From the Cape to Cairo: The First Traverse of Africa from South to North
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Title: From the Cape to Cairo: The First Traverse of Africa from South to North
Creator: Ewart Scott Grogan
Arthur H. Sharp
Release date: April 14, 2014 [eBook #45396]
Language: English
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Credits: Produced by Al Haines
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE CAPE TO CAIRO: THE FIRST TRAVERSE OF AFRICA FROM SOUTH TO NORTH ***
Produced by Al Haines.
*[Frontispiece: I advanced with outstretched Hand (missing from book)]*
From the
Cape to Cairo
The First Traverse of
Africa from South to North
BY
EWART S. GROGAN
AND
ARTHUR H. SHARP
T. Nelson & Sons, Ltd.
copyright info
extra publisher info
TO
THE MEMORY OF
THE GREATEST AND MOST FAR-SEEING
OF
BRITISH IMPERIAL STATESMEN,
THE RT. HON. CECIL JOHN RHODES,
THIS VOLUME
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
EWART SCOTT GROGAN
AND
ARTHUR HENRY SHARP.
Government House,
Buluwayo,
7th Sept., 1900.
My Dear Grogan,
You ask me to write you a short introduction for your book, but I am
sorry to say that literary composition is not one of my gifts, my
correspondence and replies being conducted by telegrams.
I must say I envy you, for you have done that which has been for
centuries the ambition of every explorer, namely, to walk through Africa
from South to North. The amusement of the whole thing is that a youth
from Cambridge during his vacation should have succeeded in doing that
which the ponderous explorers of the world have failed to accomplish.
There is a distinct humour in the whole thing. It makes me the more
certain that we shall complete the telegraph and railway, for surely I
am not going to be beaten by the legs of a Cambridge undergraduate.
Your success the more confirms one's belief. The schemes described by
Sir William Harcourt as "wild cat" you have proved are capable of being
completed, even in that excellent gentleman's lifetime.
As to the commercial aspect, every one supposes that the railway is
being built with the only object that a human being may be able to get
in at Cairo and get out at Cape Town.
This is, of course, ridiculous. The object is to cut Africa through the
centre, and the railway will pick up trade all along the route. The
junctions to the East and West coasts, which will occur in the future,
will be outlets for the traffic obtained along the route of the line as
it passes through the centre of Africa. At any rate, up to Buluwayo,
where I am now, it has been a payable undertaking, and I still think it
will continue to be so as we advance into the far interior. We propose
now to go on and cross the Zambesi just below the Victoria Falls. I
should like to have the spray of the water over the carriages.
I can but finish by again congratulating you, and by saying that your
success has given me great encouragement in the work that I have still
to accomplish.
Yours,
C. J. RHODES.
*PREFACE TO NEW EDITION.*
Since bringing out the first edition of this book, I have revisited the
United States, Australasia, and Argentina in order that I might again
compare the difficulties before us in Africa with the difficulties which
these new countries have already overcome. I am now more than ever
satisfied that its possibilities are infinitely great. Of the fertility
and natural resources of the country I had no doubt. But two great
stumbling-blocks loomed ahead: they were the prevalence of malaria and
the difficulty of initial development owing to the dearth of navigable
waterways. The epoch-making studies by Major Ross and other scientists
of the influence of the mosquito on the distribution of malaria have
shewn that we are within measurable distance of largely minimising its
ravages, if not of completely removing it from the necessary risks of
African life. A comparison of the death-rates in Calcutta, Hong-Kong,
and other malarious regions with the present rates has also proved how
immense is the influence of settlement on climate. As to the other
obstacle, the question of access, I was amazed to find that in the
United States the railways practically have absorbed all the carrying
trade of the magnificent waterways, which intersect the whole country
east of the Rockies. Naturally, these waterways were of immense
assistance in the original opening up of the country, but now that the
railways are constructed, they are of little importance.
I would also point out to those who still profess mistrust of the
practical objects of railway construction in Africa, the object-lesson
which the trans-American lines afford. They were pushed ahead of all
settlement into the great unknown exactly as the Cape to Cairo line is
being pushed ahead to-day. But there is this difference: in America
they penetrated silent wastes tenanted by naught else than the
irreconcilable Redskin, the prairie marmot, and the bison; while in
Africa they pass through lands rich in Nature's products and teeming
with peoples who do not recede before the white man's march.
Another point: when the main railway system of Africa, as sketched out
by Mr. Rhodes, is complete, there will be no single point as remote from
a port as are some of the districts in America which are to-day pouring
out their food-stuffs along hundreds of miles of rail.
In the words of the old Greek, "History is Philosophy teaching by
examples." The world writhes with the quickening life of change. The
tide of our supreme ascendancy is on the ebb. Nations, like men, are
subject to disease. Let us beware of fatty degeneration of the heart.
Luxury is sweeping away the influences which formed our character. It is
as though our climate has been changed from the bleak northern winds to
the tropic's indolent ease. Yet we have still a chance. While we
sleep, broad tracks have been cut for us by those whom we revile. Far
and wide our outposts are awake, beckoning to the great army to sweep
along the tracks. Let each man with means and muscles for the fray go
forth at least to see what empire is. Clive, Hastings, Rhodes, a
thousand lesser men whose tombs are known only to the forest breeze,
have left us legacies of which we barely dream. Millions of miles of
timber, metals, coal, lie waiting for the breath of life, "pegged out"
for Britain's sons. In these our destiny lies. We live but once: let
us be able, when the last summons comes, to say with the greatest of us
all, "Tread me down. Pass on. I have done my work."
_*CONTENTS.*_
CHAP.
I. The Cape to Beira and the Sabi
II. The Pungwe and Gorongoza's Plain--Second Expedition
III. The Zambezi and Shire Rivers
IV. Chiperoni
V. British Central Africa and Lake Nyassa
VI. Karonga to Kituta across the Tanganyika Plateau
VII. The Chambesi
VIII. Tanganyika
IX. The Rusisi Valley
X. Lake Kivu
XI. The Volcanoes
XII. Mushari and its Cannibals
XIII. The Rutchuru Valley and the Albert Edward Lake
XIV. Katwe to Toro
XV. Toro to Mboga
XVI. Semliki Valley and Kavalli's Country
XVII. Albert Lake and Upper Nile to Wadelai
XVIII. Wadelai to Kero
XIX. Kero to Abu-Kuka and back to Bohr
XX. In Dinka-land
XXI. In Nuerland
XXII. The Sobat to Cairo
XXIII. The Trans-Continental Railway
XXIV. Native Questions
_*LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS*_
I advanced with outstretched Hand (missing from book) . . .
_Frontispiece_
It was a gruesome Sight
And I was compelled to stoop down and grope
One or more of the neighbouring Chiefs came to pay his Respects
On the Track of the Cannibals
Balegga waiting for Elephant
There were numbers of Dinkas fishing here
Map of the Route
*FROM THE CAPE TO CAIRO.*
*CHAPTER I.*
*THE CAPE TO BEIRA AND THE SABI.*
To describe the first stage of the route from the Cape to Cairo, that is
to say, as far as the Zambesi, which I accomplished four years ago,
would, if time be counted by progress, be reverting to the Middle Ages.
The journey to Buluwayo, which meant four dismal days and three yet more
dismal nights, in a most dismal train, whose engine occasionally went
off on its own account to get a drink, and nine awful days and nine
reckless nights in a Gladstone bag on wheels, labelled coach, can now be
accomplished in, I believe, two and a half days in trains that rival in
comfort the best efforts of our American cousins. When I think of those
awful hundreds of miles through dreary wastes of sand and putrefying
carcases, the seemingly impossible country that the Buluwayo road passed
through, the water-courses, the hills, the waterless stages, and the
final oasis, where one could buy a bottle of beer for 10s. 6d., and a
cauliflower for 363., and that now men sit down to their fresh fish or
pheasant for breakfast, where the old scramble daily took place for a
portion of bully beef and rice; and when I think that the fish and
pheasant epoch is already old history, then I know that the hand of a
mighty wizard is on the country, and that yet one more name will go down
to the coming ages which will loom big midst the giants that have built
up an Empire such as the world has never seen. When I think, too, of my
numerous friends in the country who have given their heave, some a great
heave, some a little heave, yet a heave all together, and who toil on
unaware of their own heroism, turning aside as a jest the vituperation
of their countrymen; and when I think how I have seen the old Viking
blood, long time frozen in Piccadilly and the clubs, burst forth in the
old irresistible stream, then I know that it is good to be an
Englishman, and a great pity fills me for those whose lives are cast in
narrow ways, and who never realise the true significance of _Civis
Britannicus sum_.
My first experience of Africa was gained in the second Matabele war,
when Rhodesia was yet young. The railway had only reached Mafeking, and
my experiences were not such as to make me desire a second visit. But
the spirit of the veldt was upon me, and in comfortable England these
trials sank into the misty oblivion of the past, and a short twelve
months after I again started for those inhospitable shores.
However, I will not weary the reader with what he has had dinned into
his ears for the last four years, by describing Rhodesia; nor will I
dilate on how, at Lisbon, through a Bucellas-induced haze, I noticed
that all the men had a patch in their trousers, all the women were ugly,
all the food was dirty, and all the friendly-disposed were thieves, nor
will I hurt the feelings of the Deutsch Ost Afrika Cie. by telling how
badly managed their boats are; how they are perambulating beershops,
disguised as liners; how conducive to sleep is a ten-strong brass band
at five yards, seized with religious enthusiasm at 7 a.m. on Sunday
morning--all these I will pass over, knowing that a _Cicero redivivus_
alone could do justice to the theme.
Beyond this, suffice it to say, that on February 28th of the year of our
Lord 1898, Arthur Henry Sharp and Ewart Scott Grogan, in company of
sundry German officers and beer enthusiasts, took part in the usual
D.O.A.'s Liner manoeuvre of violently charging a sandbank in the bay of
Beira on a flood-tide, to the ear-smashing accompaniment of the German
National Anthem. In the intervals of waiting to be floated, and finding
out how many of our loads had been lost, we amused ourselves by catching
sharks, which swarmed round the stern of the vessel. Beira, as every
one knows, is mainly composed of galvanized iron, sun-baked sand,
drinks, and Portuguese ruffians, and is inhabited by a mixed society of
railway employes, excellent fellows, Ohio wags, and German Jews. The
Government consists of a triumvirate composed of a "king," who also at
odd times imports railways, the British Consul, and the _Beira Post_,
and sundry minor Portuguese officials, who provide entertainment for the
town, such as volley-firing down the main streets, dredging operations
in the lagoon at the back of the town, bugle-blowing, etc., etc. The
dredging operations and the subsequent depositing of the mud on the
highways were undertaken, I believe, in a friendly spirit of rivalry as
to the death-rate with Fontesvilla (a salubrious riverside resort about
thirty miles inland); a consequent rise to thirty in one day established
a record that, I believe, is still unbeaten. There was a Portuguese
corvette in the bay, and I had the pleasure of dining on board; the
doctor, a most charming specimen of the Portuguese gentleman (and a
Portuguese gentleman is a gentleman), helped me to pass my things
through the Custom House, and those who know Beira will understand what
that means. At Beira I met many old friends, amongst them the
ever-green Mr. Lawley, indefatigable as of yore, and was surprised to
see the immense strides that the town had made in fourteen months. If
it is not washed away some day, it should become second only in
importance to Delagoa Bay. Before starting north, we determined to have
a few months' shooting, and with this end in view took train to Umtali
with the necessary kit. The new site of Umtali township is a more
commanding position than the old one, and already a large number of fine
buildings had been put up, but now that the temporary activity
consequent on its being the railway terminus has passed away, I cannot
foresee much future for the place, as the pick of the mines appear to be
over the new Anglo-Portuguese boundary, and will be worked from
Macequece.
We decided to try the Sabi, a river running parallel to, and south of,
the Pungwe, having heard great accounts of the lions in that part; and
with this end in view, hired a wagon, which after many days landed us
and ours at Mtambara's Kraal on the Umvumvumvu, a nice stream running
into the Udzi, which is a tributary of the Sabi. Mtambara was formerly
a chief of considerable importance, but the advent of the white man has
reduced him to the position of a mere figurehead; he is a phthisical old
gentleman of no physique, decked out in a dirty patch of cloth and a
bandolier of leather and white beads; he squats and takes snuff, takes
snuff and squats, and had not yet joined the Blue Ribbon Army. There
being no road to the Udzi, we had to send the wagon back and collect
carriers for our loads. Two days' hard walking brought us to the edge
of the high veldt, whence the path dived down the most fantastic
limestone valley, between high cliffs thickly clothed with foliage, and
topped by rows of square rock pillars, splashed with the warm tints of
the moss and lichens that festooned their sides. At our feet lay the
bush-clad plain of the Udzi, a carpet of green picked out with the
occasional silver of the river itself, and in the hazy distance
stretched an unbroken range of purple hills, backed by the silvery green
and dull smoke-red of sunset. On the third day we camped on the Udzi,
about six miles above its junction with the Sabi. The whole country is
covered with low black scrub, and though there are many impala[#] and
small buck, there are very few large antelopes, so after a few days'
inspection we came to the conclusion that it was not good enough, and
decided to return to Umtali and risk the climate of my old shooting
grounds on the Pungwe.
[#] A small antelope (_AEpyceros melampus_).
Sharp went back by the road to pick up the loads and sick men at
Mtambara's, while I followed up the Udzi for about twenty miles, and
then struck across country to reach Umtali quickly in order to send out
a wagon. After leaving the river-basin, I camped on a kopje about 1,000
ft. high, where I had one of the finest views it has ever been my
fortune to see.
Beyond the valley lay range upon range of hills, stretching far as the
eye could reach; fleecy clouds covered the sun, bursting with every
conceivable shade, from delicate rose to deepest purple, backed by that
wondrous green (or is it blue?) that so often in the tropics accompanies
Phoebus to his rest; rarely one may see it at home in summer-time, as
intangible as it is delicate, and, permeating the whole landscape, a
sinuous mesh of molten red, a ghostly sea from which the peaks reared
their purple silhouettes, until they faded into the uncertainty of lilac
mists, like some billowy sea nestling to the bosom of the storm-cloud.
From here I walked to Umtali, a distance of sixty miles, in nineteen
hours, as I was anxious about the sick men at Mtambara's, and long will
the ripple of the ensuing brandy-and-soda linger in my memory. After
securing the services of a wagon, I had to lay up for a couple of days
with fever and a bad foot, but turned out for a concert given as a
house-warming by the latest hotel. It was a typical South African
orgie, in a long, low, wooden room, plainly furnished with deal tables,
packed to overflowing with the most cosmopolitan crowd imaginable,
well-bred 'Varsity men rubbing shoulders with animal-faced Boers,
leavened with Jews, parasites, bummers, nondescripts, and every type of
civilized savage. Faces yellow with fever, faces coppered by the sun,
faces roseate with drink, and faces scarred, keen, money-lustful, and
stamped with every vice and some of the virtues; a substratum of bluff,
business advertisement, pat-on-the-back-kick-you-when-you're-not-looking
air permeated everything, and keen appreciation of both musical garbage
and real talent.
Starting for Salisbury, where I wanted to look up some old friends, I
was made the victim of one of those subtle little jests so much
appreciated by many of the petty officials in South Africa, who are for
ever reminding one of their importance. I turned up at three, the
advertised time for the coach's departure, and, finding no mules or
signs of activity, learned that (being an official case) three meant
three Cape time, or four Umtali time. So I went back to my hotel, and
again turning up at ten to four, found that the coach had left at a
quarter to four without blowing the bugle, and knowing that there was
one passenger short; this necessitated a nine-mile walk to old Umtali in
the rain, which, after three days' fever, was very enjoyable. The
company, a pleasant one, was somewhat marred by the presence of a fat
Jew of the most revolting type; unkempt curly black hair, lobster-like,
bloodshot eyes with the glazed expression peculiar to tipplers and stale
fish, a vast nose pronouncedly Bacchanalian, the hues of which varied
from yellow through green to livid purple, and lips that would shame any
negro, purple as the extremity of the nose, a small, straggling
moustache and a runaway chin, the whole plentifully smeared with an
unpleasant exudation, kept perpetually simmering by his anxiety lest
some one should steal a march on him, made a loathsome _tout ensemble_
that is by no means rare in South Africa. The way that creature fought
for food! Well! I have seen hyaenas and negroes fighting for food, but
never such hopelessly abandoned coarseness as he displayed at every meal
on the road, and for no apparent reason, as there was plenty for all,
and by general consent he had the monopoly of any dish that he touched.
Salisbury, which is quite the aristocratic resort of Rhodesia, had made
very little progress during my eighteen months' absence, though there
had been some activity in the mining districts. The business of
ferreting out the murderers in the late rebellion was still proceeding,
and I saw about thirty condemned negroes in the gaol, and more were
daily added. I went to one of the sittings and saw so many gruesome
relics, burnt pipes, charred bones, skulls, etc., that I did not repeat
my visit. I was forcibly struck by the absolute justice meted out: the
merest technicality of law or the faintest shade of doubt sufficing for
acquittal. Many of the natives in custody thus escaped, although their
guilt was certain and well known. My return journey to Umtali was
enlivened by the company of one of the civic dignitaries of Salisbury,
who was going to "give it hot to Rhodes," shake him up a bit, and
generally put things straight. In one day I had the whole future policy
of Rhodesia and all outstanding difficulties like labour, etc., disposed
of as though they were the merest bagatelles. So struck was I with the
masterly grasp of gigantic questions that I fell into a profound
slumber, whereupon, realizing that after all I was but an ordinary
mortal, and consequently possessed of but ordinary intelligence, he
roused me, and in five minutes sketched out a plan that would make my
intended trip north a certain success; this, with more personal advice
on a score of points, lasted till Umtali, where we found so-called
celebrations in full swing. These celebrations (or barmen's benefits,
as they should more appropriately be called) are of common occurrence,
and are invariably got up on any sort of excuse; they take the outward
form of a few pieces of bunting, and result in every one but the
licensed few finding themselves next morning considerably poorer, and in
an abnormal demand for Seidlitz powders. Society at Umtali groups
itself into two classes, those who have liquor and those who have not,
and each class into three divisions: first, a small number who have
killed lions and say very little about it; secondly, a large number of
persons who have not killed lions, but tell you they have, and say much
about it; and thirdly, a very large number who have not killed lions,
but think it necessary to apologize for the fact by telling you that
they have not lost any.
*CHAPTER II.*
*THE PUNGWE AND GORONGOZA'S PLAIN.*
"The bulky, good-natured lion, whose only means of defence are the
natural ones of tooth and claw, has no chance against the jumping little
rascal, who pops behind a bush and pokes a gun straight at the bigger
brute's heart."--MARIE CORELLI.
Instead of following the Urema as on a previous trip, we marched up the
Pungwe almost as far as Sarmento, an old Portuguese settlement, and then
struck off north to a long lagoon that lies on the western extremity of
Gorongoza's plain. Here we found enormous quantities of game, thousands
of wildebeeste and zebra, and many impala, waterbuck, and hartebeeste.
At night a hyaena came and woke us up by drinking the soapy water in our
indiarubber bath, which was lying just outside our tent. We turned out
and drove him away, but had no sooner climbed into our beds again than
he returned and bolted with the bath, and, before we could make him drop
it, had mauled it to such an extent that it was of no further use.
As after the first night we heard no lions, we decided to move across to
the Urema. On the way we sighted three eland, but though Sharp and I
chased them for about eight miles we were unsuccessful.
Towards the Urema the plain opens out to a great width and becomes very
swampy, and as the water had just subsided, it was covered with short
sweet grass. Here we saw between 40,000 and 50,000 head of game, mostly
wildebeeste, which opened out to let us pass and then closed in again
behind. It was a wonderful sight; vast moving masses of life, as far as
the eye could reach. A fortnight later they had eaten up the grass, and
most of them were scattered about the surrounding country. Some of the
swamps were very bad, and we were finally compelled to camp in the
middle far from any wood.
