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The  • Story- 

OF* 

Africa 

AND  • ITS* 

Explorers 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA 


AND  ITS  EXPLORERS. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/storyofafricaits03brow_0 


THE  EMIN  PASHA  RELIEF  EXPEDITION:  THE  ADVANCE  COLUMN  LEAVING  YAM  BUY  A (p.  32). 

(From  a Sketch  by  Mr.  Herbert  Ward,  an  officer  of  the  Expedition.) 


THE 


STORY  OF 


AFRICA 


AND  ITS  EXPLORERS 


BY 

V 

ROBERT  BROWN,  M.A.,  Ph.D  , F.L.S.,  F.R.G.S. 


AUTHOR  OF  “THE  COUNTRIES  OF  THE  WORLD,”  “THE  PEOPLES  OF  THE  WORLD,”  “ OUR  EARTH  AND  ITS  STORY” 


VOL.  Ill 

THE  LAST  OF  A LONG  TALE  — THE  SAHARA  — THE  MISSIONARIES- 
THE  HUNTERS— THE  INTERNATIONAL  EXPLORERS 


Special  Edition 

WITH  REMBRANDT  PHOTOGRAVURE  PLATES,  FULL-PAGE  ENGRAVINGS, 
AND  NUMEROUS  OTHER  ORIGINAL  ILLUSTRATIONS 


CASSELL  and  COMPANY.  Limited 

LONDON,  PARIS,  NEW  YORK  & MELBOURNE 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


■Y-  ; : c 


CHAPTER  I. 


In  a Day  of  Small  Things  : Some  Minor  Journeys  across  Africa I 

CHAPTER  II. 

From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Albert  Nyanza  : A Beleaguered  Province 25 

CHAPTER  III. 

From  the  Nile  Lakes  to  the  Indian  Ocean  : An  Irresolute  Ruler 5S 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Sahara  : its  Exploration  and  its  Exploitation  . . 77 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Missionaries  : Tilling,  Sowing,  and  Reaping  ....  106 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Missionaries  ok  Uganda  and  the  Way  Thither  : A Half-Told  Tale 139 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Hunter’s  Paradise  : Early  and  Late  : A Contrast  . ...  163 

CHAPTER  VIII 


Beast  and  Man  : Some  Campaigns  of  a Long  War 


181 


VI 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Man  and  Beast  : the  Beginning  of  the  End .200 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Ending  of  an  Old  Era  and  the  Beginning  of  a New  One 22i 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Scientific  Explorers  : Bets  and  Pashas  ■ Nachtigal  and  Junker 241 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  International  Explorers  : “ One  Traveller  Returns  ” 266 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

International  Explorers  : Mant  Men  and  Many  Minds  : The  End  of  a Dream  . 286 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


The  Emin  Pasha  Relief  Expedition:  The  Advance  Column  leaving  Yambuya 


Frontispiece. 


CAGE 


Fort  Sao  Miguel,  Sao  Paolo  de  Loanda  ....  1 

Mount  Mirumbi,  Tanganyika 1 

Lieut. -Colonel  Serpa  Pinto 3 

Making  Tethers  for  Oxen,  Leshoma,  Zambesi  . 1 

Market,  Leshoma,  Zambesi 5 

Map  of  Serpa  Pinto's  Route  . ...  7 

Rapids  of  Ngainbae,  Upper  Zambesi 8 

Map  showing  the  Density  of  Population  in  Africa  . 9 

En  route  for  Lialui : Preparing  to  Encamp  ...  12 

Mr.  Blockley’s  Tannery,  Leshoma  ....  13 

Map  of  Wissmann’s  Journeys 11 

F.  S.  Arnot 15 

“ A Kid  for  Sale ! ’’—Lialui 16 

Traveller’s  Camp  in  the  Wankonde  Country,  Nyassa- 

land  (North) 17 

Ruga-Ruga  (Bandits)  employed  by  the  Governor  of 

Ujiji,  returned  from  raiding 20 

Cattle-House  of  the  Wankonde  Tribe  ....  21 

Major  H.  von  Wissmann 23 

Le  Stanley,  one  of  the  River  Steamers  used  by  the 

Emin  Pasha  Relief  Expedition 25 

Makaraka  Dwellings 28 

Makaraka  Warriors  and  Musicians  ....  29 

The  Emin  Pasha  Relief  Expedition  Leaving  Matadi, 
on  the  Congo,  with  Tippoo  Tib  and  his  Wives  . 32 

Major  Casati 33 

Sectional  Steel  Boat  The  Advance 33 

Arrow-heads,  Arrows,  and  Quiver,  from  the  Aru- 

whimi  District 31 

Map  of  the  Route  of  the  Emin  Pasha  Relief  Expedition  35 
Relative  Sizes  of  Skeletons  of  an  Akka  Woman  and  of 

a Man  of  Ordinary  Stature 36  j 

Akka  (Pigmy)  Girl 37  \ 

Daylight  at  Last ! The  Advance  Column  of  the  Emin 
Pasha  Relief  Expedition  emerging  from  the  Great 

Forest tofucepage  38  I 

Weapons  of  the  Aruwhimi  District 38 

Wanyoro  Warriors 40 

Meeting  of  Emin  Pasha  and  Mr.  Stanley  at  Kavalli’s, 

April  29, 1888  41 

Fort  Bodo 41 

Lango  Chief  with  Characteristic  Head-dress  ...  45 

Lango  Chief 45 

Mr.  Ward  Despatched  to  the  Coast  for  Instructions  : 

Call  at  Lukoleja 48 

Mutiny  of  Emin  Pasha's  Men  at  Laboreh  : Beginning 

of  the  Rebellion 49 

Emin  Pasha 52 

Unyoro  Village 53 

Makaraka  Native 55 

Officers  of  the  Emin  Pasha  Relief  Expedition  57 

C.M.S.  Station  of  Usambiro,  where  Stanley  stayed 

with  Mackay 60 

Objects  from  Zanzibar,  Mombasa,  etc 61 

Dr.  Carl  Peters 61 

Mount  Ruwenzori,  Central  Africa,  discovered  by  Mr. 

Stanley to  face  page  65 

Mombasa  : The  Road  to  Uganda 65 

Captain  F.  D.  Lugard 67 


PAGE 


Dr.  F.  Stuhlmann  . 68 

Map  Showing  the  Zones  of  Vegetation  in  Africa  . 69 

Akka  Girl 72 

Grave  of  Captain  Nelson  at  Kikiyu 73 

Captain  Trivier  and  Attendants 76 

Oasis  near  Gabes,  Tunisia  . . . . . . .77 

Berber  Type 78 

! Arab  Tribesman 80 

I Incident  in  the  Desert : Marauder  taken  Prisoner  by 

a French  Arab  Outpost 81 

Sir  R.  Lambert  Playfair 83 

Remains  of  Roman  Amphitheatre  at  El  Djem,  Tunisia  84 
Typical  Saharan  Landscape  (Dakhel)  ...  .85 

Arab  Type 87 

Young  Jewess  of  Tunisia 88 

Dr.  Rohlfs’  Expedition,  1873-4 : Wells  in  the  Oasis 

Fara’freh,  Libyan  Desert 89 

! Dr.  Gerhard  Rohlfs 91 

Dr.  Rohlfs’  Expedition,  1873-4 : The  House  of  the  Ex- 
pedition at  Gasr  Dakhel,  Libyan  Desert  ...  92 

Dr.  Rohlfs’  Expedition,  1873-4 : The  Approach  to  Bud- 

chullu 93 

Bedouin  Women 96 

St.  Louis,  Senegambia : Avenue  de  Cocotiers  de  Gnet- 

Ndar 97 

Caravan  at  a Well  in  the  Desert  . tofucepage  99 

Date-Palms  on  the  Island  of  Djerba 100 

Arabs  Returning  from  a Raiding  Expedition  . . 101 

Some  Products  of  the  Oases fill 

Cardinal  Lavigerie 105 

Johann  Ludwig  Krapf 107 

Remains  of  the  Cisterns  of  Carthage,  with  the  Byrsa 
Hill,  the  Port  (Cothon),  and  the  Gulf  of  Tunis,  etc., 

in  the  distance 108 

Map  showing  the  Distribution  of  Religions  and  Mis- 
sionary Stations  in  Africa 109 

Marabout  (Mohammedan  Devotee),  Gambia  . . . 112 

Fetish  Customs  for  the  Dead,  Little  Popo,  West  Africa  113 

Mohammedan  Joloffs,  Gambia 116 

Images  at  Chiefs  House,  Ogbomosho,  Yoruba  . . 116 

Fetish  Place,  with  Clay  Idols,  Porto  Novo,  West 

Africa H? 

Rev.  George  Grenfell H9 

B.M.S.  Congo  Steamer  Peace 120 

A.B.M.U.  Congo  Steamer  Henry  Read  ....  120 
First  Missionary  Encampment  at  Bolobo:  Rev.  G. 

Grenfell's  Head-quarters  in  1888  121 

Rev.  J.  Holman  Bentley  ....  . . 123 

Bangala  Boys 124 

Evolution  of  a Mission-House  at  Lukolela,  Congo  . 125 

Rev.  Thomas  J.  Comber 127 

Street  in  Kuruman,  showing  Church  built  by  Dr. 

Moffat  and  others 128 

Field-work  at  Lovedale 129 

Rev.  Dr.  James  Stewart 131 

Carpenters’  Workshop  at  Lovedale 132 

The  llala  at  Matop6 133 

Dr.  Charles  F.  Mackenzie,  first  Bishop  of  the  Univer- 
sities’ Mission  to  Central  Africa 135 


■nil  THE  STORY 

PAGK 

Dr.  C.  A.  Smythies,  Bishop  of  Central  Africa  . . 135 

Banda  we,  Mission-Station  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scot- 
land   136 

Blautyre  Church 137 

Captain  E C.  Hore 138 

House  at  Mengo,  Uganda,  built  by  Natives  for  Bishop 

Tucker  . HO 

Waganda  Envoys  despatched  by  King  M'tesa  to 

England  in  1879  HI 

Dr.  R.  W.  Felkin 143 

Church  at  Karema,  Lake  Tanganyika,  in  Course  of 
Construction  by  the  “White  Fathers”:  Length 

150  feet H4 

Church  on  the  Hills  of  Namurembe,  Uganda,  and 

Houses  of  English  Missionaries 145 

Alexander  Mackay 148 

Seizure  of  Bishop  Hannington,  previous  to  His  Murder  149 

Grave  of  the  Mother  of  King  M'tesa  . . . .151 

Mumias’  Tillage,  Kavirondo,  the  Scene  of  Bishop 

Hannington’s  Murder 152 

Bishop  Hannington 153 

Dr.  A.  R.  Tucker,  third  Bishop  of  East  Equatorial 

Africa 153 

“ God's  Acre,”  Usambiro,  showing  the  Graves  of 
Bishop  Parker,  Alexander  Mackay,  and  others  . 156 
Fort  of  Kampala,  Uganda,  with  Summit  of  Mengo 

and  Houses  of  the  King 157 

Map  of  Equatorial  East  Africa 160 

Nzoi 161 

Hunting  the  Springbuck  . ...  to  hux  page  164 

Game  in  Sight ! 164 

Shot  Buffalo 165 

Two-Horned  Rhinoceros 168 

William  Charles  Baldwin 168 

A Critical  Moment 169 

“ A Mighty  Hunter"  ....  to  /ace  page  171 

In  Search  of,  Prey 172 

Shot  Hartebeest 173 

Mr.  H.  A.  Bryden  and  Friends  on  Trek  at  Morok- 

weng 176 

Young  Cow  Buffalo  Caught  in  a Python’s  Coils  . . 177 

Shot  Grant’s  Gazelle  (Oazella  Or  anti ) of  East 

Africa 180 

A Good  Bag 181 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Moffat 182 

Moonlight  Sport  on  the  South  African  Veldt:  Shooting 
the  “ Spring  haas,”  or  Jumping  Hare,  a species  of 

Jerboa 185 

The  Kaffir  and  the  Lion 188 

Wandering  Hunters  (Masarwa  Bushmen),  North 

Kalahari  Desert 189 

Party  of  Giraffe  Hunters 192 

At  the  Ford  of  Malikoe,  Marico  River  . . .193 

ShootingDuiker  196 

On  the  Maritsani  River 197 

Stalking  Blesbuck  behind  Oxen  . . . . .209 

Gorge  in  the  Bamangwato  Mountains  ....  201 
Twelve  thousand  pounds'  worth  of  Ivory  at  a Trader's 

Store  at  Pandamatenka 204 

On  the  Limpopo  River 205 

Roualeyn  George  Gordon  Cumming 208 

Gordon  Cumming’s  Adventure  with  the  Hippopotamus  209 

W.  F.  Webb 210 

Francis  Galton 212 

Carl  Johan  Andersson 212 

Cleaning  Heads  after  an  Eland  Hunt  . . .213 

Frederick  Courteney  Selous 215 

Encampment  of  Travellers  in  the  Zambesi  Country  : 
Leshomas  selling  Native  Produce  . . . .216 

Characteristic  Portion  of  Selous’  Road  ....  217 
Native  Hunters  returning  from  the  Chase  . . .220 

Village  of  Kitetu  in  the  Kikuyu  Country  . . .221 


OF  AFRICA. 

PAGE 


Or.  EmilHolub  . 223 

"Map  showing  Distribution  of  Languages  in  Africa  . 224 

Group  of  Mashukiilumbwe 225 

Bamangwato,  Khama’s  Town,  looking  west  to  face  png 226 

Route  Map  of  Holiib’s  Journeys 227 

Traveller’s  Flotilla  on  the  Zambesi  (at  Sesheke)  . . 228 

William  D.  James 229 

Batoka  Type  ....  229 

F.  L.  James „ 230 

Group  of  Wakwafi  ...  232 

Street  in  Lamu,  East  Africa  . . ...  233 

Count  Samuel  Teleki  (von  Szek) 234 

Niam-Niam  Girl 236 

Niam-Niam  Wizard 237 

Route  Map  of  Schweinfurth’s  Journey  ....  238 

Georg  August  Schweinfurth 239 

Niam-Niam  Musician  and  Warriors 240 

Niam-Niam  Farm  : Visit  of  Traders 241 

Niam-Niam  Tribesmen .243 

The  German  Consulate  at  Khartoum  during  the 
Egyptian  Occupation  of  the  Soudan  . . . .244 

Ernst  Marno 245 

Colonel  Chailld-Long 245 

Slave-Boy  of  Darfur  rescued  by  General  Gordon  . . 248 

Map  of  the  Actual  Mean  Temperature  of  the  African 

Year 249 

Euphorbia  candelabrum 252 

Map  of  the  Mean  Annual  Range  of  Temperature  in 

Africa 253 

Route  Map  of  Dr.  Nachtigal's  Journey  ....  254 

Gustav  Nachtigal 256 

Camp  of  Wandering  Abyssinians 257 

Dr.  Wilhelm  Junker 259 

El  Khatmieh,  a Suburb  of  Kassala 260 

Mundoo  Warriors  . 261 

Map  of  Dr.  Junker’s  Routes 263 

Shooli  Musicians '■»  face  page  264 

Shooli  Village 264 

Shooli  Musical  Instruments 264 

Shooli'Warrior 265 

On  the  Island  of  Chisumulu,  Lake  Nyassa  . . .268 

Zanzibar  Beach 269 

Kilimanjaro  from  Moschi,  showing  Snow-clad  Peak 

of  Kibo 272 

Falls  of  Zoa  on  the  River  Ruo,  a Tributary  of  the 

Shird 273 

Keith  Johnston 275 

Mango  Fruit 276 

East  African  Water  Vegetation,  including  the  Magni- 
ficent blue  Water  Lily  277 

Map  of  Keith  Johnston’s  and  Joseph  Thomson's  Route  279 

Grotesque  Baobab 280 

Uguha  People,  west  of  Tanganyika 281 

Zanzibar 284 

Joseph  Thomson • • 285 

Karema  Fort,  now  a Roman  Catholic  Mission  Station  288 

Dwellings  at  Acrnr,  Abyssinia 289 

Abyssinia : Call  to  Prayer 292 

Bateke  Chief  and  Son 293 

Lower  Congo  Chief  in  “ Royal  Robes"  . to  face  page  296 

Lower  Congo  Chief  in  “ Coronation  Robes’’  - . ■ 296 

Cutting  Timber  in  a Lower  Congo  Forest  . .297 

Kilimanjaro : Another  View  of  Kibo  from  Moschi  . 300 

Mount  Meru,  from  Moschi 301 

Lake  Naivasha 302 

Lake  Jipe,  near  Kilimanjaro 304 

The  Crater  Lake  Chala,  on  Kilimanjaro  . . . .304 

Waterfall  on  Kilimanjaro 305 

The  Kilimanjaro  Range  . . • 308 

Hill  of  Ndara.  between  Kilimanjaro  and  the  Coast  . 309 

El  Morau  (Old  Men)  of  the  Masai  Tribe  . • • -311 

Masai  War  Party 313 


FORT  SAO  MIGUEL,  SAO  PAOLO  DE  LOANDA. 

( From  a Photograph  supplied  by  H.  M.  Stanley.) 

THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

In  a Day  of  Small  Things:  Some  Minor  Journeys  across  Africa. 

An  annua  mirabilhs  in  the  History  of  African  Exploration — What  constitutes  a Journey  “across  Africa” — Serpa 
Pinto’s  Expedition — Separates  from  Capello  and  Ivens  at  Bihe — Destroying1  some  Goods  to  obtain 
Porters  for  the  Remainder — Peculiarity  of  Rivers — New  Sources  Discovered — The  Mucassequeres — The 
Mussambas  Tribe  and  their  Wanderings — The  Zambesi — The  Makololo  Empire — Its  Ruin  and  Extinction 
of  the  Race — The  Victoria  Falls — Pioneers  of  Civilisation  met  with — M.  Collard — Dr.  Bradshaw  and 
Senhor  Anchieta — The  Kalahari  and  Baines  Deserts — Character  of  the  Country — Matteucci  and  Massari’s 
Journey  from  Egypt  to  the  Gulf  of  Guinea — Sultans  Hospitable  and  Otherwise — Death  of  Matteucci — 
Wissmann’s  First  Journey  across  Africa — A Great  Story  and  a Small  Lake — An  Artistic  People — 
1884  a Brisk  Year  for  Africa — Arnot’s  Journey — Katanga — Confusion  of  Nomenclature— Two  Sides  to  a 
Story — Capello  and  Ivens’  Journey  from  Ocean  to  Ocean — Gleerup’s  Transit — Oskar  Lenz's  Travels  from  the 
Congo  to  the  Zambesi  — Changes  on  the  Upper  Congo  since  Stanley’s  First  Descent — Tippoo  Tib— Arab 
Settlements — Kasongo — Tanganyika  Reached — The  Stevenson  Road — Nyassa — The  Sea — Wissmann’s  Second 
Journey  across  the  Continent — Ravages  of  Arab  Raiders — The  Tanganyika  and  Nyassa  Lakes — Waning 
Interest  in  Transcontinental  Journeys — Speed  at  which  they  were  performed — Getting  to  be  mere  Geo- 
graphical “ Records.” 


pHE  year  1877  was  a 
u notable  one  in  the 
annals  of  African  ex- 
ploration. Shortly  be- 
fore that  date  Lieu- 
tenant Cameron  had 
returned  from  his  ex- 
pedition across  Africa 
(VoL  II.,  p.  266);  still 


more  recently  Stanley  had  descended  the 
Congo ; and,  above  all,  the  journey  of  Living- 
stone— which  had  been  finished  in  the  Portu- 
guese possessions — was  still  fresh  in  public 
memory.  However,  though  these  British  travel- 
lers had  reached  the  Atlantic  within  Lusitanian 
territory — and  in  those  days  Portugal  claimed 
the  Congo — the  Portuguese  themselves  had 
done  little  for  the  exploration  of  the  country 


2 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


under  their  flag.  Their  colonies  extended 
without  any  determined  frontiers  to  the  east  and 
to  the  west ; but  their  boundaries,  the  course  of 
the  rivers  and  the  trend  of  the  mountains, 
even  within  the  limits  of  these  colonies,  were 
but  little  known.  Vague  stories,  we  have  seen, 
circulated  regarding  early  Portuguese  travel- 
lers (Vol.'  II.,  pp.  163-166);  but  few  of  them 
had  left  any  records  of  their  journeys,  and 
none  which  could  be  taken  without  doubt. 

In  the  meantime  a difference  of  opinion 
existed  as  to  what  really  constituted  a journey 

across  Africa.  Livingstone,  it  is  all 
what  is  a put  admitted,  was  the  first  traveller 

continental  wh0  successfully  attempted  to  cross 
journey?  J r 

the  country  and  preserve  a de- 
scription of  his  journey.  But  Gerhard  Rohlfs, 
even  before  Livingstone,  had  penetrated  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  Atlantic ; and  if  a 
journey  of  this  kind  is  to  be  signalised  as  one 
“ across  Africa,”  then  Speke’s  famous  journey 
(Vol.  II.,  pp.  65-116)  from,  the  east  coast  to 
the  Nile  deserves  that  name.  Colonel  Grant, 
indeed,  actually  published  an  account  of  it 
under  the  title  of  “A  Walk  Across  Africa.” 
However,  long  before  that  period  Clapperton 
(Vol.  I.,  pp.  242-259),  in  the  course  of  two 
journeys,  had  covered  very  much  the  same 
ground  as  Rohlfs.  Even  Caillie  (Vol.  I.,  pp. 
227-238)  had  entered  Africa  at  the  Gulf  of 
Guinea  and  left  it  at  Tangier  in  Morocco. 

We  must,  therefore,  not  speak  of  an  expedi- 
tion as  being  across  Africa  except  on  more 
substantial  claims  than  these : otherwise  every 
tourist  who  passed  from  Tangier  to  Tetuan 
may  be  said  to  have  “ crossed  Africa.”  How- 
ever, with  the  completion  of  Stanley’s  voyage 
down  the  Congo  almost  the  last  of  the  great 
problems  of  Africa  had  been  solved. 

A few  years  before  these  mysteries  were  num- 
erous. Now  the  Niger  had  been  traced  from  its 
a day  of  source  to  the  sea.  The  great  lakes 
small  were  no  longer  subjects  of  specula- 
things.  t*on  'ppe  course  0f  the  Nile  and 
all  its  chief  tributaries  had  been  tracked,  and 
finally  the  Congo  (or  the  Livingstone,  as 
Stanley,  in  defiance  of  the  laws  governing 
geographical  nomenclature,  had  called  it)  was 


no  longer  one  of  the  puzzles  or  geograph}'. 
Nevertheless,  there  was  still  much  to  be  done. 
Africa  was  known  only  in  outline.  Vast  tracts 
between  the  rivers  had  not  been  laid  down  on 
the  map  and  the  regions  on  each  side  of  the 
routes  of  the  travellers  across  the  country 
were  still  blanks.  Numerous  minor  rivers 
were  to  be  discovered  and  endless  sheets  of 
water,  many  not  much  less  in  size  than  the 
huge  ones  which  we  have  described  in 
previous  chapters,  remained  to  be  traced 
in  all  their  vastness.  Still,  no  Old  World 
mystery  attached  to  these.  The  rivers  were 
not  historical  streams  and  the  lakes  were 
the  sources  of  no  such  currents  as  the 
Niger,  the  Congo,  and  the  chief  tributary, 
of  the  Zambesi.  The  Portuguese,  moreover, 
came  rather  late  into  the  field.  Between  the 
utmost  limits  of  their  own  colonies  on  the 
west  coast  and  the  most  western  extension  of 
the  British  on  the  east  coast  there  was  a 
comparatively  narrow  strip  of  country  re- 
maining to  be  explored.  Even  that  narrow 
region  was  being  penetrated  here  and  there 
by  hunters  and  miners  and  traders.  Hence 
the  explorer  entering  from  the  west  coast  and 
going  to  the  east — say  to  Natal — had  only  a 
short  distance  to  travel  before  he  came  upon 
the  trail  of  other  civilised  men.  The  Portu- 
guese, nevertheless,  determined  not  to  be  any 
longer  singular  among  the  nations  in  alone 
taking  no  part  in  the  ransacking  of  inner  Africa. 
The  Legislature,  therefore,  voted  a sum  of  over 
£6,000  to  fit  out  an  expedition  for  _ _ 
exploring  and  mapping  the  country  Pinto’s 
immediately  behind  their  colonies  expedltion- 
on  the  west  coast.'  The  officer  selected  for 
the  command  of  this  expedition  was  Captain 
(afterwards  Colonel)  Alexandre  Alberto  da 
Rocha  Serpa  Pinto  (p.  3) — who,  as  one  of 
the  garrison  of  the  African  colonies,  had 
already  had  some  experience  of  the  region  to 
be  explored — with  whom  were  associated 
two  naval  officers,  Lieutenants  Menigildo  de 
Brito  Capello  and  Roberto  Ivens.  The  ostens- 
ible object  of  the  journey  was  to  survey  the 
great  artery  which,  as  a tributary  of  the 
Congo,  runs  from  south  to  north  between 


SERPA  PINTO'S  EXPEDITION. 


3 


17°  and  19°  east  of  Greenwich,  and  is  called 
the  Kwango;  and  also  to  determine  all  the 
geographical  bearings  between  the  river  and 
the  west  coast,  and  make  a comparative 
survey  of  the  hydrographic  basins  of  the 
Congo  and  the  Zambesi.  Leaving  Sao 
Paolo  de  Loanda  (VoL  II.,  p.  216)  in  May,  1877, 
the  first  portion  of  the  journey  was  to  the 
settlement  of  Bihe,  a native  village  on  a great 
plateau,  where  several  Portuguese  traders  had 
their  establishments.  It  is  known  to  the 
reader  from  the  visit  paid  to  it  by  Commander 


LIEUT.-COLONEL  SEEPA  PINTO. 

( From,  a Photograph  by  Camacho,  Lisbon .) 

Cameron  a few  years  earlier  (Yol.  II.,  p.  278). 
At  this  point  the  expedition  broke  up  into 
two  divisions,  the  travellers  finding  it  difficult 
to  obtain  porters  for  the  entire  party.  Capello 
and  I vens’ journey  to  the  territory  of  Yacca 
forms  an  interesting  episode  in  African  dis- 
covery, but  from  a geographical  point  of  view 
it  does  not  bulk  largely  in  the  history  of  the 
Dark  Continent*  We  shall,  however,  for  the 
present  follow  Captain  Pinto  in  his  walk  to 
the  east. 

Indeed,  to  cross  the  continent  was  not  his 
intention  when  he  first  started  out  upon  the 
journey  of  which  these  pages  form  a brief 
record  His  march  through  the  continent 

* Capello  and  Ivens,  “ From  Benguela  to  the  Terri- 
tory of  Yacca,”  2 vols.  (1882)  ; also  Proceedings  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  1880,  p.  647. 


was  almost  forced  upon  him.  Short  of  pro- 
visions and  of  men  to  carry  them,  he  could  not 
well  go  back  ; he  was  therefore  forced  to  go 
forward,  the  country  over  which  he  travelled 
from  the  eastern  bounds  of  the 
Portuguese  colonies  to  the  western  Eastward6 
bounds  of  Natal  being  about  500 
miles  in  breadth,  and  most  of  it  still  unknown 
to  the  chartographer.  Leaving  Bihe  in  the 
month  of  May,  1878,  he  was  for  the  most  part 
alone,  with  a few  native  attendants  and  no 
white  companions,  as  he  passed  across  the 
southern  limits  of  the  Benguelan  highlands. 
This  country  stands  5,000  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  and  possesses  great  advantages 
in  its  salubrity  and  commercial  and  agricul- 
tural capabilities,  which  highly  recommend  it 
to  European  attention.  Indeed,  in  all  tropical 
Africa  this  is  the  territory  Captain  Serpa  Pinto 
considers  most  suitable  for  European  colonisa- 
tion, though  since  that  day  we  have  learnt 
so  much  more  of  Central  Africa  that  this 
enthusiastic  dictum  is  too  sweeping,  even 
despite  the  attempts  that  have  been  made 
to  colonise  these  uplands. 

One  journey  in  the  Zambesi  country  is 
very  much  like  another,  so  that  those  who 
have  followed  Livingstone’s  and  Cameron’s 
travels  will  scarcely  require  a minute  ac- 
count of  the  campings  and  hardships  of  the 
explorer  now  under  consideration.  He  and 
his  party  had  to  live  solely  on  the  product 
of  the  chase  from  day  to  day,  and  thus,  with 
occasional  help  from  friendly  natives,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  accomplishing  his  difficult  task.  As 
a rule,  all  of  the  tribes  with  whom  the  ex- 
pedition came  into  contact  had  more  or  less 
acquaintance  with  white  men  and  generally, 
from  long  experience,  lived  in  wholesome 
dread  of  their  powers:  so  that,  leaving  out 
of  account  the  grasping  peculiarities  of  the 
little  native  kings,  or  “ Sovas,”  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  porters  to  carry  their  baggage, 
and  the  inevitable  hardships  of  travel,  Captain 
Serpa  Pinto  encountered  no  great  obstacles  in 
the  course  of  his  journey.  Indeed,  with  the 
exception  of  being  so  frequently  compelled  to 
destroy  his  baggage  from  the  difficulty  of 


-1 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


obtaining  people  to  carry  it,  we  cannot  learn 
that  lie  met  with  any  very  serious  peril.  The 
hindrances  in  the  way  of  hiring  porters  were 
largely  due  to  the  greed  of  the  native  chiefs 
to  obtain  the  goods  which  the  traveller  was 
unable  to  carry.  Hence  his  precaution  in 
destroying  them.  Otherwise,  the  porters  would 
never  have  been  forthcoming.  Before  reaching 
Bihe  he  was  surprised  to  find  the  Kubango 
river  taking  its  rise  to  the  west  and  not  to  the 
east  of  that  place,  as  all  existing  maps  had 
led  him  to  expect.  This  large  river  receives 
on  the  east  a great  tributary,  the  Kwito,  which 
unites  its  waters  with  those  of  the  Kubango 


at  a place  called  Darico.  Within  the  wide 
fork  which  is  formed  by  the  two  rivers  the 
Kwanza*  as  well  as  some  of  its  smaller 
affluents,  takes  its  source. 

It  was  here  that  Pinto  had  occasion  to 

* Also  spelt  Cuanza  and  Quanza. 


remark  a peculiar  feature  in  the  physical 
geography  of  this  part  of  Africa,  River  pecu 
namely,  the  dovetailing  of  the  Parities, 
sources  of  rivers  which,  hi  the  rest  of  their 
courses,  run  in  opposite  directions.  Thus, 
close  to  the  source  of  the  Kwito  rise  three 
other  rivers,  two  of  which  flow  into  the 
Atlantic  by  the  Kwanza,  of  which  they  are 
tributaries,  and  one  into  the  Indian  Ocean 
through  the  Zambesi.  The  same  feature  is 
noticeable  even  beyond  Lake  Bemba  (or 
Bangweolo),  the  Congo  and  Zambesi  as  well 
as  their  affluents  having  their  sources 
and  mingling  their  streams  near  to  the 
twelfth  parallel  of  south 
latitude.  East  of  the  river 
Kwito,  the  Kwando,  which 
Livingstone  calls  the  Chobe 
(Yol.  II.,  pp.  195,  199,  etc.), 
takes  its  rise.  It  forms  a 
fine,  large,  navigable  river, 
watering  a great  extent 
of  inhabitable  and  fer- 
tile country,  and  receives 
several  affluents  as  navig- 
able as  itself  and  all 
destined  in  future  years 
to  be  enlivened  by  barges, 
boats,  and  steamers.  In 
this  forest-covered  region, 
where  the  elephant  still 
abounds,  we  meet  with  the 
Mucassequeres,.  a tribe  of 
a yellowish-white  colour. 
They  are  nomads  and 
perfectly  savage,  spending 
their  time  continually 
roaming  through  the  region 
between  the  Kwando  and 
the  Kubang’o.  In  the  same 
country  exists  another 
nomad  tribe  — the  Mus- 
sambas — who  are  black,  and  wander  about 
towards  the  south,  raiding  the  country  as 
far  as  the  land  of  the  Sulatebele.  These 
people,  however,  are  quite  distinct  from  the 
Bushmen  of  the  Kalahari,  from  the  pigmies 
of  the  country  farther  north  described  by 


MAKING  TETHERS  FOR  OXEN,  LESHOMA,  ZAMBESI, 
(f'/'nwi  a Photoyraph  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 


WANDERING  TRIBES. 


M.  (lu  Chaillu,  and  from  those  near  the 
head-waters  of  the  Congo  and  the  region 
between  it  and  Albert  Nyanza,  described  by 
Mr.  Stanley  and  others  some  years  later  (p.  34). 
The  country  between  Bihe  and  the  Zambesi 
is  inhabited  by  three  distinct  races  of  people, 
the  Kimbandes,  the  Luchares,  and  the  Am- 
buellas.  Another  race — the  Kibokwes — is  now 
beginning  to  settle  there,  and  there  is  a 


5 

inhabited  by  people  of  docile  character  and 
susceptible  of  development.  What  struck 
him  very  much  as  regards  their  capacity  for 
trade  was  that  these  tribes  were  extreniely 
fond  of  dress,  a disposition  which  should 
certainly  not  be  overlooked  by  the  “ white  ” 
manufacturer.  Indeed,  we  may  consider 
that  there  is  here  a prospective  market 
for  the  consumption  of  European  goods. 


MARKET,  LESHOMA,  ZAMBESI. 

(Front  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 


considerable  emigration  of  these  people  from 
the  north  for  the  purpose  of  establishing 
themselves  on  the  banks  of  the  Kubango  and 
the  Kwando,  in  their  search  for  lands  more 
fertile  than  their  own.  In  the  course  of  his 
Tribes  and  daily  travel>  Captain  Pinto  met 

their  large  caravans  of  these  emigrants, 
wanderings.  an(j  staye(]  for  some  time  in  their 
new  settlements. 

All  of  the  above-mentioned  country  he 
describes  as  “ splendid  and  very  fertile,”  and 


These  tribes  are  governed  in  a despotic 
manner  by  independent  rulers  and  con- 
stitute confederations,  though  belonging  to 
different  races.  At  the  time  of  which 
we  speak  the  missionaries  had  not  reached 
them,  nor  had  any  European  been 
seen  amongst  them  until  Serpa  ^c^^besl 
Pinto’s  arrival.  Yet,  though  he  Political 
claims  to  be  the  first  visitor,  the  changes' 
traveller  met  with  a cordial  reception. 
Travelling  eastward,  the  Liambai — really,  as 


6 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Livingstone  discovered,  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Zambesi — is  the  first  river  met  with 
beyond  the  Kwando. 

As  Livingstone  has  fully  described  the 
characteristics  of  this  part  of  the  Zambesi 
(Yol.  II.,  pp.  197-234,  pp.  242,  243),  it  is 
unnecessary  to  add  any  further  remarks 
regarding  it.  However,  since  the  great 
traveller’s  visit,  the  political  geography  of 
the  Upper  Zambesi  has  altered  very  con- 
siderably, the  people  with  whom  he  had 
associated  having  been  displaced  by  others 
of  different  origin.  At  the  time  the 
Scottish  explorer  first  visited  this  part  of 
Africa,  it  had  recently  been  conquered  by  the 
genius  of  a really  great  man,  the  Kaffir  chief 
Sebituane,  who,  having  gained  successive 
victories  over  the  native  tribes,  induced  them 
to  confederate  into  what  for  a time  constituted 
a powerful  empire  (Yol.  II.,  p.  243).  Six 
years  later,  during  the  Zambesi  expedition, 
when  he  visited  Sesheke,  towards  the  end 
of  the  reign  of  the  second  Makololo  monarch 
(Sekeletu),  Livingstone,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, foretold  not  merely  the  fall  of  the 
empire,  but  the  extinction  of  the  Makololo 
people  (Yol.  II.,  p.  194).  In  fact,  in  the  course 
of  the  reign  of  the  third  sovereign  of  this 
dynasty  of  the  conquerors,  named  Omboroh, 
the  king  was  murdered,  and  the  Luinas,  who 
were  the  former  masters  of  the  country,  again 
took  possession  of  it  after  a sort  of  Sicilian 
Yespers,  when  most  of  the  remaining  Mako- 
lolo were  put  to  death.  A very  few,  however, 
succeeded  in  escaping  to  Bihe,  under  the 
command  of  Siroca,  who  put  himself  at  their 
head.  But  even  these  were  destroyed  in  the 
beginning  of  1878,  close  to  the  village  of 
Muttambanja  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Kwando, 
when  they  attempted  to  fall  suddenly  upon 
those  who  were  at  that  time  owners  of  the 
country. 

The  Makololo,  as  is  well  known,  were  not  a 
single  race.  Sebituane  (Yol.  II.,  p.  194)  was, 
indeed,  born  on  the  bank  of  the  Gariep  in  the 
Basuto  country,  and  his  genius  for  organisation 
enabled  him  to  get  together  an  army  com- 
posed of  various  races  belonging  to  South 


Africa,  with  which  army  he  conquered  the 
country  of  the  Upper  Zambesi  and  gave  it  the 
name  of  Makololo.  It  was  these  same  people, 
bearing  the  name  of  Makololo,  who  were  in 
former  times  so  courageous,  but  later  were 
so  weakened  by  fevers  in  the  marsh-lands  of 
the  Kwando  (Chobe)  and  the  Zambesi,  ruined 
by  licentiousness,  and  enfeebled  by  the  use 
of  Indian  hemp,  as  at  last  to  be  destroyed, 
as  we  have  said,  by  the  Luinas  and  their  allies. 
The  name  “ Makololo,”  still  occasionally  seen 
in  tnaps,  has,  however,  no  place  in  geography, 
for  the  race  has  ceased  to  exist. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Zambesi,  Machuana, 
who  had  been  Livingstone’s  companion  on  his 
journey  to  Loanda,  was  met  with.  In  former 
days  he  was  a slave  belonging  to  Sekeletu, 
but,  at  the  time  of  making  Captain  Serpa 
Pinto’s  acquaintance,  had  risen  to  be  a 
man  of  consequence  among  the  Luinas,  and 
through  his  respect  for  white  men,  owing  to 
his  esteem  for  Dr.  Livingstone,  the  latest 
traveller  received  such  kindness  from  him  as 
to  owe  his  life  to  this  black  man. 

On  the  west  the  Zambesi  receives  no  other 
tributaries  of  consequence,  except  the  Lun- 
go-e-ungo  and  the  Nhengo,  the  latter  being 
formed  by  the  junction  of  three  rivers,  the 
Ninda.  the  Loati,  and  the  Luanguingua.  From 
the  confluence  of  the  Kwando,  as  far  as  the 
Yictoria  Falls,  it  receives  only  one  small 
stream,  close  to  the  cataract,  the  native  name 
of  which  Captain  Serpa  Pinto  was  unable  to 
ascertain  in  consequence  of  the  country  being 
uninhabited. 

Serpa  Pinto’s  description  of  the  Yictoria 
Falls,  or  Mozi-oa-tunia,  as  the  natives  call 
them,  which  were  discovered  and  so  fully 
pictured  by  Livingstone  and  those  who  suc- 
ceeded him,  does  not  differ  greatly  from 
the  accounts  of  which  we  are  already  in  pos- 
session. Indeed,  on  arriving  at  this  point, 
Captain  Serpa  Pinto’s  journey  through  un- 
known lands  might  be  said  to  have  ended. 
For  in  the  course  of  his  rambles  he  came  upon 
five  heaps  of 'stones  which  marked  the  graves 
of  five  Europeans  who  had  fallen  victims  to  the 
miasma  of  these  damp  forests  which  they  had 


A DANDY  IN  THE  WILDERNESS. 


7 


penetrated  in  the  pursuit  of  ivory  or  in  the 
hunt  for  gold.  But  beyond  the  fact  that  four  of 
them  bore  English  names  and  the  fifth  grave 
was  tenanted  by  a Swede,  the  history  of  these 
unfortunate  wanderers  was  unknown  at  the 
time,  and  their  very 
memory  must  by  now 
be  forgotten. 

In  a short  while 
Patamatenka  was 
reached,  and 
as  this  was  a 
mission 


inhabited  by  M.  Collard, 
of  the  French  Evangelical 

The  pioneers  Society>  the  journey  of  the 
of  civiiisa-  Portuguese  explorer,  so  far 
tion.  i — 

as  unmapped  country  was  con- 
cerned, may  be  said  to  have  ended  here. 

In  this  out-of-the-way  portion  of 
Africa  an  English  hunter  of  the  name  of 
Bradshaw  was  met  with.  He  was  an 
educated  physician  who  had  exchanged 
the  pleasures  of  civilisation  for  a rough 
life  in  the  midst  of  an  African  forest, 
habitually  living  on  game  and  the  proceeds 
of  the  sale  of  his  natural  history  collections. 

At  an  earlier  stage  in  his  journey  Captain 
Serpa  Pinto  fell  In  with  a Portuguese  way- 
farer of  a different  type,  a gentleman  who 
dressed  for  dinner  in  the  forest,  and,  in 
evening  dress,  afforded  a curious  contrast  to 
the  English  zoologist,  attired  in  shirt  and 
trousers.  This  traveller— Jose  d’ Anchieta 
— had  been  resident  in  Africa  for  eleven 
years  and  held  an  official  position  under  the 
Portuguese  Government.  At  the  time  that  we 
make  his  acquaintance  he  was  employed  in 
preparing  scientific  collections  for  the  Lisbon 
Museum  and  did  not  consider  the  fact  of  his 
living  in  a forest  of  Africa  should  interfere 


in  any  way  with  his  European  habits.  He 
followed,  therefore,  in  the  ruined  church  where 
he  had  taken  up  his  quarters,  the  ways  of  life 
which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  in  Lisbon 
or  in  Paris.  He  wore  a tailed  coat  and  a white 
necktie  in  the  evening  and,  though  far  from 
civilisation,  managed  to  keep  up  his  studies 
as  though  he  were  in  Europe.  One  hears 
occasionally  of  luxurious  travellers — even  in 
Africa, — of  men  who  spread  table-cloths  and 
drink  champagne  on  the  march ; but  the 
doubtful  luxury  of  evening  dress  I do  not 
remember  to  have  met  with  before. 

From  Patamatenka  Captain  Serpa  Pinto’s 
journey  was  made  in  a comfortable  waggon,  and 
lay,  for  the  most  part,  through  the  Trans- 
vaal  or  the  British  colony  of  Natal.  Though 
full  of  interest  to  him,  this  journey 
can  have  little  .moment  so  far 
as  geography  is  concerned.  All 
of  the  country  was,  even  at  that 
date,  tolerably  well  known,  and  in 
the  course  of  following  years  not 
a little  of  the  region  mapped 
for  the  first  time  by  Serpa 
Pinto  has  been  the  seene  of 
busy  gold-prospecting,  and  even 
of  pioneer  farming. 

Through  the  entire  course 
of  his  journey  Serpa  Pinto 
employs  native  names 
in  speaking  of  places 
which  he  visited.  Al- 
most the  only  excep- 
( tion  to  this  rule 
is  that,  when  he 
crossed  the  arid 
country  between 
theBotletli  (which 
is  really  the  Ku- 
bango) and  the 
Zambesi,  he  ven- 
tured to  give  the  name  of  Baines  Desert 
to  an  arid  track  traversed  by  him,  in 
honour  of  Thomas  Baines  (Yol.  II.,  p.  238), 
who  had  for  years  worked  laboriously  in 
the  interior  of  Southern  Africa  with  scant 
pleasure,  little  fame,  much  toil,  and  no 


4*pattunalenJcc, 
3 ujits  'Jfesert 


‘aShoshong 


MAP  OF  SERPA  PINTO’S  ROUTE. 


8 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


pecuniary  reward.  This  bare,  arid,  and 
cheerless  plain  had  been  crossed  for  the  first 
time  by  Livingstone  hut  two  degrees  to  the 
west  of  Pinto’s  track,  one  degree  farther  west 
by  Baines,  and  a degree  more  to  the 
east  by  Baldwin,  Chapman,  Mohr,  and  others. 
It  is  the  most  sandy  and  inhospitable  region 
of  South  Africa,  the  Sahara  of  the  South,  the 


colour.  The  thickness  of  the  layer  of  fine 
white  sand  which  formed  the  surface  varied 
from  four  to  twenty  inches.  Of  water  there 
was  scarcely  a trace,  and  often  even  in  the  rainy 
seasons  very  little  accumulated  in  the  de- 
pressions in  the  ground.  After  quitting  it, 
the  country  was  covered  with  forest,  which 
went  on  increasing  in  density  and  luxurious- 


EAPIDS  OF  XGAMBAE,  UPPER  ZAMBESI. 

(From  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 


northern  continuation  of  the  repulsive  Kala- 
hari (Vol.  II.,  p.  183).  The  only  herbage 
are  miserable  stunted  thorn-trees,  which, 
with  their  parched  leafage,  only  make  the 
bareness  of  the  desert  more  perceptible. 
Salt-pans — the  bottom  of  desiccated  salt- 
lakes — (Vol.  II.,  p.  189)  are  also  met  with,  and 
when  they  are  found  are  frequented  for  the  sake 
Character-  t^ie  sa^-  From  the  Zambesi  to 
istics  of  the  this  point  the  ground  was  sandy, 
country.  subsoil  being  formed  by  a 

layer  of  singular  plastic  clay  of  dark  chestnut 


ness  of  vegetation  as  the  route  drew  away  to 
the  north.  The  vegetation  itself  was  distin- 
guished by  an  immense  variety  of  acacias ; 
brilliant  flowers  of  almost  every  kind  met 
the  eye  on  every  side  and  filled  the 
air  with  their  delicious  perfume.  The 
prospect  was  enchanting,  but  travelling 
through  it  the  traveller  confessed,  was  an 
arduous  task.  At  times  a road  had  to  be  cut 
through  the  tangled  mass  with  a hatchet,  foot 
by  foot.  At  other  times,  say  for  ten  miles  or 
so  together,  the  surface  was  twenty  inches  deep 


THE  PLEASURES  OF  TRAVEL. 


9 


in  sand,  while  the  wheels  of  the  waggon  were  being  visible  every  now  and  again,  as  the  Haines 
literally  buried,  so  that  the  wayfarers  con-  from  the  camp  fires  illumined  the  darkness. 


MAP  SHOWING  THE  DENSITY  OF  POPULATION  IN  AFRICA.  (By  E.  G.  Ro.renstein.) 


diumcL 


.kNTIC 


Under  1. 
1 to  4- 
4 to  8. 

8 to  16. 
16  to  82. 
82  to  64. 
Over  64- 


sidered  themselves  fortunate  if  a mile  was 
got  over  in  forty  minutes.  All  night  long 
jackals  and  hyaenas  kept  up  an  infernal  con- 
cert around  them,  the  outline  of  their  forms 


But  beyond  these  facts  and  the  personal 
adventures  of  which  Captain  Serpa  Pinto’s 
volumes  describing  his  journey  are  full,  the 
greater  portion  of  the  country  which  he 


10 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


traversed  was  at  that  time  not  unknown,  and 
at  the  present  moment  ranks  among  the 
best-explored  portions  of  the  outer  range  of 
British  colonies  on  the  one  side  and  of  those 
of  the  Portuguese  on  the  other. 

At  an  earlier  date  Pinto’s  march  would 
have  ranked  among  one  of  the  great  ex- 
_ „ „ plorations  of  Africa.  Unfortunately 

serpa  Pinto’s  for  him,  he  had  fallen  upon  a 
journey.  (fay  Gf  small  things.  The  earlier 
journeys  over  the  same  region  had  stripped 
his  travels  of  much  of  their  novelty.  Still,  as 
almost  the  only  Portuguese  expedition  worthy 
of  the  name  and  the  first  which  starting  from 
the  west1  coast  terminated  on  the  east,  the 
exploration  of  Serpa  Pinto  will  always  oc- 
cupy an  honourable  page  in  the  chronicles  of 
African  travel.  It  is,  however,  possible  that 
the  historian  of  these  days  does  not  assess 
it  at  such  a high  figure  as  did  the  kings  and 
geographical  societies,  who  bestowed  medals 
and  other  awards  on  the  author  of  an  explora- 
tion the  extent  of  which  had  been  far  exceeded 
by  those  of  a previous  date  and  has  been  cast 
into  insignificance  by  less-known  travellers 
of  later  years.*  It  necessarily  touched 
at  various  points  the  routes  of  Livingstone 
and  Cameron.  Thus  at  Bihe  it  crossed 
Cameron’s  track,  and  from  Lialui,  on  the 
Upper  Zambesi,  to  the  Victoria  Falls  Serpa 
Pinto’s  route  was  identical  with  that  ot 
Livingstone.  At  Linyanti  and  Shoshong  also 
he  reached  familiar  points  in  Livingstone’s 
travels,  so  that  it  was  only  for  a comparatively 
short  distance  that  his  route  lay  through  land 
hitherto  unfamiliar  to  the  readers  of  African 
travels. 

A year  after  Serpa  Pinto  returned  to  Europe, 
a remarkable  but  little-known  journey  across 
Central  Africa  was  made  by  two 
andMaCslri.  Italians,  Dr.  Pellegrino  Matteucci, 
and  Lieutenant  Alfonso  Maria 
Massari,  of  the  Italian  Navy.  Matteucci 

*“  Major  Serpa  Pinto’s  Journey  Across  Africa  ” (in  a 
letter  to  Lord  Northbrook,  President  Royal  Geographical 
Society),  Proceedings  Royal  Geographical  Society , 1879, 
pp.  481-489,  the  facts  of  which  are  condensed  in  our 
narrative  ; Serpa  Pinto,  “ How  I Crossed  Africa,”  2 vols. 
(1881),  etc. 


had  travelled  in  Abyssinia  and  along  the 
Blue  Nile,  and  when  they  began  their 
journey  towards  the  Niger  in  March,  1880, 
he  and  Massari,  like  so  many  other  Italian 
explorers,  were  residents  in  Khartoum,  on 
the  Nile.  For  a part  of  their  journey  they 
were  accompanied  by  Prince  Giovanni  Bor- 
ghese,  who  paid  the  cost  of  the  expedition; 
but  at  Darfur  he  returned  to  more  civilised 
regions.  The  route  which  his  two  com-' 
panions  now  took  led  them  from  Suakim 
through  Kordofan,  Darfur,  Dar  Tama,  Waday, 
Bornu,  Kano,  and  Nupe,  diagonally  through 
thirty  meridians  of  longitude,  until  they 
reached  the  Niger.  Most  of  the  countries 
mentioned  have  already  been  more  or  less 
fully  described  in  the  course  of  the  travels 
of  Clapperton,  Caillie  and  Barth,  and  still 
more  recently  had  been  reached  by  Rohlfs 
and  Nachtigal,  and  other  explorers,  though 
the  Italians  were  the  first  who  crossed  the 
whole  breadth  of  the  Soudan  from  sea  to 
sea.  The  visits  of  these  travellers  did  not, 
however,  smooth,  to  any  appreciable  ex- 
tent, the  path  of  the  latest  visitors  to  the 
barbarous  monarchs  ruling  the  territories  in 
question.  Indeed,  the  treacherous  Sultan  of 
Waday,  who  is  believed  to  have  murdered 
Vogel  and  who  refused  Rohlfs  (when  he 
came  in  search  of  his  countryman’s  papers) 
entrance  into  his  kingdom,  was  at  times  so 
unfriendly  that  the  Italian  explorers  could  only 
insure  a moderate  safety  by  warning  this  sus- 
picious potentate  that  their  king  would  avenge 
their  deaths,  but  would  send  splendid  presents 
if  they  were  protected.  By  thus  appealing  at 
once  to  his  fear  and  his  avarice,  they  saved 
not  only  their  own  lives,  but  the  lives  of  four 
hundred  prisoners  of  war.  They  told  him, 
moreover,  that  he  could  do  nothing  more 
acceptable  in  the  eyes  of  the  King  of  Italy 
than  to  spare  them. 

In  Bornu  they  found  an  Italian  named 
Giuseppe  Valpreda,  who  had  been  left  behind, 
at  his  own  request,  by  Nachtigal,  nineteen 
years  before.  He  had  been  tempted  to  em- 
brace Mohammedanism  in  the  hope  of  re- 
ceiving honour  and  profit.  But  during  the 


TWO  TRAVELLERS  IN  A HURRY. 


11 


greater  part  of  that  period  he  had — as  is 
the  usual  lot  of  renegades — been  kept  in  a 
condition  differing  very  little  from  that  of 
slavery.  He  would  fain  have  accompanied 
his  countrymen  to  civilisation  and  fell  weeping 
•on  their  necks  when  he  found  it  was  impos- 
sible to  persuade  his  master  to  allow  him  to 
depart,  but  was  consoled  by  the  promise  that 
they  would  endeavour  to  send  for  him. 

It  was  originally  the  Italian  travellers’  in- 
tention to  join  a caravan  in  Waday  and  with 
it  to  penetrate  northwards  to  Tripoli,  by  the 
route  pursued  by  so  many  previous  travellers 
•and,  still  more  recently,  by  Commandant 
MonteiL  But  to  do  so  would  have  necessitated 
a stay  of  eight  months  in  Waday  for  the 
•caravan,  leaving  out  of  account  the  reluct- 
•ance  of  the  Sultan  to  permit  them  to  travel 
in  that  direction.  It  was  indeed  fortunate 
for  them  that  this  plan  was  not 
carried  out : for  at  that  time  all  the 
Northern  Sahara  was  troubled  by 
religious  broils,  which  would  have  made  it 
perilous  for  Christians  to  travel  there.  The 
less  excitable  Central  Soudan  was  free  from 
that  agitation,  so  that,  having  reached  Bornu, 
they  were  really  nearer  the  Gulf  of  Guinea 
than  the  Mediterranean.  Indeed,  considering 
the  temper  of  the  Sultan  of  Waday,  his  per- 
fidious character  and  his  infamous  reputa- 
tion, the  wonder  is  that  they  were  ever  per- 
mitted to  leave  his  territories.  He  kept  them 
virtual  prisoners  for  113  days  before  allowing 
them  to  enter  his  kingdom  and  treated 
them  throughout  with  the  utmost  suspicion. 
Europeans  he  naturally  regarded  as  spies  and 
it  would  have  been  in  vain  to  attempt  to  make 
him  understand  the  motives  that  induced  a 
man  who  could  have  lived  a life  of  ease  to 
take  so  long  and  so  dangerous  a journey. 

From  first  to  last  the  time  occupied  by  the 
journey  from  Cairo  to  the  mouth  of  the  Niger 
was  sixteen  months  and  a half,  eight  of  which 
were  spent  in  involuntary  delays  waiting  the 
pleasure  of  the  various  petty  kings  on  the 
route.  Altogether,  they  travelled  a distance 
•of  three  thousand  miles,  at  an  average  of 
"fourteen  miles  a day  ; so  that  the  journey  of 


Matteucci  and  Massari  is  remarkable  for  the 
swiftness  with  which  it  was  accomplished. 
The  Sultan  Ibrahim  of  Dar  Tama,  on  the 
contrary,  treated  them  throughout  with  the 
utmost  hospitality,  in  his  capital  of  Gneri, 
which  consists  merely  of  three  hundred  straw 
huts,  the  only  houses  built  of  earth  being 
those  of  himself  and  his  son.  As  a rule,  this 
potentate  never  sees  or  speaks  directly  with 
strangers,  but  the  close  cross-examination  to 
which  he  subjected  them  seemed  to  be  satis- 
factory, for  he  gave  them  a friendly  letter  to 
the  Sultan  of  Waday,  though  it  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  very  influential  in  obtaining 
their  entrance  into  that  kingdom,  since  Sultan 
Jussuff — we  have  seen — kept  the  bearers 
waiting  for  months  on  the  confines  of  his 
territory.  He  said  that  they  came  from  the 
enemies’  country,  Darfur,  and,  as  the  only 
place  in  Europe  that  he  had  ever  heard  of  was 
Malta,  from  which  the  new  travellers  did  not 
claim  to  have  arrived,  it  was  difficult  to  per- 
suade the  suspicious  negro  sovereign  that  they 
were  what  they  pretended  to  be.  Even  when 
he  received  them  in  his  hot  metropolis  of 
Abeshr — from  which  the  inhabitants  flee  in 
summer — they  were  compelled  to  live  on  the 
footing  more  of  prisoners  than  of  guests,  and 
when  finally  an  audience  was  accorded  them 
the  interview  was  conducted  by  the  sovereign 
sitting  behind  a close  curtain.  Even  the 
presents  which  they  had  reserved  for  this 
potentate  had  been  pillaged  before  the  time  of 
their  audience,  and  though  the  Sultan  sent 
black  and  white  ostrich  feathers  as  gifts 
for  the  King  of  Italy,  the  Italian  travellers 
discovered  a plot  against  their  lives  during 
the  last  days  of  their  residence  in  Abeshr. 
They  were,  therefore,  glad  to  leave,  under  the 
supposed  protection  of  the  shifty  king,  for 
Bornu,  the  ruler  and  people  of  which  have 
always  received  accredited  strangers  more 
courteously  than  the  inferior  dignitaries 
around  them.  As  in  Barth’s  day,  they  found 
the  country  covered  with  scattered  villages 
wherever  there  are  wells  and  a few  palm 
trees,  or,  in  most  cases,  luxurious  vegetation. 
The  roads  are  better-kept,  flocks  and  herds 


12 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


abound,  and  there  are  “many  sycamores,  the  trading-steamers  which  now  churn  that 
beautiful  women,  excellent  men,  and  populous  river,  to  reach  the  mouth  at  Akassa,  where 
villages.”  The  Sultan  of  another  small  king-  they  received  every  attention,  and  ended  a 
dom  called  Midogo  also  received  them  civilly,  journey  which,  of  minor  value  to  geography, 
and  invited  them  to  return.  On  their  second  deserves  more  notice  than  it  has  obtained  in 


visit,  however,  this  “ simpatico  sultano,”  as  is 
the  habit  of  African  princes,  secretly  asked  for 
poison,  and  as  it  was  dangerous  to  refuse, 
Matteucci  presented  him  with  a package  of 
quinine,  which  might  do  good,  and  certainly 
could  do  no  harm,  to  the  King’s  enemies. 
At  Kano  (Vol.  I.,  p.  264)  they  were  well 
lodged  and  the  city  is  described  in  terms 
of  admiration  of  the  prosperity,  enterprise, 
and  courtesy  of  its  50,000  inhabitants.  The 
Sultan  of  Nupe  received  them  in  robes  of 
velvet  and  dismissed  them  with  a gift  of  a 
leopard’s  skin.  But  even  the  politeness  of 
the  most  polite  of  African  monarchs  is  apt 
to  weary  when  the  daily  suspicion  and  end- 
less dilatoriness  of  these  sovereigns  have  to 
be  endured.  They  were,  therefore,  glad  to 
reach  Egga,  on  the  Niger,  by  way  of  Kano, 
Nupe,  Zariya  and  Bidda,  and,  on  board  one  of 


England  at  least.  But  Matteucci  was  destined 
never  again  to  see  his  dear  Bologna,  having  died 
in  London  (August  8th,  1881),  on  his  way 
home,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  too  soon  to 
incorporate  the  results  of  his  journeys  in  a 
fitting  monument  of  his  self-denying  labours 
in  the  cause  of  science  * 

In  1882  among  the  officers  employed  in  the 
Congo  State  was  Lieutenant  Wissmann  of 
the  German  army  (pp.  14,  23).  Wissmann,s 
Hitherto  his  countrymen  had  first  journey 
taken  a comparatively  small  part  across  Afnca 
in  the  exploration  of  Africa,  though  the 
journeys  of  Schweinfurth,  Junker,  and  Nach- 
tigal  were  among  the  most  distinguished  of 

* Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society , 1880. 
pp.  817,  564,  597,  691,  764  ; 1881,  pp.  560,  562,  748. 
Bompiani,  "Italian  Explorers  in  Africa”  (1891),  pp. 
43-53,  etc. 


WISS MANN’S  FIRST  JOURNEY. 


13 


their  order.  Western  Africa  was,  however, 
beginning  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 
German  explorers,  among  whom  the  names 
of  Gtissfeldt,  Pechuel  - Loesche,  Flegel, 
Buchner,  Lenz,  Falkenstein,  Kund,  Mechow, 
and  the  late  Dr.  Pogge,  deserve  an 
honourable  place.  It  was  in  the  company  of 
the  last-named  explorer  that  Lieutenant 
Wissmann  began  his  march  across  Africa. 
Dr.  Pogge  did  not,  however,  complete  the 
journey,  for,  in  accordance  with  previous 
arrangements,  he  returned  westward  from 
Nyangwe  to  establish  one  of  the  Congo  State 
stations.  Already,  in  1875,  he  had  reached 
the  capital  of  the  renowned  Central  African 
potentate,  the  “ MuataYanvo”  (Vol.  II.,  p.  166), 


many  of  the  great  tributaries  of  the  Congo, 
the  country  was  comparatively  well  known, 
but  on  the  17th  December,  1881,  the  travel- 
lers arrived  at  Munkamba  Lake,  which  had 
been  described  to  them  as  a vast  sea,  but 
which  turned  out  a very  small  sheet,  not  more 
than  three  miles-  in  length.  It  is  fed  by 
springs,  is  fringed  by  sedge  and  high  grass, 
has  apparently  no  outlet,  and  lies  about  2,230 
feet  above  the  sea.  From  this  point  they  made 
their  way  towards  the  Lubi,  a tributary  of  the 
Sankuru  or  Kasai.  It  is  a feeder  of  the 
Congo.  In  this  country  they  met  with  the 
wild  Bashilange  and  Basongo,  who  flocked 
round  them  by  thousands  ; but  the  travellers 
speak  of  the  people  as  friendly,  laborious,  and 


ME.  BLOCK  LEY’S  TANNERY,  LESHOMA. 

(From  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 


of  whom  he  has  left  the  best  account  accessible*  highly  skilful  in  all  kinds  of  industry,  art,  and 
As  far  asNyangwe,the  route  takingthem  across  weapon-making.  Carved  ivory,  baskets,  inlaid 
* ••  Im  Reiche  des  Muato  Jamwo”  (1880).  wares,  and  iron  and  copper  utensils,  exhibiting 


14 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


great  artistic  skill,  were  among  the  evidences 
of  this.  Leaving  these  interesting  tribes  and 

The  forests  the  . fertile  Plains  which  they  in~ 
oi  the  Upper  habit,  the  travellers  entered  the 
vast  virgin  forests,  which  extend 
as  far  as  Lubailash,  a stream  of  the  width  of 
the  Elbe  at  Hamburg.  This  country  was 
totally  without  fruit-trees  and,  consequently, 


game  and  birds  were  scarce,  but  elephants  and 
a species  of  wild  boar  were  met  with  at 
intervals. 

Reaching  Lubailash,  they  found,  however, 
difficulties  in  the  ill-will  of  the  King  of  Coto, 
an  old  and  much-revered  “ fetish-man,”  called 
Kachiche,  who  ruled  over  a number  of  Luba 
tribes,  and  who  would  not  provide  canoes  for 
crossing  the  stream.  It  was,  indeed,  only  by 
working  on  his  superstitious  mind  by  means 
of  shots  and  rockets  that  they  at  last  induced 
him  to  perform  the  required  office.  On  the 
other  side  of  the  Lubailash,  they  entered  the 
country  of  the  Beneki,  of  whom  Lieutenant 
Wissmann  spoke  very  highly  for  their  well- 
built,  cleanly  villages,  surrounded  by  gardens 
and  palm  trees.  They  were  a completely  agri- 
cultural people,  very  numerous  and  well-to-do. 
Some  of  their  villages  were  so  large  that  it 
took  four  or  five  hours  to  march  through 
them,  and  had  one,  two,  or  three  rows  of 
houses  or  streets,  so  that  the  popu- 
tribesmen.  latioo  must  have  numbered  hun- 
dreds of  thousands.  From  here 
they  passed  through  vast  prairie-lands,  in- 
habited by  the  Kalebue  and  Mulebue  tribes, 
which  extended  as  far  as  the  Lomami,  also  a 


tributary  of  the  Congo,  beyond  which  they 
crossed  Cameron’s  track. 

The  travellers  suffered  severely  from  heavy 
rains.  In  fact,  they  could  not  have  traversed 
the  swamps  they  met  with  had  they  not  been 
mounted  on  oxen — excellent  animals,  which 
jumped  like  English  hunters,  cantered  and 
trotted,  but  which,  unfortunately,  died  on 
reaching  the 
east  coast,  the 
climate  of 
which  is  very 
prejudicial  to 
these  western 
and  • central 
African  ani- 
mals. 

Nyangwe 
(already  well 
known  to  ex- 
plorers) was 
reached  on 
the  17  th  of 
April.  From 
this  spot  east- 
ward Lieu- 
tenant Wiss- 
mann’s  journey  was  made  alone.  How- 
ever, the  Arabs,  who  have  always  inhabited 
this  post,  furnished  him  with  ten  guns  and 
fifteen  carriers,  with  whom,  on  June  1st,  he 
started  for  Lake  Tanganyika, 
repeatedly  crossing  the  routes  of  Nyangwe 
previous  explorers  before  he  ar-  Lake 

1 . 1 Tanganyika. 

rived  at  “Plymouth.  Rock,”  a 
station  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,, 
where,  on  the  18th  of  July,  the  most  severe 
portion  of  his  journey  ended  ; for  now  he  had 
only  to  cross  the  lake  to  Ujiji  and  take  the 
route  to  Saadani  which  had  been  traversed 
by  many  previous  travellers. 

However,  even  at  Ujiji  he  was  not  out  of 
peril,  for  the  people  of  Uhha,  knowing  his 
defenceless  condition,  lay  in  wait  for  him  near 
the  Malagarazi  river  and  were 

preparing  to  put  a stop  to  his  Tanganyika 
, . . tit  i to  tke  sea. 

further  journeymgs  when  he  bared 

his  arm  and,  pointing  to  a scar,  shouted 


MR.  ARNOT' S JOURNEY. 


15 


“ Mirambo.”  The  words  acted  like'  magic. 
The  death  of  a white  man  with  whom  their 
dreaded  chief  (Vol.  II.,  p.  275)  had  per- 
formed the  rite  of  “ blood  - brotherhood,” 
would  speedily  be  avenged,  and  the  intending 
plunderers,  prudently  remembering  the  fate 
that  might  befall  them,  desisted  from  further 
hostilities.  Mirambo,  whose  capital  Lieutenant 
Wissmann  reached  on  the  31st  August,  is 
described  by  him  as  “ a capital  fellow.”  From 
Unyanyembe  he  paid  a visit  to  the  German 
station  of  Mgonga,  mainly  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  a pair  of  boots,  and  finally  reached  the 
coast  by  way  of  Mpwapwa — now  a German 
post,  well  known  as  one  of 
the  sites  of  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society  (p.  59) — on 
the  15th  of  November,  1882, 
having  spent  twenty  - two 
months  and  a half  on  his 
journey  from  coast  to  coast.* 

The  year  1884  opened 
briskly  for  the  exploration  of 
Africa.  Thus,  Lieutenant 
Giraudf  penetrated  to  Lake 
Bangweolo  in  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  to  cross  Africa  by 
way  of  the  Upper  Congo ; 

Mr.  Montagu  Kerr  crossed 
Matabeleland  to  the  Zambesi, 
reaching,  by  a new  route, 
the  south-western  shore  of 
Lake  Nyassa,  while  Mr.  Kichards,  an  Amer- 
ican missionary,  travelled  from  Inhambane 
to  the  Limpopo ; and  Messrs.  Grenfell 
and  Comber  made  a careful  survey  of  the 
middle  course  of  the  Congo  and  its  Bochini 
tributary,  to  the  junction  of  the  great 
river  Kwango,  on  which  we  shall  have 
„ . something  to  say  bv-and-by.  But 
journey  of  all  the  explorations  which  were 
across  Africa.  en(je(j  or  begun  during  that  year, 
the  journey  across  Africa  by  Mr.  F.  S.  Amot, 

* Wissmann.  “ Im  Innern  Afrikas  ” (1883),  and  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  1883, 
pp.  163-165,  etc. 

f “Les  lacs  de  l’Afrique  fiquatoriale,  Voyage  d’Ex- 
ploration  execute  de  1883  a 1885”  (1889). 


though  not,  of  the  highest  geographical 
importance,  excited  the  most  attention.  Mr. 
Amot,  like  his  celebrated  predecessor,  David 
Livingstone,  was  a Scotsman,  from  the 
vicinity  of  Hamilton,  and  when  his  travels 
brought  him  into  notice  was  engaged  as  a 
missionary  in  South  Africa  without  being 
connected  with  any  of  the  recognised  societies. 
The  American  missionaries  stationed  at  Bai- 
lundu  in  the  country  to  the  rear  of  the 
Portuguese  province  of  Benguela,  had  been 
expelled  by  order  of  the  native  king,  and 
their  colleagues  at  the  Bihe  station  joining 
them,  they  retreated  to  the  coast  of  Benguela, 
losing  all  their  property  and 
having  their  houses  burned. 
Scarcely,  however,  had  they 
been  expelled, when  Mr.  Arnot, 
who,  by  the  help  of  Mr.  West- 
beech  and  Mr.  Blockley,  two 
well-known  traders  of  Pata- 
matenka  (p.  13),  had  been 
for  two  years  established  at 
Lialui  on  the  Upper  Zambesi 
(p.  10),  suddenly  appeared  in 
the  company  of  Silva  Porto, 
the  Portuguese  trader,  from 
the  east  at  Bihe,  and 
passed  on  to  Bailundu.  Mr. 
Arnot,  receiving  some  mys- 
terious hints  of  danger,  had 
left  Lialui.  Soon  after  his 
departure  sanguinary  war  broke  out,  and  his 
old  friend  the  king  of  the  Barotse  was  exiled, 
the  report  which  had  reached  Bihe  of  his 
being  killed  proving  to  be  false.  Mr. 
Arnot’s  unexpected  appearance  from  the 
east  at  Bailundu  astonished  the  chief  and  his 
people,  who  took  advantage  of  his  position  to 
call  a court  of  inquiry  of  all  the  headmen. 
The  result  was  the  despatch  of  a letter  to 
Benguela,  recalling  the  American  missionaries ; 
while  Mr.  Arnot  completed  his  journey  across 
Africa  by  going  to  Benguela  for  supplies,  pre- 
paratory to  penetrating  to  the  watershed  of 
the  Congo  and  Zambesi,  about  twenty-eight 
degrees  of  longitude  to  the  east  of  the  Atlantic. 
It  appears,  thus,  that  Mr.  Arnot,  who  had 


F.  s.  ARNOT. 

(From  a Photograph  by  John  Fergus, 
Largs,  N.B.) 


16 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


worked  his  way  from  Durban  to  Potchef- 
strooin,  and  thence  to  Shoshong  across  the 
Kalahari  Desert  to  the  junction  of  the  rivers 
Chobe  (Kwando)  and  Zambesi,  and  thence, 
up  the  river  to  Lialui,  and  on  to  Bailundu 
(and  thence  to  Benguela),  had  traversed  Africa 
by  much  the  same  course  that  Serpa  Pinto  fol- 
lowed, but  in  an  opposite  direction,  and  some- 
what farther  north  in  crossing  the  Kalahari 
Desert.  Mr.  Arnot’s  expedition  thus  added 
comparatively  little  to  our  knowledge  of  the 


“ A KID  FOB  SALE  ! ” — LIALUI. 

(From  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions .) 


geography  of  the  country,  though  it  enabled 
us  to  obtain  a fuller  account  of  the  general 
features  of  a region  that  had  hitherto  been 
inaccessible.  The  journey  throughout  was 
made  with  the  most  simple  appliances.  Mr. 
Arnot  carried  no  fire-arms,  had  no  lethal 
weapons  more  fatal  than  a walking-stick,  and 
throughout  his  long  journey  across  Natal  to 
the  Portuguese  colonies  on  the  west  coast  was 
encumbered  with  so  little  baggage  that  the 
difficulties  with  porters,  which  inconvenienced 
his  predecessors,  were  almost  unknown  to  this 
lightly-burdened  traveller. 


Next  year,  in  penetrating  to  Garenganze, 
west  of  Lakes  Moero  and  Bangweolo,  Mr. 
Arnot,  among  other  points,  had  the  credit  of 
discovering  that  Livingstone’s  Liba  is  actually 
the  Zambesi  and  not  the  stream  which  flows, 
out  of  Lake  Dilolo  (Vol.  II.,  p.  206),  though  the 
highest  sources  of  the  great  river  are  in  the 
country  to  the  west  of  Lake  Bangweolo,  in  a 
romantic  spot  which  the  Scottish  traveller 
named  “Border  Craig.” 

Even  more  markedly  than  Serpa  Pinto,  he 
found  the  colonies  from  the  east  and 
west  approaching  each  other,  what  had 
hitherto  been  known  as  an  unexplored 
portion  of  the  country  gradually  nar- 
rowing to  a mere  band.  At  Bihe,  for 
instance,  hitherto  regarded  as  the  most 
remote  portion  of  the  Portuguese  pos- 
sessions he  found  not  only  old  Silva 
Porto,  the  famous  trader,  whose  sup- 
posed journey  across  Africa,  before  the 
days  of  Livingstone,  has  already  been 
noticed  in  these  pages  (VoL  II.,  p.  165), 
but  several  missionaries.  Indeed,  it  was 
greatly  owing  to  the  assistance  of  this 
generous-minded  Portuguese  that  Mr. 
Arnot  was  enabled  to  reach  the  west 
with  comparative  ease.  At  this  post  he 
met  with  Mr.  Swan,  of  Sunderland, 
and  Mr.  William  Faulkner,  of  Canada, 
and  on  Mr.  Arnot’s  arrival  in  the 
Garenganze  country  in  1886,  he  sent 
his  men  back  to  Bihe,  to  return  with 
these  gentlemen  in  1888,  following  the 
same  route  that  Mr.  Arnot  had  taken 
in  travelling  from  Bihe  to  the  Lualaba  river. 

After  two  years’  residence  in  the  Garen- 
ganze capital,  having  stayed  some  time 
to  introduce  Messrs.  Swan  and  _ . 

Katanga 

Faulkner  to  the  chief  and  his 
people,  Mr.  Arnot  left  this  region. 

Garenganze,  though  a familiar  spot  by  hear- 
say to  the  Portuguese  colonists  in  Benguela,  did 
not  until  recently  appear  upon  the  maps,  and 
was  practically  unknown  to  European  geo- 
graphers. It  is  really  the  chief’s  own  designa- 
tion for  the  kingdom  which  he  has  created, 
for  the  Arabs  used  the  name  “ Katanga,”  and 


42 


TRAVELLER'S  CAMP  IN  THE  WANKONDE  COUNTRY,  NYASSALAND  (NORTH). 

( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Fred  L M.  Moir,  of  the  Africa  Lakes  Company.) 


18 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


by  that  name  it  is  recognised  on  the  east 
coast  as  a country  abounding  in  copper 
mines.  It  may  be  remembered  that  it  was 
towards  Katanga  and  the  source  of  the  Lufira 
that  Livingstone’s  steps  were  directed  when 
death  overtook  him  at  Chitambo’s,  near  Lake 
Bangweolo  (Yol.  II.,  p.  265).*  This  wide 
variety  of  nomenclature  is  very  puzzling  to 
the  inexpert  geographer.  In  this  region,  for 
„ . , instance,  Mr.  Arnot  notices  that  the 
nomen-  Portuguese  have  adopted  their  own 
ciature.  orthography  and  the  Germans  theirs, 
while  some  have  followed  phonetic  rules  laid 
down  by  missionaries  in  other  parts  of  Africa. 
Travellers,  again,  sometimes  took  their  pro- 
nunciation of  names  from  natives  of  different 
tribes,  amongst  which  there  is  also  a very 
great  variation.  The  consonants  “ 1,”  “ d,”  and 
“ r ” are  very  often  interchanged.  Some  of 
the  tribes  have  a different  way  of  pronouncing 
these  sounds.  It  is  thus  easy  to  discover 
from  names  given  to  certain  places  by 
travellers  from  what  district  they  had  taken 
their  carriers.  For  instance,  Livingstone, 
travelling  with  Makololo  men,  called  the 
Ovimbundu  traders  “ Vambadi,”  a nickname, 
meaning  in  the  Umbundu  language  “ white 
men’s  slave.”  Nicknames  have  been  given  as 
tribal  names,  such  as  “ Ivwanguellas  ” (Quan- 
guellas),  east  of  the  Kwanza  (Quanza)  River. 
The  Ovimbundu  give  this  name  to  the  interior 
tribes  because  when  they  try  to  speak 
Umkendu  they  “ ganza  ” — i.e.,  stutter. 
Again,  the  “ Yanyamwezi  ” of  the  Unyamwezi 
country  east  of  Lake  Tanganyika,  means 
really  “ idle  fellow,”  a Swahili  nickname 
for  them.  Silva  Porto’s  people,  travelling 
with  these  Ovimbundu,  call  the  Zambesi 
river  Liambai,  as  also  does  Serpa  Pinto. 
Lieutenant  Cameron,  on  the  other  hand, 

* Of  late  several  commercial  expeditions  organised  by 
the  Katanga  Company  and  the  Congo  State  have  ran- 
sacked this  region,  the  very  name  of  which  was  only 
vaguely  heard  a few  years  ago.  By  one  of  these — that  of 
Captain  Bia,  who,  like  Captain  Stairs,  died  before  he  could 
return  to  tell  his  tale — a bronze  tablet,  sent  out  by  Mr. 
Bruce,  his  son-in-law,  has  been  affixed  to  the  tree  under 
which  Livingstone  breathed  his  last — in  the  district  of 
Kalende,  not  of  Ilala,  as  usually  described.  It  had  been 
entrusted  to  Mr.  Arnot,  but  he  was  unable  to  reach  the  spot. 


journeying  west  from  Kasongo’s  country  in 
company  with  Ovimbundu  traders,  called  the 
Kasai  River  the  Kassabe,  which  the  Germans 
know  by  another  native  name,  Sankuru 
— if,  indeed,  that  river  is  not  merely  a 
tributary  of  the  Kasai.  Very  frequently 
the  names  thus  given  under  the  notion 
that  they  are  the  native  ones  are  en- 
tirely unknown  to  the  aborigines  of  the 
country.  Then,  again,  many  wrong  names 
have  been  inserted  in  maps,  because  the 
traveller  has  not  understood  the  language  of 
the  people.  An  apt  illustration  of  this  is 
afforded  by  the  answer  given  to  a stranger 
passing  Bailundu,  who  inquired  the  name  of 
a chief’s  town  standing  on  a prominent  hill. 
The  natives  would  immediately  reply  “ Kom- 
bala.”  But  this  simply  means  “ at  the 
capital.”  The  actual  name  of  the  town  is 
Bailundu,  from  which  the  whole  country  ruled 
over  by  that  chief  takes  its  name. 

At  Garenganze,  the  chief  told  Mr.  Arnot 
of  the  visits  to  his  capital  of  the  travel- 
lers Reichardt  and  Ivens  (p.  19), 
in  terms  somewhat  different  from  T^°sst10dreys  t0 
the  narratives  supplied  by  these 
gentlemen.  Reichardt,  Msiri  said,  did  not 
place  much  confidence  in  him,  nor  received 
much  in  return.  While  professing  to  be 
a peace-loving  traveller  and  not  bound  upon 
any  political  errand,  Herr  Reichardt,  being 
impatient  to  leave  the  chiefs  country, 
offered  to  assist  him  in  his  war  against 
Katapane,  another  petty  potentate,  and  sug- 
gested carrying  that  chiefs  town  by  assault. 
Msiri,  therefore,  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  German  traveller’s  mission  was  not  a 
peaceful  one  and  he  kept  a secret  watch 
round  his  camp  night  and  day  until  at  last 
the  strain  grew  so  great  that  Reichardt  became 
alarmed  and,  took  a hasty  departure. 

Lieutenant  Ivens  came  to  Garenganze  from 
the  south  and  requested  thirty  carriers  from 
Msiri  to  assist  him  and  his  fellow-traveller, 
Lieutenant  Capello,  in  their  journey  across  the 
continent.  The  chief  was  slow  to  provide 
men  for  the  journey  to  the  east,  as  he  said 
here  was  little  chance  of  their  returning. 


CAPELLO  AND  IVENS’  JOURNEY. 


19 


Ivens  could  only  remain  a few  days,  as  his 
companion  was  in  poor  health,  and  he  left, 
as  the  chief  thought,  rather  hurriedly. 

On  Mr.  Arnot’s  return  to  England  a few 
years  later  the  importance  of  his  travels  in 
Africa  was  recognised  by  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society  by  the  loan  of  a few  instru- 
ments furnished  him  for  a journey  more 
directly  geographical  than  the  one  from  which 
he  had  returned,  though  less  with  the  object 
of  making  exploration  of  new  country  than 
of  determining  the  position  of  stations  already 
formed  and  the  exact  lines  of  route  already 
taken.  He  also  received  from  the  Society 
a suitable  present  for  the  chief,  Chitambo,  as 
a recognition  of  his  services  in  connection 
with  the  removal  of  the  body  and  personal 
property  of  Dr.  Livingstone,  in  1872.  But 
with  the  subsequent  travels  of  Mr.  Arnot, 
which  were  not  so  fortunate  as  their  more 
modest  predecessors,  we  cannot  charge  our 
pages* 

We  have  already  spoken  of  Lieutenants 
Capello  and  Ivens,  the  Portuguese  travellers. 

Capello  and  We  have  met  them  in  the  early 

ivens’  trans-  portion  of  Captain  Serpa  Pinto’s 
continental  i . 1 . 1 , , . 

journey  from  journey,  and  have  noted  their 
west  to  east.  meritorious  survey  of  the  country 
from  Benguela  to  the  territory  of  Yacca. 
They  were,  however,  destined  to  cross  Africa, 
though,  unfortunately,  at  a period  when  the 
work  of  their  forerunners  had  left  for  them 
little  of  the  glory  which  fell  to  their  former 
companion.  This  journey,  during  which  we 
have  seen  that  they  passed  through  Garen- 
ganze,  was  made  in  1884-85  from  Mossamedes 
on  the  west  coast  to  Quilimane,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Zambesi  river,  on  the  opposite 
shore.  Hence,  it  necessarily  followed  that  a 
large  portion  of  it  was  over  comparatively 
well-known  ground  ; though,  as  it  brought  to 

* “Journey  from  Natal  to  Bihe  and  Benguella.knd  thence 
across  the  Central  Plateau  of  Africa  to  the  sources 
of  the  Zambesi  and  the  Congo  ” ( Proceedings  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society.  188!).  pp.  (35-82)  : Arnot : 
“Garenganze,  or  Seven  Years  of  Mission  Work”  (1890). 
We  are  also  indebted  to  Mr.  Arnot  for  his  kindness  in 
revising  this  brief  sketch  of  his  journey,  and  for  adding 
various  valuable  notes. 


light  a considerable  amount  of  new  country 
between  the  Luapula  and  the  Zambesi,  from 
a geographical  point  of  view  it  was  quite  as 
important  as  that  of  Serpa  Pinto,  if,  owing 
to  much  familiarity  with  transcontinental 
journeys,  less  sensational  than  that  explora- 
tion. South  Africa,  indeed,  was  by  this  time 
getting  so  well-explored  that  it  was  difficult 
for  any  new  traveller  to  take  a route  which 
did  not  cross  and  recross  the  tracks  of  his 
predecessors. 

We  need,  therefore,  occupy  little  space  with 
the  record  of  Messrs.  Capello  and  Ivens’ 
journey.  Among  the  achievements  which 
they  claimed  f were  “ the  rectification  of  the 
course  of  the  Cunene,  wrongly  called  the 
Xourse  river  on  some  English  maps ; the 
determination  of  the  Cuarrai  and  its  con- 
nection with  the  Kubango ; as  also  the 
interesting  hydrography  of  Handa  and  of 
Upper  Ovampoland  and  the  investigation  of 
the  Kubango  from  fifteen  degrees  to  seventeen 
degrees  south  latitude,  and  of  its  eastern 
affluents.” 

They  had  also  the  merit  of  examining  the 
basin  of  the  Upper  Zambesi  at  Libonta,  the 
upper  and  middle  courses  of  the  Kabampo 
tributary,  and  the  discovery  of  the  Kambai,  the 
eastern  arm  of  the  Upper  Zambesi.  They 
studied,  in  addition,  the  source  of  the  Lualaba, 
and  the  Luapula,  also  the  Northern  tributaries 
of  the  Zambesi,  and  discovered  that  the 
Loangwa  and  the  Kafue  are  one  and  the  same 
river.  The  work  of  these  explorers  likewise 
determined,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  re- 
lations of  the  basins  of  the  Congo  and  the 
Zambesi,  while  the  information  which  they 
obtained  regarding  the  Bangweolo  region 
modified  existing  notions  in  favour  of  others 
indicated  by  former  Portuguese  explorations. 
The  great  Lake  Bangweolo  they  considered  to 
be  only  a marsh}’  zone  connecting  two  smaller 
lakes — the  Bangweolo  proper  on  the  north 
and  the  Bemba  on  the  south.  + 

t Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geograph  ical  Society,  1885, 

p.  818. 

X Capello  and  Ivens,  “ De  Angola  a Contra-costa  ” 
(1887). 


20 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


This  is  not  quite  the  case,  though,  owing 
to  the  shifting  character  of  the  lake,  Messrs. 
Capello  and  Ivens’  observations  may  have 
justified  this  conclusion.  During  the  dry 
season  there  is  no  lake  at  latitude  11°  55' 
south — only  vast  swamps.  At  that  period 


p.  11),  its  level  is  3,750  feet  above  the  sea — 250 
below  the  height  given  by  Livingstone,  and 
500  lower  than  that  observed  by  Giraud. 

Another  journey  across  Africa,  of  less 
moment  from  a geographical  point  of  view, 
though  in  earlier  times  it  would  have  ranked 


A.  N 


RUGA-RUGA  (BANDITS)  EMPLOYED  BY  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  UJIJT,  RETURNED  FROM  RAIDING. 

( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Fred  L.  M.  Moir,  of  the  Africa  Lakes  Company.) 


of  the  year  it.  shrinks  to  such  dimensions 
that  many  of  the  islands  are  peninsulas, 
and  streams  which  flow  into  it  become  mere 
tributaries  of  more  powerful  rivers.  When 
the  rains  deluge  this  vast  sponge,  the  lake 
resumes  the  geographical  features  represented 
on  our  maps,  though  Mr.  Joseph  Thomson,* 
one  of  its  latest  explorers — who  regards  a visit 
to  the  sources  of  the  Nile  or  to  Lake  Bangwe- 
olo  as  one  of  the  commonplaces  of  modern 
travel — considers  that  it  does  not  extend  so  far 
south.  According  to  his  observation  (Yol.  II., 
* Geographical  Journal,  February,  1893,  p.  109. 


high  among  the  explorations  of  Africa,  was 
that  of  the  Swedish  Lieutenant, 

Gleerup  s 

Edward  Gleerup,  who,  leaving  journey  from 
Stanley  Falls  on  the  1st  December,  the  ea.st° t0 
1885,  reached  Bagamoyo  on  the  coast 
east  coast  in  the  course  of  the  next  year, 
after  a journey  attended  with  no  incidents  of 
either  a dangerous  or  peculiar  character.  For 
to  cross  Africa  was  now  an  easier  task  than  it 
was  when  Livingstone,  Cameron,  and  Stanley 
accomplished  the  feat.  Lieutenant  Gleerup 
was  in  the  service  of  the  Congo  Free  State, 
the  founding  of  which  will  form  the  subject 


OSKAR  LENZ  ON  THE  CONGO. 


21 


of  a future  chapter.  For  a year  he  was  in 
command  of  a remote  station  on  the  Seventh 
Cataract  of  the  Stanley  Falls,  his  neighbours 
being  Arab  slave-  and  ivory-hunters.  Having 
lived  here  for  several  months  without  supplies, 
he  formed  a resolution  to  return  to  Europe 


Lieutenant  Gleerup  experienced  the  minimum 
amount  of  difficulty  in  reaching  Tanganyika, 
and  in  pushing  on  from  Tanganyika  to  his 
destination  on  the  east  coast,  the  whole 
journey  from  Stanley  Falls  to  Bagamoyo 
occup3Ting  no  more  than  six  months.* 


CATTLE-HOUSE  OF  THE  WAXKOXDE  TEIEE.t 
(From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Fred  L.  M.  Moir,  of  the  Africa  Lakes  Company.) 


by  crossing  the  continent  to  Zanzibar,  and, 
thanks  to  the  influential  trader,  Tippoo  Tib 
(whose  deeds  and  misdeeds  have  of  late  years 
furnished  a considerable  portion  of  the  narra- 
tives of  more  recent  travellers),  was  liberally 
furnished  with  the  means  of  so  doing. 
Armed  with  letters  of  recommendation  from 
this  generous  stealer  of  men  and  women  to 
all  his  stations  and  friends  on  the  route, 

* Proceeding * of  the  Royal  Grog.  Sue.,  1886,  p.  596. 

+ Down  the  longitudinal  centre  of  the  house  there  are 
post 9 of  wood  to  support  the  roof.  To  these  centre  posts 
or  to  some  other  object  firmly  fastened  down  the  centre 
of  the  house  (not  uncommonly  an  elephant’s  jaw-bone), 


About  the  same  time  that  the  Scottish 
missionary  was  travelling  from  Natal  to 
Benguela,  the  Portuguese  Capello  and  Ivens 
from  Mossamedes  to  Quilimane,  and  the 
Swedish  lieutenant  from  Stanley  Falls  to 
Bagamoyo,  Oskar  Lenz,  with  whom  we  are 
already  acquainted  as  one  of  the  few  travellers 
who  reached  Timbuctoo  (Vol.  I.,  p.  309), 
was  penetrating  from  the  mouth  of  the  Congo 

the  cattle  are  tethered,  either  with  plaited  strips  of 
hide  or  ropes  made  of  banana  fibre.  The  people 
sleep  on  the  other  side  of  the  house,  sometimes  (but 
seldom)  with  a partition  of  reeds  between  them  and 
the  cattle. 


22 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


on  the  west  coast  to  the  mouth  of  the  Zambesi 
on  the  eastern  shore.  This  journey  was  com- 
oskar  Lenz  s plete<l  the  years  1885-87.  It  was 

journey  from  one  of  the  most  interesting,  but, 
tiie  Congo  to  , 

the  mouth  of  from  the  comparative  ease  with 

-“.he  ZambesL  which  it  was  accomplished  and  the 
frequency  of  similar  journeys,  it  has  occupied 
less  of  the  attention  of  Europe  than  almost 
any  similar  exploration.  A trans-African 
journey  had,  indeed,  by  the  year  1885  ceased 
to  be  a novelty.  Indeed,  nothing  shows  the 
rapid  progress  of  exploration  in  Central  Africa 
since  Stanley’s  memorable  journey  more  than 
the  fact  that  from  every  important  point  along 
the  Austrian  traveller’s  route  he  was  able  to 
send  home  letters  which  reached  Vienna  a 
few  weeks  after  they  had  been  written. 

Dr.  Lenz’s  mission  was  sent  out  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Vienna  Geographical  Society, 
to  obtain  certain  news  of  or  to  reach  Dr. 
Junker  and  Emin  Pasha,  and  to  solve  the 
then  perplexing  problems  of  the  hydrography 
of  the  country  which  lies  between  the  Middle 
Congo  and  the  Upper  Nile  branches. 

In  the  year  1885  there  was  no  great  diffi- 
culty in  reaching  Stanley  Falls  on  the  Upper 
„ „ , Congo,  but  from  this  point  Dr. 

Fails  to  Lenz  was  compelled  to  travel  with- 
Nyangwe.  ou)-  p;s  companion,  Dr.  Baumann, 
Avho  was  forced  through  ill-health  to  turn  back. 
Dr.  Baumann’s  place  was,  however,  supplied 
by  Herr  Bohndorff,  an  old  comrade  of  Gordon 
in  the  Soudan.  But  he  also  was  taken  so 
seriously  ill  that  only  half  of  his  journey  was 
performed  when  he  had  to  be  carried  on  a 
litter  and  was,  therefore,  more  a hindrance 
than  a help  to  his  companion.  At  Stanley 
Falls,  which  was  reached  in  the  early  days  of 
1886,  they  found  Tippoo  Tib  all-powerful  and 
quite  ready  to  assist  the  travellers  so  far  as 
lay  in  his  power.  However,  being  unable  to 
obtain  porters  for  them  owing  to  most  of  his 
men  being  engaged  on  a trading  expedition  to 
the  northward,  he  furnished  them  with  canoes, 
in  which  they  pursued  their  journey  by  the 
Congo  to  Nyangwe. 

Great  changes  had,  however,  come  to  pass 
on  the  Upper  Congo  since  Stanley  made  his 


famous  voyage  down  it  a few  years  previously. 
At  that  time  the  river  was  mostly  in  the 
hands  of  the  natives,  many  of  them  cannibals, 
who,  had  Stanley  fallen  into  their  hands, 
would  have  left  the  exploration  of  the  Congo 
river  to  other  pioneers  than  the  one  who  was 
fortunate  enough  to  accomplish  it.  Now  all 
was  altered,  and  during  the  six  weeks  that 
Dr.  Lenz  paddled  along  its  shores  he  met 
with  little  but  civility.  The  Arabs  had  com- 
plete possession  of  the  river  and  had  taught 
the  savages  a wholesome  dread  of  the  white 
men.  Their  settlements — many  of  them  con- 
siderable towns — stood  on  its  banks,  whilst  the 
natives,  in  fear  of  the  slave-raiders,  had  been 
driven  into  the  forests  and  remote  recesses, 
of  the  mountains.  These  Muscat  and  Zan- 
zibar Arab  villages,  surrounded  with  fields  of 
rice,  proved  the  suitability  of  the  country  for 
agriculture,  Avhilst  domestic  animals,  which 
could  not  be  kept  in  the  steaming  loAvlands, 
flourished  in  abundance. 

On  the  16th  of  May  Nyangwe  Avas  reached. 
This  place,  it  Avill  be  remembered,  Avas  the  scene 
of  a horrible  tragedy  enacted  by  the  slave- 
traders  during  the  time  that  Livingstone  Avas- 
resident  in  it  (VoL  II.,  p.  255).  It  is  still  an  im- 
portant centre  for  caravans  and  the  slave-  and 
ivory-trade,  though,  owing  to  the 
forest  in  the  vicinity  having  been  ^m/nts.16* 
destroyed,  fireAvood  is  scarce.  It 
has  been  also  someAvhat  cast  into  the 
shade  by  Kasongo,  a great  Arab  toAvn  some 
little  distance  to  the  south-east,  Avhere  Tippoo 
and  other  Arab  merchants  made  their  head- 
quarters. Leaving  Nyangwe  on  the  20th  of 
May,  Kasongo  Avas  the  next  halting-place,  but 
here,  in  spite  of  Tippoo  Tib’s  help,  the  expedi- 
tion was  hampered  by  the  prostration  of  Lenz’s 
companion  and  the  outbreak  of  small-pox 
among  the  men.  HoAvever,  by  the  end  of  June 
Tanganyika  Avas  sighted,  and  there,  OAving  to 
the  energy  of  the  missionaries  and  of  Mr. 
James  Stevenson,  the  explorer’s  journey  may 
be  said  to  have  almost  terminated.  For 
noAvadays,  after  crossing  the  high  plateau 
betAveen  the  Congo  and  Lake  Tanganyika,  the 
explorer  is  welcomed  at  the  island  of  Ivavala 


OSKAR  LENZ’S  JOURNEY. 


23 


on  the  west  coast,  where  Captain  Hore,  of 
the  London  Missionary  Society,  had  been 

Tanganyika.  stat^one(i  f°r  man}'  years,  who,  it 
is  needless  to  say,  received  the 
travellers  with  every  hospitality. 

Crossings  the  lake  to  Ujiji,  their  intentions 
of  visiting  Uganda  and  Emin  Pasha’s  country 
were  abandoned,  owing  to  the  disturbed  con- 
dition of  the  country  and  the  want  of  re- 
sources to  enable  them  to  penetrate  so  far. 
In  the  first  week  of  September,  therefore,  Dr. 
Lenz  and  his  companion  left  Ujiji  for  the 
southern  end  of  the  lake.  Tanganyika,  it  may 
be  remembered,  when  Cameron  visited  it,  was 
emptied  by  the  river  Lukuga  on  the  western 
shore.  This  stream  had  a very  sluggish 
current,  so  sluggish,  indeed,  that  it  seemed  to 
be  flowing  into,  rather  than  out  of,  the  lake. 
When  Stanley  passed  that  way  he  found  that 
the  barrier  of  vegetation  had  been  swept  away, 
and  the  Lukuga  was  flowing  out  of  the  lake, 
to  the  Lualaba-Congo.  Captain  Hore,  who 
had  known  the  lake  for  ten  years,  states  that 
during  that  time  its  level  had  fallen  fifteen 
feet,  and  yet  the  Lukuga  continues  to  carry 
off  the  water  with  a more  powerful  current 
than  ever.  Dr.  Lenz  himself  observed  several 
old  shore-lines  as  he  sailed  along  the  lake. 
The  houses  at  Ujiji,  which  used  to  be  close 
to  the  water’s  edge,  are  now  some  distance 
inland,  and  no  doubt  the  lake  will  continue 
to  fall  until  the  level  of  the  Lukuga  river  is 
reached,  after  which  it  will  gradually  rise 
again,  to  be  again  subjected  to  the  changes 
just  mentioned. 

The  southern  coast  of  the  lake  was  reached 
towards  the  end  of  September,  and  a barren 
and  inhospitable  region  the  travellers  found 
it.  All  the  villages  seemed  at  war  with  each 
other,  so  that  great  difficulty  was  experienced 
in  obtaining  guides  and  porters  for  the  two 
days’  journey  across  the  plateau  between 
Tanganyika  and  Nyassa,  which,  since  the 
Stevenson  Road  has  been  constructed,  may 
now  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  familiar 
portions  of  Central  Africa.  Though  this  area 
between  the  two  lakes  is  called  a plateau,  it 
is,  like  many  other  African  plateaux,  rather 


mountainous,  and  near  its  north-western  end 
contains  the  sources  of  the  Tshambezi,  which, 
we  have  seen,  flows  into  Lake  Bangweolo,  and 
may,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  the  ultimate 
source  of  the  Congo.  As  the  travellers  ap- 
proached Lake  Nyassa,  they  met  a caravan  of 
Arabs  and  Zanzibaris,  to  the  number  of  about 
three  hundred,  who  had  been  to  the  lake  to 
sell  ivory  to  the  Africa  Lakes  Company.  It 
was  clear  they  were  reaching  civil-  By  the  steven_ 
ised  parts,  though  it  may  be  added  son  Road, 

, n c.  t,  i • ~i  Nyassa,  and 

that  the  Stevenson  Road  existed  the  shire  to 

more  on  paper  than  in  reality,  the  the  sea' 
tropical  vegetation  having  been  allowed  to 
choke  it  up,  and  the  torrents  of  rain  to 


MAJOR  H.  VON  WISSMANN. 
(From  a Photograph  by  Schaarwachter , Berlin .) 


destroy  many  of  the  more  difficult  portions 
of  it.  However,  after  a pleasant  halt  at  the 
mission  and  trading  stations,  Lake  Nyassa 
and  the  Shire  river  were  descended  in 
the  latter  part  of  December,  1886,  and 
Zanzibar,  the  starting-place  for  home,  was 
reached* 

Another  journey  across  Africa  by  way  of 
the  Congo,  Tanganyika,  and  Lake  Nyassa, 
begun  early  in  1886,  was  soon  to  stir  the 
now  languid  enthusiasm  of  the  world  for 
such  travel  feats.  This  was  by  Lieutenant — 

* Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  1886, 
pp.  334,  433,  596,  616;  Ibid.,  pp.  49,  114.  190,  240,340; 
and  Mittheilungen  of  the  Vienna  Geographical  Society, 
Band  XXIX.,  Xo.  12  et  seq. 


24 


THE  STOKY  OF  AFRICA. 


now  Major — Hermann  Yon  Wissmann  (p.  23), 
who  had  accomplished  a similar*  journey 
a few  years  earlier  (p.  12).  On 
sewmdjour-  this  occasion,  taking  advantage  of 
AfJicaCr°SS  steamers  upon  the  Congo,  Lieu- 

tenant Wissmann’s  journey  was  ac- 
tually from  Nyangwe,  by  very  much  the  same 
route  that  Dr.  Lenz  had  taken  before  him. 
However,  in  the  earlier  portion  of  his  journey, 
both  alone,  and  by  the  agency  of  Dr.  Wolff, 
the  Kasai  river,  one  of  the  greatest  of  the 
Congo  tributaries,  as  well  as  the  Kwango,  one 
of  its  feeders,  was  explored.  Unfortunately, 
since  Dr.  Lenz  had  made  his  journey  the 
differences  between  the  Congo  State  and  the 
Arabs  had  entirely  altered  the  bearing  of  the 
latter  towards  the  white  travellers.  Instead 
of  friendship  they  met  unfriendliness,  and 
instead  of  help,  obstruction.  Provisions  Avere 
difficult  to  obtain  and  the  natives  were  every- 
where Avild  and  suspicious,  while  the  territory 
of  the  marauding  Bena  Mona  could  only  be 
passed  by  the  employment  of  force. 
Arab  raiders,  i he  ravages  of  the  slave  trade  were 
also  equally  apparent.  From  the 
28th  December,  1886,  to  the  23rd  January, 
1887,  the  caravan  marched  through  a region 
Avhich,  during  his  first  expedition,  Lieutenant 
Wissmann  had  found  dotted  Avith  gigantic 
villages.  Now  the  district  Avas  completely 
depopulated.  War,  small-pox,  and  the  slave- 
raiders  had  entirely  devastated  the  country, 
and  the  want  of  food  Avas  so  great  that 
Wissmann  lost  eighty  men  from  hunger 
and  small-pox  on  the  journey  from  the 
Kasai  to  NyangAve. 

Here  the  bearing  of  the  Arabs  towards  the 
traveller  was  so  decidedly  hostile,  and  the 
caravan  so  disorganised  from  hunger  and 
sickness,  that  Wissmann  found  himself  com- 
pelled to  abandon  his  intention  both  of 
travelling  up  the  Upper  Lualaba  and  of 
proceeding  to  Lake  Albert  Edward.  He 
therefore  despatched  the  Bashilanges  Avitli  his 
colleague,  Lieutenant  Le  Marinel,  back  to 
Luluaberg,  while  he  set  out  alone  to  the  east 
coast,  by  Avay  of  Tanganyika,  Lake  Nyassa, 
and  doAvn  the  Shire  and  Zambesi  on  the  line 


folloAved  by  his  predecessors.*  Lieutenant 
Wissmann’s  journey  may  be  said  to  have  all 
but  ended  popular  interest  in  these  journeys 
across  Africa.  The  German  traveller  was  him- 
self in  a few  years  to  engross  a large  share  of  in- 
ternational interest  in  his  capacity 
of  controller  of  the  German  posses-  intrant 
sions  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa.  continental 

journeys. 

But,  except  as  a feat  of  travel,  his 


last  journey  does  not  occupy  a large  space 
in  the  annals  of  geographical  exploration. 

Livmgstone,  in  1854-56,  took  twenty  months 
to  cross  Africa.  Cameron,  in  1873-75,  occu- 
pied two  years  and  eight  months,  though  the 
Avhole  of  that  time  Avas  not  engaged  in  actual 
travel.  Stanley,  in  1874-77,  was  two  years  and 
nine  months  on  his  journey — also  delayed  by 
long  halts.  Serpa  Pinto,  in  1877-79,  Speeciof  later 
Avas  only  sixteen  months  doing  the  journeys, 
distance  from  coast  to  coast.  Wissmann,  on 
his  first  journey  in  1881-82,  spent  twenty-tAvo 
months  in  travelling.  Arnot,  in  1881-84,  Avas 
three  years  and  three  months  in  crossing  the 
continent,  though  it  must  be  remembered  that 
he  tramped  very  lightly  equipped,  Avith  few 
facilities  for  proceeding  on  his  way,  and  that 
his  journey  was  often  broken  by  long  rests. 
Capello  and  Ivens,  in  1884-85,  Avere  absent 
during  fourteen  months.  Gleerup,  in  1884-86, 
Avas  aAvay  for  three  years,  though  only  a 
small  portion  of  his  time  Avas  spent  on  the 
actual  journey  Avith  which  his  name  is  asso- 
ciated. Dr.  Lenz  might  have  performed  his 
journey  in  an  even  shorter  time  than  Capello 
and  Ivens  had  he  not  been  stopped  a con- 
siderable time  on  the  Lower  Congo  and  at 
Stanley  Falls,  Avhile  Wissmann’s  second 
journey  was  completed  in  a still  briefer  period 
than  that  occupied  by  his  first  one.  Finalty, 
as  a proof  of  the  rapidity  of  modem  African 
travel  and  its  corresponding  ease  compared 
Avith  Avhat  it  Avas  not  many  years  ago,  J oseph 
Thomson  took  just  three  and  a half  months 
from  England  to  Lake  Bangweolo,  close  to  the 
place  Avhich  Livingstone  reached  only  to  die. 


* Wissmann,  “ITnter  Deutscher  Flagge,”  and  "My 
Second  Journey  through  Equatorial  Africa  in  the  Years 
188(5  and  1887.”  (English  Translation,  18,91.) 


“ LE  STANLEY,”  ONE  OF  THE  RIVER  STEAMERS  USED  BY  THE  EMIN  PASHA  RELIEF  EXPEDITION. 
(Built  by  Yarrow  and  Co.) 


CHAPTER  II. 

From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Albert  Nyaxza  : A Beleaguered  Province. 


State  of  Matters  in  the  Equatorial  Province  under  Emin  Pasha  in  1886 — Enthusiasm  over  Emin — An  Expedition 
under  Air.  Stanley  Equipped  for  his  Succour — The  Members  of  it — Tippoo  Tib — Up  the  Congo  and  Aru- 
whimi — A Camp  Formed  at  \ambuya  on  the  Aruwhimi — Plans  for  the  Force  left  there  in  Charge  of  Major 
Barttelot — Mr.  Stanley’s  March  Eastward  through  the  Dense  Forest  Country — Savage  Enemies — The 
Dwarfs — Perils  of  the  Jungle — Mount  Pisgah  and  the  Promised  Land — Albert  Nyanza — No  News  of 
Emin — Back  to  Fort  Bodo — Improved  Temper  of  Natives — No  News  of  Barttelot — Tidings  from  Emin — 
His  Arrival — His  Irresolution — Would  and  Wouldn’t — Return  in  Search  of  Barttelot  and  the  Rear 
Column  while  the  Pasha  Made  up  his  Mind — Banalya  Camp — A Terrible  Tale — Barttelot  and  Stanley — 
Return  to  Lake  Albert — Emin  Still  Undecided — His  Vacillation  Stiffened  by  a Mutiny  of  his 
Troops— He,  Air.  Jephson,  and  Captain  Casati  Captives — The  Rebel  Plot — A Court-Martial— The  March 
to  the  Indian  Ocean  begun  without  waiting  for  Selim  Bey  and  his  Troops. 


In  an  earlier  portion  of  this  his  tor)-  (Yol.  II., 
pp.  157-162)  we  have  hail  occasion  to  speak 
of  Emin  Pasha,  the  German  doctor  who  main- 
tained the  power  of  Egypt  in  Central  Africa 
niter  Khartoum  had  fallen  and  Lnpton  Bey 
and  Slatin  Bey  were  slaves  of  the  Mahdi. 
Any  outlet  from  Central  Africa  by  way  of 
Egypt  was  effectually  closed  by  the  wild 
hordes  who  followed  Ahmed  Mohammed, 
while  the  ferocious  kings  of  Karagwe, 
Unyoro,  and  Uganda  prevented  any  but 
a large  armed  force  from  finding  a way 
to  civilisation  through  their  countries. 


Emin  in  the  Equatorial  Province  remained 
as  the  last  symbol  of  civilised  authority  on 
the  Upper  Nile.  It  was,  however,  considered 
only  a matter  of  months  or  days  when 
he,  too,  should  meet  the  fate  of  the  other 
Egyptian  governors.  Karamallah 
Mohammed,  the  Dervish  conqueror  Em^nanTtbe 
of  Bahr-el-Ghazel,  had,  indeed,  Equatorial 
directed  his  march  thither.  How- 
ever, with  prudent  generalship,  Emin  Bey  (as 
he  then  was)  was  reported  to  have  declined 
to  risk  his  fortunes  on  a battle-field,  “ but 
persisted  in  maintaining  a series  of  petty 


THE  STOliY  OF  AFRICA. 


26 

attacks  and  a harassing  defensive  attitude, 
which  wearied  and  dispirited  the  invaders.”  * 
For  example,  when  the  Mahdi’s  general 
advanced  upon  a post  the  garrison  retreated, 
took  up  a position  farther  south,  bravely 
repelling  small  bands,  and  then,  on  the  ap- 
proach of  the  main  force,  withdrew  to  another 
more  remote  position  which  they  defended 
in  like  manner.  But  beyond  the  most 
southernly  stations,  where  the  Mahdist  general 
reached  Emin,  he  had  still  behind  him  a 
series  of  fortified  positions  which,  if  defended 
with  the  same  courage  and  prudence,  would 
have  taken  the  Mahdi’s  general  so  far  from  his 
base  that,  on  the  least  reverse,  a catastrophe 
similar  to  that  which  befell  Hicks  Pasha 
would,  in  Mr.  Stanley’s  opinion,  have  over- 
taken Karamallah.  The  Dervishes  conse- 
quently retreated,  and  Emin  Bey  was  in 
1886  rumoured  to  have  been  left  in  com- 
parative peace,  except  when  disturbed  by 
petty  native  outbreaks,  the  slackening  loyalty 
of  his  troops,  and  the  plots  of  the  neigh- 
bouring kings. 

Little  was,  however,  known,  and  that  im- 
perfectly; and  the  position  of  Emin  was 
altogether  misunderstood.  His  interference — 
mild  as  it  was — with  the  slave  trade  had  not 
improved  his  popularity  with  a venal  set  of 
officials  who,  as  a solace  for  the  Mudir’s  plunder- 
ing them  of  their  pay,  had,  of  old,  been  allowed 
to  rob  the  natives  to  any  extent.  Slaves  were 
found  to  figure  in  the  accounts  as  oxen,  asses, 
etc.,  while  the  money  belonging  to  the  Govern- 
ment was  employed  to  buy  goods  which  were 
sold  for  the  profit  of  the  Administration  at 
three  times  the  cost  price.  For  years  before 
Vmir,  Pasha  Emin’s  arrival,  no  regular  accounts 
in  the  Equa-  had  been  kept,  while  the  fabrica- 
vince,  1882-  tion  of  false  seals,  and  the  forgery 
1887-  of  receipts  by  their  use  had,  as  at 

Rumbek,  become  a recognised  practice,  in 
spite  of  the  “prayer-places  and  fikis”  with 
which  every  station  abounded. 

* I am  quoting  Mr.  Stanley's  Official  Report  (dated 
December  19th.  1889,  and  presented  to  Parliament  Feb- 
ruary 12th,  1890),  on  which  this  narrative  is  based,  with 
numerous  additions  and  emendations  from  the  sources 
duly  noted  and  from  unpublished  information. 


Still,  up  to  1883,  the  Equatorial  Province 
enjoyed  tolerable  tranquillity ; and  the  wild 
work  in  the  North  was,  as  yet,  merely  an  echo 
in  the  Southern  Soudan.  But  in  that  year- 
freebooters  began  to  enter  it — a fact  not  re- 
markable, considering  that  the  stations  were 
largely  supported  by  raids  made  on  the  cattle 
of  the  more  or  less  unfriendly  tribes  in  their 
vicinity.  In  retaliation,  the  Dinka  of  Agar 
(Vol.  II.,  pp.  40,  42)  surprised  the  garrison  of 
Rumbek  and  succeeded  in  massacring  seventy 
of  the  men,  and  shortly  afterwards  took 
Shambeh,  where  150  soldiers  fell  before  the 
savages.  These  disasters  were  afterwards  in 
part  retrieved ; but  * what  with  the  growing 
boldness  of  the  tribes,  and  the  disquieting 
news  of  the  resistless  advance  of  the  Mahdi, 
the  year  closed  in  much  anxiety  for  Emin. 
The  arrival  of  Dr.  Junker  early  in  1884  was 
a source  of  much  joy  to  the  beleaguered 
Governor,  yearning  for  the  society  of  one 
of  his  scientific  countrymen.  Meanwhile,  the 
revolt  of  the  tribes  continued,  and  the  blaze 
in  the  Bahr-el-Ghazel  approached  nearer  and 
nearer  Equatoria.  Outlying  stations  had  to 
be  evacuated,  and  one  road  after  another  to- 
the  north — which  meant  to  civilisation — was 
closed.  Indeed,  when  the  news  of  the  sur- 
render of  Lupton  Bey,  the  massacre  of  Hicks, 
and  the  siege  of  Khartoum  reached  him,  Emin 
half  resolved  to  surrender  to  the  summons  of 
Karamallah. 

This,  however,  was  only  in  a fit  of  de- 
spondency or  depression  ; for  he  temporised 
long  enough  with  Karamallah  to  make  a 
good  resistance  at  some  stations  that  had 
to  be  abandoned,  defeat  the  Dervishes  at 
others,  and  to  constitute  his  capital,  Lado 
(Vol.  II.,  p.  140),  into  a fortress,  with  moats, 
drawbridges,  ramparts,  bastions,  etc.,  where  he 
announced  his  intention  to  die  a soldier’s 
death,  while  hoping  against  hope  for  the 
arrival  of  a steamer  from  Khartoum.  The 
fall  of  that  city  and  the  death  of  Gordon 
early *in  1885  (Vol.  II.,  p.  161)  closed  the  Nile, 
and,  for  the  first  time,  completely  isolated  the 
Equatorial  Province.  Amadi,  after  a siege 
during  which  the  soldiers  were  for  nineteen. 


EMIN  IN  EQUATOEIA. 


27- 


days  reduced  to  eating  cowhides  and  sandals, 
fell  before  Karamallah,  in  spite  of  the  courage 
of  a detachment  of  the  garrison,  who  cut 
their  way  through  the  investing  hordes, 
though  some  of  the  officers  had  intended  to 
deliver  up  the  town.  Even  then,  Emin  wrote, 
“ disobedience  is  the  order  of  the  day  : every- 
one seeks  to  protect  his  own  interest  only.”  In 
accordance  with  a petition  of  his  officers — 
which  amounted  to  an  order — Emin  had  to 
retreat  from  that  part  of  the  country,  con- 
centrating his  troops  on  the  Lado-Kiri  line. 
Among  the  posts  abandoned  were  those  in  the 
Makaraka  country,  hitherto  regarded  as  one 
of  the  most  hopeful  portions  of  the  Soudan. 
The  Makaraka  (pp.  28,  29)  are  a section  of  the 
powerful  Niam-Niam  people,  the  tribe  which 
has  gained  an  evil  celebrity  as  cannibals. 
The  Makaraka  are,  however,  good  farmers, 
and  therefore  important  as  feeders  of  the 
garrison,  and  bear  so  excellent  a reputation 
for  courage  that  the  best  of  Emin’s  troops 
belonged  to  that  race. 

The  summons  of  Karamallah  to  surrender 
was  repeated,  and  with  it  came  confirmation 
of  the  rumours  of  Gordon’s  death.  This  re- 
solved Emin’s  officers  to  counsel  a fresh 
retreat  and  concentration  by  the  desertion  of 
certain  stations  and  the  despatch  of  the 
women  and  children  to  those  farther  to  the 
south.  By  this  time  all  luxuries  were  ex- 
hausted in  Equatoi*ia,  so  that  when  mes- 
sengers arrived  from  Kabba  Rega,  King  of 
Unyoro  (VoL  II.,  p.  151),  charged  with  mes- 
sages of  friendship  for  his  old  friend  Emin, 
the  sorely-pressed  Governor  was  inclined  to 
welcome  his  shifty  ally  as  for  once  in  earnest. 

Events  had  now  begun  to  move  fast.  The 
Baris  (Yol.  II.,  p.  43),  incensed  by  the  cattle 
raids  upon  them,  now  joined  Emin’s  ene- 
mies, and  cut  all  communication  between 
( xondokoro  and  Lado.  Detachments  of  troops 
were  massacred  here  and  there,  and  their 
captured  rifles  increased  the  peril  which  the 
hitherto  imperfectly  armed  savages  had  been 
to  the  isolated  Egyptians  and  their  black 
followers.  The  immediate  danger  from  Der- 
vishes was  now  for  the  time  being  over, 


but  the  new  risks  from  the  savage  Dinkas 
and  the  Baris  were  quite  as  serious,  though, 
in  attacking  Rijiaf,  the  tribesmen  were  re- 
pulsed with  the  loss  of  500  men.  The  Equa- 
torial Province — so  far  as  Emin’s  authority 
was  recognised — was  now  reduced  to  a seventh 
of  its  former  size,  and  the  year  ended  with 
Lado  in  a state  of  siege,  and  Vita  Hassan, 
Emin’s  apothecary,  being  despatched  as  a 
kind  of  envoy  to  the  “Court”  of  Kabba 
Rega,  while  Dr.  Junker  hoped  to  find  his  way 
to  .Zanzibar  through  the  kingdom  of  this 
supposed  friendly  monarch.  In  reality,  the 
king  Avas  only  playing  a part,  his  pretended 
regard  for  Emin  being  merely  a cunning  de- 
A’ice  to  obtain  intelligence  of  Avhat  Avas  going 
on  in  the  Equatorial  Province,  and  Iioav  best 
he  might  utilise  the  information  for  his  OAvn 
purposes.  The  Avar  Avhich  in  188G  broke 
out  betAveen  Unyoro  and  LTganda  compelled 
Emin’s  representath-e  at  Kabba  Rega’s  to 
retire  to  Lake  Albert,  and  Dr.  Junker  to 
abandon  his  journey  to  the  coast,  through 
Unyoro,  believing — as  it  turned  out,  rightly — 
that  Uganda  Avould  be  a safer  route. 

Hitherto,  Emin  and  his  troops  had  main- 
tained something  like  the  relations  Avhich 
soldier  and  officer  should  hold  ; the  discipline, 
though  possibly  as  severe  as  would  have  been 
tolerated,  Avas  no  doubt  loose,  yet  there 
was  no  actual  open  mutin}\  But  noAV  the 
men  began  to  display  signs  of  uneasiness 
under  even  his  easy  sway.  They  Avere  not 
improved  in  temper  by  learning  from  a de- 
spatch, Avhich  reached  them  by  Avay  of  Zan- 
zibar, that,  as  the  Soudan  had  been  abandoned, 
the  Egyptian  Government  Avas  in  no  Avay  in- 
clined to  help  them,  and  that  Emin  Avas 
authorised  to  leave  the  Province  as  best  he 
could.  A quarrel  broke  out  betAveen  the  men 
and  officers  of  the  First  and  Second  Bat- 
talions— the  men  of  the  former  agreeing 
among  themselves  that  they  Avould  not  retreat 
to  the  south.  Rather  than  go  to  Wadelai, 
they  would  disband  and  return  to  their  homes, 
Avhich,  in  many  cases,  Avere  in  the  Soudan.  A 
plot  Avas  also  discovered,  by  Avhich  some 
of  the  Bornu  and  AdamaAva  men  from  the 


•28 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


distant  Niger  region  intended  to  kill  all  their 
•officers  and  establish  a Free  State;  and  in 
Dufile,  a sergeant-major  bred  at  an  officer. 
Add  to  this,  the  ill-will  between  the  Egyptians 
and  Soudanese  grew  daily  more  and  more 


matters,  always  bad,  did  not  improve.  The 
mutinous  First  Battalion,  though  it  had  obeyed 
Emin’s  order  to  retire  from  Lado  on  Rijiaf 
and  re-occupy  Makaraka,  on  account  of  the 
difficulty  of  supplying  the  Northern  garrisons 


acute,  and  the  troubles  beginning  to  throng 
round  Emin  may  be  conceived.  At  this  date 
he  was  so  discouraged  that  he  meditated 
returning  to  Kabba  Rega’s,  “ and  wait  there 
until  the  men  have  recovered  their  senses, 
and  will  follow  me — for  follow  me  they  will, 
sooner  or  later  ” — sentiments  which  aptly 
illustrate  his  frame  of  mind  two  years  later 
(p.  50). 

The  war  between  Unyoro  and  Uganda 
having  terminated,  Captain  Casati  was  sent  to 
occupy  the  position  at  Kabba  Rega’s  which 
Yita  Hassan  had  held  for  a few  months, 
and,  if  possible,  to  keep  open  the  route  to 
Uganda,  in  the  hope  that  good  relations  with 
Mpwanga  might  prove  useful  to  the  Province. 

In  January,  1887,  Dr.  Junker  arrived  in 
Egypt,  but  seemed  to  consider  it  necessary, 
for  the  credit  of  his  friend  Emin,  to  put  the 
best  face  upon  the  state  of  matters  in  the 
Equatorial  Province.  Yet  soon  after  he  left. 


without  having  this  corn-yielding  land  open 
to  them,  was  practically  in  open  revolt. 
Already,  indeed,  some  men  of  this  battalion 
conspired  to  carry  Emin  away  from  the  Pro- 
vince. The  troops  at  Wadelai  (which  about 
the  same  time  was  accidentally  burnt  dowm, 
and  a large  quantity  of  stores  lost,  though 
the  buildings  were  speedily  re-erected),  Tun- 
guru,  and  Mahagi,  were  to  havg  been  con- 
centrated at  Gondokoro,  from  thence  either 
to  march  back  to  Egypt,  or,  as  they  did 
not  seem  to  have  any  wish  to  join  the 
Mahdists,  to  make  themselves  masters  of  the 
country.  Emin,  who  was  at  Kiri  (Yol.  II., 
p.  141)  at  the  time  when  the  plot  was  hatch- 
ing, managed  to  escape  to  Mahagi,  so  that  all 
the  mutineers  could  do  to  soothe  their  dis- 
appointment before  returning  to  Rijiaf  was  to 
flog  the  commandant  soundly,  and  carry  off  a 
number  of  men  belonging  to  the  loyal  Second 
Battalion.  In  short,  at  the  very  moment  that 


EMIN  AT  BAY. 


29' 


Europe,  in  ignorance  of  what  was  going  on  in 
Equatoria,  was  planning  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Equatorial  garrison,  Emin’s  people  were 
strengthening  their  resolution  to  stay  in  a 
country  where  most  of  them  had  been  long 
resident ; and  the  very  soldiers  who  afterwards 
caused  the  troubles  which  precipitated  the 
departure  of  the  beleaguered  Governor  were 
in  undisguised  revolt.  All  this  time,  they 
seem  to  have  half  discredited  the  story  of 
Gordon’s  death  and  the  fall  of  Khartoum, 
and  regarded  the  accounts,  like  the  subse- 
quent letters  from  the  Khedive  that  reached 
them,  as  mere*  forgeries.  But  in  the  autumn 
of  1886  nothing  of  this  was  known.  Emin 


could  not  be  for  very  long,  and  that,  from  his 
isolated  position,  he  could  not  hold  his  own, 
owing  to  the  supply  of  ammunition  failing. 
That  this  was  the  state  of  matters  Emin 
himself  did  not  conceal,  and,  aware  of  the 
fatal  results  attending  any  renewal  of  hos- 
tilities by  the  Mahdists,  he  sought  every 
opportunity  to  convey  to  Egypt  and  to  Europe- 
a sense  of  his  dangerous  position.  The  burden 
of  the  numerous  letters  received  from  him, 
so  long  as  an  outlet  for  his  correspond- 
ence could  be  obtained,  was  an  urgent  appeal 
for  assistance  in  the  shape  of  troops  or  other 
necessaries  of  war,  though  we  cannot  gather 
from  any  of  the  Governor’s  communications. 


If  A KARA  IC  A WARRIORS  AND  MUSICIANS. 
( From  a Photograph  by  It.  Buehta.) 


was  still  a popular  hero,  at  bay  in  Equatoria, 
in  the  midst  of  a loyal  people.* 

It  was  felt,  however,  that  Emin’s  resistance 

* Wingate,  “ Mahdiism  and  the  Egyptian  Sudan,”  pp. 
31,  103,  14.1,  238,  293,  326,  etc. 


that  he  had  the  slightest  desire  to  leave  his 
seat-  of  government.  It  was  known  that,  be- 
sides his  own  officers,  two  travellers  had  for 
some  years  resided  as  his  guests.  These 
were,  we  have  seen  (pp.  26-28),  Dr.  Junker, 


30 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


a German  engaged  in  a scientific  exploration 
of  the  region  of  the  Upper  Nile  and  its 
tributaries,  and  Captain  (afterwards  Major) 
Casati,  an  Italian,  more  or  less  directly  in  the 
employment  of  the  Egyptian  Government. 
Dr.  Junker,  tired  of  inaction,  resolved  to  try 
to  reach  the  coast.  At  a very  fortunate 
period  he  made  an  attempt,  and  succeeded 
in  reaching  Uganda,  where,  having  nothing 
of  which  he  could  be  robbed,  he  was  allowed 
to  depart  in  one  of  the  missionaries’  boats 
to  the  south  end  of  Victoria  Xyanza,  and 
thence,  under  the  protection  of  an  Arab 
caravan,  managed  to  reach  the  east  coast  in 
safety  (p.  28).  From  him  the  latest  tidings  were 
received.  In  those  days  the  newspapers  were 
almost  every  day  spiced  with  tales  of  Emin’s 
courage,  heroism,  and  self-denial.  Travellers 
who  had  passed  through  his  country  in 
former  years  painted  attractive  pictures  of 
the  condition  of  the  Equatorial  Province.* 
The  comparative  civilisation  and  actual  good 
government  of  the  country  under  the  doctor 
turned  general  became  familiar  to  the  readers 
of  the  daily  news-sheet.  The  story  of  Emin 
beleaguered  in  the  centre  of  Africa,  surrounded 
on  every  side  by  hordes  of  fanatics  and  savages, 
appealed  to  the  picturesque  side  of  the  English 
mind,  and  not  only  to  the  English  mind,  but 
to  the  imagination  of  most  European  nations. 
Among  these,  his  country  of  Germany  ought 
to  be  mentioned,  where  an  expedition  was 
mooted  for  the  relief  of  the  “ Mudir  ” 
of  Equatorial  Africa.  In  short,  in  the 
autumn  of  1886  Emin  Bey,  or  Emin  Pasha, 
to  use  the  title  which  the  Khedive  of 
Egypt  had  bestowed  upon  him,  filled  in 
popular  esteem  very  much  the  same  place 
which  had  been  occupied  by  Gordon  in 
former  days. 

Possibly,  had  the  world  then  known — what 
it  knew  later — that  Emin  was  no  hero,  but 
a rather  vacillating  savant,  whose  people 
* The  best  of  these  sketches  is  that  in  the  Graphic 
(January,  1887),  by  Dr.  Felkin.  li  Emin  Pasha  in  Central 
Africa,  being  a Collection  of  his  Letters  and  Journals,” 
translated  by  Mrs.  Felkin  and  edited  by  Drs.  Schwein- 
furth,  Ratzel.  Felkin  and  Hartlaub  (1888).  contains 
the  fullest  account  of  his  life  and  travels  yet  published. 


were  anything  hut  attached  to  him,  being,  in 
fact,  in  scarcely  covert  rebellion,  and  that  the 
tales  sent  home  both  by  himself  and  by  Dr. 
Junker  were,  though  true,  not  all  the  truth, 
it  might  have  spared  some  of  the  enthusiasm 
that  was  lavished  on  him.  But  little  was 
suspected  of  the  real  state  of  matters,  so  that 
when  the  reaction  came  a few  years  later  it 
was  almost  as  unjust  as  the  admiration  which 
it  replaced  had  been  overstrained. 

Emin  was  not  employed  by  the  British 
Government ; yet  it  was  felt,  considering  the 
position  of  Great  Britain  in  Egypt,  that  Eng- 
land— still  angry  over  Gordon’s  tragic  end — 
was,  to  a certain  extent,  responsible  for  the 
safety  of  the  last  of  the  Egyptian  Governors 
of  the  Soudan,  and  that,  if  he  was  not  to 
meet  the  fate  of  Lupton  and  Slatin  Beys, 
and  of  Gordon,  scanty  time  was  to  be  lost 
in  attempting  his  succour. 

Scarcely  had  the  project  been  formulated 
before  public  sympathy  put  ample  funds  at 
the  disposal  of  a Committee  The  FrniT1 

charged  with  the  organisation  Pasha  Relief 

r ° ...  , ..  Expedition: 

of  a rescue  expedition.)  Mr.  preiimin- 
Stanley  had  only  recently  come  anes- 
back  from  a six  years’  residence  in  the 
Congo  State,  and  was,  naturally,  in  no  way 
anxious  to  return  immediately  to  the  scene 
of  his  long  labours.  But  when  the  Committee 
of  the  Emin  Relief  Expedition  urged  upon 
him  to  take  command,  with  a self-denial 
characteristic  of  the  man,  he  at  once  accepted 
the  offer  made  to  him.}  It  is  perhaps  un- 
necessary to  say  that  no  sooner  was  it 
announced  that  Mr.  Stanley  was  on  the 
eve  of  heading  another  venture  into  Central 
Africa  than  he  was  the  recipient  of  hundreds 
of  applications  from  volunteers  anxious  to 
accompany  him  on  that  dangerous  errand. 
From  among  these  volunteers  his  choice  fell  on 
Major  Edmund  Barttelot,  of  the  7th  Fusiliers, 

+ The  expedition  cost  about  £29,000,  of  which  £14,000 
was  given  by  the  Egyptian  Government  and  £1,000  by 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society. 

* He  had  recommended  Mr.  Joseph  Thomson  or,  failing 
him.  Mr.  H.  H.  Johnston,  afterwards  Consul-General  for 
Portuguese  East  Africa  and  Commissioner  for  Hyasca- 
land. 


THE  EMIN  BELIEF  EXPEDITION. 


31 


who  had  seen  hard  fighting  in  Afghanistan 
and  in  the  Nile  campaigns ; Lieutenant  W. 
G.  Stairs,  of  the  Royal  Engineers  ; Captain 
R.  H.  Nelson,  whose  experience  of  Africa  was 
won  in  Zululand  and  in  the  war  against  the 
Easutos ; Surgeon  T.  H.  Parke,  of  the  Army 
Medical  Department,  Avho  had  gained  great 
distinction  for  his  services  in  Egypt;  Mr. 
William  Bonny,  formerly  a non-commissioned 
officer  in  the  Army  Medical  Department ; Mr. 
John  Rose  Troup,  Mr.  Herbert  Ward,  Mr. 
A.  J.  Mounteney-Jephson,  and  Mr.  J.  S. 
Jameson  (p.  61),  all  gentlemen  whose  varied 
experience  was  considered  valuable  in  those 
taking  part  in  such  an  expedition.  The  two 
last,  indeed,  were  so  anxious  to  serve  that 
they  paid  £1,000  each  as  a subscription  to 
the  adventure  in  which  they  shared. 

But,  though  Mr.  Stanley’s  pronounced 
opinion  was  that  the  line  to  be  taken  by  the 
expedition  should  be  from  the  Upper  Congo 
eastward,  the  Committee  were  so  decided  in 
favour  of  Africa  being  entered  by  the  usual 
route,  from  the  east  coast,  that  the  commander 
abandoned  his  view  in  favour  of  that  advocated 
by  his  official  superiors.  Fortunately,  or  un- 
fortunately, the  jealousy  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment of  so  large  a force  marching  through 
or  near  to  their  recently  acquired  possessions 
in  East  Africa,  and  the  still  less  reasonable 
opposition  of  the  French  authorities  on  the 
ground  that  Mr.  Stanley’s  proceedings  would 
endanger  the  lives  of  the  French  missionaries 
in  Uganda,  compelled  the  abandonment  ot 
this  route  in  favour  of  that  originally  advo- 
cated by  Mr.  Stanley.  The  Congo,  there- 
fore, was  fixed  upon  as  the  waterway  along 
which  one  of  the  most  interesting  ex- 
peditions that  ever  entered  Africa  was  to 
penetrate  for  over  a thousand  miles,  until  it 
was  left  to  cross  the  continent  in  part  through 
a region  originally  explored  by  Mr.  Stanley, 
and  of  late  years  intimately  connected  with 
his  reputation. 

Among  the  members  of  this  pbilanthropical 
expedition  was  included  the  notorious  slave- 
trader,  Tippoo  Tib,  who  had  been  recom- 
mended by  Mr.  Stanley  for  the  post  of  Belgian 


Governor  of  the  Stanley  Falls  station,  belong- 
ing to  the  Free  State,  this  extraordinary 
utilisation  of  the  wolf  to  watch  the  lambs 
being  avowedly  on  the  ground  that  it  would 
be  cheaper  to  employ  him  to  resist  the  progress 
of  the  Arabs  down  the  Congo  than  to  drive 
them  back  when  once  their  westerly  invasion 
had  begun — a theory  doomed  to  wof’ul  failure. 
Tippoo  Tib  also  contracted  to  furnish  the 
expedition  with  a contingent  of  600  Man- 
yema  (Vol.  II.,  p.  255)  porters  to  assist 
in  the  carriage  of  the  goods  and  ammuni- 
tion for  Emin  Pasha,  and  otherwise  to  do 
his  best  to  expedite  the  objects  of  the 
mission  to  wdiich  he  was  attached.  As  might 
have  been  expected,  the  wealthy  slave-trader 
carried  out  his  contract  with  scant  regard  to 
the  terms  of  it. 

However,  on  the  25th  February,  1887,  the 
steamer  containing  the  expedition  sailed  from 
the  port  of  Zanzibar  for  the  mouth 
of  the  Congo  river.  There  Avere  on  cong^and 
board  11  English  officers,  605  Zan-  Aruwhimi 
ziban  men,  12  Zanzibari  boys,  62 
Soudanese,  13  Somalis,  and  97  people  attached 
to  Tippoo  Tib  ; in  all  a force  of  800  individuals 
armed  Avith  524  rifles.  The  Congo  is  noAv  so 
comparatively  Avell  knoAvn  that  the  passage 
up  this  huge  flood  need  not  be  described.  The 
greater  part  of  it  was  made  in  the  steamers 
which  now  navigate  its  Avaters,  and  though 
accompanied  Avith  various  interesting  events, 
and,  it  may  be  added,  not  a little  friction 
betAveen  the  officers  of  the  Free  State,  the 
missionaries,  and  the  energetic  commander  of 
the  rescue  expedition,  the  adventurers  arrived 
on  the  16th  of  June,  1887,  after  a river  voyage 
of  1,050  miles  from  Leopoldville,  at  Yambuya, 
a A'illage  on  the  banks  of  the  Aruwhimi,  a 
tributary  of  the  Congo. 

Here  the  river  journey  ended  and  the  long 
tramp  to  Albert  Nyanza  began.  At  that 
time  it  Avas  Mr.  Stanley’s  intention  to  return 
from  Emin’s  province  Avith  his  people  and  the 
members  of  his  own  party  by  the  same 
route  that  he  had  gone  eastward.  Accord- 
ingly, he  determined  to  form  a fortified  camp 
at  this  place  to  accumulate  stores  for  the 


32 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


expedition  on  its  return  ; or,  for  a rear-guard 
which  he  left  here  to  march  eastward,  if 
necessary,  for  the  relief  of  the  advanced  por- 
tion of  the  expedition.  This  camp  he  put 
under  the  charge  of  Major  Barttelot,  with 
Mr.  Jameson,  the  naturalist  of  the  expedition, 
as  second  in  command,  80  men  constituting 
its  garrison.  Here  also  Messrs.  Troup,  Ward, 
and  Bonny  were  to  remain  after  their  arrival 
from  Stanley  Pool  and  Bolobo,  where  they  were 
in  charge  of  131  men  and  some  600  loads  of 


permit.  If  Tippoo  Tib  arrived  with  his  band 
of  porters,  this  duty  would  be  comparatively 
light.  If  he  did  not,  then  the  rear-guard  was 
to  proceed  by  double  or  treble  stages  until 
it  met  the  advance  column  returning  from 
Albert  Nyanza.  A certain  lack  of  foresight 
in  drafting  these  instructions,  and  a lament- 
able want  of  judgment  in  their  interpretation, 
led  to  one  of  the  most  serious  disasters 
which  the  expedition  had  to  suffer ; but  of 
this  we  shall  have  more  to  say  farther  on. 


THE  EMIN  PASHA  RELIEF  EXPEDITION  LEAVING  MATADI,  ON  THE  CONGO,  WITH  TIPPOO  TIB  AND  HIS  WIVES. 

(From  a Sketch  by  Mr.  Herbert  Ward.) 


goods  stored  for  convenience’  sake  at  Leopold- 
ville. Major  Barttelot’s  instructions,  which  in 
future  days  gave  rise  to  much  acrid  contro- 
versy, were,  in  general  terms,  to  remain  at 
Yambuya  until  the  contingent  from  Bolobo 
had  arrived — that  is,  about  the  middle  of 
August — after  which  he  was  to  organise  the 
rear  column  and  march  on  the  track  of  the 
party  ahead  as  fast  as  circumstances  would 


On  the  28th  of  June,  the  advance  column,, 
consisting  of  380  men,  set  out  from  Yambuya 
eastward  through  the  dense  forests  _ 

From  Yam- 

that  cover  to  the  extent  of  traya  east- 
400,000  square  miles  * the  western  ward' 
side  of  tropical  Africa.  For  five  and  a half 
months,  following  almost  continually  the 
course  of  the  Aruwhimi  river,  they  marched 

* Stanley,  Harper's  Magazine,  April,  18-93,  p.  616. 


SKIRMISHES  WITH  THE  SAVAGES. 


33 


through  one  continuous  primeval  forest,  which, 
beginning  not  far  from  the  confluence  of 
the  Congo  with  the  Aruwhimi,  maintained 
the  same  unbroken  density  and  characteristics 
across  nearly  four  and  a half  degrees  of 
longitude.  Indeed,  it  was  not  until  they  were 
within  seven  days’  march  of  the  grassy  region 
that  any  of  the  natives  with  whom  they  came 
in  contact  had  ever  heard  of  such  a country. 
To  them  all  the  world  was  overgrown  with 
one  endless  mass  of  wood.  The  tall,  umbra- 
geous trees  grew  so  closely  together,  and  with 
their  upper  branches  in  such  close  proximity, 
that  the  sun  scarcely  reached  the  depth  of 
this  vast  jungle.  But  worse  than  the  un- 
known region  through  which  they  were 
travelling,  worse  even  than  the  gloomy  and 
malarious  character  of  the  country,  was.  the 
continual  attacks  of  the  natives 
T^vagssSt  who  had  their  homes  in  or  near  this 
bush.  In  the  extensive  district  of 
Yankonde  the  savages  were  so  determined 
to  accomplish  the  destruction  of  probably 
the  first  white  men  they  had  ever  seen — 
though,  unfortunately  for  their  most  recent 
visitors,  they  were  only  too  well  acquainted 
with  the  ravages  of  the  half-caste  Arab  slave- 
traders — that  they  set  fire  to  their  village  and 
attacked  the  party  under  cloud  of  the  smoke. 
After  a fight  lasting  fifteen  minutes  the  enemy 
retreated,  though,  the  fact  that  they  resisted 
for  that  length  of  time  men  armed  with 
rifles  shows  the  persistency  of  these  wild 


tribesmen.  However,  they  had  not  abandoned 
their  attempts  to  intercept  or  kill  the  mem- 
bers of  the  expedition,  or  to  pillage  the  boats 
on  the  river  containing  the  greater  quantity 


MAJOR  CASATI. 

( From  a Photograph  by  Guigoni  & Bossi,  Milan.) 


of  the  heavier  baggage.  At  Avisibba  they 
had  another  battle,  in  which  Lieutenant 
Stairs  was  shot  by  a poisoned  arrow,  from 
the  effects  of  which  he  recovered  with  diffi- 
culty. Provisions  were  hard  to  be  obtained. 
The  forest  contained  littlei  game,  and  the 
banana  patches  were  scattered  at  Avide  dis- 
tances from  each  other.  At  the  place  called 
Mazamboni’s — in  the  grass  land — an  even 
more  resolute  effort  than  any  hitherto  at- 
tempted was  made  for  the  destruction  of 


34 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


the  expedition.  For  five  days  in  December, 
1887,  the  savages  made  a succession  ot 
attacks  upon  it,  the  echoes  of  which  reached 
Kabba  Rega  in  Unyoro.  For  it  so  happened 
that  these  Mazamboni  warriors  were  his  sub- 
jects ; and  when  the  news  of  their  defeat 
reached  him,  he  imagined  that  his  country 
was  being  invaded  by  a large  army  under  a 
“white  Pasha,”  summoned  by  his  double- 
dealing friend  Emin.  He  therefore  imme- 
diately wreaked  his  vengeance  on  poor  Casati, 
who  was  robbed  and  turned  out  of  his  house 
almost  naked,  to  wander  along  the  shores  of 
Lake  Albert  until  Emin  found  and  rescued 
him ; while  Mohammed  Biri,  Emin’s  mes- 
senger, was  killed  by  the  incensed  king  (p.  28). 

The  story  of  a white  Pasha  devastating 
the  Upper  Nile  region  even  reached  Cairo  in 
a strangely  distorted  form,  and  on  its  way 


ARROW-HEADS,  ARROWS,  AND  QUIVER,  FROM  THE 
ARUWHIMI  DISTI  ICT. 


north  so  alarmed  the  Khalifa,  who  had  now 
succeeded  the  dead  Mahdi,  that  he  de- 
spatched troops  to  take  possession  of  Equa- 
toria  and  destroy  the  supposed  intruder. 

It  was  in  this  forest,  and  especially  in.-the 
region  between  the  Ihuru  and  I turf  fivers, 
that  the  expedition  for  the  first  time  met 
with  the  pigmies.  These  dwarfs  were,  indeed, 


among  the  most  persistent  of  Mr.  Stanley’s 
enemies,  discharging  their  little  poisoned 
arrows  with  great  audacity.  It  is, 
however,  a mistake  to  suppose  that  wambutti 
Mr.  Stanley  was,  or  claimed  to  pignue8' 
be,  the  discoverer  of  these  dwarfs  of  the 
African  forest.  We  have,  seen  that  Speke 
heard  of  them.  We  know  that  Paul  da 
Chaillu,  in  penetrating  the  forest  behind  the 
French  possessions  in  West  Africa,  came 
upon  a similar  race  of  mankind.  It  may 
also  be  recalled  that  among  the  people  whom 
Mr.  Stanley  had  heard  of  in  1876,  and*  Lieu- 
tenant Wissmann  and  Dr.  Wolff  met  along 
the  upper  waters  of  the  Congo,  were  the 
Watwa  dwarfs,  not  exceeding  four  and  a 
half  feet  in  height.  But  long  before  M.  du 
Chaillu,  long  before  the  German  explorer’s 
time,  dwarfs  were  known  to  inhabit  the  re- 
moter portions  of  Africa  ; for  does  not  Ptolemy, 
the  Alexandrian  geographer,  speak  of  the 
fountains  of  the  Nile,  close  by  which  a pigmy 
people  dwelt  ? And,  long  before  him,  Homer,. 
Herodotus,  and  Pliny  had  heard  of  these  races 
dwelling  among  the  marshes  where  the  Nile 
rises  so  that  unquestionably  even  at  that 
early  date  Egyptian  traders  had  come  in  con- 
tact with  them,  or  slaves  from  the  interior  of 
Africa  had  carried  into  the  Delta  or  to  the 
remote  colonies  in  the  far  north  tales  of  a 
people  whom  it  has  been  left  for  modern  ex- 
plorers to  rediscover.  Andrew  Battell,  it  maybe 
remembered,  during  his  captivity  in  the  king- 
dom of  Loango  (Yol.  I.,  p.  118),  met  with  the 
Matimbas,  a kind  of  little  people,  “no  bigger 
than  Boyesof  twelve  yearesolde.”  Again,  among 
the  people  whom  Dapper,  the  Dutch  geographer, 
who  wrote  in  the  seventeenth  century,  heard  of 
from  a countryman  who  did  business  along  the 
Guinea  coast,  were  the  Bakke-Bakke : “ pig- 
mies, indeed,  in  stature,  but  with  heads  of 
prodigious  bigness  ” ; and  Commerson  speaks 
of  a like  people  in  the  interior  of  Mada- 
gascar. Dr.  Ivrapf,  the  German  missionary  on 
the  east  coast  of  Africa,  heard  more  than  fifty 
years  ago  of  the  Doko,  a race  of  dwarfs  living 
among  the  G alias.  In  1854  tales  of  the  Akkas, 
several  of  whom  have  at  different  times  been 


THE  WAMBUTTI  PIGMIES. 


35 


brought  to  Europe  (pp.  36,  37),  reached  Peth- 
erick,  and  in  1871  they  were  described  by  Dr. 
Sehweinfurth  as  the  inhabitants  of  Monbuttu, 
a country  which  is  south  of  the  Bahr-el- 
Ghazel  and  west  of  the  Equatorial  Province 
to  which  Mr.  Stanley  was  hastening  when  he 
met  with  a similar  race  in  the  depths  of  the 
Upper  Congo  forests. 

