Collection of Native North American Indian Books, Historical Books, Atlases, plus other important au- thors and family heirloom books. As of 12r31-93 Earl Ford McNaughton’ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 https://archive.org/details/worldswondersassOObuel ? h : Ir;- ’ ■ r.; 4. The World’s Wonders, AS SEEN BY THE GREAT Tropical and Polar Explorers. BEING AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EXPLORATION, DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD, AND A HISTORY OF SAVAGE RACES OF MEN, CURIOUS AND FEROCIOUS ANIMALS. STRANGE AND DEADLY SERPENTS AND REPTILES, WEIRD FORESTS, MYSTERIOUS GROWTHS, AND MARVELOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. EMBRACING EVERY IMPORTANT DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE IN THE EXPLORATIONS OF SUCH DISTINGUISHED TRAVELERS AS SPEKE AND GRANT, SIR SAMUEL BAKER AND WIFE, I.IVINGSTONE, STANLEY, DU CHAILLU, WALLACE, LONG, SQUIER, GORDON, &C., &C., IN TROPICAL WILDS; ALSO, OF SUCH RENOWNED HEROES OF ARCTIC RESEARCH AS SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, DR. KANE, DR. HAYES, CAPT. HALL, LIEUT. SCHWATKA, DE LONG AND MANY others; with a full and official ACCOUNT OF THE GREELY EXPEDITION AND ITS DISASTROUS RESULTS BY J. W. BUEL, Author of ^'Travels in Russia and Siberia^ ^'‘Heroes of the Plains,’'' SPLENDIDLY EMBELLISHED WITJI TWO HUNDRED BEAUTIFUL ENGRAVINGS FROM DESIGNS BY THE EXPLORERS THEMSELVES. “Such books teach most valuable lessons of self-control, patience and coumge."— Christian Intelligencer. ‘ ‘ We cannot conceive of a more useful book than this romantic, record to put In the hands of young people. Give them facts in proper setting, ajid they will have little taste for dime novels.” — Christian Advocate. “ Such works are not only entertaining and infonnlng, but their whole atmosphere is brac- ing.”—iVcii York Observer. SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION. L. E. WEST PUBLISHING CO., 1512 Second Ave., Rock Island, 111. Copyright, 1884, by J. W. North. INTRODUCTORY. The great and universal need of an eneyclopedia of travel and discovery, and a compendium of the most remarkable natural wonders of the world, has prompted the production of this book. In it I have attempted to combine the discoveries and adventures of all the noted travelers and explorers in Tropical and Arctic fields, and in so doing to also furnish a history and description of the animals, reptiles, birds, and savage races of men, in all parts of the world, not omitting the natural phe- nomena peculiar to the Tropics and the Arctic regions. In the restless and ambitious disposition of mankind there is more than curiosity, or a misdirected desire for familiarity with remote or insular phases of nature, for there is also that more wisely considerate wish for such extended knovvledge as not alone gratifies curiosity, but which stimulates and energizes an am- bition to extend the domain of civilization, with its attendant resources and comforts. In the preparation of a work so comprehensive in scope, it was necessary to give careful perusal to scores of standard publi- cations, and to collate with critical discrimination from them all ; for condensation was imperative, and yet every interesting or, valuable incident found in the histories from which this is com- piled, must needs find place in its appropriate narrative. The principal authors consulted on Tropical discovery are : Dr. Liv- ingstone, Sir Samuel Baker, Capts. Speke and Grant, Stanley, DuChaillu, Wallace, Squier, Long, Cummings, and many others IV INTRODUCTORY. of less uote, while in describing Polar exploration, free use has been made of the works of such distinguished exploi’ers as Sif John Franklin, Capt. McClintock, Dr. Kane, Dr. Hays, Capt. Hall, Lieut. Schwatka, Lieut. DeLong, Lieut. Greely, and others. The matter of this book does not pretend to originality, save as an attempt to combine a very large number of books into one Volume, so arranged as to give clearly the important adventures and discoveries of all the renowned travelers of the past "Several centuries. In this it may be propex’ly classed as an original work and one of inestimable value, particularly to the young, since for them it must possess such interest as to lead them from the vicious literature of the day and inculcate a desire for whole- some reading, and ah ambition to learn more of the wonders of the world, the rounds to that mystic ladder which reaches up- ward from nature unto nature’s God. This book is intended to occupy a place in the literature of travel, adventure and exploration that is tilled by encyclopedias of general knowledge, and its mission is to not only instruct, but also to inspire a lofty courage and generous ambition in the hearts of men, to the end that dark places may become lighted by the lamp of a wise intelligence, and the whole earth be reclaimed and made fruitful with the blessings of a perfect civilization. J. W. Buel. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. Village of the Malay Archipelago 8 Beautiful Birds of Paradise lo The Baby Mias 12 Battle with a Mias 14 Skull of the Pig Deer 16 A Struggle with a Python 18 Making Sago 20 Native Men of the Malay Archipelago 22 Native Papuan 23 A Dyak Girl 24 A Brazilian Forest 32 Steamship and Water-Spout 36 Volcanic Eruption in Island of Java. . 38 Descendants of the Ancient Peruvians 47 Forest along the Amazon River 52 The Two-Horned Rhinoceros 63 Close Quarters 65 A Lucky Shot 66 Sirboko and his Slaves 69 The Royal Musicians 72 Speke and the Rhinoceros Head 76 “ N’Yanzziging” to a Superior 80 Mtesa and his Dog 85 Leading a Wife to Execution 89 Licking up the Pombe 91 Capt. Speke saves the Queen’s Life.. 94 Mtesa Reviewing his Army 96 The Palace Guards at Dinner 98 The Rain-Doctor receives his Reward. 107 Kamrasi on his Throne 108 The Frolicsome Dwarf no Mohamed’s Return 116 Sir Samuel Baker.and his Wife 122 Drawing the Hippopotamus Ashore.. 129 The Chief and his Daughter 132 A Shir Village and Man and Woman. 134 Baker Entertains Speke and Grant.... 140 Baker quells the Mutiny 155 Latooka Funeral Dance 160 Hunting Large Game 164 Chased by a mad Elephant 166 The old Sorcerer on his Travels 174 Latooka Natives and Village 177 Kamrasi’s Men manifest their Delight.185 “ The Devil’s Own” 190 Native Band and Musical Instruments.197 Kamrasi’s Audience Chamber 202 Brewing and Drinking Pombe 204 A Savage Dance 21 1 Killing a Crocodile 224 Slave Gang 226 Terrible fate of the Blind Sheik 223 The savages driving the cattle off. .... 236 Towing the Crocodile ashore 239 Elephants in the river 241 Elephant shaking down fruit 243 Music- charmed savages 248 Kabba Rega comes in state 25 J The Bonosoora 261 Fight with the Natives 265 Ambushed at every hill 268 Spearing game in the net 272 The Drive of Game 274 Women assisting in the Hunt 276 Charge of the Lioness 278 Defeat of Wat-el-Mek’s party 281 Dr. David Livingstone 284 Livingstone Attacked by a Lion.... 287 Scene of the Grand Hunt 289 Feasting after the Hunt .291 Women filling egg-shells with water.. 293 Three Lions attack a Buffalo 299 A Buffalo Cow Killing a Lion 301 Hippopotami and young. 306 Wedding Dance of Angola Girls 314 Attacked by a Mad Hippopotamus. . .320 Victoria Falls 322 Frightened Buffaloes 329 Native African Family 332 •Traveling Overland in Africa 335 Terrible Fight with a Leopard 346 Slaves Abandoned to Die 351 A Royal Wedding 357 Livingstone visiting the Cave-Dwellers. 361 Animals fleeing from an Overflow 363 Catching Ants for Food 372 Fight with Sokos 379 Manyuema Warriors 380 Arabs murdering Natives 385 Livingstone waylaid in the Jungle .... 387 Crossing the Water 392 The Last Day’s March _.. 395 Wasting Cartridges on Hippopotami. .405 Women Working in the Fields .407 vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . Page. The Slave Gang 409 Traveling by Water 414 Wagogo Warriors 422 Taking “ Dowa” 428 The Hunter’s Paradise 430 The Mutiny in Camp 432 Dr. Livingstone Found 436 Stanley and the Friendly Elephant .... 440 A Moment of Peril 443 Natural Bridge Island 449 Mtesa and his Principal Officers 454 Human Sacrifices 457 Mtesa’s Council Chamber 465 The High Priest 470 Stanley’s War Boat 472 Watuta Warrior 475 Types of Manyuema 479 The Manyuema Village 481 Lip Ring and Peculiar Hair Dressing. 483 Horrible Feast of the Cannibals 485 Native Blacksmiths 490 Dragging the Boats around the Rapids.49r Cannibal Warriors seen by Stanley. . .496 A CannibalVillage 598 A Fight on the River 501 King Chumbiri 503 One ofChumbiri’s Wives 503 Women ofNgoyo Fishing 508 The Expedition at Nsanda 510 Shooting the Gorilla 516 The Cannibal King 518 Adventure with a Snake 523 The Leopard and the Buffalo 525 King Bango and his Subjects 527 Tossed by a Buffalo 529 Capture of a Baby Gorrilla 531 The Nest-Building Ape 533 Leopard and Crocodile Fighting 535 The Witch Doctor 537 Gorilla breaking the Gun 539 Gorilla striking the Hunter 541 Gorillas surprised in a Fores* 543 Gorilla Dance 548 A Cannibal Queen in Battle 550 Native Women Mourning 552 Beheading Victims of Witchcraft 554 Du Chaillu and the Dwarfs 556 The Great King Munza 558 Carrying a Snake into Camp 560 Bird’s-Eye View of Victoria Falls.. . . 562 Sir John Franklin 569 Ships Frozen Up 572 Page. The Jeannette 579 Lieut. Greely 583 Highest Northern Point Reached 588 Lieut. Greely’s Dog Sledge 594 The Camp in the Snow 597 Elison Succumbing on the March 599 Death of Sergeant Rice 606 Sinking of Capt. Leigh Smith’s Ship 610 Discovery of the Frozen Elephant 637 Dr. Kane’s Ship and Sledge Parties.. 642 Esquimau Dogs 645 Types of Esquimaux 647 Esquimau Woman and Child 649 Inside an Esquimau Igloo 650 Sailors Killing Seals with Clubs 652 Esquimaux Hunting Seals 654 Shooting Seals from behind a Screen . . 656 The Bear and Dr. Kane’s Dogs 658 The Dead Bear and her Cubs 660 A Sociable Bear 662 Fight between Bears and a Walrus. . .664 Battle with a Walrus 668 Hunting Reindeer 674 Hunting Musk-Oxen 676 Arctic Ptarmigan 683 Woman Fishing through the Ice ..... . 691 Serpentine Aurora 693 Wonderful Aurora seen by Capt. Hall.bpS Iceberg seen by Capt. Ross 700 Dr. Kane’s Ship in Drift-Ice 702 Dr. Kane’s Perilous Journey 708 Huts on the Ice-Floe 710 Esquimau Joegoingfor the Seal 712 Joe and Hans Wiling the Bear 714 A Night of Horror 716 Rescue of Capt. Tyson’s Party 718 The Netchillik Ambassadress 722 Schwatka on King William’s Land . . .724 Tennyson’s Monument 726 Esquimaux meeting Dr. Hayes 728 An Esquimau Dandy 731 An Esquimau Sledge 733 Dr. Hayes and his Savage Visitors .... 735 Discovery of the Boat and Skeletons. .741 Drifting to Death 743 Wreck of the “Jeannette” 754 Separation of the Boats 758 Landing of DeLong’s Boat 760 Huts of Siberian Exiles 762 Melville s Search Party - 764 Discovery of DeLong’s Body 766 Grave of DeLong and Companions.,,. 767 CONTENTS. THE TROPICAL WORLD. THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.— Indescribable Beauties— Hunting the Orang Utan — Fights between the Mias and the Crocodile— How the Mias Kills the Python — Man-Eating Tigers — The Lombock Suicides — The Pig-Deer of Celebes — Adventure with a Python — Birds of Paradise — Making Cakes of the Sago Palm — The Papuan People — Their Remarkable Honesty — Absence of all Religious Belief — New Guinea, the Unexplored — A Primitive Clock — Wonderful Gold Fields 9 — 25 CHAPTER 1. — Buckle’s observations on Brazil — Opposite effects of the sun — Ferocious Beasts and deadly Diseases — Ocean Vapors — Electrical effects of Vapors — Cause of the Peculiar taste of Rain water — The Great Equatorial Currents — How they are Pro- duced— The Great Gulf Stream — Its Direction and Effects on Climate — What led Columbus to Continue Westward — Remarkable Effects of Ocean Currents on the Coast of Alaska — Great Air Currents — How they are Produced — Deluges in Brazil — The Change of Seasons — Tornadoes, Whirlwinds, Cyclones and Water spouts — The Great Hurricane of 1866 — Formation of Whirlwinds and Cyclones — Two Theories as to how Islands are formed — Wonderful Coral Islands — The Great Coral Sea — People, Animals, Birds and Vegetation 25 — 41 CHAPTER II. — The Great Plateau and its Wonders — The Great Condor — Ascending the Wonderful Puna — At an Altitude where fire is Quenched — Insensibility Produced by rarified Air — Precautions to be taken in Ascending Great Mountains — Water-fowls in the Lagoons — Close Proximity of Winter and Summer — The Sacred Lake Titicaca — The Sacred Island — A Beautiful Legend — City of the Sun— Civilization and wealth of the Incas — The Sacred Rock of Manco Capac — Footprints of a God — Fountain of the Incas — The Vale of Imperial Delights — Wonderful Ruins of a Palace built by the Deity — 1200 Miles of Roadway built of large square stones — A Wonderful Ancient Postal Service — Wonders of Mexico and Central America — Ancient Paintings, and Exquisite .Statuary — Is our present Civilization Equal to that of Ancient Peru — Does Civilization Rise and Fall like the Tides of the Sea — Proofs that it does — The Won- derful Amazon River — Its Length, Depth, and Characteristics — Great Tidal Waves — Reptiles in its waters — Ferocious Beasts and their Peculiarities 41 — 54 2 THE AVORLD’S AVONDERS. AFRICA. CHAPTER III.— Ancient Discoveries — The most Wonderful of all Countries — Ancient Splendor of North Africa — Birth place of the Cross and Crescent — Earliest Explora- tions— John Ogilby’s History — Ancient Literature Concerning Africa — Disadvantages of Native Africans — The Wonders of Egypt — The People — Infamous Laws — Building of the Pyramids and other Great Undertakings — The Slave Mark which Ham bore — Modern travels through Africa — The Source of the Nile known two Centuries ago — Wonders of the Nile— EXPLORATIONS OF CAPTAINS SPEKE AND GRANT — Preparations for the Journey — The Scientific Requirements of an Expedition — First Sight of Hippotami — Traces of big Game — The people ofUgogo — A Rhinoceros Hunt — Shooting by Moonlight — A Grotesque Scene — Another Rhinoceros Hunt — Hunting Buffaloes — Three Exciting Encounters — Fifty Lashes for Desertion — Hold- ing a King Accountable — Recruiting the Force — The Land of the Moon 54 — 67 CHAPTER IV. — Between two Fires — Manua Sera, the Guerilla Chief — Seeking Speke’s Aid — Meeting with an old Friend; Queen of a Tribe — Liberation of a Slave — Circumcision among the Natives — King Rumanika — The old King’s Delight — Fat Wives — Entertained by Native Musicians — Deciding the Right to Rule by Magic — A Mystic Drum and three Mighty Maggots — Buying five Maidens and fifty Cows with a dead King — More Magical tests — Freaks of a Spirit-directed Thunderbolt — More Rhinoceros Hunting — A Magic Gun — A Narrow Escape — Pigmies and Giants — Savage Royalty — How Subjects Manifest their Loyalty — Drilling with a Red-hot Iron — Presentation of young Virgins — The Royal Magicians — The King’s Magic Horn — Killing Subjects for looking at the King — A Sport-loving Boy King — Shooting a man for fun — Visit to the King — Only a Woman Shot — Shooting Birds by Magic — Mtesa Dressed like an Organ-grinder’s Monkey — Executions every day — A Monstrously fat Queen — Savage Cruelties — Sentences of an old Man and a young Girl — Horrible death of one of the King’s Officers— Cutting a Page’s ears off— Captain Speke saves the Queen’s life — The King Reviewing his Army — Grant’s Arrival with Supplies — Sacri- fice of a child — Departure of the Expedition for Unyoro 67 — 100 CHAPTER V. — Hard Travelling to reach the Nile — Among Crocodiles and Hippopot- ami— A wonderful Country — Discovering the Nile’s Source — The Victoria N’yanza ■ — A fight on the Lake — Carbine against Spears — An Elephant Hunt — Dogs with Horns — Kidgwiga’s Wonderful Stories — Feasting on Mountains, Lakes and Human Flesh — A Wonderful Sorcerer — How he Found a Stolen Water gauge— Meeting with King Kamrasi — Another Royal Beggar — Kamrasi’s old Maid Sisters — Offering to cut up four Wives for Amusement — Delays and Broken Promises — African Twins — The queer Dwarf — Buying Liberty from Kamrasi — Departure of the Expedition for Madi loi — 112 CHAPTER VI. — Down the Kafu River in Canoes — A Pleasant Journey — A Wise Man of Africa — Instruments for killing Elephants — Remarkable Fish — Visit to Chongi — Ceremony of the Meeting — Naked people — A Happy Meeting not Wholly Unalloyed — Mahamed, a Turkish Trader — An old Scoundrel — How Mahamed outwitted Speke THE world’s wonders. 3 — An Interesting Hunt; Rhinoceri, BufiFaloes and Elands — In close Quarters again — Joy of the Villagers over a Supper of Meat — Journey to Gondokoro — Meeting with Sir Samuel Baker — Splendid News — Speke’s Conclusions — Only eighteen faithful out of three hundred — The Net Results of Speke’s Expedition — What may be said in favor of Speke. Ill— I2I EXPEDITION OF SIR SAMUEL BAKER. CHAPTER VII. — Off for the Nile — Mrs. Baker Accompanies her Husband — “ Whither Thou goest I will go” — Preparations for the Journey at Berber — Difficulties — A Fight — The first Death — A Fatal Buffalo Hunt — Meeting with a Strange People- Charcoal Smokers — Novel Contest with a Hippopotamus — Ludicrous Argument among the Blacks — Another strange Race of People — Starving in the midst of plenty — Living on Lizards and Snakes — Harpooning fish — A Kytch Chief and his pretty Daughter — Naked Savages — Fighting Black Amazons — The Aliab Tribe — Descrip- tion of their Homes and Manners of Life — The Shir Tribe — Quaint Costumes for naked People — The Women and Warriors I2I — 135 CH.APTER VHI. — Arrival at Gondokoro — Characteristics of the Bari Tribe — Their dress and weapons — Poisoned Arrows — Terrible effects of an Arrow Wound — Victin s for Crocodiles — Fight between Baker and a Mutineer — A Troublesome Bird — Moham- med’s Treachery — A Dreadful Plot Discovered — A little Boy’s Nerve and Faithfii - ness — Cruel Treatment of two Slave Wimt n — An Apollo Chief — Go ng to the l.at'ioka Country — Opposed by Turkish Traders — Curious Nat ves — The Monkey and the Negroes — Legge, the Chief, and how he made himself “at home” — Dead Men’s Bones — Chief Moy and his pretty wife — A Funeral Dance 136 — 147 CHAPTER IX. — On the March to Latooka — Two Lucky Deserters — A Disgus ing Repast — Besieged by Curious Natives — The Friendly Humpback — Mrs. Baker is declared to be a boy — A Monkey and old Ibrahim — Making terms with Ibrahim — The Bari People — Through a Game Country — Lions and Buffaloes — Arrival at Latome — A big Turkish row — A Terrible Prophesy — Its Fulfillment — Baker hailed as a Great Magician — A Plentiful crop of Dead Men’s bones — Threatened Attack — An African Prince’s Argument on the Hereafter — Elephant Hunting — Three Narrow Escapes in one day 147 — 169 CHAPTER X. — The Cannibals — Power of a Royal Sorcerer — A fine old Chief — Poison Yams — Strange Customs— Baboons and Giraffes — A Monster Snake — Killing a Jumbo Elephant — Wild Boars — A visit of State — Departure for Unyoro — Reception by King Kamrasi — Sick and troubled — The Royal Beggar 169 — 188 CHAPTER XI. — Departure for the Lake — Kamrasi proposes an exchange of wives — A Satanic Guard — An hour of Sorest Trial — Life out of Death — Discovery of Albert Lake — Salt Making in Africa — A Sail on the Lake — Ascending the Somerest River — Meeting with a Spurious King — Kamrasi begs Baker to Fight his Battles — A Great Battle — Kamrasi in a Cowardly Retreat 188 — 209 CHAPTER XII. — Adieu to Kamrasi — Man’s Inhumanity — Cruelties of the Slave Hunters — Homeward March — A Sad Scene — Attacked by Bari Savages — The Boats are Gone — The Plague— In a Boat with Death- Poor little Saat — Arrival at Khar- toum— Net Results of Baker’s Expedition 210 — 216 4 THE world’s wonders. BAKER’S SECOND EXPEDITION INTO AFRICA. ' CHAPTER XIII. — Suppression of the Slave Trade — Purposes and Equipment of the Second Expedition — Departure of the Fleet — Attacked by a Hippopotamus — Fine Sport along the River — Liberating Slaves — A Hippopotamus Kills a Man — Capture of a Slaver — Attacked by a Vicious Hippopotamus 220—234 CHAPTER XIV. — Arrival at Gondokoro — An Attack by the Bari’s — Soldiers Eaten by Crocodiles — Elephants and Hippopotami — Starling for the Albert N’Yanza — Wonderful Strength of the Elephant — In a Nest of Slave Hunters — Establishing a Government — A Wonderful Rain-Maker — A Dangerous Lump of Iron — Music Charmed Savages — King Kabba Rega — Suspicions — Tortures Inflicted by Slave Hunters — A Royal Funeral 234 — 256 CHAPTER XV. — Traffic in Slaves — A Loving Father — Kabba Rega’s Bonosoora — A Wonderful Entertainment — Treachery and a Great Battle — Cutting their Way Through — A Curious Bird — Meeting with Rionga — The Cannibal — A Great Hunt — How the Natives Care for their Babies — Adventure with a Lioness — A Peaceful Gov- ernment— Return to Gondokoro — Results of the Expedition 257 — 283 LIVINGSTONE’S TRAVELS IN AFRICA. CHAPTER XVI. — Missionary Service and First Adventure — Stricken Down by a Lion — Entrapping Large Game — The Hoppo — Crossing an African Desert — Wonderful Plants of the Desert — A Beautiful Mirage — Diseases of Lions and other Animals — A Thrilling Incident — Serpents — Some of the Most Dangerous in Africa — Vicissitudes of Missionary Service — Ludicrous Scenes at Church 283 — 307 CHAPTER XVII. — Dangers from Alligators — Among Female Chiefs — An Amusing Show — How Shinte Proved his Love — I'he Magic Ox — African Etiquette — Among The Angolas — Wonderml Insects — Fatal Superstitions — Dread of White Men — Nar- row Escape from a Buffalo — Capsized by a Hippopotamus — Victoria Falls — Curious Friendship among Animals and Birds — The Mother Elephant and her Calf — Tossed by a Buffalo — Superstition respecting Albinos — Settling Disputes 307 — 331 LIVINGSTONE’S SECOND EXPEDITION. CHAPTER XVIII — Noble Purposes of a Great Man— Laughing Rats — Wild Dogs — Hippopotamus Attacked by Alligators — Death of Mrs. Livingstone — Exploration of the Rovuma River — A Dreadful Sight — Results of Livingstones Second Expe- dition 331— J43 LIVINGSTONE’S THIRD JOURNEY. CHAPTER XIX — Search for the Nile’s Source — An Important Commission — Land- ing the Animals — Fearful Fight with a Leopard — Strange Customs — Horrible Scenes — Carried Off by a Lion and a Crocodile — The Honey-Bird — Arrival at Lake Tangan- ika — Marriage a la Africa — Village of Casembe — African Pomp and Splendor — A Chief who Crops the Ears and Hands of his Subjects — The Troglodytes .... 343 — 363 CHAPTER XX. — Punishment for Unfaithfulness — A Grave by the Wayside — Discov- ery of Lake Bangweolo — In Trouble — Killing Prisoners — Arrival at Ujiji — A Journey iiiio the Manyuema Country — Among the Tree Dwellers and Cannibals— A Singing Frog and Milk Giving Fish — A Soko Hunt — Description of the Soko and its Habits — .A Marvellously Ignorant People 364 — 382 THE world’s wonders. 5 CHAPTER XXL — Description of the People — A Dreadful Massacre — Cannibals Caught in the Act — Meeting with Stanley — Explorations with Stanley — Taking Leave of Stanley — Domestic Life in Africa — A Terrible March — Painful Illness — The End Comes — Dead in an Attitude of Prayer — African Honors to the Noble Dead — Em- balming the Body — Enroute for Zanzibar — Buried at Westminister Abbey.. 382 — ^400 STANLEY’S TRAVELS IN AFRICA. CHAPTER XXII. — In Search of Livingstone — An Astounding Order — Organizing for the Journey — Enroute for the Interior — Death of Stanley’s Horses — Calamities begin — The Belles of Kisemo — Tidings of Livingstone — A Wonderful City — The Sul- tana’s Revenge — ^A Terrible March — A F.ght — A Handsome People — Entering Ugogo — A Curious Incident — In a Mob — Arrival at Unyanyembe 401 — 419 CHAPTER XXIII. — Ethnographical Features — The More Remarkable Tribes of Africa — The Wonderful Wagogo People — Their Superstitions and Fighting Propen- sities— The Wahimbu Agriculturists — Singular Punishment for Murder — Treatment of Witches — An African Napoleon 420 — 426 l-HAPTER XXIV. — A Sore March — Death of Shaw — Surprised at the Sight of a White Man — Taking “Dowa” — A Hunter’s Paradise — Narrow Escape from a Crocodile — A Donkey Seized by a Leopard — The Monkeys and the Wild Boar — News from Livingstone — Meeting with Livingstone — Joint Exploration of Tangan- ika Lake — Off for Unyanyembe — Adventure with an Elephant — The Separation — The Pomp and Circumstance of War — Tough Traveling — English Jealousy — Return to England 426 — 445 STANLEY’S SECOND EXPEDITION. CHAPTER XXV. — Promptings Which Led to His Second Journey — The Herala and London Telegraph — Departure for the Interior — Death of Edward Pocock — On the Victoria Nyanza — Encounter with Wild Natives — An Appearance of Amia- bility— Surprising Belligerent Natives — King Mtesa’s Invitation to Stanley — Mtesa Welcomes Stanley — Human Sacrifices — A Liberal Giver — A Grand Review — Stan- ley’s Impressions of the King — Converts Him to Christianity — A Sham Naval B?ttle — Resumption of the Lake Voyage — Attacked by the Savages of the Lake — Death I f Fred Barker 446 — ^461 CHAPTER XXVI. — Lukongeh, the King — Some wonderful Superstitions — Curious Modes of Salution— A Wonderful Crocodile — A Fierce Battle — War in Africa — A Great Naval Battle — A Fantastic Priest — Stanley’s War-Boat — Some Native Stories — Mirambo, the Bandit King 461 — 475 CHAPTER XXVH. — Circumnavigating Tanganike Lake — The Wabembe Cannibals — Kind Treatment at a Cannibal Village — Savage Dwarfs and Ferocious Cannibals — ■ A Terrible Story — Marching Upon the Cannibals — A Villiage of Skulls — Human Meat — A Dwarf Captured — Cannibals Again — A Plospitable King — Into the Un- known— Fierce Battles on Livingstone River — The Terrible “ Bo-Bos ” — Boy and Woman Attacked by a Python — Drowning of Kalulu — A Fine old King — Awful Death of Frank Pocock — Threatened With Starvation — Saved in Time — Return to Zanzibar — Home Receptions 476 — 51 1 6 THE AVORLD’S wonders. ADVENTURES OF PAUL B. DuCHAILLU. CHAPTER XXVIII. — DuChaillu, the Hunter and Naturalist — In the Haunts of Go- rillas and Serpents — Stories about Gorillas — On the Plunt — Shooting his First Gorilla — Horrible Aspect of the Gorilla — A Visit among the Fan Cannibals — Shocking Sights — Graveyard Ghouls — The Fan Iron Workers 51^ — 520 CHAPTER XXIX. — Adventure with an Enormous Serpent — Adventure -with a Leopard — A Curious Superstition^Tossed by a Buffalo — Visit to King Bango — Cap- ture of a Young Gorilla — Its Ferocious Disposition — Hunting the Nest-Building Ape — Curious Creatures — Fight between a Leopard and Crocodile— A Witch Doctor — A Gorilla Hunt — Killed by a Gorilla — Habits of the Gorilla — The Gorilla Dance — A Cannibal Queen — Carnivorous Ants — Elephants Fleeing Before them — Executions for Witchcraft — Horrible Sights — A Leopard seizes a Buffalo — A Nation of Dwarfs — The Great King Munza — Adventure with a Boa Constrictor 520 — 561 THE POLAR REGIONS. CHAPTER XXX. — Summary of Polar Expeditions — John and Sebastian Cabot, the First to Make a Voyage toward the Pole — Important Discoveries — Wonderful Ruins in Greenland — Icelandic Civilization — The Sir John Franklin Expedition — Voyages Undertaken for his Relief — Dr. Hayes and Dr. Kane — Shipwreck and Death — Dis- astrous Voyage of the “ Jeannette ” — Fate of DeLong — Schwatka’s Search Party — Fate of the Franklin Party finally Determined 563 — 581 THE GREELY EXPEDITION. CHAPTER XXXI. — Purposes of the Greely Expedition— Names of the Members — Sketch of Greely — The Departure — The Highest Point Ever Reached — Lockwood’s Achievement — A Wonderful Sight — Discovery of Lake Hazen — Discipline in Camp — Ruins of an Ancient Village 582 — 595 CHAPTER XXXII. — The Return From Fort Conger— Indescribable Sufferings — Poor Jo Elison — Feet and Fingers Frozen off— Execution of Private Henry — Charity for the Starving — A Lecture — Official Report of Henry’s Execution — Death by Starva- tion— Resort to Cannibalism— Pangs of Hunger Stop the Sense of Reason — The Cloak of Charity 595 — 608 CHAPTER XXXIII. — Efforts to Relieve Greely — Voyage of the Neptune — Failure — Voyage of the Proteus and Yantic — Sinking of the Proteus — Expedition of the Bear, Thetis, and Alert — Discovery of the Greely Parly — A Joyful Meeting — Saved by the Grace of God — “For God’s Sake, Let Me Die in Peace’’ — The Dead— Shocking Sights — Arrival at St. Johns — How the Bodies Were Prepared — England Excited Over the Rescue — Welcoming the Heroes Home — Meeting of Greely with Ills Wife — R'^ports of Cannibalism Proven — Exhumation of Lieut. Kislingbury — Awful Revela'' ns — What Might Have Been — Earning Honors 608 — fy THE world’s wonders. 7 WONDERS OF THE ARCTIC WORLD CHAPTER XXXIV. — Mystery, Fable and Marvellous Fads — Stories of the Arctic Siren and Phantom Ship — Symmes’ Theory of a Hollow Earth — Some Novel Facts — Proofs of an Open Polar Sea — Change of Climate through Ice Formations — Green- land once the Seat of a Great Empire — History of the Famous Symmes Theory — Tropical Animals found in the Arctic Regions — The Frozen Elephant — Esquimau Dogs — Their Habits and Manner of Training — Interesting Facts about Them — Ef- fects of an Arctic Night — Newfoundland Dogs — Life and Habits of the Esquimaux — Obedience of Children — Absence of Law — Marriages — Murder of Female Children — Polgamy — Exchange and Borrowing of Wives — Manner of Dress — How their Huts are Made — Life in an Igloo — Queer Ways of Eating — Making Fire. ..632 — 651 CHAPTER XXXV. — Seal Hunting — Habits of the Seal —How it is Captured by Es- quimaux— Perils — Capt. Hall’s Battle with a Seal — Hunting the Polar Bear — Peculiar Methods employed by Natives to Kill it — A Savage Contest — A Bear raids Dr. Kane’s Vessel — Tossing the Dogs — Another Battle with a Bear — An Ugly Visitor in Camp — Habits of the Polar Bear — Adventures with the Walrus — An Exciting Walrus Hunt — Battle between Walrus and Bears — A Dreadful Struggle — The Reindeer — Its usefu] Habits and Enemies — The Musk Ox — Arctic Foxes — Mosquitoes and Gnats — Arctic Birds — The Great Sea Eagle — Voracious Gulls 651 — 6S4 CHAPTER XXXVI. — Inhabitants of the Arctic Deep — Teeming with Life — Wonders of the Whale — The Most Marvellous of All Animals — How It Nurses Its Young — Its Habits Generally — Adventure with a Whale — The Norwhal — Its Wonderful Tusk — The Dolphin — How It Is Killed by Greenlanders — Arctic Sharks — The Grampus, the Tiger of the Arctic Seas 684 — 692 CHAPTER XXXVII. — Natural Phenomena of the Arctic Regions — Marvellous Beau- ties of Nature — The Aurora — Its Cause — V/onderful Aurora seen by Capt. Hall — Mock Moons — Colored Snow — Icebergs and Wonderful Ice-Formations — Tussle of the Giants — How Icebergs are Formed — Kane’s Narrow Escape — Wonderful Adven- tures on Icefloes — Perilous Position of Dr. Kane — Tyson’s Marvellous Drift — Threat- esed Cannibalism — At Sea on a Cake of Ice — 'Battle with a Bear — The Most Extra- ordinary Adventure ever Recorded — Night in the Arctic Regions — Five Months of Darkness — Its effects on Man and Domestic Animals 692 — 721 CHAPTER XXXVIH. — Incidents of Arctic Life — Schwalka and the Old Exquimau Woman — Esquimau Ice Cream — Dr. Hayes’ Singular Experience with the Esquimaux — Attacked by Dogs — A Dashing Esquimau Widow — A Wonderful Feast — Esqui- mau Legend of the Sun and Moon 721 — 738 CHAPTER XXXIX. — The McClintock Search — A Ghastly Discovery — Capt. Hall’s Wonderful Discoveries — Esquimau Children Hanging their Parents — The “Jean- nette” Expedition — Two Years’ Drift in the Ice — Sinking of the Ship — Helpless on the Wide Sea — Separation of the Boats — Terrible Suffering and Starvation — Marvel- lous Heroism — Search for and Discovery of the Bodies of the Dead — Honors to the Brave 733—768 8 THE world’s wonders. THE WORLD S WONDERS. THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. INDESCEIBABLE BEAUTIES. Alfred Russel Wallace, an English naturalist of great repu- tation, has added to the sum of geographic knowledge a vast amount of information respecting the Malay Archipelago, in which region of the earth he made a protracted tour of discovery, extending over eight years. This archipelago proper, the largest group of islands, including also the greatest islands in size, on the globe, comprises the Indo-Malay islands, the Tirnour group, the Celebes group, the Moluccas, and the Papuan group, all lying north and northwest of Australia, between that continent and the countries of southea.stern Asia. The largest of these islands are. New Guinea, Borneo, Summatra, Java, and Celebes, in the order named, though there are hundreds of islands in the several groups. This extensive archipelago lies under or near the equator, and being bathed by the tepid water of the great tropical ocean, the region enjoys a climate more uniformly hot and moist than any other portion of the globe, and teems with natural pro- ductions which are elsewhere unknown. In some respects it is the most wonderful district of the earth. It not alone teems with animal life, as Africa, but nowhere else does nature revel in such gorgeou-s hues and enrapturing beauty. El/iwers bejewel the ^deck the trees. Insects flash like prismatic fires from flower to nower, and tree to tree, their iridescent hues reflecting the km- 10 THE would’ 8 WONDERS. prolific soil, not only in lowly beds carpeting the earth, but also as end trailing vines and gather in clusters of richest coloring to BEAUTIFUL BIRDS OF PARADISE. THK world’s wonders. 11 bent sunlight like a million of diamonds. Here alone are found the birds of paradise, those gorgeous plumaged warblers whose coats seem fresh with the glory of heaven, or a thousand rain- bows. On every side the eye is charmed with scenes of nature more delectable than a shifting kaleidoscope ; in short, it is a l egion of pure delight, so far as the sight can measure it, but yet not wholly free from lurking dangers, which seem to be added by beneficent design, in order that the eye might not weary by gazing always on the beautiful. A FLYING FROG. Of the many wonderful things which Mr. Wallace describes as having seen during his visits to the several islands, one of the most remarkable is a flying frog, Avhich he found in Borneo. This is a most curious reptile, lives among the trees, and in its habits is not wholly unlike our common flying squirrel, for its food is very similar and its mode of flight almost identical. The body is about four or five inches long and of a deejj shimering green color, the under surface and the inner toes yellow, while the webs are black rayed with yellow. The webs of each hind foot, when expanded, cover a surface of four square inches, the webs of all feet together about twelve square inches, and its body is capable of considerable inflation. It literally flies with its feet, very much like the action of swimming. HUNTING THE ORANG-UTAN. Mr. Wallace spent much of his time in Borneo hunting the great man ape — Orang-Utan — specimens of which he was anx- ious to obtain for his friend, Charles Darwin, and the British Museum. This animal is found in great numbers in some parts of Borneo, but to enable him to be more successful in the hunt Mr. Wallace employed some Dyaks (natives) to accompany him, as they were familiar with the habits of the animal. On the first day’s hunt two medium-sized orang-utans — which are called miaa by the natives — were killed, and a small baby one captured. It was so young that, as a substitute for milk, Wallace fed it on rice-water and sugar ; but though it ate heartily 12 THE world’s wonders. enough and seemed very tame, it did not grow in the least, and at the end of three months died. On the following day a monster male was met with in a deep jungle, and though Wallace repeatedly wounded it, yet so tena- cious of life was the animal that it did not succumb until both legs were broken, one hip bone and the root of the spine com- pletely shattered, and two bullets were flattened in its neck and jaw. This monster measured four feet two inches in height, and the spread of its arms was seven feet three inches. About ten days after this, some Dyaks came to tell Wallace that the day before a mias had nearly killed one of their companions. A few miles down the river there wasaDyak house, and the inhabi- tants saw a large orang feeding on the young shoots of a palm by the river-side. On being alarmed, he retreated toward the jungle which was close by, and a number of men, armed with spears and choppers, ran out to intercept him. The man who was in front tried to run his spear through the animaTs body, but the mias seized it in his hands, and in an instant got hold of the man’s arm, which he seized in his mouth, making his teeth meet in the flesh above the elbow, which he tore and lacerated in a dreadful manner. Had not the others been close behind him, the man would have been more seriously injured, if not killed, as he was quite powerless, but they soon destroyed the creature with their spears and THE world’s wonders. 13 choppers. The man remained ill for a long time, and never fully recovered the use of his arm. The Djaks all declare that the mias is never attacked by any animal in the forest, with two rare exceptions ; and the accounts received of these ai’e so curious that they are given as related by Dyak chiefs, who lived all their lives in the places where the animal is most abundant. “No animal is strong enough to hurt the mias,” said one of the chiefs, “and the only creature he ever fights with is the crocodile. When there is no fruit in the jungle, he goes to seek food on the banks of the river, where there are plenty of young shoots that he likes, and fruits that grow close to the water. Then the crocodile some- times tries to seize him, but the mias gets upon him and beats him with his hands and feet, and tears him and kills him.” The chief added that he had once seen such a fight, and that he believed the mias was always the victor. Another chief relates that the mias has no enemies ; no animals dare attack it but the crocodile and the python. He always kills the crocodile by main strength, standing upon it, pulling open its jaws, and ripping up its throat. If a python attacks a mias, he seizes it with his hands, and then bites it, and soon kills it. The mias' is very strong; there is no animal in the jungle so strong as he. THE LOMBOCK SUICIDES. In the island of Lombock, which is separated from Java by a narrow strait, there is a singular people who are peculiar in their remarkable dispositmn to commit suicide ; yet the word is a mis- nomer, for they do not kill themselves, but invite death in a manner that is unaccountably strange. The least misfortune, such as loss at gaming, inability to pay debts, insults, sickness, loss of friends, and similar annoyances of life, often provoke them to “ run a muck,” as they call it. The person thus troubled seizes a sword or spear and runs through the village killing everbody he meets, making no distinction between friend or foe, age or sex, and continues his indiscriminate slaughter until the people set upon him and kill him in self-defense. There is some superstitious 14 THE WORLD 8 WONDERS- fear which restrains them from committing suicide, and anothei superstition which incites them to murder and invite their own death at the hands of the community. Lombock is governed by a Eajah, who has established some very severe laws, as well as queer ones. Theft is punished with BATTLE WITH THE MIAS. death, without regard for the value of the article stolen. A person found in the house of another after dark, without per- mission, may be killed and thrown into the street. The men are woefully jealous, and this feeling is a fruitful source of crime. A wife must not accept a cigar, flower, or the simplest article THE world’s wonders. 15 from a gentleman ; should she be detected in so doing her life would pay the penalty. Infidelity is punished by tying the woman and her i^aramour back to back and throwing them into the sea, where they are quickly devoured by crocodiles which infest the shore. THE PIG-DEER OF CELEBES. The wild pig seems to be of a species peculiar to the iskind of Celebes ; but a much moi'e curious animal of this family is the Babirusa, or pig-deer, so named by the Malays from its long and slender legs, and curved tusks resembling horns. This extraor- dinary creature resembles apigin general appearance, but it does not root with its snout, as it feeds on fallen fruits. The tusks of the lower jaw are very long and sharp, but the upper ones, instead of growing downward, in the usual way, are completely reversed, growing upward, out of bony sockets, through the skin on each side of the snout, curving backwai’d to near the eyes, and in old animals often reaching eight or ten inches in length. It is difficult to understand what can be the use of these extraoi- dinary horn-like teeth. Some of the old writers supposed that they served as hooks, by which the creature could rest its head on a branch. But the way in which they usually diverge just over and in front of the eyes has suggested the more probable idea that they serve to guard these organs from thorns and spines while hunting for fallen fruits among the tangled thickets of rat- tans and other spiny plants. Even this, however, is not satisfac- tory, for the female, who must seek her food in the same way, does not possess them. It is probable that these tusks w^ereonce useful, and were then worn down as fast as they grew; but changed conditions of life have rendered them unnecessary, and they now develop into a montrous form, just as the incisors of the beaver or rabbit will go on growing, if the opposite teeth do not wear them away. ADVENTURE WITH A PYTHON. Snakes, though not particularly numerous in the Archipelago, are wonderfully sociable, preferring houses tc trees and caves, so Id THE world’s wonders. that it is not an unusual thing for a family to be seriously disturbed by a huge boa, which has stealthily gained entrance to the dwell- ing. Wallace met with one of these unbiddeh guests while on Amboy na island, which he describes as follows : “ One night, about nine o’clock, I heard a curious noise and nestling overhead, as if some animal were crawling slowly over the thatch. The noise soon ceased, and I thought no more about it and went to bed soon afterward. The next afternoon, being SKULL OF THE PIG DEER. rather tired with my day’s work, I was lying on the couch with a book in my hand, when, gazing upward, I saw a large mass of something overhead which I had not noticed before. Looking more carefully, I could see yellow and black marks, and thought it must be a tortoise-shell put up there out of the way, between the ridge-pole and the roof. Continuing to gaze, it suddenly resolved itself into a large snake, compactly coiled up in a kind of knot ; and I could detect his head and bright ej^es in the very centre of the folds. The noise of the evening before was now THE world’s wonders. 1/ uxplained. A python had climbed up one of the posts of the house, and had made his way under the thatcli within a yard of my head, and taken up a comfortable position in the roof — and I had slept soundly all night directly under him. “ I called to my two boys, who were skinning birds below, and said, ‘ Here’s a big snake in the roof ;’ but as soon as I had shown it to them they rushed out of the house and begged me to come out directly. Finding they were too much afraid to do anything, we called some of the laborers in the plantation, and soon had half- a-dozen men in consultation outside. One of these, a native of Bouru, where there are a great many snakes, said he would get lijm out, and proceeded to work in a business-like manner. He made a strong noose of rattan, and with a long pole in the other hand poked at the snake, which then began slowly to uncoil itself. He then managed to slip the noose over its head, and getting it well on to the body, dragged the animal down. There was a great scuffle as the snake coiled round the chairs and })03ts to resist his enemy, but at length the man caught hold of its tail, rushed out of the house (running so quick that the creature seemed quite confounded) and tried to strike its head against a tree. He missed, however, and let go, and the snake got under a dead trunk close by. It was again poked out, and again the Bouru man caught hold of its tail, and running away quickly dashed its head with a swing against a tree, and it was then easily killed with a hatchet. It was about twelve feet long, and very thick, capable of doing much mischief, and of swallowing a dog or a child.” MAKING cakes OF THE SAGO PALM. A SINGULAR tree grows in the island of Ceram, called the sago palm, the trunk of which provides most excellent food after pass- ing through a process of beating and washing, which dissolves the pith from the trunk. Water is then poured on the pith, which is kneaded and pressed against a strainer till the starch is dissolved and has passed through, when the fibrous refuse is thrown away. The water, charged with sago starch, passes on to a trough, with a depression in the centre, where the sediment 2 W 18 THE world’s wonders. is deposited, the surplus water trickling off by a shallow outlet. The sago thus gathered is taken out of the ti-ough and dried into cylinders of about thirty pounds weight. It makes excelle-'t bread and delicious cakes, particularly when eaten with butter and a little sugar. It is truly an extraordinary sight to witness a whole tree-trunk, perhaps twenty feet long and four or five in circumference, con- verted into food with so little labor and [ireparation. A good- THE STRUGGLE WITH THE PYTHON. sized tree will produce thirty tomans or bundles of thirty pounds each, and each toman will ma ke sixty cakes of three to the pound. Two of these cakes are as much as a man can eat at one meal, and five are considered a full day’s allowance ; so that reckoning a tree to produce 1800 cakes, weighing 600 pounds, it will supply a man with food for a whole year. The labor to produce this is very moderate. Two men will finish a tree in five days, and two women will bake the Avhole into cakes in five days more ; but the raw sago will keep very well, and can he baked as wanted, so THE world’s wonders. 