The next day we struck camp and marched up the Urema to a belt of trees
which we could see in the distance. Several good streams, the most
important being the Umkulumadzi, flow down from the mountains, and
meandering across the plain, empty themselves into the Urema. Sharp and
I went on ahead of our caravan, and keeping well to the south-west to
avoid swamps, came on a nice herd of buffalo which we stalked. At our
shots a few turned off into some long tufts of grass, while the main
body went straight away. One, evidently sick, came edging towards us,
and I gave him two barrels, Sharp doing likewise; I then gave him two
more and dropped him. I kept my eye on where he lay as we advanced to
get a shot at the others, who had again stood about 100 yards farther
on, and he suddenly rose at thirty yards and charged hard, nose in air,
foaming with blood, and looking very nasty. I put both barrels in his
chest without the slightest effect, and then started for the river,
doing level time and shouting to Sharp to do likewise; all the
crocodiles in the universe seemed preferable to that incarnation of
hell. But Sharp had not yet learnt his buffalo, and waited for him. I
heard a shot, and stopped in time to see the beast stagger for a second
with a broken jaw, then come on in irresistible frenzy; but still Sharp
stood as though to receive a cavalry charge, crack rang out the rifle,
and the great brute came pitching forward on to its nose, and rolled
within three yards of Sharp's feet with a broken fetlock. It was a
magnificent sight, and the odd chance in a hundred turned up. Now Sharp
knows his buffalo, and is prepared to back himself, when one turns
nasty, to do his hundred in 9-4/5 seconds.
Except an elephant, there is nothing harder to stop than a charging
buffalo, as, when once he has made up his mind, he means business; there
is no turning him, and if he misses he will round and come again and
hunt a man down like a dog. Holding his head in the air as he does in
practice, and not low down as in the picture-books, he gives no mark
except the chest, which is rarely a dropping shot. Having hacked off
his head (the buffalo's), we went in pursuit of our caravan, and found
that Mahony had pitched camp in the most perfect spot imaginable. A
strip of open park-like bush ran down from the mountains, cutting the
vast Gorongoza plain into two portions, and abutting on the river, where
it had spread into a small lagoon with banks 20 ft. high. Beyond lay
another plain stretching away to the bush that lies at the foot of the
ridge which runs north and south, and is the watershed of the Urema and
the coast. In all directions from our camp we could see herds of game
grazing. Flocks of fowl flighted up and down the watercourse, huge
crocodiles leered evilly at us as they floated like logs on the oily
water, broken only by the plomp-plomp of the numerous fish, and now and
then the head of a mud-turtle rose like a ghost from below, without even
a ripple, drew a long hissing breath, and as silently vanished. As
there was lions' spoor by the water, we strolled out after tea and
dropped a brace of zebra by the edge of the bush. After an eventful
night, during which leopards coughed, lions roared, hyaenas dashed into
camp and bolted with my best waterbuck head, we all turned out early.
Sharp went down the river, while Mahony and I went to our baits. The
first had completely vanished, and the second had been dragged some
three hundred yards under the shade of a palm-tree. Here we picked up
the spoor of a big lion, who had evidently got our wind as we left camp.
We followed for about a mile along the bush, when Mahony saw him
watching us round the corner of an ant-hill. The lion, seeing that he
was observed, doubled like a flash, and before Mahony could fire, had
dashed into a small patch of thick jungle. We lost no time in
following, and were carefully picking our way through the undergrowth,
when I heard a deep grunt about twenty yards to my right, and saw him,
tail straight in the air, vanishing through the bush. Mahony rushed
along the jungle; while I made a desperate burst through the thorn into
the open. I just caught a glimpse of the lion going through the
scattered palms towards the open plain. When I reached the end of the
palms, he was going hard about two hundred yards away. Using the double
.500 magnum, I removed his tooth with the first barrel, and with the
second pulled him up short with a shot in the hind leg. Mahony then
arrived on the scene and gave him a .500, while I finished him off with
two shots from the .303. He was a very old lion with his teeth much
broken, but had a good mane, and measured as he lay from tip to tip 9
ft. 10-1/2 in.
As the moon was now full, I determined to sit up, and having killed a
zebra close to two small palms, I built a screen of palm-leaves and
awaited events. The first two nights nothing came but mosquitoes, and
the third night two hunting dogs turned up, but I didn't fire for fear
of disturbing some lions which I could hear in the distance. These dogs
are very beautiful animals with long bushy tails. They hunt in large
packs, and must destroy an immense quantity of game. Shortly after the
dogs had vanished a lion came to the jungle which was about four hundred
yards away, and apparently detecting my scent, in spite of the
competition of the zebra, which was three days old, vented his
disapproval in three stupendous roars. This is one of the few occasions
on which I heard a lion really roar, though every night for months I
have heard packs of them in all directions. The usual cry is a sort of
vast sigh taken up by the chorus with a deep sob, sob, sob, or a curious
rumbling noise. The true roar is indescribable. It is so deceptive as
to distance, and seems to permeate the whole universe, thundering,
rumbling, majestic. There is no music in the world so sweet. Let me
recommend it to the Wagner school! Thousands of German devotees, backed
by thousands of beers, could never approach the soul-stirring glory of
one _Felis leo_ at home. I then heard him going away to the north,
rumbling to himself at intervals, and at 5 a.m. left my scherm[#] and
started in pursuit, hoping to come up with him at daybreak in the plain.
I could still hear his occasional rumblings, and, taking a line by the
moon, made terrific pace. After leaving the ridge, I plunged into a
dense bank of fog that lay on the plain, but still managed to keep my
line, as the moon showed a lurid red and remained visible till sunrise.
The lion had stopped his meditations for some time, and imperceptibly
the light of day had eaten into the fog, when suddenly my gun-boy
"Rhoda" gripped me by the arm, his teeth chattering like castanets, and
said that he saw the lion in front. At the same instant I thought that
I saw a body moving in the mist about seventy yards away, now looking
like an elephant, now like a jackal. Then the mist swirled round,
wrapping it in obscurity once more. I followed carefully, when suddenly
an eddy in the fog disclosed a male lion thirty yards away, wandering
along as if the whole world belonged to him. He rolled his head from
side to side, swished his tail, poked his nose into every bunch of
grass, then stopped and stood broadside on. I raised the .500, but
found that I had forgotten to remove the bunch of cloth which served for
a night sight, and, before this was remedied, the chance was gone.
Again I followed and again he turned, when I dropped him with a high
shoulder shot. As the grass was only 3 in. high and the lion not more
than thirty yards distant, we lay flat and awaited the turn of events.
He lashed out, tearing up the ground with his paws, then stood up and
looked like going away. I fired again. This gave him my whereabouts.
He swung round and began stalking towards me to investigate matters, so
I snatched my .500 and knocked him over with one in the chest. We then
retired to a more respectful distance. But he rose again, and once more
I fired. Still he fought on, rolling about, rumbling, groaning, and
making frantic efforts to rise, till I crept up close and administered a
.303 forward shot in the stomach, which settled him. He died
reluctantly even then. It is astonishing how difficult lions are to
kill, if the first shot is not very well placed. I attribute it to the
fact that after the first shot there is practically no subsequent shock
to the system. This is especially remarkable in the larger brutes, such
as the elephant, rhino, or buffalo. If the first shot is misplaced, one
can fire shot after shot, even through the heart, without immediate
effect. He was a good lion, in the prime of life, with mane, teeth, and
claws perfect.
[#] Fence or screen.
Sharp meanwhile had been making his first acquaintance with that
ingenious device of the devil's, the jigger,[#] which confined him to
the camp for a week with a very ugly foot.
[#] _The jigger_, the "pulex penetrans."
Mahony, who had gone down-river, saw a male lion, but failed to stop him
with a long shot, but the next day in the same place came unexpectedly
on two lionesses, both of which he wounded. As they took refuge in the
grass, which was very extensive and thick, and he saw a cub, he sent
into camp for another gun. Sharp turned out in spite of his foot, and I
followed immediately when I returned to camp and found the note. After
a hard spurt of six miles, I met them coming back in triumph with the
pelt of one lioness and five small rolls of fur and ferocity slung on
poles. The cubs had been captured with difficulty. One only succumbed
after being bowled over with a sun helmet. They were great fun in camp,
and throve amazingly on cooked liver, of which they devoured enormous
quantities. Two of them were males, and three of them (one male and two
females[#]) are now disporting themselves in the Society's Gardens in
Regent's Park.
[#] One female has since died.
Hoping to see something of the other lioness or the lion I returned to
the same place next day, and after examining the neighbourhood of the
grass, pushed on still farther to the centre of the swamp. In this
swamp the river spreads out into a vast network of channels, with a
small central lagoon. Owing to the dryness of the season, it was
possible to cross most of the channels, which were then merely
mud-troughs, and to reach the lagoon, which was about four hundred yards
wide. Here I witnessed a most extraordinary sight. About fifty hippo
were lying about in the water, and on the banks. As the water was not
in most parts deep enough to cover them, they presented the appearance
of so many huge seals basking in the sun. They climbed in and out,
strolled about, rolled in, splashing, shouting, blowing, and entirely
ignoring my presence. After watching them for some time, I sent my boys
to the far end to drive them past. The boys yelled and threw stones at
them. Suddenly the hippo took alarm and rushed _en masse_ for the
narrow channel of the waterway. Down this they swarmed, kicking the
water 30 ft. in the air, throwing their heads back, roaring, thundering,
and crashing along, while I stood on the bank at twenty yards and took
photographs, all of which unfortunately failed.
[Illustration: It was a gruesome Sight.]
The banks of every channel and mud-hole were lined with huge yellow
masses of crocodiles; thousands and thousands of wildfowl (mainly
Egyptian and spur-wing geese), which were nesting in the hippo holes,
kept up a ceaseless din; herds and herds of game appeared as though
dancing in the mirage, and the whole scene was one to delight the heart
of a lover of nature. There indeed one felt one was far from the madding
crowd.
During the night we were awakened by the most terrific yells, and found
that some crocodiles had gone into the boys' quarters. Fortunately they
contented themselves with removing about two hundredweight of meat.
As the lions appeared to have left the country, we moved up the river to
our original camp for a week to give the plain a rest, and bagged an
eland. Sharp secured a good lioness in the lion donga.
On our return I shot a zebra for bait in the strip of bush. Turning out
somewhat reluctantly at 5.30 a.m. with no hopes of success, as the lions
had been very quiet all night, I was cutting the wind rather fine when I
saw a number of birds sitting at a respectful distance from the carcase.
Approaching cautiously, I saw some brute apparently pulling at
something, but could not see clearly what it was, as it was still more
or less dark. I knew it must be a lion from its bulk, yet dared not
think so. I retraced my steps for the wind and crept up to within sixty
yards under cover of a stunted palm. Peering cautiously round, I saw,
in the middle of a circle of some two hundred vultures, a grand old
lion, leisurely gnawing the ribs. Behind him were four little jackals
sitting in a row. It would be difficult to imagine a more perfect
picture. In the background stretched the limitless plain, streaked with
mists shimmering in the growing light of the rising sun. Clumps of
graceful palms fenced in a sandy arena where the zebra had fallen.
Round its attenuated remains, just out of reach of the swish of the
monarch's tail, was a solid circle of waiting vultures, craning their
bald necks, chattering and hustling one another. The more daring
quartette sat within the magic circle like four little images of
patience, while the lion in all his might and matchless grandeur of
form, leisurely chewed and scrunched the tit-bits, magnificently
regardless of the watchful eyes of the encircling _canaille_. Loath to
break the spell, I watched the scene for fully ten minutes, then, as he
showed signs of moving, I took the chance afforded of a broadside shot
and bowled him over with the .500 magnum. I tried to reload but the gun
jammed. The lion rose, and after looking round for the cause of the
interruption, without success, started off at a gallop. With a
desperate effort I closed the gun and knocked him over again. He was a
fine black-maned lion, and measured as he lay in a straight line from
tip to tip 10 ft. 4 in.--a very unusual length.
Another morning, taking an early stroll, I met an old cow hippo and a
calf, wandering about far from the river. I accompanied them for some
time watching them, but when I caught the youngster by the tail the old
lady turned round in answer to its squeals, and opening her mouth to its
fullest extent, some 6 ft., gave vent to a terrific roar, which reminded
me that it was breakfast-time. On another occasion presumably the same
pair strolled past within one hundred yards of our breakfast-table, but
they out-distanced the boys who went in pursuit, and plunged into the
river, easy winners.
As Sharp had shot a brace of hippo in our pool, we had them dragged out
on to the sandbank opposite, and built a grass screen at the lower end
of the hippo tunnel which led down through the bush from the high ground
above the river. Fortunately, as it afterwards transpired, we took the
precaution to block up the top entrance with stones. Here Sharp and I
posted ourselves for the night in hopes of lions. When all was quiet,
scores of vast crocodiles came out of the pool, and so successfully did
they rend and tear the huge carcases that in the morning nothing
remained but a few bones. It was a gruesome sight, the great loathsome
reptiles tearing vast blocks of hide like brown paper, then crawling
away to digest their morsel, then again advancing to the attack, while a
row of hyaenas sat silhouetted against the sky on the high bank
opposite, or trotted uneasily to and fro, moaning and howling
unceasingly, yet fearing to approach the evil mass of reptiles. Crowds
of mosquitoes and sandflies added their plaintive song. Suddenly with a
mighty rush five hippo dashed down the bank, then, recovering from their
alarm, strolled quietly by at five yards, the moonlight gleaming white
on their wet backs.
Having heard some lions at sunrise to the east I started in pursuit,
and, following along an extensive dry donga that cut through the plain,
found some fresh spoor which I lost in the endless sea of dry long grass
that covered the greater part of the plain. This I fired, and then came
round by the river, hoping to see some of them if they were driven from
their cover. When nearly home I saw a lion stand up in the low scrub
about a thousand yards away. He had our wind, and started across the
bare plain at a gallop, making for the long grass. I set off in hot
pursuit with my gun-boy. When the lion stopped to look I stopped, hoping
that he would think I was not following him. Whereupon my boy, who
would never learn the trick, sailed gracefully over my shoulder. The
lion, apparently taking us for some harmless mountebanks, slackened his
pace, and only reached the grass about five hundred yards ahead of me.
Rushing in on his tracks, I was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of
his mane above the grass, as he crossed a place where the grass was
rather shorter than elsewhere. He had turned at right angles from his
course, and had ceased to worry himself about me. Following hard, I got
a chance at sixty yards, and knocked him over with a shot from the .500
magnum high on the shoulder. Owing to the smoke, the lack of landmarks,
and the height of the grass (about 4 ft. 6 in.), I lost his exact
whereabouts, and after slipping in another cartridge, walked past him.
He suddenly rose at twenty-five yards and charged straight. The
incredible rapidity of his onslaught and the cover afforded by the grass
rendered aiming impossible. I merely swung the gun on him and dropped
him at four yards with a shot in the neck, then hastily retired. After
waiting for some time and hearing no sound, I again advanced, this time
with the greatest caution. I could soon distinguish his shoulder at ten
yards between the grass. Not wishing to damage his skin unnecessarily,
I took my small rifle and fired at his shoulder. The shot had hardly
struck when he again rose and charged like lightning. Another lucky
shot from the second barrel, which entered the old wound, laid him out.
His head was within three yards of my feet. Even then he would not die,
although unable to rise, and it needed three more shots to finish him.
This was the first time I had been charged by a lion, and I was amazed
at the incredible rapidity of their movements. My respect for friend
lion increased a thousandfold.
The following day was evidently a lion's holiday, for Mahony and I,
following the river to where I had dropped a zebra, put up two lionesses
out of some scrub. I hit them both with a right and left. Mahony also
hit one, which we secured. But the other one crossed the river, making
a clean jump of 34 ft., and reached a large patch of long grass where we
lost her. The wind dropped, and consequently the grass would not burn.
Nor could we follow her spoor. Sharp, crossing the plain to the
Umkulumadzi, met a lion and a lioness, and killed the lion with a shot
in the neck. On his way home he met another lion, and with a shot at
ten yards from the 10-bore removed a bunch of the mane. The lion jumped
into a small patch of impassable reed from which he could not be induced
to move, so was wisely allowed to stay, as handling a gun inside would
have been impossible. This was our grand finale at lion camp, and we
again moved to our old spot by the water-hole in the jungle, but without
success.
The variation in the Lichtenstein hartebeeste was very remarkable, the
type in this jungle being a heavy beast without face markings, the
frontal bone very prominent and the white rump indistinct, while near
Gorongoza's hills they were smaller, had a white blaze on the forehead,
and were without the peculiar frontal prominence, the rump, too, being
very white. The nocturnal attentions of the hyaenas were most annoying,
diabolical peals of laughter in rapid succession making sleep almost
impossible. Failing to find buffalo, we again marched up the Pungwe,
and to the lagoon where we had started proceedings.
The first morning after losing a splendid eland, in company with Mahony,
I met a fretful porcupine taking his morning constitutional. We waited
till he walked within five yards and then gave chase. For a time the
pace was hot, till I headed him off, and grabbed him, by the long hair
on his neck, which promptly gave way (I mean the hair). I was again
closing on him, when he suddenly backed, driving one quill through my
boot, 1-1/2 in. through my little toe, and a dozen others into my leg,
one through the tendon. One of my boys was badly mangled in a similar
manner, and it was only after giving the fretful one a playful tap on
the skull that we made him fast. I regret to say that two days
afterwards he died.
As the officials of a so-called Gorongoza Development Co., with its
headquarters on the Dingi-Dingi, had seized our boys on their way to
Fontesvilla with trophies, and ill-used them, we marched to the Pungwe,
where I branched off to arrange matters, the others following the river
towards Sarmento. I found seven or eight yellow-visaged creatures, a
Portuguese-French mixture, who in three years had disposed of a capital
of, I believe, some hundreds of thousands of francs, with the stupendous
result of an asset comprising about fifty acres of castor oil (one of
the most ineradicable weeds of the country). The Governor, who was very
polite, told me that he was entitled to levy shooting licences, and
after some talk we closed the matter with a payment of L10, which I
should advise the shareholders of the Gorongoza Development Co. to keep
an eye on, as it is the only return they are ever likely to see. He
also told me that he should like a lion hunt, and had even sat up by his
fowl-house for that purpose. Not long after we met him, vinously
inclined, in Beira--the cheque had been cashed. On the Pungwe we
watched some native blacksmiths at work. Several of their tools were
very ingenious.
Again we marched north, and striking the Pungwe by Tiga's Kraal, crossed
the island and the Dingi-Dingi, and eventually camped at the junction of
a broad sandy river with the Urema. Sharp bagged a good buffalo with a
42-inch head the first night; and the following morning we found that a
male lion had visited the carcase, but retired before our arrival. We
tossed up as to who should sit up that night, and I was unlucky enough
to win; unlucky, in that I spent one of the most awful nights it has
ever been my lot to endure. Having built a small platform, 6 ft. from
the ground, I repaired thither with a thick blanket at sunset. Soon
about thirty hyaenas appeared, and continued fighting, snarling, and
uttering diabolical yells all night; while battalions of mosquitoes
refreshed themselves at my expense, biting my knees, even through a
camel's-hair blanket and flannel trousers.
At last, about an hour before dawn, I fell asleep, and was awakened at
sunrise by a scuffling noise behind me. I turned round, on murder
intent, expecting to find a belated hyaena, and beheld, ten yards away,
a grand old lion slowly dragging the carcase under the shade of a tree.
Still half asleep, I reached for the 10-bore, and killed him with a shot
high on the shoulder, and went back to breakfast, feeling thoroughly
ashamed of myself. I consider sitting up over a bait an unpardonable
form of murder, if there is the remotest possibility of shooting a beast
in fair hunt.
A few days later, when on the way to our camp in the jungle, I overshot
the track in some long grass, and spent a terrible day in consequence.
I could not be certain that I had crossed it, or if I had crossed, of
not doing so again if I returned. The only safe course was to follow
some definite direction. I judged the whereabouts of the junction of
the Gorongoza plain and the Urema, and went straight ahead through thick
and thin. Some of the bush was terrible, and the only way to pass was
by climbing along the boughs of the trees above. The experience gave me
a clear idea of how people lose themselves irretrievably, as I found it
needed a tremendous effort of will to compel myself to go on and on.
The temptation to try another direction is almost invincible, and
nothing is easier than to lose one's nerves on these occasions.
However, I at length emerged, torn and bleeding from head to foot, and
throwing myself into the river, regardless of crocodiles, lay there,
drinking in the water through every pore. Much refreshed, but with the
unpleasant prospect of spending the night there, I climbed up on to the
path that runs along the river-bank, and saw to my amazement the spoor
of two horses; this I followed up; and half an hour later, as it was
getting too dark to see, I caught the glimmer of a fire in the distance.
Here I found Mr. H. S. H. Cavendish of Lake Rudolph fame, and Mr. Dodson
of the British Museum, who had just arrived on a shooting trip.
