an abundance of fruit, consisting of dry mealy

berries, which have a very bitter taste. The colour of these is not

unlike a chestnut; they are quite unfit for eating, but the Bongo

prepare a powder from them which they throw upon the surface of their

waters, and it has the effect of stupefying the fish.

In the parched steppe I repeatedly found a huge chafer belonging to

the family of the Elateridæ, but unfortunately the specimens which I

secured, together with my other collection of insect curiosities, were

all destroyed by fire; and I have now no other reminiscences of them

beyond the notes I took that they were of a bright brown colour and

were but little short of two inches and a half in length.

Of the few larger shrubs which blow in the winter, an Echinops, with

splendid purple blossoms as large as one’s hand, left a deep

impression on my recollection. They start out of the grass in

situations where the woods are not over-dense, and rise to the height

of a man. For the sake of the security of what has been styled a

“protective resemblance,” the mantis takes up its quarters amidst its

boughs. Just as the leaf-frog secretes itself on the young and light

green foliage, or the white ptarmigan resorts to the snowy downs of

the frozen north, so does the mantis here take up its abode on the

tree as purple as itself, and there endeavour to find a world in which

it may conceal its singular shape. This part of Africa seemed to

produce many species of this remarkable genus. Whenever I saw them I

derived fresh confirmation for my belief that they try to adapt their

places of resort to the specific colours of their bodies: the result

of this is, that they often startle the plant-collector as if they

were ghosts, and their strange shape is indeed somewhat suggestive of

a harpy. At first sight the heads of the Echinops, on which they

settle, look like malformations of the shrub itself, for the insect

uncoils its arms, and like a suppliant lifts them to the sky. Every

variety in colour seems to belong to the mantis; I have seen them red,

yellow, green, and brown; the most remarkable of all was one of the

colour of grass, which I found upon the peak of my hut in the Meshera,

and which was of the surprising length of ten inches.

[Sidenote: LIONS.]

Around Sabby the general security was so complete that, quite at my

ease and entirely unarmed, I might have ranged the woods if there had

been a certain immunity from being attacked by lions; and against this

I was compelled to be on my guard as I penetrated the depths of the

wilderness to secure the novelties of vegetation, which could not fail

to excite my curiosity. Although my vocation constrained me day after

day to explore the recesses of the woods more thoroughly, and to make

my way through places hitherto inaccessible, yet I never met with any

untoward accident. At home I am quite aware that there are some who

entertain the idea that every traveller in Central Africa is engaged

in perpetual lion-fights, whilst, on the other hand, there are some

who make the insinuating inquiry as to whether lions are ever really

seen. In a degree both are right—both are in the avenue of truth.

Lions are, in fact, universal, and _may_ be met with anywhere; but

their numbers are not absolutely large, but only proportioned to the

princely rank they hold in the scale of animal creation. Their

appearance is always a proof of the proximity of the larger kinds of

game. Corresponding to the line in history, which tells that forty

generations of Mamelooks tyrannized over the people of Egypt, might be

registered the line in the records of the animal kingdom, which might

run that forty lions found subsistence in the land.

It is not to be presumed that every hunting excursion in Africa is

associated with adventure. Such is far from the fact, and it would be

utterly wearisome for me to recount every frivolous incident of my

ordinary hunt in quest of game for the table. Even in Africa a chase

may be as insipid as coursing a hare in the environs of Paris.

Shooting and hitting are two different things, as are also hitting and

killing on the spot. So great is found to be the nervous resistance of

the larger and stronger kinds of game in Africa that the sportsman

must be prepared to lose at least 70 per cent. of all that he is able

to wound; this will arise not merely from his being destitute of dogs

to follow the scent, but from his continually finding himself baffled

in pursuit by the world of grass and of marshes, through which he is

obliged to make his way. When on the march, another obstacle to

securing what is shot often arises from the fear of being left behind

by the caravan, and the possibility of losing one’s way necessitates a

despatch which is unfavourable to success.

[Sidenote: WILD BOAR SHOT.]

One afternoon the chase after a considerable troop of hartebeests led

me deep into the wood. The cunning animals watched my movements very

anxiously; by stopping repeatedly they enticed me continually further

on into the gloom, and still eluded the chance of giving me a shot.