19 that we may estimate that in ten days a man may produce food for the whole year. This is on the supposition that he possesses sago trees of his own, for they are now all private property. If lie does not he has to pay about two dollars for one ; and as labor here is ten cents a day, the total cost of a year’s food for one man is about three dollars. The effect of this cheapness of food is decidedly prejudicial, for the inhabitants of the sago country are never so well off as those where rice is cultivated. Many of these people have neither vegetables nor fruit, but live almost entirely on sago and a little fish. Having few occupations at home, they wander about on petty trading or fishing expeditions to the neighboring islands ; and as far as the comforts of life are concerned, are much inferior to the wild Hill Dyaks of Borneo, or to many of the more barbarous tribes of the Archipelago. THE PAPUAN PEOPLE. As Wallace extended his journey eastward, he found the peo- ple in feature and habit greatly changed, and that the birds wore more beautiful plumage. At the Al)u Islands, near New Guinea, he met the original Papuans, who compose one of the most dis- tinct and strongly marked races of the earth. They are intensely black, but with this exception they veiy little resemble negroes, for all their features, except the nose, which is aquiline with large nostrils, greatly resemble the Caucasian. They have no idea of a hereafter, profess no kind of religion, are not even superstitious, have DO laws, and yet they are an apparently happy and con- tented people, free from vice. They recognize only the relation- ship which commerce gives, and therefore the importance of pre- serving peace and practicing honesty. Concerning these people, Mr. Wallace writes : “ Here, as among most savage people with whom I have dwelt, I was delighted with the beauty of the human form — a beauty of which stay-at-home civilized people can carcely have any con- ception. What are the finest Grecian statues to the living, mov- ing, breathing men I saw daily around me? The unrestrained grace of the naked savage as he goes about his daily occupations, or lounges at his ease, must be seen to be understood ; and a 20 THE world’s wonders. youth bending his bow is the perfection of manly beauty. The women, however, except in extreme youth, are by no means so pleasant to look at as the men. Their strongly-marked features ai’e very unfeminine, and hard work, privations, and very early marriages soon destroy whatever of beauty or grace they may for a short time possess. Their toilet is very simple, but also, I am sorry to say, very coarse and disgusting. It consists solely of a mat of plaited stri[)s of palm-leaves, worn tight around the body, and reaching from the hips to the knees. It seems not to be .MAKING SAGO. changed till worn out, is seldom washed, and is generally very dirty. This is the universal dress, except in a few cases where Malay ‘sarongs’ have come into use. Their frizzly hair is tied in a bunch at the back of the head. They delight in combing, or rather forking it, using for that purpose a large wooden fork with four diverging prongs, which answers the purpose of separating and arranging the long, tangled, frizzly mass of cranial vegeta- tion much better than any comb could do. The only ornaments of the women are earrings and necklaces, which they arrange in various tasteful ways.” Speaking of the i-emarkable honesty of the Papuans, Mi’- Wal- THE world’s wonders. 21 lace says : “ Toward the end of September it became absolutely necessary for me to return, in order to make our homeward voy- age before the end of the east monsoon. Most of the men who had taken payment from me had brought the birds they had agreed for. One poor fellow had been so unfortunate as not to get one, and he very honestly brought back the axe he had re- ceived in advance ; another who had agreed for six, brought me the fifth two days before I was to start, and went off immediately to the forest again to get the other. He did not return, how- ever, and we loaded our boat, and were just on the point of starting, when he came running down after us holding up a bird, which he handed to me, saying with great satisfaction, ‘ Now I owe you nothing.’ These were remarkable and quite unexpected instances of honesty among savages, where it would have been very easy for them to have been dishonest without fear of detec- tion or punishment.” MAN-EATING TIGERS. The island of Java is more thickly populated than any others of the Archipelago, and the people are more nearly civilized, owing to the fact that this island enjoys a large trade with the Dutch who have settled along the coast in considerable numbers. The city of Batavia, which has a population of nearly 200,000, is largely composed of Europeans. The principal large animals of Java are the tiger, tapir and a small species of rhinoceros, which latter frequently visits interior villages in quest of food, but it rarely shows any disposition to fight. The tigers of Java are similar to those of India, being savage and bold. Many persons are destroyed by them annually. During Wallace’s visit to the island he entered a village where a man-eating tiger had carried off a boy the day before. Nearly the entire village was in arms, ready to pursue the savage beast. The natives, armed only with spears, surrounded a dense jungle, where they believed tne animal lay concealed, and began beating it in a rather reckless manner. The tiger was roused at length, and finding itself surrounded, made a savage attack, but a half- dozen natives received it on their spears and killed it without sustaining any injury themselves. THE world’s wonders. WONDERFULL RUINS. Near the east cost of Java there are found vast ruins of an ancient civilization, such as elegantly sculptured figures, forts, palaces, baths, aqueducts, and temples, the latter having been at one time decorated with the most extravagantly rich and delicate sculpture work. On the mountain of Gunong Prau are the ruip< NATIVE MEN OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. of a magnificent temple covering a large elevated plateau. To reach this temple four flights of steps were cut in the solid stone of the mountain side, each flight consisting of more than one thousand steps. These gigantic works will doubtless forever remain a mystery; they show the deteriorating effects of time, and rude houses of bamboo and thatch occupy the site of the THK world’s AVONDERS. 23 ancient temple. The natives regard these ruins as the undoubted productions of giants or demons. NEAV GUINEA, THE UNEXPLORED. New Guinea lies immediately north of Australia, from which it is separated by Torres strait, Avhich is only ninety miles in width. Since Australia is classed as a continent. New Guinea is the largest island in the world, and certainly one of the most interesting regions of the earth. Yet, with all this, it is a terra incognita, no exi3lorer having ever penetrated it beyond a distance of fifteen miles from the coast. That it has a salubrious climate toAvard the interior is attested by the lofty, snow-capped moun- tains which may be seen from the sea, and the numerous large rivers which pour their sparkling Avaters into the ocean . It is remarkable that this great island, Avhich has been known since the year 1G36, has never been explored, though small Dutch colonies have existed on its southern coast for nearly one hundred years. Frequent attempts have been made to advance into the interior, but always Avithout success, owing entirely to the fact that the parties Avere not properly equipped or of insufiicient strength to give them confidence to proceed. The Papuans, Avho occupy Ncav Guinea, are uncivilized, but they are much in advance of all other barbaric tribes in many particulars. They live in houses faiily comfortable, resting on a foundation of upright posts Avhich elevate them eight or ten feet above the ground. The place of building is usually over 24 THE world’s wonders. streams of water, and the flooring is made of bamboo with inter* stices left, through which all refuse is thrown, so that using the streams to carry off all obnoxious matter, the villages are always clean. They have a novel instrument for measuring time, and are the only savage people known who ever devised any means for this purpose, or who ever conceived the idea of dividing the days into hours. The primitive clock of the Papuans consists of the half of a cocoanut-shell, through the bottom of which a small hole is made. This shell is placed in a basin of water, and as 't receives a delicate jet gradually settles until it sinks at the expira- tion of one hour, causing a bubblingsound which attracts the attention of any one standing near. This shell is their only measure of time, but it suggests the idea of a clock, from which a more elaborate time-piece might be made. Capt. Paget, who visited the island in 1871, declares that he found many of the natives wearing anklets and armlets of beaten gold, and that he saw a chief who bore a club made of the same precious metal. . 7ot being able to converse with them, they misconstrued his gestures and fled to the hills, where it was considered inexpedient to follow them. This incident is mentioned as furnishing an additional incentive for a thorough exploration of the island, which will no doubt bt made at an early date. The World’s Wonders. THE TROPICAL WORLD. CHAPTEK I. SOUTH AMEPaCA. In describing the World’s Wonders as seen by the Great Explorers, we will divide our subject into three parts, or divi- sions, viz ; The Tropical , Arctic, and Antarctic, so as to preserve a sequence, and have system in the narrative. The Tropica) World will have precedence, in consideration of its more prolific life, both animal and vegetable, and because it presents more anomalous and curious features than other parts of the globe. Indeed, in the tropics there seems to be a superabundance of growth, which led Sir Thomas Buckle to declare : “ Amid this pomp and splendor of nature no place is left for man. He is reduced to insignificance by the majesty with which he is surrounded. The forces that oppose him arc so formidable that he has never been able to make headway against them, never able to rally against their accumulated pressure. The whole of Brazil, notwithstanding its immense apparent advantages, has always remained entirely uncivilized ; its inhabitants wandering- savages, incompetent to resist those obstacles which the very bounty of nature had put in their w'ay.” In the tropics we have two directly opposite effects of the sun, one tending toward the multiplication of life, while the other operates to destroy it. In no other part of the globe do we find great deserts like that of Sahara, or such pestilential vapors as continually arise from a nrofuse vegetation which is as rapid 26 THE world’s wonders. in its decomposition as in its growth ; in no other zone are there sucli destructive earthquakes and storms, nor does disease stalk with such dreadful fatality in any other division of the earth. Another characteristic of the tropics is found in the size and ferociousness of its wild animals, whether beasts, birds, or rep- tiles, which find their homes either in the deep jungles or on the craggy peaks of great mountains, where the most intrepid hunter cannot pursue them. But there are many other interesting features found in the tropical zone which should be understood before we proceed to a description of the animal life found within its limits. The lands lying within the tropics comprise a portion of Mexico, all of Central America, and nearly all of South America, Africa, the West India Islands, Polynesia, and about one-half of Australia. The very great excess of water over land within the tropics is one of the most important facts in physical geography, for, were the proportions reversed, there would be a like reduc- tion of growth and a corresponding amount of sterility ; without water there can be. neither vegetable nor animal life. All the water that gushes up in fountains or swells into brooks and rivers comes from the ocean, whence it is raised by evaporation and carried along unseen channels of the air to be precipitated in the form of rain or snow, sometimes thousands of miles distant from i.he place whence it was drawn ujd. This water when first evapo- rated has the salty taste of the ocean — or, more directly speaking, \s strongly impregnated with salt, but as it is borne upward into clouds, the vapor is subjected to an electrical influence not clearly understood, but which decomposes the salt and precipitates the vapor into pure water ; but in the descent it absorbs from the air a small quantity of carbonic acid, ammonia, or nitric acid, which imparts to rain-water its peculiar taste. All water that is evapo- rated and ascends into the clouds, of course does not come from the ocean, as every fresh as well as salt body of water contributes to that continual ascent and descent which nourishes the earth and the fullness thereof. It has been computed by some patient calculator that 200,000 cubic miles of water are raised each year THE world’s wonders. 27 from the ocean, in the form of vapor. At least three-fourths of this immense volume is raised within the tropics, and a great part falls beyond them. If the extent of the tropical ocean were diminished by half, there is no part, perhaps, of the tem- perate zones which would not be parched by excessive drought, and hardly a river but whose bed would be a dry ravine. The water which fills the great lakes of North America and, thundering down the cataract of Niagara, finds its way through the St. Lawrence Eiver into the ocean almost on the verge of the Polar World, only a few weeks before, perhaps, laved the coral reefs of the tropical seas. If any considerable part of the tropical ocean were converted into land, the heat of the Torrid Zone would become so greatly increased that no animal life, such as now exists, could endure it ; and, as the vegetation of a climate is adapted to the prevail- ing temperature, the trees and plants which now flourish would become extinct. Water, in being converted into a gaseous form by the process of evaporation, absorbs heat fi-om surrounding objects, or, as we may say, produces cold. Thus the burning rays of a vertical sun, pouring down upon the ocean, in a measure quench themselves. The same rays, which, falling upon the ocean, never raise the water beyond a grateful temperature, falling upon the land produce an intolerable heat. The great extent of the tropical seas is the cause of those mighty ocean currents which sweep from the equatorial to the polar regions. Cool as the waters of the tropics are, they are warm when compared with the other parts of the ocean. The water thus heated becomes specifically lighter than that of colder regions, is lifted up, and, in obedience to the laws of gravitation, runs off in both directions towards the poles. There, having become cooled, the saltwaters are heavier than the comparatively fresh ones of the polar regions, and sinking beneath them,reLurn in an undercurrent to their starting-place. This great equatorial current, or rather series of currents, is the marvel of physical geography. Let us follow that of the A-tlantic in its long career. Starting on the line of the equator, 28 THE world’s wonders. it flows north-westward ly along the coast of South America, enters the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, from whence it derives the name of the Gulf Stream. It passes out through the Straits of Bernini, between Florida and Cuba, a great river 32 miles wide, 2,200 feet deep, flowing at the rate of four miles an hour. Its volume is a thousand times greater than that of the Amazon or the Mississippi, and its banks of cold water are more clearly defined than are those of either of these rivers at flood. So clear is the line of demarkation between the v/arm water of the river and its cool liquid banks, that a ship sailing along ma_y be half in one and half in the other ; and a bucket of water dipped from one side will be twenty degrees cooler than one from the other. Skirting the coast at a distance of about 100 miles, its width is increased and its velocity diminished. Striking the projecting banks of Newfoundland, its course is deflected almost due east, until it arrives at mid-ocean. Here it spreads out like a fan, skirting the shores of Spain, France and Great Britain. It then divides, one branch sweeping around the west coast of Iceland, the other a'pproaching the shores of Norway, and its temporary influence is perceptible in the ameliorated climate of Spitzbergen. It is owing to this great ocean river that the temperature of the western shores of Europe is so much higher than that of the eastern shore of America in the same latitudes. Maury estimates that the amount of heat which the Gulf Stream diffuses over the northern Atlantic in a winter’s day is sufficient to raise the whole atmosphei-e which covers France and Great Britain from the freezing point to summer heat. The olives of Spain, the vines of France, the wheat-fields of England, and the green expanse of the Emerald Isle, are the gifts of the tropical seas, dispensed through the Gulf Stream. Near the Azores another branch of the Gulf Sti'eani encounters the return flow from the Arctic Ocean, bends around, and skirting tbe coast of Africa, returns to its starting-place in the Gulf of Guinea, leaving in its great bend near the Azores an expanse of almost motionless waters larger than the whole of THE world’s wonders. 29 France. This is known as the Sargasso Sea, from the surface being covered with a sea-weed called the /Sargassum natans. So thick is the covering of weeds that at a little distance it seems solid enough to walk upon. The discovery of the bodies of strange animals and unknown trees and plants flung ashore at the Azores suggested to Columbus the idea that there was land lying beyond the western ocean ; so that to the Gulf Stream we are indebted for the discovery of the New World. Bottles have been thrown overboard at various points in the Gulf. Stream, containing the date and position of the ship. Many of these have been picked up. From these it appears that the stream takes eight months to flow from the Gulf of Mexico to the shores of Europe, and the broader and slower current takes a year to travel from the Bay of Biscay back to the gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Stream, though the best known, and in many i-espects the most remarkable of the great equatorial currents, is by no means the largest. The great current of the Pacific and Indian Oceans may be regarded as one mighty stream flowing from east to west. It crosses the Pacific in a sheet neai iy 3,500 miles broad, spreading over almost half the distance from pole to pole ; another great current originates in the Indian Ocean, flows into the China Sea through the Straits of Malacca, thence into the North Pacific, between the coast of Asia and the PhiliiD- pine Islands, thence crosses the ocean by the north-Avestward, modifying the climate of the Pacific coast and Alaska. It is stated by Lieutenant Schwatka, of the U. S. A., who explored the Yukon Eiver in 1883, that the Aleutian Islands have a climate the mean temperature of which is 60°, and that this spring vvarmth is almost perpetual, there being only the slightest difference between the extreme seasons. This statement, how- ever, I have found no where corroborated, but, on the other hand, openly disputed by the seal and Avhale fishers of Behrings Strait, who frequently go ashore on the Aleutian Isles. However, Schwatka may have referred to some particular island of the group that was specially sheltered, or perhaps abnormally heated by volcanic influence. 30 THE world's wonders. All the water poured by the trade currents from the tropica! ocean, and all raised from it by evaporation and transported through aerial channels to feed the rivers of the temperate and polar regions, must find its way back by countercurrents. Heat, according to the dictum of modern Science, may be reduced to force. The force of the sun’s rays poured upon the tropical ocean is sufficient to raise thousands of yards into the air five hundred cubic miles of water every day, and to put and keep in motion the mighty currents which sweep back and forth from the equator to the poles. The study of the course, direction and elevation of these currents has as 3'et onl}^ begun. We know that sometimes, as on the coast of America, the currents of cold and warm water run side by side in opposite directions ; sometimes a warm current is on the surface and sometimes below it. In the Gulf Stream the warm current is above, the cold below ; while on the coast of Japan a cold current from the Okotsk Sea runs on the surface, giving rise to a fishery not inferior in magnitude to that caused on the banks of Newfoundland by the cold cur- rents from Baffins Bay. Enough, however, is now known of ocean currents to warrant the assumption that they are mainly governed by the great law of gravitation. The lighter water flows on the surface, the heavier underneath. But the specific gravity of ocean water depends upon two things, the temperature and amount of salt contained. The heated water of the tropics is rendered lighter than that which surrounds it of the same saltness and so floats on the surface ; but the cold currents from the poles are less saline, and consequently lighter than the tropical waters of the same temperature. When these two opposing currents meet there is a struggle ; but at length the one which is specifically heavier sinks, while the lighter rises. So facile is the movement of fluids among each other, that a difference in gravity which we can scarcely detect with our nicest instruments may be abundantly sufficient to decide which of tw(» opposing currents shall run above and which below. The air has currents as well as the ocean, and these have very much to do in modifying the climate of the tropical THE world’s wonders. 81 world. Earified by the intense heat of a vertical sun, the air within the tropics rises in perpendicular columns high above the surface of the earth, and thence flows off tovvard the poles; while, to fill up the void, cold air currents come rushing in from the Arctic and Antarctic regions ; but the rotation of the earth gradually diverts the direction of these cold currents, and changes them into trade-winds, which regularly blow over the greater portion of the tropical ocean from east to west, and materially contribute to the health and comfort of the navigator whom they waft over the equatorial waters. The trade-wind is an air current of even greater importance than the water current known as the Gulf Stream. This wind covers no less than 56° of latitude — 28° north and 28° south of the equator. Tn this large tract, which comprises uiany of the most fertile countries on the globe, the trade-wind blows during the whole year, either from the north-east or fr»m the south-east. The causes of this regularity are now well undei’stood, and are known to depend partly on the displacement of air at the equator, and partly on the motion of the earth ; for the cold air from the poles is constantly flowing toward the equator and thus producing northerly winds in the northern hemisphere, and southerly winds in the southern. The trade-wind, blowing on the eastern coast of South America, and proceeding from the east, crosses the Atlantic Ocean, and therefore reaches the land surcharged with the vapors accumu- lated in its passage. The vapors, on touching the shore, are, at [leriodical intervals, condensed into rain; and as their jjrogress westward is checked by that gigantic mountain chain, the Andes, which they are unable to pass, they pour the Avhole of their moisture on Brazil, which, in consequence, is often deluged by the most destructive torrents. This abundant supply, being aided by that vast river system peculiar to the eastern part of South America, and being also accompanied by heat, has stimu- lated the soil into an activity unequaled in any other part of the world. Brazil, which is nearly as large as the whole of Europe, is covered with a vegetation of incredible profusion. A great part of this immense country is filled Avith dense and tangled 32 THE world’s wonders. forests, whose noble trees, blossoming in unrivaled beauty, and exquisite with a thousand hues, throw out their products in endless prodigality. On their branches are perched birds of gorgeous i^lumage ; below, their base and trunks are crowded THE world’s wonders. 33 / with brushwood, creeping plants, innumerable parasites, all swarming with life. There, too, are myriads of insects of every variety ; reptiles of strange and singular forms ; serpents and lizards, spotted with deadly beauty ; all of which find means of existence in this vast workshop and repository of nature. Dr. Gardener, who looked at these things with the eye of a botanist, says that near Eio Janeiro the heat and moisture are sufiicient to compensate even the poorest soil; so that “rocks, on which scarcely a trace of earth is to be observed, are covered with a profuse vegetation, all in the vigor of life.” That nothing may be wanting in this land of marvels, the forests are skirted by enormous meadows which, reeking with heat and moisture, supply countless herds of wild cattle, that browse and fatten on their herbage ; while the adjoining plains, rich in another form of life, are the chosen abode of the subtlest and most ferocious animals, which jDrey upon each other, but which it might almost seem no human power can hope to extirpate. Mr. Darwin, the eminent naturalist, says, “In England, any person fond of natural history enjoys in his walks a great advantage, by always having something to attract his attention ; but in these fertile climates, teeming with life, the attractions are so numerous that he is scarcely able to walk at all.” We have spoken of the trade-winds as extending over the whole breadth of the Tropical World. But to this there is a notable exception. Near the equator, but a little to the north of it, the two currents from the Arctic and Antarctic regions meet and neutralize each other, producing a belt of calms, which sailors call the “Doldrums,” of about six degrees in breadth. Here it rains almost every day during the year, for the ascending currents of heated air loaded with moisture become suddenly cooled in the higher regions, and are forced to give up the water which they have lifted from the ocean. Toward noon dense clouds form in the sky and dissolve in torrents of rain. Toward evening the vapors disperse, and the sun sets in a cloudless horizon. The quantity of rain which here falls during the year is enormous-. In the United States the annual rainfall 1;= 3 w 34 THE world’s wonders. from 25 to 70 iiichos ; in Europe from 15 to 104; in the Atlantic doldrums it reaches 225. So copious is the rainfall at times that fresh water has been dipped up from the surface of the ti’opical seas. Proceeding north or south from the belt of calms, we come to a region characterized by two rainy and two dry seasons. The rainy seasons take place while the sun is passing the zenith, more or less neutralizing the influence of the trade-winds. In Jamaica, for example, the first rainy season begins in April, the second in October; the first dry season in June, the second in December. Toward tlie verge of the tropics follow the zones characterized by a single rainy and a single dry season ; the rains lasting from the vernal to the autumnal equinox. The two rainy seasons which characterize the middle zone between each tropic and the equator have a tendency to merge into one rainy season of six months’ duration on advancing toward tlje tropics, and into a perpetual rainy season on approaching the equator. As the sun goes north or south he opens the flood-gates of the heavens, and closes them behind him as he passes to the other hemisphere, while he keeps them continually open whei’e he is always vertical. But this general state of things, which would be the normal condition of the tropical regions if their surface was an unbroken Sheet of water, and no disturbing forces existed, is liable to great modifications. Thus in the monsoon region, extending from the eastern coast of Africa to the northern part of Australia, and from the tropic of Capricorn to the Himalayas and China, it is not the sun directly, but the winds that regulate the periodical rains. Thus in India and the Malayan peninsula the western coasts are watered during the southwest monsoon, which prevails from April to October; and the eastern coasts during the northeast monsoon, from October to April. For example, the southwest wind condenses its vapor on the western side of the Ghauts, the northeast on the eastern ; so that violent rains fall daily on the coast of Coro- mandel, while it is the reverse on that of Malabar, and vice versa. In the southern hemisphere the rainy Season corresponds THE world’s wonders. 35 with the northern monsoon, the dry season with the south- eastern. In South Africa and Australia winter is the rainy season. In South xVmerica, in the same latitudes, summer is the rainy season on the eastern side of the Cordilleras, and winter on the western side. TORNADOES AND HURRICANES rage in the tropical world with a frequency, extent and violence unknown in other climes. They sometimes move with a direct velocity of forty-five miles per hour; but the violence and destructiveness of a whirlwind depends less upon the velocity with which the whole storm moves than upon the speed with which the wind whirls around and in upon the centre. The great Bahama hurricane of 18G6 moved forward at the rate of thirty miles per hour; but the velocity of its wdiirling motion was from 80 to 100, and for short intervals from 100 to 120 miles an hour. The diameter of the great storms of the trop- ical Atlantic is often from GOO to 1,000 miles; those of the Indian Ocean 1,000 to 1,500. These, however, move but slowly. The smaller storms are usually more rapid than the larger ones. The revolving motion accounts for the sudden and violent changes observed during hurricanes. In consequence of this rotation the wind blows in opposite directions on each side of the axis of the storm ; the violence increases from the circum- ference inward ; but at the centre the air is in repose. Hence, when the body of a storm passes over a place, the wind begins to blow moderately, and increases to a hurricane as the centre of the whirlwind approaches ; then, in a moment, a dead calm suc- ceeds, followed suddenly by a renewal of the storm in all its violence, but now blowing in a direction opposite to which it had before. From this rotary motion it follows that the direction of the wind at any moment is no indication of the direction which the body of the storm is pursuing. Water-spouts and cyclones belong to the same class of phe- nomena as whirlwinds and hurricanes. In fact, water-spouts are but whirlwinds at sea, while the term cyclone is used to distm- 36 THE WOKLJU’S WONDERS. guish the most violent hiuTicunes or tornadoes. Whirlwindh maybe formed by the rapid rotary movement of either ascending or descending currents of air ; when the former occurs over a body of water not infrequently water-spouts are the result, and A STEAMSHIP ENCOUNTEKING A WATER SPOUT AT SEA. at times so violent are these that at their base they have power to wreck a small lioat, and to lift an immense column of water wliieh is drawn upward with a noise like the rush of Niagara. In i. loud-bursts we have the very opposite, for they are produced bv THE WORLD 8 WONDERS, 87 the rapid rotary motion of descending currents, and in the equa- torial regions they often deluge and desolate vast tracts of land, destroying buildings and stock, and sometimes washing up large trees. FORMATION OF ISLANDS. Nine-tenths of the islands which dot the ocean lie within the tropics. These islands are divided into two great classes. The one class is of volcanic origin, upheaved from the depth of the ocean ; or, rather, they are lofty peaks of mountains, whose sides and bases lie deep in the water. There are two opposite theories to account for the existence and present appearance of these islands. According to one theory, a continent once occu- pied a large portion of the Pacific Ocean within the tropics, a large portion of which has sunk beneath the water, and these islands ai-e but the peaks and table lands of that lost continent. The other theoiy is that these islands have been for unknown ages, and now are, slowly being lifted up from the depth below, lioth theories rest upon so wide an induction of facts that both may be accepted as true ; or rather as parts of the one great truth, that the crust of the earth, which we are wont to consider so firm and stable, is now, as it always has been, rising and falling, as truly as the 'surface of the water rises and falls by t ie attraction of the sun and moon ; only that these periodic changes are measured by ages instead of by hours. Who shall say that in the higher knowledge which we shall gain during the ages of the future we may not attain to the understanding that the rise and sinking of continents is like that of the tides, gov- erned by law, and that we may not be able to express in figures, which will then be quite finite to us, though now seeming infinite, the years that have elapsed since “ heaven and earth rose out of chaos !” Volcanic islands are found in all oceans. Iceland nas its Heckla, Sicily its Ailtna, Hawaii its Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa> Niphon its Fusiyaina. From Sumatra, Java and Sumbawa, Ternate and Tidore, Borneo, Celebes and Gilolo, close by the equator, thence northward and north-westward to the Kurile THE world’s wonders. Islands, hard by the frozen coast of Kamchatka, is one great belt of volcanic islands, spreading out like a fan through Polyn- VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS AS SEEN IN THE ISLAND OF JAVA. esia. But In the tropical seas, and there alone, are coraline islands, built up, grain by grain, by minute living beings. THE world’s WONDEltS. 39 The simplest form of these coral islands is a I’ing enclosing a portion of the ocean. Sometimes this ring is barely two miles in diameter; sometimes it reaches a hundred miles, rising only a half-score of feet above the level of the water, and owing to the convexity of the surface of the ocean invisible from the deck of a ship at a distance of a mile or two, unless they happen to be covered with tall palms or pandanus. The roar of the suif dashing upon their windward side is often heard be- fore the island itself comes into view. On the outer side this ring, or atoll, slopes gradually for a hundred yards or more, to a depth of twenty-five fathoms, and then plunges sheer down into the waters with a descent more rapid than the cone of any volcano. At a distance of five hundred yards no bottom has been reached with a sounding line of a mile and a half in length. All below the surface of the water to the depth of one hundred feet is alive ; all above and below this section dead, for the coral insect can live only wnthin this range. These atolls assume every form and condition. Sometimes they are solitary specks in the waste of waters. Oftener they occur in groups. The Caroline Archipelago has sixty groups extending over a space of 1,000 square miles. Some- times a group of atolls becomes partially joined into one, the irregular ring encircling an island-studded lagoon, with open- ings through which a ship may enter. Sometimes these coral formations take the form of long reefs bordering an extensive coast. Such a reef runs parallel to the coast of Malabar for nearly 500 miles. It consists of a series of atolls arranged in a double row, separated by a sea whose depth no line has sounded ; yet from outer to inner edge of the double row is a space of but fifty miles. Such a broken coral reef often girdles a volcanic inland. Tahiti, the largest of the Society group, is a fine example of this kind. The island rises in mountains 7,000 feet high, with only a narrow plain along the shore. The lagoon which encompasses it like a great moat is thirty fathoms deep, and is shut out from the ocean by a coral band at a distance of from half a mile to three miles. 40 THE world’s wonders. But there are coral reefs of far greater magnitude. The grandest is that extending along the northeast coast of Australia. Rising from an unfathomed ocean, it extends for 1,000 miles along the coast, with a breadth of from 200 yards to a mile, and at an average distance of twenty or thirty miles, though sometimes double that space. This long, narrow lagoon IS never less than ten fathoms deep, and often six times as much, so that the.“ Great Eastern,” the hugest vessel that ever floated, if it once passed through one of the openings in the reef, might sail as though in a tranquil harbor for 1,000 miles in sight of land on either side, without its keel for an instant reaching half-way to the bottom. The direct influence of the ocean upon the islands of the tropical world is great in every respect. It gives an almost tem- perate climate to low lands lying under the equator, and thus modifies their fauna and flora, in accordance with known laws of natui’e. But the ocean and air in their currents also determine the vegetable, animal and human life of the islands of the tropical world in an accidental manner. Time was when the volcanic islands of the tropics were masses of naked rock, the coralline islands patches of barren sand. The elements disintegrated the surface of the rock and ground the coral into the soil. Some day a fruit — ^perhaps a cocoa or bread-fruit — drifted along by currents, touched the island; or a bird, swept far out to sea, having in its crop an undigested seed, rested its weary wing upon solid land. The chance-planted fruit or seed took root and grew, and produced its kind, and in time the waste island was clothed Avith verdure. Other birds found a home in the new forests, built their nests, and raised their young, so that the islands became populous with the winged tribes. Animals, of course, could only rarely cross the waste of waters. Hence the comparative paucity of this form of life in islands remote from the main land. Swine were almost the only quadrupeds which the early Eui’opean navi- gators found in Polynesia ; and they were doubtless brought there by human means. Mankind reached the islands in a like THE world’s wonders. 41 accidental manner. Perhaps a canoe from the Malayan shoies drifted upon the Fiji Islands, and its rowers became the progeni- tors of the black cannibals ; or a junk from China or Japan was cast away upon Tahiti or Hawaii. These wanderers, cut off from intercourse with the rest of the world, developed their barbarism or semi-civilization in their own way, under the influ- ence of altered conditions, climate and productions. The story of the “Bounty,’’ and the first settlement of Pitcairn’s Island, too well known to require more than a passing allusion, shows that such a canoe or junk voyage is altogether possible, and how widely in the course of a single generation a group of isolated individuals deviate from their original stock. CHAPTEE II. THE GREAT PLATEAU AND ITS WONDERS. Within the geographical limits of the tropical world is found evei-y variety of climate upon the globe. There are great moun- tain ranges which, even at the equator, rise above the limits of perpetual snow. Their summits, untrodden by man, and unvis- ited by any other form of animal life, must be more desolate than the most extreme polar regions to which explorers have been unable to penetrate. Of living creatures the strong-winged condor alone has reached so high. Upon these dreary crags this great bii'd is king of all ; here it rears its brood unmolested, and from its eyrie surveys the valleys below and swoops down, wdth rushing wings, upon defenseless flocks, and bears away in its cruel talons the young of the various folds. Keen of vision, and no less wary, it has no enemies to fight, and thus lords its way in the world, multiplies and annually becomes more destruc- tive in its ravages. Nature has provided this wonderful bird with a power which is given to no other bird or animal, that of sustaining life at such great altitudes. The most remarkable, as well as one of the most lofty plateaus 42 THE world’s wonders. that has been occupied by man, is known as the Puna or Altos of Peru. It extends through a great part of the length of Peru and Bolivia at a height of 10,000 to 14,000 feet above sea level. It is that cold and rugged region which foi’ms the broad summit of the Cordillera. It has the aspect of an irregular plain and is diversified with mountain ridges and snowy volcanic peaks, imposing in their proportions, notwithstanding that they rise from a level of 14,000 feet above the sea. Squier, who has written much on South America, describing his travels through its several countries, presents a very graphic picture of the Puna and its ascent as follows : “ Pocla is a poor but picturesque little village, with a small white church gleaming out against the dull brown of the bare mountain side. It is 9,700 feet above the sea. Still ascending, our mules began to pant under the influence of the soroche, or rarification of the air, but which the drivers insisted was from the veta, or influence due to the veins of metal in the earth. At La Portada, 12,600 feet above sea level, or 1,000 feet higher than the Hospice of the grand St. Bernard, I witnessed a scene more wild and desolate than I have beheld in crossing the Alps by the routes of the Simplon, the grand St. Bernard, or the St. Gothard. There is neither tree nor shrub : the frosty soil cherishes no grass, and the very lichens find scant hold on the bare rocks. The native rum which I had purchased for making a fire for preparing my coffee, refused to burn, and extinguished the lighted match thrust into it as if it were water. I was obliged to abstract some refined alcohol from my photo- graphic stores to supply its place. At the pass of Guaylillos, 14,750 feet above the sea, one of my companions fell from his saddle under the influence of the rarified air. On lifting him from the ground we found him nearly senseless, with blood trickling from his mouth, ears, nostrils, and the corners of his eyes. Copious vomiting followed and Ave administered the usual remedies with good effect. In doing this I drew off my gloves, and was surprised to find my hands swollen and covered with blood, which appeared as if it had oozed from a thousand minute punctures.” THE world’s wonders. 43 PERILS OF HIGH ALTITUDE. Other tnivelei-s give similar accounts of the climate of the Puna. Cold winds from the icy Cordilleras, whose summits often rise 8,000 feet above the plateau, sweep over their surface, and during eight months of the year they are daily visited by fearful storms. In a few hours the change of the temperature often amounts to forty or fifty degrees, and the sudden fall is rendered still more disagreeable to the traveler by the biting winds which irritate the hands and face. The lips suffer especially, breaking out into deep rents which heal with difficulty. The eyes also suffer intensely. The rapid changes from a cloudy sky to the brilliancy of a snow-field, glistening in the sun, produces an affection which the natives call the sarumpe. So intolerable is the burning and stinging that even the stoical Indian, when attacked, will fling himself on the ground uttering cries of an- guish and despair. Chronic ophthalmia, suppuration of the eye- lids, and total blindness, are frequent consequences of the sarumpe, against which the traveler over the highlands endeavors to guard himself by wearing green spectacles or a dark veil. Tne first symptoms of the veta or soroche usually appear at an elevation of some 12,000 feet above the level of the sea. They frequently manifest themselves in those who ride, but are greatly aggravated when the traveler ascends on foot. The giddiness and nausea are accompanied with an insupportable sense of lassi- tude, difficulty of breathing, and violent palpitation of the heart, followed by spitting of blood and a bloody diarrhoea. This last affliction is, however, to a considerable extent occasioned by the noxious character of the water. ‘ ‘ All the water of the Despobla- do,” says Squier, “even that which does not display any evidence of foreign or mineral substances in solution, is more or less pur- gative, and often productive of very bad effects. In many parts the thirsty traveler discovers springs as bright and limpid as those of our New England hills ; yet when he dismounts to drink, his muleteer will rush forward in affright, with the warning cry, ‘ Beware, esagua de Veruga! ’ The Veruga water is said to pro- duce a terrible disease called by the same name, which manifests 44 THK world’s wonders. itself outwardly in both men and animals in great bleeding boils and earbuncles, which occasion much distress, and often result m death.” The veta shows itself also in animals unaccustomed to moun- tain traveling. They proceed more and more slowly, frequently stop, trembling all over, and fall to the ground. If not allowed to rest they inevitably die. The natives are accustomed to slit the nostrils of their mules and horses in order to allow a greater influx of air. Mules and asses are less affected by the veta than horses ; but it is fatal to cats, who are unable to live at a height of more than 13,000 feet. Another consequence of the diminished pressure of the air is that water boils at so low a temperature that meat, vegetables and eggs cannot be boiled suflicienty to be edible, and whoever wishes a warm meal in the Puna must have it baked or roasted. Winter and spring are no where in such close proximity as in the Peruvian highlands, for deep valleys furrow the bleak Puna, and when the traveler, benumbed by the cold blasts of the moun- tain plateaus, descends into these valleys he finds the change as great as between the rigors of a Polar climate and the soft balm of delicious spring redolent with nature’s perfumes. There are regions in Peru where a traveler may, in the morning, leave the snow-covered Puna hut in which he has shivered over night, and before sunset pluck pine-apples and bananas on the cultivated margin of a forest and repose in comfort under no other cover- ing than the drooping feathery leaves of gigantic palms. But in this vast elevated region there is nothing else which possesses so deep human interest as Lake Titicaca, for in it is embosomed the sacred island, to which the Incas traced their origin, and which to this day is to their descendants all that Jerusalem and Mecca are to Christians and Mohammedans. This beautiful body of fresh water is at the elevation of 12,864 feet above the sea, higher than any point in Europe except the ten loftiest peaks of the Alps. It is 120 miles long, and from fifty to sixty miles wide. Though the temperature falls quite low the lake never freezes over, but ice forms along its shores. THE world’s wonders. 