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The World and Its People, Book VII: Views in Africa

by Anna B. Badlam · English · Gutenberg #35245 · 823,691 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: The World and Its People, Book VII: Views in Africa

Author: Anna B. Badlam

Editor: Larkin Dunton


        
Release date: February 12, 2011 [eBook #35245]
                Most recently updated: January 7, 2021

Language: English

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THE

YOUNG FOLKS' LIBRARY

FOR SCHOOL AND HOME.

EDITED BY

LARKIN DUNTON, LL.D.,

HEAD MASTER OF THE BOSTON NORMAL SCHOOL.

VOLUME XI.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE

_YOUNG FOLKS' LIBRARY_,

Edited by LARKIN DUNTON, LL.D.,

HEAD MASTER OF THE BOSTON NORMAL SCHOOL.


Designed to supplement the ordinary school reading-books with valuable
practice in reading, and at the same time to reenforce the instruction
in special lines of school study with useful information and choice
selections from the best literature.


_Stories of Child Life._

Vol. 1.    Book I.--AT HOME.

Vol. 2.    Book II.--AT PLAY.

Vol. 3.    Book III.--IN THE COUNTRY.

Vol. 4.    Book IV.--AT SCHOOL.


_The World and its People._

Vol. 5.    Book I.--FIRST LESSONS.

Vol. 6.    Book II.--GLIMPSES OF THE WORLD.

Vol. 7.    Book III.--OUR OWN COUNTRY.

Vol. 8.    Book IV.--OUR AMERICAN NEIGHBORS.

Vol. 9.    Book V.--MODERN EUROPE.

Vol. 10.   Book VI--LIFE IN ASIA.

Vol. 11.   Book VII.--VIEWS IN AFRICA. Part One.
           Book VII.--VIEWS IN AFRICA. Part Two.
           Book VII.--VIEWS IN AFRICA. Complete.

Vol. 12.   Book VIII.--AUSTRALIA AND THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA.

Vol. 13.   Book IX.--HAWAII AND ITS PEOPLE.




THE WORLD AND ITS PEOPLE.

BOOK VII.

_VIEWS IN AFRICA._

BY

ANNA B. BADLAM,

AUTHOR OF "STORIES OF CHILD LIFE."

EDITED BY
LARKIN DUNTON, LL.D.,
HEAD MASTER OF THE BOSTON NORMAL SCHOOL.

[Illustration]

SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY.
NEW YORK . . BOSTON . . CHICAGO.
1900

COPYRIGHT, 1895, 1896,
BY SILVER, BURDETT & CO.




PUBLISHERS' ANNOUNCEMENT.


It is now conceded by all educators that school instruction should be
supplemented by reading matter suitable for use by the pupil both in the
school and in the home. Whoever looks for such reading, however, must be
struck at first with the abundance of what is offered to schools and
parents, and then with its lack of systematic arrangement, and its
consequent ill adaptation to the needs of young people.

It is for the purpose of supplying this defect, that the publishers have
decided to issue a series of volumes, under the general title of the
YOUNG FOLKS' LIBRARY FOR SCHOOL AND HOME.

These books are intended to meet the needs of all children and youth of
school age; from those who have just mastered their first primer, to
those who are about to finish the high school course. Some of the
volumes will supplement the ordinary school readers, as a means of
teaching reading; some will reenforce the instruction in geography,
history, biography, and natural science; while others will be specially
designed to cultivate a taste for good literature. All will serve to
develop power in the use of the mother tongue.

The matter for the various volumes will be so carefully selected and so
judiciously graded, that the various volumes will be adapted to the
needs and capacities of all for whom they are designed; while their
literary merit, it is hoped, will be sufficient to make them deserve a
place upon the shelves of any well selected collection of juvenile
works.

Each volume of the YOUNG FOLKS' LIBRARY will be prepared by some one of
our ablest writers for young people, and all will be carefully edited by
Larkin Dunton, LL.D., Head Master of the Boston Normal School.

The publishers intend to make this LIBRARY at once attractive and
instructive; they therefore commend these volumes, with confidence, to
teachers, parents, and all others who are charged with the duty of
directing the education of the young.

SILVER, BURDETT & CO.




PREFACE.


Africa is a vast continent inhabited, for the most part, by people who
have not felt the influence of Christianity and modern civilization, and
who, consequently, differ from us in character and habits of life.

To become intelligent in regard to the continent, so as to know it, with
its rich flora and strange fauna, as a part of the world in which we
live, is an important part of a child's education. But a close
acquaintance with the people who inhabit it, and with their occupations,
interests, homes, and modes of thought and feeling, is an essential
condition of that broad sympathy with humanity and that strong unselfish
patriotism which should be characteristic of every true American
citizen; for we know our blessings only by contrast.

The elevating influence of civilization, both old and new, is made still
more apparent by studying its manifestations in the northern and
southern sections of the continent, where its power is set off in
contrast with the uncivilized interior. This is especially true of the
study of ancient and modern Egypt.

It is the purpose of the present volume to furnish the young people of
this country an opportunity for such study and knowledge. Many books
have been written about Africa for older folks; but this is an attempt
to unlock the treasures of this hitherto inaccessible field for the
special benefit of the young, and thus to contribute something towards
enlightening their heads and warming their hearts.

The book should be read with a good map of Africa, and, so far as
possible, with maps of the various sections of the country, constantly
open before the reader.

Acknowledgment is here made of indebtedness to the following excellent
works, which are cordially recommended to the readers of this book: "The
Countries of the World," Vol. VI; "The Story of Nations," Vol. II;
"Africa Illustrated"; "Famous African Explorers," Vols. I and II; "A
Journey to Ashango-Land"; "Livingstone's Researches in South Africa";
"Travellers in Africa"; "Home Life on an Ostrich Farm"; "Geography,
Physical, Historical, and Descriptive"; and "Polar and Tropical World."

THE EDITOR.




CONTENTS.


PART I.

_GLIMPSES OF THE DARK CONTINENT._

CHAPTER                                                 PAGE

I. A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW                                      13

II. SOME PHYSICAL FEATURES                                16

III. THE OASES OF THE DESERT                              24

IV. MORE PHYSICAL FEATURES                                30

V. FEATURES, ANCIENT AND MODERN                           36

VI. THE RIVERS OF AFRICA                                  43

VII. THE NILE, THE MOST ANCIENT OF RIVERS                 49

VIII. THE NIGER, THE RIVER OF THE WEST                    59

IX. THE ZAMBESI, THE RIVER OF SOUTHEAST AFRICA            63

X. A VIEW OF VICTORIA FALLS                               69

XI. ANOTHER VIEW OF THE ZAMBESI                           74

XII. THE DESERTS OF SOUTH AFRICA                          79

XIII. GLIMPSES OF RIVERS                                  86

XIV. THE CONGO RIVER                                      93

XV. THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO RIVER BASIN                   98

XVI. VIEWS OF THE CONGO BASIN                            102

XVII. MORE VIEWS OF THE CONGO REGION                     108

XVII. THE CONGO FREE STATE                               114

XIX. THE LAKE REGION OF AFRICA                           117

XX. "THE LAND OF THE MOON"                               121

XXI. VIEWS OF LAKE TANGANYIKA                            124

XXII. SOME VIEWS OF THE PEOPLE                           128

XXIII. THE MARCH TOWARDS VICTORIA NYANZA                 131

XXIV. VIEW OF THE NILE AT LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA           136

XXV. THE APPROACH TO LAKE ALBERT NYANZA                  140

XXVI. A VIEW OF LAKE ALBERT NYANZA                       146

XXVII. FROM LAKE ALBERT NYANZA TO MURCHISON FALLS        151

XXVIII. MOUNTAINS OF AFRICA                              156

XXIX. SOME PECULIAR FEATURES OF AFRICAN SOIL             162

XXX. THE MINERALS OF AFRICA                              166

XXXI. THE DIAMOND FIELDS                                 171

XXXII. GLIMPSES OF SOUTH AFRICA                          180

XXXIII. NATIVES OF SOUTH AFRICA                          189

XXXIV. A VIEW OF CAPE COLONY                             197

XXXV. ANNEXATIONS TO CAPE COLONY                         208

XXXVI. ANOTHER VIEW OF CAPE COLONY                       210

XXXVII. NATAL                                            215

XXXVIII. KAFFRARIA, OR KAFFIRLAND                        220

XXXIX. KAFFIR TRAITS AND CUSTOMS                         225

XL. HOTTENTOT CUSTOMS                                    230

XLI. ORANGE FREE STATE                                   237

XLII. THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC                         243

XLIII. OVER THE DRACHENBERG MOUNTAINS                    251

XLIV. VIEWS OF THE BOERS                                 254

XLV. OTHER SECTIONS OF SOUTH AFRICA                      263

XLVI. RETROSPECTIVE VIEWS                                269


PART II.

_BROADER VIEWS OF THE CONTINENT._


CHAPTER                                                 PAGE

XLVII. VIEWS OF WESTERN AFRICA                           277

XLVIII. UPPER GUINEA                                     283

XLIX. LOWER GUINEA                                       298

L. THE CLIMATE OF AFRICA                                 306

LI. THE VEGETATION OF AFRICA                             311

LII. VARIETIES OF VEGETATION                             317

LIII. VIEWS OF ANIMAL LIFE                               322

LIV. THE ANTELOPE FAMILY                                 327

LV. SOME OF THE RUMINANTS                                331

LVI. VIEWS OF ELEPHANTS                                  336

LVII. VIEWS OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS                          340

LVIII. VIEWS OF THE RHINOCEROS                           346

LIX. LION HUNTING                                        351

LX. INCIDENTAL VIEWS OF ANIMAL LIFE                      357

LXI. BIRD LIFE IN AFRICA                                 360

LXII. THE OSTRICH IN A WILD STATE                        366

LXIII. OSTRICH FARMING AT CAPE COLONY                    376

LXIV. VIEWS OF AN OSTRICH FARM                           383

LXV. VIEWS IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA                          388

LXVI. CROCODILES                                         393

LXVII. ANTS OF AFRICA                                    397

LXVIII. THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA                             402

LXIX. PEN PORTRAITS                                      413

LXX. VIEWS FROM LIVINGSTONE                              418

LXXI. VIEWS FROM ANDERSSON                               424

LXXII. NEW VIEWS OF NATIVES                              427

LXXIII. MORE VIEWS FROM LIVINGSTONE                      437

LXXIV. CURIOUS MODES                                     443

LXXV. THE EMPIRE OF MOROCCO                              451

LXXVI. INTO ALGERIA                                      470

LXXVII. THE STATE OF TUNIS                               484

LXXVIII. THE PROVINCE OF TRIPOLI                         488

LXXIX. FEZZAN                                            496

LXXX. THE PORT OF EGYPT                                  500

LXXXI. THE NILE DELTA AND THE SUEZ CANAL                 506

LXXXII. CAIRO, THE GREATEST CITY IN AFRICA               516

LXXXIII. EDUCATION IN CAIRO                              522

LXXXIV. GIZEH AND ITS PYRAMIDS                           531

LXXXV. HELIOPOLIS, THEBES, AND KARNAC                    539




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


PART I.

ENCAMPMENT OF BEDOUIN ARABS                               12

OASIS IN THE SAHARA                                       25

GATHERING DATES                                           33

PAPYRUS ON THE NILE                                       41

"SMOKE-RESOUNDING" FALLS OF THE ZAMBESI                   67

A SCENE IN THE DRACHENBERG MOUNTAINS                      88

VICTORIA NYANZA                                          135

CROCODILES ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE                      152

CROSSING THE DESERT                                      160

INTERIOR OF A DIAMOND MINE                               173

WASHING SAND FOR DIAMONDS                                178

CAPE TOWN AND TABLE BAY                                  184

ZULUS (NATIVES OF SOUTH AFRICA)                          271


PART II.

NATIVES OF SENEGAMBIA                                    279

GUINEA COAST NATIVE                                      281

SIERRA LEONE                                             284

A NATIVE OF THE GABOON RIVER                             299

RHINOCEROS CHARGING THE HUNTERS                          350

OSTRICHES                                                370

DR. LIVINGSTONE NEAR THE CLOSE OF HIS LAST JOURNEY       446

STANLEY ON THE MARCH                                     448

PYRAMID AND SPHINX                                       450

TANGIER                                                  456

A WATER CARRIER AT FEZ                                   462

DINNER TIME IN MOROCCO                                   466

STREET IN ALGIERS                                        479

SUEZ CANAL                                               508

A STREET SCENE IN CAIRO                                  520

       *       *       *       *       *

[Illustration: ENCAMPMENT OF BEDOUIN ARABS. _Frontispiece._]




PART ONE.

_GLIMPSES OF THE DARK CONTINENT._




CHAPTER I.

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW.


The name "Dark Continent" has been most aptly applied to Africa. Little
was known of its geographical features until within the last twenty-five
or thirty years. Some knowledge had been gained of its native tribes,
but this was very indefinite, and in many ways unreliable.

Ignorance and superstition clouded the minds of those who heard accounts
of the adventures of the early explorers. Stories of their encounters
with wild beasts and cruel savages were eagerly listened to, but were
regarded as marvelous tales, similar to those of the "Arabian Nights."
Descriptions of dreary wastes of sand, tangled forests, wild jungles,
and treacherous morasses were exciting topics, but evidently thought to
be features of a country that existed only in the minds of those who
related its wonders.

Boys and girls of fifty years ago, as they conned their geography
lessons or pored over their maps, no doubt allowed their thoughts to
stray beyond the little tract of country represented in bright colors
upon the map of Africa. Upon such a map only those portions which
represented partially explored territory were thus colored. The portion
representing the vast regions unknown alike to the adventurer and to the
explorer was colored black, and marked "unexplored territory."

This feature of the map must have been very suggestive to boys and girls
in those old school days, when the only stories of adventures that they
possessed were of the nature of "Robinson Crusoe" and "Swiss Family
Robinson."

No doubt many an imaginative boy lost himself in scenes of wild
adventures in these unexplored regions. His ready imagination pictured
them as teeming with savage life and fraught with hidden danger.

His most vivid daydreams could never have depicted the real dangers,
privations, and cost to life, as they have become known to us through
the letters and journals of recent explorers.

These men must always live in the hearts and memories of the people.
They must ever be regarded as dauntless heroes who ventured to cross the
border land between the known and the unknown territories of Africa.

Through hardship and privation these explorers have gained a definite
and accurate knowledge of many portions of Africa. Thus have they shed
light upon a portion of the globe which, compared with other continents,
we must still regard in many ways as the "Dark Continent."

Doubtless no part of the earth has been made the subject of so many
books in so short a period as Africa. Their number is legion. We find
them not only in the language of our own country, but in foreign
languages. The recent books written upon Africa would form a library of
themselves.

The origin of the name Africa has furnished a topic for wide discussion
by students and historians. Some believe the name to have come from a
Greek word meaning "south wind." Others believe it to have been formed
from the Latin word signifying "sunny." Then there are others who are
quite positive that the name came from a Greek word meaning "without
cold."

Africa is the most tropical of all the continents. It will be well to
look up its position upon the globe. We shall find it situated in the
Eastern Hemisphere, south of Europe, and southwest of Asia. It lies very
nearly between latitudes 37 deg. N. and 35 deg. S.

If we look at its general shape,--an irregular triangle,--we shall be
able to trace quite a resemblance to South America. Wonderful and
interesting, however, as we know the characteristics of that continent
to be, we shall find that Africa has far more wonders to unfold.

Africa was originally a vast peninsula, attached to Asia by the Isthmus
of Suez. The two continents were separated by the completion of the Suez
Canal. In all respects, Africa is now an enormous island.

It is larger, by far, than either Europe or Australia, but somewhat
smaller than either Asia or America.

It is indeed difficult to get a correct estimate of a country still
shrouded to a great extent in darkness, so far as our actual knowledge
of it is concerned. It has been roughly estimated to contain upwards of
eleven and one-half millions of square miles.

Let us look at the map of Africa. We find that the continent is indented
by no deep gulfs or bays. There are few capes or peninsulas along the
coast, which, for the most part, is regular and unbroken.

The absence of deep gulfs and bays running into the interior is one of
the principal reasons why the exploration of the continent has been so
difficult, and why so little is known of its vast interior.

True, we find upon the Mediterranean coast the Gulf of Sidra, the Gulf
of Arabia upon the coast of the Indian Ocean, and the Gulf of Guinea
upon the Atlantic coast. The latter is the only important inlet upon the
Atlantic coast, and divides into two branches,--the Bight of Biafra and
the Bight of Benin.

The extreme points of land upon the several coasts are Cape Bon upon the
north, Cape Verd upon the west, Cape of Good Hope upon the south, and
Cape Guardafui upon the east.




CHAPTER II.

SOME PHYSICAL FEATURES.


Naturally, in looking upon the contour of a country, we wish to consider
its general features, that we may call up a mental picture of it. You
know how quickly you can recall an absent friend, if you are familiar
enough with his form and features to make a clear mental photograph.

The best authors divide Africa, for convenience, into five different
sections: _first_, the triangular-shaped region south of the Gulf of
Guinea and Cape Guardafui; _second_, the great tract called Soudan,
which lies north and northwest of this triangular plateau; _third_, the
Sahara, or Great Desert, which stretches between the Soudan and the
cultivated tract that borders the Mediterranean Sea; _fourth_, the Atlas
region, which includes the mountainous countries of Morocco, Algeria,
Tunis, and Tripoli; _fifth_, the region which borders on the Red Sea,
and comprises Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt.

The first section is mostly a high table-land, with mountains fringing
its edges. The Lupata range, which runs parallel with the coast, forms
the eastern crest of this table-land. Two snow-clad mountains,
Kilimanjaro and Kenia, rise to an elevation of about twenty thousand
feet, and mark the greatest height of this table-land in any one section
of it.

The table-land does not rise abruptly from the coast. A belt of lowlands
lies between the coast and where the elevation begins. These lowlands
range from fifty to three hundred miles in breadth.

The eastern extremity of the table-land stretches into the mountainous
country of Abyssinia. Its most northern extremity, the summit of Abba
Yared, is fifteen thousand feet high.

In the south, the hills of Cape Colony rise by gradual stages from
Table Mount to the summits of the mountain ranges in the northern part
of the Colony. These summits are estimated to be from seven thousand to
ten thousand feet high.

The spaces between these ranges are either valleys covered with shrubs,
or broad, elevated terraces. In Cape Colony, which was founded by the
Dutch, these valleys have been named _kloofs_. The terraces have been
named _karroos_. It will be well to remember these names, as we shall
find them again in later descriptions of this region.

The second section, Soudan, has sometimes been called Central Nigritia.
This tract includes the countries which are watered by the Senegal,
Gambia, and Niger, together with the coast of Lower Guinea and the basin
of Lake Tchad.

In the western part of this section there is a mountainous table-land.
This table-land does not attain any great elevation, but the rivers
Senegal, Gambia, and Niger have their rise here.

Many of the older geographers describe a chain of mountains, the Kong,
running parallel with the coast of Guinea; but more modern authors, in
their descriptions of the edge of the plateau, state that it approaches
the coast only at intervals beyond the low delta of the Niger, as far as
Cape Verd, and that the supposed Kong Mountains do not exist.

East of the Niger the country is merely hilly, interspersed here and
there with very fertile, often swampy, plains. In the basin of Lake
Tchad is a vast plain, formed of alluvial deposits. This plain is one of
the largest upon the globe, and is noted for its great fertility.

The third section, or Great Desert, extends south nearly to the Senegal,
the northern bend of the Niger, and Lake Tchad. Northward, it extends to
the Atlas range in Morocco and Algeria. Towards Egypt it reaches nearly
to the Mediterranean Sea.

The Sahara is not a vast plain of trackless sand, as we might suppose.
The greater part of it, on the contrary, rises into great table-lands.
Some of these table-lands contain groups of mountains, rising often to
the height of more than six thousand feet. This height is almost equal
to that of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, or Mount Katahdin in
Maine. It is somewhat greater than that of Mount Marcy in New York, or
Mount Mansfield in Vermont.

We must consider the Sahara, then, not a monotonous expanse of burning
sand, but a region presenting great variety in its form and
characteristics.

From south to north it has an average breadth of about one thousand
miles. From the Atlantic Ocean to the western edge of the Nile valley
its length is about two thousand miles.

Throughout the entire desert rain rarely falls. Indeed, over a great
portion of it there is never a drop of rain. For this reason the land is
dry and sterile.