Already had I penetrated so far into the forest that the rays of the

sun were totally lost, and everything was wrapped in the obscurity of

twilight; I was about to make my way over a depression in the ground,

to get nearer to an elevation from which the antelopes were calmly

surveying me, when I suddenly stumbled over some huge shapeless

object, which seemed to me to be moving. Owing to the obscurity of the

place I could not distinguish anything, but I found there was an

ant-hill close by, of which I endeavoured to make some use; under the

protection of this I made an attempt to get a few steps nearer to the

enigmatical creature that lay before me; from behind the mound I

cautiously made an investigation, and just at that instant the animal

made a lurch, and revealed to me the snout of a huge wild boar, which

seemed to cover the whole face like a mask, while a great pair of

tusks projected from the bushy bristles of the enormous jaws; the

stolid gaze of the brute made it clear that it was not conscious of my

being near, but it seemed ready to take a spring upon the first

intruder that should disturb it; I approached within the shortest

possible distance, and then took aim, and lodged my bullet in the body

of the beast. The spectacle that ensued was very singular. The

unwieldy creature, contracted like an impaled fly, turned over on to

its side, and then, with another contortion, on to its back, where it

writhed about and jerked its legs in every direction. Whilst I was

patiently abiding my time till the beast should expire, I was taken by

surprise as I observed that the hartebeests were within pistol-shot of

where I stood, as if they had been spell-bound by the incident which

had interposed to rescue them from their pursuer. I was ready anew to

take my aim at them. I had, however, only a single-barrelled gun, and

no one in attendance to hand me a second. I was just on the point of

loading, when, by one of those unlucky chances that will occur, I

discovered that in my precipitation I had used all my bullets, and

should only waste my labour in following up the pursuit. The wild

boar, however, was mine, and I had it brought to my quarters the same

evening. I went to bed without partaking of a supper from it, for

whenever there is anything to do with the detestable flesh of a

wart-hog, I am a regular Mohammedan. Accordingly, I had the greatest

satisfaction in handing it over to the hungry negroes.

An incident still more peculiar had occurred to me on a previous

occasion when I had gone out to hunt, attended by one of my Nubians,

who rode a donkey, of which the supposed office was to carry home

whatever might be the produce of my sport. I left my servant and the

donkey carefully out of sight in a spot where two rifts in the soil

represented what, during the rains, was the course of two connected

brooks. Proceeding to the tall grass, I was not long in sighting a

small bush-antelope. I took a shot, and could entertain no doubt but

that the animal was struck. I saw it scamper across the grass, and was

every moment expecting to see it fall, when I heard a sudden bleat of

anguish, and it was gone. Forcing my way through the rank grass, I

made the closest scrutiny all around the place where, but a few

minutes since, I had seen the wounded antelope, but my search was all

in vain. I was encumbered in my movements by having to carry a couple

of guns; but, knowing that the area of the ground was bounded by the

two rifts that enclosed it, I felt certain that my search would not be

without success. At length I discovered the antelope almost at my

feet, but it was fixed immovably; it was fastened to the ground by

what seemed to me at first the filthy skirt of one of the negroes.

Looking more closely, however, I soon saw that the creature had been

seized by an immense serpent, that had wound itself three times round

its body, leaving its head projecting and drawn down so as well nigh

to touch the tail I retreated far enough to take an effectual aim, and

fired. The huge python immediately reared itself bolt upright, and

made a dash in my direction, but it was able only to erect its head;

the hinder parts lay trailing on the ground, because the vertebral

connection was destroyed. Seeing the state of things, I loaded and

fired repeatedly, taking my aim almost at random, for the evolutions

of a snake are as difficult to follow as the flight of the

goat-sucker. I had on other occasions proved that a snake may be

killed by one ordinary load of shot, if this at once breaks the

vertebral column. I now completed my capture; the return to my

quarters was made in triumph; the double booty formed a double burden,

the snake on one side of the donkey and the antelope on the other,

balancing each other admirably.

FOOTNOTES:

[36] The phenomenon here depicted is closely allied to

those tinted halos which are seen in so much diversity

and under so many modifications around both sun and moon.

In Schumacher’s ‘Astronomische Jahrbücher’ (Altona, 1823)

Fraunhofer has detailed the theory of these halos, and has

proved his assertions by many examples that had fallen

under his own observation. Whenever the sun or the moon

is surrounded by a halo, the sky is ordinarily veiled in

light vapours. If the phenomenon is perfect, the rings of

this halo are seen to be of the colours of the rainbow.

Fraunhofer divides these halos into two classes: viz.,

halos of a small and halos of a large diameter. If the

red tint is outside and away from the luminous body, as

in the present case, he calls it a halo of the smaller

kind; but if the red is inside and next to the luminous

body, it is a halo of the larger kind. This latter case is

closely allied to the phenomenon of parhelia. The cause

of these tinted halos is to be found in a diffraction

of light through globules of vapour, and Fraunhofer has

given proof that the light, in passing across the edges of

these globules, would assume an appearance of diffraction

similar to that which would be caused by its passing

through minute apertures. For the formation of a tinted

circle it is necessary that the globules should be equally

diffused and of an equal magnitude. If the globules were

very irregular, there would be only a bright glare, because

the eye would receive rays of various colours from one and

the same spot in the atmosphere; then the result would

be that the light would be white, as in the case under

our notice it appeared directly round the outline of the

cloud, and also beyond the outside ring of red, so that

the coloured circle was bounded on each side by a rim

of white light. The smaller the globules of vapour, the

larger are the tinted rings, for according to the theory

the diameters of the rings are in inverse ratio to those

of the globules. According to another theory represented

by Galle (Poggendorf’s ‘Annalen,’ vol. xlix.), one cause

of these tinted halos is the presence in the atmosphere of

ice-crystals of microscopic minuteness; but this hypothesis

seems confuted by the fact that similar phenomena have

frequently been witnessed within the tropics (Alex. von

Humboldt, Voyage II., p. 309). This phenomena of the 18th

of May, 1869, was remarkable for the form of the tinted

circle, which corresponded exactly with the accidental

outline of the clouds, which presented a threefold curve,

thus [Illustration: symbol]. Thus the entire rim of the

cloud became a series of luminous sunlight points formed of

globules of vapour, making a halo of the smaller class, and

sending forth their own shadows.

[37] Vide Speke’s Journal, p. 462.