46 111 the winter mouths the temperature of the lake is usually ten or twelve degrees higher than that of the atmosphere. sacred lakes and beautiful traditions. The largest island in this lake is the sacred island of Titicaca^ bare and rocky, about six miles long and five miles broad. Tradition tells us that here Manco Capac and Mama Oclla, at once his wife and sister, who were both children of the sun and messengers of that luminary, started on their errand to civilize the barbarous tribes which then occupied the country. Manco Capac was directed to travel northward until he should reach a spot where his golden staff would sink into the ground of its own accord, and there he was to fix the seat of his empire In obedience to these directions he traveled slowly along the western shore of lake Titicaca, through the barren Puna lands, until he reached the Vilcanota river, one of the principal branches of the Amazon, when he descended its valley and, after a journey of three hundred miles, his golden staff sank into the ground upon the spot where the city of Cuzco now stands. Here he fixed his seat of empire, and here arose the city of the sun, the capital of the Inca Empire, which in time spread over a length of 2>T of latitude, and in breadth from the eastern base of the Andes westward to where the Pacific beats against the deeply planted feet of the Cordilleras. So runs the legend ; but there is much mythical matter incor- porated into the traditions respecting Manco Capac. We find his counterpart in the Fohi of the Chinese, the Buddha of the Hindus, the Osiris of Egypt, the Odin of Scandinavia, the Jatza- coal of Mexico, and the Vofan of Central America. Still there can be no doubt that he is a real historical character, to whom, how- ever, have been attributed many of the achievements of those who preceded him, and perhaps of some who followed him. The time when he lived is altogether uncertain. Some, studying the qnippus, or knotted cords, which are the only records of ancient Peruvian history, place his advent back to within five centuries after the deluge. But the best authorities ’give the date approximately at about four centuries before the arrival of 46 THE world’s wonders. the Spaniards under Pizarro, or about JOOO, A. D., the period when all Christendom was hurling itself in the crusades upon the Holy Land. WONDERS OF AN EXTINCT CIVILIZATION. This civilization, in some respects one of the most remarkable which the world has ever seen, had its origin in the lofty table- land of the Puna, which we are now considering; and far and wide as the reign of the Incas subsequently extended, they and their subjects always retained their reverence for the little rocky i'let in Lake Titicaca, where it had its origin. At the northern end of the island is a fraj^ed and water-worn mass of red sand- stone, about 225 feet long and twenty-five feet high. This is the sacred rock of Manco Capac, the most holy spot in all Peru. Upon it, as was believed, no bird would alight, no animal venture^ and upon which no human being not of royal blood dared set his foot. From this rock the sun first rose to dispel the primal vapors and illuminate the world. It was, so runs the legend, planted all over with gold and silver, and, except upon the most solemn occasions, covered with a veil of cloth of costly material and gorgeous colors. The gold and silver, as well as the gorgeous covering, hai'^e long since disappeared, and what is now seen is only a bare rock, on the crest of the island, which rises 2,000 feet above the waters of the lake. Yet even now, when the Indian guides come within sight of it they raise their hats, bow reverently, and mutter words of mystic import, which they themselves most likely do not understand. In front of the rock is a level artificial terrace, 372 feet long and 125 feet broad? supported by a low stone wall. According to tradition the soil which once covered this terrace was carried upon the backs of men from the distant valleys of the Amazon, so that it might nourish a vegetation denied by the hard, ungrateful soil of the island. Everywhere on the holy island are the ruins of Inca structures, and the sites of the most sacred spots are still shown. Here is the sheltered bay where the Incas landed when they came to visit the spot consecrated to the sun. Halfway up the ascent are the THE world’s wonders. 47 “footprints’’ of the great Inca Tupauqui, marking the place where he stood when, catching his first view of the hallowed rock, he removed the imperial covering from his head in token of adoration of the divinity whose shrine rose before him. These so-called foot prints hear strong resemblance to the impi'essions of a gigantic fdot^ thirty-six inches long and of proportionate 48 THE world’s wonders. breadth. Their outline is formed by hard ferruginous veins around which the softer rock has been worn away, leaving them in relief. THE FOUNTAIN OF THE INCAS. The Fountain of the Incas is situated in a sheltered nook, surrounded with terraces upon which grow patches of maize with ears not longer than one’s finger. The bath is a pool forty feet long, ten wide, and five deep, built of worked stones. Into this pour four jets of water, as large as a man’s aim, from openings cut in the stones behind. The water comes through subterranean passages from sources now unknown, and never diminishes in volume. It flows to-day as freely as when the Incas resorted here and cut the deep hill-sides into terraces, bringing the earth all the way from the Valley of Yucay, or “Vale of Imperial Delights,” four hundred miles distant. Over the walls droop the tendrils of vines ; and what with the odors and the tinkle and patter of the water one might imagine himself in the court of the Alhambra. Besides the sacred Island of Titicaca, there are eight smaller ones in the lake. Soto was the Isle of Penitence, where the Incas were wont to resort for fasting and humiliation. Coati was sacred to the moon, the wife and sister of the sun, and on it is the palace of the Virgins of the Sun, one of the most remark- able and best preserved remains of aboriginal architecture on the continent of America. At Tihuanico, on the border of the lake, are immense ruins which clearly antedate the time of the Incas. They were ruins when the Spaniards made their appearance, and the natives could give no account of them. They supposed that they were built by divine architects in a single night. Cieza de Leon, one of the companions of Pizarro, writes of them : “ What most surprised me was that the enormous gateways were formed on other great masses of stone, some of which were thirty feet long, fifteen wide, and six thick. I cannot conceive with what tools or instru- ments these stones were hewn out, for they must have been vastly larger than we now see them. It is supposed that some of these THE AVOULH’s wonders. 49 structures were built long before the dominion of the Incas ; and I have heard the Indians affirm that these sovereigns constructed their great building at Cuzco after the plans of the walls of Tihuanico.” The most remarkable thing in these ruins are the great doorways of a single block of stone. The largest of these is ten feet high and thirteen broad, the opening cut through it being six feet four inches high, and three feet two inches wide. The whole neighborhood is strewn with immense blocks of stone elaborately wrought, equaling if not surpassing in size any known to exi.st in Egypt, India, or any part of the world. Some of these are thirty feet long, eighteen broad, and six thick. All these gigantic remains of a past civilization are found in the lofty table-land of the Puna. When these come to be fully described and illustrated, it will be seen that here, in a climate so cold that hardly a vegetable will grow which man can use for food, were planted the seeds of a civilization as remarkable as any which ever existed. More wonderful, perhaps, than these great architectural works were the great military roads con- structed by the Incas. One reached from Cuzco down to the ocean. The other stretched from the capital, along the very cre.st of the Cordilleras, and down their ravines, to Quito, 1,200 miles distant. The length of these great roads, including branches, was not less than 3,000 miles. Modern travelers com- pare them with the best in the world. They were from eighteen to twenty-five feet broad, paved with immense blocks of stone, sometimes covered with asphaltum. In ascending steep moun- tains, broad steps were cut in the rock ; ravines were filled with heavy embankments flanked with parapets, and, wherever the climate permitted, lined with shade trees and shrubs, with houses at regular distances for the accommodation of travelers, and specially serving as post-stations. For there was a regular postal service by which the Incas could send messages from one extremity of their dominion to the other. This service was per- formed by runners ; for the Peruvians had no beasts of burden .stronger or swifter than the llama. These messengers were trained to great speed. On approaching a station they gave 9 4 w 50 THK world’s wonders. loud shout to warn the next courier of their approach, so that he might be ready to take the message or parcel without delay. In this manner it is said that dispatches were sent at the rate of 150 miles a day, a speed unequaled until within our own times, when the railway and the telegraph have brought the ends of the woi-ld almost together. WONDERS OF THREE DEAD CITIES. The only parts of America which, before the arrival of Europeans, were in some degree civilized, were Mexico and Peru : to which may probably be added that long and narrow tract which stretches from the south of Mexico to the Isthmus of Panama. In this latter country, which is now known as Central America, the inhabitants, aided by the fertility of the soil, seem to have worked out for themselves a certain amount of knowledge, since the ruins still extant prove the possession of a mechanical and architectural skill too considerable to be acquired by any nation entirely barbarous. Beyond this nothing is known of their history ; but the accounts we have of such build- ings as Copan, Palenque and Uxmal, make it highly probable that Central America was the ancient seat of a civilization in all essential points similar to those of India and Egypt ; that is to say, similar to them in respect to the unequal distribution of wealth and power, and the thraldom in which the great body of the people consequently remained. Mr. Squier, who explored Nicaragua, says of the statues which he saw in large numbers about the ruins of old palaces : “ The material, in every case, is a black basalt, of great hardness, which, with the best of modern tools, can only be cut with diffi- culty.” Mr. Stephens, another explorer of Central America, says he found at Palenque “ elegant specimens of art and models for study,” and of the paintings he found at Chichen he writes : “They exhibit a freedom of touch which could only be the result of discipline and training under masters.” At Copan the same writer declares that “ it would be impossible, with the best insti’uments of modern times, to cut stones more per- fectly.” These evidences unmistakably confirm the impression XHE world’s wonders. 51 that in many respects the civilization of Europe or the United States does not show a greater degree of intellectual refinement or any more progress in the arts and sciences than the people of Mexico, Central America and Peru were acquainted with. The same is true of Egypt, and we cannot contemplate these wonders to-day without being impressed with the belief that civilizations, like tides, ebb and flow, their rise and fall being dependent upon change of climate, revulsions of nature, or protracted wars, though measured by centuries. THE AMAZON RIVER. The wonders of South America do not, however, cluster around the ruins of a past civilization, for one of the greatest of natural wonders is the mfighty Amazon Eiver and its marvel- lous effect upon the vegetation and animal life of Brazil. This remarkable stream was discovered by Yanez Pinzor in the year 1500, and was first navigated by one of Pizarro’s officers named Orellana, in 1541. The word Amazon is supposed to be derived from the story of Orellana’s fight with a body of AjHazons — a nation of female warriors,-. — although some declare it is from an Indian word, Amassona — boat destroyer — which is decidedly improbable. The men who opposed Orellana wore long tunics and parted their hair in the middle, which fact, aided by the fabled Amazons of the Caucasus, doubtless led him to believe them women. The total length of this gigantic stream, as estimated by Lieutenant Herndon, is 3,944 miles, and its average depth forty- three feet, quite enough to float the largest ocean steamers, but owing to the numerous falls and rapids it is really navigable for steam vessels only about 500 miles from its mouth. A singular feature of the Amazon is its abrupt banks, there being no shoal water near the shore as in other rivers, soundings taken from the bank often showing fifty feet or more, equaling the greatest depth of the mid-stream. Like nearly all tropical rivers, the Amazon is subject to periodical inundations. The banks, which are generally high, afe overflowed and vast tracts of land flooded to such an extent, indeed, that its freshening effects are 52 THE world’s wonders. perceptible for many miles on either side. The rise above the lowest level of the stream is sometimes as great as fifty feet, and the ocean tide, following the river, is noticeable nearly 500 mues THE world’s wonders. 58 than 100 years ago, accurately described it in these words : DESTRUCTIVE TIDES OF THE AMAZON, “ During three days before the full and new moons, the period of highest tides, the sea, instead of occupying six hours to reach its flood, swells to its highest limits in one or two minutes. The noise of this terrible flood is heard five or six miles and increases as it approaches. Presently may be seen a liquid promontory, twelve or fifteen feet high, followed by another and another, and sometimes by a fourth. These watery mountains spread across the whole channel, and advance with a prodigious rapidity, rend- ing and crushing everything in their way. Immense trees are instantly uprooted by it, and sometimes whole tracts of land are swept away.” Another characteristic feature is the system of back channels joining the tributaries, and the canoe paths through the forest. Following these narrow water roads one may go in a canoe from Santaren 1,000 miles up the Amazon without once ever entering the river. The enormous valley of the Amazon is walled in by the Andes and the highlands of Guiana and Matto Grosso. No other region of equal area has such a remarkably uniform character, and its geological formation is of deep interest. The territory through which the Amazon flows is covered with vast forests and pos- sesses a soil of extraordinary fertility. “If,” says Humboldt, “the name of primeval forest can be given to any forests on the face of the earth, none, perhaps, can so strictly claim it as those that fill the connected basin of the Orinoco and Amazon.” “From the grassy steppes of Venezuela to the treeless pampas of Buenos Ayres,” says a later traveler, “expands a sea of ver- dure in which we may draw a circle of 1,100 miles in diameter, which shall include an evergreen, unbroken forest. There is a most bewildering diversity of grand and beautiful trees — a wild, unconquered race of vegetable giants, draped, festooned, corded, matted and ribboned with climbing and creeping plants, woody and succulent in endless variety.” Animal life is not so conspicuous in the forest as on the river; 54 THE world’s wonders. the latter is fairly crowded with strange fishes, alligators, great turtles, porpoises, manitees — sea cow — and enormous anacondas. Through the forest are scattered mammals, birds and reptiles, the more common being the ferocious puma and jaguar, tapir, copyboras, piccaries, sloths, deer, armadillos, monkeys, parrots, towcansand macaws. The shores of the Amazon are but thinly inhabited, the most important tribes being Mundurucus, Tucunas and Yagnos, who are an idle, vagabondish people, regardless of the past and heedless of the future. AFRICA. CHAPTER III. ANCIENT DISCOVERIES. From the foregoing outline of the interesting phases of nature in South America, we now turn to that most interesting of all countries, Africa, which, though lying within the same zone belts as South America, and having a somewhat similar physical aspect, is yet possessed of very many peculiar features not found elsewhere in the world. Here the most ancient records place the beginning of creation, which, though in allegory, give evidence of the birth of civilization in the neighborhood of that mighty and wonderful river, the Nile. It was in Africa that the father of history was born, and on its north-eastern coast or interior were builded the great cities of Carthage, Memphis and Alexan- dria, which, for a time, in succession, ruled the world. Here also the Saracens, in their practice of alchemy, found greater than philosophers’ stones, in discovering, by accident, so many useful facts in chemistry. The history of Ancient Africa is unwritten, nor has it ever THE world’s wonders. 55 been determined from whence the name originated, though hun- dreds of philologists have attempted to explain its origin. The earliest mention we have of any attempt to explore the country is the following, from a book published by John Ogilby, “Master of His Majesties Eevels in the Kingdom of Ireland,” in 1670, the full title of which would occupy nearly one page of this work, but which is descrijotive of Africa. In the quaint style then used, it says : “ Amongst the Ancients, Hanno, a Carthaginian, sent forth by that State, discovered long since much of the Coasts of Africa, but pierced not far the Inland Country, nor did his Voyage give great light that they might after steer by, though translated from the Punick Language into Greek, and published by Sigismund Gelenius at Brazill in 1533. And in the reign of Necho, King of Egypt, some Phenicians from the Eed-sea sayl’d by the Coast of Africa to Gibralter, from thence returning the same way they came. Of which Herodotus (Herodotus wrote nine Books of History, according to the number of the Muses, entituling them in order by one of their names) in his Melpomene (Fourth Book) says : The Phenicians sayling from the Eed-sea, came into the Southern Ocean, and after three years reaching Hercules Pillars, returned through the Mediterranean, reporting wonders! how that they had the Sun at Noon on their Starboard, or North-side, to which I give little credit, and others may believe as they please. Nor did Sataspes’ Voyage in the Eeign of Xerxes, King of Persia, in the year of the world 3435, give us any better Hints ; of which thus Herodotus in the same book : “ ‘ Sataspes, Teaspes’ son, ravishing a virgin, and condemned to be crucified, by the mediation of his Mother, Darius’ sister, was to suffer no more than to undertake a voyage round Africa, which he but slightly performed ; for passing Gibralter, hesayl’d to the utmost point called Siloe (Cape de Verd), from thence sayling on southward ; but being weary, returning the same way he came, made a strange relation to Xerxes, how he had seen remote countreys, where he found few people in Tyrian Purple, but such as wnen chey drew near the Land, forsook their abodes, THE world’s wonders. 5R and fled up into the Mountains, and. that they only drove some of their Cattle thence, doing them no further damage ; adding also, that he had suyled round Africa, had it not been impossible : To which the King giving small credit, and for that Sataspes had not performed his Undertaking, remitted him to his former sentence.’ “ As little availed that expedition of the Nasamones (a People inhabiting Tunis) to this discovery, who (as Herodotus relates in his Euterpe, second book) chose by lot five young men of gx)od Fortunes and Qualifications, to explore the African Deserts, never yet penetrated, to inform themselves of their Vastness, and what might be beyond ; these setting forth with fit Provisions, came first where only wild Beasts inhabited ; thence traveling westward through barren Lands, after many days, they saw a Plain planted with Trees, to which drawing near they tasted their Fruits, whitest a Dwarf-like People came to them about half their stature, neither by speech understanding the other, they led them by hand over a vast Common, to their City, Avhere all the inhabitants were Blacks, and of the same size ; by this City ran towards the East a great Eiver, abounding with Croco- diles, which Etearchus, King of the Ammonians, to whom the Nasamones related this, supposed to be the Nile. This is all we have of Antiquity, and from one single Author, who writ 420 years before the Incarnation, which sufiiciently sets forth the Ignorance of the Ancients concerning Africa.” THE DISADVANTAGES OF NATIVE AFRICANS. What has been written of South America in no inconsiderable measure applies to Africa, but there are disadvantages noticeable in the latter against which natives of the former country do not have to contend. Africa has ever appeared like a country cursed by God, its people in the greater part bearing a mark that has descended apparently from posterity to posterity since the day that Ham was bitterly cursed by his father, and made a slave to his heartless brothers. Egypt, the seat of learning, the birth-place of genius, with her Alexandria palace and her great philosophic schools, is now only a mausoleum of a dead civilization, like an THE world’s wonders. 57 instrument once giving forth the most exquisite melody, now broken and stringless. From a wonderfully brilliant sunlight, which once lighted her forums, palaces, specimens of art and culture, she has fallen under the pail of age, and her glory now abides under the sands ; her Memphis and her Thebes are inurned by pelting storms ; the Sphynx and the Pyramids, broken and crusted by time, are now only curious monuments of a past age that will return no more. The blood of Hypatia, the noblest woman that ever championed a cause, rose round the temples which her murderers desecrated, and the demons of vengeance made brooding night settle upon its ruins. In Egypt, as in all Africa, there has ever been an impassable barrier between the rich and poor. In the olden time, when Egypt was in her glory, the laws were atrociously oppressive ; if a member of the industrial classes changed his usual employ- ment, or was known to pay any attention to political matters, he was severely punished, and under no circumstances was the possession of land allowed to an agricultural laborer, to a mechanic, or, indeed, to any one exce])t the King, the Clergy, and the Army. The people at large were little better than beasts of burden ; and all that was expected of them was unremitting and unrequited labor. If they neglected their work they were flogged ; and the same punishment was frequently inflicted upon domestic servants, and even upon w^omen. Hence it was that the industry of the whole nation, being at the absolute command of a small part of it, there arose the possibility of rearing those vast edifices, which inconsiderate observers admire as a proof of civilization, but which in reality are evidences of a state of things altogether depraved and unhealthy. That in such a society as this much regard should be paid to human suffering, it would be idle to suppose. Still, we are startled by the reckless prodigality with which, in Egypt, the upper classes squandered away the labor and lives of the people. In this respect, as the monuments yet remaining abundantly pi'ove, they stood alone, without a rival. We may form some idea of the almost incredible waste, when we hear that two 58 THE world’s wonders. thousand men were occupied for three years removing a single stone from Elephantine to Sais ; that the canal of the Red Sea cost the lives of a hundred and twenty thousand Egyptians ; and that to build one of the Pyramids required the labor of three hundred and sixty thousand men for twenty years. This reckless disregard for the people so impoverished the lower classes, chiefly by confiscations, that subsistence became finally so difficult that families were compelled to support life almost exclusively from the fruit of date trees. This was the condition of the most civilized portion of Egypt : but when we describe the life found in Central Africa, there wil* ^be found influences so nearly identical that we must conclude there were the same causes operating throughout the whole country, to keep it in darkness and terror. While the potentates of Central Africa are never wealthy, as we value possessions, yet they hold their subjects by hooks of steel, as it were, and place no estimate whatever on human life, using it onl}^ as it may please or advantage them. Through all Africa, therefore, as well as in Egypt, there is seen the slave-mark,' the curse of all uncivilized nations. THE RIVER NILE. Of all rivers which traverse the habitable portions of the earth, the Nile is pre-eminently the grandest ; grand not alone because it flows through the wild, dark, pathless region, nor because of its long-hidden soui’ce, but because of its singular character in its adaptation to the sand-covered, scorching desert which it cleaves, spreading a wondrous fertility over the otherwise barren and uninhabitable waste, fructifying the sands and estab- lishing a seat for the earliest civilization. Oh, marvelous Nile ! Oh, wonderful Egypt ! That great country in which the infant of industry and progress was cradled ; which ^ave to science its swaddling clothes, and nursed art and religion into strong and imperishable vitality, has not only been sustained by the Nile’s gifts of prodigal fertility, but was created by the alluvial soil which flowed down through the long centuries, and deposited in continual accretions to the delta. Thus has Egypt grown THE world’s wonders. 59 out into the sea, a creature of that wonder of wonders, the great Nile. At so remote a period that history cannot even apjoroximate, Egypt came into existence, washed down from hills and mountains, lagoons and lakes, to take her rank as mother of the civilized world, “Egypt,” as Sir Samuel Baker says, “was not only created by the Nile, but the very existence of its inhabitants depended upon the annual inundation of the river. Thus all that related to the Nile was of vital importance to the people ; it was the hand that fed them. “Egypt, depending so entirely upon the river, it was natural that the origin of those mysterious waters should have absorbed the attention of thinking men. It was unlike all other rivers. In July and August, when streams in all portions of the world are at their lowest, by reason of the summer heat, the Nile is at its flood ! In Egypt there is no rainfall — not even a drop of dew in those parched deserts through which, for 860 miles of latitude, the glorious river flowed without a tributary. Licked up by the burning sun, and gulped by the exhausting sand of Nubian deserts, supporting all losses by evaporation and absorption, the noble flood shed its annual blessings upon Egypt. An anomaly among rivers ; flooding in the driest season ; everlasting in sandy deserts ; where was its hidden origin? where were the sources of the Nile? This was, from the earliest period, the great geo- graphical question to be solved.” MODERN TRAVELS THROUGH AFRICA. Strange as it appears, it is none the less true, that one of the most accurate maps of Africa ever published, was printed in Ogilby’s book over two hundi’ed years ago, not only showing the true source of the Nile, just as Stanley found it, but generally all the waterways and topography of the entire country are faithfully exhibited. Vasquez de Gamma, who figures so conspicuously in the discoveries of North America, was the first explorer we have any authentic history of who circumnavigated Africa, and incited a national desire to effect a thorough exploration of its interior, though it was twenty years after his death before an expedition 60 THE WOKLD’s wonders. suitably equiped, attemped to cross the country. Since that time African exploration parties have been very numerous, nearly every nation on the globe contributing adventurous spirits to battle with the wild animals and wilder jungles which charac- terize its interior, in pursuit of a curiosity which every person possesses more or less. In this volume I shall confine myself to tlie results and more exciting incidents, discoveries and adventures of the great modern explorers of Africa, giving prominence to those whose achieve- ments entitle them to public recognition. CaPT. J. H. SPEKE’S TRAVELS. The first to be considered is Capt. J. H. Speke, of the Eng lish army, as he was the first to claim the discrivery of tht source of the Nile, although subsequent explorations have shown that he discovered only one of the principal lakes or reservoirs that feed that wonderful river. Capt. Speke made three expeditions into the heart of Africa, first as the companion of the celebrated traveler, Richard Francis Burton, during which they discovered lake Tanganika. On hi-) second expedition, which he undertook alone, Speke discovered Victoria Lake, one of the principal reservoirs from Avhich the Nile is fed, and which for some years Avas supposed to be the real source of this mysterious river. His third expedition Avas undertaken in 1860, in company Avith Capt. J. W. Grant, also an officer in the British army, and Avho had previously made extensive explora- tions in Australia. As this third expedition contains the most important results of Capt. Speke’s discoveries, Ave shall confine ourselves principally to it. The explorers Avere aided in this expedition by a contribution of $12,000 from the Royal Geographical Society of England, and THE world’s wonders. 61 $15,000 granted by the Cape Parliament. They set sail on an English steamer for Zanzibar, and upon nearing that place they encountered a Spanish slaver which was just leaving the African coast with 544 starving slaves penned up in the deadly atmos- phere of the ship’s hold, where the dead and dying were lying in ghastly confusion. The slaver was captured and the miserable black wretches returned to their native shores. Directly after this event Speke and his companion ai-rived at Zanzibar, where preparations were made, and on October 2d, with two hundred men, they departed for the interior of Africa. Capt. Speke thus describes the manner of taking observations and making up the records of his journey : “ My first occupation was to map the country. This is done by timing the rate of march with a watch, taking compass-bear- ings along the road or on any conspicuous marks — ,as, for instance, hills off it — and by noting the watershed — in short, all topographical objects. On arrival in camp every day came the ascertaining, by boiling a thermometer, of the altitude of the station above the sea-level ; of the latitude of the station by the meridian altitude of a star taken with a sextant ; and of the com- pass variation by azimuth. Occasionally there was the fixing of certain crucial stations, at intervals of sixty miles or so, by lunar observations, or distances of the moon either from the sun or from certain given stars, for determining the longitude, by which the original-timed course can be drawn out with certainty on the map by proportion. Should a date be lost, you can always discover it by taking a lunar distance and comparing it with the Nautical Almanac, by noting the time when a star passes the meridian if your watch is right, or by observing the phases of the moon, or her rising or setting, as compared with the Nautical Almanac. The rest of my work, besides sketching and keeping a diary, which was the most troublesome of all, consisted in making geological and zoological collections. With Captain Grant rested the botanical collections and ther- mometrical registers. He also boiled one of the thermometers, kept the rain-guage. and undertook the photography ; but after 62 THE world’s wonders. a time I sent the instruments back, considering this work too severe for the climate, and he tried instead sketching with water-colors, the results of which form the chief part of the illustrations in my book. The rest of our day went in break- fasting after the march was over — a pipe, to prepare us for rum- maging the fields and villages to discover their contents for scientific purposes — dinner close to sunset, and tea and pipe before turning in at night.” FIRST SIGHT OF HIPPOPOTAMI. The journey was without special incident until the vicinity of Mbume was reached, when they passed an immense lagoon in which many hippopotami were seen sporting very near, as if inviting attack. There were also numerous traces of elephants, buffaloes, rhinoceros and antelopes, but no stoppage was made for a hunt. They had now proceeded far enough into the interior to be almost constantly beset by native chiefs, who demanded tribute for the privilege of crossing their respective districts. On the 24th of October the party reached the Ugogo plateau, the inhabi- tants of which are a fierce, repulsive and dangerous people. The men, indeed, are never seen without their usual arms — the spear, the shield, and the assegai. They live in flat-topped, square, tembe villages, wherever springs of water are found, keep cattle in plenty, and farm enough generally to supply not only their own wants, but those of the thousands who annually pass in caravans. They are extremely fond of ornaments, the most common of which is an ugly tube of the gourd thrust through the lower lobe of the ear. Their color is a soft ruddy brown, with a slight infusion of black, not unlike that of a rich plum. Impulsive by nature, and exceedingly avaricious, they pester travelers beyond all conception by thronging the road, jeering, quizzing, and pointing at them ; and in camii, by intru- sively forcing their way into the midst of the kit, and even into the stranger’s tent. THE world’s wonders. 63 A rhinoceros hunt. Upon arriving on the farthest border of Ugogo, at a settlement called Kanyenye, eight of the porters deserted, taking with them as many mules laden with stores, which compelled a day’s stoppage. While here, one of the natives, upon noticing fire- arms among the party, told Capt. Speke that in the immediate locality were not a few two-horned rhinoceros, which every night visited the bitter pools near by to bathe. This information greatly delighted Speke and Grant, who directly made prepara- THE TWO-HORNED KHINORCEROS. tions to indulge their bent for a hunt, while others of the party were sent in search of the deserters and stolen mules. At ten o’clock, an hour before the moon would rise, they set out for the lagoons, accompanied by a guide and two sheikh boys carrying rifles. Eeaching the foot-hills, the party hid themselves until midnight to await the rising moon and their dangerous game. They had not long to wait, for presently a gigantic beast loomed up against the horizon and came on to* 64 THE world’s wonders. ward a large pool of water. Speke attached a bit of white paper to the sight of his rifle and crawled under cover of the bank until within eighty yards of the animal. It chanced that the shot struck in a vital spot, penetrating the beast’s heart, so that it died with but few struggles. Captain Speke, being anxious to increase his store of meat, then retired to his former position and again waited. After two hours had elapsed two more rhi- noceros approached in the same stealthy, fidgety way as the first one. They came even closer than the first, but the moon having passed beyond their meridian, he could not obtain so clear a mark. Still they were big marks, and Speke determined on doing his best before they had time to wind him ; so, stepping out, with the sheikh’s boys behind, carrying the second rifle to meet all emergencies, he planted a ball in the larger one, and brought him round with a roar and whooh-whooh, exactly to the best position that one could wish for receiving a second shot ; but, alas ! on turning sharply round for the spare rifle, Speke had the mortification to see that both the black boys had made off, and were scrambling like monkeys up a tree. At the same time the rhinoceros, fortunately, on second consideration, turned to the right-about and shufiled away, leaving, as is usually the case when conical bullets are used, no traces of blood. .( Thus ended the night’s work. The party now went home by dawn to apprise all the porters that they had flesh in store for them, when the two boys who had so shamelessly deserted, instead of hiding their heads, described all the night’s scenes with such capital mimicry as set the whole camp in a roar. They had all now to hurry back to the carcass before the native Wagogo could find it ; but, though this precaution was quickly taken, still, before the tough skin of the beast could be cut through, the Wagogo began assembling like vultures, and fighting with Speke’s men. A more savage, filthy, disgusting, but, at the same time, grotesque scene than that which followed can not be conceived. All fell to work, armed with swords, spears, knives and hatchets, cutting and slashing, thumping and bawl- THE world’s wonders. 65 ing, fighting and tearing, tumbling and wrestling up to their knees in filth and blood in the middle of the carcass. When a tempting morsel fell to the possession of any one, a stronger neighbor would seize -and bear off the prize in triumph. All right was now a matter of pure might, and lucky it was that it did not end in a fight between the opposing parties. The natives might be afterward seen, one by one, covered with blood, scam- pering home each with his spoil — a piece of tripe, or liver, or lights, or whatever else it might have been his fortune to get off with. CLOSE QUARTERS. On the 7th of November, through sickness and desertion, Speke’s followers were so much reduced that it became necessary for him to secure more recruits, for which purpose he halted three days and sent to Sheikh Said for several men. That the time of waiting might not hang heavily on his hands, he went upon another hunt. Shortly after starting out he came suddenly upon a two-horned rhinoceros which stood quietly feeding off a bush. He shot the beast at a distance not exceeding five paces. Proceeding farther, he soon came upon a herd of buffalos and secured four shots before the animals discovered him or from whence the shots had come. They then galloped off with Speke 6 w 66 THE world’s wonders. after them, and he succeeded in killing four or five and wounding several, among the latter a large bull, full of fight and sullen- ness ; this one, struck in the flank, charged down upon him and his boy, avIio carried the rifles ; the boy, nimble as a monkey, swung himself from a friendly bough just as the bull swept under him like a cyclone, and made directly for Speke, who had but a single gun left. Happily this was enough, for the bullet was so well directed that it broke the infuriated beast’s neck. Speke had barely escaped from one bull before another, that had also been wounded, charged at him, giving only sufficient time for A LUCKY SHOT. him to pick up another gun that had been dropped by the nimble boy. As the bull came rapidly on, Speke jumped behind a small knoll and fired, but the shot did not take effect ; most foi’tu- nately, however, the smoke from the discharge hung so heavy about the bull’s head that he could not see his assailant, and after fighting it awhile he bolted off into the woods, to the intense delight of the now defenseless hunter. At the end of five days seventy porters were secured, to whom were given sixteen pieces of cloth each, in advance, for their services as carriers. Two of the deserters were also captured, and having received fifty lashes each for their offense, were again THE -WOKED’s wonders. 67 placed in service. While waiting for the Sheikh to return, how- ever, some of the villagei's stole several loads of beads, for which Speke held the chief responsible. After a long and heated argu- ment, fifteen cows were given as a compensation for the loss, whereupon the expedition started forward again and did not halt, except at night, until Unyanyembe was reached, which is the most considerable place within the rich district of the Land of the Moon. Up to November 23d the losses sustained by the expedition were as follows : One Hottentot dead and five returned ; one freeman sent back with the Hottentots, and one flogged and turned off; twenty-five of Sultan Majid’s gardeners deserted; ninety-eight of the original Wanyamuezi porters deserted ; twelve mules and three donkeys dead. Besides which, more than half of the i^roperty had been stolen ; while the traveling expenses had been unprecedented, in consequence of the severity of the famine throughout the whole length of the march. CHAPTER IV. BETWEEN TWO FIRES. After leaving the Land of the Moon, Speke encountered many serious difficulties, which crippled his force materially and threatened him with disaster. The country in which he was now traveling was particularly precarious on account of a war then waging between the Arabs and a deposed native chief, named Manua Sera, who proved himself a bitter antagonist, full of strategy and the daring of a guerilla. This chief paid a visit to the explorer, and after detailing the wrongs which had been done him, begged Speke to join him against the Arabs. To have de- clined this request abruptly might have imperiled his own safel}^, so Speke was compelled to resort to strategy to avoid serious trouble. While deferring his answer, the Arabs, in pursuit of Manua Sera, reached the country and were soon in communication 68 THE world’s AVONDEES. with Speke, whom they besought to join them in expelling oi destroying the guerrilla chief. Speke was therefore put to it again, for tlje interior tribes generally sympathized with Manua Sera, and had the English explorer combined with the Arabs he Avould have certainly met Avith disaster. After passing Masange and Zimbili, Speke put up a night in the village of Iviri, on the northern border of Unyanyembe, and found several officers there, sent by Mkisiwa, to enforce a levy of soldiei’s to take the field with the Arabs at Kaze against Manua Sera; to effect Avhich they walked about ringing bells, and bawling out that if a certain percentage of all the inhabitants did not muster, the village chief Avould be seized and their plan- tations confiscated. Speke’s men all mutinied here for increase of ration alloAvances. To find themseEes food Avith, he had given them all one necklace of beads each per diem since leaving Kaze, in lieu of cloth, which hitherto had been served out for that purpose. It Avas a very liberal allowance, because the Arabs never gave mm-e than one necklace to every three men, and that, too, of inferior quality to what Speke served. He brought them to at last by starvation, and then Avent on. Dip- ping down into a valley betAveen tAvo clusters of granitic hills, beautifully clothed Avith trees and grass, studded here and there with rich plantations, they entered the district of Usagari, and on the second day forded the Goinbe Nullah again — in its upper course, called Kuale. Here Capt. Speke met with a chief Avhose Avife Avas an old friend, formerly a Avaiting-maid at Ungugu, whom he had met on previous vojmges. Her husband, the chief, was then absent, engaged in Avar Avith a neighbor, so the queen gave Speke such assistance as enabled him to avoid joining either the Arabs or Manua Sera, without incitins' their hostility. On Christmas day the expedition halted toaAvaitthe arrival of three hundred porters that had been sent for by a chief named IMusa, Avho had accompanied Speke for several Avceks, giving much Aailuable service as guide and interpreter. The expedition did not move again until January 2d, the interim being employed THE world’s wonders. 70 THE world’s wonders. by Speke and Grant in collecting specimens, stuffing birds and animals, and making sketches. While thus employed, they came upon a poor slave, owned by a chief named Sirboko, who was chained up in a most merciless manner. The pitiful-appearing fellow cried out to Speke : “ Hai Bana wangi, Bana w.angi (Oh, my lord, my lord), take pity on me ! When I was a free man I saw you at Uvira, on the Tanganyika Lake, when you were there ; but since then the Watuta, in a tight at Ujiji, speai-ed me all over and left me for dead, when I was seized by the people, sold to the Arabs, and have been in chains ever since. Oh, I say, Bana wangi, if you would only liberate me I would never run away, but would serve you faithfully all my life.” This touching appeal was too strong to be withstood, so Speke called up Sirboko, and told him if he would liberate this one man ho should be no loser; and the release was effected. He was then christened Farhan (Joy), and was enrolled with the rest of the freedmen. Inquiry was then made if it were true the Waben)be were cannibals, and also c-ircumcised. In one of the slaves the latter statement was easily contii'incd. Speke was assui ed that the slave was a cannibal ; for the Whole tribe of Wabembe, when they cannot get human flesh otherwise, give a goat to their neighbors for a sick or dying- child, regarding such flesh as the best of all. No other cannibals, however, were known of ; but the Massai and their cognates, the Wahumba, Wataturu, Wakasange, Wanyaramba, and even the Wagogo and Wakiinbu, circumcise. THE KING OF KARAGUE AND HIS FAT WIFE. Such slow progress had been made, owing to war, desertionsj oppositions from chiefs, etc., that it was not until the latter part of October — more than one year after starting — that Capt. Speke reached the Karague country. Here he found a fine stretch of elevated lands which are drained by the Kitangule River directly into the Victoria lake. It was here, also, that he met Rumanika, the king, and Nnanji, his brother, a famous doctor. Both these men had most regular features, denoting the best blood of Abyssinia. Speke paid a visit to the king, and was received in THE world’s wonders. 71 a becoming manner ; his surprise was great to hear him inquire so intelligently about people and governments in other lands, and when he asked his visitor to take two of the princes with him to England, that they might become educated, and return to tell him all about the world, his admiration was greatly increased. As to the domestic character and tastes of Rumanika, Capt. Speke writes : “ In the afternoon, as I had heard from Musa that the wives of the king and princes were fattened to such an extent that they could not stand upright, I paid my respects to Wazezeru, the king’s eldest brother — who, having been born before his father ascended the throne, did not come in the line of succession — with the hope of being able to see for myself the truth of the story. There was no mistake about it. On entering the hut, I found the old man and his chief wife sitting side by side on a bench of earth strewed over with grass, and partitioned like stalls for sleeping apartments, while in front of them were placed numer- ous wooden pots of milk, and, hanging from the poles that sup- ported the bee-hive shaped hut, a large collection of bows six feet in length, while below them were tied an even larger col- lection of spears, intermixed with a goodly assortment of heavy- handled assegais. I was struck with: no small surprise at the way he received me, as well as with the extraordinary dimensions, yet pleasing beauty, of the immoderately fat fair one, his wife. She could not rise ; and so large were her arms that between the joints the flesh hung down like large, loose-stuffed puddings. Then in came their children, all models of the Abyssinian type of beauty, and as polite in their manners as thorough-bred gen- tlemen. They had heard of my picture-books from the king, and all wished to see them ; which they no sooner did, to theii infinite delight, especially when they recognized any of the animals, than the subject was turned by my inquiring what they did with so many milk-pots. This was easily explained by Wazezeru himself, who, pointing to his wife, said, ‘This is all the product of those pots ; from early youth upward we keep these pots to their mouths, as it is the fashion at court to have very fat wives,’ ” 72 THE world’s wonders. Before leaving the Karague country, Capt. Speke sent the king’s brother a blanket and seventy-five blue egg beads as a present, which were received with many signs of pleasure. The king then, ever attentive to his guests, sent his royal musicians to play for Speke and Grant. The men composing the band were a mixture of Waganda and Wanyambo, who played on reed THE ROYAL MUSICIANS. instruments made telescope fashion, marking time by hand' drums. At first they marched up and down, playing tunes exactly like the regimental bands of the Turks, and then com- menced dancing a species of “ hornpipe,” blowing furiously all the while. DECIDING THE RIGHT TO RULE BY MAGIC, Speke gave the king a rifle, together with some ammunition, whereat the royal savage was so intensely delighted that he insisted upon explaining how he was the rightful successor to the throne, being moved thereto by the fact that his brother, Eogero, was contesting the succession by war then. Rumanika, the king, thus explained: When Dogara, my father, died, and myself, Nnanaji and Eogero were the only three sons left in line of suc- cession to the crown, a small mystic drum of diminutive size was placed before them by the officers of state. It was only a feather’s weight in reality, but, being loaded with charms, became so heavy to those who were not entitled to the crown. THl world’s wonders. 