After an uncomfortable night in a horse's nose-bag and a cloud of
mosquitoes, I hurried to my camp to relieve Sharp's anxiety, meeting a
search-party of natives on the road. Next day I returned to Cavendish,
to see how the fever from which he was suffering had progressed. During
lunch a native rushed in, saying that he had been bitten by a
night-adder (one of the most deadly snakes in Africa). I promptly
collared him by the arm, stopped the circulation with some string, slit
his finger crosswise with my pocket-knife, exploded some gunpowder in
the cut, while Dodson administered repeated subcutaneous injections of
permanganate of potash. Meanwhile the arm, chest, and left side swelled
to the most appalling proportions. Cavendish then appeared on the scene
with a bottle of whisky, three parts of which we poured down his throat.
Then we told off three strong men to run the patient round the camp till
he subsided like a log into a drunken stupor. The following morning he
was still alive, but the swelling was enormous, and the colour of his
nails indicated incipient gangrene. Not knowing what else to do, we put
a pot on the fire, and made a very strong solution of the permanganate
which we kept gently simmering, while six stalwart natives forced the
unfortunate's hand in and out. His yells were fearful, but the cure was
complete. The swelling rapidly subsided, the nails resumed their normal
colour, and the following morning, with the exception of the loss of the
skin of his hand, he was comparatively well.
A note from Sharp informed me that the Portuguese ruffians of the
Gorongoza Development Co. had again raided our camp when he was out
shooting, had removed the whole concern, beaten, threatened to shoot,
and eventually made prisoners of all our boys.
This considerate proceeding they repeated with Mr. Illingworth's party.
Needless to remark, our protests were received by the British Consul
with the diplomatic interest due to the subject, a request to formulate
them on paper, and an intimation that our trouble would be superfluous,
as nothing could be done.
Having heard that another Portuguese official, who was reported to be
looking for me, was in the vicinity, I asked him to come to dinner.
Whereupon he refrained from arresting me, and asked me to stay with him
instead; accordingly I returned with him to his station, and the
following morning marched into Fontesvilla and caught the train to
Beira, where I found Sharp busy packing and sending off the trophies.
*CHAPTER III.*
*THE ZAMBESI AND SHIRE RIVERS.*
Though very loath to leave our happy hunting-grounds, we had to tear
ourselves away and make preparations for the long march north, so went
down to Durban to lay in a few necessaries, an extra .303 in case of
accidents, and to obtain the time and rate of our chronometer from the
observatory.
On our return to Beira we embarked on the _Peters_ for Chinde, finding
as fellow-passengers the Congo Telegraph Expedition under Mr. Mohun--six
white men, one hundred Zanzibaris, thirty donkeys, and a few cows, etc.
To our horror, on disembarking the next day, we found that all our heavy
luggage, tents, etc., had been put on the wrong boat at Beira, and were
on their way to Delagoa Bay. As the telegraph line is generally in a
state of collapse, owing to the white ants eating the posts, and to
vagaries on the part of the Portuguese or natives, it took some days to
inform the agent.
Chinde offers no attractions except to those who are waiting for a
home-going boat, so we made up our minds to go on to Chiromo, and have a
little shooting till our things turned up, and we could proceed on our
journey.
The African Lakes Corporation, to whom we had consigned a splendid
full-plate camera, denied any knowledge of it. We afterwards found that
it had passed through their hands, and had been stowed on a sunny and
rain-swept verandah for three months, with a result that may be
imagined. They had also inadvertently overlooked thirty of our cases of
provisions, which we found at the last moment in their store.
Having borrowed a tent from Mr. Mohun, and being tired of sardines as a
staple article of diet, we made a start up-river, only to find ourselves
worse off afloat than we had been ashore, the Company we had the
misfortune to travel by having apparently realized how to provide the
minimum of comfort with the maximum of charge.
On each side of the steamer a barge was made fast, so progress was not
rapid. It was the dry season. The river was very low, and intervals of
rest on sandbanks were of frequent occurrence. The banks being very
high, one very rarely saw the neighbouring country. No game was ever to
be seen, while on the broad river only an occasional native canoe or a
gunboat, bustling down-stream, broke the monotony.
Every night the boat tied up to lay in a supply of wood, sometimes near
a native village, and occasionally near a sugar plantation; at the
latter we were generally given some green vegetables, which were a great
boon.
The water is pumped up from the river and distributed by channels over
the cane-swamps, and in the time to come, as more of the river-banks are
taken up by these Sugar Concessions, this drain on the water will make a
considerable difference to navigation in the dry season.
Amongst the legitimate productions of the cane, they here manufacture
Scotch whisky, the labels and bottles being imported from the home
markets in large quantities. The most important estate is managed by a
French company, superintended by ten Europeans (mainly French). The
system of irrigation is very complete, and the work of cleaning is done
by steam-ploughs, managed, of course, by Scotchmen. Mills are in course
of erection, and the bottles, thistle and all complete, will soon be in
requisition. Three hundred hectares are already planted, and the
Company intend immediately planting five hundred more.
There is another important Sugar Company, owned by the Portuguese and
managed by a Scotchman. The output from its extensive plantations
during the season, which lasts three months, amounts to one hundred and
twenty tons a week.
It is a dreary, hot, monotonous journey.
The river is most uninteresting, of great breadth, with low
grass-covered banks and destitute of trees, except near the delta, where
there are some thriving cocoanut plantations. The stream is cut up by
numerous islands and sandbanks, haunted by vast flocks of geese,
pelicans, and flamingoes.
At Senna there are a few miserable huts, and a few yet more miserable
Portuguese, and at Songwe there is an Indian settlement, where there is
some trade from the interior.
On reaching the Shire we were transferred to an animated tea-tray, by
courtesy called a steamer, which carried us to Chiromo. The food for
five Europeans for two and a half days consisted of one ancient duck,
three skinny fowls, and a few tins of sardines. There was no bread,
butter, milk, or Worcester sauce, without which life, or rather native
cookery, is intolerable. Luckily, at the villages on the way we were
able to buy fowls, eggs, and tomatoes.
Before reaching Chiromo we put in at the first B.C.A. post, Port Herald,
where dusky Napoleons ponder over wild orgies of the past. A broad road
planted with shade trees leads up to the collector's house, and
cross-roads, similarly planted, give quite a pleasant appearance to the
place, backed in the distance by a high mountain.
Chiromo is laid out at the junction of the Ruo and Shire rivers, while
on the north-west side the station is hemmed in by the vast Elephant
Marsh, now a closed game preserve, owing to the inconsiderate slaughter
in time past. Lions can be heard almost every night, and the day
previous to our arrival a lion appeared in the town in broad daylight,
and carried off a native. Though the available population turned out to
slay, he escaped untouched. Many shots were fired at him from many
varieties of guns, and the range varied from five to five hundred yards.
But still he wandered round, the least excited individual in the place.
Eventually the Nimrod of Chiromo, who arrived late, hurt his feelings by
tumbling off a tree on to his back. This was too much, and he
majestically stalked off into the Marsh, wondering at the inscrutable
ways of men.
Leopard spoor was also a common sight in the street in the morning,
while in the Ruo the crocodiles lived an easy life, with unlimited black
meat at their command near the bathing-places.
From its position, the town is the inland port of British Central
Africa, and with the fast-growing coffee industry will become a place of
considerable importance. Already the building plots command a high
price, and stands are being eagerly bought up by the African Flotilla
Company and Sharrers' Transport Company, who are rapidly ousting the
African Lakes Corporation from their position of hitherto unquestioned
monopolists. There are also several German traders who display
considerable activity, apparently with satisfactory results, and there
are rumours of a coffee combination, financed by a prominent German East
Coast firm, making their headquarters here.
A large estate on the right bank of the Shire, called Rosebery Park, is
owned by the African Flotilla Company, which makes excellent bricks, and
opposite the town a fibre-extracting company has started work. The
company has obtained Foulke's patent fibre-cleaning machine, and a
concession of the fibre-gathering rights over all Crown lands, and
another similar concession in the Portuguese territory.
The plant employed is Sanseveira, of which there are about twenty
varieties, the most common in the neighbourhood being _S. cylindrica_
and _S. guiniensis_; the former, owing to the greater ease with which it
can be worked, being the most valuable. The length of leaf is 3 to 6
ft., and the diameter about 3/4 in. I found it growing in immense
quantities on the plains round Chiperoni.
The treatment is very simple. The green stuff is put over rollers,
which take it past a rapidly revolving brush under a strong jet of
water. The resulting fibre is then dried in the shade, tied into
bundles, and is ready bleached for the market. Consequently the cost of
production is very low. The fibre is fine, strong, and clean, and the
waste is very small, the proportion of fibre to reed being 4 per cent.
The strength is estimated at two and a half times that of the best
manilla.
The cost of fuel (wood) to run one engine for a day is only four
shillings, and as the fibre needs no cleaning, only one process is
necessary.
Mr. H. MacDonald, the Collector and Vice-Consul, royally entertained us
at his house, the only cool spot in Chiromo. His method of providing
fish for dinner was to fire a round from his .303 into the edge of the
river, when one or two fish would rise stunned to the surface.
The climate of the vicinity is very trying to Europeans; the heat is
intense, and, being a moist heat, is at times insufferable. We
repeatedly registered 115 deg. and 120 deg. in the shade, and owing to
the amount of vapour held suspended in the air, there was very little
diminution of temperature at night.
Periodical waves of fever prostrate the population when the wind blows
from the Elephant Marsh, and the death-rate assumes alarming
proportions. A form of Beri-Beri is also prevalent.
Large numbers of natives frequently apply for permission to come over
from the Portuguese country and settle in British territory, and the
population is thus becoming very dense, and food is easily obtainable in
large quantities.
*CHAPTER IV.*
*CHIPERONI.*
The Ruo, the main tributary of the Shire river, which two rivers at
their angle of confluence enclose Chiromo (native word, "the joining of
the streams"), rises in the Mlanje Hills, whence it flows in two main
streams which join about twenty-five miles north of its junction with
the Shire. Ten miles south of this are the beautiful Zoa Falls.
As there was every prospect of having to wait some weeks for the errant
loads, we made arrangements for some shooting, having heard great tales
of the rhinoceros on Mount Chiperoni, which lies about forty miles east
of the Ruo in Portuguese territory. Having been provided with porters
by Mr. MacDonald, and obtained a permit from the Portuguese, which
entitled us to carry a gun and shoot meat for the pot, we crossed the
river and marched up towards Zoa.
The country was exceedingly dry and burnt up: consequently the little
game that remained in the vicinity was concentrated near the water.
After some hard days' work under an impossible sun, I shot a
klipspringer, which, curiously enough, was down in the flat country, and
fully twenty miles from the nearest hills. The bristly hairs reminded
me of a hedgehog, and came out in great quantities during the process of
skinning. These antelopes are exceedingly heavy in the hind quarters,
short in the legs, and have the most delicate feet imaginable. We both
searched high and low for koodoo, which were reported to be plentiful,
but without effect, though I found a couple of worm-eaten heads lying in
the bush; and for some days we had no luck with sable, although there
was much fresh spoor; but eventually I succeeded in bagging a fair bull.
No antelope looks grander than an old bull sable, standing like a statue
under some tree, his mighty horns sweeping far back over his shoulders.
The bristling mane gives a massive appearance to his shoulders; there is
something suggestive of the goat about him, both in his lines and
carriage: a giant ibex!
One evening some natives came to camp with a wonderful catch of fish,
amongst which I noticed four different species. One was a long,
eel-shaped fish with a curious bottle snout, and very small teeth. The
eye, entirely covered with skin, was almost invisible. There is a
closely allied fish in the Nile. Another one resembled a bream with
very large fins. A third resembled a carp with enormous scales, and was
very poor eating. While the fourth, which I have never seen elsewhere,
and which was unknown to Mr. MacDonald, who is a keen naturalist,
resembled a heavily-built carp with large scales and prominent fins, and
was of a beautiful green colour.
Sharp having decided to go to the north of Nyassa to arrange transport
across the plateau, then returned to Chiromo, and I quickly followed.
But a few days later I again crossed into Portuguese territory, and
marched east along the telegraph line to M'Serrire on the Liadzi, a
tributary of the Shire.
The following morning, quietly strolling through some dense bush, I saw
two grand bull sable browsing on the tender shoots of a massive creeper.
I fired at the better of the two, and they both galloped away. It was
easy to follow their spoor in the soft, peaty soil, and a quarter of a
mile away I came on him lying dead. The shot had passed through both
lungs. In the evening, when tubbing, I was beset by bees who come in
clouds for the moisture, and after an exciting and one-sided conflict I
hurriedly withdrew, dashed in a state of nudity through the astonished
village, and sought refuge in a hut. The stings induced a severe fever,
and the next two days were spent in bed and indignant meditation.
Hearing that some old Cambridge friends of mine had arrived in Chiromo,
I marched in and spent a jovial evening with MacDonald, who was
entertaining them.
A new detachment of Sikhs arrived under Lieut. Godfrey. It was splendid
to see the contrast between the manners of these magnificent men and
those of the local negro. The respect shown to all Englishmen by these
gentlemen of gentlemen, coupled with their proud carriage and air of
self-respecting-respectful independence, contrasted well with the
slouching, coarse insolence of the hideous African.
A naive individual arrived by the same boat for some official post, and
asked whether it was usual to leave cards on the converted natives and
their wives. He appeared to be a striking example of the appalling
ineptitude of many of the officials chosen for the difficult and serious
work they undertake.
Tales of rhinoceros and elephant fired me with the desire to make a trip
to Chiperoni, a large mountain mass east of the Ruo; but my ignorance of
the language made such an undertaking difficult, so that I wasted some
days in endeavouring to find a companion. Preparatory to starting, it
was necessary to make friends with the Portuguese official. The usual
man was away, and his _locum tenens_ was the captain of the gunboat,
which was moored to the bank opposite MacDonald's house.
From previous experience, I had learnt that with Portuguese and natives
everything depended on outward appearance; and, as my wardrobe was
little calculated to inspire respect, I went round the town and gathered
much gorgeous raiment, the finishing touch being supplied by the doctor
in the shape of a red-and-white medal ribbon, torn from a pocket
pincushion. Resplendent in such gauds, with a heavy riding-whip, spurs
(I had noticed that spurs are indispensable to Portuguese polite
society, even at sea), and balancing a No. 6 helmet on a No. 8 head, I
was rowed across the river in great pomp by the administration boat,
midst the blare of trumpets and waving of flags.
The Portuguese officer, a delightful gentleman, received me with open
arms, placed the whole country and all that was therein at my disposal,
and gave me a "Viesky-soda," insisting on drinking the same thing
himself--a stretch of hospitality that was attended with the direst
results.
The following morning, having given up all hopes of finding a companion,
I collected a dozen raw natives and a Chinyanja dictionary, and on
November 10th crossed the Ruo and marched twelve miles to the Liadzi, a
parallel stream to the Ruo, and also flowing into the Shire. Five miles
further I forded the Zitembi, another parallel stream of some volume.
This I followed up to a village called Gombi (little bank), which is
perched on a small cliff at the junction of the Zitembi with a feeder.
I had had considerable difficulty in obtaining guides, the natives being
very surly, and absolutely refusing any information of the best means of
reaching Chiperoni, or of the probability of sport, and at Gombi things
reached a climax, the chief telling me that he wanted no white man in
his country, that the Portuguese forced them to work for nothing, and
demanded a 5 r. hut tax, that my men would obtain no food, etc., etc.,
_ad nauseam_. However, seeing that I was not to be trifled with, he
changed his tone, and brought me flour and fowls, guides to show me
game, and a guide to Chiperoni for the morrow. In the afternoon I took
a walk round and shot some meat, seeing plenty of fresh rhino, buffalo,
eland, sable, and other buck spoor. The country seemed so promising
that I decided, if unsuccessful at Chiperoni, to return for a few days.
There was an albino woman in the village; all her children, to the
number of five, were also albino, and at several other villages in the
vicinity I saw specimens, which would argue a strong hereditary
tendency. In many of the villages in the higher valleys there were
numerous cases of goitre, some very pronounced, and an extraordinary
number of lepers and idiots. This was attributable to the isolating
influence of mountainous regions, through difficulty of communication,
and the consequent tendency to inbreed. The whole of the next day I
followed the Zitembi, till, at its junction with a large feeder, about
twenty-four miles from Gombi, there is a village called Chirombo. The
stream, which is a series of cascades, and lined with bamboo, is
exceedingly beautiful, and, by a reconnaissance on the morrow, I
ascertained that it rises on the north of Chiperoni. From here
Chiperoni has quite an imposing effect. It is a terraced cone deeply
seared by water-courses, and rises from the middle of a basin formed by
a circle of less prominent peaks, the most important of which is Makambi
to the west. Far away to the north-west were visible the heights of
Mlanje, while to the east stretched an unending forest-clad plain that
reaches to Mozambique. Woods of mahobahoba (the wild loquat) and many
flowering trees covered every rise, and the flat interior of the basin;
and the glorious golds, reds, russets, and browns of our autumn, which
in these climes beautify the landscape in spring, were at their richest,
while a carpet of vivid green and purple flowers lay spread beneath the
shade. It was a beautiful country, cool, even at midday, cold at night,
free from mosquitoes and flies, and every mile or so an ice-cold stream
came tumbling down behind its curtain of ferns and orchids.
Marching round the southern face of Chiperoni for twenty miles, we came
to a long ridge or arete which I followed till within 500 ft. of the
summit, which is rocky and precipitous, but would offer no difficulty to
a man without a load. Here I camped on a small plateau in a glade of
mahobahoba. It was a delightful change after the sweltering heat of
Chiromo, and I could imagine myself again in Switzerland as I looked out
over miles of rolling upland and undulating forest. There were numerous
signs of elephant which were feeding on the small sugary loquats, but I
failed to find any, though I followed one spoor for many miles. From
here we worked round to the east face, till, being short of food, I was
obliged to follow one of the numerous streams down to the plain. Here
was a considerable but scattered population with a large number of
domestic pigeons, pigs, ducks, and cats. The pigs were the ordinary
bush-pig, while the pigeons, which were blue rocks, must have been
originally introduced by the Portuguese. The stream, which flows into
the Misongwe, a tributary of the Shire, is called the Machingiri, and
there are numerous signs of rhino, though few antelopes; however, I
managed to bag a good sable. As my boys were following very badly on the
paths, I cut straight across to Gombi through the forest, a very long,
waterless march, and on arrival found there was not one boy a hundred
yards behind; after that I had no further difficulty with them. At
Gombi I decided to stop for a few days, and the next morning, after
spooring a herd of sable for two hours, I shot a splendid bull.
I had told the chief, who was now most friendly, that I was going to
shoot sable, and he came and asked me what I intended to kill the next
day, and was much amused when I jokingly replied that I should bring
home a rhinoceros.
With this end in view I started early, at 5.30 a.m., and crossing the
river, skirted along the foot of the hills, and killed a bull
hartebeeste for the Mahomedan boys, who refuse to eat the meat of any
beast that has not had its throat cut before death. Although this is a
great nuisance (as cutting the throat spoils the head skin), it is right
to respect such customs, and I always made a point of killing something
else, so that they should not suffer for their belief.
At 7.30 I found fresh rhinoceros spoor which I followed under a blazing
sun till 12.30. The country had been very difficult, and I was just
beginning to despair when I heard a snort, and looking up, saw the rhino
trotting round the corner of an ant-hill, behind which he had been
sleeping. On seeing me he stopped, snorting, blowing, and stamping,
looking exceedingly nasty. I was carrying my .303, and turning round
for my 4-bore, I found that all my boys had bolted up a small thorn
tree, from the branch of which they were hanging like a cluster of bees.
They had thrown down the gun, and I was compelled to stoop down and
grope about for it in the undergrowth. The brute was blowing and
snorting only fifteen yards away, and I felt very uncomfortable, as in
my position I offered a magnificent target. However, at last I found
the gun, and firing past his cheek, hit him full on the edge of the
shoulder. Instantly there arose a very hell of sound, squealing,
stamping, and crashing of bushes and grass. The smoke hung like a pall
around me, and I thought he was charging. Having nowhere to run to, I
stayed where I was, and suddenly his huge mass dashed past the edge of
the smoke-cloud, and I saw him disappear at a tremendous pace into the
grass. We followed hard, but though he bled freely and lay down several
times, we did not come up to him again till 3 p.m., when we found him
standing at ten yards' distance in a bushy nullah far up in the hills.