In some portions of the desert there are vast tracts of shifting sand.
Frequent and violent winds blow these sands high into the air, and
travelers often find themselves suddenly overtaken by one of these
sand-storms, to their great discomfort and danger.

Most of us have experienced the discomfort from a sudden cloud of dust
and dirt, when the rude winds of March have full force. We can imagine,
in a slight degree, the fury of one of these storms of blinding, burning
sand.

We can picture the unfortunate bewildered traveler overtaken by one of
these storms. Blinded, half-smothered, unable to battle with so
unsuspected a foe, he sinks helplessly to the ground. The shifting sands
heap themselves over his prostrate form. Alone, unknown, with naught to
mark his resting place, he lies buried in the wastes of the Sahara.

Fortunately, all parts of the Great Desert are not so dangerous to life.
A large portion, if not the greater portion of it, consists of barren
but firm soil. This soil is composed of hardened sand, sandstone, and
granite. Quartz rock is sometimes found in small quantities. This
portion of the Sahara often rises into ridges, or small hills. These
chains of hills are often fully as desolate and bare as the plain from
which they rise.

Many of the plains of the Sahara vary from the uniform type. Sometimes
on one of them the ground is covered with stones or loose boulders.
These are fully as fatiguing to the traveler as the loose, drifting
sand. Often these plains are rent by deep chasms. Frequently they are
hollowed into great basins.

Into the plains which contain these chasms the rain descends from the
gullies of the Atlas mountain system. This sometimes forms streams,
which the thirsty sands swallow, or which are quickly evaporated by the
burning rays of the sun.

The deeper basins of the Sahara are often of considerable extent. Some
of them contain valuable salt deposits.

There are vast tracts, too, of sterile sand, where not even the smallest
of plants will take root. In the absence of plant life, animals
disappear, and for days the weary traveler may pursue his journey and
meet neither beast, bird, nor insect to break the monotony of the dreary
waste of sand.

The description of the Sahara by one author is most realistic. "Nowhere
are the transitions of light and shade more abrupt than in the desert,
for nowhere is the atmosphere more thoroughly free of all vapors. The
sun pours a dazzling light on the ground, so that every object stands
forth with wonderful clearness, while all that remains in the shade is
sharply defined, and appears like a dark spot in the surrounding glare.

"The stillness of these wastes is sometimes awfully interrupted by the
loud voice of the simoon. The crystal transparency of the sky is veiled
with a hazy dimness. The wind rises, and blows in intermittent gusts,
like the laborious breathing of a feverish patient.

"Gradually the convulsions of the storm grow more violent and frequent;
and although the sun is unable to pierce the thick dust clouds, and the
shadow of the traveler is scarcely visible on the ground, yet so
suffocating is the heat, that it seems to him as if the fiercest rays of
the sun were scorching his brain.

"The dun atmosphere gradually changes to a leaden blackness, the wind
becomes constant, and even the camels stretch themselves upon the ground
and turn their backs to the whirling sand storm.

"At night the darkness is complete; no light or fire burns in the tents,
which are hardly able to resist the gusts of the simoon. Silence reigns
throughout the whole caravan, yet no one sleeps; the bark of the jackal
or the howl of the hyena alone sounds dismally, from time to time,
through the loud roaring of the storm."

This same author tells us that the sultry breath of the desert is felt
far beyond its bounds. It blows over Italy, and crosses even the Alps.
Here it rapidly melts the snow of the higher valleys, causing dangerous
inundations.

It is no uncommon thing for the dust of the desert to be whirled high
into the air and fall upon the decks of vessels crossing the Atlantic
far from the coast of Africa. Frequently it flies in clouds over the Red
Sea; thus does Nubia greet Arabia.

Considering the scanty vegetation to be found in the Sahara, the
scarcity of animal life is not to be wondered at.

The lion, which has been called the king of the desert, contents himself
with the borders of his domain. He rarely leaves the wooded mountains of
the Atlas region or the fertile plains of the Soudan to wander far into
the Great Desert, where there is little water, and only snakes and
scorpions are to be found for food in the dry season.

True, among the animals in those sections of the Sahara that are covered
with prickly shrubs, may be found the hare and the rabbit, the hedgehog
and the porcupine; but the hyena and the jackal, that also haunt these
spots, claim these as their booty.

Several varieties of lizards are to be found in the desert. Among them
is a large gray monitor and a small white skink. The latter has very
short legs. Its movements are so rapid that it seems to swim on the
surface, as a fish would in water. Just as its pursuer thinks he has
captured it, it disappears, diving under the surface.

It can readily be traced in its retreat and easily taken from the sand.
When provisions are scarce, the pursuit of the skink is not considered
too much trouble, although its body is so insignificant for food.

There is a proverbial saying that the ostrich needs to drink water only
every five days, and could exist much longer without it, if necessary.
However this may be, it is certain that this enormous bird penetrates
far into the interior of the desert.

The animal life of the Sahara fluctuates from north to south, according
to the seasons.

In winter and spring the nomadic tribes wander, with their herds of
camels, horses, sheep, and goats, farther into the interior. This is
owing to the more favorable conditions; for the heavy rains, falling
upon the northern borders of the desert, cover large districts, scorched
by the heat of the previous summer, with abundant pasturage and furnish
them with a goodly supply of water. As the season advances and the sun
gains power, these tribes, with their flocks, retreat again to the
borders.

At this favorable season the wild animals--the lion, the gazelle, and
the antelope--wander to the sections in the south. Here nature provides
the nourishment which the dry summer season could not afford them.

In the southern portions of the Sahara, and in some more northern
sections, the tropical rains produce periodical changes in the character
of the desert. Under the influence of these rains, the sandy plains soon
become clothed with grasses and shrubs.

During the dry season this carpet of green disappears, and the country
becomes again an arid tract. Stubbles and tufts of mimosas are the only
signs of vegetable life.

The beneficial change from the dry to the rainy season does not always
take place. The tropical rains frequently fail to make their appearance
in these northern sections, and the hopes of the desert, thirsting for
moisture, are doomed to disappointment.




CHAPTER III.

THE OASES OF THE DESERT.


This desolation of the Sahara would be of such a nature that nothing,
either in the animal or vegetable world, could survive, were it not for
the fertile tracts, or oases, found at intervals throughout its whole
extent.

These oases, or roadies, as they are sometimes called, are caused by
subterranean, or underground, springs. Oases are more common in the
eastern part of the Sahara than in the other sections.

[Illustration: OASIS IN THE SAHARA.]

Oases differ in character. Sometimes they are mere patches, covered with
bushes and coarse grass, usually surrounding a spring. More often they
are tracts of rare beauty and of great fertility, with a good supply of
water.

In traveling through the Great Desert, the easiest route is from
Tripoli, through the kingdoms of Fezzan, to Lake Tchad. The kingdom of
Fezzan is favored as to climate. It has periodical rains, on account of
the moist winds which blow from the Mediterranean Sea. These seem to
extend farther inland here than in any other part of the continent.

East of this route across the Sahara there is a portion of the desert
called the Libyan Desert. Oases are, in this section, very easily
cultivated. In the western section of the Sahara the land of the oases
is fit only for pasturing goats and sheep.

In some of these more fertile oases of the eastern sections, thousands
of inhabitants may be found living in comfortable villages. There may be
found the date palm in cultivation, together with other fruits and some
grains. Gum arabic is also a product of this region. It is obtained from
the sap which exudes from the trunk of the acacia tree.

Commerce across the Great Desert is not carried on without difficulty
and danger. There are various routes over which caravans of from five
hundred to two thousand camels and their drivers travel.

The distance between the springs, or wells, is frequently more than a
ten-days' journey. Often such a spring is reached only to be found dry,
and then both the men and the animals are in danger of perishing for
lack of water.

We, who are so accustomed to an abundance of fresh water, can scarcely
realize how it would seem to travel with one of these caravans, and to
be able to quench our thirst only from the supply of water carried in
leather bags slung from the sides of the patient camels. A glass of
water that has stood over night does not seem very palatable to us; yet,
doubtless, it would seem refreshing compared with water that had been
carried in a leather bag for ten days, exposed to the burning heat of
the desert's sands and sun.

A wise Providence has fitted the camel with a special paunch, or
stomach, the cells of which it fills with water before starting out on
one of these journeys. This supply has to suffice for its needs until
more water can be obtained from some distant spring. It has been stated
that the cells of the camel's stomach can absorb and hold upwards of a
gallon of water when the animal is preparing to start out upon one of
its long journeys across the desert.

Should a caravan, in crossing the desert, reach a spring or well, the
waters of which had run dry, perhaps the life of one of the camels would
have to be sacrificed, in the hope of getting a supply of water from its
stomach. This water would be all that the drivers would have with which
to sustain life until another spring could be reached.

Nature has fitted the camel most admirably for its desert home. In
addition to its true stomach, with its peculiar cell-like lining, it has
a second stomach, or honeycombed paunch. These are both capable of
holding a large supply of water.

The hump of the camel is another wise provision to enable the animal to
endure the hardships of its long journeys, often on a very short supply
of food. A few beans, dates, or carob pods are all the camel receives
after a long day's march, when there is no herbage on which it can
browse.

Shrubby plants, such as the camel's thorn, of which the animal is very
fond, are all that the sterile sands of the desert can produce for its
needs.

The drivers and owners of the camels look very carefully to the
condition of the hump of each animal before starting out on a march
across the desert.

The hump is really a storehouse for fat. When plump and well rounded, it
indicates that the animal is in perfect health. If, after a long march,
this hump becomes wasted, whether because the animal has become
exhausted, or because he has had insufficient food, it is often
necessary to prescribe complete rest. Even with an abundance of food,
and no work to do, it may take three or four months before the camel is
restored to perfect health and full powers of endurance, as indicated by
its firm, plump hump.

The foot of the camel is formed to keep it from sinking in the sand. It
is furnished with an extended pad, or cushion. This pad is protected
from the heat of the burning sands by means of a thick sole.

The skin on the chest and kneejoints is thickened into what are called
callosities. It is upon these that the camel rests when it lies down, or
when it kneels to receive a load.

The camel has been called the ship of the desert. It can carry twice the
load of a mule. It travels slowly, yet it moves at a steady, uniform
pace. It can thus travel for hundreds and hundreds of miles at the rate
of two miles and a half an hour.

The motion of the camel is most peculiar. It is a swaying from side to
side, not at all agreeable to one unaccustomed to riding upon its back.

This motion is caused by the camel moving both feet on a side at once.
In this way, first one side of its body is thrown forward, then the
other.

To protect the camel against the shifting sands and the burning heat of
the sun, nature has further fitted it for its peculiar home and life. It
has the power to close its nostrils at will to keep out the sand. Long
lashes protect its eyes, not only from the storms of wind and sand, but
also from the glare and the heat.

From time immemorial the camel has been known as the beast of burden in
India, Arabia, and Africa. This species, the one-humped camel, or
dromedary, differs somewhat from that having two humps. The latter has
been found in Central Asia, Persia, and the south of Russia.

Recently a report has been received from St. Petersburg that wild camels
have been discovered in large quantities in a district of Asia; but
nowhere in history do we read of camels that are not domesticated.

The sculptures of Assyria depict both species. The patient animal is
mentioned in the oldest books of the Bible. Many of our pleasantest
associations in connection with our earliest Bible lessons center about
this animal, in connection with "the wise men of the East," and other
scenes connected with the birth and early life of our Saviour.




CHAPTER IV.

MORE PHYSICAL FEATURES.


The fourth division of Africa comprises what is sometimes called
Barbary. It includes the mountainous countries of Morocco, Algeria,
Tunis, and Tripoli.

In its general character this northern section bears a strong
resemblance to the opposite coast of Europe, with respect to
peculiarities of soil and climate and the variety of its products.

The southern slope of the Atlas region gradually merges into the Great
Desert. Some parts of this range are above what is called the snow line.
The summits of some of the peaks are thirteen thousand feet high.

The Barbary States extend from the borders of Egypt on the east to the
Atlantic Ocean on the west. The Mediterranean Sea is the northern
boundary; the Sahara is the southern.

Although the country of Morocco is generally mountainous, yet there are
deviations from this characteristic feature of it.

The Atlas Mountains traverse the country in several parallel chains,
running from southwest to northeast. Towards the coast country and the
desert these chains send out spurs of hills and detached mountain
groups.

At the western and eastern extremities of Morocco, and along the borders
of the desert, there are many level tracts.

It is in Morocco that the central range of the Atlas Mountains forms a
watershed. This watershed separates the rivers which flow into the
Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea from those which flow south towards
the desert.

The rivers flowing south have a longer course and more volume of water
than the rivers flowing towards the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The
latter rivers are, however, perennial, while those flowing south are apt
to become dry in summer. Even after their currents are full, the waters
lose themselves in the sands of the Sahara.

The climate of Morocco is temperate between the central range of the
Atlas Mountains and the sea. There are no extremes of temperature, owing
to the influence of the sea breeze and the shelter which the mountains
afford from the scorching winds of the desert. In the southeast
districts there are great extremes of heat and cold, and rain is an
unknown blessing.

The even climate of the temperate regions is favorable to such
productions as wheat, barley, rice, maize, and the sugar cane. Such
fruits as the fig, pomegranate, lemon, orange, and date are common here,
between the Atlas range and the sea. Cotton, tobacco, and hemp are
produced in great quantities, not only for domestic use but for
exportation.

Algeria really forms the northern boundary of the great plateau of North
Africa. This plateau rises from the sea, at this point, in the form of
three terraces. The Atlas Mountains run parallel to the coast line of
Algeria.

Beyond this range of mountains is a vast tract of heath-covered plains.
These are interspersed with salt lakes. The vast tract stretches
southward till hemmed in by a chain of mountains of various heights.

Beyond this plain lies the Desert of Sahara, which extends to the banks
of the Niger.

In the north of Algeria there are many plains and valleys which open out
into the sea. Many of those around Oran, Bona, and Algiers are
exceedingly fertile. They abound in wood and water, and, having a good
soil, are well suited to agriculture. These tracts form what is known as
the Tell. This was once one of the granaries of Italy.

In strong contrast to this fertile section are the lesser deserts, which
lie back of the Atlas Mountains, where they follow the coast line.

These are covered with herbs and brushwood. They are almost destitute of
fresh water. Occasionally an oasis is found, to break the monotony.

Beyond the Atlas Mountains, in the most southern section, the country
partakes of the nature of the Sahara. There are, however, large oases,
covered with date palms. These oases are well peopled. They form a part
of what is called the date country.

Algeria has no rivers of any great importance. There are a few coast
streams, which have their rise in the neighboring Atlas range.

The climate of Algeria has greater extremes of temperature than Morocco.
In the district of the Tell the heat is often very intense. Along the
coast of Algeria the heat is tempered by the sea breeze. Up among the
high mountains, in the interior of the country, the temperature in the
winter season is often cold.

[Illustration: GATHERING DATES.]

Algeria is not unfrequently the victim of the _simoon_, or hot wind.
This same wind the Italians call _sirocco_. The Spaniards term it the
_solano_.

Large portions of Algeria are covered by extensive forests of oaks,
cedars, pines, and pistachio trees. These supply an abundance of timber
and resin.

In the Tell section the olive and the various cereals are cultivated.

Tunis, like the other Barbary States, is traversed by the mountains of
the Atlas range, which finally terminate here.

The northern coast of Tunis is steep and rocky. It is indented by
numerous bays. The largest of these is the Gulf of Tunis. Two
promontories, Cape Blanco and Cape Bon, are the most northern points in
Africa.

The eastern coast offers a strong contrast to the northern coast. It is
flat, sandy, and unproductive. It bears a strong resemblance to Tripoli,
as we shall see. The coast has two large gulfs, Hammamet and Gabes.

The southern portion of Tunis belongs to the desert steppe called
Belud-el-Jerid.

Tunis has but one fresh-water lake of any extent. This is situated near
the north coast.

The brooks and the torrents of Tunis do not make many wanderings. Their
waters lose themselves in the sands, or seek a short course to the sea.
None of the streams are navigable.

The longest river was well known to the ancients under the name
Bagradas. It now bears the name Mejerdah, and flows in a general
northeast direction, into the Gulf of Tunis.

Tunis has several fine mineral springs, though it has no rivers. Thus
does Nature seem to compensate for the lack of one blessing by the
bestowal of another.

Tunis enjoys a fine climate and an exceedingly fertile soil. The people
have only an imperfect knowledge of agriculture, but the natural
advantages of the soil and climate are so great that little labor is
necessary. Hence, we find wheat, barley, maize, olives, oranges, figs,
grapes, pomegranates, almonds, and dates produced in abundance. In the
culture of olives for oil more care is expended than in other
directions. The supply of oil is very abundant, and exceedingly
profitable.

Great herds of cattle and flocks of sheep feed on the plains. The wool
of the sheep of Tunis is far famed.

The horses and the dromedaries, or camels, are considered very fine, and
command a good price.

Tripoli is the most easterly of the Barbary States. It is not so
mountainous as the other countries comprising Barbary. The Atlas
Mountains terminate here in two chains that run parallel with the coast.
The summits of the mountains in this section never exceed four thousand
feet in height.

Tripoli has no rivers. During the long hot summers rain rarely falls. In
compensation, there is a copious supply of dew. So plentiful is this
dewfall, in some favored sections, as really to support vegetation.

The coast region is about eleven hundred miles in extent. Some sections
of it are very fertile and productive. All kinds of tropical fruits are
found, together with grain, grapes, cotton, and madder.

Farther to the east, along the shores of the Gulf of Sidra, nothing but
dreary wastes of sand prevail. Here desolation may be said to reign.

The interior sections of Tripoli yield senna, dates, and nutgalls. The
carob and the lotus are also found.

Here, as in Tunis, much attention is paid to the rearing of sheep and
cattle. The small, yet beautiful horses, and the strong, well-formed
mules of Tripoli are highly prized and much sought after.




CHAPTER V.

FEATURES, ANCIENT AND MODERN.


The fifth division of Africa borders on the Red Sea. It includes the
countries of Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt.

Between Abyssinia and the Mediterranean Sea is the low valley of the
Nile. This is separated from the Red Sea on the east by a bold,
mountainous region. A low ridge of limestone and sandstone hills
separates it from the Libyan Desert on the west.

Abyssinia, or _Habesh_, as the Arabs call it, is a large highland tract
in East Africa. It rises from the Red Sea, in a series of terraces,
towards the southwest.

Between the highlands of Abyssinia and the Red Sea, lies a flat tract of
country called Adal. This tract is very narrow at its northern
extremity, but gradually widens towards its southern extremity.

The plains of Nubia and Kordofan form the northern and western
boundaries of Abyssinia. There is comparatively little known of its
southern boundaries.

The general characteristics of the country are high table-lands,
intersected by deep ravines and steep terraces of sandstone.

These ravines have been formed by the action of the rivers upon the
rocks. Sandstone, being a comparatively soft rock, would, in the course
of ages, be gradually worn away as the waters flowed over it. No doubt
the terraces have been formed from the exposure of these rocks to the
elements for countless ages.

Above the table-lands rise numerous chains of mountains. These are
mostly of volcanic origin. Some of the highest of these summits rise to
a height of fifteen thousand feet above sea level. Many of the plains
lie at an elevation of from seven to ten thousand feet.

Abyssinia gives rise to numerous rivers. The largest of these are the
Blue Nile and the Takazzie, an affluent of the Nile. In the southern
part of the country is the Hawash. It flows eastward through a section
bearing the same name, and finally enters the salt lake, Assal.

The largest lake of Abyssinia is the Dembea. It is through this lake
that the Blue Nile flows.

In the elevated sections of Abyssinia the climate is temperate and
salubrious. Along the low coast sections, and in the sections at the
north and northwest, the heat is not only excessive but the climate is
most noxious.

Taken as a whole, Abyssinia is a very fertile country. It shows,
however, as great diversities of products as of climate. This is due to
the different degrees of elevation in the various sections.

Wheat and barley are cultivated to some extent, together with various
leguminous, or pod-bearing, plants, cotton, coffee, sugar cane, and
tobacco. The coffee plant grows wild to a great extent.

Nubia is the modern name of a country once subject to the Khedive of
Egypt. It was probably known to the ancients under the name Ethiopia.
The boundaries of Nubia are the Red Sea on the east, Egypt on the north,
Abyssinia on the south, and the Sahara on the west.

The country is traversed by the Blue Nile and the White Nile.

Nubia has an arid soil. In many places cultivation is possible only
along the banks of the Nile. Some portions of the soil consist only of
granite and sandstone.