73 that none of them coul 3 lift it. Now, of all the three brothers, he, Rumanika, ah ne could raise it from the ground ; and while his brothers labor ;d h; rd in a vain attempt to move it, he with his little finger hel J it i p without exertion. This disclosure ’ed tc inquiries concerning a king’s death and burial, when the l;ing i elated that according to the customs of the country, when a kii g died his body was sewed up in a cow- skin and placed in a bo it floating in the adjacent lake, where it remained for three days, when decomposition set in and maggots were engendered, three of which were taken from the putrid body and carried into the palace; after remaining there three days one of the n aggo s was transformed into a lion, another into a leopard, and the third into a stick. After this the body of the dead king was taken out of the boat and carried to a sacred hill, where it was deposited on the ground and a large hut built over it ; in this hut were placed five maidens and fifty cows to provide entertainment and food for the rojnil spirit. The doorway to the hut was then so strongly closed thtt the maidens and cows perished. Rumanika continued to explain his greatness and that of his ancestors by declaring that his grandfather was a most wonder- ful man ; indeed, llarague was blessed with more supernatural agencies than any ether country. Rohinda the Sixth, who was his grandfather, nuinberei so many years that people thought he never Avould die ; and he oven became so concerned himself about it, reflecting that his son Dagara would never enjoy the benefit of his position as successor to the crown of Karague, that he took some magic powde.'s and charmed away his life. His remains were then taken to Moga-Namirinzi, in the same manner as were those of Dagara ; but, as an improvement on the maggot story, a young lion emerged from the heart of the corpse and kept guard over the hill, from whom other lions came into exist- ence, until the whole place became infested by them, and has since made Karague a power and dread to all other nations ; for these lions became subject to the will of Dagara, who, when attacked by the countries to the northward, instead of assembling an army 74 THE world’s wonders. of men, assembled his lion force, and so swept all before him. Another test was then advanced at the instigation of K’yengo, who thought Rumanika not quite impressive enough of his right to the throne , and this was, that each heir in succession, even after the drum dodge, was required to sit on the ground in a certain place of the country, where, if he had courage to plant himself, the land would gradually rise up, telescope fashion, until it leached to the skies, when, if the aspirant was considered by the spirits the proper person to inherit Karague, he would grad- ually be lowered again without any harm happening ; but other- wise, the elastic hill would suddenly collapse, and he would be dashed to pieces. Now, Rumanika, by his own confession, had gone through this ordeal with marked success ; so Speke asked him if he found the atmosphere cold when so far up aloft, and as he said he did so, Speke, laughing at the quaintness of the ques- tion, told him that he saw he had learned a good practical lesson on the structure of the universe, which he wished he would explain to him. In a state of perplexity, K’yengo and the rest, on seeing him laugh, thought something was wrong; and turning about, they thought again, and said, “No, it must have been hot, because the higher one ascended the nearer he got to the sun.” This led on to one argument after another, on geology, geog- raphy, and all the natural sciences, and ended by Rumanika showing Speke an iron much the shape and size of a carrot. This, he said, was found by one of his villagers while tilling the ' ground, buried some way down below the surface; but, dig as he would, he could not remove it, and therefore called some more men to his help. Still, the whole of them united could not lift the iron, which induced them, considering there must be some j magic in it, to inform the king. “Now,” says Rumanika, “I ; no sooner went there and saw the iron, than, without the smallest \ exei'tion, I uplifted the iron, and brought it here as you see it. ; What can such a sign mean?” “Of course that you are the \ rightful king,” said his flatterers. “Then,” said Rumanika, in exuberant spirits, “ during Dagara’s time, as the king was sitting with many other men outside his hut, a fearful storm of thunder ^ THE world’s wonders. 75 and lightning arose, and a thunderbolt struck the ground in the midst of them, which dispersed all the men but Dagara, who calmly took up the thunderbolt and placed it in the palace. I, however, no sooner came into possession, and Rogero began to contend with me, than the thunderbolt vanished. How would you account for this?” The flatterers said, “ It is clear as pos- sible ; God gave the thunderbolt to Dagara as a sign he was pleased with him and his rule ; but when he found two brothers contending, he withdrew it to show their conduct was wicked.” ANOTHER RHINOCEROS HUNT. On the 9th of December, before leaving the Karague country, Capt. Speke, learning that the immediate district in which he was encamped abounded with rhinoceros, took two attendants and posted to the foot-hills about Little Windermere lake. Taking up a position in a thicket of acacia shrubs, he sent the men out to beat the brush toward him. In a few minutes a large male rhinoceros came lumbering through the brush until he was within a few yards of the concealed hunter, who delivered a broadside from his Blissett rifle, which sent the huge beast off in a trot toward the beaters ; but after going a short distance it fell and was quickly disposed of by another shot. The natives then came running up to Speke, sui-prised beyond measui'e at what they saw, for they did not believe that a rhinoceros could be killed by shooting with a rifle. Among those who assembled to view the dead beast w:is a native who exhibited frightful scars on his abdomen and shoulder, which he declared were the result of a wound he had I’eceived by a rhinoceros thrusting its horn through his body. Just at this time a cry went up from several beaters that another rhinoceros w'as near, concealed in a thicket. Speke at once set off to find it. He traveled as rapidly as possible along a path made by the animals, with his two gun-bearers directly in the rear. Suddenly he was confronted by a full grown female, with her young one close behind, which came “ whoof-whoofing” toward him. To escape and shoot at the same time, he was compelled to push to one side in the prickly acacias, and as TUB WOKLD’8 wonders, ?6 SPEKE PRESENTS THE RHINOCEROS HEAD TO THE KINtV THE world’s wonders. 77 the huge beast approached, he fired at her head ; the bullet only served to divert her course, for she received no perceptible injury. She broke away from the brush into an open, with Speke follow- ing. He fired again, but the animal kept on and took to the hills, crossed over a spur and entered another thicket. The hunter kept up the pursuit, but as he came to the head of a glen he was greatly astonished to find three more rhinoceros, all of which charged towards him. Fortunately the gun-bearers were at his heels, and he was thus enabled to shoot all three of the brutes; one of them dropped dead, but the other two kept on down the glen, though one had its leg broken. The wounded one was given over to the natives, but so savage were its charges that another shot was necessary before the negroes could dispatch it with their spears and arrows. On the following day Speke called on the king and had the head of the largest rhinoceros brought into court. Eumanika, in his surprise, said : “ Well, this must have been done with something more potent than powder, for neither the Arabs nor Nnanaji, although they talk of their shooting powers, could have accomplished such a great feat as this. It is no wonder the English are the greatest men in the woild.” Neither the Wanyambo nor the Wahuma would eat the rhinoc- eros, so Speke Avas not sorry to find all the Wanyamuezi porters of the Arabs at Kufro, on hearing of the sport, come over and carry aAvay the flesh. They passed by the camp half borne down with their burdens of sliced flesh, suspended from poles which they carried on their shoulders ; but the following day Speke was disgusted upon hearing that their masters had for- bidden their eating “ the carrion,” as the throats of the animals had not been cut. PIGMIES AND GIANTS. In confirmation of Musa’s old stories, the king told Speke that in Ruanda, a near country, there existed pigmies Avho lived in trees, but occasionally came down at night, and listening at the hut doors of the men, would Avait until they heard the name of 78 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. one of its inmates, when they would call him out, and firing an arrow into his heart, disappear again in the same way as they came. But, more formidable even than these little men, there were monsters who could not converse with men, and never, showed themselves unless they saw women pass by; then, in voluptuous excitement, they squeezed them to death. After a long and amusing conversation with the king in the morning, Speke called on one of his sisters-in-law, married to an elder brother who was born before Dagara ascended the throne. She was another of those wonders of obesity, unable to stand excepting on all fours. He was eager to obtain a good view of her, and actually to measure her, and induced her to give him facilities for doing so by offering in return to show her a bit of his naked legs and arms. The bait took as he wished it, and after getting her to sidle and wriggle into the middle of the hut, he took her dimensions, W'hich were as follows : Bound the arm, 1 foot 4 inches; chest 52 inches; thigh 31 inches; calf 20 inches ; height 5 feet 8 inches. All of these are exact except the height, which Speke believed he could have obtained more ac- curately if he could have had her laid on the floor. Not knowing what difficulties he should have to contend with in such a piece of engineering, he tried to get her height by raising her up. This, after infinite exertions, was accomplished, when she sank down again, fainting, for her blood had rushed into her head. Mean- while, the daughter, a lass of sixteen, sat stark-naked before them, sucking at a milk-pot, on which the father kept her at work by holding a rod in his hand ; for, as fattening is the first duty of fashionable female life, it must be duly enforced by the rod if necessary. Speke got up a bit of flirtation with missy, and induced her to rise and shake hands with him. Her features were lovely, but her body Avas as round as a ball. SAVAGE ROYALTY IN A SAVAGE LAND. The next stoppage was in the land of the Wahuma, the most interesting district of Africa, and one which has an extended importance now on account of the commercial aid rendered England and France by its present King, Mtese. The country THE world’s wonders. 79 was formerly a portion of Karague, but became separated by reason of a contention between two brothers who both claimed the rulership, but who were satisfied to separate the district so that each might become a king. The ceremonies connected with the royal household of Wahuma, and also the oflScials and their duties, are so exceedingly strange that some of them must be described : The various offices held, without regard for prece- dence, for I do not know the order of rank, are : The lima, a woman whose good fortune it was to cut the umbilical cord at the king’s birth; the king’s barber; admiral of the fleet — of canoes ; guardian of the king’s sisters ; first and second-class executioners ; commissioner in charge of the tombs ; the brewer; the cook; commander of the guards; seizer of refractory per- sons ; the drummers ; the pea-gourd rattlers ; the flute players ; clarionet players ; also players on wooden harmonicans and lap harps, and, lastly, men who whistle on their fingers, — for music is more than one-half the amusement of the court. Uganda is the palace seat of the Wahuma country, and everybody who lives there is expected to keep spears, shields and dogs, the Uganda arms and cognizance, while the wakungu (officers) are entitled to drums. There is also a Neptune Mgussa, or spirit, who lives in the depths of the lake, communicates through the medium of his temporal mkango, and guides to a certain extent the naval destiny of the king. It is the duty of all officers, generally speaking, to attend at court as constantly as possible; should they fail, they forfeit their lands, wives, and all belongings. These will be seized and given to others more worthy of them, as it is presumed that either insolence or disaffection can be the only motives which would induce any person to absent himself for any length of time from the pleasure of seeing his sovereign. Tidiness in dress is imperatively necessary, and for any neglect of this rule the head may be the forfeit. The punishment for such offenses, however, may be commuted by fines of cattle, goats, fowls, or brass wire. All acts of the king are counted benefits, for which he must be thanked ; and so every deed done to his subjects is a 80 THE world’s W0NDE>J8, gift received by them, though it should assume the shape of flog- ging or flue j for are not these, which make better men of them as necessary as any thing? The thanks are rondeied by groveling on the ground, floundering about and whining after the manner of happy dogs, after which they rise up suddenly, take up sticks — -spears are not allowed to be carried in couit — make as T “n’yanziging” to a superior. charging the king, jabbering as fast as tongues can rattle, aud so they swear fidelity for all their lives. This is tlie greater salutation ; the lesser one is performed kneeling in an attitude of prayer, continually throwing open the hands, and repeating sundry words. Among them the word “ n’yanzig ” is the most frequent and conspicuous ; and hence these gesticulations receive the geneial designation u’yanzig, a THE world’s wonders. 81 term which will be frequently met with, and which it is necessary to use like an English verb. In consequence of these salutations, there is more ceremony in court than business, though the king, ever having an eye to his treasury, continually finds some trifling fault, condemns the head of the culprit, takes his liquidation present, if he has anything to pay, and thus keeps up his revenue. No one dare stand before the king while he is either standing still or sitting, but must approach him with downcast eyes and bended knees, and kneel or sit when arrived. To touch the king’s throne or clothes, even by accident, or to look upon his women, is certain death. When sitting in court holding a levee, the king invariably has in attendance several women, Wabandwa, evil-eye averters or sorcerers. They talk in feigned voices raised to a shrillness almost amounting to a scream. They wear dried lizards on their heads, small goatskin aprons trimmed with little bells, diminutive shields and spears set off with cock-hackles, their functions in attendance being to administer cups of marwa (plantain wine). To complete the picture of the court, one must imagine a crowd of pages to run royal messages ; they dare not walk, for such a deficiency in zeal to their master might cost their life. A further feature of the court consists in the national symbols — a dog, two spears and a shield. With the company squatting in a large half-circle, or three sides of a square, many deep, before him, in the hollow of which are drummers and other musicians, the king, sitting on his throne in high dignity, issues his orders for the day much to the following effect: “Cattle, women and children are short in Uganda ; an army must be formed of one to two thousand strong to plunder Unyoro. The Wasoga have been insulting his sub- jects, and must be reduced to subjection ; for this emergency another army must be formed of equal strength, to act by land in conjunction with the fleet. The Wahaiya have paid no tribute to his greatness lately, and must be taxed.” For all these matters the cornmander-in-chief tells off the divisional officers, who are approved by the king, and the matter is ended in coui’t^ e w 82 THE world’s wonders. The divisional officers then find subordinate officers, who find men, and the army proceeds with its inarch. Should any fail with their mission, re-enforcements are sent, and the runaways, called Avomen, are drilled with a red-hot iron until they are men no longer, and die for their cowardice. All heroism, however, insures promotion. The king receives his army of officers with great ceremony, listens to their exploits, and gives as rewards women, cattle, and command over men — the greatest elements of wealth in Uganda — with a liberal hand. As to the minor business transacted in court, culprits are brought in bound by officers, and reported. At once the sentence is given, perhaps awarding the worst torture, linger- ing death — probably without trial or investigation, and for all the king knows, at the instigation of some one influenced by Avicked spite. If the accused endeavors to plead his defense^ his voice is at once drowmed, and the miserable victim dragged off in the roughest manner possible by the officers who love their king and delight in promptly carrying out his orders. Young virgins, the daughters of officers, stark-naked, and smeared Avith grease, but holding, for decency’s sake, a small square of cloth at the upper corners in both hands before them, are presented by their fathers in propitiation of some offense, or to fill the harem. Seizing-officers receive orders to hunt doAvn offending officers, and confiscate their lands, wives and children. An officer observed to salute informally, is ordered for execution, when everyone near him rises at once, the drums beat, drowning his cries, and the victim of carelessness is dragged off, bound by cords, by a dozen men at once. Another man, i^erhaps, exposes an inch of naked leg Avhile squatting, or has his cloth tied con- trary to regulation, and is condemned to the same fate. CHARMS AND MAGIC. Stick-charms, being pieces of AA'ood of all shapes, supposed to have supernatural virtues, and colored earths, endowed Avith similar qualities, are produced by the royal magicians ; the master of the hunt exposes his spoils, such as antelopes, cats, zebras, lions, etc. ; the fishermen bring their catches ; the cutlers THE world’s wonders. Show knives made of iron, inlaid with brass and copper; the furriers, most beautifullj-sewn patchwork of antelopes’ skins; the habit-maker, sheets of mbugu bark-cloth; the blacksmith, spears ; the maker of shields, his productions, and so forth ; but nothing is ever given without rubbing it down, then rubbing the MTESA AND HIS DOG. face, and going through a long form of salutation for the gracious favor the king has shown in accepting it. When tired of business, the king rises, spear in hand, and, leading his dog, Avalks off without word or comment, leaving his company, like dogs, to take care of themselves. Strict as the discipline of the exterior court is, that of the inte- rior is not less severe. The pages all wear turbans of cord made from aloe fibres. Should a wife commit any trifling indiscretion, 84 THE world’s AVONDERS. either byword or deed, she is condem’Ted to execution on the spot, bound by the pages and dragged out. NotAvithstanding the stringent laws for the preservation of decorum by all male attend- ants, stark-naked full-grown Avomen are the valets. On the first appearance of the new moon every month, the king shuts himself up, contemplating and arranging his magic hoi-ns — the horns of wild animals stuffed Avith charm jDowder — - for two or three days. These may be counted his Sundays or church festivals, Avhich he dedicates to devotion. On other days he takes his women, some hundreds, to bathe or sport in ponds; or, w-hen tired of that, takes long Avalks, his women running after him, Avhen all the musicians fall in, take precedence of the party, followed by the ofiicers and pages, Avith the king in the centre of the procession, separating the male company from the fair sex. On these excursions no common man dare look upon the royal procession. Should anybody by chance happen to be seen, he is at once hunted doAvn by the pages, robbed of everything he possesses, and may count himself very lucky if nothing worse happens. Pilgrimages are not uncommon, and sometimes the king spends a fortnight jmchting ; but Avhatever he does, or wherever he goes, the same ceremonies preA^ail — hi.s musicians, oflScers, pages, and the Avives take part in all. His sorcerers are important personages, Avho are always upon attendance, especially on all journeys Avhich a young king, who is not yet croAvned, take's, Avhen by signs of certain trees and plants, theydetermine Avhat destiny aAvaits the king. According to the prognostics, they report that he Avill either have to liA^e a life of peace, or, after coronation, take the field at the head of an army to fight east, west or both ways, Avhen usually the march is first on Kittara or the second on Usogo. These preliminaries being completed, the actual coronation takes place, Avheii the king ceases to hold any communion Avith his mother. The brothers are burnt to death, and the king, we shall suppose, takes the field at the head of his army. A SPORT-LOAUXG BOY KIXG SHOOTS A MAX FOR FUN. Mtesa, though now more nearly civilized than any other of the THE WOKLD’S wonders. 85 Central African kings, when he came to the throne, was certainly one of the most singularly unfeeling savages that white men have ever come in contact with. Speke’s visit to this dusky potentate, however, was one which he had no reason to regret, for, on account of a message carried forward from the Karague king, requesting Mtesa to receive the white man graciously, Speke’s reception was very cordial, the king granting him privileges which even the highest officers in the realm were denied. On Speke’s second visit to Mtesa at the palace, he carried with him some rifles as presents for the king, being anxious to ingratiate himself into his favor, to the end that he might obtain such assistance as would be needed. Upon being admitted to the palace, which was no more than an unusually large grass hut, the king was found sitting on his throne, while mats were arranged on the ground for the guests to sit on, no one being allowed to sit upon any kind of raised seat in the presence of the monai'ch. The magic horns, by which his magicians determined his destiny, occupied a prominent place before Mtesa. Four cows were grazing near the palace, unconscious of the presence of royalty or the fate that awaited them. Speke presented the guns to his sable majesty, who immediately requested him to try them on the cows. He did so with fatal accuracy, killing them all, whereat the king was greatly delighted, and directed the carcasses to be delivered to Speke’s men. Mtesa then loaded one of the rifles with his own hands, and, cocking it, gave it to a page and ordered him to “go out and shoot a man,” with a view to discovering if the weapon would kill men as readily as it had dispatched the cows. ' The order was obeyed with alacrity, and the young man soon returned in high glee over his success. “ Did you do it -well?” asked Mtesa. “ Oh, yes, capitally,” was the response. He spoke the truth, for he dared not trifle with the king. The affair created no special interest, no curiosity being exhibited as to what particular man had been slaughtered. A DOUBLE CHARGE — ONLY A WOMAN KILLED. Mtesa was so delighted with fire-arms that he continually begged his guest to shoot before him, usually at cows for a mark, 86 THE world’s WONDEftg. and as these were generally given to the men for food Speke had no compunctions of conscience in complying. Only occasionally, however, would the king use the gun himself, appearing to have suspicions that in some way it was under the control of a wicked spirit. Once he loaded the weapon, putting in a double charge of powder, and fired at a cow ; the bullet not only passed through the animal, but also through a fence, and then through the center of a woman who chanced to be passing along on the outside. This shot greatly pleased the king, leading him to believe that one bullet, well directed, might slay an entire line of soldiers, and that he might be able to shoot down an army by ranks. DROLL DELIGHTS OF A BOY KING. On the following day the king sent for Speke, to join him on a neighboring hill, and to bring the shot-guns with him. He cheerfully complied, and on reaching the appointed place, he found Mtesa hat in hand and his face wreathed in smiles of welcome. After examining the gun, the king led off toward a large tree in which were many adjutant birds and vultures nesting. He requested his companion to shoot some of the birds for his amusement, but Speke passed the gun back to him and asked him to display his own skill. Mtesa, howevei, ivas still fearful lest there might be dangerous magic in the gun. To please him, therefore, Speke killed an adjutant as it sat in a nest, and as a vulture flew out he brought that down with the other barrel. This created immense excitement, and the natives were spell-bound with astonishment, while the king jumped about, clapping his hands and shouting, “ Woh ! woh ! woh ! what wonders I Oh, Bana, Bana, what miracles he performs I ” in which exultation he was joined by his servants and under-officers. “ Now load, Bana — load, and let us see you do the same again,” cried the king, but before the loading was half completed he said, “ Come along, and let us see the birds.” Then directing the officers which way to go — for, by the etiquette of the palace every one must precede the king — he sent them through a court, wher® his women, afraid of the guns, were concealed. Here some fences interfered with the impetuous rush, but the king. THE world’s wonders. 87 shouted to his officers to tear them down, which was no sooner said than done, by the attendants in a body shoving on and trampling them under as an elephant would crush small trees to keep his course. So pushing, floundering through plantain and shrub, pell-mell one upon the other, that the king’s pace might not be checked, or any one come in fora royal kick or blow, they came upon the prostrate bird. “ Woh, woh, woh ! ” cried the king again, “ there he is, sure enough ; come here women — come and look what wonders!” And all the women, in the highest excitement, “ woh-wohed ” as loud as any of the men. But that was not enough. “ Come along, Bana,” said the king, “ we must have some more sport ; ” and saying this, he directed the way toward the queen’s palace, the attendants leading, followed by the pages, then the king, next Speke, and finally the women, some forty or fifty, who constantly attended him. To make the most of the king’s good humor, while he wanted to screen himself from the blazing sun, Speke asked him if he would like to enjoy the pleasures of an umbrella ; and without giving him time to answer, he held his own over him as they Avalked side by side. The wakungu were astonished, and the women prattled in great delight ; while the king, hardly able to control himself, sidled and spoke to his flatterers as if he were doubly created monarch of all he surveyed. Then, growing more familiar, he said, “ Now, Bana, do tell me — did you not shoot that bird with something more than common ammunition ? lam sure you did, now ; there was magic in it.” And all that could be said to the contrary would not convince him. “ But we will see again.” “At buffaloes?” said Speke. “ No, the buffaloes are too far off now ; we will wait to go after them until I have given you a hut close by.” Presently as some herons were flying overhead, he said, “Now shoot, shoot!” and Speke brought a couple down right and left. He stared, and evei’ybody stared, believing the white man to be a magician, when the king said he would like to have picture-s of the birds drawn and hung up in the palace ; “but let us go and shoot some more, for it is truly wonderful.” Similar results followed, for the herons were 88 THE world’s wonders. continually whirling round, as they had their nests upon a neighboring tree ; and then the king ordered his pages to carry all the birds, save the vulture — which, for some reason, they did not touch — and show them to the queen. He then gave the order to move on, and they all repaired to the palace. Arrived at the usual throne-room, he took his seat, dismissed the party of wives who had been following him, received pombe — a brewed drink— from his female evil-eye averters, and ordered Speke and his men to sit in the sun facing him, till the traveler complained of the heat, and was allowed to sit by his side. Kites, crows, and sparrows were flying about in all directions, and as they came within shot, nothing would satisfy the excited boy-king but that Speke must shoot them, and his pages take them to the queen, till the ammunition was totally expended. He then wanted to send for more shot ; but was told to wait until new supplies could be had, whereupon he contented himself with taking two or three sample pellets and ordering his ironsmiths to make some like them. THE KING DRESSED LIKE A MONKEY. Speke had given King Mtesa odd garments from time to time, until at length the royal stripling appeared dressed in European garb, although, on account of the shortness of the pantaloons and the arms of the coat, his black ankles and wrists stuck out so that his appearance was almost identical with that of an organ- grinder’s monkey. To add to his inimitably grotesque costume, the king’s cockscomb of hair was surmounted by a little red-fez cap, which completed his dressed-monkey appearance, though he felt that no one was ever dressed more becomingly. Thus attired, the king held a levee, at which twenty naked virgins, all smeared and shining with grease, each holding a very small, square piece of cloth to serve for a fig leaf, marched in a line before the king and his white guest. These were fresh additions to the royal harem, and the happy fathers groveled on the ground, giving thanks in profuse “ n’yanziging,” for the gracious favor of the king’s acceptance. The sight was in keen- ing with the whimsical tastes of Mtesa, so that Speke could uoi THE WOBLD 8 WONDERS. 89 control his mirth, but laughed out, whereupon the king and all others present also began laughing, in imitation, like a crowd of apes. A sedate old dame then arose, and turning the maidens right about, sent them marching out of the tent with their backs completely exposed. In describing this levee with the king, Speke adds the following : “I have now been for some time within the court precincts, and have consequently had an opportunity of witnessing court customs. Among these, nearly every day since I have changed ray residence, incredible as it may appear to be, I have seen one. LEADING A WIFE TO EXECUTION. two, or three of the wretched palace women led away to execu- tion, tied by the hand, and dragged along by one of the body- guard, crying out, as she went to premature death, ‘ Hai minangel’ (Oh my lord!) ‘ Kbakka ! ’ (My king!) ‘Hai n’yawo ! ’ (My mother !) at the top of her voice, in the utmost despair and lamentation ; and yet there was not a soul who dared lift hand to save any of them, though many might be heard privately commenting on their beaut3\” A MONSTROUSLY FAT QUEEN. Mtesa, who was not more than twenty years of age at the time- Speke visited him, was ruler of Uganda, but not absolute. 90 THE world’s wonders. for his mother, a woman of about forty years, was queen- dowager, whose influence in civil mattei’s was almost equal to that of her royal son. She was good-natured and received Speke with great friendliness, even offering him any one of her many daughters for a wife. This offer led the Captain to inquire what ceremony was connected with marriage in the Uganda country, to which the queen replied, in substance, as follows : There are no such things as marriages in Uganda ; there are no ceremonies attached to it. If any mkungu possessed of a pretty daughter committed an offense, he might give her to the king as a peace-offering ; if any neighboring king had a pretty daughter, and the king of Uganda wanted her, she might be demanded as a fitting tribute. The wakungu — officers — in Ugan- da are supplied with women by the king, according to their merits, from seizures in battle abroad, or seizures from refractory officers at home. The women are not regarded as property, though many exchange their daughters ; and some women, for misdemeanors, are sold into slavery, while others are flogged or are degraded to do all the menial services of the house. The company now became jovial, when the queen improved the opportunity by making a significant gesture, and with roars of laughter asking Speke if he would like to be her son-in-law, for she had some beautiful daughters, either of the Wahuma or Waganda breed. Rather staggered at first by this awful proposal, he consulted his interpreter as to what he should do with one if he got her. Bombay, looking strictly to number one, said, “ By all means accept the offer, for if you don’t like her, we should, and it would be a good means of getting her out of this land of death.” The queen appeared much amused at Bombay’s selfish solici- tude, and became quite hilarious with her visitors under the influence of the pombe that she had swallowed, and they all seemed bent upon having a truly royal time of it. Cups were not enough to keep up the excitement of the occasion, so a large wooden trough was placed before the queen and filled with liquor. If any was spilled, the officers instantly fought over it, THE world’s wonder^. 91 dabbing their noses on the ground, or grabbing it with their hands, that not one atom of the queen’s favor might be lost ; for every thing must be adored that comes from royalty, whether by design or accident. The queen put her head to the trough and drank like a pig from it, and was followed by her ministers. The band, by order, then struck up a tune called the LICKING UP THE POMBK. Milele, playing on a dozen reeds, ornamented with beads and cow-tips, and five drums, of various tones and sizes, keeping time. The musicians, dancing with zest, were led by four band- masters, also dancing, but with their backs turned to the company to show olf their long, shaggy goatskin jackets, sometimes upright, at other times bending and on their heels, like the hornpipe-dancers of western countries. THE world’s wonders. SAVAGE CRUELTIES. The savage nature of Mtesa is well described in the incidents following: While holding a levee with Speke one day, a large body of officers entered the palace with an old man whose two ears had been cut off for having been too handsome in his youth ; with the old man was a young girl who, after a dis- appearance of four days, had been found by a searching party in the old man’s house. These two were brought before the king for his judgment. No' one but the plaintiff was suffered to make any statement, and he, after bowing and kissing the ground, declared that he had lost the girl, and after considerable search, had found her concealed in the house of the old man, who was, indeed, old enough to be her grandfather. From all appearances, one \rould have said the wretched girl had run away from the plaintiff’s house in consequence of ill-treatment, and had harbored herself" on this decrepit old man without asking his leave; but their voices in defense were never heard, for the king instantly sentenced both to death, to prevent the occurrence of such impropriety again ; and, to make the example more severe, decreed that their lives should not be taken at once, but, being fed to preserve life as long as possible, they were to be dismembered bit by bit, as rations for the vultures, every day, until life was extinct. The dismayed victims, struggling to be heard, in utter despair were dragged away boisterously in the most barbarous manner, to the drowning music of the milele and drums. The king, in total unconcern about the tragedy he had thus enacted, immediately on their departure said, “ Now, then, for shooting, Bana ; let us look at your gun.” It happened to be loaded, but fortunately only with powder, to fire Speke’s announce- ment at the palace ; for the king instantly placed caps on the nipples and let off one barrel by accident, the contents of which stuck in the thatch. This created a momentary alarm, for it was supposed the thatch hud taken fire ; but it was no sooner sui>pressed than the childish king, still sitting on his throne, to astonish hia ‘■officers still more, leveled the gun from his shoulder, fired THE world’s wonders. 93 the contents of the second barrel into the faces of his squatting officers, and then laughed at his own trick. At the next levee the king gave one of his officers a woman, as a reward of merit. This gift displeased the officer, who - gi’urabled because he had not been given more than one wife. This made the king so angry that he oi*dered his men to seize the officer and cut him to pieces. The sentence was immediately carried out, but not with knives, for they are prohibited, but with slips of sharp-edged grass, after the executioners had first dislocated his neck by a blow delivei*ed behind the head with a heavy-headed club. Following these exhibitions of savagery was another, illustrating the whimsical nature of this anomalous ruler. On the day succeeding the execution of the officer, a lad, not yet twenty, came upon the king suddenly and attempted to kill him, at the same time declaring that he ought not to live because he took the lives of men unjustly. The king had a revolver with him, which had been presented by Speke, and though it was unloaded, he threw its muzzle against the young man’s cheek, which so frightened him that he fled in great terror. For this grave offense it would be natural to suppose that the savage king would order his immediate execution, but instead of capital punishment, he only required the young man to pay a fine of one cow, and then released him. Mtesa’s eccentricities were constantly being displayed, but his savage nature was seldom tempered by deeds of mercy. Every day, while Speke was sojourning in Uganda, waiting the arrival of Capt. Grant and new supplies, he was in the company of the boy king, whose importunities to see the white man shoot were Incessant. One day he requested Speke to accompany him on a hunt for hippopotami. They started early in the morningt accompanied by pages and fifty or more of the king’s wives. After a long and useless pursuit of wary hippopotami in canoes, Mtesa ordered the boats rowed ashore to give his guest a picnic entertainment. The party there indulged themselves drinking pombe and plucking delicious fruits, which grew in great abun- dance everywhere in the forest. There was no little enjoyment 94 THE world’s wonders. manifested by all until, by unlucky chance, one of the royar wives, a most chai’ming creature, and one of the best in the harem, found some unusually fine fruit which shegathered and graciously offered to the king, thinking to please him much ; but he, like a savage monster or madman, flew into a towering passion, declared it was the first time a w'oman had ever had the impertinence to offer him anything, and ordered the pages to seize, bind and lead her off to execution. The order was no sooner given than the whole bevy of pages slipped their cord turbans from their heads, and rushed like a pack of cupid beagles upon the fairy queen, who, indignant at the little urchins daring to touch her majest}^ remonstrated with the king, and tried to beat them off like flies, but she was soon captured, overcome, and dragged away. THE world’s wonders. 95 crying, in the names of the kamraviona and mzungu (Speke), for help and protection ; while Luhuga, the pet sister, and all the other women, clasped the king by his legs and, kneeling, im- plored forgiveness for their sister. The more they craved^ for mercy the more brutal he became, till at last he took a heavy stick and began to belabor the poor victim on the head. Speke says that hitherto he had been extremely careful not to interfere with any of the king's acts of arbitrary cruelty, knowing that such interference, at an early stage, would produce more harm than good. This last act of barbarism, however, was too much for his English blood to stand ; and, as he heard his name im- ploringly pronounced, he rushed at the king, and, staying his uplifted arm, demanded from him the woman’s life. Of course he ran imminent risk of losing his own life, in thus thwarting the capricious tyrant; but his caprice proved the friend of both. The novelty of interference even made him smile, and the woman was instantly released. Upon returning from the picnic, a little page brought a mes- sage to the king, which was of course oral ; but it happened that the message was not given exactly correct, whereupon Mtesa cut the little boy’s ears off and sent him away from the palace. THE KING AND HIS ARMY. On the day following this incident. Colonel Congow, com- mandant of the king’s army, returned from a neighboring district, where they had been plundering the Unyoro people, and drew his troops up before the palace for review. The king soon ap- peared, armed with spears and shield, and accompanied by his little dog and his chiefs, who sat upon the ground. The battalion, consisting of what might be termed three companies, each con- taining 200 men, being drawn up on the left extremity of the parade-ground, received orders to march past in single file from the right of companies, at a long trot, and re-form again at the other end of the square. Nothing conceivable could be more wild or fantastic than the sight which ensued — the men all nearly naked, with goat or cat skins depending from their girdles, and smeared with war colors 96 THE WOELD’S WONDEE8, THE world’s wonders. 97 according to the taste of each individual — one half of the body red or black, the other blue, not in regular order — as, for instance, one stocking would be red, the other black, while the breeches above would be the opposite colors, and so with the sleeves and waistcoat. Every man carried the same arms — two spears and one shield — held as if approaching an enemy, and they thus moved in three lines of single rank and tile, at fifteen to twenty paces asunder, with the same high action and elongated step, the ground leg only being bent, to give their .strides the greater force. After the men had all started, the captains of companies followed, even more fantastically dressed ; and last of all came the great Colonel Congow, a perfect Eobinson Crusoe, with his long white- haired goatskins, a fiddle-shaped leather shield, tufted with white hair at all six extremities, bands of long hair tied below the knees, and a magnificent helmet, covered with rich beads of every color, in excellent taste, surmounted with a plume of crimson feathers, from the centre of which rose a bent stem, tufted with goat-hair. Next they charged in companies to and fro ; and, finally, the senior officers came charging at their king, making violent professions of faith and honesty, for which they were applauded. The parade then broke up, and all went home. grant’s arrival with supplies. After weeks of patient waiting, Capt. Speke had the pleasure of again seeing his anxiously looked-for comrade approaching Uganda, borne in a litter carried by four porters. Capt. Grant had been suffering froin'a stubborn ulcer on his heel, and for a long while was unable to travel, which accounted for the long delay of his arrival. On the day after reaching Uganda, Mtesa sent one of his ambassadors to bring Captains Speke and Grant to his palace, where he had arranged for another levee in honor of the new guest. In the afternoon the two travelers repaired to the court, whei’e the king gave them a courteous welcome, being particularly well pleased because they presented him with another flouble-barreled shot-gun and some more ammunition. Grant s’.iowed the king many of his sketches, not a few of which were 7 w 98 THE world’s wonders. pictures of the natives, whereupon the royal barbarian besought him to sketch his highness and the scene of the levee. MAKING THINGS EVEN IN THE HAREM. On the following day, when Speke and Grant went to visit the king, they found the guards at the gate of the palace feeediug on scraps of meat that had been thrown to them as though they were dogs, and they faithfully carried out the simile by fighting over pieces of the meat just as dogs do, the strongest and fiercest THE PALACE GUARDS AT DINNER. gettingthe best part of the dinner. Reaching the palace, the visitors found his majesty sitting on the ground, within a hut, behind a portal, encompassed by his women, and they took their seats outside. At first all was silence, till one told the king the white men had some wonderful pictures to show him, when in an instant he grew lively, crying, “Oh, let us see them!” and they wei’e shown, Bombay explaining. Three of the king’s wives then came in, and offered him their two virgin sisters, n’yanziging incessantly, and beseeching their acceptance, as by that m,ean.a THE world’s wonders. 90 they themselves would become doubly related to him. Notliing, however, seemed to be done to promote the union, until one old lady, sitting by the king’s side, who was evidently learned in the etiquette and traditions of the court, said, “Wait and see if he embraces, otherwise you may know he is not pleased.” At this announcement the girls received a hint to pass on, and the king commenced bestowing on them a series of hoggings, first sitting on the lap of one, whom he clasped to his bosom, crossing his neck with hers to the right, then to the left, and, having finished with her, took post in the second one’s lap, then on that of the third, performing on each of them the same evolutions. He then retired to his original position, and the marriage ceremony was supposed to be concluded, and the settlements adjusted, when all went on as before. Speke says that during this one day they heard the sad voices of no less than four women dragged from the palace to the slaughter-house. It seemed to be the king’s method of keeping his harem stocked with fresh wives. SACRIFICE OF A CHILD BY COOKING. A FEW days before the departure of Speke and Grant from Mtesa’s palace, one of his officers, K’yengo, informed him that, considering the surprising events which had lately occurred at court, the king, being anxious to pry into the future, had resolved upon a very strange measure for accomplishing that end. This was the sacrifice of a child by cooking, and K’yengo was detailed to perform the barbarous ceremony, which is described as fol- lows: The doctor places a large earthen vessel, half full of water, over a fire, and over its mouth a grating of sticks, whereon he lays a small child and a fowl side by side, and covers them over with a second large earthen vessel, just like the first, only inverted, to keep the steam in, when he sets fire below, cooks for a certain period of time, and then looks to see if his victims are still living or dead. If dead, as they usually are, the omen is considered propitious, and the king at once proceeds upon whatever enterprise he may have been contemplating. 