I fired the 4-bore at his shoulder, knocking him down, but he rose
again, and tried to climb the far bank; so I fired the second barrel
hurriedly; the cartridge split at the back, and I was knocked over a
tree two yards behind. That stopped him, and three solid bullets from
the .303 finished him.
I found that the first shot had penetrated about 2 ft., smashing all the
shoulder, yet he travelled for two and a half hours, over the steepest
hills and through some precipitous water-courses.
In cutting off his head, I found an old iron native bullet in the muscle
of his neck.
We were terribly exhausted from the desperate work in a pitiless sun,
and hastily grilled a portion of his liver, which was excellent.
A twelve-mile trot brought us back to camp at 7 p.m., and the old chief
turned out in state to meet me, and falling upon his knees, rubbed his
face in the dust in token of admiration at my powers of prescience.
The natives departed in hundreds there and then to cut up the meat, and
arrived early the next morning with the head intact; twenty boys carried
it slung on a pole. Skinning it was a fearful business, and occupied me
till dark; toil that I have much regretted, since I find that the skull,
skin, and many other trophies and curios have been unfortunately lost in
transit.
The old chief again came to me and asked me what I was going to kill. I
suggested eland for a change; and knowing that there were several herds
near where I had killed the rhinoceros, I set off in that direction, my
local guides carefully placing a bunch of leaves under a bush on the
left-hand side of the path. This, they informed me, ensured success.
The country was full of splendid hunting-grounds; the young grass was
sprouting from the black, peaty soil, and the new foliage of the trees
afforded grateful shade, beneath which one could walk for hours without
encountering any undergrowth.
The spoor of buffalo, rhinoceros, sable, and hartebeeste was plentiful,
but nothing would satisfy me except eland, and it was not till midday
that I found tracks fresh enough to follow. A six-mile burst brought me
in sight of a herd of twenty, and I was creeping round under cover of
some trees to obtain a good shot at the leading bull when a boy, who had
followed me from the village, let off a dozen ear-piercing whistles to
inform me that he too had seen them. Away dashed the eland, and any one
who has once followed alarmed eland does not eagerly repeat the mistake.
They usually keep up a steady trot till they are clear of the obnoxious
neighbourhood, and when they do stand are so wary that approach is
impossible. The offending native was an ordinary type of the creatures
depicted in books as wonderful hunters and trackers. Personally I have
never found a native of Africa who was anything but an abominable
nuisance out hunting; and after many trials I strictly confined my
hunting attendants to one or two gun-bearers whom I trained to act
instantly on a definite set of signs, and never used them for any
purpose, except to occasionally follow obvious spoor when I wanted to
rest my eyes; even then they needed watching, or they would go wrong.
The Bushmen are, of course, an exception to this rule.
On my way back to camp I was startled by a deafening report and the
shriek of a bullet past my head. The boy who was carrying my 4-bore had
slipped the safety-bolt back, and the trigger had caught in a twig. He
was, of course, carrying the gun loosely on his shoulder, and the effect
of the explosion of fourteen drams of powder was terrific. It knocked
him several feet off the path and stunned him, while the gun described a
graceful parabola, and landed, muzzle downwards, on a patch of soft
soil, fortunately escaping damage.
A messenger arrived in the evening with a note to the effect that the
stray baggage had arrived, and the following day I returned to Chiromo
after a most enjoyable trip.
*CHAPTER V.*
*BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA AND LAKE NYASSA.*
At last, on November 28th, I left Chiromo and started up the river once
more in the good ship _Scott_, and again realized the feelings of a pea
on a drum. Fortunately the skipper was so ill with fever that we took
charge of the boat ourselves, and thus contrived to have something to
eat.
We had lost six valuable weeks through our kit having been put on the
wrong boat at Beira, and as Mohun's expedition had gone on in front we
lost eventually six weeks more, through the transport on the Tanganyika
plateau being temporarily demoralized. Thus the carelessness of our
agent delayed us in all three months. Such is African travel. I no
longer fret when my train is ten minutes late. Even after this wait
some of our things never turned up at all. Mr. Commissioner Alfred
Sharpe, C.B., the greatest and most reticent of African Nimrods, was on
board, but we tried in vain to induce him to tell us some of his
experiences. However, he gave me a piece of advice that afterwards
stood me in good stead: that, when charged by an elephant, the safest
course was to remain quite still till the brute was within four yards,
and then to blaze in his face. This almost invariably turns the brute
or makes him swerve; my experience has certainly proved its efficacy.
Mr. Sharpe has the reputation of being the hardest and most daring
shikari who ever followed an elephant; and many amusing tales are
current of how in the excitement of the chase he would charge cow
elephants to make them get out of his way, in order that he might obtain
his shot at the leading bull. In view of the success that attends many
of the imaginative literary efforts of missionaries and week-end
tourists on the subject of Africa, it is a great pity that the few men
like Alfred Sharpe and Lawley of Beira railway fame, who have had
gigantic experience of Africa past and present, resolutely refuse to
record their invaluable data in a book. Sir Harry Johnston and Selous
have set an admirable example, and if a few more men of their stamp
would write, much of the misleading balderdash that now passes current
as representing the Dark Continent would be happily crushed out of
existence.
[Illustration: I was compelled to stoop down and grope.]
A slight mishap with the machinery delayed us for several hours, and it
was not till noon the following day that we reached Makwira's village.
Young Makwira, who is quite the young gentleman, in knickers, stockings,
spats, collar, and hard hat, provided us with whiskies and milk, and
discussed local politics, displaying no little acumen. I believe that
it was his father who used to be a terror to all travellers on the
Shire, and that but a few years ago, when the elephant still roamed in
thousands on the Elephant Marsh, undisturbed by the shrill whistle of
the stern-wheeler or the bark of the playful 4-bore. It was either old
Makwira or another genial darky in the vicinity, who for some time kept
a tame Portuguese band, and utilized the bandsmen when off duty as
machila-carriers.[#]
[#] _Machila_: Portuguese word acclimatized; a hammock slung to a pole
and carried by a team of men.
The Elephant Marsh is a large tract of country lying on the left bank of
the Shire river, north of Chiromo. In days gone by it teemed with
elephant, buffalo, and game of all descriptions; but the persistent
gunner soon drove the elephant away and decimated the other beasts. And
it was due, I believe, to Sir Harry Johnston that it was made into a
game reserve. The effect has been most beneficial. Herds of waterbuck
and buffalo come to the banks of the river, and lazily watch the
steamers pass; and even elephant have been occasionally seen of late
playing in their old haunts. A more suitable spot for a reserve could
not have been selected. The Shire and Ruo rivers to the south-west and
east, and the highlands to the north, form natural boundaries; there is
plenty of water and ample grazing at all times of the year. Every night
one may hear the lions roaring. By legislative foresight a game
paradise has been saved in the midst of one of the busiest and most
progressive of our African possessions.
At Makwira's we reluctantly bade farewell to Mr. H. C. MacDonald, whose
dry humour and all-embracing hospitality had made my weary sojourn in
Chiromo one of the most delightful stages in our journey. The company
on the steamer was rather embarrassed by the extravaganzas of an
evangelical madman, who had arrived in the country in a state of
destitution, and who is probably by now, under the title D.B.S., a
burden on the community. Such men should be caged, or at least
prevented from running loose amongst the natives, and adding to the
already well-nigh insuperable difficulties of the administration.
A few hours' run brought us to Katunga's, the African Lakes
Corporation's port for Blantyre. The Government station is a little
distance further up the river. The crocodiles, which were very numerous,
had been causing much mortality amongst the natives; one had even seized
the station's bucket, which, for greater safety, was lowered into the
river to draw water from the end of a long pole.
The Government station is the highest navigable point of the river south
of the rapids, and everything has to be unshipped and carried round to
the upper river by native porters or wagons. From Katunga's to Blantyre
there is a well-constructed road, with a half-way house belonging to the
African Lakes Corporation. Captain Rhoades, of the B.C.A. navy,
accompanied me in a mule-cart, and we arrived at Blantyre, the
commercial centre of B.C.A., about sunset. The road quickly mounts from
the Shire valley on to the plateau of the highlands. Looking back over
the valley from the edge of the plateau the view is superb; and much of
the scenery through which the road passes is very beautiful. Most of
the highlands are covered with woods, which at that season were in the
full glory of their vernal tints; the grass was springing up green, and
carpeted with millions of beautiful purple flowers resembling crocuses.
There were many specimens of the mahobahoba tree, or wild loquat: the
timber of this tree is much prized for telegraph poles and similar uses;
and the broad dark-green leaves are exceedingly handsome. We passed
several comfortable-looking homesteads belonging to coffee-planters, and
the fields of neatly-planted coffee-shrubs staggering under their burden
of snowy blossom made me fancy that I was back in the fruit-farms of
Kent.
Coffee is the great industry of British Central Africa, and one that is
likely to bring the little protectorate into the vanguard of our new
possessions in the near future. The quality is second to none; some of
the crops have realized the highest price on the London markets. At
present the industry is more or less paralyzed, owing to the majority of
the planters having started operations on borrowed capital, and, with
one or two exceptions, without previous experience of coffee. But as
soon as the plantations are put on a sound business footing the
prosperity of the community should be assured, always provided that the
administration, by judicious legislation as to rate of pay for
labourers, prevents the labour market from being spoilt. The present
rate of pay is three shillings a month, and a rise must be prevented at
all costs. The labour supply, properly handled, should prove well-nigh
inexhaustible, and, owing to the immigration from the Portuguese sphere,
is steadily increasing. I was informed by many men that the first crop
should pay the expenses of the first three years during which there is
no yield. This is a magnificent return, and by judicious combines,
capitalization, and concentration, Nyassa coffee should become an
important industry. The coffee being of such quality, is only used for
blending at present, so that there is little chance of over-production.
It is one of the few African countries that has natural easy
communication with the coast, and when a light railway has been built,
and shipping and agency have been properly organized, the cost of
transport will be very small. There is also undoubtedly great scope for
subsidiary and supplementary industries, such as cocoa and rubber.
I consider that in British Central Africa there is an excellent opening
for British capital--an opening that appears to be as yet practically
unknown at home. The fact is that Africa is supinely neglected where it
cannot flaunt the magic war-cry, Gold. The Germans, who are ever on the
alert, are already alive to its possibilities, and there were rumours of
a great coffee combine financed by well-known German East Coast
capitalists. It is to be hoped that England will awake to the chance
before the ground has been cut from under her feet, as has already been
done in so many places that I have visited. The wily Teuton is very
much alive to the advantages afforded by British rule, and has already
levied heavy toll on the budding possibilities of trade in our African
dominions. Our trouble is that, with few exceptions, we do not send out
the right men, but consider that any one is good enough for Africa.
This is far from being the case, as new business lines have to be
adopted to ensure success. Adaptability and enterprise belong to genius
and not to mediocrity, and no country requires a more
delicately-adjusted combination of dash, tact, and perseverance than
Africa.
There is a passable hotel in Blantyre, and many fine buildings in brick.
The missionaries have built a large church, and laid out avenues of
eucalyptus which have grown wonderfully well. Unfortunately, as in
Rhodesia, the white ants attack the roots when the trees attain a
certain height. Extensive plantations would unquestionably considerably
modify the climate, which is far from good. The worst type of
haemoglobinuric fever is very prevalent, and the death-rate is
consequently high. However, as more and more land is brought under
cultivation, the country should become healthier. Probably much of the
fever that prevails is brought from the lowlands, which must be
traversed before arriving in the higher altitudes: an improved service
with the coast will obviate this to some extent. At Blantyre I met with
much kindness at the hands of Mr. Codrington, the Commissioner of
Northern Rhodesia, Major Harding, C.M.G., who had been recruiting
Angonis for the B.S.A. Police, and Mr. Wilson of the Trans-Continental
Telegraph, an old school and Cambridge friend, whom I was much surprised
to find in this out-of-the-way corner of the world. Three days later I
left with Mr. Hall of the African Flotilla Company in machilas for
Zomba, the administrative capital. We were to spend the night at the
Nomasi river, which we reached in a torrential downpour. Our delight,
when we discovered that the transport people had sent our tents and
provisions by the wrong road, may be imagined. Fortunately we learned
that Mr. Harrison, whom we had met on the river, was camped in the
vicinity, and he kindly provided us with a shakedown and something to
eat. The following day we reached Zomba, having passed through many
flourishing coffee estates. Here Mr. C. C. Bowring put us up and plied
us with all the obtainable luxuries and comforts, in the intervals of a
fight to the death with a swarm of irate bees who had taken possession
of the interior of the wall of his house. The view across Lake Shirwa
and the forests that clothe the flat plains which surround the lake
ranks amongst the finest that I have seen in Africa. Vast purple masses
of hills enclose the placid lake and its forest-clad plains, and the eye
roams on over an infinity of broken upland and shimmering haze. The
Government House is a large picturesque building standing in the midst
of a well-planted tropical garden, which had, however, been lately
ravaged by a flight of locusts. There was tennis accompanied by a
tea-party, presided over by Miss Harrison, who has nursed many a sick
man back to life, and it seemed as if I had suddenly dropped back into
civilized England. After two pleasant days spent in these unwonted
surroundings, I started in a machila for Liwonde on the Upper Shire,
where I arrived at sunset, and was entertained by Mr. Drummond Hay, an
old "Herzog" friend. I am much shocked to hear that he has since fallen
a victim to the climate.
From Liwonde the S.S. _Monteith_ took me to Fort Johnston, which is the
port of Lake Nyassa, and is situated a few miles south of the bar at the
outlet of the lake. A short distance from Fort Johnston the river opens
out and forms the small lake Pamalomba, formerly a great haunt of
elephant. The lake is very shallow, and as the steamer passes along,
the disturbed mud emits enormous volumes of marsh gas: so great is the
quantity that the water has the appearance of violently boiling. There
have been several instances of men being blown out of their cabins,
owing to their having ignited the gas by absent-mindedly striking a
match. When Sharp passed with Mr. Mohun, somebody threw a lighted match
overboard. Instantly a sheet of flame passed over the barge that was
being towed alongside, and two saddles were seriously burnt.
As we arrived at Fort Johnston late in the evening, I elected to sleep
on board, and was much gratified to find that two couples of married
German missionaries, not content with having monopolized the only two
cabins, had rigged up a large canvas enclosure and were sleeping on
deck. Consequently, I was compelled to place my blankets by the wheel
and sleep in the wind and dew.
Mr. Wallis, the Vice-Consul, entertained me. He has laid the new town
out most admirably, and I could scarcely believe that it had all been
done in a few months. The place was alive with rats, who amused
themselves all night by tobogganing down my face, rushing along my body,
and taking flying leaps from my feet into outer darkness.
Commander Cullen took me over H.M.S. _Gwendoline_, the large new gunboat
that had just been launched for patrolling the lake. It is a splendid
work to have accomplished, when the difficulties of transporting some of
the heavy portions round the rapids are taken into consideration. I was
also introduced to a budding diplomatist, who informed me with pride
that he had fired a soft-nosed bullet at an elephant at one thousand
yards. The elephant escaped.
On December 15th I started on the voyage up the lake in the S.S.
_Domira_, and at midday made Monkey Bay. It is a most beautiful little
spot, and reminded me forcibly of the South Sea Islands. Bold rocky
headlands plunge into the lake and enclose a white strip of sand with
straggling villages at the back. The water is clear as crystal, and
broken by the heads of hundreds of natives diving, swimming, and
splashing about. Ringing peals of laughter echo in the rocks and
startle the troops of baboons that sit watching with curious eyes the
trim little steamer. Picturesque groups of natives are scattered about
the beach, and the little picaninnies are playing on the skeleton of a
wrecked Arab dhow, little dreaming what that dhow had meant to their
fathers a few years before. In the afternoon I strolled out, hoping to
get a shoot at koodoo, for which the place is famous. But the koodoo
were not at home; however, I saw several impala, and shot a small buck
which I believe to have been the duiker described by Sir Alfred Sharpe
as a probable new species. Unfortunately, my natives devoured the skull
and the rats ate the skin. It was a small, reddish-brown buck, similar
in build to a klipspringer, with wiry hair and thick, high-standing hind
quarters.
The next wooding station was Domira Bay, and on the 17th we arrived at
Kota-Kota, which used to be the headquarters of the Arab slave traffic
across the lake, and the starting-point of the Arab raids towards Mweru.
Mr. Swann, the collector, who has had many years' experience of
Tanganyika in the old Arab days, entertained me, and gave me two Angoni
spears which had been taken in the Mpeseni trouble. There are several
missionaries at Kota-Kota. They have started football, and in a rash
moment I was induced to play--a freak which I regretted for many days
afterwards, as it brought on a sharp attack of fever.
Kota-Kota is exceedingly beautiful, as indeed is all the coast of Lake
Nyassa. The hills are heavily wooded, and their bases are broken by the
waves into fantastic caves and rocky promontories against which plays
the white line of surf. Small rocky islands stand out here and there,
and form the resting-place of myriads of cormorants.
Here I first saw the extraordinary "Kungu" fly, which is, I believe,
peculiar to Lake Nyassa. They resemble small may-flies, and at certain
seasons of the year rise from the water in such stupendous clouds that
they blot out the whole horizon. Seen in the distance, they have
exactly the appearance of a rainstorm coming across the lake. When they
are blown landwards they make every place uninhabitable by the stench
which arises from the countless millions that lodge and die on every
inch of sheltered ground. I myself have seen them lying a foot deep in
a room, and I was told that they are often much worse. The natives
sweep them up and make cakes of them. I tasted one, and found it by no
means bad. The next morning we reached Bandawe, another important
station, where there is a large mission-house with extensive plantations
of pineapples and some splendid mango trees. At Nkata Bay, a few miles
further up the coast, a native came and begged us to go and see his
master, who was very ill. Accordingly we set off in the dark, and found
Mr. Broadbridge of the African Trans-Continental Telegraph down with a
severe attack of fever; we did what we could for him, and he shortly
recovered. After a short stop at Luawi to pick up wood, we steamed into
Florence Bay, and at Miss MacCallum's invitation I accompanied her up to
the Livingstone Mission at Mount Waller. Mr. Stewart, one of the
missionaries, who has been for some time working among the northern
Angonis, told me that he had been investigating the history of the
Angonis, who are descendants of the Zulus. There were two great treks
north of the Zulus in the time of Chaka. One, under Moselikatse, marched
to Matabeleland, leaving the ancestors of the present Matabele, and then
north across the Zambesi. There they came into conflict with the
Barotse, and were driven east, eventually settling in Southern
Angoniland of to-day, which lies south-west by west of Lake Nyassa.
The other trek marched north through the Sabi district, leaving the
present Shangaans on their way, and then crossed the Zambesi by the
Kabrabasa rapids and passed near Lake Rukwa. Here the chief died and
the trek split up: one part went north of Tanganyika and settled near
the south-west of the Victoria Nyanza, where they were rediscovered by
Stanley; another part marched round the northern shore of Lake Nyassa;
and yet another returned south and founded Northern Angoniland of
to-day.
Dr. Robert and Mrs. Laws treated me with the greatest hospitality; he
took me round the mission, and showed me the results of their four
years' work since the founding of the station. Dr. Robert Laws was one
of the first explorers of Nyassaland, and was in no small way
responsible for the checkmating of the Portuguese pretensions to what is
now British Central Africa. The station is admirably situated on a
plateau surrounded by hills with valleys intervening, and commands
extensive views across the lake to Amelia Bay and the Livingstone
Mountains, and to the west towards the valley of the Loangwa or Northern
Angoniland. There is a large printing-machine which the natives work
under the superintendence of Mr. Thomson. Here books and magazines and
much work of great merit are produced. The processes of stereotyping
and picture-reproducing on zinc are thoroughly understood by the skilled
natives. In the workshops are several carpenters, one of whom in a few
hours made me a folding camp-chair that accompanied me to Cairo. The
farm and the quarry are both managed by natives. Dr. Laws' system is to
employ native teaching as much as possible. If ability, whole-hearted
earnestness, and hard work can accomplish any good in missionary
endeavour, Dr. Laws ought to succeed. Laden with butter and gigantic
water-melons, I returned to the boat, and the following day we reached
Karonga's, the starting-point for the Stevenson Road.
*CHAPTER VI.*
*KARONGA TO KITUTA ACROSS THE TANGANYIKA PLATEAU.*
On arrival at Karonga I was much disappointed to find that Sharp, tired
of waiting, had left two days before to try and arrange transport on
Tanganyika. As it was the season for sowing their crops, very few
carriers were available, and it was evident that I should have to wait
some time before I could obtain sufficient men to transport our loads.