The products of the cultivated sections are numerous. They comprise
maize, dates, tamarinds, gums, aloes, and senna. Among the various
exports may be noted musk, wax, myrrh, frankincense, black wool,
elephant and rhinoceros hides, and ivory. Ostrich feathers, ebony, gold
dust, saltpetre, salt, tobacco, coffee, and cotton are also exported to
Egypt.

Some curious customs prevail. Taxes are rated by the number of water
wheels a man uses to irrigate his land. The more water wheels he uses,
the more valuable his land, hence, the higher his taxes. There is no
national currency, but the coins of Egypt and Europe are used. The
Spanish dollar is also used to a great extent. Glass beads, coral,
shirts, and cloth are used in barter, and take the place of currency. In
Kordofan, the value of goods is reckoned by the number of cows they are
worth.

The most primitive system of measurement prevails. Maize is sold by the
handful; eighteen of these make what would correspond to one of our
larger measures. In measuring cloth, the distance from the elbow to the
fingers is employed as we would use a foot rule or a yardstick.

The costumes of the people are peculiar. They consist of turbans, and
linen and woolen garments. The men arm themselves with lances, and
shields made from the tough hide of the hippopotamus.

The customs of the people are somewhat singular. They are averse to
eating meat, and practice the rites of the Mohammedan faith. They live
in low huts built of mud or stone. They care little for strangers, and
do not wish to engage much in commerce. They are fond of music, and in
their leisure moments play upon a guitar of five strings. It is a simple
instrument, having a sounding-board made of the skin of a gazelle.

There are few attractions in Nubia beyond the numerous temples and other
ancient remains of the Egyptians.

Egypt occupies a position in Northeast Africa. It extends from the
Mediterranean Sea to the first cataract of the Nile. The name "Egypt"
was derived from the Greek. It is as old as the age of Homer. In the
ancient languages Egypt was called by a name signifying "Black Land."
This name was given to it, no doubt, from the color of the soil.

Egypt may be regarded as the bed of the Nile. The cultivated portions of
it extend only to the limits of the yearly inundation.

In the days of antiquity the Nile had several mouths. Five of these
mouths have, in the course of ages, become filled with silt. The whole
alluvial district which these mouths enclosed formed the ancient Delta.
The ancients believed that the whole of this alluvial deposit had been
gained from the sea.

The basin of the Nile, or Egypt proper, is formed by the ranges of the
Arabian hills on the east and the Libyan on the west. The eastern chain
of these mountains is about one thousand feet above the level of the
sea.

Egypt is separated from Nubia by a low hilly region. This region is
about fifty miles broad from north to south. It is composed of granite
rocks. The same formation of rocks extends up the shore of the Red Sea,
nearly to the opening of the Gulf of Suez. It stretches inland over a
tract of some thirty miles in extent.

In this section of Egypt the scenery is wild and picturesque. The course
of the Nile is frequently interrupted here by cliffs or broken masses of
granite rock. It is in this way that the magnificent, yet disastrous,
cataracts of the Nile are formed. The granite section of Egypt
terminates at Assouan. Much of the material used in building the great
monuments of Egypt must have been brought from this section.

Upper Egypt is bounded by two ranges of hills. Both these ranges run
northward. The Arabian range is on the right, the Libyan on the left, of
the river. Sandstone prevails to a great extent in both these ranges. It
is a durable rock, easily cut. It was used very extensively in the
erection of ancient temples. The ancient city of Thebes was built of
it.

The sandstone rocks in a large section of Egypt are covered with moving
desert sands. In the lands which border the Nile they are covered with
the alluvial deposit which the river brings down in its course.

[Illustration: PAPYRUS ON THE NILE.]

All along the valley of the Nile the scenery is tame and monotonous. The
sandstone is easily worn away by the action of the waters, and this in a
measure accounts for the table-lands, which are of frequent occurrence.
It would also account for the vast amount of alluvial deposit, most of
it being worn-out rocks.

The fertile valley of the Nile differs widely from the desert regions
which enclose it. This is true not only of the botanical life, but of
the zoological life as well.

Many of the European trees and plants are found in Egypt. The date palm,
sycamore, acacia, and tamarisk are some of the trees peculiar to its
climate. The papyrus, which the ancients used largely in the manufacture
of paper, and the lotus, or water lily of the Nile, are peculiar to
Egypt.

Of late years the cultivation of the papyrus plant has been neglected.
Specimens of it are now rather rare. Sugar cane, cotton, indigo, and
tobacco are cultivated in its place.

Gourds and melons are found in abundance. Wheat and barley were
extensively cultivated by the ancients. These are still cultivated, and
maize and durra have been added. The latter is a coarse, strong grass.
It grows to a height of from four to eight feet. It has thickly crowded
panicles. The grain is round, and about the size of a mustard seed.
Durra may be regarded as the principal corn plant of Africa. It yields
an abundant product. It is even more productive than maize, but the meal
from it does not make good bread. Used like rice, it makes an excellent
pudding, or may be used in other forms for food. The stalks and husks
are coarse, but make excellent fodder for horses and cattle. The grain,
too, is often given to them.

Egypt is very deficient in timber land. Pharaoh obtained cedar from
Lebanon and ebony from Ethiopia, as our Bible history tells us.

Space will not allow us to linger over either modern or ancient Egypt.
The latter is more fascinating than the former. It will be interesting
for us to take our Bibles and, looking over the Old Testament, acquaint
ourselves with the stories of Moses, Joseph, Pharaoh, and other
characters of the days of ancient history.

Did space permit, we might dwell upon the ancient occupations, as glass
blowing and pottery, and upon the various implements connected with
them. The bellows, siphons, chisels, presses, balances, levers, and
harpoons would awaken our interest and curiosity, if we could but look
into some museum of Egyptian relics.

The weapons of war, too,--the spears, clubs, maces, swords, daggers,
bows, and hatchets,--would seem to us not only strange, but formidable.
No less interesting would be the pictures of war boats, and the galleys
used upon the Nile.

We might delight to run our fingers over the ancient harps, lyres, and
guitars. The drums, flutes, cymbals, and tambourines would have
fascinations for most of us, making us wish to test our musical ear.

There are many books, however, that can satisfy our curiosity over the
lives of the ancient Egyptians, and we shall be fascinated by all we may
find time to read.




CHAPTER VI.

THE RIVERS OF AFRICA.


For many years Africa was believed to be a land destitute of rivers in
its interior sections. The explorations made by Dr. Livingstone proved
to the world that what had been formerly termed the unexplored
territory is not the barren, riverless region that imagination had
pictured.

Still, the nature of the rivers was for a long time but imperfectly
determined.

It is generally acknowledged that, of all the great rivers, there is
scarcely one that has been successfully traced from source to mouth
throughout its entire length. Even the tributaries of these rivers are
but imperfectly known, owing to the many difficulties attending their
exploration.

We have a right, then, to expect much from later investigation, as more
and more of the country is opened to observation.

The journals of such men as Livingstone and Stanley open a vast
storehouse of knowledge to those who read them. Fascinated, as by a
romance, we lose ourselves in these pages, and in imagination follow
their footsteps through "Darkest Africa."

The rivers of South Africa have their rise mostly in the neighboring
highlands. Many of these rivers are, in fact, not much greater than
mountain torrents, whose courses are as short as their currents are
rapid.

Most of the rivers of Africa have obstructions, in the form of sand
bars, at their mouths. The Orange River is a striking example, the water
at its mouth being choked by a vast deposit of sand.

The chief great rivers of Africa are the Nile, the Niger, the Zambesi,
the Orange, the Congo, the Senegal, and the Gambia.

Although all the great rivers have served as links to connect the
journeys of the various explorers, yet the Nile, the Niger, the
Zambesi, and the Congo have been chosen as the chief guides for the more
recent explorations.

Each of these great rivers has distinct characteristics and striking
peculiarities. The Nile, though a river of the greatest antiquity, was
for many, many years a problem in the minds of those busied with the
geography of Africa.

Many of the records kept by the early explorers were, unfortunately,
lost. Among those that were preserved were many that were not reliable
in their information. Many of the accounts were most conflicting in fact
and detail. This led to much confusion and much discussion. Men
naturally were slow to accept information which they could not prove to
be authentic.

Wars among the natives of the interior were most disastrous to the
explorer. At best, his life, interesting and exciting as we might
suppose it to have been, could certainly not have been an enviable one.
Only dauntless courage and boundless enthusiasm could have led him into
regions where he must suffer not only fatigue, but privation; not only
danger from wild beasts hungry for their prey, but from cruel,
treacherous savages lurking on every side.

The countries watered by the Niger offered an immense field for
exploration. Inviting as this region was to the explorer, it afforded
many difficulties. Savage beasts and treacherous natives were foes that
might be overcome, but who could withstand the attacks of fever and
malaria, unsuspected foes to health and life, in this region of
pestilence and disease?

Mungo Park, a Scotch explorer, relates that, out of a party of
forty-four, but four survived the exploration, owing to the unhealthy
character of the climate. He relates that he received various kinds of
treatment at the hands of the natives. The women, however, were for the
most part kindly disposed and benevolent.

At one time the king of the region of Bambarra, through which he was
passing, forbade him to cross the Niger. He was obliged to remain over
night in one of the villages. None of the natives would receive him into
their huts. Finally, he took shelter in the branches of a tree. He was
worn out from hunger and fatigue. A storm came up, from which he was
wholly unprotected, but he was befriended by a woman, who was passing on
her way from her daily work in the field. She took him home to her hut,
kindly cared for him, and did all she could to make him comfortable.

It is the custom of the women to lighten their labor by singing songs as
they work. On this occasion Park was made the subject of this song which
was sung by one of the young women of the village. The melody was sweet
and rather plaintive; the words simple.

    "_The winds roared and the rain fell.
    The poor white man, faint and weary, came and sat under our tree.
    He has no mother to bring him milk; no wife to grind his corn._"

To this a refrain was added, in which all the women joined.

    "_Let us pity the white man;
    No mother has he to bring him milk;
    No wife has he to grind his corn._"

It was to Richard Lander that the geographical students were indebted
for much information about the Niger. He encountered many dangers, and,
with his followers, was finally taken prisoner by the natives.

Only on the promise of a heavy ransom were they allowed their freedom.
By the offer of heavy bribes, he made arrangements with the natives to
convey him, with his party, to the sea. The journey was by way of the
Niger, and proved to Lander that water communication could be opened
into the interior of Africa. Thus he solved one of the greatest problems
in the geography of the continent.

In the southern portion of Africa, the more recent explorations have
been mostly in connection with the Zambesi River, its extensive basin,
and its many affluents. Most of the results were due to the energy of
Livingstone, whose footsteps we shall like to trace later. We must
regard Livingstone not only as an explorer, but as a zealous missionary
in the great field open to him. Only through his indomitable courage,
boundless faith, and untiring devotion could he have accomplished his
arduous labor.

Most of the difficulties that attended the exploration of the great
rivers were due largely to the character of the countries through which
they passed. Much of it was, of course, wholly unbroken territory.
Tangled forests, treacherous morasses, and wild jungles were
difficulties that constantly tried the courage and fortitude of the men
who formed the exploring parties.

But these were not all they had to encounter in the way of obstacles.
Wild animals, fierce for food, or angered at having their haunts
invaded, lay ready to attack them. Hostile savages lurked in the depths
of the forests, or pursued them to the water's edge, eager to shed their
blood. Even on the rivers there was no safety; for the enraged natives
pursued them in their canoes, and attacked them boldly, trusting to the
poisoned arrows which they hurled fiercely at them.

As if these were not difficulties enough to be met and overcome, the
hearts of the explorers often sank in dismay as they encountered fresh
obstacles in the bed of the streams. Here were dangerous rapids, over
which their canoes were liable to be hurled, only to be dashed to pieces
on the rocks below. Barred by such obstacles, the canoes often had to be
carried overland on the backs of the men, till the course of the river
became navigable.

Much of the information received from such friendly natives as they
found, living in villages along the course of the river, was unreliable.
They were often misled, too, by the various names given to the same
river in the different sections of the country.

Many of the rivers make such intricate wanderings as to lose themselves
in one section to reappear again in other sections, but under different
names. On this account, much time was lost in doubt and speculation.

As we read of the exploits of these explorers, we shall be able to
comprehend more fully the extreme difficulty of the work they undertook,
and, in many cases, carried out so successfully.

Through the light they shed we shall be able to read the story of
Africa. We shall find it both fascinating and instructive.




CHAPTER VII.

THE NILE, THE MOST ANCIENT OF RIVERS.


The Nile is formed by the union of two rivers, the White Nile and the
Blue Nile.

The White Nile has its rise in the great equatorial lakes, together with
the Victoria and the Albert Nyanza Lakes. It skirts the eastern border
of Kordofan and then passes into Nubia. The river flows on to Khartoom,
where it is joined by the Blue Nile, which has been tortuously working a
passage for itself through the highlands of Abyssinia.

The White and the Blue Nile, thus united in a single stream, sweep in a
circuit through Nubia to form a succession of cataracts in the course of
the current.

The stream then descends into Egypt under the general name of the Nile
River, and flows on till it reaches the Mediterranean Sea through the
far-famed Delta.

As we have seen, the mystery of the Nile had claimed the attention of
mankind for ages. For centuries it had been a wonder not only to those
who dwelt upon its banks, but to those who came into the country of the
Egyptians to profit by their wisdom and learning.

Its mysterious waters flowed from unknown regions; for the last thousand
miles in its course not a single drop of water was received from the
land on either side of its bed. Only at rare intervals was the blessing
of rain bestowed. For nine months in the year the stream flowed between
its steep banks, a uniform and majestic flood.

Almost at a stated date each year, for countless centuries, had the
river risen and overflowed its banks and spread its waters over the
adjoining country. Each year saw the narrow valley of the Nile
transformed temporarily into a vast lake.

After some few weeks the flood subsided, and left behind a vast deposit
of rich mud which was to fertilize the whole of Egypt.

Little wonder, then, that this most ancient of rivers seemed the most
marvelous river of antiquity.

Within the last quarter of a century men have looked to the laws of
Nature for an explanation of the sources of this double Nile, as it has
been called.

The river with its uniform current is fed from large lakes, or
reservoirs. These are so immense that their volume of water does not
vary much from one season to another.

At the time of the inundation, or flooding, of the valley the stream
must receive its increased volume of waters from its various affluents.
These affluents have their rise in mountainous sections subject to an
abundant rainfall during a short period of each year. Immediately after
this rainfall the Nile waters must begin to rise, from the influence of
these swollen streams that flow into them.

Thus has man looked to the great book of Nature to find written on its
pages the solution of the problem that so long taxed the minds of the
students of past centuries, as well as of the present.

From the earliest annals of history the valley of the Nile was known as
the seat of commerce, the arts, and the sciences.

Egypt might well be regarded as the light of the ancient world. In the
glow of her prosperity she formed a strong contrast to the rest of
Africa, which remained almost unknown, shrouded in darkness.

The ancient Egyptians gave to the Nile a name which signified in their
language "The Genius of the Waters." The Hebrews gave it a name which,
in their tongue, meant "The Black."

The Nile presents many interesting features as it pursues its course.
Rushing from the Lake Victoria Nyanza like a mountain torrent, it
finally loses its impetuosity, and runs over extensive flats. These
flats gradually expand so as to form a body of water known as the
Ibrahim Pasha Lake.

Near Lake Albert Nyanza the Nile forms a series of rapids, between what
are known as the Karuma and Murchison Falls. As the river leaves the
lake, it begins its northward journey towards the Mediterranean Sea.
During this journey the stream does not expand again into a lake, but
retains its character of a river current.

At a point in its course between Lake Albert Nyanza and Gondokoro the
Nile makes a descent of several hundred feet, from an elevation some
fifteen hundred feet above sea level. This descent in the current causes
a series of rapids and cataracts.

As the stream leaves Gondokoro it flows tortuously on, winding first to
the northwest, then turning to the northeast, during its journey of five
hundred miles.

Later, the river is joined by its first large tributary, the
Bahr-el-Gazal, which does not seem to make any noticeable difference in
the current as it enters it from the west. A second tributary, the
Giraffe River, flows into the main stream from the east.

From its junction, with its first great tributary, the Nile flows on for
about eighty miles in an easterly direction. It then changes its course,
winding south for about thirty miles, where it is joined by a third
tributary, which flows into it from the east. This tributary, the Sobat
River, has quite a full, navigable current.

Beyond the junction of the Nile with these tributaries the river flows
on for a distance of upwards of four hundred miles. It flows through
this section in a northerly direction, attaining width varying from one
to two miles. At intervals along its course several streams flow into it
from the east before it reaches Khartoom.

The town of Khartoom is situated just at the junction of the Blue and
the White Nile streams.

The Blue Nile was for many years supposed to be the main stream of the
Nile. It is, however, formed by the union of two rivers, the Abai and
the Blue River.

The Abai River rises in Abyssinia. Its source lies about fifty miles
from Lake Dembea.

It enters the lake from the southwest and emerges from it at the
southeast. For about ninety miles it flows on in this direction, and
finally describes a semi-circular course around the peninsula of
Godjam.

Leaving Godjam, the river winds on in a northwesterly direction for
about one hundred and fifty miles, where it is joined by the Blue River
from the south.

Under the name Blue Nile the united streams flow on in a single current
in a northwesterly direction. During its course the stream receives two
large rivers which run nearly parallel to each other.

We have seen that, at the town of Khartoom, the Blue and the White Nile
unite to form a single stream. As this stream leaves Khartoom its course
is a northerly one for about sixty miles until, passing the ruins of the
ancient Meroe, it forms its first cataract. Here, turning to the
northeast, it is joined by its last tributary, which bears a name
signifying "Black River." It is doubtless so named from the quantities
of black, slimy mud which it carries down in its course, eventually to
fertilize Egypt.

The Nile, from the point where the last tributary joins it, flows
through the thickly populated and fertile district of Berber, with its
many villages.

When the stream leaves Berber it enters the desert. As it makes a turn
to the west it forms the large island of Mograt. Turning sharply in a
southwesterly direction, it describes what is known as "The Great Bend,"
in which there are two cataracts.

Entering Nubia the stream turns again to the northwest. Here, on either
bank, is a narrow strip of fertile land, under cultivation.

Again a cataract is formed, when the stream bends around to the
northeast to form later a fifth cataract.

As the river continues on its course, it gradually grows more and more
narrow, till, later, at Assouan, it forms its last cataract, as it
descends.

From Assouan to the Mediterranean Sea the Nile has an average fall of
two inches to a mile. Its velocity is about three miles an hour as it
flows on, watering and fertilizing the land of Egypt throughout its
entire length.

The delta, or mouth, of the Nile has an expanse of about one hundred and
fifty miles on the Mediterranean.

At the delta the Nile spreads out into numerous streams to enter the
sea.

The length of the Nile is about three thousand three hundred miles, if
we measure its wandering course from its exit at the lake to its
entrance at the sea.

It is a remarkable fact that from the point where the last tributary
enters the Nile, a distance of some fifteen hundred miles from the sea,
no other waters are received to increase its volume; yet, in spite of
this, the stream is able to withstand the scorching sun and burning
sands of the Nubian Desert.

Little wonder, then, that the ancient Egyptians held the river sacred.
To its influence they owed not only life, health, and strength, but
their prosperity and wealth, as well.

Year after year they watched its annual overflow, rejoicing in this
blessing of the waters.

At Khartoom the overflow begins in April. Lower Egypt does not become
affected by the overflow of the waters till the latter part of June.
Here the inundation does not attain its full height for about three
months. The waters remain stationary for about twelve days, and then
very gradually begin to subside.

The cultivation of the soil of entire Egypt is wholly dependent upon its
inundation by the waters of the Nile. Its failure would mean drought and
a total destruction of the crops, since Egypt is, practically, a
rainless country.

Should there be a continuous wind from the south, then Egypt would be
blessed by a year of prosperity. Should there be a continuous wind from
the north, it would mean disaster to the country.

During a good inundation, the rise in the waters varies from forty feet,
about the Tropic of Capricorn, to thirty-six feet at Thebes. Near the
delta it is but four feet.

If, at Cairo, the waters rise to only eighteen or twenty feet, there is
a scarcity of water. Should it rise to even twenty-four feet, there is
still a deficiency. From twenty-five to twenty-seven feet is counted
good for the welfare of the crops. More of an overflow would cause a
flood. This would not only be productive, most likely, of plague and
fever, but loss of crops and famine would follow in their wake.

During the months of inundation the whole valley is under water. Here
and there the villages rise like islands from the surface of the waters.