100 THE world’s wonders. LEAVING UGANDA. On returning home from the palace, the evening before their departure, one of the king’s wives overtook Speke and Gi'ant, walking, with her hands clasped at the back of her head, to execution, crying “ N’yawo ! ” in the most pitiful manner. A man preceded her, but did not touch her ; for she loved to obey the orders of her king voluntarily, and, in consequence of iire- vious attachment, was permitted, as a mark of distinction, to walk free. Wondrous world ! it had not been ten minutes since they had parted from the king, yet he had found time to transact this bloody piece of business. The next day they repaired early to the palace to make their final adieus, and after a very friendly reception they arose to depart, the white men making English bows and placing their hands upon their hearts, Mtesa instantly imitating whatever they did, with the mimicking instincts of a monkey. The king and his entire court followed them to their own camp, where Mtesa expressed a wish to have a final look at Speke’s men, and he accordingly ordered them to turn out with their arms and “n’yan^ig” for the many favors they had received. Mtesa, much pleased, complimented them on their goodly appearance, remarking that with such a force Speke would have no difficulty in reaching his destination, and exhorted them to follow him through fire and water ; then, exchanging adieus again, he walked ahead in gigantic strides up the hill, the pretty favorite of his harem, Lubuga — beckoning and waving with her little hands, and crying “Banal Banal” — trotting after him conspicuous among the rest, though all showed a little feeling at the severance. THE world’s wonders. 101 CHAPTER V. HARD TRAVELING TO REACH THE NILE. Traveling in Africa is necessarily slow, on account of the dense jungles, the great heat and annoying insects. After pro- ceeding about thirty miles one of the escort sent by Mtesa was set upon and killed by lurking natives, which caused much excitement, as the party desired to engage in war at once to avenge the death of their comrade. No such stoppage, of course, was allowed, but the expedition was continually harassed by lurking foes, who resisted the advance of Speke’s party through their country. As a corrective measure Grant was hurried for- ward with a small party to Kamrasi, king of Unyoro, to whom a visit was contemplated, with a request for his protection. In fourteen days after departing from Uganda, Speke reached the Victoria Nile, in a beautiful natural park full of wonders. The stream at this point was from 600 to 700 yards wide, dotted with islets and rocks, the former occupied by fishermen’s huts, the latter by sterns and crocodiles basking in the sun, flowing between fine high grassy banks, with rich trees and plantains in the background, where herds of the n’sunnuand hartebeest could be seen grazing, while the hippopotami were snorting in the water, and florikan and Guinea-fowl rising at their feet. Unfor- tunately, the chief district officer, Mlondo, was from home, but Speke took possession of his huts — clean, extensive, and tidily kept — facing the river, and felt as if a residence there would do his men good. This camping-place was confronting Usoga, a country which may be said to be the very counterpart of Uganda in its richness and beauty. Here the people use such huge iron-headed spears with short handles that they appear to be better fitted for digging potatoes than piercing men. Ele- phants had been very numerous in this neighborhood, but a short time before Speke’s arrival a party from Unyoro, ivory-hunting, had driven them away. * Lions were also described as very uanuerous and destructive to human life. Antelopes were 102 THE world’s wonders. common in the jungle, and the hippopotami, though frequenter-! of the plaintain gardens and constantly heard, were seldom seen on land in consequence of their unsteady habits. discovering the Nile’s source. After remaining a day in this beautiful retreat, the expedition started again and tiled along the left bank of the Nile until the Isambo Eapids were reached. Here the surroundings were weird and suggestive of dark and bloody deeds ; a jutting cliff, ovei- shadowed by deep foliage which bars the sun’s rays, and below, - a dangerous pit of boiling water lashed by hungry crocodiles seeking prey. Pushing further on, across hills and over planta- tions devastated by elephants, the party arrived at the extreme end of the journey, the farthest point ever visited by the expe- dition on the same parallel of latitude as king Mtesa’s palace, and just forty miles east of it, on Victoria Lake. Speke writes : “ We were well rewarded ; for the ‘stones,’ as the Waganda call the falls, were by far the most interesting sight 1 had seen in Africa. Everybody ran to see them at once, (hough the inarch had been long and fatiguing, and even my sketch-block was called into play. Though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what I expected ; for the broad surface of the lake was shut out from view by a spur of hill, and the falls, about twelve feet deep, and 400 to 500 feet broad, were broken by rocks. Still it was a sight that attracted one to it for hours — the roai'of the waters, the thousands of passenger-fish, leaping at the falls wnth all their might, the Wasoga and Waganda fishermen coming out in boats and taking post on all the rocks with rod and hook, hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water, the ferry at work above the falls, and cattle driven down to drink at the margin of the lake, made, in all, with the pretty nature of the country — small hills, grassy-topped, with trees in the folds, and gardens on the lower slopes — as interest- ing a picture as one could wish to see.” Speke felt certain that he had really discovered the source of the Nile, and in his exultation procured some boats, intending to have a sail o!i the lake. He had not gone far on its tranquil THE WORLD *S WONDERS. 103 bosom before he saw a large canoe, well laden with native?) who came toward him a short space, then retreated to the shore with drums beating. This was a signal of war, but Speke did not understand it, though cautioned by his guides. He had heard the drum beat daily at Uganda, and could not believe that within forty miles of that place the customs could be so widely variant. As he came near the shore, a large party of the Unyoro natives were seen dancing, beating drums, and jabbing their spears, challenging Speke’s boats to come to shore. It was now growing dusk, ajid hoping to conciliate the vengeful barbarians, he offered them presents ; but these were disdained, and as the shawdows of darkness increased, the hostile natives pushed out in boats and attacked Speke’s men, who numbered only twenty ; these, instead of offering resistance, as ordered, began to cry out for mercy, and refused abjectly to use their carbines. The resistance, therefore, fell entirely upon Speke, who shot three of the attacking party. The noise and effect of the gun produced a panic among the enemy, who returned to shore as quickly as possible, and gaining that, scrambled up tite bank and rapidly disappeared. After boating on the lake for some time, Speke resumed his march toward the palace of Kamrasi, who had already been apprised by Grant of his coming, and he sent 150 of his war- riors to conduct Speke to the capital of his dominion. This accession of men was very fortunate, as Speke’s party had been reduced by desertion to less than twenty, and they would have been compelled to abandon a portion of the supplies except for the opportune arrival of Kamrasi ’s men. On the 9th of September Unyoro was reached. There was much disappointment at the failure of king Kamrasi to receive the party, but after some parley with the chief officer, quarters were provided in some miserable little huts outside of the palace- grounds. They also received a small supply of provisions, and were told to await until the next day, when better accommodations would be jw’ovided. The afternoon was spent in conversation 104 THE world’s wonders. with Kidgwiga, the king’s embassador, who proved himself not an uninteresting conversationalist. Among many other things, he said that Kamrasi and Mtesa— in fact, all the Wahuma — came originally from a stock of the same tribe dwelling beyond Kidi. All bury their dead in the same way, under ground: but the kings are toasted first for months till they are like sun-dried meat, when the lower jaw is cut out and preserved, covered with beads. The royal tombs are put under the charge of special officers, who occupy huts erected over them. The umbilical oords are preserved from birth, and, at death, those of men are placed within the door-frame, while those of women are buried without — ^this last act corresponding, accord- ing to Bombay, the interpreter, with the custom of the Wahiyow. On the death of any of the great officers of state, the finger-bones and hair are also preserved ; or, if they have died shaven, as sometimes occurs, a bit of their mbugu dress is preserved in place of the hair. Their families guard their tombs. Kidgwiga also confirmed a story which Speke first heard at Karague, that there were dogs in Unyoro that had horns, and to carry his assurance further, declared that he had seen one in the possession of an official person, but it died. The horns of these fabled dogs are filled with magic powder and placed on a war- track for the marching army to step over, to secure them a vic- tory. Sometimes a child is roasted with a cock to subserve a like purpose. Kidgwiga also stated that all the bachelors of his tribe have their habitations in trees, where they invariably sleep, while married people dwell in houses. FEASTING ON MOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND HUMAN FLESH. It was several days before Kamrasi would consent to receive, personally, Speke or Grant, giving all manner of excuses, ap- pointing meetings, but never appearing at them, though he sent pombe, plantains and flour, with his regards. Bombay was dispatched to the king sometimes twice a day, requesting an audience for his masters, but could only get promises, until he varried a rifle with him, and, at the king’s request, shot a cow THE world’s wonders. 105 before a large number of visiting natives from an adjoining kingdom. The. king then became quite communicative, and finally gave to Bombay the following curious reasons for his conduct : “You don’t understand the matter. At the time the white men were living in Uganda, many of the people wlio had seen them there came and described them as such monsters, they ate up mountains and drank the lake dry ; and although they fed on both beef and mutton, they were not satisfied until they got a dish of the ‘tender parts’ of human beings three times a day. Now I was extremely anxious to see men of such wonderful natui’es. I could have stood their mountain-eating and lake- drinking capacities, but on no consideration would I submit to sacrifice my subjects to their appetites.” This w'as quite a sufficient reason, for the king evidently wanted to wait until he could determine whether indeed the white men were such great feasters as they had been represented. After much more parleying and deceiving, the king at length appointed an interview at a hut which lie had specially built for the purpose, where, as he said, no strange eyes could see them. When Speke and Grant arrived at the new palace, they found the king sitting on a low wooden stool which rested upon a double matting of cow and leopard skins. The presents which were brought for his highness were spread before him, whereupon he e.xpressed great delight ; and then referring to the absurd stories told of the white men, said he did not believe them, else his rivers, deprived of their fountain sources, would have run dry , and that even if they did eat hills and the tender parts of man- kind, they should have had enough to satisfy any reasonable appetite before reaching Unyoro. A WONDERFUL SORCERER. Thereafter the travelers had no difficulty in seeing the king, as his simple fancy was usually tickled by some new present. On one occasion, Speke i elates that when the usual hour arrived for him to measure the I’ainfall for the past twenty-four hours, he found the rain-ga ige and bottle had been removed. 106 THE world’s wonders. He therefore sent Kidgwiga to the king to request him to send his magician and institute search for it. Kidgwiga soon returned with an old man, Avho was almost blind, whose dress consisted of strips of leather fastened to his waist. In one hand he carried a cow’s horn primed with magic powder, the mouth of which was carefully covei’ed with a piece of leather, from which dangled an iron bell. The old creature jingled the bell, entered Speke’s hut, squatted on his hams, looked first at one, then at the other ; inquired what the missing things were like, grunted, moved his skinny arm round his head, as if desirous of catching air from all four sides of the hut, then dashed the accumulated air on the head of his horn, smelt it to see if all was going right, jingled the bell again close to his ear, and grunted his satisfaction ; the missing articles must be found. To carry out the incantation more effectually, however, all of Speke’s men were sent for to sit in the open before the hut, when the old doctor rose, shaking the horn and tinkling the bell close to his ear. Then, confronting one of the men, he dashed the horn forward as if intending to strike him on the face, then smelt the head, then dashed at another, and so on, till he became satisfied that the thief was not among them. He then walked into Grant’s hut, inspected that, and finally went to the place where the bottle had been kept. There he walked about the grass with his arm up, and jingling the bell to his ear, first on one side, then on the other, till the track of a hyena gave him the clew, and in two or three more steps he found it. A hyena had carried it into the grass and dropped it. Bravo for the infallible horn ! and well done the king for his honesty in sending it ! So Speke gave the king the bottle and gauge, which delighted him amazingly ; and the old doctor, Avho begged for pombe, got a goat for his trouble. EFFORTS TO LEAVE UNYORO. Kamrasi proved himself as persistent a beggar as Mtesa, and to enable him to get more than Speke was willing to give, the old king cunningly held his white guests prisoners, though all the time professing the wannest friendship and promising whatever THE world’s wonders. 107 aid he could give Kainrasi was hardly so blood-thirsty as Mtesa, but his propensities were very far from the merciful, particularly to women, whom he destroyed with savage delight at times. On one occasion he offered to entertain his visitors by having four women cut to pieces in their presence, just for amusement. 108 THK AVORLD’S AVONDERS. KAMRASl ON HIS THRONE. Avars, ill the same way as the destruction of the Uganda priiioes, after a certain season, is thought necessary for the preservation of peace there. On one occasion, Avhen Speke Avent to visit Kainrasi, the latter became quite communicative, and informed his guest that he was sadly afflicted Avith a disorder which no one but the Avhite man could cure. “ What is it, your majesty?'* said Speke; “lean see nothing in your face; it may, perhaps, require a private King Kamrasi’s sisters are not allowed to Aved ; they Ha'c and die virgins in his palace. Their only oceupation in life consists in drinking milk, of Avhich each one consumes the produce daily of from ten to twenty cows, and hence they become so inordinately fat that they cannot Avalk. Should they Avish to see a relative, or go outside the hut for any purpose, it requires eight men to lift any one of them on a litter. The brothers, too, are not al- lowed to go out of his reach. This confinement of the palace family is considered a state necessity, as a preventive to civil THE world’s wonders. 109 inspection.” “My heart,” he said, “ is troubled because you will not give me your magic horn — the thing, I mean, in your pocket, which you pulled out one day when you were discussing the way ; and 3'ou no sooner looked at it than you said, ‘ This is the way to the palace.’ ” It was Sepke’s chronometer, the only one he had with him, that the old fellow was angling for. The instrument was very valuable, and could not well be spared, so he begged fho king to wait until he could go to the white man’s country and send him another. “No, I must have the one in your pocket,” said Kamrasi ; “ pull it out and show it.” Si)eke reluctantly obeyed, when the impetuous savage seized chronome- ter, chain and all, and deposited it on his own greasy person. The next day Speke sent a message to Kamrasi asking that he might be allowed to depart. The king, thinking him angry for having taken the watch so rudely, took fright at the message, and sent the chronometer back by an attendant, but in a badly damaged condition, as he had used his fingers in showing his people how the hands worked. AFRICAN TWINS. A GREAT deal of superstition surrounds the birth of twin chil- dren in Africa. If one should die the mother continues to milk hei’self every evening for five months, in order that the spirit of the dead child may have plenty to eat and not persecute her. Twins are not buried as ordinary people, under ground, but are placed in earthenware pots and carried to the jungle, where the pots are left, mouths downward, near the roots of a tree. Among some tribes, on the death of a twin, the mother ties a little gourd around her neck, and puts into it a trifle of everything she gives to the living child, lest the spirit of the dead one should become jealous. In some localities, on the death of a child the mother smears herself with butter and ashes, and runs frantically about, teai’ing her hair and bewailing piteously ; while the men of the place use toward her the foulest language, apparently as if in abuse of her person, but in reality to frighten away the demons who have robbed her nest. Delays and broken promises at length so exasperated Speke, 110 THE world’s wonders. who was exceedingly anxious to return home, that he sent a mes~ sage to Kamrasi reminding him of his deceptive promises, and declaring that unless he was permitted to depart at once he would return all the presents the king had given him and regard his ac- tions as hostile. Upon receiving this message Kamrasi was much concerned, and sent Speke a present of a dwarf called Kimenya, thinking to thus allay his wrath. This dwarf was less than a yard in height, had many deformities, and walked with a cane much taller than himself. He made himself quite familiar with the ti’avelers, and amused them by dancing, singing and THE FROLICSOME DWARF. performing many queer antics, ending by giving the charging- march and asking for 500 beads. The colored beads were given him, and he was then sent back to the king, because no possible use could be made of him. Two days more were spent persuading Kamrasi to consent to a departure of the expedition, but to all requests he returned some cunning reply : it was impossible to get his men together so soon ; or, he was fearful lest they should fall into the hands of savages, who had already threatened to exterminate the white travelers ; or, that the weather was unfavorable, and a dozen THE world’s wonders. Ill other pretenses equally unreasonable and vexation^. Forbearance finally lost its virtue, and Speke began to declare his independ- ence, notwithstanding bis great need for an escort and some provisions which the king had promised him. His bold attitude had the desired effect upon Kamrasi, and his consent to their departure was finally obtained. Before saying adieu, however, the old beggar asked for medicine that would prevent the death of offspring, which is a calamity that overtakes a very large pro- portion of children in that country before they are able to walk. He also wanted a medicine that would cause his subjects to love him. Both these remedies, of course, had to be denied, where- upon the king compromised on six carbines, a hair brush, some matches, a pot, and a quantity of ammunition. An escort of twenty-four warriors was then provided, and ten cows were given for meat. The expedition now began its march to Madi. CHAPTER VI. HOMEWARD BOUND. Upon leaving Kamrasi’s, Speke and his men proceeded part of the way by water, in canoes, on the Kafu river, on which they saw many floating islands of grass and reeds, frequently large and compact enough to support cattle, which grazed upon them. One evening, after camping on the banks of the river, a half- drunken native brought them a pot of pombe, and greatly amused them with frantic charges, as if he were fighting with his spear ; and after settling the supposed enemy, he delighted in trampling him underfoot, spearing him repeatedly through and through, then wiping the blade of the spear in the grass, and finally pol- ishing it on his tufty head, when, with a grunt of satisfaction, he shouldered arms and walked away a hero. They continued their water journey until they reached Parau- 112 THE world’s wonders. goni, where they halted to plear.e th3 governor, Magamba, who received them with great kindness. This titled savage was anxious to see all the white men’s possessions, which he regarded with inexpressible wonder. He told the ti’avelers, among other things, that in the neighboring district of Ururi, wdiich is a province of Unyoro, there was a very noted governor, named Kimcziri, whose wisdom was greater than that of any other man in Africa. This wise man had an oiiginal way of doing things ; for example, when his wives i^resented him children there was always more or less doubt about tiieir paternity ; so, to settle the question, he covered the new infants with beads and threw them into the lake ; if they sank he accepted the fact as proof that they Avere not his offspring. It may be inferred that Kime- J ziri had veiy few children out of th 3 lake. ! Speke did not tarry long with the hospitable Magamba, for he was in a country badly infested by thieves, who were daily 1 making efforts to reduce the small store of provisions which be I had with much difficulty accumulated. ^ Ukoro, governor-general of Chopi, sent a message to Speke, requesting him not to proceed furtler down the river, lest the • Chop! ferryman at Karuma falls shoi Id take fright at the strange ' appearance of white men and flee away. Careful to give no ^ offense, he complied with this singular request, and sent his 5 packs overland. , The ground on the line of march was highly cultivated, and i intersected by a deep ravine of runidng water, whose sundry ’ branches made the surface very irregu lar. The sand-paper tree, ^ whose leaves resemble a cat’s tongue in roughness, and which is ; used in Uganda for polishing their clubs and spear-handles, was conspicuous ; but at the end of the journey only was there any ' thing of much interest to be seen. There suddenly, in a deep ravine, the formerly placid river, up which vessels of moderate '■ size might steam two or three abreast, was changed into a turbu- j lent torrent. Beyond lay the land of Kidi, a forest of mimosa .« trees rising gently away from the water in soft clouds of green. This the governor of the place, Kija, described as a sporting- THE world’s wonders. ir3 field, where elephants, hippopotami and buffalo- are hunted by the occupants of both sides of the river. The name given to the Karuma Falls arose from the absurd belief that Karuma, the agent or familiar of a certain great spirit, placed the stones that break the waters in the river, and, for so doing, was applauded by his master, who, to reward his seiwices by an appropriate distinction, allowed the stones to be called by his own name. Near this is a tree which contains a spirit whose attributes for gratifying the powers and pleasures of either men or women who summon its influence in the form appi’opriate to each, appeared to be almost identical with that of Mahadeo’s Ligra in India. AMONG ELEPHANTS, BUFFALOES AND HARTEBEEST. With an increased force the party moved on through very high grass with great difficulty. This was a rich pasture-ground for elephants, buffaloes and hartebeest, many of which were seen, but none happened to be within gun shot, except a single large buffalo, which Speke put a bullet through and then allowed the savage porters who accompanied him the pleasure of dispatching the wounded animal in their own wild fashion with spears. It was a sight quite worthy of a little delay. No sooner was it observed that the huge beast could not retire, than , v/ith spring- ing bounds, the men, all spear in hand, as if advancing on an enemy, went top speed at him, over rise and fall alike, till, as they neared the maddened bull, he instinctively advanced to meet his assailants with the best charge his exhausted body could muster up. Wind, however, failed him soon ; he knew his dis- advantage, and tried to hide by plunging into the w'ater — the worst policy he could ba-'^e pursued ; for the men from the bank above soon covered him with bristling spears, and gained their victory. They then proceeded to cut up and cook the carcass, all the while indulging in loud praises of their personal bravery and prowess. After a journey of more than one whole day, Speke accom- plished the distance which lay between the spot where he had 8 w 114 THE world’s wonders. shot the buffalo and the village of Koki, in the province of Gani. The weather now was fine, and the view afforded was very beautiful, looking toward the village, which was composed of about fifty conical huts, located on the ridge of a small chain of granitic hills. As they appi*oached nearer, knots of naked men could be seen perched like monkeys on the granite blocks awaiting their arrival. According to the usage of the country, Speke and his porters halted while the guides were sent forward to notify Chongi, the governor-general, that a i^arty of visitors from Kamrasi were coming to be his guests for a day or more. This information was very pleasing to Chongi, who had been appointed governor of the district by Kamrasi. All the notables of the place, covered with war-paints, and dressed, so far as their nakedness was covered at all, like clowns in a fair, charged down the hill full tilt with their spears, and, after performing their customary evolutions, mingled with Speke’s men and invited them up the hill, where they no sooner arrived than Chongi, a very old man, attended by his familiar, advanced to receive them — one holding a white hen, the other a small gourd of pombe and a little twig. Chongi gave the party a friendly harangue by way of greeting, and, taking the fowl by one leg, swayed it to and fro close to the ground in front of his assembled visitors. After this ceremony had been repeated by the familiar, Chongi took the gourd and twig and sprinkled the contents all over the travellers ; retired to the Uganda, or magic house — a very diminutive hut — sprinkled pombe over it ; and, finally, spi'eading a cowskin under a free, bade Speke and Grant sit, and gave them a jorum of pombe, making many apologies that he could not show them morehospi tallty, as famine had reduced his stores. What politeness in the midst of such barbarism ! Nowhere had they seen such naked ci’eatures, whose sole dress consisted of bead, iron, or brass orna- ments, with some feathers or cowrie-beads on the head. Even the women contented themselves with a few fibres hung like tails before and behind. The hair of the men was dressed in the same fantastic fashion. Babies were carried at their mother’s backs, THE world’s wonders. 115 as in all savage countries, and the women placed gourds over them to protect them from the sun. These people, like the Kidi, whom they much fear, carry diminutive stools to sit upon wherever they go. A HAPPY MEETING NOT WHOLLY UNALLOYED. Nearly two days were spent with Chief Chongi, who enter- tained his white guests very agreeably, but when Speke desired to move again, he found his porters in a mutinous mood, and more than one-half of them deserted. With such a diminution of their carrying force, they were seriously inconvenienced, but they pushed on anxious to meet an expedition under Petherick, who had come to their relief, and was reported to be then in the Madi country. Late in the afternoon of the day of their de- parture they came in sight of what they supposed was Petherick ’s outpost, under charge of a very black Turk named Mohamed. Guns were fired, flags waved, and other evidences of joy mani- fested. Mohamed came out and greeted Speke and Grant with hugs and kisses, and in reply to inquiries declared that Petherick was then at Gondokoro, about fifteen days’ marches distant. Speke was anxious to set off at once, but Mohamed detained him by various excuses, until at length, by a cunning stratagem, he iiiduced Speke to remain and guard the camp until he returned from a short excursion into the interior on a trading expedition. Mohamed marched his regiment out of the place, drums and fifes playing, colors flying, a hundred guns firing, officers riding, some of them on donkeys, and others on cow's ! wdiile a host of the natives under Eionga, a rebellious brother of Kamrasi, accom- panied them, carrying spears and bows and arrows. The outfit looked very little like a peaceful caravan of merchants, but much more like a band of marauders, as they really were. In this matter Speke was badly outwitted, for the wily Turk was an independent trader, having no connection with Petherick whatever, but by his pretenses induced Speke to guard the camp while he went out to plunder one of Kamrasi's allies. When Mohamed returned to camp he brought his army in laden with ivory, and drove before him five slave girls and thirty head of il6 THE world’s wonders. THE WOKLE’S wonders. 117 cattle. During the time that Speke guarded the camp he was surprised to see an entire village of Madi people removing their habitations from the vicinity. They had suffered enough from Mohamed, and when they saw their opportunity, they literally took up the frames of their houses and went off to found another village, where they hoped the brutal Turk would not find them. Shortly after Mohamed’s arrival with his spoils of victory, there came into camp the head man of a village which the Turk had assisted Eiongain destroying, carrying with him a lai'ge tusk of ivory with which to ransom his daughter, who was one of the five girls seized for slaves. As girls were numerous and of no value, Mohamed accepted the ransom. On the following day his villainous character was again illustrated. Some men who had fled from their village when his plundering party passed by them, surprised that he did not stop to sack their homes, now brought ten large tusks of ivory to him to express the gratitude they said they felt for his not having molested them. Mohamed, on finding how easy it was to get taxes in this fashion, instead of thanking them, assumed the air of the great potentate, whose clemency was abused, and told the poor creatures that, though they had done well in seeking his friendship, they had not suffi- ciently considei’ed his dignity, else they would have brought double that number of tusks, for it was impossible he could be satisfied at so low a price. “ What,” said these poor creatures, “can we do, then, for this is all we have got?” “Oh,” says Mohamed, “if it is all you have got now in store, I will take these few for the present but when I return from Gondokoro I expect you will bring me just as many more. Good-by, and look out for yourselves.” Impatient of delays, and disgusted with Mohamed’s barbarity, Speke at length procured two guides from him, and pushed ahead for the Nile, which they reached after several hard marches, at a place called Jaifi. Here they were oveifaken by the advanced guard of the Turks, who killed a crocodile and ate him on the spot, much to the amusement of Speke’s men, who immediately shook their heads laughingly, and said, “ Ewa Allah ! are these men, then, Mussulmans? Savages in our country don’t much like a crocodile,” 118 THE world’s wonders. JOYFUL MEETING WITH SIR SAMUEL BAKER. Two d;iys later Mohamed overtook Speke, and together they journeyed, with plundered cattle, slave girls and ivory, which the old Turk had so cruelly wrested from the helpless savages, on to Gondokoro. On reaching that place, they met the noted English traveler, Samuel White Baker, and his wife, on their way to the interior of Africa. This meeting must be described in Speke’s own language : “ Walking down the bank of the river — where a line of vessels was moored, and on the right hand a few sheds, one-half broken down, with a brick house representing the late Austrian mission establishment — we saw hurrying on toward us the form of an Englishman, who for one moment we believed was a Simon Pure [Petherick] ; but the next moment niy old friend Baker, famed for his sports in Ceylon, seized me by the hand. A little boy of his establishment had reported our arrival, and he in an instant came out to welcome us. What joy this was I can hardly tell. We could not talk fast enough, so overwhelmed were we both to meet again. Of course we were his guestsin a moment, and learned everything that could be told. I now first heard of the death of H. E. H. the Prince Consort, which made me reflect on the inspiring words he made use of, in compliment to myself, when I was introduced to him by Sir Roderick Murchison a short while before leaving England. Then there was the terrible war in America, and other events of less startling nature, which came on us all by surprise, as years had now passed since we had re- ceived news from the civilized world. “ Baker then said he had come up with three vessels — one dyabirand two nuggers — fullj^ equipped with armed nmn, camels, horses, donkeys, beads, brass wire, and everything necessary for a long journey, expressly to look after us, 'hoping,»as he jokingly said, to find us on the equator in some terrible fix, that he might have the pleasure of helping us out of it. He had heard of Mohamed’ s party, and was actually waiting for him to come in, that he might have had the use of his return-men to start with comfortably. Three Dutch ladies, also, with a view THE world’s wonders. 110 to assist us in the same way as Baker (God bless them), had come here in a steamer, but were driven back to Khartoum by sickness. Nobody had even dreamed for a moment it was pos- sible we could come through. An Italian, named Miani, had gone further up the Nile than any one else, and had cut his name on a tree by Apuddo, at the furthest point reached by him. But what had become of Petherick? He was actually trading at N’yambara, seventy miles due west of this, though he had^ since I left him in England, raised a subscription of £1,000 from my friends to aid him in finding me.” ALARM ABOUT PETHERICK. Speke felt some alarm about the safety of Petherick, and was upon the point of going to his succor, especially as it was reported he had already had one engagement with the natives. But when he was about ready to start, Petherick returned to Gondokoro, and the joy of meeting was complete. We have now followed Speke through Africa, describing all the important facts and incidents recorded in his journal, but before dismissing him to call up another, will present his conclu- sions, which, as will hereafter be seen, were frequently at fault. He says : “Having now, then, after a period of twenty-eight months, come upon the tracks of European travelers, and met them face to face, I close my Journal, to conclude with a few explanations, for the purpose of comparing the various branches of the Nile with its affluents, so as to show their respective values. “ The first affluent, the Bahr el Ghazal, took us by surprise ; for, instead of finding a huge lake, as described in our maps, at an elbow of the Nile, we found only a small piece of wjiter resembling a duck-pond buried in a sea of rushes. The old Nile swept through it with majestic grace, and carried us next to the Geraffe branch of the Sobat river, the second affluent, which we found flowing into the Nile vvith a graceful semi-circular sweep and good stiff current, apparently deep, but not more than fifty yards broad. “Next in order came the main stream of the Sobat, flowing THE WOELD’s WONDEES. 120 into the Nile in the same graceful way as the Geraffe, which iii breadth it surpassed, but in velocity of current was inferior. The Nile by these additions was greatly increased ; still, it did not assume that noble appearance wdiich astonished us so much, immediately after the rainy season, when we were navigating it in canoes in Unyoro, “The Sobat has a third mouth farther down the Nile, which unfortunately was passed without my knowing it ; but as it is so well known to be unimportant, the loss was not gi'eat. “Next to be treated of is the famous Blue Nile, which we found a miserable river, even when compared with the Geraffe branch of the Sobat. It is very bi-oad at the mouth, it is true, but so shallow that our vessel with difBculty was able to come up it. It had all the appearance of a mountain stream, subject to great periodical fluctuations. I was never more disappointed than with this river ; if the White river was cut off from it, its waters would all be absorbed before they could reach Lower Egypt. “TheAtbara river, which is the last affluent, was more like the Blue river than any of the other affluents, being decidedly a mountain stream, which floods in the rains, but runs nearly dry in the dry season. “I had now seen quite enough to satisfy myself that the White river, which issues from the lake at the Ripon Falls, is the true or parent Nile ; for in every instance of its branching, it carried the palm with it in the distinctest manner, viewed, as all the streams were by me, in the dry season, -which is the best time for estimating their relative perennial values.” Of the original number of three hundred porters, guides and interpreters, only eighteen remained faitJiful and returned with Capt. Speke to Alexandria. These were well provided for, and greatly lionized by the English residents of that city, who took them to places of amusement, gave them liberal j^urses, and then returned them to Zanzibar, to remain under the protection of the English consul there. Speke proved himself to be a good traveler, in some respects tHE world's wonders. 121 Superior to those who preceded him or came after, for he managed so well as to avoid collisions with the natives, and to leave Africa with the good will of all its savage kings and chiefs, all of whom were treated with kindly consideration and bettei-ttd by reason of his visit among them. EXPEDITION OF SIR SAMUEL BAKER. CHAPTER VII. OFF FOR THE NILE. Samuel "White Baker, subsequently knighted in recognition of his services as an African explorer, thus begins the account of his first expedition up the Nile : “In March, 1861, I commenced an exjiedition to discover the sources of the Nile, with the hope of meeting the East African expedition of Captains Speke and Grant, that had been sent by the English Government from the South, via Zanzibar, for that object. I had not the presumption to publish my intention, as the sources of the Nile had hitherto defied all explorers, but I had inwardly determined to accomplish this difficult task or die in the attempt. From my youth I had been inured to hardships and endurance in wild sports in tropical climates, and when I gazed upon the map of Africa, I had a wild hope, mingled with humility, that, even as the insignificant worm bores through the hardest oak, I might by perseverance reach the heart of Africa. THE world’s wonders. “I could not conceive that anything in the world had power to resist a determined will, so long as health and life remained. The failure of every former attempt to reach the Nile’s source, did not astonish me, as the expeditions had consisted of parties which, when difficulties occur, generally end in difference of opinion and retreat ; I therefore determined to proceed alone. THE world’s wonders. 123 trusting in the guidance of a Divine Providence, and the good fortune that sometimes attends tenacity of purpose. I weighed carefully the chances of the undertaking. Before me — unti’odden Africa ; against me — the obstacles that had defeated the world since its creation ; on my side — -a somewhat tough constitution, perfect independence, a long experience in savage life, and both time and means which I intended to devote to the object without limit. England had never sent an expedition to the Nile sources previous to that under the command of Speke and Grant. Bruce, ninety years ago, had succeeded in tracing the source of the Blue or Lesser Nile : thus the honor of that discovery belonged to Great Britain ; Speke was on his road from the South, and I felt confident that my gallant friend would leave his bones upon the path rather than submit to failure. I trusted that England would not be beaten ; and although I hardly dared to hope that I could succeed where others greater than I had failed, I determined to sacrifice all in the attempt. Had I been alone it would have been no hard lot to die upon the untrodden path before me ; but there was one who, although my greatest comfort, was also my greatest care ; one whose life yet dawned at so early an age that womanhood Avas still a future. I shud- dered at the prospect for her should she be left alone in savage lands at my death ; and gladly Avould I have left her in the luxuries of home instead of exposing her to the miseries of Africa. It was in vain that I implored her to remain, and that I painted the difficulties and perils still blacker than I supposed they really Avould be : she Avas resolved, Avith Avoman’s constancy and devotion, to share all dangers and to follow me thi'ough each rough footstep of the Avild life before me. And Ruth said, ‘Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee : for whither thou goest I will go, and Avhere thou lodgest I will lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God : where thou diest will I die, and there Avill I be buried : the Lord do so to me and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.’ “Thus accompanied by my wife, on the 15th of April, 1861, 124 THE world’s wonders. I sailed up the Nile from Cairo. The wind blev/ fair and strong from the north, and we flew towards the south against the stream, watching those mysterious waters with a firm resolve to track them to their distant fountain.” When Baker arrived at Berber, he found that a knowledge of Arabic was essential to his success, and therefore devoted the first year to exploring atfluents of the Nile from the Abyssinian range of mountains, which gave him a very excellent means for acquiring the language, as association is a better school than study. STARTING FOR THE NILE SOURCE. Having made himself familiar with Arabic, as did also his wife. Baker prepared, in December, 1862, to proceed with his original purpose. The principal requirement now was a force of arms-bearers and sailors. This preparation had to be made at Khartoum, where many men could be had, but they were gener- ally of a dissolute and perfidious character. However, he enlisted ninety-six men, forty of whom he armed with double-barreled guns and rifles, forty others were sailors, and the remainder servants. He had three boats specially built, which he loaded with twenty-one donkeys, four camels and four horses, hoping these would render him independent of porters, who are so given to desertion. Each man received five months’ wages in advance, and just before starting they were treated to an entertainment, at which they had an abundance to eat and drink. Everything was now ready for the departure, all the supplies and animals having been taken on board, and the men at their several posts, when an officer arrived from Divan to demand a poll-tax from Baker for each of his men, equal to one month’s wages per head, threatening to detain the boats if it was not paid forthwith. Baker ordered his captain to hoist the British flag upon each of the boats, and then answered the demand by declaring that he was neither a Turk nor a trader, but an English explorer, and therefore not responsible for the tax, and that if any official attempted to board his boats he would take pleasure, in the name of Great Britain, in throwing him overboard. The THE world’s wonders. 12^ tax-gatherer made no effort to force a collection, but quietly departed. A FIGHT. The boats were now got under way, but had moved only a short distance when a government boat came sailing swiftly down the river and in a most reckless manner crushed into Baker’s boat, breaking the oars and otherwise damaging it. The reis, or captain, instead of apologizing, broke forth in the wildest abuse and invectives, positively refusing to make reparation for the damage done, and dared any one of Baker’s men to come on board. This captain of the government boat was a gigantic black, so conscious of his physical powers that he felt a savage pride in parading them. As the boats had fallen foul of each other, Baker brushed aside his men and stepped over to the gov- ernment vessel, where the muscular black stood ready to receive him. A tight took place between the two, with natural weapons, in which Baker pommeled his adversary so soundly that the black captain was exceedingly glad to escape further punishment by giving Baker new oars in the place of those that were broken and to abjectly apologize for his conduct. The expedition met with no further embarrassments and pro- ceeded up the river for Gondokoro, which is the head of naviga- tion on the Nile. THE FIRST DEATH. In the party engaged at Khartoum was an adventurous German named John Schmidt. He had been an old hunter in India, well experienced in tropical sports and exposures, and a most service- able man with such an expedition as Baker now commanded, but the poor fellow was badly afflicted with consumption. He was very anxious to accompany Baker, feeling that such a journey would improve his health, which he did not believe was seriously impaired. Baker tried hard to advise him against such an under- taking, dwelling upon the extreme hardships which he must certainly suffer; but Schmidt was determined, and Baker, on the ground of old comradeship, finally consented to take him. 126 THE world’s wonders. especially shice he had rendered such excellent service in prepar- ing for the departure. Baker’s diary, which was kept throughout the long journey, shows how poor Schmidt began to fail, though his great energy kept him from giving up for a long time, but the struggle grew less until the year began to fade out, when with it sped the brave spirit. Baker’s chronicle of this event is as follows : “Johann is in a dying state, but sensible ; all his hopes, poor fellow, of saving money in my service and returning to Bavaria are past. I sat by his bed for some hours ; there was not a ray of hope; he could speak with difficulty, and the flies walked across his glazed eyeballs' Avithouthis knowledge. Gently bathing his face and hands, I asked him if I could deliver any message to his relatives. He faintly uttered, ‘lam prepared to die; I have neither parents nor relations ; but there is one — she’ — he faltered. He could notfinish his sentence, but his dyingthoughts were with one he loved ; far, far away from this wild and miser- able land. Did not a shudder pass over her, a chill warning at that sad moment when all was passing away? I pressed his cold hand and asked her name. Gathering his remaining strength he murmured, ‘ Es bleibt nur zu sterben.’ ‘ Ich bin sehr dankbar.’ These were the last words bespoke, ‘lam very grateful.’ I gazed sorrowfully at his attenuated figure, and at the now pow- erless hand that had laid low many an elephant and lion in its day of strength ; and the cold sweat of death lay thick upon his forehead. Although the pulse was not yet still, Johann was gone. I made a huge cross with my own hands from the trunk of a tamarind tree, and by moonlight we laid him in his grave in this lonely spot. “ No useless coffin enclosed his breast, Nor in sheet nor in shroud we wound him ; But he lay like a Pilgrim taking his rest, With his mantle drawn around him.” A FATAL BUFFALO HUNT. On the evening of January 9th, while the boats were moving at the rate of five miles an hour against the current, a buffalo THE world’s wonders. 127 was sighted in the deep grass about one hundred yards from the river. As meat was scarce, Baker had the boats run to bank, and as the buffalo’s head appeared above the grass he fired, and the animal dropped as if struck dead. Several of the men ran pell-mell after it, and as the beast still appeared to be dead, instead of falling to at once and cutting it up, they danced about it in savage delight, one holding its tail while another danced on the body brandishing his knife. Suddenly the buffalo jumped up, scattered the blacks, and ran off into a morass, where it fell again. The boats tied up for the night, and on the following morning the groans of the wounded animal could plainly be heard. About forty of the men now took their guns and waded knee-deep through mud, water and high grass in search of it. One hour after Baker heard shouting and shooting, which lasted fully twenty minutes ; by aid of the telescope he could see a crowd of his men standing on an ant-hill three hundred yards distant, from which point they were still shooting at some indis- tinguishable object. The death-howl then followed, and the men were seen to rush down from their secure position, and directly afterward returned to the boats, carrying the dead and mangled body of Sali Achmet, Baker’s most valuable man. It transpired that this man had been attacked by the wounded buffalo and killed in sight of his comrades, who were too cowardly to render him any assistance. The poor fellow was horribly mangled, and, as usual with buffaloes, the furious beast had not rested content until it pounded the breath out of the body, which was found imbedded and trampled so tightly in the mud that only a portion of the head appefired above the marsh. In relating the story to Baker, the men stated that three men were with Sali when the buffalo charged him, but that the cowards bolted without firing a gun, and took position on an ant- hill, from which they saw their comrade tossed into the air and heard his distressing cries for help without responding. This was a fair sample of the courage of the native Africans, who exalt their bravery when danger is not near, but who run like sheep at the first intimation of peril. 128 THE world’s wonders. The buffalo was found dead from exhaustion, its shoulder having been broken, and was secured, wdiile poor Sali was buried according to the usages of his countrymen. The boats were then got underway again. MEETING WITH A STRANGE PEOPLE. On the 13th of January the expedition stopped near a village on the right bank of the river. The natives came down to the boats, — they were something superlative in the way of savages; the men as naked as they came into the world ; their bodies rubbed with ashes, and their hair stained red by a plaster of ashes and cow’s urine. Baker says these fellows were the most unearthly-looking devils he ever saw — there was no other expression for them. The unmarried women were also entirely naked ; the married had a fringe made of grass around their loins. The men wore heavy coils of beads about their necks, two heavy bracelets of ivory on the upper portion of the arms, copper rings upon the wrists, and a horrible kind of bracelet of massive iron armed with spikes about an inch in length, like leopard’s claws, which they used for a similar purpose. The chief of the Nuehr village, Joctian, with his Avife and daughter, paid a visit to the boats, and asked for all they sarv in the shape of beads and bracelets, but declined a knife as useless.. They went away delighted with their presents. The women Avere very ugly. The men were tall and powerful, armed Avith lances. They carried pipes that contained nearly a quarter of a pound of tobacco, in Avhich they smoked simple charcoal should the loved tobacco fail. The carbonic acid gas of the charcoal produces a slight feeling of intoxication, which is the effect desired. Baker took the chief’s portrait ; of course he vvas delighted. In reply to a question as to the use of the spiked iron bracelet, he exhibited his Avife’s arms and back covered Avith jagged scars. Charming people, these poor blacks ! He Avas quite proud of having claAved his wife like a Avild beast. NOVEL CONTEST AVITH A HIPPOPOTAMUS. On the 15th of January, Avhile the men ashore were drawing THE world’s wonders. 129 the boats, their heads being invisible on account of the tall grass, a hippopotamus was frightened out of his lair and appeared directly under the bow of the boat. In an instant, about twenty men, thinking the animal an infant one, jumped overboard to grapple with it, but as the supposed baby suddenly 130 THE WOKLD’s wonders. appeared again about three times as large as they expected it was, they showed no farther eagerness to close with it. However, the captain of the boat, more courageous than the rest, pluckily seized the hippopotamus by one of its hind legs, whereupon the others rushed in and a grand tussle followed. Kopes wei’e thrown from the boat and nooses slipped over the animal’s head, but these efforts for its capture were so futile that the hippopot- amus swam rapidly toward midstream and would have carried everything with it, had not Baker put an end to the sport by shooting the beast. He was scored all over by the tusks of some other hippopot- amus that had been bullying him. The men declared that his father had thus misused him ; others were of opinion that it was his mother ; and the argument ran high and became hot. These Arabs have an extraordinary taste for arguments upon the most trifling points. Baker says he has frequently known his men to argue throughout the greater part of the night, and commence the same argument on the following morning. These debates generally end in a fight ; and in the present instance the excite- ment of the hunt only added to the heat of the argument. They at length agreed to refer it to the master, and both parties ap- proached, vociferously advancing their theories ; one-half persist- ing that the young hippo had been bullied by his father, and the others adhering to the mother as the cause. Baker, being ref- eree, suggested that “ perhaps it was his uncle.^’ “ Wah Illahi sahe !” (By Allah, it is true!) Both parties were satisfied with the suggestion ; dropping their theory they became practical, and fell to with knives and axes to cut up the cause of the argu- ment. The hippopotamus was as fat as butter, and was a per- fect godsend to the people, who divided him with great excite- ment and good humor. A STRANGE RACE OF PEOPLE. On the 19th of January the boats emerged from the apparently endless region of marsh-grass and saw on the right bank a large herd of grazing cattle tended by naked natives. This proved to be the Kytch country, a tribe of the most strange and singular THE world’s wonders. 131 people that can be found in Africa. At the principal station, Zareebo, one of the natives generously offered Baker a bullock, which he refused, until he saw that the man was affronted. Notwithstanding the vast herds of cattle these people own, their misery is beyond description. They will not kill their cattle, nor do they ever taste meat unless an animal dies of sickness ; neither will they work, and thus starvation is common among them, as they exist almost wholly upon rats, lizards, snakes and fish. They capture fish by means of a harpoon, which is a neatly made instrument, attached to a reed pole about twenty feet in length, and secured by a long line. They cast the harpoon haphazard, anywhere among the reeds, without regard for signs of fish ; thus they may make and do make hundreds of casts before striking a fish. Occasionally, but always by accident, they har- poon species of fish Aveighing as much as tAvo hundred pounds ; and in such an event a long and exciting chase ensues, for the fish carries away the harpoon and the spearman has to swim Avith the line and play with the fish until it is tired out. Baker Avas introduced to the chief of the Kytch tribe, and he describes him and his people as follows: “ The chief of the Kytch people wore a leopard skin across his shoulders, and a skull-cap of white beads, Avith a crest of ostrich feathers ; but the mantle Avas merely slung over his shoulders, and all other parts of his person Avere naked. His daughter Avas the best- looking girl that I have seen among the blacks ; she Avas about sixteen. Her clothing consisted of a little piece, of dressed hide, about a foot wide, slung across her shoulders, all other parts being exposed. All the girls of this country Avear merely a circlet of little iron jingling ornaments round their Avaist. They came in numbers, bringing small bundles of Avood to ex- change for a few handfuls of corn. Most of the men are tall, but wretchedly thin ; the children are mere skeletons, and the entire tribe appears thoroughly starved. The language is that of the Dinka. The chief carried a curious tobacco-box, an iron spike about two feet long, with a hollow socket, bound with iguana-skin ; this served for either tobacco-box, club, or dagger. 132 THE ■world’s wonders. THE CHIEF AND HIS DAUGHTER. FIGHTING BLACK AMAZONS. Shortly after leaving the Kytch country, squall of wind came up, which took avvay one mast of the best boat and left it a wreck. Baker had now to proceed entirely by cordelling, which process was very slow and not without danger to the men, who had to wade through marshes in which were numerous croc- odiles, snakes and hippopotami ; besides, the country was filled with malaria, mosquitoes and a sultry atmosphere. Thus day by ' ay passed, and but for one incident the monotony of the journey The whole day we were beset by ci’owds of starving people, bringing small gourd-shells to receive the expected corn.” Among the Kytch polygamy is, of course common. When a man becomes too old for his several wives his eldest son becomes his substitute. THE WOELD’S wonders. 133 would have been vexatiously wearisome. This diversion was afforded, strange enough, bv the fighting black women on board, who worried, quarreled and scratched like Gehenna cats. Among these was one little black terrier named Gaddum Her, very short, but wonderfully strong and plucky ; she was the embodiment of long-cultivated vice, and was always spoiling for a fight. On one occasion this little wretch fought with another of her tribe until they rolled all over the boat, and finally down into the hold, where they landed upon a number of water-jars, which they broke. On the next day the fight was renewed, and did not end until both had fallen into the river. This irritability was not only manifested among the women, but the donkeys, horses and camels also had their daily fights. THE ALIAS TRIBE. On January zoch Baker passed two bivouacs of Aliabs, who were tending large herds of cattle. These people appeared quite friendly; they were hardly so bad as the Kytch tribe, but were very low in the scale of humanity. They not only milk their cows, but bleed them every month, by driving a lance into a vein d ammunition with them. Baker roundly abused his leader for permitting them to escape, and declared that the vultures 156 THE WOKLD’s wonders. would pick the bones of the base recreants who had abandoned them. This threat seemed to have much effect upon the men, and when, three days later, Belaal and his four compatriots were Killed by a band of savage natives, the superstitious people believed that it was through some magic power exerted by Baker, so that they hailed him as a powerful magician. This belief he did not attempt to dispel, and it w'as fortunate that he did not, for it served him well on future occasions. THE PEOPLE OF TARRANGOLLE. Thirteen miles from Latome lay the largest village in the Latooka country, Tarrangolle, where Moy, the chief, resided. This was Ibrahim’s destination, the place where he collected his ivory and slaves, and carried them back to Gondokoro, which, by dead reckoning, was only 101 miles distant, but nearly a month is required to make the journey. Crowds of natives came out of the village to receive Baker and the Turks, but their curiosity was attracted almost exclusively to the camels and the white woman, paying little heed to Baker himself, because he was brown as an Arab. The Latookas are doubtless the finest made savages in all Africa. A score or more of them who came into Baker’s tent were measured, and a\ eraged five feet eleven and one-half inches. Not only are they tall, but they possess a wonderful musculai development, having beautifully proportioned legs and arms ; and although extremely powerful, they are never fleshy or cor- pulent. The formation of head and general physiognomy is totally different from all other tribes in the neighborhood of the White Nile. They have high foreheads, large eyes, rather high cheek-bones, mouths not very large, well shaped, and the lips rather full. They have a remarkably pleasing cast of counten- ance, and are a great contrast to other tribes in civility of manner. They are frank but warlike, excessively merry, ready either for a laugh or fight. The town of Tarrangolle contains about three thousand houses, which are not only surrounded by iron-wood palisades., THE world’s wonders. 157 but every individual house is fortified by a stockaded courtyard. The cattle are kept in large kraals and very carefully tended, even to the lighting of fires to keep annoying insects from them. The houses are bell-shaped, rising into a sharp-pointed cone, twenty-five feet high, resting on a circular wall four feet in height. The doorway is only two feet high, so that entrance is made by crawling; the interior is clean, but unlighted by windows, the only light received being through the door. A PLENTIFUL CROP OF DEAD MEN’s BONES. Baker says he noticed, during the march from Latome, that the vicinity of every town was announced by heaps of human remains, bones and skulls, forming an incipient Golgotha within a quarter of a mile of every village. Some of the bones were in earthenware pots, generally broken ; others lay strewn here and there ; while a heap in the centre showed that some form hau originally been observed in their disposition. This was explained by an extraordinary custom most rigidly observed by the Latookas. Should a man be killed in battle the body is allowed to remain where it fell, and is devoured by the vultures anv\ hyenas ; but should he die a natural death, he or she is bui'ied in a shallow grave within a few feet of his own door, in the little courtyard that surrounds each dwelling. Funeral dances are then kept up in memory of the dead for several weeks; at the expiration of which time, the body being sufficiently decomposed, is exhumed. The bones are cleaned, and are deposited in an earthenware jar, and carried to a spot near the town, which is regarded as the cemetery. The costume of the Latookas is simple enough, as they make no effort to cover any part of the body, but infinite care is bestowed upon the hair, which is trained to grow into the shape of a helmet, the perfecting of which requires unremitting attention for eight or ten years. Their weapons consist of the lance, a powerful iron-headed mace, a long-bladed knife, and an ugly iron bracelet, armed with knife-blades about four inches in length by one-half inch broad ; this latter weapon is used to 158 THE world’s wonders. strike with if disarmed and to cut with when struggling with an enemy. The women are as plain as the men are fastidious ; they are not even acquainted with the use of a loin-cloth. They are not well made as the men, for while the latter are sinewy and graceful, the women are immense creatures, with prodigious limbs and in all respects appear to be admirably fitted for the drudgery service they are put to. chief moy and his wife. On the day after Baker’s arrival he was visited by the chief, who had never before seen a white person. Seating him upon a piece of Persian carpet. Baker poured out a quantity of beads, necklaces, copper bars, and colored cotton handkerchiefs. Among the gifts was a necklace composed of opal beads, the size of marbles. He seized them like a greedy child and requested a similar necklace for his wife, Bokke ; this being also given him, the chief said, “What a row there will be in the family when my other wives see Bokke (who was his chief wife) dressed up with this finery.” This was, of course, a demand for more opal beads, whereupon Baker gave him three pounds of beads to be divided among his wives. On the next day Bokke called at Baker’s hut, covered with beads, and presenting a singular spectacle by reason of the scars on her cheeks, tattoo marks on her temples, and a piece of ivory pending from a perforation through her lower lip. Despite these disfigurations she was real pretty, and her daughter. Baker declares, was the handsomest savage girl he ever saw. Bokke made herself entertaining by asking how many wives the white man had, and laughing with scorn, if not incredulity, when told that he had but one. She also suggested to Mrs. Baker that her looks would be very much improved by knocking out her four lower front teeth, according to the custom of that country, and wearing red ointment on her hair and a piece of bone through her lower lip. In the afternoon of the following day she came again, with the information that Mohamed Her and his party of 110 men had THE world’s wonders. 159 been massacred by the Latookas, one of whose villages he had tried to destroy and to make slaves of the inhabitants. Very soon after other runners arrived with pai’ticulars of the fight, confirming the first reports. This news put the people of Tar- rangolle into a furore of excitement, particularly as Ibrahim’s followers had been maltreating the Latooka women. A big fight threatened, the war drums were beaten, and several thousand warriors assembled to exterminate the Turks in their village, and Baker as well ; but chief Moy, who had become somewhat attached to his white guests, on account of the presents given, prevented his people from making an attack. Although there were not less than 10,000 head of cattle belong- ing to the people of Tarrangolle, they would not sell a single beef. The want of meat was so badly felt that Baker bad to resort to his gun. Fortunately ducks and geese were very plen- tiful in a stream near the town, and eVery day he shot a suflicient number to supply his men. A FUNERAL DANCE. A VERY interesting ceremony was witnessed by Baker at Latooka, being nothing less than a funeral dance in honor of one of the brave warriors of the tribe. The dancers were grotesquely appareled, as is the custom of all savage tribes during such cere- monies. A dozen very large ostrich feathers adorned their helmets of hair, while leopard or black and white monkey skins were suspended from their shoulders, and a leather strap tied round the waist supported a large iron bell, which was girded upon the loins like a woman’s bustle ; this they rung to the time of the dance, by jerking their posteriors in the most ridiculous manner. Every dancer wor3 an antelope’s horn suspended round the neck, which he blew occasionally in the height of his excitement. These instruments produced a sound partaking of the braying of a donkey and the screech of an owl. Crowds of men rushed round and round in a sort of “galop infernel,” brandishing their lances and iron-headed maces, and keeping tolerably in line five or six deep, following the leader who headed them, dancing barfeward. The women kept outside the liue^ dancing a low, THE WOPXD’s wonders. 161 stupid step, and screaming a wild and most inharmonious chant, while a long string of joung gii’ls and small children, their heads and necks rubbed with red ochre and grease, and prettily orna- mented with strings of beads around their loins, kept a very good line, beating the time with their feet, and jingling the numerous iron rings which adorned their ankles, to keep time with the drums. One woman attended upon the men, running through the crowd with a gourd full of wood-ashes, handfuls of which she showered over their heads, powdering them like millers ; the object of the operation Baker could not understand. The “premiere danseuse” was immensely fat ; she had passed the bloom of youth, but despite her unwieldy state, she kept up the pace to the last, quite unconscious of her general appearance, and absorbed with the excitement of the dance. AN AFRICAN PRINCE ’s IDEA OP THE HEREAFTER. When the funeral services were over, Baker, anxious to learn something of the origin of the ceremonies he had just witnessed, and hoping to find in them some analogy to Christian rights and beliefs, sent for Commoro (the “Lion”), brother of Moy, the chief, and entered into conversation with him on the resurrection of the body. He declares that Commoro was ono of the most clever and common-sense savages any white man ever met with, and reports the conversation, which was interpreted, as follows: “Have you no belief in existence after death?” asked Baker. “Existence after death 1” exclaimed the savage. “Can a dead man get out of his grave unless we dig him out?” “ Do you think man is like a beast, that dies and is ended?” “Certainly ; an ox is stronger than a man, but he dies and his bones last longer ; they are bigger. A man’s bones break quickly — he is weak.” “Is not a man superior in sense to an ox ; has he not a mind to direct his actions ! ” “ Some men are not so clever as an ox. Men must sow corn to obtain food, but the cx and wild animals can procure it without sowing.” 11 w 162 THE world’s wonders. “ Do you not know that there is a spirit within you more than flesh? Do you not dream and wander in thought to distant places in your sleep? Nevertheless, your body rests in one spot. How do you account for this?” “Well, how do you account for it?” said Commoro, laughing. “ It is a thii^g I cannot understand ; it occurs to me every night.” “ The mind is independent of the body ; the actual body can be fettered, but the mind is uncontrollable; the body will die ind will become dust, or be eaten by vultures, but the spirit will exist forever.” “Where will the spirit live?” “ Where does fire live? Cannot you produce a fire by I'ubbing two sticks together, yet you see no fire in the -wood? Have you no idea of the existence of spirits superior to either man or beast? Have j'^ou no fear of evil except from bodily causes?” “lam afraid of elephants and other animals when in the jungle at night, but of nothing else.” “Then you believe in nothing; neither in a good nor evil spirit ! And ^'ou believe that wdien you die it will be the end of body and spirit ; that you are like other animals, and that there is no distinction between man and beast ; both disappear and end at death?” “ Of course they do.” “ Do you see no difference in good and bad actions?” “Yes, there are good and bad in men and beasts.” “ Do you think that a good man and a bad must share the same fate, and alike die, and end?” “Yes; what else can they do? How can they help dying? Good and bad all die.” « “Their bodies perish, but their spirits remain; the good in happiness, the bad in misery. If you have no belief in a future state, why should a man be good? Why should be not be bad, if he can prosper by his wickedness?” “ Most people are bad ; if they are strong they take from the weak. The good people are all weak ; they are good because they are not strong enough t.f' be bad.” THE world’s wonders. 163 Some corn had been taken out of a sack for the horses, and a few grains lying scattered on the ground, Baker tried the beau- tiful metaphor of St. Paul as an example of a future state. Making a small hole Avith his finger in the ground, he placed a grain within it; “That,” he said, “represents you when you die.” Covering it with earth, he continued, “That grain will decay, but from it will rise the plant that will produce a reap- pearance of the original form.” “ Exactly so ; that I understand. But the original grain does not rise again ; it rots like the dead man, and is ended ; the fruit produced is not the same grain that we buried, but the, production of that grain : so it is with man, — I die, and decay, and am ended ; but my children grow up like the fruit of the grain. Some men have no children, and some grains perish without fruit ; then all ai’e ended. Baker saw it was useless to argue further, and frankly says : “ I was obliged to change the subject of conversation. In this wild, naked savage there was not even a superstition upon which to found a religious feeling ; there was a belief in matter ; and to his understanding everything was material. It was extraor- dinary to find so much clearness of perception combined with such complete obtuseness to anything ideal.” ELEPHANT HUNTING. Baker remained at Latookq^ two weeks or more, waiting the return of Ibrahim from Gondokoro, whither he had gone for a new supply of ammunition ; and to better employ the time of his detention, on the 15th of April, just as the rainy season Avas setting in, he resolved upon a hunt for large game, traces of which Avere numerous Avithin five miles of Latooka. Accordingly, Avith a good guide and several servants to carry the guns, he set out, and coming to a plain covered Avith long rich grasses, he Avas suddenly startled by a rhinoceros bolting out of a copse close to his horse’s head, and plunging into another before he could seize his gun. He Avould have folloAvod had not his attention been called aAvay from the rhinoceros by a shout from his servants, 164 THE world’s wonders. who reported a herd of large bull elephants browsing in a forest at the edge of the plain. Stopping short to locate the herd, he was delighted to see two large bulls bearing down toward him, *ess than one hundred yards distant. He dismounted to get steady shot, but the elephants saw the Latookas and, taking ' ight, rushed off to join the main herd, only a short distance THE world’s wonders. 165 away. Baker soon mounted and dashed toward the elephants, but his horse stepped into a buffalo hole and fell hard ou his leg. He fortunately extricated himself without difficulty, and, mount- ing another horse, rode at full speed toward the fugitive game, which had gained considerable distance, and disappeared in the wood. After a quarter of an hour of hard riding he saw an enormous bull ploughing through the brush like an immense engine, tearing down everything in his way. The country was unfavorable for the hunter, on account of buffalo holes, and though approaching within twenty yards, he was unable to get a fair shot. Away they flew over ruts and gullies until the ponderous brute was chased to another open plain, when a ball was planted in his shoulder ; though badly struck the elephant did not alter his course or speed until another shot was put close to the first one. The animal now slackened his speed, then turned about and made straight for his assailant, screaming like an infuriated demon. Baker put spurs to his horse, having urgent business in another vicinity, and as he was not pursued more than a hundred yards, made his escape. He prepared for another attack by taking a larger gun and starting after the wounded beast, but had gone less than a dozen yards when he saw a closely-packed herd of eighteen elephants coming directly toward him ; but as soon as they discovered him they broke off in another direction. In the herd he noticed an uncommonly large bull that was armed with an immense and beautiful pair of tusks ; this one he determined to cut out from the others, and by shouting succeeded in scattering them ; he now rode for the chosen one, but the elephant seeing himself pursued, turned and charged so determinedly upon his assailant that his escape appeared for a time impossible; fortunately, again the elephant stopped, almost at the moment he might have caught the bold hunter, and entered a thicket where a horse could not well follow. Baker went into the woods to find the herd again, and soon came upon the one he had wounded. It was standing in a painful attitude as if upon the very point of dissolution, but the moment its fiery eyes rested upon the hunter the maddened beast charged THE M'OELd’s wonders. 167 him again ; another shot brought the elephant to his knees, but he rallied quickly, and lifting his great trunk and screaming with rage, he rushed after Baker, whose horse was now badly jaded. The race this time was more exciting than before, for, instead of stopping after a short run, the elephant kept its swift pace and followed for more than a mile, all the while gradually gaining, until the distance between pursued and pursuer was not more than ten yards, while the horse was nearly ready to fall from exhaustion. The cowardly servants, who were also mounted on horses, were so mindful of their own safety that they made no effort to divert the attention of the elephant, but ran as swiftly and as far away as possible. Baker was almost upon the point of despair; he knew that the climax must soon be reached, which would be hastened should his horse fall. In a moment of desper- ation he turned his horse aside, like a hare doubling on the dogs, just in time to feel the swish of the elephant’s trunk as it grazed him, but the momentum of the great brute carried him by. Seeing his enemy now running in a new direction, the elephant broke off up hill, and on the following morning was found dead in a jungle not far distant from where he had abandoned the pursuit. ELEPHANT PITS AND NATIVE HUNTERS. Elephant flesh is very poor eating to white men, but it is highly esteemed by the black races of Africa, notwithstanding its leathery consistency and strong taste ; the fat is prized above the meat, however, as it is used both for food and to grease their bodies. The more common method used by the natives to capture ele- phants is by pit-falls ; these are dug near some drinking place, and trees are so felled that they leave only a pathway in which the pit-falls are placed. These pits are usually three feet broad, twelve feet long and nine feet deep, tapering toward the bottom ; they are concealed by straw and sticks over which elephant dung is scattered to complete the deception. When an animal falls into the pit his two feet are jammed together in the narrow 168 THE world’s wonders. bottom, and so nearly upright that he can scarcely move, in which helpless condition he is easily dispatched with spears. Another way of killing elephants, much resorted to — generally in January, when the prairies are parched — is by locating a lai-ge herd and then firing the grass. Surrounded by a circle of fire, the animals huddle together or blindly rush from one side of the circle to another and become so panic-stricken that there is no danger incurred in attacking them with spears or lances. The next method of hunting is perfectly legitimate. Should many elephants be in the neighboi’hood, the natives post about a hundred men in as many large trees ; these men are armed with heavy lances specially adapted to this sport, with blades about eighteen inches long and three inches broad. The elephants are driven by a great number of men toward the trees in which the spearmen are posted, and those that pass suflGiciently near are speared between the shoulders. The spear being driven deep into the animal, creates a frightful wound, as the tough handle, striking against the intervening branches of trees, acts as a lever, and works the long blade of the spear within the elephant, cutting to such an extent that he soon drops from exhaustion. The best and only really great elephant-hunters of the White Nile are the Bagara Arabs, on about the 13° N. lat. These men hunt on horseback, and kill the elephant in fair fight with their spears. The lance is about fourteen feet long, of male bamboo ; the blade is about fourteen inches long by nearly three inches broad, and as sharp as a razor. Two men, thus armed and mounted, form the hunting party. Should they discover a herd, they ride up to the finest tusker and single him from the others. One man now leads the way, and the elephant, finding himself pressed, immediately charges the horse. There is much art required in leading the brute, who follows the horse with great determination, and the rider adapts his pace so as to keep his horse so near that his attention is entirely absorbed with the hope of catching him. The other hunter should by this time have followed close to the elephant’s heels, and, dismounting when at full gallop, with wonderful dexterity, he plunges his THE world’s wonders. 369 speur with both hands into the animal about two feet below the junction of the tail, and with all his force he drives the weapon deep into the abdomen, and withdraws it immediately. Should he be successful in his stab, he remounts his horse and flies, or does his best to escape on foot, should he not have time to mount, as the elephant generally turns to pursue him. His comrade immediately turns his horse, and dashing at the elephant, in his turn dismounts, and stabs the beast with his lance. Generally, if the first thrust is scientifically given, the elephant is at once disabled. Two good hunters will frequently kill several out of one herd ; but in this dangerous hand-to-hand fighting the hunter is often the victim. Hunting the elephant on horseback is certainly far less dangerous than on foot, but although the speed of the horse is undoubtedly superior, the chase generally takes place upon ground so disadvantageous that he is liable to fall, in which case there is little chance for either animal or rider. So savage are the natural instincts of Africans that they attend only to the destruction of the elephant, and never attempt its domestication. * CHAPTEK X. THE MAKKARIKA CANNIBALS. Among the Turkish soldiery Ibrahim had left at Latooka, was a black Bornu man, named Ibrahimawa, who had been captured when a lad twelve years old and sold at Constantinople to Moham- med Ali Pasha. This man had been to London, Paris, and all over Europe, and besides being a great traveler was smart and valorous. He was an object of much interest to Baker, from the fact that, in addition to his travels, he had served for some years with a trading party that had penetrated through the Makkarika 170 THE WORLEYS WONDERS. country. This country lies two hundred miles west of Gondo- koro, and is inhabited by cannibals. The stories of his adventures among these man-eaters were highly edifying and of no little importance, since Baker’s steps were bent in that direction. Ibrahimawa and many of his party had been frequent witnesses to acts of cannibalism during their residence among the Makka- rikas. They described these cannibals as remarkably good people, but possessing a peculiar taste for dogs and human flesh. They accompanied the trading parties in their raids, and inva- riably ate the bodies of the slain. The traders complained that they were bad associates, as they insisted on killing and eating the children which the party wished to secure as slaves : their custom was to catch a child by its ankles, and to dash its head against the ground ; thus killed, they extracted the stomach and intestines, and tying the two ankles to the neck, they carried the body by slinging it over the shoulder, and thus returned to camp, where they divided it by quartering, and boiled it in a large pot. On one occasioA, many slave women and children, on witness- ing such a scene, rushed panic-stricken from the spot and took refuge in the trees. The Makkarikas, seeing them in flight, were excited to give chase, and pulling the children from their refuge among the branches of the trees, they killed several, and in a short time a great feast was prepared for the whole party. ON THE MARCH TO OBBO. Ibrahim returned from Gondokoro on the last day of April, having made the trip with much expedition, considering the large supply of ammunition that he brought back with him. Having had some very favorable reports from the Obbo country, whose natives desired to trade with the Turks, Ibrahim decided to pay It a visit, much to the delight of Baker, who had now only fifteen men and no porters ; besides, Obbo lay directly in the path of Baker’s intended journey to the Nile source. Accordingly, on the 2d of May the two joarties started from Latooka for the new country, forty miles distant, their friendship being now well and truly cemented . THE world’s wonders. 171 Most of the country traversed in going to Obbo was exceed- ingly beautiful, being richly diversified by mountains, on the peaks of which native villages could be seen, impregnable by position, and green valleys covered with large herds of wild game lent variety to the view. There was also an abundance of wild fruits and nuts of most delicious taste, providing suflScient support for the natives. The journey was made without special incident, and on arrival they were most hospitably received by the chief, Katchiba, who was an old man, but a great clown and joker. He had one specially good point, however — he did not beg. In the evening an entertainment was provided by the chief for his visitors, which Baker describes as follows: “About a hundred men formed a circle ; each man held in his left hand a small, cup-shaped drum, formed of hollowed wood, one end only being perfoi'ated, and this was covered with the skin of the elephant’s ear, tightly stretched. In the centre of the circle was the chief dancer, who wore, suspended from his shoulders, an immense drum, also covered with the elephant’s ear. The dance commenced by all singing remarkably well a wild but agreeable tune in chorus, the big drum directing the time, and the whole of the little drums striking at certain periods with such admirable precision that the effect was that of a single instru- ment. The dancing was most vigorous, and far superior to anything that I had seen among either Arabs or savages, the figures varying continually, and ending with a ‘ grand galop ’ in double circles, at a tremendous pace, the inner ring revolving in a contrary direction to the outer, the effect of which was excellent.” CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OBBO PEOPLE. The men of Obbo wear a dress consisting of a skin slung across the shoulder and loins, but the women are §lmost naked, and instead of wearing the leather apron and tail of the Latookas, they are contented with a slight fringe of leather shreds, about four inches long by two broad, suspended from a belt. The unmarried girls go entirely naked ; or, if they are 172 THE world’s wonders. specially rich in finery, they wear two or three strings of beads as a covering. The old ladies are antiquated Eves, whose dress consists of a string around the waist, in which is stuck a bunch of green leaves, the stalks uppermost. Some of the more prudish young ladies indulge in a like covering, but they do not appear to be fashionable. One great advantage of this leaf costume is that it may be always clean and fresh, as the nearest bush (if not thorny) provides a clean petticoat. When in the society of these very simple and really modest Eves, one cannot help reflecting upon the Mosaical descriptior of our first parents, “ and they sewed fig leaves together.” A ROYAL SORCERER. Chief — or as Si>eke would call him, king — Katchiba, holds his subjects by a power which is most effective among savages, viz : sorcery. Should one of his people displease him or refuse a gift asked for, the old chief threatens to curse his goats and wither his crops, and the fear of his power usually forces obedience. Should there be either a drouth or destructive rainfall, Katchiba assembles his subjects and in a fatherly way expresses his regrets that their conduct has forced him toafilict them with unfavorable weather, but that it is their own fault. If they are so greedy or stingy that they will not supply him properly, how can they expect him to regard their interests? He must have goats and corn — “ No goats, no rain ; that’s our contract, my friends.” Should his people complain of too much rain, he threatens to pour storms and lightning upon them forever, unless they bring him corn, beer and provisions. No man would think of starting upon a journey without first receiving the old chief’s blessing, which is supposed to act as a spell to avert all evil. In case of sickness he is called in to charm away the disease, but his practice exhibits the same fluctuating results that attend the efforts of all doctors. In order to propitiate this royal sorcerer, his people frequently pre- sent him with their prettiest daughters, so that he is enabled to keep a harem at every village in his country, and in his journeys he is at home wherever he goes. His multiplicity of wives has THE WOELD’s wonders. 173 made him a famous father ; at the time of Baker’s visit the old chief had one hundred and sixteen children living, and perhaps as many more dead. Each village in the Obbo country is ruled by one of his sons, so that the entire government is a family affair. A FINE OLD CHIEF. Katchiba was not a bad man, although a sorcerer, and he treated Baker with much kindness, besides furnishing most valu- able information concerning the country south of him. It was now May, and he told Baker that on account of the Asua river being swollen by heavy rains, it would be impossible to cross it before December, and he must therefore postpone his departure. In his anxiety to proceed, however. Baker left his wife at Obbo, under a guard of eight men and the immediate care of Katchiba, who promised to protect her; and taking three men with him, he started upon a short trip to test the accuracy of the chief’s assertions in regard to the river. Proceeding southward, the route lay through a lovely country, park-like and well-wooded, though generally overgrowni wkh grass about six feet high. Upon reaching the Asua river it was found to be a roaring torrent, and Baker’s conclusions in regard to it were confirmed by a local chief, who assured him that it could not be crossed during the rainy season. He accordingly returned to Obbo. He had been absent more than a week, and naturally felt some anxiety in regard to the safety of his wife, but he found her looking remarkably well, and regularly installed “at home.” Several fat sheep were tied by the legs to pegs in front of the hut, a number of tame fowls were pecking around the entrance, and she met her husband on the threshold with a large pumpkin shell containing about a gallon of native beer. These luxuries were all presents from the kind-hearted old chief, who soon appeared upon the scene, weailng a very self-satisfied countenance at having so faithfully carried out his promise to protect the white woman. Mrs. Baker gave him an excellent character; he had even been so careful of her safety as to place several of his own sons as guards over the hut day and night. Baker accord- 174 THE WOELD’s wonders. ingly presented him with some beads, bracelets, and other odds and ends, which threw him into ecstacies of delight. Among the presents was a pair of sun-goggles, which he placed upon his flat nose and then viewed himself with great complacency in a small mirror, which had also been given to him. He regarded his presents with the pleasure and pride of a child, and his kind old heart swelled with gratitude toward his beloved white guests. Baker noticed that the old chief was lame in the back, and was THE OLD SORCERER ON HIS TRAVELS. told that he had received a bad fall during his absence. Mrs. Baker laughingly explained the matter. Katchiba had come to her one morning, saying that he wished to procure some chickens for her from one of his distant villages, but, said he, “ my people no good ; he say he got no chicken — but you lend me horse, and I ride him, then they be fraid and give me plenty chicken.” Katchiba was not a good walker, owing to his age and infirmities, and also to the fact that his old head was nearly always fuddled with large draughts of native beer that he constantly guzzled. His usual method of traveling was upon the back of a very strong subject, precisely THE world’s wonders. 175 as children ride “ pick-a-pack.” He generally had two or three spare men, who alternately acted as guides and ponies, while one of his wives invariably accompanied him, bearing a large jar of beer, with which it was said the old chief refreshed himself so copiously during the journey that it sometimes became necessary for two men to carry him instead of one. This may have been merely a scandalous report in Obbo ; however, it appeared that Katchi-ba was ready for a start, as usual accompanied by a Hebe with a jar of beer. Confident in his powers as a rider across country on a man, he considered that he could easily ride a horse. It was in vain that Mrs. Baker protested, and prophesied a broken neck should he attempt to bestride the hitherto unknown animal ; to ride he was determined. Accordingly one of the blooded horses was brought out, and Katchiba was assisted upon his back. Eecognizing an awkward hand, the horse did not move. “Go on,” said Katchiba; but as the steed did not understand the Obbo language, he remained perfectly still. “Touch him with your stick,” cried one of Baker’s men; and, acting upon the suggestion, the old sorcerer gave him a tremendous whack with his staff. This was immediately responded to by the spirited animal, who, quite unused to such eccentricities, gave a vigorous kick, the effect of which was to convert the sorcerer into a spread-eagle, flying head over heels, and landing heavily on the ground, amidst roars of laughter from the crowd that had col- lected to witness the scene. The old chief was assisted upon his feet, and being considerably stunned, he regarded the horse with great astonishment. But his natural instinct prompted him soon to call for his beer, and after a long draft from the mighty cup his courage returned. He made no further effort, however, to ride the white man’s horse, expressing the sage opinion that he was “too high— it was a long way to tumble down.” return to latooka. As they could not advance southward on account of the rainy season. Baker and the Turks determined to return to their former camp at Latooka, where supplies were more abundant, and wait until the weather became more settled . Before parting a 176 THE world’s wonders. ceremony had to be performed by Katchiba, whose brother was to be their guide, and who was to receive power as deputy-magi- cian to control the elements during the journey. With great solemnity the dear old sorcerer broke a branch from a tree, upon the leaves of which he spat in several places. The branch thus blessed with holy water, was laid upon the ground, and a fowl was dragged around it ; he then handed the branch to his brother, accompanied by a magic whistle of antelope’s horn, both of which were received with great gravity. All the natives wore whistles similar in appearance, but none were supposed to be effective unless previously blessed by the great magician. The ceremony being over, the travelers took leave of Katchiba, promising soon to return, and departed on their journey amidst a din of “ toot-too-too-ing ” from rain whistles and horns. POISON YAMS. Bordering a ravine, near which they camped that night, were a number of large trees covered with a thorny creeper, the leaves of which resembled those of a species of yam. These Ibrahimawa, the traveled Bornu man — who claimed to be a learned botanist, — at once pronounced to be excellent food, and digging at the roots of the vines he soon procured a basketful of fine-looking yams. The rest of the men, not being botanists, left the search for food to Ibrahimawa, but when he produced the basketful of tempting-looking food they made a rush for it and helped themselves. The scientific botanist was left without a yam ; but he had his revenge. The roots were soon cooked, and the men ate them voraciously ; but in a few minutes they began to disappear one by one, and from a distance came smoth- ered but unmistakable sounds similar to those produced by sea- sick passengers on a rolling ship. All who had dined from Ibrahimawa’s botanical specimens were suffering from a powerful “ vomi-purgatif.” They were intensely sick for about an hour, but no further inconvenience was experienced from the poison yams, although Ibrahimawa’s reputation as a botanist fell to a very low grade. Upon reaching the Latooka valley, where game was abundant, THE world’s wonders. 