This  race  he  calls  the  Wambutti.  They  live 
farther  west  than  the  Akkas,  but  in  disposi- 


third  is  a species  of  Stryclinos  (a  notoriously 
poisonous  genus),  and  a fourth  is  Tephronia, 
the  seeds  of  which  are  used  to  poison  fishes.* 
These  Wambutti  have  no  fixed  abodes  and, 
if  they  build  shelters  at  all,  only  construct 
huts  of  branches,  with  scarcely  more  archi- 
tectural skill  than  the  lowest  of  wild  beasts. 
The  explorers  could,  of  course,  obtain  little 
information  regarding  their  ways  of  life  and 
modes  of  thought.  They  affirm,  however, 


tion  and  general  characteristics  do  not  differ 
widely  from  that  better-known  people.  They 
are  brownish  in  colour,  not  exceeding  four  feet 
four  inches  in  height,  nomadic  in  their  habits, 
neither  keeping  cattle  nor  tilling  the  ground, 
but  subsisting  solely  by  hunting  and  snaring 
wild  animals  or  collecting  the  wild  fruits  and 
berries  near  their  retreats.  Their  weapons 
are  primitive  but  efficient,  consisting  of  bows 
and  arrows,  the  latter  usually  poisoned,  not 
with  the  dried  bodies  of  ants  as  at  first 
imagined,  but  with  the  juice  of  various  species 
of  plants — one  of  which  is  apparently  the 
well-known  “sassy  bark”  (Erythrophlceum 
guineense).  Another  is  Palisota  barteri,  a 


that  the  dwarfs  have  no  government  and  no 
communities,  but  wander  about  in  hordes 
each  consisting  of  a few  families,  the  necessity 
for  finding  food  compelling  them  to  be  con- 
tinually moving  their  habitations  from  one 
part  of  the  country  to  another.  In  many 
cases  they  are  dependent  upon  more  powerful 
tribes  of  “ Wasongora,”  as  the  taller  savages  are 
called,  who,  in  return  for  certain  services  in 
the  way  of  hunting  and  snaring  animals,  ex- 
tend to  them  a small  amount  of  protection, 
* Holmes  and  Parke,  Pharmaceutical  Journal  and  Trans- 
action1891.  p.  917  ; Parke,  “ Experiences  in  Equatorial 
Africa,”  pp.  308-319.  Mr.  Stanley  ( Scribner's  Magazine, 
January,  1891,  p.  11)  seems  doubtful  whether  the  poison 
is  not  derived  from  the  St roj/hanl/ius  liispidus. 


36 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


though,  as  a rule,  the  treatment  of  the 
thievish  pigmies  by  their  neighbours  is  only 
kept  from  being  brutal  by  the  latter’s  en- 
venomed arrows.  The  Wambutti  are  also 
strongly  suspected  of  cannibalism. 

South  of  the  Congo  the  tribe  called  Mucasse- 
queres,  living  in  the  forests  between  Kubango 


EELATIVE  SIZES  OF  SKELETONS  OF  AN  AKKA  WOMAN 
AND  OF  A MAN  OF  OEDINARY  STATURE. 

(From  a Photograph  by  Gambier  Bolton,  F.Z.S.) 

and  Ivundo,  also  belong  to  the  pigmy  race ; 
while  the  Massuruas  whom  Serpa  Pinto  de- 
scribes as  inhabiting  the  borders  of  the 
Zambesi  sources  (p.  4)  are,  if  not  a tribe  of 
Bushmen,  not  very  distantly  allied  to  the 
peoples  already  mentioned.  Dr.  Schlichter, 
indeed,  considers  that  there  are  four  well- 
marked  groups  of  African  dwarfs  besides 


others  more  mythical.  The  question,  how- 
ever, comes  to  be,  who  are  these  pigmy 
tribes  ? Are  they  remnants  of  the  aborigines 
who  inhabited  Africa  before  the  present 
powerful  races  entered  and  conquered  it, 
that  have  ’ been  driven  into  the  depths  of 
the  forests  to  escape  from  their  persecutors  ? 
Or  are  they  really  outcasts  of  other  tribes, 
who,  in  course  of  time,  owing  to  the  lack  of 
food,  to  poor  shelter,  and  much  persecution, 
have  sunk  to  their  present  degraded  condi- 
tion ? The  first  theory  is  decidedly  the  more 
attractive,  falling  in  as  it  does  with  the  facts 
known  regarding  other  inferior  races.  But 
when  we  examine  the  history  of  the  pigmy 
races  of  Africa,  there  are  many  difficulties  in 
the  acceptance  of  this  doctrine.  In  the 
first  place,  the  differences  between  the  Akkas, 
the  Wambutti,  and  other  pigmy  races  and 
the  Bushmen  are,  according  to  Sir  William 
Flower*  so  radical  as  to  preclude  the  pos- 
sibility of  regarding  them  as  members  of 
the  same  stock,  as  Mr.  Stanley  seems  to 
imagine.  Sir  William  lays  special  stress  on 
the  yellow  complexion  and  peculiar,  oblong 
form  of  the  skull,  characteristic  of  the  Bush- 
men, and  the  presence  of  the  monkey-looking 
profile,  so  characteristic  of  the  pigmies  but 
not  of  the  Bushmen  of  South  Africa.  Again, 
there  is  not  the  least  philological  connection 
between  the  language  of  any  of  the  pigmy 
races  of  the  north  and  that  now  well 
known  as  the  tongue  of  the  southern  dwarfs. 
Indeed,  the  scanty  vocabularies  which  we 
possess  of  the  tongue  spoken  by  the  pigmy 
tribes  of  the  tropical  forests  contain  so  many 
actual  and  modified  Bantu  words  as  to  lend 
strong  support  to  the  belief  that  these  pigmies, 
instead  of  being  a separate  race,  are  really  out- 
casts from  the  tribes  around  them ; or  at  least, 
that  they  have  had  such  long-continued  rela- 
tions with  their  neighbours  as  to  have  lost  much 
of  their  original  speech  in  favour  of  that 
adopted  from  their  conquerors.  It  is  well 
known  that  tribes  of  Hottentots  in  South 
Africa  who  had  been  expelled  from  their 

* Journal  of  the  Anthropological:  Institute,  1S89,  pp. 
72.-01. 


AMONGST  THE  PIGMIES. 


37 


tribes  so  very  speedily  retrograded  as  to 
be  undistinguishable  in  the  course  of  a few 
generations  from  the  Bushmen  around  them. 
The  origin  and  nature  of  the  pigmies  may, 
therefore,  be  still  accepted  as  an  open  question. 

It  is,  however,  certain  that  they  are  not 
low  in  intellect.  Mr.  Stanley,  in- 
deed, declares  that  in  acuteness, 
necessitated  by  their  mode  of  life, 
they  are  vastly  superior  to  the  dull 
Zanzibaris,  and  in  intellectual 
ability  comparable  with  fifty  per 
cent,  of  the  citizens  of  a civilised 
town.  Their  boldness  and  skill 
in  catching  the  elephant  in 
pits,  and  in  killing  or  trap- 
ping the  various  birds  and 
beasts  that  contribute  to  their 
omnivorous  diet,  are  greater 
than  those  of  the  taller  savages 
around  whose  settlements  the 
dwarfs  form  temporary  hamlets. 

There  are  two  types  among 
them.  One  is  a clear,  light 
bronze  in  colour ; the  other  is 
much  darker,  almost  black.  The 
latter  is  distinguished  by  a 
greater  projection  of  the  jaws 
and  a more  retreating  forehead 
than  the  other  variety.  Some 
of  them — but  not  many — are 
well-formed  and  a few  are  even 
good-looking,  as  African  looks  go. 

But,  as  a rule,  the  pigmies  are 
not  an  attractive  race.  They 
are  also  imbued  with  some 
municipal  instinct.  The  only 
native  African  road  cut  for  more 
than  half  a mile  which  Mr.  Stanley  ever 
saw  out  of  Uganda  was  one  made  for 
three  miles  between  two  pigmy  villages. 
These  roads  when  danger  is  apprehended 
are  all  skewered  with  poisonous  points 
covered  with  leaves,  the  villagers  passing 
meanwhile  through  secret  parallel  paths, 
leaving  the  protected  way  open  to  the  un- 
suspecting enemy,  who  is  generally  one  of  a 
rival  village,  or  some  of  the  taller  savages 


whose  banana,  corn,  and  tobacco  patches  have 
been  plundered  by  the  dwarfs.* 

Two  of  these  Ituri  River  dwarfs  were,  in 
1893,  brought  to  Germany  by  Dr.  Stuhlmann. 
That  traveller  seems  to  consider  them  akin  to, 
if  not  identical  with  the  Akkas.  Indeed, 


akka  (pigmy)  girl. 

( From  a Photograph  by  It.  Buchta., 

he  expressly  declares  that  the  Wambutti  bear 
among  some  of  their  neighbours  the  name  of 
* Stanley,  “ The  Pigmies  of  the  Great  African  Forest,” 
Scribner'*  Magazine,  January,  1891.  pp.  3-17  ; Schlichter, 
■‘The  Pigmy  Tribes  of  Africa,”  Scottish  Geographical 
Magazine,  1892.  pp.  289-301  and  345-356  (a  very  ex- 
haustive paper,  though  the  generalisations  are  too 
sweeping  for  the  knowledge  as  yet  in  our  possession); 
and  a useful  article  by  Miss  Werner  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  1890,  pp.  556-569.  Quattrefages  (“Les 
Pygmees,”  1887)  discusses  what  was  known  at  the  date 
when  he  ivrote. 


38 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Akka,  a word  said  to  occur  on  an  ancient 
Egyptian  monument. 

On  the  one  hundred  and  fifty-fifth  day  of 

the  expedition’s  departure  from  Yambuya  the 

members  were  rejoiced  to  see  from 

the^oumey  the  summit  of  Pisgah  Ridge,  at 

to  Albert  the  base  of  Pisgah  Mount,  the  first 
Nyanza.  ° 

glimpse  of  open  country,  and  on 
the  one  hundred  and  sixty-sixth  day,  or  the 
4th  of  December,  1887,  to  emerge  from  the 
gloomy  forest. 

To  the  very  last  the  natives  never  inter- 


mitted their  harassment  of  the  expedition. 
Not  an  hour  could  be  passed  with  the  certainty 
that  a flight  of  arrows  might  not  descend 
upon  the  column,  and  even  at  the  time  when 
the  members  were  rejoicing  at  the  thought 
that  they  would  soon  see  Albert  Nyanza 
gleaming  before  them  an  attack  by  their  per- 
sistent enemies  had  to  be  driven  off. 

The  perils,  indeed,  of  the  march  through 
this  forest  before  Mazamboni’s  was  reached 
exceeded  everj'thing  in  the  more  recent  annals 
of  African  exploration.  For  weeks  the  sky 
could  not  be  seen  for  the  thick  foliage  over- 


head, and  every  bush  swarmed  with  wild 
people  sunk  in  the  last  depths  of  savagery, 
dwarfish,  ape-like,  and  altogether  repulsive. 
During  their  long  march  the  members  of  the 
expedition  had  neither  seen  nor  heard  of  any 
open  place  in  the  bosom  of  the  forest,  with 
the  exception  of  the  clearings  that  had  been 
laboriously  made  by  the  natives,  though,  as 
Mr.  Stanley  tells  us,  at  the  season  of  planting 
these  patches  had  to  be  subjected  to  laborious 
cutting,  lest  the  forest  should  usurp  the  place 
from  which  it  had  been  previously  expelled. 
“ Take,”  he  tells  us,  “ a thick  Scottish  copse, 
dripping  with  rain  ; imagine  this  copse  to  be 
a mere  undergrowth,  nourished 
under  the  impenetrable  shade  of  T11t®r|g®at 
ancient  trees,  rangingfrom  100  to  180 
feet  high  ; briars  and  thorns  abundant ; lazy 
creeks,  meandering  through  the  depth  of  the 
jungle,  and  sometimes  a deep  affluent  of  a great 
river.  Imagine  this  forest  and  jungle  in  all 
stages  of  decay  and  growth — old  trees  falling, 
leaning  perilously  over,  fallen  prostrate ; ants 
and  insects  of  all  kinds,  sizes,  and  colours, 
murmuring  around ; monkeys  and  chimpan- 
zees above,  queer  noises  of  birds  and  animals, 
crashes  in  the  jungle  as  troops  of  elephants 
rush  away ; dwarfs,  with  poisoned  arrows, 
securely  hidden  behind  some  buttress  or  some 
dark  recess ; strong,  brown-bodied  aborigines, 
with  terribly  sharp  spears,  standing  poised, 
still  as  dead  stumps  ; rain  pattering  down 
upon  you  every  other  day  in  the  year ; an 
impure  atmosphere,  with  its  dread  conse- 
quences, fever  and  dysentery;  gloom  through- 
out the  day,  and  darkness  almost  palpable 
throughout  the  night;  and  then  if  you  will 
imagine  such  a forest  extending  the  entire 
distance  from  Plymouth  to  Peterhead,  you 
will  have  a fair  idea  of  some  of  the  incon- 
veniences endured  by  us  from  June  28th  to 
December  5th,  1887.”  * 

When  the  expedition  issued  out  of  the 
gloomy  depth  of  these  primeval  woods  it 
numbered  173  men  all  told.  It  had,  however, 
dropped  on  the  way  thirty  or  forty  men,  whom 
excessive  sickness  had  weakened  or  grievous 

* Stanley's  “ Letters  ” (1890),  pp.  63-64. 


DAYLIGHT  AT  LAST  ! THE  ADVANCE  COLUMN  OF  THE  EMIN  PASHA  RELIEF  EXPEDITION  EMERGING 
FROM  THE  GREAT  FOREST  ( p . 38). 


MISHAPS  IN  THE  FOREST. 


39 


ulcers  had  crippled.  These  they  had  been 
obliged  to  shelter  with  the  Arabs  whose 
stations  had  been  passed.  Such  calamities 
had  thinned  the  ranks  grievously.  Many  of 
the  invalids  had  died  and  others  were  too 
feeble  to  be  likely  ever  to  be  of  much  use  to 
the  party.  A sort  of  epidemic  of  dreadful 
ulcers  raged  throughout  the  camp,  and 
anaemia,  engendered  by  poor  diet  or  semi- 
starvation, had  reduced  others  to  a con- 
dition of  decrepitude.  Poisoned  arrows  had 
caused  a great  many  deaths,  in  most  cases, 
except  where  the  poison  was  mesh,  preceded 
by  hours  of  intense  agony.  But,  apart  from 
sickness  and  fatal  casualties,  desertion  ac- 
counted for  the  absence  of  so  large  a number 
from  the  effective  force  that  had  left  Yam- 
buy  a five  and  a half  months  before.  “ There 
are  no  circumstances  under  which  the  Zan- 
zibari will  not  desert — excessive  feasting,  ex- 
treme famine,  a heavy  or  a light  load,  a 
hot  or  a cold  day,  going  from  or  approach- 
ing home,  it  makes  little  difference.  When 
the  fit  takes  him  he  will  immediately  march 
to  certain  death  to  escape  the  tyranny 
of  work.  The  worst  of  it  is  that  he  even 
marches  away  with  rifle,  equipment,  and  load, 
and  wrecks  the  expedition,  or  reduces  it  to  a 
dangerous  state  of  destitution  and  weakness. 
At  Kilonga-Longa’s,  where  there  is  an  Arab 
settlement  at  which  thirty-three  men  had 
been  left,  the  entire  force  sold  its  ammunition, 
so  that  we  lost  three  thousand  rounds.  Over 
thirty  men  sold  their  Remington  rifles  ; others 
sold  their  ramrods  and  equipment.  They 
entered  our  tents  by  night,  and  stole  our 
bedding.  Surgeon  Parke  lost  his  entire  kit 
of  clothing.  Captain  Nelson  lost  his  blankets, 
and  I lost  my  cutlery  and  spoons.  During 
August,  September,  October,  and  November, 
the  people  were  demoralised  by  sufferings. 
Whatever  we  said  to  them  was  disbelieved  ; 
they  hooted  at  and  jeered  at  our  assurances 
that  a few  energetic  marches  would  take  us 
far  beyond  our  suffering.  It  required  an  in- 
finite patience  to  bear  against  this  wolfish 
feature  of  human  nature.  They  might  have 
proceeded  to  extremities,  but  they  did  not : 


considering  their  sufferings,  I call  this  a 
virtue.  When  we  finally  issued  out  of  dark- 
ness into  daylight  and  bright  sunshine,  and 
the  lucent  atmosphere,  its  virtue  expanded, 
and  every  soul  of  the  173  men  who  witnessed 
the  sight  and  joined  with  us  became  inflamed 
with  zeal  to  do  the  best  he  could,  and  we 
never  had  any  trouble  with  them  afterwards 
though,  it  ought  to  be  added  that,  as  a warning 
to  others,  Mr.  Stanley  considered  it  necessary 
more  than  once  to  inflict  severe  punishment 
upon  those  who  had  bartered  away  the  arms 
with  which  they  had  been  entrusted. 

The  “ promised  land  ” into  which  the  ex- 
pedition entered  on  the  5th  of  December,  after 
leaving  the  great  forest  behind,  was  The  grassy 
exquisitely  lovely  in  character,  and  country, 
remarkably  fertile  and  populous.  Yet  the 
commander  would  have  been  glad  if  by  any 
means  he  could  have  avoided  the  necessity  of 
marching  through  it,  for  the  population  was 
so  dense  and  unfriendly,  and  the  band  of 
sorely-tried  men  who  had  to  oppose  them  so 
few  in  number,  that  for  a time  it  seemed  to 
be  utter  madness  to  press  onward  through  a 
region  swarming  with  enemies  so  numerous 
and  powerful.  The  nearer  the  lake  was 
approached,  the  more  obstinately  determined 
were  the  natives  in  resisting  the  advance. 
Skirmish  after  skirmish  had  to  be  faced, 
until,  on  December  13th,  the  long  joiuaiey 
seemed  to  have  come  to  an  end,  when, 
from  a lofty  precipice,  Albert  Nyanza  lay 
gleaming  below. 

Reaching  its  edge,  close  to  a village  of 
the  natives  who  had  hitherto  been  so  un- 
friendly, the  first  question,  naturally,  was  as 
to  any  white  men  being  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
lake.  No  steamer  had,  however,  been  seen 
since  Mason  Bey’s  in  1877  (Yol.  II.,  p.  137),  and 
no  information  regarding  the  whereabouts  of 
Emin  Pasha  could  be  obtained.  What 
little  they  could  elicit  from  the  natives 
in  answer  to  their  inquiries  seemed  at  first 
like  arrant  nonsense.  It  was  only  in  after 
days  that  they  ascertained  the  reason  of  the 
tribesmen’s  ignorance.  For  Emin,  though 
residing  for  so  many  years  at  the  northern 


40 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


end  of  the  lake,  and  on  the  river  which  ran 
out  of  it,  had  never  visited  the  southern  end, 
and  up  to  this  period  had  never  been  heard 
of  by  the  fishermen  in  that  vicinity. 

In  these  circumstances,  it  seemed  idle  to 
remain  any  longer  in  this  position.  It  was, 
therefore,  resolved  to  retyrn  to  the  forest 


WANYORO  WARRIORS. 

(From  a Photograph  by  R.  Buchta.) 


region  as  the  least  dangerous,  select  some 
promising  spot  for  occupation,  build  a fort, 
store  the  extra  goods,  and  march  back  again 
to  the  lake  with  the  boat  Advance,  reluct- 
antly left  behind  at  Kilonga-Longa’s,  but 
without  which  it  would  not  be  easy  to  com- 
municate with  Wadelai.  The  extensive 
clearing  of  Ibwiri  was  selected  for  the  first- 
named  purpose,  and  here  on  the  8th  of 
January,  1888,  some  190  miles  from  the  lake, 
Fort  Bodo  was  begun,  and  seven  acres  of 
corn  were  planted  in  its  vicinity.  Meanwhile, 


Lieutenant  Stairs  had  been  despatched  to 
Kilonga-Longa’s  for  the  boat,  and  afterwards 
to  Ugarrowa’s*  station  for  such  of  the  con- 
valescents as  could  march,  in  the  hope  also 
that  he  would  meet  with  Major  Barttelot  and 
the  rear  column  on  their  way  to  the  lake.  On 
the  2nd  of  April  Mr.  Stanley  was  so  far  re- 
covered from  a painful  attack  of  gastritis  and 
the  prevailing  abscess  malady  as  to  be  able  to 
move  again  towards  Albert  Nyanza.  Mr.  Stairs, 
however,  had  not  yet  returned  from  his  second 
mission,  though  he  had  obtained  the  boat 
which  on  their  first  journey  had  been  aban- 
doned through  sheer  inability  to  carry  it.  Mr. 
Mounteney-Jephson  and  Dr.  Parke  accom- 
panied the  commander,  Captain  Nelson 
remaining  as  commandant  at  Fort  Bodo.  In 
travelling  through  the  district  which,  a few 
months  earlier,  had  proved  so-  dangerous  to 
the  expedition  the  travellers  were  pleased  to 
observe  a marked  change  in  the  disposition 
of  the  natives.  Instead  of  flying  at  them  with 
spears,  they  entered  into  friendly  overtures  to 
assist  the  white  men  against  their  common 
enemy — the  Wanyoro,  subjects  of  the  King  of 
Unyoro,  who  were  found  to  be  raiding,  murder- 
ing, and  conquering  on  both  sides  of  the  lake. 
Wherever  the  white  men  came  the  natives 
now  eagerly  brought  to  the  camp  gifts  of 
plantains,  corn,  goats,  and  cattle,  and  con- 
tinued these  supplies  of  gratuitous  provisions 
as  long  as  they  remained  in  their  vicinity. 

When  about  one  day’s  march  from 
Albert  Nyanza,  letters  from  Emin  were  de- 
livered to  Mr.  Stanley.  Two  months  after 
Mr.  Stanley’s  descent  to  the  lake,  Emin  had 
heard  of  the  arrival  of  the  expedition  and 
left  these  notes  for  the  information  of  his 
friends.  Mr.  Jephson,  accordingly,  set  out  in 
the  boat  now  launched  on  the  lake  to  search 
for  the  Pasha,  and  on  the  second  day  came 
to  Mswa  station,  the  southernmost  in  the 
Equatorial  Province. 

At  last,  on  the  29th  of  April,  1888,  the 
Expedition  were  gratified  to  see  the  Khedive’s 

* Ugarrowa,  or  Uledi  Balyuz,  was  a tent-boy  of  Speke’s, 
but  at  the  time  Mr.  Stanley  met  him  was  a very  great 
man  in  the  slave-raiding  line. 


ARRIVAL  OF  EMIN. 


41 


steamer  on  the  lake  and  in  the  evening  to 
welcome  Emin  Pasha,  Captain 

Emin  arrives.  , , ,.  T1 

Casati,  and  a number  ot  Egyptian 
officers  who  had  come  with  them.  For  more 


Contrary  to  expectations — unwarranted,  how- 
ever, considering  his  previous  declarations 
— he  and  his  friends  displayed  no  anxiety 
to  take  that  step.  As  he  had  repeatedly 


MEETING  OF  EMIN  PASHA  AND  MR.  STANLEY  AT  KAVALLl’S,  APRIL  29,  1888. 


than  three  weeks  Emin  and  his  friends  stayed 
with  Stanley  in  camp  at  Nsabe.  The  latter  oc- 
cupied most  of  the  time  in  trying  to  persuade 
the  Pasha  to  return  to  Egypt  with  his  followers. 


asserted  in  his  letters  to  Europe,  he  had  tho 
utmost  reluctance  to  desert  his  post.  He 
declared  that  the  soldiers  had  no  inclina- 
tion to  evacuate  the  Soudan.  The  few 


42 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Europeanised  officials  — Vita  Hassan  the 
apothecary,  and  Marco  the  Greek,  for  ex- 
ample— might  desire  this  course  ; but  even 
the  Egyptians  of  considerable  rank  in  the 
military  service  had  by  this  time  begun  to 
regard  the  Equatorial  Province  as  their 
home.  They  had  wives  and  children  and 
gardens,  and  they  held  a position  and  en- 
joyed an  ease  which  could  not  be  expected 
in  Cairo  and  on  the  Lower  Nile. 

Nor  was  Emin  himself,  or  his  companion 
Captain  Casati,  any  more  inclined  to  seek 
•civilisation.  Mr.  Stanley,  indeed,  declares  that 
they  seemed  quite  content  to  remain  where 
they  were.  They  praised  the  country  for  its 
fertility  and  its  equable  climate.  They  even 
loved  the  natives,  and  were  tireless  in  their 
praise  of  everything  connected  with  that  region. 
All  that  these  two  cultivated  men  seemed  to 
care  for  was  the  means  of  defence  against 
invasion  or  accidental  disturbance.  The 
land  yielded  abundance  of  food,  and  Emin 
had  accumulated  sufficient  ivory  to  supply 
himself,  if  necessary,  with  all  commodities  that 
the  Arab  caravans  passing  through  Equatoria 
were  able  to  dispose  of.  Extensive  gardens 
and  plantations  supplied  all  native  and  many 
European  vegetables,  and,  though  the  abori- 
gines had  not  yet  learned  to  weave  woollen 
fabrics,  they  manufactured,  as  the  clothes  worn 
by  the  officers  proved,  a coarse  though  substan- 
tial cotton  cloth  out  of  a plant  grown  in  the 
•country. 

What  the  Governor  chiefly  desired  was 
ammunition.  The  greater  part  of  their  sup- 
plies of  this  important  material  was  now  gone, 
and  originally  it  had  not  been  of  the  best 
quality,  the  corrupt  officials  in  Cairo,  in  order 
to  conceal  their  peculations  from  the  Govern- 
ment, sending  to  the  Soudan  all  the  worthless 
rubbish  which  they  could  find  in  the  maga- 
zines. Even  that  brought  by  Mr.  Stanley  for 
the  use  of  Emin  was  found  to  be  of  less  value 
than  had  been  hoped,  as  it  had  been  supplied 
to  them  from  the  Egyptian  stores.  In  short, 
Emin  reasserted  his  oft-expressed  resolution 
to  remain  by  the  Equatorial  Province  for 
better  or  worse. 


In  vain  Mr.  Stanley  tried  to  impress  upon 
him  “ the  hopelessness  of  his  situation,  the 
almost  certainty  of  the  Mahdi  reaching  him 
and  overwhelming  his  small  force  by  dint  of 
numbers  ; that  the  powerful  Kings  of  Unyoro 
and  Uganda  would  always  be  a bar  to  safe 
communication  with  the  east  coast ; that  cara- 
vans would  never  venture  by  Masailand  and 
Lango,  to  be  decimated  by  famine  and  thirst, 
for  the  uncertain  profits  to  be  derived  from 
the  dangerous  risks  of  the  journey  ; that  no 
body  of  philanthropists  would  repeat  these 
expensive  outlays  on  behalf  of  a province  so 
remote  from  the  sea  as  Emin  Pasha’s  when 
there  were  thousands  of  square  miles  of  equally 
fertile  soils  lying  close  to  the  ocean.”  These 
and  similar  arguments  (which,  it  appears, 
lost  their  pristine  virility  in  the  arguments 
for  the  retention  of  Uganda)  seemed  for  a 
time  to  have  considerable  weight  with  the 
vacillating  Pasha.  But  Emin  was  seldom  for 
many  hours  in  the  same  mind.  Now  he  was 
willing  to  leave ; now  he  affirmed  he  would 
stay.  One  day  he  declared  he  would  go  if  the 
Egyptians  wished  to  go ; then  the  Egyptians 
were  willing  to  go  if  Emin  would  go ; and, 
finally,  Captain  Casati  would  join  the  caravan 
to  the  sea  if  Emin  and  the  Egyptians  were  of 
the  same  mind.  In  the  course  of  his  long 
stay  in  the  tropics,  wearied  by  continual 
anxieties,  the  resolution  of  the  Pasha,  if, 
indeed,  he  ever  possessed  much,  seemed  to 
have  entirely  vanished.  For  undoubtedly 
the  impression  which  his  visitors  derived 
of  his  character  during  the  three  weeks 
spent  by  the  shore  of  Albert  Nyanza  was 
entirely  different  from  that  which  the 
accounts  they  had  read  in  the  European 
papers  before  their  departure  had  led  them 
to  entertain. 

Finally,  believing  that  Emin  had  been  per- 
suaded to  take  what,  in  the  opinion  of  his 
friends,  was  the  best  course,  Mr.  Stanley  sent 
Mr.  Jephson  and  thirteen  Soudanese  soldiers 
to  assist  Emin  in  collecting  his  scattered 
troops  with  a view  to  commence  the  inarch 
eastwards,  while  he  himself  resolved  to  return 
westwards  again  in  the  hope'  of  meeting 


BARTTELOT S CAMP. 


43 


Major  Barttelot’s  rear-guard,  or  ascertaining 
the  reasons  for  its  long-delayed  arrival. 

pre.  Every  day  for  many  weeks  past  the 
pares  to  weary  eyes  of  their  companions 

leave,  and  , . , ! 

Stanley  re-  had  been  turned  m the  direction 

searchof the  in  which  Major  Barttelot  and  his 
rear  guard.  column  were  expected  to  come. 
They  imagined  they  heard  the  looked-for 
signal  shots.  They  even  dreamed  that  the 
column  was  approaching,  and  that  they  saw  the 
Major  at  the  head  of  quite  an  army  of  carriers. 
But  the  days  passed  away  and  no  news  ’was 
heard  either  of  him  or  of  the  volunteer  couriers 
who  had  left  Fort  Bodo  on  the  16th  of  Feb- 
ruary in  search  of  the  rear-guard.  Accord- 
ingly, Mr.  Stanley,  having  prepared  sufficient 
food  to  last  him  for  the  return  journey  through 
the  dreadful  wilderness  that  had  well-nigh 
proved  fatal  to  him  and  his  companions  on 
their  first  journey  towards  the  lake,  departed  on 
the  16th  of  June  from  Fort  Bodo  on  a search 
for  the  rear-column,  leaving  Lieutenant  Stairs, 
Captain  Nelson,  and  Surgeon  Parke  behind 
with  a garrison  of  fifty -nine  men. 

Long  and  wearisome  though  this  return 
tramp  through  the  dense  forest  undoubtedly 
was,  it  was  much  lighter  than  the  former 
journey  had  been.  The  natives  seemed  to 
have  learned  a lesson  of  prudence,  and  seldom 
molested  the  travellers,  while  the  Arab  slave- 
traders  at  whose  settlements  they  halted  had 
acquired  a higher  respect  for  the  white  man 
than  that  with  which  they  had  been  form- 
erly inspired.  At  Ugarrowa’s,  they  were  glad 
to  find  the  surviving  couriers  who  had 
been  despatched  from  Fort  Bodo  on  the 
16th  of  February  in  search  of  Major  Bart- 
telot’s column,  though  only  five  had  escaped 
grievous  arrow  wounds. 

Every  day  on  the  tramp  through  the  forest 
Mr.  Stanley  and  his  caravan  expected  to  meet 
with  Major  Barttelot.  At  every  turn  in 
the  forest  path  they  eagerly  strained  their 
eyes  through  the  gloomy  bush  in  the  hope 
Barttelot  s that  the  next  few  steps  would  bring 
camp.  them  in  sight  of  his  long-hoped-for 
caravan.  But  no  such  hope  was  gratified  until 
on  the  17  th  of  August,  at  ten  o’clock  in 


the  morning,  they  sighted  a camp  which 
could  be  no  other  than  that  of  their  long-lost 
companions.  This  was  at  a place  called 
Banalya,  90  miles  from  Yambuya,  592  from 
Lake  Albert,  63  from  Fort  Bodo,  and  the 
eighty-fifth  day  from  the  Nyanza  plain. 
True  enough,  it  was  the  rear-column,  or,  at 
least,  the  wreck  of  the  271  men  all  told  of 
which  it  consisted  when  last  seen  at  Yambuya. 
Instead  of  five  white  men  to  welcome  them, 
only  one,  emaciated  by  fevers  and  anxiety, 
made  his  appearance.  This  was  Mr.  Bonny. 
Major  Barttelot  was  dead  ; he  had  been  shot  in 
a quarrel  with  one  of  Tippoo  Tib’s  Manyemas 
less  than  a month  ago.  Mr.  Jameson  had 
started  two  days  later  for  Stanley  Falls  in  the 
hope  of  obtaining  more  men  from  Tippoo  Tib, 
whose  dilatoriness  in  fulfilling  his  contract 
had  been  the  cause  of  the  long  delay  in  the 
column  starting  for  the  east,  and,  to  some 
extent,  for  the  disasters  that  had  so  early 
overtaken  it.  Indeed,  at  that  moment — though 
Mr.  Stanley  was  not  aware  of  the  fact — Mr. 
Jameson  was  dead.  Mr.  Troup  had  been 
sent  home  to  England  in  an  invalid  condition, 
and  Mr.  Ward  had  left  for  the  mouth  of  the 
Congo  in  order  to  telegraph  to  London  for 
the  instructions  of  the  Rescue  Expedition 
Committee  as  to  the  course  to  be  taken  by 
the  rear-column.  Deserters  had  been  continu- 
ally arriving  at  the  camp  with  well-concocted 
stories  of  the  misfortunes  which  had  happened 
to  Mr.  Stanley’s  advance  party.  Indeed,  so 
frequently  had  these  tales  reached  Major 
Barttelot,  and  so  long  had  the  rear-guard  been 
without  intelligence  from  the  commander, 
that  it  was  thoroughly  believed  that  he 
and  his  party  were  dead,  imprisoned,  or 
otherwise  beyond  the  reach  of  their  com- 
panions. In  Europe  much  the  same 
opinion  had  begun  to  gain  ground,  an 
experienced  African  traveller  demonstrating 
in  the  most  conclusive  manner  that  the 
long  lack  of  news  from  the  expedition 
was  to  be  explained  in  no  way  niore 
agreeable. 

Hence  it  was  that  no  one  was  left  with  the 
rear-column  except  Mr.  Bonny.  His  tale  was 


44 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


a disastrous  one.  Not  only  was  Major  Bart- 
telot  dead,  but  100  Soudanese,  Zanzibaris 
and  Somalis  had  been  buried  at  Yambuya  ; 33 
men  were  left  at  that  camp  helpless  and  dying, 
and  14  of  these  expired  later,  while  26  had 
deserted.  Accordingly,  writes  Mr.  Stanley, 
“ when  I saw  Bonny  and  his  people,  the  rear- 


column — Zanzibaris,  Somalis,  and  Soudanese 
— numbered  102  all  told  out  of  271,  and  only 
one  officer  out  of  five ! Besides  this  deplor- 
able record,  the  condition  of  the  stores  was 
just  as  bad.  Out  of  660  loads  of  65  lbs.  each 
there  remained  only  230  loads  of  65  lbs. 
weight.  All  my  personal  clothing,  except 
hats,  boots,  one  flannel  jacket,  a cap,  and 
three  pairs  of  drawers,  had  been  sent  down 
to  Bangala  [on  the  Congo],  because  rumour 
had  stated  I was  dead  and  the  advance 


party  gone  to  the  dogs ; a remnant  of  thirty 
had,  however,  managed  to  escape  to  Ujiji ! ” * 
In  all  the  annals  of  African  exploration,  no 
more  pitiful  sight  was  ever  witnessed  than  in 
the  palisaded  hamlet  where  the  remnant  of 
the  rear-guard  was  encamped  when  Mr.  Stanley 
arrived.  It  was  crowded  with  dead  and  dying,. 

and  a very  pest- 
house  to  the  living. 
Small  - pox  was 
raging,  and  there 
were  six  bodies- 
lying  unburied  in 
the  village,  the 
stench  of  which 
was  overpowering. 
Dozens  of  disease- 
disfigured  beings 
passed  constantly 
before  the  new- 
comers, and  when 
any  member  of  the 
rear  - guard  pre- 
sented himself,  it 
was  difficult  to  re- 
cognise in  the  living- 
skeleton  the  robust- 
negro  who  had 
been  left  behind 
twelve  months  be- 
fore. A poor  crea- 
ture stricken  with 
anaemia,  or  a 
wretched  man 
whose  pitiful  state 
of  mind  and  body 
was  too  painfully 
expressed  upon  his  hollow  cheeks,  woebegone 
face,  and  eyes  brimful  of  grief  or  anxiety,  was 
the  too-apt  representative  of  the  column  in 
charge  of  which  Mr.  Bonny  had  for  a time  been 
left.  “ I shall  not  forget  readily,”  Mr.  Stanley 
wrote  when  the  facts  were  fresh  in  his  mind. 


* Letter  to  Mr.  Jephson  in  the  latter’s  “ Emin  Pasha, 
and  the  Rebellion  at  the  Equator  ” (1890),  p.  391  ; Casati, 
“ Ten  Years  in  Equatoria,  and  the  Return  with  Emin 
Pasha,"  Vol.  II.,  212.  This  work  ought  to  be  read  with. 
Stanley’s  “ In  Darkest  Africa,”  2 Yols.  (1890). 


THE  DISASTERS  OF  THE  REAR-GUARD. 


45 


* that  terrible  story  which  told  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  rear-column,  and  the  shocking 


(From  a Photograph  by  K.  Buchtu.) 

effects  the  sights  seen  that  day  had  on 
us.” 

The  long  delay  of  the  rear-column  and  the 
consequent  disasters  which  befell  it  were 
Major  Bart  lar©ety  due  to  the  breach  of  con- 
tent and  tract  by  Tippoo  Tib  and  to  his 
prevarication  and  dissimulation. 
He  had  repeatedly  promised  to  provide  a large 
contingent  of  porters  to  convey  their  baggage 
eastwards.  These  did  finally  arrive  eleven 
months  after  date,  but  meanwhile  Major 
Bart  tel' >t’s  force,  consisting  of  Zanzibaris  and 
Soudanese,  had  lost  more  than  half  of  their 
number  from  disease,  ahaemia,  and  the 
poisonous  cassava  or  manioc  meal*  which 
forms  a large  portion  of  the  food.  Nor 
can  it  be  affirmed,  looking  at  the  whole 
matter  in  the  light  of  all  the  information 
obtained  since  then,  that  Major  Barttelot  and 

* Prepared  from  the  tubers  of  Maniliot  utilixsima. 


his  companions  were  altogether  innocent  of 
blame  for  the  troubles  which  overtook  them, 
and  which,  in  the  case  of  the  commander 
himself,  led  to  his  melancholy  death.  The 
question  of  how  far  Major  Barttelot  was  justi- 
fied in  interpreting  his  instructions  in  the 
sense  that  he  did,  has,  it  is  almost  unnecessary 
to  remind  the  reader,  been  the  subject  of  much 
heated  controversy,  and  the  theme  of  quite  a 
little  literature  in  itself.  Mr.  Stanley  has 
repeatedly  contended  that  Major  Barttelot  and 
his  companions  were  culpably  negligent  in 
not  attending  to  the  letter  of  the  instructions 
which  were  left  them.  He  blames  them  for 
apathy  in  remaining  in  Yambuya  camp,  and 
for  sending,  after  nine  months’  stay  at  that 
•spot,  Mr.  Ward  to  the  west  coast  to  cable  for 
instructions  to  the  Relief  Committee,  only  to 
receive  as  his  reply  a request  to  read  the 
instructions  which  they  received  from  Mr. 
Stanley  before  he  left  them  on  his  march  to 
the  east.  He,  furthermore — somewhat  un- 
reasonably, we  think — considers  that  these 
young  and  inexperienced  officers  ought  not  to 
have  so  readily  accepted  the  repeated  promises 


without  Tippoo  Tib  there  was  no  possibility  of 
their  advancing  with  advantage  from  the  camp 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


46 


where  Mr.  Stanley  had  left  them.  For  without 
a supply  of  porters  the  baggage  could  not  be 
carried  any  great  distance,  or  without  a delay 
that  was  out  of  the  question,  and  without 
baggage  the  party  could  not  subsist.  Indeed, 
there  would  have  been  little  use  for  their 
arriving  on  the  shores  of  Albert  Nyanza 
unless  as  the  guardians  of  the  large  supply  of 
stores  which  had  been  left  in  their  charge. 

Again,  though  Mr.  Stanley’s  instructions  pro- 
vided for  a move,  it  was  to  be  made  only  in 
two  circumstances.  The  first  of  these  was  if 
Tippoo  Tib  should  have  sent  the  stipulated 
number  of  porters.  The  contingency  of  the 
Arab  Governor  of  Stanley  Falls  not  sending  any 
porters  at  all  was  not  even  alluded  to,  such  a 
neglect  of  duty  never  seeming  to  have  entered 
the  minds  of  any  of  the  party.  Indeed,  it 
is  remarkable,  if  the  young  officers  ought 
to  have  been  so  aware  of  the  wiles  of  the 
veteran  slave-trader — who,  it  is  said,  had  an 
old  grudge  against  Mr.  Stanley,  by  whose 
influence  he  had  been  appointed  to  the  post 
which  he  was  so  incapable  of  filling, — that  so 
experienced  a traveller  as  Mr.  Stanley  made 
no  allusion  to  the  possibility  of  his  treachery 
wrecking  an  important  part  of  the  expedition. 

At  the  same  time,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
Major  Barttelot  was  ill-fitted,  both  by  previous 
training  and  natural  disposition,  for  the  im- 
portant post  to  which  he  had  been  appointed. 
He  was  a young  man  of  generous  impulses,  but 
of  violent  temper,  noted  for  his  intense  dislike 
of  the  natives  of  Africa  with  whom  he  had 
daily  to  deal,  and  so  imbued  with  the  otherwise 
commendable  instincts  of  a soldier  that  at 
the  time  when,  in  the  changed  condition  of 
affairs,  the  exercise  of  private  judgment  was 
necessary,  he  felt  it  treason  to  his  commander 
to  transgress  in  any  way  the  instructions  laid 
down  for  him. 

The  truth  is,  that  at  the  date  when  Mr. 
Stanley  wrote  his  letter  for  the  guidance  of 
his  second  in  command,  neither  he  nor  any 
of  the  party  had  the  remotest  idea  of  how 
events  woukl  turn  out.  When  the  advanced 
column  left  the  Yainbuya  camp,  it  was  Mr. 
Stanley’s  full  intention  to  return  by  the  same 


route.  He  naturally  believed  that  his  journey 
eastwards  would  be  made  more  rapidly  than 
it  really  was,  that  Emin  and  his  force  would 
gladly  leave  their  beleaguered  province,  and 
that  in  a few  months  the  expedition  would 
be  united  on  the  banks  of  the  Aruwhimi. 
Unfortunately,  the  story  of  the  expedi- 
tion took  a very  different  turn ; so  that  it  is 
idle  to  stigmatise  those  in  a subordinate 
position  for  not  seeing  what  they  could  not 
possibly  have  foreseen,  and  for  not  altering 
their  plans  in  accordance  with  the  altered  posi- 
tion of  affairs  600  miles  distant.*  Even  Mr. 
Stanley  himself  found  that  his  persuasiveness 
had  little  effect  upon  the  temper  of  Tippoo 
Tib.  In  vain  he  invited  the  wealthy  trader 
to  accompany  him  to  the  east.  But  neither 
Mr.  Stanley’s  eloquence  nor  Mr  stanley 

Tippoo’s  cupidity  had  any  effect  again 

1 1 , . / . ' J marches  to 

upon  his  desire  to  live  at  ease  Albert 

in  his  camp  on  the  Upper  Congo.  Nyanza- 
Accordingly,  on  the  31st  of  August,  Mr.  Stanley 
had  again  to  turn  eastwards  without  the  escort 
of  the  chief  from  whom  so  much  had  been 
expected  by  him  and  so  little  by  everyone  else 
at  all  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the 
dignitary  in  question.  At  first,  Mr.  Stanley’s 
marches  on  his  return  to  Albert  Nyanza  were 
slow  and  short,  in  order  to  give  Mr.  Jameson 
(of  whose  death  they  were  not  aware)  and  Mr. 
Ward  (who  was  still  far  down  the  Congo)  an 
opportunity  to  follow  them.  However,  the 
route  was  now  so  well  known  that  the  latter 
portion  of  the  journey  was  made  with  com- 
parative ease,  though  not  without  peril,  and 
with  such  remarkable  accuracy  as  to  time, 
that  on  the  20th  of  December,  1 888,  two  days 
before  the  expiration  of  their  term  of  absence, 
Mr.  Stanley  and  his  caravan  arrived  at  Fort 
Bodo  (p.  44). 

Here  disagreeable  news  met  him.  The 
officers  were  well,  though  they  had  suffered 
many  hardships  in  the  interval  from  disease 

* “ Life  of  Major  Barttelot,”  etc.  (1890),  pp.  143  et  seq.; 
Jameson,  “Story  of  the  Rear  Column”  (1890),  pp.  00, 
et  seq.  ; Ward,  “ My  Life  with  Stanley's  Rear-guard  ” 
(1891):  Troup,  “With  Stanley's  Rear-guard”  (1890), 
etc.,  with  correspondence  in  the  London  and  other  news- 
papers during  1890  and  1891. 


REVOLT  OF  EMIN’S  TROOPS. 


47 


and  other  concomitants  of  African  travel. 
But  no  tidings  had  arrived  from  Emin 
Arrival  at  Pasha  and  Mr.  Jephson,  though 
Albert  both  had  promised  to  be  at  Fort 
unpleasant**  Bodo  with  the  Egyptians  belonging 
news.  to  p]min  Pasha's  force,  in  order, 
if  necessary,  to  begin  the  march  to  the 
west  coast  as  soon  as  Mr.  Stanley  had 
returned.  A move  was  therefore  again  made 
to  the  shores  of  Albert  Nyanza  with  the  large 
quantity  of  stores  that  had  accumulated  in 
Fort  Bodo. 

No  trouble  was  now  found  so  far  as  the 
natives  were  concerned.  All  of  them  wel- 
comed the  white  men.  Chief  after  chief 
arrived  with  armies  of  followers  conveying 
contributions  of  corn,  plantains,  and  small 
herds  of  cattle,  as  gifts  to  those  whom  they 
now  began  to  look  upon  either  as  kindly 
guests  whom  it  was  their  duty  to  treat  well 
or  as  powerful  enemies  whom  it  would  be  im- 
prudent to  oppose. 

While  engaged  in  this  work  letters  reached 
them  from  Mr.  Jephson  and  Emin  Pasha.  It 
now  appeared  that,  whatever  Emin’s  vacilla- 
tion might  have  been  hitherto,  he  had 
scarcely  any  other  choice  left  him  than  to 
accept  Mr.  Stanley’s  offer  to  leave  the  pro- 
vince for  which  he  had  hitherto  expressed 
so  decided  a love.  For,  on  Mr.  Jephson 
and  Emin  returning  to  intimate  to  the 
different  garrisons  the  instructions  of  which 
Mr.  Stanley  was  the  bearer,  the  long,  almost 
unconcealed  and  sometimes  open  discontent 
which  had  been  gathering  among  the  troops 
burst  into  open  mutiny  (p.  49),  the  first  signal 

The  mutiny  °f  which  WaS  that  Emin-  JePhson> 
of  Emin's  and  Casati  were  held  prisoners  by 
troops.  the  rebellious  officers.  Indeed, 
though  these  mutineers  belonged  to  the  second 
battalion,  the  first  had  resolved,  in  the  event 


of  his  reaching  Rijiaf,  to  seize  him  and  carry 
out  the  old  idea  of  setting  out  for  Khartoum, 
which  they  believed  to  be  still  in  existence. 
There  cannot  be  much  doubt  that  the  arrival 
of  Mr.  Stanley  had  a large  share  in  pre- 
cipitating this  revolt.  But,  possibly,  had  not 
the  Mahdi’s  troops  captured  Lado  and  the 


three  most  northerly  stations,  though  the 
attack  on  Duffile  failed,  and  thus  led  the 
Egyptian  officers  to  believe  that  before  long- 
they  would  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  Dervishes, 
matters  might  have  gone  on  for  a long  time 
just  as  they  were  when  the  Relief  Expedition 
arrived.  Indeed,  had  Mr.  Stanley’s  force  been 
as  large  as  the  Egyptian  officers  had  believed 
it  would  be,  they  might  have  readily  rallied 
round  the  new  arrivals.  But  when  they  saw 
that  it  consisted  of  a mere  handful  of  men, 
many  of  them  sick,  and  most  of  them  little 
able  to  take  part  in  the  arduous  toil  of  battle 
— -if,  indeed,  many  of  them  had  been  soldiers 
by  training, — furnished  with  an  insufficient 
amount  of  ammunition,  they  saw  that  little 
was  to  be  expected  from  a force  so  feeble. 
Finally,  when  the  instructions  from  the 
Egyptian  Government,  which  Mr.  Stanley 
had  brought  to  Emin,  were  read  out  to  the 
different  garrison's,  the  resolutions  of  the 
subordinate  officers  were  soon  taken.  Stanley 
was  pronounced  a mere  adventurer,  his  letters 
forgeries,  and  his  intention  to  be  to  hand  over 
the  people  of  Equatoria  as  slaves  to  the 
English.  The  news  of  the  Mahdists  having- 
reached  Lado  was  confirmed  by  three  mes- 
sengers from  Omar  Saleh  with  a demand 
for  Emin’s  surrender  and  the  promise  of 
a free  pardon  to  all.  This  embassy  the 
mutineers  treated  by  torturing  and  then 
killing  the  envoys.  When  the  news  of 
Rijiaf  being  in  the  Dervishes’  hands  came  to 
Laboreh,  dissension  ensued  among  the  rebels, 
but  when  the  panic-stricken  garrison  arrived 
with  tales  of  fighting  and  massacre,  Emin  and 
his  companions  were  permitted  to  retreat  to 
M adelai ; and,  when  this  was  abandoned  at 
the  news  of  the  Mahdists’  approach , to  Tonguru. 
Thus  the  year  1888  ended  with  the  deposition 
of  Emin  and  the  falling  of  the  province  from 
Rijiaf  northwards  into  the  Mahdists’  hands, 
while  from  Rijiaf  southwards  to  Wadelai  the 
garrisons  were  in  a ferment  of  mutinous  dis- 
order and  confusion.  This  was  the  state  of 
matters  when  Mr.  Stanley  arrived  for  the 
third  time  at  Lake  Albert,  only  to  hear  of 
Emin  and  his  friends  being  at  Tonguru. 


48 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


So  far  as  the  men  were  concerned,  their  situ- 
ation could  not  be  improved  by  any  such  move 
as  that  which  Mr.  Stanley  tried  to  persuade 
them  to  take.  The  Egyptian  authorities 
intimated  in  the  most  decided  manner  that 
Emin  must  withdraw  with  as  many  troops  as 
chose  to  follow  him  from  the  Equatorial 
Province.  If  these  orders  were  obeyed,  all  of 
the  officers  and  men  were  guaranteed  their 


“ the  Middle  Line” — was  also  sent.  Moreover, 
many  of  the  officers  were  “ broken  ” men  who, 
as  was  not  uncommonly  the  case,  had  been  sent 
to  the  Soudan  as  a punishment  for  military 
and  other  misdeeds,  and  very  few  could  be 
relied  upon  in  an  emergency  such  as  that  they 
were  now  called  upon  to  face.  Long  experi- 
ence having  taught  them  the  worthlessness  of 
Turkish  promises,  the  words  of  the  Khedive’s 


M It,  WARD  DESPATCHED  TO  THE  COAST  FOR  INSTRUCTIONS  : CALL  AT  LUKOLELA. 
( From  a Photograph  by  the  Rev.  R.  D.  Darby , Baptist  Missionary  Society.) 


arrears  of  pay  and  the  continuance  of  the  rank 
which  they  had  held  in  the  Soudan.  But,  if  they 
did  not  choose  to  accept  the  offer  then  made 
them,  it  was  the  Khedive’s  orders  that  for 
the  future  they  should  have  no  claims  what- 
ever upon  his  Government.  However,  it  was 
well  known  that  for  months  past  envoys 
from  Omar  Saleh,  general  of  the  Malidi’s 
forces,  had  been  sowing  the  seeds  of  dissension 
among  the  Mohammedan  troops  under  the 
command  of  Emin  Pasha.  A letter  demand- 
ing the  surrender  of  “ The  Honoured  Mo- 
hammed Emin,  Mudir  of  Khat  el  Istiwa  ” — 


letter  had  very  little  effect  on  their  minds. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  emissaries  of  the 
Mahdists  promised  great  things — high  rank, 
great  pecuniary  rewards,  apd,  above  all,  a “free 
hand  with  the  natives,”  which  Emin’s  abolition 
of  the  slave  trade  had  no  longer  rendered 
lucrative — if  they  , would  desert  to  the  Khalifa 
or  deliver  over  the  European  officers  to  work 
in  chains  in  the  streets  of  El  Obeid  with 
Slatin  Bey  or  Lupton  Bey,  who  had  met  the 
fate  which  it  now  seemed  certain  Emin  could 
not  long  avoid  (Vol.  II.,  p.  159).  The  capture 
of  Emin,  Casati,  and  Jephson  was,  however. 


MB.  JEPHSON  IN  CAPTIVITY. 


49 


the  preliminary  step  to  carrying  out  this 
plot.  The  letters  which  reached  Mr.  Stanley 
intimated  that  Mr.  Jephson’s  captivity  was 
not  so  rigid  as  that  of  his  brother  prisoners. 
Couriers  were  accordingly  sent  by  canoes 
with  letters  to  Mr.  Jephson  ordering  him  to 
take  advantage  of  the  first  opportunity  of 
leaving  the  Tonguru  station,  where  he  was 


had  occurred,  Emin  Pasha  and  Captain  Casati 
had  not,  any  more  than  before,  made  up 
their  minds  to  leave  a country  where,  un- 
questionably, ere  long  they  would  have  no 
power  of  action  one  way  or  the  other. 

This  was  an  irritating  situation  for  men 
who  had  risked  their  lives  and  undergone  so 
many  hardships  to  free  Emin  and  his  com- 


then  a partial  prisoner.  It  seems  that  no 
great  difficulty  presented  itself  in  carrying 
out  this  wish,  for  within  a few  days  the 
ex-captive  arrived  in  Mr.  Stanley’s  catnp. 
Mr.  Jephson  was,  naturally,  able  to  give  the 
most  complete  account  of  matters  amongst 
the  revolted  soldiery.*  But,  to  the  astonish- 
ment of  all  concerned,  he  was  also  the  bearer 
ot  information  that,  notwithstanding  all  that 

* In  Mr.  Jephson ‘s  “Emin  Pasha  and  the  Rebellion 
at  the  Equator.”  and  Major  Casati's  “Ten  Years  in 
Equatoria,"  an  exhaustive  history  of  these  events  will 
be  found. 

44 


panions.  Mr.  Stanley,  however,  as  wc  think, 
was  somewhat  unjust  to  the  Governor  of  the 
Equatorial  Province,  and  still  more  so  to  his 
companion,  an  Italian  officer  of  high  rank 
and  unspotted  reputation.  It  was  somewhat 
ungenerous  to  affirm  that  the  chief  reason 
which  prevented  them  from  leaving  Central 
Africa  was  that  the  Governor  was  “ wedded  to 
the  life  where  he  had  kinged  it  so  long,  wedded 
to  its  courteous  ceremonies  and  amenities  in 
the  same  way  as  Captain  Casati  loved  its  gross 
pleasures  and  large  licence.” 

It  was,  nevertheless,  very  necessary  that  a 


50 


THE  STOBY  OF  AFBICA. 


resolution  should  be  arrived  at  without  any 
further  loss  of  time ; for,  whether  Emin  chose 
to  go  or  to  remain,  it  was  imperative  that  the 
expedition,  which  had  been  much  longer  in 
Africa  than  had  been  expected,  should  now 
take  the  first  steps  on  its  homeward  journey. 
The  action  of  the  rebels  had  unconsciously 
hastened  the  solution  of  the  problem  which 
had  for  months  kept  the  Pasha  and  his  friends 
in  a state  of  irresolution.  Emin,  it  has  been 
affirmed  by  the  members  of  the  Relief  Ex- 
pedition, had  not  even  then,  in  spite  of  his 
imprisonment  and  the  mutiny  of  his  soldiers, 
any  complete  realisation  of  the  situation.  He 
seemed  to  the  last  to  be  of  the  belief  that, 
with  a few  exceptions,  his  men  were  faithful 
to  him,  just  as  they  had  been  in  days  gone  by, 
and  that  the  personal  affection  which  he  had 
won  by  his  mild  rule  and  self-denying  exer- 
tions for  their  welfare  would,  in  the  end,  result 
in  their  return  to  allegiance.  He  seemed  not 
to  be  aware,  as  one  so  well  acquainted  with 
the  Oriental  character  ought  to  have  been, 
that  the  people  with  whom  he  had  to  deal 
were  only  faithful  so  long  as  their  own 
interests  justified  them  in  being  so,  and  that  in 
the  East  personal  affection  weighs  very  little 
in  the  balance  against  the  necessity  for  self- 
sacrifice.  Indeed,  long  after  Emin  had  left 
Equatoria,  he  insisted,  in  his  conversation 
a rebel  with  personal  friends,  that  had  not 
conspiracy.  Mr.  Stanley  “ forced  ” . him  to 
return  he  could  with  some  time  at  his 
disposal  have  brought  perfectly  loyal  troops 
from  outlying  stations  to  overpower  those  who 
had  mutinied  against  his  authority.  Emin 
had  even  the  audacity  to  declare  to  Dr.  Peters 
that  Stanley  did  not  come  to  him,  but  he  to 
Stanley;  that  the  latter  never  reached  the 
Equatorial  Province,  and, but  for  the  provisions 
and  clothing  brought,  his  men  would  have 
been  destroyed* 

No  such  illusions  affected  Mr.  Stanley.  A 
man  of  more  robust  mind,  and  possibly  not  so 
innocent  of  the  ways  of  the  wicked  world,  he 
speedily  saw,  or  believed  that  he  saw,  not 
only  that  the  rebellious  soldiers  were  preparing 
* “ New  Light  on  Dark  Africa,”  p.  543. 


to  deliver  Emin  and  the  other  European 
officers  into  the  Khalifa’s  hands,  but  that  they 
were  planning  a plot  by  which  Mr.  Stanley 
and  all  his  men  should  meet  the  same  fate. 

He  was,  therefore,  resolved  at  once  to  prevent 
so  disastrous  a coup.  To  carry  out  this  con- 
spiracy it  was  necessary  to  affect  regret  for  past 
conduct,  and,  in  the  guise  of  remorseful  rebels, 
to  produce  Emin  and  the  other  officers  in  Mr. 
Stanley’s  camp  before  the  suspicions  of  the 
latter  should  gain  ground.  This  plan  was  so 
far  carried  out  that  Lieutenant-Colonel  Selim 
Bey  Matera,  the  least  objectionable  of  the 
officers  concerned  in  the  mutiny,  with  twelve 
others  more  or  less  acceptable  to  Emin 
Pasha,  proceeded  to  Tonguru,  the  place  of  the 
Pasha’s  captivity,  to  implore  forgiveness  for 
the  past  and  to  reinstate  him  in  his  honours 
and  position.  So  far  as  Emin  was  con- 
cerned, the  wily  words  of  the  mutineers  were 
successful.  He  believed  in  their  sorrow,  and 
gladly  gave  them  forgiveness  and  promised 
to  intercede  with  Mr.  Stanley  on  their  behalf. 
The  result  was  that  the  Pasha  and  a deputa- 
tion of  mutineers  arrived  in  Mr.  Stanley’s 
camp,  the  latter  armed  with  a document 
signed  by  all  the  principal  officers  regretting 
their  hasty  and  wicked  action  in  deposing 
their  master,  and  expressing  loyalty  and 
gratitude  to  the  Khedive  of  Egypt,  the 
Government  of  the  Soudan  represented  by 
Emin,  and  the  Relief  Expedition  for  the  part 
the  members  had  individually  performed  for 
the  beleaguered  garrisons.  A hope  was  also 
expressed  that  a reasonable  time  would  be 
allowed  for  the  officers  to  collect  the  troops 
and  their  families  and  bring  them  to  the  place 
of  rendezvous,  which  was  at  Kavalli’s,  near 
the  southern  end  of  Albert  Nyanza.  Three 
weeks  were  considered  reasonable  time  for 
performing  this  necessary  duty,  and,  full  of 
Oriental  compliments  and  professions  of 
esteem,  the  rebel  officers  left  for  their  respect- 
ive garrisons,  ostensibly  with  the  intention 
of  bringing  them  into  Mr.  Stanley’s  camp: 
actually,  it  was  then  believed,  with  the  object 
of  surrounding  and  capturing  the  entire  ex- 
pedition. 


SMIN'S  VACILLATION. 


51 


But  when  one  month  expired  without  any 
sign  of  the  arrival  of  the  troops,  who  num- 
bered about  1,500  Regulars  and  3,000  Irregu- 
lars, with  their  families,  suspicion  began  to 
gain  ground  in  the  minds  of  everyone,  except 
Emin  Pasha,  that  something  was  wrong. 
It  was  known  that  almost  daily  communi- 
cations passed  between  Emin’s  and  Stanley’s 
men,  and  the  nominally  loyal  Egyptians  in 
his  camp  and  the  rebels  in  Wadelai  and 
other  stations.  Then  it  was  whispered  that 
secret  meetings  Avere  being  held,  and  it 
was  evident  to  all  that  symptoms  of  un- 
rest Avere  spreading  among  the  refugees. 
Still,  Emin  would  not  listen  to  any  imputations 
of  disloyalty,  far  less  of  mutiny,  among  the 
friends  around  him.  Indeed,  after  an  attempt 
to  steal  several  rifles  Avas  frustrated  and  a 
report  of  the  plot  Avas  brought  to  Mr.  Stanley, 
the  Pasha  showed  such  an  unwillingness  to 
crush  the  mutinous  designs  of  his  people 
that  Mr.  Stanley  Avas  obliged  to  take  matters 
into  his  own  hands. 

At  last,  information  reached  the  commander 
which  left  no  doubt  that  not  one  out  of  the 
570  refugees  in  the  camp  had  any  intention 
of  leaving  Avith  the  Pasha  on  the  day  fixed  for 
their  departure  for  the  coast.  In  itself  this 
was  not  remarkable.  Time  to  an  African  is 
as  nothing,  and  an  Oriental  has  no  idea  of 
punctuality.  But  both  Avere  becoming  very 
essential  to  Mr.  Stanley.  Accordingly,  on  the 
date  fixed,  namely,  the  10th  of  April,  the  ex- 
pedition, escorting  the  Egyptians  and  their 
folloAvers,  and  assisted  by  400  native  Avan'iors, 
set  out  for  the  southern  end  of  Lake  Albert  on 
their  way  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  the  route  first 
planned  having  necessarily  been  adopted  for 
its  return  ; the  great  forest,  Avithout  a depot  to 
fall  back  upon  after  emerging  from  it,  being  no 
longer  regarded  as  feasible  for  so  large  a 
caravan.  But,  though  Mr.  Stanley  had  not 
Avaited  for  the  promised  return  of  the  officers 
with  the  troops  under  their  command,  the 
machinations  among  the  disguised  rebels  in 
camp  did  not  abate.  Almost  every  day 
rifles,  equipments,  and  ammunition  Avere 
disappearing,  and  every  face,  in  spite  of  the 


ready  dissemblance  of  the  Oriental,  expressed 
hatred,  sullenness,  and  discontent.  Then 
little  parties  of  four  or  five  began  to 
vanish,  until,  finally,  a troop  of  tAventy  de- 
serted Avith  Avhat  arms  and  ammunition  they 
could  seize,  as  the  forerunners  of  a still  larger 
detachment,  Avho,  it  appeared,  had  intended  to 
take  the  same  course. 

Still,  in  spite  of  suspicion  and  native  gossip, 
it  was  impossible  to  say  for  certain  that  any 
untOAvard  conduct  toAvards  the  expedition 
Avas  intended  by  these  ex-subjects  of  Emin, 
until  a native  chief  who  had  been  entrusted 
with  the  dispatch  of  mails  to  Wadelai  brought, 
through  ignorance,  a large  packet  of  letters 
addressed  to  the  mutineers  at  that  station. 
Some  of  these  were  opened,  and  in  one  of 
them  Ibrahim  Elhem  Effendi,  an  Egyptian 
captain,  at  that  moment  in  Mr.  Stanley’s 
camp,  Avrote  to  Selim  Bey  in  something  like 
these  Avords:  “For  God’s  sake,  send  as  soon 
as  you  receive  this  fifty  soldiers  to  our  aid; 
Avith  their  help  Ave  may  at  least  delay  the 
march  of  the  expedition  until  you  arrive 
Avith  your  force.  Had  Ave  200  Ave  could  effect 
immediately  Avhat  you  and  I wish.” 

There  Avas  no  misunderstanding  these  Avords, 
and,  for  the  safety  of  all  concerned,  it  Avas 
necessary  to  take  severe  measures.  Power 
seems  by  this  time  to  have  passed  out  of  the 
hands  of  Emin  Pasha.  He  neither  could  nor 
Avould  act,  and  having,  during  his  long  go- 
vernorship of  the  Equatorial  Province,  never 
inflicted  the  extreme  penalty  of  martial  laAv,  it 
Avas  hopeless  noAv  to  attempt  to  persuade  him 
to  perform  a duty  so  imperative  as  that  Avhich 
Mr.  Stanley,  after  trying  Rehan,  an  old  servant 
of  his,  but  now  the  principal  ringleader  among 
the  conspirators  and  deserters,  proceeded  to 
carry  out.  The  finding  of  the  Court  being  that 
he  was  guilty  of  murder,  theft,  and  of  a plot 
against  his  superior  officers  and  the  expedition 
generally,  and  of  having,  by  disseminating  lies 
about  Mr.  Stanley’s  conduct  during  the  march 
to  and  from  the  Armvhimi,  done  his  best  to 
prevent  the  troops  and  people  from  going  with 
him,  he  Avas  sentenced  to  death,  and  forth- 
Avith  hanged  and  his  corpse  left  to  the  hytenas. 


52 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


This  necessary  severity  had  a most  desirable 
effect  upon  the  future  discipline  of  the  motley- 
company  which  Mr.  Stanley  was  convoying  to 
the  Indian  Ocean.  During  the  early  years  of 
his  government  Emin  was  a model  governor. 
So  longas  communication  was  open  with  the  rest 
as  a of  the  Soudan  a harsh  disciplinarian 
governor.  Was  not  necessary.  Emin  accord- 
ingly devoted  most  of  this  time  to  improving 
the  social  condition  of  the  people  and  develop- 
ing the  resources  of  the  country  he  had  been 
sent  to  govern.  But  when  the  Equatorial  Pro- 
vince got  closed-in  in  the  manner  described 
in  the  early  part  of  this  chapter,  Emin's  hand 
was  no  longer  strong  enough  for  its  govern- 
ment. Month  by  month,  as  it  became  more 
and  more  evident  to  the  Egyptians  that  they 


were  isolated  from  the  world  at  large,  their 
discipline  grew  laxer  and  laxer,  until  at  the 
time  Mr.  Stanley  arrived  he  was  amazed  to 
see  the  very  unmilitary  freedom  which  Emin 
permitted  his  officers.  Instead  of  promptly 
obeying  every  order  transmitted  to  them, 
they  would  actually  discuss  its  merits  and 
carry  it  out  or  not  as  it  suited  their  own  pur- 
pose best.  Some  of  Arabi’s  officers  were 
amongst  them,  and  since  Gordon’s  death  they 
had  lived  in  an  almost  unchecked  licence. 
They  were,  we  have  seen,  even  in  mutiny 
more  than  once.  But  from  that  day 
forward  the  march  of  the  expedition  to 
the  sea  was  one  of  absolutely  unbroken 
peacefulness,  so  far  as  Emin’s  people  were 
concerned. 


EMIN  PASHA. 
[From  a Photograph .) 


UKYORO  VILLAGE. 

( From,  a Photograph  by  R.  Buchtu.) 


CHAPTER  III. 


From  the  Nile  Lakes  to  the  Indian  Ocean:  An  Irresolute  Ruler. 

Emin's  Motives  for  Leaving  the  Equatorial  Province — The  March  Begun — Fadl  el  Mulla  and  Selim  Bey — Attack 
by  Kabba  Rega’s  Men — The  Semliki  River — The  “ Mountains  of  the  Moon  ” — Lake  Albert  Edward — Beatrice 
Gulf — The  Salt  Lake — A Grateful  People — New  Prolongation  of  Victoria  Nyanza — Mackay’s  Mission — 
Unfriendly  Folk — Prejudice  Against  the  Blacks — Pot  and  Kettle — Arms  and  Civilisation — Mpwapwa — 
French  Missionaries — Dr.  Peters — Sore  News  for  Him — Wars  and  Rumours  of  War — Champagne  and  Hams 
at  Simbamwenni — American  Newspaper  Correspondents — Scenes  in  Camp  and  on  the  March — At  Bagamoyo 
— The  Roll-call — Losses — Gains — Drummond’s  “Africa”  and  Stanley — Geographical  Discoveries — The  Great 
Forest — New  Nile  Source — More  Accurate  Outline  of  the  Nile  Lakes — Ruwenzori — It  and  its  Fellow  .Peaks — 
The  “ Mountains  of  the  Moon  ” Question — A Qualified  Failure — An  Apology  for  Selim  Bey — His  After  Conduct 
— What  Befell  Emin  at  Bagamoyo  and  Beyond— His  Travels — His  Rumoured  Death — A Comedy  of  Errors — 
The  Aftermath  of  the  Expedition — The  Last  of  the  Equatorial  Province — Captain'  Trivier's  Journey. 


The  motives  which  eventually  decided  Emin 
Pasha  to  abandon  his  much-loved  Province 
have  been  frequently  canvassed,  and  our 
means  for  arriving  at  an  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject are  not  helped  by  the  very  contradictory 
reasons  which  the  Pasha  has  himself  given 
for  leaving  after  he  declared  he  would  not 
leave.  He  assured  Dr.  Peters,  for  instance, 
that  he  did  not  go  of  his  own  free  will,  but 
was  absolutely  forced  by  Mr.  Stanley  to  take 


the  step  which  he  did.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  informed  the  correspondent  of  an  American 
newspaper*  who  met  him  at  Bagamoyo,  that 
he  relinquished  his  position  in  Equatorial 
Africa  solely  because  this  was  the  order 
of  his  liege  lord,  the  Khedive  of  Egypt. 
Then,  a few  minutes  later,  forgetting  the 
reasons  he  had  assigned  for  entering  upon 

* Stevens,  “ Scouting  for  Stanley  in  East  Africa,” 
p.  275. 


04 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


so  important  a step,  he  explained  that  it 
was  simply  the  desire  to  put  his  daughter, 
Ferida  (a  child  of  five  years,  by  an  Abys- 
sinian mother),  in  a family  where  she  could 
receive  a suitable  education  that  prompted 
him  to  leave  Equatoria  for  the  ocean.  In 
truth,  Emin  could  not  help  himself ; and,  in 
spite  of  his  various  reasons  for  leaving  and 
not  desiring  to  leave,  Lieutenant  Stairs  was 
probably  right  when  he  declared  that  the 
Pasha — who  was  a charming  companion  round’ 
the  camp  fire,  where  he  unburdened  himself 
freely — quite  realised  the  necessity  for  evacu- 
ating Equatoria.  He  had  done  so  just  in  time, 
though  he  always  felt  keen  regret  at  being 
compelled  to  take  such  a step,  since  all  his 
work  would  consequently  go  for  nothing* 

The  march  of  so  large  a caravan  was  neces- 
sarily slow,  and  enabled  laggers  or  deserters 
from  Emin’s  stations  to  overtake  it  on  the 
way.  Among  those  who  joined  it  were  several 
couriers  from  Selim  Bey,  and  a Coptic  clerk, 
who  gave  terrible  news  of  the  disorder  and 
strife  created  by  rival  leaders  among  the 
rebels.  Fadl  el  Mulla  “ Bey,”  an  officer  not  of 
such  high  rank  as  Selim  Bey,  but,  seemingly, 
_ „ , „ of  greater  alacrity,  had  seized  the 

and  opportunity  of  the  latter  being 
Selim  Bey.  asjeep  'Wadclai  to  take  possession 
of  all  the  stores,  assume  a higher  military  rank, 
and  depart  to  the  Makaraka  country,  with  fully 
half  the  troops  and  the  greater  portion  of  the 
ammunition.  It  appeared,  however,  though 


neighbouring  stations  overtook  the  caravan, 
that  Mr.  Stanley  had  seen  the  last  of  Emin 
Pasha’s  rebel  officers. 

Indeed,  as  they  approached  the  territories 
of  Ivabba  Rega,  King  of  Unyoro,  neither 
Selim  Bey  nor  his  rival  would  care  to  follow 
the  caravan  into  so  dangerous  a region.  The 
first  da}r  the  expedition  entered  that  country 
Attack  by  were  stacked  by  a band 

KabbaRega’s  of  the  Wara-Sura,  or  soldiers  of 
people.  Unyoro,  many  of  them  armed 
with  excellent  breech-loaders,  Remingtons, 

* “From  Albert  Xyanza  to  the  Indian  Ocean”  (Nine- 
teenth Century,  1891,  p.  962). 


Sharps,  Winchesters,  Sniders,  and  Martini- 
Henrys,  and  double-barrelled,  large-bore 
game  rifles,  which  they  had  obtained  from 
the  Arab  traders,  who  had  for  the  last  four- 
teen or  fifteen  years  frequented  the  country 
in  large  numbers  for  the  purchase  of  ivory, 
slaves,  and  other  commodities,  which  the  king 
refused  to  sell  for  any  other  articles  of  barter 
than  lethal  weapons.  The  sharp  defeat  that 
this  horde  experienced  cleared  the  country 
in  advance  for  some  distance.  Until  the  Sem- 
liki,  the  river  which  unites  Albert  Edward 
and  Albert  Lakes,  was  reached,  very  little  was 
seen  of  these  marauding  guerillas. 

Here,  however,  an  attack  was  made  upon 
Mr.  Stanley’s  people  as  they  were  being  ferried 
across  the  river,  though  without  any  other 
effect  than  causing  the  robbers  again  to  flee 
from  the  presence  of  then-  new  enemies. 

After  crossing  the  Semliki,  the  expedi- 
tion entered  the  Awamba  region,  and  each 
day’s  march  led  them  through  an  almost 
entirely  new  country,  with  which  Emin, 
notwithstanding  his  long  residence  in  the 
vicinity  of  Albert  Nyanza,  was  utterly 
unacquainted,  and  which  Mr.  Stanley,  on  his 
former  expedition,  had  equally  missed  explor- 
ing. In  the  country  between  the  two  lakes 
a splendid  range  of  snow-capped  mountains, 
called  the  Ruwenzori  or  Ruwenjura,  rising  to 
a height  of  from  17,000  to  19,000 
feet  above  the  sea,  burst  upon  their  Mountains 
view  as  the  mist  surrounding  their  ®f  the, 

i i „ ° i ■ Moon.” 

summits  cleared  away.  I rom  this 

range  of  mountains  endless  streams  flow  into 
the  river  Semliki,  bearing  down  mud  from 
the  volcanic  sides  of  the  range,  which  mud 
again  is  fast  shoaling  up  the  lakes  into  which 
it  is  carried.  This  range  of  mountains  was 
perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  all  the 
discoveries  made  by  Mr.  Stanley  during 
this  expedition.  He  himself,  indeed,  claims 
for  it  a high  place  among  his  discoveries. 
He  is  enthusiastic  as  regards  the  scene 
of  this  snow-capped  range  of  mountains 
in  equatorial  lands.  The  snow  mountains 
were,  however,  very  coy  and  hard  to  see. 
“ On  most  days,”  he  tells  us,  “ it  loomed  up, 


THE  “ MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  MOON 


55 


impending  over  us  like  a storm-cloud,  ready 
to  dissolve  in  rain  and  ruin  on  us.  Near  sun- 
set a peak  or  two  here,  a crest  there,  a ridge 
beyond,  white  with  snow,  shot  into  view — 
jagged  clouds  whirling  and  eddying  round 
them,  and  then  the  darkness  of  night.  Often 
at  sunrise,  too,  Ruwenzori  would  appear,  fresh, 
clean,  brightly  pure;  profound  blue  voids 
above  and  around  it;  every  line  and  dent, 
knoll  and  turret-like  crag  deeply  marked  and 
clearly  visible ; but  presently  all  would  be 
buried  under  mass  upon  mass  of  mist,  until 
the  immense  mountain  was  no  more  visible 
than  if  we  were  thousands 
of  miles  away.  And  then, 
also,  the  Snow  Mountain 
being  set  deeply  in  the 
range,  the  nearer  we  ap- 
proached the  base  of  the 
range  the  less  we  saw  of 
it,  for  higher  ridges  ob- 
truded themselves  and 
barred  the  view.”* 

In  the  valley  of  the 
river  Semliki  the  natives 
build  their  huts  at  a 
considerable  elevation — 
dwellings  of  these  tribes, 
known  as  the  Wakonju, 
being  seen  as  high  as  8,000 
feet  above  the  sea.  After 
tramping  so  long  through 
steaming  lowlands  and 
dank  tropical  forests,  an 
eager  desire  seemed  to 
seize  Mr.  Stanley’s  officers 
to  climb  these  African  Alps.  Even  Emin 
Pasha — who  did  not  usually  waste  much 
time  over  such  frivolities  as  Alpinism, 
being  more  intent  on  examining  the  plants 
and  animals  of  the  country,  and  the  habits 
and  customs  of  the  natives  among  whom  they 
travelled — was  attacked  by  the  prevailing 
mania.  He  did  not,  however,  manage  to 
get  higher  than  1,000  feet  above  the  camp: 
but  Lieutenant  Stairs  reached  a height  of 
10,677  feet  above  the  sea,  only  to  have  the 

* Stanley’s  “Letters,-’  p.  132. 


mortification  of  finding  two  deep  gulfs  between 
him  and  the  snowy  peak.  He  was,  never- 
theless, at  this  lofty  elevation,  surprised  to 
find  himself  among  Alpine  plants.  Among 
the  specimens  collected  by  him,  Mr.  Stanley 
speaks  of  giant  heather  {Erica  arbor ea),  black- 
berries (. Rubus ),  and  blaeberries  ( Vaccinium). 

By-and-by,  after  passing  a grassy  plain, 
the  very  duplicate  of  that  which  is  seen  at 
the  extremity  of  Albert  Nyanza,  the  expe- 
dition reached  the  lake  which  Mr.  Stanley 
had  discovered  in  1877.  This,  out  of  compli- 
ment to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  had  been  named 
Albert  Edward  .... 

Albert 

Nyanza.  Com-  Edward 
i Nyanza. 

pared  with  Vic- 
toria, Tanganyika,  and 
Nyassa,  it  is  a small  sheet 
of  water,  the  importance 
of  which  lies  in  the  fact 
that  it  is  the  recipient 
of  all  the  streams  at 
the  extremity  of  the 
south-western  or  left  Nile 
basins,  and  discharges 
these  waters  by  one  river, 
the  Semliki,  into  Albert 
Nyanza,  just  as  Victoria 
Nyanza  is  the  recipient 
of  all  the  streams  at  the 
extremity  of  the  south- 
eastern, or  right  Nile 
basin,  and,  in  its  turn, 
pours  its  waters  by  the 
Victoria  Nile  through  the 
northern  end  of  Albert 
Nyanza.  Some  still  more  recent  discoveries, 
with  which  the  name  of  Emin  Pasha  is 
linked,  show  that  even  Albert  Edward 
Nyanza  is  not  the  ultimate  source  of  the 
Nile  in  this  direction,  but  that  to  a stream, 
flowing  into  its  southern  end  must  be  ac- 
corded that  distinction  (Vol.  II.,  p.  6).  A 
western  prolongation  of  the  lake — Beatrice 
Gulf- — may,  indeed,  be  described  as  a separ- 
ate lake  joined  to  Albert  Edward  by  a 
narrow  neck  or  river.  It  is  known  to  the 
natives  as  the  Rusango,  Ruisambe,  Kafaru,  or 


MAKARAKA  XATIVE. 
(From  a Photograph  by  Pi.  Bvchta.) 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


50 

Ransakara,  while  the  main  lake  is  called  the 
Mwutan-nzige  (or  “ Barrier  to  Locusts  ”).  At 
one  time  the  Beatrice  Gulf  must  have  spread 
to  a great  distance.  Mr.  Stanley  describes 
the  plain  as  perfectly  flat  and  far-stretching, 
with  tongues  of  water  projecting  far  inland, 
until  the  hills  of  Toro  come  in  view.  Except 
at  the  north-west  end  of  Albert  Edward, 
there  is  no  swamp.  Here  dense  jungle  and 
impenetrable  bush  afford,  according  to  Captain 
Lugard’s  observations,  a home  for  great  herds 
of  elephants.  It  is  at  this  point  that  the  rivers 
Wami  and  Mpanga,  into  which  the  count- 
less streams  from  Ruwenzori  flow,  discharge 
their  waters  into  the  lake.  The  gorge  through 
which  the  latter  flows  is  very  picturesque, 
especially  during  the  rainy  seasons,  the  great 
body  of  water  confined  within  its  rocky  walls 
boiling  and  eddying  over  the  sunken  rocks 
below.  The  gorge  itself  is  about  700  feet 
deep,  and  full  of  tropical  vegetation — orchids, 
ferns,  and  mosses  being  found  in  all  the  luxuri- 
ance of  a huge  natural  forcing-house,  always 
enveloped  in  a damp,  hot  atmosphere.* 

Though  the  native  name  of  Albert  Ed- 
ward Nyanza  is  usually  given  as  Mwutan- 
nzige,  the  same  name  is  applied  to  various 
lakes  in  this  part  of  the  country  (Yol.  II., 
p.  5) ; so  that,  for  the  sake  of  distinction, 
this  sheet  of  water  is  likely  to  bear  the  name 
bestowed  upon  it  by  its  discoverer. 

Mr.  Stanley  now  marched  round  the  north- 
ern half  of  this  lake  through  Usongora. 
Close  to  Albert  Edward  Nyanza  he  dis- 
covered Katwe,  a salt  lake  two  miles  long  and 
salt  lake  three-quarters  of  a mile  wide,  con- 
taining brine  of  a pinky  colour, 
which  deposits  salt  in  solid  crystals  upon 
every  object  in  its  vicinity.  The  collection 
and  sale  of  this  salt  is  a lucrative  business 
,to  the  tribes  near  it,  since  caravans  come 
from  far  and  near  for  this  most  valued  com- 
modity in  African  life. 

The  advance  of  Mr.  Stanley's  caravan  into 
Usongora  was  therefore  incidentally  of  great 
importance  to  the  salt  collectors ; for  it  drove 

* Lugard,  Proceedings  Royal  Geographical  Society, 
December,  1892,  p.  836. 


the  Unyoro  raiders  from  this  region,  which, 
previous  to  his  arrival,  they  had  domin- 
ated in  a ruthless  manner.  The  tribes  of 
Ukonju,  Usongora  Toro,  Uhaiyana,  and  Un- 
yampaka  and  Ankori,  were,  indeed,  so  con- 
scious of  this  service  rendered  to  them,  that 
the  march  of  the  expedition  through  these 
countries  was  a triumph,  during  which  end- 
less courtesies  were  extended  to  them  by  old 
and  young,  by  king,  chief,  and  peasant,  all 
anxious  to  express  their  gratitude  to  the 
white  men  for  ridding  them  of  the  robbers 
whom  they  had  so  long  feared.  This  was 
fortunate  for  the  travellers ; for,  had  so  popu- 
lous a country  as  Ankori  been  unfriendly, 
their  journey  might  have  been  seriously 
impeded ; but  with  the  removal  of  the  ob- 
structions placed  by  the  Wanyoro  around  the 
valuable  salt  deposits  of  the  salt  lakes  near 
Albert  Edward  Nyanza,  these  deposits  were 
opened  up  to  all  comers.  Hence,  while  Mr. 
Stanley’s  party  slowly  tramped  through  the 
land,  flotillas  were  hastily  despatched  by  the 
tribes  round  Albert  Nyanza  to  be  freighted 
with  valuable  cargoes  of  salt — an  article  much 
needed  by  the  pastoral  people  of  the  lake,  on 
account  of  their  immense  herds  of  cattle. 
Even  as  far  as  Karagwe  this  relief  from  the 
presence  of  the  Wanyoro  was  felt  with  equally 
happy  effect  on  the  fortunes  of  the  travellers, 
for  on  the  south-west  frontier  of  the  kingdom 
the  expedition  was  supplied  with  grain,  ban- 
anas, and  cattle,  voluntarily  contributed  by 
a grateful  king  and  people.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  Mr.  Stanley’s  party  con- 
sisted of  800  souls,  who,  in  ordinary  circum- 
stances, would  have  needed  forty  bales  ol 
cloth  and  twenty  sacks  of  beads  as  currency 
to  buy  food  for  a single  day,  the  value  of 
these  gifts  may  be  readily  appreciated. 

On  the  28th  of  August,  after  a long  march 
over  grassy  plains,  they  arrived  at  Usambiro 
(p.  60),  Mr.  Mackay’s  mission  sta-  Mr.Mackay.s 
tion  at  the  south  end  of  Victoria  mission 
Nyanza,  after  a journey  which  Mr. 

Stanley  characterises  as  one  of  the  most 
peaceful  and  happy  any  expedition  ever  made 
in  Africa.  Eight  days  before,  they  had  sighted 


HERBERT  WARD. 

(Van  der  Weyde,  Urgent  St.,  IV. f photo.) 


(From  a Photograph  by  Mrs.  Myers.) 


CAPTAIN’  NELSON. 
(IV.  Hansom,  Leeds,  photo.) 


MAJOR  BARTTELOT. 


( Marshall  Wane,  Edinburgh,  photo.) 


JAMES  JAMESON. 

(Window  it  Grove,  Jkd:er  St.,  If'.,  photo.) 


WILLIAM  BONNY.  • 

(A.  L.  Henderson , King  William  St.,  photo.) 


J.  ROSE  TROUP. 

(J.  Thomson,  Grosi'enor  St.,  If'.,  photo.) 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  EMIX  PASHA  RELIEF  EXPEDITION. 


5<S 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Victoria  Nyanza,  glittering  in  the  morning 
sunlight,  its  island-dotted  expanse  reminding 
those  who  had  seen  them  of  the  Canadian 
lakes.  Here  it  was  found  that  the  Nyanza 
stretched  into  a deep  bay,  which  brought  it 
thirty  miles  nearer  Tanganyika  than  had 
been  hitherto  known.  At  this  hospitable 
oasis  of  civilisation  in  the  heart  of  pagandom, 
the  expedition  halted  until  the  invalids  of 
the  party  had  sufficiently  recovered  to  proceed, 
the  march  of  720  miles  to  the  coast  not 
being  resumed  till  the  16th  of  September. 
Their  three  weeks’  stay  was  a time  of 
pleasant  intercourse  with  the  kindly  inmates 
of  the  mission,  one  of  whom  death  was  soon 
to  claim.  All  day  the  members  of  the 
expedition,  long  severed  from  civilisation, 
revelled  in  books  and  in  the  news  of  the 
busy  world.  They  heard  of  dead  kings  and 
of  governments  which  had  gone  in  and  come 
out  since  last  they  had  received  tidings  from 
the  land  of  light,  and,  what  concerned  them 
more,  of  the  Germans  fighting  with  the  Arabs 
in  the  newly-acquired  domains  along  the 
Zanzibar  coast.  But,  best  of  all,  they  obtained 
from  Mr.  Mackay  a few  pairs  of  those  hobnailed 
boots  of  which  all  of  them  had  been  for  some 
time  past  in  sore  need. 

Led  by  one  of  the  mission  people,  the  road 
through  Nera  was  taken ; but,  unfortunately, 
the  friendliness  of  the  people  was  less  marked 
than  that  of  the  tribes  among  whom  they 
had  already  travelled.  Only  four  days 
from  the  mission  station  there  were  tussles 
„ , . ..  with  the  Usukuma,  who  objected 

folk; ; the  to  the  small  amount  of  hongo, 
Usukuma.  customs,  black-mail,  or  tribute 
— call  it  what  you  will — which  the  expe- 
dition offered  to  pay  for  passing  through 
their  country.  Being  now  provided  with 
firearms,  the  attacks  of  these  surly  savages 
put  the  caravan  in  a critical  position,  as 
the  region  was  an  open,  sandy  desert,  in 
which  a defensive  position  was  difficult  to 
take  up ; for  the  women  and  children  had  to  be 
placed  in  the  centre  of  a square,  which 
offered  an  easy  mark  for  the  enemy.  Another 
cause  for  the  hostility  shown  was  sufficiently 


amusing.  The  natives,  it  is  said,  took  such 
an  unaccountable  prejudice  to  the  Soudanese 
of  the  Equatorial  Province  for  their  intense 
black  colour  and  the  ugly  scars  on  their 
cheeks,  that  out  of  mere  spite  they  attacked  the 
column  on  its  arrival  near  the  king’s  village. 

Usukuma  is  exceedingly  populous  and  the 
people  are  warlike  and  courageous.  They  are 
also  accustomed  to  caravans,  though,  as  then* 
demands  are  generally  complied  with,  there 
is  seldom  much  trouble  with  them.  How- 
ever, one  Arab  caravan  had  been  recently 
massacred  because  the  chief  refused  to  yield 
to  the  extortionate  demands  made  on  him. 
Still  more  recently,  two  missionaries — Messrs. 
Ashe  and  Walker — were  imprisoned  until 
they  were  ransomed  by  their  friends.  With 
these  experiences  in  their  memories,  the 
Usukuma  probably  imagined  that  all  they 
had  to  do  was  to  rush  on  Mr.  Stanley’s 
expedition  and  see  it  collapse.  In  this  ex- 
pectation they  were  speedily  disappointed,  for 
the  attack  was  promptly  resented,  though  for 
five  days  the  incensed  tribesmen  gathered  in 
immense  numbers  and  disputed  every  mile  of 
advance  through  their  territory.  Not  un- 
frequently  they  rushed  by  hundreds  on  either 
flank  of  the  column,  to  within  120  yards  of  the 
riflemen ; but,  though  wonderfully  active,  the 
breech-loaders  restrained  them  from  reaching 
the  line  of  march.  Nevertheless,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  man  killed  with  a spear  during 
a brief  parley,  no  casualties  occurred  fco  the 
caravan  ; and,  after  seeing  the  hopelessness  of 
struggling  with  the  new-comers— and  with  the 
Maxim  gun — they  made  off,  amid  the  derision 
of  the  Soudanese  women,  and  the  column, 
entering  a friendly  territory,  arrived  at  the 
German  station  of  Mpwapwa  without  any 
other  incident  of  a notable  character,  save 
the  frequent  want  of  Avater.  Lieutenant 
Stairs  noted  that  since  the  strange  social 
revolution  which  had  taken  place  in  Africa 
of  late  years,  the  Aveapons  of  the  natives 
are  undergoing  an  equally  remarkable 
transformation.  Most  of  them  have  ob- 
tained firearms  from  the  traders,  and,  in 
spite  of  the  agreement  among  the  European 


DR.  GAEL  PETERS’  MISSION. 


nations  not  to  permit  the  importation  of 
gunpowder,  are  still  obtaining  them ; while 
those  who  have  to  depend  on  weapons  less 
lethal  are  discarding  the  light  throwing-spear 
or  assegai  for  the  heavier  stabbing  one.  This 
has  entirely  altered  the  fighting  tactics  of 
these  tribes,  just  as  the  adoption  of  the 
magazine  rifle  must  alter  those  of  civilised 
armies. 

On  arriving  in  Southern  Usukuma  the 
expedition  had  been  overtaken  by  couriers 
from  the  French  mission  of  Bukumbi,  on  Lake 
Victoria,  who  bore  a letter  from  the  Bishop, 
Mgr.  Livinhac,  who  solicited  protection  and 
escort  to  the  coast  for  two  sick  missionaries, 
Fathers  Girault  and  Schynze,  a favour  which 
was  immediately  granted*  and  the  column 
slackened  its  marches  to  allow  the  new-comers 
to  overtake  them  at  Ikungu.  Then  its  some- 
what motley  character  was  increased  by  the 
addition  of  two  Algerian  Fathers  to  its  number. 
Already  it  included  representatives  of  England, 
Germany,  France,  Italy,  and  Egypt,  and  from 
almost  every  district  between  LTsukuma  apd 
Mpwapwa  accessions  of  Africans  who  were 
afraid  to  travel  to  the  coast  by  themselves,  or 
dreaded  oppression  by  the  way,  solicited 
permission  to  join  the  expedition,  until  it 
amounted  to  upwards  of  1,000  people. 

At  Mpwapwa,  also,  the  expedition  fell  in 
with  Dr.  Carl  Peters,  wrho  had  been  engaged, 
though  less  successfully,  on  a 

Mpwapwa.  mission  somewhat  similar  to  that 
from  which  Mr.  Stanley  was  now 
returning  triumphant.  For  while  the  leader 
of  the  German  Emin  Pasha  Rescue  party  had 
been  unable  even  to  reach  the  Pasha’s  country, 
he  learned  at  this  point  from  the  mouth  of 
his  countryman  the  indubitable  fact  that  not 
only  had  Emin  left  Equatoria,  but  that  the 
treaties  the  German  traveller  had  been  making 
so  industriously  with  the  chiefs  through 
whose  country  he  passed  were,  owing  to  the 

* Father  Schynze,  a German,  repaid  the  kindness  ex- 
tended to  him  by  a book — “ Journal  de  voyage  : A 
travers  l’Afrique  avec  Stanley  et  Emin-Pacha,”  1890 — 
of  extremely  ill-natured  and,  it  seems  to  ns,  quite  un- 
justifiable criticism  of  Mr.  Stanley  and  all  his  works. 


5D 

arrangements  for  the  division  of  East  Africa 
between  Germany  and  Great  Britain,  of  no 
more  value  than  waste  paper.  These  facts 
ought  to  be  taken  into  account  in  assessing 
the  unfriendly  criticisms  of  Dr.  Peters  at 
their  true  value. 

During  Mr.  Stanley’s  three  years’  absence 
in  “Darkest  Africa”  many  events  had  been 
happening.  Among  these  were  the  frictions 
between  the  whites  and  the  natives  of  Zan- 
zibar coast  territory  consequent  on  a change 
of  masters,  and  the  alterations  in  manners 
which  they  had  introduced.  On  their  way  to 
the  interior,  gossip  regarding  these  incidents 
had  naturally  considerably  altered.  Hence, 
long  before  reaching  Mpwapwa,  rumour,  much 
exaggerated,  was  busy  with  events  in  progress 
nearer  the  coast.  Stories  of  missionaries 
murdered  and  mission  houses  burned,  of 
German  officers  killed,  and  seaside  towns 
levelled  to  the  ground  in  retaliation,  were 
the  burden  of  the  tales  brought  by  every 
passing  caravan,  until,  Mr.  Stanley  tells  us, 
it  seemed  to  the  returning  travellers  that 
the  savagedom  of  the  wild  interior  of  the 
continent  was  more  acceptable,  judging  from 
the  tidings  related  to  them,  than  the  barbarism 
of  the  semi-civilised  coast.  Yet  at  Mpwapwa, 
they  had  unfortunately  before  their  eyes 
tangible  results  of  the  war  of  which  the 
echoes  had  reached  them,  in  the  ruined  house 
of  the  Church  Missionary  Society  and  the 
dilapidated  fort  of  the  bankrupt  German 
East  Africa  Company,  which  the  German 
officers  had  arrived  to  rebuild.  So  that,  in 
spite  of  exaggerations  which  the  news  had 
assumed  in  travelling  from  east  to  west,  there 
could  be  little  doubt  that  the  stories  told 
them  were  not  mere  fabrications. 

Near  Simbamwenni  their  journey  might 
almost  be  said  to  have  come  to  an  end,  for 
here  the  expedition  was  met  with  a supply  of 
European  comforts — hams,  champagne,  and 
cigars— despatched  to  them  by  Major  Wiss- 
mann,  familiar  to  us  as  a traveller  across 
Africa,  but  then  German  Imperial  Commis- 
sioner ; and  from  this  point  the  returning 
travellers  were  almost  daily  gladdened  with 


60 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


kindly  notes  and  friendly  gifts  from  their 
friends  in  Zanzibar  and  Bagamoyo. 

At  this  place  also  Mr.  Stanley  was  met  by 
the  ubiquitous  American  newspaper  corre- 
Approachmg  spondents,  bearing  goodwill-offer- 
the  journey's  mgs  of  tooth-brushes,  soap,  and 
anoe  of  the r Florida  water.  One  of  these,  in 
caravan.  his  eagerness  to  tap  the  news  with 
which  Mr.  Stanley  was  laden,  had  been  far 


belonged  figured  on  some  member  ot  the 
party,  and  not  a few  of  them  were  clad  in  the 
nakedness  which  is  the  daily  garb  of  the 
greater  number  of  the  African  people.  Thirty 
or  forty  men  of  the  expedition  had  been  re- 
warded with  flaming  red  blankets  as  robes  of 
honour  for  good  service,  and  had  been  promoted 
by  Mr.  Stanley  to  the  office  of  carrying  his  tent 
and  personal  effects.  The  commander  him- 


C.M.S.  STATION  OF  USAMBIRO,  WHERE  STANLEY  STAYED  WITH  MACKAY.* 
(From  a sketch  by  Bishop  Tucker,  made  from  the  door  of  the  room  where  Maekay  died.) 


into  the  Masai  country,  expecting  that  the 
return  column  would  have  taken  that  route. 
Mr.  Stevens— the  enterprising  gentleman  in 
question — describes  the  expedition,  as  he  saw 
it  just  before  its  breaking  up,  as  extremely 
picturesque.  Out  of  the  disorder  of  the  start,! 
good  order  had  long  ago  been  evolved.  Nearly 
one  thousand  people  defiled  along  the  winding 
African  path  in  Indian  file.  Every  costume 
seen  in  those  parts  of  Africa  to  which  they 


self  rode  a very  good  donkey,  which  was  in 
charge  of  a young  man  with  a red  turban, 
red  knee-breeches,  and  a red  shirt,  and  who 
seemed  fully  conscious  of  the  exalted  position 
to  which  he  had,  by  his  personal  merits,  at- 
tained. Behind  the  donkey  streamed  the 
great  explorer’s  special  corps,  with  boxes, 
tents,  and  other  articles  on  their  heads, 
and  each  with  a red  blanket  proudly  trail- 
ing at  his  heels.  This  scarlet  brigade — 


* The  shed  to  the  right  was  Mackay’s  workshop  ; the  door  to  the  left  leads  to  the  dining-room  and  library, 
t Stairs,  l.c.,  p.  956. 


THE  MARCH  TO  THE  COAST. 


61 


with  Mr.  Stanley  and  his  donkey — hurried 
along,  passing  the  others  as  a fast  train 
passes  a slow  one,  and  easily  reached  the 
cainp  in  advance.  If  the  sun  were  shining, 
Mr.  Stanley  hoisted  up  a greenish  umbrella. 


The  plucky  surgeon  had,  indeed,  never 
ridden  a step  of  the  way  across  Africa.  Two 
steady  servants  carried  Emin  Pasha’s  little 
girl  in  a litter;  and  among  the  Egyptian 
and  mongrel  women,  some  rode  donkeys, 


OBJECTS  FROM  ZANZIBAR,  MOMBASA,  ETC. 

( Collected  by  MU s Mary  A.  n'ardlaw  Ramsay.  Photographed  by  Dr.  Felldn,  Edinburgh.) 


The  rest  of  the  folk  were  divided  into  com- 
panies, over  one  of  which  an  officer  had  com- 
mand and  was  responsible  for  certain  goods. 

Of  the  Europeans — besides  Mr.  Stanley — 
Emin  Pasha,  Captain  Casati,  Mr.  Jephson,  and 
Mr.  Bonny  rode  donkeys,  but  Captain  Nelson, 
Lieutenant  Stairs,  and  Dr.  Parke  walked. 


some  walked,  and  some  were  conveyed  on 
stretchers.  Men  and  women  bore  infants  on 
their  shoulders,  though  not  always,  for  one  of 
the  saddest  sights  of  the  whole  march  was 
poor  little  children,  of  six  or  seven  years  old, 
footsore  and  weary,  hobbling  along  and  crying 
all  the  time  to  be  carried.  Thirsty,  hungry 


62 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


and  tired,  limping,  as  thorns  ran  into  their 
feet,  they  wailed  piteously  as  they  now  and 
then  lost  sight  of  their  mothers.  Jostled  and 
pushed  by  rude,  brutish  men,  who  wished 
them  dead  and  out  of  the  way,  the  lot  of  these 
little  travellers  from  the  Equatorial  Province 
deserved  the  deepest  pity. 

Every  person  seemed  to  be  carrying  some- 
thing, though  much  had  been  thrown  away  in 
the  course  of  the  long  tramp,  and  a great  deal 
more  had  been  left  behind  at  the  rendezvous 
on  Albert  Nyanza.  The  people,  indeed, 
seemed  to  have  had  the  most  primitive  ideas 
of  the  necessities  of  travel ; for,  if  Mr.  Stanley 
had  permitted  them  to  carry  one-half  of  the 
rubbish  with  which  they  came  laden  to  his 
camp,  he  would  have  required  thousands  of 
porters  to  carry  the  baggage  of  his  refugees. 
Then,  in  addition  to  the  numbers  of  his 
caravan  proper,  there  were  Wanyamwezi 
porters  bringing  ivory.  The}'  had  joined 
the  caravan  for  safety.  Emin’s  Egyptian 
officers  formed  a prominent  portion  of  this 
strangely-assorted  caravan ; for  all  of  them 
were  accompanied  by  their  families  (when  they 
had  any),  and  by  their  native  wives  belonging 
to  numerous  tribes  and  of  every  degree  of 
blackness.  Many  of  these  ladies  were  in  the 
primitive  dresses  of  their  countries  and  tribes, 
while  others,  more  coquettish,  wore  an  ap- 
proach to  the  Egyptian  costume. 

At  the  Kingani  Ferry  the  expedition  was 
met  by  a deputation  of  Europeans  from  Baga- 
moyo,  and  there,  for  the  first  time  for  nearly 
three  years,  did  any  member  of  the  party — and 
indeed  not  for  a much  longer  period  had  the 
greater  number  of  them  been  able  to — sit  down 
to  a table  furnished  with  the  luxuries  to  which 
they  had  hitherto  been  strangers.  In  a few 
hours  more  Bagamoyo,  on  the  coast,  was 
reached  and  the  responsibilities  of  Mr.  Stanley 
were  at  an  end. 

The  Zanzibaris  were  now  in  their  own 
homes,  and  the  Soudanese  soldiers  would  in 
due  time  be  mustered  into  their  regiments  in 
Egypt.  The  Egyptians  would  at  the  same 
time  reach  their  homes  and  be  assigned  to 
other  duties  than  those  which  they  had  ful- 


filled for  so  many  years,  while  the  Europeans 
would,  in  the  course  of  the  next  few  days, 
separate  to  every  point  of  the  compass. 
According  to  the  roll-call  at  Ka-  Thejourney 
valli’s  on  the  15th  April,  1889,  570  ended:  the 
refugees  from  the  Equatorial  Pro- 
vince had  placed  themselves  under  Mr. 
Stanley’s  protection  for  convoy  to  the  sea. 
By  July  2nd  this  number  had  been  reduced 
by  desertions  to  555  ; by  August  15th,  to  414 ; 
by  October  1st  to  311 ; and  now,  on  the  4th  of 
December,  only  290  souls  answered  “ Here  ” in 
Bagamoyo.  Thus  the  loss  on  the  journey  from 
Albert  Nyanza  to  the  sea  was  280,  nearly  one- 
half,  during  the  journey  of  1,400  miles.  Of 
these  280  missing  people  the  commander  cal- 
culated that  about  200  had  been  cared  for  by 
various  native  chiefs  through  whose  territories 
they  passed,  and  at  whose  villages  they  felt 
too  sick,  with  the  prevalent  ulcers,  to  proceed. 
It  did  not,  however,  necessarily  follow  that 
the  whole  of  the  200  were  invalids.  For 
when  the  head  of  a family  could  not 
travel  any  farther,  his  wife,  children,  and 
servants  preferred  to  stay  with  him.  The 
remainder  died  from  fevers,  ulcers,  fatigue, 
and  debility ; and  one  old  lady,  the  mother  of 
the  vakeel  of  the  Equatorial  Province,  expired 
from  sheer  old  age.  When  she  began  her 
last  journey  she  was  eighty  years  of  age,  so 
that  it  is  not  improbable  she  has  the  dis- 
tinction of  having  been  the  oldest  civilised 
traveller  in  Africa. 

Of  the  thirteen  Somalis  engaged  by  Major 
Barttelot  at  Aden  only  one  survived  the 
journey ; of  the  sixty  Soudanese  enlisted  at 
Cairo  no  more  than  twelve  returned  to  the 
coast,  seven  having  already  been  sent  back 
from  Yambuya;  of  the  remainder  two  suffered 
the  death-penalty  for  mutiny  and  murder, 
and  one  deserted.  Of  the  620  Zanzibaris, 
225  were  all  that  were  welcomed  by  their 
friends  at  home.  Fifty-five  of  them  had  been 
killed  in  the  skirmishes  between  Yambuya 
and  Albert  Nyanza.  Two  suffered  capital 
punishment  for  selling  their  rifles  and  ammu- 
nition to  the  enemy,  202  died  of  starvation, 
ulcers,  dysentery,  and  exhaustion,  and  the 


THE  RESULTS  OF  MR.  STANLEY’S  EXPEDITION. 


rest  of  this  lamentable  tale  of  loss  is  made 
up  by  desertions. 

Altogether,  the  last  of  Mr.  Stanley’s  ex- 
peditions in  Africa  was  the  greatest  in  which 
. he  had  taken  part.  It  was  accom- 
and  losses  plished  with  an  energy  and  a 
Edition:  the  skill  which  cannot  be  too  highly 
forest.  praised,  though,  unfortunately,  its 
end  was  not  attained  without  a loss  of  life 
unknown  in  the  annals  of  African  exploration. 
Organised  for  purposes  entirely  apart  from 
geographical  exploration,  the  discoveries  which 
it  was  fortunate  enough  to  make  will  compare 
with  those  of  any  previous  expedition.  In 
the  first  place,  it  passed  over  about  1,200 
miles  of  unknown  region,  and  proved  that 
east  to  north  and  north  to  east  of  the 
Congo  there  exists — as  might  have  . been 
expected — an  immense  area  (p.  32)  covered 
by  one  unbroken,  dense  forest,  very  dif- 
ferent from  any  of  the  wooded  country 
found  in  most  other  parts  of  the  con- 
tinent. A popular  writer,  who  has  himself 
visited  Africa,  namely,  Professor  Drummond, 
describing  the  general  features  of  the  scenery 
of  the  region  about  the  Zambesi  and  Shire, 
which  he  examined,  remarks : — “ The  fairy 
labyrinth  of  ferns  and  palms,  the  festoons  of 
climbing-plants  blocking  the  paths  and 
scenting  the  forests  with  their  resplendent 
flowers,  the  gorgeous  cloud  of  insects,  the 
gaily-plumaged  birds,  the  paroquets,  the 
monkey  swinging  from  his  trapeze  in  the 
shady  bowers — these  are  unknown  in  Africa.”* 
Mr.  Stanley,  in  criticising  this  passage,  takes 
complete  exception  to  its  accuracy,  so  far  as 
that  great  area  which  he  traversed  for  thirteen 
months  is  concerned  ; for  the  progress  of  the 
expedition  was  through  a dense  undergrowth 
of  bush  and  ambitious  young  trees  which 
choked  the  space  beneath  the  impervious 
shade  of  the  forest  giants.  Here  almost 
every  open  space  was  matted  by  arums, 
phrynia,  and  amoina,  interlaced  by  endless 
lines  of  calamus,  and  still  further  blocked  by 
great  cable-like  convolvuli,  so  that  not  un- 
frequently  it  was  difficult  to  make  400  yards 
* “Tropical  Africa”  (1888),  p.  54. 


63 

in  an  hour.  A way  for  the  column  to  pass 
had  actually  to  be  tunnelled  through  this 
dense  mass  of  vegetation.  The  Amazon 
Valley  cannot  boast  a more  impervious  or 
more  umbrageous  forest  than  this  vast  tangle 
of  the  Upper  Congo,  nourished  as  it  is  by 
eleven  months  of  tropical  showers. 

Another  discovery  of  the  greatest  interest 
was  the  source  of  the  south-western  branch 
of  the  White  Nile.  We  now  know  Nile  Jakes 
that  the  White  Nile  is  formed  by  and  new  NUe 
the  surplus  waters  of  two  lakes, 

Victoria  and  Albert  Edward  to  the  south- 
east and  south-west  respectively,  which  are 
received  by  Lake  Albert  and  discharged 
northwards  towards  the  Mediterranean  by  the 
great  Bahr-el-Abiad,  or  White  River.  Hitherto, 
the  source  of  the  water  of  Lake  Albert  was  a 
puzzle,  as  no  great  river  was  known  to  pour 
into  it ; the  Semliki  not  having  been  detected 
even  by  Mason  Bey,  the  lake  was  still  open 
to  be  regarded  as  a backwater  (Vol.  II.,  pp. 
5,  115). 

To  Mr.  Stanley’s  explorations  we  are  also 
indebted  for  the  exact  definition  of  the  Albert 
and  Albert  Edward  Lakes,  both  of  them  con- 
tained within  the  Nile  basin  and  constituting 
sources  of  that  famous  river. 

Finally,  the  discovery  of  the  snowy  Rmven- 
zori — possibly  the  Mount  Gordon  Bennett 
of  his  former  expedition — which  furnishes  the 
waters  that  flow  into  the  Semliki  River  and 
Albert  Edward  Lake,  is  a discovery  of  the 
first  importance  to  geography.  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  open  to  doubt  whether 
Mr.  Stanley’s  conclusion  that  these  an<Tttae0n 
were  the  “ Mountains  of  the  „ 

of  the  Moon. 

Moon  known  to  Ptolemy  and 
the  early  chartographers  as  situated  near 
the  source  of  the  Nile  where  the  pigmies 
lived,  and  which  derived  their  name  from 
their  semi-lunar  shape,  is  well  sustained.  It 
must  at  the  same  time  be  allowed  that  the 
discoverer  of  Ruwenzori  has  made  out  an 
excellent  case  for  the  theory  which  he  adopts. 
On  the  old  maps  they  were  generally  figured 
as  a high  range  crossing  the  entire  continent 
from  Abyssinia  to  the  Gulf  of  Guinea.  As 


64 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


modern  enterprise  has  opened  up  Africa,  this 
mythical  range  had  to  disappear,  and  the 
Mountains  of  the  Moon  were  then  identified 
in  Abyssinia,  in  the  snow-capped  Kenia,  and 
Kilimanjaro,  or  as  the  so-called  Kong  Moun- 
tains inland  from  the  Gulf  of  Guinea.  The 
latest  claimant  has,  on  the  whole,  the  most 
plausible  facts  in  support  of  it.  Dr.  Peters  and 
other  explorers,  however,  place  no  moment  by 
Mr.  Stanley’s  conclusion,  though,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  German  traveller’s  rival  theory  is 
even  less  acceptable.  Dr.  Peters  affirms  that 
the  ancient  maps  reproduced  by  Mr.  Stanley* 


DR.  CARL  PETERS. 

(From  a Photograph  try  IV.  Hofert,  Dresden.) 


“ flatly  contradict  his  hypothesis,  as  they  one 
and  all  place  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon 
south  of  Lake  Victoria.”  t Unyam wezi  is  the 
“Land  of  the  Moon,”  and,  as  the  mountains 
of  the  country,  as  seen  from  the  east,  are 
crescent-shaped,  it  is,  he  thinks,  possible  that 
the  name  may  be  derived  from  this  circum- 
stance. At  all  events,  he  is  not  quite  con- 
vinced of  the  magnitude  of  Mr.  Stanley’s 
researches  in  ancient  history.  Dr.  Baumann, 
a later  traveller,  entertains  a kindred  theory. 
According  to  him,  the  real  Mountains  of  the 
Moon  are  in  Urundi,  within  the  German 
sphere  of  influence — in  the  shape  of  the 

* “ In  Darkest  Africa,”  Vol.  II..  pp.  267-288. 

t ‘"Sew  Light  on  Dark  Africa,”  p.  419. 


precipitous  and  wooded  hills  which  form  the 
water-shed  between  the  basin  of  the  Rufizi 
and  the  Ivagera  (Alexandra  Nile) — the  latter 
river  not  rising  in  a lake,  but  at  the  base 
of  the  hills  in  question.  This  chain  is  known 
to  the  natives  as  “ The  Mountains  of  the 
Moon,”  and  is  held  in  peculiar  reverence 
by  them,  owing  to  a pious  tradition  attaching 
to  it.  Their  kings  are  regarded  as  descendants 
of  the  moon,  and  return  to  it.  One  of 
these  monarchs — Mwezi  } — was  killed  in  battle 
about . a generation  ago,  and  a large  share  of 
Dr.  Baumann’s  welcome  was  due  to  the 
simple  natives  believing  him  a descendant  of 
this  lunar  potentate.  Their  respect  extended 
even  to  the  white  donkey  of  the  white  man, 
who,  they  had  come  to  the  conclusion,  was 
a visitor  from  the  moon.  In  an  ancient  wood 
close  by  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon  the 
Warundi  (or  natives  of  Urundi)  used  to  cele- 
brate the  funeral  rites  of  the  Mwezi,  whom 
they  buried  upon  the  summit  of  the  Ganzo 
Kulu,  or  peak  which  rises  above  the  rest  of 
the  range. 

Mr.  Ravenstein,  a geographer  whose  emin- 
ence even  those  who  differ  from  him  on 
questions  of  Ptolemaic  geography  must  ad- 
mit, is  quite  as  certain  as  Dr.  Peters  that 
Ruwenzori  has  nothing  to  do  with  Ptolemy’s 
Mountains  of  the  Moon,  and  that  no  moun- 
tains answering  to  their  description  are  to  be 
found  in  the  locality  indicated  by  the  old 
Alexandrian  geographer.  To  apply  that  name 
to  those  discovered  by  Mr.  Stanley  “ is  really 
asking  too  much.”  § 

Mr.  Cooley,  a geographical  commentator  of 
greater  boldness  than  success,  went  even  so 
far  as  to  suggest  that  the  Mountains  of  the 
Moon  are  described  in  a passage  which  is  an 
interpolation  of  later  date  and  forms  no  part 

+ “ Mwezi,”  or  “Moon,”  is  mentioned  by  Burton,  Journal 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  1859,  p.  278  ; Geographical 
Journal,  1893,  p.  228.  The  hypothesis  advocated  by 
Peters  is,  however,  by  no  means  his  own  ; it  is  a sugges- 
tion from  Beke,  who  broached  it  as  early  as  1846,  though 
at  a later  date  he  looked  for  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon 
on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  African  plateau  and  assumed 
that  the  Nile  had  its  origin  on  their  inward  slopes. 

§ Scottish  Geographical  Magazine,  1891,  p.  306. 


MOUNT  RUWENZORI,  CENTRAL  AFRICA,  DISCOVERED  BY  MR.  STANLEY. 

( From  a Sketch  by  Lieut.  Stairs , R.E.,  a member  of  the  Emin  Pasha  Relief  Expedition.) 


THE  MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  MOON. 


65 


of  the  genuine  text  of  Ptolemy.*  This  is, 
perhaps,  too  sweeping  a criticism.  For  though 
many  of  his  immediate  followers  are  silent 
with  regard  to  the  “ Montes  Lunte,”  nearly  all 
of  the  Arab  geographers  have  something  to  say 
about  a Jebel  Komr  (Gumr),  or  El  Kamar — 
the  Green  or  Lunar  Mountain — shadowing  the 
head- waters  of  the  Nile.  But  none  of  these 
writers  knew  the  exact  position  of  the  Nile 
lakes,  and  Ptolemy  did  not  possess  an}' 
itineraries  to  guide  him.  He  wrote  merely 
from  descriptions  or  from  the  rumours  that 
reached  him  through  traders  or  through  slaves 
from  the  interior.  In  short,  considering  the 
vagueness  of  Ptolemy’s  geography  and  the 
necessity  for  admitting  that  in  the  second 


The  tribes  with  whom  Mr.  Stanley  came  in 
contact  during  the  expedition  thus  happily 
ended  were  of  such  interest  that 
unavailing  regret  must  be  enter-  Thes^bes 
tained  at  the  absence  from  his 
party  of  any  scientific  men  capable  of  study- 
ing the  languages  and  other  points  of  interest 
connected  with  these  people.  The  light- 
bronze-coloured  aborigines  of  the  forest 
region,  the  various  tribes  of  dwprfs  found  in 
the  same  jungle,  the  high-featured  people 
of  the  pastoral  re- 
gions (sprung,  it  is 
believed,  from  the 
Amharic  of  Abys- 
sinia), and  the 


MOMBASA  : THE  ROAD  TO  UGANDA. 


(From  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Imperial  British  East  Africa  Company.) 


century  of  the  Christian  era  Sir  Samuel  Baker 
and  Mr.  Stanley  himself  were  anticipated  by 
unknown  travellers,  it  is,  on  the  whole,  safer 
to  accept  the  conclusion  that  the  Ruwenzori 
range  is  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon  simply  as 
the  pious  belief  of  its  modern  discoverer. 

* ‘-Claudius  Ptolemy  and  the  Nile”  (1854).  pp.  77-98. 

45 


aboriginal  races  among  whom  they  are  settled 
as  masters,  open  up  questions  of  prime  import- 
ance, from  an  ethnological  point  of  view.f 
Unfortunately,  however,  the  object  for 

+ Stanley,  “ Geographical  Results  of  the  Emin  Pasha 
Relief  Expedition”  ( Proceeding * of  the  Royal  Geograph- 
ical Society , 1890,  pp.  313  et  seqq.'). 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


which  Mr.  Stanley’s  expedition  was  fitted  out, 
and  in  accomplishing  which  such  fearful 
sacrifices  were  endured,  was  the  least  success- 
ful portion  of  'his  great  adventure.  Emin, 
no  doubt,  was  brought  to  the  coast,  with  a 
certain  portion  of  his  officers  and  people ; but 
more  than  half  of  the  Egyptian  troops  and 
officers  were  abandoned  in  the 
A fanCurefUl  Equatorial  Province.  How  far 
Mr.  Stanley  was  justified  in  leaving 
Selim  Bey  and  his  friends  behind  is  a point 
still  capable  of  being  debated.  From  the 
facts,  which  at  the  time  seemed  to  him  per- 
fectly conclusive,  Mr.  Stanley  considered  the 
safety  of  the  expedition  dependent  on  his 
not  waiting  any  longer  for  Emin’s  second  in 
command  and  the  troops  and  camp-followers 
whom  he  had  returned  to  Wadelai  for  the 
purpose  of  collecting,  and  insisted  that  these 
laggards  had  no  intention  of  joining  the  con- 
voy to  the  coast.  Indeed,  Mr.  Stanley  stated, 
in  the  most  positive  manner,  that  the  sole 
intention  of  Selim  Bey  and  his  fellow-con- 
spirators was  to  capture  and,  if  possible, 
deliver  into  the  hands  of  the  Mahdists,  the 
whole  of  the  expedition,  with  those  whom  it 
had  come  to  rescue  (p.  50). 

The  data  presented  to  us  by  Mr.  Stanley  go 
far  to  substantiate  this  grave  conclusion.  At 
the  same  time,  we  cannot  learn  that  Emin 
Pasha — Avho  was  better  acquainted  with  the 
suspected  officers  than  Mr.  Stanley,  and  fully  as 
familiar  with  all  the  facts  of  the  case — ever 
withdrew  from  the  opinion  that  Selim  Bey  and 
his  friends  had  been  hardly  used ; though  some 
of  the  officers  had,  no  doubt,  been  in  com- 
munication with  the  Mahdi’s  general.  The 
subsequent  fate  of  the  troops  thus  left  behind 
justifies,  to  a certain  extent,  Emin’s  optimist 
conclusions.  For  in  June,  1892,  a portion  of 
the  old  Equatorial  garrison  arrived  in  Cairo, 
having  travelled  under  the  aegis  of  the  Im- 
perial British  East  Africa  Company  from 
Uganda  to  Mombasa.  They  stated  that 
Selim  Bey,  whose  arrival  had  been  delayed 
by  the  loss  of  a steamer,  finding  that  the 
rescue  expedition  had  gone,  settled  down 
with  his  followers  at  Ravalli’s;  while  Fadl 


el  Mullah,  who  had  separated  from  his 
commander  and  was . avowedly  not  loyal, 
remained  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Wadelai. 
This  place  was  afterwards  attacked  by  the 
Dervishes,  who  were  driven  oft';  but  most  of 
the  garrison,  fearing  that  they  could  not  trust 
Fadl  el  Mullah,  who  was  known  to  have  been 
in  communication  with  Omar  Saleh,  the 
Mahdi’s  general,  deserted  to  Selim  Bey. 

In  1891  Captain  Lugard  arrived  at  Ravalli’s 
from  Uganda  ,and,  after  long  debate  with 
Selim  Bey,  the  chief  subject  of  which  was  who 
was  to  be  master,  took  the  entire  force  into 
Uganda  and  Unyoro,  where  most  of  it  after- 
wards garrisoned  the  military  posts  tempor- 
arily under  the  control  of  the  British  East 
Africa  Company.  Selim  was  found,  even  in 
his  isolated  position,  by  no  means  easy  to  deal 
with.  He  knew  his  worth,  and  valued  himself 
accordingly.  A man  of  resolute  will,  his 
power  over  the  remains  of  Emin’s  troops  was 
absolute,  and  this  absolute  power  he  wished 
to  retain  if  they  accompanied  Captain  Lugard 
on  the  service  offered  them  ; and,  as  the  force 
under  Selim  was  armed  with  Remingtons 
and  had  plenty  of  ammunition*  it  is  evident 
that  the  Bey  had  the  best  of  the  argument. 
At  last  Captain  Lugard  carried  the  point. 
Nothing  like  treachery  was  attempted,  though 
Selim’s  troops  largely  outnumbered  the  guard 
of  the  English  officer.  This  scarcely  bears 
out  Mr.  Stanley’s  description  of  Selim’s  char- 
acter, while  the  fact  that  neither  he  nor  his 
followers  had  gone  over  to  the  Mahdists  is  still 
less  in  keeping  with  the  deep-laid  plot  to  join 
those  fanatics  which  was  in  1890  laid  to  their 
charge.  “ To  all  appearance,  they  were  in- 
tensely loyal  to  the  Rhedive ; and  Selim  Bey, 
pointing  to  his  snow-white  hair,  said  it  was  not 
age — for  he  was  not  much  over  forty — which 
had  turned  his  hair  white,  but  the  Avar  and 
the  troubles  of  the  Soudan,  through  Avhich  he 
had  loyally  upheld  the  Effendina’s  [Ivhedive’s] 
flag  through  good  repute  and  ill  repute.  He 
Avould  not  consent  to  pledge  himself  in  any 

* They  had  accidentally  discovered  the  boxes  of  ammuni- 
tion which  Mr.  Stanley  had  buried  when  it  was  necessary 
to  make  for  the  Goast. 


CAPTAIN  LTJG ARP  ANP  SELIM  BEY. 


67 


way  to  me  till  the  Khedive  should  have  given 
him  permission  to  transfer  his  allegiance ; nor 
would  he  change  his  flag  until  the  Khedive 
should  himself  dispense  with  his  services. 
'From  a boy  till  now  in  my  old  age/  he  said, 
‘ I have  served  under  this  flag,  and  exposed 
my  life  many  times ; nothing  in  the  world 
shall,  make  me  give  it  up  unless  the  Effendina 
tells  me  to.’  And  if  his  tale  be  true,  he 
has,  indeed,  fought  bravely  and  suffered  loyally 
for  it,  having  been  imprisoned  by  the  dis- 
loyal rebels  and  expelled  from  the  country. 


CAPTAIN  F.  D.  LUGABD. 
(From  a Photograph  hg  Elliott  and  Fry.) 


It  was  a thrilling  sight  to  see  the  remnant  of 
the  troops  of  the  old  Equatorial  Province 
march  past.  Less  than  half,  I was  told,  were 
there ; the  rest  had  died  fighting  for  their 
flag.  Many  had  honourable  wounds  to  show. 
Their  banners  and  flags  were  tattered  and 
■‘orn : they  were  clad  in  long  coats  made  of 
skins,  and  their  band  made  strange  music 
with  bugles,  and  drums,  and  trumpets.”  * 
Once  under  Captain  Lugard’s  authority,  with 
his  promise  passed  that  he  would  ask-  the 
Khedive’s  permission  for  them  to  remain  per- 
manently in  the  British  service,  no  men  could 

* Lujrard,  Scottish  Geographical  Magazine,  1892.  p.  038  ; 
Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geograph  ical  Society,  1892,  p.  838. 

Selim  had  been  with  Baker  in  1869. 


have  been  braver  than  this  ''refuse  of  the 
Soudan.”  They  hailed  Lugard  as  their  friend, 
who  had  delivered  them  from  living  among 
savages  to  their  status  as  the  soldiers  of  a 
civilised  Power.  Though  these  people  do 
not  know  what  hurry  is,  they  were  ready  to 
march,  with  their  wives,  children,  and  slaves — ■ 
a caravan  of  not  less  than  9,000,  nearly  ten 
times  that  of  Mr.  Stanley — punctually  on  the 
day  fixed ; and  ever  afterwards,  during  the 
long  journey  through  hostile  countries  and  in 
Uganda,  these  once  rebel  troops  remained 
loyal  to  their  new  master.  Even  when  the 
Christian  sects  in  Uganda  were  cutting  each 
other’s  throats,  they  refused  to  listen  to  the 
suggestions  of  the  Mohammedans  that  now 
was  their  time.  “ No,”  they  replied,  “Captain 
Lugard  has  saved  us  in  our  trouble  and  when 
we  knew  not  where  to  turn,  and  we  will  not 
fight  against  him.  We  are  his  people,  and  if 
you  fight  against  us  will  attack  you  in  the 
rear.”  Yet  these  Egyptians  and  Soudanese 
had  been  deserted  by  the  Government  to 
which  they  were  now  so  faithful  and  denied 
their  back  pay  by  those  who  spoke  in  the 
Khedive’s  name.  Selim  Bey,  nevertheless, 
died  in  the  summer  of  1893,  a prisoner  on  the 
way  to  Mombasa,  to  answer  for  his  share  in  a 
futile  Mohammedan  insurrection  in  Uganda, 
though  the  Soudanese  remained  loyal  to  King 
M’wanga  and  his  suzerain  Queen  Victoria. 

This  brings  us  to  speak  of  the  after  conduct 
of  Emin  Pasha.  “ The  quest,  rescue,  and  retreat 
of  the  Governor  of  Equatoria  ” was  wnat  befell 
almost  grotesque  in  the  results'  to  Emm  Pasha" 
which  it  led.  At  an  enormous  sacrifice  in 
men,  money,  time  and  toil,  an  English  expedi- 
tion had  penetrated  to  the  heart  of  Africa  for 
the  purpose  of  succouring  the  beleaguered 
ruler  of  the  last  of  the  Egyptian  Provinces 
that  had  maintained  its  independence  in 
the  Soudan,  only  to  find  that  neither  Emin 
nor  many  of  his  friends  had  the  least  desire 
to  be  the  recipients  of  the  kindnesses  thus 
heaped  upon  them.  So  far  from  being  dis- 
tressed for  food  or  raiment,  they  were  found 
living  in  rude  plenty,  and  instead  of  being 
either  fed  or  clothed  by  the  expedition  which 


68 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


with  such  difficulty  had  reached  them,  they 
were  able  to  assist  their  rescuers  out  of  the 
abundance  at  their  disposal.  Even  after  Emin 
and  a certain  number  of  his  officers  had  been 
reluctantly  persuaded  to  make  for  the  coast, 
a large  portion  of  the  force  had  to  be  left 
behind.  Indeed,  there  is  nothing  more  extra- 
ordinary in  the  history  of  theoretical  philan- 
thropy than  the  fact  that  Mr.  Stanley  had  to 
march  to  the  sea  in  fear  lest  those  he  had 
come  to  relieve  should  murder  his  party  or, 
failing  this,  deliver  them  into  the  cruel  slavery 


DR.  F.  STI1HLMANK. 

(From  a Photograph  by  F.  Meyclce,  Cologne.) 


of  the  Dervishes  from  whom  they  were  sup- 
posed to  be  in  peril  of  life  and  liberty. 

Nor  did  the  strangeness  between  fact  and 
theory  end  here.  For  Emin,  who  for  many 
years  of  his  life  had  lived  scatheless  from 
wild  men,  fanatics,  climate,  diseases,  and  a 
score  of  other  perils,  had  scarcely  arrived 
among  his  countrymen  at  Bagamoyo  before 
he  all  but  ended  his  career.  On  the  evening 
devoted  to  a banquet  in  his  honour  and  that 
of  his  companions,  a grievous  accident,  owing 
to  his  stepping  out  of  an  open  window,  kept 
him  for  months  lying  between  death  and  life. 
And  lastly,  Emin,  who  had  been  brought  to 
the  coast  by  Britons,  and  at  the  cost  of  British 
people,  instead  of  expressing  any  gratitude  for 


the  favours  thus  heaped  upon  him,  no  sooner 
recovered  from  his  accident  than  he  prepared 
to  return  whence  he  had  been  conveyed  with 
so  much  dolour. 

It  was,  indeed,  difficult  to  get  him  past 
Mr.  Mackay’s  mission  station:  he  seemed  to 
have  a morbid  dread  of  approaching  civilis- 
ation. At  Bagamoyo  Mr.  Stanley,  and  his 
companions  were  forgotten,  and  the  people 
and  the  nation  from  whom  he  had  received  so 
much  kindness — even  admitting  his  version  of 
the  “quest,  rescue,  and  retreat” — were,  among 
his  countrymen,  the  favourite  theme  of  his 
least  friendly  criticisms.  Once  out  of  their 
sight,  he  ceased  all  correspondence  with  his 
1 rescuers  ” ; even  the  good  Doctor  did  not  re- 
ceive the  courtesy  of  one  of  his  many  letters. 
Nor  were  his  “dear  people”  any  more  the 
object  of  his  solicitude.  His  own  accumu- 
lated pay  was  not  neglected,  though  the 
Khedive — to  whom  he  was  so  loyal  (p.  53) 
— Avas  treated  Avith  something  very  like 
insolence  by  his  late  servant,  and  his  old 
comrades  Avere  told  that,  so  far  as  he 
Avas  concerned,  they  would  have  to  shift  for 
themselves.  For  after  first  agreeing  to  enter 
the  British  service,  and  then  changing  his 
mind,  only  finally  to  offer  his  services  once 
more  to  the  nation  which,  indeed,  he  had  at 
one  time  Avished  to  take  the  Equatorial  Pro- 
vince (p.  74),  he  accepted  a post  under  the  rival 
Germ  an  Administration  of  East  Africa.  This 
was  not  unnatural  considering  the  influence 
under  Avhich  Emin  noAv  fell;  but  this  last 
specimen  of  his  irresolution  and  ingratitude 
shut  the  mouths  of  his  friends  in  Britain. 

Then,  at  the  head  of  an  expedition— the  exact 
objects  of  which  have  never  been  explained 
- — he  set  off  for  the  region  from  Thelast 
Avhich,  according  to  his  gloss  of  the  travels  of 
story,  thus  briefly  recorded,  he  was  EminPasha- 
taken  by  Mr.  Stanley  so  entirely  against  his 
will.  Accompanied  for  part  of  the  journey 
by  Dr.  Stuhhnann,  he  reached  and  explored 
the  south  end  of  Lake  Albert  EdAvard,  the 
rivers  running  into  Avhich  flow  through  plains 
dotted  Avith  lofty  volcanic  cones — Kisigali, 
the  highest,  being  13,000  feet  above  the  sea — 


LAKE  ALBERT  EDWARD. 


69 


the  most  distant  of  them  (Yirunyo  Yiagongo)- 
being  reported  to  be  still  active.  The  whole 
region,  swarming  with  rhinoceroses,  affords  a 


it  varies  much  according  to  the  wetness  or 
dryness  of  the  season ; and  the  natives  de- 
clare, as  is  evident  from  the  flats  around 


MAP  SHOWING  THE  ZONES  OP  VEGETATION  IN  AFRICA.  (By  E.  G.  llarent/u  .,) 


splendid  field  for  future  exploration.  The  it  (p.  56),  that  Lake  Albert  Edward  is,  like 
most  southern  part  of  the  lake  lies  at  the  so  many  of  the  African  sheets  of  water, 
present  time  at  0C  45'  south  latitude,  but  gradually  diminishing  in  size. 


70 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


The  Semliki,  when  it  leaves  the  lake,  is 
known  as  the  Isango,  and  for  some  distance 
flows  amid  virgin  forests.  On  the  steppe 
beyond  the  forest,  elephants,  not  seen  since 
leaving  the  coast,  were  found — a proof  of 
the  rapidity  with  which  this  animal  is  dis- 
appearing. An  examination  of  Ruwenzori 
— the  splendid  Snowy  Mountain  at  the  base 
of  which  is  Karevia — occupied  some  of 
the  time  of  the  expedition.  The  follow- 

ing zones  of  vegetation  were  made  out : — 

(1)  bananas,  high  grasses,  3,850  to  5,350  feet; 

(2)  colocasia  and  beans  cultivated,  high  grass, 
upper  limit  of  settlements,  5,350  to  6,700  feet; 

(3)  deciduous  forest,  in  its  upper  part  heaths, 
mixed  with  bamboos,  6,700  to  8,530  feet; 

(4)  heath  forest,  with  bogs,  whortleberries,  8,530 
to  11,800  feet;  (5)  bushy  heath,  Rhynchopet- 
alum  (6,700  to  12,800  feet),  tree  ferns,  Senecio 
(10,200  to  12,500  feet),  Helichrysum,  a little 
grass  moss,  and  lichens,  11,800  to  12,500 
feet ; the  snow-line  commencing  at  about 
13,000  feet.  The  Lu  or  Lulu,  which  on  Mr. 
Stanley’s  map  is  traced  to  the  Ituri,  is  said 
to  flow  into  the  Semliki,  and  is  therefore 
a tributary  of  the  Nile.  In  this  region  the 
expedition  had,  like  their  predecessors,  to  en- 
counter some  of  Kabba  Rega’s  marauders-  At 
Kavalli’s  Emin  tried  to  persuade  his  former 
followers  to  join  him.  But  when  they  heard 
that  their  “ Mudir  ” had  entered  the  German 
service,  very  few  of  them  would  go  with 
him,  and  he  had  to  abandon  the  notion  of 
entering  the  Equatorial  Province. 

After  this  unsatisfactory  meeting  with 
his  old  soldiers,  Emin  and  his  companions 
explored  the  Wambuba  territory  into  the 
grass  region  of  Lendu,  and  finally  to  the  north 
through  a country  watered  by  numerous 
deeply-bedded  streams,  which  unite  to  form 
the  Abumbi,  an  important  source  of  the 
Ituri.  Finding  the  Momvu  country  laid  waste 
by  Manyema  slave-hunters,  they  were  forced 
to  turn  back,  in  spite  of  attractive  tales  of  the 
“ great  river  Tsili  ” three  days’  march  farther 
on,  of  the  district  of  Moba,  said  to  contain 
much  cattle,  and  then,  two  or  three  days  yet 
farther,  of  “ the  River  Andemari,”  which  must 


be  the  Bomokandi,  the  head-waters  of  which 
are  north  of  those  of  the  Ituri. 

The  return  journey  was  made  through 
Lenduland  to  the  slope  'of  the  table-land  of 
the  same  name,  and  then  south  until  the 
party  crossed  the  Duki  at  Bilippi,  and  Un- 
dusuma  was  again  reached  on  the  12th  of 
N o vember,  1891.  Here  the  caravan,  exhausted 
by  hunger,  wounds,  and  small-pox,  halted 
for  some  time.  It  may  be  remembered  that 
it  consisted,  besides  Emin’s  original  party,  of 
126  Soudanese,  including  women  and  children, 
who  were  among  the  people  who  had  joined 
their  old  master  at  Undusumar—  that  is  to  say, 
on  the  Lendu  table-land  close  to  Kavalli’s, 
near  Lake  Albert,  a rolling  upland  from  4,000 
to  5,000  feet  high,  with  rounded  hills  and  ridges 
rising  from  it,  with  very  steep  slopes  to  the 
east  and  west. 

Albert  Nyanza  was  found  to  have  con- 
tinued the  shrinking  formerly  noticed  ( Yol.  II., 
p.  137)  to  such  an  extent  that  Kassenya  and 
Nyamsasi  had  become,  peninsulas,  and  a 
number  of  sand-banks  had  made  their 
appearance.  It  was  also  found  that  the 
Semliki  flows  into  the  lake  much  farther  to 
the  west  than  is  shown  on  Stanley’s  map. 

By  this  time  the  caravan  was  in  a woful 
plight.  Emin’s  imperfect  eyesight  had  grown 
worse  and  worse,  until  he  was  almost  blind, 
and  his  people  were  in  a dreadful  condition 
from  small-pox.  They  therefore  decided  to 
remain  in  the  camp  at  Undusuma,  while  Dr. 
Stuhlmann  marched  on  to  Kinyawanga,  near 
the  left  bank  of  the  Semliki,  close  to  the  great 
forest,  and  almost  on  the  Equator,  there  'to 
await  Emiii’s  arrival.  No  tidings  of  the 
hapless  Pasha  being  obtainable  by  the  15th.  of 
January,  1892,  Dr.  Stuhlmann,  acting  on  his 
instructions,  pushed  on  as  fast  as  possible  in 
the  direction  of  Bukoba,  which  was  reached  a 
month  later  by  the  south  end  of  Lake  Albert 
Edward,  and  a southerly  and  more  difficult 
route  than  on  the  outward  journey. 

Bantu  tribes,  distinguished  by  filing  their 
teeth  to  a point,  inhabit  the  country  as  far  north 
as  the  Ituri  river.  Non-Bantus,  or  “ negroes  ” 
proper,  occupy  a still  larger  area,  under  many 


EMIN  PASHA. 


71 


tribal  names.  Finally,  the  Pigmies  inhabit  the 
forests  of  the  Upper  Ituri  and  to  the  south 
or  west  of  the  Wakonjo,  under  the  various 
names  of  Efe  (Walese  and  Momvu),  Baiswa 
(Wavera),  Akka  (Walumbi),  Watua  (Wanyoro), 
Wasumbo  (Wakonjo),  as  well  as  Wambutti, 
etc.*  Thus  Emin’s  later  work  as  an  explorer 
was  more  important  than  any  in  his  long 
previous  career.  But  since  that  date  no 
accurate  tidings  have  been  obtained  regarding 
him.  He  became,  indeed,  almost  as  sore  a 
trouble  to  his  new  masters  as  he  had  been  to 
Mr.  Stanley. 

Vague  tales  reached  us  of  the  Pasha,  blind 
and  weary,  wandering  about  with  the  remnant 
of  his  force,  making  his  way  westward  to  the 
Congo  or  the  Camefoons.  But  more  likely 
information  affirmed  that  on  the  9th  of  March, 
1892 — so  ran  the  tidings  brought  by  Arwad 
Effendi,  one  of  the  Kavalli  people  who  had 
joined  him — Emin  marched  in  the  direction  of 
the  west  coast,  after  having  concluded  blood- 
brotherhood  with  an  Arab  named  Bivana. 
On  the  same  day  Arwad  left  him  to  return 
to  Kampala,  and  stayed  twenty-eight  days 
with  Ivituntzi,  a potentate  of  higher  rank 
than  the  chieftain  Kavalli.  On  the  1st  of 
April  he  received  from  a brother  of  Masarn- 
boni,  known  from  Stanley’s  description  (p.  33), 
news  that  some  Manyemas,  who  had  bought 
ivory  in  his  village,  had  stated  that  the  Pasha 
and  all  his  people  had  been  murdered  and 
eaten  by  Manyemas  “under  Ismail,  a Vali  of 
Seyid  bin  Abid.”  The  same  news  reached  the 
Tanganyika  missionaries,  though  the  dates 
differed.  One  of  the  accounts  indicates  the 
murder  as  having  taken  place  as  late  as  Feb- 
ruary 26th,  1893,  while  information  obtained 
by  theC'ongo  State  expedition  against X y angwe 
fixes  the  place  of  the  tragedy  near  the  Lua- 
laba  River,  between  Tanganyika  and  Xyangwe. 

In  short,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
results  of  Mr.  Stanley’s  expedition  for  “the 
quest  and  rescue”  of  Emin  Pasha  was  the 
complete  change  which  popular  opinion  as  to 

* Stuhlmann,  Petermann’s  Geographische  Mitthcilun- 
ncii,  June,  1892  ; Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  August,  1892  (with  map). 


this  famous  man  underwent.  Instead  of 
being  distinguished  by  firmness,  he  proved 
himself  a miracle  of  irresolution ; and,  in 
lieu  of  an  honest  German,  frank  and  straight- 
forward, all  the  facts  which  we  possess  regard- 
ing the  late  Governor  of  the  Equatorial  Pro- 
vince compel  us  to  accept  in  his  place  a man 
who,  if  originally  permeated  by  a strain  of 
Teutonic  truthfulness,  must,  during  his  long 
residence  with  Orientals,  have  imbibed  some- 
thing of  their  duplicity  and  a great  deal  of 
their  desire  to  say  to  everyone  what  may 
please  him  best.  Indeed,  if  we  are  to  believe 
Romolo  Gessi,  Emin  was  never  much  better ; 
for  that  outspoken  Italian  described  him  in 
1880  as  “full-  of  deceit,  and  without  char- 
acter— pretentious,  jealous;  a German  Jew, 
he  passes  for  a Turk ; a hypocritical  person, 
ridiculously  complimentary  and  cringing  in 
his  manner,  and  capable  of  deceiving  the 
acutest  man  in  the  world.”  It  was  this  sub- 
servience and  readiness  to  obey  orders  with- 
out showing  any  outward  sign  of  offence  for 
plain  language  that  won  Gordon’s  favour  in  a 
country  where  capable  men  were  few  and 
every  man  liked  to  be  master.  When  Vakeel  at 
Lado  under  Gessi,  then  Governor  of  Bahr-el- 
Ghazel,  the  Egyptian  officers  laughed  at  him 
for  his  exaggerated  affectation  of  being  a 
Mussulman.  The  demoralisation  in  his  pro- 
vince reached  such  a point  that  he  was 
reprimanded  for  permitting  the  most  out- 
rageous abuses,  lest  he  might,  as-  a suspected 
Christian,  be  blamed  for  punishing  Moham- 
medans. Capital  punishment  was  unknown 
(p.  51).  An  officer  murdered  four  natives 
with  impunity,  and  another  fiend  bound  a 
female  slave  to  a tree,  smeared  her  with 
honey,  and  left  her  to  be  eaten  alive  by 
flies  and  ants.  Yet,  as  it  was  not  fitting  that 
the  life  of  a Mussulman  should  be  sacri- 
ficed for  having  killed  a few  unbelieving 
savages,  Emin  quashed  all  inquiry.  In  short, 
his  abilities  as  a linguist  were  amazing ; his 
theoretical  notions  of  government  good,  but 
his  practice  was  deplorable  : he  was  physically 
courageous,  but  morally  a coward. 

Mr.  Stanley’s  reception  in  England  was  like 


72 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


the  progress  of  a Royal  personage.  City  after 
city  conferred  its  freedom  upon  him.  One 
learned  society  after  another  enrolled  him 
among  its  honorary  members,  and  four  uni- 
versities dubbed  him  doctor.  After  being 
the  guest  of  municipalities,  kings,  and  great 
private  persons,  his  triumph  was  fittingly 
ended  by  his  marriage  in  W estminster  Abbey. 
The  prince — as  always  happens  in  the  fairy- 
tales— wedded  the  princess,  and  it  is  the  hope 
of  unnumbered  admirers  that  they  may  live 


AKKA  GIRL. 

( From  a Photograph  by  It.  Buchta.) 


happy  all  their  days — but  not  in  Africa.  It 
has,  however,  always  been  the  fortune  of 
The  after  Mr.  Stanley,  on  returning  from  his 
math  of  con-  African  adventures,  to  be  assailed 
troversy.  a iegion  0f  rancorous  critics. 

The  publication  of  the  narrative  of  this 
expedition  was  the  signal  for  that  after- 
math  of  adverse  opinion  to  be  reaped.  In- 
deed, so  long  and  so  bitterly  did  the  contro- 
versy regarding  certain  crucial  questions  dis- 
cussed in  the  pages  of  these  volumes  rage, 
that  the  literature  of  the  Stanley  expedition 
before  many  months  grew  into  a little  library. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  rehearse  the  points 
then  at  stake.  Most  of  them  have  already 


been  settled  or  have  been  incidentally  dis- 
missed in  the  course  of  the  preceding  pages. 
However,  it  is  essential  for  the  completion  of 
this  brief  history  that  one  or  two  of  the  more 
prominent  should  receive  some  notice  before 
we  close  this  chapter.  It  may  be  remembered 
that  when  Mr.  Stanley  returned  from  his 
expedition  in  search  of  Livingstone,  the  chief 
place  where  he  laid  himself  open  to  attack 
was  in  the  acridity  with  which  he  assailed 
the  reputation  of  those  differing  from  him. 
On  this  occasion  the  somewhat  ungenerous 
treatment  which  he  bestowed  on  the  memory 
of  Major  Barttelot  roused  the  friends  of  that 
officer  to  combat.  This  we  have  already 
touched  upon. 