Just as the Dutch protect their lands from the inroads of the sea, the
Egyptians protect their villages from the inroads of this annual flood
by means of dykes.

Of late years the overflow of the Nile has been greater than for many
previous centuries.

We can trace the rise and fall of the waters of the main stream of the
Lower Nile to the influence of the periodical rains in the mountains of
Abyssinia and in the Lake Nyanza region.

In the equatorial regions it rains more or less throughout the year. The
most abundant fall of rain takes place during the equinoxes, as the sun
makes its apparent revolution about the earth during her yearly journey
in space.

Could we stand upon the banks of the Nile, we should find them swarming
with birds. With interest and pleasure we should watch the movements of
the various water or reed birds as they seek their food.

We should listen to the discordant cries of the various birds of prey
hovering over its waters. For here we should find not only such birds as
the goose, pelican, and ibis, but the vulture and cormorant as well.

Standing on the banks of this most ancient of rivers, we should try to
picture some of the scenes of past ages. Visions of Pharaoh and his
daughter and the infant Moses would come to us.

Gazing into the depths of the soft waters, pure and sweet, we should be
brought back to the present, as, with delight, we should find them
teeming with many varieties of the finny tribes that sport beneath the
surface. Searching along its banks, we might hope to find traces of the
lotus, or Egyptian water lily, that once grew wild in such abundance,
but now is rarely seen. It would be almost as arduous a task as hunting
for a four-leaved clover, I fear.

It is generally believed that the plant was brought to Egypt from India.
It must have been carried there in the very earliest days of the history
of the people. The Egyptians regarded it as the emblem of the Nile. It
was to them a sacred plant, a symbol of the creation of the world from
the waters.

It was the custom to cultivate it in tanks. At the Egyptian feasts the
guests wreathed their heads with its flowers, which resemble superb pink
tulips.

At an Egyptian funeral each guest was presented with one of the flowers.
It was the custom, too, to have the blossoms sculptured upon the tombs.

The lotus has had a very marked influence upon architecture. We find its
leaves and buds appearing in the classic columns. In every phase of
antique carving we find its flower most frequently chosen to embellish
the work.

The lotus has been imported into Japan, and the people seem to have been
more inspired in their art work by it than by anything else to be found
in the field of nature.

When the petals of the lotus blossom fall, they leave behind a seed cup
three inches in diameter. These seed cups contain immense seeds, of such
shape that the ancient Greek and Latin writers used to speak of them as
"Egyptian beans." They were eaten in large quantities by the people of
the valley of the Nile. The Egyptians sometimes made a kind of bread of
these seeds.

The question may come to our minds why the problem of the source of the
Nile, which had busied the thoughts of students for centuries, should
have been so recently solved. Indeed, it does seem remarkable that the
source of a river, at whose mouth one of the earliest and most civilized
nations of the globe had established a home, should have remained veiled
in darkness.

The great want of success in discovering the sources of the Nile was
due, no doubt, to the great length of the river and the difficulty of
access to the regions through which it took its course. The
peculiarities of climate, too, and the danger from the ignorance,
barbarism, and superstition of the native tribes, no doubt had their
influence in retarding the exploration of the Nile.

Then, it has been discovered, during the course of the exploration, that
a river may bear as many names as there are different tribes in the
country which it drains.

Each tribe speaks a different dialect. Often these tribes are hostile in
their relations with one another. Sometimes tribes, if not hostile, hold
no intercourse, or have no means of communication with others.

Each tribe, in its own tongue, gives to the principal stream a name
signifying _the river_. These differently sounding names were for a long
time very misleading and very puzzling to the explorers, as they
endeavored to trace a river in its wanderings.




CHAPTER VIII.

THE NIGER, THE RIVER OF THE WEST.


The Niger is the great river of Western Africa. Its name, according to
one of the early explorers, is but a contraction from one of the many
names given to it by native tribes. The translation of any one of these
would be simply "The River."

It was not until the close of the first quarter of this century that the
mystery of the Niger was revealed.

Many conflicting reports had been made with regard to the river. In
every instance it was found that tributaries of the river had been
traced instead of the main stream.

Some explorers had reported it as flowing westward; others had reported
it as flowing eastward. In each case a tributary of the river had been
followed in its course, and thus the exploring parties had been misled.

Richard Lander and his brother John, in their search for the Niger,
found one river, the Joliba, which ran towards the east.

This they resolved to follow to its mouth, wherever that might prove to
be. Floating downstream, they came to another large stream flowing into
it from the opposite direction. Thus they solved the mystery of the
conflicting accounts.

As the Lander brothers floated down the stream formed by the union of
these two, they soon found themselves in the Bight of Benin. No one had
ever dreamed that a great river, like the Niger, could empty itself
into it.

The Niger, it was discovered, after it reaches the low alluvial region
of the coast, spreads out through a broad delta. It then enters the
ocean by several mouths. These mouths are several leagues apart, but
none of them are of any great size.

The great headwater of the Niger takes its rise in Mount Loma. This peak
is in the elevated section designated as the Kong Mountains upon the
map. It stands sixteen hundred feet above sea level, in a barren,
desolate region, without a tree or a shrub to break the monotony of the
scene.

The stream flows northeast to Timbuctoo. There it takes a bend to the
east and flows for a distance of two hundred and fifty miles in this
direction. From here on to the delta it takes first a southerly, then a
southeasterly course, till it separates into the many streams at its
mouth. Accurately speaking, the river enters the Gulf of Guinea between
the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Biafra.

Along its course, like the other great rivers of Africa, it is known by
various names, given to it by different tribes of natives.

The accounts of the character of the river vary somewhat. It has,
however, been pretty thoroughly explored throughout the last three
hundred and fifty miles of its course.

If we could follow the river through this section to Timbuctoo, we
should find that it traversed a tract of very fertile country. The soil
is productive. Rice, maize, and various vegetables are found in
abundance for the use of man, while fine pasturage is afforded for
cattle.

Southwest of Timbuctoo the river divides itself into many creeks and
branches. Here its banks are low and marshy at all times. During the
rainy season they are generally overflowed.

In this section of country rice, tobacco, wheat, and barley are raised.

The river now flows on past the town of Burrum. Here it curves to the
southeast and makes what is called the Knee of Burrum.

Just below Burrum the Niger does not present much the appearance of the
great stream that the natives have, by various names, designated as The
River.

Indeed, it presents far from an imposing sight, as it moves slowly,
sluggishly along its broad, marshy valley bed. This valley bed is
inclosed either by rocky ridges or by high dunes. These dunes are very
probably mounds of mud and sand, brought down by the river in the course
of ages, and heaped up along its banks.

The broad, marshy valley is thickly studded with water reeds and sedges.
Its whole surface is, in fact, cut up into innumerable small creeks and
streams.

At the ferry of Burri the Niger attains a breadth of eight or nine
hundred yards. At this point the valley is about two miles broad. The
land is fertile, carefully cultivated, and well populated.

Somewhat farther south the river passes through two towns. At this
point in its course its bed becomes rocky, and navigation is, in
consequence, dangerous.

At the town of Say the bed of the Niger becomes very much narrowed from
its previous breadth of from twenty-five hundred to three thousand
paces. At this point the bed of the stream is inclosed by rocky banks,
and the current flows on at the rate of three miles an hour, with an
average width of but one thousand paces.

The most beautiful and picturesque scenery on the Niger is in the
section where it flows around the eastern shoulder of the so-called Kong
Mountains. In solemn majesty these mighty peaks look from a height of
from two thousand to three thousand feet upon the waters at their base.

The delta of the Niger may be described as a dense mangrove forest. This
is cut up into beautiful islands by means of the many streams. It is
said that there are upwards of twenty of these streams into which the
river divides.

The existence of the Niger was known in ancient times. Accounts had been
brought by travelers, who, coming from the southern shores of the
Mediterranean, crossed the Great Desert, and discovered the course of a
great river flowing towards the rising sun.

Herodotus, a famous Greek historian, born nearly five hundred years
before Christ, supposed it to be a branch of the Egyptian Nile. Pliny, a
famous ancient writer, born early in the first century after Christ,
speaks of the Nigris of Ethiopia. He, also, believed that the river
flowed into the river Nile.

Many were the attempts to gain definite knowledge of the river. Just
before the middle of the present century the English government sent out
an expedition. The result of the expedition proved that the river was
navigable from Boussa to the sea.

This was costly information, for which an enormous price was paid; for
many human lives were the forfeit. The enervating character and
unhealthfulness of the climate of the region explored proved most
disastrous to the members of the expedition. Many subsequent expeditions
ended with similar results.

About the middle of the present century Dr. Barth followed the river
from Timbuctoo to Say.

Much of what is now known to the world with regard to the Niger is due
to the explorations he made.

He has estimated the entire length of the river to be upwards of
twenty-five hundred miles.




CHAPTER IX.

THE ZAMBESI, THE RIVER OF SOUTHEAST AFRICA.


The extensive region in Southeast Africa was described in the
geographies of the middle ages under the name of the empire of
Monomotapa. It is shown upon the old time maps as being dependent upon
the river Zambese, or Zambere, for drainage.

The course of this river is, in the main, correctly designated upon
these maps, and several large towns are shown as having a location upon
its banks. A small lake is also indicated, not far from the actual
position of Lake N'gami, whose real existence was not proved until
within comparatively a few years.

This lake is now considered one of the most southern of inland waters
which have any communication with the modern Zambesi River and the more
eastern lakes.

On the old maps the Nyassa and the more northern lakes, Victoria Nyanza
and Tanganyika, are given with a good deal of accuracy.

We must believe, then, that those who compiled these early maps must
have had some definite knowledge of these regions.

It is believed that they gained this knowledge from the Arabs. Various
settlements were located along the eastern and southeastern coast of
Africa, extending from the Red Sea to Sofala.

Strange to say, although the lower region of the Zambesi, for a distance
of three hundred miles at least, has been in the hands of the Portuguese
since the early part of the sixteenth century, yet it is only since the
middle of the present century that we have succeeded in getting any
accurate or scientific knowledge of the vast territory.

This knowledge we owe to the untiring exertion of such intrepid African
explorers as Dr. Kirk, Charles Andersson, Dr. Livingstone, and others.

Upon Dr. Livingstone's map the total length of the main stream, from the
mouth to the point in the course where the Leeba River joins it, cannot
be less than twelve hundred miles.

The Leeba River proceeds from Lake Dilolo, which is situated on the
summit of the watershed which divides the rivers that run northwest into
the Atlantic from those which run southeast into the Indian Ocean.

A curious fact is connected with Lake Dilolo; it appears to have two
outlets, one to the north and one to the south. The northern outlet
probably joins the system of lakes west of Tanganyika.

The river basin of the Zambesi has many features of interest. On the
north it probably terminates with a portion of the river system of the
Nile. On the west it is separated from the Orange River basin and the
various rivers running through Ovampo Land into the Atlantic by a rather
undefined watershed, which crosses the Kalahari Desert. On the northwest
the main waters very likely have their rise in the near vicinity of the
tributaries of the great Congo River.

A well-defined mountain range on the southeast separates the rivers
which flow into the Zambesi from those which unite to form the Limpopo.

The Zambesi River retains this name from a point only a short distance
above its mouth to the junction of the main stream with the Chobe.

By means of the Chobe the Zambesi is connected with the sluggish
intermingling streams of the N'gami region. Flowing on after its
junction with the Chobe, the river is known under another name, the
Leambye.

Our most accurate knowledge of the river extends as far as its union
with the Leeba. At this point it seems to make a sudden bend to the
northeast and form a network of streams. These mingle with one another,
and, far to the east, seem to form several other connections with the
main stream, if we can believe the reports of the natives.

The portion of Central South Africa through which the Zambesi flows may
be regarded as an extensive table-land, or plateau.

This vast table-land stands from three to four thousand feet above the
level of the sea. On its outer edge it is fringed by a border of
basaltic rocks.

The river cuts its way through the rocks of this region to form one of
the most strikingly picturesque scenes upon the globe.

It was to this section of the river that Livingstone gave the name
Victoria Falls. The natives gave it the odd name Mosiotunge. This may be
translated to mean "Smoke sounds there," or "Smoke which sounds."

The falls of the Zambesi have been compared to those of Niagara. Charles
Livingstone, a brother of Dr. Livingstone, considered those of the
Zambesi more beautiful and more wonderful than those of Niagara.

The river in the vicinity of the falls is more than a mile in breadth.
It flows peacefully along its bed and plunges suddenly into a fissure
three hundred feet deep, which lies directly in its course.

This fissure is scarcely two hundred feet wide. It is by no means an
even opening in the rocks, but for several miles runs in and out in a
series of zigzags, which are separated from each other by four vertical
promontories of basaltic rock. These promontories are hardly as wide as
the fissure. They are so narrow, that if we could stand on the center of
one of them we could easily toss a stone into the chasm lying on either
hand. It is not known accurately how far below the falls this chasm
extends.

The height of the cataract has been estimated as twice that of Niagara.
In flood time the volume of water pouring over the falls is very
probably much greater than that at Niagara.

Dr. Livingstone relates that, when he visited these falls, one of the
first questions asked by a native warrior was, "Have you smoke that
sounds in your country?"

[Illustration: "SMOKE-RESOUNDING" FALLS OF THE ZAMBESI.]

The natives were too much in awe of these falls to approach near enough
to them to examine them. They viewed them with fear and wonder from a
distance. They would refer to the vapor and noise with the remark,
"Smoke _does_ sound there!"

Livingstone learned that at one time another name had been given to
these falls by the natives. He was unable to find the exact translation
of the name, but believed it to have meant "seething caldron."

Embarking in a canoe Livingstone, after about twenty minutes' sail, came
in sight of the falls. The columns of vapor, so appropriately called
smoke, rose to a distance of five or six miles. He had noticed much the
same appearance when large tracts of grass were burning on the African
plains.

As he looked on the wonderful sight, five columns of smoke arose. They
seemed to bend in the direction of the wind, as if to lean against a low
ridge covered with trees. Seen from a distance, the tops of the columns
appeared to mingle with the clouds. White below, and somewhat darker
above, the resemblance was a striking one.

The whole scene was most beautiful. The banks of the river and the
islands dotting the stream were covered with foliage and vegetation of
the most beautiful form and color. At that season of the year several of
the trees were covered with blossoms.

Towering over all stood the great burly baobab, with its enormous
branches, each as large as the trunk of a tree. To add to the beauty of
the scene, groups of graceful palms waved their feather-shaped leaves in
the air, against the background of the sky.

To Livingstone the sight of these trees, native to Africa, was always
suggestive of "far from home." He could not remain unconscious of the
foreign tone they gave to every picture of the landscape.

A silvery-leaved tree, which bore a strong resemblance to the cedar of
Lebanon, stood in pleasing contrast with one of cypress-like form and
dark-colored foliage, dotted over with scarlet fruit. Here were trees,
too, like our spreading oak; others like our elms and chestnuts.

No one could picture the beauty of the scene as it revealed itself to
Livingstone's appreciative eyes. To him it seemed as if so lovely a
scene could have been gazed upon only by angels in their flight.

The wonder had never before been viewed by white men; for none had ever
penetrated the mysterious realms of the Zambesi waters. Mountains in the
background was the only feature lacking to make the picture perfect.

Livingstone found that the falls are bounded on three sides by high
ridges. These ridges are from three hundred to four hundred feet high,
and are covered with forests. Here and there the red soil appears among
the trees.




CHAPTER X.

A VIEW OF VICTORIA FALLS.


Not half a mile from the falls Livingstone left the canoe in which he
had started upon his journey, and embarked in a lighter one. This was
manned by men well acquainted with the rapids. By passing down the
center of the stream and taking advantage of the eddies and still places
caused by the jutting rocks, he was able to reach an island in the
middle of the river. This island was on the edge of the lip over which
the water rolled.

In trying to reach this island there was danger of being swept along in
some one of the streams which rushed by it. Fortunately the river was
low, and Livingstone thus accomplished what he could not have done had
it been high.

Though he had reached the island, and was within a few yards of the
falls, of which he could command a good view, yet he could not solve the
problem of where the vast volume of water went.

It seemed to lose itself as it disappeared into this fissure, the
opposite lip of which was only eighty feet distant.

Livingston could not comprehend this mystery, till, creeping to the edge
of the abyss, he peered with awe down into a large rent extending from
bank to bank of the Zambesi. The river, a stream a thousand yards broad,
took this gigantic leap of a hundred feet and became suddenly compressed
into a space of from fifteen to twenty yards.

Livingstone found that the entire falls are but a crack made in a hard
basaltic rock. This crack extends from the right to the left bank of the
river. It is then prolonged on the left bank of the stream through
thirty or forty miles of hills.

Looking down into the fissure on the right of the island, he saw
nothing but a dense white cloud. At the time of his visit two beautiful
rainbows gave added beauty to the scene. From this dense white cloud a
great jet of vapor, looking exactly like steam, mounted some two hundred
or three hundred feet into the air.

As the vapor became condensed, Livingstone saw its hue change to the
color of dark smoke. As it fell to the ground in a constant shower, he
became wet to the skin.

The shower fell for the most part upon the opposite side of the fissure.
Back a few yards from the lip stood a straight hedge of evergreen trees,
whose leaves were always wet.

From the roots of these trees numberless little rills ran back into the
abyss. As they flowed down the steep rocky wall the columns of ascending
vapor greedily absorbed them, and mounted with them into the air.

Constantly running down the side of the fissure, yet never reaching the
bottom of it, these rills were an ever-active example of the laws of
condensation and vaporization in nature.

On the left of the island, Livingstone saw the water at the bottom of
the fissure moving away towards the place of its escape near the left
bank of the river. The walls of this gigantic crack he found to be
perpendicular. The rock itself is one solid mass. On the side over which
the water falls he found the edge worn off two or three feet. Pieces of
the rock had fallen away, owing to the action of the water. This gave to
the edge a somewhat serrated appearance.

The rock is of a dark brown color. About ten feet from the bottom he
found it somewhat discolored, from the annual rise of the water.

On the left side of the island Livingstone got a good view of the mass
of water which causes one of the columns of vapor to rise. It leaped
quite clear of the rock. It was the color of snow, and had the
appearance of a thick, unbroken fleece all the way to the bottom.

As he describes it, it seemed to break into _flakes_, all moving in the
same direction, like bits of steel giving off sparks when burned in a
flame of oxygen gas.

To Livingstone this snow-white sheet of water seemed like myriads of
small comets. As they rushed in one general direction, each seemed to
leave behind it tiny bodies of foam.

It appeared to him like a mass of water leaping impetuously, at one
bound, to clear the rock, and finally breaking gradually into spray.

Three spots near these falls--one of them the island on which
Livingstone landed--were former sites of worship. Here it was that the
chiefs of native tribes offered prayers and sacrifices.

These places of worship were chosen within hearing of the cataract's
roar, and in full sight of the bows in the cloud of vapor.

With awe and wonder these children of Nature looked upon the scene. The
river to them was most mysterious, and feelings of fear, no doubt,
influenced them somewhat in their selection of places of worship.

Livingstone describes a canoe-song of the natives, the words of which,
rudely translated, are:--

    "The Leeambye! Nobody knows
    Whence it comes and whither it goes."

The Leeambye, you remember, was one of the many names of the river given
to it by the natives.

The play of colors on the cloud may have given them the idea that this
was the abode of the Deity. Elsewhere they had seen this play of colors
only in the rainbow. When seen in the heavens they gave it a name
signifying "the pestle of the gods."

"Here," says Livingstone, "they could approach the emblem and see it
stand steadily above the blustering uproar below,--a type of Him who
sits supreme, alone, unchangeable, though ruling all changing things.
But not aware of His true character, they had no admiration of the
beautiful and good in their bosoms. They did not imitate His
benevolence, for they were a bloody, imperious crew."

When the Zambesi River is full, or in flood, the natives told
Livingstone that the columns of vapor can be seen ten miles off, and the
roar of the cataract can be heard at fully that distance.

It would be interesting if we could linger longer in this region of the
Zambesi River; but, for lack of space, we must hasten on towards the
sea.




CHAPTER XI.

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE ZAMBESI.


As the river descends to the ocean, it takes a southeast course. During
the rainy seasons its width increases from five hundred yards to two
miles or more, according to the amount of rainfall.

In its course to the sea the river becomes navigable from the Portuguese
town of Tete downward to the mouth. During the dry season, however,
navigation is somewhat difficult.

Working its way through the Lupata Mountains the river comes to one or
two narrow, rocky gorges which tend to make ugly rapids, except in the
rainy season, when the river is high.