I commenced operations by repacking all the food-boxes and discarding
everything that was not absolutely necessary, as well as the
considerable quantity of stuff that had spoilt through being improperly
packed. The firm responsible, either as a practical joke or an
experiment in the cultivation of fungus, had packed chocolate in paper
wrappers and laid them in hay in a leaky wooden box. As a practical
joke it was weak, but as a venture in fungi-culture a complete success.
In fact, unpacking the boxes reminded me forcibly of the days when, as a
youthful disciple of Isaac Walton, I used to dig for worms in the garden
manure-heap. A series of remarkable tins of sausages added materially
to the excitement of these excavations, one and all having assumed the
outward and visible form of a Rugby football; while as to the inward
invisible grace, I was careful to throw them down wind, when they
exploded on contact with the ground in a manner most satisfactory, to
the utter consternation of six Kaffir dogs and a hyaena. They, having
followed up the wind of the first (a comparatively mild one), were so
overcome by its successors that they clapped their tails between their
legs, and, with a dismal howl, fled, convinced of the superiority of the
white man, even in what they had hitherto considered the black man's
monopoly. Native rumour has it that they are running still.
Having arranged everything and reduced the loads to a minimum, I
succumbed to a dose of fever, and spent Christmas Day in bed, on a cup
of tea. Dr. Castellote, the medical officer of Mr. Mohun's expedition,
was most kind, and when I had sufficiently recovered, we went out
together for a few days' shooting on the River Songwe, which, flowing
into the extreme north-western point of Lake Nyassa, forms part of the
Anglo-German boundary-line.
Before starting, however, I went to a neighbouring village and called
for volunteers to accompany us on our long journey north. I informed
the people in the guest's resting-place, which is kept apart in every
village, that the journey would take many moons; that we should go to
Tanganyika, that north of Tanganyika we should find another lake, then
mighty mountains that made fire, then another lake, then still mightier
mountains so high that the water became as stones; then a fourth lake,
out of which flowed a great river which, after several moons, took one
to the dwelling-places of the white man--large even as hills--where the
white men were even as the sands of the lake-shore; that there we should
find the sea--the water without end--and that I would send back in
steamers large as villages those who came with me, so that they might
return to their homes and tell their brothers of all the wonderful
things they had seen. The people were much impressed and evidently
considered me a very extra special line in liars. They asked me how I
knew what was there--"had I been there to see?" I told them that the
white man knew much, and what he did not know he could find in books
(showing them one). Then they realized that I must be even a finer liar
than they had at first taken me to be. After a little more talking four
stalwart Watonga volunteered to come, thinking it a pity not to see more
of such a transcendent Ananias. One of them, Makanjira, was a small
chief on the lake-shore, and those four men stuck to me through thick
and thin, and all arrived safely at Cairo; but I regret to say that I
have just heard that one of them, Chacachabo, died during the voyage
down the coast. The next day a nude dirty little ruffian came and asked
to go too; he, though but a small boy, came through safely, and is now
setting up a reputation as a liar on his own account. Later on I
obtained twelve more recruits, whom I handed over to Mr. Mohun's
sergeant to be drilled: these men, as it will later transpire, deserted
_en masse_ a few days north of Ujiji. They were Asiska, and a very
unwholesome lot of ruffians.
The doctor and I started off along the lake-shore on a couple of donkeys
lent to us by Mr. Mohun. We had much trouble in inducing them to cross
a large stream that flows into the lake a few miles north of Karonga,
and eventually had to take them bodily by the four legs and throw them
in.
At Chikopolo's there is a Government station in charge of a few native
police; here we stayed for a day, but finding nothing more interesting
than waterbuck and reedbuck, moved north and camped on the Songwe, which
is a stream of considerable importance, and navigable for several miles
from the lake. I was informed that there was a German post on the
northern bank of the river at its junction with the lake, and
accordingly went across to pay my respects. On arrival I found that the
station was in charge of a Goanese native, who promptly endeavoured to
annex my rifle, saying that I had brought it into the country without a
permit. I called upon Mirambo, a splendid old Arab who used to be a
great man in the country. He entertained me with true Arab courtesy,
and loaded my boys with magnificent pine-apples and lemons when I went
away. It was pitiable to see the poor old man, who a few years ago had
commanded thousands, putting on the faded relics of his greatness to do
me honour.
On the way back to camp I came upon an enormous native fishing weir:
there were two or three natives wading waist-deep in the water above the
weir pulling fish out of the baskets, while down-stream, with nothing
but the crazy sticks between, the water was being lashed into foam by
the gyrations of scores of huge crocodiles. I shot fourteen in as many
minutes, averaging fifteen feet in length. The natives flocked in to
express their satisfaction, and actually brought me a present of some
fish. There were a few pookoo on the plain. They are most beautiful
little antelopes and carry themselves exactly like a waterbuck. The
hair is reddish, long, and curly, and the hide (as with all the
waterbucks) very tough and thick. It has been obtained by comparatively
few sportsmen, as it is only found on the Upper Zambesi, Loangwa,
Chambesi, and Mweru district.
On the 13th I moved my camp twelve miles up the river to a village
called N'kana. Here the hills close in upon the river, but leave a
series of delightful little green glades, most likely places for finding
roan antelope, which are numerous in the country. But I was
unsuccessful, though there was some spoor about. While crossing one of
these small glades, a shout of Njoka (snake) from my gun-bearer made me
spring to one side. I found that I had put my foot so close to a
sleeping puff-adder that it would have been impossible to have slipped a
visiting-card between us. The brute still slept; on, till I crushed the
life out of it with an enormous log of wood. It rather scared me, as I
was hunting with bare legs. All this country is infested with
puff-adders, which are the most dangerous snakes in Africa, as they do
not dart away like other snakes, but lie sleeping in the dust till they
are trodden upon. They differ from other snakes in that they strike
backwards. Later on, near the Chambesi, I actually trod upon one; it
struck, but missed me, and turned a back somersault in the air, leaving
the ground entirely. After that I always wore gaiters or stockings. I
have heard of another instance of a puff-adder springing clear of the
ground. This is rendered possible by their habit of striking backwards.
The natives complained of the hut tax and of being forbidden to kill
game: they said that many had crossed over into the German sphere; but
they have all come back in a hurry.
Failing to find roan antelope, I marched back to Chikopolo's across the
hills, and was much struck by the number of butterflies in the woods;
some of them were very beautiful, but so rapid was their flight that it
was exceedingly difficult to catch them. Everywhere there was splendid
cattle country, but unfortunately very little cattle. Before the
rinderpest the whole of the Songwe valley was black with buffalo; now I
do not believe there is a single beast, except in some jungle two days'
march to the north, which the natives told me was haunted by a few
buffalo and elephants. And only a very few head survive of the
countless herds of cattle which were characteristic of the Wankonde.
The Wankonde are a very pleasant-mannered, intelligent people, who were
saved from absolute extinction at the hands of the Angoni, Watonga, and
Arabs by the British occupation of the country. Ethnologically they are
extremely interesting: their ethnographical position in the races has
not yet been satisfactorily ascertained. Their huts, which are very
neat and picturesque, are sometimes square, sometimes round, and worked
in a pattern of round knobs of clay stuck in between the rush walls.
Many are built on a raised clay foundation with a trench to draw off the
rain. The roof is worked in fancy patterns. Their metal work is
first-class, in fact the most finished that I have seen on the east side
of Africa. They have a fair breed of cattle, goats, and sheep, and grow
pineapples, bananas, and pumpkins in profusion. Probably owing to Arab
influence their villages are well laid out, and the banana palms are
planted in carefully aligned avenues. The Arab influence on their music
is obvious. And despite Arab influence they are an exceedingly moral
race. Being a peaceful, pastoral, and agricultural people, they fell an
easy prey to their warlike neighbours and the slave-raiding Arabs.
Lugard speaks of them as having been shot down in the most merciless
manner by the Arabs in his time.
The natives informed me that Mr. Mohun and Captain Verhellen, the
Belgian officer in command of the telegraph escort, were camped on the
Songwe, so I marched back and joined them. They were out for a short
hunting-trip, and I found them ignominiously slaughtering a goat for
meat, although the whole plain was alive with game. On examining Mr.
Mohun's rifle, which he had just bought from a local man of God, I found
that the barrel was so badly worn that it was almost possible to insert
the whole cartridge at the muzzle. That explained his having fired
forty shots without effect. In the evening we strolled out together,
and after a very difficult stalk I pulled off a long shot of three
hundred yards at a good bull pookoo. Captain Verhellen informed me that
he had seen four small grey antelopes, one of which he had wounded and
lost. I could not imagine what they could be; so on the following
morning turned out with his boy to show me where he had seen them. I
had only walked about three miles when I saw one standing in a patch of
green grass. It appeared to be a reedbuck of a beautiful bright
silver-grey colour. There was a small ant-hill between the buck and me
which made stalking easy, and I approached without difficulty to within
sixty yards. I was just pressing the trigger when an ordinary reedbuck
sprang out at my feet and dashed away with a shrill whistle; this
started the grey one, and I only got a running snapshot. The bullet
struck it in the stern but failed to stop it, and the second barrel only
grazed the side. I galloped wildly in pursuit, but the buck kept on its
course for nearly two miles before it stopped. The distance between us
was fully four hundred yards, but I had to take the shot, as it was
watching me, and was evidently prepared to resume its flight. The bullet
struck it far back, and it again galloped away, the second barrel going
wide. Fortunately the plain was extensive and the grass in most places
short, so that I managed to keep it in view for the next four miles.
Then it stood again, near some bushes; I endeavoured to approach under
cover of these, but was again spotted, and the weary chase recommenced.
The country became more broken, and I lost sight of the brute for some
time, but eventually saw it lying down a thousand yards away. I
approached to a tree, whence I could see if it moved, and waited in the
hope that it would get stiff and allow me to come within certain
shooting-range. After waiting half an hour I commenced to stalk it,
crawling flat on my stomach; there was a convenient bush within fifty
yards of where it was lying, and I made for this. After half an hour's
desperate crawl through thorns in a blazing sun, I reached the
much-desired spot, and peering cautiously round the edge found, to my
infinite disgust, that it had moved on. I searched high and low, but
could find no trace, and soon lost the spoor which showed but faintly on
the grass. As a last effort I made a circuit of two miles, but returned
to where I had lost it without result. Then I sat down, waiting for my
boys to arrive with my water-bottle. The pace had been so hot that they
were completely lost, and I waited in vain. The fever from which I was
still suffering made my thirst intolerable, and I rose with the
intention of returning to camp. Then a bright idea struck me, and
taking the siren whistle which I carried on my belt, I blew a piercing
blast. A rustle! and the buck leapt out of some grass which I imagined
would not have covered a mouse, and dashed off. To throw down the
whistle was the work of a second, and a quick double-barrel brought the
little brute at last to grass. I was more than delighted, and realizing
that I had obtained a new species of antelope, as the eyes, lips, horns,
and hoofs showed no trace of albinoism, skinned it with loving care, and
carried it back to camp. Dr. Sclater of the Zoological Society has
kindly described it for me. I called it Thomasina's reedbuck
(_Cervicapra Thomasinae_) after the lady who is now my wife.
The following day I slew another good bull pookoo, which took more
killing than any buck I have ever shot. The pookoo's tenacity of life
is proverbial among those who are acquainted with this most beautiful
little antelope. They have a curious gland about 4 in. below the head
in the side of the neck.
The Wankonde play a curious little musical instrument resembling in
conception a zither: the strings (six or seven in number) are stretched
on a back of hollow reeds; it is held under the leg when sitting, and
fingered like the Maderia machette with the right hand, the strings
being stopped with the left. They also play on a bow with a gourd or
cocoanut-shell as a sounder, and a species of guitar.
Having received a note to the effect that porters had at last come in, I
returned to Karonga to prepare for my final march of two hundred and ten
miles west to Tanganyika.
On the way I stopped for a day with Mr. Fox, who was managing the
telegraph construction across the plateau. The line was just opened to
Karonga from Salisbury, and Mr. Mohun had put up the first telephone
seen on Lake Nyassa between Karonga and Mr. Fox's camp. The work of
construction up the west coast of Lake Nyassa had been attended with the
greatest possible difficulties from the precipitous and densely-wooded
nature of the country, and the pestilential climate. These had,
however, by superhuman efforts, been overcome in the stipulated time by
the handful of men engaged on the work. A wide track, straight as an
arrow, up hill, down dale, across abysmal chasms, and through swamps,
had been cleared, and iron posts set in iron shoes supported the wire.
No one at home can realize the stupendous difficulties that have been
overcome. But I from observation know, and take off my hat in awed
admiration of that gallant band who, quietly, relentlessly, and without
a murmur, have accomplished the seemingly impossible. It stands out in
bold relief as a colossal monument of what the Anglo-Saxon can do, and
will ever sigh to the African wind the greatness of that master mind
which, in spite of the fossilized apathy of the British Government, has
raised a British South Africa to be a dominant factor in the world's
history of the future. It was instructive to mark the characteristic
distinction between Mr. Rhodes' telegraph expedition and the expedition
of the King of the Belgians. On the one hand was an unassuming handful
of men (without a single armed man), whose very existence might easily
have been overlooked by the casual passer-by. Yet behind them lay many
hundreds of miles of perfected work which brought the far interior of
Africa within a minute of Cape Town; before them stretched an arrow-like
clearing to Tanganyika (two hundred miles long), waiting for the
transport service to bring poles and wire. Quiet men, rotten with fever,
were being carried to and fro--inspecting, measuring, and trenching.
Above their base floated a diminutive Union Jack; no pomp, no fuss, not
even a bugle; yet all worked like clock-work. On the other hand, a huge
camp thundering with the tramp of armed men, uninhabitable from the
perpetual blare of bugles, a very wilderness of flags. Gorgeous and
fussy Belgians strutting about in uniforms, screaming and gesticulating,
with a few sad-visaged Englishmen doing the work--piles and piles of
loads--and ever those bugles. It resembled the triumphant march of an
army through the land, and the cost must have been appalling. Yet
months after they had eventually arrived at Mtowa, nothing had been
accomplished. The petty jealousy of the local officials proved an
impenetrable barrier, and now if anything has been accomplished, the
wire has been merely slung on trees. According to the latest reports,
there had been trouble with the natives, and the whole expedition had
been broken up, with the loss of most of the plant. There is
undoubtedly a quiet something about the Anglo-Saxon that gets there
somehow.
Fever overcame me once more, and I was confined to my bed for several
days; but at last, on January 24th, I made a start, and marched to
Mpata, the first camping-place on the Stevenson Road. The Stevenson
Road is a clearing through the bush that covers the greater part of the
plateau, and barely deserves the title of road, although in some places
a few logs have been thrown across the streams, and the more swampy
portions have been trenched.
The second stage brings one to Mkongwes, about twenty-seven miles from
Karonga. Chumbu, the next halting-place, is fourteen miles further.
The country is very hilly, and the scenery not very attractive. At
intervals, intersecting the road, the telegraph clearing sweeps on in
its relentless line, looking like a gigantic ride, where one expects
every minute to see the white tail of a scared bunny or a gorgeous
cock-pheasant bowling along as though on wheels. But one looks in vain;
no sign of life breaks that monotonous line stretching away over the far
hills till the trees at the side merge together, and it is lost in the
far distant horizon.
A very long day's march brought us to Fort Hill, the frontier station of
Nyassaland, which is in charge of a few black police. It had been very
wet, as the rains had broken, and I was exceedingly thankful to take
cover in the substantial house which is in the centre of the stockade.
I had a bull-calf with me, and gave it in charge of one of my Askaris,
who retaliated in the usual annoying way of natives by coming and asking
for some string to lead it by. Asking for string is a common and
intangible form of insolence, as they make string from the bark of
several kinds of trees, very common all over the country. But this time
I scored. I had a large coil of Alpine rope weighing about 20 lbs. I
gave him this, and told him on pain of death not to cut it. Then he
said, "It did not matter, he would make some." But I was relentless.
"He had asked for string, and I never refused a reasonable request."
That youth never again asked for string. At Nyala the telegraph people
have built a substantial house, which is to be a telegraph station and
general depository of material; they have selected an admirable
position. A large blood-sucking fly made life rather a burden; they
settled so quietly that one never felt them till they had driven a
proboscis, like a red-hot bodkin, half an inch into one's neck or face.
Amazing downpours every morning added to the joys of life, and for
several days I had to live in wet clothes and sleep in wet blankets,
while it was almost impossible to start a fire. I had a sou'-wester and
an oilskin, but they were of no avail. The rain fell like a wave, and
with such force that it splashed up underneath, and one was soon
drenched to the neck by capillary attraction. Passing through Mpansa we
reached Ikawa on the 31st.
Ikawa is the first station of Northern Charterland, on the Tanganyika
Plateau. Mr. Mackinnon, the collector, had gone to the Chambesi
district to neutralize the political machinations of a fractious
missionary.
Nine miles further on is Fife, the A.L.C. station, and the oldest
settlement on the plateau. Mr. McCulloch, who has been in charge for
several years, tells some delightful stories about his exciting
experiences in the old days of Arab predominance. Two members of Lieut.
Schleufer's expedition, which was endeavouring to transport a steamer
for the German Government to Lake Tanganyika, were camped outside the
walls waiting for porters. They had some heavy loads with them on
carts, and had taken seven weeks to make the journey from Karonga. Fife
is the half-way house between Nyassa and Tanganyika. From the verandah
I looked out with longing eyes over the vast Awemba country that lies at
the foot of the plateau. The view was superb, and typical of Africa in
its misty uncanniness. Mr. McCulloch has planted splendid gardens, and
we revelled in green peas, new potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, and many
other European vegetables, all of which grow luxuriantly on these
altitudes. In the days of overcrowding not far distant there will be a
fine country for European settlement on the Tanganyika Plateau. There
is much fever at present, but I think most of it is brought from the low
countries. The nights were quite cold, and fires necessary for comfort.
Mr. McCulloch has a wonderful knowledge of the native; he is considered
as a chief by the large village close to the station, and is much
respected by the native chiefs for many miles round. I purchased some
beautiful wooden snuff-bottles from the Mambwe people, and some
extraordinary ear-plugs which are worn by the women in the lobe of the
ear; some of them were 2 in. in diameter.
The Anglo-German Boundary Commission had just completed its task, and
the new boundary enclosed many of the large labour centres in the German
sphere: some of the chiefs, however, availed themselves of the time
limit allowed by proclamation, and came across to British territory.
But the Germans, contrary to the terms of the agreement, had posted
native police to intercept and terrorize them into remaining. The
Germans did not behave very well over the boundary settlement, but
insisted on retaining a small strip of territory that fell to their
share, but which cut across the Stevenson Road, though they were offered
a handsome _quid pro quo_ elsewhere. However, the British collector set
to work at once, and in a few days took the road round the obstructing
strip.
At Ikomba, another B.S.A. station, I found that Mr. Forbes had gone
home, and promptly looted the excellent new potatoes which I found in
his garden. On February 9th I reached Mambwe, and from there made a
trip down to the Awemba country, which is described in the next chapter.
On our return to Mambwe I was laid up with a very severe attack of fever
which did not leave me for two months, till I reached the highlands
around Kivu. I was delirious for some time, but improved sufficiently
to be carried to Kawimbi, a mission station near Abercorn. Mr. and Mrs.
May were most kind to me; the station is very pretty, and looks like an
English village with its picturesque little cottages and numerous
flower-beds. The following morning I was carried on to Abercorn,
although the missionaries kindly pressed me to stay, promising to nurse
me and make me well. I was sorely tempted, but felt bound to hurry on.
At Abercorn I utterly collapsed for several days, and in the intervals
of delirium eked out a precarious existence on Worcester sauce and
limes. Here I heard a lion story. The hero of the story (also the
author) having been told that a leopard was taking toll of the goats,
built a platform in a tree and sat up over a goat. Nothing, however,
turned up; but in the morning, tired of doing nothing, he fired an arrow
at a venture into a patch of grass, and on going to pick it up, found
that it had transfixed the heart of a stupendous black-maned lion.
Considering the state of my health, I thought this rather unkind. At
last I was sufficiently recovered to move once more, and was carried in
a machila, under Mr. Boyd's care, to Kituta, the A.L.C. station at the
south-eastern extremity of Tanganyika. The first glimpse of those
waters, round which so many dark tragedies have been enacted, cheered me
considerably. I had realized another ambition, and had arrived at the
real starting-point of our Odyssey.