A question  of  still  wider  import  was  Mr. 
Stanley’s  treatment  of  the  natives  through 
whose  country  he  had  been  marching.  After 
his  famous  descent  of  the  Congo  in  1877,  it 
was  affirmed  by  the  critics  of  his  conduct  on 
that  expedition  that  by  his  slaughter  of  the 
natives  on  the  river-bank  he  had  introduced 
a “ revolverism  ” into  African  exploration 
which  would  be  bitterly  paid  for  by  those  who 
Avere  so  unfortunate  as  to  follow  in  his  steps. 
This,  however,  Avas  not  the  case : the  savages 
Avere  taught  a lesson.  Again,  on  his  return 
from  the  Emin  Pasha  expedition,  it  was 
pointed  out  that  no  traveller  had  ever  entered 
Africa  Avith  so  many  followers  and  no  one 
had  ever  left  it  with  so  few.  The  distinguished 
traveller  was  not  only  blamed  for  the  careless- 
ness with  which  he  treated  the  lives  of  his  OAvn 
companions,  but  he  was  loudly  stigmatised 
as  a “ filibuster,”  Avho  had  marched,  shoot- 
ing and  hanging,  through  the  territories  of 
independent  princes,  and,  Avhat  Avas  still  more 
serious,  through  territories  under  the  control 
of  the  Congo  Free  State  and  of  the  East 
Africa  Company. 

It  is  impossible  to  deny  that  Mr.  Stanley’s 
progress  had  been  attended  with  heavy 
loss  of  life,  and  that  some  of  his  proceedings 
might  be  described  as  high-handed.  But  it 
must  be  remembered  that  no  commander,  no 
matter  how  philanthropic,  can  be  responsible 
for  the  climate  or  for  diseases  which  dog  his 


CONTROVERSY  AND  CB'TlClt'M. 


73 


steps,  and  that  it  would  have  been  both  fool- 
ish and  tiendish  recklessly  to  throw  away  the 
lives  of  any  of  his  party  and  thus  leave  his 
expedition  stranded  in  the  midst  of  a savage 
waste.  Nor  could  it  be  expected  that  any 
men  endowed  with  the  most  ordinary  sense 


exploration,  travellers  passed  and  repassed 
through  the  midst  of  the  wildest  tribes- 
men without  lifting  their  hand  or  having  a 
hand  raised  against  them.  The  long  list  of 
explorers  who  have  fallen  before  finishing 
their  allotted  work  is  the  best  answer  to  this 


GRAVK  OF  CAPTAIN  NELSON  AT  KIKIYU  (p.  75). 


of  self-preservation  would  calmly  hold  their 
hands  while  their  savage  enemies  were  assail- 
ing them  with  poisoned  arrows,  assegais,  and 
other  weapons.  If  there  was  to  be  a reign  of 
peace,  it  was  for  messieurs  les  sauvciges  to 
begin.  Nor  is  it  quite  correct  to  affirm,  as 
has  been  done  more  than  once,  that,  previous 
to  Mr.  Stanley’s  advent  on  the  field  of  African 


assertion.  In  the  course  of  these  pages  we  have 
had  again  and  again  to  record  the  death  of 
eminent  travellers,  from  the  days  of  Mungo 
Park  downwards,  besides  the  hostile  treatment 
in  the  aborigines’  country  of  other  explorers 
more  fortunate  in  returning  alive.  Even  the 
title  of  Mr.  Stanley’s  narrative  was  as  sug- 
gestive of  strictures  as  that  of  his  earlier 


74 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


volume  (VoL  II,  p.  260);  for  there  could  be 
no  “quest”  for  a man  whose  whereabouts 
was  never  in  doubt,  while  Emin,  not  with- 
out reason,  loudly  protested  against  his 
return  to  the  coast  being  regarded  as  akin 
to  a “ rescue  and  retreat.” 

Lastly,  among  the  other  charges  brought, 
not  so  much  against  Mr.  Stanley  himself  as 
against  the  promoters  of  the  expedition 
which  he  had  commanded,  was  that,  under 
the  guise  of  philanthropy,  it  had  been  sent 
less  to  succour  Emin  Pasha,  or  to  rescue 
his  forces  from  the  thrall  of  the  Mahdists, 
than  to  secure  his  services  for  the 
British  Imperial  East  Africa  Company.  It 
is  undeniable  that  the  rescue  expedition  was 
organised,  and  in  the  main  supported,  by 
those  who,  a few  months  later,  became  the 
leading  members  of  this  corporation,  and  that 
among  the  proposals  Mr.  Stanley  laid  before 
Emin  Pasha  was — if  he  did  not  choose  to 
return  to  Egypt,  there  to  await  the  orders  of 
the  Khedive — that  a post  would  be  provided 
for  him  as  an  official  of  the  East  Africa 
Company.  The  King  of  the  Belgians  had 
also  offered  Emin  a similar  position  for  the 
purpose  of  preserving  the  continuity  of  his 
labours  in  the  Equatorial  Province,  and,  by 
temporarily  administering  it  under  the  flag 
of  the  Congo  Free  State,  to  prevent  the  work 
of  civilisation  reared  by  Emin  from  falling  to 
wreck  and  ruin  should  he  leave  the  country 
to  itself.  But  the  proposal  to  enter  the  ser- 
vice of  the  East  Africa  Company,  Mr.  Stan- 
ley declares,  was  entirely  on  his  own  initiative ; 
that  he  had  no  mandate  from  the  Company  to 
make  any  such  offer,  though,  at  the  same  time, 
he  had  no  doubt  that,  when  the  facts  of  the 
case  were  communicated  to  the  directors, 
they  would  acquiesce  in  what  he  had 
done  on  their  behalf.  Emin,  on  the  other 
hand,  if  we  may  believe  the  conversations 
reported  by  his  German  friends,  received 
offers  more  positive  than  those  Mr.  Stanley 
admits  to  have  laid  before  him.  Indeed, 
so  far  from  acting  on  his  own  initiative, 
the  commander  of  the  Belief  Expedition, 
according  to  this  account,  brought  with  him 


from  London  an  agreement  signed  by  the 
founders  of  the  British  East  Africa  Company, 
officially  drawn  up  and  with  seals  attached, 
at  the  foot  of  which  agreement  Emin  had  only 
to  sign  his  name  to  conclude  the  bargain. 
Mr.  Stanley,  if  we  are  to  credit  this  story 
— and  the  only  facts  before  us  are  the 
rival  assertions  of  the  different  parties  con- 
cerned— suggested  that  Emin  should  march 
with  all  his  troops  round  Victoria  Nyanza 
to  Kavirondo.  There  they  would  seek  out  a 
suitable  island,  on  which  the  force  could  in- 
trench itself.  Then  the  commander  of  the 
rescue  expedition  would  hasten  back  to 
Mombasa  to  bring  up  reinforcements.  Every 
one  of  Emin  Pasha’s  officers  and  men  would, 
on  entering  the  service  of  the  British  East 
Africa  Company,  receive  the  same  pay  as 
he  had  had  from  the  Egyptian  Government, 
Emin’s  own  stipend  being  the  subject  of 
future  negotiations  with  the  directors  of  the 
Company.  It  would  seem  from  Emin’s  fretful 
complaints  that  it  was  his  intention  to  accept 
this  offer : for  in  his  conversation  with  Dr. 
Peters  he  declares  that  when  they  arrived 
upon  the  shores  of  Victoria  Nyanza  Mr. 
Stanley  suddenly  found  that  he  did  not 
care  to  march  as  far  as  Kavirondo,  from 
whence,  as  had  been  expressly  agreed,  Emin 
was  to  conquer  the  territory  of  Unyoro  and 
Uganda  with  the  reinforcements  Stanley  was 
to  bring  up.  On  the  contrary,  the  latter  sud- 
denly declared  that  Emin  must  go  with  him 
to  the  coast  to  complete  the  affair  they 
had  partly  discussed.  He  said  that,  without 
the  express  command  of  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land, he  could  not  mix  himself  up  with 
troubles  in  Uganda.  “ In  this  manner  ” — we 
are  quoting  the  report  of  a conversation  Emin 
is  affirmed  to  have  had  with  Dr.  Peters  at 
Mpwapwa — “ I have  been  compelled  to  march 
with  him  to  the  coast,  whereas  originally 
the  question  was  only  that  of  the  transfer  of 
my  capital  from  take  Albert  to  Lake  Vic- 
toria.” So  far  there  is  no  great  clashing  of 
evidence  between  the  witnesses  before  us,  the 
main  difficulty  being  that  while  Mr.  Stanley 
asserts  that,  in  making  this  offer  to  Emin,  he 


THE  LATEST  OF  EQUATORIA. 


75 


was  acting  on  his  own  responsibility,  Emin 
is  quite  as  positive  in  saying  that  he  was 
merely  carrying  out  the  plans  formed  by  the 
founders  of  the  East  Africa  Company  before 
the  so-called  Relief  Expedition  had  left  Eng- 
land. Nor,  if  Emin’s  conversation  was  not  the 
outcome  of  a serious  misunderstanding,  does 
Mr.  Stanley  explain  in  his  narrative  the 
reasons  why  he  departed  from  the  arrangement 
he  had  entered  into  with  the  Pasha,  and  com- 
pelled him  to  leave  a region  in  which  it  was  the 
sole  desire  of  his  life  he  should  be  permitted 
to  remain  and,  as  far  as  possible,  carry  on 
the  work  of  civilisation  he  had  so  vigorously 
begun.  The  rest  we  know  (pp.  67-71).  It  may 
be  added  that  about  the  last  glimpse  we  had 
of  Emin  Pasha  was  when  Captain  Lugard, 
hearing  of  him  wandering  about  in  search  of 
his  scattered  forces  on  the  shores  of  Albert 
Nyanza,  sent  him  a letter,  which  in  all 
likelihood  was  never  delivered,  protesting 
against  his  encroachment  with  armed  men 
on  territory  under  the  British  flag,  and,  as 
the  natives  declared,  planting  the  ensign  of 
German  authority  at  Ruwenzori,  which  showed 
that,  even  as  an  official  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment, Emin  acted  with  as  free  a hand  as  not 
unlikely  he  would  have  acted  had  he  been 
enrolled  in  the  British  service.  Lastly,  to 
complete  this  extraordinary  comedy  of  ei’rors 
— which  was  not  without  a tragic  touch — 
Mr.  Stanley  entered  an  action  against  Tippoo 
Tib  for  not  doing,  in  his  capacity  of  a 
Christian  Governor,  what  few  people  ever 
imagined  the  Moslem  slave-trader  would 
attempt. 

After  Mr.  Stanley’s  return  he  took  unto 
himself  a wife,  as  we  have  seen,  and,  for  the 
time  at  least,  occupied  himself  in  politics  and 
other  fields  of  interest.  But  three  members 
of  his  party  did  not  long  survive  the  expedi- 
tion. Dr.  Parke  died  on  the  10th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1893,  while  on  a visit  to  the  Duke  of 
St.  Albans,  at  Altnacraig,  near  Ardrishaig. 
Lieutenant  Stairs,  after  again  rejoining  the 
army — exchanging  from  the  Engineers  to  the 
Line — so  wearied  for  Africa  that  he  took  the 
command  of  an  expedition  sent  for  commercial 


purposes  into  the  Katanga  country,  and,  un- 
happily, died  of  fever  on  the  8th  of  June, 
1892,  at  Chinde,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Zambesi,  while  on  his  way  home  from  that 
successful  mission.*  Captain  Nelson  also  soon 
found  his  way  back  to  East  Africa  as  an 
official  of  the  British  East  Africa  Company, 
but  died  of  an  attack  of  dysentery  caught 
in  Kikiyu,  on  the  26th  of  December,  1892 
(p.  73). 

What  became  of  Emin’s  Province-"  after  it 
had  been  deserted  by  all  the  even  moderately 
loyal  portion  of  his  troops  can 
only  be  conjectured.  Fadl  el  £$uatori£f 
Mullah  was  said  to  have  made 
common  cause  at  Wadelai  with  the  Mahdists 
in  Makaraka.  The  steamers  were  sunk  and 
the  country  of  the  Lur  was  wasted  and  the 
inhabitants  were  harassed  by  slave-raiders  from 
the  Congo  country. 

Vague  rumours — originated  how,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say,  though,  as  a rule,  these  echoes 
from  the  Soudan  have  generally  some  bases 
of  truth — reached  Egypt  that  Captain  Van 
den  Kerckhoven  (afterwards  accidentally 
killed),  in  command  of  one  of  the  posts  of  the 
Congo  Free  State,  which  in  1891  started  for 
the  purpose  of  reaching  the  Upper  Nile,  most 
likely  by  the  route  that  Mr.  Stanley  took, 
arrived  at  Emin’s  old  station  at  Lado,  and 
there,  -with  a considerable  force — variously 
estimated  at  from  3,000  to  5,000 — intrenched 
himself,  and  gained  some  successes  over  the 
Mahdists  sent  to  attack  him  in  force.  But 
though  strange  tidings  may  be  expected  from 
that  region  at  any  moment,  there  is  not,  at 
present,  any  means  of  refuting  or  confirming 
this  last  development  of  the  story  of  Equatoria. 
The  chances  are  that  the  Mahdists,  with  no 
one  to  oppose  them,  at  once  took  possession 
of  all  the  remnants  of  civilisation  deserted 
by  Emin  and  his  officers,  and  became,  so 
far  as  such  a barbarous  horde  possesses  any 
solidarity,  masters  of  most  of  Equatoria,  as 
they  have  been  of  the  other  Egyptian  pro- 
vinces in  the  Soudan. 

How  long  this  could  continue  was  doubtful, 

* Moloney,  “ With  Captain  Stairs  in  Katanga  ” (1893). 


76 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


for  not  only  did  the  Mahdists  split  up  into 
rival  fragments,  but  the  sect  of  the  Senoussi, 
more  fanatical  even  than  the  Mahdists, 
though  not  the  less  unfriendly  towards  their 
co-religionists,  were  pressing  on  them  from 
the  Sahara  desert.  Still  more  recently,  a 
rival  Mahdi  arose  in  Kordofan,  and  was  said 
to  have  attracted  many  of  the  old  Mahdists, 
among  others  the  troops  sent  against  him. 
Therefore  anarchy,  in  which  a civilised  force 
was  easily  to  make  itself  master,  was  not  far 
off* 

Mr.  Stanley’s  march  from  the  Congo  to 
Bagamoyo  was  the  last  of  the  great  journeys 
across  Africa.  In  all  likelihood  it 
jouraeyS  will  be  the  last  journey  of  the  kind 
likely  to  invite  the  energy  of 
explorers ; for  now  all  the  great  routes  from 
sea  to  sea  have  been  so  often  traversed  that 
no  district  of  sufficient  extent  to  contain  any 
large  lake  or  important  river  is  left  for  the 

* The  final  re-conquest  of  this  district  is  noticed  in  the 
Appendix  to  Vol.  IV. 


exploration  of  future  travellers.  Indeed,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  numerous  picturesque 
incidents  connected  with  Mr.  Stanley’s  last 
tramp  across  Africa,  as  a mere  crossing  of  the 
continent  it  would  have  excited  comparatively 
little  attention.  Actually  at  the  same  time 
that  he  was  marching  from  the  Upper  Congo 
to  Albert  Nyanza,  a Frenchman,  Captain 
E.  Trivier,  was  passing  from  Loango,  through 
French  Congo  and  up  the  river  by  a well- 
known  route,  to  Tanganyika  and  thence  by 
Nyassa  to  Quilimane,  which  he  reached  in 
the  end  of  1889,  having  taken  just  about  a 
year  on  the  journey.  It  is,  however,  not 
necessary  to  occupy  much  space  with  a nar- 
rative of  this  officer’s  experiences ; for  in  reality, 
with  the  exception  of  a few  patches  here  and 
there,  he  journeyed  over  or  in  the  vicinity  of 
regions  familiar  from  the  explorations  of  earlier 
and  more  unfortunate  travellers,  f Captain 
Trivier’s  trip  was  a mere  African  tour  of  no 
importance  geographically. 

t Trivier,  “Mon  Voyage  au  Continent  Noir  ” (1891) 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Sahara  : its  Exploration  and  its  Exploitation. 

Tlie  International  Travellers — The  Sahara  Area — Erroneous  Notions  of  its  Nature — French  Work  in  Making  it 
Better  Known — Varied  Character  of  Africa — The  Different  Divisions  of  the  Sahara — The  Erg — Ahaggar — 
Hamada — Oases — Caravans — Inaccurate  Pictures  of  the  Desert — -Not  the  Bottom  of  an  Ancient  Sea — Desicca- 
tion since  the  Roman  Period — Microscopic  Appearance  of  the  Sand — A Saharan  Volcano — Underground 
Water — Bahrs  or  Gouffres — Ziban  and  Other  Artificial  Oases— Artificial  Wells — Origin  of  the  Saharan 
Sand  — Unequal  Temperature  — Sand-storms  — Saharan  Sand  in  the  Atlantic —Locusts — Perils  of  Caravans 
from  these — Plants  and  Animals — Inhabitants — Touaregs — Arabs  — Tibboos — Jews  — Products — Caravan 
Routes  — Explorers  — Rohlfs,  Douls,  and  Others  — "Inland  Seas  ' — Shotts — Artesian  Wells  of  Sahara — 
French  Colonial  Aims — The  Trans-Saharan  Railway — Flatters’  Expedition — Its  Massacre  by  the  Touaregs — 
Rolland's  Labours — Renewal  of  the  Work — Oases  and  the  Date  Palm — More  Railway  Surveys — Wargla — 
Traffic— Soudan  Resources — -i  Armed  Brethren  of  the  Sahara  ” — French  Rule  and  its  Effect — Rapid  Pro- 
gress of  French  Influence. 


Shortly  before  Mr.  Stanley  started  on  his 
latest  expedition,  a Russo-German  traveller, 
Dr.  Junker,  had  left  the  Pasha  in  order  to 
reach  the  coast  by  a journey  through  Uganda 
(p.  27) ; and  it  may  be  remembered  that 
among  those  who  came  from  Equatoria  with 
Emin  was  Major  Casati,  an  Italian  officer 
who  had  for  ten  years  been  sharing  the 
fortunes  of  the  beleaguered  Governor.  In  the 
course  of  Mr.  Stanley’s  journey,  also,  he  nc  t 
infrequently  either  came  in  contact  with  or 
heard  of  travellers  belonging  to  different 


nationalities  engaged  in  the  exploration  of 
Africa.  These  explorers  may  be  termed 
members  of  the  International  Corps ; for 
they  had  entered  Africa  by  arrangement 
between  different  European  countries.  What 
part  remained  to  be  explored  in  the  Dark 
Continent  was  to  be  allotted  to  the  expeditions 
organised  under  international  auspices.  The 
only  work  that  these  explorers  had  left  them 
to  perform  was  really  to  fill  in  the  blanks  in 
the  labours  of  their  predecessors. 

Before  Africa  -attracted  the  great  attention 


78 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


that  it  has  done  during  the  last  twenty  years, 
nearly  all  of  the  leading  problems  of  its 
geography  had  been  almost  completely  solved. 
However,  the  new  travellers  who  began  the 
work  which  is  now  nearly  finished  were,  as  a 
rule — if  occasionally  little  fitted  by  physique 
for  the  duties  they  had  undertaken — men  of 
scientific  accomplishments  far  beyond  those 
of  most  of  their  predecessors.  Hence  their 
expeditions,  'if  not  of  the  first  moment 
geographically,  have  added  not  a little  to 
ojur  minute  acquaintance  with  the  plants, 
animals,  geology,  and 
ethnology  of  the  country. 

But  before  sketching 
the  main  facts  ascer- 
tained by  those  inter- 
national explorers,  it 
may  be  useful  if  we 
turn  for  a brief  space 

to  the  vast 
The  Sahara.  . 

dry  country 

in  the  north  of  Africa, 
along  the  borders  or 
even  through  the  centre 
of  which  some  of  the 
earlier  travellers  pene- 
trated. This  is  the 
well-known  Sahara.  We 
say  well-known,  because 
it  was  one  of  the  earliest 
portions  of  Africa  that 
attracted  the  attention 
of  the  world,  and,  until 
recently,  was  regarded  as  a typical  section 
of  that  continent.  But  even  the  Sahara  has 
of  late  yielded  up  secrets  which  the  early 
geographers  little  suspected.  They  generally 
believed  that  it  was  a vast  sandy  waste, 
the  bed  of  some  ancient  dried-up  sea  that 
stretched  from  one  side  of  Africa  to  the 
other.  In  reality  it  has  been  found,  since 
the  explorations  of  the  Sahara  have  been 
carried  on  with  the  earnestness  of  the  last 
few  years,  that  this  rainless  expanse  is  in  few 
places  below  the  level  of  the  Atlantic  ; that 
the  greater  portion  of  it  is  not  covered  with 
sand,  but  is  stony  waste,  and  that  sometimes 


it  rises  to  the  height  of  considerable  hills, 
and  in  one  spot,  at  least,  into  mountains 
attaining  an  altitude  of  8,000  feet. 

Still  more  recently  the  energetic  efforts 
of  the  French  Government  to  unite  their 
colonies  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa  with 
those  in  the  northern  part  of  it  have  led  to 
surveys  being  made  across  this  barren  stretch 
with  the  purpose  of-building  a light,  railway 
which  will  connect  Algeria  and  Tunis  with 
Timbuctoo — now  “ within  the  sphere  ” of 
French  influence — or  some  other, commercial 
centre,  with  branches  to 
the  Atlantic.  These  in- 
teresting aspirations 

have  vastly  increased 
our  knowledge  of  the 
Sahara  ; so  that  a brief 
sketch  of  what  has 
been  accomplished  may 
form  a useful  interlude 
to  the  travels  of  African 
pioneers  in  the  wetter 
and  more  umbrageous 
regions  farther  south. 
This  will,  at  least,  show 
how  varied  Varied 

Africa  is.  A character  of 
, , Africa, 

traveller 

whose  acquaintance  with 
the  vast  continent  is 

limited,  let  us  say,  to 
Morocco  and  Algeria 
will  see  little  in  this 

comparatively  fertile  region  differing  from 

the  neighbouring  countries  of  Europe.  In- 
deed, in  riding  through  some  of  the  valleys 
of  Northern  Africa,  it  is  only  an  occasional 
palm-tree  shading  the  white  tomb  of  a 
holy  marabout,  or  a clump  of  palmetto, 

among  which  the  tortoises  squeak  uninter- 
mittently,  or  a long  string  of  camels,  with 
their  turbaned  drivers,  that  recalls  the  fact 
that  one  is  not  in  some  of  the  valleys  of 
southern  Scotland. 

Across  the  Atlas,  however,  we  enter  an 
entirely  different  region,  the  area  we  are 
now  about  to  describe ; and,  as  we  have  seen, 


BERBER  TYPE. 


THE  GREAT  DESERT. 


79 


this  dry  section  graduates  into  the  wetter 
tropics,  where  we  have  almost  to  bore  our  way 
through  dense  forests  of  tangled  vegetation. 
Again,  on  approaching  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  continent,  we  are  in  another  region, 
not  throughout  so  dry  as  the  Sahara,  but  less 
rainy  than  the  country  we  have  just  left,  and 
here  and  there  dotted  with  deserts  which 
in  their  appalling  barrenness  may  well  be 
compared  with  the  arid  track  to  which  even 
the  Arabs,  familiar  as  they  are  with  barren 
lands,  have  applied  the  name  of  “ Zahra,”  or 
desert. 

Africa  is,  indeed,  a country  in  geographical 
features  very  different  from  Europe,  and,  by 
contrast,  scarcely  less  remarkable  than  Asia 
or  America,  with  this  distinction,  that  the 
alternation  of  desert  and  fertile  plain,  steam- 
ing forest  and  dry  upland,  is  more  sudden 
than  in  any  of  the  continents  mentioned.  In 
short,  as  Sir.  Stanley  remarks,  in  criticising 
some  descriptions  of  Africa  written  by  travel- 
lers whose  experience  of  the  continent  was 
limited  to  only  a small  section  of  it,  the 
man  who  knows  Nyassaland  alone  has  a 
personal  acquaintance  alone  with  Nyassaland. 
Nor  can  we  call  the  wilderness  of  Masai- 
land,  or  the  scrub-covered  deserts  of  Kala- 
hari, or  the  grass  land  of  Usukuma,  or  the 
thin  forests  of  Unyamwezi,  or  the  ochreous 
acacia-covered  area  of  Ugogo,  anything  but 
sections  of  a continent  that  is  made  up  of 
many  zones.  Africa,  as  the  explorer  who  knows 
it  so  well  reminds  us,  is  about  three  times 
greater  than  Europe  in  its  extent,  and  its 
topography  is,  unfortunately,  more  varied. 
In  the  Sahara,  for  instance,  there  are  deserts 
of  deserts.  In  Masailand  and  parts  of  South 
Africa  you  have  counterparts  of  the  steppes 
of  eastern  Russia,  and  the  Castilian  uplands 
are  well  represented  in  Unyamwezi  and  parts 
of  Barbary.  The  best  part  of  France  finds 
a fitting  counterpart  in  Egypt,  while  the 
Switzerland  of  Africa  may,  without  stretch 
of  language,  be  pointed  out  as  existing  in 
Ukonga  and  Toro,  the  Alps  being  Ruwen- 
zori,  Kilimanjaro,  and  Kenia.  Finally,  there 
is  an  African  Brazil  in  the  Congo  basin, 


and  an  African  Amazon  in  the  Congo  river, 
the  immense  forests  of  the  great  American 
flood  being  rivalled  by  the  central  African 
jungles  through  which  the  relief  expedition 
to  Emin  Pasha  marched  for  so  many  days 
(p.  32,  and  Map,  p.  69),  the  entire  area  of  this 
dense  tree-covered  track  being  estimated  by 
the  pioneers  who  first  entered  it  at  upwards 
of  400,000  square  miles. 

The  Sahara  may,  in  general  terms,  be  said 
to  stretch  right  across  Africa  in  the  shape  of 
an  arid  belt ; for,  though  the  Libyan 
desert  (pp.  85,  89,  92,  93),  lying  g£2to£r 
between  Egypt,  the  Central  Soudan,  jj*j|  ^ara : 
and  Tripoli,  is  sometimes  regarded 
as  a separate  division,  it  is,  in  reality,  only  a 
smaller  detached  portion  of  the  vast  tract  we 
are  describing.  The  old  opinion  that  the 
Sahara  was*  one  unbroken  expanse  of  drifting 
sand  was  no  doubt  derived  by  glimpses  ob- 
tained of  it  on  the  Atlantic  shore,  where  a 
vast  semicircle  of  sand-hills  stretches  from 
Cape  Blanco  round  the  northern  side  of  the 
Sahara  to  Fezzan,  skirting  the  Atlas  and  the 
mountains  of  Algeria.  These  “ dunes  ” rise  to 
a height  of  from  70  to  even  1,000  feet ; but  as 
they  are  subject  to  be  broken  up  and  rebuilt 
by  the  desert  winds,  they  vary  both  in 
position  and  altitude.  They  are  composed 
of  quartz-sand,  reddish-brown  in  colour,  and 
though  naturally  entirely  without  water,  the 
fact  of  a few  plants  maintaining  a stunted 
existence  in  the  more  sheltered  places  proves 
that  at  times  showers  of  rain  refresh  the 
surface  ; and  it  is  seldom  that  a well  sunk  for 
a few  feet  in  one  of  the  hollows  does  not 
reach  a small  accumulation  of  water.  This 
dreaded  country  of  sand-hills  is  known  to  the 
Arabs  as  the  “ Erg,”  or  “ Areg.” 

On  the  other  side  of  it  is  the  lofty  plateau 
of  Ahaggar,  which  constitutes  the  middle  part 
of  the  Soudan,  and,  so  far  from 
carrying  out  the  popular  notion  plateau, 
of  the  Sahara,  rises  to  an  average 
height  of  4,000  feet,  where  the  winters  are 
so  severe  that  for  three  months  at  a time 
snow  whitens  the  surfaces  of  this  portion  of 
the  desert.  From  this  section  the  country 


80 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA 


falls  gently  towards  the  basin  of  the  Niger 
and  Lake  Tchad,  though  Mount  Tusside,  in 
the  Tibboo  country,  attains  a height  of 
8,000  feet,  and  the  oasis  of  Air,  or  Asben,  is 
in  reality  a clump  of  hills  which,  in  one 
place  at  least,  attain  a height  of  6,500  feet. 

These  hilly  portions  of  the  Soudan  are 
hollowed  -into  many  deep  valleys,  seamed 
with  the  dry  beds,  or  “ wadys,”  of  ancient 
rivers,  which,  though  empty  for  the  greater 


ARAB  TRIBESMAN. 


part  of  the  year,  and  sometimes  for  years 
together,  will  occasionally  after  heavy  rains  or 
the  melting  of  the  upland  snows  course  in  a 
foaming  current  towards  the  “ shotts,”  or  salt 
lakes  without  outlet,  which  form  so  remark- 
able a feature  in  the  geography  of  Tunisia 
and  the  neighbouring  region.  Even  the  Draa, 
except  when  the  Atlas  snows  are  melting, 
seldom  sends  its  waters  to  the  sea.  These 
valleys  are  nearly  all  inhabited,  for  if  water 
is  not  found  on  the  surface  or  in  the  water- 
courses, enough  can  easily  be  obtained  for 
the  sheep,  cattle,  camels,  and  horses  of  the 
wandering  tribesmen  by  sinking  shallow  wells. 


The  Hamada  is  another  variety  of  Sa- 
haran surface.  It  consists  of  low  plateaux, 
strewn  with  blocks  of  granite  and 
other  rocks,  alternating  with  tracts  Ida.'or^eie- 

of  bare  sand,  broad  marshes  7ated  stony 
. pi  tracts, 

covered  with  thm  layers  of  salt,  or 

of  flats  littered  with  small  rounded  stones. 
These  Hamadas  are  invariably  barren,  and, 
unless  where  wells  exist,  are  uninhabited. 
The  Hamada-el-Homra,  on  the  borders  of 
Tripoli — and  the  Sahara  almost  reaches  the 
walls  of  the  city  of  Tripoli — is  one  of  the 
best-known  of  these  tracts,  lying,  as  it  does, 
on  the  caravan  route  southward  by  way  of 
the  mountain  region  of  Ghurian  (YoL  I.,  p. 
240).  But  on  the  route  from  Timbuctoo  to 
Morocco  also  there  are  Hamadas  and  hills 
of  about  2,000  feet  alternating  with  rolling 
sands  (Vol.  I.,  pp.  304,  309).. 

However,  scattered  all  through  the  Sahara, 
in  even  its  sandiest  and  most  repulsive  sec- 
tions, are  oases  (p.  77),  or  green  islets  in  the 
midst,  it  may  be,  of  a dry,  sandy  region, 
where  palm-trees  grow  and  gushing  The  oaseg 
springs  support  vegetation  suffi- 
cient for  the  feeding  of  the  flocks  and  cattle  of 
the  tribesmen  who  gather  hither  during  cer- 
tain months  of  the  year.  Indeed,  without 
these  oases  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to 
cross  some  parts  of  the  Sahara  ; and  it  is 
certain  that  its  roaming  population  would 
necessarily  be  confined  to  the  very  few  fertile 
parts  were  it  not  for  these  verdure-covered 
spots  that  link  together  long  stretches  of 
barren  waste.  . The  great  caravan  routes 
between  the  Central  Soudan  and  the  Barbary 
states  along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
are  marked  out  by  the  occurrence  of  inhabited 
oases  on  the  line  of  travel. 

Those  popular  pictures,  in  which  the  Sahara 
is  painted  as  an  immense  plain  of  moving 
sand,  dotted  here  and  there  with  fertile  oases, 
are  thus  strangely  inaccurate.  Yet  even  to 
this  day — so  hard  do  old  impressions  die — ■ 
the  simile  of  the  panther-skin  is  with  many 
an  article  of  geographical  faith.  Even  so 
near  as  Algeria,  the  Sahara  consists  of  a 
region  widely  different  from  what  is  generally 


46 


INCIDENT  IN  THE  DESERT  : MARAUDER  TAKEN  PRISONER  BY  A FRENCH  ARAB  OUTPOST. 


S2 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


supposed  to  be  tbe  case.  Sir  Lambert 
Playfair*  (p.  83)  divides  it,  in  bis  admirable 
description  of  that  French  colony,  into  two 
distinct  regions,  the  lower  and  the  upper 
Sahara ; the  one  consisting  of  a vast  depres- 
sion of  sand  and  clay,  stretching  in  the  east 
as  far  as  the  frontier  of  Tunis,  the  other  of  a 
rocky  plateau,  frequently  attaining  considerable 
elevation,  extending  on  the  west  to  the  borders 
of  Morocco.f 

Altogether,  though  the  boundaries  of  the 
Sahara  are  naturally  rather  vague,  its  area 
Area  and  may  be  estimated  at  something 
capabilities : less  than  3,566,000  square  miles — 
geology.  neariy  as  large  as  Europe, 

without  the  Scandinavian  Peninsula  and  Ice- 
land. But  while  Europe  supports  a popu- 
lation of  327,000,000  people,  it  is  doubtful  if 
the  whole  Sahara  contains  milch  more  than  a 
million  and  a half.  Yet  even  these  figures 
prove  that  a large  portion  of  the  country, 
generally  supposed  to  be  a mass  of  barren 
sand,  is  actually  capable  either  of  cultivation 
or  of  growing  fodder  for  cattle  and  sheep. 

But  perhaps  the  most  interesting  discovery 
that  has  been  made  by  the  explorers  of  late 
years  is  that  the  Sahara  is  not  the  bed  of 
any  ocean  within  recent  geological  periods, 
and  that  its  drifting  sands  are  not  due  to 
_ . ..  causes  similar  to  those  which  have 

Desiccation 

of  the  sa-  formed  those  beaches  that  are 
the  familiar  features  of  sea-shores. 
Water,  indeed,  has  exercised  very  little 

* Lieut.-Colonel  Sir  R.  Lambert  Playfair,  K.C.M.G.,  one 
of  a family  of  soldiers  and  savants,  bore  a name  very 
Jamiliar  to  all  African  travellers.  As  Political  Resident 
at  Aden  and  Zanzibar  it  was  his  lot  to  see  the  coining 
and  going  of  many  of  the  most  famous  explorers,  to  send 
them  forth  on  their  missions,  and  to  welcome  them 
when  they  returned  to  these  “jumping-off  places”  of 
a then  little-known  continent.  At  a later  date — from 
the  year  1867  as  Consul-General  for  Algeria,  and  for  a 
time  for  Tunisia  also,  Sir  Lambert  was  not  only  the  guide 
and  friend  of  the  multitudes  of  his  countrymen  who 
sought  health  and  sunshine  in  the  French  colony,  but  by 
his  long  journeys  through  the  vast  region  with  which  he 
was,  or  had  been,  officially  connected,  and  his  many 
works,  reports,  and  papers  descriptive  of  it,  he  took  a 
high  place  among  those  who  have  shed  light  on  the  dark 
places  of  Northern  Africa. 

t See  also,  Dumas,  “Le  Grand  Desert”  (1848),  and  “Le 
Sahara  Algerien”  (1845);  Pomel,  “La  Sahara”  (1872),  etc. 


influence  on  the  Sahara  since  the  beginning 
of  the  Tertiary  period,  though  previous  to 
that  epoch  it  was,  in  all  likelihood,  if  not 
a vast  territory  dotted  with  lakes  and  per- 
meated by  rivers,  much  damper  than  it  has 
been  at  any  time  since  that  geological  era. 
There  are,  indeed,  good  reasons  for  believing 
that  the  desiccation  of  the  Sahara  has  been 
going  on  steadily  during  the  last  two  thousand 
years,  if  not,  in  all  probability,  long  before 
the  Christian  era. 

We  say  two  thousand  years,  because  before 
that  date  there  was  nothing  in  the  shape  of 
history  to  enable  us  to  arrive  at  accurate  con- 
clusion regarding  the  condition  of  the  desert. 
But  we  know  that  the  Romans  had  colonies 
or  military  posts  a long  way  southwards  in 
what  are  now  uninhabited  deserts.  The  re- 
mains of  their  gateways,  fortresses,  and  other 
monuments  now  stand  bare  and  lonely  in  a 
sandy  tract  where  no  man  fives,  or  where 
the  only  resources  of  the  country  could  never 
tempt  so  practical  a people  as  the  conquerors 
of  the  world  to  rear  buildings  that  indicate 
permanent  residence  (p.  95,  and  Yol.  I.,  p.  240). 
Less  dependence  is  to  be  placed  on  the 
historical  remarks  of  Herodotus  and  Pliny  to 
the  effect  that  the  rhinoceros,  crocodile,  and 
elephant — all  animals  to  which  an  abundant 
supply  of  water  is  essential — were  common  in 
parts  of  northern  Africa  where  none  are  at 
present  to  be  found,  nor  have  existed  for 
many  centuries,  though  the  presence  of  the 
elephant  north  of  the  Sahara  less  than  two 
thousand  years  ago  is,  we  think,  indubitable 
(Yol.  II.,  p.  227)4 

Another  curious  fact  which  shows  that  the 
Sahara  was  not  always  so  arid  a region  as 
that  known  to  us  is  afforded  by  the  Egyptian 
inscriptions  and  animal  sculptures ; for  in 
none  of  these  do  we  find  the  camel  repre- 
sented or  referred  to.  Nor  do  the  Roman 
historians  mention  this  animal,  now  so 

X The  Egyptian  kings  also  obtained  them  from  their 
own  territory  (Floyer,  Geographical  Journal,  1893,  p. 
411 ; and  Andersson,  “The Lion  and  the  Elephant, ”p.  382). 
The  remains  of  a hippopotamus  were  found  at  Duvivier, 
in  Algeria  (Bull,  de  VAcad.  Hippone,  No.  13  (1878), 
p.  25). 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  SAHARA. 


83 


essential  to  the  desert  wanderers,  as  an  in- 
habitant of  any  part  of  northern  Africa.  It 
was,  we  know,  introduced  by  the  Arabs,  in 
post-Pharaonic,  possibly  post-Mohammedan, 
times*  and  did  not  spread  northwards  from 
the  Sahara  until  some  centuries  after  the 
Christian  era. 

The  inference  from  these  facts,  however,  is 
that  the  drying-up  of  the  Sahara  must  have 
gone  on  more  rapidly  during  the  last  twenty 
centuries  than  previously.  The  desiccation 
of  all  North  Africa  has,  indeed,  been  marked 
since  the  Roman  period.  Dr.  Lenz  con- 
sidered much  of  the  desert  character  of 
the  Sahara  to  have  been  caused  by  the 
hewing  down  of  the  forests  on  the  Atlas, 
and  the  consequent  drying-up  of  the  streams 
which  there  took  their  rise  (YoL  I,  p.  310). 
Mr.  Floyer  attributes  the  ruin  of  some  of 
the  Egyptian  valleys  to  a similar  reckless 
rural  economy — the  trees  having  been  cut  to 
supply  fodder  to  the  camels ; and  in  parts  of 
Tunisia  and  other  districts  of  Barbary  vast 
tracts  are  almost  desert  and  capable  of  sup- 
porting a mere  handful  of  people  where  the 
remains  of  Roman  oil-mills  and  towns  show 
that  before  the  forests  were  destroyed  there 
was  a thriving  population.f 

We  find  in  many  places  the  distinct  marks 
of  ancient  rivers  and  lakes,  and  in  the  less 
arid  portions  of  the  Sahara  there  are  “ shotts,” 
or  “ sebkas,” — salt,  marshy  lakes  without  out- 
let, which  may  reasonably  be  regarded  as 
remnants  of  greater  accumulations  of  water 
during  earlier  days.  An  examination  of  the 
Sahara  sands  is  also  inimical  to  the  theory 
of  their  being  portions  of  a comparatively 
recent  sea-bottom  ; for  on  applying  the  micro- 
scope to  the  component  materials  of  any  of 
the  drifting  dunes,  we  find  that  those  minute 
shells,  the  rhizopoda,  so  abundant  in  sea-sand, 
are  strikingly  absent.  Indeed,  according  to  the 
observations  of  Erwin  von  Bary,  there  is  a dis- 
tinct volcanic  crater  in  the  isolated  mountain 


* Floyer,  Kevo  Bulletin,  Xo.  72,  p.  290. 
t Playfair,  “ Travels  in  the  Footsteps  of  Bruce,”  pp. 
34, 153,  191,  212,  220;  and  Playfair  and  Brown’s  “ Biblio- 
graphy of  Morocco  ” (1?.  G.  -S'.),  Introduction,  pp.  203-9. 


mass  of  Air,  with  a vast  lava  stream  down 
its  side.J  In  short,  all  the  geological  and 
topographical  features  of  the  Sahara  go  to 
prove  that,  while  it  must,  like  a great  portion 
of  Africa,  have  been  under  water  at  one  time, 
this  period  was  probably  not  later  than  the 
Cretaceous  epoch.  Even  then  there  would 
have  been  isolated  masses,  or  islands,  above 
the  surface  of  the  sea. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  facts  about  the 


Sahara  is  the  comparatively  small  depth  at 
which  water  is  found.  In  the  UndergTOUnd 
Algerian  “ souf  ” the  water  actually  water: 
circulates  close  to  the  surface  of  £°uffres- 
the  soil,  so  that  a well  can  be  sunk  almost  an}-- 


SIB  B.  LAMBERT  PLAYFAIR. 

{From  a Photograph  by  H.  J.  Whitlock , Birmingham .) 


where  with  comparative  ease  by  simply  pene- 
trating the  layer  of  gypsum  that  covers  the 
sandy  substratum  in  which  the  water  is  con- 
tained. In  Algeria,  indeed,  all  the  way  from 
Biskra — an  oasis  in  the  Sahara — to  Timassin, 
throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  Wady 
Gheir,  and  even  to  the  south  of  it,  de- 
pressions known  to  the  natives  as  Bahr  (sea, 
lake),  and  to  the  French  as  Goufres,  are 
found  full  of  water.  They  appear  to  be  the 
spiracles  of  a vast  subterranean  sheet  of  water. 
All  of  these  apertures,  Sir  Lambert  Playfair 
tells  us,  are  inhabited  by  numbers  of 

J Zeiticlirift  fur  Enlkundc,  1880. 


84 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


fishes  ( Cyprinodontidce  and  Chromidcv),  which 
live  freely  exposed  to  the  air  and  light, 
and  breed  under  normal  conditions.  Their 
underground  life  “ is  merely  an  episode,  and, 
as  it  were,  an  incident  in  the  voyages  which 
they  undertake  between  one  bahr  and  another. 
When  they  reach  the  neighbourhood  of  a 
well,  they  are  forced  up  with  the  water,  or 
obey  an  instinct  to  mount  to  the  surface.” 
Accordingly,  when  it  is  intended  to  plant  a 


the  Sahara,  oases,  called  “ Ziban,”  are  formed 
by  building  dams  across  little  running  streams 
and  obstructing  water  in  canals.  Water 
absorbed  by  permeable  beds  constitutes  the 
oases  with  shallow  wells;  in  other  cases,  oases 
with  artesian  wells;  and,  finally,  there  are  the 
excavated  oases  so  characteristic  of  the  Souf. 
But  wherever  an  artificial  oasis  is  formed — 
wherever,  in  brief,  water  reaches  the  sand 
— fertility  in  this  warm,  equable  climate 


date-grove,  the  industrious  “ Souafa  ” remove 
the  entire  course  of  gypsum,  and  plant  their 
palms  in  the  water-bearing  sand  beneath- 
Then,  to  use  the  words  of  Sir  Lambert  Play- 
fair, “ their  green  summits  rise  above  the 
plain  around,  thus  forming  orchards  exca- 
vated like  ants’  nests,  sometimes  8 metres 
[24  to  25  feet]  beneath  the  level  of  the 
ground.”* 

By  utilising  this  water  in  the  best  part  of 
* “ Handbook  to  Algeria  and  Tunis,"  p.  18. 


is  the  certain  result.  In  a few  weeks 
what  seemed  the  acme  of  barrenness  is 
covered  with  verdure.  Palms  are 
planted  and,  before  long,  bear  the  Ar^g1sal 
dates  that  are  the  all-in-all  of 
the  desert  wanderer’s  food.  Other  crops  soon 
follow,  and  from  far  and  near  the  news  of  the 
new  paradise  spreads  to  the  nomad  tribes, 
until  the  spot,  which  a year  or  two  before  was 
entirely  uninhabited,  or,  at  best,  only  sup- 
ported a few  thirsty  families,  becomes  a 


THE  SAND  OF  THE  SAHARA. 


85 


thickly  inhabited  and  prosperous  district."  much  more  practical,  and  serve  every  pur- 
These  artesian  wells,  which  are  being  formed  pose  which  the  other  project  could  possibly 
by  the  French  Government  in  the  portion  of  accomplish.  Of  this  scheme  we  shall  presently 
the  Sahara  under  their  government,  will  be  speak. 

sunk  still  more  extensively  in  the  future,  if  However,  we  may  return  for  the  moment 


TYPICAL  SAHAKAX  LANDSCAPE  (DAKHEL). 
(From  a Photograph  by  Dr.  Gerhard  Rohlfs.) 


the  projected  railway  through  the  Sahara  is 
carried  out.  For  it  is  needless  to  say  that, 
without  large  watering-places  and  centres  of 
civilisation,  it  would  be  extremely  difficult  for 
any  line  to.  be  constructed  through  such 
a region.  The  artesian  wells  may,  indeed, 
not  bulk  so  largely  in  popular  imagination  as 
inland  seas,  which  at  one  time  there  was  a 
dream  of  making;  but,  in  reality,  they  are 


to  the  causes  that  have  formed  the  sand, 
so  characteristic  of  the  Sahara,  . . 

Origin  of 

which,  according  to  popular  belief,  the  Saharan 
covers  the  greater  part  of  the 
region.  The  sand,  it  does  not  require  a very 
extensive  study  of  the  Sahara  to  see,  is  merely 
the  ground-down  dust  of  the  granite,  gneiss, 
and  cretaceous,  or  other  rocks  that  underlie 
the  Sahara.  The  Sahara  necessarily  enjoys  an 


86 


THE  STOltY  OF  AFRICA. 


exceedingly  dry  climate,  though  one  of  ex- 
treme inequality.  During  sunshine  the  ther- 
mometer will  frequently  rise  to  100,  and  even 
130  degrees,  and  at  night  fall  so  far  below 
the  freezing-point  that  ice  forms  in  the 
travellers’  water-skins.  The  result  of  this  is 
that  in  the  course  of  the  day  the  rocks  expand 
under  the  action  of  heat,  and  at  night,  owing  to 
the  sudden  drop  in  the  temperature,  split, 
crack,  and  break  into  pieces.  Then  the  violent 
winds  that  so  often  sweep  across  the  Sahara 
toss  these  comminuted  fragments  against 
each  other.  So  that,  acting  after  the  fashion  of 
files,  or  sand-blasts,  they  grind  together  not 
only  on  each  other,  but  on  the  still  unbroken 
rocks  over  which  they  are  carried  backwards 
and  forwards. 

In  this  way  layers  of  sand  have  been 
gradually  formed  wherever  rocks  unprotected 
by  vegetation  protruded  above  the  surface ; 
and,  being  swept  together  by  the  prevailing 
winds,  have  formed  the  dreaded  sand-hills 
characteristic  of  some  portions  of  the  region 
we  are  now  describing.  The  sand  in  these 
hills  is,  however,  so  dry  that  travellers  describe 
the  tread  of  the  camel  or  of  a man  making 
the  hill  thunder  as  a vast  quantity  of  it  slips 
down  to  a lower  level. 

The  climate  of  the  Sahara,  especially  where 
it  is  under  the  influence  of  the  westerly  and 
north-westerly  winds,  which  are 
the’sahara  t^ie  prevailing  breezes,  is  extremely 
healthy.  Yet  the  terrors  of  the 
sand-storms  which  sometimes  overtake  the 
Avayfarers  have  formed  a favourite  picture  in 
the  works  of  explorers,  and  have  furnished 
many  legends  of  a more  or  less  apocryphal 
character  to  Arab  mythology.  On  a clear  day 
objects  can  be  seen  for  a great  distance,  and 
at  times  the  deceitful  mirage  buoys  up  the 
traveller  with  hopes  of  green  oases  and  re- 
freshing lakes  a few  miles  distant.  Then 
suddenly  a dark  pillar  is  seen  advancing  in 
the  direction  of  the  caravan,  and,  before  the 
Avayfarers  can  prepare  for  the  coming  storm, 
they  are  involved  in  a dense  cloud  of 
drifting  sand — though,  perhaps,  not  quite 
buried,  according  to  the  undying  tale  of  the 


story-books.  So  violent  are  the  Avinds  that 
at  times  sweep  across  the  Sahara  that  at  a 
considerable  distance  from  the  African  coast 
the  dredgings  brought  up  by  the  Challenger 
showed  that  the  sea-bottom  Avas  covered 
somewhat  thickly  Avith  the  sand  blown  sea- 
wards from  the  neighbouring  continent.  At 
times,  also,  the  verdure  of  the  oases  is  eaten 
up  by  vast  clouds  of  locusts,  which  appear  and 
disappear  Avith  equal  rapidity.  It  is  then 
fortunate  for  the  Arabs  and  other  dwellers  in 
the  Sahara  if  a Avesterly  Avind  begins  to  bloAV, 
for  in  that  case,  to  use  their  own  expression, 
“ the  army  of  the  Most  High  ” is  swept  into 
the  Atlantic.  At  times  such  enormous  quan- 
tities of  these  ravenous  insects  have  been 
drowned  in  the  sea  that  the  tide  has  deposited 
whole  banks  of  them  for  miles  along  the  coast, 
causing  fevers  among  the  villagers  Avithin  the 
influence  of  the  fetid  smell  which  the  rotting 
mass  diffused  far  and  near. 

But  of  all  dangers  that  overtake  the 
Saharan  travellers  the  Avorst  is  the  fear  that 
the  Avater-places  may  be  without  that  most 
essential  necessary  of  life  in  that  region. 
They  may  have  filled  their  skins  at  one  well 
in  a particular  oasis,  hoping  that  by  the  time 
the  supply  is  exhausted  they  will  have  arrived 
at  another  green  spot  in  the  desert  from  which 
their  vessels  may  be  filled  again,  only  to  find 
that,  owing  to  unusual  drought  or  other 
causes,  the  springs  have  dried  up,  and  the  Avells 
yield  nothing.  The  Arab  traders  who  pass 
through  the  Avorst  portion  of  the  Sahara— 
namely,  that  between  Morocco  and  Timbuc- 
too — have  many  stories  to  tell  of  such  mis- 
haps. Thus  a caravan  proceeding  from 
Timbuctoo  to  Tafilet  not  finding  water  in 
one  of  the  customary  wells,  perished  to  the 
number,  it  is  said,  of  2,000  people,  besides 
1,800  camels — animals  that  are  capable  of 
enduring  thirst  longer  than  their  masters.' 
Accidents  of  this  sort  account  for  the 
many  human  and  other  bones  that  lie 
mingled  together  in  various  parts  of  the 
desert. 

The  plants  and  animals  of  this  vast  region 
are  naturally,  like  the  human  inhabitants, 


THE  INHABITANTS  OF  THE  SAHARA. 


87 


largely  confined  to  the  oases  * In  these  fertile . 
spots  the  date-palm  grows,  and  in  some  more 
civilised  districts  oranges,  lemons, 
Paaimaisld  Peaches>  figs,  pomegranates,  and 
similar  fruits,  and  rice,  millet,  durra, 
and  other  food  crops  are  grown.  Outside  the 
narrow  limits  of  such  verdure-covered  spots, 
tamarisks,  prickly  acacias,  and  smaller  drought- 


ARAB  TYPE. 


loving  shrubs  are  about  the  only  vegetation  to 
be  seen,  unless  we  except  some  coarse  grasses, 
and  one  or  two  other  peculiarly  desert  plants. 
In  nearly  every  portion  of  the  southern  Sa- 
hara not  altogether  deprived  of  water  or  of 
vegetation,  the  giraffe,  now  so  narrowed  in 
its  range,  was  at  one  time  common.  It  is 
now  much  less  frequent,  though  the  ostrich 
may  be  detected  at  intervals,  with  two  or 
three  species  of  antelope  and  some  wild  cattle. 
The  wild  ass  and  jackal  are  to  be  seen,  with 
erows,  desert  larks,  the  horned  viper,  and  a few 

* Tristram's  “ The  Great' Sahara  " (I860)  is  an  excellent 
popular  work  on  the  natural  history  of  the  region  adjoin- 
ing Algeria,  then  little,  now  well  known. 


other  reptiles;  but  the  lion  never  penetrates 
the  desert  proper. 

The  various  tribes  of  Touaregs  are  the 
true  inhabitants  of  the  Sahara.  These  people 
belong  to  the  Berber  stock  (p.  78), 

. , , , Inhabitants. 

so  widely  scattered  over  the  whole 
of  northern  Africa.  They  constitute,  though 
civilised  enough  to  possess  an  ancient  alpha- 
bet, the  wildest  and  least  tractable  of  the 
Saharan  nomads,  coursing  about  on  their 
camels  from  one  oasis  to  another,  inter- 
cepting caravans  for  the  purpose  either  of 
robbing  or  of  blackmailing  them  ; or,  when 
the  travellers  are  too  strong  for  the  “ desert 
pirates  ” to  pillage  them,  of  hiring  camels  to 
the  traders  engaged  in  conveying  goods  to 
the  sea  from  the  Soudan.  The  appearance 
of  these  Touaregs,  who  are  now  fanatical  Mos- 
lems, is  somewhat  singular,  the  men  wearing 
a cloth  round  the  lower  portion  of  their  faces, 
which  gives  them  a semblance  to  Moham- 
medan women.  In  most  cases  the  outrages 
on  travellers  who  have  attempted  to  pene- 
trate the  desert  have  been  due  to  these  wild 
wanderers. 

In  addition  to  these  Touaregs  there  are  a 
number  of  Arabs  (pp.  80, 81, 87,  etc.)  who  follow 
a life  not  unlike  that  of  their  rivals,  though 
most  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  oases  belong 
to  the  latter.  Some  Tibboos  and  negroes  in- 
habit the  southern  portion  of  the  Sahara,  and 
there  is  a peculiar  tribe  either  of  Jews  or 
of  Judaised  Touaregs  whose  home  is  in  one 


of  the  oases  between  Morocco  and  Timbuctoo, 
and  who  are  extensively  employed  as  guides 
through  the  sand-hills  by  the  caravans  using 
that  route.  Jews,  also,  whose  settlement  in 
the  country  is  of  very  ancient  date,  may  be 
found  in  almost  all  the  oases,  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  some  of  these  living  in  Akka  have 
established  themselves  as  traders  in  the 
once  exclusive  and  still  fanatical  city  of 
Timbuctoo,  while  it  is  needless  reminding 
the  reader  they  thrive  amazingly  in  Morocco, 
Tunis  (p.  88),  Algeria,  and  Tripoli.  But  the 
Touaregs,  when  semi-civilised,  are  the  great 
native  traders  of  the  Sahara,  and,  if  less 
inclined  for  peaceful  pursuits,  are  the 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


83 


dreaded  robbers  who  control  all  the  lines  of 
traffic. 

Beyond  dates  and  salt — the  latter  collected 
in  one  or  two  places— there  are  few  products 
of  any  value  to  be  obtained  from  the  Sahara 
itself.  A few  horses  are  occasionally  hired  in 
the  larger  oases — the  celebrated  “horse  of  the 
Sahara”*  being  really  that  of  Algeria — and 
soda  and  some  saltpetre  generally  form  part  of 
the  lading  of  most 
caravans  passing 
through  the 
country. 

But  it  is  not 
for  the  wealth 
of  the  Sahara 
that  the  traders 
traverse  its  dreary 
wastes.  From  time 
immemorial  it 
has  been  the  only 
line  of  travel 
between  the  rich 
and  compara- 
tively civilised 
countries  of 
northern  Africa 

and  the 

Products  of  i , -l 
the  Sahara : Wealthy 

Soudan 

routes. 

and  Ni- 
ger States  to  the 
south  of  it.  In 
this  region,  ivory, 
ostrich  feathers, 
spices,  gums, 
musk,  indigo, 
cotton,  palm-oil,  gold-dust,  kola- nuts,  and 
other  articles,  are  trafficked  by  the  negroes 
and  Tibboos  for  weapons, gunpowder,  and  other 
goods  of  European  countries.  We  have  also 
seen  that  there  is  still  a considerable  slave 
trade  between  Morocco  and  the  Soudan ; the 
number  of  captives  carried  by  the  Timbuctoo 
caravans  to  Mogador  increasing  since  the  other 
outlets  for  these  human  wares  were  closed. 

* Dumas,  “ The  Horses  of  the  Sahara  ” : translated  by 
James  Hutton  (1863)  ; Schirmer,  “ Le  Sahara”  (1893). 


The  chief  trade  routes  still  used  in  the 
Sahara  are  those  from  Morocco  to  Cairo 
by  Insalah  and  Ghadames,  which  is  followed 
by  the  West  African  pilgrims  bound  for 
Mecca  ; that  is  to  say,  when  the  devout  Mos- 
lems are  not  carried  to  Jeddah  by  English 
steamers,  which  pick  them  up  at  their  villages,, 
and  convey  them  to  and  from  the  latter  port 
at  a small  sum  per  head.  Then  there  is  the 
route,  less  used, 
from  Kukawa  to 
Murzuk  and  Tri- 
poli. There  is  a 
third  line  of 
travel  from  Tri- 
poli to  Air  and 
Ghat.  From  Tim- 
buctoo to  Insalah, 
and  thence  to  Al- 
geria and  Tunis, 
is  another  once 
well  - frequented 
caravan  track  ; 
and  lastly,  that 
from  Timbuctoo 
to  Morocco  is  used 
even  more  ex- 
tensively than  in 
former  times. 

Although  the 
Sahara  has  not 
been  minutely 
examined,  until 
within  the  last 
twenty  or  thirty 
years  it  formed 
the  field  of  travel 
to  many  of  the  early  adventurers  whose  dis- 
coveries have  formed  the  subject  ^pl0T3Lti0JL 
of  previous  chapters.  Those  among  of  the  sa- 
the  earliest  explorers  of  the  Sahara 
were  Mungo  Park,  Lyon,  Laing,  Caillie,  Clap- 
perton,  Denham,  and  Oudney ; Panct,  who  in 
1850  traversed  the  region  from  St.  Louis  to 
Morocco,  though  without  passing  very  much 
eastwards ; Richardson  and  Barth ; Vin- 
cent, who  in  1860  travelled  also  from  St. 
Louis  northwards  as  far  as  Adrar ; Si  Bou  el- 


YOTTXG  JEWESS  OF  TUNISIA. 
a rhotograph  in  the  Faris-Tunis  Collection .) 


THE  FATE  OF  CAMILLE  DOULS. 


89 


Moghdad,  who  travelled  from  the  same  Senegal 
town  to  Mogador;  Mordokhai ; Gerhard  Rohlfs 
(p.  91)  ; Duveyrier  (who  between  1860-4  made 
some  most  important  journeys  for  scientific 
purposes  into  the  Touareg  country) ; So- 
leillet,  Largeau  (1875) ; Dourneaux  and  Dupere 
and  Joubert,  who  lost  their  lives  in  cir- 
cumstances still  little  known  ; Nachtigal,  who, 


minor  explorers  of  the  Sahara  ; and  a melan 
choly  interest  will  always  attach  to  Camille 
Douls,  who,  after  some  adventurous  but, 
geographically,  rather  useless  journeys  in  the 
coast  region  (Vol.  I.,  p.  282),  so  very  thinly 
disguised  as  a Mohammedan  that  his  nominal 
renegadism  served  him  little  with  the  fierce 
tribes  in  the  neighbourhood,  lost  his  life  in 


DR.  ROHLFS’  EXPEDITION,  1S73-4  : WELLS  IX  THE  OASIS  FARAFREH.  LIBYAN  DESERT. 
(From  a Photograph  taken  by  Ph.  Remeli.) 


in  the  course  of  his  meritorious  travels  from 
Egypt  westwards  by  Lake  Tchad,  was  enabled 
to  obtain  considerable  information  regarding 
the  more  outlying  portions  of  the  Sahara ; 
Lenz ; and,  still  more  recently,  Captain  Berger 
and  Commandant  Monteil,  who,  though  he  has 
not  travelled  over  any  new  ground,  is  the  first 
Frenchman  who  has  visited  Bomu,  which  he 
reached  from  the  French  colonies  on  the 
west  coast,  returning  to  Tripoli  over  the  route 
traversed  by  so  many  previous  explorers, 
Cervera  (1860)  may  be  mentioned  among  the 


1890,  when  attempting  in  a like  futile  mask 
to  penetrate  from  Morocco  southwards  by 
Lenz’s  route  to  Timbuctoo  and  the  Niger. 
The  particulars  of  the  fate  of  this  young  and 
enthusiastic  explorer  will  probably  never  be 
fully  known.  When  rumours  of  his  death 
reached  Algeria,  the  Governor-General  of  that 
colony  sent  emissaries  in  various  directions  to 
inquire  into  the  matter,  and,  if  possible,  to 
recover  his  remains.  In  July,  1891,  one  of 
the  search  parties  returned  with  a body  which 
they  had  found  buried  in  the  sand  to  the  east 


90 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


of  Taourirt,  half-way  between  Aoulef  and 
Akabli,  places  somewhere  near  Touat. 

The  desert  sand  seems  to  have  mummified 
the  remains  of  the  unfortunate  traveller.  The 
face,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  body 
must  have  lain  where  it  was  found  for  several 
months,  was  quite  susceptible  of  recognition ; 
but  several  of  the  members  were  wanting. 
Probably  they  had  been  devoured  by  birds  or 
beasts  of  prey.  There  was  every  appearance 
of  his  having  been  strangled — most  probably 
either  by  his  treacherous  guides  or  by  some 
of  the  marauders  with  whom  he  fell  in  alone 
and  unprotected.* 

Most  of  the  other  journeys  of  much 
moment  we  have  already  described  in  greater 
or  less  detail,  and  the  minor  ones  it  would  be 
tedious  to  rehearse.  One  march  through 
the  Sahara  is  extremely  like  another.  The 
travellers,  unlike  their  fellow- explorers  in 
tropical  Africa,  are  in  little  dread  of  nearing 
the  villages  of  hostile  tribes,  and,  from  the 
entire  absence  of  bush,  are  in  no  peril  of 
poisoned  arrows  or  spearmen  in  concealment. 
They  may  travel  for  weeks  without  meeting 
any  of  the  nomads  of  the  desert,  and,  indeed, 
may  be  troubled  with  no  fear  so  much  as 
falling  in  with  the  roving  band  of  marauding 
Touaregs.  The  mirage  and  the  sand-storm, 
the  hot  sun  during  the  day  and  the  coolness 
of  the  night,  the  water,  abundant  in  one 
oasis  or  wanting  in  another,  form  the  chief 
items  in  the  somewhat  monotonous  journeys. 
It  is,  however,  unnecessary  to  narrate  these 
travels  at  any  length.  We  have  contented 
ourselves  by  giving  in  an  abstract  form  the 
chief  results  arrived  at  by  the  laborious  re- 
rearches thus  shortly  dismissed. 

Of  all  the  modern  explorers  of  the  Sahara, 
the  most  indefatigable  was  probably  the  Ger- 
man traveller  Gerhard  Rohlfs  (p.  91),  a native 
of  Yegesack,  near  Bremen,  where  he  was  born 
in  1832.  He  studied  medicine,  and  in  1855, 
with  the  direct  purpose  of  being  able  to  pene- 
trate some  portions  of  French  Africa  not 

* For  these  particulars  I am  indebted  to  Sir  Lambert 
Playfair,  who  has  kindly  enriched  this  chapter  with 
many  valuable  emendations. 


then  opened  to  all  travellers,  enlisted  in  the 
Foreign  Legion  serving  in  Algeria.  Here  he 
made  himself  familiar  with  Moslem  customs 
and  the  Arabic  language,  and  after  arriving 
in  Morocco  was  appointed  physician  to  the 
then  Sultan  of  that  country.  Claiming  to  be 
a renegade,  he  travelled  through  a great 
portion  of  Morocco,  reaching  the  Wady  Draa, 
on  the  northern  borders  of  the  Sahara.  Here 
he  was  attacked  by  his  own  guides,  plundered, 
and  left  for  dead  in  the  desert ; and  had  not 
two  marabouts  conveyed  him  to  Algeria,  he 
must  inevitably  have  ended  his  explorations 
at  this  point.  In  1864  he  succeeded  in  getting 
as  far  as  Touat  and  Ghadames,  in  the  Sahara, 
and  next  year  reached  Fezzan  and  Tihesti.  In 
1866,  starting  on  a journey  for  the  purpose 
of  recovering  the  papers  of  his  countryman, 
Dr.  Vogel  (who,  it  may  be  remembered,  was 
murdered  by  the  Sultan  of  Waday — Vol.  I., 
p.  302),  he  reached  Bornu ; and  though  he 
failed  to  gain  an  entrance  to  Waday,  pene- 
trated by  way  of  the  Niger  to  the  British 
colony  of  Lagos,  on  the  Guinea  Coast.  After 
visiting  Abyssinia  with  Lord  Napier’s  expe- 
dition, and  Bornu  a second  time  as  an  envoy 
from  the  King  of  Prussia,  he  explored  in 
1873-4  the  oasis  of  Siva  in  the  Libyan  desert 
(pp.  85,  89,  92,  93).  Four  years  later  the 
German  Government  sent  him  to  carry  gifts 
from  the  Emperor  to  the  Sultan  of  Waday,  but 
his  expedition  being  attacked  and  driven  back 
by  the  Arabs  inhabiting  the  oasis  of  Kufra, 
the  intrepid  explorer  never  reached  the  surly 
sovereign  to  whom  he  was  accredited,  and 
with  whom  MM.  Matteucci  and  Massari 
(pp.  10-12)  had  such  uncertain  intercourse. 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  the  many  travel- 
lers who  had  visited  its  borders,  or  had  pene- 
trated by  the  trade  routes,  the  Sahara  might 
still  have  remained  only  partially  known  had 
it  not  been  for  the  political  interest  which  the 
French  attached  to  it,  and  the  The 
schemes  for  utilising  it  devised  by  “inland  sea 
different  engineers  belonging  to  of  A£rica' 
that  nation.  At  first  these  projects  took  the 
shape  of  trying  by  various  scientific  means  to 
modify  the  drought  of  the  Sahara,  so  as  to 


THE  INLAND  SEA  OF  AFRICA. 


91 


constitute  its  desert  wastes  “ inland  seas.”  It 
was  fully  believed  in  those  days  that  the  region 
which  we  have  described  had  actually  been  at 
no  very  distant  date  the  bottom  of  a sea,  and 
that,  as  the  greater  portion  of  it  must  lie  under 
the  level  of  the  Atlantic,  all  that  needed  be 
done  was  to  cut  an  entrance  by  which  the 
ocean  could  be  permitted  to  flood  the  desic- 
cated region.  It  was  then  argued  that,  apart 
from  the  convenience  of  reaching  all  parts  of 
what  had  once  been  desert  by  means  of 
ships,  the  few  portions  that  might  rise 
above  the  surface  of  the  waters  would  have 
a climate  so  altered  as  to  become  fertile  in- 
stead of  waste.  It  was,  no  doubt,  pointed 
out  that  the  enormous  evaporation  from 
such  a great  sheet  of  water  in  so  hot  a 
region  must  necessarily  demand  a continual 
supply  of  water  from  the  ocean,  and  that  the 
drifting  sands  when  the  canal  from  the 
Atlantic  was  cut  would  more  than  likely 
entirely  close  the  inlet.  Moreover,  if  the 
desiccation  of  the  Sahara  is  due  to  contin- 
ental changes  of  elevation,  as  has  been  men- 
tioned, it  is  certain  that  nothing  in  the  way 
of  changing  its  climate  can  be  accomplished. 
Lastly,  it  was  exceedingly  doubtful  whether 
the  loss  of  the  date-trees  of  the  Sahara  by  the 
damp  climate,  in  which  they  could  not  sub- 
sist, would  be  counterbalanced  by  the  other 
supposed  advantages  of  creating  an  inland  sea 
or  seas. 

However,  though  the  plan  has  been  fre- 
quently discussed,  it  has  never  gone  further ; 
and,  owing  to  the  different  directions  which 
French  interest  in  the  Sahara  has  of  late 
taken,  it  is  extremely  doubtful  if  any  at- 
tempt will  ever  be  made  to  carry  this  much- 
talked-of  project  into  execution.  Westward 
from  the  Gulf  of  Gabes  (p.  77),  in  Tunisia, 
stretching  for  a distance  of  250  miles,  is  a 
chain  of  salt  lakes,  or  “ shotts,”  all  of  which 
are  below  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  two 
isthmi  that  separate  them  are  of  varying 
heights,  though  in  both  cases  considerably 
above  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean.  The 
entire  area  is  divided  from  the  sea  by  a third 
isthmus,  also  above  the  level  of  the  adjacent 


sea.  Some  geographers  contend  that  this  de- 
pression is  the  site  of  the  ancient  Lake  Triton ; 
that  it  communicated  with  the  Mediterranean 
down  to  a very  recent  period ; and  that  partly 
by  the  upheaval  of  its  bottom,  and  partly 
owing  to  the  difference  between  the  quantity 
of  water  which  entered  and  the  amount  of 
evaporation  and  absorption,  the  sea  gradually 
disappeared,  leaving  the  existing  shotts  as  the 
only  evidence  of  a former  condition  of  things.* 
On  the  other  hand,  many  geographers 
affirm  that  there  never  was  any  inland  sea 


DR.  GERHARD  ROHLFS. 

(From  o Photograph  by  Reichard  and  Lindner,  Berlin.) 

here  at  all,  and  that  the  Tunisian  “ shotts  ” 
are  identical  with  the  more  elevated  “ seb- 
khas  ” of  Algeria  and  Eastern  Morocco,  the 
salt  in  them  being  due  to  the  washing  of  the 
higher  ground  by  the  rain,  which  has  no  means 
of  exit  except  by  evaporation.  However, 
Captain  Roudaire  proposed  in  1874  to  flood 
this  undoubted  depression  by  cutting  through 
a ridge  thirteen  miles  wide  and  150  feet  high, 

* Playfair,  “Algeria  and  Tunis,”  p.  321,  and  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  (1890),  p.  625. 
Roudaire,  “Rapport  & M.  le  Ministre  de  l’lnstruction 
publique  sur  la  Mission  des  Chotts.  Etudes  relatives  au 
projet  de  Mer  Interieure  ” (1 877),  and  “ Une  Mer  Interieure 
en  Algerie”  ( Revue  des  Deux  Mondes . May  15th,  1874)  ; 
Rouire,  “ La  decouverte  du  bassin  Hydrographique  de  la 
Tunisie  Centrale  et  l’emplacement  de  l’ancien  lac  Triton 
(ancienne  mer  interieure  d’Afrique)  ” (1887) ; Paty  de 
Clam,  “ Le  Triton  dans  l’Antiquite  et  a l’ltpoque  actuelle  ; 
Reponse  a la  brochure  de  M.  Rouire  ” (1887),  etc. 


92 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


and  so  forming  an  artificial  inland  sea  of  some 
3,100  square  miles  in  area,  with  an  average 
depth  of  close  upon  eighty  feet. 

From  an  engineering  point  of  view,  there  is 
no  difficulty  whatever  in  this  project.  The 
difficulty  of  obtaining  the  capital  is  the  only 
obstacle  which  as  yet  the  projectors  of  this 
grandiose  scheme  have  been  unable  to  over- 
come ; and  though  M.  de  Lesseps,  in  the  days 
when  the  name  of  the  “Grand  Franc;ais ” was 
one  to  conjure  with,  interested  himself  in  the 
scheme,  the  French  investor  was  supremely 
sceptical  regarding  the  advantages  which 
would  accrue  to  him  from  the  formation  of 
this  new  sea  in  an  old  land.  Some  slight 
modification  of  climate  might  possibly  be  the 
result  of  this  flooded  area,  but,  as  Sir  Lambert 
Playfair  points  out,  the  new  sea  would  occupy 
a space  hardly  larger  in  proportion  to  the  rest 
of  the  Sahara  than  a single  spot  on  the  tra- 
ditional panther-skin ; so  that  Captain  Rou- 
daire’s  scheme,  even  if  carried  out,  would 
scarcely  result  • in  the  regeneration  of  the 


Sahara.  But,  considering  that  the  Sea  of 
Aral  and  the  Caspian  do  not  modify  the 
climate,  and,  through  the  climate,  the  soil  of 
the  regions  in  their  vicinity,  it  is  far  from 
certain  that  the  country  adjoining  the  flooded 
shotts  would  be  in  any  way  altered  in  the 
direction  promised  by  the  projectors  of  the 
scheme — a scheme,  however,  now  very  unlikely 
to  be  carried  out. 

Mr.  Donald  Mackenzie’s  still  more  ambi- 
tious project  of  flooding  the  Western  Sahara*' 
by  letting  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  into  the 
district  called  El-Juf  was  found  quite  as 
pronouncedly  to  'be  impracticable:  first,  by 
the  fact  that  most  of  the  Sahara  is  above  the 
level  of  the  Atlantic  ; and  secondly,  by  Lenz 
showing  that  El-Juf  was  not  a vast  depression, 
but  only  a small  valley. 

Meanwhile,  the  artesian  wells  sunk  by  Cap- 
tain Roudaire  have  unconsciously  solved  the 
problem  of  the  inland  seas.  For  by  bringing 
the  means  of  irrigation  to  1,500  acres,  and 

* “ The  Flooding’  of  the  Sahara  ” (1877). 


DR.  ROHLFS’  EXPEDITION,  1873-4:  THE  HOUSE  OP  THE  EXPEDITION  AT  GASR  DAKHEL,  LIBYAN  DESERT, 
( From  a Photograph  by  Ph.  Remele.) 


FRANCE  IN  AFRICA. 


93 


enabling  60,000  palm-trees  to 
land  hitherto  sterile,  all  the  advantages 
which  could  result  from  any  inland  sea  have 
been  thus  practically  accomplished. 

The  success  obtained  in  sinking  these  ar- 
tesian wells  very  soon  diverted  public  atten- 
tion in  another  channel.  It  was 
artesian^111  felt  that  while  the  inland  sea  was 
icaJprojectV  problematical,  and  at  best  could 
only  utilise  a limited  portion  of 
the  desert,  the  building  of  a great  line  of 
railway  across  the  Sahara  from  oasis  to  oasis, 
made  by  the  formation  of  irrigated  spots, 
would  open  up  a vast  extent  of  country,  both 
to  the  south  and  to  the  north,  which  hitherto 
could  only  be  approached  by  caravans  of 
camels.  Such  a scheme,  however,  necessarily 
left  the  hands  of  private  individuals  for  those 
of  the  State,  since  the  policy  thus  inaugurated 
had  a deeper  political  than  mere  utilitarian 
significance.  The  losses  France  had  suffered 
at  home  during  the  war  of  1870-1  made  her 
still  more  eager  to  recoup  herself  by  acquiring 
territory  beyond  the  seas,  or  by  making  more 
of  the  colonies  she  already  possessed  in 
different  parts  of  the  world.  Africa,  as  the 


DR.  ROHLFS’  EXPEDITION.  1873-4:  THE  APPROACH  TO 
BUDCHULLU. 

(From,  a Photograph  by  Ph.  Remele.) 

nearest  continent  to  work  upon,  naturally 
roused  most  attention.  Algeria  had  always 
been  a bottomless  sink  for  French  money, 
without  the  nation  receiving  much  in  return 
for  the  enormous  expenditure  of  which 
that  disappointing  country  had  been  the 
object.  In  1880,  indeed,  Algeria  had  only 
been  partially  conquered,  for  recurrent  out- 
breaks of  the  native  tribes  warned  France  of 
the  slendej:  tenure  by  which  she  held  the 
colony,  first  taken  possession  of  more  than 
fifty  years  before.  Then  the  protectorate  ex- 
tended over  Tunis  has  still  further  increased 
the  virtual  area  of  French  territory  in  north 
ern  Africa.  On  the  west  she  controls  the 
colony  of  Senegambia,  as  well  as  the  out- 
lying country  of  Futa-Djallon,  the  “Rivers 


94 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


of  the  South,”  and  the  French  Soudan, 
not  to  mention  the  still  more  extensive, 
though  somewhat  shadowy,  “ hinterland  ” 
which  she  acquired  by  the  international 
compact  of  1884.  The  vast,  hut  still  al- 
most undeveloped,  French  Congo  largely  in- 
creased the  interests  of  France  in  that  part 
of  the  world.  The  leading  aim  of  the  colonial 
authorities  was  now  to  connect  these  scattered 
colonies,  and  make  one  Algeria  from  the  Sene- 
gal to  the  Congo  by  way  of  the  Sahara.  This 
ambitious  project  was  materially  assisted  by 
the  Anglo-French  Convention  of  August, 
1890,  by  which  the  protectorate  of  France  in 
Madagascar  was  recognised,  and  the  consent 
of  Great  Britain  obtained  to  the  extension  of 
French  influence  south  of  Algeria  and  Tunis 
to  the  line  from  Say,  on  the  Niger,  to 
Barrua,  on  Lake  Tchad. 

The  advantages  obtained  by  France  from 
this  Convention  have  been  bitterly  and  most 
unjustly  attacked,  just  as  the  supposed  feeble- 
ness of  Great  Britain  in  granting  so  much  in 
return  for  so  little  has  been  equally  a subject 
of  party  animadversion.  France,  however, 
seeing  that  there  was  little  likelihood  of 
her  obtaining  any  further  territory  in  that 
particular  part  of  Africa,  now  wisely  con- 
centrated her  efforts  to  constitute  her  colonies 
on  the  west  and  on  the  north  one  consolidated 
block.  Accordingly,  of  recent  years  nearly  all 
of  the  French  expeditions,  whether  nominally 
geographical,  scientific,  or  otherwise,  have  had 
this  end  almost  solely  in  view.  Crampel,  who 
lost  his  life  ; Mizon,  who  was  more  fortunate ; 
Dybowski,  who  followed  up  the  explorations  so 
gallantly  begun  by  Crampel;  and  Monteil, 
who  in  1892  completed  the  first  journey  made 
by  a Frenchman  across  that  part  of  the  Sa- 
hara between  Lake  Tchad  and  Tripoli — 
undertook  their  expeditions  for  this  purpose 
alone.  The  object  they  aimed  at  was  to  in- 
vestigate the  resources  that  might  possibly 
be  found  in  this  outlying  territory,  and  the 
best  method  of  tapping  the  country  so  that 
no  other  nation  should  be  able  to  obtain  a 
footing  for  commercial  purposes  in  any  of  the 
county  between  the  Soudan  and  Barbary. 


The  reports  of  the  officers  employed  in  these 
expeditions  pointed  out  that  the  Sahara  might 
be  divided  into  four  zones.  There  is  the 
oases  region,  from  which  come  dates  and 
camels  for  caravan  use ; secondly,  there  is 
the  desert  region,  in  which  palms  are  few, 
and  vast  plains  of  sand,  stones,  and  salt,  over 
which  roam  nomadic  tribes,  ever  on  the 
watch  for  caravans  to  pillage ; then  there  is 
the  gum-tree  belt,  in  which  cattle,  sheep,  and 
horses  thrive ; and  lastly,  and  most  southerly 
of  all,  there  is  a zone  where  running  water 
and  tropical  vegetation  appear.  This,  pro- 
perly speaking,  comes  under  the  head  of  the 
Soudan.  The  caravan  routes  from  Algeria 
to  this  part  of  Africa  pass  through  the  sterile 
country  in  which,  sometimes  for  six  or  eight 
days  at  a time,  the  traders  traverse  a region 
without  vegetation,  wood,  or  water,  and,  in 
addition,  suffer  from  the  hostility  of 
the  native  tribes.  For  these  reasons  this 
route  has  not  been  used  by  Europeans,  so 
that  unless  the  trade  between  northern 
Africa  and  the  French  possessions  in  the 
Soudan  should  continue  to  remain  in  native 
hands,  a railway,  it  would  seem,  was  abso- 
lutely necessary. 

But  a railway  of  such  extent,  built  through 
a country  so  entirely  unprotected  over  the 
greatest  portion  of  its  area,  is  an  ^ Trans. 
even  more  gigantic  enterprise  than  Saharan 
threading  the  American  prairies  railway’ 
with  iron  roads,  Central  Asia  with  a railway 
which  the  Russians  have  built,  or  crossing 
Siberia  by  the  rails  that  are  now  being 
fast  laid  from  the  Urals  to  the  Pacific.  Ac- 
cordingly, when  M.  Duponchel  first  mooted 
this  scheme,  his  proposals  did  not  meet 
with  a very  enthusiastic  reception.  How- 
ever, in  1879  a commission  was  appointed 
for  the  purpose  of  examining  all  questions 
relating  to  the  building  of  this  railway 
through  the  desert.  As  the  result  of  their 
deliberations,  three  plans  were  taken  info 
consideration,  the  starting-point  for  the 
three  routes  which  were  to  be  examined 
being  the  Algerian  provinces — Oran,  Algiers, 
and  Constantine.  In  1883,  accordingly,  three 


COLONEL  FLATTERS’  EXPEDITION. 


95 


expeditions  were  sent  to  these  provinces-; 
two  of  them  being  over  country  already 
_ well  known,  do  not  demand  any 

exploring  extended  notice,  -but  the  eastern 
FiiUera ’° evil  party,  namely,  that  starting  from 
fortune.  Constantine,  undertook  the  most 
dangerous  and  difficult  part  of  the  work; 
for  it  was  directed  to  reach  the  Soudan  by 
way  of  Rhat,  one  of  the  villages  of  the  Hoggar- 
Touaregs,  in  the  great  desert. 

The  command  of  this  expedition  was  en- 
trusted to  Colonel  Flatters  (Vol.  I,  p.  282). 
His  first  attempt  to  reach  the  point  indicated 
was  attended  with  an  entire  want  of  success, 
for,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  provisions  and  the 
hostility  of  the  Touaregs,  he  and  his  com- 
panions had  to  return  without  having  reached 
Rhat.  It  was,  however,  not  entirely  without 
important  results,  for  the  expedition  dis- 
covered the  great  pass  of  Igharghar,  through 
which  runs  the  Igharghar,  a “ wady  ” which, 
after  a course  of  700  miles,  ends  in  the 
Mebuhr  Shott.  Its  valley,  in  places  fifteen 
miles  broad,  offers  an  easy  road  towards 
the  Niger. 

Colonel  Flatters  also  beguiled  himself  into 
the  belief  that  he  had  established  amicable 
relations  with  the  Touaregs,  which  would 
enable  him  on  a future  occasion  to  reach  the 
Soudan  without  any  of  the  difficulties  appre- 
hended from  the  hostility  of  these  savage 
tribesmen,  who  naturally  dreaded  a loss  oi 
their  caravan  trade  by  the  construction  or 
such  a road  as  that  which  the  survey  parties 
had  begun  the  first  step  in  building. 

Full  of  confidence  in  this  belief,  the  hapless 
enthusiast  obtained  permission  to  start  for  the 
second  time.  On  the  18th  of  November,  1880, 
he  and  his  party  left  Wargla,  never  to  return. 
Besides  the  commanding  officer,  it  consisted  or 
two  civil  engineers,  a captain  of  the  artillery 
corps,  and  a surgeon,  all  of  whom  had  served 
in  the  first  expedition.  In  addition,  the  party 
numbered  two  other  scientific  members,  as 
well  as  several  soldiers,  camel-drivers,  and 
the  usual  swarm  of  attendants  on  a desert 
caravan.  In  all,  this  ill-fated  expedition  com- 
prised eighty-eight  persons,  including  a priest 


of  the  Mohammedan  Order  of  Tedjini,  who 
was  expected  to  be  of  much  use  to  the  expedi- 
tion by  giving  the  sanctity  of  religion  to  the 
enterprise  in  which  he  had  agreed  to  take 
part,  since  members  of  his  brotherhood  are 
scattered  over  the  Soudan,  constituting  secret 
societies,  having  initiation  ceremonies,  signs, 
pass-words,  and  secret  codes.  Hence  the 
Khouan,  or  brethren  of  these  Mohammedan 
sects,  have  affiliations  that  carry  them  in  a 
fraternal  manner  all  through  Morocco,  Al- 
geria, Tunisia,  Tripoli,  Egypt,  Syria,  Persia, 
Central  Asia,  India — in  short,  through  the 
most  distant  parts  of  Islam.  Unfortunately, 
on  the  present  occasion  the  presence  of  this 
holy  man  failed  to  protect  the  “infidels.” 
with  whom  he  was  associated.  After  a three 
months’  journey  in  a leisurely  fashion,  not 
attended  by  any  remarkable  incident,  the  ex- 
pedition, passing  through  Amguid,  reached  the 
Sebkha,  with  its  salt-marshes,  which  was  the 
most  southern  point  occupied  by  the  Roman 
colonists  of  Africa ; for  here  Cornelius  Balbo 
reared,  in  the  year  44  B.c.,  a monument,  of 
which  the  ruins  can  still  be  seen.  Yet  never 
before  in  recent  times  had  a European  pene- 
trated so  far  in  this  direction  into  the  great 
African  desert,  proving,  what  we  have  already 
discussed,  the  improbability  of  the  country 
being  during  Roman  times  so  arid  as  it  is  at 
present  (p.  82). 

i Hitherto  all  had  gone  well,  and  the  expedi- 
tion was  about  to  enter  the  Au  country,  870 
miles  on  the  route  intended  to  be  _ 

, . . , The  massacre 

taken  by  the  railway,  when,  oftheFiat- 

on  the  1 6th  of  February,  1881,  {£j 
Colonel  Flatters,  Captain  Masson,  retreat  of  the 
the  engineers  Beringer  and  Roche, 
and  Dr.  Guiard  were  killed  near  the  wells 
of  Bir  el-Gharama  by  Touaregs,  who  for 
several  days  had  followed  the  party,  biding 
their  time.  These  implacable  tribesmen  also 
murdered  M.  Deverny,  the  commissary  of 
the  expedition,  and  thirty  of  the  camel- 
drivers,  who  had  been  leading  their  beasts 
to  water,  and  captured  all  the  camels.  The 
murderers  were,  however,  afraid  to  attack 
the  main  camp,  their  victims  having  been 


96 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


surprised  when  engaged  at  a distance  from 
the  party.  No  sooner  was  the  disaster  known 
than  it  was  necessary  to  discuss  the  situa- 
tion. With  so  serious  a loss  both  in  men  and 
beasts  of  burden,  there  was  no  alternative 
but  to  retreat  to  Wargla.  Yet  the  situation 
was  a desperate  one,  for  between  them  and 


camels,  and,  further,  only  with  such  water 
and  food  as  could  be  carried  by  the  retreat- 
ing members  of  the  expedition  through  a 
region  of  such  forbidding  aspect  that  even 
to  the  desert  wanderers  it  is  known  as 
“ the  land  of  thirst.”  Nor  could  the  remnants 
of  the  expedition  conceal  from  themselves 
the  extreme  likelihood  . that  they  would  be 
followed  by  the  murderers  of  Colonel  Flatters 
and  his  companions,  and  be  compelled 
to  defend  themselves  in  circumstances 
of  the  least  favourable  character.  In  short, 
to  use  an  apt  simile  of  M.  Napoleon  Ney, 


who  has  written  so  admirable  a sketch 
of  the  Saharan  railway  surveys,  these  un- 
fortunates were  “ shipwrecked  in  the  desert.*” 
Still,  as  no  time  was  to  be  lost,  the  survivors 
started  the  very  night  that  news  of  the 
catastrophe  to  their  companions  reached 
them.  The  baggage  was  broken  up, . and  a 
division  made  of  the  money,  food,  and  am- 
munition which  it  contained. 
The  water-skins  were  in- 
trusted to  the  strongest  men, 
but  every  member  of  the  fifty 
castaways  carried  a certain 
amount  of  the  common  bag- 
gage. Then  step  by  step  they 
trudged  wearily  over  the 
desert  which  they  had  passed 
so  recently  in  such  high 
hopes.  Harassed  night  and 
day  by  the  Touaregs,  they 
suffered  greatly  from  hunger 
and  thirst.  By-and-by  their 
provisions  gave  out,  and  they 
vainly  imagined  that  their 
troubles  were  approaching  an 
end  when  their  hitherto  re- 
lentless enemies  offered  to  sell 
them  some  dates.  These  they 
eagerly  purchased,  only  to 
learn,  when  it  was  too  late, 
that  the  dates  had  been 
poisoned  with  the  powder  of 
a plant  growing  in  the  oases 
of  the  Sahara,  and  known  to 
the  Arabs  as  El-Bettina,  and 
to  the  Touaregs  as  Falezlez.  Its  botanical  name 
is  Hyoscyamus  Falezlez.  No  sooner  had  the 
famished  men  eaten  the  dates  thus  treacher- 
ously put  in  their  way  than  they  rushed 
about  screaming  like  madmen.  Some  of 
them  fired  off  their  guns;  others,  running 
off,  tried  to  strangle  themselves  in  the 
vain  attempt  to  keep  out  the  air,  which 
seemed  to  burn  their  lungs  at  every  inhala- 
tion. Others  tore  off  their  clothes,  springing 
backwards  and  forwards  like  caged  beasts, 
shouting  out  words  without  any  meaning. 
One  of  the  officers  fired  upon  his  men,  and 


the  base  lay  a sixty  days’  march  without 


BEDOUIN  WOMEN. 

( From  a Photograph  in  the  Faris-Tunis  Collection.) 


FATE  OF  FLATTERS’  EXPEDITION. 


97 


had  to  be  disarmed  by  the  sharpshooters  and 
the  guides,  who,  fortunately  for  themselves, 
had  eaten  few  or  no  dates.  After  a time, 
those  on  whom  the  poison  had  worked  less 
violently  begged  for  hot  water,  which,  acting 
as  an  emetic,  relieved  their  stomachs  of  the 
Hyoscyamus. 

Meanwhile,  the  Arabs  belonging  to  the  party 
were  seized  by  something  like  a panic,  and 
the  few  men  of  the  expedition  who  remained 


The  commissary  Pobeguin  was  by  this  time 
the  only  Frenchman  of  the  party  left.  Filling 
their  water-skins  with  the  fluid  that  had  cost 
them  so  dearly,  the  thinned  party  of  retreating 
explorers  continued  the  march,  until  by-and- 
by  the  Touaregs,  reaching  the  limits  of  their 
own  country,  gave  up  the  pursuit. 

But  while  harassment  from  their  enemies 
stopped,  the  miseries  of  hunger  again  came 
upon  them.  Several  of  the  men  succumbed. 


ST.  LOUIS,  SENEGAMBIA  : AVENUE  DE  COCOTIEES  DE  GNET-NDAR. 
(From  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 


calm  had  great  difficulty  in  preventing  them 
from  trying  to  escape.  Some,  indeed,  did 
actually  desert.  The  dreadful  scene  has  been 
likened  to  the  classic  story  that  tells  how  the 
companions  of  Ulysses  were  transformed  into 
swine  by  Circe,  the  /Eean  sorceress.  But  the 
castaways  of  the  Sahara  had  no  good  Mercury 
to  counsel  them  when,  next  day,  the  retreat 
was  continued.  At  Amguid  their  troubles  were 
renewed,  for  the  wells  were  found  in  the  pos- 
session of  a strong  band  of  Touaregs,  who  were 
only  driven  away  after  a fight,  in  which  four 
officers  and  twelve  sharpshooters  were  killed. 
47 


some  to  lack  of  food  and  fatigue  ; but  others, 
horrible  to  relate,  crazed  with  sufferings, 
slew  their  companions  and  fought  over 
the  bloody  remains.  The  commissary  officer 
was  eaten  on  the  3lst  of  March,  in  cir- 
cumstances so  horrible  that  the  historians 
of  the  expedition  prefer  by  common  con- 
sent to  draw  the  veil  over  this  portion  of 
the  lurid  picture.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  on 
the  2nd  of  April  four  sharpshooters,  barely 
alive,  reached  Wargla,  and  three  others  were 
picked  up  on  the  road — these  seven  men 
being  the  sole  survivors  of  the  eighty-eight 


98 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA 


persons  who,  less  than  five  months  before,  had 
left  the  desert  town  at  which  they  now  found 
succour. 

The  horrible  fate  of  the  Flatters  expedi- 
tion, instigated,  it  is  now  known,  by  Abd-el- 
Ivader  ebn  Ba-Djonda,  of  In-Salah — though 
the  worst  facts  connected  with  it  were  not 
told  for  many  years  afterwards,  and,  in- 
deed, until  M.  Ney  put  them  into  print*  were 
not  generally  known  even  in  France- — natur- 
ally prevented  any  immediate  repetition  of 
the  experiment  that  had  resulted  so  piti- 
fully. Not  only  was  little  heard  for  eight 
years  regarding  the  trans-Saharan  railway — 
though,  in  1886,  another  explorer,  Lieutenant 
Palat,  was  assassinated — but,  what  is  more 
remarkable,  no  efforts  were  made  to  punish 
the  murderers  of  Colonel  Flatters  and  his 
companions.  This  apathy  doubtless  reacted 
with  evil  effects  upon  the  prestige  of  France 
among  the  Saharan  tribes.  The  credit  of 
reviving  the  long-dormant  idea  of  such 
a railway  belongs  to  M.  Georges 
labours. S Holland,  a • young  civil  engineer, 
nvho  had  established  in  the  Sahara 
of  Constantine  an  excellent  colony,  and 
in  the  arid  regions  of  Wad-Rir  between 
Biskra  and  Touggourt  introduced  a system  of 
irrigation  by  which  the  desert  had  been  trans- 
formed into  a rich  and  profitable  oasis  by 
means  of  artesian  wells.  M.  Rolland,  in  his 
efforts  to  rearouse  public  enthusiasm  in  the 
scheme  which  for  a time  had  gone  to  rest,  was 
powerfully  supported  by  General  Philibert,  a 
retired  Algerian  officer. 

The  result  was  that  in  1890-91  the  Al- 
gerians evincing  most  interest  in  the  revival 
of  the  project  voted  an  appropriation  for  the 
completion  of  surveys,  and  through  their 
Chambers  of  Commerce  pronounced  distinctly 
in  favour  of  the  scheme.  A Parliamentary 
Committee  having  declared  in  the  same 
sense,  a trans-Saharan  railway  became  once 
more  one  of  the  colonial  schemes  of  France. 
Surveys  were  again  undertaken,  and,  though 
the  first  sleeper  in  the  line,  which  is  to 
end  at  Timbuctoo  and  at  St.  Louis,  has 

* Scribner's  Magazine , November,  1S91. 


yet  to  be  laid,  we  can  scarcely  doubt  but 
that  the  railway  is  simply  a matter  of 
time.  During  the  year  1892  MM.  Foureau 
and  Mery  succeeded  in  reaching  the  country 
of  the  Touaregs — properly  “ Touareg,”  the 
plural  of  “ Targui  ” — which  had  not  been 
visited  since  the  Flatters  mission  was  mas- 
sacred, and  induced  the  chiefs  to  acknowledge 
French  supremacy  and  “ protection.” 

Before,  however,  speaking  of  the  explorations 
which  have  resulted  so  happily,  we  may  de- 
scribe more  fully  the  means  by  which  this 
remarkable  public  work  is  to  be  built.  The 
line  will  naturally  start  from  Algiers,  which 
is  already  connected  with  Tunis  by  means  of 
an  iron  road ; and,  as  Algiers  is  only  a 
twenty-four  hours’  voyage  from  Marseilles, 
the  projected  railway  may  be  said  to  be 
continuous  from  Paris,  with  the  exception 
of  a single  day’s  voyage.  Algeria  furnishes 
abundance  of  iron,  and  for  some  distance 
the  route  would  not  run  far  from  the  ex- 
tensive forests  of  that  country ; while  water, 
we  have  seen,  is  found  plentifully  under  the 
whole  Sahara  along  the  line  of  the  proposed 
road.  These  circumstances  will  not  only  facili- 
tate the  work,  but  make  the  territory  through 
which  it  runs  of  marked  value  in  the  near 
future  ; for  “ with  sand  and  water  one  accom- 
plishes wonders  in  Africa.” 

As  the  Arab  proverb  runs,  “ Plant  a stick 
in  the  sand,  water  it,  and  you  will  have  a 
tree ; ” and  the  tree  which  is  to  the  Arab  the 
tree  of  all  trees  is  the  date-palm,  . , 

, . . . , 1 Artificial 

tor  dates  are  to  him  what  wheat  is  oases  and  the 

to  Europe,  and  rice  to  India  and  date'palm' 
China.  They  are  the  staple  of  life,  and  the  chief 
wealth  and  commodity  of  barter  to  millions 
of  people,  by  whom  they  are  exported  to  every 
country  in  the  world.  In  eight  years  after  being 
planted  the  date  bears  fruit,  and  sometimes 
in  favourable  situations  it  returns  a revenue 
within  an  even  shorter  period.  Thus,  with 
two  hundred  trees  upon  two  and  a half  acres 
of  ground,  an  income  of  £40  a year  is  secured 
to  the  capitalist,  so  that,  in  reality,  a palm- 
orchard  is  as  profitable  to  the  Saharan 
Arab  as  the  vineyard  is  to  the  toiler  in  the 


CARAVAN  AT  A WELL 
IN  THE  DESERT. 


WELLS  IN  THE  SAHARA. 


99 


south  of  France.  For  if  his  fruit  is  slower 
in  coming,  there  is  no  phylloxera  to  be  feared. 
The  date  was,  no  doubt,  the  lotus  of  Homer, 
and  on  Djerba,  an  island  off  the  coast  of 
Tunis,  which  is  now  generally  admitted  to 
have  been  the  home  of  the  Lotophagi,  whose 
palm-wine  made  the  sailors  of  Ulysses  forget 
“ wife  and  child  and  slave,”  the  date  grows 
thickly  to  this  day  (p.  100).  All  that  this 
beneficent  tree  wants  is  water,  and  this  water 
can  almost  everywhere  be  obtained  by  sinking 
an  artesian  well. 

One  of  the  most  striking  evidences  not 
only  of  the  advantages  which  the  native 
Algerians  have  derived  from  the  French  pos- 
session of  their  country,  but  of  the  ease  with 
which  large  areas  can  be  rendered  productive 
by  means  of  artesian  wells,  is  seen  in  the  oasis 
on  which  the  ancient  town  of  Touggourt  is 
built.  In  1856  this,  like  many  other  oases  in 
the  desert,  had  become  more  or  less  unin- 
habitable, owing  to  the  old  wells  having  be- 
come filled  up,  and  the  water  necessary  for 
the  irrigation  of  the  gardens  reduced  in 
amount.  The  consequence  was  that  the 
people  began  to  migrate  in  search  of  more  hos- 
pitable quarters.  These  facts  being  brought 
'before  the  Algerian  authorities,  an  attempt 
was  made  to  tap  the  supplies  of  water  which 
were  known  to  underlie  so  large  a portion  of 
northern  Africa.  After  five  weeks  of  per- 
severing labour,  the  confidence  of  the  en- 
gineer was  rewarded  by  a water  deposit  being 
reached  at  a depth  of  less  than  200  feet  from 
the  surface,  and  immediately  afterwards  a 
river  rushed  forth  yielding  888  gallons  a 
minute — double  the  quantity  poured  out  by 
the  famous  well  of  Grenelle  at  Paris.  The 
joy  and  gratitude  of  the  inhabitants  can  be 
understood. 

When  the  engineers  first  began  to  sink  in 
the  sand  the  village  grey-beards  shook  their 
heads  over  the  likelihood  of  their  trials 
bringing  forth  what  to  them  was  the  greatest 
necessary  of  life.  With  true  Moslem  fatalism 
they  considered  that  the  filling  up  of  the 
old  wells  was  an  act  of  God,  and  that  it 
was  useless  for  men  to  oppose  the  ways  of 


Providence.  “ Our  children  are  weak,”  said 
one  of  the  chiefs,  “if  Allah,  the  worker  of 
miracles,  does  not  help  us.  In  ten  years  the 
Wad-Rir  will  be  deserted,  and  our  gardens 
buried  in  the  sand.”  The  people  would  then 
perish  of  thirst.  But  when  this  unexpected 
river  foamed  over  the  parched  ground  the 
joyful  occasion  was  celebrated  by  singing, 
dancing,  and  Arab  “fantasias”  of  every  de- 
scription, and  “The  Fountain  of  Peace”  was 
the  name  given  by  general  consent  to  the  first 
artificial  well  bored  in  this  oasis. 

Since  that  date  numerous  other  wells  have 
been  sunk  in  the  same  region,  with  equal 
success,  if  possible,  with  a greater  amount  of 
astonishment,  and  with  no  less  rejoicing.  Thus, 
in  October,  1885,  there  were  in  this  irrigated 
district  114  artesian  wells  belonging  to  the 
French  settlers  and  492  belonging  to  the 
natives.  Including  the  few  natural  supplies 
of  water,  these  wells  yield  over  56,000  gallons 
of  water  a minute,  or  about  141  cubic  feet  a 
second — equivalent,  M.  Ney  calculates,  to  one- 
tenth  of  the  flow  of  the  Seine  in  summer. 

The  result  of  this  remarkable  transforma- 
tion is  that  the  oases  round  Touggourt  have 
become  a most  fertile  portion  of  the  Sahara. 
The  forty-three  oases  in  the  Wad-Rir  are  said 
to  support  520,000  date-palms  in  bearing, 
140,000  palms  less  than  seven  years  old,  and 
about  100,000  other  fruit-trees,  the  annual  crop 
of  dates  being  valued  at  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds.  The  wealth  of  the  people 
in  gardens,  wells,  houses,  and  other  sources  of 
riches,  has,  in  the  thirty  years  that  have  elapsed 
since  the  first  well  was  drilled,  increased 
fully  five- fold.  In  seven  years  M.  Rolland 

and  his  associates  have  “ created  ” three  oases 
and  three  villages,  the  existence  of  which 
depends  entirely  upon  the  artesian  wells  sunk 
in  their  midst.  Indeed,  the  amazing  success 
that  has  attended  the  beneficent  efforts  of 
the  irrigating  engineers  justifies  the  remark  of 
one  of  their  number,  that  “ The  conquest  of 
the  land  has  been  achieved  by  first  conquering 
what  is  under  the  land.” 

With  these  encouraging  results  before  them, 
the  Parliamentary  Committee  began  afresh 


100 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


the  surveys  for  the  trans-Saharan  railway. 
More  ran  Three  routes  were  examined,  but 
way  expiora-  that  proceeding  from  central  Al- 
geria— that  is  to  say,  by  way  of 
Philippeville,  Constantine,  Biskra,  Wargla,  and 
Amguid — was  unanimously  selected  as  the 
most  favourable.  Amguid  must  therefore  be 
the  central  point  in  the  line  whenever  it  is 
built.  From  this  place  it  can  be  extended,  as 


the  trade  of  the  country  from  finding  its  way 
down  the  Niger  to  the  English  trading-posts, 
if  only  a branch  extending  from  Senegal 
meets  that  from  the  north.  At  present  the 
Saharan  railway  does  not  extend  farther  than 
the  oasis  of  Biskra,  already  a favourite  winter 
haunt  of  the  invalids  who  crowd  Algeria  for 
some  months  in  the  year.  It  is  hoped  that 
before  long  it  will  be  extended  to  Touggourt 


DATE-PALMS  IN'  THE  ISLAND  OF  DJERBA. 
( From,  a Photograph  in  the  Paris-Tnnis  Collection  ) 


circumstances  may  render  advisable,  to  all 
parts  of  the  Sahara. 

But  though  the  fertile  Soudan  will  neces- 
sarily supply  the  chief  traffic  to  the  Saharan 
line,  it  will  not  be  alone  dependent  on  the 
produce  of  the  country,  for,  leaving  out  of 
account  Bornu,  part  of  which  at  least  extends 
into  the  Sahara,  Damergou,  near  the  Au 
mountains,  in  the  pass  of  which  Colonel 
Flatters  was  killed,  contains  some  excellent 
land.  Under  the  influence  of  irrigation  this 
tract  would  equally  respond  to  the  sinking  of 
artesian  wells,  since  almost  no  portion  of  that 
region  is  naturally  sterile.  By  this  line  the 
French  hope  to  tap  the  Soudan,  and  to  divert 


and  Wargla.  The  latter  place,  220  miles 
south  of  Biskra,  affords  sufficient  freight 
to  render  the  line  moderately  profitable, 
since  it  is  fed  by  the  products  of  the  oases 
already  described.  For  the  present,  Wargla 
is  the  most  southern  outpost  of  the  Algerian 
Government,  its  garrison  consisting  of  a camel 
corps  of  250  sharpshooters,  led  by  French 
infantry  officers  mounted  on  dromedaries; 
so  that  the  police  force  of  the  desert  (p.  81) 
is  capable  of  making  long  and  rapid  journeys. 
Wargla  is  as  yet  essentially  a Saharan  town, 
untouched  by  those  evidences  of  civilisation 
which  have  destroyed  the  interest  of  so  many 
other  places  farther  north.  The  streets  are 


THE  TRANS-SAHARAN  RAILWAY. 


101 


every  building  in  the  town,  whitewashed. 
The  streets,  it  is  needless  to  say,  are  ex- 
tremely dirty,  and  the  few  reasonably  well- 
built  houses,  of  unbaked  brick,  are  inhabited 
by  the  officials  of  greater  wealth  than  the 
rest  of  the  community.  The  market-place  in 


of  the  M’zab,  a district  of  oases  very  recently 
annexed  to  Algeria. 

After  leaving  Wargla  the  line  is  intended 
to  follow  the  bed  of  the  Wady  Igharghar  by 
way  of  Mokhanza,  a kind  of  glen  free  of 
sand  that  runs  through  the  drifting  dunes. 


narrow  and  tortuous,  and  blocked  by  arcades,  ' the  early  hours  of  the  morning  is,  however,  a 
in  which  a horseman  can  barely  pass ; and  busy  quarter,  the  shops  being,  for  the  most 
most  of  the  houses  are  of  one  storey,  and,  like  part,  in  the  hands  of  the  Mozabites,  natives 


102 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


From  this  spot  to  Arnguid,  and,  indeed,  over 
the  first  thousand  miles  south  of  Wargla, 
there  are  said  to  be  no  engineering 
trans6- °f  the  difficulties.  Water  can  be  found 
railway  by  sinking  at  almost  any  portion 
of  the  route  selected.  Timassin 
seems  especially  favourable  for  forming  an 
irrigating  colon)',  and  when  Arnguid  is 
reached  a commercial  and  agricultural  centre 
435  miles  south  of  Wargla  will  be  established 
right  in  the  middle  of  the  Sahara.  From 
this  point  it  is  believed  that  the  desert  races 
will  be  easily  controlled,  and  the  central 
and  western  Soudan  will  be  open  to  com- 
mercial conquest.  For  when  the  tribesmen 
discover  that  not  only  are  the  new  arrivals  too 
powerful  to  yield  to  their  depredations,  but 
that  there  is  a lucrative  market  for  their 
wheat,  salt,  textile  fabrics,  and  cattle,  their 
natural  shrewdness  will  speedily  enable  them 
to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  cheaper  to 
trade  honestly  with  white  men  than  to  try 
to  rob  them  with  so  little  chance  of  success. 

It  is  possible  that  the  termination  of  the 
line  may  remain  for  a long  time  at  Arnguid, 
a central  position  of  sufficient  importance  to 
justify  its  being  regarded  as  a point  from 
which  branch  lines  may  extend  in  different 
directions.  But  at  present  the  best  line  for 
the  second  section  of  the  trans- Saharan  rail- 
way has  not  been  fully  decided  upon,  though 
its  extension  to  Kukawa,  the  capital  of  Bornu, 
on  the  shore  of  Lake  Tchad,  1,906  miles  from 
Philippeville,  is  a settled  point. 

So  far  the  plans  are  fixed  for  the  653 
miles  between  Biskra  and  Arnguid,  and  the 
country  has  been  generally  surveyed  from 
Arnguid  to  Kukawa,  1,242  miles.  But  the 
financial  future  of  the  Saharan  railway  is 
still  unsettled.  Accepting  the  estimate  of 
£40,000  per  kilometre — 6§ths  of  a mile — the 
total  cost  of  the  Saharan  railway  would  be 
337  millions  of  francs,  or,  in  round  numbers, 
not  much  short  of  the  expenditure  on  the 
Suez  Canal.  It  is  hoped  that  the  funds  will 
be  provided  by  a great  company  with  privileges 
in  the  way  of  taking  up  irrigated  land  on  each 
side,  though  probably  the  scandals  connected 


with  the  Panama  Canal  may,  for  a time  at 
least,  impede  the  formation  of  this  joint-stock 
enterprise.  At  the  same  time,  one  can  hardly 
doubt  but  that  before  many  years  the  railway 
will  stretch  not  only  to  Lake  Tchad,  but  to 
Timbuctoo,  and  from  thence  south-westward 
to  the  Niger  and  the  French  colonies  on  the 
west  coast  of  Africa. 

The  traffic  that  is  to  support  this  line  will 
consist  of  two  sections.  The  first  may  be 
described  as  a local  trade,  namely ; 
that  between  oasis  and  oasis.  The  theraiiway. 
second  kind  of  business  is  between 
the  extreme  ends  of  the  line,  that  is  to  say, 
between  Algeria  and  France  and  the  Central 
Soudan,  though  as  irrigating  Avells  are  sunk, 
depots  and  little  settlements  with  markets 
will  spring  up  along  the  line,  since  the  route 
intended  to  be  followed  crosses  in  several 
places  the  line  taken  by  the  caravans  that  at 
present  carry  on  the  commerce  of  the  desert. 
Grain  from  Algeria  for  the  use  of  the  Touaregs 
and  the  people  of  the  Au  country  will  always 
form  a considerable  import,  which  at  present 
cannot  be  carried  by  means  of  caravans.  Then 
the  export  of  salt,  which  is  found  in  the 
Soudan,  will  render  the  salt  wells  of  Amadrhor 
places  of  considerable  importance.  It  is  also 
quite  certain  that  as  soon  as  the  railway  is 
completed  and  the  desert  tribes  gain  con- 
fidence, there  will  be  a steady  stream  of 
visitors  from  the  south  pouring  into  Algeria, 
Tunis,  and  other  portions  of  North  Africa  for 
the  purpose  of  selling  their  hides  and  leather- 
work. 

The  Central  Soudan  must,  however,  form 
the  chief  support  of  such  a railway.  Its  soil 
is  of  surpassing  richness,  and  its  natural 
resources,  even  rudely  developed  as  they  are 
at  the  present  time,  can  furnish  no  small 
amount  of  traffic  to  any  railway  if  the  goods 
carried,  as  they  have  been  for  ages,  by  means 
of  caravans,  are  taken  as  any  criterion  of  what 
will  eventually  gravitate  from  the  more  ex- 
pensive mode  of  carriage  to  the  less  expensive. 
At  present  the  great  difficulty  is  to  find  an 
entrance  into  that  portion  of  the  Soudan  which 
will  be  crossed  by  this  line.  Hence  it  is 


THE  ARMED  BRETHREN  OF  THE  SAHARA. 


103 


hard  to  say  with  any  accuracy  what  de- 
velopment certain  sources  of  wealth  could 
take  under  more  energetic  management  than 
that  which  has  so  long  controlled  them. 
There  are,  for  instance,  great  quantities  of  gold 
in  the  Soudan,  but  it  is  washed  from  the 
sands  in  the  most  primitive  manner 
possible,  and  then  only  to  very 
small  extent.  Gold  quartz  doubt- 
less exists,  but  as  no  geologist  has  been  able 
to  spend  his  time  in  seeking  for  it,  the  question 
of  its  presence  is  purely  speculative.  Spices, 
ostrich  feathers,  indigo,  hides,  leather,  various 
cereals  and  fruits,  cotton,  ebony,  gums,  and 
dye-stuffs  either  grow  there  or  can  be  grown 
with  the  slightest  encouragement  when  they 
can  be  carried  to  market  without  costing  more 
in  freight  than  their  intrinsic  value.  Palm- 
oil  is  reckoned  among  the  most  important 
articles  that  will  be  carried  by  the  Saharan 
railway.  But  the  oil-palm  never  flourishes 
far  out  of  the  influence  of  the  sea-breezes,  and, 
therefore,  if  the  greasy  substance  which  is  ex- 
tracted from  its  fruit  is  to  be  produced  in  much 
greater  quantities  than  at  the  present,  by 
means  of  the  stimulus  which  the  new  line  will 
impart,  it  must  be  after  a branch  is  extended 
to  the  west  coast. 

Still,  for  a long  time  to  come  the  trans- 
Saharan  railway  must  be  regarded  in  the 
light  more  of  a political  lever  than  a mere 
commercial  speculation.  In  other  words,  it 
must  be  looked  upon  as  a great  iron  band 
with  which  to  unite  the  French  colonies  in 
Western  and  Northern  Africa,  and — there  is 
the  consoling  fact  for  France — as  a means 
of  preventing  the  vigorous  Niger  Company 
and  the  British  colonies  along  the  west 
coast  from  tapping  what  trade  still  finds 
its  way  across  the  Soudan  to  Algeria  and 
Morocco. 

As  early  as  1875,  the  missionary  outposts  of 
Cardinal  Lavigerie(p.  105)  were  fully  two  hun- 
dred miles  beyond  the  French  frontier,  and 
the  incumbents  of  these  stations  so  confident 
of  success  that  three  of  them  started  to  cross 
the  desert  to  the  Niger,  intending  to  collect 
information  about  the  country  and  its  folk. 


But  before  they  had  proceeded  far  on  their 
way,  the  three  young  priests  were  beheaded 
and  their  followers  plundered  and  dispersed 
by  the  ferocious  tribesmen  of  the  Sahara.* 
In  these  circumstances  the  “ Armed  Brethren 
of  the  Sahara,”  founded  by  Cardinal  Lavigerie 
shortly  before  his  death,  who  were  to  dig 
wells,  establish  oases,  and  form  centres  of 
civilisation,  could  scarcely  have  expected  any 
better  fate  than  for  this  romantic  scheme  to 
die  almost  as  soon  as  it  lived. 

At  the  same  time,  while  theory  would  lead 
us  to  suppose  that  the  Arabs  and  other  inhabit- 
ants of  the  desert  would  flock  to  the  oases  thus 
formed,  and  in  time  abandon  their  wandering 
life,  the  facts  of  the  case  point  to  a somewhat 
contrary  state  of  matters.  For  instance,  M. 
Dybowski,  the  companion  of  M.  Crampel,  in 
his  unfortunate  journey  towards  Lake  Tchad, 
while  reporting  the  success  which  has  attended 
the  irrigation  schemes,  and  the  possibility  that 
before  a great  many  years  have  elapsed  some 
portion  of  the  Sahara  will  be  converted  into 
green  pastures,  tells  us  that  the  oases  are 
being  neglected  by  the  Arabs  as  soon  as 
French  authority  becomes  firmly  established. 
An  example  of  this  is  afforded  by  Biskra,  at 
present  the  terminus  of  the  Saharan  railway. 
Hotels  have  been  built  here  for  the  winter 
visitors,  and  a town,  more  French  than  Arab, 
has  grown  up  in  this  secluded  spot,  but  the 
native  commerce  has  declined  pari  passu  with 
the  growth  of  foreign  enterprise. 

Biski’a  was  formerly  a bus}'-  commercial 
centre,  but,  like  Touggourt  and  Wargla,  its 
trade  is  rapidly  on  the  decline.  The  reason 
for  this  is  that  the  caravans  avoid  the  oases 
"under  French  rule,  and  turn  aside  to  Morocco 
and  Tripoli,  not  only  because  the  Arabs  prefer 
to  deal  with  their  co-religionists,  but  owing 
to  the  slave  trade  being  suppressed  in  French 
territory. 

The  declining  cultivation  in  the  larger 
swampy  oases  M.  Dybowski  also  attributed 
to  the  abolition  of  slavery.  During  the 
summer  months  these  spots  are  hotbeds  of 

* Clarke,  “ Cardinal  Lavigerie  and  the  African  Slave 
Trade”  (1889),  pp.  99,  100. 


104 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


malarial  fever.*  But  as  soon  as  the  disease 
appears  the  Arabs  pack  up  and  desert  them, 
leaving  their  negro  slaves,  who  are  not  sub- 
ject to  attacks  of  fever,  to  water  the  palms 


SOME  PRODUCTS  OF  THE  OASES. 

1,  Rice  (Oryza  sativa) ; 2,  Common  Millet  or  Durra 
{Sorghum  vulgar e) ; 3,  Orange  (Citrus  aurantium). 


throughout  the  rest 
of  the  year.  This 
system  has  naturally 
come  to  a close,  or 
at  least  cannot  be 
followed  with  the  ease 
with  which  it  was 
when  the  supply  of 
slaves  could  be  re- 
newed by  any  caravan 
coming  from  the 
Soudan. 

The  traveller  whom 
we  quote,  however, 
believes  that  colonies 
of  free  negroes  might  be  established  in 
less  healthy  spots  with  the  best  results. 
El-Golea  he  considers  to  be  a site  peculiarly 
favourable  for  agricultural  industry.  Water 
is  abundant,  and  proofs  of  former  fertility 
are  to  be  found  in  the  shape  of  numerous 


vestiges  of  human  habitation  and  the  remains 
of  animals  now  extinct.  Already,  the  sands 
are — as  at  Ain  Sefra — becoming  bound  to- 
gether by  the  vegetation  which  irrigation 
permits  to  grow,  t The 
jealousy  of  the  powers  that 
be  will,  however, eventually 
die  away.  It  is  mentioned 
just  now  simply  as  an  illus- 
tration of  the  growth  of 
civilisation  in  the  Sahara 
and  the  stubbornness  with 
which  the  old-time  life  is 
dying  away.J 

Meanwhile,  the  sole  reli- 
ance of  the  trans-Saharan 
railway  is  not  upon  the 
route  from  Biskra  south- 
ward. In  the  opinion  of 
many,  the  western  line, 
which  after  crossing  the 
Tell  and  the  High  Plateaux 
ends  for  the  present  among 
the  sand  dunes  of  Ain  Sefra  in  the  Sahara, 
is  preferable.  § For  the  line,  it  is  hoped, 
will  in  time  approach  the  fine  oasis  of 
Figuig,  with  its  15,000  inhabitants,  and  the 
collection  of  oases  known  as  Touat.  Both  of 
these  are  claimed  to  be  either  in  Morocco  or 
within  the  influence  of  the  Sultan  of  that 
country.  But  in  neither  is  his  authority  well 
established,  and,  so  far  as  the  latter  is  con- 
cerned, it  is  disputed  by  the  French,  while  the- 
seizure  of  Figuig  would  be  less  apt  to  occasion 
a European  broil  than  if  a piece  of  Morocco- 
nearer  the  sea  was  “ protected.”  In  any  case, 
the  possession  of  Figuig  would  render  a march 
on  Fez  an  easy  act  of  aggression.  For  the 
present,  however,  the  line  is  worked  at  a loss 
of  about  £5,000  a month,  and  the  traffic  is 
not  infrequently  simply  the  stores  for  the 
military  stations  in  the  vicinity  of  it.  The 
occupants  of  these  advanced  posts  of  civilisa- 


* For  an  excellent  account  of  the  diseases  and  climat- 
ology of  Africa,  the  reader  is  referred  to  a paper  by  Dr. 
Felkin  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Physical  Society , 
Edinburgh,  1891-92,  pp.  198-215. 


t La  Depeche  Algerienne , May  17th,  1893. 

J Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  de  Geographic  Com.  de  Paris. 
Tome  12,  No.  2. 

§ Guy,  “La  Verite  sur  le  Transaharien  ” (1892),  where 
the  relative  merits  of  the  different  routes  are  discussed. 


SCULPTURED  STONES  IN  THE  SAHARA. 


105 


tion  are  members  of  the  Foreign  Legion, 
soldiers  of  fortune  belonging  to  many  nation- 
alities, whose  careers  have  often  been  strangely 
chequered.  But  in  the  sands  of  Ain  Sefra, 
now  getting  green,  or  in  the  mountains  north 
and  south  of  the  Arab  town,  they  are  per- 
mitted to  atone  for  and,  it  may  be,  forget  the 
past,  since  not  a word  is  ever  officially  asked 
regarding  their  antecedents.  The  railway  as 
surveyed  would  pass  by  Touat  and  Mor’ar 
Fokania  to  Bou  Resq.  The  first  of  these  places 
is  an  Arab  village  in  a pretty  oasis  where  a 
stream  tumbles  over  ledges  of  rocks.  Just 
outside  the  oasis  is  a high  rock,  on  which  are 
sculptured  figures  of  warriors,  marriage  cere- 
monies, and  animals,  such  as  ostriches,  ele- 
phants, and  oxen,  which,  M.  Jacquot  thinks, 


are  probably  the  work  of  Egyptians  long  be- 
fore the  Arab  invasion.  But  before  Figuig  is 
within  Striking  distance  many  things  will  hap- 
pen, among  which  are  the  Arab  disturbances 
already  showing  signs  of  beginning.* 

* Bissuel.  “Le  Sahara  Frantjais  ” (1891)  and  “ Les 
Touareg  de  l’ouest  ” (1888);  Virarez,  “Alger,  Wargla, 
Lac  Tchad”  (1891);  Foureau,  “Une  Mission  au  Tadem- 
ayt  (Territorie  d’In-Salah)  en  1890”  (1890);  Deporter, 

Extreme-sud  de  l'Algerie”  (1890)  and  "La  Question 
du  Touat”  (1891)  ; Duveyier,  “Les  Touaregs  du  Nord” 
(1884);  Vatonne.  “Mission  du  Ghadames”;  Kohlfs, 
“ Kut'ra  ” (1881).  “ Quer  Durch  Afrika  ” (1874),  and  other 
books ; Derrecagaix,  “ Exploration  du  Sahara  : Les  Deux 
Missions  du  Lietit.-Col.  Flatters  ” ( Bulletin  de  la  Sor.  de 
Geographic  (1802);  Zittel.  “Die  Sahara”  (1884);  Alis, 
“A  la  Conquete  du  Tchad  ” (1891) — a work  which  must 
be  accepted  with  care,  so  far  as  its  statements  regarding 
Great  Britain  are  concerned,  etc. 


CARDINAL  LAVIUEKIE. 
(From  a Photograph  by  Capelle,  Paris.) 


106 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Missionaries  : Tilling,  Sowing,  and  Reaping. 

The  African  Missionary  seldom  an  Explorer  in  the  Strict  Sense  of  the  Term — Exceptions  to  the  Rule — Africa  one 
of  the  Oldest  Mission  Fields  in  the  World — Great  Language  Groups  and  Religions  of  Africa — The  Proselytising 
Faiths — The  Jews  of  Ancient  Origin  in  Africa — Their  Creed  Perhaps  the  Oldest  of  its  Foreign  Faiths — How  the 
African  Hebrews  Live — -The  Romans  in  North  Africa — -What  Remains  of  Their  Civilisation — The  Christian 
Churches  of  North  Africa — Arrival  of  the  Moslem — The  Rapid  Advance  of  Mohammedanism  with  the  Conquests 
of  the  Arabs— Mohammedanism  v.  Christianity — The  Extirpation  of  Christianity  and  its  Reintroduction — 
Modern  Missions — West  Africa — Yoruba  and  Others — The  Congo  Missions— The  Explorations  of  Comber  and 
Grenfell — South  Africa — North-East  Africa— Abyssinia  and  the  Troubles  of  the  Missionaries  There — East 
Africa — Krapf  and  Rebmann — Kilimanjaro  and  Kenia — Xyassaland  and  the  Services  of  the  Scottish  and  other 
Missionaries  in  Opening-up  that  Country — Dr.  Stewart— Strange  Races — The  Zambesi  Industrial  Mission — (Ither 
Smaller  Missional-y  Enterprises — Central  Africa — Occupation  of  Tanganyika — Services  of  Captain  Hore  to 
Geography,  etc. 


Before  describing  the  journeys  of  the 
African  hunters,  and  those  whom  we  have 
called  the  international  travellers,  who  filled 
up  the  great  outlines  made  by  the  explorers 
whose  journeys  have  been  narrated  in  pre- 
vious volumes,  some  account  is  called  for  of 
a class  of  self-denying  men  who,  though  not 
explorers  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term, 
have,  in  several  cases,  done  more  to  open  up 
Africa  to  commerce  and  civilisation  than 
many  whose  names  are  more  intimately  con- 
nected with  this  enterprise.  We  refer  to  the 
missionaries. 

These  religious  teachers  went  to  Africa 
for  a purpose,  and  for  this  object  it  was 
necessary  for  them  to  settle  down  in  an 
appointed  place — generally  on  the 
explorers7  borders  of  civilisation,  or  in  touch 
with  it.  Hence  their  labours,  valu- 
able though  they  have  been  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Africa,  do  not  show  largely  on  the 
maps  of  that  continent.  This  is  the  rule, 
and  may  be  stated  without  any  discredit  to 
the  pioneers  of  Christianity,  On  the  other- 
hand,  many  of  the  most  famous  of  African 
travellers  have  been  missionaries.  Living- 
stone, it  is  needless  recalling,  spent  the  earlier 
years  of  his  life  as  a South  African  missionary, 
and  the  most  extensive  of  all  his  journeys  were 
made  in  that  capacity.  Krapf  and  Rebmann 
were  missionaries,  and  New  (Yol.  II.,  p.  263), 
who  by  following  in  their  steps  did  so  much 
to  extend  our  knowledge  of  Eastern  Africa 


gained  his  reputation  as  an  explorer  while 
engaged  as  a teacher  of  Christianity  to  the 
tribesmen.  In  more  recent  times  Arnot,  one 
of  the  latest  crossers  of  Africa,  undertook  his 
travels  solely  in  the  interests  of  his  work 
among  the  natives  ; and  Grenfell  and  Comber, 
both  Baptist  missionaries  on  the  Congo,  like 
several  of  their  colleagues,  took  ample  ad- 
vantage of  the  fact  of  their  stations  lying 
in  close  proximity  to  the  unexplored  country 
Nor  must  we  forget  the  circumstances  of 
Lake  Nyassa  being  virtually  taken  possession 
of  for  Great  Britain  by  the  Scottish  mission- 
aries, as  Tanganyika  was  seised  of  civilisation 
through  the  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics 
combined.  The  missionaries  of  Uganda — 
unfortunate  though  the  relations  of  that 
country  afterwards  became — penetrated  into 
the  interior  of  Africa  within  a year  of  Mr. 
Stanley  describing  the  field  that  was  ready 
for  them  to  reap.  And  lastly,  the  heroic 
labours  of  the  Austrian  missionaries  on  the 
Upper  Nile  (Yol.  II.,  pp.  111-114)  cannot  be 
forgotten  when  the  contributions  to  geography 
of  these  single-minded  men  are  recalled. 

However,  in  the  pages  that  we  propose 
to  devote  to  the  chief  incidents  connected 
with  missionary  efforts  in  Africa,  we  must  of 
necessity  limit  ourselves  to  the  features  of 
these  enterprises  that  were  more  or  less  con- 
nected with  geographical  exploration.  The 
modern  African  missions  have  naturally  of  late 
years  occupied  a large  space  in  the  public  eye. 


THE  OLDEST  MISSIONS  IN  THE  WORLD. 


107 


But  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  Africa  was  the 
scene  of  the  earliest  missionary  labours  of 
which  we  have  any  record  ; and  that  there  have 
The  oldest  keen  religions  other  than  Christian- 
missions  in  ity  which  fiery  zealots  have  ad- 
African  vanced  less  by  the  book  than  by 
religions.  the  SWord.  In  the  introduction  to 

this  work  we  sketched  briefly  the  great 
divisions  of  the  African  peoples  and  the 
broad  partitions  which  divide  the  languages 
(Map,  p.  224)  spoken  by  these  numerous 
tribes.  When  we  glance  at  the  map  of  the 
religions  of  Africa  (p.  109), 
we  And  their  sects  very  nu- 
merous, though,  broadly 

speaking,  the  faiths  professed 
in  the  “ Dark  Continent  ” 
are  only  four  — Paganism, 
Mohammedanism,  Christian- 
ity, and  Judaism,  the  last 
embracing  only  a small 
number  of  the  inhabitants. 

To  these  may  be  added 
about  a million  of  Hindoos, 
who  in  comparatively  recent 
times  have  settled  on  the 
east  coast.  The  Pagans — 
that  is,  the  people  professing 
none  of  the  great  book 
religions — are  more  abundant 
in  Africa  than  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world.  The  races  practising 
Paganism  are,  as  a rule,  sunk  in  the  lowest 
depths  of  barbarism.  The  deities  whom 
they  worship  and  the  spirits  whom  they 
fear  are  revengeful  demons  rather  than 
beneficent  gods.  Witchcraft  in  various  forms 
exercises  a baneful  control  over  their  lives, 
and  the  fetish -men,  taking  advantage  of 
this  superstition,  are  even  more  powerful 
than  the  chiefs  themselves.  Human  sacri- 
fice is  prevalent  among  almost  all  of  the 
African  tribes  : and,  though  there  are  heights 
and  depths  in  the  degradation  of  the  heathen 
races,  among  few  of  them  is  there  any  clear 
idea  of  a future  life.  “ When  a man  was 
born  he  was  born,”  replied  one  of  these  black 
materialists,  when  approached  on  the  subject, 


“and  when  he  died  he  was  dead,  and  there 
was  an  end  to  the  palaver.”  Mohammedanism 
is  one  of  the  introduced  religions  in  Africa. 
Paganism,  indeed,  is  the  only  native  one. 
Islam  appeared  in  northern  Africa  in  the 
seventh  centuiy,  and  in  an  incredibly  short 
space  of  time  carried  the  faith  of  the 
Koran  over  a vast  extent  of  country;  and, 
unless  we  except  Christianity,  is  the  only 
African  religion  that  is  steadily  extending 
its  bounds. 

Judaism  need  not  be  referred  to,  for  it  is 
not  a missionary  religion.  It 
does  not  attempt  to  make 
proselytes,  and  is  professed 
by  no  people  except  the 
ancient  race  who  regard  it 
as  the  faith  transmitted  to 
them  by  their  fathers,  and  as 
such  to  be  cherished  by  their 
children. 

As  for  Hindooism,  it  is 
simply  the  religion  of  the 
Banians,  or  emigrants,  who 
come  from  Bombay  mainly 
into  Zanzibar  and  what  were 
recently  the  Sultan  of  Zan- 
zibar’s dominions  as  mer- 
chants, usurers,  and  petty 
traders  of  all  sorts.  But  they 
ignore  alike  Christian,  Jew, 
Pagan,  and  Moslem  ; they  practise  their  own 
worship,  but  display  no  desire  to  convert 
others  from  theirs.  The  same  may,  indeed, 
be  said  for  the  Mohammedan  Malays  who 
were  settled  by  the  Dutch,  in  some  cases  as 
slaves,  in  the  Cape  Colony. 

Christianity  and  Mohammedanism  are, 
therefore,  the  only  two  faiths  that  come  within 
the  scope  of  this  chapter.  Yet  it  is  doubtful 
whether  Judaism  was  not  the  first  Judaism 
foreign  faith  known  in  Africa,  ^ancient; 
Most  of  the  Jews  now  living  in 
the  Barbary  States,  or  in  the  European  colonies, 
are  comparatively  new-comers — inhabitants  of 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  other  European  countries, 
who  were  driven  to  take  refuge  in  the  Moslem 
countries  of  northern  Africa  at  the  time  the 


JOHAXX  LUDWIG  KEAPF. 

(From,  a Print.) 


108 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Christian  sovereigns  and  their  subjects  set  so 
poor" an  example  of  toleration  by  persecuting 
the  Mohammedans,  whom  they  despised  as 
followers  of  the  false  prophet. 

The  advent  of  the  greater  number  of  these 
refugees  does  not  date  more  than  four  hun- 
dred years  back,  and  most  of  the  Jews  settled 
in  the  British  colonies,  and  many  even  in 
Algeria,  Tunis,  Tripoli,  and  Morocco,  have 


might  readily  be  taken  for  the  other  in- 
habitants of  the  country.  It  is  also  not. 
uncommon  to  come  upon  little  tribes  of 
so-called  Arabs,  who  in  features  and  by  the 
gossiping  legends  of  the  natives  seemed 
well  established  as  the  descendants  of  Jews 
who  adopted  the  faith  of  Islam  at  some  time 
in  the  remote  past.  It  is  also  affirmed  that, 
covered  by  the  sands  of  the  desert,  are 


REMAINS  OF  THE  CISTERNS  OF  CARTHAGE.  WITH  THE  BYRSA  HILL.  THE  PORT  (COTHON),  AND  THE  GULF  OF 
TUNIS,  ETC.,  IN  THE  DISTANCE. 

( From  a Photograph  in  the  Paris-Tunis  Collection.) 


been  attracted  thither  within  this  century. 
But  in  the  interior  of  Morocco,  in  the  Atlas 
Mountains,  in  the  depth  of  the  province  of 
Sus,  and  in  the  oases  along  the  route  from 
Morocco  to  Timbuctoo,  there  have  been,  from 
time  beyond  which  the  memory  of  man  does 
not  extend,  little  colonies  of  Jews  (Vol.  I,  p. 
306)  who  speak  no  other  language  than 
Arabic,  or,  in  some  cases,  no  tongue  except 
Berber,  and  who,  except  for  their  marked 
features  and  the  religious  fervour  which  they 
have  maintained  throughout  all  persecutions, 


tombstones  with  inscriptions  in  Hebrew  char- 
acters, the  remains  of  settlements  of  which 
the  legend  no  longer  exists. 

These  early  colonies  of  Jews  must  have 
been  founded  by  emigrants  from  Palestine, 
and  one  can  hardly  doubt  that,  arriving  as 
they  did  long  before  the  Arabs  entered  the 
country  as  conquerors,  their  Jewish  mono- 
theism and  elaborate  ritual  must  have  in- 
fluenced the  then  Pagan  Berbers,  among  whom 
they  settled  as  merchants  or  as  agriculturists. 

However,  leaving  the  Jews  out  of  the 


THE  EARLY  AFRICAN  CHURCHES. 


109 


question,  Christianity  was  very  early  intro-  and  Morocco  were,  long  before  the  Christian 
duced  into  northern  Africa,  and  the  African  era,  flourishing  colonies  of  the  Roman  Empire. 


MAP  SHOWING  THE  DISTRIROTION  OF  RELIGIONS  AND  MISSIONARY  STATIONS  IN  AFK1C  V.  (By  E.  C.  Bavenslein.) 

Church  shared  in  all  the  triumphs  and  schisms  Ail  over  the  country,  but  especially  in  Tunis, 
of  early  Christianity.  Tripoli,  Tunis,  Algeria,  are  found  memorials  of  these  early  colonists 


110 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


of  Africa.  Amphitheatres  (p.  84),  temples, 
churches,  tombs,  and  fortresses,  besides  nu- 
merous  private  houses,  in  spite 
Christian  of  twelve  centuries  of  Arab  van- 
Africa*1  °*  dalism,  still  remain  in  massive 
ruins  to  attest  the  prosperity 
and  the  enterprise  of  a race  who  occupied 
parts  of  the  country  now  uninhabited,  or, 
under  better  climatic  conditions,  were  able  to 
grow  the  vine  and  the  olive  in  regions  now 
absolutely  arid  (p.  82).  Christianity  was, 
however,  not  generally  adopted  by  the  African 
colonists  until  a comparatively  late  period,  and 
was  still  regarded  simply  as  an  Eastern  faith 
long  after  it  had  passed  the  persecuting  stage 
in  Europe.  As  Gibbon  observes : “ While  the 
Roman  Empire  was  invaded  by  open  violence 
or  undermined  by  slow  decay,  a pure  and 
humble  religion  gently  insinuated  itself  into 
the  minds  of  men  ; grew  up  in  silence  and  ob- 
scurity, derived  new  vigour  from  opposition, 
and  finally  erected  the  triumphant  banner  of 
the  Cross  on  the  ruins  of  the  Capitol.” 

Little  is  known  of  the  African  Church 
until  the  end  of  the  second  century,  but 
during  the  following  century  Christianity 
in  that  part  of  the  world  experienced  its 
period  of  greatest  trial  and  greatest  glory. 
Fervour  and  devotion  permeated  the  converts, 
and  martyrdom  was  almost  eagerly  sought  for 
by  the  professors  of  the  new  creed.  The 
names  of  580  sees  between  Cyrene  and  the 
Atlantic  have  been  preserved  in  the  re- 
cords of  that  period;  and  among  the  most 
illustrious  ornaments  of  this  missionary 
church  were  Tertullian  in  the  second  century, 
Cyprian  in  the  third,  and  Augustine  in  the 
fourth.  The  schism  of  the  Donatists  wrecked 
the  African  Church  grievously,  just  at  the 
time  when  the  mountaineers  were  descending 
with  eager  ferocity  to  attack  the  settlements 
near  the  coast.  The  result  of  this  Donatist 
division  was  civil  war,  which  lasted  for  the 
better  part  of  a century.  And  even  after  the 
quarrel  seemed  partially  settled  some  of  the 
wilder  spirits  of  the  Donatists  joined  with 
Genseric,  King  of  the  Vandals  in  Spain,  and 
some  of  the  native  tribesmen,  to  devastate 


the  colonies  then  in  that  condition  of  anarchy 
and  confusion  which  before  long  afforded  an 
inlet  for  the  enemies  who  broke  up  that 
portion  of  the  empire.* 

For  in  the  year  647  arrived  the  fiercest 
and  most  successful  enemies  of  the  Roman 
colonies  in  North  Africa,  and,  in  their  train, 
the  missionaries  who  rooted  Christianity  out 
of  the  country  which  they  had  con-  Introduction 
quered.  When  the  Arabs  invaded  oi  Moham- 
the  Barbary  States,  eager  to  spread 
the  faith  of  the  Prophet  by  fire  and  sword, 
the  greater  portion  of  the  colonists  of  Africa 
must  have  been  Christians.  The  old  faith 
had  died  out  among  the  Roman  settlers,  and 
the  “ Mauri  ” — hence  the  term  “ Moors  ” — now 
semi-civilised,  might  also  have  adopted  the 
religion  which  we  may  fondly  believe  to  have 
been  brought  for  the  first  time  into  Africa 
by  those  Hellenist  Jews  who  heard  Peter 
preach  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  Yet  at  the 
present  time  there  are  no  more  fiercely 
fanatical  Moslems  in  all  Africa  than  the 
Berbers  who  constituted  the  native  races 
with  whom  the  Romans  had  to  deal.  As 
for  the  colonists  themselves,  many  of  them 
were  murdered  by  the  invaders.  Others  left 
for  more  peaceful  homes,  and  some,  it  is 
possible,  sought  freedom  from  persecution  by 
nominally  accepting  the  creed  of  the  new- 
comers. Many  of  the  Christian  churches 
were  converted  into  mosques,  and  those 
which  were  not  so  utilised  were  destroyed 
out  of  fanatical  hatred  towards  Christianity. 
Statues,  symbols,  and  inscriptions  alike  fell 
victims  to  the  fury  of  these  bigoted  bar- 
barians ; and,  as  this  iconoclasm  continued  for 
ages,  the  wonder  is  that  so  many  memorials 
of  the  past  still  remain  to  attest  the  greatness 
of  the  Roman  colonies  and  the  hold  which 

* The  works  on  the  African  Church  form  quite  a library 
by  themselves.  Those  of  Schelshate,  Leydecker.  Morcelli. 
Miinter,  Sebour,  Barges,  Yanoski,  Godard,  Hirschfeld, 
Marshall,  Angele.  Fabre,  Guis,  Sainte-Marie,  and  Ramsay 
need  alone  be  mentioned  as  almost  exhaustive  from  a his- 
torical point  of  view.  See  also  Playfair’s  “ Bibliographies  ” 
of  Algeria  and  Tripoli,  Playfair  and  Brown’s  “ Biblio- 
graphy of  Morocco,”  and  Ashbee’s  “ Bibliography  of 
Tunis,”  for  references  to  other  works. 


ISLAM  v.  CHRISTIANITY. 


Ill 


Christianity  had  obtained  upon  them.  In 
Tunisia — nearly  equivalent  to  the  Roman 
province  of  “ Africa  ” — the  ruin  was  so 
thorough  that  the  population  has  fallen  from 
eighteen  millions  to  less  than  two  millions; 
and,  instead  of  eighty  towns,  it  is  now  diffi- 
cult to  enumerate  seven  or  eight,  and  none  of 
them — with  scarcely  the  exception  of  Tunis — 
of  any  importance.  After  the  fall  of  Car- 
thage (p.  108)  the  massacre  of  the  Christians 
began  afresh,  and  up  to  a vexy  recent  date 
slavery  or  martyrdom  was  the  lot  of  all  who 
professed  the  abjured  faith* 

But  it  is  certain  that  before  long  Christianity 
was  completely  exterminated — the  only  in- 
stance on  record  in  which  after  it  has  been 
introduced  into  a country  it  has  been  subse- 
quently eradicated.  Yet  the  Mohammedanism 
of  some  of  the  mountain  Berbers  is  still  some- 
what corrupt  and  their  ritual  defective.  They 
eat  the  wild  boar  and  drink  the  juice  of 
the  grapes  which  they  cultivate,  but  they 
yield  nothing  in  fanaticism  jto  the  rest  of 
their  coreligionists,  and  hold  the  very  name 
of  Nazarene  in  holy  abhorrence.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  said  that  the  sign  of  the  Cross  may  be 
sometimes  detected  among  the  ornamenta- 
tion of  the  Morocco  Berbers,  and  that  the 
women  in  their  sorest  hour  of  trial  will  be 
heard  ciying,  “ Oh,  Marie  ! ” — thus  echoing  a 
traditional  prayer  which  their  ancestors  were 
taught  twelve  centuries  ago.  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  needless  to  say,  the  phrase  has  lost 
to  them  every  trace  of  its  true  meaning. 
It  is  also  affirmed,  on  less  substantial  au- 
thority, that,  shoaled  tip  by  drifted  sand,  the 
remains  of  Christian  churches  still  exist  in 
the  remoter  parts  of  the  Sus  province  ; and  it 
is  suspected  that  some  of  the  older  tombs  to 
which  pilgrimages  are  made  may  be  really  the 
graves  of  early  Christian  Fathers,  j- 

Islam,  ever  since  its  entrance  into  Africa, 

* Sainte-Marie.  “La  Tunisie  Cbretienne”  (1878); 
Tissot.  “La  Province  Ttomaine  fl’Afrique ” (1884-88),  etc. 
There  is  an  excellent  sketch  of  the  African  Chnrch  and 
early  missions  in  Walker’s  “Missions  in  Western  Africa,” 
pp.  '83-177. 

t The  Moors  sometimes  reverse  this.  Thus  in  M.  Cha- 
rant's  day  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century — 


has  been  a missionary  creed.  It  has  never 
contracted  its  bounds  to  any  appreciable  ex- 
tent. Paganism  has  never  crowded  it  out  of 
any  region  where  it  has  obtained  a footing, 
nor  has  Christianity  ever  curbed  its  bounds. 
On  the  contrary,  it  has  been  making  proselytes 
for  twelve  hundred  years,  and  it  is  making 
proselytes  stilL  A curious  instance  of  this 
may  be  adduced  from  a British  colony  on 
the  west  coast  of  Africa,  namely,  that  of 
Lagos.  The  Niger  has  been,  and  continues  to 
be,  the  high-road  from  the  north  and  east  of 
Mohammedan  people,  and  their  active  pioneers 
towards  the  western  coast  of  Africa  have  been 
the  Fulahs  (Vol.  I.,  p.  223)  and  the  Kam- 
baris,  who  in  the  past  overran  each  country, 
and  have  succeeded  in  contracting  the  area 
of  Yorubaland.  Mohammedanism  was  in- 
troduced to  Lagos  in  the  year  181G.  About 
1836,  when  civil  war  broke  out,  the  Mos- 
lems fled  to  the  town  of  Ibi,  whei’e  they 
remained  until  they  were  invited  back  to 
Lagos  about  four  years  later.  Since  that  day 
they  have  increased  rapidly,  and  are  now 
characterised  by  Sir  Alfred  Moloney,  at  one 
time  Governor  of  the  colony,  as  a most  orderly, 
intellectual,  and  respectable  class  of  citizens, 
comprising  members  of  all  the  tribes  of  Yor- 
uba,  though  the  prominent  men  among  them 
are  of  the  Houssa  and  Bornu  peoples.  The 
present  Mussulman  population  of  the  colony 
is  estimated  at  15,000  Yet  when  Sir  Richard 
Birrton  made  his  estimate  in  1863+  they  did 
not  number  more  than  800.  In  short,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  of  a Christian  mission 
having  been  established  in  the  Yoruba  country 
for  more  than  fifty  years,  the  gain  in  converts 
has  been  infinitely  greater  on  the  side  of  the 
Mohammedans  than  on  that  of  their  rivals.§ 

there  was  a monument  at  a place  called  “ Gomet  ” in. 
Morocco  (probably  Aghmat)  which  was  thought  to  be  the 
grave  of  St.  Augustine,  whom  the  Arabs  called  Sidi  Bela- 
bech.  Everyone  who  has  visited  the  site  (p.  108)  of 
Carthage  must  also  remember  the  native  village  of  Sidi 
Bou-Saaed.  from  the  tomb  of  a saint  of  that'  name  whom 
the  Arabs  affirm  to  have  been  St.  Louis,  who  on  his  death- 
bed became  a convert  to  Al- Islam  ! 

1 % “ Wanderings  in  West  Africa  ■’ (1863). 

§ Moloney.  Proe-eding*  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  1890,  p.  599. 