About eighty miles from the mouth, the Zambesi receives the waters of
the Shire, which flows out from Lake Nyassa.

Lake Nyassa is a sheet of water about two hundred miles long. It attains
a width of fifty miles at its widest point.

The Zambesi enters the low country about fifty miles from its mouth. It
separates into various streams to form a large delta. The neighborhood
of this delta bears the reputation of being very unhealthy.

The most northern stream of the Zambesi is the Kuaka; the most southern,
and the one with the deepest channel, is the Luabo.

Various ports and entrances lie along the Zambesi. These were formerly
used by slaving vessels and others not engaged in very honorable trade.

These ports are not shown very accurately upon the maps, and it is
considered a very difficult and dangerous undertaking to attempt to
enter the river without a good pilot.

The falls and the rapids of the Zambesi region, together with its
elevated lakes and sites of settlements, are its most picturesque
features.

Tete, a Portuguese town, is about four hundred feet above the level of
the sea. The rapids of Lake Nyassa where the Shire issues from it, are
more than fifteen hundred feet higher than the ocean. A smaller lake
southeast of Nyassa is two thousand feet above the level of the sea.

The coast region drained by the Zambesi is inhabited by natives of a
pure negro type. In the central and upper parts of the Zambesi region
are tribes of a little higher grade of intelligence. They are the
conquerors of the original tribes, many of whom still exist.

The Zulu tribes occupy the elevated region which divides the Limpopo
from the Zambesi. They have overrun nearly all the territory south of
them and subjugated most of its tribes.

In the sections claimed by the Portuguese the slave trade was for many
years the shame and disgrace of the white man. All attempts to civilize
and educate the natives, by missionaries from other countries, were met
by great hostility on the part of the Portuguese. Even the best efforts
of the most unselfish and faithful of missionary workers were well nigh
fruitless. The greed and the cruelty of the men engaged in the traffic
of human beings were almost beyond belief.

Villages were depopulated, homes were laid waste, and fields once under
cultivation were despoiled. On every side, ruin and desolation were the
work of the destroying hand of the slave trader.

Torn from home, family, and country, their wretched victims were
conveyed to the coast, loaded upon some vessel engaged in the inhuman
trade, and sold into slavery.

    "Faint, gazing on the dying orb of day,
    As Afric's injured son expiring lay,
    His forehead cold and laboring bosom bare,
    His dewy temples, and his sable hair,
    His poor companions wept, and cried aloud,
    Rejoicing, while his head in peace he bowed,
    'Now, thy long, long task is done!
    Swiftly, brother, wilt thou run,
    Ere to-morrow's golden beam,
    Glitters in thy parent stream,
    Swiftly the delights to share,
    The feast of joy that waits thee there.
    Swiftly, brother, wilt thou glide
    O'er the long and stormy tide,
    Fleeter than the hurricane,
    Till thou see those scenes again,
    Where thy father's hut was reared;
    Where thy infant brothers played
    'Neath the fragrant citron's shade,
    Where, through green savannas wide?
    Cooling rivers silent glide,
    And the shrill cigarras sing
    Ceaseless to their murmuring.

    "'Where the dance and festive song
    Of many a friend divided long,
    Doomed through strangers' lands to roam,
    Shall bid thy spirit welcome home!
    Then fear no more the tyrant's power!
    Past is his insulting hour!
    Mark no more the sullen trait
    On slavery's brow of scorn and hate;
    Hear no more the long sigh borne
    Murmuring on the gales of morn.
    Yet we remain, far distant,
    Toiling on in pain and want.
    When the great sun fires the skies,
    To our work of woe we rise

    "'And see each night without a friend,
    The world's great comforter descend.
    Tell our brethren when ye meet,
    Thus we toil with weary feet;
    Tell them, that love's gen'rous flame,
    In joy, in wretchedness the same,
    In distant lands was ne'er forgot;
    And tell them that we murmur not.
    Tell them though the pang will start
    And drain the lifeblood from the heart,
    Tell them generous shame forbids
    The tear to stain our burning lids;
    Tell them in weariness and want
    For our native hills we pant,
    Where soon from shame and sorrow free,
    We hope in death to follow thee.'"

Most of the productions of the tropics are found in the Zambesi region.
The constant insurrections and disturbances among the native tribes have
tended to keep the country from being extensively cultivated.

The animals of this section are very similar to those of South America.
The trade in ivory is large. Vast quantities are exported from the west
and east coasts.

The mineral wealth is considerable. There are extensive coal fields, and
gold has been found near Tete and Senna.

Livingstone relates that when he visited a hot spring near the Zambesi,
he found the valleys near Tete very fruitful and well cultivated.

The whole country lying north and northwest of Tete is hilly. These
hills are covered with trees, and present a very picturesque scene. It
was in this neighborhood that he found evidences of extensive coal
mines, which he felt sure could be worked with little labor and at
little cost.

While in the vicinity of the hot spring he availed himself of the
opportunity of visiting some former gold washing localities. The banks
of the rivulet were covered with large groves of fine mango trees. The
Portuguese used to live among these trees while they kept supervision
over the natives engaged in the gold washing.

The process of washing the sand of the rivulet was hard and very
tedious; for the gold was found in minute scales, like mica.

Towards the west various gold washing stations were pointed out to
Livingstone. One station, where gold had been found more abundantly than
in any other locality, was supposed by some to be the "Ophir of King
Solomon."

He saw at this station gold flakes as large as grains of wheat. He found
that the natives would wash for gold only when in need of a little
calico.

He was very sure that they knew the value of the gold, for they brought
it for sale, packed in goose quills, and demanded twenty-four yards of
cloth in exchange for a quill.

They were not unaware of the advantages of this section, for when the
waters of the river overflow, they leave a coating of mud upon the
banks, and the natives quickly noticed which spots dried soonest, and
would begin to dig there, in the firm belief that the gold lay in these
spots.

They had a superstition that if they dug deeper than their chins the
ground would fall in and kill them.

When they found a piece of gold,--literally a flake,--it was their
custom to bury it again. This was due to a superstition that it was the
seed of the gold. The value of the flake they knew very well, but they
preferred to lose this seed rather than a full crop in the future.

It would be interesting to read more of Livingstone's stories of the
Zambesi, but we must pass on to other topics.




CHAPTER XII.

THE DESERTS OF SOUTH AFRICA.


The deserts of South Africa, which include the great Kalahari, are,
strictly speaking, savannas.

This section of what we might term semi-deserts lies between 20 deg. and 30 deg.
south latitude. It is about one thousand miles long and seven hundred
miles wide. The great Kalahari Desert is in the center of this vast
area. Naturally, we should look for a variety of physical features in so
vast a territory.

On its outer edges the desert tract of South Africa consists of broad
plains. These are intersected by rugged, though not very lofty,
mountains.

During the wet season these plains are covered with a rich, succulent
herbage. This disappears, however, in the dry season. Under the
scorching heat it is literally burned off, and leaves the ground parched
and dusty.

At intervals in this territory may be found vast tracts overgrown with
low bushes covered with thorns. These thorny bushes grow in such dense
masses that the traveler is compelled to cut his way through them.

The colonists of South Africa give the name "Wait-a-bit" to this bush.
Its short, hooked thorns check the progress of the traveler and compel
him to wait a bit at almost every step he takes in advance.

Andersson, an early explorer, once came upon a forest of thornless trees
in this section. In his journal he describes his feelings at the sight:
"I do not think that I was ever so surprised in my life. I hesitated to
trust my senses. Even the dull faces of my attendants seemed to relax
from their usual heavy, unintelligent cast, and to express joy at the
novel scene."

The climate is characterized by a brief wet season, when the rain falls
in torrents. This season is succeeded by months of complete drought.
During these droughts water can be found only in solitary fountains,
appearing at rare intervals, or in a few stagnant pools.

Accounts of travelers are filled with the record of suffering that has
been endured in this region, by man and beast, just from the lack of
water.

Although this country may seem uninviting in many respects, yet to the
sportsman it seems a veritable paradise. In no other section of the
globe has he so many species of large game to choose from.

South Africa is like a vast zoological garden. Here are found the
giraffe, the gigantic wild boar, the clumsy hippopotamus, and the
rhinoceros. Leopards and hyenas seek their prey here among the many
species of the antelope family.

Lions lurk on every side. Elephants haunt the lonely pools, where they
seek to quench their thirst.

Ostriches, zebras, deer, springboks, and many other animals, the names
of which we do not find in any zoology, make their home here.

Naturally, with so much animal life to be supported, there must be the
need of vegetable growth.

The beasts of prey find no difficulty in appeasing their hunger; but the
animals of the grazing families would fare badly, had not Nature
provided them with the proper instinct for seeking their food. This
instinct leads them to wander far and wide wherever herbage is to be
found.

The region forms so large a pasture ground that it would be unlikely
that the whole expanse would suffer from drought at any one time.

As the deer and the antelope families wander in search of fresh
pasturage, the beasts of prey, eager for their food, follow in their
wake.

In this peculiar region, nature has provided several plants especially
adapted to the limitations of the soil. These plants seem to store up
food, and even water, under what seems to be the dry sand of this
sterile tract.

One such plant has a low stalk not much larger than the quill of a
crow's feather. This plant sends its roots down into the sandy soil. At
a depth of one or two feet the root expands into a tuber. This tuber is
about the size of a small melon. It consists of a mass of watery,
cellular tissue, much like a young turnip.

Another variety of plant is a low creeper. It expands into a cluster of
tuberous roots. Some of these tubers are as large as a man's head. The
clusters sometimes measure a yard in diameter.

A native searching for one of these clusters pounds the ground with
stones, till a hollow sound indicates the spot where he will find the
prize.

Many of the animals dig away the sand with their sharp hoofs from these
spots, which instinct teaches them to find, just as the reindeer finds
the moss of the Arctic regions buried beneath the snow.

A kind of gourd grows in great abundance, covering large tracts. Both
men and animals are very fond of it.

One traveler relates that in crossing the desert, during the season for
these gourds, he found them in great abundance. So numerous, in fact,
were they, that he and his cattle lived on them for three weeks. During
this interval no water was to be had. When a supply of water was
reached, all seemed to have lost their liking for it.

Another variety of gourd seeks the low sand hills. It has a fruit about
the size of a turnip. The outside of this fruit is of a greenish yellow;
the inside is of a deep orange color.

In the neighborhood of Walfish Bay man and beast live upon this gourd
almost exclusively for three months in the year.

The seeds of this plant look and taste something like an almond. When
the season of the fruit is over, the seeds, which have been carefully
gathered, dried, and preserved, are used for food.

Geologists are of the opinion that by boring deep enough in almost any
section of this semi-desert territory of South Africa water might be
found.

The rainfall in the wet season is very great. Scarcely any of this
rainfall finds an outlet through the rivers.

Much of it must sink down through the sand till it reaches beds of clay
or strata of rock. Here the water would be held as in a basin, and man,
by digging, could obtain it.

Wherever subterranean supplies of water are to be found there are
possibilities for the fertilization of the soil.

The perforating of the arid plains of South Africa with artesian wells
would soon transform them into luxuriant gardens.

In the Kalahari, pits of slight depth are not unfrequently found. These
contain water throughout the year, unless there have been two
successive years of drought.

The natives hide these pits with the utmost precaution. Sometimes they
fill them with loose sand and build a fire over them. This is to mislead
any one searching for water. One would scarcely expect to find water
under a heap of ashes.

When the natives build their huts, they are careful to locate them at
some distance from these hidden mines of liquid treasure.

It is a curious sight to see the women of a village start out from their
huts for a supply of water. Their water vessels are a string of ostrich
eggshells, with a small hole in the end of each shell.

The women make use of a reed for drawing water. This is nearly a yard
long, and has a bunch of grass fastened to the end.

The reed, with its bunch of grass, is sunk down through the sand. The
sand is then packed closely around it.

Placing her mouth at the upper end of the reed, the woman who wishes to
fill her shells makes a vacuum in the sponge-like bunch of grass by
sucking through the reed. The water from the pit flows into the grassy
sponge, thence up through the reed into the mouth, when, by a dexterous
movement, it is thrown into the water vessels.

The women are very skillful in the use of this primitive pump, and it
answers very well for water at so little depth.

Livingstone believed that water existed in the Kalahari at no great
depth below the surface. He reasoned from these circumstances: For two
successive seasons there had been an extreme drought. During neither of
these droughts had more than five inches of rain fallen. Everything was
parched. The ground was so hot that if beetles were placed upon it, they
were killed in a few seconds, as if they had been placed upon a sheet of
hot iron. He noticed that a certain species of ants which always dig
their tunnels deep into the ground, did not seem affected by the heat.
He opened some of their chambers, curious to learn the reason, and
invariably found that the walls were moist.

The inhabitants of this territory are of varied character. Many of them
are of the very lowest types of mankind. Others are far superior, and
seem susceptible to civilization and education.

In their home life they cultivate their garden patches with a great deal
of care and no little skill. They rear small herds of goats, though
often forced to dig water for them by the spoonful, as we might say.

In their way they are keen traders. Their trade, though primitive,
answers all their needs. They barter the skins of animals that they have
slain, for spears, knives, tobacco, and other articles.

Livingstone, in his travels across the Kalahari, speaks of the hot wind
which blows over the desert from north to south occasionally. This wind
feels as if it came from an oven. Fortunately, it rarely lasts longer
than three days. It resembles the harmattan of North Africa.

Many years ago, when missionaries first entered the country, this wind
came loaded with fine reddish sand.

Now it does not come laden with sand, but it is so drying in its effects
as to shrink even the best seasoned English wood. Hence all wooden
articles become warped.

This wind comes strongly charged with electricity. A bunch of ostrich
feathers held for a few seconds against it becomes charged as if by an
electrical machine. If one should grasp the bunch, it would give forth a
sharp, crackling sound.

Livingstone noticed this electrical state of the atmosphere when
traveling in a wagon with one of the native chiefs. The fur of the
chief's mantle became, through a slight friction, quite luminous.
Livingstone rubbed it smartly with his hand, and found it gave out quite
bright sparks, with distinct crackling noises.

Turning to the chief, Livingstone said, "Do you see this?" His reply
was, "The white man did not show us this; we had it long before white
men came into the country,--we and our forefathers of old."




CHAPTER XIII.

GLIMPSES OF RIVERS.


The Orange River flows through South Africa. It rises in the _Mont aux
Sources_, at an elevation of about ten thousand feet above sea level. It
flows in a westerly direction for about one thousand miles, and enters
the Atlantic Ocean.

It is a river of no special importance, and is of little value for any
practical purposes of navigation.

It skirts the northern edge of Cape Colony throughout almost its entire
course. It thus serves to separate this colony from the Orange River
Free State and from the adjoining territories, occupied by various
independent native tribes.

Orange River Free State was settled by the Dutch who had previously
occupied Natal. When Great Britain established her rule, the Dutch
boers, or colonists, migrated from their former home, and settled in the
section now known as the Orange River Free State.

The Vaal, a tributary of the Orange River, skirts the northern edge of
the State. The Orange River skirts its southern edge.

The Vaal River flows west, then bends a little to the south. The Orange
River also flows west, but bends a little to the north.

As the two rivers sweep around, they inclose the Orange River Free
State, not only forming its northern and southern boundaries, but
turning their courses so as to unite about midway on the western border.
Under the name of the Orange River, the united streams flow west, along
the northern edge of Cape Colony and the southern edge of Great Namaqua
Land, to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Orange River Free State may be called the connecting link between
Cape Colony, the Transvaal Republic, and Natal. The total area of the
State is estimated above fifty thousand square miles.

[Illustration: A SCENE IN THE DRACHENBERG MOUNTAINS.]

The whole region drained by the Orange River may be considered as a vast
plateau, which rises from three thousand to five thousand feet above the
level of the sea. Very little woodland is to be found except along the
banks of the river and its tributaries.

That portion of the country which comprises the Orange River Free State
is diversified by vast undulating plains. These slope from one of the
mountain systems down to the Vaal River. They are dotted at intervals by
rocky hills.

On the east and southeast the Drachenberg Mountains form a natural
barrier between this section and the coast regions.

The northern part of the State is very level. Hundreds of square miles
of territory are to be found with scarcely a break in the horizon.

In strong contrast to the northern sections are those of the eastern
part of the State.

If we should cross the State from Cape Colony to Natal, we should arrive
at the summit of the passes that lead to the latter colony without
finding a single mountain in sight. Suddenly, an advance of a step or
two would bring us to the edge of an immense mountain chasm. At its
foot, nearly a thousand feet below us, we should perceive the coast
region stretching out towards the Indian Ocean.

When the Dutch took possession of the Orange River Free State, it was
inhabited by different native tribes. Most of these have been driven off
to other sections, just as the Indians of America have been driven out
by the white man to seek new hunting grounds. A few of the more powerful
tribes, however, still dispute the possession of the soil with the
settlers.

All the rivers of the State belong to the Orange River system. Many of
them have distinctly Dutch names. In fact, the whole State bears
abundant evidence of the presence and personality of the colonists. It
is rather curious that they have had to wrest their land from the hands
of native tribes, or have had to struggle with foreign powers, just as
their ancestors had to wrest Holland from the grasp of Old Father Ocean,
or engage in a war with other nations, that looked with longing on the
little country of dykes and ditches.

The history of the struggles of the colonists is an interesting one. We
are led to wonder if the Dutch nation must always struggle for the
possession of any land it may wish to occupy, whether in the Netherlands
or in the Dark Continent.

In the early days of colonization vast herds of the larger varieties of
antelopes roamed over the great plain of the State; most of them have
disappeared as man has invaded their grazing places.

Interest has centered about the Orange River Free State, owing to the
discovery of diamonds here, and in Griqualand, a narrow strip of land
bounding it upon the west. It will be interesting to view these diamond
sections later on in our reading.

The Senegal River rises not very far from the source of the Niger, at
the extreme west of the so-called Kong Mountains. It flows first
northwest and then west, and loses itself in the Atlantic Ocean a little
north of Cape Verd.

The length of the river has been estimated as upwards of eleven hundred
miles. The last seven or eight hundred miles are navigable only for
flat-bottomed boats. In fact, here and there throughout its whole
course, the navigation of the river is frequently interrupted by
cataracts, shoals, and rocks.

The banks of the river are covered with verdure, and in some sections
with timber. In the lower part of its course the river is dotted with
numerous islands. These are usually large, well cultivated, and fertile.

The entrance to the river is somewhat difficult, owing to the breakers
and to the existence of a sandbar. In dry weather this bar has been
known to be covered by only eight or nine feet of water.

The Gambia is a smaller stream than the Senegal, flowing about in the
same direction and through the same section of country. Its length is
estimated at about one thousand miles. The mouth of the river is about
four miles broad. Just before the river reaches the sea its current is
fully double its width at the mouth.

The river is navigable for vessels of one hundred and fifty tons as far
as the town of Barraconda. This town is situated on the right bank of
the stream, about two hundred miles from the sea. The river enters the
sea a little to the south of Cape Verd.

The Senegal and Gambia drain the tract of country named, most
appropriately, Senegambia. It is a large maritime tract, bounded on the
north and west by the Sahara and the Soudan, on the south by Sierra
Leone, and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean.

Between the two rivers, which are two hundred and fifty miles apart,
there are no very important water-courses. Between the Gambia and the
frontier of Sierra Leone there is but one stream of any size, the Rio
Grande.

The coast of Senegambia is deeply indented by various arms of the sea,
which resemble somewhat the estuaries of rivers.

The country forms the western and northern slope of the Kong plateau.
Portions of it are still but partially explored.

The soil of Senegambia differs widely. On the coast we find either low,
flat, alluvial plains, or an undulating country broadening to the north.
In the northern frontier this tract merges into the Sahara. In the
interior the plateau rises from the coast plains in a series of
mountainous terraces, and finally loses itself in the Kong Mountains.
The loftiest elevations of the soil are only a little more than three
thousand feet.

Strictly speaking, the country is divided into three sections, High,
Middle, and Low Senegambia. High Senegambia lies to the north of the
Senegal and is inhabited chiefly by the Moors. Middle Senegambia is the
section along the borders of the Senegal. It is inhabited chiefly by
negroes, who divide themselves into numerous tribes. The climate of this
section is extremely hot and in the marshy districts it is very
unhealthy. The soil is fertile, and yields the usual productions of the
hot regions of Africa. Lower Senegambia includes the sections bordering
on the Gambia.