Kituta is a beautiful but pestilential spot, chiefly remarkable for its
abominable smells. It is also the scene of another lion story which
deserves perpetuation.
There was once a very nervous agent in charge of the station with a
particular horror of lions. One of these brutes commenced eating the
natives of the village; so the agent barricaded himself in his room and
slept with six native watchmen in case of attack. Hearing, or thinking
that he heard, the lion prowling round, he fired out of the window and
knocked a hole through the administration boat. The following night he
again heard sounds and fired, bagging the collector's donkey at the
first shot. A certain well-known sportsman, who was hunting in the
vicinity, wrote in and congratulated him on shooting his first lion. He
rose to the occasion, and now silences all sceptics by producing the
letter, and has acquired quite a reputation as a hunter of big game.
While purchasing trade-cloth for the journey north, the carelessness of
the British manufacturer was again brought home to me. All the loads
contained different lengths, and as the marks had been rubbed off, the
operation lasted several hours instead of ten minutes; and they were so
badly packed that after a week's knocking about most of them came
undone, and the contents were consequently in part spoiled. I wonder
when the British exporter will realize the advisability of studying the
requirements of his markets. Kituta was at one time the call-place of
many Arab caravans, but now it has sunk into insignificance, although
there is a flourishing rubber trade in the country, which is paying very
handsomely.
*CHAPTER VII.*
*THE CHAMBESI.*
On reaching Mambwe I had the good fortune to find Mr. C. R. Palmer, the
assistant-collector, on the point of starting for the Chambesi, with the
object of waking up one or two of the chiefs who had been tardy in
sending in labour. His offer to take me with him, and his glowing
description of the game to be found there, were so tempting that next
morning I found myself on the march to Tanzuka, a border village of the
Mambwe; and on the following day we entered the country of the Awemba, a
very powerful tribe apparently of Zulu origin. The difference between
these people and the neighbouring Mambwe is as cheese from chalk:
whereas the latter are of the ordinary dirty, stunted, cringing or
insolent, ill-fed type of Central Africa, the former are of a very
striking caste. Among the upper class are some magnificent specimens of
the native, tall men of powerful build, with much of the well-bred
carriage of the Zulu; their noses are straight and thin cut, their
colour bronze; and their hair, which they wear in grotesque tufts down
the middle of their head, is the only conspicuous negro characteristic.
Many of the young women, with their regular features, beautiful colour,
and small, delicate hands and feet, are quite pleasing. Until the
advent of the Chartered Co. they led the rollicking life of the old
Zulus; herding cattle and depending for the meaner necessaries of life
and the replenishing of their harems on the efforts of their neighbours.
Far and wide they used to raid even to the Atonga country on the east
coast of Tanganyika, and many and wonderful are the tales told of their
stupendous forced marches, when the weaker members used to fall out and
die from sheer exhaustion. All the chiefs of any standing maintain
bands, composed of singers, drummers, and players on the castanets, in
which they take great pride. On the approach of any visitors to whom
they wish to do honour, the band is sent forward to meet them; the
leading part is usually taken by a man who sings the theme, some of them
having remarkably fine voices, while the refrain is taken up by other
men, playing drums of hollow wood with lizard or snake skin stretched
over the apertures, and a chorus of boys rattling pods containing dry
seeds; the whole is accompanied by grotesque dancing, the main object of
which appeared to be to go as near falling down as possible without
actually doing so. The strain, like most African music, plays on about
three notes with untiring repetition, and, though rather pleasing at
first, palls after the fourth or fifth hour. Should a chief find any
singer of unusual power, he promptly removes his eyes to prevent him
from going elsewhere, and many men thus mutilated are to be seen in
every district. In fact mutilation in various forms appears to be the
chief recreation of these autocrats. Mr. Palmer told me of three youths
who came in to him without their eyes, which had been removed by their
chief, because he thought his people were getting out of hand; so to
teach them that he was still master he had selected haphazard these
three unfortunates. I also heard of some women who had had their ears,
lips, hands, and breasts cut off, and who actually travelled a distance
of about sixty miles immediately afterwards to the collector of the
district. I myself saw many men who had similarly lost their ears, lips,
hands, or privates, and sometimes all these parts.
Mr. Law, the able collector at Abercorn, who is known to the natives by
the appellation of the "Just man" (and who, by the way, charged me L25
for my rhino about six hours before I sailed north), when on some
punitive expedition in the Awemba country, captured a delightful example
of the grim humour of these pleasing gentry. It consisted of a large
sable horn rudely adorned and fitted with a mask, into which the
patient's head was fitted, his throat having been previously cut with a
ferocious-looking knife, chiefly remarkable for its bluntness; the blood
spurting forth into the horn rang a bell, a performance that gave
general satisfaction, with, I suppose, one exception. Some of their old
kraals are veritable fortresses, consisting of an outer ringed palisade
banked with clay and loopholed; inside is a deep trench, and again an
inner palisade similarly banked and loopholed, with, in many cases, a
third palisade containing the chief's huts. The site is invariably
selected on the edge of a dense thicket, into which the women and cattle
are driven on the advent of strangers; nearly every respectable member
of society has a gun imported by Arab traders from the north and
Portuguese from the south, and there must be several thousand in the
country. Such is the people who have been changed in half a dozen short
years from a cruel, murdering, widespread curse into a quiet
agricultural fraternity; and by whom? By a mere handful of men with
less than a hundred native police, agents of that oppressor of the
native, the Chartered Company; and this without fuss and practically
without bloodshed. The chief industries of the country are
pombe[#]-drinking and the making of bark cloth, which is a strong
fibrous textile of a pleasing reddish-brown colour, made by beating out
the bark of the fig-tree with little wooden hammers, till of the
required thinness. A curious custom prevails here, and one that I have
not noticed elsewhere in Africa, of wearing mourning for dead relatives;
bands of cloth being tied round the head.
[#] Pombe: an intoxicating drink made from millet.
The following day we arrived at Changala's kraal; he is a large,
powerful man, with a face expressive of determination and character. He
came out two miles to meet us, carried on the shoulders of one of his
men, as is the custom (for the chiefs never walk), with a following of
two or three hundred people. He, as in fact did all the Awemba, gave us
a very hearty reception. Having amicably settled all outstanding
questions with Changala, we visited Makasa, the big man of the country,
whose head village lies about twenty-six miles south-east of Changala's.
He is a portly old gentleman of unprepossessing countenance, and rather
inclined to make trouble--at a distance; however, guessing our
intentions, he had made great preparations for our reception. On
arrival we found our tents already pitched and grass shelters built
above them to keep off the sun; while large crowds of obsequious
gentlemen came out to meet us and insisted on carrying in our machilas
at a run, a form of attention that would not be appreciated by Accident
Insurance Companies. His village, which cannot contain less than five
hundred huts, is of the usual Awemba pattern, and is a great centre of
the bark-cloth industry.
Tales of rhino and elephant galore raised our hopes to the highest
pitch, and after a day's rest we launched forth into the game country--a
triangular patch of country that lies at the junction of the Chambesi,
and its main tributary the Chosi--camping near Chipiri, the original
site of the French mission. Here we got our first glimpse of the
Chambesi, which, flowing with a devious course into Lake Bangweolo, is
the real source of the Congo. It rises between Mambwe and Abercorn, and
at Chipiri is already a river of some size, flowing through a beautiful
grass plain clothed with patches of waving spear-grass. The plain,
varying in width from a half to five miles, is hemmed in by forest bush
and park land, dotted over with innumerable ant-hills, some 30 ft. in
height, and is the haunt of countless herds of pookoo, two of which
graced our larder shortly after pitching camp.
The next afternoon we moved further down the river to the Mafunso; and
our carriers started a rhino on the path, the spoor of which we followed
in thick brush. But, getting our wind, he departed with a derisive
squeal, and, though I nearly came up with him again, I was compelled to
give up the chase by nightfall, and only found camp with considerable
difficulty. Still further down the river we camped in a delightful
hunting-country, the Chambesi plain lying to our south, the vast plain
of the Chosi to our east, and north, just behind the camp, strips of
bush alternating with glades and groves of mahobahoba. The bush was
ploughed up with rhino spoor, and that afternoon both Palmer and I
unsuccessfully followed spoor of the morning. Never having seen roan
antelope, I was very anxious to shoot one, and the following day started
out with that intention. I found several fresh spoors, but failed to
make anything of them, but on my way home I found recent lion tracks.
These I followed for about two hours; at times it was very difficult,
their soft pads leaving no impression on the carpets of dead leaves in
the patches of bush, but I managed by casting round to pick the track up
again when at fault, and eventually, hearing a low growl, I caught a
glimpse of four yellow bodies disappearing round the end of a
bush-covered ant-hill. I ran as fast as possible to the other side and
almost into their midst; they had tried the old, old lion tactics of
doubling. At sight of me they stood, and I put in a right and left; off
they galloped, I in hot pursuit, following, as I thought, the first, who
had got a fair shoulder-shot, and not wishing to lose sight of her,
because of the thickness of some of the bush. I could just see her
bounding round an ant-hill, and was making a desperate spurt to see if
she would double, when I rushed round the corner of a bush right on to
the top of a tail. I lost no time in skipping to one side; however, she
was at her last gasp, gnawing her forepaw and making that peculiar deep
gurgle, once heard, never forgotten, the lion's death-groan. I found
she was the recipient of the first barrel, and the one I was following,
which had dropped for a moment to my second barrel, must have crossed
when I lost sight of them behind an ant-hill. Then to my disgust I
remembered that I had had a solid bullet in my second barrel in case of
an unexpected rhino. I picked up her spoor and followed her all round
the country for about three hours, but she was playing the fool with me,
and though several times I must have been very near, I never obtained
another sight of her. The other two, which were three parts grown,
found her after a while, and their spoor led over the top of all the
ant-hills, where they had stopped to watch me till I came too close. To
judge by the blood, I had hit her too far back, and the solid bullet
going right through would make very little impression. This was the
second time I had dropped a right and left and lost one, and I was
grievously disappointed. The one I killed was a superb lioness with
unusually long hair, and she measured 8 ft. 5-1/2 in., from tip to tip,
in the flesh. Owing to the hot, rainy weather I had much difficulty in
curing the skin, but eventually made a complete success of it. I made a
raised quadrangular frame, upon which I stretched the skin, with a grass
roof to keep off the showers; then, in default of any better
preservative, I had wood-ash continually rubbed in by relays of men.
Making short afternoon marches and hunting in the morning, we gradually
worked down the river to the Chosi junction, then up the Chosi, which is
a fine stream about forty yards wide, with a large body of water, till
we arrived at Kalungu, a small isolated village, and the only one
between Makasa's village and the Chosi. I made a circuit of the plain,
waded some swamps, and emerged on a second plain. Here, in the
distance, I saw three huge unwieldy monsters slowly threading their way
in and out of the numerous ant-hills, till they vanished behind one
larger than the rest. I had left my glasses behind, and owing to the
slight mirage could not be sure whether they were rhino or hippo.
Having loaded the double 4-bore, I hurried forward, creeping from
ant-hill to ant-hill, till at last I arrived in a line with the one
behind which the brutes were still hidden. Crawling cautiously up, I
climbed to the top, the big gun at the present, then peered over while
my heart beat the devil's tattoo. There they were, not fifteen yards
off, three of them, neither rhino nor hippo, but camp boys, with three
loads of wood by their sides, peacefully smoking a hubble-bubble. I
looked at them, then back at the sickly grey face of my gun-bearer, his
teeth chattering with fright, and then marched into camp, to find that
Palmer had shot a splendid roan on the high road.
Turning out early the next morning I struck the spoor of the herd of
roan, and after sixteen miles through water ankle-deep, came up with
them; but they saw me first, and I only succeeded in dropping a good
cow, which stood on an ant-hill to have a last look at me. I had
arranged to join Palmer and the boys at Nondo, which lies at the
junction of the Mwenda and Chosi, but found that he had gone further up
the Mwenda and camped at Chupi, which lies on the border of Luwala, the
_piece de resistance_ of our trip. At Nondo the Chosi forms a wide
pool, formerly the abode of numerous hippo till the advent of one of the
French priests, who murdered the majority, for the satisfaction, I
suppose, of seeing them float down-stream. The same enterprising
individual, with other kindred spirits, organized a drive of the herds
of pookoo on the plain. Huge fences were built at one end with
funnel-shaped openings, where the gallant sportsmen stationed
themselves, and, if report speaks true, slaughtered about two hundred.
I wonder how many they wounded? By the side of the pool is an enormous
pile of old hippo skulls that is regarded with superstitious awe by the
natives, and close by is a sacred tree, the burial-place of some old
chief, where quite a respectable herd of cattle has accumulated from the
native offerings. East of the Chosi there is another Awemba god, who
dwells in a thicket decorated by a wonderful collection of horns.
When a big chief dies, they smoke him for a year and then bury him in
bark-cloth. The general belief is that his spirit enters into a lion,
an animal that they hold in superstitious awe, and refuse to kill.
From Chupi we marched into Luwala, a hitherto unexplored tract of
country. During the rains it is under water, and is consequently quite
uninhabited, a few natives only camping there for fishing purposes, as
the waters begin to leave the plain. On the north and east it is
bounded by the Chosi for a distance of about sixty miles, and on the
west by a slight ridge covered with bush, through which numerous streams
flow and lose themselves in the marshes, eventually draining into the
Chosi by the Mwenda.
Unfortunately we were too late in the season, the rains having already
broken, and were consequently unable to penetrate far from the west
side; even there we were compelled to wade from camp to camp through
water from 6 in. to 3 ft. deep. The natives told us that when the rains
are drying up, immense numbers of game come out from the bush to feed on
the new grass round the rapidly diminishing pools, and that often they
could see as many as half a dozen rhino at a time. It is also a
favourite haunt of the comparatively few elephant that still roam over
this country. On the first day's trek we crossed rhino spoor about four
to five hours old, and as Palmer, who was out of form, was unwilling to
risk a long chase, I started off in pursuit. After following for about
an hour, I passed quite close to a large herd of roan containing three
or four magnificent bulls, which stood and watched me at about forty
yards. I was sorely tempted, but held to my principle of never leaving a
spoor except for something better. For some time the rhino had been
travelling very fast, but suddenly the spoor freshened, and from the
side of an ant-hill I saw a great pink body in the distance moving
slowly through the grass. It is curious how decidedly pink hippo and
rhino look at a distance. As there were many large ant-hills about I
followed the spoor right out, and coming round the corner of one,
suddenly saw him about forty yards off just walking out into the huge
bare plain; but the birds, many of which were on his back, saw me and
gave the alarm. In turning he gave me my broadside chance, and I fired
the 4-bore, burning fourteen drams and throwing a four-ounce spherical
ball; then, as he swung round to bolt, I popped in a forward raking
second barrel, which quickened his pace considerably. He rushed round
in a half-circle to try and get my wind, while I peppered him with .303
solid bullets, which appeared to have about the same effect as
hailstones. When he got my wind he stopped short and faced me, then
swayed from side to side, staggered, recovered himself, and finally,
with a shrill squeal, toppled over, kicking his four fat little legs in
the air, and gave up the ghost, or the rhino's equivalent, there being
nothing very spectral about these incongruous old survivals of the past.
Choleric, dyspeptic, unsociable old fellows with a lordly contempt for,
and fixed determination to suppress all such indecent innovations as
guns, Cape wagons, and Mombasa railway-trains, they always remind me of
those fire-eating, civilian-repressing, cheroot-smoke-belching Bagstocks
who frequent Madeira, the Lake of Geneva, and other temperate and
economical resorts, and who glare at all newcomers with that peculiar
bloodshot ferocity only to be acquired by many years of curry, Bombay
duck, and unlimited authority over servile millions. Owing to the
difficulty of providing food for the large mob of Mambwe who had
accompanied us to see in safety their old masters, the Awemba, the meat
was very acceptable. The rhino was a large bull. Being particularly
anxious to preserve the head, I took the trouble to cut through the hide
all round to be sure of having sufficient neck-skin, and, to avoid any
possibility of mistake, I left a boy by the carcase; yet in the evening
it arrived in two detachments, having been considerately hacked in two
to facilitate carriage.
After floundering about the country for miles and camping on isolated
ant-hills, surrounded by sheets of water, and as, owing to the continued
rains in the hills, the water was daily rising, we were compelled to
retreat north-west. Here we made two more ineffectual efforts to
penetrate into the interior. So, cursing the rains, we marched to the
Luchewe, the largest of the streams which flow into Luwala, and
following its valley, arrived at Kyambi, the mission station of the
Peres Blancs. Here, with their usual enterprise and abilities, they have
constructed a splendid two-storied building with a large cloister-like
verandah, surrounded, as are all their other stations, by a solid,
fortified wall; outside they have collected a large village and laid out
extensive irrigated gardens well stocked with bananas, limes, lemons,
and other fruits. The priests were most charming hosts. Their
hospitality is, indeed, famed throughout Central Africa.
From Kyambi we marched straight into Mambwe, where we arrived drenched
to the skin; and two days later I was down with an attack of fever which
lasted till I reached the highlands of Kivu.
*CHAPTER VIII.*
*TANGANYIKA.*
At last, on April 2nd, we sailed from Kituta in the _Good News_.
Mr. Mohun and a large number of his Zanzibaris were with me.
Consequently there was not much room. The _Good News_ was originally
the property of an English Mission on the Lake, and when the Mission
moved to find healthier quarters, the steamer was sold at a ridiculously
low figure to the African Lakes Corporation, although, I believe, the
Administration of Northern Rhodesia offered a larger sum. A large hole
had been knocked in her bottom and filled up with cement; and the
machinery was tied together with string and strips of sardine-tins.
Vast cockroaches were in possession, and night was made hideous by their
peregrinations; some of them were almost as large as mice, and it was a
great strain on one's mosquito-curtain when they climbed up the sides in
droves. Mr. Mohun endured them all night, but I, in a very few minutes,
gave up the unequal fight and retired on deck.
Our noble captain, who was quite new to the lake, did not know where he
was going, nor did he care. His idea of navigating a boat consisted in
sleeping in his bunk until the natives told him we had arrived
somewhere; even then, he never inquired what the place was. His only
anxiety was lest he should oversleep himself and miss a meal.
In the evening we arrived at the Congo Free State post of M'liro, which
is at the south-western corner of the lake, a few miles over the
Anglo-Congolese boundary.
On board I discovered two of the boys who had gone up with Sharp, and
who had been left at Kituta. At Kituta I had given instructions that
they were to be sent back; so the following morning, having crossed the
lake to a wooding station, on the eastern shore, I turned them off with
their pay and cloth to buy food on the road; but one of them, on
adventure bent, slipped on board again. During the night, finding the
sleeping-places rather limited, he calmly threw a crate containing
twenty-eight fowls, belonging to Mr. Mohun, overboard.
On April 4th we recrossed the lake and arrived at the French Mission
Station of M'bala. This station is of several years' standing, and the
Fathers, who are seven in number, with several lay brothers, have built
themselves a substantial and comfortable home. They have also built a
magnificent cathedral, capable of holding many hundred devotees. I am
afraid it would need a large expenditure of cloth and medals to fill it.
There are also elaborate workshops, and the gardens, which are very
extensive, are planted with numbers of flourishing fruit trees. The
coffee-shrubs were particularly remarkable for their size and yield. On
the walls were many gigantic sable heads. The horns of one that I
measured were 46-1/2 in.; while many others were almost as long. All
these antelope had been shot in the immediate vicinity by native hunters
employed on the mission station. It was here that the record sable head
which Mr. Boyd presented to me was obtained; and it is evident that
these sable must be the largest in the world. They also had a few rhino
horns, which had been shot in the neighbourhood.
They gave us a tremendous dinner, with a bewildering profusion of
courses and some luscious kinds of fruit, amongst which the
_ceil-de-boeuf_ was particularly soothing; and delicious Algerian wine
flowed freely round the festive board. There are two or three white
sisters at the station; it was very sad to see how ill they looked.
After dinner, some natives brought in a large catch of fish, amongst
which was a splendid kind of white-fleshed salmon. The Fathers informed
me that this fish, at that time of the year, runs up the small streams,
and jumps up waterfalls of considerable height.
The charming point about these white Fathers is that they never ply one
with fantastic accounts of the work which they are doing. When we
regretfully took our leave, they presented us with several large baskets
of potatoes, tomatoes, pomegranates, and many other fruits and
vegetables.
Along this shore there are enormous dug-out canoes, and we were carried
to and from the steamer in one very fine specimen, probably 40 ft. in
length.