112 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


The  Moslems’  teachings  have  ever  had 
greater  attractions  for  the  African  negroes 
than  Christianity.  The  formal  ritual  of  Islam 
appeals  to  their  crude  intellect.  It  saves 
the  trouble  of  thinking  to  embrace  a faith 
that  does  not  appeal  to  sentiments 
medanism  v.  which  many  of  them  are  incapable 
Christianity.  understanding.  In  Islam  no 
doubt  the  weeds  and  the  corn  grow  up  with 
equal  luxuriance ; but,  on  the  other  hand,  by 


MARABOUT  (MOHAMMEDAN  DEVOTEE),  GAMBIA. 
(From  a Photograph  by  the  Rev.  J.  T.  F.  Halligey .) 


the  negro  the  weeds  are  looked  upon  as  of  as 
much  value  as  the  grain,  and  are  cultivated 
with  equal  care.  To  perform  such  and  such 
like  motions  when  they  pray,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Mecca ; to  mention  the  name  of 
Allah  unendingly  in  every  hackneyed  phrase  ; 
and  to  dress  in  robes  that  have  been  pre- 
scribed by  their  religion  is  far  less  con- 
fusing to  the  African  intellect  than  to  be 
permitted  any  choice  in  the  matter.  For 
the  same  reason  it  is  soothing  to  the  negro 
to  learn  that  in  “The  Book ” both  the 


moral  law  and  the  civil  code  are  to  be 
found.  He  is  not  puzzled  by  contradictory 
acts  of  the  local  legislature.  The  Koran 
simply  says  so-and-so,  and  there  is  an  end  of 
the  matter.  Nor  is  it  to  be  denied  that  the 
influence  of  Mohammedanism  upon  Africa 
has,  on  the  whole,  been  for  good.  To  pass, 
say  in  West  Africa,  from  the  Pagan  negro 
village,  with  its  filth,  its  fetishmen,  its  human 
sacrifices,  its  Mumbo- Jumbo,  and  its  half- 
naked,  ape-like  inhabitants,  to  one  of  ex- 
actly the  same  race  professing  Mohammedan- 
ism, affords  a contrast  which  at  once  strikes 
the  least  observant  traveller.  So  shrewd  a 
critic  as  Mr.  Joseph  Thomson  particularly 
notes  this.  In  his  journey  up  the  Niger 
river  he  tells  us,  as  others  have  told  us  be- 
fore him,  of  the  large,  well-built  towns  of 
the  Soudan  (Yol.  I.,  p.  287),  of  the  people 
clothed  in  decent,  and  sometimes  sumptuous 
raiment,  behaving  with  self-possessed  dignity 
and  exhibiting  signs  on  every  hand  of  opu- 
lence and  industry.  Here  the  stranger  is 
treated  with  hospitality,  and  his  hosts,  in 
spite  of  their  black  faces,  conduct  themselves 
in  every  essential  respect  like  well-bred  gentle- 
men. If  the  veriest  rascals,  they  do  not  display 
their  rascality.  Yet  these  people  were  not 
many  years  ago  simply  negro  savages  who  lived 
in  dread  of  the  fetish  and  the  fetishman  (p.113), 
whose  only  faith  was  a set  of  grovelling  super- 
stitions and  whose  hope  of  a future  life  was 
either  non-existent  or  vague  and  shadow). 
The  teaching  of  the  Koran  had  formed 
semi-civilised  nations  out  of  these  degraded 
barbarians.  Once  within  the  pale  of  Islam 
all  men  are,  theoretically  at  least,  equal ; and 
the  negro  who  had  lived  in  daily  dread  of 
being  captured  as  a slave  by  the  white-robed 
traders,  learned  that  once  he  became  one 
of  their  coreligionists,  “ The  Book  ” forbade 
him  to  be  taken  as  a bondman,  whatever 
might  be  the  Arab  or  the  Fulah’s  inter- 
pretation of  the  Prophet’s  command.  Mo- 
hammedanism, it  is  said,  and  said  with  truth, 
does  not  admit  of  any  great  progress.  The 
Koran  is  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega  of  the 
pious  Moslem,  so  that  a confused  farrago  of 


48 


CUSTOMS  FOR  THE  DEAD,  LITTLE  POPO,  WEST  AFRICA. 


114 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


three  faiths  compounded  by  an  epileptic  camel- 
driver  1,300  years  ago  must  be  the  code  of  laws 
by  which  men  of  the  nineteenth  century  have 
to  govern  their  daily  lives.  It  is  therefore 
undeniable  that  advances  in  modern  civilisa- 
tion are  impossible  to  Mohammedan  people 
who  obey  the  Koran  in  its  strict  integrity. 
Turkey  has  progressed,  Egypt  has  grown 
greater,  Persia  has  taken  on  the  gloss  of 
Europe,  and  India  has  outlived  its  ancient 
ways,  in  spite  of  their  faiths ; but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  points  in  which  they 
have  progressed  have  been  just  those  that 
are  inimical  to  the  letter  of  the  Koran.  Coun- 
tries, indeed,  like  Morocco  and  the  Soudan 
look  upon  Turkey  and  Egypt  as  little  better 
than  lands  of  the  infidel. 

Mohammedans  are  also  accused  of  religious 
intolerance,  expressed  in  the  most  brutal 
manner  to  dependents  who  are  not  of  their 
faith.  This  religious  hauteur,  this  actual  or 
implied  claim  that  the  members  of  their 
faith  are  alone  to  be  chosen,  is,  however,  so 
far  as  Africa  goes,  not  confined  to  the  Mos- 
lems. It  is  a racial  trait  which  the  higher 
is  apt  to  display  to  the  lower  stock ; and,  ser- 
vant of  servants  as  the  African  has  ever  been, 
he  has  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  this  feeling 
more  than  any  other  race,  or  is  more  apt  to 
display  it  when  taught  that  in  Islam  alone  is 
there  a chance  of  Paradise. 

But  still,  after  all  has  been  said  that  can  be 
said  against  Mohammedanism  as  a faith  and 
as  a missionary  power,  it  is  undeniable,  as  Dr. 
Blyden — himself  an  African — acknowledges, 
that  “between  Sierra  Leone  and  Egypt  the 
Mussulmans  are  the  only  great  intellectual, 
moral,  and  commercial  power.  The  tribes 
intervening  have  for  more  than  three  hundred 
years  been  in  the  hands  of  Islam.  It  has  taken 
possession  of  and  has  shaped  the  social, 
political,  and  religious  life  of  the  most  in- 
telligent of  the  tribes.  Its  adherents  control 
the  politics  and  commerce  of  nearly  all  Africa 
north  of  the  equator.”*  Since  the  decay  of 
Egyptian  civilisation  and  the  fall  of  Carthage, 
the  greatest  city  that  Africa  has  ever  seen, 

* “ Christianity,  Islam,  and  the  Negro  Race.”  p.  2S. 


the  rise  and  spread  of  Mohammedanism  has 
been  the  greatest  factor  hi  the  civilisation 
of  Africa.  It  is  unquestionable  that  the  dis- 
placement of  Paganism  by  this  form  of 
monotheism  has  been  to  the  advantage 
of  the  negro.  Its  apostles  have  been  as  self- 
denying,  as  single-hearted,  as  any  of  the 
Christian  missionaries,  and,  unlike  the  Chris- 
tian missionaries,  the  Mussulman  teachers 
have  assimilated  with  the  people.  For,  as 
M.  Reclus  remarks,  the  European  is  in  Africa 
necessarily  an  alien.  He  cannot  give  his 
daughter  in  marriage  to  a native  Christian, 
any  more  than  he  can,  with  self-respect, 
take  to  wife  a daughter  of  the  land.  More- 
over, the  Arabs  spread  their  faith  and  their 
civilisation  gradually ; and  hence,  wherever 
they  go,  they  speak  the  language  and  under- 
stand the  habits  of  the  people  they  desire  to 
influence. 

At  the  same  time  it  would  be  idle  to  claim 
for  Mohammedanism  a high  place  in  abstract 
ethics.  Morality,  as  Europe  looks  upon  per- 
sonal morals,  is  strange  to  the  greater  number 
of  the  African  professors  of  the  religion  of 
Mohammed.  It  is  simply  when  contrasted 
with  Paganism  that  praise  can  be  given 
to  adherents  of  the  faith  of  the  Arabian 
prophet.  Compared  with  Christianity,  it  is 
a stationary,  a retrograde,  form  of  Avorship. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  the  future  religion  of  the 
greater  portion  of  Africa  on  the  northern 
side  the  Atlas  will  be  Islamic.  But  that  of 
the  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  tropical 
Africa,  not  taking  the  Avest  coast  into  account, 
bids  fair  to  be  Christian. 

Christianity,  we  have  seen,  at  one  time  Avas 
more  or  less  the  creed  of  the  greater  portion 
of  northern  Africa.  Of  this  early  church  not 
a remnant  is  left  except  the  Copts  of  Egypt 
and  its  daughter  church  in  Abyssinia,  both 
lingering  “ in  a sadly  depressed  and  corrupted 
state.”  Elsewhere,  the  flood  of  Moham- 
medanism has  Avashed  aAvay  the  traces  of 
the  faith  implanted  in  the'  first  seven  cen- 
turies of  the  Christian  era.  At  almost  no 
period  in  its  history  has  the  Coptic  Church 
ever  proselytised;  and  noAv,  surrounded  as  it 


MISS WS8  OH  THE  WEST  COAST. 


is  by  Moslems,  its  very  existence  depends  on 
not  attempting  to  bring  converts  into  its 
fold.  It  has  never  been  a missionary  church, 
and,  so  far  as  the  subject  of  this  chapter  is 
concerned,  is  a negligible  quantity. 

For  eight  centuries  no  serious  attempt  was 
made  to  reintroduce  Christianity  into  Pagan 

Africa.  Yet  it  died  hard,  for 
auction1 of°"  as  far  back  as  853  we  hear  of  a 

cnristianity  (Jhristian  martyr  in  Morocco. 

into  Africa.  , 

Among  the  Berber  mountaineers 
in  that  country  traces  of  Christianity,  we 
have  seen,  long  survived  the  Islamic  conquest ; 
and  as  late  as  1550,  when  Diego  de  Torres 
traversed  the  Atlas,  he  saw  various  Christian 
rites  among  the  tribesmen,  and  heard  of  a 
bell  kept,  with  certain  books  dating  from 
Christian  times,  in  a cave,  and  regarded  with 
superstitious  veneration  by  those  who  had 
access  to  them.*  As  early  as  the  eleventh 
century  attempts  were  made  to  reintro- 
duce Christianity  into  the  Barbary  States, 
and  during  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  VII. 
there  were  two  Bishops  of  Africa,  f These, 
however,  were  probably  only  in  partibus 
infideli  urn. 

It  was  only  when  Portugal  became  a great 
exploring  and  a great  colonising  Power  that — 
as  was  always  the  custom  with  the  mediaeval 
conquerors — the  priests  followed  in  the  soldiers’ 
train,  and  speedily  established  themselves  with 
such  courage  and  self-denial  on  the  north,  the 
west,  and  the  east  of  Africa,  that  flourishing 
Christian  settlements  grew  in  the  midst  of 
Paganism.  Roman  Catholic  churches  and 
cathedrals  rose  in  Abyssinia  alongside  those 
of  the  older  Greek  form  of  Christianity, 
until  the  just  jealousy  of  the  “Negus,”  or 
sovereign,  regarding  the  political  intentions 
of  the  Jesuits,  compelled  them  to  withdraw 
from  that  kingdom. 

In  Loango,  Angola,  Congo,  and  the  Mozam- 
bique country  the  success  of  the  missionaries 

* “Histoire des  Cherifs”  (D’Angouleme’s  Trans),  p.  151. 

t Godard,  "Maroc,”  p.  318.  The  various  modern  missions 
to  the  Berbers  and  other  Mohammedans  in  North  Africa, 
do  not,  in  common  with  those  to  the  Jews,  come  within 
our  survey,  which  takes  cognisance  solely  of  those  to  the 
PagaD,  or  uncivilised,  portion  of  the  continent. 


115 

was  more  marked  than  has  been  the  case  at 
any  other  period  in  the  history  of  Christianity 
in  Africa.  All  over  the  country,  which  con- 
stituted in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies what  was  known  as  the  Congo  Empire, 
may  be  seen  ruined  churches  or  cathedrals, 
long  fallen  from  their  ancient  grandeur,  which 
attest  the  success  of  the  Fathers  at  that  period. 
Yet,  as  we  shall  see  presently  (p.  120),  outside 
the  Portuguese  colonies  scarcely  a tangible 
trace  can  now  be  found  of  the  Christianity 
which  two  hundred  years  ago  was  sup- 
posed to  have  tinctured  the  whole  population 
of  the  vast  area  of  country  mentioned.  There 
are  plenty  of  Christians,  in  name  at  least, 
though,  in  reality,  they  practise  the  worst 
features  of  Paganism.  Nor  are  the  priests 
who  attend  to  their  spiritual  wants,  in  all 
cases,  well  fitted  to  set  an  example  to  their 
degraded  flocks — people  who  have  fallen  from 
the  position  their  ancestors  attained  under  a 
more  intellectual  and  zealous  class  of  mis- 
sionaries. The  truth  is,  that  baptism  was 
administered  wholesale,  and  Christian  ob- 
servances were  too  freely  accommodated  to 
heathenish  superstitions  and  customs.  The 
young  were  not  educated,  and  the  hold  of 
the  Church  upon  the  older  savages  was  fos- 
tered by  an  exercise  of  so-called  miracles.  To 
these  explanations  of  the  decay  of  Christianity 
in  the  Portuguese  territories  may  be  added  the 
cruel  punishments  inflicted  for  the  slightest 
deviation  from  the  rules  of  the  Church,  and 
the  demoralisation  caused  by  the  slave  trade. 
This  made  it  almost  impossible  for  any  teacher 
to  impress  those  who  daily  practised,  and  who 
were  asked  to  practise,  most  abominable  acts 
of  cruelty  and  dishonesty.  Natives  whose 
children  or  whose  relatives  had  just  been 
locked  up  in  a slaver’s  barracoon,  could  scarcely 
look  with  much  kindness  upon  a church  whose 
bishop  had  a marble  chair  placed  upon  the 
pier — as  might  be  recently  seen  in  Loanda — 
from  which  to  bless  the  slave-ships  lying  in 
the  roads. 

We  are  speaking  at  present  simply  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  missions  as  seen  in  the  Por- 
tuguese territories.  In  other  parts  of  Africa 


11G 


TEE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


MOHAMMEDAN  JOLOFFS,  GAMBIA. 

(From  a Photograph  by  the  Rev.  J.  T.  F.  Halligey.) 

they  have  been  more  successful.  In  many 
cases  the  efforts  of  the  priests  for  the  civil- 
isation of  the  natives  deserve  the  utmost 
praise ; and  in  the  Barbary  States  they  were 
sometimes  enrolled  in  the  noble  army  of 
martyrs  (p.  115). 

The  Protestants  did  not  enter 
on  the  missionary  field  until 
comparatively  late  after  the 
Reformation.  It  could  scarcely 
be  expected  that  the  Guinea 
traders  would  receive  mission- 
aries with  any  great  warmth, 
since,  if  they  preached  honestly, 
the  tenor  of  their  discourses 
must  necessarily  have  been  in- 
imical to  the  staple  trade  of 
the  country  around 

Protestant  " 

missions:  them.  However,  m 

west  Africa.  l736j  the  Moravians 

began  work  on  the  Gold  Coast. 

But  after  thirty  years’  struggle 
with  the  climate  and  the  de- 
pressing influences  against  which 
they  had  daily  to  contend,  the 


enterprise  was  entirely  abandoned.  About 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
sent  a missionary  to  the  Guinea  Coast,  and  in 
1765  an  ordained  negro  ; but  we  cannot  learn 
that  any  permanent  work  was  accomplished. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  same  century  the 
Baptist  Society  and  the  Glasgow  Society 
despatched  evangelists  to  Sierra  Leone.  The 
Scottish  (Edinburgh)  Society,  and  the  Lon- 
don Society  also  entered  the  field,  and  for 
a time  " several  American  societies  main- 
tained missions  on  the  coast,  mainly  in 
what  is  now  Liberia ; while  the  Quakers 
were  not  behind  in  trying  to  accomplish 
good  among  the  Joloft’s  and  other  tribes. 
But  the  historian  on  whom  we  are  de- 
pending for  these  facts  remarks  : “ Some 
proved  unfit  men,  one  or  two  died,  and  there 
were  none  left  when  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  began  its  now  world- wide  mission  by 
sending  two  men  to  the  Susu  country,  near 
Sierra  Leone.  The  Wesleyans  soon  followed, 
and  the  extension  of  their  work  along  the 
coast  to  Yoruba  and  the  Niger  has  gone  on 
nearly  pari  passu  with  that  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society.  These  two  societies  now 
divide  between  them  the  large  majority  of 
the  native  Christians  in  northern  and  West 


[AGES  AT  CHIEF'S  HOUSE,  OGBOMOSHO,  YOEUBA. 
(From  a Photograph  by  the  Rev.  J.  T.  F.  Ho.lligey .-) 


.THE  YORUBA  MISSION. 


117 


Africa.”  The  United  Presbyterians  have  long- 
had  stations  on  the  old  Calabar  River.  “ Other 
important  missions  on  the  coast  are  those 
of  the  American  Societies  in  Liberia,  and 
the  Basle  Society  on  the  Gold  Coast  (and 
in  Ashantee).  The  English  Baptists  had  a 
mission  at  the  Cameroons,  but  they  have 


The  outcome  of  this  laudable  zeal  is  that 
almost  the  entire  coast-line  of  West  Africa, 
and  part  of  the  interior,  is  studded  with  mis- 
sions. The  best-known  of  these  is  that  of 
Yoruba.  It  originated  in  1844,  with  mis- 
sionaries sent  from  the  Sierra  Leone  stations, 
and  has  extended  its  operations  coastwise  into 


been  obliged  to  abandon  it  since  the  Germans 
annexed  that  territory.  In  West  Africa,  south 
of  the  equator,  the  Protestant  missions  are  of 
recent  date.  Since  the  determination  of  the 
course  of  the  Congo,  the  Baptists,  English  and 
American,  have  made  the  river  their  special 
field.  Bishop  Taylor,  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Methodist  Church,  has  led  a party  to  Angola, 
and  the  American  Board  (Congregationalists) 
has  a mission  in  Benguela”  (p.  118).* 

* “Church  Missionary  Atlas”(7thEd.),p.  35,  from  which 
excellent  work  many  of  these  data  have  been  obtained. 


the  region  which  is  now  the  British  colony  of 
Lagos,  though,  in  reality,  the  first  missionaries 
to  the  Yoruba  country  landed  at  Badagry,  now 
in  the  same  dependency.  Threatened  more 
than  once  with  destruction  from  Dahomeyan 
invaders,  expelled  from  Abeokuta  as  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  nation  with  whom  the  chiefs 
were  at  feud,  and  at  times  in  peril  from  native 
quarrels,  the  mission  has  established  itself 
all  over  the  Yoruba  country  f (Yol.  I.,  pp. 
256,  260,  261  ; Yol. ‘ill.,  pp.  113,  116,  117). 

f Pinnock,  “ The  Yoruba  Country  ” (1893). 


118 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


The  Niger  Mission,  which,  by  aid  of  their 
steamer  Henry  Venn,  is  extending  up  the 
river  to  the  confines  of,  and  even  into,  the 
Mohammedan  states,  will  always  possess  an 
interest  from  the  fact  of  the  first  bishop  of 
that  diocese  being  the  late  Dr.  Crowther,  a 
native  Yoruban. 

The  influence  of  these  Christian  teachers 
settled  in  the  midst  of  the  most  degraded 
races  of  all  Africa  cannot  but  be  admitted  as 
conducive  in  the  highest  degree  to  a civilised 
life.  In  this  chapter,  however,  we  must  con- 
fine ourselves  almost  entirely  to  the  services 
of  the  missionaries  in  opening  up  the  country, 
and  in  exploring  the  regions  in  the  vicinity 
of  their  stations,  thus  aiding,  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  in  the  development  of  Africa. 

Accordingly,  before  leaving  West 
Tffission°  Africa,  a few  words  are  demanded 
for  the  important  explorations  of 
the  Baptist  missionaries  on  the  Congo.  No 
sooner  had  Mr.  Stanley  descended  this  great 
river,  and  the  Association  out  of  which  subse- 
quently grew  the  Congo  Free  State  been  estab- 
lished, than  the  missionaries  of  different  sects 
and  nationalities  formed  stations  along  its 
banks,  until  at  present  there  are  numerous 
growing  centres  of  civilisation  for  hundreds  of 
miles  to  the  eastward.  The  Roman  Catholics 
— Belgian  priests,  and  members  of  the  Societe 
d’ Alger  (French),  and  the  Societe  du  St.  Esprit ; 
though,  in  most  cases,  the  French  missionaries 
are  withdrawing  to  French  territory — are 
working  at  Boma,  Kwamouth,  New  Antwerp, 
in  the  Bangala  country,  and  New  Bruges,  at 
the  confluence  of  the  Kwango  and  Kasai,  and 
at  New  Ghent,  nearly  opposite  Bangala.  The 
American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  have  their 
establishments  at  Palaballa,  Banza,  Manteka, 
Lukungu,  Leopoldville,  Chumbiri,  Mossembo, 
Irebu,  and  Equatorville.  The  Evangelical 
Alliance  is  at  work  at  Ngangelo,  the  Swedes 
at  Mukinbungu,  and  Bishop  Taylor’s  mission, 
under  the  American  Episcopal  Methodists 
(who  have  stations  in  Angola  and  Benguela, 
where  Mr.  Arnot  and  his  friends  also  have 
missions,  p.  117)  is  represented  by  settlements 
at  Vivi,  Ntombe,  and  Kimpoko. 


But  the  earliest  and  perhaps  the  most 
energetic  of  all  the  Congo  missions  are  those 
of  the  English  Baptists.  They  have  steamers 
on  the  river,  and,  in  spite  of  the  loss  of 
many  valuable  lives,  are  constantly  extend- 
ing the  sphere  of  their  operations.  At  pre- 
sent their  stations  are  at  Ngombe,  Ntundwa, 
Kinshassa,  Lukolela,  Bolobo,  Lutete’s,  Lu- 
kungu, Bangala,  and  Upoto,  while  the  Congo 
Bololo  Mission,  finder  the  East  London  Mis- 
sionary Institute,  labours  at  Molongo  and 
three  other  stations  in  Bolololand.*  There  is 
also,  at  Colwyn  Bay,  in  Wales,  a Training 
Institute  at  which  native  Congo  boys  are 
instructed  as  Protestant  missionaries,  school- 
masters, and  craftsmen. 

When  the  Congo  was  first  opened  up,  the 
zeal  of  good  men  bade  fair  to  do  mischief 
where  good  only  was  intended,  by  an  over- 
lapping of  missionary  effort.  Two  English 
missions  established  themselves  at  Leopold- 
ville, on  Stanley  Pool — the  one  on  the  right 
and  the  other  on  the  left  of  the  Government 
station.  The  establishment  on  Leopold  Hill 
belonged  to  the  English  Baptists,  and,  from  a 
munificent  Leeds  patron,  was  known  as  the 
Arthington  Mission.  The  other,  which  was 
unsectarian,  had  been  founded  by  Mr.  Grattan 
Guinness  and  was  known  as  the  Livingstone 
Inland  Congo  Mission.  Mr.  T.  J.  Comber 
(p.  127)  was  the  head  of  the  Baptist  Mis- 
sion, and  Dr.  Sims  presided  over  the  other. 
Both  were  remarkably  energetic,  and  for 
a time  this  energy  was  largely  devoted  to 
trying  which  should  reach  Stanley  Pool  first. 
Dr.  Sims  was  the  first  to  navigate  any  portion 
of  the  Upper  Congo  ; but  the  Baptists  antici- 
pated their  friendly  rivals  in  first  occupy- 
ing a station  above  Stanley  Pool,  though 
soon  afterwards  the  Livingstone  Mission  ar- 
ranged for  a station  as  far  inland  as  the 
equator.  The  Baptists  were  the  first  to  launch 
a steamer,  the  Peace,  which  did  such  ex- 
cellent service  in  exploration ; but  the  Living- 
stone Mission  began  building  one  at  the  same 
date  that  the  other  was  ready.!  By-and-by, 

* Stanley,  Harper's  Magazine,  1893,  p.  623. 

t Stanley,  “ The  Congo,”  Vol.  I.  (1885).  p.  496. 


THE  BAPTIST  CONGO  MISSIONS. 


1X9 


however,  this  surplusage  of  labour,  this 
rivalry  which  the  natives  misapprehended, 
these  shades  of  religious  doctrine  which  puzzled 
them,  ended,  so  far  as  the  Livingstone  Mission 
was  concerned,  by  its  stations  and  property 
being  made  over  to  the  American  Baptist 
Missionary  Union — the  “ A.B.M.U.  ” — of  the 
Congo  residents.  It  would  be  ungracious 
and  might  be  unjust,  to  attempt  anything 
like  an  appraisement  of  the  good  accomplished 
by  these  twenty  missions,  manned  by  about 
one  hundred  clergy,  not  including  native 
catechists — all  volunteers  for  the  often  de- 
pressing, and,  in  the  Congo  country,  perilous 
work  on  which  they  are  engaged.  Mr.  Stanley 
and  the  officers  of  the  Free  State  bear  willing 
witness  to  the  value  of  their  labours  in  trans- 
forming the  negro  into  a semblance  of  civilised 
man,  by  enlarging  his  intellectual  horizon, 
and  retining  feelings  brutalised  by  unnum- 
bered ages  of  savagery. 

However,  this  aspect  of  missionary  life,  in- 
teresting and,  of  course,  all-important  though 
it  undoubtedly  is,  does  .not  come  specially 
within  the  limits  we  have  assigned  to  these 
pages.  We  therefore  turn  to  the  services  in 
opening  up  Africa  that  have  been  performed 
by  two  missionaries  of  the  English  Baptists, 
who  in  the  course  of  a few*  years  did  work 
well  worthy  of  comparison  with  that  of  some 
of  their  fellow-labourers  already  noticed 
(pp.  115-118). 

Before  reaching  Stanle}7  Pool  by  the  river 
banks,  Messrs.  Comber,  Grenfell,  and  their 
colleagues  had  made  some  extremely  interest- 
ing attempts  to  do  so  by  leaving  the  lower 
river  for  the  old  capital  of  the  Congo  king- 
dom, and  thence  trying  to  strike  eastwards 
and  northwards  by  Makuta,  and  thus  come 
uppn  the  Congo  higher  up.  Mr.  Comber,  like 
his  future  colleague  in  exploration,  had  been 
a missionary  in  the  Cameroons,  part  of  which 
country — that  back  from  the  Cameroon  Peak 
— he  had  travelled  over*  When  the  Baptist 
Missionary  Society  selected  the  Congo  River 
as  the  scene  of  their  missionary  efforts,  the 
first  aim  of  Mr.  Comber  and  Mr.  Grenfell 

* Proceed  (rig*.  Royal  Grog.  Society.  1879,  p.  225. 


was,  we  have  seen,  to  reach  Stanley  Pool,  in 
case  the  J esuit  priests  might  anticipate  them- 
Before  doing  so,  however,  the  two 
missionaries  were  directed  to  visit  Baptfst 
the  capital  of  the  old  Comro  kins:-  missionaries : 

i A , r San  Salvador 

dom,  the  greatness  of  which  had  and  the  old 

been  so  exaggerated  by  the  Portu-  Mns‘ 

guese  and  Italian  padres  of  an 
earlier  day.f  The  capital  of  this  country, 
which  is  south  of  the  Congo  River,  tvas  Am- 
bassi,  which,  on  the  facile  conversion  of  the 
king  to  Christianity  at  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  was  changed  by  the  Portu- 
guese to  San  Salvador.  Proselytes  are  affirmed 


( From  a Photograph  by  T.  Lewis , Birmingham.') 

to  have  increased  so  rapidly  that  in  1534 
there  were  a cathedral  and  several  churches 
in  the  town,  and  a bishop  presiding  over  the 
faithful.  Thirty-six  years  later,  in  the  in- 
cursions of  the  Jaggas,  Giagas,  or  Yakas  (Vol. 
I.,  p.  116),  probably  wandering  Zulus,  who 
murdered  and  destroyed  everything,  the  city 
of  San  Salvador  was  ruined,  and  the  king, 
court,  and  clergy  had  to  take  refuge  on 
one  of  the  islands  in  the  Congo,  from  which 

f Pigafetta,  “ Relatione  del  Reaume  di  Congo  et  delle 
circonvicaine  contrade,  etc.  ” (1591)  ; Odoardo  Lopez, 
“Report  of  the  Kingdome  of  Congo,  a Region  of  Africa, 
etc!.”  translated  by  Abraham  Hartwell  (1597)  ; De  Tovar, 
" Mission  Evangelica  al  Regno  de  Congo  ” (1649),  etc. 


120 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


San  Salvador  is  about  one  hundred  miles 
distant. 

The  Giagas  being  expelled  from  the  country, 
the  town  was  rebuilt,  and  most  of  the  kingdom 
ceded  to  the  Portuguese.  This  arrangement 
did  not  last  long ; for  early  in  the  seventeenth 
century  the  mission  establishment  at  San 
Salvador  was  broken  up,  owing  to  the  hos- 
tility of  the  natives,  and  the  bishop’s  seat 
transferred  to  Sao  Paolo  de  Loanda  (Vol.  II., 
p.  216).  In  1781 — about  a century  and  a 
half  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Portuguese — 
an  attempt,  also 
frustrated  owing 
to  civil  war,  was 
made  to  reopen 
the  mission  work 
at  San  Salvador; 
but  we  hear  little 
more  of  the  half- 
mythical  town 
until  1857,  when 
Dr.  Bastian  visited 
it,  and  found  that 
this  “city”  was 
“only  an  ordin- 
ary native  town, 
with  a few 
scattered  monu- 
ments of  other 


days.”*  In  1873  the 
late  Lieutenant 
Grandy,  R.N.f  (Vol. 
II.,  p.  281),  passed 
through  the  town  on 
a somewhat  futile 
search  for  Dr.  Living- 
stone, in  case  he 
reached  the  Congo 
country.  He,  like  his 
predecessor,  saw  little 
except  barbarisnx  A 
few  of  the  leaders 
of  the  coast  caravans 
spoke  a little  corrupt 
Portuguese ; but  the 
people,  as  a whole, 
had  sunk  into  bar- 
barism, if  ever  they  had  been  raised  above 
it,  and  offered  no  welcome  to  the  white  man ; 
they  had  evidently  no  very  pleasant  legends  of 
his  ways  towards  the  black  one.  Messrs.  Comber 
and  Grenfell  were  not  more  impressed  in 
1878.  The  king,  it  is  true,  still  kept  up  a 
semblance  of  dignity  under  the  lofty  title  of 

* Bastian,  “ Afrikanische  Reisen,”  etc.  (1859);  “Die 
Deutsche  Expedition  ander  Loango-Kuste,”  etc.  (1874-75). 

t Grandy,  Journal  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society, 
1876,  p.  428;  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  Vol.  XIX.,  p..78. 


HENEY  HEED.” 


A.B.M.U.  CONGO  STEAMEE 

(From  a Photograph  by  the  Rev.  A.  Billington.) 


THE  BAPTIST  CONGO  MISSIONS. 


121 


H.M.  Dom  Pedro  Y.,  and  flew  a dark-blue  flag- 
with  a golden  star  in  the  centre.  But  he 
proved  to  be  an  unimportant  person,  and  was 
little  able  or  willing  to  help  them  to  reach 
Stanley  PooL  They  visited,  however,  Makuta, 
a country  farther  to  the  east,  and  nearer  their 
destination.  Tungwa,  the  capital  of  the 
region,  had  also  been  essayed  by  Grandy  on 


not  only  permitting  them  to  enter  his  really 
pretty  town,  but  according  them  a “grand 
reception,  with  much  dinning  of  music.” 
Makuta  being  a great  ivory  market,  the  king 
seemed  richer  than  his  neighbour  of  San 
Salvador.  But  it  was  in  vain  that  the  mis- 
sionaries asked  permission  to  make  his  town 
the  interior  base  of  their  proposed  operations 


FIRST  MISSIONARY  ENCAMPMENT  AT  BOLOBO  f REV.  G.  GRENFELL'S  HEAD-QUARTERS  IN  1SS8. 
( From  a Photograph  by  the  Rev.  R.  D.  Darby.) 


the  “search  expedition,”  which  Dr.  Young,  of 
Kelly,  had  so  liberally  subsidised.  But  the  king, 
who  is  quite  independent  of  the  San  Salvador 
dignitary,  declined  to  see  him,  and,  still  more 
extraordinary,  to  receive  his  presents.  “ He 
wanted  nothing  to  do  with  white  men.  What  do 
they  want,  coming  every  day  to  my  country  ?” 
was  the  pleasant  speech  of  this  Congo-land 
potentate.  He  was,  however,  much  more 
complaisant  to  the  Baptist  missionaries, 


on  the  Congo  River,  or  to  give  them  carriers 
to  that  goal.  He  was  afraid  of  the  conse- 
quences if  a white  man  was  permitted  to 
live  in  his  country ; for  he  knew  that  if  any 
misfortune  befell  the  neighbouring  tribes 
they  would  blame  him  for  the  calamity,  and 
go  to  war  in  consequence.  Messrs.  Comber 
and  Grenfell  were,  therefore,  forced  to  retire, 
lest  they  should  bring  any  such  evil  fortune 
on  their  royal  host. 


122 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


The  Falls  of  the  Congo,  round  which  a 
railway  will  one  day  run,  were  the  great 
obstacles  that  had  hitherto  pre- 

Makuta : an  . ..  1 

unfriendly  vented  the  missionaries  from  reach- 
ing their  goal  on  the  Stanley  Pool. 
A small  steamer  in  sections  was  now  sent  out 
from  England,  and  in  due  time  launched  on 
the  Middle  Congo.  Meanwhile,  Mr.  Comber 
left  England  in  advance  of  his  vessel,  with  the 
intention  of  again  reaching  Makuta,  and  thence 
the  Congo,  by  a march  across  the  intervening- 
country.  This  expedition  was  so  far  success- 
ful that  in  1879  the  party  arrived  with  a 
sufficient  number  of  carriers  at  San  Salvador. 
But  at  Makuta  the  party  met  with  a rebuff, 
though  at  Sunda,  about  two  days’  journey 
from  Makuta,  Mr.  Crudington,  one  of  the  party, 
received  a very  civil  reception.*  But  in  the  ob- 
ject of  the  expedition  they  were  disappointed ; 
for,  being  entrapped  into  visiting  Makuta 
by  an  invitation  from  the  treacherous  king, 
Messrs.  Comber  and  Hartland  f were  savagely 
attacked,  and  both  injured  by  gunshot  wounds 
while  escaping  to  the  friendly  town  of  Sunda, 
where  Mr.  Crudington  extracted  the  “ bullet  ” 
from  Mr.  Comber’s  wound ; it  proved  to  be  a 
square  piece  of  ironstone.  So  far,  therefore, 
the  efforts  of  the  missionaries  had  been  futile  : 
Stanley  Pool  was  not  to  be  reached  by  way  of 
Makuta.  Their  long  stay  in  San  Salvador  had, 
however,  not  been  fruitless  for  geography. 
Among  other  interesting  discoveries  was  that 
of  the  fine  Arthington  Fall,  on  the  Brije  River, 
in  the  Zombo  Mountains,  which  formed  one 
of  the  most  striking  views  from  the  mission- 
aries’ house  in  San  Salvador. 

Mr.  Comber  was,  however,  not  dismayed  by 
the  failure  of  his  previous  attempts  to  reach 
Stanley  Pool  by  a journey  across  country  from 
Makuta,  or  by  the  repeated  deser- 

Tbe  Upper  . J 1 , , . 

Congo  tions  of  the  Ivroomen,  who,  though 
reacned.  admirably  suited  for  work  on  board 
ship,  are  worthless  on  land,  owing  to  the 
novelty  of  the  duties  and  their  consequent 
timidity.  The  Makuta  people  had  a “ big- 
palaver”  over  the  former  hostile  reception, 

* Proceedings,  Royal  Gang.  Society.  1880,  p.  36G. 
f Ibid.,  p.  7G5  ; Ibid.,  1881,  p.  20  (Map). 


and,  learning  that  it  had  been  decided  in  his 
favour,  Mr.  Comber  resolved  to  make  another 
trial.  But  again  the  Kroomen  deserted  on 
hearing  of  danger  ahead,  so  that  he  and  Mr. 
Hartland  had  once  more  to  return  to  San 
Salvador.  From  this  town  they  made  for  the 
Lower  -Congo,  to  assist  Messrs.  Crudington  and 
Bentley,  who  eventually,  by  keeping  along  the 
river  banks,  reached  the  longed-for  Stanley 
Pool,  thus  anticipating  the  arrival  of  a Jesuit 
mission  which  had  set  out  with  a view  to 
strike  the  upper  river  by  the  route  the 
Baptist  missionaries  had  so  frequently  tried 
in  vain.  The  Jesuits,  it  is  said,  were  escorted 
to  San  Salvador  by  Portuguese  officers  and 
marines,  and  carried,  as  the  most  appropriate 
gifts  to  the  negro  “Dom  Pedro  V.”  a piano, 
large  silver  tankards  and  cups,  “ several  kegs 
of  rum,  large  cases  of  gin,  gold  cloth,  etc.” 
This  notable  journey  in  the  annals  of  mis- 
sionary effort  took  place  in  February,  1881.+ 
The  steamer,  wflich  afterwards  did  such  ad- 
mirable service  on  the  river,  having  been 
constructed,  the  struggles  to  reach  Stanley 
Pool  came  to  an  end,  so  far  as  the  Baptist 
explorers  were  concerned.  Their  travels,  of 
which  the  merest  outline  can  be  given  in  this 
place,  deserve  a fuller  record  than  has  yet 
been  published,  for  in  many  respects  they 
rank  with  the  most  romantic  of  African  ex- 
plorations ; and  if  they  had  been  undertaken 
in  times  not  so  crowded  with  journeys  hither 
and  thither  on  the  continent  which  lias  ceased 
for  ever  to  be  “ dark,”  would  have  obtained 
for  the  courageous  missionaries  an  even 
higher  reputation  than  they  have  so  deservedly 
won.§  All  of  the  African  missionaries  have 
been  more  or  less  explorers,  and  it  is  only  the 
necessity  of  space  that  has  compelled  us  to 
pass  over  with  simple  mention  the  travels, 
for  example,  of  the  Yoruba  clergy  and  others, 
which,  though  of  inferior  importance  to  those 
of  the  Congo  Baptists,  were  not  without  in- 
terest for  geography,  and  for  the  opening  up 
of  the  regions  examined.  |)  - 

t Proceedings,  Royal  Geog . Society,  1881,  p.  353. 

§ Bentley,  “Life  on  the  Congo”  (1887). 

I!  Milum,  “ Notes  of  a Journey  up  the  River  Niger  to 
Bida,  the  Capital  of  Nupe,  and  Ilorin,  in  the  Yoruba 


• THE  BAPTIST  CONGO  MISSIONS. 


123 


One  of  the  first  explorations  accomplished 
by  Mr.  Comber  * after  establishing  his  station 
at  Stanley  Pool  was  to  make  a boat  voyage 
round  that  lake-like  enlargement 
Grenfell's11**  of  the  Congo.  Nowadays  this 
sSmiey  pool  secti°n  °f  the  river  is  so  well 
known  that  a journey  no  farther 
into  the  interior  of  Africa  scarcely  merits  a 
line  in  any  geographical  publication.  But  in 
1883  it  was  still  a novelty  : even  Mr.  Stanley 
had  not  circumnavigated  the  piece  of  water 
to  which  his  name  had  been  given.  Mr. 
Comber’s  trip  was,  therefore,  an  addition  to 
our  knowledge  of  the  river.  For,  instead  of 
finding  it  from  two  to  seven  miles  broad  and 
about  nine  miles  long,  his  survey  gave  it  a 
length  of  twenty-three  miles,  a breadth  of 
about  equal  amount,  and  an  area  of  350 
square  miles,  in  place  of  the  “ fifty-five  or 
thereabouts”  assigned  to  this  now  notable 
water  by  its  discoverer.  Even  then,  as  the 
natives  were  still  divided  in  opinion  regarding 
the  white  men,  prudence  compelled  the  ex- 
plorers to  hug  the  shore  and  thread  the  narrow 
channels  inside  the  sandy  and  grassy  islands 
which  line  it,  so  as  to  minimise  the  chance  of 
a successful  attack  from  the  savages.  “ Dover 
Cliffs,”  about  two  hundred  feet  in  height,  and 
cut  in  the  most  fantastic  way  by  the  floods  of 
the  rainy  season,  were  found  to  be  neither 
chalk,  as  Mr.  Stanley  had  imagined,  nor  pipe- 
clay, according  to  a later  legend,  but  the 
whitest  silver  sand,  varied  occasionally  by  an 
admixture  of  brown  sand,  and  here  and  there 
by  black  masses  of  forest,  whioh,  by  contrast, 
add  to  the  beauty  of  the  cliffs.  The  great 
island  of  Manyanga,  in  the  middle  of  the 
Pool,  was  uninhabited  save  by  elephants, 
buffaloes,  and  other  game.  Hippopotami  were 
so  abundant  in  this  part  of  the  Congo  that 
hundreds  were  seen,  sometimes  in  herds  of  from 
ten  to  twenty — apparently  so  little  familiar 
with  man  that  it  generally  required  a second 
shot  before  the}’  would  put  themselves  out  of 
danger.  But  though  the  “ hippos  ” did  not 

Country,  1879-80,"  Proceeding s of  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society,  1881,  p.  2fi. 

* Accompanied  by  Mr.  Bentley  and  Dr.  Sims. 


attempt  hostilities,  a huge  crocodile  made  a 
savage  rush  at  the  boat,  which  it  evidently 
mistook  for  the  carcass  of  some  animal  float- 
ing down  the  current.  Wild  ducks  abounded, 
and  the  tall  adjutant  stalked  about  the  sand- 
banks in  its  stately,  solitary,  soldierly  fashion. 
This  bird  is  among  the  most  voracious  of 
its  order.  - Nothing  comes  amiss  to  an  ad- 
jutant; even  a dead  monkey  goes  down  its 
capacious  gullet  whole — only  the  tail,  in  a 
case  of  this  description  recorded  by  Mr. 
Comber,  causing  inconvenience  as  it  hung 
outside  the  bill.  Pelicans  in  Y-shaped  flocks 
of  twenty  or  thirty  are  also  frequent,  and 


KEV.  J.  HOLMAN  BENTLEY. 

(From  a Photograph  by  J.  II.  Killick,  Holloway  Hoad,  X.) 


the  coral-beaked  and  footed  scissor-bills  are 
found  in  flocks  of  one  or  two  hundred. 

An  alternation  of  low  hills,  generally  covered 
with  umbrageous  forest  and  long  wooded 
reaches,  imparts  a certain  picturesque  beauty 
to  the  country,  while  the  scenery  at  the 
entrance  to  the  Pool  is  absolutely  “ grand." 
Villages  and  people  are  few : only  one  or 
two  canoes  were  seen  until  Nshasha  was  ap- 
proached on  the  party’s  return  to  their  station 
of  Arthington,  which  is  built  on  the  hill,  at 
Leopoldville,  close  to  the  native  village  of 
Kintano.f 

t Comber.  Proceeding * of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  1889,  pp.  71-7.’)  (with.  Map). 


124 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Shortly  after  this  expedition  (1884),  Mr. 
Comber  was  joined  by  Mr.  George  Grenfell 
. . . (p.  119),  who  had  already  made 
or  Kasai  some  explorations  of  the  Cam- 
Rlver‘  eroon  district  from  Victoria,  the 
then  Baptist  Mission  station  there,*  and,  we 
have  seen,  had  shared  in  various  adventurous 
journeys  in  the  country  south  of -the  Congo 
(pp.  119-121).  The  steamer  Peace  (p.  120) 


It  is  formed  by  the  junction  of  several  large 
streams,  the  most  important  of  which  is  the 
Kasai ; and,  accordingly,  in  the  latest  maps 
it  bears  that  name.  Up  this  large  tributary 
the  missionaries  steamed  for  fully  seventy-five 
miles,  until  they  arrived  at  the  spot  where  the 
Mtini,  flowing  out  of  Lake  Leopold  (in  reality, 
a tributary  of  the  Kasai),  joins  with  what  is, 
no  doubt,  the  Kwango.  This  proved  to  be  a 


being  now  put  together,  the  river  was  explored 
above  the  Pool  more  accurately  than  had 
been  possible  on  its  first  hurried  reconnais- 
sance. Keeping  to  the  south  side  of  the  cur- 
rent, the  mouth  of  the  Bochini  was  entered. 
This  important  tributary  of  the  Congo  was 
described  by  Stanley  as  the  Ivwa  (hence  the 
station  of  Kwamouth),  and  has  since  received 
the  name  of  the  Ibari  Nkutu,  Wabuma,  and 
Bochini,  according  to  the  various  theories  of  its 
character  or  the  different  native  nomenclature. 

* Proceedings,  Royal  Geog.  Society,  1882,  p.  583. 


fine  stream,  four  hundred  to  five  hundred 
yards  broad  (about  twice  that  of  the  Thames 
at  London  Bridge),  with  a mean  depth  of 
twelve  feet,  and  a current  averaging  one  mile 
and  a half  an  hour.f 

t Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  1884, 
p.  742,  and  1885,  p.  353  (Map).  In  the  same  volume 
there  are  two  other  admirable  papers  on  the  Congo  below 
Stanley  Pool — one  by  Sir  F.  J.  Goldsmid  (p.  177),  and 
another  by  Mr.  Delmar  Morgan  (p.  183).  Sir  H.  H. 
Johnston  gives  his  observations  (as  far  as  Bolobo)  in 
“ The  River  Congo  ” (1884),  one  of  the  earliest  of  the 
many  books  on  that  subject,  but  still  one  of  the  most 
valuable  for  its  scientific  remarks. 


THE  BAPTIST  CONGO  MISSIONS. 


125 


Between 
Stanley  Pool 
and  the  Boch- 
ini  mouth  the 
banks  of  the  2 
river  seemed 
uninhabited, 
and  for  a long 
distance  up 
which  its  tri- 
butary pene- 
trated, the 

country  appeared  equally  de- 
solate, though  it  looked  fruit- 
ful. At  places  its  borders 
were  fringed  by  great  grassy 
plains,  with  here  and  there  a 
Hyphaene  palm,  but  no  other 
vegetation,  the  forest  being 
far  from  the  river.  But ' on 
other  stretches  the  scenery 
— wooded  sand-hills,  with 
the  river  ever  contracting 
and  expanding — looked  almost  picturesque. 

On  some  of  the  sand-banks  were  little 
clusters  of  huts,  inhabited  by  Ba-buma  people. 
“ We  asked  them  what  they  were  doing,  and 
found  that  they  kept  beer-shops,  and  also 
caught  fish.  Their  beer  was  made  from 
sugar-cane  growing  on  the  mainland  : brought 
in  large  stone  jars  and  calabashes,  and  stored 
in  the  little  huts,  it  was  sold  to  the  bond-jide 
travellers  passing  constantly  to  and  fro  on 
their  business — trading  or  otherwise.”  Nga- 
Nkabe,  Queen  of  the  Ba-buma,  was  a most 
interesting  woman.  She  had  a husband,  but 


this  prince  consort  knew  his  place,  and  kept 
it;  so  that,  instead  of  interfering  in  the  high 
affairs  of  state,  Xchielo — that  was  his  name — 
sat  meekly  smoking  his  pipe  aild  philoso- 
phising, while  his  wife  ruled.  The  queen  was 
a tall,  stalwart  woman,  muscular  and  brawny, 
about  fifty  years  of  age,  with  a fine,  dignified 
air,  and  a great  deal  of  authority  about  her 
firmly  set  mouth.  She  spoke  little,  but  very 
much  to  the  purpose  ; though  making  so  little 
pretension  to  ceremony  that 
she  did  not  consider  it  out 
of  place  to  paddle  herself  to 
the  nearest  plantain  patch  to 
cut  a bunch  for  her  guests. 

Entering  the  main  river 
again,  the  missionaries  as- 
cended it  as  far  as  Bangala, 
then  a part  of  the  river  little 
known,  but  now  a familiar 
mission-station  (p.  124). 
Another  voyage  by  Mr. 

Grenfell  in 
the  Peace 
added  greatly 
to  our  know- 
ledge of  the 
northern  tri- 
3 butaries  of 
the  Congo. 
The  Lefini 
River  (the 
Lawson  of 


EVOLUTION  OF  A MISSION-HOUSE  AT  LUKOLELA,  CONGO. 
No.  1 (a  Native  Hut) ; 2 and  3 were  successively  utilised  as 
kitchen,  stores,  etc.;  No.  4,  final  stage. 

( From  Photographs  by  the  Per.  R.  D.  Darby  ) 


4 


126 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Stanley)  was  found  to  be  only  navigable 
for  two  or  three  miles,  when  it  became  a 
torrent.  The  Nkenye,  or  Nkie,  is 

RivSf*  a small,  tortuous  stream,  with  a 
mean  breadth  of  sixty  yards,  a 
depth  of  twelve  feet,  and  a current  of  220 
or  250  feet  per  minute.  The  Mobangi 
(Oubangi)  is,  however,  one  of  the  noblest 
of  Congo  tributaries.  After  following  it 
from  the  spot  where  it  forms  a delta  between 
twenty-six  and  forty-two  miles  south  of  the 
equator  to  4°  30'  N.,  nearly  400  miles  from 
its  mouth,  where  Mr.  Grenfell  left  it,  just  below 
the  second  rapids,  it  was  still  an  open  waterway, 
about  670  yards  broad,  with  a mean  depth  of 
twenty-five  feet,  and  carrying  an  immense 
volume  of  water,  which  it  collected  by  endless 
tributaries  rising  in  the  Niam-Niam  country 
and  the  watershed  between  the  Nile  and  the 
west  coast  rivers.-  On  this  voyage,  which  occu- 
pied five  months,  Mr.  Grenfell  also  entered  the 
Ukere,  the  Lomami  (Lubilash),  the  Mbura,  the 
Mangala,  and  the  Ruki  for  some  distance.  This 
was  early  in  1885.*  In  the  autumn  of  the  same 
year,  Mr.  Grenfell  utilised  the  Peace 

The  Lulanga  ■ , . , . 

and  the  Boru-tor  another  tew  weeks  exploration 
id  Rivers.  0f  Congo  tributaries.  On  this 
occasion  he  ascended  the  Lulanga  and  Boruki, 
or  Rukit  (that  is,  Black  River),  the  only  two 
of  the  great  Congo  tributaries  on  the  southern 
bank  between  the  Kasai  and  Lomami,  still 
unexamined.  The  Lulanga  runs  nearly  par- 
allel to  the  main  stream,  but  the  Boruki  is  a 
still  more  promising  waterway.  It  is  formed 
by  the  union  of  three  streams.  The  one 
which  is  properly  so  called  is  not  navigable 
for  more  than  six  or  eight  miles ; but  of  the 
other  two  the  Juapa,  which  was  ascended 
for  350  miles,  was,  when  left,  still  an  open 
waterway,  100  yards  broad,  twelve  feet  deep, 
and  rolling  along  with  a current  of  nearly 
200  feet  per  minute. 

* Grenfell  and  Comber,  Proceedings  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  1885,  p.  353  ; and  Grenfell,  Ibid., 
p.  455. 

+ Grenfell,  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  1886,  p.  627  (Map).  See,  in  the  same  number, 
Sir  Francis  de  Winton’s  paper  on  the  Congo  Free  State 
(p.  627)  and  the  German  Explorations  (p.  634). 


Still  more  recently  — namely,  in  1887  — 
Mr.  Grenfell,  in  company  with  Mr.  Bentley, 
ascended  the  Kwango  as  far  as  the 
Kikunji  Falls,  the  point  at  which 
Major  von  Mechow,  one  of  the 
many  explorers  who  flocked  to  this  region 
after  Mr.  Stanley’s  famous  descent  of  the 
Congo,  was  obliged  to  turn  back  in  1880. 
About  six  miles  above  the  junction  of  the 
Kasai  with  the  Kwango,  the  I)juma,  another 
large  tributary,  is  reported  to  enter  the  river 
from  the  east.  The  Kikunji  Falls  are,  how- 
ever, scarcely  worthy  of  the  name,  being  only 
about  three  feet  high,  though  insurmountable 
by  the  Peace.\ 

This  brilliant  series  of  explorations  may  be 
said  to  have  ended  in  1887.  By  that  time 
the  missionaries  had  selected  the  stations  in 
search  of  which  their  many  voyages  had 
recently  been  made,  and  the  Congo  basin  was 
getting  well  known,  thanks  to  the  travels  of 
the  officers  belonging  to  the  Free  State  and 
the  many  adventurous  travellers  who  had 
been  attracted  to  one  of  the  few  great  areas 
of  Africa  until  then  virgin  to  the  pioneer. 
Admirable  work  has  been  done  since  Mr. 
Grenfell  and  his  colleagues  began  theirs ; and 
though,  possibly,  exploration  in  a steamer  is 
more  comfortable  than  exploration  on  foot, 
the  missionaries  had  a good  deal  of  that 
also.  Mr.  Grenfell  alone,  before  he  under- 
took his  survey  of  the  Congo,  travelled  in 
the  Cameroons  country  between  the  years 
1874-78,  some  1,300  miles  on  foot,  and  more 
than  5,000  in  canoes.  In,  therefore,  receiving 
from  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  the 
patrons’  medal  as  a mark  of  esteem  for  the 
extensive  explorations  recorded  in  the  “Pro- 
ceedings” of  that  distinguished  body,  Mr. 
Grenfell  was  awarded  nothing  more  than  his 
due.  For  though,  perhaps,  neither  of  the 
calibre  of,  nor  with  the  opportunities  of,  Liv- 
ingstone, he  had  acquitted  himself  with  a 
zeal  and  a success  worthy  of  the  greatest  of 
African  travellers. 

When  we  turn  to  South  Africa  we  find  that 
the  Moravians  were  there  also  the  pioneers 

J Proceedings,  Royal  Geog.  Society,  1887,  p.  239 


MISSIONS  IN  SOUTH  AFRICA. 


127 


During  the  Dutch  occupation  of  Cape  Colony 
missionaries  to  the  Kaffirs  were  not  en- 
couraged. George  Schmidt,  who  -went 
Ixrica  *n  1^36  to  Genadendal,  then  known 
as  Bavian’s  Kloof  (the  Baboon’s  Glen), 
was  banished  by  the  Dutch  Government, 
for  the  crime  of  being  “ a great  Hottentot 
converter.”  Slavery  prevailed  there,  as  it 
did  in  all  the  African  colonies,  and  the 
farmers,  though  extremely  pious,  were  more 
apt  to  look  upon  the  children  of  Ham 
in  the  light  of  servants  than  as  converts 
to  the  faith  which  they  themselves  professed. 
However,  in  1799,  the  London  Missionary 
Society  began  its  beneficent  campaign  against 
ignorance  and  heathenism  * and,  had  it  done 
nothing  more  than  bring  to  Africa  men  like 
Yanderkemp,  Kichener,  Campbell,  Moffat, 
and  Livingstone,  it  would  have  performed  a 
great  work  for  the  regeneration — and,  even  in 
those  early  days,  for  the  exploration  — of 
Africa.*  Twenty-three  years  later  the  Scot- 
tish mission,  now  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Free  Church,  began  its  operations,  and  still 
continues  it  from  the  well-known  Lovedale 
Institution  as  the  centre. 

This  admirable  establishment  (founded  in 
1841),  where  the  results  of  missionary  enter- 
prise are  seen  to  the  best  advantage,  is  situ- 
ated about  650  miles  X.E.  of  Cape  Town,  and 
about  40  W.  of  King  William’s  Town.  Kaffir 
children  and  young  people  are  educated  there, 
and  teachers  trained  for  native  schools.  At 
Lovedale  also,  the  arts  of  civilised  life — print- 
ing, bookbinding,  telegraphy,  blacksmithing, 
carpentering,  tinsmithing,  and  the  like — are 
taught,  so  that  in  almost  every  tribe  there  are 
now'  good  workmen  capable  of  instructing  the 
others.  On  an  average,  as  many  as  700  native 
Africans  are  under  tuition,  and  of  more  than 
2.000  native  “graduates”  of  Lovedale,  of  whom 
the  after  history  could  be  traced,  the  majority 
proved  highly  creditable  to  the  Institution. 
Though  generously  supported  by  the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland,  Lovedale,  like  Blyths- 
wood,  its  offshoot,  120  miles  distant  in  the 

* Moffat.  *■  Missionary  Labours  and  Scenes  iu  South 
Africa.’7  (Ed.  1846.)  This  is  still  an  admirable  book. 


Transkei,  is  unsectarian.  But  so  highly  appre- 
ciated is  the  institution  that  about  £2,000 
per  annum  is  paid  by  the  natives  for  the 
privilege  of  being  educated  there. 

The  name  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  Stewart 
(p.  131)  is  now'  almost  as  familiarly  associated 
with  this  establishment  as  those  of  the  men 
already  quoted.  We  shall,  how'ever,  have 
again  to  meet  him  in  another  part  of  Africa, 
more  as  a pioneer  than  he  could  become  in 
so  comparatively  well-known  a part  of  the 
world  as  South  Africa. 

The  French  Evangelical  mission  has  estab- 
lished several  stations  among  the  Basuto 


tribes.  The  Rhenish  Society,  the  Berlin  So- 
ciety, the  Hermansburger  Society,  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church,  the  Norwegian  Society, 
the  Finnish  Lutheran  Society — in  addition  to 
some  Roman  Catholic  stations — -all  have  mis- 
sions dotting  the  country  from  Damaraland 
on  the  w'est  to  Zululand  on  the  east ; and  in 
1837  the  Church  of  England  sent  a mission 
into  Zululand  under  the  Rev.  F.  Owen,  who 
Avas,  however,  compelled  to  leave  after  a year 
or  two’s  struggle  Avith  the  cruelty  and  bar- 
barism of  Dingaau,  one  of  the  predecessors  of 
Cetywayo.  His  Avork  Avas  never  resumed,  but 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  there  are  still 
Hourishing  missions  in  Kaffraria,  Natal,  the 


128 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Orange  Free  State,  Mashonaland,  and,  in  short, 
all  over  southern  Africa,  the  religious  in- 
fluences of  which  are  now  controlled  by  ten 
bishops.  The  South  African  missionaries, 
though  they  contributed  largely  to  our  know- 
ledge of  the  natives,  did  not,  as  a rule,  take 
an}^  notable  part  in  the  work  of  geographical 
exploration — Livingstone,  a name  which  over- 
shadows all  the  others,  so  far  as  travel  is  con- 
cerned, being,  of  course,  a notable  exception. 


the  heels  of  the  discoverer,  and,  in  several 
cases,  has  actually  himself  been  North_ 
the  explorer  of  the  region  where  Eastern 

his  labours  were  in  future  to  Abyssinian 

troubles. 

The  Church  Missionary  Society  opened 
work  in  Egypt  in  the  year  1826,  and  four 
years  later  extended  its  operations  to  Abys- 
sinia, with  results  which  have  been  no  more 
successful  than  could  have  been  expected. 


STREET  IN  KURUMAN,  SHOWING  CHURCH  BUILT 
BY  DR.  MOFFAT  AND  OTHERS. 

( From  a Photograph  by  the  Rev.  Alfred  J.  Wodkey .) 


Yet  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  early  pioneers, 
the  hunters,  and  the  travellers  whose  names  are 
connected  with  the  mapping  of  the  regions 
just  outside  the  limits  of  the  Cape  Colony 
could  never  have  been  so  successful  in  their 
work  had  it  not  been  for  the  mission-stations 
which  afforded  these  pioneers  welcome 
asylums  at  periods  when  a civilised  shelter 
was  of  the  utmost  moment  to  them. 

It  is,  however,  in  North-East,  Central,  and 
East  Africa  that  the  missionary’s  work  has 
linked  itself  most  markedly  with  that  of  the  geo- 
graphical explorer  ; for,  in  not  a few  instances, 
the  missionary  has  followed  very  closely  on 


More  than  thirty  years  subsequently,  the  im- 
prisonment of  the  German  lay  missionaries 
by  Theodore  led,  among  many  other  causes, 
to  Sir  Robert  (afterwards  Lord)  Napier’s 
expedition  of  1868,  which  ended  in  the 
capture  of  Magdala-  and  the  death  of  the 
high-handed  monarch  whose  despotism  it  was 
intended  to  curb.  In  days  when  the  tale  of 
Prester  John  (Yol.  I.,  p.  110)  set  layman  and 
clerk  alike  searching  for  his  mythical  kingdom, 
the  Portuguese  padres  arrived  in  Abyssinia 
towards  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and 
prospered  so  well  that  they  managed  to  divide 
the  people  in  a sect  who  followed  them  and 


MISSIONS  IN  ABYSSINIA. 


129 


a sect  who  still  clung  to  the  Greek  form  of 
Christianity,  which  had  been  introduced  by 
Frumentius  as  early  as  330.  At  length  a 
demand  by  the  Jesuits,  who  had  by  this 
time  found  their  way  into  the  kingdom,  that 
the  Negus,  or  king,  should  embrace  Roman 
Catholicism  led  to  a rupture.  The  result  was 
that  in  1633  they  were  expelled,  though 
the  remnants  of  their  churches  and  the 
many  public  works  which  they  completed 
bear  evidence  to 
the  energy  of 
these  remark- 
able men.  Until 
the  year  1829, 
when  Messrs. 

Gobat  (after- 
wards Bishop  of 
Jerusalem),  and 
Ivrugler,  of  the 
Church  Mission- 
ary Society, 
made  an  at- 
tempt to  gain  a 
footing,  no  fur- 
ther efforts  were 
made  to  send 
missionaries  to 
Abyssinia. 

The  Church 
Missionary  So- 
ciety’s agents 
were,  however, 
compelled  to  leave  as  early  as  1842.  At 
a later  date  an  industrial  mission,  con- 
sisting mainly  of  Germans,  was  started  by 
Bishop  Gobat.  This  came  to  a close  with  the 
fall  of  Theodore,  and  the  missionaries  still  in 
that  country  are  supported  by  Swedish  and 
Norwegian  societies.  The  Italians  have, 'it  is 
understood,  again  begun  a Roman  Catholic 
propaganda,  though  both  in  Shoa  and  Abyssinia 
there  have  been  priests  for  many  years,  whose 
influence  was  not  exerted  in  favour  of  the 
Protestant  teachers  ; while  the  American 
United  Presbyterians  and  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society  occupy  the  limited  area  that 
is  open  to  proselytism  in  Egypt. 


The  efforts  of  one  branch  of  the  Christian 
Church  to  compete  with  another,  which  have 
produced  such  deplorable  results  in  Uganda, 
ought  never  to  have  been  repeated  in 
Abyssinia ; and  happily,  so  far  as  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  is  concerned, 
the  first  mistake  which  led  to  the  ex- 
pulsion of  their  teachers  has  not  again  been 
made. 

In  1844,  soon  after  the  English  clergy  were 


FIELD-WORK  AT  LOVEDALE. 

(From  a Photograph  supplied  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stewart.) 


ordered  to  leave  Abyssinia,  the}7  established 
themselves  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa, 

where,  if  the  prevailing  faith  of  the 

i o East  Africa 

more  civilised  portion  of  the  popu- 
lation was  Mohammedanism,  the  number  of 
Pagans,  pure  and  unadulterated,  was  large 
enough  to  afford  room  for  the  most  zealous  of 
missionaries.  This  mission  still  exists.  The 
labours  of  two  members  of  it  to  advance 
our  knowledge  of  Central  Africa  has 
shed  such  lustre  on  the  East  African 
mission  as  to  make  the  names  of  John 
Ludwig  Krapf  (p.  107)  and  John  Rebmann, 
both  of  them  of  German  nationality,  among 
the  most  familiar  in  the  history  of  African 


49 


130 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


exploration.  Krapf,*  after  being  compelled 
to  abandon  bis  attempts  to  plant  Protest- 
antism in  Abyssinia  and  Shoa,  settled  at 
Mombasa,  under  the  auspices  of  Seyid-Said, 
then  Sultan  of  Zanzibar,  who  commended  him 
to  his  people  as  “ a good  man  who  wishes  to 
convert  the  world  to  Allah.”  Two  years  after- 
wards Krapf  was  joined  by  Rebmann,  with 
whose  assistance  the  mission-station  at  Kisul- 
utini  was  established  in  the  Rabai  district, 
fifteen  miles  inland;  and  it  was  from  this 
centre  that  these  two  devout  men  began  the 
series  of  remarkable  journeys  which  did  so 
much  to  open  up  the  “ hinterland  ” of  East 
Africa.  Krapf,  for  instance,  visited  Usambara 
and  Ukamba,  and  made  himself  familiar  with 
the  whole  coast  as  far  south  as  Cape  Delgado, 
while  Rebmann  penetrated  into  Chagga,  a 
mountainous  region  of  East  Africa. 

But  the  most  remarkable  discovery  made 
by  the  members 'of  this  mission  was  Kilima- 
njaro, a mountain-mass  now  ascertained 
to  be  about  19,680  feet  high,  which  Reb- 
mann first  sighted  on  the  11th  of  May, 
184S.  In  the  following  year  Krapf  made 
known  the  scarcely  less  extraordinary  snow- 
capped Mount  Kenia,  between  18,000  and 
19,000  feet  in  height.  So  extraordinary, 
indeed,  to  the  geographers  of  fifty  years  ago 
was  the  intimation  that  almost  within  the 
African  tropics  there  were  mountains  furrowed 
by  glaciers  and  capped  by  eternal  snow,+  that 
there  were  not  wanting  commentators  of  no 
small  eminence  who  ventured  to  solve  the  diffi- 
culty which  troubled  their  theoretical  minds 
by  declaring  that  the  good  missionaries  had 
promulgated  a fable. 

But  the  East  African  Switzerland  was  no 
more  a fable  than  was  the  Central  African 
one  which  the  travels  of  Stanley  brought  to 
1 light  forty  years  later,  or  the  great  inland 
lake  of  Africa  which  Krapf  and  Rebmann 
heard  of  before  Speke  and  Burton  had  started 
on  the  journey  which  enabled  the  world  to 

* Krapf,  “ Travels,  Researches,  and  Missionary  Labours,” 
etc.  (1800). 

f Cooley,  “ Inner  Africa  Laid  Open  ” (1852),  pp. 
89-102. 


learn  that  the  foundation  for  this  Arab  story 
was  the  existence  of  Nyassa,  Tanganyika,  and 
Victoria  Nyanza,  and  not  unlikely  also  Albert 
Nyanza,  Albert  Edward  Nyanza,  and  Lake 
Rudolph  still  farther  to  the  north  (Vol.  II., 
p.  54). 

The  enthusiasm  aroused  by  the  discoveries 
of  the  two  German  missionaries  induced  the 
society  to  form  extensive  plans  for  founding 
institutions  still  farther  in  the  interior.  These 
efforts  were,  however,  completely  unsuccessful, 
Krapf,  who  superintended  them,  barely  escap- 
ing with  his  life  as  a starving  fugitive  in  a hos- 
tile country.  He  afterwards  returned  home, 
where  he  died  in  1881,  after  gaining  among 
philologists  a name  almost  as  brilliant  as  his 
pioneer  journeys  in  Africa  had  obtained  among 
geographers. 

Rebmann  remained  in  Africa  for  twenty- 
nine  years  without  ever  paying  a visit  to 
Europe.  In  1856  an  invasion  by  the  wild  Masai 
drove  him  from  Kisulutini  to  the  coast,  where 
he  remained  for  two  years.  But  when  matters 
quieted  down  again  the  devoted  old  missionary 
returned  to  the  scene  of  his  labours,  rebuilt 
the  mission-house,  and  gathered  about  him 
the  scattered  converts,  among  whom,  in  1873, 
Sir  Bartle  Frere  found  him  living,  quite  alone 
and  stone-blind,  immersed  in  dictionaries  and 
translations,  his  philological  labours  being 
carried  on  with  the  help  of  a native  attendant, 
the  son  of  the  first  convert  by  the  mission. 
At  last  he,  too,  returned  to  Germany,  and 
died  in  1876,  not  far  from  the  home  of  his 
lifelong  colleague,  Dr.  Krapf.  J Mr.  New,  a 
missionary  of  the  United  Methodists,  distin- 
guished himself  (in  1871)  by  ascending 
Kilimanjaro  higher  than  it  had  ever  previously 
been  climbed  and  acquiring  so  extensive  a 
knowledge  of  East  Africa  and  its  languages 
that  he  "was  selected  as  one  of  the  members 
of  an  expedition  of  succour  that  was  at  one 
time  on  the  eve  of  being  sent  to  Livingstone 
(Vol.  II.,  pp.  259,  263). 

When  Mombasa  was  constituted  a station 
for  the  reception  of  liberated  slaves,  the  East 
African  mission  assumed  greater  proportions 
J “Church  Missionary  Atlas,”  Part  I.,  pp.  55,  et  seq. 


THE  SCOTTISH  MISSIONS. 


131 


than  at  any  former  period  of  its  history,  and 
the  settlement  named  Freretown,  in  honour 
of  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  who  had 
Eas^AMca!  originally  suggested  the  formation 
of  this  freedman’s  colony,  rose 
on  the  eminence  opposite  the  town.  Some  of 
these  people  have  since  then  been  transferred 
to  the  old  station  of  Kisulutini,  where  the  soil 
is  better,  but  a number  still  live  in  a civilised 
condition  on  the  coast.  Stations  still  farther 
in  the  interior  have  been  formed ; and,  now 
that  the  slave  trade  has  received  a permanent 
blow  from  the  partition  of  the  coast-line  and 
of  the  back-lying  country  among  different 
European  Powers,  it  is  expected  that  Mom- 
basa and  its  scattered  annexes  will  become 
important  centres  of  civilisation. 

The  United  Free  Methodists  have  also  a 
mission-station  near  Mombasa,  with  some  out- 
lying posts,  and.  it  may  be  added,  one  estab- 
lishment in  Golbanti,  in  Gallaland,  which  was 
maintained  with  such  extreme  peril  that  in 
1887  the  missionary,  his  wife,  and  many  of 
the  native  Christians  were  massacred  by  the 
fanatical  people  among  whom  they  were 
settled. 

The  Universities’  Mission  to  Central  East 
Africa  was,  we  have  already  seen,  the  outcome 
of  Livingstone’s  Oxford  lectures  in  1857  on  his 
return  toEnglandfrom  his  first  great 
^MsaSia^d  expedition  across  the  continent.  It 
began  its  work  on  the  Zambesi  in 
1859  ;*  but  five  years  later,  after  the  death  of 
Bishop  Mackenzie  (p.  135)  and  the  prostration 
of  the  greater  number  of  his  clerg}7,  its  h'ead- 
quarters  were  transferred  to  Zanzibar,  though 
it  sent  branches  far  into  the  mainland,  for  the 
most  part  into  the  country  now  under  German 
control.  It  has  also  several  stations  on  the 
east  shore  of  Lake  Nyassa,  the  waters  of  which 
are  now  churned  by  a steamer  belonging 
to  the  mission.  + There  are  also  a German 
steamer  and  some  German  missions  on  the 
lake. 

* In  1892  the  Universities’  Mission  cost  nearly  £20,000  ; 
£11,200  was  received  for  the  Nyassa  stations. 

t Masasi,  like  some  of  the  others,  has  never  recovered 
the  Magwangwara  raid  of  1881  (Von  Behr,  Mitthcilungen 
an*  <h  n Deutschen  Scfiutzgebicten,  Vol.  VI.,  No.  1). 


But  Nyassaland  is  essentially  the  field  of 
the  Established  and  Free  Churches  of  Scot- 
land. The  Free  Church  was  the  first  in  the  field. 
As  early  as  1862-63  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stewart,^ 
of  Lovedale  College,  in  South  Africa  (pp. 
129,  131,  132),  came  to  reside  at  the  Univer- 
sities’ Mission  station  on  the  Shire  as  a com- 
missioner from  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland, 
his  object  being  to  examine  the  country  with 
a view  to  opening  up  mission  work  in  the 
most  favourable  portions  of  it.  He  had 
escorted  Mrs.  Livingstone  to  the  Zambesi, 
and  travelled  with  her  and  Dr.  Livingstone 


up  that  river  (Vol.  II.,  p.  244),  and  helped 
to  lay  the  devoted  wife  of  the  great  mis- 
sionary in  her  grave  at  Sliupanga  (Vol.  II., 
p.  245).  Dr.  Stewart’s  report  on  the  country 
was  laid  before  the  Free  Church,  but  the 
establishment  of  the  Universities’  Mission,  and 
the  disasters  that  overtook  it,  caused  the 
Church  to  hesitate  about  undertaking  a fresh 
enterprise  in  the  country  which  before  long 
was  to  be  one  of  the  most  notable-  fields  of 
the  Scottish  missionaries.  Meanwhile,  in  1866, 
Dr.  Stewart  was  put  in  charge  of  Lovedale, 
claiming,  when  the  old  plans  of  taking  pos- 
session of  the  Nyassa  region  were  again  mooted, 

X Born  at  Edinburgh,  February  14th,  1831  ; M.D., 
Edinburgh  ; D.D.,  Glasgow. 


132 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


the  well-earned  right  of  being  the  pioneer  of 
that  notable  venture.* 

It  was,  however,  1874  before  Dr.  Stewart’s 
schejnes  for  the  renewal  of  missionary  work 
on  the  Shire  and  Lake  Nyassa  obtained  shape. 
And  it  was  not  until  1875  that  Mr.  E.  D. 
Young,  R.N. — who  had  already  been  on  Lake 
Nyassa  to  inquire  into  the  tale  brought  by 
Moosa  regarding  the  death  of  Livingstone — 
was  sent  in  command  of  the  Ilaia  (p.  133), 
the  first  steamer  ever  launched  on  any  of  the 
African  lakes,  with  the  Scottish  missionaries 
for  this  field  of  action.  The  pioneer  establish- 
ment of  the  new  mission  was  built  on  a pro- 
jecting point  of  land  at  the  eastern  end  of 
the  lake,  and  there  , for  some  years  Livingstonia 
— as  it  was  called  in  memory  of  the  mission- 
ary-traveller whose  most  suitable  monument 


up  the  lake.  The  Livingstone  Mission  is 
on  the  lines  of  Lovedale  and  has  been 
eminently  successful.  It  supports  nine  mis- 
sionaries— six  of  them  medical  men — and 
thirteen  teachers  and  artisans,  at  an  expense 
(1893)  of  £7,000  a year.  Trades  are  taught 
and  over  four  hundred  children  are  at  schooL 
The  New  Testament  has  been  translated  and 
many  school-books  are  in  the-  native  tongue. 
It  may  be  added  that,  though  a Free  Church 
institution,  it  works  in  connection  with  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church  in  the  Cape  Colony,  each 
of  these  Churches  supplying  one  ordained 
clergyman.  The  great  services  rendered 
by  this  mission  to  African  civilisation 
cannot,  indeed,  be  well  exaggerated;  for  to 
it  and  the  sister  one  of  the  Established 


it  is— remained.  But,  a more  healthy  situation 
being  deemed  advisable,  the  head-quarters 
were  removed  to  Bandawe  (p.  136),  farther 

* Blaikie,  “ Personal  Life  of  Dr.  Livingstone,”  p.  289 ; 
Hughes’  ‘"Livingstone,”  pp.  106-199. 


Church  of  Scotland  is  due  the  formation 
of  the  Africa  Lakes  Company.  This  Scot- 
tish enterprise  was  the  primary  cause  of  the 
British  Government  extending  its  flag  over 
the  whole  of  Nyassaland.  Long,  however, 


CARPENTERS’  WORKSHOP  AT  LOVEDALE. 
{From  a Photograph  supplied  by  Dr.  Stewart .) 


MISSIONARY  JOURNEYS. 


133 


before  the  Government  took  this  important  it  was  really  350  miles  from  one  end  to 
step,  the  Glasgow  traders  and  planters,  the  other,  and  of  a breadth  varying  from 
in  collaboration  with  their  countrymen  the  sixteen  to  nearly  fifty  miles  (Yol.  II.,  pp.  49, 
missionaries,  held  their  own  on  the  shores  241).  They  did  not,  however,  land  anywhere, 
of  this  distant  lake,  and,  for  the  first  time  by  But  the  voyages  and  other  journeys  of  Drs. 


THE  “ILALA”  AT  MATOPE. 
(From  a Photograph  Vy  Mr.  Fred  Moir.) 


force  of  arms,  checked  the  inroads  of  the 
Arab  slave-raiders  in  the  country  along  its 
borders.  Many  an  explorer  has  found  these 
mission-stations  and  trading-posts  welcome 
centres  from  which  to  depart  for  the  unknown. 
But  the  missionaries  themselves  have  rendered 
a by  no  means  unimportant  service  to  the 
cause  of  opening  up  Africa  by  means  of  ex- 
ploration. For  instance,  the  first  voyage  of 
the  Ilalo.*  round  the  north  end  of  Nyassa, 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Young  and 
Dr.  Laws,  showed  that,  instead  of  the  lake 
being  150  miles  long,  as  had  been  supposed, 

* Young,  “ Nyassa  : A Journal  of  Adventures  whilst 
exploring’  Lake  Nyassa.  Central  Africa,  and  establishing 
* Livingstonia.'  ” 


Stewart  and  Laws  a little  later  also  added 
extensively  to  our  knowledge  of  the  country 
on  the  shores  of  the  sheet  which  they  and  other 
friends  have  made  a British  lake.  They 
circumnavigated  Nyassa,  landing  on  the  east 
and  west  sides  and  north  end,  at  many  places 
every  day,  while  Dr.  Stewart  came  down  the 
west  side  by  land,  for  ten  days  accompanied 
by  natives  only,  and  rejoined  the  steamer  at 
Kota-Ivota.  In  1878  a journey  of  more  than 
400  miles  was  carried  out  by  Dr.  Laws  and 
the  late  Mr.  James  Stewart  (a  Civil  Engineer 
who  had  come  to  Nyassa  from  India  for  the 
purpose  of  spending  a furlough  in  the  society 
of  his  cousin)  along  the  southern  and  western 
sides  of  the  lake  and  the  country  beyond. 


134 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


At  a later  date  Mr.  Stewart  crossed  from  the 
north  end  of  Nyassa  to  the  south  end  of 
Tanganyika,  arriving  the  day  after  Mr.  Joseph 
Thomson,  of  the  Geographical  Society’s  ex- 
pedition, had  reached  this  point.  At  last, 
in  1882,  Mr.  Stewart  completed  the  survey 
of  Lake  Nyassa.* 

These  explorations  by  the  missionaries  and 
their  lay  colleagues  have  brought  to  light  the 
fact  of  iron-mines  in  several  places,  of  coal 
cropping  out  on  the  surface,  and  the  ex- 
istence of  copper  close  to  the  lake.  Re- 
ferring more  particularly  to  scientific  work, 
their  researches  have  revealed  the  fact  that 
in  the  territory  lying  immediately  to  the 
•west  we  have  at  least  fifteen  different  tribes, 
speaking  as  many  different  languages,  besides 
dialects  of  these  languages.  Finally,  instead 
of  Nyassaland  being  a desert  country  in- 
habited only  by  wild  beasts,  as  all  Central  Africa 
was  not  long  ago  supposed  to  be,  the  shores  of 
the  lake  are  now  known  to  be  dotted  with 
numerous  villages,  or  even  towns,  containing 
from  200  to  10,000  people ; while  in  the 
pastoral  districts  of  the  cool  western  high- 
lands the  population  is  much  larger  than  in 
many  of  the  corresponding  districts  of  South 
Africa.f  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that, 
though  the  missionaries  did  not  actually 
make  the  “ Stevenson  Road  ” between  Nyassa 
and  Tanganyika,  that  first  rude  attempt  at 
a European  highway  ever  made  in  Central 
Africa — which,  when  renewed,  promises  to 
constitute  Nyassa  and  Tanganyika  im- 
portant links  in  the  great  waterway  through 
Africa — was  surveyed  by  Mr.  James  Stewart 
and  constructed  at  the  cost  of  Mr.  Stevenson, 
mainly  at  the  prompting  of  the  Scottish 
missionaries. 

* Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society , 1883, 
p 689.  See  also,  for  various  notes  and  papers,  Proceedings, 
1879,  pp.  289  (Dr.  Stewart),  305  (Dr.  Laws),  and  1880,  pp. 
ft,  122,  247  (James  Stewart’s  Journey  to  Tanganyika), 
337  (Waller),  350  (chiefly  on  Masasi  and  Rovuma  district 
by  Mr.  Chauncy  Maples,  of  the  Universities’  Mission),  428 
(James  Stewart),  etc.  I have  to  thank  Dr.  Stewart  for 
much  assistance  in  obtaining  the  materials  for  this 
sketch. 

t.  Waller,  “Nyassaland”  (1890),  pp.  24-26;  Mrs.  Moir, 
“ A Lady's  Letters  from  Central  Africa,”  etc. 


The  Established  Church  of  Scotland,  by  an 
arrangement  with  the  Free  Church,  in  found- 
ing its  missions  stopped  short  of  the  lake, 
and,  with  the  help  of  Dr.  Stewart,  began 
operations  in  1875  at  a healthy  spot  on  the 
Shire  hills,  about  half-way  between  two  former 
stations  of  the  Universities’  Mission,  namely — 
Chibisa’s  and  Magomero.  Blantyre,  as  this 
spot  was  called  in  honour  of  the  birthplace  of 
Livingstone,  is  close  to  the  salt  Lake  Shirwa 
and  outlying  stations  were  built  afterwards. 
The  mission  being  intended  as  an  industrial 
as  well  as  an  evangelical  agency,  a medical 
missionary,  five  artisans,  and  a gardener 
were  among  its  earliest  officers.  It  is  at 
present  in  a flourishing  condition,  in  spite  of 
some  ups  and  downs  that  were  experi- 
enced at  the  beginning  of  its  career,  mainly 
through  injudicious  management  on  the 
part  of  some  who,  with  the  best  intentions 
in  the  world,  did  the  most  imprudent  acts 
imaginable. 

As  Blantyre  is  on  the  road  round  the 
falls  from  Katunga’s  on  the  Lower  Shire  to 
Matope  on  the  Upper  navigation  of  the  Shire, 
every  traveller  from  Nyassa  must  pass  through 
that  settlement.  This  road  extends  for  sixty 
miles,  and  when  the  debt  of  Europe  to  the 
missionaries  comes  to  be  placed  in  black  and 
white,  it  may  be  well  to  remember  that  the 
cost  was  borne  equally  by  the  Established 
Church  of  Scotland  and  the  Livingstonia  Mis- 
sion, under  the  direction  of  the  Free  Church. 
Already  the  influence  of  the  settlement  is 
admitted,  even  by  the  least  friendly  critics  of 
such  enterprises,  to  be  for  the  good  of  Africa. 
The  missionaries  have  taught  the  natives  to 
respect  the  British  name  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  mere  request  of  one  of  them  was 
enough  to  prevent  two  chiefs,  on  the  eve  of 
going  to  war,  from  opening  hostilities.  Alto- 
gether the  Church  of  Scotland  has  expended 
over  £50,000  on  her  work  in  the  Shire  high- 
lands, with  an  annual  outlay  estimated  at 
£4,000.  Education  is  spreading,  large  num- 
bers of  the  young  people  being  able  to 
write  and  read  in  English  and  their  own 
language,  and  all  kinds  of  labour  are  tending  to 


THE  UNIVERSITIES'  MISSION. 


13o 


flourish.  Excellent  brick  buildings,  including 
a church,  have  been  erected  by  the  natives 
(p.  137);  and,  in  places  where  a few  years  ago 
the  unbroken  wilderness  extended,  coffee  plan- 
tations, maize-patches,  and  wheat-fields  wave 
with  luxuriant  crops.  In  this  connection  it 
may  be  noted  that  in  April, ' 1893,  three 
missionaries — two  of  them  with  their  wives — 
set  out  to  establish  the  “ Zambesi  Industrial 
Mission,”  an  English  unsectarian  enterprise,  in 
the  cool,  healthy  Shire  highlands.  It  is  to 
be  conducted  on  the  most  practical  lines  and 
each  station  is  expected  to  be  self-supporting 
before  many  years  elapse. 

Besides  the  great  missions  already  men- 
tioned, others  conceived  on  a smaller  scale 
are  at  work  in  Eastern  Africa.  There  is,  in 

the  first  place,  the  Neukirchen 

oth«mis-d  Mission,  supported  by  contributions 

sions  in  East  xnainlv  from  the  Rhine  Provinces. 
Africa.  < 

In  addition  to  its  station  at  Xgao, 
in  Gallaland,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river 
Tana,  its  basis  is  at  Witu,  in  the  midst  of  the 
Wa-Pokomo.  The  Bavarian  Mission  from 
X urenburg  is  situated  at  Mbanqu,  near  Mom- 
basa, and  at  Chimba  in  the  same  district. 


DB.  CIXARI.ES  F.  MACKENZIE,  FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITIES’  MISSION  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

Its  field  of  work  is  intended  to  be  among  the 
Wa-Kamba.  The  Berlin  Mission  is  stationed 
at  Zanzibar  and  Dar-es-Salaam.  The  German 
Roman  Catholic  Mission  is,  like  the  last  two 


mentioned,  quite  a new  enterprise.  Its  chief 
establishment  is  at  Dar-es-Salaam,  and  is 
apparently  intended  to  counteract  the  polit- 
ical influence  of  the  long-established  and 


DR.  C.  A.  SMYTHIES,  BISHOP  OF  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

(From  a Photograph  by  Samvel  A.  Walker,  230,  regent  St.,  it7.) 

most  meritorious  French  Roman  Catholic 
Mission  at  Bagamoyo. 

We  have  just  spoken  of  the  Universities’ 
Mission  and  of  the  beginning  of  its  labours 
in  the  Zambesi  country  (p.  131).  Since 
1880  this  enterprise  has  taken  an  en- 
tirely new  life.  From  its  head-quarters  at 
Zanzibar,  its  stations  have  extended  from 
Lindi  on  the  coast,  not  far  from  the  Rovuma 
river,  to  Nyassa  Lake,  and  have  therefore,  to  a 
certain  extent,  occupied  the  field  that  had 
to  be  abandoned  in  the  early  career  of  the 
project.  Now,  by  a good  understanding  with 
the  Scottish  missionaries  already  at  work  in 
the  same  quarter,  it  has  the  superintendence 
of  a considerable  area  of  the  lake  shore,  and, 
under  the  control  of  Dr.  Smythies,  Bishop  of 
Central  Africa,  is  doing  excellent  service 
to  civilisation,  not  only  by  teaching  the 
natives,  but  by  taking  charge  of  the  slaves 
captured  and  set  free  by  British  cruisers. 

Among  these  proteges  of  the  Universities’ 
Mission  are  the  inhabitants  of  some  extinct 


136 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


settlements  of  veritable  “ Lake  - dwellers.” 
These  people,  as  is  not  uncommon  in  other 
parts  of  Africa,  have  built  their  huts  of  collec- 
tions of  long  poles  driven  into  the  bottom 
of  the  lake,  so  as  to  escape  their  enemies 
more  easily.  At  different  dates  one  of  their 
mission-stations  has  suffered  from  the  incur- 
sions of  the  Magwangwara,  a powerful  race  of 
Kaffir  origin,  who  from  time  to  time  carry 
fire  and  sword  throughout  Nyassaland  and 


at  least  half  as  much  again  as  African  travel 
necessarily  entails.  Hence  the  Shire  and 
Zambesi  water-road  down  to  Quilimane  is 
generally  adopted  as  an  alternative  route. 

Altogether  the  Universities’  Mission  have 
expended  on  their  labours  in  the  Nyassa 
country  a sum  considerably  exceeding  £60,000, 
and  at  present  support  in  this  region  a 
staff  which  comprises  nine  clergymen,  two 
ladies,  and  eight  laymen. 


BANDAWE,  MISSION-STATION  OF  THE  FREE  CHURCH  OF  SCOTLAND. 

( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Fred  Moir.) 


even  as  far  as  the  coast.  These  people  are 
notoriously  bloodthirsty  and  for  ages  have 
been  the  scourge  of  hundreds  of  villages  in 
the  Yao  and  Maku  countries.  As  yet  all 
efforts  to  influence  them  for  good  have  been 
unavailing.  The  Machingas,  another  even 
more  powerful  and  devastating  tribe,  whose 
range  is  farther  to  the  north,  up  to  the 
present  time  have  shown  themselves  equally 
unimpressionable  by  the  agents  of  the  mission 
that  have  visited  them.  To  reach  the  lake 
station  from  Lindi  along  the  Rovuma  river, 
which,  it  may  be  remembered,  was  first  ex- 
plored by  Livingstone,  demands  a weary  tramp 
of  four  hundred  miles  as  the  crow  flies,  but 


The  London  Mis- 
sionary Society’s  la- 
bours lay  until  com- 
paratively recently  in 
the  Cape  Colony  and 
the  neighbouring  Kaf- 
fir territory.  But  soon 
after  the  discovery 
of  Lake  Tanganyika, 

the  s0ci*  Occupation 
ety’s  opera-  of  Tan- 
..  ganyika. 

tions  were 

extended  to  the  very 
centre  of  Africa.  The 
year  1876  was  a 
memorable  one  in 
the  history  of  the 
inland  missions  of 
Africa.  The  Ilala  had 
iust  been  launched  on 
Lake  Nyassa.  Bishop 
Steere  and  his  party 
were  exploring  in  the 
direction  of  Nyassa  for  the  purpose  of  selecting 
sites  for  the  Universities’  Mission ; and  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  had  dispatched  a 
pioneer  party  to  commence  operations  on 
Victoria  Nyanza.  Stimulated  by  the  muni- 
ficent gifts  of  £5,000  by  Mr.  Arthington,  of 
Leeds  (p.  118),  for  the  purchase  of  a suitable 
steamer  and  the  establishment  of  a mission  at 
some  eligible  place  by  the  shores  of  Lake  Tan- 
ganyika, the  London  Society  determined  to 
break  ground  on  the  border  of  a sheet  of  water 
which  seventeen  years  before  was  not  to  be 
found  on  the  maps  of  Africa.  The  pioneer  party 
consisted  of  four  clergymen  and  two  laymen: 
and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Central 


THE  TANGANYIKA  MISSIONS. 


137 


African  exploration  it  was  determined  to 
utilise,  as  far  as  possible,  the  Cape  bullock 
waggon  for  the  purpose  of  travel.*  Two 
waggons  and  fourteen  carriers  laden  with  tools 
of  all  kinds — besides  implements,  household 
and  camp  outfit,  and  provisions,  as  well  as 
rope,  canvas,  and  gear  for  rigging  a boat  for 
use  on  the  lake — set  out  at  the  beginning  of 


Mkali,  Unyanyembe,  Unyamwezi  (where,  at 
Uyui  there  was  afterwards  a station  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society),  Urambo  (now 
a post  of  the  London  Missionary  Society), 
Uhha  and  Uvinza,  to  the  well-known  Arab 
settlement  of  Ujiji  (VoL  II.,  p.  260).  Their 
progress  was  necessarily  slow,  and  not  un- 
chequered by  misfortunes,  among  which  the 


BLAXTYEE  CHUECH. 

(From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Fred  Moir .) 


the  travelling  season  of  1877  on  an  adventure 
almost  unprecedented  in  the  annals  of  mis- 
sionary enterprise.  Starting  on  June  the 
11th,  1877,  it  was  not  until  August  the  23rd 
in  the  following  year  that  the  cumbersome 
caravan  arrived  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Tan- 
ganyika. They  had  proceeded  from  Saadani, 
through  Useguha,  Usagara — where  at  Mwp- 
wapAva,  one  of  the  stations  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  (p.  58),  they  receh'ed 
welcome  succour — through  Ugogo,  Magunda 
* Hore,  “Tanganyika'’  (1892),  pp.  1-G4. 


“ seasoning  fevers  ” of  Africa  were  not  the 
least  prominent.  Cattle  died  and  waggons 
broke  doAvn,  Avhile,  in  spite  of  the  famili- 
arity the  tribes  along  the  route  to  the 
lake  had  gained  Avith  the  Avhite  men,  the 
temptation  to  steal  from  them  Avas  not  ahvays 
resisted. 

Still  this  peaceable  journey  proves  not  so 
much  the  change  that  this  part  of  Africa  had 
undergone  since  Speke  and  Burton  traA'elled 
across  it,  or  even  since  Stanley  Avitnessed  its 
savagery,  Avhen  he  Avent  on  his  expedition  of 


138 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


succour  to  Livingstone,  as  the  influence  of 
just  treatment  on  the  natives.  Their  new 
masters  and  the  new  men  who  carry  out 
their  policy  are  again  so  maddening  the 
tribes  that  the  “road”  to  XJjiji  is  more 
difficult  than  it  was  in  Livingstone’s  day; 
for  Africa  is  pretty  much  what  Europe  has 
made  it.  But  since  1888  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society  have  never  lost  their  hold  on 
this  region,  and,  indeed,  have  been  extending 
their  operations  very  considerably.  They 
have  a steamer  on  the  lake,  and,  until  lately, 
a station  at  Kavala  Island,  on  the  western 
shore  of  the  lake ; another 
at  Fambo,  thirty  miles  up 
in  the  hills ; a third  at 
Xiamkolo,  on  the  southern 
coast  (Yol.  II.,  pp.  237,  256), 
and  some  temporary  outposts. 

But  now  the  missionaries  are 
all  concentrated  at  the  two 
last-named  localities.  These 
spots  form,  with  the  mission- 
stations  on  Lake  Xyassa,  links 
in  the  chain  of  civilisation  that 
have  gradually  extended  across 
Africa  from  the  Cape  by  the 
Zambesi  on  to  Victoria  Xyanza; 
and  by-and-by,  when  the 
Soudan  gets  again  opened  up, 
the  chain  will  be  continued, 
by  means  of  the  Nile,  down  to  the  Medi- 
terranean. The  London  Missionary  Society, 
notwithstanding  the  comparatively  concen- 
trated character  of  its  mission,  is  in  the 
peculiar  position  of  having  two  bases  for 
access  to  Urambo,  which  is  situated  in  the 
Unyam  wezi  country,  at  a considerable  distance 
from  the  lake.  Supplies  must,  therefore, 
be  obtained  from  Zanzibar,  through  the 
German  Sphere  of  Influence.  This  is  the 
best  and  healthiest  route,  provided  there  is  a 
steamer  on  Tanganyika.  But,  owing  to  ob- 
stacles put  in  their  way  b}r  the  Germans,  to 
reach  the  stations  on  Lake  Tanganyika  it  is 
necessary  to  pass  circuitously  up  the  rivers 
Zambesi  and  Shire,  along  the  whole  length  of 
Lake  Xyassa  and  across  the  fast-disappearing 


Stevenson  Road — now  little  more  than  native 
tracks — which,  as  we  have  seen,  connects 
the  north-west  corner  of  the  lake  with  the 
southern  shore  of  Lake  Tanganyika.  The 
missionaries  of  Lake  Tanganyika  have  not 
hitherto  been  of  such  pre-eminent  service  to 
geographical  science  as  those  of  the  Congo. 
Instead  of  exploring  themselves,  they  have 
been  content  to  aid  the  various  explorers  who 
have  found  succour  at  their  hands ; but  the 
minute  surveys  made  by  Captain  Hore  of 
the  lake  on  the  shores  of  which  he.  resided 
for  eleven  years  deserve  the  highest  praise* 
Thanks,  indeed,  to  this  ener- 
getic master  mariner — who, 
though  there  was  no  fighting 
to  be  done,  played  in  the 
Tanganyika  Mission  some- 
thing of  the  same  part  as 
that  which  Miles  Standish, 
the  Puritan  Captain,  did 
among  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
— we  now  know  the  character 
of  Tanganyika  almost  as  well 
as  that  of  Xyassa.  And  the 
devoted  men  to  whose  labours 
this  is  due  have  taken  pos- 
session of  their  appointed 
field  of  action  with  a courage 
not  less  conspicuous  than 
that  of  those  who,  in  a dif- 
ferent way,  occupied  for  civilisation  another 
heritage  across  the  Atlantic.! 

* Hore,  “Lake  Tanganyika”  (1892),  and  Proceedings 
of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  1889,  p.  581  ; Mrs. 
Hore,  “ To  Lake  Tanganyika  in  a Sedan  Chair”  (1887)  ; 
and,  among  numerous  other  papers  already  referred  to, 
or  which  will  be  touched  upon  subsequently — Sharpe, 
“ Journey  from  Karonga  (Nyassa)  to  Katanga  (Msidi’s 
Country),  via  the  Northern  Shore  of  Lake  Mwero”; 
Proc.  Roy.  Gcog.  Soc.,  1891,  p.423  ; and  “A  Journey  from 
the  Shire  River  to  Lake  Mweru,  and  the  Upper  Luapula,” 
Gcog.  Journal,  1893,  p.  524  ; Buchanan,  “Journey  along 
the  Southern  Frontier  of  Xyassaland,”  Proc.  Roy.  Gcog. 
Soc.,  1891,  p.  265  : Cross,  “Notes  on  the  Country  lying 
between  Lakes  Nyassa  and  Tanganyika,”  Ibid.,  1891, 
p.  86  ; Robertson,  “ Martyrs  of  Blantyre,”  etc. 

f We  are  indebted  to  Captain  Hore  for  kindly  giving 
us  the  benefit  of  his  unique  knowledge  of  the  Tanganyika 
region,  and  to  Dr.  Stewart  for  reading  our  sketch  of  the 
missionary  work  in  the  country  with  which  he  is  so 
familiar. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Missionaries  of  Uganda  and  the  Way  Thither  : A Half-Told  Tale.' 


Henry  Venn’s  Dictum — Stanley's  Letter  and  the  Church  Missionary  Society — The  M'tesa  of  Stanley's  Day — First 
Missionary  Expedition  to  Uganda — Early  Days  and  Coming  Trouble — Second  Mission  Party- — Journeys  by 
Way  of  the  Nile — Disappointments — M'tesa  no  longer  Unsophisticated — Mackay’s  Opinion  of  Him — -Arrival 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Missionaries — Their  Missions  in  East  Africa — A New  Enterprise — Dissensions — 
Manj-  Religions  ” — Rival  Christians — Arabs  Troublesome — Vacillation  of  M’tesa — Paganism  Again — Return 
of  Envoys,  from  England  and  Rise  of  British  Influence — Priests  Leave— M'tesa  a Nominal  Roman  Catholic — 
M’tesa’s  Mother — Death  of  M’tesa — The  “ Great  Zanzibar  Doctor  ” — Missionaries  in  Peril — The  New  King 
M’wanga — Political  Changes — Evil  Days — Roman  Catholic  Missionaries  Recalled — Suspicion  Aroused  by 
Joseph  Thomson's  Expedition — Troubles— First  Uganda  Martyrs — Conspiracy  against  the  King — Assassination 
of  Bishop  Hannington — Persecution  of  the  “Readers” — Arrival  and  Departure  of  Dr.  Junker — Ruin  of  the 
Mission — M’wanga  Driven  from  the  Throne — King  Kiwera— Dawn  again  Followed  • by  Darkness — 
Murder  of  Kiwera — The  Puppet  King  Kalema — Restoration  of  M’wanga — Rebuilding  of  the  Mission- 
Station — A New  Power  in  the  Land— Foreign  Politics — Anarchy  again,  and  the  Arrival  of  Captain  Lugard 
with  the  British  Imperial  East  Africa  Company’s  Troops — The  East  African  Scottish  Mission. 


One  of  the  most  remarkable  departures  in 
the  history  of  opening  up  Africa  was  that  by 
which  the  Church  Missionary  Society  took 
possession  of  the  shores  of  Victoria.  Nyanza 
less  than  twenty  years  after  the  date  at  which 
Speke  first  saw  it.  This  was  the  culmination 
of  a long  hope ; for,  in  the  instructions 
delivered  to  I)r.  Krapf,  on  the  2nd  of 
January,  1851,  Henry  Venn,  speaking  in  the 
name  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society, 
uttered  these  words : “ If  Africa  is  to  be 
penetrated  by  European  missionaries,  it  must 
be  from  the  east  coast.” 

At  that  time  no  travellers,  except  the  mis- 
sionaries Krapf  and  Rebmann,  had  attempted 
to  reach  the  interior  from  the  eastern  shores 
of  the  continent.  What  followed  in  the 
course  of  the  next  twenty  years  has  already 
been  the  theme  of  some  of  the  preceding 
chapters.  But  it  was  not  until  the  remark- 
able journey  of  Stanley  to  Uganda  that  any 
efforts  were  made  to  carry  the  teachings  of 
Christianity  to  the  populous  country  of  which 
the  Welsh-American  traveller  gave  so  graphic 
an  account.  On  the  15th  of  November,  1875,’ 
a letter  from  that  famous  explorer  appeared 
Stanley's  ^he  Daily  Telegraph  (Vol.  II., 
letter,  and  its  pp.  287,  297),  describing  his  con- 
versations  with  King  M tesa,  the 
eagerness  of  that  potentate  to  learn,  and 
* Revised  by  Robert  W.  Felkin,  M 


the  duty  which  devolved  upon  civilisation  to 
send  Christian  missionaries  to  the  African 
monarch.  How  far  the  cunning  king  hood- 
winked Mr.  Stanley  it  is  not  necessary  to 
discuss  in  this  place.  It  is  not  improbable 
• that,  had  all  been  known  that  was  after- 
wards learned  in  the  bitter  school  of  experi- 
ence, M’tesa  and  his  Waganda  -might  have 
remained  for  some  years  longer  without  being 
acquainted  with  the  teachers  who,  amid  much 
good,  wrought  so  much  evil  to  the  empire 
misgoverned  by  his  son  until  the  patience 
of  his  people  and  of  his  suzerain  got 
exhausted. 

However,  in  the  dull  days  of  the  winter 
of  1875,  hope  burned  bright  in  the  bosoms 
of  many  generous  Englishmen.  Three  days 
after  the  now  historical  letter  appeared  in  the 
London  newspaper  a sum  of  £5,000  was  of- 
fered to  the  Church  Missionary  Society  to- 
wards the  establishment  of  an  Uganda 
Mission.  Another  £5,000  quickly  followed, 
and  before  a few  months  elapsed  no  less 
than  £24,000  was  actually  contributed 
for  the  same  purpose.  The  enterprise  was 

confessedlv  arduous,  and,  in  the  _ 

V . , , The  M'tesa 

opinion  ot  those  who  knew  the  of  Stanley’s 

character  of  the  people  to  be  dealt  day' 
with,  by  no  means  hopeful.  M’tesa  was  an 
extraordinary  man,  wayward  in  character, 
.D..  F.R.S.E.,  formerly  of  Uganda. 


140 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


and  reared  in  the  worst  practices  of  the 
savage  kingdom  which  he  ruled : but  his 
ability,  and  even  his  generosity,  were  scarcely 
less  remarkable.  To  the  last  he  remained 
capricious,  double7dealing,  and  self-indul- 
gent ; but  only  those  embittered  by  dis- 
appointment can  deny  him  the  possession 
of  some  of  the  kingly  qualities.  Eager  for 
novelty,  anxious  to  please,  and  ready  to  follow 


desired  the  traveller,  on  departing,  to  leave 
with  him  a young  African  who  had  been  at 
the  Universities’  Mission  School  at  Zanzibar, 
in  order  to  read  to  him  the  Scriptures  in 
Swahili,  a language  understood  by  the  king 
and  his  chiefs. 

Still,  whatever  might  be  the  dangers  and 
the  discouragements  of  the  new  mission  to 
the  centre  of  Africa,  the  enthusiasm  of  those 


the  influence  of  any  mind  superior  to  his  own, 
more  especially  when  the  mind  was  that  of  a 
foreign  visitor,  M’tesa,  between  the  visit  of 
Speke  and  that  of  Stanley,  had  become 
nominally  a Mussulman,  and  was  so  far  capti- 
vated with  the  new  faith  which  he  had  learned 
from  the  Arab  traders,  who  since  Speke’s  visit 
had  frequented  the  place  more  and  more, 
that  he  sent  to  Gordon,  begging  him  to  despatch 
a Mohammedan  teacher  capable  of  instructing 
him  in  the  Koran.  Equally  facile  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Stanley,  he  professed  to  be  con- 
vinced of  the  superior  merits  of  Christianity 
(Vol.  II.,  pp.  287,  297),  and,  as  we  have  seen, 


eager  to  go  was  equal  to  the  munificence  of 
those  who  had  provided  the  means  to  defray 
the  cost  of  this  great  adventure.  In  June, 
1876,  seven  months  from  the  time  the  society 
had  resolved  to  undertake  the  work, 
a well-equipped  party,  eight  in  missionary 
number,  were  at  Zanzibar  pre-  tou^anda 
paring  for  their  march  to  Victoria 
Nyanza.  But  three  of  them — the  engineer 
and  artisans — did  not  reach  the  goal  to  which 
the  expedition  was  bound.  One  died  on  the 
coast,  and  the  other  two  returned  home  in- 
valided. The  remaining  five  were  Lieutenant 
G.  Shergold  Smith,  R.N. ; the  Rev.  C.  T. 


FIRST  MISSIONARIES  IN  UGANDA. 


141 


Wilson;  Mr.  T.  O’Neill,  architect;  Dr.  John  At  first  all  went  well.  It  was  one  of  the 
Smith,  of  the  Edinburgh  Medical  Mission ; amiable  ways  of  M’tesa  to  receive  all  new- 
and  Alexander  Mackay,  a Scotsman,  pre-  comers  with  profuse  hospitality,  mainly,  as 
viously  engaged  in  engineering  work  in  Berlin,  was  afterwards  found,  for  the  purpose  of 
Mr.  Mackay  was  detained  near  the  coast  for  a gratifying  his  vanity  by  standing  well  in  the 
time  by  sickness,  so  that  of  the  pioneer  party  eyes  of  foreigners.  He  gave  the  missionaries 


WAGANDA  ENVOYS  DESPATCHED  BY  KING  M’TFSA  TO  ENGLAND  IN  IS79. 
(From  a Photograph  by  Elliot  £ Fry,  Baker  St.,  W.) 


only  four  arrived  together  at  the  lake.  The 
number  was  still  further  decreased  by  the 
death  of  Dr.  Smith  at  its  southern  end.  Finally, 
on  the  receipt  of  the  letter  written  by  M’tesa, 
by  means  of  the  boy  already  mentioned, 
Lieutenant  Smith  and  Mr.  Wilson  sailed 
across  Victoria  Nyanza  in  a boat  that  had 
been  brought  from  England  in  sections,  and 
on  the  30th  of  June,  1877,  reached  Rubaga, 
the  then  capital  of  Uganda. 


a warm  welcome,  and  professed  himself  a be- 
liever in  Christianity  and  eager  for  further 
instruction.  Regular  Christian  services  were 
begun  in  the  “ palace,”  and  the  first  letters 
received  from  the  LTganda  missionaries  were 
enthusiastic  regarding  the  prospect  general!}'. 
It  was  not  long  before  less  favourable  news 
reached  London.  Meanwhile,  Lieutenant 
Smith  returned  to  the  south  end  of  the  lake 
for  Mr.  O’Neill,  who  had  remained  there  with 


142 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


the  stores,  and,  while  the  latter  was  engaged 
in  building  a large  boat  for  their  convey- 
ance, he  explored  some  of  the  rivers,  bays, 
and  creeks  not  then  known  to  geographers. 
A quarrel  arising  between  the  king  of 
. . Ukerewe — an  island  at  the  south- 

Early  days, 

and  coming  east  arm  of  the  lake — and  the  Arab 
troubles.  traders,  the  latter  fled  for  protection 
to  the  mission-camp.  This  was  forthwith  at- 
tacked, with  the  lamentable  result  that  Smith, 
O’Neill,  and  all  their  native  followers  but  one 
were  killed  on  Wezi  Island  (VoL  IT.,  p.  289), 
on  or  about  the  30th  of  December,  1877. 
Mr.  Wilson  was  now  left  alone  in  the  centre 
of  Africa,  but  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Mackay 
from  the  coast,  and,  a few  weeks  later,  of  rein- 
forcements from  England,  strengthened  him 
to  persevere  in  the  work  now  begun,  in  spite 
of  the  deplorable  misfortunes  which  the  mis- 
sion had  so  early,  suffered — disasters  that 
might  well  have  discouraged  him. 

The  new-comers  were  the  Rev.  G.  Litchfield, 
Mr.  G.  W.  Pearson,  and  Dr.  R.  W.  Felkin,  a 
medical  missionary  (p.  143).  At  first  it  was 
intended  that  these  gentlemen  should  take 
the  eastern  road : but,  on  Gordon  Pasha 
promising  every  assistance,  it  was  eventually 
resolved  that  they  should  reach  Uganda  by 
way  of  the  Nile,  then  open  to  almost  any 
traveller.  Landing  at  Suakim,  they 
by  the^ue  crossed  the  desert  on  camels  to 
Berber,  and  proceeded  by  steamer 
up  the  river  to  Khartoum.  Here  they  were 
received  with  every  kindness  by  Gordon, 
who  not  only  sped  them  on  their  way,  but 
spent  large  sums  out  of  his  private  funds 
to  provide  them  with  the  necessaries  which 
he  considered  proper  for  travellers  under- 
taking such  a journey  as  that  on  which  they 
were  bound.  It  was,  moreover,  in  Government 
steamers  that  the  missionaries  ascended  the 
river  to  Albert  Nyanza,  and  it  was  under 
the  escort  of  Government  officers  that  they 
reached  the  Uganda  frontier. 

However,  notwithstanding  the  facilities 
which  the  authority  of  Gordon  put  in  their 
way,  the  journey  was  even  in  those  days  not 
made  without  great  difficulties.  The  intense 


heat — 98  and  100  degrees  in  the  shade — 
struck  down  one  of  their  number,  Mr.  Hall, 
who  was  compelled,  very  reluctantly,  to  return 
home  from  Suakim.  The  Bahr-el-Abiad  was 
much  encumbered  with  floating  islands  com- 
posed of  immense  masses  of  vegetation  that 
had  been  detached  by  the  floods  and  carried 
northward.  These  so  retarded  their  progress 
that  the  voyage  from  Khartoum  to  Shambeh, 
which  usually  took  fourteen  or  fifteen  days, 
occupied  sixty-eight,  with  the  result  that  they 
Avere  seriously  inconvenienced  from  want  of 
food.  On  leaving  Gondokoro,  the  travellers 
had  to  take  to  small  boats  capable  of  passing 
through  the  rapids,  and,  the  current  being 
very  strong  and  the  river  high,  the  voyagers 
were  for  a time  in  imminent  hazard.  From 
Bedden  to  Dufli  they  had  to  march  overland. 
From  the  latter  point  a steamer  conveyed 
them,  as  Ave  have  already  mentioned,  across 
the  loAver  end  of  Albert  Nyanza  to  Magungo, 
Avhere  the  Murchison  Rapids  break  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  river. 

The  next  stretch  of  road  Avas  at  times  ex- 
ceedingly difficult.  It  lay  through  stiff,  high 
grass  which,  Avhen  one  man  passed  through, 
swung  back  on  the  next  Avith  such  violence  as 
to  prostrate  him  if  he  Avere  not  careful.  At 
other  times  the  path  led  across  fallen  timber, 
or  through  places  encumbered  by  creepers, 
and  often  the  pedestrians  Avere  compelled  to 
tramp  through  malarious  marshes.  The  con- 
sequence of  this  exposure  Avas  that  Mr.  Litch- 
field and  the  young  interpreter  of  the  party 
Avere  both  attacked  Avith  fever,'  to  Avhich 
the  latter  succumbed.  To  this  the  fact  must 
be  added  that,  in  spite  of  the  severe  measures 
taken  by  Baker,  Gordon,  and  other  officials 
of  Egypt  in  the  Soudan,  the  natives  Avere 
very  threatening,  and,  as  always  happens  in 
African  expeditions  the  porters  proATed  an 
uncertain  element  in  the  travellers’  calcula- 
tions. From  FoAveera  to  Mrooli,  the  last  of 
the  stations  then  under  the  Egyptian  Govern- 
ment, the  journey  was  ma,de  by  boat,  in 
the  company  of  Mr.  Wilson,  who  had  set 
forward  to  meet  his  colleagues  Avhen  he 
heard  the  neAvs  of  their  being  on  the  Avay. 


M' T ESA  AND  THE  MISSIONARIES. 


143 


At  Mrooli  M’tesa’s  messengers  met  them,  so 
that  until  their  arrival  in  his  capital  on  the 
14th  of  February,  1879,  further  perils  were 
obviated* 

Later  in  the  year — we  may  so  far  anticipate 
our  narrative — Messrs.  Wilson  and  Felkin  re- 
turned to  Europe  in  charge  of  the  envoys 
whom  M’tesa  desired  to  send  to  England  in 
order  to  ascertain  whether  the  stories  of  that 
country  being  more  powerful  than  his  own 
were  well-founded  or  merely  the  fictions  of 
the  latest  of  the  white  men  (p.  141).  They 
again  took  the  northern  route,  diverging,  how- 
ever, to  the  west  and  coming  through  Darfur,  f 

By  this  time  the  missionaries  had  been 
forced  to  abandon  many  of  the  sanguine 
hopes  with  which  they  had  come  to  Uganda. 
.M  ’tesa,  they  soon  found,  was  vacillating  in  the 
extreme.  He  had  professed  to  be  a Christian, 
while  in  reality  he  followed  out  all  of  his  old 
heathen  practices,  and  was  particularly  angry 
when  told  that  there  was  no  truth  in  “ lubari,” 
or  witchcraft.  Another  day  he  would  declare 
that  he  was  a Mohammedan,  and  for  a time 
be  under  the  influence  of  a motley  crowd  of 
Arab  traders,  deserters  from  the  Egyptian 
army,  and  other  questionable  characters,  who 
crowded  his  “ Court,”  flattered  him,  and  gener- 
ally pandered  to  his  worst  vices  He  was 
also  no  longer  so  unsophisticated  as  Speke 
and  Grant,  and  even  Stanley,  had  found 
him.  He  had  assimilated  more  evil  than  good 
from  his  visitors  : while  the  inordinate  opinion 
he  possessed  of  his  own  greatness  was  daily 
inflated  by  the  flattery  that  was  poured  into 
his  ear.  Soon  after  Stanley’s  stay  Colonel 
Chaille  Long,  one  of  Gordon’s  officers,  had 
visited  him,+  and  was  honoured  by  the 
slaughter,  in  his  presence,  of  a large  number  of 

* Miss  Stock.  “The  Story  of  Uganda  and  the  Victoria' 
Xyanza  Mission  ” (1892),  p.  69,  from  which  excellent 
work  many  of  the  facts  in  this  chapter  have  been  derived  ; 
and  “ The  Victoria  Xyanza  and  Bishop  Hannington  ” 
(Church  Missionary  Society). 

t A full  account  of  this  interesting  journey  will  be 
found  in  Messrs.  Wilson  and  Felkin’s  “ Uganda  and  the 
Egyptian  Soudan,”  2 vols.  (1882).  Dr.  Felkin’s  diary  of  his 
first  journey  appeared  in  the  Church  Missionary  Gleaner 
for  1879. 

J “Central  Africa”  (1876),  p.  106. 


slaves,  without  the  Egyptian  envoy  having 
the  power  to  prevent  so  diabolical  an  act. 
During  Emin  Pasha’s  embassy  to  .M’tesa, 
which  took  place  six  months  after  the 
arrival  of  the  first  missionaries,  the  king- 
swaggered  about  in  a frock-coat  and  bare  feet, 
under  the  belief  that  he  was  dressed  and 
demeaned  himself  exactly  like  the  German 
Emperor.  He  is  even  said  to  have  tried  the 
effect  of  a tall  hat  in  heightening  his  dignity. 


^ - 

DR.  R.  W.  FELKIN. 

( From  a Photograph  by  J.  Moffat,  Princes  St.,  Edinburgh.) 

The  missionaries  were  soon  fain  to  confess  that 
Mr.  Stanley  had,  to  no  small  ex 
tent,  been  deceived  by  the  cunning  °ent?  Mtesa 
young  savage,  though  to  stigmatise  inUg£®w 
that  traveller’s  account  of  Uganda 
and  its  monarch  as  “ utter  falsehoods  ” — 
as  the  French  priests  did  at  a later  date 
— is  a misuse  of  words  which  his  narra- 
tive in  no  way  deserves.  He  simply  told 
what  he  saw,  and  repeated  what  the  king 
had  told  him.  The  reception  of  Colonel 
Chaille  Long,  and  many  of  the  subsequent 
proceedings  of  M’tesa,  showed  clearly  enough 
that  his  character  still  left  ample  room  for  im- 
provement. Yet  the  fact  is  undeniable — we 
state  it  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Mackay — that 
the  people  of  Uganda  themselves  date  from 
Mr.  Stanley’s  arrival  the  commencement 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


of  leniency  in  place  of  the  previous  blood- 
shed and  terror.  “ As  soon  as  Stanley  came, 
they  say,  the  king  no  more  slaughters  inno- 
cent people  as  he  did  before.  He  no  more 
disowns  and  disinherits  in  a moment. an  old 
and  powerful  chief  and  sets  up  a puppet  of 


having  no  decided  religion  rather  than  pro- 
fessing any  one  in  particular.  He  was,  in 
truth,  a strange,  anomaly.  Capable  of  lying 
when  lying  served  his  purpose,  impregnated 
with  low  cunning,  hatred,  pride,  conceit, 
jealousy,  cruelty,  and  ignorance  of  the  value 


CHURCH  AT  KAREMA,  LAKE  TANGANYIKA,  IN  COURSE  OF  CONSTRUCTION  BY'  THE  “WHITE  FATHERS”: 

LENGTH,  150  FEET. 

( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Fred  Moir.) 


his  own  who  was  before  only  a slave.”  In 
short,  compared  with  what  Uganda  was  in 
Speke’s  time,  the  government  witnessed  by 
the  missionaries  was  mild  in  the  extreme ; 
but,  undoubtedly,  M’tesa  Yvas  a pagan,  and  if 
he  died  with  this  paganism  someivhat  modi- 
fied, it  was  a modification  in  the  direction  of 


of  human  life,  he  was  capable  at  times  of 
Yvhat  seemed  inordinate  generosity ; but  those 
who  knew  his  disposition  best  affirm  that 
this  seeming  generosity,  or  any  other  virtue 
of  a redeeming  nature,  was  merely  for  the 
glorification  of  himself  in  the  eyes  of  the 
foreigners,  or  as  a bait  to  gather  more  into  his 


M’TESA’S  CHARACTER 


145 


net.  His  vanity  was  extreme,  his  desire  for 
notoriety  almost  monomaniacal.  His  greed 
was  also  inordinate,  while  his  absolute  want 
of  control  when  the  gratification  of  his  ani- 
mal propensities  was  at  stake  rendered  it 


children,  and  at  times  a real  sense  of  justice 
without  respect  of  persons.  Thus,  for  in- 
stance, he  would  punish  a powerful  chief 
when  the  latter  was  complained  of  by  even 
the  humblest  of  his  subjects.  Indeed,  one  of 


CHURCH  OX  THE  HILLS  OF  NAMUREMBE,  UGANDA,  AND  HOUSES  OF  ENGLISH  MISSIONARIES. 
( From  a Sketch  by  the  Rev.  Frederick  Smith.) 


impossible  to  say  what  enormity  he  would 
next  commit.  Yet,  if  guilty  of  almost  every 
vice — a robber,  a tyrant,  a murderer,  and 
a fratricide — this  strange  character  in  the 
history  of  Central  Africa  displayed  an  extra- 
ordinary affection  for  some  of  his  young 
50 


the  most  curious  features  of  Uganda,  as  in 
contrast  with  surrounding  states,  was  its 
lawlessness  combined  with  a ceaseless  suc- 
cession of  trials  at  law.  Every  chief  was  a 
judge  in  his  own  land,  with,  of  course,  the 
power  of  life  and  death,  and  every  minor 


146 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


chief  and  petty  officer  had  also  frequently 
cases  brought  before  him,  and  the  same  suit 
was  often  heard  by  many  such  judges  in 
succession  before  it  was  settled.  At  the 
capital  the  common  people  from  different 
districts  had  their  causes  tried  by  three 
judges,  who  exacted  a small  fee  for  their 
services,  while  the'  chiefs,  in  their  turn, 
had  all  their  differences  settled  by  an  old 
chief  called  Mungobya,  who  was  said  to  be 
very  just  in  his  decisions.  From  him  appeal 
could  be  had  to  the  prime  minister,  or  kati- 
kiro,  who  was,  however,  a very  young  man,  ele- 
vated to  a position  for  which  he  was  unfitted 
from  the  humble  post  of  being  cook  to  the 
king.  This  man,  according  to  Mr.  Mackay, 
was  an  utter  time-server,  and  always  gave  his 
decision  in  favour  of  the  litigant  who  had  bribed 
him  most  heavily  in  slaves  and  cattle.  Finally, 
the  king  settled  disputes  without  a fee,  and  was 
generally  regarded  as  fair  in  his  judgments. 
A poor  man,  however,  could  bring  no  case 
against  a richer  man,  for,  if  he  did,  spoliation 
and  death  would  be  the  certain  doom  of  the 
peasant,  even  should  his  plaint  get  a hearing 
at  all.  In  a former  chapter  (Vol.  II.,  pp. 
282-312)  an  account  was  given  by  Dr.  Felkin 
of  the  political  condition  of  the  country  at 
the  time  when  he  and  his  colleagues  arrived 
in  Uganda,  and  it  will,  therefore,  be  unnecessary 
to  dwell  upon  this  aspect  of  the  great  Central 
African  kingdom.  What  has  been  said  may, 
however,  enable  the  reader  to  grasp  the  situa- 
tion when  a new  factor  in  the  history  of 
Uganda  had  to  be  taken  into  account. 

This  was  the  arrival  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries.  The  Arab  traders  had  never 
been  friendly.  At  times,  indeed, 
Roman  bhey  were  almost  openly  hostile; 

Catholic  for,  in  addition  to  their  fear  that 
missionaries;  . . . .. 

their  mis-  the  white  men  who  had  arrived 

Africa!1  might  be  only  the  forerunners  of 
rivals  to  them  in  business,  their 
Moslem  fanaticism  was  aroused  at  the  possible- 
spread  of  the  Christian  religion  in  a country 
where,  until  the  advent  of  the  English  mission- 
aries, they  had  been  making  rapid  progress  in 
proselytism.  The  English'  missionaries  had 


not,  however,  calculated  on  meeting  any  diffi- 
culty from  a quarter  whence  it  now  came ; yet 
on  the  23rd  of  February,  1879,  when  there 
were  seven  Protestant  missionaries  in  the 
country,  a party  of  French  Jesuit  priests  ar- 
rived from  Algiers  avowedly  to  oppose  the 
Protestants  by  promulgating  “ the  truth,”  as 
understood  by  the  members  of  their  creed. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Mission  at  Dar-es- 
Salaam,  which  is  now  under  German  control, 
and  the  French  one  at  Bagamoyo,  have  al- 
ready been  mentioned.  In  addition  to  these 
there  is  the  Saint  Esprit  et  Coeur  de  Marie,  a 
Paris  mission,  organised  by  the  late  Father 
Horner,  the  principal  station  of  which  is  at 
Bagamoyo.  There  is  also  a similar  station  at 
Mhonda,  in  Uguna,  and  several  outposts.  The 
Jesuits,  some  of  whom  come  from  a training 
college  in  North  Wales,  have  a station  at  Tete 
on  the  Zambesi  river  within  the  limits  of  the 
Portuguese  colony  of  Mozambique,  and  several 
others  of  less  importance. 

But  the  Fathers  in  these ' districts  are 
not  aggressive  and  have  not  mixed  them- 
selves up  in  political  affairs.  The  mission- 
aries who  now  made  their  appearance  in 
Uganda  belonged  to  a newer,  more  militant 
and,  as  subsequent  events  proved,  less  judi- 
cious organisation  than  any  of  those  men- 
tioned. Their  order  was  Notre  Dame  d’Afrique, 
with  its  head-quarters  in  Algeria  and  Tunis. 
It  was  one  of  the  creations  of  Cardinal  Lavi- 
gerie,  Archbishop  of  Carthage  (p.  105) — oil 
the  site  of  which  is  the  chief  school  of  the 
mission — and,  apart  from  its  religious  objects, 
is  notoriously  portion  of  an  ambitious  political 
plan  to  extend  French  influence  in  Central 
Africa.  It  is  perhaps  not  uncharitable — 

because  it  is  true — to  say  that  the  Car- 
dinal’s crusade  against  slavery  was  not  entirely 
without  an  eye  to  the  accomplishment  of  a 
purpose  which  gained  for  the  new  organisa- 
tion the  powerful  influence  of  politicians  who 
did  not  usually  feel  an  absorbing  interest 
in  a purely  sectarian  scheme.  The  Central 
African  missions  of  these  “White  Fathers” 
were  planned  so  as  to  form  four  districts — the 
provicariates  of  Unyamyembe  and  the  Upper 


SECTARIAN  ANIMOSITIES. 


147 


Congo,  and  the  two  Apostolic  vicariates  of 
Tanganyika  and  Victoria  Nyanza* 

But,  instead  of  permitting  the  mission-field 
to  be  divided  up  among  the  adherents  of  the 
different  Christian  creeds,  the  “ White  Fathers” 
would  admit  of  no  compromise.  They  seemed 
to  believe  it  was  better  that  the  natives 
should  remain  in  Paganism  than  imbibe  a 
heretical  form  of  Christianity.  Hence,  with 
all  wide  Africa  to  choose  from,  instead  of 
selecting  a post  at  a distance  from  the  Pro- 
testant missionaries,  with  an  indiscretion  of 
which,  unfortunately,  the  latter  have  not 
been  always  innocent  themselves,  they  planted 
their  stations  alongside  of  those  already  es- 
tablished, and  never  concealed  their  avowed 
enmity,  if  not  to  the  Englishmen  personally, 
at  all  events  to  their  teachings. 

The  first  detachment  of  the  Tanganyika 
White  Fathers  arrived  at  ,Ujiji  on  the  24th 
of  January,  1879.  They  now  occupy  the 
station  of  Karema  (p.  144),  originally  estab- 
lished by  the  African  International  Association 
and  for  some  time  held  by  the  French 
Pontifical  Zouave,  M.  Joubert,  on  whose 
assistance  in  his  enterprise  against  the  slave 
trade  and  his  ulterior  political  objects 
Cardinal  Lavigerie  laid  much  stress  in  his 
addresses — not  so  much  in  England  as  in 
capitals  where  his  plans  might  be  received 
more  sympathetically.  Ruwewa,  on  the 
western  shore,  near  the  northern  extremity 
of  the  lake,  is  another  of  the  White  Fathers’ 
stations,  and  at  Mpala,  also  an  old  station  of 
the  African  International  Association,  a third 
party  of  priests  have  their  quarters. 

As  yet,  probably  owing  to  the  fact  that  it 
has  not  been  convenient  to  settle  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society’s  stations,  we  hear  little  there  of  the 
rivalry  that  has  made  the  Uganda  Mission 
so  notorious.  Indeed,  either  for  this  reason, 
or  because  the  men  selected  for  the  Tangan- 
yika scheme  have  been  more  judicious  than 
their  brethren  on  the  great  lake  to  the 
north,  the  Protestants  and  the  Roman 

* Clarke,  “ Cardinal  Lavigerie  and  Slavery  in  Africa” 

(1880),  p.  16.'). 


Catholics  seem  to  live  in  Tanganyika  on 
terms  of  tolerable  friendship. 

M’tesa,  always  eager  to  see  new  faces, 
especially  if  his  visitors  did  not  come  empty- 
handed,  received  the  first  detach- 
ment of  priests  with  profuse  pro-  Christians, 
fessions  of  friendship.  Nor  was 
his  amiability  decreased  when  he  found  that 
the  preachers  of  the  gospel  of  peace  had 
brought  to  him — as  their  predecessors  had 
to  a smaller  extent — those  presents  of  guns, 
swords,  and  gunpowder  which  his  heart 
hankered  after.  This  agreeable  impression 
was  not  long  in  being  disturbed ; for  the 
priests  immediately  took  up  a position  hostile 
to  the  Protestant  missionaries,  refusing  to 
kneel  for  prayer  at  their  Sunday  services 
and  denouncing  them  to  the  king  as  liars 
who  taught  a foreign  religion.  Then  the 
Protestants  retaliated  and  the  two  Christian 
sects  were  at  open  enmity.  Naturally,  this 
attitude  of  opposition  to  those  whom  he 
had  begun  to  regard  as  his  friends  struck 
M'tesa  with  astonishment.  He  had  till 
then  believed  that  the  neAv  teachers  were 
friends  of  the  old  ones,  and,  to  use  his  own 
expression,  “ that  the  white  men  had  not  two 
religions.”  Whatever  might  have  been  his 
ideas  hitherto,  he  was  not  long  kept  in  ignor- 
ance of  the  fact  that  the  French  party 
recognised  what  he  had  been  taught  hitherto 
in  the  light  of  untruth.  At  an  interview 
with  the  king,  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Mackay, 
M.  Lourdel  declared  in  an  excited  manner, 
“ We  do  not  join  in  that  religion  because  it  is 
not  the  true.  We  do  not  know  that  book 
[the  Prayer  Book],  because  it  is  a book  of 
lies.  If  we  joined  in  that,  it  would  mean 
that  we  were  not  Catholics  but  Protestants, 
Avho  have  rejected  the  truth  for  hundreds  of 
years.  They  Avere  with  us,  but  noAv  they 
believe  and  teach  only  lies.” 

The  mischief  soon  took  such  deep  root  that 
it  was  impossible  to  eradicate  it.  In  vain  Avas 
the  king  instructed  in  the  minor  points . of 
difference  between  the  tAvo  creeds ; all  the 
explanations  left  him  more  sorely  perplexed 
than  ever,  and  chiefs  who  had  stood  listening 


148 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


to  the  explanation  turned  away  sadly  with 
the  remark  that  “ every  white  man  has  a 
different  religion.” 

The  Arabs,  who  had  hitherto  remained 
either  neutral  or  passively  unfriendly,  now 
saw  their  chance  to  take  a more 
position  decisive  attitude  by  sowing  dis- 
sension in  the  king’s  Court.  This 
opportunity  occurred  on  the  receipt  of  a 
friendly  letter  to  the  king  from  Sir  John 
Kirk,  then  British  Consul-General  at  Zan- 
zibar, which  the  Arabs  were  ordered  to 


ALEXANDER  MACKAY. 
(From  a Photograph.) 


translate  for  the  benefit  of  M’tesa.  But  either 
because  they  were  too  ignorant  to  understand 
the  import  of  it,  or,  more  likely,  because  they 
scented  an  opportunity  of  casting  reflections 
upon  the  missionaries,  they  rendered  the 
communication  in  a sense  inimical  to  the 
character  of  the  Englishmen  and  their 
honesty  of  purpose. 

British  influence,  and  no  doubt  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Europeans  generally,  now 
reached  a very  low  ebb.  The  king’s  demean- 
our towards  the  missionaries  changed,  and 
sometimes  he  refused  to  see  them  altogether. 
To  some  extent  the  king  was  even  more  in- 
censed against  the  Frenchmen.  So  far  did 


this  feeling  go  that  when  the  English  mis- 
sionaries went  with  some  medicine  for  one 
of  the  sick  priests,  they  were  stopped 
by  a number  of  armed  natives,  acting,  as 
it  seemed,  by  the  orders  of  the  king.  Per- 
haps, however,  owing  to  his  gratitude  for 
medical  services  rendered  to  him  by  Dr. 
Felkin,  the  old  friendliness  of  the  king  began 
to  return  soon  after  the  departure  of  this 
gentleman  and  Mr.  Wilson  with  the  Uganda 
envoys  for  England.  His  desire  for  informa- 
tion bearing  on  the  character  of  England 
prevented  him  from  changing  his  mind  re- 
garding this  embassy.  This  love  of  know- 
ledge was  displayed  in  other  directions  also. 
By  means  of  a small  printing-press,  reading- 
sheets  were  supplied,  and  remarkable  eager- 
ness for  instruction  manifested  itself  among 
the  chiefs  and  people,  a large  number  of  them 
learning  to  read,  and  the  public  services 
which  had  been  stopped  for  a time  were 
resumed. 

Towards  the  close  of  1879  another  change 
came  over  the  fickle  king.  He  now  fell  under 
the  thrall  of  a “ sorceress,”  who  claimed  to  be 
possessed  -of  the  “lubari”  of  the  Nyanza, 
and  under  her  influence  he  and  his 
chiefs  prohibited  both  Christianity  oftheMng 
and  Mohammedanism,  and  returned 
to  their  old  Pagan  practices.  The  year  1880 
was  a period  of  sore  trial  for  European  in- 
fluence. Only  a few  lads  remained  among 
Messrs.  Mackay  and  Pearson’s  pupils,  but  even 
they  deserted  the  school,  and  the  lives  of  the 
missionaries  were  placed  in  imminent  peril, 
owing  to  an  absurd  story  circulated  by  the 
Arabs  to  the  effect  .that  Mr.  Mackay  was 
an  insane  murderer  who  had  escaped  from 
his  own  country. 

Once  more,  however,  the  king’s  attitude  to- 
wards the  missionaries  altered  for  the  better. 
The  return  of  the  Uganda  envoys  from 
Europe,  full  of  what  they  had  seen  of  the 
populous  cities  of  England  and  of  the  great- 
ness of  its  Queen,  to  whom  they  had  been  pre- 
sented at  Buckingham  Palace,  raised  British 
influence  in  Uganda  to  a level  not  hitherto 
attained.  The  pupils  came  back  to  school 


SEIZURE  OF  BISHOP  HAJfXIXGTOX,  PREVIOUS  TO  HIS  MURDEI! 


150 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


and  several  converts  presented  themselves 
for  baptism.  Building,  carpentering,  black- 
smithing,  and  other  industrial  pursuits  were 
learned  by  numbers  of  the  intelligent  people 
of  the  country,  while  various  new  books  were 
translated  into  the  language,  in  which  the 
missionaries  were  now  proficient.  Another 
event  that  relieved  the  mission  of  fre- 
quent embarrassment  was  the  departure,  in 
November,  1882,  of  the  French  priests  to 
one  of  their  other  stations,^  after  a residence 
of  three  and  a half  years  in  Rubaga.  Their 
absence  was,  however,  only  temporary. 

Without  following  the  mission  in  its 
encouragements  and  discouragements  from 
year  to  year,  it  may  be  enough  to 

Hdays°n  say  its  success  suffered  little 
check  until  the  10th  of  October, 
1884.  Up  to  that  time  the  English  Church  in 
Uganda  claimed  eighty-eight  members  among 
the  natives  of  the  country,  and  several  relays 
of  missionaries  had  come  and  gone  without 
any  of  the  hostile  demonstrations  that  greeted 
some  of  the  pioneers  in  passing  from  the  lake 
to  the  sea.  One  of  the  converts  was  M’tesa’s 
daughter,  whose  baptism  aroused  the  king’s 
anger,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  himself  had 
at  different  times  professed  Christianity.  Then 
for  a time  the  mission  was  in  real  danger  ; but, 
as  usual,  the  storm  blew  over  and  the  vacil- 
lating king  restored  the  missionaries  to  all 
their  old  favour.  On  the  whole,  M’tesa  had 
been  friendly  to  the  teachers  sent  him  in  re- 
sponse to  his  request  through  Mr.  Stanley. 
Naturally  unstable,  however,  anything  like 
steady  friendship,  or  progress  in  any  particular 
direction,  was  impossible  to  the  king.  First 
a Mohammedan,  then  ostensibly  a Protestant, 
he  became  nominally  a Roman  Catholic,  while 
at  heart,  and  according  to  his  practices,  essen- 
tially a Pagan,  his  favourite  excuse  for  any 
act  of  a particularly  atrocious  character  was 
that  he  was  puzzled  how  to  act  amid  the 
dictates  of  such  various  religions. 

His  mother  predeceased  him  by  some 
months.  This  was  the  lady  of  whose  affability 

* They  have  stations  on  the  Victoria  Nyanza  at  Rubaga 
and  Bukumbi,  and  at  Sweru  in  Unyamwezi. 


Speke  gives  so  lively  a description.  M’tesa 
determined  to  do  her  honour  after  his  bar- 
barous fashion,  tinctured  with  some  of  the 
civilisation  which  he  had  acquired  by  his  in- 
tercourse with  the  white  man.  Thus  he  asked 
Mackay  to  make  her  a huge  copper  coffin,  and 
such  an  enormous  quantity  of  costly  clothes 
were  thrown  into  her  grave  that  it  is  said 
they  were  valued  at  £15,000.  At  last — 
on  the  10th  of  October,  1884 — 

M’tesa  died,  and  affairs  in  Uganda  D^s®f 
assumed  an  entirely  new  aspect. 

The  king  had  long  been  ailing,  and  seemed  to 
grow  daily  worse  and  worse  in  spite  of  the 
medical  advice  which  he  received  from  the 
missionaries.  The  Arabs,  however,  assured 
him  that  there  were  some  traders  from  Zan- 
zibar now  in  the  Unyamwezi  country  who 
possessed  a marvellous  medicine  that  would 
cure  hun.  Messengers  were  immediately  de- 
spatched to  bring  these  great  doctors  to  the 
Uganda  Court.  They  duly  arrived,  and  issued 
orders  that  no  one  was  to  see  the  king  while 
the  drug  was  working.  He  was  ordered  a par- 
ticular diet  and  forbidden  to  eat  salt- — black 
people,  as  a rule,  seldom  eating  salt  while  they 
are  ill.  For  a time  the  king  endured  this 
regimen ; but,  as  usual,  he  soon  tired  of  the 
monotony  of  any  particular  course,  and  re- 
fused any  longer  to  follow  the  advice  of  the 
“great  doctors”  from  Zanzibar.  The  condition 
of  the  king  was  kept  a profound  secret 
from  his  subjects ; and,  even  when  he  died,  the 
event  was  not  made  known  for  some  time 
afterwards.  Nor  is  it  yet  known,  with 
accuracy,  what  was  the  manner  of  M’tesa’s 
“taking  off.”  As  usually  happens  in  such 
cases,  it  was  whispered  about  that  the  king 
had  been  poisoned  by  the  foreign  doctors. 
More  likely  was  the  rumour  which  affirmed 
that  he  was  smothered  by  his  wives.  Murder 
in  this  fashion  is  not  unknown. 

But  when  the  king’s  death  could  no  longer 
be  concealed,  it  was  evident  that  the  position 
of  the  Europeans  was  not  so  safe  as  it 
had  been  the  day  before.  In  the  interregnum 
there  might  be  an  outburst  of  anarchy,  and 
it  was  well  understood  that  the  heir  to  the 


AN  INTERREGNUM  IN  UGANDA. 


151 


throne  was  by  no  means  friendly  to  the  mis- 
sionaries. It  is  now  known  that  when  the 
chiefs  met  in  council  over  the  state  of  affairs 
precipitated  by  the  death  of  the  king  it 
was  debated  whether  the  strangers — that  is 
to  say,  the  Arabs  and  the  Europeans — should 
be  attacked,  and  the  proposal  only  fell  to  the 
ground  when  it  was  explained  that  any  such 
proceedings  would  discourage  the  visits  of 
strangers  and  the  development  of  trade. 

Nor  were  the  Arabs  very  confident.  They, 
too,  expected  an  at- 
tack, and  spent  the 
night  armed  to  the 
teeth.  They  also  dis- 
tributed muskets  and 
ammunition  among 
their  slaves,  and  so 
serious  were  the  pros- 
pects of  all  concerned 
that  the  missionaries 
launched  their  boat 
at  once  and  made 
ready  for  sailing,  in 
case  the  mission- 
house  should  be  de- 
stroyed and  the  in- 
mates be  compelled 
to  seek  refuge  on 
the  lake. 

The  character  of 

the  new  sovereign  was  not  such  as  to  inspire 
confidence  in  the  minds  of  the 
T^®n°ew  threatened  Europeans.  M’wanga 
was  a lad  only  eighteen  years 
of  age,  and,  though  not  the  oldest  son 
of  the  late  king,  had,  for  reasons  of  state, 
been  chosen  by  the  nobles  to  succeed 
him.  He  had  often  visited  the  missionaries, 
and  learned  something  from  his  intercourse 
with  them,  though  unable  to  concentrate 
his  attention  for  any  length  of  time.  In 
addition  to  being  as  unstable  as  his  father, 
he  was  endowed  with  few  of  his  virtues,  but 
with  most  of  his  vices.  His  accession  to 
the  throne  was,  however,  marked  by  the 
absence  of  many  of  the  hideous  customs 
which,  until  the  teachings  of  the  missionaries 


GRAVE  OF  THE  MOTHER  OF  KING  MTESA. 
( From  a Sketch  by  the  Rev.  Frederick  Smith.) 


■ were  listened  to,  had  been  part  of  the  cere- 
monial on  such  occasions.  His  brothers,  for 
instance,  were  spared  the  usual  fate  of  the 
Waganda  princes,  who,  on  the  accession  of  the 
heir-apparent,  had  hitherto  been  killed,  in  case 
they  might  in  any  way  endanger  his  tenure 
of  power.  What  also  was  almost  unprecedented 
in  the  political  annals  of  Uganda,  the  katikiro, 
or  prime  minister,  was  continued  in  office ; 
but  the  king,  influenced,  no  doubt,  by  the  cus- 
tomary superstition  connected  with  inhabit- 
ing the  residence 
of  his  predecessor, 
changed  the  royal 
quarters  from  Rubaga 
to  Nabulagala. 

M’wanga,  however, 
very  speedily  treated 
the  missionaries  with 
scant  courtesy,  order- 
ing them  at 

° . . Evil  days. 

one  ot  his 
first  audiences  to  go 
to  the  south  of  the 
lake  and  bring  more 
white  men,  his  idea 
being  that  white 
men  could  be  had 
by  “ ordering  ” them, 
like  so  much  cloth 
or  so  many  muskets. 
However,  some  reinforcements  for  the  British 
mission  being  expected  from  England,  Mr. 
Mackay  went  in  the  direction  indicated  in  the 
hopes  of  escorting  them  to  head-quarters ; 
but,  on  his  return  without  them,  M’wanga 
was  so  disappointed  that  he  immediately 
resolved  to  supply  their  places  by  others, 
and  sent  to  Bukumbi  for  some  of  the  French 
priests  who  had  retired  to  that  station  (p.  150). 

This  was  the  beginning  of  no  small  trouble 
both  for  himself  and  for  his  kingdom.  As 
time  went  on  the  suspicions  of  the  king 
towards  the  white  men  were  increased 
rather  than  lessened.  At  that  period  Mr. 
Joseph  Thomson  was  engaged  on  his 
successful  journey  through  Masailand  to 
Victoria  Nyanza,  and  had  arrived  in 


.152 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Busoga*  a tributary  state  to  the  east  of  Uganda 
and  separated  from  it  by  the  Nile.  The  king 
immediately  jumped  to  the  conclusion,  when 
he  heard  of  the  advent  of  this  traveller,  that 
he  and  his  companions  were  the  white  men 
whom  Mackay  ought  to  have  brought  from 
the  south  end  of  the  lake  and  that  they  had 
taken  another  route.  And  of  all  routes  which 
they  could  have  taken,  that  by  way  of  Busoga 
was  the  least  pleasing  to  him ; for  the 


come  as  usual  with  his  yearly  tribute  of  ivory, 
an  unpardonable  remissness  on  his  part,  which 
was  attributed  to  the  presence  of  strangers 
who  had  excited  him  to  rebel  against  his  liege 
lord.  Ever  on  the  watch  for  any  circum- 
stances that  might  prejudice  the  Court 
against  the  white  men,  the  Arabs  immediately 
put  into  circulation  evil  rumours  to  the  effect 
that  the  missionaries  were  harbouring  malefac- 
tors, solely  from  the  accidental  circumstance 


MUMIAS’  VILLAGE,  KAVIRONDO,  THE  SCENE  OF  BISHOP  HANNINGTON’S  MURDER. 

( From  a Slcetch  by  Bishop  Tucker.) 


Waganda  are  jealous  of  any  strangers  reaching 
their  country  by  that  state — mainly,  no  doubt, 
lest  the  new  arrivals  should  reach  Uganda 
empty-handed,  but  partly  also  because  of  an 
old  prophecy  that  Uganda  was  to  be  conquered 
by  people  coming  from  the  east.  This  super- 
stition was  so  strong  even  in  M’tesa  that  on 
one  occasion  he  told  Mackay — I know  you 
white  men  want  very  much  to  see  what  is 
beyond  Busoga,  but  I will  never  let  you  do  it.” 
It  unfortunately  happened  also  that,  coinci- 
dently  with  the  rumour  of  white  men  being 
in  Busoga,  the  king  of  that  country  failed  to 

* Or  Usoga,  the  *•  B ” being  indifferently  added  or 
omitted — c.ff.,  Uganda  and  Buganda. 


of  a man  who  had  committed  some  offence 
having  been  found  in  the  house  of  a Christian 
convert.  The  anger  of  the  king  was  also 
fanned  by  the  fanatical  Mujasi,  head  of 
his  body-guard,  who  was  friendly  to  the 
Arabs  and  correspondingly  unfriendly  to  the 
Christians. 

In  .January,  1885,  the  long-feared  troubles 
began  to  break  out  openly.  The1  mis- 
sionaries were  insulted,  and  Theflrst 
their  lives  even  threatened,  waganda 
while  their  followers  were  seized  martyrs- 
and  their  property  was  sacked  by  the  Mos- 
lem and  Pagan  mobs.  Three  boys,  the 
eldest  aged  fifteen,  were  destined  to  be 


KING  M’ WANG  A OF  UGANDA. 


153 


the  first  martyrs  of  the  persecution  that 
was  now  on  the  eve  of  beginning.  In  the 
midst  of  a mocking  crowd,  a rough  scaffold 
was  erected  and  heaped  with  firewood,  on 


BISHOP  HAXXIXGTOX. 