177 a herd of twenty hartebeests was seen peacefully grazing on the plain. Baker dismounted to stalk them, but he had scarcely left his h( rse when the red flags of the Turks attracted the attention of a large gang of baboons, that at once set up a chattering and hoarse cries of alarm which frightened the hartebeests. One of the men fired at a large baboon sitting on a rock, and by accident shot it through the head. It was about the size of a large mastiff, 12 w 178 THB world’s wonders. and had a long brown mane like that of the lion. This is much prized by the natives as an ornament, which is cut into strips and worn round the body. As the party went into camp that evening Baker rode out alone in quest of game, and found a herd of giraffes, whose towering heads could be seen as they were cropping the tops of mimosa trees. Not being able to stalk them, he relied on speed, and chased the beautiful animals a long distance, but was unable to get a shot, owing to the dense undergrowth which they ran into. A TERRIBLE AFFLICTION. On the next day the party arrived in Latooka, only to find that small-pox had broken out in a virulent form, and the disease was soon communicated to the Tui’kish camp. In addition to this misfortune, two of Baker’s best horses died, as did also three camels and five donkeys, while his wife was laid up with gastric fever. Although the entire journey, since leaving Gondokoro had been little else than a succession of misfortunes, none had equaled those which they were now experiencing. The Turkish camp was reeking with small-pox, and Baker, as a precaution, had to change his quarters and pay special attention to his men to avoid the pestilence. To add to their other troubles, Moy and Commoro induced the Turks to join them in an attack upon a Kayala village, from which a great many cows were stolen, and sixty-five women killed, but the Turks were forced to retreat. Thus more enemies were made, who might at any time attack Latooka in return, and overwhelm Baker with the rest, for the natives of Kayala were powerful and warlike. BACK TO OBBO. The position of affairs now^ became so desperate that the Turks lecided to proceed once more to Obbo, and as Baker was dependent entirely upon them, he was compelled to follow. Upon reaching that place again, they found the people on the verge of starvation ; the small-pox had also broken out among them, and they were dying rapidly from this dreadful plague. In addition to their other calamities, the Turks had robbed th*^ THE world’s wonders. 179 natives of nearly everything, so that it was impossible to buy either cows or oxen. Soon after their return Baker’s last horse died, and both himself and wife became excessively ill from bilious fever, so that neither could assist the other. The kind old chief, hearing that they were dying, came to charm them with his magic. He found the invalids lying helpless, and imme- diately procured a small branch of a tree, and filling his mouth with water, he squirted it over the leaves and about the floor of the hut, he then waved the branch around his patients’ heads, and completed the ceremony by sticking it in the thatch above the doorway ; he told them they should now get better, and jDer- fectly satisfied, he took his leave. The hut was swarming with rats and white ants; the former racing over them during the night, and burrowing through the floor, filled their only room with mounds like mole-hills. As fast as the holes were stopped, others were made with determined perseverance. Having a siq^ply of arsenic, Baker gave them an entertainment, the effect being disagreeable to all parties, as the rats died in their holes and created a horrible effluvium, while fresh hosts took the place of the departed. Now and then a snake w^ould be seen gliding within the thatch, having taken shelter from the pouring rain. The animals were no better off, for they w^ere attacked by the dreadful tsetse fly, so that they soon had no hair left on their bodies, and died one after another. A VISIT TO KATCHIBA. After two months of severe illness. Baker and his wife were sufficiently recovered to be out again, and they decided to pay a morning call to chief Katchiba. He received them very politely, and begged them to enter his principal residence. Creeping on all fours through the narrow doorway, they found themselves in the presence of one of the chief’s wives, who was preparing merissa beer. The whole establishment appeared to be devoted to the brewing of this drink, of which Katchiba was excessively fond. The apartment contained several immense jars, holding about thirty gallons each, in one of which the chief had stored the presents that he had received, among the rest a red flannel 180 THE WOKLD’s WONDEKS. shirt which Baker had given him, and which he considered exceedingly recherche. Several dressed ox-hides were spread on the ground, and the chief invited his visitors to be seated, Mrs. Baker on the right and her husband on the left. Then, after the beer had been passed around, and Katchiba had taken enough to warm himself up pretty well, the delightful old sorcerer called for his harp, and after tuning it, politely asked his visitors “ if he should sing ? ” Prepared for something comic, they begged him to begin, and he sang, to their surprise, a most plaintive, wild, but pleasing air, accompanying himself perfectly on the harp. Music, dancing, and drinking beer were Katchiba’s prin- cipal amusements, and he excelled in all of them. The enter- tainment over, he led a sheep in by a string, and begged his guests to accept it ; but they politely declined, saying they did not expect a present, but had merely called on him as friends. He accordingly handed the sheep to his wife, and they departed ; but on arriving at their own camp, they found the sheep awaiting them. The following day Katchiba returned their visit in great state, carrying a large red flag made from a piece of cloth the Turks had given him, and accompanied by two men beating drums, and another blowing a sort of clarionet. NEWS FROM THE INTERIOR. While waiting at Obbo, Baker’s hopes were somewhat revived by an Unyora slave woman, who gave him a very good account of the Luta N’zige, which she described as a large lake, lying in almost the exact latitude in which Baker expected to find the Albert N’yanza — the object of his expedition, but the Asua river was still too badly swollen to be crossed safely ; so he continued in Obbo, oppressed with fever and the knowledge that the Turks were stirring up the natives to war, on account of their thievery. On the 17th of October, Baker concludes an entry in his journal, chiefly descriptive of the symptoms of an approaching fever, as follows: “My stock of quinine is reduced to a few grains, and my work lies before me; my cattle are all dead. We ai-J both weakened by I’epeated fever, and traveling must be on foot.” THE world’s wonders. 181 KILLING AN ELEPHANT AS LARGE AS JUMBO. The rains finally ceased, and beautiful crops were growing, which, however, were seriously threatened by elephants, large herds of which went prowling at night, eating and trampling the crisp tullaboon plants — a grain somewhat resembling corn. Although weak and feverish, like a ti-ue hunter, Baker was anxious to secure some of the big game, the meat of which he knew would be very acceptable to the half-famished natives. So, taking his servant, they went about half-a-mile from the village, and dug a hole in which to hide, and at night the watch began. Baker reports the result as follows : “ There was no sound throughout the night. I was well wrapped up in a Scotch plaid, but an attack of ague came on, and I shivered as though in Lapland. I had several rifles in the grave ; among others the ‘ Baby,’ that carried a half-pound explosive shell. At about four, a. m., I heard the distant trum- pet of an elephant, and I immediately ordered Eicharn to watch, and to report to me their arrival. It was extremely dark, but Eicharn presently sank slowly down, and whispered, ‘ Here they are ! ’ “ Taking the ‘ Baby,’ I quietly rose, and listening attentively, T could distinctly hear the elephants tearing off the heads of the tullaboon, and crunching the crisp grain. I could distinguish the dark forms of the herd about thirty paces from me, but much too indistinct for a shot. I stood with my elbows resting on the edge of the hole, and the heavy rifle balanced, waiting for an opportunity. I had a paper sight arranged for night shooting, and several times tried to get the line of an elephant’s shoulder, but to no purpose. While waiting, I suddenly heard a trumpet close to my left, and quickly perceived an elephant walking toward my grave. I waited, with the rifle to my shoulder, until he was within about twelve paces; I then whistled, and he stopped and turned, exposing his side. Taking the line of the foreleg, I fired at the shoulder. The tremendous flash and smoke of ten drachms of powder completely blinded me, and the sudden reaction of darkness increased the obscurity.” 182 THE world’s wonders. The result of Baker’s shot could not be determined that night, but early in the morning a short search discovered the elephant standing about ten 3^ards in the grass jungle, so nearly dead on its feet that it fell over upon making an attempt to move, and died. It was so large that Baker took its measurement, and found it to be ten feet six and one-half inches in height. The word being given, a crowd of waiting natives rushed upon the huge carcass, and about three hundred people were soon attacking it with knives and lances. About a dozen men were working inside as though in a tunnel ; they had chosen this locality as being near to the fat, which was greatly coveted. A WILD BOAR. A FEW days after killing the elephant Baker fired the grass and then strolled over the burnt ground in quest of game. Although elephants were plentiful, not a single one could be found, and he was returning to his hut greatly disappointed, when there suddenly sprang out from a hole in his pathway a wild boar and sow, and the former viciously attacked him. It was a moment of extreme [teril, but quick action and a steady aim saved his life. He fired at the vicious beast and killed it almost at the muzzle of the gun. The natives were soon apprized of the lucky shot, and as they value pork above all other meat, the boar was very quickly cut up and a feast prepared. It is a singular fact that the wild pigs of the Obbo country live underground ; the manis, or great scaled ant-eater, burrows in a considerable excavation ; these habitations the pigs enter, dispossess the manis, and, enlarging the retreat, make it their abode. DEPARTURE FOR KAMRASl’s COUNTRY. January had now arrived, and though enfeebled by fever and seriously inconvenienced by the loss of his pack-animals. Baker determined to proceed south in quest of the great lake which he believed formed the chief source of the Nile. Eeports which Ibrahim received from Ivamrasi’s kingdom to the south, in regard to the abundance of ivory there, inompted the Turk to THE world’s wonders. 182 ucconipany him, particularly since neither slaves nor ivory had been secured in the Latooka or Obbo countries. In fact, up to this time both expeditions had been practically failures, as hard- ships had been constant and progress retarded by incessant diffi- culties. Ibrahim had a force of more than two hundred men, and this made his company very agreeable to Baker, who, if alone, must have fallen a victim to the murderous Bari tribes whose business was war and plunder, and through whose country they were compelled to pass. Katchiba, who had become extremely fond of his white guests, was induced to sell Baker three oxen, which were purchased as riding animals, as these were more serviceable for the purpose than any other animals in that country. On the 5th of January the combined party started on their journey, Mrs. Baker riding one of the oxen and her indomitable husband another, while the third was loaded with supplies. On account of extreme shyness the ox which Baker rode was unharnessed and driven awhile untU it should become accustomed to the people, but the moment it was loosed it ran off with all possible speed into the jungle and was never seen again. They had not gone far when a large fly fastened on the rump of Mrs. Baker’s ox, the effect of which was to produce so sudden a kick and plunge that she was thrown to the ground with much violence, bruising and stunning her. Ibrahim very civilly gave her another ox, however, which she was fortunately still able to ride ; but Baker had no other altern- ative than to walk, although he was so weak that several times the caravan had to halt to allow him to rest ; but he continued the march until they arrived at Farajoke, eighteen miles from Obbo, where he purchased an ox. A COUNTRY FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY. On the 13th of January they reached a town called Shooa, where they received a most friendly welcome, and found the place, in figurative language, “flowing with milk and honey.” Fowls, butter, goats, etc., were in abundance and very cheap; beads were of great value, as few had ever reached that country. The women flocked to see Mrs. Baker, bringing presents of milk and 184 THE WOKLD’s wonders. flour, and receiving beads and bracelets in return. The people were like those of Obbo in language and appearance, exceedingly mild in their manner, and anxious to be on good terms. The cultivation in this country was superior to anything they had seen, and the people appeared to be in a very prosperous condition. THE POLITE FATIKOANS. Eemaining in Shooa five days, to recruit and perfect their plans for the future, they proceeded on their way, and after a march of eight miles came to the village of Fatiko. In a short time the natives assembled around them ; they were wonderfully friendly, and insisted upon a personal introduction to both Baker and his wife, as they were the first white people the natives had ever seen. They were thus compelled to hold a levee ; not the passive and cold ceremony of the whites, but a most active under- taking, as each native that was introduced performed the salaam of his country, by seizing both of his visitor’s hands and raising the arms three times to their full stretch above the head. After about one hundred natives had been thus gratified, Baker gave the order to saddle the oxen immediately, and they escaped a further proof of Fatiko affection that was already preparing, as masses of natives were streaming down the rocks hurrying to'be introduced. Notwithstanding the fatigue of the ceremony, the^ took a great fancy to these poor people ; they had prepared a quantity of merissa and a sheep for their lunch, which they begged their guests to remain and enjoy before they started ; but the pumping action of half a village was too much; and mounting! their oxen, with aching shoulders, they bade adieu to Fatiko. ARRIVAL IN KAMEASl’S COUNTRY. After several days’ marching through a most lovely country, they approached the Karuma Falls, close to the village of Atada. The heights were crowded with natives, and a canoe was sent across to within parleying distance. Bacheeta, the black woman who acted as interpreter, now explained that SpeTce^s brother had arrived from his country to pay Kamrasi a visit, and had brought him valuable presents.” “ Why has he brought so many THE WOULD ’S WONDERS. 185 headman iii the boat ; and having prepared for the introduction bj changing his clothes to a tweed suit, something similar to that worn by Speke, Baker climbed up a high and almost perpendic- men with him?” inquired the people from the canoe. “There are so many presents for the king that he has many men to carry them,” shouted Bacheeta. “Let us look at him,” cried the 186 THE world’s wonders. ular rock that formed a natural pinnacle on the face of the cliff, and waving his cap to the crowd on the opposite side, he instructed Bacheeta to shout to the people that an English lady, his wife, had also arrived, and that they wished immediately to be pre- sented to the king and his family, as they had come to thank him for his kind treatment of Speke and Grant, who had arrived safe in their own- country. Upon this being explained and repeated several times, the canoe approached the shore. Baker ordered all the people to retire, and to conceal themselves among the plantains, that the natives might not be startled by so im- posing a force, while he and Mrs. Baker advanced alone to meet Kamrasi’s people, who were men of some importance. Upon landing through the high reeds, they immediately recognized the similarity of Baker’s beard and general complexion to that of Speke ; and their welcome was at once displayed by the most extravagant dancing and gesticulating with lances and shields, as though intending to attack, rushing at the travelers with the points of their lances thrust close to their faces, and shouting and singing in great excitement. the unyoro natives . The difference between the people of Unyoro (Kamrasi’s country) and the tribes they had hitherto seen was most striking. On the north side of the river the natives were either stark naked or wore a mere apology for clothing, in the shajDeof a skin slung across their shoulders ; the river appeared to be the limit of utter savagedom, and the people of Unyoro considered the indecency of nakedness precisely in the same light as among Europeans. The men wore robes of dark cloth arranged in various fashions, generally either like the Ai’ab “ tope,” or the Eoman toga. In spite of the very friendly reception, the explorers were still not permitted to cross the river. Only a few months before a party of Arabs had allied themselves with Eionga, Kamrasi’s deadly enemy, and made an attack on the latter’s people, slaying three hundred of them. This made the king suspicious of all strangers, and he had given strict orders that none should be ferried across the river. The travelers were therefore compelled THE world’s wonders. 187 to remain on the opposite bank two days longer, but finally succeeded, through a liberal display of presents and the use of various stratagems, in getting over the stream. Still their troubles were not ended, and it was some time before Baker was permitted to have an interview with the king. He and his wife were both so prostrated with fever at this time that they had to be carried in litters, and Kamrasi’s procrastination worried them greatly. Finally it was announced that the king was ready to receive them, and although more fit for a hospital than an interview, Baker instructed his men to carry him into the presence of the African potentate. He was shortly laid on a mat at the king’s feet, whom he found to be a fine-looking man, but with a peculiar expression of countenance, owing to his extremely prominent eyes ; he was about six feet high, beautifully clean, and was dressed in a long robe of bark-cloth most gracefully folded. The nails of his fingers and toes weve carefully attended, and his complexion was about as daik a brown as that of an Abyssinian. He sat upon a copper stool placed upon a carpet of Jpopard skins, and was surrounded by about ten of his prin- cipal chiefs. This interview proved to be a pleasant one, and after explain- ing that the object of his visit to Unyoro was to find the great lake from which the Nile flows. Baker ordered his men to unpack a Persian carpet, which was spread upon the ground before the king. He then gave him a large white Cashmere mantle, a red silk netted sash, a jjair of scarlet Turkish shoes, several pairs of socks, a double-barreled gun and ammunition, and a great heap of first-class beads made up into gorgeous necklaces and girdles. Kamrasi took very little notice of the presents, but requested that the gun might be fired off. This was done, to the utter confusion of the crowd, who rushed away in such haste that they tumbed over each other like so many rabbits ; this delighted the king, who, although himself startled, now roared with laughter. He told Baker that he must be hungry and thirsty, therefore he hoped he would accept something to eat and drink : accordingly he presented him with seventeen cows, twenty pots of sour plantain cider, and many loads of unripe plantains. 188 THE world’s wonders. On the following morning the king visited Baker in his hut, and solicited him to join in an expedition against Eionga. This request was declined, as the explorers could not afford to embroil themselves with any of the natives. Baker was extremely anx- ious to proceed, as he and his wife were both sick and out of medicine ; so he importuned Kamrasi for porters and guides. These were readily promised— “ to-morrow.” But the king’s promises resulted in nothing ; he was determined to keep the travelers with him, if possible, as long as they had anything to give. He continued to j^utthem off from day to day, constantly begging for everything he saw, being particularly anxious to secure Baker’s watch, which was the last one he had, and could not be parted with. Speke had given Kamrasi several watches, also a chronometer and compass, but all these were now “ dead,” as the king declared, and he wanted at least one “ live one.” CHAPTEE XL DEPARTURE FOR THE LAKE. After a provoking and unreasonable delay of three weeks at Unyoro, Kamrasi provided porters and guides and suffered Baker to depart, Ibrahim remaining ; but at the first camping- place, about ten miles on the journey, the king overtook the party for the purpose, he explained, of taking a final leave, but in reality to try again for the watch and the other things which his importunities had failed to secure. Baker gave him some handkerchiefs and several opal beads, but again refused to give him the watch, as parting with the only time-piece in the company would cause much inconvenience, while it could be of no service to the king. All his argument with the greedy savage was of no avail, and when he again requested leave to depart, Kamrasi, in the coolest manner, replied, “ I will send you to the lake, as I have promised ; but you must leave your wife with me T’ This insult so incensed Baker that, drawing his revolver and placing its muzzle within two feet of the king, he told him that should he THE world’s wonders. 189 dare to repeat such language he would shoot him on the spot, at the same time explaining that in England such insolence would be certain to provoke bloodshed. Mrs. Baker also gave expres- sion to her indignation in such a way that the king, no doubt, was glad his proposition was not accepted. “Don’t be angry !” he exclaimed ; “I had no intention of offending you by asking for your wife ; I will give you a wife, if you want one, and I thought you might have no objection to give me yours ; it is my custom to give my visitors pretty wives, and I thought you might exchange. Don’t make a fuss about it ; if you don’t like it, there’s an end of it ; I will never mention it again.” Baker received this very practical apology sternly, and insisted upon starting. The king seemed rather confused at having committed himself, and to make amends he called his people and ordered them to carry the loads. His men ordered a number of women who had assembled out of curiosity to shoulder the luggage and carry it to the next village, where they would be relieved. Baker assisted his wife upon her ox, and with a very cold adieu to Kamrasi, they turned their backs gladly upon that country. A SATANIC GUARD. Notwithstanding his enfeebled condition. Baker rejoiced that he was finally rid of the persistent old beggar, and the cavalcade moved southward along the banks of the Kafoor river with excellent progress. As they approached the next village, at least six hundred men came rushing out with spears and lances to receive them. Baker’s men thought they were to be attacked, but his experienced judgment told him different, for women and children were mixed up with the crowd of natives, which is never the case when an attack is intended. “With a rush like a cloud of locusts,” says Baker, “the natives closed around us, dancing, gesticulating and yelling before my ox, feigning to attack us with spears and shields, then engaging in sham fights with each other, and behaving like so many madmen. A very tall chief accompanied them. One of their men was suddenly knocked down and attacked by the crowd with sticks and lances, and lay on the ground covered 190 THE world’s wonders. ■THE devil’s own. THE world’s wonders. 191 with blood : what his offense had been I did not hear. The entire crowd were most grotesquely gotten up, being dressed in either leopard or white monkey skins, with cows’ tails strapped on behind, and antelopes’ horns fitted upon their heads, while their chins were ornamented with false beards, made of the bushy ends of cows’ tails sewed together. Altogether, I never saw a more unearthly set of creatures ; they were perfect illustrations of my childish ideas of devils — horns, tails, and all, excepting the hoofs ; they were our escorts furnished by Kamrasi to accompany us to the lake.” The following morning Baker found much diflaculty in getting the escort together, as they had been foraging throughout the neighborhood; these “devil’s own” were a portion of Kam- rasi’s troops, who considered themselves entitled to plunder ad libitum throughout the march ; however, after some delay, they collected, and their tall chief, who evidently considered himself an important personage, from the lofty manner in which he strutted about, approached, and begged that a gun might be fired as a curiosity. The escort crowded around, and as the boy Saat was close to Baker, he ordered him to fire his gun. This was Saat’s greatest delight, and bang went one barrel unexpectedly close to the tall chief’s ear. The effect was charming. The chief thought his time had come, and clasping his head with both hands, he ran howling into the woods : the others were no less excited, and in a very few moments not one of the escort of three hundred was visible — they had all fled from the instrument that vomited thunder and lightning. It required several hours of patient search and coaxing to get them back again, so that the joke was more upon Baker, perhaps, than upon the frightened natives. AN HOUR OF SOREST TRIAL. The expedition moved forward, and on the sixth day out, having made a detour, came again upon the Kafoor river, at a bend where it became necessary to cross it. The stream was in the center of a marsh, and although deep, it was so covered with thickly matted water-grass, and other aquatic plants, that a 192 THE world’s wonders. natural floating bridge was formed two feet thick, over which it was possible to pass by stepping quickly. Baker started across with his wife following, but when near mid-strearn, he looked back and was horrified to see her standing still, sinking gradually through the weeds, while her face was distorted and purple. Bushing to' her side, he found her insensible, and quickly calling two of the men to his assistance, they dragged her to the shore, for if they had attempted to carry her, all would have sunk through the grass bridge into the water beneath. On reaching the shore, Mrs. Baker was laid under a tree, and her face and hands were bathed, but she continued insensible, as though dead, with teeth and hands firmly clenched, and eyes open but fixed. A litter was hastily constructed, upon which she was carried mournfully forward like a corpse. Every few minutes a halt was necessary, as a painful rattling in the throat betokened suffocation, which an elevation of her head could alone relieve. At night the poor woman was laid in a hut and carefully attended by her husband, but she remained insensible. For three days and nights she lay in a comatose state, every fleeting breath anx- iously watched by her distracted companion. The third morning came, and Baker thus describes what came with it : “My lamp had just burnt out, and, cramped with the night’s watching, I rose from my low seat, and seeing that she lay in the same unaltered state, I went to the door of the hut to breathe one gasp of the fresh morning air. I was watching the first red streak that heralded the rising sun, when I was startled by the words, ‘ Thank God,’ faintly uttered behind me. Suddenly she awoke from her torpor, and with a heart overflowing I went to her bedside. Her eyes were full of madness ! She spoke, but the brain was gone !” Brain fever now set in, and lasted seven days, during all of which time they were compelled to travel, as they could not remain in one place. At last, on the seventh morning, broken down with watching and fatigue. Baker fell asleep. He says: “ The sun had risen when I awoke. I had slept, and hoi-i-ified as the idea flashed upon me that she must be dead, and that I had THE world’s wonders. 193 not been with her, I started up. She lay upon her bed, pale as marble, and with that calm serenity that the features assume when the cares of life no longer act upon the mind, and the body rests in death. The dreadful thought bowed me down ; but as I gazed upon her in fear, her chest gently heaved, not with the convulsive throbs of fever, but naturally. She was asleep ; and when at a sudden noise she opened her eyes, they were calm and clear. She was saved ! When not a I’ay of hope remained, God alone knows what helped us. The gratitude of that moment I will not attempt to describe.” They now remained in camp two days, to afford Mrs. Baker rest, but she gained very slowly in strength, having neither med- icine nor any of the delicacies so necessary to a sick person. It was finally decided to proceed on the journey, and carry her in a litter, which was so arranged as to make her as comfortable as possible. CARRYING AN OX EIGHT MILES. The route now lay through swamps, chocked with immense papyrus rushes ; and in passing through a muddy bottom one of the riding oxen that was ill stuck fast, and had to be abandoned. On arriving at the next village, fifty men were hired to return and drag the ox out with ropes, so that its life might be saved, while Baker and his party continued on to a village some eight miles distant, where they camped for the night. Shortly after sunset they suddenly heard a great singing in chorus advancing rapidly from a distance. At first they imagined that the natives intended to compliment them with a dance ; but in a few minutes the boy Saat introduced a headman, who told Baker that the riding ox had died in the swamp where he had stuck fast in the morning, and that the natives had brought his body to camp. “What!” he exclaimed, “brought his body, the entire ox, to me?” “ The entire ox as he died is delivered at your door,” answered the headman ; “I could not allow any of your property to be lost upon the road. Had the body of the ox not been delivered to you, we might have been suspected of having stolen it.” They had carried the ox about eight miles on a litter, which 13 w 194 THE world’s wonders. they had constructed of two immensely long posts with cross- pieces of bamboo, upon which they had laid the body. They would not eat the flesh, and seemed quite disgusted at the idea, as they replied that “ it had died.” DISCOVERY OF ALBERT LAKE. The guides informed Baker that the place where they were camping was only one day’s journey from the great lake, and that night he slept but little. For years he had striven to reach the “ sources of the Nile,” and after so much hard work, suffer- ing and perseverance the cup was at his lips — -before another sun would set his eyes would rest upon the great reservoir of Nature that ever since creation had batfled all discovery. The weary but triumphant explorer can best describe his own feelings on this great occason. “ The sun had not risen,” he says, “ when I was spurring my ox after the guide, who, having been promised a double handful of beads on arrival at the lake, had caught the enthusiasm of the moment. The day broke beautifully clear, and having crossed a deep valley between the hills, we toiled up the opposite slope. I hurried to the summit. The glory of our prize burst suddenly upon me ! There, like a sea of quicksilver, lay far beneath the grand expanse of water, — a, boundless sea horizon on the south and southwest, glittering in the noon-day sun ; and on the west, at fifty or sixty miles distance, blue moun- tains rose from the bosom of the lake to a height of about 7,000 feet above its level. It is impossible to describe the triumph of that moment; — here was the reward for all our labor— -for the years of tenacity with which we had toiled through Africa. England had won the sources of the Nile ! Long before I reached this spot, I had arranged to give three cheers with all our men in English style in honor of the discovery, but now that I looked dowm upon the great inland sea lying nestled in he very heart of Africa, and thought how vainly mankind had sought these sources throughout so many ages, and reflected that I had been the humble instrument permitted to unravel this portion of the great mystery when so many greater than I had failed, I felt too serious to vent my feelings in vain cheers for yiptory, and I sincerely THE WOliLD’s WONDERS. 195 thanked God for having guided and sui)ported us through all dangers to the good end. We were about 1,500 feet above the lake, and I looked down from the steep granite cliff upon those welcome waters — upon that vast reservoir which nourished Egypt and brought fertility where all was wilderness — upon that great source so long hidden from mankind ; that source of bounty and of blessings to millions of human beings ; and as one of the greatest objects in nature T determined to honor it with a great name. As an imperishable memorial of one loved and moui-ned by our gracious Queen and deplored by eveiy Englishman, I called the great lake ‘ the Albert N’yanza.’ The Victoria and the Albert lakes are the two sources of the Nile. My wife, who had followed me so devotedly, stood by my side, pale and exhausted — a wreck upon the shores of the great Albert Lake that we had so long striven to reach. No European foot had ever trod upon its sand, nor had the eyes of a white man ever scanned its vast expanse of water. We were the first ; and this was the key to the great secret that even Julius Caesar yearned to unravel, but in vain.” SALT MAKING IN AFRICA. They painfully descended to the lake shore, assisting one another down the steep cliff, both being so weak from sickness and fatigue that they could scarcely walk. On the beach they found a small village, called Vacovia, the inhabitants of whieh were fishers, as evidenced by the large amount of crude tackle displayed before every hut. The soil was so impregnated with salt as to unfit it for cultivation, and yet salt itself was most difficult to procure, impossible in a pure state. The process employed by the natives to secure this necessary article, was by placing quantities of the saline mud in vessels and allowing it to drain through perforations in the bottom ; this drainage was sub- mitted to a cleansing process of imperfect distillation, and then boiled. The product, though salt, is very bitter and unpleasant to the taste. In other sections of Africa the means for manu- facturing salt are equally defective. At Latooka, for example, it is made chiefly of goats’ dung, which is burned to ashes, these 196 THE world’s wonders. are saturated, after \vbich the water is strained and evaporated by boiling. Another, much poorer, quality is made of a peculiar grass, that has a thick, fleshy stem, something like sugar-cane. This is reduced to ashes, which are subjected to a similar process. So precious is English salt in Africa that the natives will eat it by handfuls with the greatest relish, and will barter supplies for it more readily than for beads or other trinkets. A SAIL ON ALBERT LAKE. Vacovia is about one hundred and fifty miles, coast-line, from where the lake has its outlet in the Nile river. The season was very late and Baker was exceedingly anxious to get back to Gon- dokoro before the last of April, in time for the annual trading boats from Khartoum, which, if he missed, he would be delayed another year in reaching England. Traveling by land had become very monotonous and painful, and besides, all the party was sick of fever, so they now prepared to journey in canoes as far as possible. After a stay of eight days in Vacovia, they started in two canoes, the carrying capacity of each being twenty-five men and necessary luggage. The first day’s voyage was delightful, the air being bracing, though the tempei-ature was very warm. Hippopotami and crocodiles were numerous, both in and out of the water, lying along the banks or sporting near the shore. At night a camp was made close by a small village, from which a few fovvls and one young kid were purchased. In the morning Baker discovered that all the oarsmen, whom Kamrasi had fur. nished him, had absconded. His party was now reduced to his own force of thirteen men, but his progress was not materially affected, for in the evening he secured twenty more oarsmen from the next village. On the next day a bay had to be ci-ossed that was eight miles wide, and while nearly in the centre of it a storm arose, which came so near swamping the boats that the most desperate bailing by all hands barely kept them afloat. They steered toward the beach, and just as the canoes sti’uck the sand a large wave over- whelmed them and left them struggling in the water, while all t lie provisions were destroyed. Fortunately, a village was near THE world’s wonders. 197 by, and the party took possession of some huts, dried their clotlies, and as far as possible repaired their losses. They remained here two days, entertained by the natives, who, in addition to supplying them with food, honored them with music, dancing and games. Baker was much interested in their musical instruments, which were curiously and ingeni- ously made, and produced a harmony that, though wild, was not discordant. NATIVE BAND AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. Directly after leaving this village. Baker killed a large croco- dile, measuring sixteen feet in length, which his men soon cut up into chunks ready for the pot ; but he could not relish such meat, as it had a combined flavor of bad fish, decayed flesh, and musk. Large herds of elephants and great numbers of hippopotami were almost continually in sight, but time was too precious to give them any attention. Owing to the severe thunder storms which broke during every afternoon, traveling had to be suspended 198 THE world’s wonders. at mid-day ; nevei’theless, on the thirteenth day from Vacovia they landed at the mouth of the Somerset river where it empties into Albert lake. From this point, with the aid of their glasses, the explorers could plainly see the outlet of the main Nile, some thirty miles to the northwest of them, from whence the}’ could trace its line northward to the Madi country, through which they had passed on their outward journey. Mrs. Baker, though still too weak to walk, and suffering greatly from fever, proposed, with Spartan heroism, that they should follow the lake to the head of the Nile, and then proceed down the stream in canoes, so as to prove beyond a dopbt that they had really discov- ered the principal source of the great river. But the guides declared that it would be impossible to descend the rapids, and that they wmuld be beset by hostile natives who would dispute every mile of their journey, and murder them before they could reach a place of safety. Similar objections were urged against Stanley attempting to descend the Congo, a few years later, but instead of heeding them he relied upon his own judgment and accomplished the feat, as related elsewhere in this volume, and proved himself to be the greatest and most determined explorer that ever visited Africa. Had Baker followed the advice and wishes of his heroic wife, he would have settled the Nile question beyond all dispute, and reached home fully a year sooner than he did. But some allowance must be made for his sick and dispirited condition, and due honor be accorded him for the per- severance and daring he displayed on all occasions. The only regret is that, having come so near the solution of the great problem, he did not fully prove it. ASCENDING THE SOIMERSET RIVER. He decided that it was not advisable to attempt a return by way of the Nile, but that their proper course was to ascend the Somerset river to the falls, and then proceed overland to Unyoro, returning from thence by the same route they had come. Accordingly, after resting two days and procuring food from the natives, they ])roceeded up the river in canoes, reaching the falls at a distance of ciahteen miles from the lake. Here the river THE 'world’s AVONDERS. 199 plunges, at one leap, over a precipice 120 feet deep into an abyss below, forming one of the grandest waterfalls on the known globe. Baker designated these as the Murchison Falls, in honor of the President of the Royal Geographical Society of England. The river below the falls is one hundred and eighty feet Avide, clear and sluggish ; in fact, the current is almost imperceptible. The banks, at places, are high and precipitous ; but the beach is generally flat and sandy, and crocodiles are so numerous that a hundred or more may be counted without moving from one position. While Baker Avas sketching the falls, a crocodile came up so near the canoe that he shot it ; the noise of the gun frightened the native canoemen so badly that they dropped their paddles and alloAved the boat to SAving around onto some rushes, when a hippopotamus, surprised in its retreat, rushed under the canoe and almost capsized it. The thought of being dumped out among thousands of voracious crocodiles was anything but agree- able, so a landing was quickly made to aAvait the riding oxen that had been sent overland and were expected the folloAving day. True to aiDpointment, the oxen came, but their condition was so bad from fly bites that they Avere scarcely able to walk, so that riding them Avas out of the question. The overland journey noAv began by ascending to the high plateau far above the falls. Baker and his wife Avere again stricken doAvn with fever, so that she had to be carried, Avhile he Avas barely able to proceed by the aid of a staff. In this miserable condition they continued on to the next village through a drenching rain. On reaching the village, they were placed in a hut so badly dilapidated that the clouds overhead Avere visible through its leaky roof ; nevertheless, this Avas the best that could be done, and here they lay on an oxhide, spread upon the soggy ground, all night, while torrents of water poured over them continually. At this place the guide and porters previously furnished by Kamrasi deserted them, the intention apparently being to leave them in this sickly and destitute locality until they should either die or Baker with his force of thirteen men would agree to join the king in his war on Rionga. During their journey to the lake 200 THE world’s wonders. the latter had been reinforced by a party of Turks under a half- civilized leader named Debono, and Kamrasi found it impossible to withstand this combined force. He had sent repeatedly to Baker, asking his assistance, which the latter refused ; but now it seemed that he was determined to force compliance with his wishes. But rather than die the death of a dog, or be forced to accede to the demands of the brutal Kamrasi, Baker determined, sick and feeble as he and his wife were, to move on and trust to providence. A day’s journey through grass eight feet his'h brought the party to a burned and deserted village, and here they halted in another torrent of rain, the invalids being now so sick that they could not bear even the motion of a litter. While in this most hopefess and wretched condition, one of Kamrasi’s head men appeared and promised food and porters in abundance if Baker and his men would join the king in the war against Kibnga and Debono. In the desperation of his situation. Baker asked to be taken to Kamrasi, leading the ambassador to believe that his terms would be accepted. A few hours afterward oxen were produced and slaughtered, while several cows were furnished to supply the party with milk. A feast followed, which camenone too early, for the entire party were almost dead from starvation. The travelers, being somewhat refreshed by the milk, were carried to another village to meet the king. On their arrival they found a hut fitted up with all the comforts possible in that country, and soon thereafter announcement was made that the king was present. MEETING WITH A SPURIOUS KING. In a few moments the king entered the hut, and with a coarse laugh said : “ Well, here you are at last. So you have been to the M’wootan N’zige ! Well, you don’t look much the better for it. Why, I should not have known you! ha I ha I ha!” Baker was in no condition to enjoy facetious remarks, and up- braided the royal brute for so basely deceiving him and suffering him to almost die of starvation. “ Never mind,” he replied, “ it’s all over now ; you really are THE world’s wonders. 201 thin, both of you ; it was your own fault ; why did you not agree to fight Eionga? You should have been supplied with fat cows and milk and butter, had you behaved well. I will have my men ready to attack Eionga to-morrow ; the Turks have ten men ; you have thirteen ; — thirteen and ten make twenty-three ; — you shall be carried if you can’t walk, and we will give Eionga no chance — he must be killed — only kill him, and my brother will give you half of his kingdom.” He continued, “You shall have supplies to-morrow ; I will go to my brother, who is the great M’Kamma Kamrasi, and he will send you all you require. I am a little man, he is a big one ; I have nothing, he has everything, and he longs to see you ; you must go to him directly ; he lives close by.” Baker hardly knew whether the man was drunk or sober — “ my brother, the great M’Kamma Kamrasi!” He felt bewildered with astonishment, and asked, “If you are not Kam- rasi, pray who are you?” “Who am I?” he replied; “that’s very good; who am I?