On the run up to M'towa, we encountered a terrific sea, and were for
several hours in imminent danger of turning turtle. The wind rushes
down the narrow gulleys between the mountains that enclose the lake, and
lashes the waters into a very frenzy. The arrival of these squalls is
very sudden and impossible to predict; consequently, sailing on Lake
Tanganyika is a most dangerous amusement. All the natives were most
abominably ill, everything was wet, and the cabin and the captain formed
an impossible combination.
Early in the morning the tempest subsided and we made M'towa, which is
the chief Congo station on the lake. Here all the officials in the
district had collected, having ignominiously fled from the rebels. One
gentleman who had retired from a station further up the lake, had thrown
all the station ammunition and ivory into the lake, solely on a report
that the rebels were within a hundred miles. The rebels, hearing of the
action, went to the place and quietly fished up both the ivory and the
cartridges, thereby gaining a new lease of life. At M'towa the Belgians
had built elaborate defences and had protected all the approaches with
barbed wire; and in case the rebels should come they had cut down all
the bananas, and were consequently short of food. There were one or two
unfortunate Scandinavians in the service, who were being thrown out as
pickets. One of these gentlemen came and asked us for some poison, in
case he should be caught by the rebels with his totally inadequate
force.
This chaotic condition has now lasted for five years, and there appears
to be no man capable of grappling with the situation; it seems to me a
great pity that they did not allow Commandant Henry, whom I afterwards
met on the Nile, to follow up his preliminary successes against the
rebels. Had he been given a free hand, in all probability the
revolution would have been crushed long since.
Mr. Mohun's expedition was camped on a hill about a mile from the
Government station, and they complained of most indifferent treatment at
the hands of the local officials. Although they had been ready to start
operations for more than six weeks, the officials had failed to provide
them with any labour. It was obvious that there was much jealousy and
friction between the expedition and the authorities. Fortunately, the
King of the Belgians had sent Mr. Mohun a supplementary commission,
which would give him the free hand necessary to the successful carrying
out of his difficult task.
I was very pleased to again meet Sharp, as we had been separated for
nearly three months. He was looking very ill, having only recently been
laid up with fever in Ujiji. Dr. Castellote, the medical officer of Mr.
Mohun's expedition, and who I am grieved to learn has recently died of
fever, hearing of Sharp's sorry plight, crossed the lake and brought him
over to the comparatively healthy uplands near M'towa.
Sharp had visited the station of the white Fathers on the east coast of
the lake, where we had only put in to obtain wood. He told me that
there was an elaborate church of brick with stained-glass windows, where
he had attended service. He had been much amused at watching dirty
little nigger boys from the village passing in at one door, draped in
the usual filthy strip of greasy cloth, and presently emerging from
another door clad in scarlet cassocks and lace tippets, waving censers,
etc.
Bidding a regretful farewell to our good telegraph friends, and wishing
them every luck in their venture, Sharp and I, with a mean temperature
of 104 deg., repaired across the lake to Ujiji.
It was with feelings of curiosity that I looked out for the first time
on the one historic spot in Central Africa. A few mango trees and a few
white buildings scattered about on the top of the long, gently sloping
shore of the lake: such was Ujiji, the meeting-place of Stanley and
Livingstone, and the heart of the great slave-raiding ulcer of the past.
After considerable difficulty, we landed all our belongings by means of
some unstable dug-out canoes; and having piled them on the beach, left
them in charge of our boys, while we rode on donkeys, sent to us by the
Greek merchant, through a gruesome array of grinning skulls that still
lie scattered about the beach, the last relic of the days of Arab
predominance.
We were given beds in an old mission-house which is now tenanted by two
Greek traders, who, by their enterprise, richly deserve the success
which they are enjoying. The old mission-house is substantially built,
and is surrounded by enormous mango and guava trees.
Having fixed up our loads, we crawled up to the Government house to pay
our respects to Hauptmann Bethe, the German chief of the station; he is
a most delightful specimen of a German officer. He treated us with
every kindness and showered the most lavish hospitality upon us.
Without his cordial co-operation, we should never have been able to take
the route _via_ Kivu, on which we had set our hearts. He strongly
advised us to go by the hackneyed route by Tabora and the Victoria
Nyanza, the road by which Decle went from Ujiji to Uganda, and which is
the high-road for all the caravans that ply between the Victoria Nyanza
and Tabora, and Ujiji and Tabora. He informed us that it would be most
risky to take the route which we intended without at least a hundred
armed men.
He also told us that the Congolese rebels had sent a deputation to him
to tell him that they intended once more to attack the Belgians. They
asked whether, in the event of failure, they would be allowed to hand
their guns in to him, and to come over and settle in German territory.
This is an indication of the natives' feeling towards the Congo Free
State Administration.
Unfortunately both Sharp and I were too ill to see much of Ujiji and its
interesting people. Many charming old Arabs, clad in gorgeous array,
came and paid their respects, and sent us many presents, such as fruit,
eggs, and vegetables. It was sad to see these venerable old gentlemen
in their then condition, and to think of how, in the good old days gone
by, they had held undisputed sway over many, many thousand square miles.
The day after our arrival we lunched with Hauptmann Bethe and his staff.
We were plied with the most bewildering succession of drinks; starting
with port, then through successive courses of champagne, brandy, beer,
Vermouth, and claret, we slowly wended our way, with the temperature 110
deg. in the shade. This diet, the Germans informed us, was absolutely
essential to avoid fever. They protested that no teetotaller who had
arrived in Ujiji had ever left Ujiji for any other place in this world;
and certainly the Germans who were there were living examples of the
efficacy of their treatment.
The courtesy, assistance, and confidence which we received in the German
sphere shone bright in contrast with much of the treatment which we
received under our own flag; and our warmest thanks are due to those
whole-hearted Germans who are upholding the honour of the Fatherland on
the far distant shore of Tanganyika.
My fever, which had now lasted for more than three weeks, took a decided
turn for the worse, and I began to lose the proper control of my hands.
Sharp, on the other hand, was slightly better.
We witnessed several dances. It was quite easy to start one, by
providing the funds necessary to obtain a considerable quantity of
native beer, when the natives would arrive in hundreds in the
market-place and perform the wildest and most grotesque dances
imaginable. Hauptmann Bethe arranged a most elaborate one for our
edification.
At last, on April 12th, we had organized our caravan of one hundred and
thirty men, and made a start up the lake. We had been compelled to
leave some loads behind, and it was not till four in the afternoon that
the last man left the courtyard. We had had no difficulty in recruiting
as many men as we wanted, as the Germans afforded us every facility.
We only marched out sufficiently far to get our caravan quite clear of
Ujiji; and the Germans kindly sent out a few soldiers to avoid any
trouble with the men, the last farewell of the natives being invariably
accompanied by much pombe. However, they all turned up, and we got them
into some sort of order. I had brought from Nyassa sixteen boys--ten of
whom had been drilled for a few days by one of Mr. Mohun's Zanzibari
sergeants--two of them were kitchen boys, and the other four gun-bearers
and tent-pitchers: this made our caravan one hundred and fifty strong.
Sharp ignored the mosquitoes the first night, and in consequence
suffered severely from blood poisoning of the hands. The path led
through a fertile country, but as the high grass overhung the narrow
track, it was very wet travelling and not conducive to a speedy recovery
from fever. The way became gradually worse and we had many sharp rises
to face, and many small streams to cross, while satisfactory
camping-grounds were hard to find. On the fourth day, after a struggle
up an almost perpendicular hill, we camped at an elevation of nearly
6,000 ft., and obtained some lovely views over the country to the
east--high, tree-covered hills, with a few native huts and their
accompanying gardens in clearings where the ground was not too steep,
and, down below, deep valleys covered with dense bush--while to the west
we could just catch a glimpse of the lake backed by the rugged and
forbidding-looking hills on the Congo side.
A cold white mist came up in the afternoon, and put all thoughts of
scenery away, driving us to refuge in tightly-closed tents.
Next day we mounted still higher--about 7,000 ft.--and the scenery amply
repaid the exertion. From thence we made a rapid descent by a path so
steep and rough that we had to glissade at times with the aid of a
strong spear. At the villages here we found the people wearing wooden
tweezers on their noses; on inquiry we discovered that they injected
snuff mixed with water, and then put the apparatus on to keep the
concoction from wasting away at once. A day or two later we reached the
lake-shore, and the path, such as it was, came to an end. We now had to
make our way along the shingle. The bush overhung the water every few
yards, and as it was mostly mimosa, or other equally prickly matter, we
had to wade round to avoid it--often up to our middles in the
water--while an occasional mountain torrent necessitated our being
carried on our boys' shoulders. As the lake was swarming with
crocodiles, this was rather exciting. Our Nyassa boys, who had earned
the name of the Guinea-fowls, owing to their dress of dark-blue
bird's-eye cotton and greeny-blue fezzes, had been a great comfort,
pitching our tents and doing all the little odd jobs inseparable from
camp life, and we were congratulating ourselves on having some natives
of a different race to our Manyema porters.
The heat and continual wetting now began to tell on the fever which we
had not been able to shake off, so we hired two big canoes, and putting
our deck-chairs in the largest, over which we rigged up an awning, we
proceeded by water while our boys plodded through the shingle. On
reaching the halting-place after our first day's canoeing, we were
horrified to find that our ten Askaris and the cook had bolted, leaving
their rifles and bayonets on the path. Though I was bad with fever I
got a fresh crew for the big canoe, and made all haste back to our last
night's camp. Nothing was to be seen or heard of the fugitives, and
though I offered the Sultani (chief) of the village heavy rewards for
each captive, we never heard any more of them, but trust that they did
not escape their deserts when they reached Ujiji, if the natives on the
way let them go free, which is more than doubtful. I had left Sharp to
try his 'prentice hand at cooking, and returning wet through, very tired
and full of fever, found his attempt at soup had ended in a few bones
and a blob of fat at the bottom of the pan! The heat was intense, never
a breath of air, and no shade, while the rays of the burning sun were
refracted from the face of the water. At every camp one or more of the
neighbouring chiefs came to pay his respects, bringing with him a
present, according to his standing, of pombe, native beer, bananas,
three or four fowls, and in the case of a big "swell," two or three
goats or sheep. Each chief was followed by as large a retinue as he
could gather, and most of them were dressed in semi-Arab fashion--a
long, white shirt or "kanzu," a coloured cloth, and a turban or white
head-dress. The natives had many knives of local manufacture, the
sheaths of which were ornamented with well-carved patterns, while their
spears were very thin and light, and often adorned with brass and copper
wire. Of course we had to make return presents of cloth and beads to an
equal value. Eggs were rather hard to obtain, and it was still more
difficult to make the natives believe that we did not want them for
electioneering purposes. My fever was now so bad that I had to depute
my baking to Sharp, who was becoming quite a passable cook under my
tuition, and retire to bed as soon as I could get my tent pitched. To
add to our enjoyment Sharp got a sunstroke and a dose of fever, and we
were consequently reduced to the most pitiable plight. My temperature
went up to 106.9, and left me too weak to move, while Sharp, ill as he
was, made superhuman efforts to look after me. At last, after several
days of intolerable misery, we eventually arrived at Usambara, where the
German official, Lieutenant von Gravert, took us in hand. Under his
care we recovered slightly.
Usambara, with characteristic German thoroughness, has been well laid
out. Substantial buildings have been put up, good gardens made, and an
immense avenue of pawpaws and bananas planted from the Government House
to the lake shore. A small sailing-boat adds materially to the comfort
and efficiency of the commanding officer.
Every morning a large market is held, and the natives bring in enormous
supplies of fish, bananas, beans, grains of different sort (even rice),
and fowls. The German black troops keep splendid order, and the station
has the most flourishing air. I am a great believer in the Germans'
African methods. Of course they are severely handicapped by having such
a poor country to work upon. But their methods are thorough and
eminently practical, and not characterized by the stinginess which
paralyzes most of our African efforts. The men selected for the work
are given a practically free hand, and are not cramped by the ignorant
babblings of sentimentalism.
*CHAPTER IX.*
*THE RUSISI VALLEY.*
At last, on May 7th, we were sufficiently recovered to move, and bidding
farewell to our good friend, Lieutenant von Gravert, we left Usambara
and made a short march along the lake shore to Kijaga, a deserted
Government station near the most easterly mouth of the Rusisi.
Being still much too weak to walk, I was carried in a hammock slung from
a pole by a team of twelve natives of Usige kindly recruited for me by
Lieutenant von Gravert, who were to take me to Dr. Kandt's headquarters
on Kivu, where the climate of the highlands, it was hoped, would render
me sufficiently strong to continue my journey on foot.
After the trained "machila" teams of Nyassaland they were very crude,
and many amusing incidents arose from their inexperience. However, they
were willing, and served me very well.
The northern shore of the lake is flat and sandy, and for a long
distance from land the water is very shallow; even at a distance of two
miles hippopotami could walk on the bottom with their heads above water.
The natives are great fishermen, and own many dug-out canoes; they fish
mainly at night. There was little moon at the time, and we could see
scores of canoes punting about, each with a great flaming torch in the
bows, and the fishermen with poised spears eagerly scanning the water.
The effect of the number of dimly-defined canoes gliding to and fro on
the oily water, of the strong reflection of the flaming torches, and of
the phosphorescent wash was most picturesque.
The Rusisi, which is the outflow of Lake Kivu, falls into Lake
Tanganyika through five mouths, four of which are close together
slightly to the east of the centre of the northern shore, while the
fifth is on the extreme western point under the gigantic hills that line
the western shore. The enclosed deltas are very flat and swampy, and in
part covered with forest, the haunt of many elephant, a large portion of
which are said by the Arabs to be tuskless.
During many weary days of sickness at Usambara, I had gazed up that
mighty valley, the vast flat gently merging into endless vistas of
purple hills, behind winch lay the mysterious waters of Kivu and the
giant volcanoes (the pulse of Africa), flanked by two massive walls of
mountains--the path that led to the yet unknown, the first real stage of
the task that we had set ourselves! And for long it seemed as though I
had struggled thus far only to die at the very gate. The extraordinary
beauty of the scene fascinated me, and with its eddying mists and fading
hills, redolent of mystery, it seemed a fitting entry to an unknown
land.
At Kijaga we rose to find that our cook and the three boys whom we had
engaged at Usambara had bolted in the night, taking with them their
month's pay and two months' rations. We immediately sent a note in to
Von Gravert, and his police very cleverly caught them two days later,
although they tried to go down to Ujiji by a path that leads over the
hills at the back of the station. The capture was a very clever one,
and reflects great credit on the German administrative organization.
Our cow-boys were a great nuisance; they refused to go near one of the
cows which kicked, and they evidently considered that the little milk
they succeeded in extracting from the others had been earned by the
trouble of extraction, consequently what eventually arrived for us was
limited in quantity. A strong protest, backed by mild physical
correction, produced a larger quantity, but it was sour, and on inquiry
we found that they had drunk our fresh milk, and for a small
consideration purchased some sour milk from a neighbouring chief; they
foolishly brought it stone cold, ostensibly fresh from the cow. They
assured us that all the cows in that country produced sour milk.
For the first fifteen miles the valley is absolutely flat, and deposits
of semi-fossilized shells indicate a historically recent upheaval.
There are two streams, the Mpanda and Kazeki, flowing from the east; the
former has a considerable volume of water.
The flat, which is about two miles wide, is covered with very short,
poor-looking grass, and dotted here and there with magnificent specimens
of the candelabra euphorbia, looking in the distance like gigantic
cabbages. An occasional palm-tree breaks the desolate monotony, and a
very occasional small antelope lends a suggestion of life.
To the west the Rusisi makes a long curve towards the enclosing mountain
range, and in places spreads out into swampy lagoons apparently of some
extent.
Our carriers had been giving much trouble, lagging behind and not
arriving till two or three hours after our arrival, hoping thereby to
escape fatigue duties. It was most desirable to have the caravan as
compact as possible on the march, in view of possible troubles with the
natives.
We allowed them, therefore, half an hour's margin, and every one who
arrived after that, without having obtained permission in the morning
for sickness or some valid reason, was made to stand with his load on
his head in the middle of camp as long as was deemed sufficient for his
particular case. We found this much more effectual as a punishment than
fines (a system to be deprecated, except in Government stations). The
native enjoys his afternoon nap, he likes to stroll into the
neighbouring villages, show his best clothes off before the local
beauties, and pass the time of day with the village cronies. It jars on
him to have to stand doing nothing while he sees his friends chatting
and discussing their bananas and the topics of the day. One such
punishment usually sufficed for at least a month, and a native must be
very much impressed to remember anything for as long as that.
Fifteen miles from Kijaga there is a bunch of large villages. The chief
is called Balamata. They are situated on the advance spur of a line of
conical peaks which divide the main valley into two sections: the
western branch, which trends north-west by north, is the valley of the
Rusisi; while the eastern branch, which trends north-east by north,
comes from Kirimbi and Imbo. Close to Balamata a small stream flows
from the central peaks towards the eastern valley, and as we did not
pass any stream of consequence, I imagine that this small stream and the
whole of the drainage of the valley loses itself in the swamp which I
could plainly see a few miles to the east.
Passing round the western side of Balamata's peaks, we found the country
similar to the first stage of the valley, flat and dotted with
euphorbia, the mean altitude being slightly higher than the lake level.
We passed over two extraordinary ravines dug out of the flat country.
One was evidently a dry stream-bed, but the other appeared to have no
outlet, and I could find no satisfactory clue to its origin.
The Rusisi here flows under the eastern wall; it is a large body of
water flowing through wide expanses of papyrus, and is probably
navigable for small steamers to a point forty miles north of the lake.
The population is very scanty. The scattered villages and their
cattle-pens are enclosed by artificial hedges of euphorbia.
A large stream, the Kagunozi, flows down from the east a few miles north
of Balamata's, and three miles further north is the village of Buvinka,
a chief of some importance.
North of Buvinka's, a large stream called the Kabulantwa flows into the
Rusisi from the east, which appears to be very broken and mountainous in
the distance. We had much difficulty in crossing the stream with our
cattle and goats, owing to the power of the current. Several goats were
washed away, but with the exception of two, all were eventually rescued
by the boys, who were expert swimmers. In places the stream narrowed
considerably, forming foaming rapids, and it was splendid to see some of
the Manyema shooting down like arrows in pursuit of an old billy-goat,
eventually dragging him half drowned on to the bank. Some of the cows
refused to enter the water, and had to be forcibly dragged across by
ropes.
Opposite the junction of the Kabulantwa and the Rusisi, the western
range of hills sends a long spur down into the valley, culminating in a
well-defined conical peak, which abuts on the river, and is a splendid
landmark for many miles north and south.
The dominant peaks at the back are very striking, and apparently at
least 7,000 ft. high; they are very rugged, and in parts heavily wooded.
A few miles north of the Kabulantwa the valley again splits into two;
the eastern branch is drained by a small and very rapid stream called
the Muhira, which appears to be a highroad for elephant crossing the
valley. The western branch is the valley of the Rusisi; it is very
flat, and covered with coarse grass with slight thorn-scrub at the
sides; part of it is marshy.
We camped in a scattered village of considerable size, thickly planted
with bananas. The Rusisi flows close by, cutting its way through a
dyke, which crosses the valley. The country here was much more broken,
and our camp was about 300 ft. above the lake level.
[Illustration: One or more of the neighbouring Chiefs came to pay his
Respects.]
The natives have a good supply of cattle, and live in scattered villages
of considerable size; they are well set up, with good faces, high
foreheads, and not prognathous to a conspicuous degree; they all carry
long, slight, spears with small heads, and long sword-knives with
elaborately-decorated sheaths. They also use a long-bladed axe with a
hook on the end for cutting bananas, the handle of which is also
elaborately decorated with iron, copper, and brass. On their arms they
wear many wire rings and large wooden bracelets of curious shape.
In the evening I discovered an enormous jigger in my small toe, and one
of my Watonga boys skilfully removed it; the bag of eggs was the size of
a marrowfat pea, and as there was only the bone and top part of my toe
left I was afraid that I should lose it; however, after giving me some
trouble, it yielded to the persuasive influence of that panacea for all
African ills, permanganate of potash, and healed.
During the night a hyaena grabbed one of the goats, and tore the poor
brute so badly that it had to be killed. The following morning, after
crossing some very broken country, and fording a deep stream called the
Nyamgana, we arrived at the first of the three Soudanese forts,
established by the Germans on the Rusisi to prevent raids of the
Congolese rebels.