(From  a Photograph  by  Fradelle  and  Young,  Regent  Street,  IV.) 

which,  after  the  most  savage  torture  had  been 
applied  to  them,  the  youths  were  burned ; 
but  the  insensate  hate  of  the  enemies  of  the 
new  faith  was  to  be  wreaked  on  even  more 
important  persons  than  those  unfortunate 
children.  The  tyranny  of  the  king  had  by 
this  time  incensed  against  him  a large  portion 
of  the  Christian  and  even  of  the  heathen 
population.  Accustomed  latterly  to  the  com- 
paratively mild  rule  of  M’tesa,  they  dreaded, 
when  they  saw  such  vengeance  vented  on 
unoffending  boys,  that  they  were  on  the 
return  to  the  hideous  old  days  before  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Christians.  A rebellion  and  the 
assassination  of  the  king  were  therefore 
planned.  This  plot  was  also  favoured 

by  the  old  chiefs,  who  feared  that  M’wanga, 
like  his  father,  was  on  the  point  of 

adopting  the  new  customs,  and,  from  his  un- 
stable character,  of  even  rewarding  those  who 
had  brought  these  innovations  into  the 
country.  This  conspiracy,  happily  for  the 
whites,  who,  no  doubt,  would  have  been  the 
first  sufferers  by  its  success,  was  discovered 


before  the  persons  concerned  in  it  had  time 
to  carry  out  their  intentions.  The  result  was 
that  the  shifty  king  immediately  swung  over 
to  the  whites,  and,  as  a mark  of  his  regard, 
gave  the  adherents  both  of  the  French  and 
English  missionaries  high  offices  at  his  Court. 

But  M'wanga’s  new  mood  did  not  last  long. 
His  innate  suspicion  of  everyone  was  soon 
again  directed  against  the  Europeans,  with 
results  of  the  most  deplorable  description. 
Dr.  James  Hannington  (p.  153),  who  had  been 
for  some  time  engaged  as  a missionary  in 
Africa,  had  been  appointed  in  the  summer  of 
1884  to  pi'oceed  to  Uganda  as  the 
first  Bishop  of  Equatorial  Africa.  Assassination 
He  was  now  on  his  way  to  his  Hannington. 
distant  diocese,  and,  journeying  by 
the  new  route  from  the  coast,  was  heard  of 
in  “fair  Kavirondo  ” (Yol.  II.,  pp.  80,  92). 
The  king  was  acquainted  with  the  fact  that 
there  was  a prospect  of  early  receiving  a dis- 
tinguished Englishman  in  his  capital ; but  at 
the  time  the  missionaries  had  no  idea  that 


DR.  A.  K.  TUCKER.  THIRD  BISHOP  OF  EAST  EQUATORIAL 
AFRICA. 

( From  a Photograph  by  Elliott  and  Fry,  Baker  Street.  IV.) 

the  Bishop  was  going  on  to  Busoga,  and 
had,  indeed,  been  intending  to  send  a boat  to 
Kavirondo  to  bring  him  to  the  capital  by  way 
of  the  lake. 


154 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


In  those  years  events  began  to  thicken  in 
Central  Africa,  and  among  these  the  report  of 
the  Germans’  activity  in  Zanzibar  and  on  -the 
mainland  gave  renewed  uneasiness  to  the  fickle 
king.  The  Arabs,  jealous  of  those  whom  they 
recognised  as  being  their  trade  rivals  in  the  near 
future,  had  repeatedly  impressed  upon  M’tesa 
the  danger  that  he  was  running  by  encourag- 
ing so  many  white  men  in  his  kingdom. 
“ They  will  eat  up  your  country,”  the  Moslems 
used  to  tell  him ; “ that  is  their  only  object  in 
-coming  here.”  To  a certain  extent,  though 
possibly  not  to  the  extent  they  imagined, 
the  Arabs  were  right  in  their  forebodings  ; 
but  the  easy-going  king,  fond  of  visitors, 
and  still  fonder  of  the  gifts  they  brought 
him,  laughed  at  these  warnings.  “ Let 
the  Bazungu  alone,”  he  would  say.  “ If 
they  mean  to  eat  the  country,  surely  they 
won’t  begin  at  the  inside  of  it.  . When  I 
begin  to  see  them  eat  the  coast,  then  I shall 
believe  your  words  to  be  true.”  But  now 
there  could  be  no  doubt  about  the  Bazupgu 
(Europeans)  having  begun  to  eat  the  coast. 
It  was  vain  for  the  missionaries  to  point  out 
to  him  that  the  Germans  and  the  English  were 
not  the  same  people.  The  chiefs  told  him 
differently — the  white  men  were  exactly  the 
same,  and  all  bad.  “ When  you  see  running 
water,”  they  said,  in  the  proverbial  style  of  their 
■countrymen,  “ you  expect  more  to  follow,” 
and  the  general  opinion  of  the  king’s  Council 
was  that  the  new  white  men  should  not  be 
allowed  to  enter  through  the  back-door  of 
Busoga.  When  the  news  reached  his  country- 
men that  messengers  had  been  despatched  by 
M’wanga  to  kill  Bishop  Hannington,  both  they 
and  the  French  missionaries  implored  the 
king  not  to  bring  trouble  on  himself  by 
killing  white  men,  but  rather,  if  he  disapproved 
of  their  coming,  to  order  them  to  turn  back. 
Gossip  travels  quickly  in  Africa,  in  spite  of 
the  want  of  posts  and  telegraphs  and  tele- 
phones, and  the  news  that  came  to  Uganda 
day  by  day  recording  the  position  of  the 
Bishop  was  of  the  very  worst.  At  last  the 
tidings  arrived  that  on  the  29th  of  October, 
1885,  the  Bishop  and  several  of  his  attendants 


had  been  speared  by  executioners  whom 
M’wanga  had  despatched  for  that  purpose.* 

Encouraged  by  the  audacity  of  this  act, 
and,  perhaps,  also  rendered  desperate  by 
the  dangerous  course  he  had  en- 
tered upon,  M’wanga  now  openly  p^Skon. 
proclaimed  himself  a persecutor. 

The  friends  of  the  missionaries  were  con- 
tinually bringing  them  secret  warnings  of  the 
dangers  they  were  running.  Among  these  well- 
wishers  was  the  “ princess,”  who  sent  word  that, 
if  ever  they  wished  to  propitiate  M’wanga,  now 
-was  the  time,  since,  when  he  killed  anyone,  the 
friends  of  the  dead  man  were  regarded  as 
his  enemies  unless  they  made  the  king  a 
present  to  show-  they  were  not  actuated  by 
revengeful  feelings.  A gift  was  accordingly 
brought  to  the  murderer;  but,  unexpectedly, 
it  seemed  to  act  upon  him  in  quite  a different 
way  from  what  had  been  expected.  He  was, 
indeed,  for  a time  extremely  angry  with  the 
missionaries  and  considered  he  had  done 
nothing  that  required  propitiation.  He 
even  threatened  to  kill  his  visitors.  “ What  if 
I kill  you  ? ” he  shouted.  “ What  could  Queeni 
[Queen  Victoria]  do  ? What  could  she  and  all 
Europe  do  ? ” And  when  Father  Lourdel 
attempted  to  interpose  a word  of  explanation 
he  was  at  once  overwhelmed  by  more  abuse. 
“ If  I kill  them,  do  you  think  I should  spare 
you  ? ” Then,  calming  down  just  as  suddenly 
as  he  had  flared  up,  he  ended  the  audience  by 
ordering  his  attendants  to  give  his  visitors  two 
cows  “ to  quiet  their  minds.”  Strict  orders  were, 
nevertheless,  issued  forbidding  any  natives  to 
go  near  the  missionaries’  premises. 

In  February,  1886,  M’wanga’s  anger  was 
roused  by  a fresh  and  equally  imaginary 
grievance;  for  the  collection  of  wattle-and- 
daub  .huts  that  constituted  the  royal  apart- 
ments was  burned  to  the  ground,  the  fire 
originating  in  his  gunpowder  store.  In  terror 
for  his  life,  the  king  took  refuge  on  the  shores 

* In  1893  his  remains  were  disinterred  by  Bishop 
Tucker  (p.  153) — who  succeeded  to  the  brief  episcopate  of 
Bishop  Parker,  who  died  at  Usambiro  (p.  156)  before 
reaching  Uganda— -and  laid  in  the  “ Cathedral  ” of 
Uganda  ; Dawson,  “ Lion-Hearted  : The  Story  of  Bishop 
Hannington,”  and  “Last  Journals.” 


UGANDA  AFTER  BISHOP  HANNINGTON’S  MURDER, 


155 


of  the  creek,  and  there  became,  as  Mr.  Ashe' 
writes,  “ gradually  disagreeable  again.”  And 
when  M’wanga  became  disagreeable  his  un- 
amiability  generally  took  the  shape  of  accus- 
ing somebody  of  doing  something  for  which 
they  had  to  be  punished  forthwith.  He  did 
not  claim  that  the  white  men  had  actually 
kindled  the  fire  by  which  he  had  been  ren- 
dered houseless  ; but  he  loudly  announced  that, 
after  the  fire,  they  had  bewitched  him,  and 
would  be  the  death  of  him  some  day,  and 
even  went  so  far  as  to  issue  orders  that 
Mackay  should  be  caught  and  beheaded  for 
his  share  in  this  deplorable  plot  against  the 
royal  person  and  property.  The  missionary 
was,  however,  warned  in  time,  and  kept  away 
from  the  place  until  the  king’s  wrath  abated. 

By  May  dark  days  began  to  fall  on  Uganda. 
The  Pagan  party  was  once  more  triumphant, 
and  the  special  objects  of  their  wrath  were 
the  “ readers,”  that  is  to  say,  the  converts 
or  pupils  of  the  missionaries  who  had 
learned  to  read  the  books  which  they  had 
translated  into  the  Waganda  language,  and 
printed  for  the  use  of  the  people,  many 
of  whom  bought  them  with  remarkable  eager- 
ness. The  fury  of  M’wanga  against  all  who 
were  known  or  suspected  to  be  “readers,” 
passed  all  reasonable  bounds.  Those  who  did 
not  manage  to  escape  to  a place  of  safety,  or 
were  not  concealed  by  their  friends,  were  seized, 
tortured,  or  killed  on  the  plea  of  being  dis- 
loyal and  seditious.  But  as  the  missionaries 
were  isolated,  no  one  being  allowed  to  go  near 
their  quarters,  it  was  only  long  after  that  the 
full  extent  of  the  persecution  reached  their 
oars.  No  form  of  atrocity  was  lacking  in  the 
scenes  which  ensued.  “ Readers  ” were  not 
only  killed,  but  were  tortured  in  the  most  in- 
human manner.  One  man,  whose  turpitude 
had  been  increased  in  the  eyes  of  the  king  by 
having  been  a friend  of  the  murdered  Bishop, 
was  put  to  death  with  exceptional  cruelty, 
one  limb  after  another  being  cut  off  and  flung 
into  the  fire,  before  the  trunk  of  the  still 
living  victim  was  committed  to  the  flames. 

While  the  persecution  was  at  its  height — 
on  the  2nd  of  June,  1886 — l>r  Junker, 


the  Russo-German  traveller,  arrived  at  the 
mission-house,  in  despair  of  being 
able  to  leave  Emin  Pasha’s  province  D^Jimker 
by  any  other  route  (pp.  26, 27)  than 
that  through  Uganda  to  the  east  coast.  He 
brought  a terrible  account  of  the  mutilated 
bodies  of  M’wanga’s  victims  lying  by  the  way- 
side.  A wholesale  butchery  had  been  enacted, 
not  only  in  the  vicinity  of  the  mission,  but 
over  all  parts  of  the  country — many  of  the 
victims  being  only  suspected  of  sympathy 
with  the  missionaries — and  even  on  the  road 
leading  to  the  king’s  enclosure  Mr.  Ashe  tells 
us  that  he  saw  the  ghastly  sight  of  a dis- 
severed head  and  limbs  lying  in  the  middle 
of  the  pathway.  Happily,  Mr.  Mackay’s  in- 
fluence with  the  king  was  still  sufficiently 
great  to  persuade  him  to  send  Dr.  Junker,  after 
a brief  delay,  upon  his  way  to  Bagamoyo. 

Then  the  missionaries  asked  leave  to 
follow  their  guest,  not  only  from  their  con- 
viction that  in  the  present  state  of  matters 
they  could  do  little  good  by  remaining,  but 
also  as  the  strongest  protest  they  could  make 
regarding  the  horrible  cruelties  committed  by 
the  king  or  with  his  acquiescence.  But  this 
request  M’wanga  firmly  refused.  Mr.  Ashe 
might  go,  and  go  he  did  ; but  Mr.  Mackay  was 
told  that  he  must  stay,  and  in  Uganda  this 
devoted  pioneer  of  civilisation  tarried  for 
some  months  longer.  Mackay  was  now  the 
only  Englishman  at  the  king’s  capital,  and 
for  a time  it  was  doubtful  how  long  he 
would  be  permitted  to  remain  as  a representa- 
tive of  the  once  flourishing  mission.  It  is, 
indeed,  questionable  whether  the  king  would 
have  been  so  anxious  for  his  presence  had  he 
not  been  useful  in  mending  his  arms ; for  the 
Arabs  continued  relentless  in  their 
bitterness  against  the  Christians, 
and  worked  upon  the  feeble  mind 
of  the  king  by  representing  that  Mackay  was 
in  his  country  simply  as  a political  agent. 

Then  came  the  news  of  Stanley’s  expedition 
for  the  succour  of  Emin  Pasha.  This  afforded 
them  a chance  of  magnifying  the  force  he 
had  with  him  and  of  representing  that  he 
was  marching  on  a mission  of  conquest. 


156 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Mackay,  meanwhile,  retired  to  Usambiro,  a 
station  on  the  southern  borders  of  the  lake 
(p.  60),  and  his  place  at  the  capital  was 
taken  by  a fresh  relay  of  missionaries,  who 
were  received  by  the  king  with  almost  as 
much  distinction  as  his  father  had  bestowed 
upon  their  predecessors. 

The  cup  of  M’wanga  was  by  this  time 


the  atrocities  to  which  their  friends  had  been 
so  recently  subjected,  and  the  persecution  to 
which  they  were  still  at  times  liable  at  the 
hands  of  M’wanga’s  officials.  He  might, 
nevertheless,  have  continued  undisturbed  in 
his  kingship  had  it  not  been  for  one  of  his 
usual  outbursts  of  cruelty.  By  a cunningly- 
contrived  plot  he  was  on  the  eve  of  sending 


“GOD’S  ACRE,”  USAMBIRO,  SHOWING  THE  GRAVES  OF  BISHOP  PARKER,  ALEXANDER  MACKAT,  AND  OTHERS. 

(From  a Stretch  by  Bishop  Tucker.) 


nearly  full.  He  had  now  filled  the  throne  of 
Uganda  for  nearly  four  years,  but 
driven  from  his  position,  instead  of  getting 
the  throne.  stronger,  had  been  gradually  get- 
ting weaker.  In  spite  of  the  majesty  which 
in  Uganda  “ hedges  round  the  king  with  awe,” 
his  repeated  acts  of  violence  and  rapacity, 
unredeemed  by  any  of  those  generous  im- 
pulses which,  in  spite  of  his  cruelty,  endeared 
M’tesa  to  the  Waganda  had  rapidly  alienated 
the  loyalty  of  large  numbers  of  his  subjects. 
The  “ readers  ” were  naturally  slow  to  forget 


a number  of  the  principal  “ readers  ” to  an 
island  in  the  lake,  with  the  intention  of  leav- 
ing them  to  starve,  while  their  enemies,  who 
were  privy  to  the  conspiracy,  brought  away  the 
canoes  by  which  alone  they  could  escape  the 
cruel  fate  to  he  meted  out  to  them.  Tidings 
of  the  king’s  infamous  trick,  however,  oozed' 
out  before  he  could  carry  it  into  execution. 
Then  the  Christians,  in  their  turn,  began  to  plot 
against  their  faithless  king,  being  assisted  in 
this  conspiracy  by  the  Mohammedans,  who  made 
catspaws  of  the  “ readers.”  Two  armed  forces 


A PEACEFUL  REVOLUTION.  KING  KIWERA. 


157 


now  entered  the  country  simultaneously  by  two  - end,  instead  of  increase,  the  anarchy  that 
different  routes.  Then,  at  the  sight  of  the  had  seized  upon  Uganda.  Some 
danger  threatening  him,  M’wanga  collected  of  the  most  mischievous  chiefs  K^efa 
his  pages  and  his  wives,  and  fled  unmolested  were  deposed,  others  pardoned, 
to  Magu,  where,  in  the  guise  of  a guest,  he  and  the  offices  about  the  Court  distributed 


FORT  OF  KAMPALA,  UGANDA,  WITH  SUMMIT  OF  MENGO  AND  HOUSES  OF  THE  KING. 
(From,  a Sketch  by  the  Rev.  Frederick  Smith.) 


became  a virtual  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the 
Arabs. 

Meanwhile,  the  new  king,  Kiwera,  an  elder 
son  of  M’tesa,  was  enthroned  without  the  loss 
of  a single  life;  and  for  a time  it  almost 
seemed  as  if  this  peaceful  revolution  was  to 


with  considerable  impartiality  among  the  dif- 
ferent sects.  Thus,  the  post  of  prime  min- 
ister was  bestowed  on  a Roman  Catholic  ; the 
next  dignity  in  importance  fell  to  a Protestant ; 
while  the  Mohammedans  received  their  due 
share  of  the  patronage  at  the  disposal  of  the 


158 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


new  sovereign.  Liberty  of  worship  and  of 
teaching  was  proclaimed,  and  there  was  a 
general  gladness  throughout  the  land  when  it 
was  announced  that  a milder  rule  than  had 
ever  been  known  in  Uganda  was  to  signalise 
the  regime  then  inaugurated.  Christians  now 
emerged  from  their  places  of  concealment, 
and  the  new  missionaries  were  busy  from 
morning  to  night  distributing  to  the  people 
who  swarmed  round  their  stations  the  various 
books  translated  into  Luganda  and  Kiswahili 
— the  tongue  of  the  Zanzibar  coast.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  day  had  just  begun  to 
dawn  in  the  centre  of  the  Dark  Conti- 
nent. Unhappily,  this  pleasing  condition  ot 
affairs  was  not  destined  to  last  long. 

The  dawn  , 

succeeded  I he  new  king  proved  to  be  a mere 
by  darkness.  pUppe^  jn  the  hands  of  his  chiefs  ; 
and  the  Mohammedan  party,  who  had  ex- 
pected great  advantage  to  themselves  when 
they  seated  him  on  the  throne,  again  began  to 
contemplate  the  best  means  of  getting  rid  ot 
him  for  a more  facile  tool.  Both  they  and 
the  Pagan  faction  were  dissatisfied  at  the  large 
share  of  offices  that  had  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  the  Christians,  and  both  determined  not 
only  to  oust  the  king  from  the  throne  on 
which  they  helped  to  seat  him,  but  to  root 
out  Christianity  from  Uganda.  The  native 
Christians,  it  was  soon  whispered  abroad,  were 
rebels,  and  were  planning  to  make  a woman 
Queen  of  Uganda  in  imitation  of  England,  to 
which  they  were  affirmed  to  be  more  loyal 
than  to  their  native  land.  No  sooner  was  the 
charge  made,  than  those  accused  of  this  trea- 
sonable conduct  were  attacked  and  defeated. 
The  missionaries,  English  and  French,  were 
placed  under  arrest,  while  their  houses  were 
gutted  by  an  infuriated  mob.  And  then, 
after  being  robbed  of  the  few  articles  r3niaining 
to  them,  they  were  conducted  down  the  lake, 
with  this  parting  injunction — “ Let  no  man 
come  to  Uganda  for  the  space  of  two  years. 
We  do  not  want  to  see  Mackay’s  boat  for  a 
long  time  to  come.  We  do  not  want  to  see  a 
white  teacher  back  in  Uganda  until  we  have 
converted  the  whole  of  Uganda  to  the  faith  of 
Islam.” 


But  just  at  the  time  when  the  new  king 
was  on  the  eve  of  being  expelled  from  the 
position  which  he  had  occupied  for  so  brief  a 
period,  his  deposed  predecessor,  by  the  force 
of  unexpected  circumstances,  was  about  to  be 
restored  to  power  by  those  very  Christians 
whom  he  had  persecuted.  Mr.  Mackay, 
hearing  at  his  station  of  Usambiro  (p.  60) 
that  the  king  was  in  a woful  plight  among 
his  Arab  captors,  invited  him  to  take  refuge 
with  his  old  friend.  This  invitation  the  exiled 
sovereign  could  not  then  take  advantage  of ; 
but  later  he  managed  to  escape  from  the  Arabs, 
and  was  received  by  the.  French  priests  at 
Bukumbi.  The  scattered  “readers”  Murderof 
now  began  to  imagine  thatM’wanga,  Kiwera,  and 
tried  in  the  school  of  adversity,  ment  of 
was  on  the  whole  a better  king  for  Kalema- 
them  than  Kiwera  in  the  hands  of  the  Moham- 
medans. Accordingly,  when  the  deposed  ruler 
(after  the  fashion  of  his  order)  summoned 
all  loyal  subjects  to  rally  round  him,  he 
found  a considerable  number  of  them  at  his 
back.  Indeed,  so  far  as  Uganda  was  con- 
cerned, the  road  was  almost . open  for  the 
return  of  M’wanga.  For  the  Arabs,  dissatisfied 
with  their  puppet  Kiwera,  had  deposed  and 
murdered  him  ; not,  however,  before  the  mur- 
dered king  had  assassinated  two  of  his  chief 
advisers,  one  of  whom  was  Mujasi,  who  had 
been  among  the  bitterest  persecutors  of  the 
Christians.  Kalema,  the  third  son  of  M’tesa 
■ — the  rest,  in  spite  of  their  brother’s  supposed 
clemency,  having  been  put  out  of  the  way — was 
now.  called  to  the  throne,  and  promptly 
utilised  the  .first  few  hours  of  power  by  mur- 
dering all  his  relatives  who  were  unable  to 
escape.  M’wanga’s  attempt  to  regain  power 
was  not  at  first  attended  with  complete 
success ; for  he  was  compelled  to  take 
refuge  on  the  Sesse  Islands,  from  whence 
he  advanced  up  Murchison  Bay,  and  estab- 
lished himself  on  the  island  of  Bulinguge. 
From  this  point  he  despatched  messengers 
both  to  the  French  and  the  English  mission- 
aries, begging  their  aid  to  recover  his  king- 
dom, at  the  same  time  professing  senti- 
ments of  the  utmost  remorse  for  his  past 


UNSTABLE  MONARCHS. 


159 


conduct  and  begging  that  bygones  should  be 
bygones.  How  far  he  was  sincere  time  speedily 
showed.  There  was  at  all  events  a suspicious 
sniff  of  Pharisaism  in  the  letter  which  the 
murderer  of  Bishop  Hannington  and  the  per- 
secutor of  the  Christians  sent  to  Mr.  Mackay, 
“Formerly,”  he  writes,  “ I did  not  know  God, 
but  now  I know  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Consider  how  Kalema  has  killed  all  my 
brothers  and  sisters.  He  has  killed  my  chil- 
dren, too,  and  now  there  remain  only  we  two 
princes.  Mr.  Mackay,  do  help  to  restore  me 
to  my  kingdom.  If  you  will  do  so,  you  will 
be  at  liberty  to  do  whatever  you  like.  Sir,  do 
not  imagine  that  if  you  restore  M’wanga  to 
Uganda  he  will  become  bad  again.  If  you 
find  me  become  bad,  then  you  may  drive  me 
from  the  throne,  but  I have  given  up  my 
former  ways  and  I only  wish  now-  to  follow 
your  advice.” 

The  sixteen  priests  at  Bukumbi  declared 
themselves  ready  to  accept  the  deposed  king  s 
professions  of  repentance,  and  the  two  Pro- 
testants considered  it  prudent  to  follow  suit. 

M’wanga’s  second  attempt  to  regain 
of  M’wanga,  his  throne  was  attended  with  greater 
buUdinVof  success-  The  army  of  Kalema  was 

the  mission-  defeated,  and  the  reigning  king 
house.  . o o o 

driven  into  exile.  Then,  on  the 

11th  of  October,  1889,  exactly  a year  after 
the  expulsion  of  the  Christians,  M’wanga  was 
escorted  back  to  his  kingdom  by  the  \*ery 
people  whom  he  had  persecuted  and  tried- to 
drive  out  of  the  country.  All  that  remained 
of  the  old  mission-house  at  Xatete,  near  the 
capital,  was  mounds  of  earth,  overgrown  with 
long  grass  and  rank  tropical  vegetation.  But 
another  piece  of  land  was  given  them  on  the 
hill  of  Mengo  (p.  157),  near  the  capital,  a name 
that  by-and-by  became  very  familiar  to  English 
ears,  and  here  a new  house  was  built  for  them 
by  the  native  converts. 

History  was  now  being  made  very  fast  in 
Central  Africa.  A new  power  was  gradually 
spreading  from  the  coast  into  the 
interior,  and  thus  for  the  first  time 
the  restored  king  heard  of  the 
British  Imperial  East  Africa  Company.  The 


rise  of  this  and  other  great  sovereign  com- 
panies, by  which  so  large  an  area  of  Africa 
was  long  governed,  will  form  the  theme  of 
another  section  of  these  volumes.  Meanwhile 
it  is  impossible  not  to  anticipate  so  far  as 
to  mention  that,  while  on  the  island  of  Bulin- 
guge,  M’wanga  learned  that  the  representatives 
of  this  new  force  were  at  Kavirondo.  It  is  ex- 
tremely unlikely  that  the  news  gave  him  any 
great  satisfaction.  But,  at  that  time  eager  to 
get  assistance  from  any  quarter,  he  imme- 
diately sent  messengers  to  the  Company’s 
agents  begging  help  from  them,  and  in 
December  duly  received  letters  in  reply,  to- 
gether with  one  of  the  Company’s  flags.  This 
incident  proved  of  the  first  importance  in  the 
events  that  were  soon  to  crowd  the  history 
of  Uganda ; for,  in  accepting  the  flag,  it  was 
claimed  that  M’wanga  had  avowedly  put  him- 
self under  its  protection,  though  it  is  likely 
enough  that  the  king  did  not  understand 
that  this  step  involved  any  such  consequences, 
or,  more  likely,  was  reckless  what  results  it 
might  entail  so  long  as  he  could  obtain  the 
countenance  of  “ the  new  white  men.”  In 
his  straits,  he  was  careless  of  consequences. 

But  Kalema,  though  defeated, was  not  routed, 
and  lay  with  his  followers  sufficiently  near 
the  capital  to  descend  upon  it  when  the  op- 
portunity seemed  favourable.  In  the  month 
of  February,  1890,  a large  supply  of  guns 
and  powder  having  arrived,  he  Avas  again 
attacked  and  defeated,  and  M’wanga  returned 
to  Mengo  in  almost  undisputed  possession  of 
all  his  old  power.  Politics  now  began  to 
trouble  the  king  more  than  Avarring  sects ; for 
among  his  first  visitors  was  Dr. 

Carl  Peters,  commander  of  a Ger-  poutifs. 
man  East  African  expedition  (pp. 

59-64),  A\rho,  in  addition  to  his  ostensible 
mission  of  trying  to  bring  succour  to  Emin 
Pasha,  Avas  Avandering  about  making  treaties 
A\'ith  any  Central  African  chiefs  Avho  could  be 
induced  to  put  their  cross  to  the  documents 
Avhich  he  placed  before  them.  One  of  these 
papers  was  placed  before  M’wanga  and,  under 
the  instigation  of  the  French  priests,  who 
seemed  to  prefer  any  poAver  in  Central  Africa  to 


160 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


the  British,  was  duly  signed  by  the  restored 
monarch.  The  prime  minister,  with  the 
Protestant  chiefs,  and  supported  by  the  Eng- 
lish missionaries,  entirely  objected  to  this  act 
on  the  part  of  the  king,  as  he  had  already 
applied  for  aid  to  Mr.  Jackson,  the  British 


was  first  the  old  Pagan  party,  the  largest, 
but  not  the  most  powerful  or  the  most  aggres- 
sive. Then  there  were  the  Mohammedans, 
who  were  both  numerous  and  audacious.  The 
Roman  Catholics  were  numerically  the  next 
most  powerful,  and  finally  there  were  the 


East  Africa  Company’s  agent,  who  had  sent 
him  the  flag  a short  time  before. 

The  dissensions  that  followed  this  differ- 
ence of  opinion  threatened  so  serious  a breach 
of  the  peace  that  the  English  missionaries 
begged  their  followers  to  acquiesce  in  what 
had  been  done.  About  this  period,  however, 
the  elements  of  anarchy  that  had  been  sim- 
mering for  a long  time  in  the  country  began 
to  break  out  in  undisguised  hideousness. 

Four  religious — or  irreligious — sects  now 
divided  up  Uganda  amongst  them.  There 


Protestants.  The  distinction  between  the 
creeds  of  the  two  Christian  parties  began 
however,  soon  to  be  lost  sight  of.  The 
priests  scarcely  tried  to  conceal  their  political 
venom.  One  of  them,  indeed,  had  the  impru- 
dence to  write  a letter,  which  was  afterwards 
printed,  to  the  effect  that  the  object  that  must 
now  be  aimed  at  was  the  extension  of  Cathol- 
icism and  an  unceasing  warfare  with  the 
Protestants : but  even  when  devoid  of  sec- 
tarian hate,  they  were  unable  to  restrain  the 
open  display  of  it  by  their  native  adherents, 


THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SCOTTISH  MISSION. 


161 


Protestant  and  Catholic  were,  however,  terms 
heard  less  and  less.  It  was  the  French  party 
and  the  English  party  among  the  natives  that 
daily  became  more  and  more  pitted  in  bitter 
enmity  against  each  other,  and  this  politico- 
sectarian  strife  was,  if  not  fostered  by  the 
priests,  not  . discouraged  by  them. 

From  sour  looks  and  angry  words  the 


- another  chapter ; for  now  the  missionary  en- 
terprise of  Uganda  merges  into  the  history 
of  its  political  relations. 

The  latest  of  the  Central  African  missions  is 
one  founded  by  Dr.  James  Stewart  as  another 
Lovedale,  and  is  a centre  from  which  trained 
teachers,  skilled  in  the  arts  of  peace,  may 


NZOI. 

(From  a Sketch  by  Bishop  Tucker.) 


different  sects  proceeded  to  actual  riot  and 
even  murder.  In  short,  Uganda  was  fast 
approaching  a condition  of  anarchy,  when 
there  appeared  on  the  scene  a man  who 
speedily  produced  order  out  of  chaos  and 
compelled  the  different  parties  to  understand 
the  meaning  of  pax  Britannica.  This  man 
was  Captain  Lugard,  who,  in  1890,  took  pos- 
session of  Uganda  in  the  name  of  the  British 
Imperial  East  Africa  Company.  But  what 
happened  then,  and  what  followed  his  arrival 
and  departure,  must  form  the  subject  of 
51 


be  spread  all  over  the  region  between  the 
great  lake  and  the  Indian  Ocean.  Though  a 
long  way  from  Uganda,  it  is  neces- 
sary before  leaving  the  African 

missions  to  say  a few  words  re-  Scottish 
..  , . . . . Mission. 

garding  this  experiment  in  the 
civilisation  of  Africa.  The  funds  for  begin- 
ning this  work  were  supplied  by  a few 
North  Country  friends,  for  the  most  part 
connected  with  the  Imperial  East  Africa 
Company,  in  whose  territory  it  is  situated. 
In  order  to  establish  the  East  African  Scottish 


162 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Mission,  Dr.  Stewart,  whose  labours  in  Nyassa- 
land  and  as  head  of  the  Lovedale  establishment 
in  South  Africa  (p.  127)  are  so  well  known 
(pp.  131-134),  made  a journey  into  the  interior 
which,  not  many  years  ago,  when  travelling 
in  that  direction  was  rarer,  would  have  been 
of  note  in  geographical  annals.  Nowadays, 
however,  the  route  which  he  and  his  caravan 
followed,  was  the  usual  one  by  way  of  Mazere, 
Mwache,  Taro,  and  Maungu  to  the  river  of 
Tsavo,  the  starting  - point  being  Mombasa. 
The  Tsavo — 150  miles  from  the  coast — which 
was  reached  on  the  9th  of  October,  1891,  is  a 
river  twenty  to  twenty-five  yards  broad  and 
less  than  waist-deep  in  the  dry  season,  and 
the  first  stream  of  any  consequence  between 
this  port  and  the  sea.  Here  the  expedition 
changed  their  course  and,  instead  of  going  by 
the  direct  road  into  the  interior,  proceeded 
parallel  to  the  Tsavo  till  the  Sabaki  was 
reached.  After  this,  they  kept  along  its  banks 
until  Kibwezi  formed  their  halting-place. 

Ivilundi’s  village,  where  the  missionary 
caravan  .formed  a permanent  camp,  is  distant 
about  half  a mile  from  what  is  known  as 
Stockade  No.  4 of  the  East  Africa  Company. 
The  natives  were  perfectly  friendly,  eager 
for  the  expedition  to  remain,  and,  as  an 
inducement,  unusually  liberal  in  their  offers 
of  land  for  building  and  cultivation.  Finding 
no  other  site — and  several  were  examined  as 
far  north  as  Machako’s — the  Kibwezi  district 
was  finally  selected  as  the  home  of  the  mis- 
sion. The  soil  is  good  and,  though  not  ex- 
cessively rich,  easily  wrought,  while  any 
quantity  of  limestone  to  be  burnt  into  lime 
can  be  obtained  on  the  spot.  Nor  is 
the  situation  without  beauty.  The  snowy 
crest  of  Kilimanjaro  is  visible  on  a clear 
morning,  while,  by  cutting  some  avenues 
through  the  jungle,  the  Ulu  or  Kiyulu  moun- 
tain to  the  south-west,  and  the  Mbwinzoi 
Hills  in  the  north,  will  be  seen  from  the 
doors  of  the  houses.  Finally  the  river,  though 
not  large  and  not  without  crocodiles,  is  full 
of  fish  of  good  size  and  fair  quality,  and 
affords  a boundless  supply  of  excellent  water 
all  the  year  round.  Tea  and  coffee  ought  to 


grow  well  if  the  rainfall  is  sufficient.  Cotton 
might  also  prosper,  and  the  india-rubber  tree 
—one  species  of  which  grows  in  the  river 
valley — is  still  unknown  by  the  natives  as  a 
source  of  saleable  gum. 

Land  was  accordingly  bought  and  a treaty 
entered  into  with  the  chief  for  the  erection  of 
the  necessary  buildings  ; and  at  the  date  of 
the  last  accounts  from  Kibwezi  everything 
promised  well  for  a prosperous  future  in  this 
new  centre  of  civilisation,  the  five  or  six 
members  of  the  mission  finding  the  climate 
healthier  than  the  Zambesi  Yalley  and  the 
lower  districts  of  the  coast  of  Lake  Nyassa. 
Mosquitoes  are  absent,  but  the  white  ants, 
if  not  guarded  against,  are  destructive  to 
the  timber  of  houses ; while  the  black  ants, 
Dr.  Stewart  adds,  with  the  tolerance  of  a man 
who  has  had  to  bear  with  worse  things 
than  insect-bites,  “ may  occasionally  drive  the 
occupant  out  for  a few  hours,  generally  in  the 
night-time ; but  that  is  a mere  temporary  in- 
convenience, and  not  peculiar  to  the  station.” 
There  is,  however,  a species  of  gad-fly  which 
attacks  man,  though  it  is  rare ; but  little 
fear  need  be  entertained  regarding  the  ravages 
of  the  few  wild  beasts  in  the  country.  Al- 
together, considering  that  Kibwezi  is  almost 
on  the  equator,  it  is  comparatively  pleasant 
and  even  healthy  if  common-sense  precau- 
tions are  taken.  By-and-by  out-stations  will  be 
formed  ; one  as  far  distant  as  Machako’s,  eight 
days’  travel  northward,  at  a little  over  5,000 
feet  above  the  sea,  a second  at  Nzoi  (p.  161), 
three  and  a half  days’  distant,  and  4,000  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  others  as  circumstances  may 
counsel.  Perhaps,  also,  an  entrance  may  in 
time  be  made  into  the  Galla  country,  north 
of  the  Tana  river;  and,  if  the  Mombasa  and 
Victoria  Nyanza  Railway  is  ever  made,  it 
must  pass  so  close  to  Kibwezi  that  this 
spot  will  become  an  important  one  in  Central 
Africa* 

* Dr.  Stewart's  “ Report  on  the  Establishment  of  the 
East  African  Scottish  Mission  in  the  Territories  of  the 
Imperial  British  East  Africa  Company,  1891-92"  (pri- 
vate circulation,  1892).  For  an  opportunity  of  seeing  this 
document,  and  for  much  other  information,  I am  deeply 
indebted  to  Dr.  Stewart. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Hunter’s  Paradise:  Early  and  Late:  A Contrast. 


The  peculiar  Plants  and  Animals  of  Africa— South  Africa — Its  Special  Features — Changes  brought  about 
by  Man — Decimation  of  the  Great  Game — Causes — Sportsmen — Colonists — Natives — Traders — Professional 
Hunters — Prospects  of  the  Future — The  Elephant — Thunberg — Sparrmann — Unfortunates  Astray — A Bogged 
Herd  and  what  befell  Them — Great  Bags — Rhinoceros — Black  and  White — A Legend  of  the  Salt  River — - 
Numbers  killed  by  Oswell,  Vardon,  and  Others — What  Sir  Andrew  Smith  Saw — Hippopotamus — Its 
Confined  Range — On  Lake  Ngami — Lions — Cape  Buffalo— Giraffe — Zebra — Quagga — W'art  Hog — Leopard 
— Cheetah  — Antelopes  — Species  still  holding  their  own  in  diminished  Number  — Koodoo — Lechwe— 
The  Duke  of  Edinburgh’s  Drive  — Species  on  the  Wane  — Klipspringer  — Springbuck — What  Gordon 
Cumming  Saw — What  is  not  now  to  be  Seen — Blesbuck — Tsessebe — Hartebeest — Others  Dying  Out — Natal 
Redbuck — Bontebuck — Reedbuck — Pallah — Pookoo — Waterbuck — Eland — What  Le  Vaillant  Saw — Cape  Town 
in  1780 — Apes  on  Table  Mountain — Herds  of  Bontebucks — Hartebeest,  Ostriches,  and  Zebras  within  a 
Week’s  Travel  of  the  Capital — Buffalo  Elephants  at  Plettenberg  Bay — Hippopotamus,  Buffalo,  and  Elephants 
at  the  Gamtoos  River — A Hunting  Costume — Lions,  Jackals,  Buffalo,  and  Guinea-Fowls  at  Algoa  Bay — 
Gnu  and  Bustards  at  Little  Fish  River — Leopards  and  Lions  at  the  Platte — Kolben — Paterson — Barrow. 


The  animals,  and,  to  some  extent,  the  plants 
also,  of  Africa  are  for  the  most  part  peculiar 
to  it.  The  continent  constitutes  the  Ethiopian 
region  of  zoologists,  though  from  the  life  char- 
acterising them  its  different  areas  are  capable 
of  subdivision.  South  of  the  Sahara  there  is, 
however,  a certain  similarity.  But  the  desert 
fauna,  which  is  extremely  limited,  graduates 
insensibly  into  that  of  North  Africa  on  the 
European  side  of  the  Atlas  Mountains.  Here 
— in  the  Barbary  States — the  animals  and 
plants  are  closely  akin  to  those  of  Europe  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar  and 
the  Mediterranean. 

But  it  is  in  a very  limited  portion  of  South 
Africa  that  the  most  remarkable  features  of 
the  life  of  the  continent  are  found.  Roughly 
speaking,  its  limits  as  a typical  region  are 
the  narrow  strip  of  territory  limited  by  the 
mountain  ranges  which  form  the  boundary 
of  the  Cape  Colony  and  Natal,  though, 
perhaps,  in  a wider  sense  it  may  be  con- 
sidered to  include  Mozambique.  Perhaps 
the  Kalahari  desert  and  the  Limpopo  river, 
or  even  the  Zambesi,  form  its  most  natural 
boundaries  on  the  north.  Into  this  triangle, 
which  ends  in  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  a most 
extraordinary’  collection  of  plants  and  large 
animals  would  seem  to  have  been  driven  and, 
being  unable  to  go  farther  south,  to  have 
huddled  and  developed  here ; and  the  farther 


south  the  country  is  examined,  the  more 
remarkable  in  character  and  variety  do  the 
ferae  natures  become.  The  flora  alone  is  the 
most  interesting  in  the  world,  its  Cape  heaths, 
shrubby  pelargoniums,  proteas,  many  bulbous 
plants,  euphorbias,  welwitschias,  thorn}’  shrubs 
of  the  “stay-a-bit”  type,  stapelias,  orchids, 
and  a host  of  other  species,  imparting 
to  this  dry  area  features  which  would  alone 
make  it  notable  were  not  the  quad- 
rupeds that  graze  upon  them  of  still 
greater  moment  in  the  popular  eye.  In  no 
other  part  of  the  globe  are  there  so  many 
genera  and  species  of  plants  congregated 
in  the  same  space,  and  nowhere  else  are  so 
many  peculiar  forms  found.  A similar 
richness  and  specialisation  characterise  its 
zoology,  though  animals  not  being  so  closely 
dependent  on  soil  and  climate  as  plants,  there 
has  been  a greater  intermixture  of  immigrants 
from  the  north  than  we  find  in  the  sister 
kingdom  of  Nature.  Still  its  fauna  is,  to  a 
marked  degree,  isolated — South  The  fauna 
Africa  being,  from  the  naturalist’s  of  south 
point  of  view,  closely  akin  to  an  n a‘ 
oceanic  island ; though,  from  a geological 
point  of  view,  there  is  no  evidence  that  it 
ever  held  that  relation  to  the  rest  of  the  con- 
tinent immediately  north  of  it.  This  pecu- 
liarity applies  to  the  animals  of  all  groups, 
though  it  is  solely  with  the  larger  that  the 


164 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


following  chapters  deal.  Insects,  fishes,  rep- 
tiles— all  have  genera  and  species  confined 
to  this  part  of  Africa ; and  though  the 
birds  do  not  present  so  many  peculiar  forms, 
some  of  them  are  very  interesting.  But  the 
South  African  mammals  are,  though  scien- 
tifically not  perhaps  so  remarkable  as  some  of 
the  lowlier  species,  decidedly  the  most  striking 
from  the  ordinary  traveller’s  point  of  view. 


presented  was  the  enormous  herds  of  great 
game.  So  common,  indeed,  was  the  spectacle, 
that  it  is  only  now,  when  animals  then  abun- 
dant are  scarce  or  extinct,  that  we  can  realise 
what  a wonderful  sight  was  vouchsafed  to  the 
earlier  explorers  and  colonists  of  South  Africa. 
The  American  prairies  of  the  writer’s  youth 
presented  a scene  comparable  with  what 
might  have  been  witnessed  almost  anywhere 


GAME  IN  SIGHT  ! 

(From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Fred  Moir.) 


There  are  more  peculiar  forms  than  in  any 
other  division  of  the  Ethiopian  region,  though 
in  extent  it  is  the  smallest.  The  golden  moles, 
the  elephant  shrews,  the  long-eared  fox,  the 
Lycaon  or  hysena-dog,  the  jumping  hare 
( Hcdemys  capensis — Plate  26),  the  aard  wolf  or 
Mona  jackal  (now  getting  very  scarce  below  the 
Orange  River),  and  the  earth-pig,  are  among 
the  best  known  of  eighteen  genera  of  mam- 
mals almost,  or  quite,  limited  to  South  Africa.* 
However,  to  the  traveller  over  South  Africa 
fifty,  or  less,  years  ago — and  even  yet — the 
most  amazing  spectacle  which  the  country 

. * Wallace,  “ Geographical  Distribution  of  Animals,” 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  266-269. 


in  the  Cape  Colony  not  actually  settled  up, 
and  everywhere  in  the  native  territories  to  the 
north.  Several  of  these  gregarious  animals 
were  peculiar  to  South  Africa;  but,  unlike 
the  species  mentioned,  the  majority  were 
common  to  most  of  the  continent,  though, 
with  few  exceptions,  nowhere  so  abundant  as 
in  this  confined  end  to  the  north  of  the  Cape. 

The  most  common  of  these  animals  were 
antelopes  of  many  species,  zebras,  quaggas, 
and  giraffes.  The  elephant,  now  approaching 
the  close  of  its  career  in  all  parts  of  Africa, 
was  frequently  met  with  in  the  Cape  Colony 
at  a date  well  within  the  memory  of  men  still 
alive,  and  the  lion  might  be  nightly  heard 


HUNTING  THE  SPRINGBUCK. 


WHEN  GAME  TF^S  PLENTIFUL. 


165 


close  by  the  fields  of  the  settlers.  But  it 
was  not  in  twos  and  threes  that  most  of 
these  beasts  were  seen.  Valleys  were  full 
of  them.  The  veldt  was  in  places  moving 
masses  of  these  large  game,  and  a hunter 
was  in  no  way  particularly  lucky  in  killing 
three  or  four  elephants  in  one  day.  Even 
in  Livingstone’s  time  we  have  seen  that  game 
was  enormously  plentiful  in  parts  of  the 
Cape  Colony  (Vol.  II.,  pp.  170-174,  185-187) 
now  traversed  by  railways;  and  many  of 
the  most  notable  exploits  of  Harris,  Oswell, 
Vardon,  Gordon  Cumming,  Baldwin,  and 
even  Selous,  the  last  of  the  great  African 


incidents  in  the  history  of  colonisation.  The 
bison  was  killed  off  the  American  prairies  by 
the  deli  berate  slaughter  of  the  “ skin  ” hunters, 
whom  the  progress  of  railways  enabled  to 
reach  their  haunts.  Mere  sportsmen,  and 
still  less  settlers  or  Indians,  had  little  share 
in  the  extermination  of  the  great  wild  ox  : all 
they  slew  had  scarcely  any  effect  on  its 
multitudes  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak. 

The  South  African  decimation  has  been  due 
to  different  causes.  From  the  beginning  of  this 
century — earlier  even — adventurous  sports- 
men have  visited  the  region  of  which  we  speak 
for  the  purpose  of  hunting  its  great  game. 


SHOT  BUFFALO. 

{From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Ernest  Hedge,  by  permission  of  the  British  Imperial  East  Africa  Company.) 


hunters,  were  performed  in  places  where 
it  would  be  now  difficult  to  find  the  quarry 
which,  in  these  comparatively  late  times, 
they  slew  in  such  numbers.  The  rapid  de- 
crease of  the  great  animals  of  South  Africa 
is  one  of  the  most  regrettable,  though,  at 
the  same  time,  one  of  the  most  inevitable 


Several  of  these  hardy  hunters  helped  in 
no  small  way  in  opening  out  the  country, 
not  only  by  sharing  in  actual  ex-  Causes  of 
ploration,  but  by  the  interest  the  decima- 
which  their  exploits  among  the  south  Afri- 
wild  beasts  aroused  in  the  minds  canfauna- 
of  those  who  read  their  books.  Yet  huge  as 


WHEN  GAME  PLENTIFUL. 


165 


close  by  the  fields  of  the  settlers.  But  it 
was  not  in  twos  and  threes  that  most  of 
these  beasts  were  seen.  Valleys  were  full 
of  them.  The  veldt  was  in  places  moving 
masses  of  these  large  game,  and  a hunter 
was  in  no  way  particularly  lucky  in  killing 
three  or  four  elephants  in  one  day.  Even 
in  Livingstone’s  time  we  have  seen  that  game 
was  enormously  plentiful  in  parts  of  the 
Cape  Colony  (Vol.  II.,  pp.  170-174,  185-187) 
now  traversed  by  railways ; and  many  of 
the  most  notable  exploits  of  Harris,  Oswell, 
Vardon,  Gordon  Gumming,  Baldwin,  and 
even  Selous,  the  last  of  the  great  African 


incidents  in  the  history  of  colonisation.  The 
bison  was  killed  off  the  American  prairies  by 
the  deliberate  slaughter  of  the  “ skin  ” hunters, 
whom  the  progress  of  railways  enabled  to 
reach  their  haunts.  Mere  sportsmen,  and 
still  less  settlers  or  Indians,  had  little  share 
in  the  extermination  of  the  great  wild  ox  : all 
they  slew  had  scarcely  any  effect  on  its 
multitudes  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak. 

The  South  African  decimation  has  been  due 
to  different  causes.  From  the  beginning  of  this 
century — earlier  even — adventurous  sports- 
men have  visited  the  region  of  which  we  speak 
for  the  purpose  of  hunting  its  great  game. 


SHOT  BUFFALO. 

(hrom  a Photograph  by  Hr.  Ernest  (ledge,  by  permission  of  the  British  Imperial  East  Africa  Company.) 


hunters,  were  performed  in  places  where 
it  would  be  now  difficult  to  find  the  quarry 
which,  in  these  comparatively  late  times, 
they  slew  in  such  numbers.  The  rapid  de- 
crease of  the  great  animals  of  South  Africa 
is  one  of  the  most  regrettable,  though,  at 
the  same  time,  one  of  the  most  inevitable 


Several  of  these  hardy  hunters  helped  in 
no  small  way  in  opening  out  the  country, 
not  only  by  sharing  in  actual  ex-  Causes  of 
ploration,  but  by  the  interest  the  decima- 
which  their  exploits  among  the  south  Afri- 
wild  beasts  aroused  in  the  minds  canfauna- 
of  those  who  read  their  books.  Yet  huge  as 


160 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


were  the  “ bags  ” they  made,  it  is  doubtful  if 
they  seriously  diminished  the  herds  of  game. 
The  colonists  were  more  fatal  in  their  execution. 
They  were  on  the  spot  and  were  always  grow- 
ing more  numerous;  and  as  the  demand  for 
food  increased,  or  the  market  for  hides  and 
ivory  came  nearer,  the  denizens  of  the 
wilds  had  to  pay  the  penalty.  The  “ trek- 
Boers,”  or  “ emigrant  farmers,”  living  as  they 
did  in  the  remoter  parts  of  the  country,  were 
most  serious  in  this  onslaught.  Grazing  and 
hunting  were  their  chief  pursuits,  and  their 
skill  with  the  rifle  was,  and  is,  phenomenal. 
Then  the  natives  obtained  firearms,  with  the 
result  that  species  which,  like  the  elephant, 
they  were  rarely  able  to  spear  to  death,  or  to 
capture  in  pits,  or  in  the  “hopo”  (Yol.  II.,  p. 
174  ),  fell  in  great  numbers  before  their  trade 
muskets,  and  still  more  rapidly  before  the 
rifles  which  by-and-by  took  their  place. 

About  the  same  period  the  professional 
ivory  hunter,  who  was  just  as  frequently  an 
ivory  trader,  penetrated  regions  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  the  Cape,  or  “ old  colony,” 
killing  all  he  could  kill,  and  tempting  the 
natives  by  the  price  which  the  hitherto 
almost  unconsidered  ivory,  horns,  and  hides 
brought,  to  slaughter  in  any  manner  as  many 
more  as  they  could  manage  to  do  to  death. 

These  were  the  main  causes  of  the  rapid 
decimation  of  the  great  herds  of  South 
African  game.  Compared  with  the  people 
described,  the  sportsmen  from  Europe — the 
“ hunters  ” proper,  whose  travels  we  are  called 
upon  to  briefly  notice — accomplished  little 
of  the  destruction  deplored.  Among  the  ele- 
phants and  lions,  no  doubt,  a well-equipped 
“jager”  of  the  Gordon  Cumming  type  did 
something  to  lessen  their  numbers.  But  the 
most  determined  of  these  were  then  seldom 
longer  than  a year  or  two  in  the  country,  and, 
with  a few  exceptions,  the  explorer  malgre 
lui  killed  his  game  in  a sportsmanlike  manner. 
He  wished  amusement  rather  than  tusks,  or 
horns,  or  hides,  and  acted  accordingly. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  in  one  way  or  another, 
singly  or  combined,  the  result  has  been  so 
remarkable  that  we  may  profitably  devote  a 


few  pages  to  noting  the  most  salient  facts 
about  this  destruction  of  South  African  ani- 
mals, which  forms  so  strange  an  episode  in 
the  story  of  the  continent.  At  the  same 
time,  it  must  be  remembered  that,  though  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  the  regions  imme- 
diately north  of  it  are  mainly  concerned,  much 
the  same  tale  comes  from  almost  every  other 
part  of  Africa.  Everywhere  the  natives  have 
obtained  arms,  and  wherever  the  explorer  has 
gone  he  has  been  followed  by  the  traders, 
shooting  themselves  and  encouraging  others 
to  shoot.  It  is,  indeed,  difficult  to  draw  any 
hard-and-fast  line  between  the  hunter  by  pro- 
fession and  the  hunter  by  necessity.  Mungo 
Park  was  not  a sportsman,  and  from  the 
lack  of  game  most  of  those  who  penetrated 
from  and  to  the  north  seemed  to  have  been 
deficient  in  the  most  marked  trait  of  their 
successors.  But  nearly  all  of  the  later 
explorers — Speke,  Baker,  even  Livingstone — 
have  been  compelled  to  pursue  great  game 
for  food,  or  to  kill  it  out  of  self-preservation  ; 
and  some  of  the  former  have,  from  love  of  gain 
or  love  of  sport,  penetrated  so  far  into  the 
outer  Avild,  that  beginning — like  Petherick  in 
the  north,  and  Selous  in  the  south — as  traders 
or  hunters,  they  ended  as  travellers,  held  in 
esteem  Avherever  geographers  most  do  con- 
gregate. As  men — men  with  rifles  and  ploughs 
— multiply,  the  “provisional  races,”  and  the 
Avild  animals  on  Avhich  they  prey,  are  doomed 
to  retreat  before  them.  It  is  possible,  noAv 
that  efforts  are  made  to  taboo  gunpoAvder  as  an 
article  of  commerce,  that  the  “ beasts  ” may 
again  be  “ more  and  more,”  and  man,  through 
the  Hamburg  gin,  Avhich  is  infinitely  more 
lethal  than  villainous  saltpetre,  be  “ less  and 
less.”  For  the  moment,  however,  the  signs 
are  all  the  other  Avaj". 

In  following  the  routes  of  travellers  by  no 
means  remote,  we  have  seen  hoAv  abundant 
the  elephant  used  to  be.  Chiefs 
did  not  knoAv  Avhat  to  do  Avith  Phant. 
the  rotting  tusks,  except,  perhaps, 
like  one  of  Mr.  Eider  Haggard’s  heroes,  to 
fence  their  kraals  Avith  them.  They  knoAv 
better  noAvadays;  for  the  ivory  trade,  Ave 


A-HUNTING  THE  ELEPHANT. 


167 


have  learned  (Yol.  II.,  p.  139),  is  practically  the 
slave  trade  “ writ  small,”  and  the  slave  trade 
means  war,  murder,  and  kidnapping ; so  that  it 
is  almost  with  pleasure  that  we  hear  of  travellers 
going  to  Tanganyika  and  back  again  without  as 
much  as  sighting  a tusker.  This  destruction, 
however,  is  not  a modern  incident.  It  began 
with  the  utter  extermination  of  the  herds 
which,  less  than  twenty  centuries  ago  (Vol.  II., 
p.  227),  wandered  through  the  forests  which 
then  covered  the  region  north  of  the  Atlas 
Mountains ; and,  curiously  enough,  it  next  set 
in  at  the  extreme  southern  part  of  the  con- 
tinent, a land,  in  the  day  when  Pliny  wrote,  not 
even  dreamed  to  exist. 

Little  more  than  a century  ago  the  elephant 
roamed  all  over  the  Cape  Colony.  Thunberg, 
in  his  second  journey  into  Kaffraria*  in  1773, 
tells  us  that  he  met  with  a man  who  assured 
him  that  “ in  his  younger  days  the  elephant 
was  very  numerous  ” near  Cape  Town ; that, 
in  travelling  to  and  from  that  place,  one 
might  kill  such  great  numbers  of  them  that 
he  himself  had  often  shot  from  four  to  five 
in  a day,  and  sometimes  twelve  or  thirteen; 
and  that  twice  in  his  life,  when  he  was  out 
in  pursuit  of  these  animals,  “he  had  shot 
with  his  own  gun  twenty-two  each  day.” 
Sparrmann,  a traveller  of  about  the  same  date,f 
confirms  this  astounding  tale  ; for,  so  writes 
this  early  voyager,  “ in  the  country  near  the 
Cape,  elephants  are  sometimes  seen  in  large 
herds,  consisting  of  many  hundreds,  and  in 
the  more  remote  and  unfrequented  parts  of 
the  interior  they  are  still  more  numerous.” 

But  little  by  little,  and  latterly  very  fast 
indeed,  with  the  hunter  on  their  trail,  they  have 
retreated  northwards  and  eastwards,  though 
always  in  diminished  numbers,  and  never 
able  to  find  any  safe  retreat;  until  it  is 
questionable  if  any  have  a permanent  home 
in  parts  of  the  Cape  Colony  where,  not  many 
years  ago,  they  were  quite  abundant.  At  the 

* ‘ Voyage  au  Japon  par  le  Cap  de  Bonne-Esperance, 
les  lies  de  la  Sonde,’’  etc.  (1796).  In  English  4 vols.  (1795). 

f “ Voyage  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  towards  the 
Antarctic  Circle,  and  round  the  World,  but  chiefly  into 
the  Country  of  the  Hottentots  and  Caffres,  from  1772- 
1776,”  2 vols.  (Engl,  trans.),  1785  : another  2 vols.,  1789. 


beginning  of  this  century  one  of  the  earliest 
of  the  Butch  hunters  stood  at  the  Ivuruman 
Fountain,  and  there  collected  sufficient  ivory 
to  enrich  himself  speedily.  Sechele’s  country 
in  Gordon  Cumming’s  time — 1846-49 — was 
still  plentiful  enough  in  elephants  to  afford 
employment  for  many  seekers  after  tusks, 
though  most  of  that  great  hunter’s  exploits 
were  performed  in  the  hills  about  Shoshong, 
where  game  existed  in  quantities  almost  in- 
credible to  this  generation.  Livingstone  saw 
elephants  in  extraordinary  numbers  along  the 
Zouga  river — now  more  generally  called  the 
Botletli — as  late  as  1849,  and  round  Lake 
Ngami  not  less  than  900  are  mentioned  as 
having  been  shot  a year  or  two  after  his 
first  journey  thither.  Baldwin  had  good  sport 
there  in  1858,  but  the  trek-Boers  of  1877-78 
finished  most  of  them  in  that  region.  Still 
following  them  up  without  mercy,  the  hunters 
have  left  very  few  along  the  Chobe  river  and 
Zambesi,  where  early  in  his  “ jager  ” life  Selous 
found  them  so  numerous.  A troop,  partially 
preserved  by  Khama,  the  enlightened  chief  of 
whom  we  have  already  spoken  (Vol.  II.,  p. 
178),  still  frequents  the  almost  impenetrable 
jungle — so  dense  and  thorny  that  even  the 
elephant-hunter  hesitates  to  enter  it — between 
the  Zambesi  and  Linyanti  roads;  but  even 
there  they  will  not  always  be  permitted  the 
immunity  they  at  present  enjoy,  t Mr.  Bryden 
mentions  a strange  event  that  happened  a 
few  years  ago  at  Molepolole  (Kolobeii),  in 
Bechuanaland.  A troop  of  nine  or  ten  ele- 
phants, presumably  from  the  northern  part  of 
the  Kalahari  or  from  the  Botletli  river,  had  by 
some  accident  strayed  from  their  usual  haunts, 
and  were  discovered  on  the  hills  near  the  town. 
But  they  never  returned  ; for  the  entire  popu- 
lation turned  out,  and  in  a short  time  every 
one  of  the  hapless  beasts — mostly  cows  and 
calves — were  hunted  down.  A still  more 
wanton  case  of  destruction  is  related  by  the 

J Bryden,  “ Gun  and  Camera  in  South  Africa”  (1893), 
p.  489  : and  Nicolls  and  Eglinton,  “ The  Sportsman  in 
South  Africa”  (1892),  p.  59 — both  admirable  works,  to 
which  the  writer  is  under  obligations  for  most  of  these 
facts  regarding  the  modern  range  of  South  African 
animals. 


168 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


same  writer,  himself  one  of  the  most  successful 
of  the  hunters  who  fell  on  the  dull  days  of 
South  African  venery.  About  fifteen  years 
ago  some  Boer  hunters — and  many  of  the 
best  of  the  professional  ivory  seekers  are 
natives  of  the  country,  though,  not  being 
authors,  their  exploits  are  seldom  known  out- 
side the  immediate  circle  of  their  acquaintances 
— came  upon  a morass  in  the  region  between 
Lake  X garni  and  the  Upper  Okavango,  in 
which  they  witnessed  what  was  to  them  a 
welcome  sight.  This  consisted  of  104  ele- 
phants bogged  and  helpless.  Many  of  the 
unfortunate  beasts  were  calves,  tuskless  or 
poorly  provided  with  these  attractive  fea- 
tures ; but  that  did  not  matter  to  the  Dutch 
“ hunters.”  They  were  slaughterers,  and  not 
sportsmen ; and  before  the  sun  went  down  the 
marsh  was  full  of  the  carcases  of  elephants,  few 
of  which  were  profitable,  and  none  of  which 
could  ever  be  utilised  for  food. 

The  result  of  this  ceaseless  massacre — in- 
evitable, if  undesirable — is  that,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a few  scattered  herds  in  the  least 
frequented  parts  of  Matabeleland  and  North- 
east Mashonaland,  the  impenetrable  bush  of 
the  low-lying  country  near  Sofala  Bay  is  about 
the  only  part  of  South  Africa  where  this 


great  wild  animal  is  now  to  be  found  in 
comparatively  large  numbers.  The  Colonial 


WILLIAM  CHARLES  BALDWIN. 


Government  is  trying  to  preserve  it  in  some 
of  the  forests  in  the  eastern  provinces  of  the 
Cape.  A permit  to  shoot  a single  specimen 
costs  £20,  and  even  then  is  difficult  to  obtain ; 
but,  as  the  elephants  are  seldom  seen,  the 
payment  is  generally  made  in  vain,  the  in- 
tended victim  declining  death  on  an}r  terms. 
At  all  events,  it  is  no  longer  to  be  pursued 
on  horseback : the 
hunter  who  is 
ambitious  of  lay- 
ing one  low  has 
to  take  to  foot, 
and  run  the  risk 
which  a pedes- 
trian suffers  when 
the  elephant  re- 
verses the  role 
of  hunter  and 
hunted.  In  earlier 
times  it  was  not 
thought  anything 
extraordinary  to 
kill  sixty  ele- 
phants in  one 
hunting  trip  of 
four  guns,  as 
Baldwin  did  on 


TWO-HORNED  RHINOCEROS. 


AFTER  TEE  RHINOCEROS. 


169 


his  last  expedition — in  1860 — to  the  Zam- 
besi ; and  about  the  same  date  the  famous 
Boer  hunters,  Jan  Viljoen  and  Petrus  Jacobs, 
slew  in  a single  raid  ninety- three  elephants. 

In  the  days  when  Harris  and  the  earlier 
hunters  took  tithe  of  the  South  African  game 
. the  two  species  of  rhinoceros  which 

Rhinoceros  f . 

and  hippo-  until  lately  frequented  that  region 
potamus.  were  so  abundant  as  to  be  almost 
a positive  nuisance  to  the  sportsman  in  pur- 
suit of  nobler  quarry.  The  black  one*  was 


gradually  approached  nearer  and  nearer,  as 
the  impossibility  of  the  brute  extricating  it- 
self became  more  and  more  evident ; until, 
finding  that  their  efforts  to  compass  its  death 
were  ineffectual,  a sage  proposal  was  made  to 
cut  a hole  in  its  almost  impenetrable  hide, 
and  thus  get  at  its  vitals  more  readily.  Here 
the  story  ends,  as  such  a story  should  ; and  it 
would  be  spoiling  the  point  to  question  its 
veracity,  except  that  in  the  Dutch  version 
the  Englishmen  are  the  heroes,  while  the 


A CRITICAL  MOMENT. 


“ very  common  in  the  interior,”  and  the  white 
species f “very  common  after  passing  Kurri- 
chane.”  At  one  time,  like  all  other  South 
African  game,  the  rhinoceros  was  found  in  the 
near  vicinity  of  Table  Mountain ; and  in  con- 
nection with  this  fact  an  absurd  legend  is 
said  to  be  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the 
colony.  Once  upon  a time,  so  runs  the  tale, 
some  country-folk  found  a huge  rhinoceros 
mired  in  the  quicksands  of  the  Salt  River,  not 
over  a mile  from  Cape  Town.  Attacking  it 
with  ail  manner  of  improvised  weapons,  they 
• Rhinoceros  bicornis  (p.  166).  t R.  simvs. 


slow-moving  Hollanders  are  credited  with  the 
tale  in  its  rival  edition.  Be  it  fact  or  fiction, 
it  is  certain  that  a rhinoceros  will  never  more 
be  seen  near  Cape  Town  or  anywhere  else  in 
the  more  settled  portions  of  the  Cape  Colony. 
A few  linger  in  the  Chobe  river  swamps 
and  in  the  neighbouring  Zambesi  region. 
Until  Mashonaland  was  overrun  with  pro- 
spectors it  was  quite  common  there.  Some 
are  still  to  be  seen  in  Matabeleland,  in 
the  district  which  Lo-Bengula  called  his 
“preserve,”  while  it  is  reported  as  frequent 
in  the  country  about  Sofala  Bay;  but  it 


170 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


is  now  idle  to  search  for  the  rhinoceros 
about  Lake  Ngami,  where  a few  years  ago  it 
was  abundant.  They  swarmed  round  every 
desert  fountain  and  water-hole,  and  could  be 
shot  any  night  by  the  half-dozen.  Oswell 
and  Yardon,  in  Livingstone’s  time,  killed 
eighty-nine  in  one  season,  Andersson  upwards 
of  sixty  in  a few  months,  and  others  a 
number  not  much  less.  The  Dutchmen  and 
Griquas  also,  as  soon  as  they  found  a market 
for  its  hide,  slaughtered  it  indiscriminately — 
the  “ rhinaster  ” not  being  a very  difficult, 
animal  to  bag — with  the  results  described. 

This,  however,  was  the  black  species. 
The  white  one,  if  not  extinct,  is  on  the  verge 
of  disappearance,  and  before  these  lines  are 
published  it  is  probable  that  it  will  have 
gone  the  way  of  the  quagga,  at  one  time 
as  abundant.  If  a few — and  they  must  be 
few  indeed — still  survive,  Mr.  Selous  is  con- 
fident they  are  confined  to  a small  tract  of 
country  in  Northern  Mashonaland.  Even 
from  there  they  would  have  vanished,  had 
not  the  occupation  of  that  country  by  the 
British  South  Africa  Company  kept  all  native 
hunters  out  of  Matabeleland  to  the  west  of  the 
Umniati  river.  In  former  times  it  wandered 
over  most  of  South  Africa,  though  early  in  this 
century  it  had  retreated  north  of  the  Orange 
River,  and  tradition  affirms  that  at  a still 
earlier  date  it  frequented  the  open  wastes 
of  Great  Bushmanland  also.  By  1890,  when 
Mr.  Bryden  was  hunting  in  that  region,  this 
huge  brute,  sometimes  standing  six  feet  and  a 
half  high,  and  measuring  between  sixteen  and 
seventeen  feet  in  length,  had  disappeared  from 
Ngamiland  and  the  North  Kalahari,  one  of 
the  last  refuges  of  the  great  game  of  South 
Africa ; and  there  is  no  ground  for  believing 
that  the  white  rhinoceros  ever  existed  north 
of  the  Zambesi.  Yet  though  on  occasions 
active  and  swift,  the  species  in  question  was 
as  a rule  sluggish  and  not  so  keen  of  eyesight 
as  its  congener,  the  black  rhinoceros.  Hence  it 
fell  an  easier  victim  to  the  hunter,  and  when 
we  consider  the  abundance  of  this  beast  not 
many  years  ago,  the  slaughter  of  it  since  the 
professional  hunter  began  to  penetrate  its 


haunts  must  have  been  more  than  usually 
indiscriminate.  Sir  Andrew  Smith,  during 
his  scientific  expedition  in  1835,*  saw  in  one 
day’s  travel  in  Bechuanaland  between  one 
hundred  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  rhinoc- 
eroses, and  in  the  same  day  one  hundred 
giraffes,  though  that  part  of  the  country  was 
never  specially  noted  for  troops  of  the  latter 
animals. 

The  hippopotamus  (Yol.  II.,  p.  113)  at  one 
time  swarmed  in  all  the  South  African  rivers. 
It  is  now  extinct  south  of  the  Limpopo,  or 
Crocodile,  and,  though  a few  are  said  to 
exist  still  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tugela  on 
the  east  coast,  it  is  many  a year  since  the 
last  was  killed  in  the  rivers  of  the  Cape 
Colony.  Even  the  Botletli  and  Tamalakan, 
in  which  they  were  plentiful  not  long  ago, 
are  the  homes  of  only  a very  few  wary  old 
animals,  and  in  the  Limpopo  it  is  not  until 
Selika’s  is  past  that  any  great  number  are 
seen.  But  in  the  Chobe  and  Zambesi  they 
are  still  plentiful,  and  in  Lake  Ngami  they 
may  yet  be  seen  in  herds  of  twenty  or  more. 
Naturally  cautious,  emerging  only  from  its 
strongholds  to  feed  at  night,  Messrs.  Nicolls 
and  Eglinton  are  of  opinion  that  the  “ hippo,” 
still  so  abundant  in  intertropical  Africa,  may 
continue  to  haunt  the  rivers  of  South  Africa 
long  after  the  elephant  and  rhinoceros  are 
mere  legends  of  the  country  on  their  banks. 
It  would,  moreover,  appear  that  this  huge 
beast,  so  powerful  in  the  water,  and  so  helpless 
on  land,  is  becoming  extremely  wary  of  the 
seeker  after  its  hide  for  sjamboks  or  riding- 
whips.  At  all  events,  the  Kaffirs,  though 
better  armed  than  of  old,  are  much  more  afraid 
of  an  encounter  with  the  “sea-cow.”  So  marked 
is  this  that  it  is  no  uncommon  spectacle  to 
see  herds  passing  unmolested  up  and  down 
the  open  water  in  broad  daylight  right  in 
front  of  Moremi’s  old  town  on  Lake  Ngami. 
In  Andersson’s  day  f they  would  have  attacked 

* “ Report  of  the  Expedition  for  Exploring  Central 
Africa  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  1834”  (1836)  : Jour- 
nal Roy.  Geog.  Soe.,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  394  ; “Zoology  of  South 
Africa  ” (1849),  etc. 

+ “Lake  Ngami”  (1856);  “The  Okovango  River” 
(1861)  ; “ The  Lion  and  the  Elephant”  (1873),  etc. 


a I 

3 .■§ 


[Copyright  reserved  by  the  Artist.] 


A GENERAL  RETREAT. 


171 


them  with  spears  and  harpoons.  At  present, 
though  not  more  pusillanimous  than  their 
fathers,  the  natives,  armed  with  breech-loaders, 
choose  the  prudent  part  by  closely  hugging  the 
shore  with  their  canoes,  dreading  any  chance 
of  meeting  with  the  “ river-horse  ” in  open 
water. 

The  lion  in  Sir  Cornwallis  Harris’s  time  was 
“ usually  found  among  reeds  in  open  plains, 
gregarious  and  very  common  ” in 
the  Cape  Colony.*  lhe  hunter 
who  comes  upon  its  “ spoor  ” in  the  colony 
nowadays  can  congratulate  himself  as  a for- 
tunate man — or  the  contrary  ; for  even  in  the 
remoter  parts  of  the  Transvaal,  about  Delagoa 
Bay,  and  in  British  Bechuanaland,  they  are 
now  very  rare,  so  that  the  traveller  in  those 
countries  may  return  without  ever  having 
heard  their  roar,  supposed  to  be  so  dreadful, 
although  in  reality  the  lion  roars  only  when 
he  is  feeling  the  joys  of  a full  stomach.  Still 
to  a neophyte  the  music  of  a troop  of  the 
king  of  beasts  around  a hunters’  camp  is  not 
reassuring.  About  the  year  1877  lions  were 
often  sighted  in  troops  below  the  mountains 
close  to  the  Gold  Fields,  in  Secocoeni’s  land, 
and  in  the  “ Kaap,”  a mountainous  district  to 
the  right  of  the  Lydenberg  main  road.f 
Along  the  Botletli,  where  they  are  still 
numerous,  the  presence  of  Burchell’s  zebra 
is  a sure  sign  of  the  lion  not  being  far  away, 
and  in  the  bushier  parts  of  Ngamiland  the 
incautious  explorer  may  at  times  come  upon 
them  unawares.  It  would  also  appear  that  in 
Mashonaland — where  until  the  pioneers  of  the 
Chartered  Company  arrived  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Mr.  Selous  in  1890,  the  sound  of 
firearms  had  been  comparatively  rare — the 
lord  of  African  animals  is  still  to  be  met 
with,  though  possibly  not  in  quite  such 
alarming  numbers  as  a recent  party  of  visitors 
to  that  country  were  led  to  believe. 

The  Cape  buffalo  % (Vol.  II.  p.  64),  once  so 
* Harris,  “The  Wild  Sports  of  Southern  Africa,  being 
the  Narrative  of  an  Expedition  from  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  through  the  Territories  of  the  Chief  Moselekatse 
to  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn”  (1839). 

t Aylward,  “The  Transvaal  of  To-day”  (1878),  p.  229. 
% Bubal  us  caffer  (pp.  165,  177). 


common,  is  now  getting  very  circumscribed  in 
its  range.  The  trek-Boers  of  1878  Buffaloes 

drove  them  from  the  Lake  Ngami  giraffes,  and 
. i zebras. 

region,  where  they  were  numerous. 

Now  the  only  specimens  in  the  Cape  Colony 
are  perhaps  those  preserved  in  the  dense 
bush  of  the  Eastern  Provinces.  Farther 
north  they  are  still  to  be  met  with,  and  as 
soon  as  the  Zambesi  is  crossed  immense 
droves  may  be  looked  for  along  the  course 
of  that  river  up  the  Barotse  valley. 

The  giraffe,  when  the  European  sportsman 
first  entered  the  hunter’s  paradise,  might  be  seen 
in  troops  on  all  the  great  plains  of  the  interior, 
within  easy  reach  of  Cape  Town.  But  nowadays 
it  is  not  until  the  parched  desert  of  the  North 
Kalahari  is  reached  that  the  sight  of  a speci- 
men may  be  expected,  and  everywhere  else 
this  fine  animal  is  getting  so  scarce  that  a 
specimen  in  a zoological  garden  is  often  a 
desideratum.  In  Matabeleland  Mr.  Selous 
found  it  and  the  buffalo  plentiful  about  the 
year  1882,  and  there  it  is  still  seen,  though 
in  decreasing  numbers.  In  Mashonaland 
proper  it  is  very  scarce,  and  into  the  country 
east  of  the  Gwelo  river,  for  some  inexplicable 
reason,  it  never  wanders. 

Burchell’s  zebra, § the  “ bonte  quagga  ” of 
the  Boers,  formerly  inhabited  the  plains 
beyond  the  Gariep,  or  Orange  River,  in  im- 
mense herds  ; but,  though  still  common,  it  is 
rarely  seen  until  some  way  beyond  Palachwe. 
The  common  zebra  ||  (Yol.  II.,  p.  228),  at  one 
time  even  more  plentiful  in  the  mountainous 
pastures  of  the  Cape  Colony,  is  now  confined 
to  some  of  the  eastern  districts,  where  it 
is  strictly  preserved.  Otherwise  it  would 
soon  share  the  fate  which  is  rapidly  over- 
taking Burchell’s  allied  species,  and  in  all 
likelihood  has  already  befallen  the  quagga.1T 
No  harmless  South  African  animal  has  been 
more  cruelly  persecuted  than  these  character- 
istic species.  They  are  so  easily  hunted  to 
death  that  it  is  scarcely  an  effort  to  “ bag  ” 
them,  yet  not  only  the  Boers  and  the  Kaffirs 
have  slaughtered  them  in  the  most  ruthless 

§ Equus  bnrchelli.  |[  Equus  zebra. 

H Equus  (Hippotigris)  quagga. 


172 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


manner,  but  English  “sportsmen”  have  not 
been  ashamed  to  boast  of  shooting  half  a 
dozen  out  of  the  herds  of  fifty  or  a hundred — 
seldom  less  than  ten — in  which  Burchell’s  zebra 
is  found  consorting  with  ostriches,  brindled 
gnus,  and  hartebeests.  The  quagga  is  already 


bush  which  it  inhabits  is  more  closely  ap- 
proached. The  leopard  % — the  tiger  of  the 
colonists — is  still  met  with  in  the  Transvaal 
and  Bechuanaland  hilly  country,  but  in  Natal 
and  the  Cape  it  is  not  likely  to  survive  long. 
The  cheetah  § is  another  species  doomed  to 


IN  SEARCH  OF  PREY. 


altogether,  or  almost,  beyond  the  hope  of 
preservation.  Out  of  the  herds  which  at  one 
time  inhabited  the  upper  portion  of  the  Cape 
Colony  not  one  has  been  seen  for  several  years ; 
for  the  animal  commonly  called  “ quagga  ” by 
the  Boers  and  the  traders,  and  other  un- 
scientific people  imitating  them,  is  really 
Burchell’s  zebra. 

The  wart  hog*  the  representative  of  the 
more  northern  wild  boars,  is  also  greatly  on 
the  wane,  while  the  bush  hog  + — 
a>gs  and  never  common — is  likely  before 
long  to  disappear  altogether  from 
Matabeleland,  Mashonaland,  Natal,  and  the 
Eastern  Provinces  of  the  Cape,  when  the  dense 

* Pliacoclimrus  cetliiopicus.  + Sus  larvatus. 


destruction  in  Natal  and  the  “ Old  Colon}',” 
and  the  serval,||  if  it  was  ever  common  in 
South  Africa,  is  now  extremely  rare. 

But  it  is  perhaps  the  numerous  species  of 
antelope  which  have  their  home  in  South 
Africa  that  form  the  most  charac- 
teristic features  in  its  rapidly  dim-  Antelopes- 
inishing  fauna.  So  amazingly  numerous  were 
some  of  them  that  even  yet  they  hold  their 
own,  in  decreasing  herds,  no  doubt,  but  still 
plentiful  enough  to  furnish  “ sport  ” to  their 
enemies,  or  food  to  the  natives,  who  either 
live  in  their  country  or  form  the  camp- 
followers  of  the  hunters,  traders,  and  (farther 
north)  of  the  explorers.  Among  the  species 

% Felis  pardus.  §Cyncelvrus  jubatus.  ||  Felis  serval. 


SOUTH  AFRICAN  ANTELOPES. 


173 


that  are  still  common  are  the  steinbuck* 
ourebi.f  grysbuck,|  duiker, § rhebuck,||  reed- 
buck,!  nakong,**  lech  we,  ft  sable  antelope, + + 
and  koodoo,§§  which,  in  spite  of  the  continual 
persecution  to  which  it  is  subjected,  is  still 
found  scattered  in  favourite  localities  through- 
out the  whole  of  South  Central  Africa.  Yet 
as  far  as  Cape  Colony,  Natal,  and  Orange  Free 
State  are  concerned,  it  is  only  preserved  on  a 
few  farms  in  a semi-domesticated  state.  But 
in  Bechuanaland,  and  other  less  frequented 
spots  on  the  edge  of  the  Kalahari,  and  on  the 
Lake  Ngami,  its  line  spiral  horns  may  be 
often  seen  above  the  dense  bush  in  which  it 
takes  refuge,  or  in  the  dry  forest  country, 
in  which,  owing  to  its  capability  of  doing  long 


though  still  plentiful  in  the  swampy  margins 
of  the  Chobe,  Mababe,  and  Tamulakan  rivers. 
But  even  the  marshes  which  it  affects  will  not 
long  serve  to  protect  it  from  the  natives,  who 
eagerly  hunt  it  for  the  sake  of  its  hides,  which 
are  held  in  much  esteem  for  making  karosses,||  || 
or  upper  garments,  which  the  bitter  cold  night 
of  even  a South  African  winter  renders  neces- 
sary. When  large  areas  of  the  country  are 
submerged,  the  lechwe,  now  a very  timid 
animal,  gathers  in  herds  composed  entirely  of 
rams,  which  are  driven  into  deep  water  and 
then,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  canoes,  are 
speared  to  death  in  large  numbers.  “Common  ” 
is,  however,  only  a term  of  relative  importance 
in  speaking  of  South  African,  and  indeed  of 


SHOT  HAETEBEEST.  . 

( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Ernest  Gedge,  by  permission  of  the  Imperial  British  East  Africa  Company.) 


without  water,  the  koodoo  has  its  natural 
home. 

The  lechwe,  first  seen  by  Livingstone  during 
his  expedition  to  Lake  Ngami  in  1849  (Vol.  II., 
p.  191),  has  now  become  scarce  in  that  region, 

* Nanotragus  cam  pest  r is.  ^ Cervicapra  arundinum. 

t jV.  scoparius.  **  Tragelaplivs  spekei. 

t N.  melanotn.  ft  Kohus  lecher. 

§ Cephalophvs grim/mi.  JJ  Hippotragus  niger. 

||  Pelea  capreola.  §§  Strepsiceros  kudu. 


any  African,  game ; what  is  common  to-day 
was  infinitely  more  abundant  a few  }rears 
ago,  and  may  before  many  years  either  be 
extinct  or  so  rapidly  on  the  wane  that  its 

||  ||  “Kaross,”  “kraal,"  and  “assegai" — three  words 
used  universally  in  South  and  even  in  other  parts  of 
Africa  to  indicate  respectively  a skin  cloak,  a native 
village  or  cattle-fold,  and  a dart  or  spear — have  no 
place  in  any  native  language.  They  are  supposed  to 
be  a corruption  of  Dutch  and  Hottentot. 


174 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


end  must  be  simply  a matter  of  time  and 
that  not  of  long  duration. 

In  1860  a hunt  was  got  up  for  the  Duke 
of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha  and  Edinburgh — then 
Prince  Alfred — who  had  paid  a visit  to  the 
eastern  part  of  the  Orange  Free  State.  The 
hunters,  Mr.  Bryden  tells  us,  still  talk  of  the 
vast  herds  of  game  that  were  slaughtered  to 
make  this  royal  holiday  in  the  African  Re- 
public. A thousand  of  Moroka’s  Baralong 
were  impressed  as  beaters.  A huge  extent  of 
country  was  surrounded,  and,  as  in  the  old 
days  of  the  “hopo,”  gradually  closed  upon 
until  it  was  computed  that  25,000  head  of 
great  game  were  in  sight  of  the  “ sportsmen.” 
“ Black  and  blue  wildebeests,  Burchell’s  zebras, 
quaggas,  ostriches,  blesboks,  hartebeests,  and 
springboks  were  to  be  seen  charging  hither 
and  thither  in  affrighted  squadrons,  and 
raising  clouds  of  dust.  The  number  of  game 
slain  that  day  ran  into  thousands — 6,000,  some 
people  say ; several  natives  were  trampled  or 
crushed  to  death  by  a charging  herd  of  zebras, 
while  others  sustained  broken  limbs.  Even 
at  this  distance  of  time  it  is  probable  that 
the  Duke  still  remembers  that  wonderful 
spectacle  on  the  Free  State  plains.  Nowa- 
days those  plains  stand  bare  and  desolate. 
Even  as  late  as  1882,  when  Yryburg  was 
founded  by  the  freebooters,  and  a few  tents 
and  huts  represented  the  present  capital  of 
British  Bechuanaland,  hartebeests  and  bles- 
boks were  known  to  gallop  right  through  the 
camp.”  This  will  no  longer  be  a tale  of  Africa, 
any  more  than  the  story  that  the  Eskimo 
in  a Greenland  settlement  can  shoot  reindeer 
from  their  hut  doors  in  a winter’s  snowfall,  or 
that  black-tail  stags  can  be  killed — as  they 
were  killed  in  1863  by  the  writer — where  the 
city  of  Vancouver  now  stands  and  within 
sight  of  the  then  dwindling  town  of  Victoria. 

Yet  ten  years  later,  the  districts  of  Harri- 
smith,  Kronstadt,  Rhinosterspruit,  and  Beth- 
lehem— an  area  altogether  of  about  6,000 
square  miles — were,  like  the  great  middle 
veldt  in  the  Transvaal,  literally  swarming  with 
countless  herds  of  antelopes,  of  nearly  every 
species.  “ Quaggas  ” — Burchell’s  zebra,  no 


doubt — were  seen  in  troops  everywhere,  and 
the  land  was  fairly  overrun  with  wildebeests, 
or  brindled  gnus,  blesbucks,  springbucks,  and 
other  less  gregarious  species.  But  before  six 
or  seven  years  had  elapsed  most  of  them  were 
shot  off,  or  fell  before  a disease  not  unlike 
that  which  decimated  the  domestic  cattle, 
aided,  Mr.  Aylward  thinks,  by  the  drought  to 
which  parts  of  South  Africa  are  increasingly 
subject.  Some  of  the  Boers  and  other  resi- 
dents are  true  sportsmen ; but  the  majority 
are  mere  skin-  or  pot-hunters,  who  have  been 
known  deliberately  to  cut  the  throats  of 
thousands  of  large  game  which  have  got 
mired  in  the  deep  mud  on  the  border  of  a 
river  they  had  attempted  to  cross. 

But  with  such  senseless,  such  utterly  repre- 
hensible, slaughter  as  that  shown  in  South 
Africa  to  amuse  the  royal  midshipman,  it 
need  scarcely  be  a surprise  that  many  of  the 
antelopes  have  since  that  day  been  unable 
to  withstand  the  unintermittent  massacre  of 
which  they  have  been  the  victims.  Among  the 
species  that  are  rapidly  on  the  wane  may  be 
enumerated  the  klip  springer,*  the  “chamois 
of  South  Africa,”  as  Messrs.  Nicolls  and  Eg- 
linton  call  it,  which  was  at  one  time  very 
numerous  on  the  mountains  around  Cape 
Town  and  Simon’s  Town,  and  is  said  to 
be  still  occasionally  met  with  there ; but 
farther  in  the  interior,  especially  in  Bechu- 
analand, and  on  to  the  Zambesi,  it  is 
“fairly  common,”  although  only  a shadow 
of  what  its  numbers  were  in  days  not  very  re- 
mote. The  bluebuck,f  the  springbuck,  7 the 
blesbuck,§  the  tsessebe,  ||  the  inyala,^[  the 
hartebeest,**  the  bluett  and  black  Avilde- 
beest,^  or  brindled  gnu,  the  gemsbuck,  §§ 
and  the  roan  antelope  ||  ||  are  for  the  most, 
part  extinct  in  the  Cape  Colony ; and 
the  few  still  found  cannot — let  them  be 
protected  as  they  will — long  remain  alive, 
except  in  a half-tamed  state  in  a preserve, 

* Oreotragus  saltator.  If  Tragelaphus  angasi . 

t Ccphalolophus  monticola.  **  Bnbalit  caamn . 

J Gazella  euchore.  +f  Connochcetes  taurinvs. 

§ Damalis  albifrons.  Connochcetes  gnu. 

||  Damalis  lunatus.  §§  Oryx  gazella. 

1111  Hippotragus  equinus. 


SOUTH  AFRICAN  ANTELOPES. 


175 


or  on  the  farm  of  a more  than  usually  in- 
telligent settler.  The  springbuck  (p.  185)  is  an 
example  of  the  rapidity  with  which  an  an- 
telope gets  thinned  by  the  hunters.  When 
Harris  wrote  the  now  classical  narrative  to 
which  every  historian  of  the  South  African 
game  must  so  frequently  refer,  this  animal 
was  “scattered  over  the  plains  in  countless 
herds.”  Nor  would  it  be  any  exaggeration 
to  apply  the  same  phrase  to  the  vast 
multitudes  which  Gordon  Cumming  saw 
here  twelve  years  later.  The  accumulated 
mass  of  living  creatures  which  the  spring- 
buck— so  called  on  account  of  its  habit  of 
springing  or  taking  extraordinary  bounds — 
forms  on  its  greater  migrations,  this  famous, 
and  now  only  justly  appreciated,  hunter  tells 
us,  speaking  of  a time  before  1849,  “is  utterly 
astounding” — and  it  took  a good  deal  to 
astound  the.  Laird  of  Altyre  (p.  208) — “ and 
any  traveller  witnessing  it  as  I have,  and 
giving  a true  description  of  what  he  has  seen, 
can  hardly  expect  to  be  believed,  so  marvel- 
lous is  the  scene.  They  have  been  well  and 
truly  compared  to  the  wasting  swarms  of 
locusts,  so  familiar  to  the  traveller  in  the  land 
of  wonders.  Like  them,  they  consume  every 
green  thing  ha  their  course,  laying  waste  vast 
districts  in  a few  hours,  and  ruining  in  a 
single  night  the  fruits  of  the  farmer’s  toil. 
The  course  adopted  by  the  antelopes  is  gener- 
ally such  as  to  bring  them  back  to  their  own 
country  by  a route  different  from  that  by 
which  they  set  out.  Thus  their  line  of  march 
sometimes  forms  something  like  a vast  oval, 
or  an  extensive  squai'e,  of  which  the  diameter 
may  be  some  hundred  miles,  and  the  time 
occupied  in  this  migration  may  vary  from  six 
months  to  a year.”* 

The  place  where  these  thousands  of  spring- 
bucks were  seen,  with  here  and  there  a herd  of 
black  wildebeest,  was  not  far  from  the  town  of 
Cradock,  on  the  Great  Fish  River,  in  what  is 
now  one  of  the  most  thickly  settled  portions 
of  the  Cape  Colony.  The  only  flocks  of 
springbucks  now  to  be  seen  either  there  or  in 

* " Five  Years’  Hunting  Adventures  in  South  Africa” 
(1893  Reprint),  p.  44. 


the  Orange  Free  State  and  Transvaal  are  on 
farms,  from  the  owners  of  which  permission 
to  shoot  them  must  first  be  obtained.  Sir 
Charles  Warren’s  expedition,  which  in  .1884 
drove  out  of  Bechuanaland  some  intruders 
besides  antelopes,  all  but  exterminated  the 
great  herds  which  used  to  frequent  the  Salt 
pan  at  Groot  Choiang,  north  of  Vryburg; 
and  though  it  is  still  fairly  plentiful  in 
the  open  and  arid  flats  north  and  south  of 
the  Botletli  river,  in  North  Kalahari,  on  to 
the  Zambesi,  in  Great  Namaqualand,  Damara- 
land,  and  portions  of  Ovamboland,  its  agility 
did  not  serve  to  prevent  it  from  becoming 
all  but  extinct  in  the  Protectorate  mentioned. 
The  blesbuck  no  longer  ranges  the  plains  of 
Lower  Bechuanaland,  the  Transvaal,  and  the 
Orange  Free  State  in  countless  thousands. 
The  skin-hunter  has  made  it  very  rare,  though 
Sir  Charles  Warren’s  expedition  is  also  blamed 
for  its  practical  extermination  in  southern 
Bechuanaland.  The  tsessebe,  or  sassaby,  is 
no  longer,  as  in  Harris’s  day,  in  “ considerable 
herds”  in  Bechuanaland.  North-west  of 
Lake  Ngami,  in  Khama’s  country,  and  in  the 
remoter  parts  of  Mashonaland,  it  is  said  to  be 
still  plentiful.  But  after  a year  spent  in 
various  portions  of  Bechuanaland,  Mr.  Bryden, 
one  of  the  most  scientific  of  recent  sportsmen  in 
South  Africa  (p.  176),  tells  us  that  he  never  saw 
even  the  “ spoor  ” — that  is,  the  track — of  one. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  it  ever  frequented  the 
Cape  Colony : at  all  events,  it  is  not  now 
found  there. 

The  same  tale  is  to  be  told  of  almost  eveiy  one 
of  the  species  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  list. 
Thus  the  hartebeest  (p.  173)  is  no  longer  to  be 
seen  in  the  Cape  Colony,  except  on  a couple  of 
preserved  farms : and  it  is  only  in  Ngamiland, 
that  remnant  of  the  hunter’s  paradise  on  both 
banks  of  the  Botletli,  and  in  Great  Namaqua- 
land that  it  is  to  be  met  with  in  large  herds. 
Yet  in  the  first  three  or  four  decades  of  the 
centuiy,  the  hartebeest  roamed  in  prodigious 
numbers  on  every  plain  beyond  the  Orange 
River. 

But  if  the  species  mentioned  are  hast  on 
the  wane,  there  are  others  which  are  getting  so 


176 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


rare  that  before  long  they  must — let  the  South 
African  colonists  protect  them  as  they  may — 
follow  the  white  rhinoceros  and  the  quagga. 
The  Natal  redbuck*  is  everywhere  rare.  The 
bontebuckf  in  Harris’s  day  was  not  very 
common ; yet  it  was  still  found  in  Zoetendals 
Vley,  near  Cape  Agulhas,  and  was  abundant 
in  the  interior.  “ Indiscriminate,  wilful,  and 
senseless  slaughter  has  rendered  it  practically 
extinct.”  Indeed,  it  cannot  now  be  classed 
among  the  wild  game  of  South  Africa,  Messrs. 
Nicolls  and  Eglinton  being  acquainted  with 


name  of  which  recalls  Major  Yardon,  a famous 
sportsman  of  Livingstone’s  day,  and  the  man 
who  first  made  Europe  familiar  with  the  tsetse- 
fly  (Yol.  II.,  p.  67),  then  and  for  long  pre- 
viously much  too-Avell  known  in  South  Africa, 
is  now  confined  to  a small  area  near  the 
place  where  the  Chobe  joins  the  Zambesi 
and  does  not  seem  ever  to  have  had  a 
much  wider  range.  The  poor  quality  of  its 
flesh  will  not  save  it  from  the  natives,  though 
possibly  Mr.  Selous’  verdict  **  that  in  flavour 
it  is  several  shades  worse  than  that  of  the 


MR.  H.  A.  BRYDEN  AND  FRIENDS  ON  TREK  AT  MOROKWENG. 

(From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Bryden.) 


it  only  as  the  semi-domesticated  inhabitant  of 
a farm  near  Swellendam,  in  Cape  Colony. 
The  reedbuck,  + once  found  wherever  reeds 
and  water  abounded,  is  now  confined  to  some  of 
the  rivers  in  the  north-eastern  districts  of  the 
Transvaal,  while  in  Bechuanaland  it  is  practi- 
cally exterminated.  To  see  the  rooibuck,  or 
pallah,§  once  so  plentiful  in  Bechuanaland,  the 
bushy  country  bordering  the  Limpopo  must 
he  reached,  while  the  pookoo,||  the  scientific 

* Cephaloloplius  natalcmh.  J Cervicapra  arundimm . 
t Damalis pygargvs.  § yEpyceros  melampus. 

||  Kohus  vardoni. 


waterbuck,  usually  considered  the  most 
unpalatable  of  all  the  South  African  antelopes, 
may  preserve  it  from  the  pot-hunter,  though 
its  comparative  rarity  will  be  its  doom  as 
a museum  specimen.  Finally,  not  to  enumer- 
ate various  antelopes  too  scarce  or  too 
slenderly  marked  to  have  obtained  popular 
names,  the  waterbuck  ft  just  mentioned,  the 
kring-ghat  of  the  Boers,  is  now  rarely  met 
with  except  in  the  more  secluded  parts  of  the 
northern  Transvaal,  and  in  the  low  country 

**  “ A Hunter’s  Wanderings  in  Africa.”  p.  167. 

tt  Kobus  ellipsiprymims. 


SOUTH  AFRICAN  ANTELOPES. 


177 


towards  Delagoa  Bay,  in  the  Botletli  country, 
and  along  the  Zambesi.  Even  the  eland*  (V ol. 
II.,  p.  181),  at  one  time  found  in  troops  all  over 
the  country,  is  not  now  seen  until  the  North 
Kalahari  is  reached;  and,  in  spite  of  the  efforts 
of  the  Colonial  Government  to  save  it  and 


sights  as  the  earlier  travellers  witnessed. 
A more  instructive  study  in  the 

. ^-111  Le  Vaillant : 

story  of  Africa  cannot  indeed  be  a story  of 
found  than  to  compare  the  fauna  r^ae^ien 
of  the  best-known  part  of  the  con- 
tinent—say,  a century  ago — as  a hunter  of 


YOUNG  COW  BUFFALO  CAUGHT  IN  A PYTHON'S  COILS. 


other  species  from  destruction  by  means  of 
protective  laws,  it  is  vain,  even  if  it  was 
desirable,  ever  to  expect  a return  of  the  days 
when  South  Africa  was  the  hunter’s  paradise 
and  the  antelope’s  hell. 

No  longer  will  the  sportsman  again  see  such 

* Or  fan  ranna. 


that  day  saw  it,  and  the  mangled  remnant  of 
the  magnificent  herds  of  animals  that  are  all 
that  are  left  to  his  successors.  Compare,  tor 
instance,  the  casual  remarks  of  Andrew  Sparr- 
mann,  the  Swedish  naturalist,  Carl  Tliunberg, 
another  pupil  of  Linnaeus,  and  Francois  Le 
Vaillant,  a famous  French  ornithologist,  who 


52 


178 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


visited  the  Cape  Colony  before  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  and  the  jottings  ofthelatest  writers 
on  the  same  country,  whose  works  we  have  so 
frequently  quoted  in  these  pages.  When  Le 
Vaillant  reached  the  Cape  the  ancien  regime 
was  beginning  to  hear  the  strange  rumbles  of 
that  debacle  which  was  not  only  to  end  it, 
but  to  bring  about  a change  of  masters  for 
South  Africa.  But  in  1780  the  old  order  had 
not  changed,  and  the  Dutch  still  possessed  a 
small  portion  of  what  now  constitutes  Cape 
Colony  and  the  other  offshoots  which  have 
grown  out  of  its  expansion.  Le  Vaillant 
resided  for  nearly  six  years  in  the  settle- 
ments— though  his  journeys  did  not  extend 
beyond  Great  and  Little  Namaqualand,  the 
Karroo  and  the  mountains  which  enclose  it, 
and  the  east  coast  as  far  as  Kaffraria— in 
short,  little  more  than  the  Colony  as  then 
limited.  He  travelled  much  as  people  still 
travel  who  are  distant  from  railways  and 
roads — by  bullock-waggon  (Vol.  II.,  pp.  169, 
180),  attended  by  a swarm  of  Hottentots. 

Perhaps  he  was  a little  more  in  fear  of  Kaf- 
firs than  travellers  need  be  nowadays,  and 
decidedly  in  more  danger  from  the  lurking 
Bushmen  of  the  Sneeuwberg  than  has  been 
the  case  for  a great  many  years.  But  beyond 
the  fact  that  Le  Vaillant  carried  a monkey  to 
keep  him  company  and  a cock  to  crow  him 
awake  in  the  morning,  his  outfit  did  not  differ 
very  much  from  that  of  the  latest  trader; 
but  he  saw  Kaffirs  where  there  are  now  white 
men,  kraals  where  there  are  now  towns,  and 
traversed  for  days  great  tracts  of  country  with- 
out apparently  a human  being  where,  at  this 
moment,  there  are  swarms  of  men — as  swarms 
go  in  South  Africa.  Otherwise  the  genial 
French  naturalist  might  have  been  “trek- 
king ” and  “ inspanning  ” and  “ outspanning  ” 
to-day  among  the  Boers,  most  of  whom, 
however,  were  actually,  like  Le  Vaillant 
himself,  Huguenot  Frenchmen,  who  had 
adopted  another  land  and  tongue. 

Yet  there  was  one  vast  difference  between 
the  hunter  of  1780  and  those  of  more  than 
a century  later.  This  consisted  in  the  amaz- 
ing swarms  of  animals  which  everywhere 


met  his  gaze,  and  rendered  the  collection  of 
specimens  easy  and  supplied  a plethora  of 
food  for  his  native  followers.  We  can  only 
glean  a few  jottings  here  and  there.*  Every- 
thing was  very  cheap  in  Cape  Town — thirteen 
pounds  of  mutton  being  at  times  sold  for  six- 
pence, an  ox  for  twelve  or  fifteen  rixdollars — 
a Cape  rixdollar  was  one  and  sixpence — and  ten 
quarters  of  com  for  about  the  same  sum,  and 
other  things  in  proportion,  though  during  the 
ensuing  war  forty-five  rixdollars  were  given 
for  a wretched  bag  of  potatoes  and  two 
shillings  sterling  for  a small  cabbage.  In 
those  days  Le  Vaillant  complains  that  the 
French  were  hated  and  the  English  so  adored 
that  when  any  of  that  nation  took  up  their 
residence  in  a Dutch  family  “ master,  mistress, 
and  even  the  children,  soon  assume  their 
manners.  At  table,  for  example,  the  knife 
never  fails  to  discharge  the  office  of  the  fork.” 
After  a century  or  more  of  Boer  marksmen 
game  was,  he  says,  no  longer  to  be  found  close 
to  the  Cape  ; yet  at  Saldanha  Bay  the  leopard 
preyed  on  the  flocks,  while  the  lion  seemed 
frequent  not  far  from  the  capital.  Apes 
haunted  Table  Mountain.  A little  beyond  the 
River  Bot  rhebucks,  nowhere  found  in  large 
numbers  nowadays,  were  met  with  in  pro- 
digious flocks,  while  in  less  than  a week  after 
leaving  Cape  Town  on  his  journey  along  the 
east  coast  to  Natal  Le  Vaillant’s  camp  was 
within  view  of  flocks  of  bontebucks ; harte- 
beests,  zebras,  ostriches  (Vol.  II.,  188),  and 
other  large  game : all  so  tame  that,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  dogs  chasing  them,  it  would 
have  been  easy  to  shoot  a great  number  without 
alighting  from  the  waggon.  Every  day,  long 
before  the  settlements  were  left  behind,  bonte- 
bucks appeared  in  flocks  of  two  thousand  at 
least,  and  near  the  valley  of  Soete-Melk  a herd 

* " Voyage  dans  l’Interieur  de  l’Afrique,”  2vols.  (1790) ; 
“ Second  Voyage  dans  l’Interieur  de  l’Afrique  par  le  Cap 
de  Bonne-Esperance.”  3 vols.  (L’an  3)  : “ Travels  into  tlie 
Interior  Parts  of  Africa  by  Way  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope:  in  the  Years  17S0,  81,  82,  83,  84,  85,”  English 
translation,  5 vols.  (1790-90).  In  reality,  though  the 
author,  who  had  passed  his  youth  in  Surinam  and  Hol- 
land, set  out  on  his  journey  in  1780,  he  did  not  reach 
the  Cape  until  the  following  year.  The  English  version 
is  indifferently  executed. 


LE  VAILL ANT’S  “SPOUT” 


179 


of  four  or  five  thousand  hartebeests,  antelopes 
of  all  kinds,  zebras  and  ostriches,  hung  within 
sight,  afraid  to  approach  a pond  near  which  the 
traveller  had  encamped.  The  ostrich,  it  is 
needless  to  say,  is  now  only  domesticated  in 
Cape  Colony,  though  plentiful  in  a wild 
state  in  parts  of  the  Kalahari,  Kamaqualand, 
and  Damaraland.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the 
spotted  hyaena* * * §  still  exists  in  Cape  Colony, 
and  the  brown  hyaena  f is  only  to  be  heard 
of  in  the  most  unfrequented  part  of  the 
country.  But  at  Mossel  Bay,  now  a busy 
part,  Le  Vaillant  was  alarmed  every  night 
by  their  howls,  and  had  to  keep  large  fires 
alight  to  scare  these  sneaking  beasts  from 
attacking  their  cattle.  A little  beyond  Blet- 
tenberg,  so  called  from  a pompous  Dutch 
Governor,  who  had  caused  a stone  with  his 
name  engraven  on  it  to  be  erected  there — a 
bushbuck  strayed  into  the  camp  pursued  by 
nine  “ wild  dogs,”  the  Cape  hunting  species, j: 
still  sparsely  distributed  in  the  Colony.  By- 
and-by  the  buffalo  was  seen,  and  close  to  the 
sea  elephants  were  met  with,  one  of  which  was 
killed  -not  without  putting  the  hunter  in 
peril  of  his  life- -while  others  were  heard  of 
in  the  neighbourhood.  One  herd,  indeed, 
disturbed  the  camp  the  next  night,  and  four 
more  were  added  to  the  sportsman’s  tro- 
phies before  he  left  the  shores  of  Blettenberg 
Bay.§  At  the  Gaintoos  river  hippopotami 
were  reported,  and  elephants  and  buffaloes 
were  so  common  and  so  easily  killed  with  the 
rude  flint-lock  smooth-bores  of  the  period 
that  the  camp  was  filled  with  more  provisions 
than  could  be  consumed.  Yet,  miserable  as 
was  Le  Yaillant’s  battery  compared  with 
the  weapons  of  the  modern  sportsman,  he 
rather  piqued  himself  on  his  equipment.  A 
beaver  hat  with  broad  flaps,  after  the  fashion 
of  the  “ Age  of  Sensibility,”  knee-breeches 

with  jewelled  buckles,  and  tied 
“ Le  sport.”  , 

shoes,  was,  judging  from  a portrait 
handed  down  to  us,  his  hunting  costume 

* Croftita  maculata. 

+ Hytxna  brunnea. 

J Lycann  venatica. 

§ Or  Plettenberg,  as  it  is  usually  spelt. 


The  rest  was  quite  in  the  style  of  the  modern 
Gaul  bent  on  “ le  sport.”  “ I was  completely 
armed,”  he  tells  us.  “ In  the  side  pockets  of 
my  breeches  I carried  a pair  of  double- 
barrelled  pistols ; I had  another  pair  of  the 
same  at  my  girdle  ; my  double-barrelled  fusee 
was  slung  at  the  bow  of  my  saddle : a large 
sabre  hung  by  my  side,  and  a poniard  or  dag- 
ger from  the  button-hole  of  my  vest.  I could 
therefore  fire  ten  times  almost  in  a moment. 
This  arsenal  incommoded  me  considerably  at 
first ; but  I never  quitted  it,  both  on  account 
of  my  own  safety,  and  because  by  this  pre- 
caution I seemed  to  increase  the  confidence 
of  my  people.  My  arms,  doubtless,  appeared 
to  them  to  correspond  with  my  resolutions  ; 
and,  full  of  this  idea,  each  pursued  his  way 
with  the  utmost  composure,  leaving  to  me  the 
care  of  defending  them.”  A little  south  of 
the  Zondag  river,  which  falls  into  Algoa  Bay 
a little  north  of  where  the  thriving  town 
ol  Port  Elizabeth  now  stands,  buffalo  were 
common  ; the  whole  country  swarmed  with 
guinea-fowls,  and  at  break  of  day  spring- 
bucks were  seen  in  great  multitudes.  A little 
farther  north,  lions  added  their  voices  to  the 
nightly  concert  of  hysenas  and  jackals,  and 
day  by  day  troops  of  apes  visited  the  camp. 
In  the  Klein-Visch  (or  Little  Fish)  river,  a 
hippopotamus  was  killed,  while  gnus  were 
tolerably  abundant.  Indeed,  so  plentiful  was 
game  in  1781  that  notes  upon  its  abundance, 
descriptions  of  visits  from  Hottentots  and 
Kaffirs,  and  tales  of  the  abominable  cruelties 
of  the  Dutch  settlers  to  the  natives,  form  the 
bulk  of  Le  Yaillant’s  narrative.  Bustards 
varied  his  dietary,  but  as  springbucks  and 
other  antelopes  were  always  in  view,  food  of 
the  best  description  was  never  lacking.  When 
the  country'  then  known  as  Kaflraria,  was 
entered,  flocks  of  gnus,  ostriches,  springbucks, 
bushbucks,  or  other  species  were  met  with  at 
every  step.  On  his  journey  back  again  to  Cape 
Town  a flock  of  springbucks  was  met  with 
which  filled  the  entire  plain.  They  were 
migrating  from  the  dry  rocky  regions  in 
the  south  for  some  woody,  watered  region  in 
the  north,  and  must  have  numbered  many 


180 


TEE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


thousands  ; as  many  as  fifty  was  a rough  esti-  descriptions  at  an  earlier  date,  but  much  the 
mate  of  our  traveller.  Elands  and  rhinoceroses  same  tale  is  told  by  Lieutenant  Paterson,!  who 
also  were  seen  among  the  Sneeuwberg  val-  in  1777  and  1778  made  three  expeditions 
leys.  Lions  and  leopards  were  troublesome  into  the  Hottentot  country  north  of  the  Cape, 
on  the  Platte  banks,  many  of  them  fol-  and  one  into  Kaffraria,  which  Le  Vaillant 
lowing  up  the  antelopes  in  their  migrations, . entered  only  a few  years  later.  Neither  of 
though  so  plentiful  was  game,  even  to  within  these  travellers,  nor  Barrow,!  who  at  a later 
sight  of  Cape  Town,  that  the  beasts  of  prey  period  went  over  the  same  ground,  were 
had  little  need  to  exert  themselves.  hunters ; but  all  the  African  travellers  have 

Throughout  all  Le  Yaillant’s  other  journeys  been,  and  had  to  be,  more  or  less  killers  of 
to  Naniaqualand  the  same  relative  abundance  of  wild  animals,  and  could  scarcely  fail  to  see 
the  now  fast-diminishing  game  of  South  Africa  the  amazing  herds  of  animals  that  covered 
is  heard  of.  As  a traveller,  he  glosses  every  the  country  at  the  time  of  their  journeys,  of 
scene  over  with  a romance  that  has  led  this  which  those  of  Le  Vaillant  may  be  taken  as 
disciple  of  Rousseau  and  the  Sentimentalists  fairly  typical.  They  were  not  explorations  in 
to  be  suspected  of  indulging  in  occasional  the  strictest  sense  of  the  term,  for  they  did 
deviations  from  strict  veracity.  But  no  not  extend  over  any  ground  absolutely  un- 
doubt need  be  entertained  regarding  the  known ; but  as  a hunter’s  picture  of  the  early 
truthfulness  of  his  records  of  the  vast  herds  days  of  South  Africa,  when  civilised  man  was 
of  game  seen  towards  the  end  of  last  century  ; beginning  slowly  to  wrest  the  land  from  wild 
for  not  only  do  Kolben* — in  more  scientific  tribes  and  wild  beasts,  the  dusty  volumes  of 
matters  not  a very  accurate  authority — Sparr-  these  old  travellers  will  still  repay  perusal, 
mann,  and  Thunberg  confirm  him  by  their  f “Narrative  of  a Journey  into  the  Country  of  the 

Hottentots”  (1789). 

* “ Account  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,”  etc.,  trans-  { “ Account  of  Travels  into  the  Interior  of  South 
lated  by  Medley  (1731).  Africa,”  2 vols.  (1801). 


SHOT  GRANT’S  GAZELLE  ( Gazella  Grunti ) OF  EAST  AFRICA 
(From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Ernest  Gedge,  by  permission  of  the  Imperial  British  East  Afi-ica  Company.) 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Beast  and  Max  : Some  Campaigns  of  a Long  War. 

Game  and  Travellers— Influence  of  a Change  of  Masters  in  South  Africa  on  Exploration — Trutter  and  Sommer- 
ville — Cowan  and  Denovan — Campbell — Moffat — Visitors  to  a Pool — Rhinoceroses  and  Hippopotami — A Boy's 
Mishap— A Tale  of  a Man  and  a Lion — A Chief  Devoured — Burchell  and  Others — Captain  Alexander  in 
Xamaqualand — Traces  of  Le  Vaillant— Baboons  and  other  Wild  Animals — Running  down  Zebras  on  Foot 
— Bushmen  and  Lions — A Plethora  of  Game — The  Black  Rhinoceros — Its  Friend  and  its  Enemies — 
Walvisch  Bay  and  the  New  England  Whalers — Game  among  Flocks— A Story  of  Men  and  Monkeys— 
The  Land  of  Lions  and  Leopards — Captain  Harris — Rumours  of  Lake  Ngami — Journey  from  Port  Elizabeth  over 
the  Snowy  Mountains— Vast  Herds  of  Springbucks—  Moselikatse— A Landscape  Alive  with  Game — A Natural 
Preserve — “Dar  Stand  de  Olifant  ” — A Fairyland  of  Sport — A Landscape  Black  with  Elephants — The 
Young  One  and  its  Dead  Dam— The  Hippopotami  and  Crocodiles  of  the  Limpopo — An  Unfenced  Menagerie 
—A  Pest  of  Rhinoceroses— Giraffes,  etc. — Rustenburg  District  in  1837 — A New  Antelope — The  Vaal  River — 
The  “ Emigrant  Farmers” — Nearing  Civilisation. 

It  would  not  appreciably  serve  our  purpose, 
which  is  to  trace  the  gradual  progress  of  the 
African  hunters  from  the  known  into  the  un- 
known, and  the  rapid  diminution  of  the 
wild  animals  which  fled  before  them,  to  spend 
much  space  over  the  earlier  explorers  of  the 
country  now  comprised  in  Cape  Colony, 

Orange  River  Republic^  Transvaal,  and  Natal. 

At  a later  date  we  may  have  occasion  to  re- 
vert to  them  whilst  speaking  of  the  colon- 
isation of  South  Africa.  But  even  during 
the  Dutch  occupation  the  exciting  amuse- 
ment which  the  vast  swarms  of  animals 


afforded,  and  the  abundance  of  food  which 
they  supplied  tempted  many  enterprising- 
travellers  to  penetrate  into  the  then  little- 
known  Kaffir  countries.  Most  of  these  ex- 
plorers were  either  military  officers  or 
naturalists : but  very  few,  if  any,  of  them  were, 
as  might  have  ' been  expected,  of  Dutch 
nationality.  Thus  Le  Vaillant  was  a French- 
man. Sparrmann  and  Thunberg  were  Swedes, 
and  Lichtenstein,  though  a native  of  Holland, 
was,  like  Kolben,  of  German  extraction. 
Henry  Lichtenstein*  accompanied  Governor 
* Travels  in  Southern  Africa,  1803-6”  (Eng.  trans.,  1812). 


182 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Janssen  in  his  progress  through  Cape 
Colony  to  the  Orange  River  just  before  it 
passed  into  the  hands  that  now  hold  it.  He 
was  the  first  person  to  visit  the  Batlapings. 
This  was  in  1803-6.  His  descriptions  are, 
like  those  of  his  predecessors,  full  of  notes 
regarding  the  vast  herds  of  antelopes — one  of 
which  ( Bubalis  Lichtensteini ) bears  his  name 
—elephants,  and  other  wild  animals  : but  the 
greater  number  of  South  African  travellers 
were,  and  have  continued  to  be,  English- 
men. Barrow  and  Paterson  were  of  that 
nation,  and  no  sooner  had  the  Hutch  lost 
their  hold  on  the  Cape  than  the  missionaries 
took  up  their  position  in  a land 
explorers17  where  they  had  hitherto  either  been 
excluded  or  regarded  with  cold 
sympathy.  In  1801,  the  Colony  labouring 
under  a scarcity  of  cattle,  Messrs.  Trutter 
and  Sommerville  “ trekked  ” through  the  Great 
Karroo  and  across  the  Orange  River  as  far  as 
Lithako,  in  Bechuanaland,  in  order  if  possible 
to  obtain  a supply  from  the  natives.  They  heard 
of  the  “ Barrolongs,”  but  were  too  terrified  by 
the  tales  told  them  to  penetrate  their  country. 
In  1807  Captain  Denovan  and  Dr.  Cowan,  in 
attempting  to  traverse  the  Bechuana  country 
to  the  Portuguese  colony  of  Mozambique 
were  lost  sight  of,  and,  though  their  fate  has 
always  remained  a mystery,  they  are  believed  to 
have  died  of  fever  in  descending  the  Limpopo 
river.  Other  native  accounts,  however,  insist 
that  they  were  murdered  in  the  country  of  the 
Wanlcetzens. 

Campbell,  one  of  the  early  missionaries 
was  also  one  of  the  most  active  of  those 
who  reached  the  remoter  parts  of  the 
Colony  after  it  became  a British  posses- 
sion. Elephants  and  zebras  had  in  1812,  the 
year  when  he  arrived,  suffered  no  diminution 
from  what  the  travellers  of  the  preceding- 
century  had  to  tell  of,  and  fires  had  to  be 
lighted  at  night  to  scare  away  lions  and  other 
wild  beasts.  On  the  shores  of  Burder’s  Lake 
— so  named  from  the  then  secretary  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society — the  missionary 
party  shot  nine  “ bucks,”  a quagga,  and  an 
ostrich,  and  on  their  way  to  the  Orange  River 


the  journey  was  rendered  exciting  by  the 
travellers’  hourly  risk  of  falling  into  the  traps 
and  pitfalls  constructed  by  the  natives  for  the 
capture  of  elephants  and.  lions.  Campbell’s 
second  journey,  which  began  in  1820,  was 
shared  in  by  the  celebrated  Robert  Moffat 
and  his  wife,  the  parents  of  Mrs.  Livingstone, 
during  which  they  reached  Kurrichane,  the 
chief  kraal  of  the  Marotsi  people,  and  Kuru- 
man  station,  or  New  Lithako,  the  future 
scene  of  Moffat’s  labours,  was  established.  In- 
teresting though  this  and  other  missionary 
journeys  were,  the  plan  of  this  volume,  which 


THE  REV.  DR.  MOFFAT. 

(From  a Photograph  by  J.  Moffat , Princes  St.,  Edinburgh.) 


is  to  trace  the  opening  up  mainly  of  unex- 
plored Africa,  compels  us  to  dismiss  them  with 
this  brief  notice.*  In  the  Karroo 
and  other  now  colonised  districts  adventures’ 
springbucks,  quaggas,  and  ostriches  Moffat^ 
were  extremely  abundant.  Halting 
by  the  borders  of  a pond  in  the  Barolong 
country,  not  far  from  the  village  of  Sebateng, 
Moffat  had  not  long  to , wait  before  several 
lions  came  to  lap  the  water.  Then  a buffalo 
arrived.  It  was  succeeded  by  two  giraffes 
and  a troop  of  quaggas.  The  male  leader  of 
the  herd,  however,  scenting  danger,  gave  a 

* Campbell,  “Travels  in  South  Africa”  (1815-22); 
Philip,  -‘Researches  in  South  Africa  among-  the  Native 
Tribes”  (1828),  etc. 


LION  TALES. 


183 


peculiar  whistling  signal,  and  set  off  at  full 
speed  without  drinking.  A huge  rhinoceros 
was  the  next  visitor,  and,  receiving  a mortal 
wound,  moved  off  without  troubling  the 
hunters.  The  white  species*  was  in  those 
days  quite  numerous,  and  considered  so 
lierce  that  it  feared  no  enemy  but  man,  and 
when  wounded  or  pursued  not  even  him. 
The  lion  flew  before  the  rhinoceros  like  a 
cat,  and  it  has  been  known  to  kill  even  the 
elephant  by  thrusting  the  horn  into  his  ribs. 
Hearing  the  approach  of  more  lions,  the 
watchers  thought  it  better  to  make  off’:  but 
on  the  way  to  the  village  at  which  they 
were  encamped  they  passed  by  herds  of 
other  animals  on  the  way  to  the  drinking- 
place. 

Gnus,  springbucks,  hartebeests,  and  ostriches 
crowded  their  path  in  countless  numbers,  and 
increased  daily  as  the  waggon  trundled  farther 
and  farther  away  from  the  thinly-peopled 
settlements  into  the  region  where  there  were 
no  settlements  at  all  and,  in  places,  almost  no 
natives.  In  parts  of  Griqualand  baboons 
were  still  disagreeably  numerous,  and  even 
dangerous  when  a hundred  or  more  of  them 
were  encountered  in  a narrow  defile ; for,  if 
. . one  was  wounded,  the  others  were 

Ahippopota- 

mus  adven-  sate  to  attack  the  hapless  hunter 
and  tear  him  to  pieces.  The  hippo- 
potamus also  might  often  be  encountered 
in  the  Orange  River : but,  from  having 
been  frequently  hunted,  was  by  no  means 
so  inclined  to  tolerate  man’s  presence  as  in 
more  remote  waters.  A native  with  his  boy 
was  hunting  the  animal  in  this  river  not 
long  before  the  period  of  which  we  speak. 
Seeing  one  at  a distance  below  an  island, 
the  man  passed  through  a narrow  stream 
to  get  nearer  the  object  of  his  pursuit.  He 
fired,  but  missed,  and  the  hippopotamus  in- 
stantly made  for  the  island.  Then  the  hunter, 
seeing  his  danger,  ran  to  cross  the  river- 
banks  : but  before  reaching  it,  the  “ sea-cow  ” 

* Dr.  Moffat  mentions  that  the  Bechuanas  distinguished 
four  species  ; in  reality,  there  are  only  two  (p.  169),  Rhinoc- 
eros oswelli  and  It.  keitloa,  the  distinction  being  based  on 
the  shape  of  the  horns  in  different  individuals. 


seized  him  and,  it  is  said,  severed  the  body 
in  two  with  its  munstrous  jaws. 

Lions  were  encountered  almost  hourly,  and, 
among  other  scenes,  an  attack  upon  the  giraffe 
was  a common  spectacle.  One  of 

, -ill  Lion  stories. 

these  animals  was  lying  browsing 
at  ease  under  the  shade  of  a camel-thorn- 
tree, t when  a lion,  approaching  from  behind, 
stealthily  sprang  upon  it ; but  just  at  that 
moment  the  giraffe  turned  its  head,  and  the 
lion,  missing  its  aim,  fell  upon  his  back 
among  the  thorns.  Next  day  its  body  was 
found  transfixed  by  the  sharp,  spike-like 
prickles  on  which  it  had  been  impaled.  At 
the  Rhenish  mission-station  of  Bethany,  on 
the  Modder  river,  where  a lion  is  never  seen 
nowadays,  this  characteristic  African  animal 
was  so  common  that  it  would  sometimes  be 
met  with  in  the  outskirts  of  the  village. 

A Kaffir  from  this  place,  visiting  some  friends 
at  a distance,  was  horrified  while  resting  near 
a small  pool  to  see  a large  lion  watching  him 
from  the  other  side.  Unfortunately,  the  man 
had  laid  his  loaded  gun  beyond  his  reach,  and, 
at  any  sign  of  reaching  for  it,  the  lion  roared 
in  so  menacing  a fashion  that  the  wretched 
Kaffir  was  glad  to  purchase  neutrality  by  a 
cessation  of  this  constructive  hostility.  The 
situation  now  became  extremely  painful — if 
not  fot  the  lion,  at  least  for  the  man ; for, 
jmtting  aside  the  imminent  prospect  of  being 
devoured,  the  rock  on  which  he  sat,  exposed 
to  the  glare  of  an  African  sun,  was  so  hot  that 
he  could  scarcely  bear  to  touch  it  with  his 
naked  feet. 

But  the  enemy  was  inexorable.  Any  exhibi- 
tion of  an  intention  to  seize  the  weapon  was 
followed  by  a warning  roar ; so  that  the  man 
had  all  day  long  to  temper  the  almost  intoler- 
able heat  of  the  rock  by  placing  one  foot  on 
another,  until  by  evening  both  feet  were  so 
roasted  that  he  had  lost  any  sense  of  pain. 
The  lion  seemed  to  have  only  recently  dined ; 
otherwise  it  is  extremely  unlikely  it  would 
have  displayed  such  tolerance  to  its  helpless 
vis-a-vis.  At  noon  it  walked  to  the  pool  to 

f Acacia  giraff/r  : the  Dutch  settlers  know  the  giraffe 
as  the  “ cameel  ” — hence  camelopard. 


184 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


drink,  looking  round  every  few  steps  to  watcli 
the  Kaffir,  and,  when  he  reached  for  his  gun, 
turned  in  a rage,  and  was  on  the  point  of 
pouncing  upon  him.  Then  quenching  its 
thirst,  the  vigilant  brute  came  back  to  its 
old  post.  Another  night  passed,  but  whether 
the  Kaffir  slept  or  not  he  could  not  tell. 
All  he  knew  was  that  it  must  have  been  at 
very  short  intervals,  and  with  his  eyes  open ; 
for  he  always  saw  the  lion  at  his  feet.  Next 
forenoon  the  animal  went  again  to  the  water, 
and  while  there,  hearing  apparently  some 
noise  in  an  opposite  quarter,  disappeared  in 
the  bush.  The  man  now  made  a strenuous 
effort  to  seize  his  gun,  but  on  attempting  to 
rise  he  fell,  his  ankles  being  apparently  with- 
out power.  However,  he  got  the  musket,  and 
crept  to  the  pool  to  drink,  determined,  if  the 
lion  returned,  to  discharge  the  contents  of  his 
weapon  into  it. 

But  it  did  not  appear.  Then,  unable — with 
his  toes  roasted  by  the,  sun  and  the  hot  rock, 
and  his  legs  flayed  by  the  sharp-edged  grass — 
to  walk,  he  crawled  along  the  nearest  path  on 
1 his  hands  and  knees  on  the  chance  of  some 
traveller  passing  that  way.  This  hope  seemed 
destined  to  disappointment,  when  a country- 
man came  up  and  took  the  famished  and 
crippled  Kaffir  to  a place  of  safety,  where  he 
recovered,  though  he  was  lame  for  life  (p.  188). 

The  lion  was  indeed  in  those  days,  and  for 
many  years  afterwards,  the  king  of  the 
South  African  wilds.  His  presence  had 
always  to  be  calculated  on ; for  at  night  the 
oxen  would  tremble  at  hearing  his  roar,  and, 
if  the  traveller  failed  to  keep  his  camp-fire 
burning,  or  his  thorn  stockade  up,  the  chances 
were  not  very  remote  that,  before  many  hours 
elapsed,  he  would  be  disturbed  by  that  royal 
visitor.  The  progress  of  colonisation  soon 
diminished  his  numbers.  Yet  in  1835-37  the 
lion  was  so  abundant  on  the  route  between 
the  Orange  and  Yaal  Rivers  that  the  “ Yoor- 
trekkers,”  or  emigrant  Boers,  are  said  to  have 
killed  as  many  as  two  hundred. 

A Batlaping  chief,  chasing  a giraffe,  wan- 
dered so  far  from  home  that  he  had  to  pass 
the  night  in  the  bush  without  his  tinder-box, 


which,  in  a day  when  lucifer-matches  were- 
unknown,  was  an  essential  portion  of  a tra- 
veller’s equipment.  The  want  of  this  imple- 
ment cost  him  his  life  ; for  next  day  an 
attendant  found  the  chief’s  horse  killed  by  a 
lion,  but  scarcely  touched,  at  the  spot  where 
they  had  encamped  for  the  night.  Of  his. 
master,  however,  nothing  could  be  seen  except 
his  skull.  Saddle,  bridle,  and  clothes  had  ail 
been  devoured,  while  the  traces  around  showed 
that  a number  of  lions  had  revelled  on  the 
ghastly  meal,  which,  for  some  reason,  they 
seem  to  have  preferred  to  any  other,  if,  indeed, 
they  had  not  been  alarmed  before  the  horse 
could  be  eaten. 

As  for  less  noble  beasts,  they  were  so 
numerous  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  century 
that  the  good  missionary  does  not  think  it 
worth  while  mentioning  them,  except  casually. 
But  all  of  the  antelopes  named  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  zebras,  quaggas,  ostriches,, 
and  elephants  were  still  abundant  even  within 
the  limits  of  Cape  Colony  as  then  circum- 
scribed, while  in  the  native  territories,  long- 
ago  absorbed  into  it,  they  were  everyday 
sights. 

A more  scientific  traveller  than  Mofl'at,  whose 
contemporary  he  was,  appeared  in  1812  in  the 
person  of  l)r.  William  Burchell, 

, .....  ..  ,,  Dr.  Burchell. 

whose  name  is  likely  to  live,  for 
some  time  at  least,  in  Burchell’s  zebra,  a 
species  which,  we  have  seen,  is  generally  mis- 
taken for  the  extinct,  or  all  but  extinct,  quagga, 
and  in  the  also  extinct  white  rhinoceros  which 
he  discovered.  He  penetrated  Bechuanaland  as 
far  as  Chue,  one  degree  north  of  Lithako,  ta 
the  country  which  he  calls  “ Karrikarri,”  but 
which  is  more  familiar  as  Kalahari,  hunting 
the  wild  animals  which  were  everywhere 
abundant  in  the  route  he  took,  and  observing 
their  habits  with  the  eye  of  a trained  natur- 
alist, It  was  his  intention  to  penetrate 
through  the  Kalahari  desert  so-called — 
though  in  reality  it  possesses  many  grassy 
spots,  trees,  and  an  abundance  of  juicy  bulbed 
plants — to  the  Portuguese  settlements  south 
of  the  Congo.  If  he  had  succeeded  in  this 
design,  Dr.  Burchell  would  have  anticipated 


MOONLIGHT  SPORT  ON  THK  SOUTH  AFRICAN  VELDT  SHOOTING  THE  “SPRING  HAAS,”  OR  JUMPING  HARE,  A SPECIES  OF 


186 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Livingstone  by  more  than  forty  years.  Less 
familiar,  however,  with  the  natives,  and  less 
fortunate  in  those  who  accompanied  him,  he 
failed  to  persuade  any  of  them  to  go  with 
him,  the  result  of  which  is  that  this  meritorious 
hunter  is  now  almost  solely  remembered  by 
the  plants  and  animals  brought  back  by  him.* 
Among  naturalists,  however,  Dr.  Burchell  de- 
serves a high  place,  and,  though  the  country 
traversed  by  him  was  only  new  to  a very  small 
•extent,  he  is  not  without  a reputation  in  the 
history  of  geographical  exploration. 

Under  the  British  rule  Cape  Colony  and  the 
neighbouring  countries  were  so  rapidly  ran- 
sacked by  a host  of  travellers  that  we  have 
been  able  to  name  only  the  principal  of  them. 
There  were,  for  example,  Thompson  f in  1827, 
David  Hume  and  Robert  Scoon,  two  Scottish 
ivory  traders  in  1835-36,  and  Dr.  (afterwards 
Sir  Andrew)  Smith  in  1835-36,  who  penetrated 
far  enough  north  to  cross  the  Orange 
River  nearly  400  miles  from  its  mouth,  and 
added  considerably  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
geography  and  zoology  of  that  region.  But 
it  is  unnecessary  to  recall  the  work  of  them 
and  others  in  addition  to  the  names  already 
mentioned,  since  the  tale  they  had  to  tell  is 
pretty  much  the  same  as  that  of  their  pre- 
decessors, so  far  as  the  abundance  of  animal 
life  is  concerned.  This  region  is  noAV  largely 
threaded  by  railways  and  roads,  and  the  seat 
of  a thriving  population ; but  in  those  days 
the  war  between  beast  and  man  had  still  left 
the  victory  with  the  former.  Few  of  the 
natives  had  firearms,  and  the  Boers,  keen 
hunters  though  they  always  have  been,  had 
up  to  that  date  scarcely  affected  the  swarms 
of  wild  animals,  elephants,  perhaps,  and  lions 
alone  excepted  ; for  these  were  undoubtedly 
getting  fewer,  being  killed  whenever  possible 
for  profit,  and  in  defence  of  the  crops  and 
the  flocks,  not  to  speak,  as  far  as  the  lions 
were  concerned,  of  the  flockmaster  also.  But 
large  portions  of  Cape  Colony  were  still 

* Burchell,  Travels  in  the  Interior  of  South  Africa,” 
2 vols.  (1822). 

+ “ Travels  and  Adventures  in  South  Africa,”  2 vols. 
41827). 


little  known,  and  regions  just  outside  its 
limits  were  about  as  unfamiliar  as  Central 
Africa  \yas  until  the  last  twenty  or-  fewer 
years. 

Among  those  who  essayed  to  explore  those 
regions  was  Cap  tarn  James  Edward  Alexander, 
a Scottish  officer  t whose  good 

,,  _T  ° James 

fortune  it  was  to  live  so  recently  Edward 

that  he  witnessed  the  settling  and  JUexander- 
exploiting  of  a large  portion  of  the  country 
which  he  traversed  in  1836-37.  Leaving  Cape 
Town,  he  slowly  proceeded  with  the  usual 
waggon  and  pack-oxen  outfit  up  the  western 
part  of  the  Cape  Colony,  on  the  seaward  side 
of  the  mountain  ranges  which  guard  the  in- 
terior of  that  region,  through  the  country 
now  known  as  the  Western  Province,  Malmes- 
bury, Clanwilliam,  and  Namaqualand  to  the 
Kowsie  or  Buffalo  River,  which  then  formed 
the  boundary  of  the  colony  in  that  direc- 
tion. Crossing  this  stream,  Captain  Alexander 
continued  in  the  same  direction,  across  the 
Orange  River,  until,  bending  seaward,  Walvisch 
Bay  formed  a limit  to  the  northern  course 
hitherto  taken.  The  waggons  were  then  driven 
eastward  into  the  country  of  the  Hill  Damaras, 
through  a region  sufficiently  indicated  by  the 
name  applied  to  that  branch  of  the  mixed 
Hottentot  and  Kaffir  races. 

From  Ni-ais,  a kraal  of  these  people  and 
the  Namaquas,  Captain  Alexander  again 
turned  southwards,  taking  a course  roughly 
describable  as  about  parallel  with  his  north- 
ward one,  but  in  general  over  a degree  farther 
east,  and  arrived  in  Cape  Town  a little  more 
than  a year  after  having  set  out  on  this 
interesting  journey. 

X General  Sir  J.  E.  Alexander,  K.C.S.I.,  died  at  Wes- 
terton,  Bridge  of  Allan,  in  1885,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
two,  after  a distinguished  career  as  a soldier  and  traveller 
in  many  parts  of  the  world,  which  he  had  described  in 
numerous  works.  It  was  he  who,  in  the  evening  of  his 
life,  obtained  the  Khedive’s  permission  to  transport  “ Cleo- 
patra’s Needle  ” to  England,  and  to  his  influence  with  Sir 
Erasmus  Wilson  the  world  is  mainly  indebted  for  saving 
that  obelisk  from  being  broken  up.  He  was  knighted 
for  the  journey  he  made  in  South  Africa  ; but  though  it 
was  performed  under  the  auspices  of  the  then  newly- 
founded  Royal  Geographical  Society,  Alexander’s  name 
does  not,  strangely  enough,  appear  among  medallists  of 
much  less  merit.  But  in  1837  there  were  giants  in  the  land. 


CAPTAIN  ALEXANDER'S  EXPEDITION. 


1S7 


Throughout  the  whole  of  his  exploration 
lie  was  seldom  out  of  sight  of  big  game. 
Even  within  Cape  Colony  large  animals  were 
so  plentiful  that  the  worthy  Captain  takes 
credit  to  himself  for  not  attempting  a feat 
of  which  he  had  heard  some  of  his  friends 
boast — namely,  the  “ killing  of  four  ele- 
phants in  one  day,  or  the  same  number  of 
hippopotami  with  the  same  gun  ” ; while 
Boers  were  more  frequently  seen  in  pursuit 
of  steinbuck  than  engaged  in  avocations 
that  might  have  been  more  lucrative,  if  less 
exciting. 

At  the  Heere-logement,  or  Gentlemen’s 
Quarters,  he  came  upon  the  trace  of  a pre- 
decessor ; for  among  other  names  carved  on  a 
tree  overhanging  the  cave  which  has  received 
that  title  was  that  of  “ F.  Vailant,  1783,”  which 
shows  that  this  traveller  chose,  like  Shakes- 
peare, to  enjoy  a variation  in  the  orthography 
of  his  patronymic.  The  very  names  on  Cap- 
tain Alexander’s  map  indicate  the  abundance 
of  wild  beasts.  Here,  for  instance,  on  his 
route  northwards  are  the  “ Lion’s  Moun- 
tains,” and  “plains  with  elands.”  Near  the 
mouth  of  the  Orange  River,  so  full  of  hippo- 
potami that  it  was  dangerous  to  take  a boat 
or  canoe  into  the  places  where  they  were 
most  abundant,  “ plains  with  leopards,  ” 
plains  with  lions,”  “ plains  with  ostriches,” 
“ hills  with  springbok  ” ; “ lions,  rhinoceroses, 
zebras,  koodoos,  springboks,  etc.,”  “ hills  with 
baboons,”  and  “ plains  with  gemsbok,”  all  ap- 
pear among  his  memoranda  before  Walvisch 
Bay  is  reached.  “ Plains  of  brindled  gnu  ” 
occurs  on  the  way  to  the  Xi-ais,  while 
on  the  route  back  to  Cape  Town  there  is 
frequent  mention  of  plains  haunted  by 
rhinoceroses,  koodoos,  liartebeests,  ostriches, 
lions,  and  other  animals  nowr  seldom  or 
never  seen  in  the  localities  where  within  the 
memory  of  man  still  living  they  were  so 
common. 

But  of  all  the  African  animals  of  that  day 
— more  than  lions  and  panthers,  more  than 
lurking  Bushmen  with  their  poisoned  arrows 
— Captain  Alexander  says  that  baboons  were 
most  to  be  dreaded.  This  large  dog-faced 


brute*  five  feet  in  height,  very  strong, 
and  covered  with  . black  hair,  seemed 
to  dread  no  animal  except  leopards,  which 
prey  o/\  it.  It  lives  on  scorpions,  spiders, 
lizards,  bulbs,  and  gum,  with  which  its 
paws  are  usually  smeared.  In  the  days  of 
which  we  speak  they  could  be  seen  almost 
anywhere  in  groups  of  a dozen  or  more, 
headed  by  a large  male,  the  females  bring- 
ing up  the  rear  with  their  young  clinging  to 
their  backs.  In  the  morning  they  would 
descend  from  the  holes  in  the  rocks,  where 
they  had  slept,  to  the  cover  of  the  trees  on 
the  river  banks,  where  grows  the  juicy  gourd 
called  “ naras,”t  on  which  it,  like  nearly  every 
other  animal,  feeds.  Then  its  disagree- 
able “ Quah,  quail,”  is  heard  on  every  side, 
and,  at  the  date  of  Captain  Alexander’s  visit, 
the  borders  of  the  Orange  River  were  not 
altogether  safe  to  traverse ; for  this  hateful 
brute  never  hesitated  to  attack  a man,  if  he 
found  him  alone,  or  even  to  carry  off  a woman 
or  child.  If  wounded,  its  ferocity  knows  no 
caution  (p.  183)  : woe  betide  the  unfortunate 
who  encounters  an  enraged  baboon. 

Lions,  the  Xamaquas  declared,  had  been 
at  one  time  more  numerous : troops  of  half  a 
dozen  were  not  then  so  frequently  seen  as 
some  years  earlier.  There  were,  however,  no 
longer  any  elephants  by  the  River  Olifant, 
which  had  derived  its  name  from  their  former 
abundance  on  its  banks,  and  in  the  Xamaqua 
country  they  had  retreated  several  days’ 
journey  east  of  the  Fish  River.  But  lions,  if 
less  frequent  than  of  old,  were  found  every- 
where, and  of  numerous  shades  from 
almost  w’hite  to  black,  which  led  hunters  to 
insist  on  there  being  several  species  in  South 
Africa,  whereas  it  is  fully  ascertained  there  is 
only  one.  The  two  species  of  rhinoceros  were 
plentiful  on  the  upper  part  of  the  Fish  River: 
and  zebras,  spotted  hytenas,  giraffes,  koodoos, 
gemsbucks,  elands,  hartebeests,  klipspringers, 
springbucks,  and  other  antelopes  swarmed, 

* The  species  referred  to  here  and  elsewhere  in  these 
chapters  is  Cynncephalus  yorcorim,  Ishakma  or  Chacma. 

t Aranthoxicijoa  hurrida,  belonging  to  the  Cucur- 
bitaceae. 


188 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


brown  hyaenas,  wild  boars, jackals, being  equally 
abundant.  Game  birds,  such  as  bustards,  of 
which  there  are  four  species,  “ pheasants  ” — 
as  the  francolins  are  called — and  guinea-fowl 
could  be  had  almost  without  the  sportsman 
moving  from  his  waggon.  Unfortunately,  how- 
ever, venomous  snakes  were  also  so  frequent 
that  the  traveller  carried  a little  air-pump 


humbly  feasting  on  the  same  carcase  as  the 
lion,  these  persecuted  aborigines  of  South 
Africa  have  the  art  of  frightening  away  a lion 
after  it  has  eaten  a full  meal,  leaving  to  them 
the  remainder. of  the  animal.  “ I live  by  the 
lions  ” was  the  boast  of  one  of  them ; “ I let  the 
lions  follow  the  game,  kill  it,  and  eat  a belly- 
ful. I then  go  near,  throw  about  my  arms 


THE  KAFFIR  AND  THE  LION  ( p . 183). 


to  suck  their  bites,  should  any  of  the  party 
get  wounded. 

In  those  days  the  assegai,  or  spear,  was  the 
native’s  main  reliance  ; but  so  skilful  were 
some  of  them  that  a man  named 
runner  and  Henrick  and  his  son  were  able, 
parasite  when  gunpowder  ran  short,  to  run 
down  a zebra  on  foot,  and  spear 
the  fleet  animal  as  they  came  alongside  of  it. 
Yet  it  takes  a good  horse  to  overtake  either 
a zebra  or  a giraffe.  The  Bushmen  (p.  189) 
choose  a less  dignified  part ; for,  like  the 
little  jackal,  which  may  often  be  found 


and  my  skins ; the  lions  go  away  grumbling, 
and  I get  what  they  leave.  I never  kill  lions.” 
Yet  on  one  fateful  day  a lioness  killed  him.  She 
was  making  a meal  of  a wild  horse — many 
of  which  were  at  that  time  at  large  on  the 
veldt — and  he  did  not  observe  that  she  had 
whelps  with  her.  Beginning  to  halloo  in  his 
usual  way,  she  looked  up,  growled  savagely, 
and,  before  he  had  time  to  retreat,  she  sprang 
at  him  and  destroyed  him  on  the  spot. 

At  places,  reputed  to  be  “ sharp  for  lions,” 
Alexander  used  to  lie  down  with  a dust- 
man’s bell — we  are  speaking  of  the  first  year 


TO  BE  HAD  FOR  THE  TAKING. 


189 


of  Queen  Victoria’s  reign — at  his  head,  not 
for  the  purpose  of  summoning  anyone  to 
dinner,  but  with  the  intention  of  frightening 
the  lions  from  approaching  what  might  be 
theirs.  And,  indeed,  it  was  only  when  game 
had  temporarily  left  the  country  that  this 
dreaded  marauder  became  troublesome  ; for 


the  warm  hides,  and  roasting  the  livers  for 
breakfast,  a herd  of  the  magnificent  koodoo 
antelopes  made  its  appearance.  Then,  before 
any  of  them  approached  within  firing  dis- 
tance, a dancing  flock  of  springbucks  engaged 
attention,  and  anon  two  black  rhinoceroses, 
covered  with  dried  mud  from  the  pools  of  the 


WANDERING  HUNTERS  (MASARWA  BUSHMEN),  NORTH  KALAHARI  DESERT. 
(From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  H.  A.  Bryden.) 


at  ordinary  times  man  and  oxen  need  not  be 
attacked.  Antelopes  and  zebras  and  giraffes 
were  to  be  had  for  the  taking: 
of  game°ra  afc  f°ot  °f  the  mountains 

especially  these  animals  were -rife. 
One  day — and  it  was  not  a white-letter  one — 
a cloud  of  dust  ahead  heralded  the  passage  of 
a large  troop  of  wild  horses,  some  of  which 
fell  to  the  hunters’  bullets.  While  the  natives, 
for  lack  of  water,  were  squeezing  into  their 
mouths  the  moisture  of  the  half-digested  grass 
in  the  horses’  stomachs,  cutting  shoes  from 


Chuntop,  in  which  they  had  been  wallowing, 
tempted  a shot;  albeit,  this  thick-skinned  brute 
will  run  away  with  a bushel  of  bullets  in  it,  if 
they  are  fired  at  any  other  portion  of  his 
body  except  the  backbone  or  behind  the  jaw. 
Finally,  just  to  vary  the  programme,  a female 
rhinoceros  that  had  been  wounded  came 
snorting  along  with  a furious  rush,  and,  driving 
her  horns  under  a bush,  tore  it  up,  covering 
herself  with  dust  and  gravel,  all  the  time 
closely  followed — as  the  black,  unlike  the  white 
species,  always  is — by  her  offspring,  occasionally 


190 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


ploughing  the  ground  before  her,  and  evidently 
bent  on  mischief.  What  might  have  happened 
can  only  he  guessed  at ; for  the  hunters,  wheel- 
ing to  the  right,  doubled  on  the  rhinoceroses, 
which,  with  their  deep-seated  eyes  and  limited 
held  of  view,  cannot  see  except  right  before 
them.  This  afforded  the  opportunity  for  giving 
the  dam  a bullet  as  she  passed  and  the  young 
the  chance,  which  they  embraced,  of  disap- 
pearing among  the  bushes. 