— why, I am M’Gambi, the brother of Kamrasi, — I am the younger brother, but he is the hing.’’’’ This circumstance illustrated the almost incredible deceit of the country. Baker had never actually seen the king up to this time, though he had given so many presents to the man who had personated Kamrasi, believing that by so doing he was securing the king’s friendship and aid. He hardly knew how to act, but the pale face of his very sick wife admonished prudence. He therefore requested to be taken to Kamrasi at once ; but this was not according to royal custom, for the king had first to be apprised of the intended visit. A messenger being therefore dispatched soon returned with word from Kamrasi to have the white man brought to his palace on the following day. Baker’s clothes had been worn to rags, and his wan and hag- gard features made him truly an ill-looking object; so he deter, rained to present a so'raewhat improved appearance before the king. This he accomplished by putting off his rags and substi- tuting a full-dress Highland suit, which he had carried with him but never worn. The change thus effected was so great that his own men hardly recognized him. He was carried in the litter a 202 THE world’s wonders. The reception, instead of being cordial, was cold and formal. The old king scrowled on his guest, but gave him no greeting, nor did a single word pass between them for five minutes or more. half houi's journey from his hut and deposited at the palace door, ahd was soon thereafter in the presence of Kamrasi. THE world’s wonders. 203 M’Gambi, who had played king, was among the chiefs who sur- rounded Kamrasi, but he occupied a seat on the ground, thus proving how really unimportant he was. At length the king asked Baker why he had not visited him before. “ Because I had been starved in this country and was unable to walk,” was the reply. A conversation ensued, but of little satisfaction. Kamrasi justified the personating of himself by his brother upon the ground that he was not certain but that Baker was an ally of Debono. He then began to beg, as usual, asking for the Highland suit, watch, compass and rifle, all of which Baker refused, telling him that he was certainly not the real Kamrasi, as a great king could not be such an inveterate beggar. In personal appearance Kamrasi was a remarkably fine-looking man, tall and well proportioned, with a handsome face of dark- brown color, but his expression was peculiai’ly sinister. He was beautifully clean, and instead of wearing the bark-cloth common among the Unyoro people, he was dressed with an elegant mantle of black and white goat-skins, as soft as chamois. His officers sat on the ground at some distance from his throne. When they approached to address him on any subject, they crawled upon their hands and knees to his feet, and touched the ground with their foreheads. Kamrasi, though acting very coolly, dismissed Baker with an assurance that his wants would be attended to, and on the same evening sent him two loads of flour, a goat and two jars of plantain cider. Kisoona was the name of the town where they were now encamped, and since the boats had no doubt already left Gondo- koro. Baker gave himself no further concern about continuing his journey. The fever was still so tenacious in its hold upon himself and wife that they were unable to Avalk^ but fortunately they had an abundance of milk, which being allowed to curdle before using, gave such nourishment that both rapidly increased in flesh, though but little in strength. Upon the recommendation of the Turks under Ibrahim, who had remained with Kamrasi 204 THE world’s wonders, \ THE WOELD’^S WONDERi. 205 during the journey to the lake, Baker procured a quantity of castor-oil plants, and every morning he had a portion of them boiled in a large pot, and then steamed himself over the vessel. This remedy proved to be so beneficial that in two weeks the fever had left him. The plantain cider was also healthgiving, because it created an appetite, and was an excellent stimulant. The method of cider-making was simple. The fruit was buried in a deep hole and covered with straw and earth ; at the expiration of about eight days the green plantains thus interred had become ripe ; they were then peeled and pulped within a large wooden trough resembling a canoe; this was filled with water, and the pulp being well mashed and stirred, was left to ferment for two days, after which it was fit to drink. Throughout Unyoro plan- tains are the staple article of food. The natives invariably eat the unripe fruit, which, wjien boiled, is a good substitute for potatoes. Cider is made from ripe fruit only. A TROUBLESOME KING. One day after Baker had recovered sufficiently to be able to walkabout, he was visited by the king, who desired his assistance forthwith against Eionga. Baker tried to I'eason with him against the injustice of his request, reminding him that he was an explorer and a sulqect of the queen, and had no right to make offensive alliances against one who had done him no injury. But Kamrasi was still urgent, nor could he be pacified with trinkets, though he did not refuse any that were offered, nor neglect to ask for every- thing he saw. Among other articles which Baker gave him was an ivory comb, which he at once applied to his wool, and then handed it around to his officers, who also went through avigorous scratching with it. To this present was added a quantity of ammunition and a looking glass, besides several beads. But the comb pleased him most, and he wanted his guest to take back with him to England an elephant’s tusk and have it made into combs for his majesty’s use. The medicine chest had also to be inspected, and each powder, pill and phial smelt of. He begged for some of the medicine, and Baker gave him several doses of tartar-emetic, with instructions not to use it until he had returned 206 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. to the palace. The directions were faithfully followed, but the king took so large a dose of the medicine that it made him^very sick, whereat he imagined that his guest had used “magic” against him, and was very unfriendly for several days. From that time Baker’s supplies were cut off, and his subsistence was confined to such articles as he could buy from the natives, princi- pally butter and plantains, which provided an exceedingly slim diet. About a week after these events he was suddenly aroused one night by a horrible din of beating drums, blowing horns and screaming natives. Gathering his rifle and cartridge belt, he rushed out to find Kamrasi’s camp in a state of consternation, produced by the report that Debono, with a party of one hundred and fifty men, was marching on Kisoona with the intention of laying waste the country and killing Kamrasi. The old king was not long in making his appearance, dressed simply in a kilt of blue baize which Speke had given him. He was shaking with fright and implored aid. Baker commended his di-ess, and said it was well adapted to fighting. Fighting P’’ the king exclaimed, with the horror of ‘Bob Acres,’ “I am not going to fight! I have dressed lightly to be able to run quickly. I mean to run away! Who can fight against guns? Those people have one hundred and fift}'^ guns ; you must run with me; we can do nothing against them ; you have only thirteen men ; Ibrahim has only ten ; what can twenty-three do against a hundred and fifty? Pack up your things and run ; we must be off into the high grass and hide, at once ; the enemy is expected every moment !” Baker frankly told Kamrasi that his cowardice ill became a king, and that such a man was not a fit ruler for any people ; but this failed to reassure him. To prevent an attack, however. Baker sent eight of his men with Turkish guides to confer with Debono, On the next evening they returned with one of Debono’ s headmen, who stated that the Turks had no intention of disturbing Baker’s party ; that indeed the report had reached them that both he and his wife had died several weeks before, from starvation, for which Kamrasi was respon- sible. Baker told the officer that Debono must at once recross THB WOULD ’S WO-VDERS. 207 the Nile and quit Kamrasi’s country, as the right of trading therein had been secured to Ibrahim, and if the request was not complied with by the following day he would report the affair to the Turkish authorities and have Debono and his chief hanged. Baker then raised the British flag, and informed the Turks -that he claimed the country by right of discovery, and ordered them to withdraw at once, which they did. The result of the stratagem so pleased Kamrasi that he sent a large supply of flour, goats, cows and cider, accompanying them with his thanks and offering a portion of his kingdom to his white friend. DEFEAT OF RIONGA. Shortly after the Turks had departed, news was received that Debono had quarreled with Eionga and a great battle had ensued, in which the Turks had gained a complete victory, and destroyed the power of the native chief. Kamrasi could scarcely contain his joy at this piece of good news, while the entire village went into a delirium of celebration, and became royally drunk on the beer which the king had given for all to drink. Kamrasi visited Baker to acquaint him of his good fortune, but while so doing turned the subject suddenly by asking again for the rifle he had so long coveted. Baker was much irritated, and told him that he must never ask again for the gun, for under no circumstances would he part with it. A BARBAROUS EXECUTION. Just at this moment an uproar was heard outside, and loud screams and heavy blows. A man was dragged past the entrance of the court-yard bound hand and foot, and was immediately cudgeled to death by a crowd of natives. This operation con- tinued for some minutes, until his bones had been thoroughly broken by the repeated blows of clubs. The body was dragged to a grove of plantains, and was left there for the vultures, who in a few minutes congregated around it. It appeared that the offense thus summarily punished was the simple act of convers- ing with some of Eiohga’s men, who had come with Debono’s messengers to see Baker. A conversation with one of the enemy 208 THE WORLD’S WONDERS, was considered high treason, and was jDunished with immediate death. In such cases, where either Kamrasi or his brother determined upon the sudden execution of a criminal, the signal was given by touching the condemned with the point of a lance, whereupon the person who had been so unfortunate as to incur the king’s displeasure was beaten to death upon the spot. Some- times the condemned was touched by a stick instead of a lance- point ; this was a signal that he should be killed by the lance, and the sentence was carried out by thrusting him through the body with numerous spears — thus the instrument used to slay the criminal was always contrary to the sign. KAMRASI IN A COWARDLY RETREAT. The victory over Eionga bore fruit which Kamrasi was not destined to partake of, for, while he was contending over the spoils, news came that Mtesa, of Uganda, hearing that Kamrasi had intercepted Baker and held him a prisoner in order to pre- vent him from visiting the former with presents, was coming to kill the perfidious king and take Baker to Uganda. This report, which was speedily confirmed, threw the cowai-dly Kamrasi into a panic again, and although Baker counseled a stand and offered to help him repel the invaders, he was bent on beating a retreat to his fastness on the islands of the river ; nor would anything stay his purpose. The grass huts were accordingly set on fire and the retreat began. Baker intended to proceed to Atada, Kamrasi having promised to send porters to carry his things, but when morning came the porters failed to report, and he at once saw that the king’s promise was merely a ruse to keep him at the village and be first attacked by Mtesa. So incensed was he at such perfidy, that he sent a messenger to Kamrasi, telling him if the porters were not sent at once he would join Mtesa and attack him on the islands. This message frightened the king into a compliance. The journey toward Atada was by a narrow pathway leading through very high grass. Mrs. Baker had yet to be carried on a litter, and the progress was very slow. i\fter a short march it was discovered that Kicharn, Baker’s most faithful and service- THE WOELD’S wonders. 209 able man, was missing, and after a short search in a village near by, the ramrod of his gun was found broken and covered with blood, which indicated that he had been murdered. Two duys were spent searching for him, and during this delay the porters which Kamrasi had provided deserted. To make matters stiU worse, the war drums of Mtesa were heard beating as his army advanced, and it therefore became necessary to abandon the lug- gage and branch off toward Foweera, where a part of Ibrahim’s followers were encamped, as it was desirable to form a junction with them. After many tedious delays and incidents the party reached Foweera, where they were astonished to find Richarn. His disappearance was caused by a fight with some villagers, during which he killed the chief, and in order to escape their vengeance he had taken to the tall grass, lost his way, but finally reached his party again almost famished. Ibrahim thought proper now to join Kamrasi against the enemy, and so well did he direct his forces that Mtesa was speedily driven out of the country and Kamrasi regained all that he had lost. For this service Ibrahim received an immense quantity of ivory, so that both parties were intensely pleased. In the fight many of Mtesa’s men were captured, all of whom were led before the king and butchered in his presence without trial. While these brutal operations were going on. Baker decided to make an effort to distill whisky from sweet potatoes, believing that the spirit would benefit himself and wife in their w'eak con- dition. His still was an original one, made of pots and reeds, but it served all purposes, and a really excellent article of spirits was manufactured. Some of the liquor was given to Kamrasi, who promptly drank enough to make an elephant drunk, and when he had recovered from the comatose state into which it threw him, he vowed that every hill in his kingdom should be planted with potatoes and that his subjects should devote them- selves to manufacturing whisky, and one of Ibrahim’s Turks was detailed to establish and undertake the direction of “King Kamrasi’s Central African Unyoro Potato-Whisky Company, unlimited.” 14 w 210 THE WOREU’S WONDERS. CHAPTER XII. ADIEU TO KAMRASI. In the middle of November, at the end of the rainy season, after so many months of suffering, Baker left Unyoro for Shooa, accompanied by Ibrahim, whose collection of ivory was so great that it I'equired tlie services of 700 porters to carry it. Kamrasi came out to bid them adieu, and — to beg Baker once more for the little rifle, as he said the gun given him by Speke had bursted, Avhich was true, for he had driven a ball into the muzzle and then fired it with disastrous results. But Baker would not yield the coveted weapon. The journey was through a dry country, and the difiiculties of traveling were light in comparison to what they had been. “On the fifth day’s march from the. Victoria Nile,” says Baker, “we arrived at Shooa; the change was delightful after the wet and dense vegetation of Unyoro : the country was dry, and the grass low and of fine quality. We took possession of our camp, that had already been prepared for us in a large court- yard well cemented with cow-dung and clay, and fenced with a strong row of palisades. A large tree grew in the centre. Several huts were erected for interpreters and servants, and a tolerably commodious hut, the roof overgrown with pumpkins, was arranged for our mansion. That evening the native women crowded to our camp to welcome my wife home, and to dance in honor of our return ; for which exhibition they expected a present of a cow. They danced in a circle, holding each other’s hands, while three stood just, outside the circle and directed the move- ments of the dancers. They were all quite naked except the little cloth in front and the tail-piece behind.” At Shooa many of Ibrahim’s porters deserted, which left him in a sad plight. To compensate his loss, he sent 300 of his men npon a marauding expedition against a neighboring village that ,was upder the rule of a brave ehief pamed Werdalla- This map THE world’s wonders. 211 had been on several such expeditions himself, and possessed five stands of fire-arms, therefore, when the Turks attacked him, he hid his men behind rocks and opened fire, killing five of the assailants with as many shots. The Turks retreated, but on the way back captured a beautiful young girl whom they put in chains, intending to make her a slave. On the next day her THE DANCE IN HONOR OF THE RETURN. father came into camp to ransom his child, as is customary among these people. As soon as he appeared, his daughter rushed to him, and throwing her arms around his neck in the most affectionate manner, cried, “Father?” as lovingly and earnestly as any civilized child could have done. But the brutal Turks tore him from her arms, tied him to a tree and inhumanly buthered him before her eyes. 212 THE world’s wonders. man’s inhumanity. Another case of almost equal horror and brutality occurred on the following day. A woman and her little boy, not more than two years of age, had been captured in a battle with the natives and brought along as slaves by the Turks. This woman tried five times to escape with her child, but “was each time apprehended, and being, at length, regarded as incorrigible, she was given 144 stripes with the coorbatch (hippopotamus whip) and then sold separately to another Turkish party of traders. Mrs. Baker’s pity was excited and she took the little motherless boy under her care and gave him the name of Abbai, and by kind treatment soon reconciled him to his new condition. There were two little girls also in the camp whose history was exceed- ingly pathetic. They were three and eight years of age respect- ively, and had fallen into the possession of Ibrahim under the following circumstances : They were daughters of Owine, one of the great chiefs who were allied with Eionga against Kamrasi. After the defeat of the former, Owine and many of his people quitted the country, and, forming an alliance with the Turk Mohamed, they settled in the neighborhood of his camp at Faloro, where they built a village. For a time they were on the best of terms, but some cattle of the Turks being missing, suspi- cion fell upon the new settlers. Mohamed’s men desired that they might be expelled, but in a moment of drunken frenzy he ordered them to be massacred. His men, eager for murder and plunder, immediately started upon their bloody errand, and surrounding the unsuspecting colony, they fired the huts and killed every man, including chief Owine; capturing the women and children as slaves. Ibrahim had received the mother and two girls as presents from Mohamed. Of these little waifs of adversity Baker very feelingly writes : “We had now six little dependents, none of whom could evei- belong to us, as they were all slaves, but who were well looked after by my wife ; fed, amused, and kept clean. The boy Abbai was the greatest favorite, as, having neither father nor mother, he claimed the greatest care ; he was well washed every morning THE world’s wonders. 213 and then to his great delight smeared all over from head to toes with red ochre and grease, with a cock’s feather stuck in his woolly pate. He was then a most charming pet savage, and his toilette completed, he invariably sat next to his mistress, drinking a gourd-shell of hot milk, while I smoked my early morning pipe beneath the tree. I made bows and arrows for my boys, and taught them to shoot at a mark, a large pumpkin being carved into a man’s head to excite their aim. Thus the da3'^s were passed until the evening ; at that time a large fire was lighted to create a blaze, drums were collected, and after dinner a grand dance was kept up by the children, until the young Abbai ended regularly by creeping under my wife’s chair, and falling sound asleep : from this protected spot he was carried to his mat, wrapped up in a piece of old flannel (the best cloth we had), in which he slept till morning. Poor little Abbai I I often wonder what will be his fate, and whether in his dreams he recalls the few months of happiness that brightened his earliest days of slavery.” ON THE HOMEWARD MARCH. A SAD SCENE. The want of porters still detained Ibrahim, and seeing little hope of procuring men for that service, in February Baker de- cided to start for Goudokoro with a party of Mohammed’s men, who had to go there for new supplies. As the oxen were saddled to start, crowds of people came to say “goodbye.” There were ties, even in this savage country, which were painful to sever, and which caused sincere regets to both Baker and his wife when they saw their little flock of slave children crying at the separa- tion. He says, “In this moral desert, where all humanized feelings were withered and parched like the sands of the Soudan, the guilelessness of the children had been welcomed like springs of water, as the only refreshing feature in a land of sin and darkness. ‘ Where are you going?’ cried poor little Abbai in the broken Arabic that we had taught him. ‘Take me with you, Sitty !’ (lady,) and he followed us down the path as we regret- fully left our proteges, with his fists tucked into his eyes, weeping from his heart, although for his own mother he had not 214 The world’s wonders. shed a tear. We could not take him with us ; — he belonged to Ibrahim ; and had I purchased the child to rescue him from his hard lot and to rear him as a civilized being, I might have been charged with slave dealing. With heavy hearts we saw him taken up in the arms of a woman and carried back to camp, to prevent him from following our party, that had now started.” ATTACKED BY BARI SAVAGES. The first day’s journey toward Gondokoro was uneventful, but on the next the party was attacked by the implacable Bari people, who hung in great crowds on the flank and kept discharging their arrows. The Turks returned the fire with their guns, but only one casualty resulted. This, however, was only the beginning, for day by day the Baris kept up their annoyance, and at night continually threatened an attack. In fact, they did make one after dark, one night, which resulted in the death of one of their number. They succeeded in shooting several barbed and poisoned arrows into the camp, but fortunately none of them did any injury. As the cavalcade, at length, came in sight of Gondokoro, there were loud huzzas and great rejoicings, especially expressed by Baker and his wife, for the journey had been so long and painful that home now seemed “just over the hill.” The English flag was raised on a tall bamboo pole, and the march into Gondokoro was made like a victorious army returning from a bloody field. The Turks came out and saluted them with a lively popping of guns, which so frightened Mohamed’s riding ox that it ran away and threw him over its head, greatly demoralizing the pompous Turk. NO BOATS OR LETTERS. Baker’s first inquiries were for letters from home, and a boat to descend the Nile with. Before leaving Khartoum on his out- ward journey, he had left money with a merchant there to pay for sending a boat to Gondokoro to await his return ; but he was now astonished and chagrined to find that neither boat nor letters were awaiting him. It was supposed that he and his wife were long since dead, as no tidings had been received from them since their departure from Obbo, three years before. Baker writes : THE world’s wonders. 216 “At this cold and barren reply I felt almost choked. We had looked forwai’d to aiTiving at Gondokoro as to a home ; we had expected that a boat would have been sent on the chance of find- ing us, but there was literally nothing to receive us, and we were helpless to return. We had worked for j'^ears in misery, such as I have but faintly described, to overcome the difficulties of this hitherto unconquerable exploration ; we had succeeded — and what was the result? Not even a letter from home to welcome us if alive ! As I sat beneath a tree and looked down upon the glorious Nile that flowed a few yards beneath my feet, I pondered upon the value of my toil. I had traced the river to its great Albert source, and as the mighty stream glided before me, the mystery that had ever ^hrouded its origin was dissolved. I no longer looked upon its waters with a feeling approaching to awe, for I knew its home and had visited its cradle. Had I overrated the importance of the discovery? and had I wasted some of the best years of my life to obtain a shadow ? I recalled to recollec- tion the practical question of Commoro, the chief of Latooka — ‘Suppose you get to the great lake, what will you do with it? What will be the good of it? If you find that the large river does flow from it, what then?’ ” VISITED BY THE PLAGUE. The plague had broken out among the natives at Gondokoro, and as they fell victims they were dragged to the edge of the cliff and thrown into the river, and the stench which arose from the festering bodies was absolutely stifling. Baker therefore determined to depart from this frightful place at all hazards. It chanced that there was an open boat lying at the wharf, that had come up to take a cargo of ivory to Khartoum , but as none was offiering, he chartered the vessel for $200. It was a desperate alternative, because several men had died of the plague on the boat during her trip up, so that a visitation of the dreadful disease promised to terminate the difficulties of the entire journey. But he ordered the boat to be thoroughly scrubbed with boiling water and sand, after which it was fumigated by burning several pounds of tobacco in the cabin. 216 THE world’s wonders. THE TOTAdE DOWN THE RIVER. On the third day out from Gondokoro a herd of antelope was discovered foraging in the vicinity of some ant-hills a hundred yards from the rwer. As meat had become scarce, Baker ordered the boat stopped, and, with his servant carrying a spare gun, he stalked the game until a fair shot was obtained at a large buck, which fell dead at the first fire. The herd seemed dazed, and did not break away until another one was killed. They then ran toward a covert, and in their flight he fired again, and by acci- dent shot a doe in the neck at a distance of six hundred yards. As the herd gained the covert some native hunters, who were there concealed, charged them with spears, and drove them back again toward Baker, who succeeded in killing two more. This was five antelopes in one day, and they were now well sup- plied with meat for the trip. THE PLAGUE APPEARS. On the following day one of Baker’s men was seized with pains in the back and bleeding of the nose, and similar symp- toms speedily developed in six others — the plague had broken out. In two days more the vessel became a hospital, and death fol- lowed death with fearful rapidity. Poor little Saat, whom Mrs. Baker had adopted at Khartoum, and who had been so faithful throughout the three years’ journeyings in Central Africa, fell also before the dreadful disease. Helplessly he lay upon a mat before his loved mistress, who watched with tenderest care and deep anxiety, moistening his parched lips and trying to cool his burning head, while the little fellow only muttered in a delirium from which he could not be roused. But at last she saw that he slept, and hoping that he would awaken refreshed and better, she kept everything quiet, that undisturbed sleep might bring him back to life. Old Karka, the good-natured slave woman, stole softly to the j)oor boy, stretched his legs into a straight position, and laid his arras close by his side. She then covered his face with a cloth. “Does he still sleep well?” asked Mrs. Baker; but the old slave answered only with her tears, for little Saat was THE world’s wonders. 217 dead. The faithful child had been taken from Paganism and died in Christianity ; he was laid gently away in a grave on the banks of the Nile, with a rude cross for a grave-stone. ARRIVAL AT KHARTOUIVI. After many delays and difficulties, they reached Khartoum on the 5th of May, 1865. Here they found letters from friends in England, but the consolation these brought was marred by the report, already authenticated, that Speke was no longer among the living, having accidentally shot himself while hunting. Besides this deplorable news, there were obstacles to prevent Baker’s immediate departure for England. An extraordinary drought of two years had created a famine throughout the land, attended by a disease among the camels and cattle, which had caused a commercial stagnation, as no goods could be transported from Khartoum. The plague, malignant typhus, had run riot in the town, and reduced the black troops from 4,000 to less than 400. Yet in this place, reeking with filth, and death running riot in the streets, they were compelled to wait until there was a rise in the Nile that would enable boats to pass the cataracts between Khartoum and Berber. They were detained here for two months, subjected to intense heat and dust-storms. It seemed as if the plagues of Egypt had broken loose again. Eespecting the dust-storms. Baker writes: “On the 26th of June we had the most extraordinary dust-storm that had ever been seen by the inhabitants. I was sitting in the court-yard of my agent’s house at about 4.30 p. m. : there was no wind, and the sun was as bright as usual in this cloudless sky, when suddenly a gloom was cast over all — a dull yellow glare pervaded the atmosphere. Knowing that this effect portended a dust-storm, and that the present calm would be followed by a hurricane of wind, I rose to go home, intending to secure the shutters. Hardly had I risen, when I saw approaching, from the S. W., apparently a solid range of immense brown mountains, high in air. So rapid was the passage of this extraordinary phenomenon, that in a few minutes we were in actual pitchy darkness. At first there was no wind, and the peculiar calm gave an oppressive character to the event. We 218 THE WOELD’S WONDEE8. were in ‘a darkness that might be felt.’ Suddenly the wind arrived, but not with the violence that I had expected. There were two persons with me, Michael Latfalla, my agent, and Mon- sieur Lombrosio. So intense was the darkness that we tried to distinguish our hands placed close before our eyes ; not even an outline could be seen. This lasted for upwards of twenty min- utes ; it then rapidly passed away, and the sun shone as before ; but we had felt the darkness that Moses had inflicted upon the Egyptians.” HOME AGAIN. . On June 30th they departed from Khartoum, and proceeded by boat to Berber, from which point they traveled overland on camels to Souakim, a considerable town, the houses of which are all built of coral. After two weeks’ delay here, passage was secured on an Egyptian steam transport for Suez. The journey was now about ended, for in a few days they reached Cairo, where Baker paid off his attendants, one of whom, Richarn, be saw married to a six-foot Dinga girl, who had accompanied him from Central Africa. Here he received notice that the Royal Geographical Society had awarded him the Vietoria gold medal, at a time, too, Avhen it was not known whether he was living or dead. NEl EESHLTS OF BAKEE’s EXPEDITION. Bakee is entitled to very great credit for the indomitable per. severance with which he overcame all obstacles and forced his way through Africa. He is also entitled to much consideration because his expedition was equipped at his own expense, and therefore he did not have the nation at his back, as did Speke ; but did he discover the source of the Nile? By his own record he saw but an exceedingly small portion of the Albert N’yanza. He coasted it for only one hundred miles, and did not even visit the point where the lake takes its outlet into the Nile. Speke is chargeable with the same omission, for when he came in sight of the Victoria N’yanza, instead of coasting it he eontented himself with a view of its waters, and did not even follow the stream which he assumed was the Nile. It is now well known that THK world’s wonders. 219 Central Africa is drained by numerous rivers, many of which are very eccentric in their sudden disappearance. For this reason it was the duty of Baker — if insurmountable obstacles did not preclude, and he does not mention any — to proceed to the river where it flows from the lake, as he claims that he saw it at a distance of thirty miles, and then follow the stream on his return journey, instead of leaving it, as he did. Of course it is impos- sible to judge correctly of the reasons which he had for taking certain courses on his return journey, but since he does not him- self give us these very natural explanations, it must remain a source of w’ouder why he did not return from the Albert N’yauza by way of the Nile, as his spirited wife implored him to do. He had canoes, and though there were many obstructions in the river, no doubt these light boats might have been drawn over them, as they were in several places below Gondokoro. By adopting such a plan the source of the Nile would have been indisputable. The question which still continues undecided is this : “Did Baker see the Nile, as it takes its source from Albert lake, or was it the embouchure or outlet of some other stream, which gave him so much delight as his vision rested upon it from Magungo’s heights?” 220 THK world’s wonders. ISMAILIA. SIR SAMUEL BAKER’S SECOND EXPEDITION. CHAPTER XTIL EFFORTS TO SUPPRESS THE SLAVE TRADE. Sir Samuel Baker published the results of his explorations in Central Africa in a w^ork entitled “ The Albert N’Yanza.” The book had a large sale and gave him an importance — which he no doubt well deserved — greater than that of any other African explorer at that time. He had paid particular attention to the slave trade, which was productive of ruin and demoralization among the native tribes, and so faithfully and graphically did he' describe the horrors attending the nefarious traffic, that England! was aroused and threatened to take such severe measures against those who were engaged in it, that the Khedive of Egypt felt called upon to act, as the slave-hunters were nearly all hi.s subjects. It is unfair, perhaps, to doubt the motives of the Khedive, but certain it is that Khartoum was long known to be a slave station, and that thousands of these poor creatures were sent from there to Cairo and Alexandria with the full knowledge of the Egyptian authorities, who never by word or deed attempted even to mitigate the curse. It was estimated that not less than 50,000 men, women and children were kidnaped from the tribes of Central Africa annually, and brought captive into Khartoum ; here they were confined in limited quarters reeking with pestilence and filth, so that nearly one-half of the whole number died, while the other half was being disposed of as slaves. Baker’s descriptions fired the English heart against these revolting cruelties, and the Prince of Wales, on a visit to Egypt, THE world’s wonders. 221 had a conference with the Khedive, in which the former plainly indicated that the slave trade had to be suppressed, either by the Egyptian government or some other power. This conference stimulated Ismail, the Khedive, to action, and sending for Sir Samuel Baker, he had an interview with him, which resulted in placing him in command of an expedition for the suppression of the nefarious traffic. To effect this grand reform it would be necessary to annex the Soudan and that country lying within the Nile basin, that it might be under the direct rulership of the Khedive. The expedition was fitted out with a lavish hand, as Baker was directed to make all his preparations without regard to expense. Under such liberal instructions, he had specially built in England three small steamers and two life-boats for navigating the Nile. These vessels were fitted with engines of the best construction, and were to be carried across the Nubian desert in plates and sections. In addition to the steamers were steam saw-mills, with a boiler that weighed eight hundred pounds in one piece — all of which would have to be transported by camels for several hundred miles across the Nubian desert, and by boats and camels alter- nately from Alexandria to Gondokoro, a distance of about three thousand miles. The English party accompanying the expedition consisted of Sir Samuel Baker and his courageous wife; Lieutenant Julian A. Baker, E. N. ; Edward Higginbotham, civil engineer; Mr. Wood, secretary ; Dr. Joseph Gedge, physician ; Mr. Marcopolo, chief store-keeper and interpreter; Mr. McWillian:. chief engi- neer of steamers ; Mr. Jarvis, chief ship-wright ; together with Messrs. Whitfield, Samson, Hitchman and Eamsdell. Forty-five thousand dollars were expended in stores, calculated to last the expedition for four years. Six steamers, varying from forty to eighty horse-power, were ordered to leave Cairo in June, together with fifteen sloops and fifteen diahbeeahs — total, thirty-six vessels — to ascend the cataracts of the Nile to Khartoum,, a distance by river of about, 222 THE world’s wonders. one thousand four hundred and fifty miles. These vessels were to convey the whole of the merchandise. Twenty-five vessels were ordered to be in readiness at Khar- toum, together with three steamers. The governor-general (Djiaffer Pasha) was to provide these vessels by a certain date, together with the camels and horses necessary for the land transport. Thus, when the fleet should arrive at Khartoum from Cairo, the total force of vessels would be nine steamers and fifty-five sailing vessels, the latter averaging about fifty tons each. The military arrangements comprised a force of one thousand six hundred and forty-five troops, including a corps of two hundred irregular cavalry and two batteries of artillery. The infantry were two regiments, supposed to be well selected. The black, or Soudani, regiment included many officers and men who had served for some year’s in Mexico with the French army under Marshal Bazaine. The Egyptian regiment turned out to be for the most part convicted felons who had been transported for various crimes from Egypt to the Soudan. The artillery were rifled mountain guns of bronze, the barrel weighing two hundred and thirty pounds, and throwing shells of eight and a quarter pounds. The authorities at Woolwich had kindly supplied the expedition with two hundred Hale’s rockets — three pounders — and fifty Snider rifles, together with fifty thousand rounds of Snider ammunition. The military force and supplies were to be massed in Khartoum ready to meet Baker upon his arrival. DEPARTURE OF THE FLEET. This imposing irmy and flotilla left Suez on August 29th, 1869, and proceeded on to Souakim, where, after a week’s delay, camels were obtained to carry the expedition across the desert, two hundred and seventy-five miles, to Berber. Beaching this place, another fleet of thirty-three vessels of fifty and sixty tons burden was built, which carried the expedition to Gondokoro. one thousand four hundred and fifty miles from Berber. The trip to Gondokoro was full of incidents. The start was made in the latter part of February^ with so many sail-boats that THE world’s wonders. 223 the Nile was covered, apparently, for miler, as boat straggled behind boat, strung out until those in front could not be seen by the navigators of those in the rear. A few days after starting, one of the troopers, while lazily dangling his feet over the side of a boat, in the water, was seized by a crocodile and carried off, the poor fellow having no time to make any outcry ; a little blood on the water was the last sign left of him. Three days later great excitement was created on the flag steamer by the attack of a hippopotamus. ATTACKED BY A HIPPOPOTAMUS. Baker says : “ At 1 p. M., as we were steaming easily, I hap- pened to be asleep on the poop-deck, when I was suddenly awakened by a shock, succeeded almost immediately by the cry, ‘ The ship ’s sinking !’ A hippopotamus had charged the steamer from thebottom, and had smashed several floats off herstarboard paddle. A few seconds later he charged our diahbeeah, and striking her bottom about ten feet from the bow, he cut two holes through the iron plates with his tusks. There was no time to lose, as the water was rushing in with great force. Fortu- nately, in this land of marsh and floating grass, there were a few feet of tolerably firm ground rising from the deep water. Kunning alongside, all hands were soon hard at work discharging cargo with great rapidity, and bailing out with eveiy conceivable utensil, until we obtained assistance from the steamer, whose large hand-pump and numerous buckets at length so far overcame the rush of water that we could discover the leaks.” A few days later, while the boats were passing through a lake, or sudden broadening of the river. Baker saw a hippopotamus emerge from a bank of high grass. Being in need of meat, be took a small boat and went after the behemoth. A few strokes placed him near the spot where the animal entered the waiter, and a moment after, with a snort, it arose to the surface fifty yards distant. A shot from his rifle was followed by the disappearance of the animal, and frequent soundings failed to discover the body. The boats lay by until morning, as it was noiv quite late, ,and just as dawn appeared the great beast was seen floating 224 THE world's Wonders. within a few feet of the flag boat. All hands turned out and towed it ashore, where they fell to and cut it up. As they were completing this job, a rustling in a pile of driftweed attracted their attention, and upon investigating the cause, they found a large crocodile wedged in so that it could not extricate itself. With pikes and poles it was speedily dispatched and. cut up for. THE world’s wonders. 225 food, as was the hippopotamus, the two furnishing meat for one day for the entire army. THE FLEET IS FORCED TO RETREAT. The start for Gondokoro had been made at a very inopportune time, f('r the Nile was already falling and progress must be necessarily slow, as some of the boats di’ew more than four feet of water. After proceeding one-half the distance, the vegetation so obstructed the river that it was impossible to proceed further, and a retreat had to be made back to the Shillook country, and there wait until the November inundation. fine SPORT ALONG THE RIVER. The water was soon receding so rapidly that the boats had to be pulled by a thousand men across the vegetable obstructions ; in fact it became almost diy-land steamboating, for every few miles the cables were run out and a long double line of men would seize them and force the boats across the barriers high and dry, into water again. Mr. and Mrs. Baker whiled away the tedium of the journey by shooting, every day killing hippopo- tami, crocodiles, antelopes, geese and ducks, so that an abun- dance of fresh meat was always available. Mrs. Baker was as keen a lover of hunting as her husband, and was almost as good a shot, while her powers of endurance and courage were phenomenal. LIBERATING SLAVES. As the expedition approached the Shillook country. Baker was astounded to find that the governor of Fashoda was engaged in the capture of slaves. This discovery was made by accident. Baker saw an old man seated on the bank, who had apparently escaped from some bad master, and who told of his captivity and efforts to escape back to his people. The governor of Fashoda had been pretending, for years, that he was violently opposed to slave hunting and that no slave-traders could cross his country. He was taken by surprise, and in his pens were discovered 184 women and little children, whose village he had a few days before destroyed and taken them into captivity, after killing all but ten 15 w 226 THE AVORLD’S wonders. of the men. Baker set the poor people at liberty and reported the governor to the Khedive for punishment. The boats were put into harbor and a town was begun, which, in honor of Ismail’s youngest son, was called Tewtikeeyah. Here Avorkshops, steam saw-mills and huts soon dotted the formerly barren ground. Boats Avere constructed to take the place of several that had been badl}’' demoralized, gardens were planted and the hum of industry Avas heard on every side. Baker watched over his temporary colony Avith care and pride, but he did not wholly abandon the hunt, One morning, Avhile riding THE WOBLD’s WONDEES. 227 out in the country with his second in command, Col. Abd-el- Kader, he saw several ostriches feeding on the open plain ; they were at a considerable distance, and the country was so open that it was imiDOSsible to stalk them. While gazing and longing, another ostrich was seen away off to the left at the edge of a covert. Immediately Baker dismounted and started through the woods, but when he approached within what he supposed was shooting distance of where the bird had been, he saw it runniiu across the country, having taken fright without his knowledge. He walked on and soon saw another running over the plain, and at this he tired with success, the heavy bird falling so hard from its momentum that its feathers flew out in large quantities. . A mounted orderly was dispatched to bring men and donkeys. When the bii’d was cut up the two thighs and legs were a fair load for two donkeys. Its stomach — or craw — was filled with lizards, scorpions, beetles, leaves of trees and qiUU’tz-pebblcs. It must have recently traveled a great distance, because there were no pebbles within two hundred miles of the place. FATE OF AN OLD BLIND MA.^. The natives of the Shillook country wer( scrupulously honest. They became quite familiar with Baker’s ..nen, and carried on a considerable trade with them. If there were any differences between them and the soldiers. Baker always found that the fauh lay with his men. These people lived along the opposite banks of the Nile, which was of considerable breadth at Tewfikeeyah ; they crossed the streams in canoes, or on rafts, made of tire extremely light but strong ambatch wood, and which being lighter than cork, could be carried easily on the head. The country was usually rich, and being well supplied with rains, is susceptible of a profitable cultivation, especially adapted for cotton. Baker relates the following incident : “ There was an old blind sheik who frequently visited us from the other side, and this poor fellow came to an untimely end when returning one day with his son from marketing at Tewfikeeyah. I was walking on the quay, when I heard a great commotion, and saw a splashing in the river, the surface of which was covered with the ambatch frag' 228 THE world’s wonders. ments of a native canoe. - There were many canoes on the rivei, several of which immediately went to the assistance of the two men who were struggling in the water. A hippopotamus had wantonly charged the canoe ; and seizing it in his mouth, together with the poor old blind sheik, who could not avoid the dangei-, crunched the frail boat to pieces, and so ci’ushcd and lacerated the old man that, although he was rescued by his comrades, he died during the night.” THE world’s wonders. 229 CAPTURE OF A SLAVER. On the loth of May a sail was reported by the sentries. The slave-traders did not know that Baker had* established a station, but supposed he had gone back to Khartoum. He was anxious to know if the governor of Fashoda would have the audacity to send any slaves down the Nile after his experience a