The treaty boundary, between the Congo and German East Africa of 1885,
runs from the mouth of the Rusisi to cut the 30th degree east longitude,
at a point 1 deg. 20' south of the equator. Hence all these three posts
are well within the Congo Free State. The Germans have cleverly availed
themselves of the Congolese chaos, and having placed these advance posts
for the plausible object of defending their country, by occupying the
natural line of defence afforded by the river, are now pleading
effective occupation. In the meanwhile Dr. Kandt, under the auspices of
the German Government, is investigating the possibilities of the
country. On his report the Germans will know whether the country is
worth a struggle.
The fort is well placed on a flat-topped hill overhanging the river,
which here races along between precipitous rocks, and although it is
only in charge of a native officer, it is clean and well kept. The
troops are Wanyamwesi, officered by Soudanese.
We camped on the north bank of the Nyakagunda, a large stream flowing
from the east; here again a line of rounded hills (a long spur of the
mass of hills that hems in the north end of the valley) cuts the valley
into two branches. The main or Rusisi branch is still flat and
grass-covered, and obviously an old lake-bed; while the eastern branch,
down which flows the Nyakagunda, is broken by many small hills.
About an hour before sunset some natives rushed in to say that they had
seen elephant close to camp; they said that they were travelling, so
that there was not a moment to be lost. To put the 4-bore together was
a question of seconds, and hurriedly collecting the few necessaries, and
ordering my "machila" team to follow, as I was still very weak, I dashed
off in the direction indicated. Sharp had, unfortunately, not yet
unpacked any of his 10-bore cartridges, and as every minute was precious
at that time of day, it would have been useless to wait.
About two miles from camp we found the elephants; they had stopped, and
were standing round a clump of euphorbia. Making a detour to catch the
wind, I approached them, 4-bore in hand, and with one boy carrying the
.303 behind me. There was absolutely no cover, but, to my astonishment,
they took not the slightest notice of me. Gathering confidence from
this, I went quite close and inspected them. There were twenty-nine in
all, mostly cows, some of which, however, had enormously long, thin
tusks. Taking care to avoid any sudden movements which would be likely
to attract their attention, I passed to leeward of them, so close to
some that I could have touched them with my rifle. The three bulls were
at the far end, and I at length made up my mind which one to take. The
cartridge missed fire, and at the same moment the middle bull, which had
appeared small, lifted his head from behind a small euphorbia and showed
a pair of very massive tusks, almost black from use. Inwardly blessing
the miss-fire, I went up to within six yards of him, when the one I had
left caught a puff of my wind and cocked his ears; that was all he did;
he never made a sound of any description, yet the whole twenty-nine
(many of which had their backs turned, or were completely hidden by the
euphorbia) moved off instantly. As the black-tusked male swung round, I
gave him the first barrel on the shoulder, and again the second barrel
at nine yards; he dropped on to one knee, but never even lost his
stride; the others closed round him, and helped him away, and that was
the last I saw or heard of my first elephant. I was too weak to follow
far, and the next morning I sent out some of our boys with local
natives, but they never found him. When hunting elephant and other
game, the extraordinary ease with which they pass on the danger-signal
has often made me wonder whether they have another sense, which we, by
disuse, have practically lost. Perhaps even with us it survives in a
rudimentary form, causing the inexplicable phenomena of second sight,
mesmerism, etc., etc.
The next morning we followed the eastern branch, and passing many steep
hills, crossed a pass 5,500 ft. high, and again descended into the main
valley. Numerous small streams intersected the hills, and at each ford
clouds of gorgeous butterflies enlivened the scene, attracted apparently
by the moisture. On the way we crossed many fresh tracks of elephant,
and on the western slope of the valley a large herd had followed the
track in the early morning. At the base of the slope we had much
difficulty in fording a deep and rapid river, called the Kasilo; several
goats and a calf were washed away, and the rest were only saved by the
brilliant swimming of the Watonga contingent. Thence two hours' hard
travelling brought us to the second German Soudanese fort, situated on a
small hill overlooking the Rusisi, where it issues from its broken
course through the mountains which dam the south end of Lake Kivu,
preparatory to its seventy-five-mile run through the flat valley bed to
Lake Tanganyika.
The Soudanese officer in command was most courteous and personally
presented all the local potentates, who brought us supplies of bananas,
flour, and goats. He also promised to try and trace my lost elephant,
but said that if, as was most probable, it had crossed the river it
would be impossible to recover ivory from the obstreperous chiefs in the
Congo Free State. Here, as during the whole of our journey from
Tanganyika, the mosquitoes were appalling; colossal of stature, they
arrived in myriads at sunset, and continued their plaintive wail till
the cool hour before dawn.
On the morrow we left the Rusisi once more, and passed to the east of
many striking conical hills along the flat plain of the Kasilo (which
obviously in remote ages was the course of the outlet of Lake Kivu), for
a distance of four miles, crossing several small tributaries of the
Kasilo on our way. We turned west, and climbing the high plateau
through which the Rusisi has now forced its way, camped on a high ridge
2,000 ft. above the plain. There were numerous villages and large herds
of cattle, which at night are enclosed in pens strongly stockaded. Here
we had entered the terrible Ruanda country, and the paramount chief of
the district, Ngenzi, the most powerful satrap of the King of Ruanda,
came and paid his respects. From his pleasant manner we little guessed
what a source of trouble he was to prove in the near future. Small boys
followed us on the march with huge wooden utensils filled with fresh
milk, and our welcome was most cordial. Forests of bananas stretched
far as the eye could reach to the north, east, and west, and vast fields
of peas and beans bore witness to the fertility and prosperity of the
country.
To the south lay the mighty valley of the Rusisi, stretching away
between its enclosing walls of hills, till, in the far distance, gleamed
the waters of Tanganyika.
Bidding a last farewell to those historic waters, we plunged into the
wild turmoil of hills which surround Kivu, and after a six hours' tramp,
accompanied on the way by Ngenzi and his hundred followers (not
forgetting the inevitable cup-bearer with his gourd of pombe and the
regal sucking-straw), climbed on to a ridge from which we saw the waters
of Kivu lying at our feet.
The mighty sheet of water, dotted with a hundred isles and hemmed in by
a thousand imposing hills, was of surpassing beauty; the only one of the
vast lakes of Central Africa which had not been first gazed upon by
British eyes.
*CHAPTER X.*
*LAKE KIVU.*
An abrupt descent led us through many straggling villages and endless
banana plantations to the German Soudanese post on the extreme
south-west point of the lake.
We camped on a small rise opposite the Government stockade and
overlooking the lake; the outlet is a long, thin arm, narrowing to where
the Rusisi tumbles over the first cascades, and starts on its broken
course through the hills to the point whence it finally issues on its
long, long journey by Tanganyika to the sea. The body of water leaving
the lake is small, but, with the numerous tributaries from east and
west, soon swells to a considerable size; and forty miles from
Tanganyika it is of about the same volume as the Thames at Richmond.
The south-western extremity of Kivu is really a small lake in itself,
separated as it is from the main body of the lake by a narrow neck,
which is again almost blocked by a network of islands.
On all sides long straggling promontories jut out into the water,
cutting the coast-line into a multitude of lochs and bays.
They are the spurs of the wild groups of hills which enclose Kivu on the
east, south, and west sides, and which, ever increasing in height as
they recede from the lake-shore, eventually culminate in the mighty
peaks which crown the enclosing walls of this vast Rift Valley, in which
Tanganyika, Kivu, the Albert Edward, and the Albert Lakes are but
residuary pools.
Miles and miles of banana plantations clothe the lower hills, and vast
fields of peas give a touch of green to the purples, reds, and yellows
of the luxuriant pastures. There are no trees in all the Kivu region
nearer than the summits of the distant peaks and the slopes of the
volcanoes, with the exception of a very occasional solitary tree on the
extreme summit of some of the conspicuous hills. These latter are left
untouched, despite the value of wood, and would appear to be held in
reverential awe; they form conspicuous landmarks, which may be the
primary cause of the superstitions that attach to them. Their existence
points to the country having been at one time more or less wooded; and
the trees which served no essential purpose have fallen before the
requirements of the enormous population.
This same enormous population, and the pervading air of prosperity, are
a striking indication of the possibilities of native races left to work
out their own destiny.
The far-famed unity and power of the Ruanda people have deterred the
Arabs from making slave-raids into their country, and with the exception
of one or two Belgian looting expeditions, which fortunately met with no
success, they have been left in peace.
All the southern and eastern coast-line drops abruptly into the lake,
and there is no beach or marshland such as are found on the other lakes
of Central Africa, but the feeding-streams, at their junction with the
lake, become papyrus swamps.
There were only ten soldiers in the fort, and they rolled in the lap of
luxury, calmly relieving the neighbouring population of what they (the
soldiers) considered superfluities, such as goats, sheep, fowls, etc.
This is the invariable result of placing natives in a post of
responsibility without constant supervision.
As to their duties, they had none; and it was patent that the sole
_raison d'etre_ of these posts was to be able on the day of reckoning to
show a definite asset, a claim to effective occupation--in fine, a
fulfilment of the duties imposed upon European powers by the Berlin
Conference.
The Soudanese officer in charge was most friendly, and the neighbouring
chiefs arrived in long procession and paid their respects. They
presented us with several goats and sheep, and when we expressed the
wish to purchase more, they brought them along in a ceaseless stream.
Subsequently we discovered that the affable Soudanese officer and his
brother ruffians, hearing of our approach, had annexed several herds
from some villages two days north; these were the beasts that arrived in
such bewildering profusion. They had insisted on the owners accepting a
handful of beads, thereby establishing a claim to legitimate purchase,
and compelled the local natives to bring the beasts in to us as their
own property.
There are numerous small villages in the vicinity of the post, and the
people, who live in the most wretched huts, thrown up like hayricks,
appear to have been very thoroughly bled by their undesirable
neighbours.
An extraordinary feature of Kivu, and the rivers and small lakes of the
Kivu system, is the absence of hippopotami and crocodiles. As they
swarm in Tanganyika and the Rusisi to the south, and in the Rutchuru and
Albert Edward Lake to the north, this is very remarkable. Probably the
abrupt nature of the shore, the depth of water, and the absence of
sandbanks and shelving beaches may account for it. The only possible
landing-and-resting-places would be the papyrus swamps that I have
mentioned as existing at the mouths of the streams; and the water,
hurrying down from high altitudes, and shaded from the sun by the
papyrus, is here intensely cold, and therefore unsuited to their
requirements.
The natives brought us quantities of fish similar in appearance to
bream, and of most delicate flavour. The same fish is common in
Tanganyika and the Albert Edward. This was the only species that I saw
in Kivu, and the natives told me that there are no large fish, such as
are found in the other lakes. A conspicuous feature is the
extraordinary number of large otters, which are to be seen in scores
swimming and diving in every bay. Lake Ngami in South Africa is also
remarkable for the number of otters, the skins of which are obtainable
in quantities from the natives.
There are many butterflies on the rich pasture-land, the most common
kind being almost identical with our _Coleas edusa_.
After a day's rest we marched to Ishangi, the base of Dr. Kandt, who is
making an exhaustive study of all the "district." He was most kind, and
gave us much useful information and advice.
His work is being done with characteristic German thoroughness. In a
recent surveying expedition, in the course of which he travelled 560
miles, he found his error on rounding up the trip amounted to less than
a quarter of a mile. This astounding result was obtained by counting
every step, and taking three bearings a minute. It is this amazing
attention to detail which makes the Teuton so formidable a competitor.
Amongst many most interesting specimens, he had the finest pair of tusks
that it has ever been my fortune to see. Unfortunately we had no scales,
and it was impossible to judge of their weight. The elephant had been
shot in Mushari, the country where I afterwards narrowly escaped being
eaten. Hearing from the natives that the beast was in a small gully
close to camp, Dr. Kandt sallied forth with four soldiers; only the back
of the elephant was visible over the scrub, and they fired a volley at
four hundred yards. One lucky shot hit the knee and disabled the beast,
when the gallant doctor established a valid claim to having killed an
elephant, as he naively remarked, by finishing it off. Close to Ishangi
is Lubengera, the site of a former Congo Free State station, where a few
black troops had been posted to raid cattle from the rich cattle
districts of Lubengera and Bugoie.
The mean of my aneroid readings on the lake level was 5,000 ft., and the
height of the hills contiguous with the lake ranged between 5,500 and
6,000 ft.
At Ishangi we purchased some spears, amongst others an interesting
specimen from Bunyabungu, on the west side of the lake. It was simply a
long, coarse spike, and the natives said that the people of Bunyabungu
could not manage the final stage of beating it out into a blade. Dr.
Kandt warned us about the thieving propensities and light-fingered
ability of the Wa Ruanda, and told us how he had suffered from their
depredations. One thief had entered his closed tent under the nose of
the sentry, and abstracted a pair of trousers from under the pillow on
which the doctor was lying. Another had removed the fly of his
headman's tent. Consequently, the following night we took the
precaution of carefully closing our tents, and of placing all the loads
in the third tent, with men sleeping at each end. Notwithstanding, the
following morning a tin box weighing 60 lbs. had been taken from my
tent, and had completely vanished, while two canvas kit-bags had been
abstracted, cut open, and the desirable contents removed. Thus, at one
fell swoop, we lost our sextant, artificial horizon, boiling-point
thermometers, a bag of one hundred sovereigns, all my trousers,
stockings, and socks, and many valuable papers, books, and photographs.
On this discovery we summoned the chief, our old friend Ngenzi, who had
been hanging on our flanks for about forty miles. He arrived with a
supercilious smile and a host of attendants. Having explained the
situation, I asked him what he intended to do. "There are many bad men
in my country of whom I know nothing," he answered, and again that evil
smile flitted over his countenance. It was obvious that bluffing was to
be the order of the day; so, taking the same line, we clapped him into
the guard-tent, stopped his drinks and smokes, put a guard with fixed
bayonets over him, and delivered an ultimatum to the effect that, unless
the stolen goods were restored intact by midday, we should take further
steps. Of course he protested absolute ignorance, but the sudden and
resolute nature of our proceedings took him unawares, and for once the
guile of the native failed him. Instead of protesting to a finish,
which would have left us powerless to act, he produced by his men a few
of the articles that seemed most important to him, such as caps and
native shirts. This proved his complicity, and at twelve noon we decided
to act. Sharp opened a case of Snider cartridges, issued rounds to the
ten men who carried guns, and prepared the camp for defence; while I
took my revolver and an old French cutlass purchased in Cornhill, and
with my two Watonga carrying my rifles, climbed the hill on which the
chief village was situated. Hundreds of natives with spears turned out
and showed signs of an intention to resist me.
I harangued them, explained what had happened, and told them that my
quarrel was with Ngenzi, and with Ngenzi only; that he had allowed
thieves to come and steal the goods of strangers in his country,
strangers who had come to see their country, to pass through it on a
long journey to far lands, and who had come in peace paying for what
they (the natives) brought, receiving and giving presents. I then told
them that I was going to take all Ngenzi's cattle, drive it in to the
German post, and let the Germans, their overlords, decide between us. I
warned them that any man coming to the camp would be shot, but that they
might bring food as usual for sale. Eventually, without firing a shot,
I collected and drove in to the camp one hundred and ninety head of
cattle.
They made a few tentative rushes at me, but were repulsed by the simple
expedient of waving the cutlass in the air. Such were the terrible
Ruanda people, whose reputation has spread far and wide, and whose
country has been left alone for fear of their military organization. At
least five thousand men sat on the hill-tops and watched three men with
a revolver, cutlass, and two rifles drive off one hundred and ninety
head of cattle; and I am inclined to think that most Central African
warfare could be settled as easily. Had I had despatches to write I
might have acted differently.
The Germans, overestimating the power of the Ruanda kingdom, had
weakened the white man's prestige by subsidizing Ngenzi with extravagant
gifts of cloth; and he imagined that he could bleed any one who came
into his country.
I have always utterly refused to pay "hongo"[#] to any native, and never
give presents until I have received one. Then, if the present is a
liberal one, I give a yet more liberal present; but if the present is
niggardly, I give the exact market value of the goods received, unless,
of course, the niggardliness is due to poverty.
[#] Tax on people passing through chief's territory.
We placed a strong guard over the cattle, and removed our camp from the
undesirable vicinity of the villages to a round, flat-topped hill half a
mile to the south. At one end we pitched our three tents and arranged
the boys' tents to complete the circle. Inside we fixed a long rope
plaited from banana fibre, and kept in position by spears. Inside this
circle we drove all the cattle, and we placed pickets round the side of
the hill to guard against surprise or an attempt to stampede the herd.
The moon rose about midnight, and during the hours of darkness Sharp and
I took it in turns to go the rounds. The noise was appalling, as some
of the cows had lost their calves; and one or two attempts were made to
break through, but we succeeded in quieting them before the panic became
general. Thanks to our precautions, the night passed without incident,
and in the morning Sharp drove the whole herd over to Ishangi and gave
them into the charge of the Soudanese, whom we had summoned from the
post at the tail of Kivu.
Of course, immensely exaggerated accounts of our proceedings spread
throughout the land, and the chief near Dr. Kandt went to him and asked
him whether he had better fly from the country. He was promptly
reassured, and the doctor kindly came over to see if he could be of any
assistance, while the Soudanese officer sent his men to scour the
outlying villages to see if they could find any of our property, but
without avail.
Fortunately the natives did not attack Sharp on the road, and with the
exception of some difficulty in crossing bogs, he arrived without
mishap.
We sent in an exhaustive report to Lieut. von Gravert, and released
Ngenzi with a caution. He promptly made up for lost time in the way of
tobacco and pombe, and was most respectful. That sinister smile has for
ever faded from his dusky features, and I am sure the lesson has been of
inestimable benefit to him.
For many days to come it was curious to see the military appearance of
our Manyema: no one stirred from the camp without two spears, a
sword-knife, and, if possible, a gun with fixed bayonet.
The smaller fry were delighted at the humiliation of the mighty Mtusi,
and many came in to do obeisance and thank us for our action.
Society in Ruanda is divided into two castes, the Watusi and the Wahutu.
The Watusi, who are practically identical with the Wahuma, are the
descendants of a great wave of Galla invasion that reached even to
Tanganyika. They still retain their pastoral instincts, and refuse to
do any work other than the tending of cattle; and so great is their
affection for their beasts, that rather than sever company they will
become slaves, and do the menial work of their beloved cattle for the
benefit of their conquerors. This is all the more remarkable when one
takes into consideration their inherent pride of race and contempt for
other peoples, even for the white man. They are most jealous of their
descent, and no Mtusi woman ever marries any one but a Mtusi. A Mtusi
man will take another woman as a working wife, but his true wife is
invariably of his own stock, and her children alone can succeed to his
position.
The half-castes, and individuals with any trace of Mtusi blood, form a
medium between the full-blooded Watusi and the aborigines, whom they
call Wahutu, but associate only with the upper class, or are the
paramount chiefs of insignificant districts. Many signs of superior
civilization, observable in the peoples with whom the Watusi have come
into contact, are traceable to this Galla influence.
The hills are terraced, thus increasing the area of cultivation, and
obviating the denudation of the fertile slopes by torrential rains. In
many places irrigation is carried out on a sufficiently extensive scale,
and the swamps are drained by ditches. Artificial reservoirs are built
with side troughs for watering cattle. The fields are in many instances
fenced in by planted hedges of euphorbia and thorn, and similar fences
are planted along the narrow parts of the main cattle tracks, to prevent
the beasts from straying or trampling down the cultivation.
There is also an exceptional diversity of plants cultivated, such as
hungry rice, maize, red and white millet, several kinds of beans, peas,
bananas, and the edible arum. Some of the higher-growing beans are even
trained on sticks planted for the purpose. Pumpkins and sweet potatoes
are also common; and the Watusi own and tend enormous herds of cattle,
goats, and sheep. Owing to the magnificent pasturage, the milk is of
excellent quality, and they make large quantities of butter. They are
exceedingly clever with their beasts, and have many calls which the
cattle understand. At milking-time they light smoke-fires to keep the
flies from irritating the beasts.
All the dairy utensils are of wood, and are kept scrupulously clean; but
they have an unpleasant method of repairing cracked jars by filling up
the crevices with cow-dung, and of using the urine as the cleansing
medium.
They are tall, slightly-built men, of graceful, nonchalant carriage, and
their features are delicate and refined. I noticed many faces that,
bleached and set in a white collar, would have been conspicuous for
character in a London drawing-room. The l
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