The  black  rhinoceros,  though  not  to  be 
attacked  with  impunity,  is,  however,  not  quite 
so  ferocious  as  has  been  sometimes  described, 
its  “ charges  ” being  just  as  often  a desire  to 
escape  some  real  or  fancied  danger  as  an  ex- 
hibition of  actual  vengeance  towards  an  enemy. 
Still,  amiability  is  so  far  from  being  one  of  its 
virtues  that,  excepting  the  rhinoceros-bird 
(Buphaga  africana),  it  has  no  friend  in  its 
native  wilds  ; but  this  bird,  seated  on  the 
brute’s  back  for  the  purpose  of  picking  the 
parasitic  insects  infesting  its  hide,  acts  as  a 
sentinel,  and,  when  any  danger  threatens,  by 
flapping  its  wings  and  uttering  piercing  cries, 
warns  its  friend  of  the  peril  menacing  both 
of  them.  When  the  rhinoceros  and  the 
elephant  have  a difference,  the  former  avoid- 
ing the  trunk  of  the  latter,  makes  a dash  at 
the  latter’s  belly  and  rips  it  open  (p.  183)..  As 
for  the  lion,  it  instinctively  avoids  the  horned 
beast,  and  the  Bushmen  affirm  that,  although 
found  in  the  same  haunts,  they  give  way  to 
one  another.  Yet  the  hyaena,  if  hungry,  will 
sometimes  follow  the  rhinoceros  and,  by  dint 
of  its  superior  agility,  bite  it  in  the  rear,  until 
it  falls  and  dies  of  hunger  or  from  the  attacks 
of  an  enemy  so  cowardly  that  a . cow  can 
successfully  defend  her  calf  against  it. 

In  the  Bull’s  Mouth  Pass  rhinoceroses,  buffa- 
loes, baboons,  and  other  animals  were  plentiful 
in  1837.  Indeed,  they  were  so  almost  every- 
where throughout  the  journey,  although  much 
of  it  lay  over  so  dry  a portion  of  country  that 
the  traveller  often  suffered  severely  from  thirst, 
even  within  a short  distance  of  Walvisch  Bay, 
now  the  only  portion  of  that  region  that  has 
not  fallen  into  German  hands.  But  at  the 
time  of  which  we  write  the  shore  was  entirely 


uninhabited  by  white  men ; yet  the  New 
England  whalers  even  then  frequented  the 
bay  for  killing  the  animals  from  which  it 
derives  its  name,  the  English  whalers  being 
heard  of  only  at  Angra  Pequena;  and  elephants 
were  reported  at  the  mouth  of  the  Swakop  or 
Bowel  River,  a little  farther  north. 

From  Walvisch  Bay,  along  the  arid  route 
eastward,  game  did  not  seem  to  be  so  abund- 
ant ; though  in  the  valley  of  the  Humaris 
rhinoceroses  and  zebras  often  trotted  in  front 
of  them,  and  too  often  the  miserable  inhabit- 
ants were  destroyed  by  lions,  elephants,  and 
other  wild  beasts.  Among  the  Damaras  it  was 
quite  common  to  see  their  herds  and  flocks 
grazing  in  company  with  zebras  and  steinbucks, 
both  of  which  could  be  shot  by  stalking  them 
from  behind  an  ox.  When  a lion  killed  any 
domestic  animal,  all  the  people  of  the  village 
accompanied  the  owner  of  the  property,  in 
order  to  look  on  while  he  slew  the  marauder, 
so  familiar  had  the  Damaras  become  with 
lions  and  the  like.  They  owned  thousands  of 
sheep  and  cattle,  and  every  night,  in  order  to 
protect  them  from  lions,  they  were  driven  up 
close  to  the  village,  though  not  a season  passed 
without  men  and  oxen  being  killed  by  the 
most  powerful,  though  not  the  most  dreaded, 
animal  of  that  part  of  Africa. 

The  natives  were  full  of  tales  of  encounters, 
and  many  of  them  bore  on  their  persons 
ample  evidence  that  these  adventures  were 
not  quite  imaginary.  It  may,  however,  be 
judicious  to  exercise  some  scepticism  to- 
wards another  story  told  by  the  Namaquas 
of  a man  who,  not  long  ago,  had 
brought  up  a young  baboon  and  monkeys, 
made  it  his  shepherd.  ^ “ It  re- 
mained by  the  flock  all  day  in  the  field,  and 
at  night  drove  it  home  to  the  kraal,  riding  on 
the  back  of  one  of  the  goats,  which  brought 
up  the  rear.  The  baboon  had  the  milk  of 
one  goat  allowed  to  it,  and  it  sucked  that  one 
only,  and  guarded  the  milk  of  the  others  for 
the  children.  It  also  got  a little  meat  from 
its  master.”  The  monkey  held  this  office  for 
twelve  months,  and  then,  unfortunately,  was 
killed  in  a tree  by  a leopard,  the  hairy 


CAPTAIN  HARRIS. 


191 


shepherd  having  apparently  not  acquired 
among  his  other  accomplishments  the  art  of 
shooting 

Another  anecdote  quite  as  interesting,  if 
true — and  those  who  have  the  requisite  faith 
may  credit  it — is  of  a little  boy  who  was 
carried  off  by  the  baboons  and  kept  by 
them  for  more  than  a year.  When  recovered 
the  child  was  quite  wild,  and  tried  to  rim  away 
to  the  baboons  again.  It  was  not  for  some 
time  that  he  regained  his  mother  tongue, 
and  then  only  to  praise  the  monkeys  for  their 
kindness  to  him.  They  ate  scorpions  and 
spiders  themselves,  but,  seeing  he  left  these 
dainties  alone,  they  broughtroots,gum,and  wild 
raisins  for  him,  and  always  allowed  the  boy,  in 
acknowledgment  of  his  superiority,  to  drink  at 
the  water  pools  first.  If  some  of  the  stories  of 
baboon-stolen  children  are  true — and  some 
of  them  unquestionably  are — the  captives’ 
treatment  is  by  no  means  always  so  humane. 

On  both  sides  of  the  Ukanip  river  huge 
fires  had  to  be  kept  burning  in  order  to  scare 
. . . off  the  large  number  of  lions 

A lion  land  » 

fanda  leopard  which  roamed  that  country.  Men 
were  often  snatched  from  their 
sleeping-places.  Hence,  in  addition  to  the 
fires  and  dogs,  a watch  had  to  be  set  at  night ; 
yet,  in  spite  of  all  this  care  .the  ravenous 
brutes  approached  and  killed  one  of  the  oxen. 

Between  the  Hoons  and  the  Kubieb  river, 
where  “ much  iron  ore  ” was  noticed,  the 
country  was  uninhabited  and  entirely  given 
over  to  lions,  after  which  another  track 
seemed  to  be  equally  the  monopoly  of 
leopards.  The  latter  were  even  more  de- 
structive to  sheep,  sucking  a little  blood  from 
twenty  in  a night,  and  if  brought  to  bay 
sprang  from  one  hunter  to  the  other,  and 
clawed  their  faces.  This  was  avoided  by  the 
experienced  covering  themselves  with  their 
karosses  and  sitting  down,  the  leopard  in 
that  case  probably  springing  over  them  to 
pursue  the  fugitives. 

Captain  Alexander’s  journey  was  thus  im- 
portant, not  only  for  the  geographical  points 
which  he  noted  for  the  first  time,  but  for  the 
many  natural  history  observations  which  were 


made  and  new  species  of  animals  and  plants 
discovered.* 

About  the  same  time  that  Captain  Alex- 
ander was  engaged  on  his  expedition  along 
the  western  side  of  South  Africa,  wniiam 
another  British  officer  — Captain  Harri^13 
(afterwards  Sir)  William  Cornwallis  Harris, 
of  the  Bombay  Engineers  t — was  hunting 
through  Cape  Colony  and  Bechuanaland  to 
the  Limpopo  or  Crocodile  River  in  Zululand, 
returning  by  an  unexplored  route,  across  the 
head  of  the  Vaal  River,  where  Moselikatse  was 
at  war  with  the  “ trek-Boers  ” who  founded  the 
colony  of  Natal.  On  this  journey  he  heard, 
as  Dr.  Smith  and  others  had,  of  the  “great 
lake”  in  the  north,  which  some  ten  years  later 
Livingstone  was  to  reach  and  render  familiar  to 
the  world  as  Lake  Ngami ; but  Harris’s  journey 
was  not  an  exploratory  one,  in  so  far  that 
most  of  the  country  over  which  he  travelled 
was  already  more  or  less  imperfectly  known. 
He  was  a sportsman,  and  one  of  the  most 
intelligent  and  successful  of  his  order,  who  in 
following  up  the  still  abundant  but  retreating 
wild  animals,  penetrated  and  made  known 
regions  which  before  many  years  had 
elapsed  were  to  be  the  homes  of  thousands 
and  the  scenes  of  flourishing  mining  and 
other  industries. 

But  in  1836  Harris  had  little  in  view 
except  the  slaying  of  wild  beasts : and  these 
he  found  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  conti- 
nent even  more  abundantl}'  than  his  friend 
Alexander  had  discovered  in  the  opposite 
direction.  Nowadays  it  is  a long  voyage  from 
Bombay  to  Cape  Town  which  takes  more 
than  six  weeks  with  a fair  wind.  Harris,  however, 
was  eleven  weeks  on  board  a “ fast-sailing  ” 

* “An  Expedition  of  Discovery  into  the  Interior  of 
Africa,  through  the  hitherto  undescribed  Countries  of  the 
Great  Xamaquas,  Boschmans,  and  Hill  Damaras,”  etc.,  2 
vols.  (1838). 

t In  1841 — soon  after  his  return  from  the  expedition 
he  made  into  South  Africa — Major  Harris,  on  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  declining  to  send  him  in  search  of 
Lake  Xgarni,  was'  despatched  to  Shoa  at  the  instance  of 
the  Governor-General  of  India.  Having  concluded  S 
treaty  of  friendship  with  Sahela  Selassye.  the  king  of 
that  country,  he  was  knighted. — “The  Highlands  of 
Ethiopia,”  3 vols.  (1844). 


192 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


East  Indiaman  before  he  reached  Simon’s 
Bay.  Here  the  pictures  which  Dr.  Smith 
painted  for  him  of  the  vast  herds  of  game 
in  the  interior  fired  the  latest  sportsman  to 
be  off.  Cape  Colony,  at  least  in  the  extreme 
southern  part,  was,  however,  by  this  time 
getting  thinned  of  the  larger  wild  animals, 
and  so  Port  Elizabeth,  in  Algoa  Bay,  was 


long  to  wait  for  game.  Grahamstown  had 
scarcely  been  passed  before  large  herds  of 
springbucks  fired  the  ambition  of  the  inex- 
perienced dogs.  From  Graaff  Reinet,  then  a 
picturesque  little  Dutch  village,  the  Sneuw- 
berg,  a lofty  range  of  mountains  immediately 
to  the  north,  was  crossed  by  Sir  Lowry  Coles’s, 
Pass  during  weather  so  cold  that  on  the 


PARTY  OF  GIRAFFE  HUNTERS. 
(From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  H.  A.  Bryden.) 


selected  by  Harris  and  his  friend  William 
Richardson,  of  the  Bombay  Civil  Service,  as 
their  starting-point  for  the  interior. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  describe  their 
outfit  and  mode  of  travelling.  The  pack-ox 
and  the  lumbering  Cape  waggon,  dragged  by 
many  teams  of  bullocks  (Vol.  II.,  pp.  169, 180), 
and  driven  by  a Hottentot  armed  with  a huge 
whip,  who,  in  his  turn,  is  preceded  by  the 
“ voerlooper,”  or  “ boy  ” in  advance,  are  now 
tolerably  familiar  to  every  reader  of  the  litera- 
ture of  South  African  travel.  Nor  had  they 


morning  of  the  5th  September  the  mercury 
stood  at  18°  F.,  and  the  manes  of  riding-horses 
were  decorated  with  icicles.  But  in  Yogel 
Valley  large  troops  of  the  gnu  were  Amigration 
seen  for  the  first  time,  and  soon  the  of  spring- 
face  of  the  country  “ was  literally 
white  with  springbucks,  myriads , of  which 
covered  the  plains  ” near  Boksfontein.  They 
were  then  on  their  way  from  one  part  of  the 
country  to  another  better  grassed.  These 
“ trek-bokken,”  as  the  occasional  immigration 
of  countless  swarms  of  this  species  of  antelope 


THE  FOUNDER  OF  THE  MATABELE  NATION. 


193 


are  called  by  the  Dutch  colonists,  were,  how- 
ever, by  no  means  welcome.  To  offer  any 
estimate  of  the  numbers  would  be  impossible. 
Pouring  down  like  locusts  from  the  endless 
plains  of  the  interior,  whence  they  have  been 
driven  by  protracted  drought,  lions  have  been 
seen  stalking  in  the  midst  of  this  compressed 
phalanx,  and  flocks  of  sheep  have  not  un- 
frequently  been  carried  away  by  the  torrent 
of  life  that  has  descended  on  the  pastures 
through  which  it  passes.  “ Cultivated  fields, 


Avas  considered  ample  pay  for  a sturdy  beast 
trained  to  the  Avaggon. 

At  Kuruman,  Mr.  Moffat  Avas  visited  and 
valuable  information  obtained  regarding  the 
travellers’ proposed  visit  to  Moselik- 

. . / , ,,  . . . Moselikatse, 

atse,  chief  of  the  Matabele,  Arnan-  chief  of  the 
debele,  or  Abaka  Zulus,  as  they  Matabele' 
Avere  then  called,  Avhom  he  formed  into  a 
nation.  This  celebrated  savage — father  of 
the  noted  “King”  Lo-Bengula  (Vol.  II.,  p. 
178) — played  havoc  Avith  the  emigrant 


AT  THE  FORD  OF  MAI.IKOE,  MARICO  RIVER. 

(From  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Eva  ngelical 
Missions.) 


Avhich  in  the  evening  appeared  proud  of 
their  promising  verdure,  are,  in  the  course 
of  a single  night,  reaped  leA-el  Avith  the 
ground,  and  the  despoiled  grazier  is  com- 
pelled to  seek  pasture  for  his  flocks  else- 
Avhere  until  the  bountiful  thunder-clouds 
restore  vegetation  to  the  burnt-up  country. 
Then  the  unAvelcome  visitors  instinctively 
retreat  to  their  secluded  abodes,  to  reneAv  their 
attacks  Avhen  necessity  shall  again  compel 
them.”  Trading  seemed  in  those  days  to  have 
been  not  unprofitable.  Three  fat  oxen  Avere 
bought  at  Campbellsdorf  for  a glaring  red 
table-cloth,  and  a small  canister  of  gunpoAvder 


Boers  Avho  founded  Natal  and  Avith  the 
Bechuanas.  He  Avas  the  son  of  a chief  Avho, 
being  attacked  and  defeated  by  another 
tribe,  took  refuge  Avith  Chaka,  the  Zulu 
tyrant,  predecessor  of  the  still  more  terrible 
Dingaan,  uncle  of  Cetewayo.  Moselikatse 
(or  Umziligazi),  hoAvever,  succeeded  in  gain- 
ing the  favour  of  Chaka,  Avho  had  just 


53 


194 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


made  a powerful  nation  of  the  Zulu  tribe, 
and  in  process  of  time  was  entrusted  with  the 
command  of  an  important  post  and  a large 
number  of  cattle.  With  these  he  and  his 
people  fled  to  the  north-westward.  Every 
tribe  on  his  way  was  “ eaten  up,”  and  he 
soon  became  so  formidable  that  his  very  name 
inspired  terror  throughout  a vast  extent  of 
country.  Having  completely  subjugated  or 
destroyed  every  enemy  from  whose  opposition 
he  had  anything  to  fear,  he  ultimately  selected 
the  country  near  the  sources  of  the  Molopo 
and  Marico  (p.  193)  rivers — not  far  from  the 
present  Marico  district  of  the  Transvaal — for 
his  permanent  residence,  and  there  at  his 
then  capital  of  Mosega,  or  at  Kapain,  a little 
farther  north,  he  was  residing  in  1836,  the 
terror  of  the  surrounding  nations. 

On  the  way  from  Kuruman  to  Little  Chile, 
troops  of  ostriches  were  seen  feeding  on  the 
boundless  ocean-like  expanse  of  country,  the 
monotony  of  which  was  broken  solely  by 
clumps  of  bushes  and  ant-hills  ; and  at  Little 
Chile,  the  extensive  salt  lake  which  bears  that 
name  was  found  surrounded  by  ostriches, 
springbucks,  and  other  animals,  attracted 
thither  by  the  luxuriant  “ sour  ” grass,  which 
the  cattle  refused  to  eat,  and  a small  pond  of 
water  so  intolerably  alkaline  that  it  was  found 
impossible  to  purify  it. 

Acacia  trees,  gaudy  with  yellow  blossoms, 
and  perceptible  at  a distance  by  their  over- 
a landscape  Powei’ing  aromatic  perfume,  formed 
alive  with  the  favourite  food  of  hosts  of 
giraffes,  while  small  troops  of 
quaggas  and  brindled  gnus  enlivened  a land- 
scape more  pleasing  than  any  which  had 
immediately  preceded  it.  In  1836  the  quagga 
(which  Harris  is  careful  to  distinguish  from 
BurchelPs  zebra)  was  everywhere  common, 
and  seldom  seen  in  company  with  the  true 
zebra,  which  haunts  mountain  regions,  while 
Burchell’s  species  was  generally  followed  by 
troops  of  the  brindled  gnu.  The  Chile 
Desert,  twenty  miles  across,  was  succeeded 
by  a fine  game  country.  Every  hour  brought 
the  traveller  into  regions  where  hartebeest, 
quagga,  and  brindled  gnu  became  more 


abundant.  Near  the  Maritsani  River  (p.  197), 
troops  of  gnus,  to  be  succeeded  by  first  one 
herd  and  then  another  of  zebras,  sassabys, 
and  hartebeests,  poured  into  the  valley  from 
every  quarter,  until  the  landscape  literally 
presented  the  appearance  of  a moving  mass 
of  game.  “ Their  incredible  numbers,”  this 
early  hunter  tells  us,  “so  impeded  their 
progress,  that  I had  no  difficulty  in  closing 
with  them,  dismounting  as  opportunity  offered, 
firing  both  barrels  of  my  rifle  into  the  re- 
treating phalanx,  and  leaving  the  ground 
strewed  with  the  slain.  Still  unsatisfied,  I 
could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  mixing 
with  the  fugitives,  loading  and  firing,  until 
my  jaded  horse  suddenly  exhibited  symptoms 
of  distress,  and  shortly  afterwards  was  unable 
to  move.” 

In  many  of  the  trees,  thatched  houses, 
resembling  hay-ricks,  were  built.  These  the 
traveller  imagined  were  shelters  from  the 
lions,  many  of  which  haunted  the  neighbour- 
hood ; but  they  were  simply  the  habitations  of 
large  communities  of  the  social  grosbeaks 
(Philceterus  socius ),  whose  architecture  forms 
one  of  the  most  interesting  features  in 
the  ornithology  of  South  Africa.  On  the 
Molopo  River  game  was  equally  plentiful. 
To  “ pass  under  the  nose  of  three  rhinoceros  ” 
was  not  unusual,  and  lions  were  met  with 
in  troops  of  five  or  six,  while  other  game  was 
plentiful  enough,  in  spite  of  the  clouds  of 
locusts,  which  ate  up  every  green  thing,  and, 
in  their  turn,  formed  the  welcome  food  of  the 
wandering  Bushmen.  Moselikatse  received 
the  travellers  with  civility,  not  unmixed 
with  a greed  which,  in  the  circumstances, 
had  to  be  gratified.  For  his  power  was 
only  limited  by  the  fear  of  what  might 
befall  him  if  he  behaved  badly  to  white  men. 
Yet  how  little  that  troubled  him  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  he  had  attacked 
several  parties  of  “emigrant  farmers”  and 
traders,  and  had  the  murder  of  several  of 
them,  not  unjustly,  laid  to  his  charge.  On 
their  way  from  Kapain  to  the  Marico  River 
the  mazes  of  the  shady  parasol- topped  acacias 
were  filled  with  the  same  abundance  of  large 


A HEED  OF  ELEPHANTS. 


185 


game,  guinea-fowls,  and  bustards,  and  a plain 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  was  dotted 
over  with  trees,  beneath  which  gnus,  sassabys, 
and  hartebeests  were  reposing. 
preserve1  Giraffes  were  frequently  seen  cross- 
ing the  level  in  little  troops,  and 
quaggas  passed  in  such  cavalcades  that  one  of 
them  would  sometimes  fall  at  each  discharge 
of  the  rifle,  affording,  with  the  still  more 
welcome  white  rhinoceros — which  is  not  white 
— an  ample  supply  of  flesh  to  the  lazy  natives, 
who  hung  about  in  the  hope  of  feeding  with- 
out the  trouble  of  hunting  for  their  food. 
Groups  of  large  deep  pits  for  catching  rhi- 
noceroses were  noticed.  Each  of  them  was 
dug  at  the  end  of  a narrow  path,  cut  through 
the  bushes,  and  fenced  with  thorns — a sharp 
turning  leading  directly  upon  the  trap,  so  that 
an  unwieldy  animal,  being  driven  furiously 
down  the  avenue,  could  have  little  chance  of 
avoiding  the  snare.  The  pits  seemed  to  have 
been  constructed  as  much  for  the  sake  of 
destroying  the  wild  beasts  as  of  catching 
them  for  food ; for  at  the  bottom  of  many  of 
them  the  whitened  skeletons  of  the  animals 
lay,  evidently  on  the  spots  where  they  had 
fallen  alive  and  been  left  to  starve  to  death 
and  their  carcases  to  rot. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Similakati,  the  fresh 
tracks  of  lions  fired  the  eagerness  of  the 
hunters,  not  yet  satisfied  with  slaughter, 
though  the  capture  of  two  dogs,  which  had 
rushed  to  the  river-side  to  quench  their  thirst, 
by  a couple  of  enormous  crocodiles  warned 
them  that  an  enemy  even  more  cruel  than 
the  “king  of  beasts”  had  to  be  encountered  by 
the  unwary7.  Not  content  with  devouring  the 
dogs,  these  loathsome  reptiles  crawled  out  of 
their  lairs  at  night,  and  ate  up  a portion  of  the 
leather  of  the  waggon  furniture,  besides  the 
shoes  of  the  men,  and  would  doubtless  have  dis- 
posed of  the  men  also  had  they  been  accessible. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Bagobone  River,  in  the 
Cashan — or  Magalies — Mountains,  the  first 
traces  of  the  elephant  were  seen  in 
deouamt!"  the  shape  of  acacias  torn  up  by  the 
root,  and  hundreds  of  deep  holes 
made  by  the  heavy  hoofs  of  these  quadrupeds 


during  the  time  the  ground  was  softened  by  the 
rains  ; and  the  perfect  skeleton  of  an  animal 
which  had  apparently  died  on  the  spot,  and 
close  by  three  lionesses  lying  asleep.  A little 
farther  on,  the  banks  of  the  Limpopo  were 
swarming  with  buffaloes,  pallahs,  Guinea-fowls, 
and  ostriches ; and  the  lions  were  so  plentiful 
that  a stockade  had  to  be  erected  to  protect 
the  camp.  The  remains  of  an  elephant  calf 
devoured  by  them  proved  the  boldness  of 
the  brutes,  as  well  as  the  presence  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  tuskers,  which  the  natives 
tried  to  drive  out  of  their  shelter  by  firing 
the  long  grass  on  the  borders  of  the  stream. 
Hysenas,  wild  hogs,  jackals,  waterbucks> 
rhinoceroses,  and  roan  antelopes  were  equally 
plentiful.  And  such  a superabundance  of 
meat  hung  from  every  tree  that  it  was  hard 
to  keep  it  from  the  flocks  of  obscene  vultures 
that  hovered  overhead,  or  the  more  cunning 
h}78enas,  which,  undeterred  by  the  fate  of  those 
of  their  comrades  that  were  slain,  crept  up  at 
night  to  steal  it  or  to  hamstring  the  cattle. 
From  darkness  to  daylight  their  dismal  howls 
mingled  with  the  bolder  roars  of  lions — a 
melody  with  which  the  only  surviving  dog 
never  failed  to  chime  in. 

The  daring  of  the  beasts  in  this  part  of 
the  country  showed  that  they  had  been  very 
little  disturbed.  A white  rhinoceros,  not  the 
most  ferocious  of  its  kindred,  was  even  so 
irritated  at  being  aroused  out  of  its  slumber 
that  it  made  for  the  leading  waggon,  alarming 
the  cattle  by  its  loud  snorting  and  hostile 
demonstrations,  until  a volley  of  bullets  per- 
suaded it  to  retire  to  a suitable  bush,  to  be 
there  despatched.  From  elevated  places  in 
the  Cashan  Mountains  great  droves  of  buf- 
faloes could  be  seen  in  the  valleys  below,  and 
in  the  narrow  paths  that  were  traversed  an 
elephant,  trumpeting  in  amazement  at  being 
interrupted,  was  a not  infrequent  fellow- 
traveller.  At  length,  for  the  first  time  during 
these  travels,  the  sportsmen  saw  a large  herd 
lazily  browsing  on  some  grassy  hillocks.  A 
few  minutes  later  the  whole  face  of  the  land- 
scape was  “ literally  covered  ” with  elephants. 
“ Dar  stand  de  olifant,”  the  Dutch-speaking 


196 


1HE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Hottentot  whispered.  And  at  the  smallest  old  female  and  a calf  were  butchered;  and 
computation  they  must  have  “ stood  ” to  the  during  the  storm  with  which  the  night  closed 
number  of  three  hundred.  Every  height  and  in,  troops  of  them  passed  close  to  the 
green  knoll  was  dotted  over  with  groups  of  waggons  after  dark,  their  wild  voices  echoing 


SHOOTING  DUIKER. 

them,  while  at  the  bottom  of  the  glen  all 
that  met  the  eye  wras  a dense  and  sable  living 
mass,  moving  among  the  trees,  or  majestically 
emerging  into  the  open  glades,  bearing  in 
their  trunks  the  branches  with  which  they 
protected  themselves  from  the  flies.  All  of 
them  were  females,  many  with  calves  following 
them,  and,  in  spite  of  a volley  fired . into 
them  from  a safe  place — for  the  hunter  of 
those  days  was  not  without  the  instincts  of 
a mere  slaughterer — grazed  for  a time  without 
apparently  being  aware  of  anything  unusual 
going  on.  It  was  only  when  the  first  herd 
seen  came  thundering  up  the  valley  that  they 
followed  suit,  leaving  one  of  their  company 
as  a victim  to  the  white  man’s  craze  for 
1 killing  something  ” which  could  be  of  no 
use  even  for  food  in  a camp  already  over- 
supplied, and  of  little  value  to  a wealthy 
sportsman  whose  trade  was  not  the  collection 
of  tusks.  Before  many  hours,  three  other 
large  herds  were  passed,  in  which  another 


■r  ” 

among  the  mountains  and 
^ sounding  like  trumpets  above 
the  tempest.  Then,  as  Captain 
Harris  lay  awake,  “ heedless 
of  the  withering  blast  that  howled 
without,”  he  felt  that  his  “ most 
sanguine  expectations  had  been 
realised,”  and  that  “ he  had  already 
been  amply  repaid  for  the  diffi- 
culties, privations,  and  dangers” 
encountered  in  coming  “ towards 
this  fairy  land  of  sport,”  where  two  cow 
elephants  and  a calf  had  been  killed  rather 
more  easily  than  the  same  number  of  bullocks 
in  a butcher’s  yard.  However,  Captain  Harris 
acted  only  as  many  others  did  after  him.  He 
might,  indeed,  have  killed  many  more,  and 
takes  credit  to  himself  that  one  of  his  quarry 
was  too  old  to  be  a mother,  so  that  only  one 
and  not  several  elephants  were  lost  to  Africa 
by  her  death. 

On  returning  to  cut  out  the  tusks  of  the 
fallen  brutes,  not  one  of  the  great  herd 
seen  the  day  before  was  visible.  Only  a 
solitary  calf  stood  by  the  carcase  of  its 
mother,  saluting  her  murderers  with  mourn- 
ing, piping  notes.  Unconscious  of  how  little 
any  such  attentions  were  due  to  them,  the 
calf  entwined  its  little  trunk  about  the 
hunters’  legs,  demonstrating  its  delight  by  a 
thousand  ungainly  antics,  as  it  enticed  them 
to  reach  the  body  of  its  mother  quickly. 
Already  the  corpse  was  swollen  to  an 


A HUNTER'S  REMORSE. 


197 


enormous  size,  and  surrounded  by  an  inquest 
of  vultures,  whose  b£aks  had  been  unable  to 
penetrate  the  tough  hide.  Little  recked  the 
young  elephant  of  this  unsightly  scene.  It  ran 
round  its  mother’s  corse  with  such  touching 
demonstrations  of  grief,  wailing  all  the  time 
and  vainly  attempting  to  raise  her  with  its  tiny 
trunk,  that  even  the  rude  Hottentots  were 
affected  by  the  conduct  of  this  affectionate 


compunction,  and  divested  him  of  the  idea 
that  he  was  shooting,  as  he  had  so  often  shot 
before,  a merciless  tiger  in  Guzerat.  Finding 
that  its  mother  heeded  not  its  caresses,  the 
miniature  elephant  followed  her  tusks  to  the 
waggons.  It  died,  however,  in  the  course 
of  a few  days ; as  did  two  others,  much 
older,  that  were  afterwards  captured,  demon- 
strating the  cruelty  and  wastefulness  of  life 


ON  THE  MARITSANI  RIVER. 

( From  a I’bolo’jraph  by  Mr.  H.  A.  Dryden  ) 


little  brute.  Then  for  the  first  time  Captain  that  follows  the  slaughter  of  nursing- 
Harris  began  to  regret  that,  in  firing  at  the  elephants. 

herd  yesterday,  he  had  not  felt  greater  The  Cashan  Mountains  seem  in  those  days 


198 


TEE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


to  have  been  what  our  hunter  described 
them — a “ fairy  land  of  sport.”  Elephants 
“ a fairy  were  often  observed  climbing,  with 
land  of  the  agility  of  goats,  to  the  very 

sport'  summit  of  the  chain,  until  at 

length  they  stood  out  in  bold  relief  against 
the  blue  sky.  At  the  sound  of  a shot  a 
tribe  of  pig-faced  baboons  would  emerge  from 
their  sylvan  haunts  to  display  anything  but 
sympathy  with  the  intruder;  and  the  lions 
took  frequent  advantage  of  stormy  nights 
to  visit  the  cattle-fold.  At  that  time,  too,  the 
Limpopo  was  full  of  hippopotami,  dividing 
the  lordship  of  the  river  with  the  crocodile, 
which  gave  an  alternate  name  to  that  stream, 
and  all  along  that  part  of  its  valley  visited 
by  our  travellers  the  country  presented  the 
appearance  of  a huge  unfenced  menagerie — 
the  host  of  rhinoceroses  that  daily  exhibited 
themselves  almost  exceeding  belief. 

Not  half  a mile  from  where  the  waggons 
stood  the  white  rhinoceros  was  so  numerous 
that  twenty-two  could  be  counted  in  view, 
four  of  which  had  to  be  killed  in  self-defence. 
On  another  occasion  Harris  was  besieged  in  a 
bush  by  three  at  once,  and  had  some  difficulty 
in  beating  off  his  assailants.  Buffaloes  in 
troops  might  also  be  seen  from  the  camp, 
glaring  with  “malevolent  grey  eyes”  under 
shaggy  brows  at  the  intruders  on  their  do- 
mains, and  at  times  charging  with  the  fury 
which  makes  these  beasts,  if  wounded,  among 
the  most  dangerous  of  all  the  African  animals. 
The  roan  antelope,  or  gemsbuck,  will  also  at 
times  charge  viciously  when  unable  to  continue 
its  flight,  and  being  the  size  of  a large  horse, 
with  robust,  recurved,  scimitar-shaped  horns, 
its  fury  is  not  to  be  despised.  This  antelope 
is,  however,  so  destitute  of  speed  that  it  may 
be  ridden  to  a standstill  without  difficulty : it 
is  then  that  the  exhausted  beast  turns  at  bay. 

In  those  days  every  glade  in  the  Cashan 
Mountains,  not  very  far  from  where  the  capital 
of  the  Transvaal  now  stands, 
R'iiiti837irg  abounded  with  brindled  gnu,  harte- 
beest,  sassaby,  quagga,  ostriches, 
and  wild  hogs.  And  among  the  sedge- 
bordered  rivulets,  the  reedbuck,  now  extremely 


rare  in  the  Transvaal,  was  common,  while  in 
the  mountain  range  and  its  grassy  environs, 
klipspringers,  rhebuck,  ourebi,  steinbuck,  and 
duiker  (p.  196)  swarmed.  But  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  garrulous  guinea-fowl,  whose 
nightly  cackle  might  be  heard  as  they  as- 
cended the  trees  to  roost,  feathered  game  was 
comparatively  scarce ; a few  bustards  of  differ- 
ent species,  and  sand-grouse — the  “ partridge  ” 
of  the  colonists — were  about  the  only  birds 
observable,  from  a sportsman’s  point  of  view. 
On  the  banks  of  the  Limpopo,  a buffalo  was 
killed  as  it  was  swimming  across,  and  a black 
rhinoeeros,  as  it  got  pent  up  in  a cul-de-sac 
formed  by  an  old  stone  enclosure;  while,  to 
vary  this  amusement  of  slaughter,  a troop  of 
brindled  gnus,  being  pursued  by  a rhinoceros, 
dashed  into  a defile  in  the  hills,  at  the  outlet 
to  which,  the  “hunter”  relates  with  some 
gratification,  he  stationed  himself,  and  “ dis- 
posed of  two  with  each  barrel.” 

As  the  party  proceeded  towards  the  junction 
of  the  Marico  with  the  Limpopo  game  became 
scarcer,  and  the  few  miserable  remnants  of 
the  Bakwarris,  who  had  fled  here  from  the 
fury  of  Moselikatse,  were,  disinclined  to  hold  any 
communication  with  the  travellers.  Even  the 
offer  of  a pinch  of  “ Irish  blackguard  ” snuff’ 
of  which  a plentiful  supply  was  carried,  failed 
to  dissipate  the  suspicion  of  strangers  en- 
gendered by  much  misfortune  in  these  timid 
people,  emaciated  and  even  starving  in  a land 
so  swarming  with  game  as  the  country  im- 
mediately north  of  them,  and  even  in  the 
close  vicinity. 

In  going  south-east  from  the  Cashan 
Mountains,  through  a region  characterised  as 
“ beautiful  beyond  description  ” in  its  flower- 
spangled  meadows  between  rich  stretches  of 
grove  and  forest,  herds  of  elephants  were 
seen  from  the  waggons,  browsing  in  indolent 
security  or  bathing  in  the  pellucid  streams. 
Upon  being  attacked,  they  would  rush,  a 
hundred  strong,  down  the  ravines  with  up- 
raised ears  and  swaying  trunks,  “ trumpeting  ” 
wildly  and  levelling  everything  before  them. 
Nor  did  scarcely  a day  pass  without  the  party 
seeing  two  or  three  lions,  which  invariably 


CAPTAIN  HARRIS'S  JOURNEY. 


199 


retreated  when  disturbed.  For,  however 
troublesome  they  were  found  at  night,  none 
of  the  feline  tribe,  with  very  rare  exceptions, 
showed  at  dny  other  time  the  least  disposition 
to  molest  their  human  visitors,  unless,  indeed, 
the  latter  commenced  hostilities.  It  was  in 
. . the  Cashan  Mountains  that  Harris 

A new  ante- 
lope the  added  to  his  four  hundred  trophies 

the  new  species  of  antelope  which 
has  ever  since  borne  his  name.  This  is  the 
sable  antelope  (Hippotragus  niger),  or  Harris- 
buck,  no  longer  very  plentiful,  except  perhaps 
in  northern  Matabeleland  and  in  the  low 
districts  of  the  East  Coast.  In  the  region 
where  it  was  discovered  it  is  questionable  if  a 
single  specimen  now  exists. 

Passing  the  Yaal  River  (Yol.  II.,  p.  168), 
rhinoceroses  ceased  to  be  seen.  But'  elands 
and  other  animals  akin  to  them  were  still 
abundant,  and  at  places  the  river  “ literally 
teemed,”  to  use  Captain  Harris’s  favourite 
expression,  with  hippopotami.  Lions  were 
also  still  so  abundant  that  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  thorn  fences  had  to  be  erected 
every  night  to  prevent  them  from  attacking 
the  cattle.  So  what  with  the  roaring  of 
the  royal  beast  round  the  waggons,  and  the 
unceasing  snorting  of  the  “ sea-cows  ” in 
the  river  below,  the  vicinity  of  the  Yaal 
was,  in  spite  of  the  solitude  which  then 
reigned  over  all  the  now  busy  region  of 
graziers  and  gold  and  diamond  diggers,  by 
no  means  the  place  for  a nervous  man  to 
enjoy  a night’s  rest. 

At  the  Saltpans,  south  of  the  tributary 
known  to  the  natives  as  “ Nama  Hari,  or  Don- 
kin River,”*  vast  herds  of  blesbucks  licked 
up  the  crystallised  inflorescences,  and  numbers 
of  the  gemsbuck  were  seen.  This  antelope 
Harris  describes  as  a powerful  and  dangerous 
antagonist,  charging  viciously,  and  defending 
itself  when  hard-pressed  with  wonderful 
intrepidity  and  address.  Its  skeleton,  he 
assures  us,  has  “ not  infrequently  ” been  found 
locked  in  that  of  a lion,  the  latter  having 
been  transfixed  by  its  formidable  horns  in 
a conflict  which  has  proved  fatal  to  both 
* Probably  the  Yalsch  of  the  later  Dutch  nomenclature. 


combatants.  Modern  travellers,  it  may  be 
added,  have  not  been  so  fortunate  as  to  see  any 
of  these  struggles  between  the  unicorn  and 
the  lion.  No  doubt  they  all  fight  viciously 
if  brought  to  bay,  though  of  their  ferocity  they 
wot  not. 

On  the  way  southwards  the  emigrant 
farmers,  who  were  on  their  way  to  found  the 
first  of  their  settlements  outside 
of  Cape  Colony,  encamped  on  the 
banks  of  the  Calf  River.  It  is 
needless  saying  that  Englishmen  were  by  this 
time  no  longer  the  popular  persons  with  the 
Dutch  they  were  in  Le  Yaillant’s  day.  On 
the  contrary,  the  Boers  who  had  left  the 
colony  in  dissatisfaction  with*  the  law  freeing 
slaves — Hottentot,  Kaffir,  Malay,  Negro,  and 
sometimes  Bengalee  even — held  Englishmen, 
their  rifles,  and  their  shooting  in  about 
equal  contempt.  Opportunities  for  disproving 
the  Dutchmen’s  low  opinion  of  the  latter 
accomplishment  were,  however,  still  plentiful, 
though  the  gnu  and  the  springbuck  from 
constant  persecution  had  become  so  wild  that 
it  was  necessary  to  display  a red  handkerchief 
on  the'  muzzle  of  the  rifle  to  inveigle  the 
former  within  range.  In  other  parts  of  the 
country  stalking  (p.  200)  was  generally  super- 
fluous ; but  as  the  abodes  of  civilisation  were 
neared  the  herds  of  antelopes  became  sparser, 
and  invariably  less  easy  to  approach. 

Captain  Harris’s  journey  may,  however,  be 
accepted  as  a typical  one  not  only  of  the 
period  to  which  it  relates,  but  as  excellentl}' 
illustrative  of  the  abundance  of  game  in  the 
part  of  the  country  over  which  it  extended, 
namely,  parts  of  what  are  now  Cape  Colony, 
Orange  Free  State,  Bechuanaland,  Transvaal, 
and  Matabeleland.  Besides  skins  and  skulls 
of  all  the  animals  killed,  he  brought  back 
elaborate  drawings  of  the  species  interesting 
to  sportsmen,  most  of  which  were  afterwards 
published  and,  with  his  interesting  narrative, 
form  a classic  record  in  the  history  of  South 
African  pioneering.! 

t "The  Wild  Sports  of  Southern  Africa,  etc.”  (Bom- 
bay, 1838;  London,  1839;  Edition  with  many  Plates, 
1852).  “ African  Views  ” (1838). 


STALKING  BLESBUCK  BEHIND  OXEN. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Man  and  Beast  : the  Beginning  of  the  End. 


Influence  of  Harris’s  Tale  on  the  Decimation  of  South  African  Game — Early  Traders — Their  Ways  of  Life — Gordon 
Cummins — His  History — Boers  and  Englishmen — A Hunter's  Kit — Cumming’s  Journeys — Herds  of  Game  in 
Bechuanaland— Meets  with  Moffat  and  Hume  and  Hears  of  “a  Missionary  named  Livingstone” — CummingV- 
Various  Journeys  in  Bechuanaland  and  into  the  Limpopo  Valley — His  Feats  with  the  Hippopotamus — A 
Vision  of  Blesbucks — Return — Reception — Foolish  Incredulity — Livingstone's  Testimony — Oswell  and  Murray — 
Oswell's  Exploits — The  So-called  Rhinoceros  oswelli— The  Kobus  vardoni  Commemorative  of  Major  Vardon 
and  the  Antelopus  roualeyni  of  Cumming — Lake  Ngami  and  the  Hunters  and  Explorers  who  Made  for  it — 
Galton  and  Andersson's  Attempt  to  Reach  it  from  Walvisch  Bay — Andersson’s  Success — Green — Wahlberg— 
Hemming’s  Hunting  Trip  from  Walvisch  Bay  to  the  Congo — The  Chapmans  and  Baines— -Baldwin  and  the 
Zambesi — Mysterious  Initials — Decrease  of  Game  in  Ngamiland  with  Increase  of  Visits  to  Lake  Ngami — Poison 
— Waddington  and  Aldersley — Selous — His  various  Journeys  and  Discoveries — A Hydrographic  Problem,  etc. 


The  publication  . of  Harris’s  account  of  the 
swarms  of  animals  found  on  the  outskirts  of 
Cape  Colony  marks  a distinct  date  in  the 
history  of  the  battle  between  man  and  beast 
in  South  Africa.  It  fired,  in  the  first  place,  a 
host  of  professional  hunters  and  sportsmen  to 
take  tithes  of  the  vast  herds  of  elephants 
that  swarmed  in  the  country  which  he  had 
visited.  Then,  after  the  fear  of  Moselikatse 
and  his  brother  chieftains  had  abated,  the 
traders’  wagons  trundled  not  only  to  the 
remotest  farms  of  the  “ trek-Boers,”  who  had 
now  begun  in  earnest  those  pioneer  journeys 
into  the  wilds  which  form  so  remarkable  a 
feature  in  the  history  of  South  African 
colonisation,  and  into  the  native  territories 
beyond.  Most  of  the  professional  hunters 


were  Dutch ; but  some  were  Englishmen, 
more  Scotsmen,  while  the  traders  of  the  region 
with  Avhich  we  are  concerned  were  for  the  most 
part  of  British  nationality.  As  a merchant, 
the  Boer  has  never  excelled ; and  in  a bargain 
with  a Scot  the  Dutchman  usually  fares  as 
fares  the  earthen  pot  when  it  comes  into 
collision  with  the  brazen  one.  They  carried — 
for  though  the  trader  is  still  a familiar  per- 
sonage in  South  Africa,  railways  The  early 
and  towns  have  greatly  altered  his  traders 
way  of  doing  business — a little  of  everything : 
and  the  pedlar  of  the  wilderness  who,  after 
he  had  outspanned  his  oxen  on  a Boer  farm, 
was  deficient  in  the  capacity  to  persuade 
Mynheer  or  his  vrouw  to  barter  a few  fat 
oxen  for  some  of  the  commodities  which  he 


THE  LIFE  OF  THE  TRADERS. 


201 


proceeded  to  “ offload,”  could  not,  even  with 
the  large  profits  made  in*the  business,  long 
continue  his  peculiar  calling.  The  life  Avas 
a hard  one,  and  not  without  perils;  and,  as  his 
goods  were  generally  paid  for  in  cattle,  his 
journey  only  finished  Avhen  he  had  nothing 
more  to  sell.  Then  he  sold  the  waggon  or 
waggons — for  the  more  affluent  had  often  more 
than  one — to  his  last  customer,  and  returned 
in  light  marching  order  to  the  colony. 

Picking  up  his  cattle  on  the  different 
farms  Avhere  he  had  left  them,  he 
had,  by  the  time  he  reached  Beaufort 
or  Grahamstown,  quite  a herd  to  dis- 
pose of  for  the  butchers’  bills  Avhich 
usually  took  the  place  of  cash,  but 
which,  as  the  holder  discovered  Avhen 
they  were  due,  were  not  quite  so 
negotiable  as  current  coin.  Many  of 
these  men  possessed  an  almost  unique 
knoAvledge  of  the  country,  and  Avhen 
they  extended  their  operations  into 
the  Kaffir  countries,  would  have  ob- 
tained a name  among  travellers  had 
they  taken  the  world  into  their  con- 
fidence. But  that  is  what  they  seldom 
did.  They  Avere  not  book-Avriting 
folk,  and,  indeed,  were  in  no  Avay 
anxious  to  reveal  to  their  possible 
rivals  the  information  touching  hunt- 
ing haunts,  or  those  “neAv  markets” 
of  Avhich  they,  like  all  people  Avith 
something  to  sell,  were  in  search. 

We  can,  therefore,  do  little  more 
than  indicate,  in  general  terms,  the 
share  these  unlettered  hunters  or 
traders  took  in  opening  up  Africa. 

They  Avere  not  always  pioneers ; but 
they  were  often  the  first  to  folloAv  the 
pioneer,  and  by  inculcating  the  savage 
Avith  a love  of  traffic,  and  teaching 
him  how  much  he  required  for  com- 
plete happiness,  impelled  him  to  labour 
instead  of  to  tight.  But  as  ivory 
Avas  about  the  one  article  Avhich  the  trader 
demanded,  and  the  skins  of  Avild  beasts  the 
only  other  goods  Avhich  the  barbarians  had  to 
barter,  the  fauna  of  South  Africa  suffered 


sorely  in  the  operation.  However,  it  Avas  not 
until  tropical  Africa  and  the  Arab  traders’ 
sphere  of  evil  influence  were  reached  that 
slaves  and  ivory  became  synonymous.  In  the 
Kaffir  countries — and,  it  is  needless  to  say, 
in  the  British  colonies — the  traffic  in  men  and 
women  Avas  not  knoAvn  in  the  days  of  which  Ave 
speak ; and  if  the  Boer  liked  to  have  a servant 
Avithout  paying  wages,  he  did  not  acquire  his 


GORGE  IN  THE  BAM  AX  GW  ATO  MOUNTAINS. 

[From  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 

serf  latterly  by  the  very  crude  process  or 
stealing  him,  or  buying  him  from  somebody 
Avho  had  stolen  the  merchandise. 

HoAvever,  of  all  the  pioneers  in  the  Avake 


202 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


of  whom  the  hunters  and  traders  followed,  the 
most  notable  were  the  missionaries.  Camp- 
bell, Moffat,  and  Livingstone  were  not  hunters 
either  by  profession  or  by  inclination,  though 
they  had  often  to  be  so  by  necessity.  But 
they  were  pioneers,  and  wherever  they  or 
their  colleagues  established  posts,  the  hunters 
and  the  traders  followed  them  and  made  these 
stations  the  centre  of  their  operations.  For 
if  some  of  the  less  generous  of  these  slayers 
of  wild  beasts  might  have  had  the  evil  taste 
to  sneer  at  “ the  missionaries,”  they  always 
found  it  extremely  convenient  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  respect  which  the  natives  had 
acquired  for  white  men  through  the  teachings 
of  these  despised  apostles  of  the  wilderness. 

Among  the  earliest  English  sportsmen 
who  made  a hunting  expedition  after  the 
model  of  Major  Harris’s  was  the 
George3™  celebrated  Roualeyn  George  Gor- 
Gordon  Jon  Gumming  (p.  208).*  He  did 
not  open  up  any  new  country. 
Nor,  immense  as  his  success  was  among  the 
great  game  of  South  Africa,  were  his  ex- 
periences in  any  special  degree  different  from 
those  of  the  hunters  whom  we  have  taken 
as  a type  of  their  class.  But  the  vivid 
manner  in  which  he  described  his  adventures, 
and  the  courage  with  which  he  faced  danger, 
have  given  this  intrepid  Scot  an  enduring 
reputation  among  those  who  warred  with  the 
beasts  of  South  Africa  before  the  struggle 
had  begun  to  show  signs  of  being  with  the 
man.  Gordon  Cumming,  the  second  son  of  a 
Scottish  baronet,  was  born  on  the  15th  March, 
1820,  and  after  leaving  Eton  entered  the 
Madras  Cavalry.  A few  years  later  he  joined 
the  Cape  Mounted  Rifles,  but  soon  resigned 
his  commission  to  take  part  in  the  five  years’ 
hunting  expedition  which  constitutes  his 
chief  claim  on  the  memory  of  the  world. 
His  travels  were  made  in  the  usual  fashion, 
with  ox- waggons,  and  his  pursuit  of  game  was 
usually  on  horseback,  except  when  it  was 

* He  was  the  brother  of  Miss  Gordon  Cumming — so 
well  known  to  the  readers  of  travel  in  many  parts  of  the 
world — to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  some  notes  on  the 
famous  hunter  and  the  unpublished  portrait  on  p.  208. 


killed  as  it  came  to  drink  at  the  “ fountains  ” 
or  pools  after  dark.  Endowed  with  enormous 
physical  strength,  indomitable  animal  spirits, 
and  health  that  never  failed  him,  the  stal- 
Avart  Highlander,  tramping  in  a kilt  and  his 
shirt-sleeves  at  the  head  of  his  caravan,  is  a 
picture  which  old  residents  in  the  Cape  Colony 
and  Bechuanaland  can  still  recall.  Khama, 
Chief  of  Bamangwato  (Yol.  II.,  p.  177),  was 
one  of  the  hunter’s  “ boys,”  and  never  wearies 
of  describing  the  glorious  days  of  long  ago 
— he  means  1843  and  the  years  following — 
Avhen  the  country  swarmed  with  lions,  buffa- 
loes, rhinoceroses,  and  other  game.  Elephants 
roamed  in  profusion,  being  only  disturbed 
by  Cumming  and  a feAv  other  hunters  on  the 
Shoshong  hills  and  in  the  valleys.  Here 
the  tusks  were  left  to  rot,  and  firearms  were 
almost  unknown  among  the  tribesmen,  f 
In  those  times  the  British  Avere  regarded  by 
the  Dutch  settlers  Avith  even  greater  dislike 
than  they  are  at  present.  Indeed,  so  jealously 
did  the  Boers  look  upon  any  attempts  to 
penetrate  what  they  called  “onze  veldt”  (“our 
country  ”) — the  name  they  applied  to  all  the 
Avast  territories  beyond  the  Yaal  River — that 
they  fined  a Mr.  Macabe  500  rix  dollars  for 
presuming  to  recommend,  in  a letter  Avritten 
to  one  of  the  Cape  papers,  a route  to  Lake 
Ngami,  then,  like  the  lake  itself,  not  known 
tc  the  Avhite  man.  The  Transvaal  authorities 
not  only  did  this,  but  they  Avent  to  the  length 
of  imprisoning  the  hapless  correspondent 
until  the  fine  Avere  paid.  It  was,  therefore,  not 
a very  favourable  period  for  Cumming  to 
penetrate  northwards  through  the  districts 
settled  by  these  stubborn  folk,  so  determined 
to  exclude  all  not  of  their  OAvn  blood  from  the 
outskirts  of  South  Africa.  But  suspicion  soon 
vanished  after  a few  minutes’  conversation 
Avith  the  genial  Scot.  For  in  some  Avay  they 
imagined  the  kilted  jager  to  belong,  like  them- 
selves, to  a nation  Avho  had  been  hardly  used 
by  the  English  ; and  when  the  impression  was 
confirmed  by  a glass  of  something  at  the 
waggon-tail,  the  Boer  left  convinced  that  the 
people  Avho  drank  such  liquor  and  Avore  such 
t Bryden  : “ Gun  and  Camera  in  South  Africa,”  p.  257. 


A HUNTER’S  RIG -OUT. 


203 


clothes  ought  to  be  permitted  to  go  where 
the}-  pleased. 

As  a specimen  of  the  varied  outfit  a 
traveller  required  half  a century  ago — and, 
in  the  more  out-of-the-way  regions, 
stiH  requires — we  may  note  some 
of  the  contents  of  Cummings 
waggons.  Besides  weapons  numerous  and 
good,  he  carried  lead  ladles  of  various  sizes,  a 
whole  host  of  bullet-moulds — the  era  of 
cartridges  and  breech-loaders  was  as  yet 
scarcely  in  sight — loading-rods,  shot-belts, 
and  powder-flasks.  Three  hundredweight  of 
lead,  fifty  pounds  of  pewter  for  hardening  the 
balls  to  be  used  in  destroying  the  large  game, 
ten  thousand  prepared  leaden  bullets,  bags 
of  shot  of  all  sizes,  one  hundred  pounds  of 
fine  sporting  powder,  three  hundred  pounds 
of  coarse  gunpowder,  about  fifty  thousand 
best  percussion-caps,  and  two  thousand  gun- 
flints,  with  greased  patches  and  cloth  for  the 
same,  completed  his  lethal  outfit.  Spare 
yokes,  yoke-skeys,  whip-sticks,  rheims  and 
straps,  and  two  sets  of  spare  linch-pins,  were 
necessary  to  the  traveller  who  should  put  a 
thousand  miles  between  him  and  a saddler’s 
shop.  For  provisions,  the  country  was  de- 
pended on  to  a large  extent.  Accordingly, 
the  reserve  consisted  mainly  of  three  hundred 
pounds  of  coffee,  four  quarter-chests  of  tea, 
three  hundred  pounds  of  sugar,  three  hundred 
pounds  of  rice,  one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds 
of  meal  (maize),  one  hundred  pounds  of  flour, 
one  hundred  pounds  of  salt,  a keg  of  vinegar, 
several  large  jars  of  pepper,  half-a-dozen  hams 
and  cheeses,  two  cases  of  gin,  an  anker  of 
brandy,  and  half  an  “aam”  (seventeen  gallons) 
of  the  potent  brandy  known  as  “Cape  Smoke,” 
in  addition  to  -the  simple  cooking  utensils 
required,  water-casks,  or  “ fagie,”  and  tar  to  mix 
with  grease  for  lubricating  the  waggon-wheels. 
To  ingratiate  himself  with  the  natives,  six 
dozen  pocket-knives,  twenty-four  boxes  of 
snuff,  fifty  pounds  of  tobacco,  three  hundred 
pounds  of  mixed  beads,  three  dozen  tinder- 
boxes,  a hundredweight  of  brass  and  copper 
wire  for  wrist  and  leg_  ornaments,  and  two 
dozen  sickles,  were  stowed  in  the  capacious 


waggons,  besides  a good  set  of  carpenter’s 
tools.  A gross  of  awls,  a gross  of  sail-needles, 
fifty  hanks  of  twine,  two  bolts  of  sail-cloth, 
two  dozen  gown  pieces,  117  dozen  Malay 
handkerchiefs,  thread,  needles,  and  buttons, 
ready-made  jackets  and  trousers,  several  dozen 
cotton  shirts,  Scots  bonnets  and  “ cocker- 
nonys,”  a few  medicines,  some  arsenical  soap, 
and  the  ordinary  detergent  article  were  also 
included,  in  addition  to  £200  in  cash. 

This  outfit  was,  more  or  less,  that  of  all 
travellers  bound  for  a long  journey  into  the 
interior  of  South  Africa  who  wished  to  be 
independent  both  of  Boers  and  Bechuanas. 
To  this  day  much  the  same  impedimenta 
would  be  required.  But  naturally  many  of 
the  articles  are  superfluous  in  a country  now 
penetrated  by  the  railway,  and  some  of  the 
lethal  weapons  would  excite  the  derision  of  the 
modern  sportsman,  just  as  those  of  Harris 
were  out  of  date  in  Cumming’s  day,  and  Le 
Yaillant’s  battery  was  quite  prehistoric  before 
the  typical  sportsman  whose  feats  are  recorded 
in  the  previous  chapter  set  forth  on  his  cam- 
paigns. A pickaxe  and  a spade  were  among 
the  most  important  of  Cumming’s  accoutre- 
ments, for  a large  portion  of  his  shooting  was 
done  by  the  side  of  “vleys,”  or  temporary 
water-pools,  and  other  drinking-places,  after 
dark.  At  that  hour  lions  and  other  animals 
came  to  drink,  and  were  potted  with  com- 
parative ease  and  freedom  from  danger  by 
the  hunter,  who  lay  concealed  in  Gordon 
a hole  dug  for  his  convenience,  cummiag’s 
Gordon  Cumming’s  first  journey,  J0urney' 
taken  in  1843,  was  to  Ivuruman,  by  way 
of  Grahamstown  and  Colesberg,  then  a mili- 
tary station  much  in  favour  for  the  good 
shooting  in  the  vicinity  and  the  little  pipe- 
clay in  the  garrison.  We  do  not  hear  much 
of  elephants  or  lions,  or  even  of  rhinoceroses, 
until  the  Yaal  River  was  crossed.  But  when 
in  Bechuanaland,  the  Scottish  hunter  was  in 
his  element.  The  antelopes,  which  ,had  been 
plentiful  throughout  his  entire  trek  from 
Grahamstown  northwards,  now  swarmed,  while 
lions  and  elephants  afforded  nobler  food 
for  his  gunpowder.  At  Kuruman,  Dr.  Moffat 


204 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


was  stationed,  and  here  also  he  found  David 
Hume,  an  old  trader,  who,  after  some  early 
explorations  of  the  country,  had  settled  here 
by  invitation  of  the  missionaries.  Of  Moffat, 
Cumming  had  nothing  but  good  to  tell: 
“ Together  with  a noble  and  athletic  frame, 
he  possesses  a face  on  which  forbearance  and 
Christian  charity  are  very  plainly  written,  and 
his  mental  and  bodily  attainments  are  great. 
Minister,  gardener,  blacksmith,  gunsmith, 
mason,  carpenter,  glazier — every  hour  of  the 
day  finds  this  worthy  pastor  engaged  in  some 
useful  employment — setting,  by  his  own  ex- 
emplary piety  and  industrious  habits,  a good 
example  to  others  to  go  and  do  likewise.” 
Hearing  from  Dr.  Moffat  that  “ a mission- 
ary named  Dr.  Livingstone,  who  was  married 
to  his  eldest  daughter,”  was  stationed  at 


and  the  civilisation  he  had  introduced  the 
attraction  to  the  latter  quite  as  much  as 
the  game  that  swarmed  in  the  vicinity. 
But  learning  that  there  was  an  abundance  of 
elephants  in  the  Bamangwato  country  (p.  201), 
the  hunter  did  not  tarry  long  with  Living- 
stone, who  in  those  days  was  a personage 
entirely  unknown  to  fame. 

Ostriches,  zebras,  and  the  other  characteristic 
animals  of  South  Africa  daily  increased  in 
number,  until,  by  the  time  the  party  arrived  in 
what  is  now  known  as  Khama’s  country,  the 
herds  of  buffalo,  giraffe,  pallah,  wildebeest,  and 
other  antelopes  were  so  numerous  as  to  be 
almost  incredible  to  anyone  not  familiar  Avith 
the  troops  seen  in  the  same  country  by  Harris 
and  the  other  forerunners  of  Cumming.  It 
Avas  in  the  BamangAvato  Mountains  that 


£1,200  WORTH  OF  IVORY  AT  A TRADER'S  STORE  AT  PAXDAMATEXKA. 
( From  a Photograph,  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 


Mabotza,  in  the  vale  of  Bakatla,  about  four- 
teen days’  to  the  north-east,  Cumming 
made  for  that  point,  the  missionary  being, 
in  this  case,  the  pioneer  of  the  sportsman, 


his  first  elephant  Avas  killed,  showing  the 
rapidity  with  which  the  large  game  of  South 
Africa  were  already  retreating  from  the  more 
settled  country.  But  in  this  region  there 


GORDON  CUMMING'S  EXPEDITIONS. 


205 


were  ample  to  make  amends  for  those  which  Cumming  set  out,  in  March,  1845,  on  a second 
nad  been  exterminated  elsewhere.  Herds  expedition,  which  brought  him  again  into  the 
roamed  the  valleys  everywhere,  and  a night  Bamangwato  country,  where  he  soon  bagged 


ON  THE  LIMPOPO  RIVER. 

(From  a Photograph  ta!;en  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 


watch  by  a hole  seldom  failed  to  lay  one  or 
more  lions  low  before  break  of  day.  Buffaloes, 
rhinoceroses,  koodoo,  leopards — every  four- 
legged beast  of  the  country — seemed  to  have 
their  home  in  this  favoured  region.  Even 
Harris’s  elysium  in  the  Cashan  Mountains 
was  not  thicker  in  great  game.  But  as 
Cummings  experiences  were  very  much  those 
of  his  predecessors,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
weary  the  reader  with  a repetition  of  his 
hunting  exploits,  until,  his  men  refusing 
to  go  any  farther,  the  waggons  had  again 
to  be  turned  to  “ the  colony  ’ — though  the 
country  which  he  had  travelled  is  now 
included  either  in  that  division  or  in  the 
Bechuanaland  protectorate. 

After  a short  stay  at  Grahamstown, 


his  fifteenth  elephant,  and  found  lions  “ too 
numerous  to  be  agreeable,”  while  to  kill  five 
rhinoceroses  by  the  side  of  a pool  as  they 
came  to  drink  was  not  regarded  as  a very 
extraordinary  feat  of  venery.  By  the  2nd 
of  February,  1847,  Cumming  was  again  in 
Grahamstown,  laden  with  hunting  trophies, 
and  with  ivory  and  ostrich  feathers  which  he 
sold  for  “somewhere  about  £1,000,”  thus 
largely  recouping  the  expenses  of  his  differ- 
ent journeys. 

A few  weeks’  stay  in  civilisation  was  enough 
for  the  intrepid  hunter,  who,  on  the  11th  of 
March,  started  out . on  a third  elephant- 


206 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


hunting  expedition,  taking  this  time,  however,  a 
short  cut  from  Colesberg,  across  the  Yaal 
River,  through  the  territories  of  the  Chief 
Mahura  to  the  Merisani  (Maritsani)  River. 
In  this  journey  he  was  successful ; but  it  led 
him  to  a considerable  distance  away  from 
and  down  the  valley  of  the  Limpopo  River 
(p.  205),  where  immense  herds  of  buffalo 
were  met  with,  and  pallah  and  waterbuck 
abounded.  Here  also,  amid  a host  of  croco- 
diles, the  hippopotamus  was  seen  for  the  first 
time,  and  an  antelope  discovered  which  he 
refers  to  as  the  Serolomootlooque,  or  Antelopus 
roualeynei,  under  .the  belief  that  it  was  a 
new  species  and  deserved  to  bear  his  own 
name.  It  is  now  very  scarce  on  the  banks  of 
the  Limpopo,  but  is  generally  regarded  as 
simply  a smaller,  more  reddish-hued  form  of 
the  bush-buck.  Here  Cumming 
A 7eTSS  had  one  of  those  reckless  adven- 
tures which  led  untravelled  critics 
to  shrug  their  shoulders,  and  compare  him 
with  Water  ton,  who  rode  an  alligator.  Having 
wounded  a hippopotamus,  he  dashed  into  the 
river  to  secure  his  quarry,  reckless  of  the 
crocodiles  that  made  it  dangerous  to  drink 
at  the  edge,  and  of  the  “ hippos,”  in  no  way 
disinclined  to  resent  intrusion  on  their  do- 
main. “ As  I approached  Behemoth,”  he  tells 
us,  “her  eye  looked  very  wicked.  I halted 
for  a moment,  ready  to  dive  under  the  water 
if  she  attacked  me;  but  she  was  stunned, 
and  did  not  know  what  she  was  doing.  So 
running  in  upon  her,  and  seizing  her  short 
tail,  I attempted  to  incline  her  course  to  land. 
It  was  extraordinary  what  enormous  strength 
she  still  had  in  the  water.  I could  not  guide 
her  in  the  slightest  and  she  continued  to  splash 
and  plunge,  and  blow,  and  make  her  circular 
course,  carrying  me  along  with  her  as  if 
I was  a fly  on  her  tail.  Finding  her  tail 
gave  me  but  a poor  hold,  as  the  only  means 
of  securing  my  prey,  I took  out  my  knife, 
and,  cutting  two-deep  parallel  incisions  through 
the  skin  on  her  rump,  and  lifting  this  skin 
from  the  flesh,  so  that  I could  get  in  my  two 
hands,  I made  use  of  this  as  a handle ; and 
after  some  desperate  hard  work,  sometimes 


pushing  and  sometimes  pulling,  the  sea-cow 
continuing  her  circular  course  all  the  time, 
and  I holding  on  at  her  rump  like  grim 
death,  eventually  I succeeded  in  bringing  this 
gigantic  and  most  powerful  animal  to  the  bank. 
Here  the  Bushman  quickly  brought  me  a 
stout  buffalo-rheim  from  my  horse’s  neck, 
which  I passed  through  the  opening  in  the 
thick  skin,  and  moored  Behemoth  to  a tree. 
I then  took  my  rifle,  and  sent  a ball  through 
the  centre  of  her  head,  and  she  was  numbered 
with  the  dead  ” (p.  209). 

As  the  river  was  full  of  “ sea-cows  ” — little 
herds  of  from  twelve  to  thirty  being  con- 
stantly in  sight — the  hunter  need  not  have 
been  so  anxious ; but  it  was  his  first,  and 
at  the  time  he  did  not  know  where  another 
was  to  be  obtained.  Less  fortunate,  two  of 
his  horses  were  killed  and  consumed  by 
lions,  and  a petty  chief  had  to  be  flogged 
for  imitating  the  lions’  example.  Immense 
herds  of  elephants  gave  variety  to  lion, 
buffalo,  and  sea-cow  shooting.  The  latter 
seemed  more  plentiful  the  lower  the  Lim- 
popo valley  was  descended,  while  the  numerous 
lions  became  so  fierce  that  one  of  the  party 
was  seized  by  the  neck  and  killed  before 
the  brute  could  be  driven  away.  As  for 
elephants,  a herd  of  one  hundred  was  not 
uncommon,  while  black  and  white  rhinoceroses 
were  so  frequent  that  they  seemed  not  to 
have  been  much  disturbed  since  the  white 
hunters  had  first  reached  the  Limpopo.  The 
tsetse  fly  also  now  began  to  cause  alarm  for  the 
safety  of  the  cattle  and  horses.  But  with  game 
so  plentiful,  it  was  hard  to  leave  this  charmed 
valley,  where  animals  of  all  kinds  were  so 
untouched  that  herds  of  zebras  and  buffaloes, 
numbering  three  and  four  hundred,  were 
everyday  sights ; and  antelopes  of  many 
species  were  even  more  abundant  than  they 
were  farther  south.  But  by-and-by  the  tsetse 
became  so  fatal  that  the  cattle  died,  and  a 
messenger  had  to  be  sent  to  Livingstone’s 
station  for  help  to  enable  the  party  to  return 
to  Colesberg. 

Cumming’s  last  expedition  was  again  to  the 
Limpopo,  and  was  as  successful  as  any  of  its 


THE  WANDERER’S  RETURN 


207 


predecessors.  Though  game  had  in  1849 
moved  farther  into  the  interior  than  where 
Harris  had  seen  it,  there  was  still  plenty  a 
short  way  from  the  settlements.  Ten  days 
after  leaving  Colesberg  there  was  no  lack  of 
it,  and  close  by  the  Yet  River  the  hunter 
witnessed  a sight  which  he  declares  to  have 
been  one  of  the  most  wonderful  in  all  his 
varied  experience  among  the  wild  beasts  of 
southern  Africa.  Right  and  left  the  plain 
was  one  purple  mass  of  graceful  blesbucks, 
which  extended  without  a break  as  far  as 
the  eye  could  strain,  the  depths  of  their 
vast  legions  covering  a breadth  of  about 
six  hundred  yards.  Soon  after  this  great 
herd  had  disappeared,  another,  comprising 
thousands,  passed.  Zebras,  blue  wildebeests, 
hartebeests,  buffaloes,  and  sassabys  were  still 
abundant,  and  both  elephants  and  lions 
plentiful  enough  to  prevent  the  hunter’s 
eye  from  losing  its  cunning.  But  Cumming’s 
experience  on  his  last  trip  to  the  Limpopo 
determined  him  to  make  it  his  last.  A Mr. 
Orpen,  who  accompanied  him,  was  dreadfully 
torn  by  a leopard,  while  he  himself  was  pro- 
strated by  fever.  Even  his  customary  luck 
did  not  encourage  him  to  tarry  much  longer 
in  a country  where  he  had  already  earned  the 
title  of  “ lion  hunter,”  albeit  many  a sports- 
man before  and  after  his  day  has  quite  as 
amply  deserved  that  name.  By  this  time  his 
hunting  trophies  had  accumulated  to  such  an 
extent  in  Colesberg  that  it  took  nine  heavily 
laden  waggons  to  transport  them  to  Port 
Elizabeth,  where  they  were  duly  shipped,  to 
the  weight  of  thirty  tons. 

In  England  Cumming’s  narrative  * aroused 
various  feelings.  All  the  schoolboys  who  read 

The  return  h~ and  a11  the  “ rolling  stones 
of  Gordon  wearied  to  be  off  to  Shoshong  and 
Cumming’.  Liippopo  region ; and  there  be- 

fore long  several  went  to  imitate  their  hero’s 
feats.  But  the. more  critical,  though  quite  as 
imperfectly  informed  people,  who  had  never 
read  Harris  or  Alexander,  and  did  not  know  a 

* “ Five  Years’  Hunting  Adventures  in  South  Africa  ” 
(1850;  reprint.  1893),  and,  in  a condensed  form,  “The 
Lien  Hunter  of  South  Africa”  (1858). 


bontebuck  from  a brindled  gnu,  were  ex- 
tremely sarcastic  touching  the  hunting  ex- 
ploits of  the  Highland  laird.  He  was  likened 
to  Bruce,  to  Mendez  Pinto,  and  to  a great 
many  historical  personages  not  supposed  to 
be  martyrs  to  the  truth,  while  Cumming’s 
unconventional  ways  quite  shocked  the  dull 
Philistinish  folk  of  1850.  His  collection 
there  was,  however,  no  disputing.  It  occupied 
a prominent  place  in  the  Exhibition  of  1851, 
and  was  shown  in  many  country  towns  as  “ The 
South  African  Museum”;  and  until  the  famous 
hunter’s  death  and  its  dispersal,  formed  a 
display  of  great  interest  at  his  house  in  Fort 
Augustus,  t 

In  reality,  there  was  little  in  Cumming’s 
adventures  to  excite  incredulity.  Harris  and 
his  predecessors  saw  and  slew  quite  as  much 
game — or  might  have  slain  it,  had  they  been 
more  butcherly  inclined — and  in  many  parts 
of  the  country  the  wild  animals  were  for  years 
afterwards  quite  as  numerous  as  in  the 
districts  scoured  by  the  “Lion  Hunter,”  if, 
indeed,  they  were  not  even  more  plentiful. 
Xo  one  nowadays  questions  Cumming’s  nar- 
rative. Other  hunters  have  fully  confirmed 
all  that  he  tells,  and  among  the  most  pleasing 
testimonies  to  his  veracity  are  those  of  the 
natives.  Colonel  Parker  Gillmore,  who,  under 
the  pseudonym  of  “ Ubique,”  has  won  a good 
name  among  the  latter-day  hunters  of  South 
Africa, J tells  how  he  camped  beside  a “ vley  ” 
where  his  predecessor  had  killed  a great  variety 
of  game.  “ The  old  chief  remembered  him 
well,  and  when  I informed  him  that  I had  seen 
the  big  Highlander  many  times  in  London  and 
elsewhere,  his  wrinkled  face  became  suffused 
with  pleasure.  But  when  I finally  told  him 
that  the  great  hunter  was  dead,  sadness  seemed 
to  overcome  him,  and  he  scarcely  spoke 
another  word,  but  soon  after  departed  to  his 
kraal,  looking — possibly  in  my  imagination 
— far  less  youthful  and  elastic  in  his  gait. 
In  many  parts  of  this  remote  portion  of 
Africa  I have  come  across  natives  who  well 

t He  died  there  on  the  24th  of  March,  18G6. 

X “Days  and  Nights  in  the  Desert”;  “The  Hunter’s 
Arcadia  ” ; “ The  Great  Thirst  Land,”  etc. 


208 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


knew  this  mighty  Nimrod — some  even  that 
have  hunted  with  him,  and  one  and  all  agreed 
that  he  was  the  bravest  and  most  daring  white 
man  they  ever  knew.  To  them  I have  re- 
counted the  principal  episodes  which  he  nar- 
rates in  his  work,  and  which  have  been  con- 
demned by  many  of  his  countrymen  as  utterly 
improbable,  nay,  impossible — but  one  and  all, 
without  a single  dissenting  voice,  attested  to 
their  truth. 

“ Sicomey,  the  father  of  Khama,  now  king 
of  Bamangwato,  when  a 
fugitive  at  Matchu  ping’s, 
told  me  of  deeds  per- 
formed by  Gordon  Gum- 
ming which,  if  possible, 
outrivalled  those  he  has 
recounted  in  his  work ; 
and  I have  often  thought 
that  these  were  withheld 
from  the  British  public 
for  the  reason  that  he 
had  not  authentic  wit- 
nesses to  produce  who 
could  endorse  his  state- 
ments.”* 

But  it  was  not  for 
some  years  after  his  re- 
turn that  Cumming  re- 
ceived a testimonial  to 
his  truthfulness,  from  a 
quarter  whence  the  world  least  expected  it. 
When  the  hunter  visited  Bechuanaland,  he 
received — we  have  seen — much  kindness 
from  Dr.  Moffat  and  his  son-in-law,  Living- 
stone. Moffat  was  then  a well-known 
man,  but  the  name  of  the  latter  was  strange 
to  the  thousands  who,  in  1857,  became 
familiar  with  it  as  that  of  the  greatest  of 
African  travellers.  In  his  first  book  he 
bears  warm  testimony  to  the  veracity  of  his 
much-maligned  countryman.  Letloche,  about 
twenty  miles  beyond  Bamangwato,  was  Cum- 
ming’s  farthest  station  north,  and  as  Living- 
stone was  frequently  visited  by  the  daring 
hunter,  and  heard  from  the  guides  who  accom- 
panied him  verbal  accounts  of  the  adventures 
* “ Shooting,”  November  17th,  1886. 


not  then  published,  he  had  no  hesitation  in 
characterising  his  severely  criticised  volume 
as  an  accurate  description  of  South  African 
hunting.  “ The  native  guides  learnt,”  he  tells 
us,  referring  to  the  sportsmen  who  preceded 
or  followed  Cumming,  “ to  depend  implicitly 
on  the  word  of  an  Englishman  for  the  subse- 
quent payment  of  their  services,  and  they 
gladly  went  for  five  and  six  months  to  the 
north,  enduring  all  the  hardships  of  a very 
trying  mode  of  life,  with  little  else  but  meat 
of  game  to  subsist  on 
— nay,  they  willingly 
travelled  seven  or  eight 
hundred  miles  to  Gra- 
hamstown,  receiving  for 
wages  only  a musket 

worth  fifteen  shillings. 
Only  one  man  ever  de- 
ceived them ; and  as  I 
believed  that  he  was 
afflicted  with  greediness 
to  a slight  degree  of 

insanity,  I upheld  the 
honour  of  the  English 
name  by  paying  his 
debts.”  Before  Cumming 
left  Africa  he  met,  at 
Colesberg  and  other 
places,  with  Mr.  William 
Cotton  Oswell  and  Mr. 
Mungo  Murray,  names  before  long — like  those 
of  Mr.  Webb  (p.  210)  and  Colonel'  Steele, 
two  other  South  African  sportsmen  of  about 
the  same  period — to  be  linked  with  that  of 
Livingstone  in  the  exploration  of  South 

Africa.  Like  Major  Vardon,  who 
also  had  (in  1848)  visited  the  °M^aynd 
Limpopo,  these  sportsmen  had 
made  their  head-quarters  at  the  mission 

stations  in  the  game  country.  Mr.  Oswell 
(Vol.  II.,  p.  225)  had  entered  the  Madras 
Civil  Service  early  in  life,  but  his  health 
failing,  he  was,  like  so  many  others  in  like 
case,  ordered  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to 
recruit.  This  he  did  to  such  good  purpose 
that  he  lived  to  the  age  of  seventy-five,  one 
of  the  halest  of  English  country  gentlemen. 


ROUALEYN  GEORGE  GORDON  CUMMING. 


GORDON'  CUMMING’8  ADVENTURE  WITH  THE  HIPPOPOTAMUS  (p.  LOG. 

54 


210 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


He  spent  the  best  part  of  five  years  in 
Africa,  hunting  over  tracts  now  the  site  of 
farms  and  towns,  but  at  that  time  a haunt  of 
wild  beasts.  When  Livingstone  determined 
to  cross  the  Kalahari,  until  then  supposed 
to  be  impassable  (Vol.  II.,  p.  183),  Oswell 
and  Murray  returned  from  England  in  order 
to  accompany  him.  They  therefore  deserved, 
and  have  always  obtained,  part  of  the  credit 
due  for  the  discovery  of  Lake  Xgami, 
though,  indeed,  as  nearly  every  traveller  in 
Bechuanaland  had  for  nearly  half  a century 


W.  F.  WEBB. 

(From  a Photograph  by  D.  Battenhaussen,  Port  Elizabeth.) 

heard  more  or  less  accurate  native  gossip 
about  this  sheet,  a less  definite  term  than 
“ discovery  ” would  apply  to  their  reaching 
the  goal  for  which  they  set  out.  Oswell 
and  Murray,  indeed,  bore  the  greater  part  ot 
the  expenses  attendant  on  the  journey  ; and, 
apart  from  the  geographical  results  of  their 
travels,  they  opened  up  a region  which  has 
ever  since  been  the  only  one  in  Africa  that 
bears  any  resemblance  to  the  country  which 
the  earlier  hunters  saw  in  the  Cape,  Orange 
Free  State,  Bechuanaland,  Transvaal,  and 
in  the  Limpopo  Valley. 

Unhappily  for  the  persecuted  fauna  of 
Africa,  the  last  of  these  places  of  refuge  was 
from  that  date  invaded  by  an  ever-increasing 
crowd  of  sportsmen.  Oswell  was  the  most 


modest  of  men.  No  persuasion  could  induce 
him  to  put  on  record  any  of  his  interesting 
experiences,  though  every  trophy  from  Africa, 
South  America,  and  other  countries  in  which 
this  valiant  “Shikari”  had  pursued  wild 
beasts,  with  which  his  house  at  Groombridge, 
near  Tunbridge  Wells,  was  decorated,  re- 
called an  adventure.  It  was  Livingstone  and 
his  two  friends  who  discovered  the  lechwe 
antelope  ( Kobus  lechee)  in  the  region  near 
the  Botletli  River,  where  it  is  still  common. 
The  pookoo  ( Kobus  vardoni ) of  the  same 
country,  though  now  extremely  rare,  bears 
the  name  of  another  sportsman  who  also  died 
without  putting  the  world  into  his  debt. 

The  kuabaoba,  or  straight-horned  rhinoceros 
(R.  oswelli),  is,  however,  not  a permanent 
species  (p.  183),  but  a variety  of  the  black 
one.  This  is  to  be  regretted,  for  the  man 
after  whom  it  was  named  deserved  the 
fame  which  zoology  has  to  bestow,  albeit 
he  played  sore  havoc  among  the  African 
ferte.  For  years  after  he  left  Bechuanaland 
the  natives  and  the  professional  hunters  used 
to  talk  of  the  courage  and  skill  with  which 
he  hunted  the  elephant.  No  such  adept  ever 
came  into  the  country ; and  when  the  Kaffirs 
wished  to  flatter  Livingstone,  they  would  tell 
him  that  if  he  had  not  been  a missionary  he 
would  “have  been  just  like  Oswell.”  For  up 
to  that  date  he  was  the  only  European  who 
hunted  without  dogs.  A few  yelping  curs 
easily  distract  the  attention  of  the  tusker  and 
render  him  incapable  of  attending  to  man. 
He  endeavours  to  crush  them  by  falling  on 
his  knees,  and  sometimes  places  his  forehead 
against  a tree  ten  inches  in  diameter,  and 
pushes  it  before  him.  The  only  danger  to  the 
hunter  is,  that  the  dogs  may  run  towards  him 
and  bring  the  elephant  along  with  them. 

Oswell  had  been  known  to  kill  four  large 
old  males  in  one  day,  bearing  in  their 
jaws  ivory  worth  one  hundred  guineas.  His 
narrow  escapes  were  many.  When  on  the 
banks  of  the  Zouga  (Botletli),  in  1850,  he 
pursued  an  elephant  into  the  dense  thorny 
bushes  on  the  margin  of  the  river.  As  he 
followed  it  through  a narrow  pathway,  he  saw 


FRANCIS  GALTON  AND  CARL  ANDERSSON. 


211 


his  quarry  (of  whose  tail  he  had  but  got 
glimpses  before)  reversing  the  part  of  hunter 
and  hunted.  As  the  beast  turned  and  rushed 
on  him,  he  had  no  time  to  effect  a passage. 
The  hunter  therefore  tried  to  dismount ; but 
in  doing  so  he  was  thrown  on  the  ground,  with 
his  face  upwards  to  the  elephant,  which,  being 
in  full  chase,  still  went  on.  Mr.  Oswell,  seeing 
the  huge  forefoot  of  the  animal  about  to 
descend  on  his  legs,  parted  them  and  drew  in 
his  breath,  as  if  to  resist  the  fatal  pressure 
of  the  other  foot,  which  he  expected  would 
next  moment  crush  his  body.  Happily,  how- 
ever, the  whole  length  of  the  infuriated  beast 
passed  over  him,  and  he  escaped  unhurt.  A 
similar  experience  is  in  the  repertory  of 
Mr.  Selous.  In  both  cases,  it  is  perhaps 
needless  to  add  that,  as  when  Livingstone 
was  thrown  down  by  a lion,  the  length  of 
time  occupied  by  the  incident  seemed  a good 
deal  longer  than  it  took  in  actual  seconds. 

The  discovery  of  the  character  of  the  Kala- 
hari, and  of  the  multitude  of  elephants  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Ngami,  soon  brought  numbers 
Lake  Ngami  ^unters  and  traders  on  the  scene, 

and  its  until  the  lake  and  the  surrounding 
hunters:  . , , , 

Gaiton  and  region  became  one  of  the  best 
Andersson.  known  Qf  the  Cape  border-lands. 
Explorers  also,  in  an  age  when  inner  Africa  was 
far  from  the  familiar  field  it  is  nowadays, 
began  to  think  of  a region  then  regarded 
with  much  the  same  feelings  that  the  more 
northern  lake-land  was  a few  years  later. 

Among  these  was  Francis  Gaiton*  still 
active  in  scientific  work,  but  in  1850  only 
known  as  a young  man  anxious  to  effect 
an  exploration  from  South-West  Africa  to 
the  lake  just  discovered  by  Livingstone.  He 
was  not  a hunter  in  the  sense  that  the 

* Francis  Gaiton  was  bom  at  Duddeston  in  1822,  and 
educated  at  King  Edward’s  School.  Birmingham.  After 
studying  medicine,  he  graduated.  in  1844,  M.A.  at 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  A visit  to  northern  Africa 
stimulated  him  to  undertake  the  expedition  which  forms 
his  chief  claim  to  rank  among  travellers.  Since  1852  he 
has  devoted  himself  to  meteorology,  the  problems  of 
heredity,  finger-marks,  and  allied  subjects,  which,  as  a 
grandson  of  Erasmus  Darwin,  he  may  be  considered  to 
have  a family  claim  to  investigate. 


word  has  been  used  in  these  pages.  But 
his  companion,  Carl  Johan  Andersson,  was 
both  a sportsman  and  a naturalist.  A Swede 
by  birth, f though,  it  is  understood,  the  son 
of  an  English  sportsman  who,  under  the 
name  of  “ L.  Lloyd,”  passed  many  years  in 
Scandinavia,  he  came  to  England  with  a 
large  collection  of  living  animals  and  speci- 
mens, by  the  sale  of  which  he  intended  to 
defray  the  cost  of  a journey  to  the  hunter’s 
paradise  of  South  Africa,  when  he  heard 
of  Mr.  Galton’s  intended  journey  and  his 
willingness  to  permit  him  to  join  in  it. 

Their  travels,  which  began  in  August, 
1850,  at  Walvisch  Bay,  were  intended  to  ex- 
plore the  Damara  and  Ovampo  countries, 
the  unknown  districts  between  Namaqualand 
and  Benguela,  and,  if  possible,  reach  Lake 
Ngami  from  the  west.  This  programme, 
owing  to  the  disturbed  condition  of  the 
region  nearest  them,  was  only  partially  carried 
out.  Erongo,  a curiously  shaped  mountain, 
was,  however,  visited  and  examined,  and  a 
new  country,  not  seen  by  Alexander  and 
their  other  predecessors,  entered  upon  in 
March,  1851.  Finally,  in  spite  of  the  warnings 
received  and  the  visible  evidences  they  were 
constantly  coming  across  of  the  Namaquas’ 
ruthlessness,  they  reached  Ovampoland,  then 
almost  entirely  unknown.  But  any  eagerness 
they  felt  to  explore  the  Cuncne  River,  or  the 
lands  towards  the  east,  was  thwarted  by  the 
peremptory  refusal  of  the  Ovampo  chief  to 
permit  his  white  visitors  to  go  farther  than 
his  capital.  Accordingly,  to  Walvisch  Bay 
they  were  forced  to  return.  This  was  the  last 
essay  of  Mr.  Gaiton  in  African  or  other  ex- 
ploration, though  his  pleasant  narrative  t 
obtained  for  him  one  of  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society’s  medals,  which  had  been 
denied  to  Alexander  and  to  Harris. 

Andersson,  however,  could  not  bear  to 
return  without  accomplishing  the  feat  on 
which  he  had  set  his  heart.  In  this  he 
succeeded.  He  reached  Lake  Ngami,  and 

t He  was  born  in  1827,  at  Elfsdalen,  in  Wermland. 

t “ Narrative  of  an  Explorer  in  Tropical  South  Africa  ” 
(1853  ; new  edition,  1892). 


212 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


explored  tlie  Okavango  River,  now  known  to 
be  connected  with  the  Zambesi  basin.  Taking 
to  hunting  as  a profession,  he  built  a camp 
for  himself  and  another  celebrated  sportsman, 


FRANCIS  GALTON. 


Frederick  Green,  in  Ovampoland.  Being 
foolish  enough  to  join  in  a war  between 
Green  the  Damaras  and  Namaquas,  he 
wahiberg-,  was  rescued  by  Green,  who  found 
Hemmmg's.  ]y|ng  WOunded  in  the  path  of 

the  enemy,  and,  after  lying  between  life 
and  death,  rose  a cripple,  to  begin  his  last 
journey  in  an  ox-cart.  Accompanied  by 
Ericsson,  a Swedish  hunter,  he  reached  the 
long-sought-for  Cunene,  but  he  was  seized 
with  dysentery  and  died,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ovakuambi,  on  the  5th  of  July,  1867.  His 
grave  is  still  pointed  out  by  the  natives,  who 
have  enclosed  the  last  resting-place  of  the 
hapless  Scandinavian  by  a hedge  of  thorns.* 
Andersson  found  animal  life  abundant  in 
all  the  country  over  which  he  travelled, 
and  as  a slayer  of  the  elephant  and  lion 
he  had  scarcely  a superior  among  his 
contemporaries.  Meanwhile,  however,  Lake 
Ngami,  by  the  multitude  of  wild  beasts  that 

* “ Lake  Ngami ; or,  Explorations  and  Discoveries  in 
South-Western  Africa’1  (1855):  “The  Okavango  River” 
(1861)  : “ The  Lion  and  Elephant”  (1873)  ; “ The  Birds  of 
Damaraland  ” (1872) ; the  two  latter  being  posthumous. 


surrounded  it,  had  attracted  more  sportsmen 
than  any  other  part  of  South  Africa.  As  early 
as  1855,  Green  and  Wilson,  accompanied  by 
the  Swedish  naturalist,  Wahiberg,  reached 
it  and  ascended  the  Botletli,  while  the  lake 
itself  was  completely  circumnavigated  by  the 
well-known  hunter  and  trader,  Chapman, 
who  made  several  trips  between  it  and 
Walvisch  Bay. 

Wahiberg  was  a Swede,  who  arrived  in 
South  Africa  in  1838,  and  gradually  extended 
his  expeditions  beyond  Zululand  on  to  the 
Limpopo,  being  for  a time  accompanied  by 
Delegorque,  a French  naturalist.  In  1845  he 
returned  to  Sweden.  But  he  was  in  Africa 
again  in  1853,  charmed  by  the  thought  that 
in  the  new  country  discovered  by  Livingstone 
he  would  have  a virgin  field  for  hunting  and 
natural-history  exploration.  In  Ngamiland, 
however,  the  Swede  met  his  death.  After  many 
narrow  escapes,  he  was  trampled  to  death  near 
the  Tamalakan  River,  by  an  elephant  which 
he  had  tried  to  stalk  on  foot.  He  was  a skilful 
hunter,  having  within  a few  hours  killed  four 
elephants,  besides  wounding  a fifth ; but  he 
was  foolhardy,  and  met  the  fate  which  he 


CARL  JOHAN  ANDERSSON. 


had  often  foretold  for  himself.  Many  years 
later,  Mr.  Hemmings,  an  English  sportsman, 
accomplished  what  Andersson  and  Galton 
failed  in  doing;  for  in  1884,  accompanied 


PIONEER  TREKKERS  TO  THE  NORTH. 


213 


by  a Dutch  hunter,  this  gentleman,  without 
self-advertisement,  or,  indeed,  ever  publishing 
the  fact,  succeeded  in  passing  from  Walvisch 
Bay  to  the  Congo  at  Yivi. 

By-and-by,  however,  even  Lake  Ngami 
ceased  to  be  very  far.  in  the  outer  wild ; and, 
with  the  number  of  visitors  intent  on  killing, 
the  elephant  and  other  game  became  not 


Livingstone  and  clearing  himself  from  the  in- 
justice done  him  (Vol.  II.,  p.  238) : while  the 
Chapmans,  who  had  already  journeyed  to  and 
from  Lake  Ngami  more  than  once,  were 
travelling  in  the  way  of  business.  The  route 
they  took  was  tolerably  well  known,  being 
the  ordinary  track  by  Elephant  Fountain, 
Reit  Fountain  (Tounobis),  and  Lake  Ngami, 


8a  • ' 

s , ) 

R2E1 

CLEANING  HEADS  AFTER  AN  ELAND  HUNT. 
( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  H.  A.  Bryden.) 


quite  so  plentiful  as  it  was  in  the  years  im- 
mediately succeeding  its  discovery.  Nor  were 
the  natives  quite  so  simple.  Accordingly, 
when  Livingstone  reported  the  Zambesi  flow- 
ing through  Africa  farther  to  the  north,  the 
hunter  and  trader’s  “ trek  ” began  to  move 

in  that  direction.  Among  the 
chapmans,  pioneers  who  essayed  this  journey 
Baldwin' and  were  Thomas  Baines  and  the  two 

the  Zambesi.  . 

Chapmans  m 1861.  The  first  was 
instigated  to  undertake  this  journey  from 
Walvisch  Bay  in  the  hope  of  meeting 


and  thence  across  the  Tamalakan  by 
Kounyara,  Gerufa,  and  Daka  to  the  Victoria 
Falls,  where  they  arrived  on  the  23rd  of  July, 
1862,  less  than  sixteen  months  after  setting 
out  from  Walvisch  Bay  on  their  leisurely 
journey.*  Even  then  the  game  in  the  Ngami 

* Baines : “ Explorations  in  South-West  Africa,  etc.'’ 
(18(54);  Chapman  : ‘‘Travels  in  the  Interior  of  South 
Africa,  comprising  Fifteen  Years’  Hunting  and  Trading, 
with  Journeys  across  the  Continent  from  Natal  to  Wal- 
visch Bay,  etc.”  (1868).  James  Chapman  did  not  consider 
that  his  share  in  this  and  other  expeditions  had  received 
that  full  acknowledgment  which  they  deserved. 


214 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Lake  land  had  begun  to  diminish.  The  first 
travellers  had  found  it  so  abounding  with 
herds  of  antelopes  that  they  never  thought 
of  killing  domestic  cattle  after  reaching  that 
country.  The  Botletli  banks  at  that  time 
teemed  with  elephants,  and  the  deserted  places 
of  1862  were  then  alive  with  other  game.  Now 
scarcely  a buck  was  to  be  obtained  without 
searching  for  it,  and  the  labour  of  procuring 
food  consumed  much  of  the  time  that 
should  have  been  devoted  to  other  work. 

Baines  evidently  believed  that  he  and  his 
companions  were  the  first  travellers  who  had 
visited  the  Falls  since  Livingstone  discovered 
them  in  1855  ; and  he  tells  us  that  he  read  on 
a tree  above  the  cataract  “ the  letters  D L 
1855,  and  below  them  C L 1860,  with  the 
broad  arrow  of  the  Government  cut  beneath 
them,”  The  “C  L”  stood,  no  doubt,  for  Charles 
Livingstone.  But  in  1862  there  ought  to  have 
been  on  the  tree  “ W CB”  in  addition ; for  two 
years  before  Baines  and  the  Chapmans  arrived, 
the  famous  hunter,  William  Charles  Baldwin, 
had  reached  the  Zambesi  from  Natal,  and,  he 
tells  us,  cut  his  initials  “ on  a tree  on  the  island 
above  the  Falls,  just  below  Dr.  Livingstone’s, 
as  being  the  second  European  ” who  had 
reached  them,  and  the  first  from  the  East 
Coast.  There  can  be  no  mistake  about 
the  locality ; for  Livingstone  told  Baldwin  that 
it  was  “the  only  place  from  the  West  Coast 
to  the  East  where  he  had  the  vanity  to  cut 
his  initials.”  Again,  to  render  this  curious 
omission  more  puzzling,  Baldwin  assures 
us*  that  from  the  date  of  the  discovery  of 
the  Falls  “ to  this  [1860],  with  the  exception 
of  Livingstone’s  party,  no  European  but  my- 
self has  found  his  way  thither.”  Poison,  a 
trader,  tried  in  the  same  year  to  reach  Wal- 
visch  Bay  from  the  Zambesi  with  waggons;  and 
a few  years  later  the  river  was  not.  only  visited 
by  hunters  from  Natal,  but  the  continent 
crossed  from  the  Falls  to  the  West  Coast. 
But,  as  these  journeys  were  over  the  colonies, 
it  has  not  been  considered  proper  to  include 
them  among  the  passages  from  sea  to  sea 

* Baldwin  : African  Hunting  and  Adventure  from 

Natal  to  the  Zambesi/’  etc.  (1862). 


across  the  broader  and  less-explored  region 
farther  north. 

Baldwin,  whose  name  has  just  been 
mentioned,  may  be  regarded  as  a pupil  of 
Gordon  Cumming;  for  it  was  that  hunter’s 
book  Avhich  instigated  him,  after  an  unsettled 
life  at  home,  to  roam  South  Africa  from  1852 
to  1860  in  search  of  the  wild  animals  still 
numerous  as  late  as  the  last-named  year.  His 
trips  took  him  mainly  into  the  “ hinterland  ” of 
the  East  Coast,  St.  Lucia  Bay,  Zululand,  the 
Amatonga  country,  Transvaal,  Lake  Ngami, 
and  latterly,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  Zam- 
besi. But  even  then  English  sportsmen 
were  wandering  very  far  afield ; for  on  his 
way  back  Baldwin  met  Messrs.  Waddington 
and  Aldersley,  who  had  pushed  on  from 
Angra  Pequena,  on  the  West  Coast,  to  Lake 
Ngami,  through  Great  Namaqua  and  Damara 
lands,  and  were  then  on  their  way  to  the 
Cape. 

The  hunting  adventures  of  these  and  the 
other  sportsmen  of  that  epoch  are  full  of 
interest.  They  found  endless  elephants  and 
other  large  game  to  kill ; but,  after  what  has 
been  already  described,  a narrative  of  what 
they  did  would  prove  somewhat  monotonous. 
Accordingly,  it  is  needless  saying  more 
than  that  what  Alexander  and  Harris  and 
Gordon  Cumming  saw,  Baldwin  and  his 
successors,  to  the  close  of  Selous’  hunting 
career  in  South  Afi'ica,  also  saw  and  took 
part  in,  though  every  year  to  a less  and  less 
extent.  The  lions  and  elephants  got  fewer, 
and  the  vast  troops  of  zebras  and  giraffes 
rarer  and  rarer  and  thinner  and  thinner. 
Even  the  blesbucks  and  the  bontebucks  ceased 
to  migrate  in  their  countless  thousands ; and 
it  is  certain  that  the  latter-day  hunters 
no  longer  found  the  rhinoceros  a “perfect 
nuisance,”  while  every  animal,  when  not  killed 
oft’  the  face  of  the  land,  retired  farther  and 
farther  into  the  few  retreats  left  in  a much- 
ransacked,  much-prospected,  much-“  trekked  ” 
over  country.  It  would  be  idle,  even  were  it 
possible,  to  recount  the  many  sportsmen  who 
helped  to  decimate  the  South  African  ferae. 
Few  of  them  added  anything  to  our  actual 


FREDERICK  SELOUS. 


215 


knowledge  of  the  region  they  travelled  over  ;* 
most  of  them  did  not  penetrate  farther  than 
the  well-known  hunting-grounds,  and  only  a 
few  of  them  considered  it  necessary  to  leave 
behind  them  a record  of  their  slaughterings 
and  adventures. 

A hunter  of  different  grade  is  the  last  of 
the  great  slayers  of  South  African  game 
whom  we  can  find  room  to  notice.  This 
is  Frederick  Courteney  Selous.  A London 
artist’s  son,  and  a Rugby  schoolboy,  he  could 
have  little  experience  of  sport  or  anything 
Frederick  e^se  w^en> on  the  4th  of  September, 
Courteney  1871,  he  set  foot  for  the  first  time 
on  the  sandy  shores  of  Algoa  Bay, 
with  £400  in  his  pocket,  a good  battery  in  his 
boxes,  and  the  weight  of  only  nineteen  years 
upon  his  shoulders.  But  he  had  read  Gordon 
Cumming,  Baldwin,  and  the  literature  gener- 
ally of  South  African  sport,  and  he  was 
resolved  to  gratify  his  love  of  natural  history 
by  studying  the  ways  of  animals  in  their 
native  wilds.  It  was  onty  an  after-considera- 
tion that  resolved  him  to  shoot  them  for  the 
sake  of  a livelihood.  Neither  tall  nor  par- 
ticularly robust-looking,  the  native  chiefs 
readily  gave  him  permission  to  hunt  in  their 
territories,  smiling  cynically  at  the  idea  of 
such  a boy  doing  much  execution  among  the 
elephants  of  their  forests,  while  the  lions  were 
more  likely  to  kill  him  than  he  was  to  do  any 
harm  to  them.  In  those  days  there  was  still 
plenty  of  large  game  in  South  Africa,  but  not 
in  the  older  parts  of  the  colonies,  or  even  in 
the  Orange  Free  State  and  Transvaal,  where 
the  earlier  sportsmen  had  found  it  so  pro- 
fusely. But  outside  these  bounds,  away  in 
Bechuana  and  Ngami  lands,  in  the  Mata- 
bele  country  and  in  Mashonaland,  by  the 
Zambesi  and  across  it  on  to  the  Manika 
plateau,  it  could  be  had  in  something 

* An  exception  must  be  made,  among  those  who 
have  essayed  authorship,  in  favour  of  Gillmore,  Bryden, 
Eglinton,  Xicoll.  and  my  lamented  friend,  the  late  Mr. 
W.  H.  Drummond.  For  though  they  might  not  have  ex- 
plored any  new  country,  their  works  are  admirable  con- 
tributions to  field  natural  history.  Drummond’s  " Large 
Game  and  Natural  History  of  South-East  Africa”  (1875) 
is  still,  and  must  always  continue  to  be,  a valuable  work. 


like,  its  old  abundance.  Petrus  Jacobs,  the 
Boer  hunter,  who  had  killed,  perhaps,  more 
elephants  than  any  man  in  Africa,  was  still 
at  work,  and  Jan  Yiljoen  and  Hartley,  the 
veteran  Englishman,  had  not  ceased  exploits 
which  ran  those  of  “old  Piet”  and  his  son  David 
very  close.  A host  of  other  names  might  be 
mentioned  among  those  of  the  professional 
ivory-collectors  and  English  sportsmen  who 
then  (and  subsequently)  ransacked  the  country 
in  search  of  game  and  amusement.  Most  of 
them  are  now  under  the  inhospitable  soil  of 


FREDERICK  COURTENEY  SELOUS. 
(From  a Photograph  by  J.  Thomson,  Grosrenor  St,,  IF.) 


South  Africa.  But  the  boy  who  in  1871 
looked  so  little  likely  to  survive  the 
perils  of  his  calling,  is  in  1894  a more 
robust  man  than  he  was  when  the  twenty 
years  of  a hunter’s  life  were  still  all  before 
him  and  the  Geographical  Society’s  medal 
was  not  even  dreamt  of  as  the  reward  of 
map-making  in  the  intervals  of  more  heroic 
occupations.  Mr.  Selous’  earliest  hunting  was 
in  Matabeleland,  in  the  country  formerly 
ruled  over  by  Moselikatse  and  now — or  until 
lately — by  Lo-Bengula,  a son  after  his  father’s 
heart ; and  for  three  years  he  remained  in 
Zambesia  without  ever  experiencing  the  slight- 
est desire  to  exchange  his  free  wild  life  for 
the  comforts  and  restraints  of  civilisation.-!- 

f This  outline  of  Mr.  Selous'  travels  is  gleaned  from 
bis  papers  communicated  to  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  particularly  that  in  the  Geographical  Journal, 


216 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


ENCAMPMENT  OF  TRAVELLERS  IN  THE  ZAMBESI  COUNTRY:  LESHOMAS  SELLING 
NATIVE  PRODUCE. 

(From  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Paris' Society  for  Evangelical  Missions .) 


region — twenty-four  elephants,  besides  other 
large  animals,  having  been  killed  by  Selous 
in  the  marshes  of  the  Chohe,  where  a number 
of  Masubia  refugees  from  the  tyranny  of  the 
Barotse  chief  Sipopo  had  taken  refuge. 

In  1876,  after  a visit  to  England,  Selous  was 
back  again  to  his  old  haunts : but;  finding  a 
lack  of  elephants,  he  and  Mr.  L.  M.  Owen 
determined  to  cross  the  Zambesi  to  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Kafukwe  and  Loangwa  Rivers, 
where  they  were  confident  their  quarry  would 
be  found,  following  the  course  of  the  Zam- 
besi to  the  place  where  the  former  stream 
joins  it.  Part  of  their  route  lay  through  the 
country  of  the  Manansa  tribe,  an  offshoot  of 
the  Makalakas,  who  had  been  driven  with 
great  slaughter  from  their  homes  south  of 
the  Zambesi  during  the  incursions  of  the 
Matabele.  They  were  a feeble,  friendly  people. 
The  Batongas  bore  a worse  reputation ; but, 
as  no  white  man  had  travelled  among  them 
since  Dr.  Livingstone,  Charles  Livingstone, 
and  Dr.  Kirk  passed  through  their  country  in 


During  this  time  he  and  his 
friend  George  Wood  travelled 
over  a great  deal  of  country 
on  foot,  on  horseback,  and  with 
a Cape  waggon  (Yol.  II.,  p.  169).  In  this 
way  they  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
splendidly  watered  plateau  in  which  the 
Nwanetsi,  Lundi,  and  Tukwi  Rivers  take 
their  rise,  and  went  as  far  south  as  the 
junction  of  the  Ingesi  and  Lundi  Rivers, 
not  a great  way  from  Mount  Bufwa.  All 
the  country  between  Matabeleland  and  the 
Zambesi  was  hunted  over  during  the  dry 
seasons — and"  always  on  foot — as  far  eastwards 
as  the  Sanyati  River,  and  westwards  to  the 
ATictoria  Falls,  and  up  the  Chobe  (Kwando)  to 
the  Sunta  outlet  (Yol.  II.,  p.  196).  Game 
was  plentiful  enough  in  this  then  little-known 


April,  1893,  pp.  289-324,  his  Hunter’s  Wanderings  in 
Africa”  (1881),  and  various  personal  data  from  other 
sources.  His  “ Travel  and  Adventure  in  South-East 
Africa  ” — of  which  the  outlines  have  £een  given — which 
appeared  in  the  autumn  of  1893,  has  also  been  consulted. 


SELOUS’ . ADVENTURES. 


217 


1861,  the  memory  of  these  visitors  seemed  to 
restrain  their  evil  passions.  Farther  on,  the 
land  was  devastated  by  war  and  slaving 
parties,  Portuguese  officials  then  (as  now) 
carrying  on  the  trade  without  the  central 
Government  nearer  the  coast  having  any 
power  (or  inclination)  to  check  their  infamous 
contempt  of  orders.  By-and-by  the  four 
donkeys  which  were  their  sole  beasts  of 
burden  died.  Carriers  were  hard  to  obtain, 
and  after  crossing  the  Manika  plateau*  to 
Sitanda’s  village,  elephants  were  as  invisible  as 
ever ; and  even  the  game  on  which  they  had  to 
exist  was  so  scarce  at  times  they  were  almost 


settlements  of  the  traders  and  missionaries  in 
Matabeleland,  empty-handed  so  far  as  ivory 
was  concerned,  but  with  more  geographical 
information  than  they  had  hitherto  obtained. 

In  1878,  Mr.  Selous  and  three  companions 
had  a better  elephant  season  in  northern 
Mashonaland.  They  also  cut  a newr  road  from 
the  Umfuli  to  the  Sebakwe  River,  as  the  old 
hunting-road  to  the  north  of  the  Machabi  Hills 
had  become  impracticable  for  waggons — the 
new  route  traversing  a beautiful  stretch  of 
“ high-lying,  open,  and  well-watered  country.” 
Next  year  the  region  between  the  Mababi, 
Machabi,  and  Kwando  Rivers, as  far  as  Mai-ini’s 


CHARACTERISTIC  PORTION  OF  SELOUS’  ROAD. 

(From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Ellerton  Fry.) 

starved  for  food.  Fever  did  its  work,  so  that  was  hunted  over.  At  that  time  buffaloes, 
it  was  with  great  trouble  that  Selous  and  lecliwe  antelopes,  and  other  animals  were  very 
his  companion  could  again  reach  the  friendly  plentiful,  though  even  then  game  had  been 
* Not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Manika  country  in  driven  beyond  the  more  frequented  part  of  Mata- 
South-Eastern  Africa.  beleland.  Yet  less  than  twenty  years  before,  the 


218 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


missionaries  at  Inyati,  the  most  advanced 
station  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  were 
often  called  by  the  natives  to  drive  the 
elephants  out  of  their  cornfields.  Buffaloes 
and  rhinoceroses  were  continually  seen  going 
down  to  drink  in  the  afternoon.  Lions  roared 
nightly  round  the  house,  and  frequently 
quenched  their  thirst  at  a reedy  pool  not 
more  than  two  hundred  yards  from  the  door- 
step of  the  mission  quarters.  On  this 
journey  Selous  crossed  the  Kwando  during  a 
very  dry  season,  when  the  oxen  had  to  pull 
the  waggons  for  120  miles  without  a drink  or  a 
rest.  On  the  other  side  of  the  river  they 
visited  the  site  of  Linyanti,  the  capital  of 
Sebituane,  the  Makololo  chief  Avho  was  visited 
by  Livingstone  and  Oswell  in  1852.  When 
the  Makololo  Empire  fell  to  pieces  (p.  6,  and 
Vol.  II.,  p.  194),  on  the  death  of  Seke- 
letu,  all  of  its  old  prosperity  deserted  Lin- 
yanti. Indeed,  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak, 
the  sole  signs  that  it  had  ever  been  inhabited 
were  a few  fast-crumbling  remains  of  a Kaffir 
town.  Where,  fifteen  years  previously,  cattle 
had  grazed  and  human  beings  had  tilled  the 
soil,  herds  of  buffaloes  and  lechwe  antelopes 
roamed  ; and  in  all  the  land — to  use  a native 
expression — “ there  were  no  lords  but  the 
lions.”  And  with  the  buffalo  had  come  the 
fatal  tsetse  fly  which  debarred  settlement 
by  a cattle-keeping  race.  The  graves  of 
Sebituane  and  Sekeletu  were  pointed  out,  and 
the  Kaffirs  of  the  party  laid  offerings  on 
them,  for  the  sake  of  obtaining  help  in  the 
hunt  from  the  spirits  of  these  mighty  chiefs. 
Their  pale  ghosts,  however,  refused  to  favour 
the  new-comers ; for  they  did  not  see  many 
elephants,  and  one  of  the  party  lost  himself 
and  died  of  thirst  in  the  desert  country 
between  the  Chobe  and  Zambesi.  At  Lin- 
yanti a suggestive  relic  was  noticed,  in  the 
shape  of  the  tires  and  nave-bands  of  a waggon 
which  had  long  since  crumbled  to  decay.  It 
may  have  been  the  remains  of  one  belonging 
to  Livingstone,  or,  more  likely,  to  the  un- 
fortunate mission  party  which,  with  their  wives 
and  children,  died  here  in  1861,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Mr.  Price  and  two  of  Mr.  Helmore's 


family.  The  Chobe  and  Machabi,  it  was 
noticed,  rose  steadily  from  the  first  week 
in  J une  to  the  last  week  in  Sep-  A hydro 
tember,  when  they  began  to  recede,  graphical 
There  cannot  be  any  doubt  of  the  proDlem- 
Okavango — of  which  the  Machabi  is  an  out- 
let— and  the  Upper  Kwando  (Chobe)  being 
connected  nearer  their  sources ; otherwise 
their  waters  would  not  Hse  and  fall  so  steadily 
pari  passu.  Yet  there  are  no  snows  to  melt 
at  the  sources  of  these  rivers,  and  the  Zam- 
besi, which  rises  in  the  same  latitude,  de- 
creases steadily  in  volume  day  by  day  during 
the  dry  season,  as,  indeed,  do  all  the  South 
African  rivers.  “ Besides  the  channels  which 
still  become  annually  filled  with  water  from 
the  overflow  of  the  Chobe  and  Okavango 
river  systems,  there  are,  many  others  which 
are  now  quite  dry,  but  in  which  the  natives 
say  they  used  once  to  travel  in  canoes. 
Farther  to  the  south-east,  too,  in  the  country 
between  the  Gowai  and  Nata  Rivers,  there 
are  old  river-beds,  some  of  ivhich  are  quite 
dry,  whilst  in  others  pools  of  water  may  still 
be  found ; and  where  such  pools  exist  they 
are  either  permanent,  or  water  may  be  ob- 
tained by  digging  when  they  are  dry,  which 
seems  to  show  that  water  still  runs  in  these 
ancient  river-beds  below  the  surface.” 

In  1880  Mr.  Selous  was  in  Mashonaland 
with  Mr.  Jameson,  in  after  years  the  com- 
panion of  Mr.  Stanley  on  the  Congo  (p.  31). 
Together  they  traced  the  course  of  the 
Umfuli  River  to  its  junction  with  the  Sanyati, 
proving  conclusively  that  it  did  not  run  into 
the  Zambesi,  as  was  represented  on  all  the 
maps  published  up  to  that  date. 

After  a second  visit  *to  the  country  which  was 
becoming  less  and  less  his  home,  Mr.  Selous 
revisited  Mashonaland  in  1882.  At  that  time 
much  of  this  now  comparatively  familiar 
region  was  a blank  to  geographers.  Mr. 
Baines  had  never  penetrated  beyond  the 
River  Manyami ; and  though  Messrs.  George 
Westbeech  and  G.  A.  Phillips,  both  well- 
known  traders,  had  accompanied  a Matabele 
“impi,”  or  Avar  party,  to  the  sources  of  the 
Mazoe  in  1868,  their  journey  had  not  resulted 


SELOUS’  ROAD. 


219 


in  the  addition  of  an}’  documentary  facts 
to  our  previous  ignorance.  Karl  Mauch,  a 
German  geologist,  after  rediscovering  the 
ruins  of  Zimbabwe  (Vol.  I.,  p.  8,  etc.),  had 
travelled  past  Mount  Wedza,  near  the  head 
waters  of  the  Sabi,  on  through  Mangwendi’s 
country  and  down  the  valley  of  the  Ruenya 
(or  Inyangombi)  River  to  Sena,  on  the  Lower 
Zambesi 

Still,  the  country  on  each  side  of  Mauch’s 
route  was,  until  Selous  made  Mashonaland 
his  own  particular  country,  very  imperfectly 
laid  down  on  the  best  maps.  During  1882, 
1885,  1887,  1889,  1890,  1891,  and  1892,  Mr. 
Selous  was  almost  constantly  travelling  over 
the  Mashona  plateau,  partly  in  his  capacity 
of  a professional  hunter — though  since  1882 
he  was  oftener  occupied  in  “ filling-in  orders  ” 
for  museums,  than  in  slaughtering  elephants 
or  lions — and  partly  in  the  service  of  the 
British  South  Africa  Company,  whose  pioneer 
force  he  led  to  the  promised  land.  This 
portion  of  his  labours,  therefore,  will  be 
described  later.  But  the  work  he  did  in 
the  years  mentioned  helped  largely  to  com- 
plete the  approximately  accurate  map  which 
has  since  been  compiled  from  his  sketches 
and  those  of  Dr.  Knight  Bruce,  Sir  John 
Willoughby,  Mr.  Swan,  and  the  late  Mr. 
Walter  Montagu  Ken-.  During  1882  Mr. 
Selous  journeyed  from  the  plateau  of  the 
Zambesi  by  way  of  the  Umvukwe  Hills  to  the 
north,  and  then  down  the  valley  of  the  Um- 
sengaisi  River  to  the  Zambesi,  which  he  fol- 
lowed westwards  to  Zumbo.  In  the  course  of 
this  exploration  he  discovered  that  the  Pan- 
yami  flows  into  that  great  river  some  fifteen 
miles  east  of  Zumbo,  instead  of  to  the  west 
of  that  place,  as  had  hitherto  been  supposed 
to  be  the  case.  In  1884  Mr.  Selous  met  Mr. 
Kerr  in  the  Transvaal,  and  travelled  with  him  to 
Matabcleland.  Thence  Kerr  “trekked ’’through 
Mashonaland  to  Chibinga,  and  on  to  Tete, 
and  from  that  town  to  the  Portuguese  terri- 
tory through  the  Makanga  and  Angorn 
countries  right  to  the  southern  shore  of  the 
Lake  Nyassa*  Mr.  Selous,  after  parting 

* Kerr  : -The  Far  Interior,"  etc.  2 Yols.  (1886). 


with  the  young  traveller  who  was  so  soon  to 
end  his  promising  career,  started  lor  the  Mababi 
River,  and  piloted  his  waggon  for  three 
hundred  miles  across  country,  chopping  his 
own  road  as  he  went,  until  at  last  he  struck 
the  old  hunting-track  from  Bamangwato, 
Khama’s  town,  to  the  Mababi,  near  the  pool 
of  Sode  Garra.  In  1888  he  was  in  the 
Mashukulumbwe  and  Barotse  countriesf 
(YoL  II.,  pp.  200,  204,  205,  208,  209),  and 
in  1889,  tracing  the  Mazoe  River  to  its 
source,  which  was  found  to  be  very  far  from 
where  it  was  placed  on  the  maps. 

After  a brief  visit  to  England  in  the  spring  of 
1889,  Mr.  Selous  was  again  in  Mashonaland, 
and  in  the  following  year  guiding  the  British 
South  Africa  Company’s  pioneer  expedition  to 
that  country  over  four  hundred  miles  of  road 
made  through  a wild  country  of  forests,  swamps, 
and  mountains.  Yet  the  eighty  waggons  were 
never  delayed  one  hour  by  the  road  not  being 
ready  for  them  nor  went  a mile  out  of  their 
way  by  the  leader  mistaking  his  route.  This 
remarkable  journey  is  reserved  for  another 
volume.  “ Selous’  Road”  (p.  217)  will  be  the 
young  Englishman’s  most  enduring  claim  to 
a place  in  the  chronicles  of  South  Africa. 
The  next  two  years  were  spent  in  the  service 
of  the  Company,  mostly  in  exploration,  of 
which  the  most  notable  feature  was  a journey 
down  the  Revue  to  near  its  junction  with  the 
Buzi.  A few  months  later  he  crossed  the 
former  river  near  Vumbi’s  town,  and  examined 
the  country  between  the  Pungwe  and  Buzi 
rivers  in  the  unsuccessful  attempt  to  find 
a waggon  route  to  the  Lower  Pungwe  which 
would  be  free  from  the  tsetse  fly.  But  all 
the  lowlands  were  infested  with  this  pest. 

Mr.  Selous  was  in  1 893  once  more  “ at  home,” 
looking  back  over  his  hunting  days  as  some- 
thing of  the  past.  The  great  game 
has  been  exterminated  in  South  Aftye^enty 
Africa,  except  where  forest  and 
swamp  protect  it.  We  hear  of  it  on  the 
Zambesi,  and  in  the  remote  regions  near 
■he  great  lakes,  though  in  nothing  like  the 

t “ Journey  to  the  Kafukwe  River,  and  on  the  Upper 
Zambesi,”  Proc.  Royal  Geog.  Society,  188!).  p.  216. 


220 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA, 


quantity  seen  by  the  early  hunters  in  the  south. 
The  campaign  is  about  over,  and  man  is  the 
victor.  Mr.  Selous  will  perhaps  be  the  last  of 
the  great  hunters — the  “ mighty  Nimrods  ” is 
the  correct  phrase,  we  believe,  but  the  man 
who  has  best  earned  it  objects  to  the  title. 
In  future  there  may  be  Nimrods,  but  they 
will  not  be  mighty.  Yet  the  latest  of  all  the 
long  line  of  South  African  hunters  disclaims 
ever  having  wished  to  “ make  a bag.”  He 
shot  for  ivory  and  for  specimens,  not  for  the 
glory  of  a game-book ; and  it  is  his  proudest 
memory  that,  with  the  exception  of  an  attack 
made  upon  his  camp  by  the  Mashuku- 
lumbwe,  led  by  a few  rebel  Marotse,  in  1888, 
he  never  had  any  serious  trouble  with 
the  natives.  “ During  my  twenty  years’ 
wanderings  ” — and  the  words  are  worthy  of 
note — “ I have  been  amongst  many  tribes  who 
had  never  previously  seen  a white  man,  and  I 


was  always  absolutely  in  their  power,  as  I 
seldom  had  more  than  from  five  to  ten  natives 
with  me,  none  of  whom  were  ever  armed.  On 
the  whole,  therefore,  I think  I may  say  that 
the  natives  of  the  interior  of  Africa  with 
whom  I have  come  in  contact  have  treated 
me  well;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  I can 
proudly  affirm  that  in  my  person  the  name 
of  Englishman  has  suffered  no  harm  in  native 
estimation.”  This  honest  boast  still  holds 
good.  For  on  the  outbreak  of  the  Matabele 
war,  Mr.  Selous,  considering  his  place  as  a 
burgher  of  Mashonaland  to  be  with  hi's  fellow- 
citizens,  immediately  left  England  for  the 
scene  of  the  trouble  with  Lo-Bengula.  His 
knowledge  of  the  country  proved  of  the 
utmost  service,  and  he  was  one  of  the  few 
members  of  Major  Goold- Adams’s  force 
wounded  during  the  skirmishes  on  the  road  to 
Buluwayo.  But  this  is  part  of  another  *story. 


NATIVE  HUNTERS  RETURNING  FROM  THE  CHASE. 

(From,  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 


VILLAGE  OF  KITETI7  IN  THE  KIKUYU  COUNTRY. 
(From  a Sketch  by  Bishop  Tucker.) 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  Ending  of  an  Old  Era  and  the  Beginning  of  a New  One. 

The  Hunter  graduates  into  the  Naturalist,  and  the  Naturalist  becomes  Explorer — Dr.  Emil  Holub  the  Bohemian — 
Earning  the  Means  of  Exploration  by  Medical  Practice  in  Kimberley — His  Early  Excursions — His  Great. 
Expedition  beyond  the  Zambesi  and  its  Pillage  and  Ruin  in  the  Mashukulumbwe  Country — One  Result 
of  the  Journey — The  Brothers  James — Their  Hunting  Trip  in  the  Soudan — Their  Journey  in  the  Somali 
Country  from  Berbera  to  the  Leopard  River — Count  Teleki  and  Lieutenant  von  Hohnel— Their  Ascent  of 
Mount  Kenia  and  Discovery  of  Lakes  Rudolf  and  Stefanie — William  Astor  Chanler,  the  American 
Explorer  of  Africa — His  Journey  into  the  Masai  Country — His  Second  Expedition  with  Lieut,  von  Hohnel 
—The  Tana  River— The  Mackenzie  River — The  Lorian  “Lake” — The  Guaso  Nyiri — Mountains  which  do 
not  Exist — The  Jombini  Range — The  People  of  the  Country — Captain  Swayne  in  Somaliland — Harar  and 
its  Changes  of  Late  Years — I rue — Sport — Dr.  Schweinfurth — His  Early  Years — His  Journey  through  the 
Bongo,  Dinka,  Niam-Niam,  Madi,  and  Monbuttoo  Countries — His  Discovery  of  the  Welle — His  Description 
of  the  Akkas,  etc. — The  Close  of  the  Age  of  Loose  Description — The  Coming  of  the  Scientific  Travellers. 


In  the  preceding  sketch  little  has  been  said 
of  Mr.  Selous’  hunting  adventures.  The 
hunter  had,  indeed,  almost  imperceptibly 
graduated  into  the  naturalist,  and  the  natural- 
ist into  the  explorer  ; and,  though  the  ex- 
periences of  every  explorer  are  individually 
different,  they  have  a kinship  when  the 
travellers  journey  in  the  same  region.  Other- 
wise we  might  halt  longer  over  the  ex- 
peditions of  Dr.  Emil  Holub,  a Bohemian 
physician*  (p.  223),  who  made  several  journeys 

* Bom  at  Holitz  on  October  7th,  1847,  and  graduated 
M.D.  in  the  University  of  Prague  in  1872. 


into  the  Cape  border-lands  in  the  intervals  of 
medical  practice  in  Kimberley.  Indeed,  until 
Dr.  Holub  received  during  his  second  visit  to 
South  Africa  some  help  from  his  sovereign 
and  the  various  scientific  societies  of  his 
native  country,  the  funds  which  he  expended 
on  these  semi-exploratory,  semi-zoological 
trips  were  earned  by  his  medical  practice 
among  the  diamond-diggers  of  what  was  in 
those  times  about  the  Ultima  Thule  of  South 
African  civilisation.  Dr.  Holub’s  enthusiasm 
thus  forms  one  of  the  most  interesting 
episodes  in  the  story  of  the  opening-up  of 


222 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Africa.  For,  though  his  labours  do  not  bulk 
large  beside  those  of  the  explorers  whose 
achievements  form  the  theme  of 
-IT  our  earlier  volumes,  they  were  ac- 
complished in  circumstances  which 
entitle  their  author  to  an  honourable  place 
among  modern  travellers.  When  the  young 
surgeon  left  his  native  country  in  1872,  his 
aim  was  to  win  for  Bohemians  a place,  how- 
ever small,  among  those  who  had  made  the 
world  more  familiar  with  Africa.  His  outfit 
for  that  task  was  meagre  in  the  extreme. 
Beyond  his  professional  acquirements,  and 
some  knowledge  of  natural  history,  he  had 
few  scientific  accomplishments  to  enable  him 
to  map  his  routs  or  to  record  the  features 
of  the  regions  which  he  might  visit.  He 
knew  no  one  in  all  the  continent,  and  no 
one  had  ever  heard  his  name.  Worst  of  all, 
he  had  little  money,*  and  without  money,  or 
its  equivalent  in  goods,  the  reader  must  by 
this  time  have  learned,  it  is  rather  more  diffi- 
cult to  travel  in  Africa  than  in  England.  In 
the  former  there  are  no  casual  workhouse 
wards,  no  charities,  no  hospitals,  no  hospitality 
which  is  not  to  be  paid  for  in  some  form,  and 
a remarkable  scarcity  of  those  simple  souls 
who  give  for  the  asking.  Holub  intended  to 
practice  for  fees,  the  liberality  of  which  had 
amazed  Holitz  and  its  frugal  folk ; though,  as 
the  Bohemian  “ artz  ” did  not  understand 
either  English  or  Dutch,  his  chance  of  finding 
patients  in  a country  inhabited  by  English- 
men and  Dutchmen  seemed  perilously  small. 

All  this,  however,  Dr.  Holub  only  knew 
when  he  landed  at  Port  Elizabeth.  When  he 
bade  good-bye  to  Prague,  full  of  airy  dreams 
of  new  lands — for  all  was  new  to  him — and  of 
the  natural  history  collections  with  which 
he  could  fill  the  museums  of  Austria  and 
Bohemia,  he  had  been  unable  to  obtain  the 
slightest  assistance  either  from  the  Govern- 
ment or  the  learned  societies,  which  in  a few 
years  rained  on  him  orders  and  diplomas  with 
a profusion  amazing  to  the  British  explorers 
who  receive  so  few  of  these  cheap  rewards 
for  work  compared  with  which  Dr.  Holub’s 
meritorious  labours  look  very  small  indeed. 


A few  thrifty  countrymen  had  lent  him  fifty- 
three  pounds,  on  the  condition  that  it  was 
repaid  in  three  months.  But  it  was  not  until 
the  inexperienced  traveller  found  himself 
passing  out  of  the  Custom  House,  after  paying 
duty  on  his  guns,  with  three  pounds  in  his 
pocket,  that  he  began  to  realise  that  five 
hundred  florins  was  not  quite  a fortune 
in  that  Africa  with  which  he  had  little 
acquaintance  except  through  translations  of 
Livingstone’s  books. 

This  discovery  was  not  the  most  pleasant 
of  his  life.  Thanks,  however,  to  the  Austrian 
Consul,  he  obtained  a few  patients  among 
the  German  families  in  Port  Elizabeth;  and, 
as  soon  as  the  means  of  moving  were 
forthcoming,  the  doctor  was  on  the  road  to 
the  newer  region  of  the  diamond  fields,  or 
what  was  then  known  as  Griqualand  West. 
The  citizens  of  Kimberley  in  1894  may  not 
quite  realise  what  that  city  was  in  1872,  with- 
out railway  communication  with  the  outer 
world , without  the  electric  light,  and  without  any 
buildings  which  they  could  honour  with  the 
humblest  epithet  in  the  architectural  vocabu- 
lary.  At  present  they  live  in  houses  of  brick 
or  stone,  and  may — if  the  “ blue  ” has  been 
washing  out  well — dine  sumptuously  every 
day.  When  Holub  intimated  his  intention  of 
earning  money  enough  out  of  their  ills  to 
make  an  African  expedition,  he  had  to  affix 
his  professional  “ plate  ” to  a hired  tent  six 
feet  by  eight.  This  humble  abode  formed  for 
months  not  only  his  bedroom  and  his  con- 
sulting-room, but  his  dispensary,  his  labor- 
atory, and  the  workshop  in  which  he  prepared 
his  snakes  and  bird-skins  and  stored  his 
collections.  Very  often,  when  a patient  called 
on  him  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  the  rays  of 
the  sun  burnt  so  intolerably  through  the  thin 
canvas  roof  that  an  umbrella  had  to  be  raised 
to  protect  both  patient  and  practitioner ; 
“ and,”  he  tells  us,  “ it  was  similar  when  there 
was  rain.” 

In  this  way  he  practised  until  February, 
1873,  working  much  and  spending  little,  until 
he  had  saved  what  he  thought  enough  for  his 
first  journey  beyond  the  Colonial  bounds. 


EMIL  HOLUB  AND  HIS  WIFE. 


223 


This  led  him  into  southern  Bechuanaland 
and  the  southern  section  of  the  Transvaal. 
In  two  months  the  doctor  returned,  in 
Kimberley  parlance  “ dead  broke,”  and  re- 
sumed practice  until  in  November  of  the 
same  year  he  was  off  again  on  a second 
journey.  This  lasted  for  six  months,  and  took 
the  naturalist  into  more  of  the  Bechuana 
country,  as  far  north  as  Shoshong.  But  when 
he  returned  to  Kimberley  a second  time 
impecunious,  he  found  it  not  quite  so  easy  to 
obtain  patients  ready  to  find  him  funds  for 
a third  trip.  They  complained  that  the 
“German  doctor”  was  too  flighty — too  apt, 
just  when  he  was  understanding  their  con- 
stitutions, to  disappear ; while  his  rivals,  of 
whom  the  number  was  daily  increasing,  were 
always  prepared  to  prescribe  without  an 
ulterior  thought  of  the  lands  that  lay  beyond 
the  Yaal  and  the  Zambesi. 

However,  by  March,  1875,  Dr.  Holub  was 
off'  on  a third  expedition,  which  lasted 
twenty-one  months  and  took  him  into  all 
the  Bechuana  tribes,  or  “kingdoms,”  as  he 
calls  them,  and  into  the  Marotse  (or  Barotse) 
country  north  of  the  Zambesi. 

After  this  he  went  home,  the  conveyance 
of  his  huge  accumulation  of  specimens  taxing 
to  tension-point  the  ever-slender  resources  of 
the  enthusiastic  traveller.*  Hitherto,  he 
had  not  explored  any  very  novel  territory, 
though  his  last  journey  had  added  very 
considerably  to  our  minute  acquaintance 
with  the  geography  of  a country  which  was 
soon  to  become  a very  well-known  part  of 
Africa. 

Yet  the  energy  with  which  he  had  en- 
deavoured to  ransack  a wide  region  with  the 
smallest  of  means  marked  him  out  for  better 
things.  Accordingly  by  1884  he  was  again 
on  his  way,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and 

•Holub:  “Seven  Years  in  South  Africa,”  2 Vols. 
(1881);  “Colonisations  Afrikas  ” ; “Das  Ma-Rutse-Ma- 
Bunrla  Reich  ” ; Pelzeln  and  Holub  : “ Supplemente  zur 
Ornithologie  Siid-Afrikas  ” ; Holub  and  Xeumeyer : 
“ Beit  rage  zur  Erkenntniss  der  Kreideformation  im 
Gebiete  der  Fliisse  Zwartkop  und  Zondaag,”  and  other 
papers.  See  also  Proceedings  of  the  llogal  Geographical 
Society,  1880,  pp.  166,  261. 


provided  with  what  he  considered  ample 
funds  for  a journey  from  Cape 
Town  to  Cairo.  Unfortunately,  Zambesi 
however,  like  so  many  travellers  luckless 

J journey. 

Avho  have  been  successful  on  small 
expeditions,  Dr.  Holub  failed  to  do  anything 
commensurate  with  the  scale  on  which  his 
new  one  was  planned.  This,  howrever,  was 
not  due  to  any  remissness  of  energy  on  his 
part  or  on  the  part  of  his  courageous  wife. 
After  being  delayed  some  months  at  Pandama- 
tenka  (p.  204),  he  passed  beyond  the  Zambesi 
on  the  10th  of  June,  1886,  and  began  his 
iourney  in  the  Batoka  (Batonga)  country. 


DR.  EMIL  HOLUB. 

( From  a Photograph  by  J.  Mulac,  Prague.) 

penetrating  in  a northerly  direction  with  a 
slight  bearing  to  the  east — crossing  Selous’ 
route  of  1877-78  (p.  216)  for  a distance  of 
305  miles.  All  this  region  is  described  as 
covered  with  small  trees,  among  which  the 
tsetse  fly  abounds.  The  Luengue  (Living- 
stone’s Loangwa)  tributary  of  the  Zambesi  he 
found  flowed  from  the  north-west,  and  not 
from  the  north,  as  its  discoverer  had  inferred 
from  native  information ; while  he  did  not 
find  the  valley  of  the  Zambesi  bordered  on  both 
sides  of  its  middle  course  by  hilly  country. 
Dr.  Holub,  on  the  contrary,  saw  on  the  north 
side  of  the  river  a vast  extent  of  low-lying, 


224 


THE  STOltY  OF  AFRICA. 


marsh-covered  land,  where  even  in  the  coolest 
season  the  traveller  is  apt  to  contract  inter- 
mittent fever.  To  the  N.N.E.  of  the  Batoka 


“ Bashukulompo.”  This  section  of  Africa  is 
watered  by  the  Loangwa,  and  is  more  elevated 
than  that  of  the  Batoka.  The  people  inhabit- 


MAP  SHOWING  DISTRIBUTION  OF  LANGUAGES  IN  AFRICA.  (By  E.  G.  Rarenstein.) 


•:y;  •'  i Semitic. 

E2E3  Hamitic. 
!===<  Negro 
Hi  Dinka  & kin. 
EMI  Bantu. 

SIS  Hottentot. 
F"~;  Bushman 
fUl  Malay 

European 


country  the  Bohemian  traveller  explored  the 
Mashukulumbwe  territory — a region  hitherto 
so  unknown  that  on  Livingstone’s  maps  it  is 
indicated  from  hearsay  as  the  home  of  the 


ing  it  formerly  dwelt  in  the  lake  country,  but 
for  the  last  two  centuries  they  have  been 
established  on  the  northern  affluents  of  the 
Zambesi.  They  are  described  as  a fine  race, 


THE  MASHUKULUMBWE. 


225 


with  aquiline  noses.  The  men  twist  their  hair 
into  a kind  of  chignon  and  are  sparsely  clad. 
The  women  wear  trousers  made  of  tanned 
hide,  and  shave  their  heads,  and,  from  a 
■widespread  habit — which  is  shared  by  the  men 
also — of  knocking  out  their  front  teeth, 
have  a sinister  physiognomy  not  justified  by 
their  natural  paucity  of  good  looks. 

Yet  of  all  the  features  in  Mashukulumbwe 
life  the  one  that  has  proved  most  fatal  to  the 


Dr.  and  Mrs.  Holub  to  leave  their  country, 
though  it  was  not  until  the  explorer’s  camp 
had  been  attacked  and  pillaged,  Oswald 
Zoldner,  one  of  the  party,  killed,  and  the  rest 
obliged  to  flee  across  swamps  and  rivers,  more 
dead  than  alive,  that  they  finally ' abandoned 
the  hope  of  examining  the  Mashukulumbwe 
country  more  completely.  This  tribe  has  not 
redeemed  their  reputation,  for  two  years 
later  they  raided  Mr.  Selous’  camp.  Even 


happiness  of  these  people  is  their  possession 
of  vast  herds  of  cattle.  In  this  kind  of  wealth 
they  are  probably  richer  than  any  South 
African  tribe,  every  hut  possessing  on  an  aver- 
age one  hundred  oxen.  Otherwise  they  had 
little  to  recommend  them  from  the  explorer’s 
point  of  view.  Indeed,  they  wished  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  him  or  any  other  white 
man,  all  they  had  heard  of  that  class  of  people 
not  being  favourable.  Accordingly,  partly 
by  threats  and  partly  by  cunning,  they  forced 
55 


the  Batongas,  so  civil  when  Mr.  Selous  first 
visited  them,  having  become  more  familiar 
with  and  less  afraid  of  white  men,  were  no 
longer  respectful  to  them.  They  behaved  very 
badly  to  Father  Teroede,  who  tried  to  estab- 
lish a mission  among  them,  and  in  1888  mur- 
dered David  Thomas,  who  founded  a trading 
post  on  an  island  in  the  Zambesi.  Still  more 
recently  a Portuguese  party  met  the  same  fate.* 

* Selous . “ Travel  and  Adventure  in  South-East 

Africa”  (1893),  p.  297. 


226 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


When  finally  the  Zambesi  river  was  reached 
and  succour  obtained,  Holub’s  expedition  was 
so  completely  wrecked  that  any  hope  of  con- 
tinuing it  had  to  be  abandoned.  With  the 
exception  of  the  explorer’s  note-books,  every- 
thing was  lost,  and  months  of  rest  were  found 
necessary  to  enable  the  plucky  Bohemian  and 
his  wife  to  recover  from  their  fatigues  and 
suffering  before  trying  to  return  to  Cape 
Town.  The  crowning  misfortune  of  the  ex- 
pedition happened  on  the  2nd  of  August, 
1886.  But  long  before  Dr.  Holub  reached 
the  territory  of  the  Central  Zambesi,  which 
he  named  Albert  Land,  the  party  had  met 
with  a succession  of  unlooked-for  mishaps. 
New  men  and  a new  policy  no  longer  made 
his  path  so  easy  as  on  his  former  journeys, 
while  to  transport  the  baggage  of  a following 
Avhich,  besides  natives,  included  six  men  of 
the  Austrian  Ambulance  Corps,  was  a slower 
business  than  in  the  days  Avhen  Holub 
travelled  lightly  equipped  by  choice  and  by 
necessity.  Hence,  almost  from  the  time  of 
his  leaving  Colesberg,  then  the  terminal 
station  of  the  South  African  railroad,  his 
narrative  is  filled  Avith  tales  of  misfortune:  In 

the  Matabele  country  a fresh  disaster  befell 
the  caravan,  owing  to  the  oxen  eating  a 
poisonous  narcotic  plant,  the  only  antidote 
to  Avhich  is  tannin ; and  the  malarial  fevers  of 
the  deadly  Barotse  land  and  country  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Victoria  Falls  and  Leshoma 
Valley  (pp.  5,  6)  cost  the  lives  of  tAvo  of  Dr. 
Holub’s  companions.  The  tsetse  fly  could 
not  always  be  avoided  even  by  the  precaution 
of  travelling  by  night;  and,  unlike  most  other 
travellers  Avho,  coming  from  the  east,  brought 
their  OAvn  porters  Avith  them,  the  Bohemians 
could  not  persuade  any  of  the  tribesmen 
through  Avhom  they  passed  to  carry  their 
burdens  for  any  length  of  time  ; so  that  their 
route  had  necessarily  to  be*  a very  zigzag 
one,  as  the  pleasure  of  the  different  tribal 
chiefs  and  their  people  dictated.* 

* Holub  : “Von  Capstadt  in  das  Land  der  Ma-Schuku- 
lumbe.  Reisen  im  sudlichen  Afrika  in  den  Jahren 
1883-87,”  2 Vols.  (1890) ; Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society,  1888,  p.  647,  1891,  p.  373;  and  Kafka: 


Apart,  hoAvever,  from  the  natural  history 
and  geographical  notes  made,  and  the  informa- 
tion brought  back  regarding  the  various 
tribes  of  Kaffir-Zulu  stock  known  as  Ma-  (or 
Ba-)  toka,  Mashapea,  Ma-  (or  Ba-)  rotse,  Ma- 
bonda,  Makalaka,  Mankoga,  and  Mashuka, 
the  neAvs  Avhich  he  had  to  tell  in  the  more 
southern  country  of  the  MashukulumbAve  and 
their  great  herds  of  cattle  led  to  a curious 
and  by  no  means  fortunate  result  for  these 
unfortunate  people.  For,  in  addition  to  being 
raided  by  the  Barotse  and  neighbouring  tribes, 
the  tidings  now  reached  the  ears  of  Lo-Bengula, 
King  of  the  Matabele.  This  chief,  like  his 
father,  had  become  the  terror  of  that  part 
of  Africa.  He  Avas  the  head  of  a nation  of 
ferocious  soldiers,  so  eager  for  bloodshed  and 
plunder  that  it  was  only  when  he  encouraged 
his  people’s  Avarlike  propensities  he  could 
keep  control  over  them.  Every  tribe  in  their 
vicinity  had  been  reduced  to  servitude  by 
them.  The  poor  craven  Makalakas  and 
Mashonas  of  Mashonaland  had  for  years 
trembled  at  the  sight  of  a Matabele  “impi,” 
or  Avar  party ; Avhile  the  industrious  people 
of  Khama  (Vol.  II.,  p.  177),  that  model  chief, 
hid  themselves  in  the  swamps,  where  alone 
they  were  safe  from  the  Matabele,  eager  to 
Avash  their  spears  in  alien  blood.  Born 
and  bred  on  the  healthy  uplands  of  South 
Africa,  they  fell  victims  to  malaria,  sunstroke, 
thirst,  and  hunger  in  the  loAvlands.  So  much 
Avas  this  the  case  that,  in  the  raids  in  question, 
hundreds  of  the  unseasoned  Avarriors  died. 
Thanks,  hoAvever,  to  the  protection  of  the 
British  Government,  Lo-Bengula  found 
Bamangwato  no  longer  the  ready  prey  it 
was  Avont  to  be  ; and  Avhen  the  promoters 
of  the  British  South  Africa  Company  pro- 
posed to  acquire  the  power  of  exploiting 
Mashonaland,  “ King  Lo  ” would  most  likely 
have  raised  more  obstacles  than  he  did.  had 
it  not  been,  so  Dr.  Holub  claims,  that  the 
latest  Avhite  man’s  expedition  had  revealed 

“ Illustrierier  Fiihrer  durck  die  Siidafrikanische  Austell- 
ung  des  Afrikareisen  den  Dr.  Emil  Holub”  (Prague,  1892), 
a description  of  his  African  collection,  with  some  notes  on 
which  the  writer  has  been  favoured  by  Dr.  Holub. 


BAMANGWATO,  KHAMA'S  TOWN,  LOOKING  WES 

(From  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 


DR.  HOLUB' S TRAVELS. 


227 


to  him  another  land  swarming  with  cattle 
— the  wealth  of  a South  African  tribe — 
which  he  might  harass  to 
his  heart’s  content.  Always 
suspicious  of  the  whites,  the 
king  had  become  still  more 
chary  of  trusting  them  since 
the  British  took  possession 
of  Bechuanaland  and  the 
Transvaal  fixed  its  boundary 
between  him  and  the  native 
states.  For,  Dr.  Holub  tells 
a correspondent,  the  latter  of 
these  measures  stopped  his 
raids  towards  the  south,  and 
the  former  towards  the  west. 

“ At  a later  period,  when 
the  Chartered  South  Africa 
Company  took  energetic 
action  in  the  field  of  local 
politics,  many  persons  who 
knew  the  king  thought  he 
would  not  submit  to  a pacific 
settlement.  By  giving  in  on 
this  occasion,  however,  he 
proved  himself  to  be  a clever 
politician.  The  news  which 
I brought  south  on  returning 
from  my  second  trip  to  the 
interior,  as  to  the  great 
wealth  in  cattle  of  the  Mashu- 
kulumbwe  tribes,  reached  the 
king’s  ears,  and  he  directed 
his  next  expedition  against 
this  people,  crossing  the 
Zambesi  for  the  purpose. 

That  raid  was  a success,  and 
Lo-Bengula,  having  thus  dis- 
covered fresh  woods  and  pas- 
tures new,  in  connection 
with  which  he  considered 
the  British  Company  no 
obstacle,  showed  a disposition 
to  meet  the  overtures  of  the 
latter.  In  addition  to  this, 
his  fears  of  the  Dutch  constituted  a further 
inducement  to  come  to  an  understanding  with 
the  British.  It  was  an  open  secret  that  for 


rajncisjpacph  & 


ROUTE  MAP  OF  HOLUB  S JOURNEYS. 


years  the  Boers  had  been  making  preparations 
for  trekking  towards  the  north  and  north- 
east. Their  most  experienced 
men  had,  in  the  course  of 
their  hunting  expeditions, 
visited  the  Matabele  and 
Mashona  countries  and  con- 
sidered them  suitable  for 
settlement.  Lo  - Bengula, 
knowing  the  courage  of  the 
Boers  in  their  fights  with 
wild  beasts  and,  further,  that 
they  were  the  best  marks- 
men in  South  Africa,  decided 
(against  the  noisy  opposition 
of  the  young  soldiers  in  his 
army)  that  the  best  policy 
was  to  come  to  an  under- 
standing with  the  Company.” 
Accordingly,  in  an  indirect 
way,  the  Bohemian  ex- 
plorer’s unfortunate  expe- 
dition helped  the  South 
Africa  Company  to  give 
Mashonaland  to  the  British, 
and  it  is  quite  possible — for 
the  end  is  not  yet — to  in- 
volve the  new  lords  of 
Mashonaland  in  more  than 
one  of  those  native  Avars 
which  have  marked  the 
progress  of  colonisation  in 
the  neighbouring  region. 

Dr.  Holub  was  essentially 
a “ scientific  traveller.”  Un- 
like ifiost  of  the  earlier  ex- 
plorers, Avhen  Africa  was  so 
unknown  that  merely  to 
trace  a track  in  it  Avas  merit 
enough,  he  had  the  ambition 
to  bring  back  something 
more  than  a sketch-map, 
Avhicli,  at  best,  is  simply  the 
means  of  localising  facts 
about  plants  and  animals, 
rocks  and  men,  and  climate.  And  it  is 
to  the  credit  of  the  Germans  thqt,  coming 
to  Africa  when,  if  avc  except  Barth’s 


22S 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


expedition  (and  that  was  actually  an  English 
one),  opportunities  for  great  discoveries  were 
over,  they  inaugurated  that  more  exact 
kind  of  exploration  which  is  now  demanded 
of  the  present  traveller.  But  Holub  was 
also  a hunter,  though  one  who,  like  most 
of  the  latter-day  hunters  of  South  Africa, 
graduated  insensibly  into  the  geographer 


between  Massowah  and  the  Akbarah,  during 
1881  and  two  subsequent  years,  they  suc- 
ceeded, in  company  with  Messrs.  Aylmer, 
Lort-Phillips,  and  Thrupp,  in  penetrating  part 
of  the  Somali  country  in  the  north-east  angle 
of  Africa.  Their  original  intention  had  been 
to  cross  from  Berbera  to  Mogadoxo.  But 
the  hostile  disposition  and  uncertain  temper 


TRAVELLER'S  FLOTILLA  OX  THE  ZAMBESI  (AT  SESHEKE). 