As a country, Senegambia has a most luxuriant vegetation. The monkey
bread tree is characteristic of the country. It is considered the most
enormous tree upon the globe, and while other trees may surpass it in
height none equal it in the size of its gigantic trunk and limbs.
Specimens have been found measuring sixty, seventy-five, and even a
hundred feet in circumference.

While the native population of Senegambia consists of negroes of various
types, European nations are well represented. The British have a number
of settlements along the banks of the Gambia. Along the banks of the
Senegal are various French settlements. Scattered along the rivers at
various points are numerous small factories managed by the Portuguese.

The chief commercial products of Senegambia consist of gum, beeswax,
ivory, bark, and hide.




CHAPTER XIV.

THE CONGO RIVER.


The Congo River flows into the Gulf of Guinea and is a most magnificent
river, more wonderful in some respects than the Nile. It is the only one
of the large rivers of Africa which has anything approaching an estuary;
all the others having delta mouths. So great is the volume of water
which it discharges at its mouth, that forty miles out at sea its water
is only partially mingled with that of the Atlantic, while nine miles
from the coast the water is perfectly fresh.

The Congo River was for many years a veritable Will-o'-the-wisp to
explorers. Its identity was lost so many times, that the geographers
looked upon the course of this river as one of the greatest problems
connected with the study of Africa they had ever been called upon to
solve.

The Congo has a length of more than three thousand miles. The maritime
region of the Congo River basin is restricted in its character. For a
few miles inward the ground has an upward slope; then the traveler is
confronted by ridge upon ridge of hills, which gradually assume the
character of high mountains.

The Congo rushes on through this mountainous section, as though through
one of our western canyons, till it reaches Stanley Pool. Here the
channel becomes much broader, the stream attaining a width of five
miles, with an extraordinary depth of water. As the river spreads itself
to attain this breadth, it flows placidly on through fertile plains,
rich in vegetation.

Geographers have, for convenience, divided the river into well-defined
sections, the Upper and the Lower Congo.

The Lower Congo has a length of about three hundred and thirty miles. It
is the part of the river between Leopoldville--situated on the banks of
Stanley Pool--and the sea and has a navigable current for about one
hundred miles, between Vivi and the sea. Above Vivi the river for about
fifty miles is lined on either side by high slate cliffs. These tend, of
course, to narrow the channel. It is in this section that the Lower
Livingstone Falls occur, and prevent navigation.

For a distance of about ninety miles above these falls the course of the
river is somewhat broken, but it becomes navigable as far as Manyanka.
Here the Upper Livingstone Falls are situated, and the river again
becomes unnavigable.

The Upper Congo starts at Stanley Pool, and as far as Stanley Falls--a
distance of over one thousand miles--has a navigable current. It is, in
fact, the grand highway for commerce right into the heart of Africa.

From Stanley Falls to Nyangwe, a distance of nearly four hundred miles,
the river has a more or less broken current.

Between Nyangwe and Lake Moero there is still another stretch of four
hundred miles.

More than two hundred miles from Lake Moero lies Lake Bangweolo, or
Bemba. At a distance of nearly four hundred miles from Bemba the Congo,
under the name of the Chambesi, takes its rise.

During Dr. Livingstone's explorations to discover the sources of the
Nile and to penetrate the secrets of the lake region of Africa, he
became much interested in the course of the Chambesi, which he thought,
at first, might be one section of the Zambesi. The names seemed to him
somewhat similar in sound, and he decided to make an exploration of the
stream.

Later, he became convinced that it was not a part of the Zambesi, but he
was firmly impressed that its identity with the Lualaba could be
established.

Many years of his life were devoted to the study of the Lualaba and the
great system of inland lakes of Africa.

Just as the whole of the civilized world looked eagerly for more
definite information of Livingstone's success, all news of him ceased.
Much anxiety for his safety and welfare was felt. Months of weary
waiting brought at last only the most conflicting reports. Finally the
news of his death was received.

This was sad news for the world to believe. Determined to know, if
possible, more definitely the fate of this intrepid explorer, those who
were most interested sent out relief parties in search of him.

As a final result of all this intense interest, Mr. Henry Stanley was
appointed commander of the celebrated expedition which afterwards
penetrated into the interior of Africa. The expedition had for its chief
object the finding of Livingstone, if he were living. If his life had
been sacrificed in the interests of science, the mission of the
expedition was to discover his resting place, and the journals and
letters that he must have left as a priceless legacy to the world.

The thrilling incidents of Stanley's labor of love, the accounts of the
hardships, privations, and stirring adventures, as he relates them in
his journals are intensely interesting.

Impressed by the results of Livingstone's work, Stanley followed the
Lualaba River from the point where Livingstone's investigations had
ceased, and named it the Livingstone, in honor of the great explorer.

Through Stanley's efforts, the identity of the Chambesi, the Lualaba,
and the Congo was fully established.

It seems unfortunate that the name Lualaba--which translated means
"mother of waters"--could not have been retained throughout the entire
course of the stream. It was a name which, to Livingstone, seemed most
appropriate for the wonderful river whose course he had delighted to
trace.

Stanley's work was a magnificent proof of what intrepid courage and
grand enthusiasm can accomplish. In one expedition after another he
completed the discoveries of other explorers, penetrated the mysteries
of the lake region and revealed its secrets, explored the very heart of
Africa, and traced the course of that wonderful river, Livingstone's
Lualaba, till it reached the sparkling waters of the South Atlantic.

The Congo has several large affluents. On the south we find the Kiva,
into which a most noble river, the Kasai, flows; the Lulongo, which
flows through a densely populated region; and the Ruki River, on the
mouth of which Equatorville has been built.

On the north bank of the river we find such tributaries as the Mobangi,
the most important of all the rivers flowing into the main stream; for
it drains, by means of its multitude of head streams, the whole of the
region that lies between the Congo and the equatorial provinces of
Egypt. The Itimbiri is another river flowing into the Congo from the
north. It enters the river just where the stream attains its greatest
breadth. About one hundred and fifty miles below Stanley Falls, the
waters of the Aruwimi enter the Congo to swell its current.




CHAPTER XV.

THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO RIVER BASIN.


Stanley estimated the population of the Upper Congo basin at forty-three
millions. Other explorers testify to the dense population and to the
extent of the villages, as they are termed.

One writer tells of the great astonishment he felt at the length of
these villages. It was no uncommon thing to find five and six miles of
continuous street.

An Arab guide told Stanley that he had sometimes been two hours in
passing through some of these villages. An eminent German explorer
states that in one section of the country an almost unbroken line of
huts and structures stretches along the established caravan route.

The people are often barbarous to strangers, yet it is possible to
approach them by means of trade. They are very keen to take advantage of
the trader who offers the goods of the white man in exchange for the
articles they have to barter.

Stanley wrote a detailed account of his explorations in this region
under the title "Across the Dark Continent." The book was eagerly read,
and had a great influence upon the civilized world at the time of its
publication.

The most noticeable result was the establishment of missions, not only
along the Congo, but around Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika, and even
in West, East, and Central Africa.

Travelers from France, Portugal, and Germany, fired with enthusiasm, set
out to explore these vast regions; and, as a result, most of the
European nations became interested in making as many annexations as they
could to their possessions in Africa.

As a direct result of all this great interest, the savage tribes that
infest the region of the Upper Congo were brought into a state of
semi-civilization, and to the point where they would show, if not a
friendly, at least a reasonably tolerant spirit towards the white man.

The aim of the missionaries was to bring the minds of these poor savages
from the darkness, of ignorance, superstition, and idolatry into the
light of Christianity, to show them the benefits of peace, the
advantages of trade, and the results of an intercourse with the world of
civilization.

Above all other objects that the hearts of the missionaries held sacred
was the abolition of the slave trade, which, with all its attendant
horrors, was the destruction of the people.

The enormity of the African slave trade was not over-estimated. The
Arabs made it their special occupation to deal in what was known as the
"ebony trade." Under the pretext of searching for ivory, they
perpetrated the most cruel and heartless deeds.

Without a thought of the poor savages, they kept up a system of
slaughter that knew no mercy, and drained the very life blood of the
people of Central Africa.

Even from a selfish point of view, the white man saw it was for his
advantage to destroy the slave trade. How could he be expected to
advance into the heart of Africa without the aid of the strong,
able-bodied natives? With the depopulation of the country, too, the
well-worn, beaten tracks, the shady groves of banana trees, the broad
fields of waving grain would disappear, and only devastation and ruin
remain, as distressing pictures in this now fertile section.

The white man saw only too plainly that the slave trade did not affect
the negro alone, but that it affected the loss or the profit of the
whole civilized world. What availed it that the riches of Central Africa
were apparently inexhaustible, if the native tribes were not left to
help gather them?

We can form some estimate of the cruel work of the Arab slave traders
from the account of it given by one author. In his book, "The Arab in
Central Africa," he describes the destructive work of an Arab caravan.
In the course of eleven months, not only had they pillaged an extent of
country containing some thirty thousand square miles, but they had
secured nearly twenty-five thousand captives. Nor was this the extent of
their cruel work; for, during that time, they destroyed upwards of one
hundred villages, and killed about four thousand of the inhabitants.

As this was the fifth caravan which had hunted this territory over, it
was estimated that no less than thirty thousand lives had been
sacrificed to secure a comparatively small number of slaves.

Another writer declares that it was no unusual thing for four hundred
thousand slaves to be brought into market in the course of a single
year, while as many as two million lives were sacrificed in order to
bring these slaves to the coast for trading purposes.

Stanley, in his journey through Manyema, was impressed by the extreme
fertility of the section and by the numerous villages, as he traversed
the country from Tanganyika to Nyangwe. A few months later the whole
country presented the distressing pictures of depopulation and
devastation.

The region of Tanganyika Lake was considered a high road by caravans.
Professor Drummond, in his interesting book, gives a description of the
crafty Arab, who would sometimes settle in a well-favored spot for a
year, or even longer. Here, he would accumulate immense quantities of
ivory, until his money was exhausted. Then, on some slight pretext, he
would engage in a quarrel with one or two of the natives. He would soon
be pined by his friends, all well armed. The quarrel would become
general, and would assume the character of a general massacre. Villages
would then be burned, homes laid waste, and the strongest, ablest
natives spared only to serve as beasts of burden to transport the tons
of ivory to the coast. Here, when his load of ivory had been sold, the
wily Arab traded off his "ebony" to the masters of slaving vessels.

In view of such facts, it is not surprising that representatives of
different European nations formed "The International Association of the
Congo." Its objects were threefold: philanthropic, scientific, and
commercial.

We have seen the need of a spirit of philanthropy and the object of the
missionaries in dealing with the tribes of the Congo River basin.
Science was now to be advanced by means of surveys of the river basin;
for this would reveal the physical features of the country, its natural
facilities, and its wealth of productions. The interests of commerce
were also to be considered and extended.

First, an outlet was to be provided for the great wealth of the interior
of Africa, and an opening made for trade in the manufactures of all
Europe. Second, roads and bridges were to be built, settlements were to
be formed, and land cultivated. Third, hostile tribes were to be brought
into harmony; a main road was to be established, not only for the
transportation of goods, but to open a means of communication with the
many Congo tribes, and gradually to bring them into a state of
civilization.

Stanley was offered the important position of director of the expedition
which the association sent out. He sailed for the Congo, after leaving
Zanzibar, by way of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, landing at Banana
Point, which is at the mouth of the river.




CHAPTER XVI.

VIEWS OF THE CONGO BASIN.


The Congo, as far as Ponta de Lenha, or Wood Point, at a distance of
thirty-four miles from Banana Point, is navigable by large seagoing
steamers. Above this place the river grows rapidly shallow. Though
shallow at any time, its waters become very much affected during the
change of seasons.

The next important settlement beyond Wood Point is Boma. This, like
Banana Point, is a great factory town. Numerous warehouses, belonging to
English, Dutch, French, and Portuguese trading companies, comprise its
main features.

These different companies own many steamers, both large and small. The
small steamers are for river traffic; the large ones ply between Europe
and the coast. Stanley found these steamers a frequent feature in the
rather monotonous scene; for, at the time of his arrival on the west
coast, the Lower Congo, between Banana Point and Boma, had all the
bustling appearance of a mercantile river of some importance.

Boma is a most attractive spot in the landscape of this vast region,
which stretches far and wide. To the north rise the ridges of a long,
uneven mass of hills. Against the background of sultry sky they look
cool and beautiful in their blue coloring, seen through the hazy
distance. Southward lies a miniature repetition of these hills. In the
foreground and midway in the picture, the mighty Congo sweeps towards
one on the left, away from one on the right. Silently, steadily, with
even pace, it moves onward to the sea.

After a rainy season the whole country rejoices in a carpet of velvety
green; a few months later, and the relentless rays of a tropical sun
scorch leaf and blade to a dreary waste in the landscape.

Then the earth, dry as tinder, offers an inviting field for the bush
fires, which, departing, leave as a legacy only burning embers, where
once flourished the brilliant flowers, dense underbrush, and verdant
grasses of a tropical world.

But these are not the only features to be found in this section to-day.
Here may be seen machine shops ringing with the clang of busy workmen,
iron sheds, and coal yards. Here, too, is a whole settlement of European
houses, and a small town of huts, which serve as the dwellings of the
native workmen. Situated on an elevated, airy site, a large, handsomely
designed hospital greets the eye. While, as a crowning feature, a
strong, substantial iron pier extends far out into the river.

Thus can we get some little idea of what the energy and the perseverance
of the white man have accomplished within the last few years.

About forty miles from Boma the Congo suddenly changes its character,
and temporarily becomes a veritable Colorado River. Madly,
tempestuously, it rushes downward in its course, through a canon of
bold, bare rocks, which tend to form a succession of falls and rapids.
The foot of this canon forms a natural limit to navigation from the sea.
Hence, all goods for the upper river stations have to be carried
overland.

It was at this point that Stanley formed his first settlement. Just at
the foot of the rapids, on the right bank of the river, the mountain of
Vivi rises. About three hundred and fifty feet above the river, on an
irregular plateau of the mountain, Stanley set to work.

First of all, the plateau was leveled, the immense rocks that reared
their heads here and there were ground to pieces and used for road and
house foundations. A road was built from the narrow beach to the
selected site. Several houses were built, not only for the
representatives of European nations, but for the natives also. Last but
not least, a large garden was made by transporting the rich soil of the
valley and filling in a tract previously excavated for the purpose.

This garden in a short time became a source of rest and enjoyment to the
white residents at the station. It was the only spot on the bare and
sterile hills where a particle of shade could be found from the glaring
heat of the sun.

Stanley's great success in all his expeditions was due to the fact that
he believed in the nobility of labor. It is interesting to learn that,
during the work of founding the settlement, Stanley showed such skill in
pulverizing the scattered rocks with his sledge hammer as to earn the
name of Stone-breaker from the native chiefs. He soon became known by
this title among all the tribes dwelling upon the Congo.

At the end of three months the settlement at Vivi was completed. Leaving
an American, Mr. Sparhawk, in charge, Stanley proceeded to Isangila. His
object was to discover in which direction to build the projected road.

From Vivi to Isangila, we must remember, the river is unnavigable. The
numerous cataracts and rapids of Livingstone Falls make a formidable
obstruction. Isangila lies about fifty miles from Vivi. The interlying
country is of an exceedingly rocky, rugged character.

The well-worn roads of the natives led, as is the custom, up and down
the hills and valleys. "Straight as Roman roads," it was not possible
for a wagon road to be laid over such ground.

After much planning and arduous labor a road was completed to Isangila.
From this point, goods brought overland from Vivi could be transported
by boats launched upon the river. Then, with the exception of the upper
Livingstone Falls, the wide stretches of the Congo from Isangila to the
foot of Stanley Falls formed a natural highway, which required only
navigation.

Stanley's journal gives many details of the work of building the road
from Vivi to Isangila. This road, which was fifteen feet broad, took a
year to complete, but when finished it was a masterpiece. So strong was
it, that heavy wagons, even when laden with steamers, launches, and
boats, could safely travel over it.

Just above the cataracts, which mark the sudden decline from Stanley
Pool to the river current, the settlement of Leopoldville was founded on
the southern bank of the stream. It has an excellent situation on the
northwest corner of the pool which serves as the connecting link between
the Lower and Upper Congo.

On a piece of lofty ground, sloping down to the river and overlooking
Kintamo Bay, Stanley decided to clear a site and begin to build.

Upon a long, wide terrace, which he cut out of the hillside, various
buildings were erected. The largest house and all the headquarters were
stoutly built of wood, and then plastered over with clay to the depth of
two feet. This was to insure a fort in case of subsequent hostilities,
when a garrison would be needed.

A little distance off the native village was built. Its proportions were
considerable, as it had to accommodate upwards of one hundred and fifty
natives.

The headquarters were commodious. They comprised five bedrooms, a large
dining room, and a strong magazine. A large garden was laid out, and
sheds and houses for live stock of various sorts were erected.

Petty acts of hostility committed by one of the native tribes occasioned
much annoyance to the settlers. In order to preserve peace Stanley had
resource to a rite known as blood brotherhood. He thus describes this
curious performance, which he had frequently taken part in. The ceremony
took place between Stanley and a native chief, Ngalyema.

"We crossed arms, an incision was made in each arm, some salt was placed
on the wound, and then a mutual rubbing took place, while the great
fetich man of Kintamo pronounced an inconceivable number of curses on my
head if I ever proved false. Susi, formerly Livingstone's head man, not
to be outdone by him, solicited the gods to visit unheard-of atrocious
vengeances on Ngalyema if he dared to make the slightest breach in the
sacred brotherhood, which made him and the Stone-breaker one and
indivisible forever."

Stanley thus describes the town: "Leopoldville, with its one-story block
house, commanding from its windows all approaches, impregnable to
musket-armed natives, and proof against fire, despite its grass roof,
because underneath that grass roof there was an earth roof two feet
thick, on which fire might burn itself out harmlessly, offered a safe
refuge, should trouble arise.

"The terrace was long and wide--the native village was formed of one
broad street--flanked by a row of clay huts on either side. Slanting
from a point thirty feet below the block house, and sloping gently down
to the landing place, gardens of young bananas and vegetables extended
beyond these huts. Water was handy, fuel was abundant."

From the summit of Leopold Hill, above the station, a most magnificent
view lies before one. "The vast circle of water formed by Stanley Pool,
the amphitheater of rocky mountains and lofty white cliffs, the large
island of Bamu with many attendant satellites, combine to make a scene
of a striking character."




CHAPTER XVII.

MORE VIEWS OF THE CONGO REGION.


Back, stretching far behind the lofty banks of the noble Congo, lies a
country rich in its enormous wealth of natural productions. The toil and
enterprise of another generation can hardly hope to gauge its resources,
and it is doubtful if even coming generations can exhaust its stores.

The vegetation of the Upper Congo region is most wonderful. Whole
forests of the oil palm are a common feature. From this tree vast
quantities of oil are obtained, while the kernels are used for oil
cakes. The India-rubber plant is another important production. Stanley
believed that enough of the gum could be exported in a single year to
defray the cost of a railway through that section. Vegetables of all
descriptions are also abundant.

The trade in ivory alone would furnish, according to Stanley, an
enormous revenue. He estimated that one million dollars' worth of ivory
could be exported annually for twenty-five years, before the elephant
would become extinct in the basin of the Upper Congo.

The banana and the plantain flourish, as do fruits and herbs of many
kinds. Potatoes, onions, and cabbages have been introduced from Europe,
and thrive here. Rice, wheat, and other grains have done well, when
suitable localities have been chosen for them. There is, in fact,
scarcely any limit to the natural advantages of an area of over a
million square miles. Its fertility and richness of soil are at once a
wonder and delight.

It must have been a great disappointment to Stanley, when, on his return
from an official visit to Europe, he found that there had been gross and
wanton neglect on the part of many whom he had left in charge of the
settlement at Leopoldville.

He had pictured to himself well-cultivated gardens and flourishing
fields. To his dismay, he found the native town almost hidden by the
rank growth which held almost undisputed possession of the soil.

The steel boats were at anchor, as they had been for more than a year.
No attempt had been made to clean them or to keep them in repair.

The Europeans and the natives were on the worst of terms. One of the
first things he did was to hold a conference with all the neighboring
chiefs, and endeavor to restore the feelings of good-fellowship which
had previously existed. So successful was he, that he soon induced the
chiefs to sign a treaty, in which they agreed to unite with him, as a
representative of the Association, to control the entire country south
and west of Stanley Pool for the purpose of promoting civilization.

The Association had always been regarded as the chief power. It was in
the eyes of the native chiefs invested with sovereign rights affecting
peace, war, and commerce. Each chief received a flag of the Association
as a symbol of the new confederation. This he was to hoist above his
grass-roofed hut on specified state occasions.

Soon after this treaty was signed, Stanley and his little fleet prepared
to depart for the Upper Congo. He had a force of about eighty men and a
cargo of about six tons, on board his little fleet of vessels, which
consisted of two steamers, a launch, a whale boat, and a canoe.

He writes of his outfit: "We have axes to hew the forests, hammers to
break the rock, spades to turn up the sod and to drain the marsh, or
shovels to raise the rampart, scythes to mow the grass, hatchets to
penetrate the jungle, and seeds of all kinds for sowing, saws to rip
planking, and hammers, nails, and cabinet-makers' tools to make
furniture, needles and thread for sewing all the cloth in these bales,
twine to string their beads; and besides these useful articles in the
cases, there are also countless 'notions' and fancy knick-knacks to
appease the cupidity of the most powerful chief, or excite the desire
for adornment in woman."

Among other items may be mentioned some articles used in trade by the
white man when he journeyed on the Congo: "A case of velvet caps and
hats, six cases of fancy beads, forty-seven bales of cloth, an enormous
quantity of medicine, ammunition, and provisions, and four thousand
pounds of brass rods."

It is interesting to know that the currency of this section of Africa
consists of a brass rod, short and slender. Great numbers of these are
required to equal the value of a very small amount of money. Stanley, at
one time, had to pay eight hundred of these rods for provisions enough
to last the station at Leopoldville three days.

Stanley gives an interesting description of the Upper Congo above
Chumbiri, where the wide stretches of the river are thickly studded with
islets.

"We have been voyaging, since leaving Boma and the estuary-like breadth
of the Lower Congo, in a pass, or defile. From Boma to Vivi, we steamed
between two lines of mountain heights. Between Vivi and Isangila, we
traveled in a narrow valley parallel with the chasmic trough of the
Congo. Between Isangila and Manyanka, our boats ran up the crooked,
ravine-like valley of the river. Between Manyanka and Leopoldville, we
marched along the edge of the deep fracture in the high land through
which the Congo continuously roars.

"Then, after a slight relief, obtained by the lake-like expansion called
Stanley Pool, we have been confined again between two mountain lines of
more or less picturesqueness, up as far as the rocky point above
Chumbiri, to finally emerge into the lacustrine breadth, which the
voluminous waters of the Congo have scooped out of the plains and
lowlands which we now behold on either hand.

"The real heart of Equatorial Africa is this central fertile region,
whose bountiful, unparalleled richness of soil will repay the toil and
labor required to bring it within the reach of Europe.

"It was not the uplands of the maritime region, with their millions of
ravines and narrow, oven-hot valleys, and bald grass tops, and limited
bits of grassy plateaus, with here and there a grove of jungly forest
scattered like islets amid the grassy wastes, that I strove for; it was
this million square miles of almost level area, which we may call the
kernel, that was worth the trouble of piercing the two hundred and
thirty-five miles of thick, rude mountain husk which separates it from
the energies of Europeans, who, could they but reach it, would soon
teach the world what good might come out of Africa."

At the junction of the Ruki River with the Congo, Stanley established a
settlement, first called Equator Station, then Equatorville, as it is
situated on the Equator.

Proceeding always up stream, Stanley passed through a perfect
archipelago; for islets without number dotted the river current.

Here the forest trees attained a height of from one hundred and fifty to
two hundred feet. The underbrush was so dense as to require the use of a
hatchet before it could be penetrated.

While passing these "green-walled straits," Stanley had an experience
with one of the violent storms sometimes met with in a tropical country.

With a sudden rustle and roar, as though mile after mile of forest were
buffeted by a mighty whirlwind, such a storm begins.

The river, which a moment before was like glass, now becomes disturbed
by waves, which increase in size and strength each minute.

Huge trees, holding their burdens of parasites and creepers, sway to and
fro, and shriek and moan, as if in mortal agony.

The wind sweeps the leaves before it in perfect clouds, and then down
comes the rain.

Not a gentle shower, but a genuine rain of the tropics. It drenches one
to the skin in a twinkling. It pelts one with hailstones as large as
marbles.

The ground, which, perhaps, was parched and dry but a moment ago, is now
covered with running water. The grass, which was like dry tinder an hour
before, is replaced by the vegetation about it, which now begins to
revive under the action of the life-giving bounty of Heaven.

Gathering force from the four quarters of the globe, the clouds have
first merged, then burst directly overhead, to let fall a flood of
water, which is precipitated to the earth as rain,--a tropical rain!

Man and beast must alike seek shelter from the fury of such a tempest,
whether its force is felt on the open savanna or amid a forest of trees
groaning under the strain of the gigantic wind and the weight of the
mighty flood descending from the sky.

In an hour the clouds have scattered, the hail and the rain have ceased.
The gusts of wind grow fainter and fainter. The gentle patter of the
drops as they fall from leaf to leaf, the rapid streams, and the
shattered boughs are but the few footprints that mark the track of the
storm.

The sky is as blue, the sun is as fierce as ever; the thermometer ranges
higher and higher; the last solitary trace of the storm cloud vanishes
below the horizon, and the storm departs as suddenly as it arrived.
Such, then, is a tropical tornado!




CHAPTER XVIII.

THE CONGO FREE STATE.


As Stanley's little fleet puffed its way higher and higher up the stream
of the mighty Congo, richer and richer appeared the country through
which the expedition was passing.

The soil seemed almost black, so filled was it with decomposed vegetable
matter, and its fertile appearance was unparalleled by anything which
Stanley had seen in his journeyings.

On either hand the banks were lined with mile upon mile of the most
valuable of the giant growths of the forests. Whole tracts of gum copal
trees were seen for hours together. These trees were literally covered
with orchids, which, in themselves, represented the foundations of many
fortunes to botanists and florists, could they but gather them.

In mid-stream, the islands, which were legion, constantly took on new
shapes. All were characterized by the same exuberance of vegetation.
Truly, here was a land of plenty!

Stanley, with his little fleet, passed slowly up the river, now
exploring any important tributary for a considerable length, now taking
part in the ceremony of the blood brotherhood of which we have read, now
making treaties with the great chiefs; for this brave explorer never
forgot that his expedition was the great mission of commerce and
civilization.

At length the little fleet reached the foot of the seventh, or last
cataract of Stanley Falls. Here it was the purpose of the expedition to
found a settlement destined to be the germ of the future Congo Free
State.

The islands and the mainland west of the falls Stanley found inhabited
by the Wenyas. This tribe was noted for its skilled fishermen and
boatmen. With this tribe Stanley held a council, for the purpose of
purchasing land for a settlement.

There was a good deal of agitation among the natives, we may be sure.
The idea of trading their land with the white man was a novel one to
them. The great chiefs and speechmakers of the tribe were at first
fearful and cautious, and by degrees became prophetic, then indignant
and abusive; finally, they became not only shrewd, but philosophic and
pacific, and, at the close of the conference, even friendly.

As a result of the contract, Stanley exchanged about eight hundred
dollars' worth of beads, knives, cotton cloth, looking-glasses, brass
wire, caps, and such articles, used as currency, for a large portion of
an extensive island, upon which to found a settlement.

The station had a fine situation just below the rapids. In a creek on
the east side of the island was a very good harbor.

East of this Seventh Fall dwelt a powerful tribe, the Bakuma. Stanley
made cordial friends with this tribe, as with the Wenyas.

With both tribes he made treaties, in order to insure his people not
only safety of person but of property. He also made propositions for
civilized methods of conducting commerce.

Thus did Stanley work from point to point along the river to establish
stations, which later were to form the links by which the State was to
be held in peace and harmony, in civilization and progression.

The achievements of Stanley's expedition were wonderful, when we
consider that he had held councils and made treaties with more than four
hundred and fifty chiefs.

As a result, these "great men" had sold to him, for large sums in the
"currency" of their territory, tracts of land which they or their
ancestral fathers, had owned for countless ages. With the transfer of
land they had also yielded their rights as rulers, and given to the new
owners the rights and the privileges belonging to a sovereign. Thus was
laid the foundation of the present Congo Free State.




CHAPTER XIX.

THE LAKE REGION OF AFRICA.


Almost all the lakes of Africa are, comparatively speaking, quite
shallow, and bear evidence of being the remains of much greater bodies
of water that existed in past ages. It is believed that the whole
district now drained by the Zambesi River and its tributaries was, at
one time, a great fresh water lake.

Many traces of the lake still exist. The whole of the vast area drained
by the Zambesi system is covered with a bed of tufa, which is a soft,
porous stone formed by deposits from water. This bed of tufa in the
Zambesi region is more or less hardened, according to the exposure it
has had to atmospheric changes.

The great fissure of the Victoria Falls has, no doubt, drained in no
small degree an enormous valley, to leave only the deeper portion of
what was originally a sea, but is now known as Lake Nyassa.

Traces of ancient beaches along its borders afford proof that the lake
is much diminished in size.

Livingstone writes, that in no part of Africa had he found so dense a
population as upon the shores of Lake Nyassa. Along the south side of
the lake there was an almost unbroken line of villages.

It is upon the shores of this lake that much care is bestowed upon the
graves. The burying grounds are all well protected, and have good broad
paths running through them.

The graves are, in almost every instance, shaded by the deep foliage of
the fig tree. Those of the men are distinguished from those of the women
by the various implements or utensils which they were in the habit of
using during life.

Here, a bit of fishing net, or a bit of broken paddle, tells the story
of a fisherman's life; there, a mortar and pestle used for pounding
corn, or the bucket used for sifting the meal, tells the story of the
domestic life followed by the woman who now lies resting from all labor.

On each grave are the fragments of what were once utensils for holding
food. They have been placed there to signify that their late owners have
passed beyond the need of daily sustenance.

Lake Tchad is, perhaps, one of the most interesting lakes of Africa. It
is, in fact, an immense inland sea, situated in Soudan, a portion of
North Africa.

It has an elevation of about eight hundred feet above the level of the
sea. According to some writers, it is from two to three hundred miles
long and one hundred and forty miles broad.

Although not an especially attractive lake, it is a very interesting
one. Its placid waters stretch far away to its distant banks, fringed
with tall water reeds. Often numerous hippopotami may be seen resting
in its depths, their ugly noses barely showing above the surface.

Here and there light barks may be seen floating. Many of these are so
far in the distance that only the gleam of their sunny sails is visible
to the beholder.

Ordinarily, the depth of the lake is from eight to fifteen feet; in some
years the water has attained a much higher level along its shores.

Crocodiles abound in these waters, as well as the hippopotami, or river
horses. Fish and water fowl are also plenty.

Dr. Barth, the explorer, states that the lake has no apparent outlet,
yet its waters are perfectly fresh. From the north the Waube, a river
some four hundred miles in length, enters it. From the south the Shari,
a stream about eighteen hundred feet broad in its lower course,
discharges its waters into the lake.

Lake Tchad seems to be divided into two distinct sections, the open
water and the strip of swampy land which surrounds it. The open water,
or true Tchad, is dotted with numerous islands. These consist mainly of
elevated, sandy dunes. Only the most elevated of these islands afford
shelter, but such as are inhabited have a dense population.

The people on these lake islands build numerous boats. Some are twenty
feet in length. One writer describes a boat which was fifty feet long,
and but six and one-half feet wide.

The explorers, Barth and Overweg, describe Lake Tchad as a remarkably
fine sheet of water. They visited the lake during the dry season, and
found the lowlands in the vicinity grassy meadows. During the wet season
these lands are usually under water.

Doubtless the ground surrounding the lake was a portion of the former
bed of a much larger sheet of water. Along its shores the papyrus is
found. This is like the plant from which the ancients about the Nile
manufactured their paper. Various other reeds, some of them from ten to
fourteen feet high, grow in abundance, there being two distinct
varieties of these gigantic reeds.

Interwoven in this thicket of reeds grows a variety of climbing plant
with bright yellow blossoms. Another peculiar plant, which floats or
rests upon the water, the natives call by a name which signifies
"homeless fauna."

As these two explorers, Barth and Overweg, approached open water, after
leaving the swampy ground in the nearer vicinity of the lake, they came
upon an expanse of quite deep water. Shortly after, they disturbed a
herd of _kelara_, a variety of antelope that is very fond of the water.
Proceeding on their way, they came to water so deep that, by stooping in
the saddle,--for they were on horseback,--they could easily have drunk
from it. This draught, however, would not have been very refreshing, for
the water was warm and full of vegetable life.

Lake Tanganyika is situated in East Central Africa, at an elevation of
over twenty-seven hundred feet above the level of the sea. It has a
length of upwards of four hundred miles, while its breadth is from ten
to fifty miles. In shape it is like a leech, with the small end
tapering to the north. This small or northern end lies about two hundred
miles southwest of Victoria Nyanza Lake.

Burton and Speke, two African explorers, have given a vivid description
of the approach to the lake, as well as of the lake itself.

Burton regarded the Malagarazi River as the western boundary of "The
Land of the Moon." It is in this section of country that Lake Tanganyika
is situated.




CHAPTER XX.

"THE LAND OF THE MOON."


"'The Land of the Moon,' which is the garden of Central Inter-tropical
Africa, presents an aspect of peaceful rural beauty, which soothes the
eye like a medicine, after the red glare of the barren Ugogo and the
dark, monotonous verdure of the western provinces.

"The inhabitants are comparatively numerous in the villages, which rise
at short intervals above their impervious walls of the lustrous green
milk-bush, with its coral-shaped arms, variegating the well-hoed plains.

"In the pasture lands frequent herds of many-colored cattle, plump,
well-rounded, and high-humped, like the Indian breeds, and mingled
flocks of goats and sheep dispersed over the landscape, suggest ideas of
barbarous comfort and plenty.

"There are few scenes more soft and soothing than a view of 'The Land of
the Moon' in the balmy evenings of spring. As the large yellow sun
nears the horizon, a deep stillness falls upon earth; even the zephyr
seems to lose the power of rustling the lightest leaf. The charm of the
hour seems to affect even the unimaginative Africans, as they sit in the
central spaces of their villages, or, stretched under the forest trees,
gaze upon the glories around.

"The rainy monsoon is here ushered in, accompanied and terminated by
storms of thunder and lightning, and occasional hail falls. The blinding
flashes of white, yellow, or rose color play over the firmament
uninterruptedly for hours, during which no darkness is visible.

"In the lighter storms, thirty and thirty-five flashes may be counted in
a minute. So vivid is the glare that it discloses the finest shades of
color, and appears followed by a thick and palpable gloom, such as would
hang before a blind man's eyes, while a deafening roar, simultaneously
following the flash, seems to travel, as it were, to and fro overhead.
Several claps sometimes sound almost at the same moment, and as if
coming from different directions. The same storm will, after the most
violent of its discharges, pass over, and be immediately followed by a
second, showing the superabundance of electricity in the atmosphere."

Burton describes two tribes of this region as worthy of notice, the
Wakimbu and the Wanyamwezi. The former are emigrants into The Land of
the Moon. They claim a noble origin, having come from tribes living
south of this land that has adopted them.

Burton's description of these people is interesting. "In these regions
there are few obstacles to immigrants. They visit the sultan, make a
small present, obtain permission to settle, and name the village after
their own chief; but the original proprietors still maintain their
rights to the soil.

"The Wakimbu build firmly stockaded villages, tend cattle, and cultivate
sorghum and maize, millet and pulse, cucumbers and watermelons.
Apparently they are poor, being generally clad in skins. They barter
slaves and ivory in small quantities to the merchants, and some travel
to the coast.

"They are considered treacherous by their neighbors. They are known by a
number of small lines formed by raising the skin with a needle, and
opening it by points laterally between the hair of the temples and the
eyebrows. In appearance they are dark and uncomely; their arms are bows
and arrows, spears, and knives stuck in the leathern waist belt; some
wear necklaces of a curiously plaited straw, others a strip of white
cowskin bound around the brow,--a truly savage and African decoration.

"The Wanyamwezi tribe, the proprietors of the soil, is the typical tribe
in this portion of Central Africa. Its comparative industry and
commercial activity have secured to it a superiority over the other
kindred tribes.

"The natives of this tribe are usually of a dark sepia brown, rarely
colored like diluted India ink, as are the slave races to the south. The
hair curls crisply, but it grows to the length of four or five inches
before it splits. It is usually twisted into many little ringlets, or
hanks. It hangs down like a fringe in the neck, and is combed off the
forehead after the manner of the ancient Egyptians and the modern
Hottentots.

"The habitations of the Eastern Wanyamwezi are the _tembe_, which in the
west give place to the circular African hut. Among the poorer
sub-tribes, the dwelling is a mere stack of straw.

"The best tembe have large projecting eaves, supported by uprights;
cleanliness, however, can never be expected in them. Having no
limestone, the people ornament the inner and outer walls with long lines
of ovals, formed by pressure of the finger-tips, after dipping them in
ashes and water for whitewash, and into red clay or black mud for
variety of color.

"With this primitive material they sometimes attempt rude imitations of
nature,--human beings and serpents. In some parts the cross appears, but
the people apparently ignore it as a symbol. Rude carving is also
attempted upon the massive posts at the entrance of villages, but the
figures, though to appearance idolatrous, are never worshiped."




CHAPTER XXI.

VIEWS OF LAKE TANGANYIKA.


Burton considered the march from the Malagarazi River to Lake Tanganyika
the worst part of his journey. It led through a perfect wilderness, with
all the diversities of jungle, swamp, rugged hills, and rocky ravines
swept by mountain torrents.

After much labor, Burton and his followers reached the lake. His first
feeling was one of disappointment.

Having traveled through screens of lofty grass, which gradually thinned
out into a scanty forest, he climbed a steep, stony hill, thinly covered
with thorny trees. From the top of this hill he could see a faint streak
of light below. This he judged was the lake. Seen through the veil of
trees and the broad rays of sunshine, the lake seemed to be shrunken in
its proportions.

As he advanced a few steps, the whole scene burst upon his view. He was
filled with admiration, wonder, and delight at its beauty. To quote his
words:--

"Nothing could be more beautiful, more picturesque, than the first view
of Lake Tanganyika, as it lay in the lap of the mountains, basking in
the gorgeous tropical sunshine. Below and beyond a short foreground of
rugged and precipitous hill-fold, down which the footpath zigzags
painfully, a narrow strip of emerald green, never sere, and marvelously
fertile, shelves towards a ribbon of glistening sand, here bordered by
sedgy rushes, there cleanly and clearly cut by the breaking wavelets.

"Farther in front stretched the waters, an expanse of the lightest and
softest blue, in a breadth varying from thirty to thirty-five miles, and
sprinkled by the crisp east wind into tiny crescents of sunny foam.

"The background is a high and broken wall of steel-colored mountain,
here flecked and capped with pearly mist, there standing sharply
penciled against the azure sky. Its yawning chasms, marked by a deep
plum-color, fall towards dwarf hills of mold-like proportions, which
apparently dip their feet in the wave.

"To the south, and opposite the long, low point behind which the
Malagarazi River discharges the red loam suspended in its violent
stream, lie the bluff headlands and capes of Uguha; and, as the eye
dilates, it falls upon a cluster of outlying islets speckling a sea
horizon.

"Villages, cultivated lands, the frequent canoes of the fishermen on the
waters, and, on a nearer approach, the murmur of the waves breaking upon
the shore, give something of variety, of movement, of life to the
landscape, which, like all the fairest prospects in these regions, wants
but a little of the neatness and finish of art,--mosques and kiosks,
palaces and villas, gardens and orchards,--contrasting with the profuse
lavishness and magnificence of nature, and diversifying the expanse of
excessive vegetation, to rival, if not to excel, the most admired
scenery of the classic regions.

"The riant shores of this vast crevasse appeared doubly beautiful to me
after the silent and spectral mangrove creeks on the East African
seaboard, and the melancholy, monotonous experience of desert and jungle
scenery, tawny rock and sun-parched plain, or rank herbage and flats of
black mire. Truly it was a revel for soul and sight."

In further accounts this same author describes the African canoe, which
is simply a scooped-out log. In such a climate as that of Africa a canoe
cracks, and for want of calking it often becomes so leaky as to require
constant baling. The crew take turns in thus keeping the craft from
sinking.

A canoe of this sort has neither masts nor sails. In place of a rudder
there is an iron ring in the stern. The steering, however, is really
done by the paddle. There are no oars, and the paddle, which takes the
place of oars, is exceedingly clumsy.