( From  a Photograph  taken  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 


and  naturalist,  since  the  disappearance  of 
the  great  game  no  longer  tempts  to  spend 
time  in  slaughtering  it. 

South  Africa  had,  indeed,  by  this  time 
become  no  longer  the  unhappy  hunting- 
ground  it  had  been  so  long.  Sportsmen,  if 
they  wished  to  do  great  things,  or  to  see  a 
virgin  country,  had  now  to  go  farther  afield. 

Among  these  were  the  brothers 
Tliejbamesers  F.  L.  and  W.  D.  James  (pp.  229, 230), 
two  Englishmen  who  in  a quiet 
way  connected  their  names  with  a section  of 
Africa.  After  a sporting  trip  in  the  Soudan  * 

* F.  L.  James  : “ Wild  Tribes  of  the  Soudan.  An 
Account  of  Travel  and  Sport  chiefly  in  the  Base  Country, 
etc.”  (1383). 


of  the  Somali  tribes  compelled  the  journey 
to  terminate  at  the  Leopard,  or  Shebelyi, 
River,  the  travellers  being  quite  content  that 
they  escaped  so  well.  Much  of  the  area 
traversed  had  been  previously  unmapped 
and  unexplored.  But  the  great  feat  of  the 
expedition,  apart  from  its  geographical 
features,  was  in  taking  a caravan  of  a hundred 
people  and  over  a hundred  camels  across  a 
waterless  waste  to  the  comparatively  fertile 
region  on  the  Leopard  River.  For  thirteen 
days  the  camels  travelled  without  a drink, 
and  only  once,  at  the  end  of  the  ninth  day, 
was  a little  dirty  fluid  like  liquid  mud  found 
to  replenish  the  exhausted  water-bags. 

None  of  their  predecessors  had  fared  much 


THE  BROTHERS  JAMES. 


229 


better  in  this  vast  territory,  about  the  size  of 
Spain.  At  various  times  vessels  stranded  on 


WILLIAM  D.  JAMES. 

( irom  a Photograph  by  J.  Edwards,  Hyde  Parle  Corner,  II’.) 


the  Somali  coast  had  been  seized  and  their 
crews  murdered  or  enslaved.  The  earlier  ex- 
plorers, like  Cruttenden  in  1848,  did  not  aim  at 
reaching  farther  than  the  mountain  range 
some  sixty  miles  from  the  coast,  Burton  (Yol.  II., 
p.  51)  being,  perhaps,  the  first  who  penetrated 
farther.  Hildebrant,  Menges,  Revoil,  Sacconi, 
Panagiotos  (who  was  killed),  Haggenmacher, 
and  Porro,  who,  with  all  his  party,  was  mur- 
dered in  1885,  are  among  the  best-known  of 
Messrs.  James’s  predecessors.  To  be  killed 
seemed,  indeed,  to  be  the  fate  of  nearly  every 
man  who  had  hitherto  ventured  into  Somali- 
land.* The  young  Englishmen  escaped  this 
fate,  though  one  of  them  (Mr.  Frank  Linsly 
James)  was  soon  to  end  his  career  on  the 
continent  of  which  he  had  essayed  so  success- 
fully to  be  an  explorer.  A Avealthy  yachts- 
man, he  had  visited  nearly  every  latitude 
from  Xo\*a  Zemlaia  to  South  America,  and  in 
1890  Avas  on  the  Avest  coast  of  Africa,  where, 
encountering  a wounded  elephant  at  Benito, 
about  a hundred  miles  north  of  the  Gaboon 

* F.  L.  James  : “The  Unknown  Horn  of  Africa.  An 
Exploration  from  Berbera  to  the  Leopard  River”  (1883) ; 
and  “ A Journey  through  the  Somali  Country  to  the  AVebbe 
Shebeyli  ” ( Proceeding s of  the  R.  O.  S.,  1885,  p.  625). 


River,  he  was  killed  by  the  infuriated  beast.  A 
similar  doom  befell  Mr.  Guy  Datvnay,  another 
English  sportsman,  Avho  in  1889  perished  in 
East  Africa  from  the  attack  of  an  angry 
buffalo,  and  Captain  Faulkner,  Avho,  after 
accompanying  Mr.  Young  on  his  Living- 
stone search  expedition  (Yol.  II.,  p.  255),  Avas 
killed  by  some  natives  of  the  Shire  on  his 
return  from  a private  hunting  expedition  in 
that  country. 

England  had  at  one  time  almost  a mono- 
poly of  travellers  of  this  type — of  men  not 
scientific  explorers  by  profession,  or  in  any 
Avay  compelled  to  live  an  unluxurious  life. 
But  by  this  time  other  nations,  fired  by  the 
tales  of  the  English  explorers,  began  to  yearn 
for  a share  of  their  glory.  And  so  the  names 
of  Count  Teleki  (p.  234),  and 
Lieutenant  Ludwig  von  Hohnel, 
the  one  a Hungarian,  and  the 
other  an  Austrian  naval  officer,  deserve  a brief 
notice,  even  in  chapters  noAv  beginning  to  be 
crowded  with  the  names  of  travellers  who 


BATOKA  TYPE. 

( From  a Photograph  taleen  for  the  Paris  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions.) 

haA'e  come  too  late  to  obtain  the  recognition 
they  Avould  have  obtained  a few  years  earlier. 


230 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Their  expedition  was  essentially  a sporting 
one ; but  sporting  expeditions  in  1887  were 
going  much  farther  afield  than  South  Africa ; 
and,  as  the  hunters  had  to  pursue  their  prey 
into  regions  less  known  to  the  geographer, 
they  became  explorers  in  spite  of  themselves. 

This  was,  indeed,  the  fortunate  lot,  and  the 
wise  choice  also,  of  the  two  Austro-Hungarian 
travellers,  whose  work  is  less  known  in 
England  than  it  deserves.  The  first  at- 
tempt to  ascend  Mount  Kenia,  one  of  the 
snowy  peaks  of  Central  Africa,  was  not  the 
least  interesting  portion  of  their  labours.  The 
altitude  at  which  they  stopped  was  15,350 


( From  a Photograph  by  J.  Edwards,  Hyde  Park  Corner,  II'.) 

feet,  or  about  3,000  feet  below  the  summit, 
though  later  observations  render  the  exact 
height  they  reached  doubtful.  As  seen  from 
the  west,  the  mountain  looks  like  a truncated 
pyramid  surmounted  by  two  rocky  pin- 
nacles, apparently  the  ruin  of  an  ancient 
crater.  In  reality,  the  “ spitze  ” is  the  central 
cone  of  a much-denuded  old  volcano  of 
which  the  crater  has  long  since  disappeared.* 
Up  to  8,500  feet  the  mountain  slopes  are 
densely  wooded.  Then  follows  a region  of 
bamboo  thickets,  after  which,  at  10,500  feet, 
begins  a region  of  mosses,  within  which 
grows  the  curious  tree-ragwort  ( Senecio 
* Gregory,  Geographical  Journal,  Vol.  II.  (1893),  p.  327. 


Johnstoni).  Beyond  15,000  feet  is  a zone 
of  perpetual  snow  lying  in  patches.  Hence 
the  Masai  name  of  the  mountain — Doinyo 
Egere — “ the  dabbled  peak.”  Up  to  the  point 
reached  by  the  climbers  on  the  western 
side  the  slope  is  so  gentle  and  gradual  that 
a carriage-road  could  be  easily  constructed, 
and,  no  doubt,  this  will  actually  be  done  in 
the  coming  time,  when  Kenia  competes  with 
Kilimanjaro  as  an  East  African  sanatorium  ; 
but  the  southern  slope  is  less  easy  of  ascent. 

More  important  geographically  was,  how- 
ever, the  Austro-Hungarian  officers’  discovery 
of  a great  lake  some  three  hundred  miles  to  the 
north-east  of  Victoria  Nyanza.  This  sheet  had 
been  rumoured  for  some  years  before  under 
the  name  of  Samburu.  But  it  was  now 
re-named  Lake  Rudolf,  after  the  late  Crown 
Prince  of  Austria.  It  is  about  162  miles 
long,  but  not  more  than  twenty  in  width. 
A second  smaller  lake  to  the  north-east — 
Lake  Stefanie— was  found,  like  so  many  of 
the  sheets  subsequently  proved  to  exist  in 
this  country,  to  be  salt,  owing  to  the  absence 
of  any  outlet,  the  evaporation  being  equal 
to  the  amount  of  water  received  from  their 
feeders.  The  land  in  the  vicinity  of  these 
new  lakes  is  bare  and  arid,  and  their  borders 
and  the  banks  of  the  river  are  scantily  peopled 
by  Gallas,  who  live  by  fishing,  f 

One  expedition  leads  to  another.  One 
sportsman  is  fired  by  the  exploits  of  a pre- 
decessor to  try  to  imitate,  if  not  excel,  him ; 
and  wherever  a traveller  succeeds  or,  still 
more,  fails,  it  is  certain  that  before  long 
a second  will  be  ready  to  try  what  fortune 
has  in  store  for  him.  Members  of  other 
nations  besides  the  British  were  growing 
eager  to  offer  themselves  as  sacrifices  to 
the  Moloch  of  African  exploration.  Hitherto 
the  United  States  had  taken  little  if  any 
part  in  this  perilous  work.  For,  though  Mr. 
Stanley  was  an  American  citizen  during  the 
entire  period  over  which  his  travels  extended, 

t Von  Hohnel : “ Bergprofil  Sammlung  wahrend  Graf 
S.  Teleki’s  Expedition,  1887-88”  (1890);  “Discovery  of 
Lakes  Rudolf  and  Stefanie”  (Trans.,  1894);  and  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  R.G.S.,  1889,  p.  408  ; 1892,  p.  532. 


MR.  ASTOR  CHANLER'S  EXPEDITION. 


231 


lie  was  a natiye  Welshman,  and  for  the 
most  part  in  the  employment  of  Englishmen. 
A true  son  of  the  great  Republic  was,  how- 
ever, now  to  step  into  the  vacant  place.  This 
was  Mr.  William  Astor  Chanler. 

Astor  One  of  the  members  of  a wealthy 
chanler.  famqy — as  his  « middle  name  ” 
might  indicate — he  was  still  a Harvard  under- 
graduate when  he  became  “ lord  of  himself, 
that  heritage  of  woe.”  And  a heritage  of 
woe  it  seemed  to  the  friends  of  Mr.  Chanler 
when  that  affluent  youth  announced  his 
intention  of  spending  his  twenty-first  year 
on  a hunting  expedition  to  East  Africa, 
in  the  land  of  that  unamiable  people  the 
Masai.  With  one  white  man,  his  servant, 
George  Galvin,  and  18(5  natives,  this  pro- 
gramme was  duly  carried  out  in  1889, 
Kilimanjaro  and  the  neighbouring  regions 
being  visited  and  explored.  The  experi- 
ence thus  gained,  far  from  discouraging 
the  young  American,  actually  so  whetted 
his  appetite  for  pleasures  more  heroic  than 
those  of  his  years,  that  he  returned  to 
Europe  with  the  fixed  intention  of  devoting 
the  next  eighteen  months  in  preparing  for 
a much  more  serious  expedition  than  that 
which  he  completed  as  an  apprenticeship  to 
African  travel.  He  also  persuaded  Lieutenant 
von  Hohnel  to  accompany  him,  so  that  some 
scientific  results  might  be  secured.  His  plan 
was  first  to  reach  Mount  Kenia.and  push  thence 
to  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Rudolf. 
After  this  sheet  had  been  thoroughly  explored, 
the  expedition  would  be  directed  towards  Lake 
Stefanie,  and  through  the  six  hundred 
miles  of  unknown  country  between  these 
lakes  and  the  Juba  river.  Thence,  if  so 
fortunate  as  to  escape  the  ferocious  tribes- 
men of  this  region,  Mr.  Chanler  and  his 
companions  proposed  to  follow  it  to  the  sea, 
and  along  the  shore  to  Lamu — a march  in 
all  of  some  three  thousand  miles,  which  it  was 
estimated  would  take  at  least  two  years  to 
accomplish.  But  it  was  not  without  imminent 
perils.  It  was  in  that  portion  of  it  which 
stretches  from  Mount  Ivenia  to  Lake  Rudolf 
that  Count  Teleki  lost  a third  of  his  caravan 


from  thirst  and  disease,  while  the  man  who 
attempts  to  traverse  the  land  of  the  Gallas 
and  Somalis  must  remember  that  many 
tried  it  before  him,  and  sometimes  paid 
for  the  attempt  with  their  lives  (p.  229). 
Ruspoli,  Revoil,  Ferrandi,  James,  Bricchetti- 
Robecchi,  Bottego,  and  others  have  essayed 
the  exploration  of  Somaliland  with  varied 
success,  and  Yon  der  Decken  perished  among 
the  pioneers  of  exploration  in  this  region. 
Chanler,  however,  entered-  it  with  a larger  and 
more  complete  following  than  wras  at  the 
command  of  any  of  his  predecessors.  He 
had,  moreover,  the  unpurchasable  advantages 
of  youth,  enthusiasm,  the  perfect  health  which 
does  not  always  accompany  five-and-twenty 
summers,  and  the  disinterested  desire  to  do 
what  might  very  well  have  been  left  alone. 
His  outfit  was  minutely  complete,  including 
even  a search-light  to  show  the  position  of 
the  savages  who  attack  by  night,  a wizard  to 
impress  them  with  “ unequalled  feats  of  leger- 
demain,” and  a dozen  pairs  of  flesh-coloured 
gloves  “ to  pull  carelessly  off  his  hands  while 
conversing  with  African  kings,  and  so  impress 
them  with  the  idea  that  he  is  skinning  him- 
self alive.”*  But  such  things  tvere  perhaps 
not  calculated  to  impress  African  royalty  in 
these  days  of  unsophistication.  Mr.  Chanler, 
however,  did  not  meet  with  all  the  good 
fortune  he  merited.  Leaving,  in  September, 
1892,  M’Konumbi,  on  the  coast  of  Witu,  with 
a caravan  numbering  185  men,  15  camels, 
73  donkeys,  2 horses,  10  oxen,  and  10  goats, 
Hameya,  near  Balarti,  a station  of  the 
Imperial  British  East  Africa  Company,  was 
reached  more  than  two  months  later ; but  not 
before  twenty  men  and  five  camels  had  suc- 
cumbed on  the  way.  The  caravan  marched 
in  a leisurely  way  along  the  left  bank  of  the 
Tana  to  Subaki,  where  it  crossed  to  the 
opposite  side.  A small  flotilla  of  twelve 
canoes  carried  some  of  the  loads  and  food, 
though  the  Tana  route  was  found  so  good  that 
an  ordinary  trading  party  might  accomplish 
the  entire  distance  in  the  course  of  five  weeks. 

* Davis,  ‘‘An  American  in  Africa"  {Harper's  Magazine, 
March,  1SS3,  where  a portrait  will  be  found). 


232 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


From  Engatana  onwards  provisions  are  plenti- 
ful, and  there  is  no  difficulty  in'  obtaining 
water,  if  native  guides  are  employed  to  point 
out  the  wells.  Former  visitors  had  left  so 
bad  an  impression  behind  them  that  the 
Wapokomo,  natives  of  the  country,  required 
considerable  management  before  they  were 
persuaded  to  establish  friendly  relations  with 
the  Europeans.  The  Somalis  were  less  tract- 
able, and  a war  party  that  had  been  ravaging 


brothers  Denhardt,  and  various  officers  of  the 
Imperial  East  Africa  Company,  who  had 
previously  surveyed  the  Tana  river  in  a 
rough  way,  a careful  search  failed  to  find  the 
“Galla”  and  “Friedrich  Franz  Mountains” 
of  Dr.  Peters,f  who  had  travelled  by  much 
the  same  route.  This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
since  neither  this  traveller  nor  his  companion, 
Mr.  Tiedemann,  possessed  any  qualifications 
for  adding  to  our  cartographical  knowledge. 


GROUP  OF  WAKWAFJ. 

(From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Ernest  Gedye,  by  permission  'of  the  Imperial  British  East  Africa  Company.) 


the  neighbourhood  had  to  be  driven  off ; but 
the  Gallas  of  Korokoro  were  found  to  be  very 
weak  from  the  repeated  attacks  on  the  part  of 
the  Wakamba.  Geographically,  the  journey 
was  more  fruitful  in  negative  than  in  positive 
discoveries.  Like  Captain  Dundas*  the 

* Gedge  : “A  Recent  Exploration  under  Captain  F.  G. 
Dundas,  R.N.,  up  the  River  Tana  to  Mount  Kenia  (with 
map),  Proceedings  of  the  Royali  Geograph  ical  Society,  1892, 
p.  517.  Mr.  Ravenstein  adds  a summary  of  the  history 
of  its  exploration.  See  also  Ibid.,  1890,  p.  120. 


the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II.  Mountains,  with  the 
Hohenzollern  Peak,  of  which  Dr.  Peters 
presents  so  formidable  a picture,  turning 
out  to  be  “low  hills  surmounted  by  gneiss 
tors.”  Otherwise  their  observations  tallied 
with  those  of  Captain  Dundas,  with  the  serious 
exception  that  Lieutenant  von  Hohnel  con- 
siders the  whole  of  the  Tana  should  be  put  from 
eighteen  to  twenty  miles  farther  to  the  west. 

f “New  Light  on  Dark  Africa”  (1891),  p.  161. 


MR.  ASTOR  CHANTER'S  EXPEDITION. 


233 


Leaving  their  head-quarters  at  Ilameya, 
the  party  made  an  expedition  to  trace  to  its 
source  the  Mackenzie  river,  one  of  the  many 
Tana  tributaries,  and  to  investigate  the  re- 
puted Lorian  Lake.  The  Mackenzie  was 
found  to  be  a very  shallow  stream,  swarming 
with  game  on  its  upper  waters.  The  Guaso 
Nyiri  (or  Ururi),  another  stream, 
rushes  over  a mass  of  lava  in  its 
course  in  two  currents,  which  form 
the  “Chanler  Falls,”  about  fifty  feet 
in  height — its  course  below  this  spot 
being  for  two  miles  between  sheer 
walls  of  black  volcanic  rock,  poured 
out  in  comparatively  recent  times 
by  some  of  the  many  extinct  and 
dormant  craters  in  this  region.  Here 
it  is  about  eighty  yards  wide,  but 
in  flowing  near  the  volcanic  Marisi 
el  Lugwa  Zambo  plateau,  five  hun- 
dred feet  in  height,  rich  alluvial  soil 
borders  each  side  of  it,  the  river, 
however,  dwindling  as  it  passes 
across  this  plain  until  when  last 
seen  it  was  barely  thirty  feet  wide 
and  one  to  two  feet  deep. 

The  “ Lorian  Lake,”  one  of  the 
many  discoveries  or  legends  hoarded 
by  traders  and  travellers  of  late  years, 
is  simply  an  extensive  swamp  filled 
with  high  reeds,  though  likely  enough 
flooded  during  the  rainy  season.  North 
of  it  the  country  is  described  as  an 
undulating  scrub-covered  desert,  so 
deserted  that  from  Hameya  to  Lorian, 
only  one  native  was  seen,  except  on 
the  Jombini  Range.  But  during  the 
wet  season,  when  pasturage  is  more 
plentiful,  the  Marisi  Plateau  and  its  (From 
vicinity  are  probably  visited  by  the 
Rendile  tribes,  who  have  trading  relations  with 
the  Jombini  Range  dwellers.  Folds  that  had 
contained  camels  and  goats — animals  said  to 
be  plentiful  on  the  range  mentioned — and 
camps  that  had  been  inhabited  by  Wan- 
drobbo  were  also  noticed.  The  Jombini 
Range  is,  indeed,  very  fertile  and  thickly 
populated  by  Wamsara  on  its  western  slopes, 


while  the  Waembi  keep  to  the  eastern  portion 
of  the  range,  and  pay  more  attention  to  agri- 
culture than  do  their  more  warlike  neighbours. 
They  seem  an  offshoot  of  the  Kikiyu  race, 
but  use  many  Masai  and  Mkambu  words,  and 
have  adopted  numerous  Wakamba  and  Wak- 
wari  settled  among  them.  The  Waembi 


STREET  IN  LAMT7,  EAST  AFRICA. 

; Photogruph  taken  for  the  Imperial  British  East  Africa  Company.) 

grow  sweet  potatoes,  yams,  cassava,  beans, 
sugar-cane,  and  two  kinds  of  millet;  but 
they  are  fast  destroying  the  forest  with  which 
the  range  was  evidently  formerly  covered.* 
In  February,  1894,  the  remnants  of  Mr.  Chan- 
ler’s  party  returned  to  Mombasa  from  Daicho, 

* The  Geographical  Jimrnal,  1893  (Vol.  I.),  pp.  269> 
533  ; (Vol.  II.),  pp.  307,  534. 


234 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


north-east  of  Mount  Kenia,  after  a visit  to  the 
little-known  Rendile  country.  Mishaps  had 
befallen  the  expedition.  Theclimateof  Hameya 
proved  fatal  to  all  the  camels,  thirty- three  of 
the  donkeys,  and  several  of  the  cattle  and 
goats,  so  that  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the 
beautiful  and  healthy  Jombini  Range  could 
be  reached  before  the  rainy  season.  Even  then 
this  could  only  be  accomplished  by  throwing 
away  much  of  the  baggage,  and  loading  the 
rest  on  the  forty  donkeys  which  had  escaped 
the  tetanus-like  attacks  of  which  the  others 
perished.  The  loss  of  donkeys  and  camels 


COUNT  SAMUEL  TELEKI  (VON  SZEK). 
(From  a Photograph  by  T.  Hetnnan,  Cairo.) 


was  not  the  only  trouble  of  the  expedition, 
for  most  of  the  porters  had  deserted,  and 
Von  Hohnel,  wounded  by  a rhinoceros,  was 
forced  to  return  home  invalided. 

It  will  have  been  noticed  with  what  steadi- 
ness the  days  of  the  hunter  have  been  passing 
away.  We  find  eager  Nimrods  hie- 
swayne:  the  ino  them  to  Africa  and  leaving  it 

last  of  the  with  more  geographical  notes  than 
hunters.  o o 1 

heads  and  hides  and  horns,  simply 
because,  finding  their  old  haunts  or  the 
haunts  of  their  predecessors  exhausted,  they 
had  to  seek  new  and  necessarily  more  remote 
regions.  In  this  way  the  Zambesi  was  reached, 
and  then  the  lands  beyond  it,  until  the  sports- 
man emulous  of  doing  anything  worthy  of  note 
broke  ground  on  the  east  coast.  But  East 


Africa  is  not,  and  never  was,  so  swarming  with 
game  as  South  Africa,  and  by-and-by  it  will 
be  a forbidden  region  to  the  man  ambitious 
of  “ making  a bag,”  since  the  lords  of  that 
wide-stretching  land  have  already  passed 
ordinances  touching  the  slaughtering  of  the 
great  beasts,  and  will  effectually  prevent  such 
massacres  as  go  on,  and  have  gone  on,  farther 
south.  In  the  remote  wilds,  by  Lake  Albert 
Edward  (p.  69),  Emin  Pasha  and  Lugard  saw 
many  elephants  and  rhinoceroses,  though, 
so  far  as  the  elephants  are  concerned,  this 
must  be  about  the  last  refuge  which  they 
have  found,  and  we  have  seen  that  at 
the  head  waters  of  some  of  the  Tana  tribu- 
taries (p.  233)  the  hunter  might  even  yet 
realise  the  fearful  journeys  of  the  men  of 
thirty,  forty,  or,  still  better,  of  fifty  years  ago. 

However,  as  late  as  1886,  Sir  John  Wil- 
loughby and  Sir  Robert  Harvey  found  all 
the  sport  they  desired  near  Kilimanjaro  and 
in  the  country  between  that  mountain  and 
Mombasa.  The  game  killed  Avas  mainly 
elephants  and  rhinoceroses,  though  lions,  leo- 
pards, Burchell’s  -zebra,  buffalo,  eland,  koodoo, 
the  gazelles  named  after  Grant  (p.  180), 
Thomson,  and  Waller,  and  most  of  the  ante- 
lopes with  Avhich  we  have  become  familiar 
in  South  Africa,  occurred  more  or  less 
frequently.*  During  the  dry  season  the  ele- 
phants live  on  Kilimanjaro,  up  to  a height  of 
9,000  feet,  but  during  the  rainy  months  they 
descend  to  the  lowlands,  where  they  are  killed 
by  the  natives  Avith  poisoned  arroAvs.  But  no 
kind  of  game  is  as  plentiful  in  that  country  as 
it  was,  and  in  places  still  is  in  South  Africa. 
Nor  can  we  credit  the  sportsmen  who  burst 
into  this,  until  a few  years  ago,  entirely  un- 
explored region  Avith  adding  greatly  to  the 
geography  of  the  country,  though  their  notes 
on  the  game,  Avhen  they  made  any,  or  put 
them  at  the  disposal  of  the  Avorld,  are  worthy 
of  all  praise.  In  the  evolution  of  the  develop- 
ment of  Africa,  the  hunting  expedition  just 

* Willoughby  : “ East  Africa  and  its  Big  Game”  (1S89) ; 
Faulkner  : “ Elephant  Haunts,  etc.”  (1868)  ; Lugard  : 
“ The  Rise  of  Our  East  African  Empire  (1893),  Yol.  I., 
pp.  492-541. 


CAPTAIN  S WAYNE  IN  SOMALILAND. 


mentioned  was  nevertheless  of  importance  to 
the  opening-up  of  the  continent.  For  Sir 
John  Willoughby,  charmed  with  the  resources 
and  the  life  of  the  land  of  which  he  had  caught 
a few  months’  glimpse,  returned  to  the  east 
coast,  and  has  ever  since  taken  a prominent 
part  in  subduing  Mashonaland  for  the  pur- 
poses of  British  industry. 

Even  the  latest  hunting  expedition  which 
was  planned  for  a campaign  near  Lake  Rudolf 
has  not  altogether  been  energy  thrown  away. 
It  broke  up  almost  before  it  left  the  coast, 
from  causes  which  we  need  not  discuss.  But 
one,  at  least,  of  its  members  made  his  way  to 
Uganda,  and  has  since  helped  to  bit  the 
refractory  sectaries  of  that  empire  until  they 
are  prepared  to  recognise  the  inevitable,  while 
Dr.  J.  W.  Gregory,  of  the  British  Museum, 
who  remained  in  the  country,  visited,  in 
1893,  Lakes  Baringo,  Hannington,  and  others 
in  the  same  great  valley  of  subsidence,  and 
returned  by  way  of  Likipia  and  Kenia,  the 
geology  of  which  he  examined.  The  Aber- 
dare  Mountains  turn  out  not  to  be  a double 
range  separated  by  the  Ururi  Valley,  but  a 
volcanic  mass  piled  up  near  the  edge  of  the 
Likipia  escarpment.  Dr.  Gregory  climbed 
Kenia  three  thousand  feet  higher  than  did  von 
Hbhnel  in  1887.  The  latter’s  description  he 
did  not  find  quite  accurate,  nor  was  the 
topography  of  the  mountain  laid  down  with 
much  nicety.  Gregory  also  explored  the 
glaciers  and  head  waters  of  the  Tana  and  the 
water-shed  between  the  Tana  and  Athi  rivers. 
But  it  is  clear  that  the  modem  sportsman 
must  seek  game  farther  afield.  The  Mahdists 
have  closed  the  Soudan,  so  that  a journey 
up  the  Nile,  or  across  country  from  Abyssinia 
— such  as  Bruce  and  Baker  and  the  Jameses 
among  others  made — is  no  longer  possible. 
But  the  land  of  Prester  John  is  getting 
better  opened,  thanks  to  the  Italian  settle- 
ments on  the  coast ; and  since  part  of  Somali- 
land is  now  recognised  as  British,  and  the 
East  Africa  Company  is  keeping  the  marches 
on  the  south,  this  once  closed  country  is 
becoming  accessible  to  sportsmen.  The  latest 
of  that  class  of  explorers  in  the  Somali  country, 


285 

perhaps  one  should  say  the  pioneer  sportsman, 
was  Captain  H.  G.  C.  Swayne,  R.E.,  who,  early 
in  1893,  went  to  Harar  and  Ime  from  Bulhar 
without  mishap.  Since  Burton’s  day  Harar 
has  undergone  several  changes.  More  travel- 
lers than  one  have  reached  it,*  and,  after 
having  been  taken  by  the  Egyptians  in  1875, 
and  again  receded  to  its  native  Emir,  this 
remote  town,  once  the  capital  of  an  inde- 
pendent state,  is  governed  by  an  Abyssinian 
Ras,  or  General.  The  population  is,  how- 
ever, of  the  usual  mixed  character.  Of 
the  37,000  people — the  great  majority  women 
— about  one-half  are  Harari,  who  closely 
resemble  the  Abyssinians,  though  they  have 
imitated  the  Arabs  in  dress  and  manner.  The 
rest  are  made  up  of  Abyssinians,  Somali,  and 
Gallas,  in  whose  country  the  town  is  situated. 
A large  portion  of  its  former  prosperity  has  van- 
ished, Tadjura  and  Berbera,  about  two  hundred 
miles  distant,  having  absorbed  much  of  its 
trade  in  coffee,  beads,  cattle,  and  the  dye- 
stuff called  “ wars  ” ; while  the  slave  trade, 
which  at  no  very  distant  date  flourished 
exceedingly,  has  now,  owing  to  the  prejudice 
of  the  European  nations  who  are  so  rapidly 
garrisoning  the  borders  of  this  secluded  city, 
either  been  discontinued  or  is  pursued  with 
great  secrecy.  At  present  the  rulers  of  Harar 
are  very  well  disposed  to  Great  Britain, andin  the 
city  Captain  Swayne  found  Count  Salimbeni, 
the  representative  of  Italy,  who  has  established 
a protectorate  over  most  of  Somaliland — and 
several  Europeans  engaged  in  business — a state 
of  matters  very  different  from  the  day  when 
Burton  had  to  visit  the  place  in  disguise  and 
remain  in  extreme  retirement  during  his 
residence.  Returning  to  Jig- Jiga,  about  half- 
way to  the  coast,  Captain  Swayne  went  on  a 
shooting  expedition  to  the  Jerer  Valley,  and 
obtained  a lioness,  several  rhinoceroses,  and 
a couple  of  panthers  as  the  reward  of  his 
labours,  and  near  Segag,  one  of  the  camps  of 
Captain  Baudi,  an  Italian  officer,  who  had 
gone  to  Ime  three  years  before,  a bull  elephant 
was  shot. 

After  passing  through  the  Malingur  tribe, 

* Paulitschke  : “ Harar  ” (1888). 


236 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


communication  was  opened  up  with  some 
difficulty  with  that  of  Rer  Amaden.  Here 
Jama  Deria,  a minstrel  or  troubadour  well 
known  through  all  of  Somaliland,  came  to 
the  sportsman’s  aid,  lending  ponies  and 
supplying  him  guides  to  go  to  Ime,  150  miles 
distant,  while  Captain  Swayne’s  own  caravan 
remained  at  Dambas  Werer  in  charge  of  the 
friendly  bard.  At  Ime,  the  Adone  chief  acted 


XIAM-NIAM  GIEL. 

( From,  a Photograph  by  It.  Buclita.) 


as  host,  and  balanka  or  waterbuck  furnished 
entertainment  to  the  sportsman’s  rifle.  The 
Adone  people  are  black,  and,  like  everybody 
in  this  quarter  except  the  Malingur  Agaden, 
call  themselves  British  subjects.  Of  the  Abys- 
sinians  they  seem  to  be  very  much  afraid,  all 
of  them  deserting  their  huts  on  the  alarm 
spreading  that  Captain  Swayne’s  little  caval- 
cade was  the  advance  guard  of  an  Abyssinian 
force.  The  Malingurs  live  in  the  Tug  Fafan 
Valley,  and  being  in  the  great  eastward  path 
of  invasion,  were  compelled  to  yield  to 
King  Menelek’s  troops  ; but  the  Rer  Amaden 
were  not  so  easily  conquered,  having  from 


time  to  time  inflicted  great  loss  on  the 
Abyssinians.  The  remains  of  a bivouac  were 
pointed  out  where  a large  force  of  these  people 
had  been  defeated  only  two  or  three  years 
before. 

Forests,  consisting  chiefly  of  tall  casuarinas 
and  evergreens,  fringed  both  sides  of  the 
Webbe  at  Ime,  and  Avaterbucks  were  plenti- 
ful ; but  recent  tribal  Avars  had  almost 
depopulated  the  country  between  Dambas 
Werer  and  Ime.  Buffaloes  and  giraffes  Avere 
heard  of  at  the  Gure  Gallas ; but  the  officer’s 
leave  approaching  a close,  he  had  to  return 
for  the  time  being  to  Aden,  not,  hoAvever, 
before  being  so  unfortunate  as  to  have 
material  evidence  of  the  presence  of  lions  in 
the  country.  For  at  Durhi  one  of  his  men 
Avas  carried  off  by  a man-eating  brute  while 
riding  alone  in  the  jungle.  Another  was 
shot  near  Segag,  and  a large  number  of 
zebras  of  the  species  described  in  1882  as 
Equus  grevyi,  though  it  is  doubtful  Avhether 
the  finer  and  more  numerous  stripes  character- 
istic of  it  are  sufficient  to  separate  it  from  the 
common  E.  zebra  found  from  one  end  of  Africa 
to  the  other.  They  are,  however,  so  numerous 
in  this  part  of  Somaliland  that  they  form 
the  favourite  food  of  the  Rer  Amaden  tribe. 
Captain  SAvayne’s  followers  were  rather  un- 
fortunate on  this  trip.  Besides  the  lion’s 
victim,  one  man  had  his  leg  broken  by  the 
fall  of  a camel ; another,  quarrelling  Avith  an 
Abyssinian,  received  the  customary  rejoinder 
of  a spear-thrust ; Avhile  a third  Avas  badly 
scratched  by  a panther  which  the  party  Avere 
following  at  night.  Eight  camels  out  of 
thirty  Avere  lost  from  the  animals  being 
unequal  to  the  rapid  marching,  though  tAvo 
might  have  died  from  the  bites  of  the 
“ balaad  ” fly  of  Ogaden,  or  from  that  of 
the  “ dug,”  another  poisonous  insect,  not, 
however,  so  deadly  as  the  other.  The 
return  trip  Avas  by  Milmil  and  the  Habr 
Gerhajis  country ; but,  getting  his  leaATe 
extended,  Captain  SAvayne  returned  to 
survey  the  Gure  Gallas  coimtry  beyond 
Ime,  though,  “of  course,”  the  officer  of 
Engineers  tells  us,  his  “ main  reason  for 


LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  SPORTSMEN. 


237 


these  journeys  is  to  open  up  new  shooting 
grounds.”  * 

In  this  meritorious  extension  of  the  work 
of  the  scientific  branch  of  the  Army  there  is, 
we  venture  to  think,  not  much  success  to  be 


preceding  chapters  are  concerned.  The  era  of 
the  hunter  is  over,  and  that  of  the  great 
explorer  is  almost  equally  at  an  end.  Hunt- 
ing parties  will  still  be  organised  to  shoot 
whatever  is  to  be  shot  in  the  regions  off  which. 


XIAM-NIAM  WIZARD. 

( From  a Photograph  by  If.  Brchla.) 


looked  for.  There  are  now  few  wide  areas  of 
Africa  of  which  the  general  characteristics  are 
not  known,  and  almost  none  of  them  swarm 
with  game  as  South  Africa  swarmed  with 
it  in  the  palmy  days  with  which  the 

* The  Geograph  ical  Journal,  1893  (Vol.  II.).  p.  2.>2,  and 
SSfl  (map  showing  Captain  Swayne's  and  Luigi  Bricchetti- 
Robecchi's  routes  in  the  Somali  country). 


to  use  a homely  metaphor,  the  cream  has 
long  ago  been  skimmed,  and  even  “ bags  made  ” 
which  may  amaze  a generation  ignorant 
of  the  fortunes  that  befell  the  fathers  of 
African  sport.  Indeed,  at  the  moment  of 
writing,  the  columns  of  the  newspapers  which 
concern  themselves  with  the  goings  and 
comings  of  fashionable  society  intimate  that 


238 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


a young  nobleman  has  returned  from  a 
two  and  a-half  years’  hunting  trip  to  the 
Zambesi  country,  where  he  had  a fair  share 
of  the  sport  still  to  be  had  in  no  niggard 
amount  in  the  less  frequented  parts  of  that 
region.  And,  no  doubt,  there  will 
from  time  to  time  be  similar 
adventures  to  record,  in  spite  of 
the  undeniable  fact  that  the  good 
days  of  the  African  sportsman  are 
everywhere  on  the  wane,  and  in 
some  places  gone  never  to  return.  I 

Nor  are  the  chances  of  the  | 

explorer  as  we  have  known  him  | 

in  the  preceding  volumes  much  j 


more  promising.  No  great  problems  have 
remained  for  solution  since  Stanley’s  last 
journey,  and  it  is  difficult  to  indicate  on  the 
map  any  large  stretch  of  country  with  the 
nature  of  which  the  geographer  is  still  entirely 
unacquainted.  There  are,  of  course,  plenty  of 
huge  spots  crossed  by  rivers  which  continue 
to  be  indicated  by  a vague  line  of  dots,  and 
lakes  out  of  number  “ laid  down  ” in  a 
manner  equally  unsatisfactory  to  the  carto- 
grapher. To  have  explored  these  lacuna}  of 
the  map  would,  at  an  earlier  period  in  the 


history  of  African  travel,  have  gained  the 
adventurer  much  renown.  But  nowadays, 
so  numerous  are  the  travellers  exploring 
different  districts  throughout  the  Dark 
Continent,  the  geographical  journals  can 
barely  spare  a few  lines  to  the  record  of 
journeys  which  in  extent  and  in  results  are 
not  inferior  to  those  of  Mungo  Park  and  the 
travellers  who  followed  him.  They  have, 
moreover,  now  lost  novelt}" . The  accidents  by 
flood  and  field  which  they  have  to  relate  are 
too  familiar — almost  too  hackneyed — to  com- 
mand attention.  As  we  approach  nearer  and 
nearer  to  our  own  times,  the  travellers,  as  a 
rule,  demand  less  space.  Their  adventures 
are  mainly  of  personal  moment.  Their  results 
are  what  the  student  of  current  history  is 
most  interested  in  learning ; while  the  ex- 
citement which  imparted  zest  to  the  earlier 
expeditions  is  now,  to  a great  extent,  gone, 
since  it  is  believed  that,  however  much  nomin- 
ally new  ground  the  caravan  may  traverse, 
the  leader  is  quite  likely  to  return  without  the 
story  of  any  Gordian  knot,  or  with  the  in- 
formation that  he  found  one  only  to  untie  it. 

But  if  the  world  has  fallen  upon  prosaic 
times,  it  is  no  longer  content  with  the  rough 
explorations  of  former  days.  So  long  as  the 
traveller  had  a startling  tale  to  tell,  it  was 
content  to  accept,  although  not  altogether  satis- 
fied with,  the  crudity  of  his  narrative.  Now, 
however,  it  demands  greater  nicety  in  his  de- 
scriptions, more  accuracy  in  his  maps,  and  a 
description  of  the  races  that  will  bear  some- 
thing like  examination  by  ethnographers. 
Should  the  modem  explorer  make  the  blun- 
ders in  botany,  zoology,  and  geology  which 
disfigure  the  volumes  of  the  pioneers,  even 
when  these  considered  it  necessary  to  touch 
upon  such  points  at  all,  he  would  be  apt  to  be 
pointed  at  by  those  who  have  inherited 
the  traditions  of  Humboldt  and  of  Barth. 
The  latter  was  the  first  of  the  scientific 
travellers  who  penetrated  Africa  for  any  great 
distance,  and  Schweinfurth,  his  countryman, 
may  claim  to  have  been  the  second.  In  order 
to  see  the  last  of  the  hunters,  we  have  some- 
what anticipated  events.  We  are  now 


SCHWEINFURTH’ S TRAVELS. 


239 


compelled  to  retrace  our  steps  by  a few  years, 
so  as  to  connect  the  eminent  German  savant 
whose  name  has  just  been  mentioned  with 
the  new  feature  in  African  travel  of  which  it 
is  probable  we  shall  not  see  the  last  for  some 
centuries  to  come — namely,  the  time  when 
a knowledge  of  geography  more  minute 
than  that  of  old  is  demanded  of  those  who 
wander  in  the  wilds  of  Africa. 

This  traveller,  who  comes  too  late  in  the 
history  with  which  we  are  concerned  to  find 
Georg  that  space  which,  had  the  valley  of 

August  the  Nile  been  less  known,  would 

Schweiafurtll..  , , . ■ . 

have  been  his  right,  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  successor  of  Barth ; for  no 
traveller  up  to  the  time  of  his  appearance — 
not  even  Roscher — had  described  the  region 
over  which  he  passed  with  the  minuteness 
which  that  meritorious  “ erforscher  ” did.  Dr. 
Schweinfurth  was  born  at  Riga  on  the  29th 
December,  1836,  so  that  in  being  the  son  of 
German  parents,  though  a subject  of  the  Czar, 
he  resembles  Dr.  J unker,  who  followed  him  as 
a traveller  in  the  same  region.  During  his 
studies  at  Heidelberg,  Munich,  and  Berlin,  he 
made  botany  a special  study.  He  had  been 
attracted  to  Africa  by  studying  the  plants 
collected  in  the  Soudan  by  Baron  von 
Barnim,  who  had  travelled  there  with  Dr. 
Hartmann  in  1860,  and  fallen  a victim  to  the 
climate,  and  it  was  as  a botanist  that  in  1864 
he  made  a journey  up  the  Nile  Valley  and 
along  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea  as  far  as 
Abyssinia  and  on  to  Khartoum.  But  in 
1868  he  aimed  at  greater  things,  and,  aided 
by  a grant  from  the  Humboldt  Fund,  again 
started  for  the  Nile,  with  the  intention  of 
making  his  head-quarters  at  Khartoum,  and 
thence,  by  accompanying  the  slave-  and  ivory- 
traders,  of  making  his  way  into  the  remote 
parts  of  the  river  basin,  and  even  beyond  it 
to  the  westward.  In  those  days,  Jiafer 
Pasha  was  Governor- General  of  the  Soudan. 
He  was  not,  as  even  Egyptian  Pashas  go,  re- 
garded as  a model  nder  (Vol.  II.,  p.  142);  but 
the  young  naturalist  had  no  reason  to  com- 
plain of  him.  For  not  only  did  he  receive  him 
with  the  utmost  kindness,  but  by  his  letters 


to  the  interior  traders  and  the  interest  he 
was  able  to  make  with  Ghattas  (Vol.  II., 
p.  146),  the  ivory-gatherer,  sent  the  explorer 
most  auspiciously  on  his  way.  From  Khar- 
toum to  the  mouth  of  the  Sobat  river  was 
not  a difficult  voyage  in  1869,  especially  when 
undertaken  in  the  well-armed  vessel  of  a 
merchant  quite  prepared  for  any  contingency; 
and  when  at  this  port  Mohammed  Abu  Samuiat, 
the  Nubian,  begged  the  German  traveller  to 
consider  himself  his  guest,  “ until  he  should 


have  accompanied  him  to  the  remotest  tribes,” 
Dr.  Schweinfurth  was  justified  in  considering 
his  task  half  completed.  Mohammed  was  a 
typical  specimen  of  the  Upper  Nile  merchant. 
Nominally  engaged  in  buying  ivory,  he  was 
in  reality  mainly  a dealer  in  and  a stealer 
of  slaves.  In  pursuit  of  these  branches  of 
commerce  he  had  virtually  conquered  regions 
large  enough  to  form  states  in  Europe. 

Alternately  fighting  and  bartering  with 
the  Shillooks,  the  boats  of  Schweinfurth’s 
new  friend  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Bahr- 
el-Ghazel,  and  landed  on  the  Meshera,  a group 
of  islands  inhabited  by  the  Dinka.  This 
deadly  spot  is  the  usual  starting-point  for 
caravans  bound  in  the  direction  Mohammed’s 


240 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


expedition  intended  to  take,  and  here  the 
naturalist  had  to  wait  for  eighteen  days, 
until  Ghattas  and  his  multitudinous  horde  of 
porters  and  other  camp-followers  arrived,  to 
the  number  of  five  hundred.  With  these  the 
march  was  begun,  towards  the  end  of  March, 
from  Ghattas’  chief  zereba  to  the  country 
bordering  the  Dinka  Dyor  and  Bongo  terri- 
tories. At  this  place,  1,545  feet  above  the 


(Vol.  II.,  p.  144),  full  of  cattle  under  Dinka 
servants,  and  everywhere  presented  so  peace- 
ful an  appearance  that  it  was  difficult  to 
realise  that  they  were  simply  part  of  the  great 
machinery  of  the  ivory,  which  in  almost  every 
instance  was  synonymous  with  the  slave,  trade. 
In  January  next  year  a much  more  important 
journey  was  made  into  the  Zandey,  or  Niam- 
Niam  country  (pp.  236,  237, 240, 241,  etc.),  then 


WARRIORS. 

( From  a Photograph  by  R.  Buchta.) 


sea,  several  months  were  passed,  amid  the 
utmost  hospitality  from  all  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact,  until  by  the  middle  of 
November  Mohammed’s  caravan  again  began 
to  move.  Crossing  the  Tondy,  a tributary  of 
the  Bahr-el-Ghazel,  and  a host  of  minor 
rivers,  December  and  January  found  him  in 
the  Mittoo  country — a region  of  broad  grassy 
plains,  broken  by  huge  stones  of  fantastic  out- 
line, and  by  thickets  or  single  trees,  with  here 
and  there  an  encampment  of  huts  rising  from 
a platform  of  clay  “ like  paper  cones  on  a flat 
table.”  These  zerebas  were  often  great  villages 


one  of  the  chief  hunting-grounds  of  the  ivory- 
traders.  The  elephants  that  still  swarmed  were 
killed  by  the  natives  setting  fire  to  the  jungles 
in  which  they  lived — the  wretched  animals 
huddling  together  and  heaping  grass  over 
their  bodies  as  a protection  against  the 
flames,  until  they  fell  suffocated  by  the  dense 
smoke.  Tall  grass  covered  most  of  the  region 
where  trees  did  not  clothe  the  soil,  the 
villages  of  the  natives  occupying  the  open 
spaces  which  occurred  at  intervals.  The 
Niam-Niam — a cannibal  race  the  existence  of 
whom  had  until  then  been  known  only  by 


56 


{From  a Photograph  by  P. 


242 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


the  reports  of  Piaggia,  a roving  Italian,  who 
had  passed  a year  amongst  them,*  and  the 
Arab  traders — are  among  the  most  savage  of 
tribes.  With  the  exception  of  a skin  round 
their  loins,  they  go  entirely  naked,  a few 
stripes  painted  on  their  black  skins  serving  in 
the  way  of  decoration.  From  the  Niam-Niam 
country  that  of  the  Monbuttoo — a race  new 
to  geographers — Avas  next  reached,  and  the 
acquaintance  made  of  King  Munza  and  his 
many  Avives.  The  capital  of  this  monarch 
was  some  miles  south  of  a river  called  the 
Welle,  800  feet  broad,  and  deep  in  the  driest 
season,  which  was  found  to  flow  to  the  west 
out  of  the  area  of  the  Nile  basin.  This  Avas. 
perhaps,  the  most  important  geographical 
discovery  of  Sehweinfurth’s  expedition,  and 
for  years  afterwards  formed  one  of  the 
many  problems  in  African  hydrography.  At 
first  it  was  believed  to  be  identical  Avith 
Barth’s  Shari,  Avhich  flows  into  Lake  Tchad; 
but  researches  made  by  another  German,  many 
years  later,  proved  that  the  surmise  Avas 
altogether  incorrect,  the  Congo  being  its 
destination.  As  a friend  of  M’bahly,  or  the 
Little  One,  the  name  by  which  Sammat  Avas 
familiarly  knoAvn  to  these  people,  Schweinfurth 
was  speedily  made  at  home  with  the  Mon- 
buttoo, though  the  dignity  of  King  Munza  did 
not  permit  him  to  meet  the  gaze  of  the  Avhite 
man  until  the  latter  had  been  sufficiently  im- 
pressed with  the  magnificence  of  his 

SSo.4  The  latter  was  a p°rtly  being< 

whose  person  Avas  profusely  covered 
with  copper  rings,  chains,  and  other  gauds. 
His  hair  Avas  done  up  in  an  enormous  chignon, 
from  the  summit  of  which  rose  a huge  copper 
crescent  and  a plumed  hat  made  of  reeds 
plaited  into  the  shape  of  a cylinder,  the 
Avhole  ornamented  Avith  a profusion  of  red 
parrots’  feathers.  As  in  every  African  state 
function,  the  noise  of  horns  and  drums  played 
a prominent  part  Avhen  Ur.  SchAveinfurth  was 
first  received  by  this  self-important  monarch, 

* The  only  information  left  by  Piaggia  is  what  the 
Marquis  0.  Antinori  collected  from  his  verbal  narratives, 
and  published  (as  might  be  expected,  with  many  blanks) 
in  the  Bolletino  della  Sue.  Geogr.  Ibaliana,\%&%,  pp.  91— 1<>8. 


and  the  rush  to  see  the  white  man  was  so 
great  that  for  a time  it  almost  seemed  as  if 
he  Avould  be  crushed  by  the  ring  of  painted 
Avarriors.  Munza  A\ras  naturally  quite  as 
curious  as  his  subjects ; but  nil  admirari 
is  in  Africa,  as  in  some  quarters  nearer  home, 
regarded  as  the  mark  of  a very  superior 
person.  Even  the  presents  laid  before  him — 
objects  Avhich  are  seldom  regarded  Avith  in- 
difference— Avere  merely  glanced  at  and  a 
few  conventional  questions  asked  of  their 
donor.  Emotion  Avas  evidently  considered 
vulgar  in  the  Monbuttoo  court;  for,  Avhat- 
ever  might  have  been  the  actual  feelings  of 
his  Majesty,  he  did  not  permit  himself  to 
indulge  in  more  than  a furtive  look.  Pro- 
fessional jesters  and  singers  then  entertained, 
the  visitors,  succeeded  by  a concert  in  which. 
King  Munza  acted  as  conductor,  his  baton 
being  an  instrument  like  a child’s  rattle,  the 
Avhole  Avinding  up  Avith  a fervid  oration  by 
the  king,  Avhich  Avas  understood  to  be  a series, 
of  compliments  to  his  guest,  spiced,  no  doubt, 
Avith  some  to  himself.  Like  all  African  chiefs, 
the  Avives  of  this  potentate  were  many,  and. 
their  greatest  treat  was  to  see  their  lord 
dance  before  them.  Yet  cannibals  though 
the  Monbuttoo,  like  the  Niam-Niam,  un- 
doubtedly are,  they  excel  in  many  arts. 
Their  weapons  of  native  iron,  smelted  in 
a rude  though  efficient  furnace,  are  excel- 
lently forged.  Their  storehouses,  filled  Avith 
grain  and  other  reserves  of  food,  are  capitally 
suited  for  the  purpose  to  which  they  are  put, 
and  some  of  the  Avood-carvings  executed 
by  them  are  really  artistic.  The  copper 
chains  and  other  ornaments  made  by  native- 
smiths  are  also  most  ingeniously  Avorked,  and’ 
among  specimens  of  their  textile  Avork  Ur. 
Schweinfurth  has  high  praise  to  bestOAv  on 
their  beautiful  fabrics  of  Avoven  grass. 

It  Avas  among  the  Monbuttoo  that  the  young 
traveller  met  for  the  first  time  with  those 
Akka  pigmies  of  Avhom  so  much  has  been 
heard  in  late  years  (p.  72).  though  he  was 
not  able  to  reach  their  country,  described  as 
about  four  days  from  Munza’s  capital.  One- 
of  them,  who  had  come  on  a visit  to 


sen  WE  LX  FUR  TIPS  A CH1EVEMEN  TS. 


243 


Monbuttoo,  was  persuaded  to  accompany  the 
traveller  to  Europe.  Unfortunately,  however, 
the  little  man  died  at  Berber,  so  that  it  was 
not  till  some  years  afterwards  that  a speci- 
men of  this  curious  race  of  dwarfs  made  their 
existence  familiar  to  the  civilised  world. 

The  breaking-up  of  Mohammed  Abu  Sam- 
mat’s  camp  compelled  Dr.  Schweinfurth,  very 
reluctantly,  to  return 
to  the  Nile,  without 
visiting  the  head  waters 
of  the  Benue,  Shari, 

Ogowe,  and  Congo, 
near  all  four  of  which  it 
was  his  firm  conviction 
he  had  reached.  As 
subsequent  discoveries 
proved,  this  belief  was 
not  quite  correct  ; but 
it  is  certain  that  he 
was  only  about  450 
miles  from  the  most 
northern  point  reached 
by  Livingstone  when 
he  was  necessitated  by 
the  lack  of  resources 
to  leave  to  others  the 
work  he  had  so  far 
accomplished  with  such 
unwonted  completeness.* 

To  the  last  Jiafer 
Pasha  was  unwearied  in 
his  kindness ; for  when  the  traveller  found  to 
his  dismay  that  all  the  stores  he  had  left  at 
Ghattas’  zereba  as  a reserve  had  been  destroyed 
by  an  accidental  fire,  the  munificent  governor 
replaced  them  by  an  ample  supply  despatched 

* Schweinfurth  : “ The  Heart  of  Africa  : Three  Years’ 
Travels  and  Adventures  in  the  Unexplored  Regions  of 
Central  Africa  from  1868  to  1871.”  2 Vols.  English 
Translation  (1875)  ; “ Artes  African*  ” (1875),  etc. 


to  Meshera.  These  were  the  last  of  Dr. 
Schweinfurth’s  great  explorations  in  or  on  the 
borders  of  the  Nile  Valley.  But  they  were  not 
the  only  travels  for  scientific  purposes  which 
he  lived  to  make  in  the  region  with  which 
his  name  will  always  be  honourably  connected. 
Returning  to  Egypt  in  1872,  he  founded,  at 
the  request  of  the  Khedive  Ismail,  the 
Societe  Khediviale  de 
Geographie  in  Cairo, 
and  was  nominated 
its  first  President.  In 
subsequent  years  he 
examined  the  natural 
history  — the  botany 
principally — of  various 
districts  bordering  the 
Nile,  and,  as  Director 
of  the  Egyptian  Mu- 
seums in  Cairo,  remained 
in  that  country  until 
1888,  when  he  returned 
to  Germany  with  the 
object  of  devoting  the 
rest  of  his  life  to  pub- 
lishing the  descriptions 
of  the  numerous  collec- 
tions he  had  made. 
It  may  be  added  that, 
in  addition  to  many 
similar  honours,  Dr. 
Schweinfurth  received 
in  1874  the  Founder’s  Medal  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  “ for  his  discovery  of 
the  Welle  river,  beyond  the  south-western 
limits  of  the  Nile  basin.”  This  was  his  chief 
contribution  to  African  hydrography,  though 
much  of  the  country  visited  by  him,  and 
especially  Dar  Fertit,  was,  practically,  ground 
quite  fresh  to  the  geographer,  though  not 
to  the  slave-  and  ivory-traders. 


NIAM-NIAM  TEIBESMAX. 
(From  a Photograph  by  It.  Bnchta.) 


THE  GERMAN  CONSULATE  AT  KHARTOUM  DURING  THE  EGYPTIAN  OCCUPATION  OP  THE  SOUDAN. 
(From  a Photograph  by  R Buchta.) 


CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Scientific  Explorers:  Beys  and  Pashas:  Nachtigal  and  Junker. 


Whc.t  Egypt  has  done  for  the  Exploration  of  the  Nile  Valley — Nachtigal — His  History,  and  how  he  reached 
the  Nile  from  Tripoli — Murzuk— A Raid  into  the  Tibesti  Mountains — A Journey  to  Bornu — Lake  Tchad 
— Borgou — Baghirmi  and  its  History — Songhai  and  the  Slave  Trade — Villages  in  Trees — Fittri — Waday 
and  its  History — Excursion  to  Mangari'  and  the  Bahr-el-Salamat — Darfur  and  the  Way  Thither — History 
of  Darfur — An  Old  Resident  in  Kobbeh — Browne’s  Travels  a Century  Ago — -From  Fasher  to  Khartoum 
— A Narrow  Escape — Return  to  Europe — The  Sheik  Mohammed  el  Tounsy— Junker— His  History — First 
Expedition  up  the  Nile  to  Khartoum— To  Sobat — Makaraka  and  Mundoo  Countries— Bahr-el-Ghazel — A 
Second  Expedition  results  in  a Seven  Years’  Stay — Dem  Suleiman — The  Niam-Niam — Pagan  Friends  and 
Moslem  Foes — Monbuttoo— The  Welle  and  its  Tributaries — The  A-Barmbos  Inimicable — Mambanga  and 
Captain  Casati — Bomokandi — Peoples — Held  Hostage  by  a Monbuttoo  Chief — Murder  of  King  Munza  by  Arabs 
— The  Settlement  of  the  Welle — Makua — Shari — Moubangi  Question — Echoes  of  the  Mahdi — Reaches  Emin 
— Retreats  to  Uganda  through  Unyoro — To  Msalala  with  the  Missionaries,  and  to  Bagamoyo  with  Tippoo 
Tib — The  Death  of  Junker. 


At  the  time  Schweinfurth  was  exploring  the 
Nile  Valley  and  the  country  beyond  it,  Baker 
was  engaged  on  his  second  expedition  in  the 
same  basin,  but  in  another  direction  (Vol.  II., 
pp.  147-153).  After  this  date  little  was  done 
to  examine  this  , region  by  officials  in  the 
service  of  Egypt,  and  not  a great  deal  by 
anybody  else.  For,  with  the  exception  of 
Albert  Edward  Nyanza,  and  its  feeders 
and  defluent,  the  broad  outlines  of  the  Nile 
system  had  been  settled  with  the  discovery 
of  Albert  Nyanza.  Colonel  Purdy-Bey  ex- 
amined in  1870,  with  the  minute  accuracy 
now  regarded  as  necessary,  the  country 


between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea,  on  the 
route  between  Mokattam  and  Suez,  and 
Keneh  and  Kosseir.  These  journeys 
did  not  add  much  to  general  geo-  Ef^am 
graphical  knowledge;  but  they  wrere 
of  value  for  the  minute  information  they  sup- 
plied regarding  the  topography  and  resources 
of  that  region,  and  indicated,  with  an  exact- 
ness unknown  in  the  old  unscientific  days 
which  were  before  Schweinfurth — for  the  Com- 
missioners sent  by  the  first  Napoleon  confined 
themselves  to  Lower  Egypt — the  site  of  the 
Pharaohs'  gold-mines,  and  the  quarries  of  por- 
phyry, and  other  valuable  building  materials 


NILE  SURVEYS. 


245 


worked  twenty-seven  centuries  betore  the 
Christian  era.  In  1873  Colonel  Colston  went 


ERNST  MAHNO. 

(From  a Photograph  by  Heinrich  Graf,  Berlin.) 

from  Keneh  to  Berenice,  and  from  that  ancient 
port  northwards  to  Berber.  Next  year  the 
War  Office  sent  Purdy-Bey  into  Darfur, 
Colston  into  Kordofan,  and  Mitchell,  an 
engineer,  to  study  the  geology  of  the  region 
between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea,  which 
enabled  a better  map  to  be  drawn  of  Egypt 
than  had  hitherto  been  possible ; while  owing 
to  the  military  stations  established  by  the 
Khedive  the  country  was  explored  with  com- 
parative ease  to  the  borders  of  Borgou  and 
Waday  on  the  west,  and  I)ar  Fertifc  on 
the  south.  In  1874,  also,  Gordon  became 
Governor  of  the  Equatorial  Provinces,  with 
results  which,  we  have  seen,  greatly  enlarged 
our  knowledge  of  the  Upper  Nile  Basin ; 
albeit  Gordon,  though  an  officer  of  the  Royal 
Engineers,  was  never  an  enthusiast  in  scientific 
investigation.  He  did  not  encourage  his  sub- 
ordinates to  go  beyond  their  duties,  con- 
sidering these  quite  sufficient  for  their  energies. 
But  it  was  seldom  that  he  refused  facilities  to 
properly  qualified  explorers;  and  in  Khartoum, 
with  its  consulates  (p.  244),  each  charged 
with  the  interest  of  its  nationality,  the  varied 


vagabonds  who  roamed  in  the  interests  of 
science  found  ample  succour  and  advice. 
It  was,  however,  under  Gordon’s  orders  that 
Chaille-Long,  his  chief  of  staff,  was  sent  up 
the  Nile  to  Uganda  (p.  143),  discovering  the 
so-called  Lake  Ibrahim,  and  proving,  what  had 
hitherto  been  only  suspected,  that  the  river 
which  Speke  had  seen  flowing  out  of  Victoria 
Nyanza  was  the  same  that  passed  through  the 
northern  end  of  Albert  Nyanza.  Marno,  a 
Viennese,  helped  to  lay  down  the  country 
between  Lado  and  Makaraka,  and  in  1875-6 
Gessi  (Vol.  II.,  p.  137)  settled  .once  and  for 
all  the  origin  of  the  White  Nile  and  Albert 
Nyanza.  The  same  river  had,  in  1874, 
been  charted  with  more  exactitude  than 
before  by  Watson  and  Chippendale,  officers 
acting  under  Gordon,  and  the  navigation 
of  Lake  Albert  been  established  by  Gessi. 
Linant  de  Bellefonds  (Vol.  II.,  p.  287)  charted 
the  route  between  Gondokoro  and  the 
capital  of  Uganda,  and  Gordon  himself  sur- 
veyed, in  1876,  the  Nile  between  Fo\yeera 
and  Magungo,  and  the  country  between 
Foweera  and  M’rooli.  About  the  same  period 


A COLONEL  CHAILLE-LONG. 

( From  a Photograph  by  Loot  and  Whiifielil.) 


the  names  of  Munzinger  Pasha,  Mohammed 
Moktar  Bey,  and  Abdallah  Fendy— the  two 


246 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


latter  during  the  march  of  Raouf  Pasha 
upon  Harar  (p.  235) — Mackillop,  Ward,  Abd- 
el-Razak  Effendi,  Durholz,  Lockett,  Field, 
Derrick,  Dulier,  Dennison,  Diah,  Kamzy, 
Magdy,  and  other  officers  in  the  Egyptian 
service,  deserve  honourable  mention  for  minor 
contributions  to  the  geography  of  the  more 
remote  parts  of  Egypt  and  its  borders.  The 
circumnavigation  of  Albert  Nyanza  by  Mason 
Bey  has  already  been  noticed  (Vol.  II., 
p.  137),  while  several  young  Egyptian  officers 
— Sabry,  Sarny,  Nasr,  etc.,  and  more  lately 
Prout,  Pfund,  Maliui,  and  others— ascended  the 
Nile  to  Dongola,  and  penetrated  into  the  un- 
known south-east,  and  furnished  the  first 
detailed  account  of  the  route  to  Darfur.  The 
reconnaissance  of  the  northern  frontier  oi 
Abyssinia  by  the  officers  attached  to  the 
expedition  under  Osman  Pasha  Refki  was 
also  of  some  scientific  importance.  But  the 
rising  in  the  Soudan  soon  confined  any 
Egyptian  surveys  to  districts  not  far  from 
the  Delta,  and  do  not  call  for  any  notice  in  a 
work  descriptive,  of  explorations  in  unknown 
Africa.  What  has  been  briefly  sketched*  in 
the  preceding  pages  may  serve  simply  as  a 
link  in  a narrative  which,  for  reasons  already 
given,  cannot,  as  we  approach  the  busy  times 
we  have  now  entered  upon,  be  always  strictly 
chronological.  Egypt’s  share  in  the  explora- 
tion of  the  continent  of  which  it  forms  the 
oldest  civilised  section  has,  however,  been  of 
the  smallest.  The  Nile  Valley  has  been  ex- 
plored by  foreigners,  chiefly  British  at  first, 
Italians  and  Germans  latterly,  though,  indeed, 
its  scientific  surveyors  have,  like  the  rulers  of 
Lower  Egypt,  always  been  of  the  most  cos- 
mopolitan description. 

Schweinfurth,  however,  may  be  fittingly 
described,  after  Barth,  as  the  first  of  the  many 
scientific  explorers  who  were  so  soon  to  flood 
Africa ; and  Nachtigal,  another  German,  ranks 
next  to  him  in  date  and  status  as  a traveller 
of  the  newer  and  more  accurate  ordgr. 

Dr.  Nachtigal  (p.  256)  was  born  at  Eich- 

* Stone-Pasha,  “ Les  Expeditions'  Lgyptiennes  en 
Afrique,”  Bulletin,  dr  la  Societe  Khediviale  de  Geo- 
graphic du  Caire,  lie  Ser.  No.  7,  1885,  p.  343. 


stadt,  in  the  district  of  Stendal,  between 
Magdeburg  and  Wittenberg,  on  the  23rd  Feb- 
ruary, 1834.f  After  studying  medi- 
cine at  the  Universities  of  Halle,  Nachtigui. 
Wurzburg,  and Greifswald,  he  served 
as  a military  surgeon  until  1863,  when 
a chest  disease  compelled  him  to  seek  a 
milder  climate  than  that  of  Cologne,  where 
he  was  stationed.  Algiers  was  selected,  and 
there  he  remained  for  a short  time  studying 
Arabic  and  the  ways  of  those  speaking  it, 
until  he  was  appointed  physician  to  the  Bey 
of  Tunis.  In  this  capacity  he  accompanied 
several  little  expeditions  against  revolted 
tribes,  and  in  the  course  of  these  military 
excursions  gained  a useful  familiarity  with 
the  language,  habits,  and  general  character- 
istics of  North  Africa  bordering  on  the 
Sahara.  This  knowledge  soon  came  in  good 
stead ; for  in  1868  Dr.  Nachtigal  was  chosen, 
on  the  recommendation  of  Gerhard  Rohlfs 
(who  had  been  offered  the  mission)  to  carry 
to  Omar,  Sultan  of  Bornu,  the  presents  by 
which  the  King  of  Prussia  intended  to  mark 
his  appreciation  of  the  services  he  had 
rendered  to  Rohlfs  and  his  companions. 
Leaving  Tripoli  in  February,  1869,  Nachtigal 
arrived  by  way  of  Sokna,  over  a route 
along  which  we  have  accompanied  more 
than  one  traveller,  at  Murzuk,  then,  as 
now,  the  “jumping-off  place”  to  the  desert 
beyond.  Here  he  had  to  halt  for  some  time 
until  the  caravan  with  which  he  was  to  travel 
was  ready  to  set  out,  and  thus  had  plenty  of 
time  to  study  the  capital  of  Fezzan,  the 
most  remote  province  of  Tripoli  (Vol.  I.,  pp. 
240-2).  Numerous  trading  caravans  still  pass 
through  it  to  and  from  all  parts  of  Central 
Africa — from  3,000  to  4,000  people  being 
regularly  engaged  in  the  traffic  that  takes 
the  route  by  way  of  Murzuk.  The  articles 
carried  to  the  Soudan  are  Maria  Theresa 
thalers— specially  coined  for  this  trade — 
calicoes,  silk,  velvet,  woollen  cloth,  spices, 
glass-ware,  trinkets,  coral,  amber,  etc.,  while  the 

f Dorothea  Berlin:  Errinnerungen  an  Nachtigal” 

(1887);  Franz-Pasha,  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  Khediviale 
de  Geograph  ic,  ID  Ser.  No.  7,  1885,  p.  397. 


THE  TRAVELS'  OF  DR.  NACHTIGAL. 


247 


goods  taken  in  exchange  are  ostrich  feathers, 
ivory,  and  slaves.  But  at  the  date  of 
Nachtigal’s  visit,  and  not  less  since,  the 
market  for  the  last-named  description  of  mer- 
chandise was  no  longer  what  it  had  been ; so 
that  to  find  any  purchasers  for  their  bond- 
folk  the  caravans  have  to  diverge  into  the 
Moslem  States,  where  they  can  be  sold  with 
less  risk  than  in  Tripoli  and  the  North  of 
Africa  generally — albeit  some  slaves  are  dis- 
posed of  surreptitious^.  Add  to  this,  the 
feebleness  of  the  Bornu  Government,  and  the 
refusal  of  the  merchants  to  give  credit,  and 
the  decay  of  the  traffic  to  that  region  may  be 
understood. 

Thus  far.  Mademoiselle  Tinne  (Vol.  II., 
p.  110)  had  accompanied  Dr.  Nachtigal,  and 
with  difficulty  was  dissuaded  from  joining 
him  in  a journey  to  Tibesti,  the  Tibbu 
country,  a dozen  days’  journey  south-east  of 
Fezzan,  with  which  he  determined  to  utilise 
some  of  the  involuntary  delay 
that  he  was  compelled  to  endure 
in  Murzuk.  Accompanied,  accordingly,  by 
four  attendants  (one  of  them,  Mohammed  el 
Gatroni,  a former  servant  of  Dr.  Barth),  the 
German  savant  diverged  from  the  straight 
route  of  his  mission  to  visit  the  mountains 
of  that  region,  particularly  Tummo,  Afafi, 
and  Tarso,  where  he  made  many  interesting 
observations  on  what  was  actually  new  ground, 
this  upland  district  never  having  been  up  till 
then  penetrated  by  any  European.  The 
heights  mentioned  extend  to  8,000  or  9,000 
feet  above  the  sea,  in  the  shape  of  a sterile, 
naked  mountain  clump,  with  a gigantic  crater 
on  its  summit,  and  hard  by  a hot  spring, 
which  still  further  indicates  the  volcanic 
character  of  this  desert  “massif.”  In  the 
valleys  a little  vegetation  struggles  for  life 
and  the  only  habitable  spots  are  found. 

The  scant  population  of  these  cultivable 
oases  are  ferocious  nomads,  from  whom  their 
first  white  visitor  escaped  with  difficulty, 
reaching  Murzuk  in  October,  1869,  more  dead 
than  alive,  worn  out  with  hunger  and  fatigue, 
and  impoverished  by  the  loss  of  all  his 
baggage. 


After  recovering,  Dr.  Nachtigal  resumed 
his  journey  to  Bornu,  arriving  at  Kukawa,  or 
Kuka,  in  July,  1870.  From  this  point  as  his 
head-quarters  many  excursions  were  made 
into  the  Borgou  country,  in  the  north-east, 
and  Baghirmi,  to  the  south  of  Lake  Tchad. 
This  famous  sheet  of  water  has  been  many 
times  visited  since  Denham,  Clapperton, 
and  Oudney  first  described  it  (Vol.  I., 

p.  247).  But  Nachtigal  examined 
f ? . Lake  Tchad, 

it  with  sucn  care  that  later  ex- 
plorers have  not  been  able  to  add  much  to 
his  data.  During  the  dry  season  it  possesses 
an  area  of  about  10,000  square  miles,  but 
when  swollen  by  the  rains  it  spreads  over  a 
space  fully  four  or  five  times  as  extensive. 
The  eastern  half  of  Tchad  is  really  an  archi- 
pelago of  low  islets  inhabited  by  a race  of  semi- 
amphibious  negro  pirates,  but  the  western 
portion  of  the  lake  is  unencumbered.  The 
sheet,  in  spite  of  no  regular  outlet  being 
known  to  exist,  is  quite  fresh,  owing  to 
the  amount  of  water  continually  pouring 
into  it  from  a number  of  streams,  none  of 
which,  however,  except  the  Shari — of  which 
the  Gribingi,  Nachtigal’s  Bahr-el-Ardhe,  is  the 
upper  part — is  permanent,  or  of  any  great 
size.  But  during  the  wet  season  their  united 
strength  more  than  compensates  for  the  eva- 
poration during  the  rest  of  the  year,  the  over- 
plus escaping  by  a temporary  river,  which 
sometimes  flows  towards  a low-lying  basin 
three  hundred  miles  towards  the  north-east. 

Borgou  forms  an  oasis  rich  in  dates,  though 
so  small  that  in  no  direction  is  it  more  than 
two  days’  march  in  breadth ; and 
even  that  journey  few  care  to  take, 
for  the  Tibboos,  who  inhabit  it, 
bear  the  worst  of  reputations  as  brigands. 
Baghirmi  lies  on  the  eastern  frontier  of 
Bornu,  Lake  Tchad  and  Waday  adjoining  it 
on  its  other  sides,  the  entire  area  of  the 
country  being  about  71,000  square  miles, 
through  the  centre  of  which  the  Shari  flows 
for  a considerable  portion  of  its  course.  The 
population  is  at  present  about  a million  and  a 
half  in  number — of  the  Songhai  type  (Vol.  I., 
p.  293) — and,  though  nominally  Mohammedans 


248 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


and  some  civilised,  still  addicted  to  many 
of  the  grossest  pagan  rites.  Low  in  stature, 
unpleasant  in  appearance,  and  prone  to  naked- 
ness, the  Baghirmi  people  are  not  an  attractive 
race.  Still,  they  are  not  savages.  They  are 
farmers,  and  grow  great  crops  of  durra  and 
millet,  which  they  dispose  of  for  tobacco, 
pearls,  and  the  cowry  shells  that  form  the 
currency  of  so  many  West  and  Central  African 


SLAVE-BOY  OF  DARFUR  RESCUED  BY  GENERAL  GORDON. 

(From  a Photograph  supplied  by  Dr.  Felicia  of  Edinburgh.) 

countries.  At  Masena,  the  capital — now  aban- 
doned for  Bugoman  on  the  Shari — a regular 
government  of  the  Soudanese  Moslem  type  had 
been  for  long  established  when  Barth  visited  it 
in  1852.  But  at  the  period  of  which  we  speak 
the  Sultan  of  Waday  was  at  war  with  his 
brother  of  Baghirmi,  the  result  of  which  tvas 
that  the  country  wras  reduced  to  a state  of 
complete  vassalage  to  the  former.  The  latest 
news  (1893)  is  that  some  adventurers  from 
Darfur,  under  a former  slave  of  Zubeir  Pasha, 
either  on  their  own  account,  or  at  the  bidding 
of  the  Mahdist  Khalifa,  had  captured  the 


capital,  but  were  compelled  to  retreat  before 
a large  force  sent  against  them  by  the  Waday 
ruler. 

At  the  time  Nachtigal  was  a guest  of  the 
sovereign  of  Bornu,  that  once  splendid 
empire  had  been  so  lopped  of 

1 ..  . ii1  . Bornu. 

states  once  tributary  to  it  that  it 
was  no  longer  so  rich  or  powerful  as  of  old. 
The  Sheik  Omar  is  described  as  a lettered 
man — as  literature  goes  in  Central  Africa — 
amiable,  honest,  pious,  and  generous,  but 
effeminate,  and  without  the  energy  to  rule  a 
turbulent  kingdom  surrounded  by  rivals  ready 
to  take  advantage  of  the  slightest  weakness 
on  the  part  of  anyone.  At  present  the 
country  may  contain  about  five  million  in- 
habitants, though  everything  shows  that 
Bornu  is  again  a decaying  state,  with  little 
chance  of  reviving  under  its  present  regime, 
albeit,  rich  in  possessing  a fertile  soil,  an 
abundance  of  horses  and  cattle,  and  a steady 
commerce  with  Kano  and  Nupe  towards  the 
west,  which  must  always  gives  it  a pre- 
ponderating place  among  the  Soudan  States. 
In  March,  1873,  Dr.  Nachtigal  began  to  think 
that  it  was  time  for  him  to  return  home, 
since  he  had  no  idea  when  he  left  Tripoli  of 
being  so  long  on  his  journey.  Instead,  how- 
ever, of  taking  the  same  route  as  that  by 
which  he  had  arrived  in  Bornu — which,  it 
may  be  remarked,  had  been  frequently  tra- 
versed and  has  at  least  once  since  the  date 
of  Nachtigal’s  journey  been  tramped  again  * 
— he  resolved  to  try  one  which  until  then 
had  not,  in  part  at  all  events,  been  the 
line  of  any  civilised  caravan.  This  was 

through  the  notorious  state  of  Waday,  in 
which  Vogel  had  been  murdered  (p.  90 ; 
Yol.  I.,  p.  302),  from  which  Rohlfs  had  been 
repulsed,  and  on  the  borders  of  which — at  Mao 
— Moritz  von  Beurmann  had  been  done  to 
death  in  1863,  in  the  course  of  a little-known 
expedition  which  he  made  in  search  of  Vogel, 
to  the  country  where  Nachtigal  then  was.f 

* By  Monteil  in  1892,  who,  though  the  first  French- 
man to  travel  over  it,  did  not  go  over  any  new  ground. 

t There  were  altogether  seven  expeditions  fitted  out 
with  this  object  in  view ; but  with  the  exception  of 
Beurmann's,  none  of  them  accomplished  anything. 


THE  SULTAN  OF  SONGHAT. 


249 


Happily  for  the  new  adventurer  into  this 
den  of  assassins,  the  old  Sultan,  Mohammed 
Shereef,  was  dead,  and  though  Ali,  the  new 


ruler  of  Bornu  that  the  friendship  of  that 
kindly  potentate  now  stood  Nachtigal  in 
good  stead. 


sovereign,  lacked  a great  deal  in  hos-  Before,  however,  setting  out,  he  visited 
pitality  to  vagrom  men,  he  was  an  advance  Songhai,  once  the  centre  of  an  empire,  but 
on  his  father,  and  on  such  terms  with  the  now  a small  and  densely  populated  state. 


250 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


The  natives  go  practically  naked,  and  live 
in  a much  more  savage  condition  than 
their  neighbours;  yet  the  country 
S°srarai.  °r  *s  rich  in  horses,  goats,  and 
poultry.  Cattle  and  sheep  are 
less  plentiful.  The  horses  do  not  exceed 
the  height  of  ponies,  but  are  tireless  at 
their  usual  galloping  pace.  The  goats  are 
also  of  an  unusually  dwarfish  size,  but  very 
fat ; and,  in  lack  of  other  domestic  animals, 
the  dog  is  reared  for  food,  the  flesh  being 
looked  upon  as  an  article  of  luxury.  All 
-over  the  country  the  hunting  of  slaves  goes 
•on  with  great  eagerness,  and  is  attended  with 
many  of  the  horrors  familiar  to  us  as  the 
•concomitant  of  that  traffic  in  other  parts  of 
Africa.  Indeed,  to  use  Dr.  Nachtigal’s  words, 
it  has  changed  an  earthly  paradise  into  an 
abode  of  demons.  The  beautiful  shady  woods, 
interspersed  with  fertile  plains  dotted  with 
villages,  are  the  ideal  of  peace  and  happiness, 
until  a slaving  party  makes  its  appearance. 
Then  all  becomes  ruin  ; the  hamlet  only  a 
few  hours  before  so  perfect  a specimen  of 
sleeping  tranquillity  is  only  a heap  of  smoking 
•embers.  The  men  are  corpses,  and  the 
women  and  children  chained  together  on  the 
march  they  know  not  whither.  If  they  exhibit 
signs  of  weariness,  a stroke  of  the  hippo- 
potamus-whip reminds  the  helpless  wretches 
tha  t they  are  now  at  the  mercy  of  cruel  masters. 
A sickly  child  is  torn  from  its  mother  and 
tossed  into  the  bush ; and  as  soon  as  one  of 
the  women  appears  likely  to  give  more 
trouble  than  will  be  repaid  by  her  price  in 
the  slave-market,  the  inhuman  monsters  in 
charge  of  the  gang  promptly  despatch  her,  or 
unloosen  her  from  the  chain,  to  fare  as  the 
hyaena  will  permit  by  the  wayside. 

Bornu,  Baghirmi,  Waday,  and  Darfur  were 
in  those  days  the  chief  markets  for  these 
captives,  and,  no  doubt,  still  form  their 
destination,  since  there  is  now  no  open  sale 
for  them  in  any  of  the  countries  of  North 
Africa,  except  Morocco,  where  human  beings 
are  yet  bought  and  sold,  even  before  the 
eyes  of  the  consuls,  in  the  coast  towns  of 
that  crumbling  empire,  or  in  the  regular 


slave- markets  of  the  interior.  Twenty  years 
ago  a child  of  five,  six,  or  seven  years  old 
was  easily  purchasable  in  Bornu  for  a shirt 
worth  about  three  shillings,  and  the  best 
slave  seldom  brought  more  than  from 
fifteen  to  eighteen  shillings.  With  human 
flesh  so  cheap,  the  stimulus  of  self-interest 
was  almost  lacking  to  the  owner.  One  human 
being  more  or  less  scarcely  mattered.  The 
old  were  not  worth  their  food.  As  for  the 
others,  strong  or  feeble,  big  or  little,  child  or 
adult,  sick  or  well,  the  only  word  ever  ad- 
dressed to  them  is  “ dyabki  ” — “ Go  on  ' ” — 
followed  by  a blow  of  the  whip  ; or  the.  knife 
is  drawn  across  the  worn-out  captive’s  throat 
with  as  little  concern  as  if  the  murdered 
black  was  a sheep  or  a fowl.  The  savage 
folk  thus  preyed  upon  are  naturally  a 
feeble  race  without  firearms,  and,  being 
regarded  by  the  Mohammedans  as  simply 
“ Kafirs,”  have  not  even  the  fallible  pro- 
tection against  their  persecutors  which 
a common  faith  is  commanded  by  the 
Koran  to  afford.  To  escape  from  their 
hunters,  some  of  the  tribes  have  built  huts 
in  the  dense  bombax-trees.  Here  they 
carry  food  and  water,  and  even  cattle,  pro- 
vided with  which  they  are  generally  able  to 
get. an  advantage  over  their  enemies.  Even 
bullets  do  little  damage  in  the  dense  shelter, 
where  the  javelin-throwers  cannot  be  seen, 
while  the  besiegers,  in  order  to  fire  to  any 
purpose,  must  come  into  the  open,  which  the 
tree-dwellers  take  care  to  clear  for  a long 
distance  around  their  arboreal  strongholds. 

At  Waday,  Nachtigal  was  kindly  received 
by  the  Sultan,  who  in  those  early  days  of  his 
reign  seems  to  have  been  better  _ . 
inclined  to  strangers  than  he  was 
a few  years  later  (p.  ] 1)  ; for  he  not  only  per- 
mitted them  to  pass  through  his  kingdom,  but 
to  explore  the  tributary  state  of  Dar  Runga. 
The  chief  feature  of  the  country  between 
Bornu  and  Waday  is  Lake  Fittri,  which 
forms  the  termination  of  the  Batha  River, 
just  as  Lake  Tchad  is  the  end  of  the 
Shari.  Fittri  is,  however,  a much  smaller 
sheet  than  the  latter,  though  the  river 


THE  STATE  OF  WAD  AY. 


251 


flowing  into  it  is  nearly  as  large  as  the  Shari. 
The  region  in  the  vicinity  of  this  lake  forms 
a small  state  of  the  same  name  ; hut  during 
a large  portion  of  the  year  it  is  almost 
uninhabitable,  owing  to  the  myriads  of  mos- 
quitoes and  other  poisonous  insects  which 
torment  man  and  his  domestic  animals,  one 
of  them,  the  “ ter  ” fly,  being  dangerous  even 
to  horses.  The  inhabitants  are  the  Bulala, 
the  Kuka,  and  the  Abu  Simmin.  The  first, 
who  form  the  dominant  tribe,  are  of  Arab 
origin.  The  Kuka,  originally  from  Waday, 
have  for  ages  been  almost  amalgamated  with 
the  Bulala,  who  speak  the  same  language, 
and,  from  a physical  and  moral  point  of  view, 
are  practically  identical  with  them.  The  Abu 
Simmin  are,  however,  the  true  aborigines  of 
the  country — sprung,  it  is  said,  from  a slave 
tribe,  and  now  confined  by  their  conquerors  to 
a few  villages  on  the  shores  and  islands  of  the 
lake,  where  they  live  despised  and  oppressed. 
Yawa,  situated  a little  way  north  of  the 
embouchure  of  the  Batha,  is  the  capital,  and 
here,  at  the  date  of  Nachtigal’s  visit,  the  king 
resided.  But  his  town  is  a poor  one,  and  his 
country — dry  and  barren,  without  any  of  the 
umbrageous  forests  which  give  so  pleasing 
an  appearance  to  the  shore  of  Lake  Tchad 
— is  a mere  dependency  of  Waday. 

This  state  comprises  an  area  of  about  three 
thousand  square  miles,  and  close  on  three 
waday  m^ons  °f  people,  though,  if  the 
vassal  territories  are  included,  fully 
two  millions  more  must  be  credited  to  it.  Its 
northern  part  is  rather  dry  and  correspond- 
ingly unfertile.  But  the  north-east,  east,  and 
central  regions  are  more  hilly  and  watered 
by  numerous  streams,  which  form  tributaries 
of  the  Betcha  and  the  Batha,  which,  as  wre 
have  seen,  eventually  unite  to  form  the  prin- 
cipal feeder  of  Lake  Fittri.  What  commerce 
the  country  nourishes — and  besides  ostrich 
feathers,  ivory,  slaves,  and  manufacture  of 
cotton  cloth  decidedly  inferior  to  that  of 
Bomu  and  Baghirmi,  there  is  not  much 
except  a little  indigo,  wheat,  and  durra — is 
mainly  in  the  hands  of  the  traders  from 
Bornu,  and  finds  its  way  either  to  the 


north,  over  the  desert,  or  through  Darfur  to 
Egypt.  Slave-hunting,  conducted  entirely  for 
the  Sultan’s  profit,  is  still  very  brisk — the 
temporary  check  which  it  suffered  from  the 
half-hearted  efforts  of  Egypt  to  prevent  the 
traffic  having  been  entirely  removed  when 
the  Soudan  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Mahdists. 

The  Waday  people  form  a mixture  of 
many  tribes,  speaking  several  different  lan- 
guages. Of  these,  the  Mabas,  a people 
with  a complexion  varying  from  black  to 
bronze,  are  regarded  as  the  aristocracy,  the 
Arabs,  who  are  more  numerous  than  in  Bornu, 
not  mixing  much  with  the  other  races,  and 
in  general  occupying  an  inferior  position  in 
native  society.  We  first  hear  of  Waday  as  a 
centralised  state  in  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  when  it  was  won  to  Islam  by 
Abed  el  Kerim  el  Abassi,  who  at  the  same 
time  put  an  end  to  the  domination  of  the 
Tunjours.  These  people  were  evidently  emi- 
grants from  Arabia  before  the  time  of 
Mohammed.  But  not  in  Darfur  also,  Avhere 
they  obtained  the  sovereign  power,  did  they 
do  anything  to  raise  the  inhabitants  by  the 
influence  of  their  superior  civilisation ; on  the 
contrary,  they  did  much  to  degrade  them  to 
the  level  of  the  rudest  Soudanese  around 
'them.  Abed  el  Kerim,  the  dethroner  of  the  old 
and  the  founder  of  a new  dynasty,  found  from 
the  first  eager  allies  in  the  inhabitants  of  the 
north,  who  had  no  reason  for  loving  the  Tun- 
jour  Sultan  Daoud.  Accordingly,  by  their  help 
he  soon  compelled  the  other  tribes  to  embrace 
the  new  faith,  and  formed  the  present  Mussul- 
man state  of  Waday,  with  Wara  as  its  capital, 
a distinction  which  it  enjoyed  until  it  was 
deserted  for  Abeshr  within  the  last  few  years 
during  one  of  those  wars  of  succession  by  which 
this,  like  every  other  Central  African  kingdom, 
has  been  at  times  torn  asunder. 

The  year  1S73  had  now  arrived,  and  with  it 
the  fourth  since  Xachtigal  had  left  Tripoli. 
Thanks  to  the  mission  on  which 
he  had  been  despatched,  his  long  the  way 
travels  had  been  exceptionally  thlther' 
prosperous,  though  the  traveller  had  not  gone 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA, 


without  his  share  of  those  fevers  from  which 
new  visitors  to  inner  Africa  so  seldom  escape. 
Hitherto,  so  far  as  his  journey  from  Bornu  to 
Waday  was  concerned,  he  had  been  travers- 
ing what  was  actually  or  virtually  ground 
fresh  to  geographers,  and  from  this  point  to 
Darfur  he  would  have  the.  same  good  fortune. 
But  just  at  the  time  when  he  was  fain  to 
leave  Abeshr  and  its  Sultan,  whom — more 


of  its  internal  dissensions,  had  virtually  con- 
quered it  before  it  was  formally  united  to 
the  Khedive’s  viceroyalty,  with  the  help  of 
Egyptian  troops. 

It  was  these  civil  broils  of  which  the  echo 
had  reached  Nachtigal  at  Abeshr.  Moham- 
med Hassan,  the  native  king,  was  dead,  and  a 
war  of  succession  had  stopped  all  communica- 
tion between  El  Fasher,  the  Darfur  capita]. 


EUPHORBIA  CAXDELABBUM. 

’ (From  a Photograph  by  Sir  John  Kirk.) 


fprtunate  than  some  of  his  successors  (p.  11) 
— he  designates  as  his  “ generous  protector 
Ali,”  news,  vague  but  not  the  less  alarming, 
reached  Waday  regarding  the  condition  of 
matters  in  Darfur. 

In  former  chapters  we  have  had  a good 
deal  to  say  regarding  this  ancient  kingdom 
as  a province  of  Egypt,  and,  since  1884,  part 
of  the  Mahdist  dominion.  But  in  1873  the 
country  was  still  independent,  for  it  was  not 
until  some  time  later  that  Zubeir,  the  slave- 
trader  (Yol.  II,,  pp.  141-2),  talcing  advantage 


and  the  neighbouring  sultanates.  Then, 
while  waiting  for  news,  the  rainy  season 
arrived,  and  Ali,  unwilling  for  his  guest  to 
run  any  undue  risks  in  the  unsettled  state  of 
the  country,  persuaded  him  to  pass  the  days 
of  involuntary  idleness  in  a journey  to  Betcha, 
Kachemere,  and  Karanga,  across  the  Batha, 
through  the  Kadjakse  country  to  the  Bahr-el- 
Salamat,  a river  which,  after  flowing  through 
Lake  Iro,  joins  the  . Shari  to  contribute  its 
waters  to  Lake  Tchad.  This  excursion,  owing 
to  the  wet  weather,  took  twenty  days,  though 


ILLNESS  OF  DR.  NACHTIGAL. 


253 


ordinarily  the  ground  can  easily  be  covered  in 
ten  or  a dozen  journeys. 

In  the  swamps  near  Mangari,  the  farthest 


the  insidious  climate  of  Africa.  It  was,  there- 
fore, with  gladness  he  received  a message  to 
the  effect  that  for  the  time  being — as  events 


point  to  the  south  which  Dr.  Xachtigal  had 

„ reached,  malarial  fever  still  further 

Mangari.  , , . , . , 

weakened  a constitution  which  tor 

a long  time  past  had  begun  to  be  affected  by 


afterwards  proved — the  Darfur  succession 
had  been  amicably  settled.  He  would  fain 
have  gone  beyond  Dar  Runga,  which  Ali  had 
permitted  him  to  visit — though  at  that  season 


254 


TEE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


the  route  to  it  was  simply  one  vast  swamp — 
to  examine  the  many  streams  which  traverse 
the  country,  and  even  to  reach  the  Welle  of 
Schweinfurth,  then,  and  for  many  years  subse- 
quently, one  of  the  rapidly  decreasing  mys- 
teries of  African  hydrography.  But  he  was 
too  anxious  to  return  to  civilisation  while 
his  waning  strength  allowed,  to  permit  those 
temptations  of  travel  to  detain  him  any 
longer. 

Accordingly,  on  the  17th  of  January,  1874, 
he  bade  good-bye  to  Abeshr,  and  started  on 
the  journey  between  that  hot  town  and  the 
capital  of  Darfur,  through  a country  inhabited 
by  gangs  of  border  robbers — the  Massalit — 
who  admit  the  authority  of  neither  of  the  two 
sultanates,  which  they  plunder  with  trouble- 
some impartiality.  A guard  of  several 
hundred  horsemen  accompanied  each  caravan 
to  the  frontiers  of  Darfur,  crossing,  about  half- 
way, the  River 
Asounga,  which 
river  is  in  the 
tributary  state 
of  Dar-Tama  (p. 
11),  and  event- 
ually finds  its 
way  through  the 
KiyaandAzoum, 
which  as  one 
stream  flow 
through  Soula 
to  the  Bahr-el- 
Salamat.  Be- 
yond the  Asoun- 
ga, the  route 


F E Z/ 

d 

Murzuk' ' 


cl  r a 


ROUTE  MAP  OF  DR.  NACHTIGAL’S  JOURXEY, 


lies  for  the  most  part  along  the  broad  beds  of 
streams,  or  rather  torrents,  nearly  all  of  which 
rise  on  the  northern  side  of  the  Jebel  Marra 
— or  Marra  Mountain.  Three  journeys  past 
the  Asounga,  the  River  Kadja  is  crossed,  but, 
though  not  broader,  it  is  deeper  than  the 
former ; and  then  two  days  farther  on,  Tineat, 
the  residence  of  the  chief  of  Dar  Fea — at 
that  time  named  Hanefr — is  reached. 

Like  all  the  heads  of  departments  this 
magnate  bears  the  title  of  “ Shertaya.” 
His  district  is  threaded  by  a river  of  the 
same  name,  which,  after  a short  course,  is  lost 
in  the  Bare,  in  its  turn  a tributary  of  the 
Azoum.  Indeed,  all  the  country  west  of 
Darfur  is  rich  in  brawling  torrents  flowing 
full  during  the  rainy  season,  and  correspond- 
ingly contracted  after  the  rains  are  over,  until 
in  the  dry  months  many  of  them  are  water- 
less. On  the  third  or  fourth  day  after  leaving 
Tineat,  the  caravan  with  which  Nachtigal 
travelled  halted  at  Kabhakia — none  of  the 
“ wadys  ” crossed  being  deeper  than  from  a 
foot  and  a half  to  five  feet.  Kabhakia  is 
situated  at  the  base  of  the  Marra  Mountain, 
which,  though  not  measured,  appears  to  be 
about  4,000  feet  in  height. 

All  the  way  from  Lake  Tchad  to  the  point 
where  the  Marra  Mountain  was  crossed,  at  a 
height  of  over  3,000  feet,  the  country  had 
been  gradually  rising,  but  beyond  that  divid- 
ing land  it  gradually  fell  until  El  Fasher  was 
reached,  the  capital  of  Darfur,  which  stands 
about  2,000  feet  above  the  sea-level.  The 
vegetation  along  the  course  is  rich,  the  margins 
of  the  streams  being  shaded  by  shrubs  and 
trees  common  to  the  country, 
such  as  acacias  (A.  nilotica), 
the  haraza,  the  Zizyphus 
spina-Christi,  and  various 
species  usually  found  in 
similar  situations.  In  the 
country  away  from  water,  the 
scarcity  of  arboreal  vegeta- 
tion gives  it  a steppe  char- 
actei',  and  on  the  slopes  of 
Marra  the  fine  Euphorbia 
candelabrum  is  the  tree 


WILLIAM  GEORGE  BROWNE. 


which  most  frequently  strikes  the  traveller’s 
eye  (p.  252). 

The  third  day  after  leaving  Kabhakia, 
Kabeh  is  reached.  This  was  in  1874  a popu- 
lous centre,  almost  exclusively  inhabited  by 
Jellabas,  and  in  after  days,  like  the  place 
just  mentioned,  was  occupied  by  an  Egyptian 
garrison  until  the  Mahdist  revolt  swept  away 
that  dubious  pioneer  of  civilisation  in  the 
Nile  Valley,  on  the  western  edge  of  which 
Nachtigal  now  stood. 

Then  came  another  long  day’s  ride,  and 
El  Fasher,  the  capital  of  Darfur,  was  entered. 

„ . Here  the  weary  explorer  might 
have  iairly  considered  his  task 
near  its  end ; for,  if  not  in  a place  of 
absolute  safety,  he  was  so  close  to  the  borders 
of  the  Khedive’s  country  that  the  suspicion 
which  had  all  along  dogged  his  footsteps 
ought  now  to  have  disappeared.  But,  unfor- 
tunately, this  was  not  the  case.  A Christian 
was  possibly  not  regarded  as  so  villainous  a 
fiend  as  he  was  in  the  fanatical  sultanates 
farther  west;  but  the  proceedings  of  the 
Egyptians  in  the  east  had  not  rendered 
the  name  of  Turk  any  more  dearly  loved 
than  of  old.  For  ages  Darfur  had  been 
threatened  by  Egypt,  and  Gordon  had  gone 
so  far  as  to  insist  on  its  annexation,  along 
with  Kordofan,  as  essential  to  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  slave  trade.  The  treacherous 
Governor  of  Dar  Fea  had  already  despatched 
a courier  to  the  capital,  warning  his  master 
that  a stranger,  either  Turk  or  Christian — and 
in  either  case  equally  dangerous — was  on  the 
road.  To  Sultan  Ibrahim’s  credit,  however, 
he  refused  to  listen  to  the  perfidious  proposals 
of  this  chief  to  kill  the  suspected  traveller 
before  he  was  capable  of  doing  any  mischief. 
How  Nachtigal  might  have  fared  had  he  been 
left  friendless  and  moneyless  in  this  distant 
stronghold  of  Islam  it  is  hard  to  say ; for  the 
people  were  not  friendly,  and  the  Sultan  only 
civil.  Luckily,  however,  letters  arrived  for 
him  from  Egypt  containing  ample  means  to 
continue  his  explorations,  and  a request  from 
the  Khedive  to  the  ally  whom  he  was  even 
then  preparing  to  deprive  of  his  kingdom 


255 

to  do  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  assist 
the  traveller.  Whatever  may  have  been 
Ibrahim’s  secret  thoughts, , he  obeyed  most 
loyally  this  semi-mandate  of  Ismail  Pasha; 
for  not  only  did  he  grant  his  visitor  per- 
mission to  go  where  he  wished,  but  appointed 
certain  individuals  to  afford  him  all  the  in- 
formation he  desired. 

Darfur  was  in  those  days  very  little  known, 
but  it  was  by  no  means  a terra  incognita  to- 
European  travellers.  Indeed,  as  Darfur.  an: 
early  as  1793,  at  the  very  time  early  resi- 
that  Mungo  Park  was  making  his 
celebrated  attempt  to  penetrate  West  Africa, 
William  George  Browne — a private  gentleman 
of  Great  Tower  Hill,  London,  and  Oriel 
College,  Oxford — fired  by  the  fame  of  Bruce’s 
travels,  had  crossed  the  Libyan  Desert  from 
Assiut  with  the  Soudan  caravan  to  Darfur, 
intending  to  return  by  way  of  Abyssinia.  In 
1793  all  that  Europe  knew  of  a country 
which  in  the  course  of  the  next  century 
became  tolerably  familiar,  was  from  its  being 
mentioned  in  the  information  collected  from 
traders  by  Ledyard  (Vol.  I.,  p.  173).  The  people 
inhabiting  it  were  reported  to  be  more  tolerant 
of  Christians  than  even  the  Egyptians  them- 
selves, to  whom,  moreover,  the  Furians  were 
extremely  obsequious.  Browne  also  heard 
at  Assiut  that  they  made  slave-hunting  raids 
along  the  banks  of  the  Bahr-el-Abiad,  which 
he  conceived  to  be  the  true  Nile,  and 
imagined  that  by  accompanying  one  of  these 
expeditions  he  might  be  able  to  traverse  at 
least  five  degrees  of  unknown  country. 

In  two  months  Kobbeh,  then  the  capital, 
was  entered  ; but  the  first  European  to  reach 
the  country  in  which  Dr.  Nachtigal  was  so 
reputably  received  found  that  his  troubles 
grew  upon  him.  The  merchants  with  whom 
he  had  travelled  dispersed,  leaving  the  Furians 
to  make  what  they  could  of  the  white-faced 
wanderer  they  had  brought  with  them,  who- 
wished  to  go  on  slave-hunting  expeditions, 
and  yet  did  not  deal  in  that  description  of 
merchandise.  He  was,  moreover,  evidently 
an  infidel,  in  spite  of  his  occasional  con- 
formity, and  they  even  affected  to  trace  in 


256 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


him  certain  marks  of  inferiority  distinguish- 
ing the  Kafir  from  the  Believer.  As  for  the 
colour  of  his  skin,  never  having  seen  a Euro- 
pean before,  they  set  it  down  as  due  to 
disease  and  judged  accordingly. 

Browne  had  engaged  an  old  Cairo  slave- 
broker  to  manage  his  money  transactions  in 
Darfur,  where  every  kind  of  business  was 
done  by  barter.  This  person,  however,  proved 
his'  evil  genius  ; for  he  took  the  opportunity 
of  a quarrel  with  him  on  the  way  to  steal  a 


( From  a Photograph  by  Adolf  Halwas,  Berlin.) 

number  of  valuable  articles,  and  then,  in 
order  to  shelter  himself,  instilled  into  the 
Sultan’s  mind  so  strong  a prejudice  against 
the  new-comer  that  he  was  refused  an  audi- 
ence, and  ordered  to  live  at  Kobbeh  in  the 
house  of  a creature  of  the  treacherous  slave- 
broker.  Fever  and  dysentery  attacked  him, 
and  his  property  was  seized  on  a trumped- 
up  charge  of  having  committed  a vile 
olfence.  At  last  the  Sultan  was  forced  to 
interfere  in  case  the  property  of  his  own 
subjects  in  Egypt  should  be  attached  in  re- 
prisal. But  even  when  Browne  was  admitted 
to  his  levee,  he  was  received  with  the  most 
pointed  contempt,  and  never  permitted  to 
address  the  potentate,  who  sat  on  a splendid 
throne,  and  was  hailed  as  “ the  buffalo, 
the  offspring  of  a buffalo,  the  bull  of 
bulls,  the  elephant  of  superior  strength, 


the  powerful  Sultan  Abd -el -Rahman -el - 
Raschid.” 

Securing  the  friendship  of  the  Melek  of 
the  Jelals,  or  foreign  traders,  the  traveller 
was  treated  with  more  kindness,  and  permitted 
to  earn  a little  money  as  a doctor.  Still,  he 
was  not  allowed  to  go  on  any  journey,  though 
he  collected  much  accurate  information  about 
Borgou — which  Nachtigal  visited  nearly  eighty 
years  later — Sennaar,  Kordofan,  Baghirmi, 
and  Zanfara.  At  last  it  almost  seemed  as 
if  he  was  to  be  kept  a lifelong  prisoner  in 
Darfur,  the  death  of  the  Melek  not  helping  to 
render  his  virtual  imprisonment  any  the  more 
agreeable.'  The  jealousy  between  Darfur  and 
Borgou  prevented  the  hapless  Briton  from 
passing  to  the  latter,  while  the  insurrection 
which  just  then  happened  to  be  raging  in 
Kordofan  was  equally  against  the  visit  of  any 
strangers  to  that  kingdom.  It  was  even  doubt- 
ful if  Egypt  were  practicable  by  the  way  he 
had  come;  for  the  Darfur  Sultan  detained  the 
caravans  while  he  attempted  to  negotiate  with 
the  Mameluke  Beys,  who  then  governed  that 
country  (Vol.  II.,  p.  28),  a monopoly  of  the 
Soudan  trade.  But  by-and-by,  a caravan 
setting  out  for  the  Nile,  the  merchants,  afraid 
that  it  might  be  seized  by  the  Egyptians  if 
Browne  were  kept  a prisoner,  persuaded  the 
Sultan  to  permit  him  to  leave  with  it.  This 
was  done,  and  in  due  time  he  arrived  at 
Assiut,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  three  years, 
during  which  he  had  narrowly  escaped  death 
by  disease,  poison,  or  open  assassination.* 

Browne  was  the  first  European  to  reach 
Darfur.  He  saw  the  state  before  it  had  lost 
a great  deal  of  its  ancient  importance. 
Nachtigal,  whose  reception  was  so  much  more 
hospitable,  was  the  last  traveller  to  visit  the 
country  as  an  independent  sultanate.  For  the 

* Browne  published,  in  1799,  his  “ Travels  in  Africa, 
Egypt,  and  Syria,  from  the  year  1792  to  179S.”  He  is 
believed  to  have  perished  in  1813,  during  an  attack  on 
the  caravan  with  which  he  was  travelling  in  Persia. 
But  his  fate  was  never  ascertained  with  certainty,  and, 
owing  to  the  unattractiveness  of  his  literary  style,  the 
achievements  of  this  meritorious  traveller  are  now  little 
more  than  an  echo — a something  of  the  long-forgotten 
past  which  concerns  the  historian  alone. 


DARFUR. 


257 


terror  of  annexation  to  Egypt,  which  had  been 
so  long  the  ever-present  terror  of  Waday  and 
Darfur,  was,  all  unconscious  to  the  German 
explorer,  about  to  befall  the  latter. 

The  history  of  Darfur,  so  far  as  history  has 
preserved  any  memorials  of  it, 
mDaxfar°f  begins  with  the  Dadjo  kings,  who 
are  said  to  have  reigned  in  the 
Marra  Mountains,  and  of  whom  a traditional 


sultanate  that  he  reigned  as  far  east  as  the 
banks’ of  the  Atbara. 

After  the  usual  civil  broils  and  murders 
we  come  to  Abd-er-Rahman,  sumamed  El 
Raschid,  or  the  Just,  who  was  ruler  when 
Browne  visited  the  country,  though  that 
traveller  experienced  little  of  his  supposed 
justice.  The  king  had  been  selected  by  the 
people  out  of  the  usual  line  of  succession, 


CAMP  OF  WANDERING  ABTSSINIANS. 
( From  a Photograph  by  Dr.  G.  Scliweinfurlh.) 


list  is  preserved.  Then  came  the  Tunjur 
dynasty,  one  of  whom,  Dali  or  Dalil,  was  the 
real  founder  of  the  Furian  kingdom.  His 
penal  code,  the  '•  Kit-ab  Dali,”  still  extant, 
shows  that  at  the  time  it  was  compiled  Darfur 
had  not  entirely  accepted  the  dicta  of  the 
Koran.  Suleiman  the  Red,  who  reigned  from 
1596  to  1637,  was  a great  warrior  and  saint 
and  his  grandson  Ahmed  not  only’’  completed 
the  Mohammedanising  of  the  State — albeit 
the  Tunjurs  are  still  not  professedly  Mussul- 
mans — but  encouraged  immigration  from 
Bornu  and  Baghirmi,  and  so  extended  the 
57 


being  simply  a poor  priest  noted  for  his  learn- 
ing and  piety.  It  was  he  who,  in  1799,  sent 
an  address  of  congratulation  to  Napoleon,  then 
campaigning  in  Lower  Egypt,  and  in  return 
received  two  thousand  black  slaves  from  the 
general  of  a Republic  which  had  just  decreed 
the  manumission  of  the  bondmen  throughout 
its  own  territory.  During  Abd-er-Ralnnan’s 
reign  the  capital  was  transferred  from  Kobbeh, 
the  nominal  capital,  to  its  present  position, 
which,  even  in  Browne’s  day,  was  the  royal 
residence.  His  son,  Mohammed-el-Fadl,  lost 
Kordofan,  and  Mohammed-el-Hassan,  the 


258 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


third  of  his  forty  sons,  who  succeeded  him, 
spent  most  of  his  reign  in  expeditions  against 
the  Rizigat  Arabs.  Dying  in  1873,  old  and 
blind,  his  son  Ibrahim  speedily  found  himself 
at  war  with  the  armies  of  the  slave-traders, 
who  by  this  time  had  begun  to  make  them- 
selves masters  wherever  they  went.  The 
principal  of  these  bandits  was  Zubeir  Pasha, 
of  whom  we  have  already  had  much  to  say, 
who  defeated  and  killed  Ibrahim  in  the  battle 
of  Menowachi,  a short  time  after  Nachtigal 
left.  His  uncle,  Hasseb  Alfa,  tried  to  recover 
the  loss  then  sustained ; but,  Egypt  inter- 
fering, he  was  captured  by  the  Khedive’s 
troops,  and,  more  fortunate  than  some  ot 
Ismail’s  victims,  sent  with  his  family  to  pass 
the  rest  of  his  days,  in  the  dignified  position 
of  a pensioned  king,  en  retmite  at  Cairo. 

These  events  succeeded  each  other  so 
rapidly  that  at  the  time  of  Nachtigal’s  visit 
they  were  scarcely  even  imminent.  Egypt 
had  long  cast  an  avaricious  eye  on  the  rich 
From  ei  copper,  iron,  antimony,  and  lead 

Faster  to  miiles  of'  the  Darfurian  hills,  and 

Khartoum,  0pen]y  COnnived  at  the  raiding 

of  the  flocks  and  herds  which  went  on  by 
armed  slavers  fitted  out  in  the  Soudan.  Yet 
it  was  pleaded  by  Ismail  Pasha  that  his  annex- 
ation of  Darfur,  and  the  other  kingdoms  border- 
ing the  Nile  Valley,  was  necessary  in  order  to 
crush  the  man-hunting  and  man-selling  which 
went  on  within  their  bounds.  This  excuse 
would  most  likely  have  availed  Dr.  Nachtigal 
very  little  had  the  invasion  of  Darfur  taken 
place  whilst  he  was  at  El  Fasher.  The  chances, 
indeed,  are  that  he  would  either  have  been 
killed  by  the  infuriated  people,  as  an  Egyptian 
in  disguise,  or  held  as  a hostage,  in  which 
circumstance  his  lot  would  have  been  even 
worse.  Luckily,  however,  he  was  at  El  Obeid 
— afterwards  familiar  as  the  first  capital  of 
the  Mahdi  (Vol.  II.,  p.  159) — before  he  met 
the  army  of  Ismail  Pasha  Ayoub,  Governor- 
General  of  the  Soudan,  on  its  march  to  Dar- 
fur. From  Kordofan  it  was  comparatively 
easy  in  those  days  to  reach  Khartoum.  Yet 
Nachtigal  found  the  journey  hard  enough. 
Before  he  entered  the  metropolis  of  the 


Soudan  he  was  almost  too  ill  to  travel,  and 
poorer  even  than  when  he  had  started  on  his 
eastward  journey  from  Bornu.  For  he  had 
been  robbed  of  everything,  until  he  was  nearly- 
naked,  his  entire  wardrobe  consisting  of  a 
flannel  shirt  and  an  outer  cloak,  or  “libade.” 
But  at  Khartoum  he  was  among  friends, 
and  on  the  22nd  of  November,  1874,  arrived 
at  Cairo  on  board  a special  steamer,  which 
the  Khedive  had  despatched  up  the  Nile  for 
his  convenience.  Ismail  Pasha  was,  indeed, 
so  pleased  with  the  energy  shown  by  the 
German  doctor  that  he  offered  him  a place 
in  the  Egyptian  Government.  Anxious,  how- 
ever, to  reach  Berlin,  he  was  forced  to  decline 
this  mark  of  favour,  though  the  delicacy  of 
his  health  did  not  permit  him  to  face  the 
cold  north  for  nearly  a year  later.*  Indeed, 
he  never  quite  recovered ; for,  though  destined 
to  inaugurate  a great  work  for  Germany  and 
Africa,  in  describing  which  we  shall  meet  with 
him  again,  this  intrepid  traveller  was  in  a few 
years  doomed  to  an  early  grave  in  the  land 
with  Avhich  his  fame  is  linked.  When  he 
did  reach  Berlin,  Europe  was  not  niggard  of 
its  honours.  Among  other  rewards  of  a 
similar  character,  he  received  the  Founders’ 
Medal  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  for 
having  explored  “ the  previously  unknown 
region  of  Tibesti  and  Baghirmi,  added  much 
to  our  knowledge  of  Lake  Tchad,  and  re- 
turned by  a route  previously  untrodden  by 
Europeans,  through  Waday  and  Darfur  to 
Upper  Egypt.”  The  German  Government — 
full  of  enthusiasm  over  the  share  Germans 
were  taking  in  African  exploration — gave 

* Nachtigal : “ Sahara  und  Sudan  : Ergebnisse  Sechs- 
jahriger  Reisen  in  Afrika,”  3 Vols.  (1879-89)  : Bulletin 
de  la  Societe  de  Geographic  de  Paris  (1876),  pp.  129-155, 
255-277,  etc.  etc.  Before  reading  Dr.  Nachtigal’s  ex- 
haustive account  of  the  Central  African  kingdoms,  it  will 
be  instructive  to  peruse  the  “Voyage  au  Ouaday”  of  the 
Sheik  Mohammed  Ibn-Omar-el-Tounsy,  Reviseur  en  chef 
a recole  de  medecine  at  Cairo,  who,  to  some  extent, 
anticipated  Dr.  Nachtigal.  The  sheik,  though  not  a 
geographer,  was  a most  intelligent  man.  His  journey 
was  made  in  search  of  his  father  Omar,  and,  though 
completed  in  1803-4,  was  not  published  until  1851,  when 
MM.  Perron  and  Jomard  translated  it  into  French.  His 
“Voyage  au  Darfour,”  also  translated  by  MM.  Perron 
and  Jomard,  appeared  six  years  earlier. 


DR.  JUNKER. 


259 


Dr.  Xachtigal  the  refusal  of  the  Consulate- 
Generalship  to  Tunis,  and  subsequently  of  the 
Minister-Residentship  at  Tangier.  The  first 
of  these  posts  he  filled  for  a short  time,  and 
the  second  he  did  not  live  long  enough 
formally  to  accept.  But  this  is  anticipating 
our  narrative  by  nearly  ten  years ; since  it  will 
not  be  till  1884  that  the  traveller  to  whom 
we  have  just  said  good-bye  need  again  form 
one  of  the  characters  in  this  Story  of  Africa. 

If  Nachtigal’s  journey  may  be  regarded  as 
immediately  due  to  the  stimulus  imparted 
to  Central  and  North  African  exploration  by 
Barth,  Rohlfs  and  Schweinfurth,  the  scientific 
travels  of  Junker  were  avowedly  advised  by 
the  last-named  explorers,  whom  he  met  for 
the  first  time  at  a Geographical  Congress  in 
Paris  soon  after  the  return  of  Xachtigal  from 
the  Nile. 

Dr.  Wilhelm  Junker  Avas  born  at  Moscow 
on  the  6th  of  April,  1840  ; but  his  parents 
were  Germans,  and  in  Germany  he 

Wilhelm  , ,.  , . . J 

Johann  Jun-  received  most  of  his  scientific 

expedition^  education,  and  graduated  as  Doctor 
of  Medicine.  At  first  Darfur  tvas 
the  country  to  which  his  attention  Avas 
directed,  and  it  Avas  Avith  the  intention  of 
exploring  it  under  the  protection  which  he 
believed  the  Egyptian  occupation  Avould  afford 
that  he  Avent  up  the  Nile  in  1875.  His 
objects  Avere  mainly  natural  history  collec- 
tion and  observation ;.  and,  with  this  in  view, 
he  examined  part  of  the  Libyan  Desert,  and 
the  country  from  the  Natron  Lakes  to  the 
Fayoum.  In  February,  1876,  he  travelled  up 
the  Khor  Baraka,  of  which  the  higher  parts 
alone  had  at  that  time  been  explored  by 
Europeans,  and,  after  visiting  Kassala  and 
Kedaref,  reached  the  Blue  Nile  at  Abu  Haras, 
and  in  June  arrived  at  Khartoum.  In  tliosedays 
no  hint  which  the  Egyptians  could  interpret 
had  been  given  of  the  terrible  turmoil  which 
in  a few  years  Avas  to  overwhelm  the  Soudan; 
and,  under  Gordon’s  auspices,  any  part  of  the 
vast  territory  could  be  reached  Avith  com- 
parative safety.  Sennaar  was  accordingly 
visited  Avith  Romolo  Gcssi,  and  an  excursion 
made  up  the  Sobat  River  as  far  as  Nasar, 


preparatory  to  setting  out  for  Darfur.  But, 
on  returning  to  Khartoum,  Junker  found  that 
not  only  had  that  country  been  already 
stripped  of  any  geographical  novelties  by 
the  explorations  of  various  Egyptian  officers 
(pp.  245-6),  but  that  the  anarchy  attendant  on 
the  passing  aAvay  of  the  old  rule  before  the 
neAv  one  Avas  fully  established  rendered  the 
autumn  of  1876  an  unfavourable  season  for 
his  work. 

The  Upper  Nile  country  was,  therefore, 
fixed  upon  as  the  scene  of  his  future  labours, 
and  at  Lado,.  accordingly,  he  duly  arrived 


as  the  guest  of  the  man  destined  in  future 
days  to  be  famous  as  Emin  Pasha.  Taking 
this  post  as  his  head-quarters,  the  Makaraka 
and  Mundoo  country  (pp.  28,  29,  55,  261)  was 
examined,  the  northern  part  of  the  Bahr-el- 
Ghazel  province  penetrated,  and  a journey 
made  as  far  south  as  the  Kibali  River,  now 
known  as  the  principal  tributary  of  the  Welle. 
By  the  close  of  1878  Dr.  Junker  Avas  back  to 
Europe  in  ill  health,  but  laden  with  valuable 
collections  and  notes,  only  part  of  which  his 
too-early  death  permitted  him  to  give  to  the 
world.  Africa,  hoAvever,  possesses  charms  too 
irresistible  for  most  of  those  Avho  have  once 
looked  upon  her  beauty — a gift  more  fatal 
to  her  lovers  than  to  herself — and  so,  by  1879, 
Dr.  Junker  was  off  once  more  to  the  Nile, 


260 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


little  imagining  that  seven  years  would  elapse 
before  he  could  again  see  Christendom.  A 
junker  s full  examination  of  the  Niam-Niam 

second  visit  or  Zandy  country,  and  the  solution 
to  Africa : a . - " . 

seven  years’  oi  what  was  now  begmmng  to 
journey.  ke  known  as  the  Welle-Makua 
problem,  were  the  main  tasks  which  he 
set  himself  to  perform ; but  on  the  endless 


compass  bearings  only.  He  did  not  make 
any  astronomical  observations,  being  in  the 
main  an  ethnographer  and  naturalist.  From 
Khartoum  he  again  worked  his  way  up  the 
Nile  and  Bahr-el-Ghazel  to  the  Meshera-er- 
Rek,  and  thence  to  I)em  Suleiman  (YoL 
II.,  p.  144),  whence  he  turned  south  into 
the  country  of  the  notoriously  cannibal 


EL  KHATMIEH,  A SUBURB  OF  KASSALA. 
( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Berghof.) 


tramps  backwards  and  forwards  which  he 
took  in  the  years  to  come  we  cannot  follow 
him  closely.  Much  of  the  ground  he  travelled 
over  was  not  new,  though  not  a little  of 
it  was  entirely  fresh  to  geographers,  while 
a large  portion  of  it  had  never  before  been 
examined  by  a traveller  of  competent  scientific 
knowledge — not  even  by  Emin,  who,  indeed, 
did  not  make  many  actual  explorations. 
Junker,  however,  did  not  give  himself  out 
as  a geographer,  and,  in  spite  of  his  many 
accomplishments,  the  chief  materials  for  a 
map  which  he  brought  back  were  elaborate 


Niam-Niam.  Thanks  to  the  influential 
support  which  Junker  had  received  owing 
to  Gordon’s  goodwill,  but  not  a little  also 
to  his  considerate  treatment  of  the  natives 
(falling  in  with  all  their  rules  of  etiquette, 
displaying  unwearied  patience,  and  preferring 
to  travel  with  porters  alone  rather  than 
risk  the  friction  which  an  armed  escort 
is  apt  to  arouse),  he  obtained  a friendly 
reception  from  Ndoruma,  one  of  their  most 
influential  chiefs.  Under  the  protection  of 
this  kindly  man-eater,  Junker  built  himself 
a zereba,  or  camp,  and  penetrated  first  and 


DIVIDE  OF  NILE  AND  CONGO. 


2G1 


last  as  far  as  the  Welle,  and  the  country  of  the 
people  whom  Schweinfurth  called  the  Mon- 
buttoo,  but  who  in  their  new  visitor’s  prob- 
ably more  correct  orthography  are  described 
as  “ Mangbattu.”  Here,  again,  the  barbarous 
folk  entreated  him  hospitably.  Proceeding 
southwards  and  eastwards  of  the  Welle,  he 
reached  a place  called  Mabub  or  Zereba  Ali, 
where  Schweinfurth  had  crossed  his  newly 
discovered  river  in  1870,  and  went  on  to 
Tangasi  and  Niangara,  a little  beyond  his 
predecessor’s  farthest  point.  Then,  after  ex- 
ploring various  tributaries  of  the  Welle,  he 
returned  to  his  friends  at  the  Monbuttoo 
village. 

In  January,  1881,  again  turning  south,  the 


almost  for  the  first  time,  Junker  found  him- 
self among  enemies,  from  whom  he  was  glad 
to  escape  to  the  A-Madi  on  the  other  side 
of  the  river. 

Meanwhile,  Emin,  having  formed  a station 
near  Mambanga,  south  of  the  Welle,  Dr. 
Junker  went  there  to  visit  Captain  . , 

Casati,  journeying  irom  thence  to  country 
the  Upper  Bomokandi,  an  import-  traversed- 
, ant  tributary  of  the  Welle,  the  route  leading 
for  most  of  the  way  through  primeval  forests. 
Vast  undulating  regions,  rising  at  times  into 
hills,  or  even  into  mountains,  and  again 
merging,  as  in  the  Bahr-el-Ghazel  territory, 
into  wide  alluvial  plains,  are,  however,  the 
prevailing  characteristics  of  the  country 


MUNDOO  WARRIORS. 

( From  a Photograph  by  R.  Buchla.) 


country  of  the  A-Madi,  who  occupy  a bend  over  which  Junker  had  hitherto  travelled, 
of  the  Welle,  formed  the  object  of  his  ex-  Throughout  this  huge  empire  of  black  men 
ploration.  Taking  a route  westwards,  the  streams  out  of  number  flow  either  into  the 
Welle  was  crossed  once  more  near  the  Nile  or  the  Congo ; the  “ divide,”  or  water- 
mouth  of  the  Kumbala,  and  the  territory  of  shed  between  those  two  great  rivers,  being  a 
the  A-Barambo  tribe  entered.  But  now,  broad  plateau  or  elevation.  Civil  war  and 


202 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


anarchy  had  torn  asunder  almost  every  tribe 
or  nation.  The  Niam-Niam,  once  a powerful 
confederation,  were  split  up  into  parties  con- 
tinually at  feud  with  each  other,  and,  ex- 
hausted by  internecine  wars,  lived  in  a 
condition  of  distrust  and  uncertainty.  The 
Monbuttoos  were  in  no  better  case.  They, 
too,  had  lost  unity  and  power  since  King 
Munza,  Schweinfurth’s  friend  (p.  242),  had 
been  murdered  by  the  Arab  slave-raiders. 
Cannibalism  was  only  kept  in  check  by  the 
lack  of  material  on  which  to  exercise  it,  and 
not  only  did  the  Arabs  hunt  for  captives, 
but  tribe  plotted  mischief  against  tribe, 
for  the  sake  of  obtaining  dead  men  to  eat  or 
living  ones  to  sell  to  the  camps. 

The  suspicion  everywhere  engendered  by  the 
state  of  things  soon  affected  Junker;  for  after 
visiting  Mamballe  and  the  River 
Bomokandi,  localities  mentioned 
by  Miani  and  Potagos,  a Greek  traveller, 
who  had  tried  in  a vague,  unsatisfactory 
way  to  obtain  some  acquaintance  with  the 
less-known  parts  of  the  Nile  Yalley,  he 
fell  ill,  and  with  difficulty  after  a march 
through  an  unexplored  country  reached  the 
Nepoko.  This  river  he  believed  to  be  iden- 
tical with  Stanley’s  Aruwhimi,  a supposi- 
tion partially  correct,  as  it  is  a tributary 
of  that  well-known  feeder  of  the  Congo. 
Indeed,  he  nearly  overlapped  Stanley’s  route 
in  1886 : for  he  struck  the  Nepoko  about 
forty  miles  north  of  Ugarrowa,  a place  very 
familiar  to  the  readers  of  the  Emin  Relief 
Expedition  literature  (p.  40).  The  Monbuttoo 
chief,  A-Sanga  Mombele,  now  insisted  on  de- 
taining his  white  man  as  a hostage  for  the 
good  behaviour  of  some  of  his  friends  among 
the  Egyptian  slaves  and  soldiers,  so  that 
before  he  could  return  to  Tangasi,  in  July, 
1882,  he,  had  suffered  great  privations.  Ill, 
in  want  of  goods  to  pay  his  way  and  to 
obtain  the  coarsest  provisions,  which  were 
hard  to  procure  among  a people  where 
charity  is  an  extremely  rare  virtue,  Junker 
returned  to  the  zereba  of  Zemio,  another 
Niam-Niam  chief,  where  Bohndorff,his  German 
assistant,  awaited  his  arrival. 


Instructing  his  sole  European  companion 
to  make  his  way  back  to  Europe  % the 
Bahr-el-Ghazel,*  Junker  set  out  on  another 
journey  through  the  west  Niam-Niam  district, 
from  which  he  did  not  return  till  May,  1883, 
having  reached  the  Welle,  near  Ali  Kobbo’s 
zereba,  close  to  the  farthest  point  which 
Yan  Gele,  a Belgian,  attained  from  the  west 
seven  years  later.  Up  to  this  date  Junker, 
trusting  to  native  information,  had  shared 
the  belief  of  Schweinfurth,  its  discoverer,  and 
other  travellers,  that  the  Welle  was  the 
upper  reaches  of  the  Shari,  which,  we  have 
seen,  is  the  principal  feeder  of  Lake  Tchad. 
But  after  he  came  upon  the  river,  first  at 
its  confluence  with  the  Werre,  and,  later, 
lower  down  at  Abdallah’s  zereba,  it  was  im- 
possible any  longer  to  doubt  that  it  was  a 
tributary  of  the  Congo.  This  conclusion  had, 
indeed,  been  already  arrived  at  by  Mr. 
Grenfell,  when  he  had  passed  the  Zongo 
rapids  of  the  Mobangi  (p.  126),  which  river  it  is 
now  universally  accepted  as  being,  although 
several  of  the  less  essential  links  in  the 
course  have  still  to  be  traced. t 

But  by  the  time  Junker  had  returned  to 
Zemio’s,  the  worst  news  he  had  heard  yet 
had  drifted  to  that  remote  African 
camp  : for  the  tidings  came  that  the°Mahdi. 
the  Mahdist  rebellion  was  spread- 
ing far  beyond  its  place  of  origin,  and  had 
already  crept  to  the  Bahr-el-Ghazel  province. 
After  several  months’  delay,  Junker  set  out 
in  the  hope  of  being  able  to  catch  one  of-  the 
steamers  which  still  came  to  the  Meshera 
(p.  239).  Fortunately,  Lupton  Bey  (Yol.  II., 
p.  157)  kept  his  friend  well  abreast  of  the 
hopes  and  fears  which  racked  the  mind  of 
that  unfortunate  Governor.  Then,  when  a 
messenger  arrived  with  'a  letter  saying  that 
all  the  military  posts  north  of  Ganda  had 
been  captured  by  the  Mahdists,  and  that 
Lupton  dreaded  the  worst,  Junker,  on  receipt 
of  the  news,  determined  to  return  to  Zemio’s 

* Bohndorff  was,  at  a later  date,  in  Weissmann’s  service 
(P-22). 

t Wills.  Prnc.  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society , 1887, 
p.  285  ; Potagos  : “ Dix  annees  de  voyage,  etc.”  (1885). 


JUNKER'S  ESCAPES. 


263 


zereba.  and.  under  the  protection  of  the  can- 
nibal chief,  make  his  way  to  Lado,  where 
Emin  and  Casati  then  were. 

Here,  he  arrived  in  January,  1884  (p.  26), 
and  for  the  first  time  became  aware  of  how 
narrow  an  escape  he  had  from  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  Mahdi.  For  on  the  2nd  of 
May,  Lupton  was  compelled  to  surrender,  and 
soon  alter  Karainallali,  the  victorious  general, 
sent,  as  we  have  seen,  a demand  to  Lado  for 
the  Europeans  there  to  appear  at  the  rebel 
seat  of  government.  There  is,  therefore,  little 
doubt  that  it  Junker  had  persisted  in  his 
original  intention,  he  would,  like  Slatin  and 
Lupton,  have  been  doomed  to  long  years'  of 
slavery  among  the  fanatics  Avho  in  a short 
time  were  to  reconquer  the  entire  Soudan. 
Indeed,  as  we  now  know 
(p.  27)  that  Emin  and 
his  officers  had  deter- 
mined to  abandon  the 
Equatorial  Province  with- 
out resistance,  it  was  only 
the  accident  of  theMahdists 
not  making  an  immediate 
advance  that  prevented  the 
calamity  which  he  had 
avoided  at  the  Meshera 
from  befalling  him  at  Lado. 

But  Junker  had  no  intention  of  submitting  so 
tamely  and  determined  to  retreat  up  the  Nile 
to  Albert  and  A ictoria  Nyanzas,  and  thence, 
if  necessary,  to  Zanzibar,  thus  just  reversing 
the  route  which  Speke  and  Grant  had  taken 
in  happier  days.  Meanwhile,  no  attack  occur- 
ring,  Junker  returned  to  Lado  from  Dufli, 
where  he  had  his  temporary  quarters. 

The  story  of  what  happened  afterwards 
has  already  been  told  in  outline  (pp. 
25-30).  In  the  doubts  and  fears  and  dangers 
of  those  times  Junker  had  his  full  share. 
However,  still  expecting  help  from  Khartoum, 
a retreat  to  ^,e  held  on,  and  it  was  only  when 
oceanl'vu  ne"'s  came  that  Khartoum 

apd  bad  fallen  and  Gordon  was  dead, 
that  the  intrepid  Russo-German 
determined  to  delay  no  longer  his  attempt  to 
return  to  that  civilisation  which  he  was 


convinced  was  rapidly  coming  to  an  end  in  the 
Soudan.  We  know  how  he  reached  Uganda 
in  1886,  after  being  detained  at  Kabba  Rega’s 
owing  to  the  war  between  Unyoro  and  Uganda, 


and,  thanks  to 
the  influence  of 
Mackay  with 
M’wanga,  was 
permitted  to 
start  out  for 
the  Indian 


Ocean.  By  the 
help  of  the  Eng- 
lish mission- 
aries (p.  155) 
he  reached 
Msalala,  and 
thence,  by  way 
of  Usukuma 
and  Unyam- 
wezi,  arrived  at 
Tabora,  where 
he  met  Tippoo 
Tib.  in  whose 
company  he 


MAI*  OF  DK.  JUNKERS  ROUTES. 


<>r 


arrived  at  Bagamoyo  on  the  29th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1886. 

Hr.  Junker's  labours  cover  a large  field. 
They  are  more  valuable  for  the  scientific 
contributions  to  the  history  of  the  people, 
the  plants,  and  the  animals  of  the  country 


264 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


SHOOLI  VILLAGE. 

( From  a Photograph  by  R.  Buchta.) 


SHOOLI  MUSICAL  INSTRUMENTS. 

( From  a Photograph  by  12.  Buchta.) 

traversed  than  for  actual  discoveries  in 
geography.  Yet  they  are  not  without  this 
merit  also : though  crossing  and  recrossing 
as  his  lines  do  the  tracks  of  previous 
travels,  the  critic  who  judges  an  explorer’ s 
work  merely  by  the  lines  of  his  route  being 


distant  from  those  of  any  other  will  do  but 
scant  justice  to  the  admirable  researches  of 
this  patient  man  of  science,  who  accomplished 
much  on  slender  resources,  without  any  display 
of  force  or  the  loss  of  a single  life  by  violent 
means.  The  Makaraka  country  was,  to  a 
large  extent,  a mere  name  to  geographers, 
until  J unker  familiarised  us  with  it ; and, 
though  the  Niam-Niam  and  Monbuttoo  races 
had  been  introduced  to  ethnologists  by 
Schweinfurth,  they  were  for  the  first  time  fully 
described  by  his  successor.  The  Momfu, 
Mabode,  A-Bangba,  Mangballe,  Maigo,  Mege, 
A-Bissanga,  and  other  relatives  of  the  Mon- 
buttoo, were  in  like  manner  Junker’s  especial 
people  ; and  besides  the  Upper  Nile  tribes, 
on  his  way  to  Uganda  he  passed  through 
the  Shooli  (pp.  264,  265),  and  a host  of 
other  races,  none  of  whom  he  left  without 
examining  their  ways  and  their  persons 
in  a way  that  was  unknown  to  the  earlier 
travellers  of  the  non-scientilic  order.  Un- 
fortunately, the  privations  of  the  last  years 
of  his  life  in  Africa  undermined  a constitution 


SHOOLI  MUSICIANS. 

om  a Photograph  by  It.  Buchta. 


DEATH  OF  JUNKER. 


265 


never  robust,  and  before  those  best  able  to  was  in  his  debt,  Wilhelm  Junker  died  at  St. 
judge  were  fully  aware  of  how  much  the  world  Petersburg  on  the  16th  of  February,  1892  * 


* For  the  facts  relating  to  Dr.  Junker’s  career  we  are  indebted  to  an  obituary  notice  by  Mr.  Ravenstein,  in 
Proceeding t of  the  Royal  Geograph  ical  Society,  1892,  p.  185,  where  references  to  most  of  his  writings  will  be  found. 

His  travels,  or  at  least  a sketch  of  them,  appear  in  an  excellent  English  translation  by  Mr.  A.  H.  Keane 

Travels  in  Africa  during  the  Years  1875-78,”  "Travels  in  Africa  1879-81,”  and  “Travels  in  Africa  1882-86” 
(1890-92).  There  are  some  slight  condensations  in  the  English  version,  and  the  omission  of  some  maps,  which 
are  more  than  compensated  for  by  additional  notes  and  illustrations.  Papers  on  Dr.  Junker's  travels  appear  in 
Bulletin  de  la  Societe  Khedeviale,  II®  Ser.,  Xo.  12,  pp.  629-658,  and  in  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society, 
1887,  pp.  399-420,  to  which  the  reader  may  be  referred. 


SHOOLI  WARRIOR. 

( From  a Photograph  by  R.  Buchta .) 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  International  Explorers  : “ One  Traveller  Returns." 

An  African  Renaissance — The  Fresh  Departure  of  the  Belgian  King — The  Brussels  Conference  and  what  came 
of  It — Much  Talk  and  Small  Results — A Catalogue  of  Failures — The  Elephant  Expedition — The  Action 
of  Great  Britain  and  the  Royal  Geographical  Society — A List  of  Unexplored  Routes — Ways  and  Means— 
The  Selection  of  a Region  to  be  Explored  and  its  Explorers — Keith  Johnston  and  Joseph  Thomson— 
They  Start  into  Africa  from  Dar-es-Salaam — In  the  Coast  Belt — Dull  Days — The  Rufiji  River — Behobeho 
— Death  of  Johnston — Thomson  Goes  On — Wakhutu  and  Mahenge — Zuluised  Race  of  Robbers — To  the 
Central  Plateau — A Delightful  Gateway  and  a Depressing  Moorland — A Curious  Grievance — A Mutiny — 
Lake  Nyassa — Tanganyika  and  the  Lukuga  Outlet — Ujiji — Attempt  to  reach  the  Atlantic  — Failure- 
Peace  with  Honour — Wurua  People — A Voyage  down  Tanganyika  in  the  Calabash  — The  Homeward 
Journey — Lake  Leopold — Murder  of  Carter  and  Cadenhead — More  Belgian  Fiascoes — Chief  Simba — Arrival 
at  Bagamoyo — Results  of  Expedition — Contrast  of  Thomson's  Expedition  with  those  of  the  Belgians — Some 
African  Illusions — Failure  to  find  Minerals  or  Elephants — A Coal-hunting  Venture. 


Rut  while  Dr.  Junker  was  so  far  in  the  centre 
of  Africa  that  only  faint  echoes  of  his  wander- 
ings reached  Europe,  events  all-important  for 
the  future  of  that  continent  were  in  pro- 
gress. For  years  before  the  date  at  which  he 
set  out  for  the  Upper  Nile  Valley  the  eyes  of 
the  civilised  world  had  been  more  and  more 
directed  to  the  “ land  of  black  men."  The 
travels  and  death  of  Livingstone  had  sur- 
rounded with  a sort  of  halo  the  regions  into 
which  he  had  introduced  his  readers,  and 
Stanley’s  visit  to  Uganda  had  been  the  begin- 
ning of  a gi’eat  work  in  that  country  and  else- 
where. The  expeditions  of  Burton,  Speke  and 
Grant,  Baker,  and  Cameron  had  ended  in  the 
annexation  (not  always  to  civilisation)  of  vast 
regions  still . devastated  by  the  slave-hunters. 
This  interest  was  heightened  by  the  tales 
brought  back  by  the  German  explorers,  whose 
additions  to  our  knowledge  have  been  already 
noticed;  and  in  1876  we  were  waiting  almost 
daily  for  news  of  Stanley,  who  had  left 
Victoria  Nyanza,  to  emerge,  by  a route  west  of 
Tanganyika,  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  This  was 
the  geographer’s  concern  in  the  exploratory 
renaissance  which,  ever  since  Livingstone’s 
transcontinental  journeys,  had  been  more  and 
more . notable.  But  the  merchants 
renounce.  were  also  casting  longing  glances 
on  these  fertile  regions  swarm- 
ing with  millions  of  people,  and  wondering 
if  realms,  of  old  fabled  to  be  so  rich,  had 


not  something  in  store  for  them  also.  New 
markets  were  what  the  trader  yearned  for,  as, 
one  after  another,  he  saw  the  old  ones  dosing 
and  the  customers  of  former  days  becoming 
his  rivals  in  a more  fiercely  competitive  era. 
And,  above  all — for  its  influence  has  ever 
been  all-powerful  in  the  opening  up  of  Africa 
— the  “ religious  world  ” — though  it  must  not 
be  inferred  that  the  rest  was  irreligious — 
permeated  society  with  a half-formed  con- 
viction that  the  white  man  was  fab  in  arrear 
of  his  duty  if  he  permitted  the  black  man 
to  learn  the  blessings  of  civilisation  b}7  means 
of  the  Arab  slave-dealer  from  one  side  of  the 
continent  and  of  the  Hamburg  gin-sellers  on 
the  opposite  shore.  It  was  with  motives  thus 
fired  by  philanthropy,  greed,  and  a love  of 
science,  that  the  regeneration  of  Africa 
began.  For  it  was  in  1876  that  the  ideas 
which  had  been  churning  in  so  many  minds 
took  shape  in  the  epoch-making  scheme  of 
the  King  of  the  Belgians. 

It  is  likely  enough  that,  without  his  taking 
the  lead,  something  would  have  been  done ; 
but  it  might  not  have  been  done  so  well  or 
so  quickly,  and  certainly,  had  Europe  been 
left  to  itself,  it  would  not  have  been  done  in 
the  same  way.  It  is  idle  now  to  look  back 
on  the  mistake's  which  were  made,  or  on  the 
high  hopes  then  aroused,  so  soon  destined 
to  be  disappointed.  But,  though  much  of 
what  followed  was  inevitable,  it  must  be 


THE  BRUSSELS  CONFERENCE. 


267 


-admitted  that  no  one  else  could  have  under- 
taken what  Leopold  II.  did,  without  arous- 
ing more  jealousies  and  suspicions.  He  was 
the  sovereign  of  a small  country  without 
colonies  or  dependencies,  and,  by  the  terms 
on  which  it  stood  in  relation  to  the  Great 
Powers,  debarred  from  running  counter  to  the 
declared  policy  of  any  of  them.  Its  neu- 
trality in  the  broils  of  its  neighbours,  and  its 
lack  of  a navy,  or  of  an  army  capable  of 
playing  more  than  a peaceful  part  in  any 
international  trouble,  pointed  to  the  Belgian 
ruler  as  the  most  fitting  person  to  take  the 
initiative  in  the  new  departure.  Hence,  while 
Belgium  had  not  hitherto  furnished  any 
African  explorer,  in  a few  months  it  was  to 
be  the  starting-point  of  a great  many,  and 
to  provide  a literature  on  the  theme  of  one 
section,  large  in  amount,  if  not  of  corre- 
sponding importance. 

Accordingly,  when  the  king  issued  invita- 
tions for  a conference  at  Brussels  on  the 
The  Brussels  affairs  of  Africa,  the  12th  'of  Sep- 
septemter,’  tember,  1876,  found  a full  gathering 
1876‘  of  delegates  assembled.  Many  of 

them  were  men  of  eminence  in  various  call- 
ings, and  several — like  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir 
William)  Mackinnon,  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  Colonel 
Grant,  Captain  Cameron,  M.  Duveyrier,  Sir 
Fowell  Buxton,  Dr.  Nachtigal,  Dr.  Schwein- 
furth,  and  Dr.  Rohlfs— familiar  with  various 
parts  or  interests  of  the  country.  Great 
Britain,  Belgium,  Austria- Hungary.,  France, 
Germany,  Italy,  and  Russia  were  repre- 
sented. Several  nations,  like  Spain,  Den- 
mark, Sweden  and  Norway,  Turkey,  Holland, 
and  Portugal,  though  more  or  less  directly 
concerned  in  the  affairs  of  Africa,  expressed 
their  doubts  as  to  the  utility  of  the  gathering 
by  neglecting  to  send  delegates;  and  the 
semi-civilised  States  of  the  African  continent, 
like  Tunis,  Morocco,  Liberia.  Madagascar,  Zan- 
zibar, and  Egypt,  were  not  invited.  Other- 
wise it  is  improbable  that  Ismail  Pasha, 
after  the  enormous  sums  he  had  spent 
ostensibly  : the  civilisation  of  the  Nile 

Basin,  would  have  omitted  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  what  concern  the  latest  Kafir  congress 


had  for  him.  What  was  the  fundamental 
idea  actuating  the  king  in  summoning  this 
conference  is  a question  neither  polite  nor 
useful  to  inquire.  At  the  time  when  he  was 
entertaining  his  guests  so  sumptuously  at  the 
gathering  over  which  he  presided,  various 
rumours  were  afloat.  Belgium,  it  was,  for 
instance,  affirmed,  was  anxious  to  acquire  a 
convict  settlement : and,  in  the  light  of  events 
that  afterwards  occurred,  the  Cassandras  who 
talked  in  that  way  are  inclined  to  think  that 
they  were  not  far  wrong  as  to  the  motives 
at  work.  But  though  the  Brussels  Conference 
was  realty  the  first  step  in  the  founding  of 
the  Congo  State — and  the  Congo  State  the 
beginning  of  that  scramble  for  Africa  which 
in  a few  years,  was  to  be  the  scandal  and  the 
pride  of  Europe — in  1876  Mr.  Stanley  was 
between  Tanganyika  and  Nyangwe  (now  a 
Congo  station),  and  the  extent — the  very  exist- 
ence, indeed — of  the  vast  territory  through 
which  he  was  soon  to  descend  was  un- 
suspected. The  son  of  Leopold  of  Gotha 
and  the  grandson  of  Louis  Philippe  of  France 
has  never  been  accused  of  insensibility  to  the 
interests  of  his  country  or  of  himself;  but, 
so  far  as  the  Brussels  Conference  was  con- 
cerned, there  is  no  reason  to  accuse  him  of 
ulterior  motives.  At  that  time  he  was  com- 
paratively young,  full  of  vigour,  and  eager  to 
distinguish  himself  in  one  of  the  few  walks 
in  life  which  the  constitutional  monarch  of  a 
little  kingdom,  the  theme  of  many  treaties, 
was  able  to  take.  His  only  son  was  dead, 
and  he  was  now  willing  to  devote  part  of  his 
fortune  to  the  regeneration  of  Africa.  The 
suppression  of  the  East  Coast  slave-trade 
was,  indeed,  about  the  only  item  laid  before 
the  meeting  in  advance.  Hence,  it  was  quite 
likely  that  all  the  king  wished  was  that  the 
delegates  should  either  suggest  plans  them- 
selves or  homologate  those  which  were  sim- 
mering in  his  own  mind. 

A more  systematic  exploration  of  Africa, 
conducted  in  a more  methodical  way,  by  the 
well-planned  co-operation  of  the  different 
civilised  nations  was  the  outcome  of  the  three 
days’  deliberations  of  this  congress.  National 


268 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


committees  Avere  to  be  formed  in  the  different 
countries  in  aid  of  the  common  object  all  of 
them  had  in  view,  to  collect  subscriptions, 
and  to  send  delegates  to  the  Central  or  Inter- 
national African  Association,  having  its  seat 
in  Brussels.  Then  the  members  of  the  Con- 
ference, having  established  a geographical 
millennium  on  paper,  Avent  home : some 
honestly  to  attempt  the  carrying  out  of  the 
objects  aimed  at,  others  to  plot  privately 
in  favour  of  plans  altogether  incompatible 
Avith  international  comity.  One  of  the  chief 


make  their  Avay  to  the  coast — such  stations 
to  be  unarmed  posts  Avhence  the  light  of 
civilisation  Avould  irradiate  the  darkness 
around.*  These,  Belgium,  Avhich  Avas  perhaps 
the  only  country  represented  that  really 
believed  in  the  project,  began  to  establish. 
The  first  route  on  Avhich  the  posts  Avere 
determined  to  be  placed  Avas  that  betAveen 
Tanganyika  and  the  East  Coast.  But  the 
Belgian  officers  selected  for  carrying  out  this 
project  Avere,  like  so  many  of  her  explorers 
ipade  and  not  born,  singularly  unfitted  for  the 
task  assigned  them,  or — post  hoc  propter  hoc 
—unusually  unfortunate  in  the  mishaps 
of  travel  Avhich  befell  them. 