The crew seat themselves on narrow benches, two sitting in a space
scarcely large enough for one person. In the center of the canoe is a
clear space about six feet long. This is used to store the cargo,
passengers, cattle, slaves, and provisions.

In describing the natives Burton says: "The lakists are an almost
amphibious race, excellent divers, strong swimmers and fishermen. At
times, when excited by the morning coolness and by the prospect of a
good haul, they indulge in a manner of merriment which resembles the
gambols of sportive water fowls.

"Standing upright and balancing themselves in their hollow logs, which
appear but little larger than themselves, they strike the water
furiously with their paddles, skimming over the surface, dashing to and
fro, splashing one another, urging forward, backing, and wheeling their
craft, now capsizing, then regaining their position with wonderful
dexterity.

"They make coarse hooks, and have many varieties of nets and creels.
Conspicuous on the waters and the villages is the dewa, or otter of
Oman, a triangle of stout reeds, which shows the position of the net. A
stronger kind, and used for the larger ground fish, is a cage of open
basket work, provided like the former with a bait and two entrances. The
fish, once entangled, cannot escape, and a log of wood used as a
trimmer, attached to a float-rope of rushy reeds, directs the
fisherman."

The results of Burton's trip up and down the lake, owing to the
obstinacy of the native guides, were not very important. The shores of
the lake he found to be very muddy, and the landscape bright and green
with vegetation. The inhospitable natives, although favored with every
blessing of so luxuriant a climate, were ignorant and barbarous.

Tanganyika is probably the longest fresh water lake in the world. It
occupies an area of nearly thirteen thousand square miles, and has a
coast line of nine hundred miles in extent.




CHAPTER XXII.

SOME VIEWS OF THE PEOPLE.


Burton and his companion, Speke, remained for over three months at
Ujiji, a small province situated upon Lake Tanganyika. It has a
convenient situation as a mart, and was a central point for the
establishment of trading depots by the Arabs as early as 1840. It was
their custom to send decoy slaves with their agents, to navigate the
waters of the lake, for the purpose of collecting ivory and slaves upon
its shores.

The atmosphere of Ujiji has great humidity, and its soil, consequently,
great fertility. The large forest trees and the profusion of ferns give
abundant evidence that the province is one of the most productive in
this portion of Africa. Vegetables, which in other sections grow only
under cultivation, here have a spontaneous growth.

The Arabs found rice of an excellent quality could be raised upon the
shores of the lake. It grew very luxuriantly, sometimes to the height of
eight or nine feet. The natives, however, found that the ravages of the
monkey, the elephant, and the hippopotamus were such as to spoil their
rice fields, and turned their attention to the cultivation of sorghum,
for which they have a preference.

"The bazaar at Ujiji is well supplied. Fresh fish of various kinds is
always procurable, except during the violence of the rains; the people,
however, invariably cut it up and clean it before bringing it to market.
Good honey abounds after the wet monsoon. By the favor of the chief,
milk and butter may be purchased every day. Long-tailed sheep and
well-bred goats, poultry and eggs--the two latter are never eaten by the
people--are brought in from the adjoining countries. The Arabs breed a
few Manilla ducks, and the people rear, but will not sell, pigeons."

It will be interesting to know the meaning of the various prefixes to
native words used in speaking of the land and people of Africa. Captain
Burton uses these prefixes invariably in his journal and letters. They
are _U_, meaning the country; _Ki_, meaning the language; _Wa_, the
people in a body; and _M_, an individual. These prefixes are used in
connection with some special stem or root, as _jiji_, chosen by a native
tribe. Thus we find U-jiji, the _country_ of _jiji_; Ki-jiji, the
_language_ of _jiji_. Wa-jiji, the _people_ of _jiji_; M-jiji, an
_individual_ in jiji__. This little explanation will tend to help us in
our understanding of the various African words we shall meet in our
reading.

"The Wajiji are a burly race of barbarians, far stronger than the tribes
hitherto traversed, with dark skins, plain features, and straight,
sturdy limbs," we are told in Burton's account of his explorations in
the region along the shores of the lake. "They are larger and heavier
men than the Wanyamwezi, and the type, as it approaches Central Africa,
becomes rather negro than negroid.

"Their feet and hands are large and flat, their voices are harsh and
strident, and their looks as well as their manners are independent
almost to insolence. Many, of both sexes and all ages, are disfigured by
the smallpox. The Arabs have vainly taught them inoculation."

In continuation Burton writes: "The Wajiji are considered by the Arabs
to be the most troublesome race in these black regions. They are taught
by the example of their chiefs to be rude, insolent, and extortionate;
they demand beads even for pointing out the road; they will deride and
imitate a stranger's speech and manner before his face; they can do
nothing without a long preliminary of the fiercest scolding; they are as
ready with a blow as with a word; and they may often be seen playing at
'rough and tumble,' fighting, pushing, and tearing hair, in their boats.

"A Mjiji uses his dagger or his spear upon a guest with little
hesitation; he thinks twice, however, before drawing blood, if it will
cause a feud.

"When the sultan appears among his people, he stands in a circle and
claps his hands, to which all respond in the same way. Women curtsey to
one another, bending the right knee almost to the ground. When two men
meet, they clasp each other's arms with both hands, rubbing them up and
down, and ejaculating for some minutes, 'Nama, sanga? nama sanga?'--Art
thou well? They then pass the hands down to the forearm, exclaiming,
'Wahke? wahke?'--How art thou?--and finally they clap palms at each
other, a token of respect which appears common to these tribes of
Central Africa.

"The children have all the frowning and unprepossessing look of their
parents. They reject little civilities, and seem to spend life in
disputes, biting and clawing like wildcats. There seems to be little
family affection in this undemonstrative race."




CHAPTER XXIII

THE MARCH TOWARDS VICTORIA NYANZA.


One of the last of Burton's explorations, before his return to his
native country, was an attempt to ascertain some particulars as to the
nature of the countries which lay north and south of the route he had
followed. He was especially anxious to glean information of a great sea,
or lake, which the Arabs told him was an immense body of water, much
larger than Tanganyika, at a distance of fifteen or twenty marches to
the north.

Burton saw that if he could prove the existence of such a lake, it would
explain many disputed points and confirm many speculations of modern
geographers. Owing to illness, Burton was obliged to give up his
intention of exploring the new body of water. Speke, his companion,
continued the journey, and reached the lake, which he named Victoria
Nyanza.

Speke was strongly convinced that here was the long-sought source of
that most mysterious of rivers, the Nile. He returned to England to
render an account of his exploration to the Royal Geographical Society
and proposed the forming of a new expedition party for the purpose of
exploring the newly discovered lake, Victoria Nyanza, and the adjacent
countries. The plan met with such favor that in the spring of the
following year, with a companion named Grant, he started out with an
exploring party.

Leaving England they went to the Cape of Good Hope, and then started for
Zanzibar. They first proceeded to East London, then north to Delagoa
Bay, and finally to Zanzibar. Here the sultan received them courteously,
and promised to aid the expedition in every possible way.

Speke's description of the start from Zanzibar is most realistic:
"Starting on the march with a large mixed caravan, one could hardly
expect to find everybody in his place at the proper time for breaking
ground; but, at the same time, it could hardly be expected that ten men,
who had actually received their bounty money, and had sworn fidelity,
should give one the slip the first day. Such, however, was the case.
Ten, out of the thirty-six given by the sultan, ran away, because they
feared that the white men, whom they believed to be cannibals, were only
taking them into the interior to eat them; and one porter, more honest
than the freed men, deposited his pay upon the ground, and ran away,
too. Go we must, however, for one desertion is sure to lead to more; and
go we did.

"Our procession was in this fashion: the kirangozi, with a load on his
shoulder, led the way, flag in hand, followed by the pagazis, carrying
spears or bows and arrows in their hands, and bearing their share of the
baggage in the form either of bolster-shaped loads of cloth and beads,
covered with matting, each tied into the fork of a three-pronged stick,
or else coils of brass or copper wire, tied in even weights to each end
of sticks, which they laid on the shoulder."

The kirangozi of whom he speaks was doubtless the leader, or director,
of the band of pagazis, or porters. Continuing, he writes: "Then, helter
skelter, came the Waguana, carrying carbines in their hands, and boxes,
bundles, tents, cooking-pots--all the miscellaneous property--on their
heads. Next the Hottentots, dragging the refractory mules laden with
ammunition boxes, but very lightly, to save the animals for the future;
and, finally, Sheikh Said and the Balock escort, while the goats, sick
women, and stragglers brought up the rear."

The whole caravan under Speke mustered about two hundred persons.

The caravan proceeded over a route very similar to the one which the
previous expedition had followed. Finally, after many vicissitudes, it
crossed the frontier of Unyamwezi, and entered the district that lay
next to it on the north.

The people of this district are described as being pastoral in their
occupations. Hence, travelers see very little of them. They roam about
with their flocks and build their huts as far as possible from
cultivated sections. Most of the district chiefs are directly descended
from those who previously ruled in the same places, before the invasion
of the country by the white man. It is with these chiefs that travelers
have dealings.

The dress of these people is simple in the extreme. It is made of
cowhide which has been tanned black. A few magic ornaments and charms,
brass or copper bracelets, and odd-looking coverings for their long legs
complete the costume. They smear themselves with rancid butter, which
serves to render them most offensive to people of a delicate sense of
smell. For arms these people carry either bow or spear, generally the
latter weapon.

In the northern portions of the country, where the ground is hilly and
rugged in character, the people are more energetic and active than in
the southern districts. All live in grass huts, which are congregated in
villages fenced round on the south, but open on the north.

After a continued journey of many hardships, the caravan crossed a
dreary waste of uninhabited land, and entered the next district to the
north.

Pushing forward, the travelers crossed a narrow strip of uninhabited
territory, and entered the famous and unknown kingdom of Karagwe.

Throughout this kingdom the caravan received the kindest of treatment
from the king and his people under the village chiefs. No taxes were
exacted, and food was supplied at the king's expense. Speke writes of
the kingdom: "The farther we went in this country the better we liked
it, as the people were all kept in good order, and the village chiefs
were so civil that we could do as we liked."

[Illustration: VICTORIA NYANZA.]

Speke thus describes the scene when he caught his first glimpse of the
lake: "Next day, after crossing more of those abominable rush drains,
while in sight of the Victoria Nyanza, we ascended the most beautiful
hills, covered with verdure of all descriptions. I felt inclined to stop
here a month, everything was so very pleasant. The temperature was
perfect. The roads, as indeed they were everywhere, were as broad as our
coach roads, cut through the long grasses, straight over the hills and
down through the woods in the dells, a strange contrast to the wretched
tracks in all the adjacent countries.

"The huts were kept so clean and so neat, not a fault could be found
with them; the gardens the same. Wherever I strolled, I saw nothing but
richness, and what ought to be wealth. The whole land was a picture of
quiescent beauty, with a boundless sea in the background.

"Looking over the hills, it struck the fancy at once that at one period
the whole land must have been at a uniform level with their present
tops, but that, by the constant denudation it was subjected to by
frequent rains, it had been cut down and sloped into those beautiful
hills and dales which now so much pleased the eye."




CHAPTER XXIV.

VIEW OF THE NILE AT LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA.


It was Speke's desire to proceed northward and then to the east, for the
purpose of reaching the point where the Nile was supposed to flow out
from Victoria Nyanza.

His description of the accomplishment of his purpose is interesting:
"Here at last I stood on the brink of the Nile; most beautiful was the
scene; nothing could surpass it! It was the very perfection of the kind
of effect aimed at in a highly kept park; with a magnificent stream,
from six hundred to seven hundred yards wide, dotted with islets and
rocks,--the former occupied by the fishermen's huts, the latter by many
crocodiles basking in the sun,--flowing between fine grassy banks, with
rich trees and plantations in the background, where herds of the
hartbeest could be seen grazing, while the hippopotami were snorting in
the water, and florikin and guinea fowl rising at our feet."

He proceeded some distance up the left bank of the Nile, keeping away
from the stream. Passing through rich jungles, and gardens of plantain,
he reached Isamba Falls. Here he found the river exceedingly beautiful.
Deep banks covered with fine grass, beautiful acacias, and festoons of
lilac-colored convolvuli stretched, along on either side of the stream.

He continued his journey up stream to Ripon Falls, through extensive
village plantations recently despoiled by herds of elephants, and over
rugged hills, to be rewarded by the most interesting scene he had yet
found in Africa.

Speaking of the falls, he writes: "Everybody ran to see them at once,
though the march had been long and fatiguing; even my sketchbook was
called into play.

"Though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what I had expected; for
the broad surface of the lake was shut out from view by a spur of hill,
and the falls, about twelve feet deep and four hundred to five hundred
feet broad, were broken by rocks.

"Still, it was a sight that attracted one to it for hours: the roar of
the waters; the thousands of passenger fish, leaping at the falls with
all their might; the Wasoga and Waganda fishermen coming out in boats
and taking post on all the rocks, with rod and hook; hippopotami and
crocodiles lying sleepily on the water; the ferry at work above the
falls; and cattle driven down to drink at the margin of the lake, made
in all, with the pretty nature of the country,--small hills, grassy
topped, with trees in the folds and gardens on the lower slopes,--as
interesting a picture as one could wish.

"I saw that Old Father Nile, without any doubt, rises in the Victoria
Nyanza. As I had foretold, that lake is the great source of the holy
river which cradled the first expounder of our religious belief."

Speke had seen fully one-half of the lake, and had gained enough
information of the other half to feel assured that there was as much
water on the eastern side of the lake as on the western, possibly more.

The head of the Nile, or its most remote feeder, he found to be the
southern end of the lake. It gives to the Nile its surpassing length of
above two thousand and three hundred miles.

Speke was disappointed that he could not get an opportunity to visit the
northeast corner of the lake to find the connection, by means of a
strait, which he had heard described, between Lake Victoria Nyanza and
another lake, where the Waganda went to get their salt.

He discovered that from the southern point of the lake, on the west
side, to the point where the great Nile stream issues, there is only one
river of any great importance, while from the most southern point,
round by the east to the strait, there are no large rivers.

The Arab travelers assured him that from the west of the snow-clad peak
of Kilimanjaro to the lake, at the point where the first and second
degrees of south latitude cut it, there were salt lakes and plains, in
the midst of a hilly country. They further told him that there were no
great rivers; that the country was but scantily watered, with only
occasional rills and rivulets, and that they were compelled to make long
marches to get water, when they started out upon their trading journeys.

Speke could not quite believe in the existence of a salt lake. His
experience had taught him that the natives call all lakes salt if they
find salt beds or salt islands in their vicinity.

Lake Victoria Nyanza he found to be nearly four thousand feet above sea
level, or nearly two thousand feet above the altitude of Lake
Tanganyika. It was plain to him, therefore, that there could be no
connection between the two lakes.

Some notes from the journal kept by Speke are of interest here. "The
first affluent, the Bahr-el-Gazal, took us by surprise. Instead of
finding a large lake, as described in our maps, as an elbow of the Nile,
we found only a small piece of water resembling a duck pond, buried in a
sea of rushes. The old Nile swept through it with majestic grace, and
carried us next to the Geraffe branch of the Sobat River, the second
affluent, which we found flowing into the Nile with a graceful
semi-circular sweep and good stiff current, apparently deep, but not
more than fifty yards broad.

"Next in order came the main stream of the Sobat, flowing into the Nile
in the same graceful way as the Geraffe, which in breadth it surpassed,
but in velocity it was inferior.

"Next to be treated of is the famous Blue Nile, which we found a
miserable river, even when compared with the Geraffe branch of the
Sobat. It is very broad at the mouth, it is true, but so shallow that
our vessel with difficulty was able to come up to it. It had all the
appearance of a mountain stream, subject to great periodical
fluctuations.

"The Atbara River, which is the last affluent, was more like the Blue
River than any of the other affluents, being decidedly a mountain
stream, which floods the country in the rains, but runs nearly dry in
the dry season.

"I had now seen quite enough to satisfy myself that the White Nile,
which issues from Victoria Nyanza at the Ripon Falls, is the true or
parent Nile."




CHAPTER XXV.

THE APPROACH TO LAKE ALBERT NYANZA.


The accounts brought back by Speke of the discovery of Victoria Nyanza
and the existence of another lake, which might prove to be a feeder of
the Nile, so influenced a friend of his, Sir Samuel Baker, that he and
his wife, a mere girl in years, started out with an expedition to make
still closer explorations of the lake region.

The natives had given Speke very graphic accounts of the Nile's westward
course, after leaving Victoria Nyanza, till at length its waters fell
into a large lake. They had further informed him that this lake came
from the south, and that the Nile entered at the northern extremity, and
almost immediately made an exit from it in continuing its course to the
north.

At the time this information was received by Speke, the country through
which he would have needed to pass was in the midst of a native war, and
no strangers could penetrate it. He was convinced, however, that the
lake described must, in all probability, be a second source of the Nile.

Sir Samuel Baker and his wife had most interesting and thrilling
experiences in their search for this supposed second feeder of the Nile.
Some sections of the country through which they traveled were most
beautiful. Here were jungles and forests alternating with broad plains,
and mountains rising to the height of three or four thousand feet.

Some of the people, too, were very interesting. Baker declared the
Latookas to be the finest savages he ever met. They were nearly six feet
in height, had fine foreheads, very good features, and finely formed
bodies. Their manners were frank, good-humored, and polite. In this
respect they were a strong contrast to the surrounding tribes. They
seemed to him to be of Abyssinian or of Asiatic origin.

The description of the headdress of the men is interesting. It takes
from eight to ten years to perfect the arrangement of this coiffure, and
no doubt much pride is taken in this queer conceit of savage fashion.

"The hair is at first 'felted' with fine twine. As the fresh hair grows
through this, the twine process is repeated, until at last a compact
substance is formed, an inch and a half thick, trained into the form of
a helmet, with a frontlet and crest of copper. Of course they never
disturb this, and it lasts them their life time. They ornament it with
beads, cowries, ostrich feathers, and other decorations."

As it is the custom of these savages to go without clothing of any
description, these wonderful headdresses must indeed be the chief aim in
the lives of those who are not called upon to follow the changes of
fashion, like their more civilized brethren.

One of the towns that Baker visited in Latooka contained about three
thousand houses. It was strongly fortified by palisades, with low
entrances at short intervals. At night these entrances were closed by
thorn bushes.

There was one main street, which was broad, but the other streets were
mere lanes, so narrow that only one cow could pass at a time.

These lanes led to the kraals in different portions of the town. Here
were housed the cattle, which comprised the chief wealth of the people.
The narrowness of the approaches to the kraals was an advantage, for
they were thus easily defended from cattle thieves,--a common nuisance
in this country.

The houses were conical in shape and, following the custom almost
universal in Africa, were without windows.

Baker had noticed, as he approached the several towns of this section of
country, a vast heap of human bones, mingled with bits of pottery. These
he found to originate from the peculiar funeral rites of the people. If
a man dies a natural death he is buried in the vicinity of his own door,
and funeral dances in his honor are held for several weeks; the remains
are then dug up, the bones cleaned, placed in an earthen jar, and
carried out of town to their final resting place. In course of time
these jars become broken, and the fragments, together with the contents,
are scattered, or added to an already existing mound.

Baker, in his journey to the southwest, crossed the valley of Latooka.
After fording a river, he began the main ascent of the mountains. This
he found to be an exceedingly difficult task. At the summit he found a
plateau about four thousand feet above the level of the sea, and
situated on it was the highland town of Obbo.

The country was very beautiful. Here were bold granite peaks, some of
them five thousand feet high, towering on all sides, and looking down
upon the wooded valleys below. These valleys were narrowed by the
advancing spurs of the mountains, each with a village to crown its
summit. These villages looked down fully eight hundred feet upon the
traveler.

The air was pure and delicious. On every side was a profusion of
beautiful and fragrant flowers. Wild plums and other fruit were to be
found in abundance.

The flow of the streams in this section is toward the northwest. Their
waters take their course directly to the Nile, some thirty miles away.

The people are different from those of Latooka, not only in their speech
but in their appearance. Instead of dressing their hair in the form of a
helmet, they adopt the form of a beaver's tail for a coiffure.

The noses of these people are higher than those of the Latookas. They
pay some attention, too, to their clothing, though their covering is
very scanty.

They are courteous in their manners, and never ask for presents.

They had for their ruler at the time of Baker's visit a peculiar old
man, a sorcerer, and from him Baker gained much information about the
country.

Whenever this ruler traveled, it was upon the sh

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