The  earlier  attempts  Avith  a ofCf^ure£e 
train  of  ox  - Avaggons  failed, 

OAving  to  the  cattle  dying  of  the  tsetse 
fly  bites.  On  the  death  of  Captain  Crespel 


ON  THE  ISLAND  ON  CHISUMULU,  LAKE  NYASSA. 
( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Fred  Moir.) 


resolutions  of  the  Conference  had  been  in  and  Dr.  Maes,  its  principal  members, 
favour  of  founding  stations,  extending  across  MM.  Wauthier  and  Dutrieux  Avere  sent  to 
Africa,  Avhere  the  different  explorers  might  * Banning:  “Africa  and  the  Brussels  Geographical 
find  aid  and  succour  AA'ithout  requiring  to  Conference"  (translated  by  R.  H.  Major,  1877),  p.  101. 


ELEPHANTS  AS  CARRIERS. 


2G9 


supply  their  -places.  The  former  also  suc- 
cumbed to  the  climate  near  Lake  Chaia, 
about  eighty  miles  south-east  of  Kaze,  or 
Tabora  (Vol.  II.,  p.  262);  so  that  it  was  not 
until  1880  that  Kar- 
ema,  on  Lake  Tan- 
ganyika (p.  288),  was 
founded  by  Captain 
Cam  bier.  For  the 
first  time  a laudable 
effort  was  made  to 
employ  elephants  as 
beasts  of  burden,  so 
as  to  avoid  the  cost, 
trouble,  and  the  oft- 
times  impossibility  of 
obtaining  porters. 

Elephants,  we  know, 
had,  in  the  earlier 
history  of  Northern 
Africa,  been  tamed* 
and  Asiatic  ones  had 
formed  part  of  the 
British  expedition 
into  Abyssinia ; but 
their  use  was  quite 
unknown  in  modern 
savage  Africa,  and 
since  the  early  ages 
of  the  Christian  era 
the  African  species 
had  not  been  domes- 
ticated. Accordingly, 
though  plans  for 
forming  “ keddahs  ” 
for  elephant  catching  and  taming  were  among 
the  many  projects  of  that  period,  the  first 
animals  had,  naturally,  to  be  imported  from 
India.  Four,  the  gift  of  King  Leopold,  set 
out  on  their  experimental  journey  under 
the  guidance  of  Captain  Falkner  Carter,  an 
Irishman  with  some  Persian  experience.  But, 
unfortunately,  either  through  the  new  arrivals 
not  being  properly  managed,  or  not  being 

* In  addition  to  the  references  already  given  regarding 
the  ancient  domestication  of  African  elephants,  see  Cust. 
Proc.  of  the  R.  G ft..  1882,  pp.  381.  382  : and  Lugard  : 
“ East  African  Empire,"  Vol.  I.,  pp.  494-498. 


acclimatised — for  they  were  not  affected  by 
the  tsetse  flies — or  too  heavily  worked  and  too 
poorly  fed,f  with  one  exception — an  animal 
which  had  not  been  burdened — they  all  died 


ZANZIBAR  BEACH. 

(From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  H.  M.  Stanley.) 

before  reaching  Tanganyika.  A costly  ex- 
periment thus  failed,  and  was  not  resumed, 
much  to  the  loss  of  African  civilisation.  For, 
though  railways  may  jn  time  penetrate  the 
continent,  porters  will  for  many  years  be  the 
chief  means  of  carrying  goods  over  a great 
part  of  it,  where  camels,  horses,  mules,  and 
donkeys  cannot  live.  One  elephant  will  carry 
as  much  as  fifteen  of  the  loads  (sixty  pounds) 
borne  by  Zanzibar  “ pagazzi,”  though,  of 
course,  the  risk  of  fifteen  loads  having  to 

t Rankin,  “The  Elephant  Experiment  in  Africa,’’ 
Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  1882,  p.273. 


270 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


be  abandoned  by  the  death  of  one  animal 
must  also  be  taken  into  account. 

Karema  (pp.  147,  288)  was,  indeed,  estab- 
lished by  the  Association;  but  owing  to 
ignorance,  or  worse,  the  well-meaning  plans 
of  King  Leopold  ended  in  almost  nothing 
being  done  by  it  for  civilisation  or  for 
the  better  knowledge  of  inner  Africa.  The 
national  committees,  however,  did  some- 
thing to  redeem  the  inefficiency  of  the  Inter- 
national Commission,  although  in  the  end 
the  fine  sentiments  about  disinterested  aims 
rendered  the  plan  so  grandiosely  formulated  at 
Brussels  a butt  for  cynics  and  the  satirists  of 
poor  human  nature.  Committees  were  formed 
in  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  Spain,  Portugal, 
France,  Holland,  Italy,  Russia,  Switzerland, 
and  the  United  States,  in  addition  to  that  in 
Belgium,  which,  in  some  respects,  was  iden- 
tical with  the  Central  Association,  of  which 
it,  like  the  others,  was  nominally  a branch ; 
albeit  the  fact  of  their  not  sending  represent- 
atives to  the  Congress  proved  how  doubtful 
were  their  views  regarding  its  bona  ficles.  By 
June,  1877,  the  Belgians  had  subscribed 

287.000  francs,  in  addition  to  44,000  francs  a 
year.  Two  years  later  the  capital  had  risen  to 

600.000  francs,  the  greater  part  of  which  was 
a gift  of  the  king,  while  the  only  nationalities 
that  had  forwarded  even  small  contributions 
were  the  Germans,  Austrians,  Hungarians, 
Dutch,  and  Swiss,  the  two  latter,  however, 
taking  no  part  in  the  subsequent  toil  and 
turmoil.  This  fact  alone  is  very  eloquent  as 
to  the  opinions  entertained  regarding  the 
Brussels  scheme.  What  came  out  of  the 
work  of  the  different  committees  we  shall 
see  by-and-by. 

Of  these  the  least  noisy  was  undoubtedly 
that  founded  in  Great  Britain.  The  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  with  which 
and  it  was  practically  identical,  alter  re- 
ccmfCTeiice8  ceivino  the  confidential  reports  of 
its  representatives  at  the  Brussels 
Conference,  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  apart 
from  the  fact  of  its  charter  debarring  it  from 
entering  upon  any  undertakings  not  strictly 
geographical,  the  exploration  of  Africa  could 


be  best  advanced  by  those  interested  working 
independently  of  any  international  association, 
while  maintaining  friendly  relations  with  it  and 
the  committees  who  thought  otherwise.  As 
circumstances  proved,  this  fear  of  trammelling 
travel  with  obligations  such  as  those  implied 
by  the  Brussels  Conference  was  well  founded.- 
For,  whjle  not  a great  deal  of  scientific  value 
came  out  of  that  gathering,  what  did  was 
largely  due  to  English  effort.  A subscription, 
to  which  the  society  contributed  liberally, 
was  started  by  a special  committee  appointed 
by  the  council  to  “administer  the  African 
Exploration  Fund.”  At  the  same  time,  it  was 
intimated  that  the  committee  did  not  pro- 
pose to  confine  their  operations  to  the  further- 
ance of  expeditions  under  their  entire  control. 
They  were  willing  to  consider  the  propriety  of 
assigning  a grant  in  aid  of  any  well-considered 
enterprise,  so  long  as  it  seemed  likely  to 
secure  good  geographical  results.  Their  aim, 
as  announced,  was  to  collect  and  diffuse  the 
latest  geographical  information ; to  procure  its 
early  discussion  before  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society ; to  point  out  the  more  immediate 
desiderata  in  African  geography ; to  prevent 
waste  of  effort  in  desultory  or  unimportant 
explorations ; and  to  turn  the  large  resources 
of  the  society  in  books  and  instruments,  and 
especially  in  the  willing  services  of  its  Fellows 
who  were  authorities  on  African  matters, 
to  helpful  account.  Altogether,  £3,989  was 
subscribed,  rather  more  than  one-half  being- 
drawn  from  the  society’s  funds. 

The  question  then  came  to  be,  how  best 
this  modest  sum  could  be  utilised.  Seven 
routes  to  the  interior  were  suggested.  Most 
of  these  have  been  explored,  between  1877  and 
the  present  moment ; but  as  an  authoritative 
precis  of  how  unknown  Africa  stood  at  that 
comparatively  recent  period,  it  may  be  useful 
to  reproduce  the  information  then  laid  before 
the  committee  charged  with  its  consideration. 
The  first  line  was  from  the  gold-fields  of 
South  Africa — in  other  words,  from  Wayg 
the  Transvaal,  past  the  south  end 
of  Lake  Tanganyika  to  Unyanyembe.  This 
line  would  cross  the  Zambesi  above  Tete,  and 


ROUTES  TO  THE  INTERIOR. 


271 


would  connect  the  farthest  point  reached  by 
Thomas  Baines  (17°  30'  south  latitude,  and 
■ 30°  30'  east  longitude)  with  Livingstone’s  route 
in  1866-67.  In  its  entire  length  it  extended 
through  twelve  and  a half  degrees  of  latitude, 
and  it  led  along  the  high  land  that  separates 
Lakes  Bangweolo,  Nyassa,  and  Tanganyika — 
a comparatively  healthy  hilly  country  from 
4,000  to  6,000  feet  above  the  sea-level.  It 
was  considered  of  much  consequence  that  the 
character  of  the  people  and  the  products  of 
the  land,  as  well  as  the  physical  features  of 
the  whole  of  the  country  traversed  by  this 
route,  should  be  fully  ascertained.  If  all 
these  proved  to  be  favourable  to  the  under- 
taking, a line  of  overland  telegraph  might  be 
opened  from  Cape  Town,  through  the  gold- 
fields to  Unyanyembe,  and  thence  in  time  to 
Egypt  and  Europe,  a projection  which  was 
again  mooted  as  late  as  1894. 

The  second  route — namely,  along  the  eastern 
face  of  the  Coast  Range,  between  the  Zambesi 
and  the  Equator — was  only  known  at  intervals, 
where  it  had  been  crossed  by  a few  travellers, 
mostly  at  the  same  “passes.”  The  contours 
of  the  range  would,  therefore,  have  to  be  ex- 
plored either  from  the  sea-face  or  from  the 
plateau  side,  with  the  view,  first,  of  deter- 
mining the  points  where  the  range  was  nearest 
to  the  sea,  as  it  was  of  material  importance 
to  get  quickly  away  from  the  unhealthy  coast 
to  more  elevated  regions ; and  secondly,  with 
the  view  of  finding  the  most  convenient  lines 
of  access  to  the  interior. 

The  third  route  was  from  the  east  coast 
to  the  north  end  of  Lake  Nyassa.  Portions 
of  the  district  to  be  traversed  by  this  route 
had  been  visited  by  Dr.  Roscher  and  Baron 
von  der  Decken  (Yol.  II.,  pp.  66,  240),  and, 
more  recently,  by  Bishop  Steere  (p.  136). 
There  appeared  to  be  a natural  high- 
way across  it,  by  which  slave-caravans  had 
travelled  for  many  years.  A route  from  the 
east  coast  to  the  north  end  of  Nyassa  was 
regarded  as  an  important  main  line,  whence 
connections  might  hereafter  be  made  with  the 
south  end  of  that  lake,  and  with  the  south 
end  of  Lake  Tanganyika. 


The  fourth  route  was  from  the  north  end 
of  Nyassa  to  the  south  end  of  Tanganyika. 
Livingstone  crossed  this  route  in  1872;  but 
beyond  this  we  were,  in  1877,  almost  entirely 
ignorant  of  its  nature,  except  that  it  would 
connect  two  great  lakes,  on  one  of  which  a 
missionary  station  was  already  established, 
and  it  would  solve  many  vexed  geographical 
questions,  one  of  which  was  the  real  distance 
between  the  lakes.  It  was  considered  im- 
portant to  learn  the  capabilities  of  the 
country  for  a waggon-road  to  connect  Tan- 
ganyika with  the  anticipated  trading  depot  at 
the  north  end  of  Nyassa.  This  is  now  known 
as  the  Stevenson  Road.  It  will  have  been 
noticed  that  the  Zambesi,  and  its  principal 
tributary,  the  Shire,  had  ceased  to  be  included 
in  this  programme.  But  by  this  time  the 
labours  of  the  missionaries  had  made  even 
the  affluents  of  the  latter — the  Ruo,  with  the 
Zoa  Falls  (p.  273),  among  others — familiar 
ground.  The  fountain-head  of  the  Shire  was 
now  the  starting-point  for  explorers. 

A fifth  route,  considered  promising  but 
costly  and  perilous,  was  from  the  coast  op- 
posite Zanzibar  to  the  south  end  of  Victoria 
Nyanza,  and  thence  to  the  north  end  of  Tan- 
ganyika. The  Church  Missionary  Society 
had  that,  very  year  established  a station  at 
M’papwa,  two  hundred  miles  from  the  coast, 
and  their  parties  for  Karagwe  and  Uganda 
were  expected  to  be  at  their  destinations  by 
midsummer.  The  experiences  of  the  Rev. 
Roger  Price,  of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
in  the  year  1875,  had  shown  that  the  tsetse  fly 
did  not  injure  cattle  on  the  route  to  M’papwa; 
and  Mr.  Price  reported  so  favourably  upon  the 
physical  features  of  this  portion  of  the  country 
that  a large  party  had  started  with  bullock- 
carts,  in  which  they  were  to  proceed  to  Ujiji 
(p.  137).  It  was  proposed,  however,  to  explore 
a nearer  way  to  Victoria  Nyanza  than  that  by 
M’papwa.  The  western  third  of  the  route, 
extending  from  the  south  point  of  Victoria 
Nyanza  to  the  northern  end  of  Tanganyika, 
had  not  then  been  traversed  by  Europeans, 
and  lay  across  the  high  land  that  was  believed 
to  divide  the  Nile  from  the  Congo. 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Of  the  sixth  route — namely,  from  Mombasa 
by  Kilimanjaro  to  the  south-east  shore  of 
Victoria  Nyanza — little  was  known,  except 
through  the  travels,  reports,  and  hearsay  of 
Dr.  Ivrapf,  Baron  von  cler  Decken,,  and  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Wakefield,  one  of  the  oldest  of 
African  missionaries,  and  Mr.  New  ; and  even 
none  of  these  gentlemen  had  penetrated 
farther  than  Kilimanjaro.  It  had,  however, 


probably  fertile.  Speke  had  strongly  recom- 
mended a route  from  east  to  west  at  one 
degree  north  of  the  Equator,  but  the  one 
mentioned  seemed  to  possess  equal  advant- 
ages, besides  being  shorter.  At  that  date  the 
Tana  had  been  ascertained  to  be  navigable 
for  a hundred  miles,  and  to  be  seven  feet 
deep  at  fifty  miles  to  the  east  of  Mount 
Kenia.  “ It  is  said,”  the  committee  tell  their 


KILIMANJARO,  FROM  MOSCHI,  SHOWING  SNOW-CLAD  PEAK  OF  KIBO. 
( From,  a Sketch  by  Bishop  Tucker.) 


been  a long-established  caravan-route  to  the 
great  lake. 

The  last  route  to  be  considered  by  the 
committee  was  from  Formosa  Bay  by  the 
Tana — or  Dana — River  and  Mount  Kenia  to 
the  north-east  shore  of  Victoria  Nyanza. 
The  line  passed  through  a mountainous 
country,  and  therefore,  though  only  two 
degrees  south  of  the  Equator,  was  recom- 
mended as  in  all  likelihood  not  subject  to 
malaria  or  to  any  great  heat.  The  district  it 
traversed  was  reported  to  be  well  watered  and 


subscribers,  in  words  which  read  strangely, 
considering  what  has  been  ascertained  in  the 
interval  (p.  233),  that  “ the  Samburo  people 
to  the  north  employ  camels  and  horses ; if 
this  report  be  true,  the  explorer  or  trader 
would  be  independent  of  porters.  This  route 
has  many  recommendations ; the  famous 
Mount  Kenia,  capped,  like  Kilimanjaro,  with 
snow,  lies  on  the  way,  and  the  earlier  portion 
of  the  journey  might  be  made  by  water.” 
All  this  sounded,  a few  years  later,  like  very 
ancient  history  : it  is  now  almost  platitude. 


58 


FALLS  OF  ZOA  ON  THE  RIVER  RUO,  A TRIBUTARY  OF  THE  SHIRE. 

( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Fred  Moir.) 


•274 


TEE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


In  addition  to  these  specific  lines  of  ex- 
ploration, and  in  connection  wifli  a trunk- 
road  across  the  continent,  efforts,  it  was 
thought,  ought  to  be  made  to  explore  the 
great  extent  of  unknown  country  to  the  north 
of  the  Lualaba,  so  as  to  connect  Equatorial 
Africa  with  Darfur,  with  Lake  Tchad,  and 
with  the  valley  of  the  Ogowe. 

The  committee  indicated  to  their  travellers 
convenient  places  of  rendezvous  — such  as 
Ujiji,  on  Lake  Tanganyika,  and  Nyangwe 
(Vol.  IT.,  p.  272)  on  the  Lualaba — “in  the 
respective  dominions  of  the  Cazeinbe,  the 


country  traversed  in  Africa,  supposing  the 
party  to  return  to  the  place  whence  it  set  out. 
In  through  journeys  the  rate  had 

® J J , . Means. 

m many  cases  been  nearly  twice 
as  great.  The  aggregate  length  of  the  seven 
specified  routes  was  about  7,700  geographical 
miles.  Consequently,  the  cost  of  filling  up 
in  an  outline  manner  the  great  lacunse  in 
African  geography  would,  on  a rough  estimate, 
amount  to  about  £11,000.  The  following  table 
gives  these  data  in  a very  widely  approximate 
form ; but  it  may  serve  as  a contribution  to 
the  story  of  how  Africa  was  opened  up,  and 


ROUTE. . 

Approximate  j 
Distance  in  i 
Geographical 
Miles. 

Cost,  if 

RECKONED  AT 

£1  10s. 
per  Mile. 

1.  Gold-fields  to  Unyanyembe,  and  back  .... 

2,000 

£ 

3,000 

2.  East  Coast  Range,  Zambesi  to  Equator* 

1,400 

2,100 

3.  East  Coast  to  North  of  Nyassa,  and  back 

500 

750 

4.  North  of  Nyassa  to  Tanganyika,  and  backt  . . . ' 

400 

600 

5.  Zanzibar  to  Lake  Victoria  and  Tanganyika,  and  back  . 

1,600 

2,400 

6.  Mombasa  by  Kilimanjaro  to  Lake  Victoria,  and  back  . j 

900 

1,350 

7.  Formosa  Bay  by  Kenia  to  Lake  Victoria,  and  back 

900 

1,350 

7,700 

£11,550 

Kassongo,  and  the  Muata  Yanvo.  Nyangwe, 
as  being  at  present  the  most  advanced  post  of 
African  exploration,  is  especially  important  as 
a depot.” 

Other  measures  were  suggested  to  be  carried 
out  when  favourable  opportunities  occurred, 
such  as  placing  “ a steamer  on  the  Congo 
above  the  Falls  for  purely  exploratory  pur- 
poses ” — a scheme  'carried  out , so  long  ago 
(p.  118)  that  the  recommendation  has  by  this 
time  taken  its  place  among  the  earlier  chron- 
icles of  the  renaissance  of  African  exploration 
— or  exploitation. 

The  cost  of  despatching  a well-equipped 
exploring  expedition  from  England  was  in 
1877  calculated  at  £1  10s.  for  each  mile  of 


the  manner  in  which  the  ways  and  means 
were  provided,  f 

As  it  was  impossible  with  the  funds  at  their 
disposal  to  compass  any  exploration  which 
cost  half  of  the  sum  named,  the  committee 
resolved  on  devoting  their  efforts  to  the 
third  and  fourth  routes— namely, 
those  from  Dar-es- Salaam,  a few  fton^nd*111' 
miles  south  of  Zanzibar,  to  the  ^s0e^0n 
northern  end  of  Lake  Nyassa,  and 
thence  to  Tanganyika,  and  backwards  to  the 
east  coast.  In  those  days  African  travellers 
were  not  so  numerous  as  they  afterwards 
became.  All  the  available  men  could,  indeed, 
be  easily  reckoned  up ; and  it  so  happened 
that  among,  the  usual  crowd  of  volunteers 


* This  is  a through  route,  but  its  cost  is  estimated  at  a single  rate. 

t If  conducted  independently  from  Lake  Nyassa,  and, not  in  connection  with  Route  3,  the  cost  would  be  increased. 
£ These  particulars  are,  in  addition  to  private  sources  of  information,  derived  from  the  various  papers  and 
reports  issued  by  the  committee,  and  from  Sir  Clements  Markham’s  exhaustive  “ Fifty  Years’  Work  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society”  ( Journal , Vol.  L.,  pp.  81-82). 


KEITH  JOHNSTON  THE  SECOND. 


275 


none  with  local  experience  which  was  suffi- 
cient to  overrule  other  objections  presented 
themselves.  Accordingly,  neither  of  the  two 
men  selected  had  ever  been  in  Africa,  though 
one  of  them  had  compiled  an  excellent  text- 
book on  the  continent  where  he  was  so  soon 
to  rest.  This  was  Keith  Johnston  (p.  275), 
only  son  of  the  eminent  Scottish  geographer 
of  the  same  name,  who  eagerly  accepted  the 
command  of  the  new  expedition.  But,  if 
not  a practised  explorer,  he  was,  perhaps,  the 
most  expert  geographer  who  had  ever  entered 
Africa.  For  he  was  a trained 
chartographer,  and,  though 
only  thirty-two,  had  already 
proved  his  capacity  by  work 
done  in  several  of  the  great 
map-making  establishments 
of  England  and  the  Con- 
tinent, by  acting  as  Assist- 
ant-Curator in  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society’s  Map 
Room,  by  several  books  and 
atlases  of  which  he  was 
author,  and  by  eighteen 
months’  field  labour  on  a 
Government  Survey  of  Para- 
guay. In  private  life" Keith 
Johnston  Secundus,”  as 
Livingstone,  who  had  a good  opinion  of  the 
geographical  acumen  displayed  in  his  “ Lake 
Regions  of  Central  Africa”  (1870), called  him, 
was  loved  for  his  singular  unselfishness,  his 
firmness  in  what  he  considered  duty,  and 
entire  absence  of  anything  like  self-assertion. 
German  thoroughness  distinguished  all  his 
labours,  whether  in  the  closet  or  in  the  field ; 
while  his  well-knit  frame  and  perfect  health 
seemed  likely  to  bear  him  well  through  the 
toils  of  an  African,  journey.  In  1871  he  had, 
indeed,  volunteered  for  the  Livingstone  Relief 
Expedition  of  that  year  (Yol.  II.,  p.  263), 
and  high  hopes  were  entertained  of  his 
future  career  as  an  explorer.  His  com- 
panion, Mr.  Joseph  Thomson  (p.  285),  was 
in  the  still  happier  condition  of  having  all  the 
world  before  him.  A native  of  Thornhill,  in 
Dumfriesshire,  he  was  a mere  youth  when  he 


was  accepted  as  Mr.  Johnston’s  assistant; 
but,  as  the  young  Scotsman’s  later  career  as 
an  African  traveller  proved,  the  right  man 
generally  appears  when  he  is  wanted.  In  this 
case,  the  countryman  of  Mungo  Park  and  of 
Livingstone  was,  in  spite  of  the  doubts  ex- 
pressed at  the  time,  admirably  fitted  for  the 
duties  he  had  undertaken.  In  the  University 
of  Edinburgh  he  had  acquired  a sufficient 
acquaintance  with  geology  and  other  sciences, 
and  what  he  lacked-  in  experience  was  amply 
compensated  for  by  an  equable  temper  and  a 
robustness  which  it  took 
many  a year  of  African 
swamps  to  shake.  When  to 
this  was  added  a native 
shrewdness,  in  which  the 
suaviter  in  moclo  was  always 
at  the  right  time  admirably 
tempered  by  the  fortiter  in 
re,  little  was  lacking  to  make 
up  the  ideal  explorer  he 
afterwards  became. 

At  Zanzibar  the  services 
of  Chuma,  Livingstone’s 
faithful  servant  T 

In  the  coast 

(Yol.  II.,  p.  281),  belt:  dun 
and  of  Juma,  days' 
who  had  crossed  Africa  with 
Cameron,  were  secured,  and  an  experimental 
trip  was  made  to  Usambara,  a district  on  the 
mainland,  for  the  purpose  of  detecting  any 
oversights  of  equipment  before  it  was  too  late. 
Accordingly,  when, on  the  19th  of  May,  1879,  the 
party  made  for  the  interior  at  Dar-es-Salaam, 
its  prospects  were  decidedly  of  the  best.  In 
all,  it  consisted  of  150  men.  The  first  few  days 
led  through  Uzaramo,  along  those  raised  sea- 
beaches  which  form  so  characteristic  a feature 
of  East  Africa.  Now  the  way  led  through 
dense  shrubberies,  anon  among  tall  eocoanuts, 
mangoes  (p.  276),  jack  fruits  and  bananas, 
which  clothed  the  hollows  and  river  bottoms. 
Less  happily,  the  route  would  for  hours 
lie  through  swamps,  or  along  paths  cut 
into  deep  ruts  by  the  rains,  which  fell  for 
weeks  at  a stretch,  until  the  Rufiji  or  Kin- 
gani  River  was  reached.  But,  as  a river,  this 


KEITH  JOHNSTON. 

(From  a Photograph  by  C.  Henwood,  Chiswicl;.) 


276 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


stream  turned  out  to  contain  about  as  much 
sand  as  water.  To  add  to  their  gathering 
troubles,  Mr.  Johnston  caught  the  fever  which 
ended  his  career  on  the  23rd  of  June.  Had 
he  been  persuaded  to  take  rest,  he  might 
have  recovered ; but  his  mind  was  set  on 
reaching  Eehobeho,  or  Berobero,  120  miles 
inland  from  Dar-es- Salaam,  so  that,  though 
he  daily  grew  worse,  he  insisted  on  being 
carried  for  a fortnight  through  the  swamps 


and  along  the  great  scrubby  desert  across 
which  the  way  to  that  goal  took,  in  horrible 
pain  from  disease,  the  jolting  of  the  porters, 
and  the  intense  heat  of  the  tropical  sun. 
At  last  Behobeho  was  reached,  on  the 
other  side  of  a great  uninhabited  desert 
covered  with  acacia  thorns,  where  sign  of 
life  is  seldom  seen,  and  near  the  lower  flanks 
of  the  mountains  that  border  the  great  in- 
terior plateau.  But  it  was  too  late,  and  poor 
Keith  Johnston  now  lies  in  a lonely 

Death  of  grave,  a martyr,  five  weeks  after  he 

Johnston.  ° , . ...  J . . . 

entered  Africa,  to  his  eager  desire  to 
ransack  thq  continent  with  which,  theoretic- 
ally at  least,  he  was  so  well  acquainted. 


Had  Mr.  Thomson  now  turned  back,  or 
at  least  halted  until  he  could  have  communi- 
cated with  London,  his  youth  and  inexperi- 
ence might  well  have  justified  this  procedure. 
However,  determined  to  carry  out  the  task 
assigned  to  his  dead  companion,  he  did  not 
even  wait  to  consult  the  Geographical  Society, 
but  pushed  on  in  the  hope  of  doing  some- 
thing, if  not  everything  intended  when  the 
expedition  set  out.  He  was  then,  just  twenty- 
two,  responsible  for  work 
in  which,  he  was  well 
aware,  few  had  succeeded. 
Fortune,  however,  favours 
the  brave,  and  it  favoured 
the  young  Scotsman  in  a 
pre-eminent  degree  when, 
with  his  foot  on  the 
threshold  of  the  unknown, 
he  resolved  to  go  forward 
and  do  his  best.  On  the 
2nd  of  J uly,  Mr.  Thomson 
accordingly  resumed  his 
journey— though  at  the 
time  ill  with  the  fever 
which  had  already  more 
than  once,  attacked  him. 
The  valley  of  the  Mgeta, 
along  which  his  course 
lay,  is  bounded  by  low 
carboniferous  hills  on  the 
left,  and  the  high  moun- 
tain ranges  that  form 
tlye  edge  of  the  great  central  plateau 

on  the  right.  These  heights,  by  acting  as 
condensers  of  the  fleeting  clouds,  produce 
almost  perennial  showers,  which  nurture  a 
rank  vegetation  in  the  marshy  tracts.  As 
might  be  expected,  this  rotting  mass  creates 
malaria  and  other  diseases,  the  effects  of 
which  are  evident  on  the  Wakhutu  natives. 
A more  miserable,  a more  apathetic  Waklmtu 
race  does  not  exist  in  Africa.  All  and  Ma- 
day  they  would  gather  around  the  henge' 
explorer’s  camp  in  crowds,  sitting  with  their 
poor,  ill-fed,  withered  bodies  doubled  up, 
gazing  at  the  strangers  with  idiotic,  lack-lustre 
eyes — looking,  Mr.  Thomson  tells  us,  like  so 


CONCERNING  THE  MAHENGE. 


277 


many  slave-gangs  resting  on  their  way  to  the 
coast,  with  all  hope  of  life  and  liberty  flogged 
out  of  them.  In  the  Ukhutu  country  the 
dreaded  Mahenge  were  encountered — thanks 
to  the  young  traveller’s  tact,  without  any 
mishap,  though  so  terrified  were  the  porters 


thousand.  Nor  does  the  wonder  cease  when 
it  is  found  that,  in  reality,  the  Mahenge  are  as 
cowardly  as  the  tribes  on  whom  they  trample. 
Owing  to  their  being  armed  like  the  Zulus, 
offshoots  of  whom  are  found  far  beyond  the 
Zambesi,  it  has  been  supposed  that  they  are 


EAST  AFRICAN  WATER  VEGETATION,  INCLUDING  THE_ MAGNIFICENT  BLUE  WATER  LILY 
( Nympliaa  stellata,  var.  Zanzibarensis). 

( From  a Photograph  by  Sir  John  Kirk.) 


that  at  the  very  name  of  these  people  they 
were  prepared  to  throw  down  their  loads  and 
take  to  the  bush.  The  Mahenge  had  until 
then  been  little,  if  at  all,  known.  Their 
country  comprises  a very  acute  angle  formed 
by  the  junction  of  the  Rivers  Ruaha  and 
Uranga.  But,  as  most  of  it  is  uninhabited, 
the  robber  race,  who  are  to  this  day  a stand- 
ing terror  to  their  neighbours,  and  have 
depopulated  regions  twice  as  big  as  that  which 
they  occupy,  do  not  number  more  than  four 


allied  to  that  remarkable  stock.  This  is,  how- 
ever, a mistake : their  nearest  affinities  are 
to  the  Wagindo,  Wanindo,  and  Wapangwa, 
who  five  south  of  the  Rufiji. 

Until  a great  wave  of  Maviti  robbers  passed 
across  this  region,  they  were,  though  vastly 
superior  in  physique  and  intelligence  to  the 
Wakhutu,  not  otherwise  widely  different  from 
the  people  around  them.  But  some  of  the 
Maviti,  who  are  a Zulu  tribe  settled  north 
of  the  Zambesi,  remaining  behind  among 


278 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


the  Mahenge,  the  latter  speedily  learned  the 
former’s  method  of  warfare ; and,  having- 
learnt  it,  adopted  at  the  same  time  their 
arms  and  the  marauding  purposes  to  which 
they  apply  them.  Yet,  though  the  Maviti 
costume  strikes  terror  into  the  faint  hearts 
of  the  tribes  upon  whom  they  have  been 
taught  to  prey,  the  Mahenge  have  little  of 
the  Zulu  spirit.  They  dress  in  lions’  skins ; 
but  the  skins  cover  curs,  notwithstanding. 

Leaving  Mgunda,  the  way  led  through  a 
rich  valley  depopulated  by  the  rovers  they  had 
just . parted  from,  and,  crossing  the  Ruaha, 
entered  the  Mahenge  country.  Here  they 
were  treated  reasonably  well,  and  were  even 
popular,  being  regarded  as  a gratis  sight, 
in  much  the  same  light  that  a party  of 
Mahenge  would  be  in  an  English  village. 

The  expedition  had  now  reached  the  com- 
paratively healthy  plateau  of  inner  Africa, 
and  could  congratulate  itself  on 
trai  plateau,  having  crossed  a belt  which  has 
always  proved  most  trying  to  the 
unseasoned  traveller.  Its  progress  hence- 
forth was  more  agreeable,  though  very  slow, 
owing  to  the  steepness  and  slipperiness  of  the 
mountain-paths,  and  bad  guides,  by  whose 
stupidity  the  expedition  was  hard  run  for 
food.  Moreover,  as  a long- continued  spell  of 
rheumatic  fever  proved,  Mr.  Thomson  was 
still  far  from  having  arrived  at  an  African 
sanatorium.  Even  the  beauty  of  the  country 
lost  half  of  its  charm  to  a man  so  weak  that 
he  was,  at  frequent  intervals,  compelled  to 
lie  down  to  rest  until  he  regained  sufficient 
strength  to  creep  on.  Still,  the  sound  of 
mountain  torrents  splashing  along  beds  bor- 
dered by  trees  and  ferns,  the  air  heavy  with 
the  odour  of  flowers,  forest  clumps  hoar}7 
with  lichens  and  mosses,  through  the  branches 
of  which  cool  winds  sighed,  formed  a cheering 
change  from  the  dank  marshes  and  depressing 
deserts  left  behind.  Even  the  driving  mist, 
which  at  times  enveloped  all  in  a clammy 
mantle,  was  not  a repulsive  sight  to  the  Scottish 
traveller ; for  it  reminded  him  of  his  native 
“ haar  ” and  that  sea-ghost  all  in  grey  which 
rolls  northwards  from  the  Solway.  “ Now  and 


then/’  as  he  told  the  geographers  on  his 
return,  “ a group  of  savage  natives  crowned 
some  lofty  eminence,  and  watched  our  pro- 
gress through  the  half-veiling  cloud  as  we 
wound  our  way  along  rocky  dell,  or  deep 
down  in  gloomy  valley,  appearing  and  dis- 
appearing amongst  the  trees.  These  were 
charms  which  no  amount  of  fever  could  blind 
us  to,  which  acted  as  a solatium  to  all  our 
troubles,  and  fascinated  us  with  a boundless 
sense  of  liberty.” 

Even  after  the  expedition  was  fairly  on 
the  plateau,  the  fever  did  not  desert  Mr.  Thom- 
son. At  times  he  would  be  so  feeble  as  to 
fall  down  helpless ; and  for  a Aveek  memory  so 
entirely  failed  him  that,  had  it  not  been  for 
his  practice- of  noting  down  everything  at  the 
time,  his  diary  Avould  have  been  for  that 
period  an  entire  blank.  The  interior,  how- 
ever, proved  as  disappointing  as  the  moun- 
tains through  which  access  to  it  had  been 
obtained  formed  a striking  contrast  to  the 
region  that  had  preceded  them.  For  miles 
and  miles  ahead,  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
see,  there  stretched  a bleak  moorland,  unre- 
lieved by  hill  or  dale  or  forest  tree,  varying 
from  four  to  five  thousand  feet  above  the 
sea-level.  The  best  parts  of  it  consisted  of 
grassy,  undulating  stretches  rising  into  rounded 
ridges,  to  fall  away  into  rounded  valleys, 
monotonous  in  form  or  colour,  but  for  the 
occasional  occurrence  of  a patch  of  shrub,  a 
grotesque  baobab  (p.  280),  or  an  equally 
singular  euphorbia.  Not  a sign  of  life  was 
to  be  seen,  with  the  exception  of  the  “ parson 
crow,”  a tawny  vulture,  or,  it  might  be,  a herd 
of  -cattle ; while  from  morning  to  evening  a 
sharp  wind  blew  unopposed  by  sheltering  hill 
or  forest,  causing  the  Zanzibar  porters  to  light 
tires  to  warm  themselves  at  midday. 

The  people  of  Uhehe  are  scattered  in  vil- 
lages which  stud  this  African  upland  at  Avide 
intervals,  as  the  country  is  poor,  and  the  chief 
food  supply  is  the  lean  kine  pasturing  on  the 
cold,  clayey  soil.  But  they  -are  “ a fine-look- 
ing race  of  gentlemanly  savages,”  Avho  either 
dress  in  nothing,  or  roll  themselves  in  a Avind- 
ing-sheet  of  tAvelve  yards  of  calico.  They 


A DEMAND  FOR  THE  CAT. 


279 


treated  the  white  man  with  all  the  respect 
due  to  him,  never  saying  anything  unpleasant, 
except  indirectly.  Even  in  the  important 
matter  of  “ hongo  ” — customs,  tribute,  or  black- 
mail, call  it  what  you  will— the  Uhehe  folk  were 
delicate;  and  when  the  Ghief  was  offended  at 
a breach  of  etiquette,  the  only  notice  he  took 
of  it  was  to  absent  himself  for  a week — a 
welcome  spell  of  leisure  which  Mr.  Thomson 
utilised  for  writing  and  despatching  letters  to 
the  coast.  Poor  food  and  little  of  it,  cold 


were  gratified  the  expedition  would  be  wrecked, 
Mr.  Thomson  pocketed  his  principles,  and 
promised  that,  since  this  was  the  desire  of 
their  hearts,  they  should  never  be  denied, 
whenever  necessary,  an  ample  allowance  of 
the  hippopotamus-whip. 

Marching  through  Ubena,  a second  and 
higher  plateau  was  reached  on  the  10th  of  Sep- 
tember, though  this  upland  flat  is  so  cut  up 
by  streams  that  it  looks,  to  the  inexperienced 
eye,  like  a series  of  mountain  ranges  from 


inspiriting.  But  it  was  not  these  miseries 
which  most  depressed  the  porters.  They 
had  a grievance : and  this  grievance  grew 
in  time  so  intolerable  that  the  whole 
caravan,  with  the  exception  of  six,  laid 
down  their  muskets,  and  intimated  their 
intention  of  risking  death  or  slavery  by  re- 
turning unless  the  wrong  was  righted.  For 
it  seems  that  their  young  master,  anxious  to 
practise  a more  humane  kind  of  discipline 
than  the  traditional  rough-and-ready  way  of 
keeping  a gang  of  African  porters  in  order, 
had  fined  them  for  misdemeanours,  instead  of 
inflicting  the  more  summary  punishment  of 
flogging.  To  this  the  men  objected.  They 
wished  to  be  “ kourbashed”;  and,  as  it  seemed 
only  too  probable  that  unless  their  wishes 


around  Lake  Hikwa,  Rukwa,  or  “ Leopold  ” 
— a sheet  of  fresh  water  which  Lake  Leopold 
Mr.  Thomson  discovered  to  lie  reached, 
about  a degree  east  of  the  southern  end  of 
Tanganyika. 

Sir  H.  H.  Johnston,  who  visited  this  sheet  in 
November,  18S9,  found  that  it  extended  much 
farther  to  the  south-east  than  had  hitherto 
been  supposed.  The  existing  lake  is,  however, 
a shrunken  vestige  only  of  a much  greater 
extent  of  water,  as  the  level  plain,  fifteen  to 
thirty  miles  in  width,  and  almost  flush  with 
the  water,  shows.  On  the  east  side  only,  high 
mountains  rise  abruptly  from  the  shore,  the 
whole  basin  being,  however,  girdled  by  a wall- 
like range.  The  chief  feeders  of  the  lake  are 
the  Songwe,  a poor,  muddy  stream,  and  the 


280 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Saisi,  a large  river.  The  approximate  level 
of  the  sheet  is  2,900  feet;  but,  owing  to  the 
rapid  evaporation,  the  waters  are  brackish 
and  almost  undrinkable.  It  swarms  with 
crocodiles,  hippopotami,  and  fishes,  while 
buffalo  with  singularly  fine  horns,  ele- 
phants, zebra,  many  species  of  antelopes,  lions, 
hyaenas,  and  immense  numbers  of  guinea-fowl, 


as  exist  anywhere  in  this  part  of  Africa.  They 
are  few  in  number,  and  have  “dark,  sooty 
skins,  prognathous  jaws  and  thick  lips,  with 
small  heads  and  shrunk-up,  withered  bodies.” 
Their  houses  are  mere  human  pig-sties ; and, 
like  the  Warua  of  the  Congo  country,  they 
cannot  look  anyone  straight  in  the  face, 
but  deal  in  asides.  A few  days  more,  and 


francolins,  and  ring-doves  haunt  its  unlovely 
shores.  Hunger,  thirst,  a scorching  wind,  a 
blazing  sun,  venomous  flies,  and  the  Wa-ungu, 
who,  owing  to  a drought  which  had  lasted 
two  years,  liyed  by  hunting  and  rapine,  are 
indeed  poor  recommendations  to  it.  Even 
the  Arab  slave-hunters  have  deserted  it.* 

The  people  of  the  plateau  just  mentioned 
are  Wapangwa,  Wanena,  and  Wakinga— races 
about  as  degraded  specimens  of  their  stock 

* Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  1890, 
pp.  226,  227. 


Lake  Nyassa  was  seen  in  the  distance,  four 
thousand  feet  below  the  plateau  on  which 
the  expedition  was  encamped. 

On  the  shores  of  this  fine  sheet  the  caravan 
seemed  to  have  arrived  in  a promised  land, 
and  with  joy  they  tramped  northwards,  until, 
on  November  2nd,  1879,  they  came  in  sight 
of  Tanganyika.  The  work  undertaken  for 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society’s  African  Com- 
mittee was  now  finished.  Mr.  Thomson 
had  been  just  in  time;  for,  while  resting 
at  Pambete,  he  was  joined  by  Mr.  James 


THOMSON'S  TRIALS. 


281 


Stewart,  from  the  Free  Church  mission  sta- 
tion on  Lake  Nyassa  (p.  133).  Suffering  from 
fever,  Mr.  Thomson  might  well,  with  an  easy 
conscience,  have  returned  with  his  country- 
Tanganyika  mi an ; ^ut  w^en  he  looked  at  the 
and  the  Lu-  broad  expanse  of  this  inland  sea, 
kuga  outlet.  wag  seizec|  with  an  irresistible 
longing  to  explore  the  Lukuga  outlet  of 
the  lake  which  Cameron  had  discovered 


confirmed  by  the  exceptionally  heavy  rains  of 
1877-78  raising  the  lake  so  rapidly  that  when 
Captain  Hore  visited  the  place  in  1878  he  found 
the  Lukuga  flowing  freely  out  of  Tanganyika. 

Accordingly;  leaving  the  majority  of  his 
men  in  charge  of  Chuma,  Thomson  started 
along  the  western  side  of  the  lake — a journey 
not  hitherto  attempted,  owing  to  the  diffi- 
culties which  the  mountains  presented — and 


UGCHA  PEOPLE,  WEST  OF  TANGANYIKA. 


four  years  before  (Yol.  II.,  p.  277),  and 
had  followed  for  about  four  miles.  He 
then  found  it  blocked  up  by  vegetation,  but 
observed  a decided  current  setting  out  of  the 
lake,  and  was  told  by  the  natives  that  it 
reached  the  Lualaba.  In  187(5  Stanley 
travelled  about  five  miles  beyond  Cameron’s 
farthest  point,  and  found  that  a sand-bar 
cut  off  all  connection  between  the  lake  and 
the  basin  of  the  Lualaba,  but  predicted  that 
a small  rise  of  the  lake  would  be  sufficient  to 
sweep  away  this  barrier*  His  prescience  was 

* “ Through  the  Dark  Continent,”  Vol  II.,  p.  52. 


found  the  voluntary  task  he  had  undertaken 
the  hardest  piece  of  work  he  had  hitherto 
attempted ; for  the  tropical  rains  had  now 
set  in,  and  with  them  the  thunderstorms 
which  so  often  accompany  the  wet  season  in 
that  part  of  Africa.  The  way  was  bad  as  bad 
could  be,  and  the  unfriendliness  of  the  chief 
of  Itawa,  who  kept  the  traveller  prisoner  for 
a time  in  his  gruesome,  skull-decorated  town, 
did  not  add  to  the  delights  of  this  journey. 
Hut  evidently  thinking  that  a white  man  who 
could  laugh  in  the  midst  of  the  excited 
warriors  of  the  place  was  not  “ canny,”  he  was 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


28  2 

let  go,  only  to  find  himself,  a little  farther  on, 
the  object  of  great  concern.  For  the  excitable 
natives  of  Marungu  mistook  the  little  caravan 
for  a party  of  slave-traders.  “ They  used  to 
gather  round  us  in  great  crowds,  and  in  the 
maddest  excitement,  yelling  and  shouting 
like  demons,  brandishing  their  weapons,  as 
they  danced  round  us,  now  running  away 
with  fierce  war-cries,  and  then,  in  their  ex- 
citement, rolling  about  on  the  ground  as  if  in 
convulsions.  If  they  had  been  on  red-hot 
plates  they  could  not  have  raised  more  com- 
motion.” These  people  live  very  miserably, 
and,  like  most  mountaineers,  are  troubled 
with  goitre — an  unsightly  disease  which  does 
not  trouble  those  dwelling  by  the  borders  of  the 
lake.  To  add  to  his  hardships,  fever  again 
seized  on  the  explorer  ; but  just  when  so 
depressed  with  the  malady  that  he  could 
have  walked  with  the  most  philosophical 
resignation  into  the  lake,  he  received  a new 
lease  of  life  when,  on  Christmas  Day,  1879, 
he  beheld  the  Lukuga  bearing  the  drainage- 
waters  of  the  Tanganyika  away  to  the  Congo 
and  the  Atlantic.  For  six  days  he  advanced 
down  the  river’s  course,  until  he  reached  a 
hill  from  whence  he  could  see  the  great  plan 
of  the  Lualaba  spread  out  before  him.  There 
could  be  no  mistake  that  the  river  was  the 
outlet  of  the  lake ; for  at  that  time  he  did 
not  know  of  Captain  Hore’s  previous  visit. 
There  was  no  barrier  such  as  Stanley  saw ; 
and,  with  a current  which  swept  along  so  swiftly 
that  a canoe  could  not  paddle  against  it,  and 
which  could  only  be  crossed  with  difficulty, 
it  was  hard  to  think  that  this  was  the  same 
river  the  course  of  which  Cameron  could 
only  doubtfully  trace  by  the  motion  of  floating 
straws.  It  now  rushed  along  between  clearly- 
cut  banks,  and  in  a deep  channel.  In  1882 
Major  Von  Wissmann  visited  the  same 
place.  At  that  date  the  Lukuga  still  flowed 
out  of  the  lake,  and  so  it  did  during  his 
second  visit  in  1886,  though  the  level  of 
the  lake  had  fallen  four  feet.*  In  the  autumn 

* “ Unter  Deutscher  Flagge,”  p.  229,  and  “ My  Second 
Journey  through  Equatorial  Africa,”  p.225;  Geographical 
Journal,  Vol.  I.  (1893).  p.  357. 


of  1892  M.  Delcommune  traced  the  Lukuga 
to  the  so-called  Lake  Lanji ; so  that  the 
character  of  the  one  outlet  of  Tanganyika  is 
no  longer  open  to  question.  However,  as  the 
fluctuations  in  the  level  of  the  lake  exceed 
sixteen  feet,  a time  must  come  when  the 
Lukuga  shall  no  longer  be  an  outlet,  unless, 
indeed,  by  that  time  the  level  of  the  lake 
be  regulated  by  building  a lock  across  its 
debouchure.  At  present  all  the  great 
African  lakes  are  falling  in  level,  owing  to 
climatic  changes  (Vol.  II.,  p.  253),  and  partly 
also  to  geological  influences,  local  and  general, 
though,  it  is  possible,  the  amount  of  water 
in  them  may  sink  and  rise  in  certain  re- 
curring periods,  f 

At  Kassenge,  or  Mtowa,  Mr.  Thomson’s 
party  found  a station  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society  established  by  an  expedition 
that  had  left  Zanzibar  by  the  caravan 
route  a month  after  he  had  bid  good-bye  to 
the  same  place,  and  had  shown  amazing 
energy,  in  spite  of  the  death  of  their  leader, 
Dr.  Mullins,  on  the  road  to  the  lake.  CrossT 
ing  to  Ujiji  in  a slaver’s  dhow,  the  care 
of  Captain  Hore  soon  restored  Mr.  Thomson 
to  health,  and  enabled  him  to  obtain  from 
the  wreck  of  the  Abbe  Debaize’s  great  caravan 
— one  of  the  abortive  Belgian  ventures  (p. 
287) — enough  of  goods  to  help  him  return 
to  the  Uguha  country  (p.  281),  determined 
to  trace  the  Lukuga  to  the  Atlantic,  or  at 
least  to  its  confluence  witli  the  Congo.  But 
after  pressing  along  its  untrodden  banks  for 
a week  (as  already  mentioned),  the  men 
broke  into  open  mutiny,  on  the  ground  that 
the}r  were  being  taken  into  the  Manyema 
territory,  where,  as  was  not  improbable,  they 
would  all  be  eaten  up  by  that  nation  of  can- 
nibals (p.  71).  The  Wurua,  the  people  of 
Urua,  the  country  where  he  turned 
back,  are,  however,  a thievish  set  " honour1111 
of  rascals.  They  would  tear  the 
clothes  ofl‘  the  men’s  backs,  and  for  the  entire 
time  they  were  amongst  them  neither  life  nor 

f Sieger,  Globus,  Vol.  LXII.,  No.  21.  Tanganyika,  at 
the  date  of  Captain  Stairs’s  measurement  (1892),  was 
2,693  feet  above  the  sea-level. 


THOMSON'S  SUCCESS. 


283 


property  was  for  a moment  safe.  It  was, 
indeed,  only  by  good  luck  that  the  expedi- 
tion managed  to  reach  Kassenge  again  in  a 
very  woebegone  condition,  stripped  of  every- 
thing, the  leader  riding,  as  became  a defeated 
traveller,  who  had  lost  everything  but  honour, 
on  that  meek  animal,  the  mission  donkey. 

Happily,  Captain  Hore  was  at  Kassenge 
with  the  Calabash,  and  in  her,  after  a pleasant 
sail  down  the  lake,  Mr.  Thomson  and  the 
members  of  his  caravan  who  had  accom- 
panied him  reached  the  place  where  he  had 
left  the  main  body  in  camp  with  Chuma. 
From  this  spot  there  was  now  nothing  for 
it  but  to  return  to  the  coast.  This  was 
duly  accomplished,  with  some  adven- 
tures, and  not  without  geographical  profit; 
for  it  was  during  this  journey  that  Lake 
Leopold  was  discovered.  A few  days  were 
spent  at  Unyanyembe,  and  then  the  route  was 
resumed  until  Bagamoyo  was  reached  by  the 
middle  of  July,  with — what  is,  Ave  believe, 
altogether  unprecedented  in  the  annals  of 
African  exploration — the  loss  of  only  a single 
man  out  of  the  150  Avho  had  set  out  moi’e 
than  fourteen  months  before.*  It  was,  in- 
deed, the  proud  boast  of  the  traveller,  Avho 
had  now  gained  a reputation  which  future 
years  and  further  exploration  only  enhanced, 
that,  in  spite  of  much  provocation,  he  had 
never  pulled  a trigger  in  offence  or  defence. 
He  had  traversed  2,830  miles  of  country,  and 
of  these  upwards  of  1 .300  were  over  entirely 
neAv  ground.  He  was  the  first  to  reach  Lake 
Nyassa  from  the  north,  to  journey  betAveen 
Nyassa  and  Tanganyika,  to  march  along  the 
west  side  of  the  latter,  and  to  pass  for  sixty 
miles  doAvn  the  Lukuga.  Lake  Leopold  had 
also  been  visited  for  the  first  time,  and  some 
light  throAvn  upon  a variety  of  geographical 
subjects,  such  as  the  Ilivers  liuhua  and  Uranga, 
the  mountainous  regions  north  of  Nyassa, 
and  the  interesting  question  relating  to  the 
drainage  of  Tanganyika.  All  this  had  been 

* Thomson,  “Journey  of  the  Society’s  East  African 
Expedition”  (Proceedings  of  the  Jtogal  Geographical 
Society,  1880,  pp.  722-7‘42);  "To  the  Central  African 
Lakes  and  Back.”  2 vols.  (1881). 


accomplished  on  little  over  £3,500,  Avhich 
must  be  considered  moderate  Avhen  it  is 
remeinbei-ed  that  Cameron’s  expedition  cost 
four  times  as  much,  and  Stanley’s  a great  deal 
more.  Yet  nobody  Avas  killed,  nor  did  any- 
body desert  or  behave  in  the  improper  manner 
Avhich  has  become  stereotyped  in  the  story 
of  Africa — facts  Avhich,  if  they  detract  from 
Mr.  Thomson’s  merits  in  the  eyes  of  the  SAvash- 
buckler  Avho  measures  his  success  by  his 
butcher’s  bill,  place  him  on  the  same  high 
plane  reserved  for  Livingstone  and  the  feAv 
other  travellers  Avho  have  made  their  names 
good  introductions  for  those  Avho  folloAv.  them. 

Mr.  Thomson’s  success,  in  spite  of  his 
inexperience,  contrasted  markedly  Avith  the 
monotonous  tale  of  failure  which 
befell  the  Belgian  expeditions  that  A^it^j)slfteftce 
were  making  for  or  had  reached 
Tanganyika  about  the  same  time.  At  Karema 
he  had  visited  the  International  Association’s 
agents — Captain  Carter,  of  the  abortive  ele- 
phant expedition,  a “jolly  Irishman,”  and 
his  colleagues,  Captains  Cambier  and  Popelin. 
In  a few  months  Carter  and  Cadenhead,  of 
the  same  service,  Avere  to  be  murdered  on 
their  Avay  to  the  coast,  about  four  days’ 
journey  from  the  north  end  of  Lake  Leopold 
— it  was  at  the  time  generally  considered,  by 
a premeditated  attack  to  Avhich  the  “ friendly 
and  sagacious  Mirambo”  (Yol.  II.,  p.  262)  Avas 
priA-y.  The  redoubtable  Simba  is,  hoAvever, 
believed  to  haA'e  been  the  murderer.  Yet,  it 
is  contended,  the  misfortune  Avas  more  an 
accident  on  the  part  of  one  of  his  war-parties 
than  a deliberate  crime.  This  is  doubtful. 
He  had  long  been  a thorn  in  the  side  of  the 
Belgian  and  French  mission  parties,  though 
he  received  Mr.  Thomson  Avitli  great  hos- 
pitality. Three  days’  march  from  Simba’s, 
Cadenhead  Avas  met  on  his  Avay  to  join  Carter, 
and,  on  the  following  day,  Messrs.  Rogers  and 
Burdo,  tAvo  other  Belgians,  trying  in  vain  to 
reach  Karema.  They  had  lost  two  gangs  of 
porters,  and  did  not  seem  to  know  Avhat  to 
do.  In  those  days  the  agents  of  the  Brussels 
International  Association  Avere  scattered  over 
half  of  Africa,  and,  so  far  as  the  Belgian 


284 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


expeditions  were  concerned,  in  a state  of  help- 
less inefficiency.  Their  goods  and  their  porters 
littered  the  road,  and  at  every  village  these 
incapable  “ explorers  ” formed  the  native  butts. 
Mr.  Thomson,  who  could  not  well  be  a pre- 
judiced, and  was,  undoubtedly,  a competent 


years  to  sweep  away,  has  been  raised  against 
the  very  interests  they  had  been  appointed  to 
advance.  Expedition  after  expedition  has 
been  despatched,  only  to  arrive  at  its  destina- 
tion exhausted  and  worn-out — if,  indeed,  it  has 
not  found  itself  compelled  to  halt  half-way. 


witness,  looked  upon  the  entire  scheme,  so  far 
as  it  had  proceeded,  as  little  better  than  a 
farce.  The  paper  plan  had  been  good,  but 
the  officers  selected  to  carry  it  out  quite  un- 
fitted for  their  task.  “ These  men,”  he  de- 
clared in  1881,  “ have  gone  out  professedly  on 
a mission  of  ‘ peace  and  goodwill,’  and  have 
only  succeeded  in  making  every  tribe  they 
have  come  in  contact  with  their  mortal  ene- 
mies. The  so-called  stations  have  been  simply 
centres  of  disturbance.  The  Europeans  have 
been  lowered  immensely  in  the  eyes  of  the 
natives  ; and  a barrier,  which  it  will  require 


ZANZIBAR. 

( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  II.  M.  Stanley.) 


Such  a pitiable  spectacle  has  never 
before  been  seen  in  all  the  wide 
field  of  African  exploration.  Not  a station  has 
been  fixed  which  deserves  the  name,  not  a 
traveller  assisted  (the  would-be  helpers  them- 
selves required  to  be  helped),  and  not  a single 
desired  object  attained.”  Mr.  Thomson  had, 
indeed,  no  great  opinion  of  the  commercial 
exploitation  of  Africa;  for,  so  far  as  his  ex- 
perience went,  there  was  little  to 
exploit  except  slaves  and  ivory,  an  Soi^l®s^1scan 
opinion  also  shared  by  Sir  Samuel 
Baker.  But  slavery  it  was,  of  course,  one  of 
the  objects  of  the  international  explorers  to 
crush : and,  after  tramping  to  the  great  lakes 
and  back  again,  Mr.  Thomson  left  Africa  with- 
out as  much  as  seeing  an  elephant.  He  was 


SOME  AFRICAN  ILLUSIONS. 


285 


continually  hearing  of  districts  where  tuskers 
swarmed ; but  invariably  he  learned  on  arrival 
that  this  was  long  ago,  and  that  the  plenty 
was  then  in  some  other  locality  many  days 
ahead,  so  that  in  the  end  he  had  to  gain 
his  acquaintance  with  the  characteristic 
African  animal  by  a visit  to  the  Zoological 
Gardens.  Another  illusion  vanished  before 
Mr.  Thomson  completed  his  journey,  and  that 
was  its  mineral  wealth.  In  South  Africa 
there  is  abundance  of  this ; but  though  gold 
is  obtained  on  the  west  coast,  and  there  is  a 
talk  of  diamonds  elsewhere, 
the  deposits  outside  the  settled 
part  of  the  continent  are  still 
very  shadowy.  In  Central 
Africa,  besides  the  staples 
already  mentioned,  there  was 
a marked  absence  of  any- 
thing “ worth  trading  for.” 

No  doubt  unscientilic  travel- 
lers— and  the  explorers  of 
this  part  of  the  continent  had 
been,  for  the  most  part,  ill- 
acquainted  with  geology — 
had,  by  their  offhand  re- 
marks, led  the  world  to  believe 
that  this  was  the  actual  El 
Dorado.  “One  traveller,  for 
instance,  hears  of  much  iron 
being  worked  in  a mountain,  and  concludes 
that  it  is  probably  a mountain  of  iron : 
another  observes  some  nodules  in  the  soil,  and 
concludes  that  all  underneath  is  iron.  He 
sees  a black  rock  in  a precipice,  and  calls 
it  coal;  a white  one,  and  he  calls  it  chalk, 
until  people  have  come  to  look  on  Central 
Africa  as  the  future  hope  of  the  world.  This 
has  not  been  my  experience,  and  I have  now 
gone  over  a considerable  area.  Nowhere  have 
I seen  a single  metal  in  a form  which  a white 
man  would  for  a moment  look  at  as  a profit- 
able or  workable  speculation.  There  is,  no 
doubt,  a considerable  abundance  of  iron  in 
many  parts,  but  very  little  more  than  sufficient 
to  supply  the  simple  wants  of  the  natives. 
Coal  I saw  none,  and  my  researches  would 


lead  me  to  believe  that  such  a thing  does  not 
exist  over  the  wide  area  embraced  by  our 
route.” 

This  kind  of  talk  had  fired  Seyed  Bargash, 
Sultan  of  Zanzibar,  with  the  notion  that  rich 
coal-fields  existed  on  the  banks  of  the  Lujende 
tributary  of  the  Rovuma  River  (Yol.  II., 
p.  244).  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  engage 
Mr.  Thomson  to  examine  the  district.  But 
though  he  made  a journey  to  the  place 
where  the  supposed  coal  had  been  reported, 
and  in  other  directions,  he  had  to  return 
without  being  able  to  report 
this  source  of  wealth  in  the 
Zanzibar  dominions,  though 
an  inferior  lignite,  of  no 
economic  > value,  has  been 
found  near  the  coast* 

Mr.  Thomson  received  at 
a later  date — namely,  in 
1885 — the  Founders’  Medal 
of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society.  It  is,  however, 
quite  as  interesting  to  re- 
cord that  his  native  followers 
were  not  forgotten.  A hand- 
some sword,  with  a silver 
medal,  was  presented  to 
Chum  a,  who,  with  most  of 
Mr.  Thomson’s  men,  had 
returned  from  taking  part  in  Captain  Phipp- 
son  -Wybrant’s  ill-fated  expedition  to  join 
their  old  leader  in  his  abortive  search  for 
coal  in  1881.  A second-class  sword  and 
a silver  medal  fell  to  Makatubo,  the  “ head- 
man” next  in  rank  to  him,  and  a bronze 
medal  and  certificate  of  conduct,  bearing 
the  Consul-General’s  seal,  were  given  to  each 
of  the  150  rank  and  file,  who,  in  such 
expeditions,  are  usually  not  even  accorded 
the  immortality  of  a line  of  print — unless, 
indeed,  when  they  desert,  plunder,  murder 
their  master,  or  get  flogged. 

* Sir  John  Kirk  seems,  however,  more  sanguine  than 
Mr.  Thomson  (Proceeding*  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society , 1882,  p.  65).  See  also,  for  a description  of  the 
Masai  and  Rovuma  country,  Maples,  Ibid.,  1880,  p.  337; 
and  Last,  Ibid.,  1890,  p.  223. 


JOSEPH  THOMSON. 

(From  a Photograph  by  J.  Thomson, 
70a,  Grosvenor  St.,  W.) 


286 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

International  Explorers:  Many  Men  and  Many  Minds:  The  End  of  a Dream. 

The  Views  of  the  International  Association  Alter  with  Stanley's  Descent  of  the  Congo — A Tale  of  Folly — The 
Belgian  Station  of  Karema — A Castle  in  Africa — The  Italians — Antinori — Chiarini — Cecchi — Bianchi— 
Licata — A Fictitious  Expedition — Portugal’s  Share — France— De  Brazza — Largeau — Debaize — The  Barrel- 
Organ  as  a Geographical  Instrument — Missionaries — Pere  Duparquet — Germany — Pre-International  Associa- 
tion Explorers — The  Day  of  Small  Things — West  African  Travellers — Schiitt — Buchner — The  Muata  Yanvo — 
An  Equatorial  Potentate — Lenz — Rohlfs — Mechow — Pogge — Wissmann  -The  Bashilange — Reichard — Kaiser 
— Bdhm — Evil  that  "Good  might  Follow — A Tale  of  Misfortune  and  Death — Flegel  and  Others — Giraud — 
The  Austro-Hungarians — Magyar’s  Semi-Fabulous  Adventures — -The  English  Explorers — Elton — Erskine — 
Phippson-Wybrant — Lord  Mayo — Lieutenant  O’Neill — Johnston — Thomson— Masailand— Something  Happens, 
and  the  Story  of  Africa  Enters  upon  a New  Phase. 


The  International  Association  was  not  long 
destined  even  to  affect  the  guise  of  being  the 
visible  sign  of  international  comity.  F or  almost 
as  soon  as  it  had  got  into  a semblance  of  work- 
ing order,  even  before  Mr.  Johnston  and  his 
companion  had  entered  Africa,  Mr.  Stanley 
had  emerged  from  it  on  the  opposite  shore 
(Vo!  II.,  p.  311).  His  vivid  letters  had 
already  played  a leading  part  among  the 
factors  at  work  in  the  Brussels  Conference. 
But  no  sooner  had  he  landed  in  Europe 
in  the  early  days  of  1878  than  the  tales 
which  he  had  to  tell  of  the  vast  flood  of  the 
Congo  and  its  tributaries  rolling  through  a 
rich  land  peopled  by  black  people,  led  the 
International  Association  to  concentrate  itself 
more  and  more  on  this  great  waterway  into 
the  continent.  Naturally,  also,  as  the  lead- 
ing spirits  of  that  body  were  always  Belgians, 
its  now  aims  became,  little  by  little,  more 
Belgian  and  less  international,  until,  passing 
through  various  stages,  the  Congo  Free  State, 
under  the  sovereignty  of  King  Leopold,  was 
about  all  that  remained  of  the  airy  schemes 
of  international  co-operation,  without  a 
thought  of  territorial  aggrandisement,  which 
were  conceived  in  the  autumn  of  1876. 
However,  that  period  was  still  a few  years 
distant.  In  1878  the  various  committees 
continued  to  talk — but  not  quite  so  loudly, 
nor  with  a shout  so  unanimous — of  the  self- 
denying  clause,  as  in  the  short-lived  “ era  of 
good  feeling.”  They  still  sent  expeditions 
out ; yet  these  expeditions  were,  with  a few 


exceptions,  not  of  any  great  importance,  and 
conducted  with  a half-heartedness  Avhich  was 
but  a forecast  of  the  blatant  disregard  of  old 
pledges  which  was  so  soon  to  be  the  beginning 
of  a fresh  departure  in  the  history  of  savage 
Africa.  The  subscriptions  which  came  in 
from  the  various  committees,  never  at  an}' 
time  very  lavish,  now  grew  smaller,  until 
the  International  Association  ceased  to  exist 
even  in  name,  and  the  scheme  of  international 
exploration  resolved  itself  into  every  nation 
working  for  its  own  hand,  and,  latterly,  for  its 
own  benefit. 

It  is,  nevertheless,  necessary,  in  order  to 
maintain  the  continuity  of  this  narrative,  to 
note  briefly  what  was  done  under 
the  semblance  of  the  Brussels  Con-  A f*Jfyof 
ference  before  that  unsubstantial 
gathering  had  ceased  to  exert  any  influence 
on  the  immediate  fortunes  of  the  continent 
which  it  was  intended  to  enlighten.  So  many 
men  were  now  in  Africa,  and  so  many  ex- 
peditions of  minor  moment  engaged  in  various 
projects,  that  it  is  difficult  to  arrange  them 
chronologically.  These  explorations  crossed 
and  recrossed  each  other  and  those  of  an 
earlier  date,  and  were  frequently  simultaneous, 
especially  in  the  halcyon  days  of  the  inter- 
national scheme.  We  may,  therefore,  most 
profitably  touch  upon  them  under  the  heads 
of  the  various  countries  whose  African  com- 
mittees were  understood  to  direct  them  under 
the  inspiration  of  the  Brussels  Congress. 

Belgium  was  decidedly  the  most  enthu- 


FORT  KAREMA. 


287 


siastic  of  the  countries  concerned.  Yet  it 
was  noticed  that,  from  the  tirst  news  of 
Stanley’s  descent  of  the  Congo,  the  Belgians 
confined  their  exertions  almost  exclusively 
to  the  west  coast.  Their  misadventures  in 
East  Africa  had,  indeed,  been  sad  enough  to 
discourage  any  further  enterprise  in  that 
direction,  apart  from  the  fact  that  already, 
as  we  know  now,  there  were  too  pronounced 
suspicions  of  annexation  in  the  air  to  permit 
those  who  had  “ interests  ” at  stake  to  dis- 
sipate their  energies.  However,  besides  an 
expedition  under  Mr.  Stanley  to  found  stations 
on  the  Congo  beyond  the  falls  of  that  river — 
of  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say  when 
the  founding  of  the  Congo  State  comes  to 
be  described — the  International  Association, 


which,  financially  speaking,  may  be  described 
as  King  Leopold,  continued  to  despatch  ex- 
plorers from  the  eastern  side  of  the  continent, 
though,  unfortunately,  without  any  better 
success  than  had  attended  their  predecessors. 
But  the  deaths  of  Captain  Crespel  and  Dr. 
Maes  from  fever,  followed  by  that  of  Lieu- 
tenant Wauthier,  if  they  did  not  end  the 
efforts  of  Belgium  for  the  exploitation  of  Africa, 
effectually  damped  the  ardour  of  its  sovereign 
for  expeditions  in  that  direction.  Hence- 
forward, the  energy  which  emanated  from 
Brussels  found  a better  outlet  along  the  Congo 
and  its  tributaries. 

The  folly  which  characterised  the  entire 
proceedings  of  the  Belgians  in  East  Africa 
was  not  quite  abandoned  in  the  Congo 
valley.  Yet,  under  the  chastening  tuition  of 
misfortune  and  of  English  tutors,  the  worst 
of  their  early  inexperience  did  not  bring  such 
disaster  in  its  train  as  at  the  period  when  the 
road  between  Bagamoyo  and  Tanganyika  was 
littered  with  the  debris  of  Belgian  expeditions 
under  the  International  Association  flag. 
Karema  “ un  Officers>  weary  of  the  monotony  of 
chateau  en  a garrison  town  in  Flanders,  dandies 
Afnque  from  the  Allee  Verte,  and  braggarts 
from  everywhere,  were  ready  to  offer  their 
services,  which  were  too  frequently  accepted. 
Few  of  them  seem  to  have  had  the 
slightest  notion  of  what  was  expected  of 


them ; and  what  amazed  Thomson  and  other 
travellers  who  met  these  gentlemen,  even 
when  no  longer  in  the  callow  stage  of  novitiate, 
was  their  utter  ignorance  of  even  the  elements 
of  African  geography.  The  English  explorers 
had  been  reared  in  a sort  of  atmosphere  of 
traditions  ; and,  if  necessarily  deficient  in  the 
knowledge  which  these  traditions  embodied, 
they  generally  arrived  on  the  scene  of  then- 
labours  well  acquainted  with  what  had  been 
accomplished  by  their  predecessors.  The 
Belgians  were,  to  the  last,  supremely  unfamiliar 
with  the  literature  of  that  exploration  in  which 
they  had  begun  to  take  so  prominent  a part. 
They  did,  not  seem  to  have  as  much  as  read 
the  translations  of  Livingstone  or  Stanley, 
though  aiming  at  posturing  in  the  salons  of 
the  Place  Royale  as  then  compeers,  by  dint  of 
a fruitless  promenade  to  the  great  lake  and 
back  again.  What  Thomson  saw  at  Karema 
aptly  illustrates  the  evil  which  was  wrought 
by  ignorance  in  Brussels  and  folly  in  Africa. 
Karema,  it  may  be  remembered,  was  the  first 
of  a series  of  what  were  intended  to  be  great 
civilising  centres.  In  order  the  better  to  serve 
this  laudable  purpose,  it  was  built  on  a hill, 
150  feet  above  Tanganyika,  inaccessible  from 
the  lake,  surrounded  by  a marsh  and  an  un- 
inhabited jungle,  the  haunt  of  mosquitoes  and 
other  insect  pests.  The  nearest  inhabitants, 
on  the  north  were  the  banditti  of  Kawendi;  on 
the  north-east,  Simba  was,  at  the  time  of  their 
arrival,  a name  of  terror  to  all  peace-loving 
people  ; while,  to  complete  the  circle  of  robber- 
chiefs  around  this  centre  of  civilisation,  situ- 
ated in  a swamp  and  surrounded  by  a desert 
the  notorious  village  of  Makenda  lay  to  the 
east  of  it.  To  add  to  its  inconveniences  as  a 
place  of  trade,  Karema  is  quite  out  of  the  line 
of  the  trading  caravans ; and,  when  the  traveller 
whose  description  we  are  narrating  saw  it,  was 
so  hungry  a spot  that,  with  the  exception  of 
Indian  com,  not  a scrap  of  food  could  be 
obtained  within  miles  of  it.  Fowls,  sheep, 
goats,  or  cattle  had  all  to  be  brought  at 
great  expense  either  from  Ujiji  or  from 
Unyanyembe. 

After  reading  the  Utopian  talk  in  the 


288 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Brussels  Conference  about  the  stations,  of 
which  Karema  was  the  first — and,  in  that 
(Quarter,  the  last — being  uhmilitary  and  un- 
armed, the  visitor  was  amazed  to  see  a place 
sufficiently  defended  by  marsh  and  water, 
intrenched  by  a system  of  fortifications  on 
the  latest  principles  of  military  engineering. 
Trenches,  and  walls  and  forts,  curtains  and 
demilunes  were  being  formed  with  such 


(white  man),  he  significantly  taps  his 
head.” 

To  complete  this  tale  of  folly,  the  chatellans 
of  this  African  Agapemone  had  managed  to 
arouse  feelings  of  implacable  hatred  in  the 
minds  of  their  thinly  scattered  neighbours. 
Not  a black  man — who  was  described  at  the 
Brussels  Conference  as  quite  weary  for  work — 
would  raise  a finger  to  help  them ; so  that  all 


KAREMA  FORT,  NOW  A ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSION  STATION. 
(From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Fred  Moir.) 


rapidity  that  one  might  have  imagined  that 
the  languid  creators  of  all  these  visible  signs 
of  truculence  were  so  many  General  Brial- 
monts  strengthening  an  African  Antwerp 
against  an  European  army  on  the  march, 
instead  of  a possible  attack  from  a few 
feeble  villagers  clothed  in  beads  and  naked- 
ness. “ Perhaps  once  a week  a wretched 
native  may  be  seen  wandering  past.  He 
gazes  with  puzzled  wonder  at  all  this  in- 
comprehensible digging  and  building,  goes 
home,  calls  his  friends  about  him,  and  then, 
uttering  pityingly  the  one  word,  ‘ mzungu 5 


the  labour  done  on  the  Karema  fortifications 
had  to  be  performed  by  Waswahili  brought 
from  the  coast,  who,  naturally,  held  them- 
selves at  a high  price.  * 

Yet  this  was  not  the  most  extraordinary  of 
the  Belgian  blunders.  After  being  decimated 
by  disease  and  desertions,  attacked  here  and 
plundered  there,  the  international  party  who 
were  responsible  for  this  extraordinary  Light 
in  a Dark  Place,  heard,  when  almost  at  their 
wits’  end,  as  well  they  might  be  after  wander- 
ing about  for  two  years  like  lost  sheep,  of  a 
place  called  “ Karema.”  It  had  been  described 


AT  KAliEMA. 


289 


in  glowing  terms  by  Mr.  Stanley  as  admirably 
suited  for  such  a station  as  that  which  they 
had  set  out  to  found.  So  to  Karema  they 
begged  to  be  conducted ; but  though  the 
situation  did  not  come  up  to  expectation, 
they  consoled  themselves  for  this  disappoint- 
ment by  abusing  the  optimist  opinions  of  the 
Anglo-American  traveller.  It  was  only  on 


consider  that  their  duty  was  done  so  long  as 
they  managed  to  live  in  reasonable  comfort 
until  recalled  or  promoted,  the  result  was, 
in  their  opinion,  immaterial.  Having  arrived 
there  after  so  much  trouble,  the  International 
Association  agents  had  no  intention  of  going 
any  farther.  They  were  even  disinclined,  in 
spite  of  the  very  object  for  which  the  station 


DWELLINGS  AT  ACBUK,  ABYSSINIA. 
( From  a Photograph  by  Dr.  G.  Schweinfurth.) 


the  Englishmen  pointing  out  that  what  Mr. 
Stanley  had  described  was  not  Karema  at  all, 
but  Massi-Kamba,  twenty  miles  south  of  the 
place  so  called,  to  which  the  natives  naturally 
led  the  Belgians,  that  they  realised  the 
cardinal  blunder  that  had  been  committed. 
Yet,  had  they  taken  the  trouble  to  look 
around  them  for  a few  leagues,  many  spots 
more  suitable  would  have  been  discovered. 
As  it  was,  a worse  could  have  been  with 
difficulty  fixed  upon.  However,  the  white 
garrison  of  the  Karema  station  seeming  to 
59 


was  founded,  to  succour  one  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  missionary  parties,  the  remnants  of 
which — one  blind,  another  mad,  and  all 
starving — arrived  at  Karema  on  their  way  to 
join  Pere  Denaud  at  Ujiji.  Indeed,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  indignant  protest  of  Mr. 
Carter,  who,  though  lacking  much  in  the  way 
of  discretion,  seemed  the  only  energetic  mem- 
ber of  the  expedition,  the  poor  priests  would 
have  received  the  cold  shoulder  from  these 
incompetent  representatives  of  civilisation. 
It  may  be  added,  that  the  three  captains 


290 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


placed  a more  implicit  faith  in  villainous  salt- 
petre than  apostles  of  peace  ought  to  have 
done.  They  seemed  to  imagine  that  every 
black  man  Avas  thirsting  for  blood,  and,  in 
accordance  with  that  axiom,  never  stirred 
from  the  door  of  their  huts  Avithout  being 
armed  to  the  teeth.  As  for  treating  porters 
by  any  other  method  than  the  lash,  they 
ridiculed  the  very  notion,  in  spite  of  the 
unanswerable  fact  that  the  whip  had  not 
succeeded  in  their  case.*  And  Avhat  Karema 
Avas,  on  a smaller  scale  was  Mpala,  another 
station  subsequently  founded  on  the  opposite, 
or  western  shore  of  Lake  Tanganyika.  Both 
are  now  in  possession  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
missions  (p.  147). 

The  Italians  Avere  less  enthusiastic,  and 
from  the  first  confined  their  efforts  to  a cir- 
cumscribed region  in  the  north, 
Intinor^etc!  where  the  heat  of  the  climate 
scarcely  affected  a people  reared  on 
the  hot  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  The 
Marquis  Antinori  left  for  a four  years’  ex- 
ploration of  Abyssinia,  and  thence  on  to  the 
Equatorial  Lakes.  But  though  he  reached 
Lechi,  the  capital  of  Shoa,  after  having 
narrowly  escaped  assassination  betAveen  Zeila 
and  Harar,  and  experienced  many  difficulties 
in  crossing  the  HaAvash,  the  Italian  explorer 
was  not  destined  to  reach  Victoria  Nyanza  or 
its  sister  sheet,  Albert  Nyanza,  from  that 
direction.  His  labours  did  much,  however,  to 
attract  the  Italians’  attention  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  part  of  Abyssinia,  and  of  a semi- 
protectorate of  that  kingdom  (pp.  289,  292). 

Chiarini  and  Gecchi,  Avho  left  Shoa  in  1878 
with  the  intention  of  proceeding  through 
Kaflfa  to  the  African  Equatorial  Lake  region, 
were  no  more  successful.  For,  though  they 
reached  Kaffa,  they  were  treated  as  spies,  and 
ill-used  in  Chera,  a small  district  tributary 
to  the  King  of  Shoa,  the  result  of  Avhich  Avas 
the  death  of  Signor  Chiarini  and  the  return  of 

* Thomson  : “ To  the  Central  African  Lakes  and  Back,” 
Vol.  II.,  pp.  185-193.  A more  appreciative,  if  less 
critical,  account  will  he  found  in  Count  d’UrseTs  “Les 
Beiges  au  Tanganika,”  Bui.  Sue.  Roy.  Beige  Geng.,  Vol. 
XVII.  (1893),  pp.  75-96,  and  in  Wauters’  “ De  Bruxelles 
a Karema  : histoire  d’une  colonie  beige”  (1884), 


Captain  Gecchi.  Gustavo  Bianchi  and  Pro- 
fessor Licatawere  more  fortunate  in  a journey 
Avhich  they  made  to  the  interior  of  Abyssinia, 
and  thence  to  Assab,  on  the  Red  Sea,  at  the 
cost  of  the  Italian  Africa  Society  (formerly,  “II 
ClubAfricane  di  Napoli”)  and  of  Signor  Rocca, 
an  enlightened  Naples  banker.  But  this,  like 
other  Italian  tra\'els  in  North  Africa,  soon 
drifted  into  a reconnaissance  of  the  Italian 
acquisitions  in  that  quarter : and  hence  .passes 
from  our  purview . To  Italy  may  also  be 
credited  the  expedition  across  Africa  of  Mat- 
teucci  and  Massari  (p.  10),  the  African  experi- 
ences of  Casati,  so  frequently  referred  to,  and 
even  the  more  or  less  official  work  of  Miani, 
Gessi,  and  their  predecessors  on  the  Upper 
Nile  (Vol.  II.,  pp.  104,  137,  etc.).  But  we  are 
afraid  that  Italy  can  claim  no  share  in  the 
apocryphal  journey  which  the  “ Marquis 
Maurizio  di  Buonfanti”  and  “Dr.  Van  Flint,” 
an  American,  Avere  said  to  have  made  by  Avay 
of  the  Niger  to  Timbuctoo,  and  thence  back 
again  to  Lagos,  in  the  years  1881-83.  Indeed, 
Ave  should  not  have  thought  it  necessary  to 
mention  this  romantic  expedition  had  it  not 
appeared  in  a geographical  magazine  and  for 
a time  imposed  upon  the  world.  It  noAV 
seems  that  the  entire  story  Avas  a fabrication 
of  the  Damberger  and  Adams  order  (Vol.  I., 
pp.  219,  238),  as  fictitious  as  the  adventures 
which  Bishop  Berkeley  invented  for  Gaudentio 
di  Lucca,  though  Avithout  the  literary  charm 
that  redeems  the  absurdity  of  that  imitation 
of  Utopia  and  Gulliver. 

The  journeys  of  Serpa  Pinto  and  Capello 
and  Ivens  (pp.  2,  19)  may  be  accepted  as  the 
Portuguese  share  in  the  inter- 
national scheme.  Portugal  had,  in  p^o^te 
an  age  Avhen  she  had  more  energy 
than  noAvadays,  made  many  important  explor- 
ations in  Africa,  at  present  almost  forgotten ; 
but  the  ventures  just  mentioned  ended  her 
contributions  to  African  geography  in  modern 
times.  Thencefonvard,  what  little  her  officers 
did — and  Serpa  Pinto’s  after-labours  were  of 
this  kind — Avas  dictated  solely  by  political 
considerations,  though  in  reality  it  is  to 
British  traATellers  that  Ave  oAve  almost  every- 


DE  BRAZZA'S  EXPLORATIONS. 


291 


thing  regarding  the  less  familiar  portions  of 
the  Portuguese  possessions  in  Africa. 

Whatever  might  have  been  their  opinion 
of  the  aim  of  the  new  departure,  the  French 
were  early  in  the  field.  Lieutenant 

France : " , .. 

De  Brazza,  Count  Savorgnan  de  Brazza,  a 

etc'  naval  officer,  with  Dr.  Ballay  and 
M.  Marche,  in  command  of  seventy  soldiers, 
was  ordered  to  proceed  up  the  River  Ogowe 
until  their  eastwards  march  reached  Albert 
Nyanza  or  the  Niam-Xiam  country.  Dr.  Bal- 
lay arrived  at  a point  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  distant  from  the  Gaboon,  in  spite  of  the 
misfortunes  that  befell  the  party  in  the  loss  of 
their  instruments  by  the  upsetting  of  canoes ; 
and,  worse  still,  by  the  unfriendliness  of  the 
Osyeba  people,  who  were  smarting  under 
some  wrong  done  them  during  a previous  visit 
from  white  men.  M.  Marche  had  t*o  return 
home  invalided  ; but  after  many  mishaps  his 
companions  succeeded,  by  April,  1877,  in 
reaching  the  Pombara  Falls,  where  the  Ogowe, 
flowing  from  the  south,  becomes  so  insig- 
nificant a stream  that  it  was  not  considered 
necessary  to  follow  it  any  farther.  M.  de 
Brazza  now  resolved,  in  spite  of  the  suffer- 
ings they  had  endured  and  their  diminished 
stock  of  provisions,  to  direct  his  expedition 
into  the  still  more  unknown  country  to 
the  east,  out  of  the  basin  of  the  Ogowe, 
which  had  hitherto  been  followed.  The  region 
they  were  now  to  traverse  was,  at  the  time 
they  penetrated  it,  devastated  by  famine  and 
drought,  so  that  hunger  and  thirst  were 
added  to  the  many  other  miseries  of  African 
travel.  After  crossing  a water  parting,  they 
reached  a stream,  which,  on  being  followed 
up,  brought  them  to  the  Alima,  a large  river 
hitherto  unknown,  flowing  eastward,  and, 
without  doubt,  a tributary  of  the  Congo.  The 
inhabitants,  like  the  majority  of  the  people 
dwelling  in  this  portion  of  Africa,  proved  to 
be  extremely  hostile,  devoted  to  war  and 
pillage,  so  that  the  explorers  were  attacked  at 
every  village  they  passed,  and  even  pursued 
for  long  distances  by  canoes,  in  spite  of  the 
retorts  which  the  savages  received  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Frenchmen’s  rifles.  Leaving 


this  inhospitable  river,  they  took  a northern 
course,  crossing  on  the  way  several  streams 
all  flowing  in  an  easterly  or  south-easterly 
direction.  One  of  the  largest  of  these  was  the 
Likona,  on  the  equator,  at  thirty  miles  north 
of  which  M.  de  Brazza  found  it  necessary  to 
retrace  his  steps,  arriving  at  the  Gaboon 
on  the  80th  of  November,  1878,  after  an 
expedition  which  had  lasted,  with  many  in- 
terruptions, for  nearly  three  years. 

This  exploration  was  not  only  important 
geographically,  but  had  a direct  bearing  on 
the  action  of  France  in  that  scramble  for 
Africa  which  she  did  so  much  to  precipitate ; 
for,  soon  after  his  return  to  the  Gaboon,  M.  de 
Brazza  again  penetrated  Africa,  and  estab- 
lished, by  order  of  the  French  Committee 
of  the  Belgian  International  Association,  the 
first  civilising  station  on  the  Ogowe.  But,  it 
may  be  added,  though  this  was  nominally 
under  the  committee  in  question,  it  was,  in 
reality,  at  the  expense  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment— a circumstance  which  did  not  escape 
notice  during  the  growing  suspicion  which 
was  now  encompassing  the  “ international  ” 
exploration  of  Africa.  This  station  he  founded 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Bassa,  a tributary  of 
the  Ogowe,  giving  it  the  name  of  France- 
ville.  Leaving  M.  Noguez  in  temporary 
charge,  M.  de  Brazza  then  traversed  the 
Leteke  country,  arriving  in  four  days  at  the 
Alima,  discovered  by  him  on  a former  ex- 
pedition. He  was  then  close  to  the  Bateke 
plateau,  2.000  feet  above  the  sea,  which  lies 
between  the  Alima  and  the  Mpaka,  another 
affluent  of  the  Congo,  and  is  inhabited  by  a 
large  and  peaceable  population,  who  live  by 
the  cultivation  of  this  fertile  upland  (p.  293). 
Aided  by  these  friendly  folk,  the  French  ex- 
plorer descended  the  Lefini,  which  Mr.  Stanley 
had  named  the  River  Lawson,  to  Pulobos,  in 
the  centre  of  the  country  claimed  bj-  the 
warlike  Ubangis,  or  Apfurus,  who  had  given 
that  traveller  so  warm  a reception  both  on 
his  first  descent  of  the  Congo  and  on  his 
more  recent  voyage  up  it  in  the  interest  of 
the  Belgian  Association.  After  a “ treaty  ” — 
the  validity  of  which  formed  before  long  a 


292 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


subject  of  hot  contention,  and  which  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  savage  members  of  the  “ high 
contracting  parties  ” quite  understood  the  im- 
port of,  except  that  they  got  many  gaudy 
pocket-handkerchiefs — the  chiefs  ceded  the 
entire  territory  of  Meuma,  or  Ntamo,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Congo,  not  far  from  Stanley 
Pool,  to  their  most  recent  visitors.  Brazza- 
ville, a new  station,  was  then  founded,  the 


on  the  Gold  Coast,  exploring  on  the  way 
the  Jebel  Ahaggar,  in  the  Touareg  country, 
and  visiting  Timbuctoo.  In  this  project  he 
was,  however,  disappointed;  for,  after  pene- 
trating a comparatively  short  way  into  the 
desert,  M.  Largeau  had  to  return,  pillaged  of 
his  stores  and  outfit  by  the  wild  nomads  of 
these  wastes.  He  endeavoured  to  organise 
another  expedition  for  the  exploration  of  the 


ABYSSINIA  : CALL  TO  PEAYEB. 

( From  a Photograph  by  Dr.  G.  Schweinfurth.) 


French  flag  hoisted,  and  a small  party  left 
as  more  material  proofs  of  the  enlargement 
which  the  Republic  had  undergone  during 
the  last  few  hours* 

M.  Largeau,  who  had  already  journeyed 
in  North-West  Africa  (p.  89),  was 
Largeau.  asfqgneq  command  of  an 

expedition  from  the  Mediterranean  to  Assini, 

* I)e  Brazza  and  Ballay,  Bull,  dr  Soc.  Geog.  Paris 
(Feb.,  1880).  pp.  113-145  ; Marche,  Rev.  Geog.  Internat. 
(1877),  No.  25,  pp.  273-276;  “Trois  Voyages  dans  l’Afrique 
occidentale,”  etc.  (1879),  and  Tour  du  Monde  (1878),  Nos. 
936-8  : Ballay,  Bull.  Son.  Ge«g.  Constantine,  t.  IV.,  No.  2, 
p.  98  ; Comptes  rendus,  Soc.  Geog.  Paris  (1885),  p.  279,  etc. 


Agar  plateau,  to  which  no  European  had 
penetrated ; but  the  support  he  met  with  was, 
unfortunately,  too  small  to  defray  the  cost  of 
the  undertaking.  Accordingly,  chagrined  at 
the  lack  of  appreciation  which  he  received, 
this  unfortunate  explorer  abandoned  Africa 
and  African  exploration,  t 

Missionary  enterprise,  we  have  seen,  was  not 
neglected  by  France  (pp.  146-148),  though  it 
is  not  uncharitable  to  say — the  fact,  indeed, 
being  almost  openly  avowed — that  anxiety 
for  the  African’s  moral  reformation  veiled 


f Glros  : ' ‘ Nos  Explorateurs  en  Afrique,"  p.  71. 


JESUIT  MISSIONARY  EXPLORER*. 


293 


but  thinly  designs  which,  if  undertaken 
under  any  other  guise  than  that  of  religion, 
would  have  aroused  the  susceptibilities  of 
Europe.  Among  these  the  most  important 
expedition  was  that  of  the  Abbe  Debaize, 
towards  the  expenses  of  which  the  French 
Chamber  voted  £4,000.  Its  outfit 
was  very  complete  and  original ; for, 
among  other  novelties,  it  comprised  a 
barrel-organ,  by  the  strains  of  which 
it  was  supposed  the  savage  breast 
would  be  soothed  into  a condition  of 
unwonted  amiability.  But  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Africans  did  not  coincide 
with  the  theory  of  the  Abbe,  who, 
after  a mortifying  experiment,  had 
to  abandon  that  terrible  instrument 
and  take  refuge  with  the  British 
missionaries  on  Tanganyika.  Unfor- 
tunately, the  good  priest  soon  fell  a 
victim  to  the  climate ; but  not  before 
he  had  become  so  convinced  of  the 
honesty  and  business  capacity  of  his 
hosts,  that  by  his  will  he  left  to  them 
the  arrangement  of  all  his  affairs. 
Lieutenant  Giraud’s  journey,  which, 
though  stimulated  by  the  new  de- 
parture, was  not  actually  connected 
with  it,  will  be  noted  farther  on 
(p.  301). 

Nor  was  the  ordinary  organisation 
of  the  Jesuit  and  other  African  mis- 
sions neglected  in  the  un- 
thePje^uits.  concealed  efforts  at  political 
aggrandisement  for  which 
the  French  African  Committee  were 
using  the  renewed  ardour  in  explora- 
tion. The  Uganda  and  Tanganyika 
missions  we  have  already  noted  ; but,  reckless 
of  the  deadly  climate  of  the  Zambesi  valley  and 
the  neighbouring  region,  the  Jesuits  had  by 
the  year  1882  settled  in  every  locality  which 
offered  any  promise  of  success.  Nine  of  these 
devoted  missionaries  succumbed  in  the  years 
1880-82 ; yet,  undeterred  by  the  fate  of  their 
predecessors,  others  quickly  arrived  to  fill 
their  places.  In  the  latter  year  they  had 
occupied  Buluwayo  (or  Gubuluwayo,  to  give 


the  capital  of  Matabeleland  its  proper  ortho- 
graphy), Pandamatenka  (or  Patamatenka),  the 
great  trading  centre  south  of  the  Zambesi 
(pp.  7,  15),  the  Tati  gold-fields,  Sesheke, 
on  the  Upper  Zambesi,  Tete,  Mopea,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Shire,  and  Quilimane.  These 


BAT  EKE  CHIEF  AND  SOX. 

(From  a Photograph  by  the  liev.  A.  Lilluigton.) 

stations  were,  of  course,  independent  of  those 
founded  by  the  French  Protestant  Evangelical 
Society  or  by  other  Roman  Catholic  orders. 
Pere  Duparquet,  for  instance,  made  a most 
interesting  journey  from  Waivisch  Bay  to 
Omaruru  and  from  Omaruru  to  the  Ovampo, 
in  South-West  Africa  (p.  211).  Contrary  to 
the  statements  of  previous  travellers,  the 
region  between  the  two  latter  was  found  to 
contain  a large  population  and  to  be  covered 


294 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


with  extensive . forests  and  tracts  of  pasture- 
land,  the  coast-lying  tracts  alone  being  arid 
and  sandy.  During  the  rainy  season  the  tribes 
scatter  over  a wide  area,  but  concentrate  in  the 
dry  months  near  springs  and  permanent  water- 
holes.  The  Ivaoko  Range,  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  Cunene,  was  actually  a series  of 
beautifully  wooded  plateaux,  the  reputation 
of  which  had  already  reached  the  outer  world ; 
for  a party  of  trek  ’’-Boers  from  the  Trans- 
vaal were  met  with  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
mountains.  The  Ovampo  Valley,  where  there 
were  many  British  and  Portuguese  traders, 
Pere  Duparquet,  the  first  Frenchman  who  had 
ever  visited  it,  describes  as  exceedingly  fertile : 
“ a veritable  garden,  watered  by  mountain 
streams  full  of  fish,”  are  the  words  in  which 
the  enthusiastic  Frenchman  chooses  to  char- 
acterise a region  not  esteemed  quite  so  highly 
by  previous  explorers.* 

These  may  be  described  as  the  last  sem- 
blances of  international  exploration  by  the 
French  African  Committee ; for  the  stations 
founded  by  M.  de  Brazza  were  soon  handed 
over  to  the  Government,  and  then  any  pre- 
tence of  disinterestedness  disappeared.  The  rift 
within  the  lute  was  now  become  too  loud  to  be 
neglected  by  the  most  optimist  of  listeners. 

Germany,  no  more  than  Belgium,  possessed 
many  men  of  African  experience ; but  she 

Germany  and  took  UP  tke  task  ketter  equipped 
international  than  the  Flemings.  For  just  as 

exploration:  T,  ® J , , 

some  early  1 ranee  was  stimulated  to  “ seek, 
travellers.  ag  M Challemel-Lacour  put  it— 
“ compensation  abroad  for  losses  at  home,”  so 
the  victors  of  Sedan  were  impelled  to  espouse 
great  ideas  by  the  fact  that  Germany  was 
now  a great  country.  It  is  doubtful  if  the 
German  African  Committees  were  ever  actu- 
ated by  any  more  disinterested  motives  in 
the  explorations  on  which  they  entered  than 
the  idea  that,  late  though  the  Fatherland  had 
come  into  the  field,  it  might,  perchance,  find 

* “Les  Missions  Catholiques,”  cited  in  P.R.G.S.,  1880, 
pp.  586,  6j!S,  629;  1881.  pp.  43-46;  Bull.  Soc.  Geog.  Paris, 
Nov.,  1880,  p.  459  : Lima,  Jlol.  Soc.  Geog.  Lisbon,  1880, 
p.  7 ; Nogueira,  Boll.  Soc.  Geog.  Paris , 1878,  p.  72;  1879, 
p.  259. 


in  the  vast  unoccupied  continent  some  space 
for  those  colonies  without  which  there  was  a 
growing  belief  national  greatness  must  be  a 
kind  of  bourgeois  prosperity.  For  many 
years  prior  to  1876,  German  travellers  had 
been  probing  hither  and  thither  in  Africa. 
Barth,  though  in  English  employment,  was  a 
German  of  the  Germans;  and  .long  before 
Rohlfs  and  Schweinfurth  and  Nachtigal  had 
conferred  distinction  on  their  native  land. 
Yon  der  Decken,  Roscher,  and  Otto  Kersten 
had  been  exploring,  or  attempting  to  explore, 
East  Africa,  and  publishing  views  on  the 
importance  of  Germany  acquiring  a footing 
there,  which  were  forgotten  until,  a quarter 
of  a century  later,  the  feverish  struggles 
which  agitated  the  scramblers  for  Africa  in 
1884  caused  them  to  be  recalled.  - 

Minor  explorers  of  German  origin  had  been 
preparing  the  public  mind — -before  the  Brussels 
Conference  gave  a stimulus  to  exploration, 
though,  perhaps,  not  in  the  way  it  intended 
— for  the  seeming  sudden  impulse  it  re- 
ceived a few  years  later.  Carl  Mauch,  a gold 
prospector  more  than  a geographical  explorer, 
had  as  early  as  1866-72  been  working  north  as 
far  as  Matabeleland  and  the  Zambesi : and 
about  the  same  period  Fritsch,  by  his  re- 
searches, was  making  Bechuanaland  and  the 
Dutch  Republic  of  South  Africa  better  known 
than  they  had  ever  been  in  Germany.  There 
was  even  an  Africa  Society  in  those  seemingly 
remote  days  ; for  it  was  under  this  “ Afrikan- 
ischen-Gesellschaft  in  Deutschland  ” that,  in 
1874-76,  the  Loango  expedition  was  at  work 
along  the  coast  from  which  it  took  its  name;f 
and  Giissfeldt,  Pechuel-Loesche,  Pogge,  Falk- 
enstein,  and  Lenz  were  exploring  various 
reaches  of  the  western  African  rivers  and  the 
region  behind  the  coast-lying  lands.  Lenz,  who 
was  afterwards  to  distinguish  himself  by  a 
journey  to  Timbuctoo  (Yol.  I.,  p.  307),  had 
penetrated  as  far  into  the  interior  as  a water- 
fall beyond  Longu,  on  the  River  Mani,  where 
his  stores  failed  him,  and  the  explorer  began  to 
suffer  severely  from  dropsy.  Pogge  made,  in 

t “ Die  Loang'o-Expedition,”  by  P.  Giissfeldt,  J.  Falk- 
'enstein,  and  E.  Pechuel-Loesche  (1879-82). 


GERMAN  EXPLORATIONS  IN  WEST  AFRICA. 


295 


1875,  a most  successful  journey  to  Musumba, 
the  capital  of  the  Muata  Yanvo,  the  suzerain  of 
the  Cazembe  (Vol.  II.,  p.  253).  His  farthest 
point  was  Inshabaraka,  beyond  which  he  was 
prohibited  from  travelling.  By  attaching  him- 
self to  a native  caravan,  Dr.  Pogge  obtained 
much  information  regarding  the  countries 
between  the  Kasai  and  the  Kwango,  and  was 
the  first  educated  European  to  reach  Musumba, 
which  lies  many  days  to  the  north  and  west  of 
Cameron’s  line  of  march.  Contrary  to  current 
belief,  he  pronounced  the  Kasai  a feeder  of 
the  Congo,  though  he  erred  in  considering 
the  Lualaba  a member  of  the  Ogowe  system.* 
Bastian  had,  in  1857,  gone  from  Ambriz 
through  the  old  Congo  kingdom  to  San  Sal- 
vador  (p.  120),  and  in  1874  organised  a more 
important  expedition  to  the  “ hinterland  ” of 
Angola;  and,  not  to  mention  lesser  con- 
tributions to  the  unfolding  of  the  nature  of 
these  pestilent  lands,  Edward  Mohr,  who  had 
been  chosen  to  succeed  Pogge,  in  1876  fell 
a victim  to  fever  at  Melanje,  while  exploring 
the  country  south  of  the  Congo ; though, 
indeed,  like  more  than  one  explorer  whom 
it  suited  treacherous  cowards  to  remove, 
there  has  always  been  a suspicion  of  his 
death  having  been  compassed  by  poison. 

Turning  to  East  Africa,  Dr.  G.  A.  Fischer, 
who  had  spent  many  years  on  the  coast,  and 
Messrs.  Denhardt  were  despatched  by  the 
Hamburg  Geographical  Societ}’,  in  the  winter 
of  1876,  to  penetrate,  by  way  of  the  Tana,  to 
Mount  Kenia,  taking  with  them  carrier- 
pigeons  in  order  to  communicate  more  readily 
with  the  coast — an  experiment  which,  how- 
ever, did  not  succeed.  Dr.  Hildebrandt,  a 
naturalist,  was  also  commissioned  to  reach 
the*  great  lake ; but,  following  simply  in  the 
footsteps  of  Krapf,  he  did  not  get  beyond 
Kitui,  in  Ukambani,  from  whence  he  returned 
laden  with  scientific  facts  and  specimens.  In 
the  same  year  Dr.  Erwin  von  Bar}’  started 
with  the  object  of  reaching  Timbuctoo ; but, 
owing  to  the  disturbed  condition  of  the 
Touareg  country,  did  not  reach  farther  than 
the  hot  springs  of  Sebarbaret — that  is,  about 

* Pogge  : “ Im  Reiche  des  Muata-Janvo”  (1879). 


one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  south-west  of 
Ghat. 

All  this,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  either 
before  the  notable  Brussels  Conference — from 
which  we  date  much  of  the  modern 
history  of  Africa— or  before  the  SB^gn^d 
plans  of  that  gathering  had  been 
properly  put  to  the  test.  As  a first  step 
towards  this  end,  the  German  Society  for  the 
Exploration  of  Equatorial  Africa,  founded  in 
1873,  and  the  motor  in  most  of  the  explora- 
tions noted,  coalesced  with  the  German  African 
Society,  which  had  come  into  existence  in 
1876,  to  form  the  Berlin  African  Society  as  a 
branch  of  the  new  International  Association. 
Yet  even  then,  on  the  ground  that  it  had 
practical  commercial  objects  in  view,  the 
society  received  from  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment £5,000  in  aid  of  its  operations.  In 
1878-79,  Otto  Schtitt  was  sent  out  with  in- 
structions to  reach  the  capital  of  the  Muata 
Yanvo, t a task  in  which  Max  Buchner  suc- 
ceeded in  1881,  both  travellers  adding  slightly 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  country  intervening 
between  Musumba  and  the  coast ; though, 
as  Pogge  had  already  visited  the  potentate  in 
question,  commercial  relations,  rather  than 
geography,  were  the  objects  in  view.J 

Dr.  Buchner,  however,  made  excellent  sci- 
entific use  of  his  six  months’  stay  in  the 
Mu ata  Y anvo’s  “ Cou  rt.  ” Shanama, 
or  Naoesh,  a Gatt,  the  fourteenth  Thyanvo.ta 
holder  of  the  title,  lives  at  Ka- 
wende,  a place  of  2,000  inhabitants,  consisting 
of  a number  of  hamlets  scattered  through  a 
fertile  valley — the  name  “ Musumba,”  usually 
applied  to  it,  really  meaning  no  more  than 
“ the  town.”  The  Muata,  who  inhabits  a huge, 
conical-roofed  building  on  the  spur  of  a hill 
in  the  centre  of  his  capital,  is  very  much  like 
other  African  chiefs,  though  Dr.  Biichner  is 
inclined  to  join  issue  with  those  who  pro- 
nounce him  cruel.  During  his  long  residence 
in  Kawende  he  saw  no  people  whose  noses 

+ “Reisen  im  siidwestlichen  Becken  des  Congo” 
(1881).  He  went  as  far  as  the  Chikapa  River. 

J The  narratives  of  these  travellers  are,  for  the  most 
part,  contained  in  the  Mitthcilungen  der  Afrikanischen 
Gesellschaft  in  Deutschland  for  the  years  concerned. 


296 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


had  been  cut  off  or  ears  cropped ; and  during 
the  whole  of  that  period  he  knew  of  only  three 
executions — two  of  the  victims  being  people 
accused  of  “ aggravated  magic,”  and  the  third, 


LOWER  CONCiO  CHIEF  IN  “CORONATION  ROBES.”* 
( From  a Photograph  by  the  Rev.  R.  D.  Darby.) 

one  of  the  royal  harem,  for  misconduct.  It 
is,  however,  admitted,  that,  were  it  not  for  the 
influence  of  the  Lukokesha,  the  number  of 
capital  punishments  would  be  greater.  This 
personage  is  the  successor,  not  the  descendant, 
of  the  wife  of  the  first  Muata  Yanvo  of  the 
reigning  dynasty.  She  has  her  own  court 
and  territory,  and  exercises  so  powerful  a 
sway  in  the  country  as  to  be  practically  co- 
regent. Her  argument  for  more  clemency  is 


that  there  are  already  too  few  men  in  Lunda 
to  admit  of  many  being  killed  for  crime.  Y et 
the  most  is  made  of  those  who  are ; for  their 
skulls  are  stuck  up  at  the  entrance  to  the. 
Royal  Hall  of  Audience.  This  chamber 
is  very  large,  and  at  the  end  of  it 
stands  a clay  throne  covered  with  a. 
leopard-skin,  on  which  the  Muata 
sits  to  receive  homage  and  deliver 
judgment.  He  is  described  as  a 
tinely-built  though  ugly  individual,  not 
unintelligent,  and  at  times  amiable, 
though  his  eyes  are,  as  a rule,  piercing 
and  venomous.  “ His  teeth  project 
like  the  tusks  of  a boar;  ' his  beard 
is  limited  to  a few  bristles  on  the 
chin.  The  royal  forehead  was  shaved, 
but  the  remaining  hair  was  elaborately 
dressed  and  ornamented  with  parrots’ 
feathers.  A blue  cloth  of  flannel,, 
fastened  round  the  waist,  was  the  only 
article  of  dress  worn  by  the  king, 
and  left  the  upper  part  of  the  body 
exposed.  A string  of  beads,  with 
an  amulet,  and  a copper  chain  were 
worn  round  the  neck,  and  rings  round 
the  legs  and  arms.  Most  conspicuous 
amongst  the  ornaments  was  the 
‘ rukanu,’  a stout  bracelet  made  of 
human  sinews,  which  is  worn  on  the 
left  wrist  as  an  emblem  of  royalty. 
One  lackey  held  a sunshade,  a second 
assiduously  plied  a horse-hair  fan, 
and  a third  kept  close  at  hand 
ready  to  cover  over  the  royal  ex- 
pectorations with  earth.  Courtiers 
and  royal  favourites  knelt  in  front  of  the 
throne ; Moari,  the  chief  queen,  sat  behind 
it,  and  the  Lukokesha,  an  elderly  lady  with 
bloated  face  and  thick  lips,  was  enthroned 
some  distance  to  the  left,  in  the  midst  of  her 
women.  A ‘kabula,’  or  royal  gate-keeper, 
armed  with  a two-tongued  whip  of  ox-hide, 
kept  order  amongst  the  surrounding'  crowd, 
but  never  interfered  with  the  prowling  curs, 
which  were  allowed  to  circulate  freely  amongst 


* The  “sceptre”  is  an  elephant’s  tail  : the  dress  is  made  of  grass  and  ornamented  with  cowry  shells;  and  the 
chief's  face  is  daubed  with  camwood  and  whiting. 


LOWER  CONGO  CHIEF 
IN  ROYAL  ROBES." 


A POTENTATE  IN  EQUATORIAL  AFRICA. 


297 


it.”  It  may  be  added,  that  Dr.  Biichner 
found  the  Lukokesha  embarrassingly  well- 
disposed  to  the  white  visitor,  the  royal  lady, 
as  in  Dr.  Pogge’s  case,  insisting  on  his  sitting 
beside  her  and  sharing  in  the  potations  on 
which  she  was  rapidly  getting  tipsy. 

The  Muata  Yanvo  rules  a territory  about  the 
size  of  Germany,  and  receives  the  allegiance 
of  three  hundred  chiefs  and  two  million 
people ; though  his  power  is  threatened  by  the 
Kioko,  famous  as  smiths,  elephant-hunters, 
and  men-stealers,  who  are  gradually  spreading 
from  the  Upper  Kwango  northwards,  and 
already  hold  considerable  territories  as  far  as 


is  ordered  to  deposit  his  goods  with  the  Muata, 
who  despatches  messengers  throughout  the 
country  to  collect  the  slaves  and  ivory  wished 
for  in  exchange.  It  is  next  to  impossible  for 
a trader  to  obtain  permission  to  transact 
business  directly  with  the  people ; and,  per- 
haps, as  they  are  reputed  to  be  cannibals,  the 
privilege  would  be  of  dubious  value.  Even 
Dr.  Buchner,  after  trying  in  vain  to  pass 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  Lunda,  was  forced 
to  return  to  Malanje,  where,  on  the  8th  of 
February,  1881,  he  met  Pogge,  AVissmann, 
and  ATon  Mechow. 

On  the  plateau,  which,  as  usual,  was 


Kasai  in  lat.  7°  S.  But  the  commerce  carried  reached  after  crossing  the  barren,  waterless 
on  in  this  large  area  of  country  is  very  plains,  covered  with  scanty  grass,  baobabs, 
insignificant.  AVhenever  a trader  arrives,  he  and  candelabra  euphorbias  (p.  252),  and  the 


298 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


coast  belt  of  mountains,  it  rains  from  Sep- 
tember to  April,  though  seldom  in  excessive 
amount.  During  the  wet  season  the  tem- 
perature rises  to  81°,  but  during  the  rest  of 
the  year  the  mercury  sinks  at  times  so  com- 
paratively low  as  to  make  a warm  blanket  com- 
fortable. Throughout  his  entire  journey,  Dr. 
Buchner  never  saw  an  elephant  or  a lion ; the 
rhinoceros  and  giraffe  were  quite  unknown  to 
the  natives,  and  the  zebra  was  so  scarce  that  a 
strip  of  its  skin  was  looked  upon  as  a curiosity. 
Nor  does  the  crocodile  appear  to  exist  in  that 
part  of  Africa— the  only  large  game  at  all 
common  being  the  hippopotamus.* 

Lenz,  as  we  have  seen,  journeyed  to  Tim- 
buctoo,  while  Rohlfs  and  Stecker  succeeded 
in  penetrating  the  Sahara  as  far 

Lenz,  Rohlfs,  ,i  x*  i*i 

Mechow,  as  the  oases  oi  Kutra,  from  which 
5SS  tlie}'  were  repulsed  (p.  90).  Major 
von  Mechow  led  another  expedition 
under  the  African  Society,  though  mainly 
fitted  out  by  the  German  Government,  as 
far  up  the  Kwango  as  lat.  5°  5'  S.,  when  the 
crew,  frightened  by  the  reports  of  imaginary 
cannibals,  refused  to  go  any  farther  (p.  126). 

Pogge  and  Wissmann,  who  was  afterwards 
to  distinguish  himself  in  Africa  (pp.  12,  23, 
24),  originally  intended  to  found  a permanent 
station  at  the  Muata  Yanvo’s  capital.  Dr. 
Buchner’s  tidings  determined  this  expedition 
to  proceed  from  Malanje  northwards  into  a 
country  still  untrodden  by  scientific  travel- 
lers, though,  like  so  much  “ newly  discovered 
country  ” on  both  sides  of  Africa,  quite  familiar 
to  the  ubiquitous  Portuguese  traders.  At 
the  Kioko  chief  Kimbunda’s,  they  heard  that 
war  had  broken  out  between  him  and  the 
Muata.  In  spite  of  the  chief’s  jealousy  at 
any  white  man  poaching  on  his  particular 
preserves,  the  expedition  passed  along  the 
left  bank  of  the  Chikapa,  beyond  the  limits 
of  Lunda,  until,  after  forty-four  days,  the 
travellers  found  themselves  at  Kikasa,  on  the 

* “ Mittheilungen  der  Afrikanischen  Gesellschaft  in 
Deutschland,”  edited  by  Dr.  W.  Erman  (1882) ; P.R.G.S., 
1882,  pp.  678-685 ; Buchner,  Sitzungberielit  der  Gcs.  fur 
Erhun.de  zu  Berlin , February,  1882;  Bastian : “Die 
Deutsche  Exp.  a.  d.  Loango-Kuste  ” (1874-75). 


banks  of  the  Kasai.  Thence  the  expedition 
visited  Munkamba  Lake  and  the  Lubi.  Their 
progress  from  this  part  has  already  been 
traced  in  Lieutenant  Wissmann’s  journey 
across  the  continent,  Dr.  Pogge,  according 
to  previous  arrangements,  turning  back  at 
Nyangwe  (pp.  12-15). 

The  people  of  the  Bashilange  or  Tushilange 
country,  who  are  divided  into  numerous 
tribes,  proved  extremely-  kind  to 
the  strangers.  At  one  time  a war- 
like  people,  they  have  fallen  victims 
to  the  smoking  of  Indian  hemp,  or  “ bhang,”  t 
a drug  now  used  from  one  side  of  Africa  to 
the  other.  This  hemp-worship,  as  Wissmann 
calls  it,  began,  so  far  as  the  Bashilange  are 
concerned,  about  the  year  1865,  and  rapidly 
the  Bena-Ramba,  or  “ Sons  of  Hemp,”  found 
more  and  more  adherents.  As  the  craze 
for  the  narcotic  spread,  the  old  people  who 
opposed  it — the  Chipulumba,  or  Conserva- 
tives— retreated  to  the  more  remote  parts  of 
the  country,  where  they  were  pursued  by  the 
Sons  of  Hemp,  and  many  of  them  slain. 
This  common  bond  of  union  led  to  the  tribes- 
men who  used  the  drug  having  more  inter- 
course with  each  other,  making  laws,  and 
largely  ceasing  their  intestine  broils.  But 
they  soon  became  more  feeble,  and  before  long 
the  Kioko,  a wandering  race  (p.  297)  much 
given  to  trade,  war,  and  the  chase,  taking 
advantage  of  this  degeneracy,  made  successful 
inroads  on  the  Bashilange  country,  and  pro- 
fited by  the  extensive  stores  of  ivory  and 
gum  it  contained.  Guns  were  imported, 
and  so  highly  prized  at  the  price  of  a tusk 
apiece  that  the  owners  became  at  once  great 
men.  Soon  the  Kioko  were  the  virtual 
masters  of  entire  regions,  under  Kassongo 
and  Kabassu-Babu.  The  first  account  they 
ever  had  of  white  men  was  as  late  as  1874, 
when  a Portuguese  negro  arrived  and  pre- 
tended to  be  a son  of  the  king  of  that  until 
then  unknown  race.  It  was  this  scamp  who 
acted  as  Pogge’s  and  Wissmann’s  interpreter. 
Even  then  so  simple  were  the  Bashilange  that 

f The  “ Kif  ” of  Morocco,  where  it  is  much  more 
generally  smoked  than  tobacco. 


MORE  GERMAN  TRAVELLERS. 


290 


Pogge  was  received  as  the  spirit  of  Kassongo, 
who  had  died  some  time  before  their  arrival, 
And  his  companion  as  that  of  Kabassu-Babu, 
a name  which  clung  to  him  for  years;  and, 
as  such,  their  influence  became  paramount,  the 
brother  of  the  late  Kassongo  following  his 
“ spirit  ” as  far  as  Nyangwe.*  Yet,  in  spite 
of  their  hemp-worship,  the  Bashilange  are 
one  of  the  most  tractable,  prosperous,  and 
intelligent  races  in  Equatorial  Africa.  The 
Luluaburg  station  of  the  Congo  State  is  now 
in  their  country;  and  such  has  been  their 
■eagerness  to  ape  every  bit  of  civilisation 
exhibited  to  them  that  they  are  rapidly 
becoming  civilised.  All  kinds  of  crops  suit- 
able to  the  climate  are  grown.  They  have 
burnt  their  idols,  abolished  the  death  penalty 
and  the  ordeal  drink,  make  strong  cloth,  with 
pretty  patterns,  from  the  fibre  of  Raphia 
niticla  palm,  and  fabricate  every  part  of  a 
gun  except  the  barrel.  They  have  begun  to 
build  two-storied  houses  of  clay,  try  to  dress 
in  European  fashion,  to  construct  tables  and 
arm-chairs,  and  to  eat  with  knives  and  forks 
off  a plate.  They  ride  bulls,  and  make  use 
of  a hammock  for  travelling,  though  chiefs 
alone  are  allowed  this  luxury.  All  this,  it 
must  be  remembered,  has  been  the  work  of  a 
few  years  only  with  a people  who  had  so  little 
idea  of  civilisation  that,  in  1874,  a negro 
•could  persuade  them  into  the  belief  that  he 
was  a son  of  the  white  man’s  king.  If  only 
they  could  leam  to  work,  instead  of  making 
their  women  do  so,  and  abjure  the  practice, 
which  was  once  universal,  and  is  still  carried 
on  secretly,  of  selling  their  female  children  for 
slaves,  the  Bashilange  would  rank  as  one  of  the 
few  triumphs  of  European  “ culture  ” in  the 
Upper  Congo  country. 

On  leaving  Wissmann,  Dr.  Pogge  returned 
to  Bashilange  Land,  where  he  remained  until 
November,  1883,  cultivating  the  soil  ceded 
to  the  station  of  Luluaburg  established 
by  him.  No  news  coming  from  the  outer 
world,  he  returned  to  the  coast  by  a 
long  detour  northwards  before  crossing  the 
Kasai,  during  which  he  discovered  the 

* Wissmann  : “ Through  Equatorial  Africa,"  p.  314 


confluence  of  the  Lulua  with  that  river.  Then, 
marching  southwards  as  far  as  Kikasa,  he 
reached  Malanje  on  the  2nd  of  February, 
1884.  Here  he  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
Wissmann,  who,  since  they  had  parted  at 
Nyangwe,  had  crossed  Africa,  visited  Europe, 
and  was  now  again  in  Africa,  leading  a second 
expedition  into  the  interior,  which  ended  in 
ano.ther  transcontinental  journey  (p.  23).  It 
was,  however,  Pogge’s  last ; for  he  had  scarcely 
reached  Sao  Paolo  de  Loando  before  he  died 
of  inflammation  of  the  lungs.  This  merit- 
orious explorer  was  not  only  one  of  the  most 
successful  of  the  German  travellers,  but  one 
of  the  most  accomplished  of  a singularly  well- 
equipped  company.  Born  in  Mecklenburg  in 
1838,  he  had  visited  Natal,  Mauritius,  and 
Bourbon  in  1864,  before  he  made  his  mark  by 
joining  the  great  expedition  under  Homeyer 
and  Lux,  which  had  been  prepared  in  1874 
for  the  purpose  of  opening  up  relations  with 
the  Muata  Yanvo.  He  was  only  permitted  to 
join  the  party  on  the  condition  of  paying  his 
own  expenses.  But  the  return  of  the  leaders, 
invalided  before  they  had  proceeded  far  on 
the  way,  gave  Pogge  the  chance  which  so 
often  occurs  to  African  travellers,  though  not 
always  with  such  success  as  befell  Lander, 
Barth,  Thomson,  and  the  ill-fated  Mecklen- 
burger. 

Up  to  this  date  £22,000  had  been  spent 
on  these  explorations.  Gussfeldt’s  expedition 
cost  £10,530,  and  though  it  made  no  great 
show  on  the  map,  was  rich  in  scientific  ob- 
servations, the  Germans  being,  almost  to  a 
man,  admirably  trained  in  the  school  of 
Humboldt.  The  second  was  less  expensive — 
£4,459  clearing  its  bills.  The  African  Society 
and  its  agents  having  meanwhile  gained  ex- 
perience since  those  ’prentice  days, 
the  next  four  expeditions  did  not  Ka^er.Bohm, 
absorb  more  than  about  £7,000.  R®i^ard. 

and  Giraud. 

Yet  the  African  Societies  did  not 
falter  in  the  work  they  had  set  themselves — 
or  been  set  by  the  Government — to  perform. 
It  is,  indeed,  difficult  to  keep  count  of  all  the 
travellers  who  about  this  period  began  to 
overrun  Africa,  more  especially  on  the  upper 


300 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


waters  of  the  Congo.  Thus,  Kund  and  Wolf, 
and  Tappenbeck  were  continually  coming 
across  the  routes  of  Wissmann  and  Pogge  in 
that  region,  or  co-operating  with  them,  either 
in  the  Government  employ  or  in  the  service  of 
the  Association  which  had  now,  under  a new 
name,  taken  up  the  work  of  the  old  inter- 
national one,  and  was  concentrating  its  efforts 
on  the  Congo  Basin.  It  is,  perhaps,  therefore 


at  Kakoma,  and  afterwards  at  the  more 
healthy  position  of  Gonda.  Nevertheless,  as 
the  “ tembos,”  or  buildings,  were  erected,  and 
the  rice-ground  in  the  vicinity  cultivated  by 
the  chiefs  slaves,  we  fear  this  detachment 
of  international  agents  were  not  greatly  con- 
cerned regarding  one  aspect  of  the  morality 
they  wrere  to  introduce  into  dark  Africa.  Dr. 
Reichard,  indeed,  actually  defended  slavery. 


KILIMANJARO  : ANOTHER  VIEW  OF  KIBO,  FROM  MOSCHI. 
( From  a Sketch  by  Bishop  Tucker.) 


not  undue  suspicion  to  suggest  that  even 
then  the  German  Chancellor  was  meditating 
acquisitions  in  that  quarter.  By-and-by  we 
may  have  occasion  to  notice  the  activity 
of  Flegel  up  the  Niger  and  Benue  during 
1882-84,  which,  while  it  added  to  our  know- 
ledge of  these  regions,  was  not  without 
ulterior  objects.  Nor,  while  concentrating 
most  of  their  efforts  on. West  Africa,  did  the 
Germans  neglect  the  opposite  side  of  the 
continent.  Under  an  East  African  Society, 
Bohm,  Kaiser,  and  Reichard  were  penetrating 
in  the  direction  of  Tanganyika  and  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Lualaba,  building  a station  first 


on  the  feeble  ground  that  the  captives,  if  they 
obtained  good  masters,  were  really  better  situ- 
ated than  in  freedom.  The  corollary  to  this 
is,  of  course,  that  so  good  an  end  justifies  the 
means  by  which  it  is  obtained— slave-raids, 
murder,  theft,  and  kidnapping — in  order  that 
the  victims  of  these  curses  of  inner  Africa 
may,  by  some  chance,  be  better  housed  and 
better  fed  than  at  home ! Reichard  was, 
however,  an  exaggerated  specimen  of  the 
swaggering  type  of  explorers  Avho  then,  and 
subsequently,  were  sent  by  Germany  to  diffuse 
the  blessings  of  civilisation  in  Africa. 

In  the  meantime,  while  the  Disha,  or  female 


RE  [CHARD  AND  BOHM. 


301 


chief  of  Gontla,  was  temporising,  after  the 
usual  custom  of  the  country,  Drs.  Bohm 
and  Kaiser  attempted  an  exploration  of 
the  west  side  of  Tanganyika.  The  dis- 
turbed state  of  the  country,  owing  to  the 
wars  of  Mirambo  and  Siinba,  prevented 
much  from  being  done  beyond  giving  the 
travellers  an  opportunity  of  calling  at  the 


to  Karema,  from  whence  he  returned  by  way 
of  Nyassa  and  the  Shire. 

Reichard  * and  Bohm  were  not  much  more 
successful  after  starting  afresh  on  the  1st  of 
September,  1883.  They  reached  the  Lualupa 
and  advanced  into  Msiri’s  country,  whom  they 
found  engaged  in  a war  against  Katapana  in 
Urua.  It  was  this  chief  who,  a few  years 


Karema  station,  where  Captain  Rammacker 
died  soon  after  this  date  (1882) — the  last  of 
the  Belgian  explorers  sent  into  East  Africa. 
This  station  before  passing  into  other  hands 
served  to  shelter  Lieutenant  Giraud,  of  the 
French  Navy,  who  in  1883-84  attempted  to 
cross  Africa  by  a new  route,  namely,  from  the 
coast  south  of  Zanzibar,  between  Nyassa  and 
Tanganyika,  past  the  southern  end  of  Tan- 
ganyika to  Lake  Bangweolo,  and  thence  down 
the  Lualaba-Congo  to  Stanley  PooL  But, 
being  plundered  on  the  Luapula  and  at 
Cazembe’s,  he  was  compelled  to  beat  a retreat 


later,  had  so  fatal  an  experience  with  the 
whites,  who  coveted  the  copper-mines  in  the 
Katanga  country.  He  had,  indeed,  little 
cause  to  have  a high  opinion  of  European 
civilisation ; for  the  new  arrivals  actually 
offered  to  help  him  in  his  warfare  as  the 
price  of  being  sent  on  their  road.  This 
bribe  was,  however,  refused.  Meanwhile  Dr. 
Bohm  died,  and  Dr.  Reichard  was  permitted 
to  visit  Katanga  and  to  explore  part  of  the 

* Also  spelled  “ Reichardt  ” (p.  18).  He  was  one  of 
the  most  strenuous,  though  not  one  of  the  most  judicious, 
advocates  of  German  colonisation  in  inner  Africa. 


302 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


Lufira.  When  at  last  permitted  to  leave 
Msiri’s  capital  of  Ivimpatu,  he  found  every 
league  of  his  progress  a struggle  against  cold, 
wet,  hunger,  and  the  savages  who  attacked 
him  with  poisonous  arrows  whenever  they 
imagined  a favourable  opportunity  had  offered 
itself.  Roots  and  mushrooms  were  for  days 
at  a time  his  only  food.  All  his  collections 
had  to  be  abandoned,  and  with  difficulty 


travel  through  a region  west  of  Kili- 
manjaro towards  Lake  Baringo,  a semi- 
mythical  sheet  of  water,  first  heard  of  by 
Speke  and  Grant,  but  still  unknown  to  Euro- 
peans ; but  when  only  six  days’  march  from 
the  point  at  which  he  aimed  his  porters 
refused  to  go  farther.  The  Masai  warriors 
blocked  the  way,  in  consequence  of  which 
he  had  to  return.  Starting  again  in  1882  in 


LAKE  NAJVASHA. 

(From  a Sketch  by  Bishop  Tucker.) 


Mpala,  on  Tanganyika,  was  reached  on  the  last 
day  of  November,  1884*  Msiri’s  behaviour 
both  to  Giraud  and  the  German  travellers  was 
not  good  ; but  how  far  the  latter  were  to  blame 
has  already  been  indicated  on  the  chief’s  own 
authority  (p.  18).  It  is  sad  to  add  that  Dr. 
Kaiser,  after  visiting  Lake  Leopold,  died  of 
fatigue  on  its  shores — some  will  say  from  a 
chill  caught  by  a too-protracted  bath  in  its 
waters — and  was  buried  there  by  his  negro 
followers  in  October,  1882. 

In  1881  Dr.  Fischer  (p.  295)  made  an  im- 
portant journey  from  Pangani  into  the  Masai 
country  in  East  Africa.  He  had  hoped  to 
* Proc.  Roy.  Gcog.  Society,  1885,  pp.  540,  603. 


a northerly  direction,  through  Pare,  Arusha, 
and  Sigarari,  he  returned  in  a more  westerly 
direction  round  Lake  Naivasha  (p.  302)  and  the 
Natron  Lake  to  the  volcano  Donyo  Ngai,  and 
thence  over  the  plain  of'  Ngaruka  to  Mount 
Meru  (p.  301),  on  the  southern  slopes  of 
which  the  Wakuavi  dwell.  But  Naivasha  was 
his  nearest  approach  to  his  goal.  The  Masai 
were  troublesome ; but,  as  the  fives  of  those 
killed  in  self-defence  could  be  paid  for  by 
blood-money,  all  terminated  pleasantly— for 
the  living.f 

Neither  the  Hungarians  nor  the  Austrians 

t Fischer:  “Das  Masai-Land (1885);  Proceedings 
of  the  Iloyal  Geographical  Society,  1884,  p.  76. 


LADISLAUS  MAGYAR. 


308 


had,  up  to  the  period  of  Oskar  Lenz’s  journey 
across  Africa  (pp.  21-23),  taken  much  share 
„ in  the  exploration  of  that  con- 

Hunganans  ‘ . ..  . , 

and  tment.  Both  this  expedition  and 
Austrians.  tpie  slqp  m0re  important  one  under 
Teleki  and  von  Hohnel  (p.  229)  may,  how- 
ever, be  claimed  as  “ Koniglich-Kaiserlich  ” 
contributions  to  the  flood  of  international 
travels.  But,  though  they  were  undoubtedly 
stimulated  by  that  scheme,  neither  was 
under  its  control,  nor,  indeed,  undertaken, 
until  the  pleasant  plans  of  the  Brussels 
Conference  had  become  very  much  matters 
of  history.  But  Austria-Hungary  is  not  on 
that  account  to  be  refused  all  credit  for 
opening  up  the  dark  places  of  Africa. 
We  must  not,  for  instance,  forget  her  self- 
denying  missionaries  (VoL  II.,  pp.  Ill,  159), 
one  of  whom,  Father  Ohrwalder,  escaping 
with  two  nuns,  brought,  after  long  waiting, 
the  first  accurate  news  of  what  had  been 
going  on  in  the  Soudan  during  the  dark  years 
succeeding  its  closure  to  civilisation.  Nor  can 
we  neglect,  before  leaving  for  good  and  all  the 
subjects  of  the  Empire- Kingdom  as  African 
explorers,  a Hungarian  who,  having  the 
making  of  a traveller  of  note,  may  be  recalled 
to  the  memory  of  a world  that  has  forgotten 
if,  indeed,  it  ever  knew  him.  This  was  Ladis- 
laus  Magyar.  The  name  looks  fanciful,  con- 
sidering his  nationality.  Yet  though 
Magyar*8  a much  about  Magyar  is  dashed 
romantic  with,  romance,  he  is  understood  to 
have  been  lawfully  entitled  to  his 
patronymic.  How  he  came  to  Africa  is  not 
known,  but  before  the  year  1849  he  was 
in  the  Angolese  province  of  Benguela,  the 
husband,  under  a ceremony  more  or  less 
binding,  of  a native  “ princess,”  having,  like 
Schimper,  the  German  botanist,  who  married 
in  Abyssinia,  where  his  family  still  reside, 
resolved  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  the  country 
in  which  he  had  settled. 

At  that  time  little  was  known  of  the 
interior.  Bowdich  had  in  1819  discovered 
the  upper  reaches  of  the  Ogowe,  and  though 
Tuckey’s  expedition  had  three  years  earlier 
ascended  to  the  Falls  of  the  Congo,  with  much 


sacrifice  of  life  from  the  climate,  he  returned 
uncertain  whether  that  great  river  was  or  was 
not  identical  with  the  Niger  (Vol.  I.,  p.  265). 
Before  1849  Magyar  claimed  to  have  gone 
from  Ambriz  across  country  until  lie  struck 
the  Congo,  passed  beyond  the  cataracts  which 
had  stopped  all  previous  explorers,  and  tra- 
versed much  of  the  region  south  of  the  river. 
Settling  at  Bihe  (Vol.  II.,  p.  281)  in  the  bar- 
barous magnificence  of  a black  slave-owner, 
his  wealth  continually  increasing  through  the 
man-hunting  raids  of  his  negro  father-in-law, 
Magyar,  by  his  own  account,  journeyed  in  1852 
as  far  south  as  the  Upper  Cunene,  returning 
through  a desert  and  uninhabited  region  to 
the  supposed  source  of  that  river  in  the  Ga- 
langue  Plain,  between  two  and  three  degrees 
south  of  the  Equator.  The  fall  and  banish- 
ment of  his  father-in-law  suddenly  cut  short 
the  Hungarian’s  career  of  prosperity  and 
compelled  him  to  return  to  earn  a scanty 
subsistence  in  the  town  of  Dombe  Grande  in 
Benguela,  where  he  died  in  November,  1864, 
leaving  an  account  of  his  wanderings  which 
has  since  then  been  published,  but,  like  the 
narrative  of  Paul  du  Chaillu’s  travels  in  Equa- 
torial Africa  about  the  same  period,  has  been 
undeservedly  treated  with  incredulity.*  The 
latter,  we  shall  learn  in  the  course  of  a future 
chapter,  did  actually  add  something  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  ethnography  and  geography 
of  the  country  behind  the  French  colony  of 
Congo-Gaboon,  while  Magyar  picked  up  much 
information  about  the  country  as  far  as 
Nyassa  and  Tanganyika,  and,  indeed,  had  he 
travelled  no  farther  than  did  the  Portuguese 
traders,  he  must  have  seen  a great  deal  of 
country  at  that  time  quite  unknown  to  the 
outside  world. 

All  this  is,  however,  only  a parenthesis : it 

* “ Ladislaus  Magyar,  Seine  beabsichtige  Riickkehr 
nach  Europa  und  sein  dreibandiges  Reisewerk,”  Peter- 
mann’s  Geografihiache  MUtheilungen,  1858,  p.  170; 
Hunfalvy  : “ Ladislaus  Magyar.  Reisen  in  Siid-Afrika  in 
den  Jabren  184!*  bis  1857”  (1869),  a German  Translation 
from  the  Magyar  (1857)  ; also  a MS.  Abstract  of  Magyar’s 
Travels,  by  Mr.  H.  Roney,  in  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society’s  Library.  Sir  Richard  Burton  accepted  the 
substantial  accuracy  of  Magyar's  narrative  and  had,  we 
understand,  prepared  an  annotated  translation  of  it. 


304 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


has  nothing  to  do  with  the  vanishing  Inter- 
national Association  and  its  scheme  of  explora- 
. tion  on  the  basis  of  disinterested- 
again ; Elton  ness  and  a millennial  reign  of 
and  others,  brotherly  iove  This  project,  we 
have  seen,  never  did  much  in  the  way  of  stimu- 
lating English  exploration,  though  exploration, 
private  and  unsubsidised,  went  on  as  of  old 
without  much  regard  to  Brussels  and  its 
abortive  plans.  Amongst  others  a word  is  due 
to  the  good  work 
done  by  Captain 
James  Frederick 
Elton,  who,  after  a 
stirring  career  with 
the  British  army  in 
India  and  China, 
with  the  French 
forces  in  Mexico, 
as  a private  tra- 
veller in  South 
Africa  (where  he 
passed  from  the 
Tati  gold-fields  to 
the  Limpopo),  as  a 
Government  agent 
in  Zululand,  and 
assistant  political 
agent  at  Zanzibar, 
settled  down  as 


on  numerous 

journeys  by  sea  and  land.  One  of  the  most 
important  of  these  was  one  which,  early  in 
1877,  he  undertook  into  the  interior  from 
Mozambique  to  the  Makua  country  east  of 
Nyassa,  up  the  River  Lurio  to  the  cataracts 
of  the  Bomba,  and  down  again  to  Ibo — four 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  the  way  being 
performed  on  foot.  His  last  exploration  was 
begun  in  March,  1877,  in  company  with  four 
other  Englishmen.  Striking  across  the 


LAKE  CHALA,  ON  KILIMANJARO. 
(From  a Sketch  by  Bishop  Tuclcer.) 


THE  CRATER 


LAKE  JIPE,  NEAR  KILIMANJARO. 

(From  a Sketch  by  Bishop  Tucker.) 


British  Consul 
at  Mozambique. 
But  “ settling 
down  ” was  not 
one  of  Elton’s 
strong  points. 
He  had  already 
made  an  inter- 
esting journey 
between  I)ar- 
es-Salaam  and 
QuiloaorKilwa, 
and  now  his 
official  duties 
and  his  private 
inclinations  led 
him  to  embark 


THE  FATE  OF  FREDERICK  ELTON. 


805 


mountainous  country  which  closes  in  Lake 
Xyassa  on  the  north,  they  succeeded,  in  spite 
of  native  opposition,  in  reaching  the  Ujiji  and 
the  Zanzibar  caravan-road  at  Usekhe,  in 
Ugogo,  where  the  leader  of  the 
expedition  died  on  the  13th  of 
December,  1877,  in  his  thirty- 
seventh  year,  of  malarial  fever, 
or,  by  other  accounts,  of  sun- 
stroke brought  on  by  priva- 
tion and  exposure.  His  four 
companions — Messrs.  Cotterill, 

Rhodes,  Hoste,  and  Downie — 
having  laid  their  dead  friend 
under  a baobab  tree,  crossed  in 
their  northerly  march  Rufiji  (the 
Ruaha  of  Speke)  to  Mpwapwa, 
and  thence  by  the  ordinary  route 
to  Bagamoyo.* 

Another  Englishman  who 
about  this  period  finds  a place 
in  the  ranks  of  explorers  was 
Mr.  St.  Vincent  Erskine,  who 
made  several  journeys  into 
Umzila’s  country — that  is,  into 
Gazaland  or  southern 
Mozambique,  a region 
now  tolerably  familiar,  t 
In  1868  and  the  next 
seven  or  eight  years, 
the  country  between 
the  Pungwe  and  the 
Limpopo  was  laid  down 
by  him  more  accurately 
b}'  means  of  astronom- 
ical observations  than 
at  any  former  period, 
and  its  resources  exam- 
ined minutely  enough 
to  have  a powerful  in- 
fluence on  the  future  of 
East  Africa. 

Captain  Temple  Phippson-Wybrant  was  a 
worse-fated  victim  of  the  African  fever  which 

* Elton  and  Cotterill  : “Travels and  Researches  among 
the  Lakes  and  Mountains  of  Eastern  and  Central  Africa  " 
(1S7!I) ; Journ.  Royal  Gang.  Sue.,  1878,  pp.  cxxxiv.,ccii.,etc. 

t Journal  Royal  Grog.  Sac.,  1875,  p.  45  ; 1870,  p 25  etc 

60 


has  always  raged  fiercely,  but  in  1880  attacked 
his  high-spirited  countrymen  like  an  epi- 
demic. During  his  military  service  he  had 
seen  a little  of  South  Africa,  and  life  in 


Kaffraria  had  been  so  attractive  as  to  determine 
him  to  fit  out,  at  his  own  expense,  an  expedition 
to  explore  the  then  almost  unknown  country 
between  the  Zambesi  and  Limpopo  rivers. 
His  well- equipped  party  consisted  of  about  a 
hundred  natives  under  the  celebrated  Chuma 


WATERFALL  ON  KILIMANJARO. 
(from  a Sketch  by  Bishop  Tucker.) 


306 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


(Yol.  II.,  p.  281)  and  four  Europeans.  But 
scarcely  had  the  adventurers  left  the  settled 
country — four  days’  journey  from  UmzilaA — 
when  fever  attacked  them,  among  the  first 
victims  being  the  leader,  who  died  on  the  29th 
of  November,  1880,  on  his  thirty-fourth  birth- 
day. The  rest  of  the  party  returned  to  the 
coast,  and  the  expedition  came  to  nothing. 

Adventurous  Englishmen  were  now  turning 
up  in  all  parts  of  the  continent,  sometimes  as 
T , „„  serious  explorers,  at  other  times 
travelling  and  enduring  hardships 
for  the  mere  pleasure  of  rejoicing  in  fresh 
scenes  and  novel  excitements.  Thus  in  1882 
the  Earl  of  Mayo  made  a journey  of  over  five 
hundred  miles  across  the  Sierra  de  Chella, 
from  Mossamedes  to  the  Cunene  in  South 
Africa.  The  country  was  much  what  it  was 
in  Andersson’s  day  (p.  211),  but  traders  and 
settlers  were  by  no  means  so  rare  as  at  that 
date.  “ Trek  ’’-Boers  from  the  Transvaal  had 
made  their  homes  in  the  Portuguese  territory 
and  the  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  had 
established  themselves  on  the  Cunene  banks. 
These  pioneers  had  doubtless  followed  in  the 
hunters’  train,  and  the  latter  had  been  so 
successful  that  Ericsson,  who  had  been  an 
assistant  of  Andersson  (p.  212),  had  at  that 
time  sixty  waggons  in  the  field,  each  waggon 
with  sixteen  qr  more  yoke  of  oxen,  with  a 
dozen  or  so  of  European  and  native  hunters, 
all  engaged  in  collecting  ivory,  ostrich  feathers, 
and  other  products  of  the  wilderness,  such 
as  skins  of  the  antelopes  that  abound  there. 
At  that  time  this  firm  of  himters  and  traders 
had  a capital  of  not  less  than  £200,000  em- 
barked in  this  picturesque  commerce  between 
the  Orange  River  and  the  Cunene.  * 

There  were  still  (as  we  have  seen  in  another 
section  of  this  work)  great  African  journeys 
to  be  accomplished.  But,  unless  very  far 
„ from  the  coast,  they  were  apt  to 

Henry  . / ..  . 1 

Edward  cover  comparatively  little  new 
o Neill.  ground ; or,  the  new  ground  was 
in  such  detached  areas  that  the  traveller, 
in  passing  from  one  patch  to  another,  was 
apt  to  cross  and  recross  the  tracks  of  his 
* Proceedings  Royal  Geog.  Soc.,  1883,  p,  472. 


predecessors.  Still,  in  the  intervals  between 
one  spell  of  professional  duty  and  another, 
Lieutenant  O’Neill,  R.N.,  during  his  term  of 
consular  duty  in  East  Africa,  managed  to 
make  so  many  actual  contributions  to  exact 
geography  that,  in  1885,  he  received  the 
Patrons’  Medal  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society  as  a testimony  of  their  appreciation 
of  his  “ thirteen  journeys  of  exploration  along 
the  coast  and  in  the  interior  of  Mozambique 
during  the  previous  five  years.”  In  one  of 
these  he  reached  Lake  Shirwa,  and  discovered 
the  more  northerly  Lakes  Amaramba  and 
Chiuta ; and,  in  another  journey,  explored  a 
new  and  direct  route  from  Blantyre  to  the 
coast.  During  his  stay  at  Blantyre,  the 
Scottish  Mission  near  the  Shire  was  raised  by 
him  to  a notable  position  in  Africa.  For  Mr. 
O’Neill — a skilful  astronomer — fixed,  by  an 
extensive  series  of  lunar  observations,  the 
position  of  this  post.  This  was  a great  ser- 
vice to  explorers ; since  there  are,  perhaps,  not 
half  a dozen  places  in  the  interior  of  Africa 
even  approximately  near  to  their  proper 
position  on  the  map ; and,  apart  from  the 
observatories,  not  another  at  which  explorers 
can  adjust  their  chronometers.  Blantyre’s 
position  on  the  globe  is,  however,  so  accur- 
ately ascertained  as  to  have  obtained  for  it 
acceptance  as  a meridian  from  which  longi- 
tudes can  be  calculated  with  confidence.  Mr. 
O’Neill  possessed,  however,  another  character- 
istic which,  fortunately  for  the  readers  of 
travel-books,  is  almost  as  rare  as  good  longi- 
tudes, and  that  was  an  extreme  dislike  of 
notoriety.  Careful  corrections  of  old  maps 
and  accurate  surveys  of  new  country  were 
all  that  the  modest  consul  aimed  at  bringing 
back  from  his  journeys.  And  to  this  day  he 
cannot  be  persuaded  to  write  the  book  which, 
until  recently,  was  as  inevitable  as  the  medal 
— which  he  obtained,  and  the  Order — which 
has  still  to  be  offered  him.  A few  brief 
papers  in  the  geographical  journals  are  the 
sole  records  of  his  achievements,  t 

t Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society , 1884, 
pp.  632,  713;  Ibid.,  1885,  p.  646;  Ibid.,  p.  372;  Ibid., 
p.  430 ; Scottish  Geographical  Magazine , 1885,  p.  337  ; 
Ibid.,  1885,  p.  425,  etc. 


SIR  H.  K.  JOHNSTON  AND  JOSEPH  THOMSON. 


307 


About  this  pei’iod  also  Mr.  H.  H.  Johnston, 
an  artist  and  naturalist,  who  had  already  made 

sir  H a voyage  up  the  Congo,  taken  part 

Hamilton  in  Lord  Mayo’s  journey  (p.  306), 

Johnston  , . . , J J } 

and  visited  other  parts  ot  coast- 
lying  Africa,  began  to  be  a well-known  name 
in  the  continent  where,  before  many  years 
elapsed,  he  was  to  occupy  a leading  place. 
At  a time  (1884)  when  the  snowy  Kilimanjaro 
(pp.  300,  305,  308,  etc.)  was  not  so  frequently 
climbed  as  it  was  in  after-days,  he  resided  on 
it  for  several  months,  engaged  in  studying, 
under  the  direction  of  a Committee  of  the 
British  Association,  the  animals  and  plants  of 
that  remarkable  mountain.*  Several  years 
afterwards  Mr.  Johnston  received  a signal 
mark  of  his  Sovereign’s  favour  in  the  form  of 
a K.C.B. 

But  the  most  important  of  all  these  latter- 
day  journeys,  which  may,  by  a stretch  of 
insoph  charity,  be  understood  as  having, 
Thomson  in  in  a way,  owed  their  initiation  to 
Masaiiand.  Brussels  scheme,  has  been  re- 

served for  the  last.  This  was  Mr.  Joseph 
Thomson’s  expedition  across  the  Masai  country 
to  Victoria  Nyanza,  organised  by  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  which  was,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  his  previous  one  (p.  274),  the  only 
English  expedition  despatched  avowedly  as 
part  of  the  work  sketched  out  by  the  Inter- 
national Association.  The  region  between  the 
east  coast  and  Victoria  Nyanza  was  selected 
for  exploration,  and  Mr.  Thomson’s  com- 
mission instructed  him  to  ascertain,  if  possible, 
if  a practicable  route  existed  across  the  Masai 
country  to  the  lake,  to  examine  the  unknown 
country  about  Kilimanjaro  and  Kenia,  the 
snow-covered  peaks  whose  existence  had  been 
doubted  only  a few  years  before,  and  con- 
tinue his  route  to  the  great  lake.  The  jour- 
ney was  a difficult  one,  mainly  because  the 
Masai  tribes  lay  in  the  way.  These  people 
— insolent  and  warlike  to  a small  party, 

* Johnston  : “The  Kilima-Xjaro  Expedition,”  etc. 
(1886).  Sir  Henry  Johnston  visited  Kilimanjaro  after 
Mr.  Thomson  had  done  so ; but  as  he  left  before  that 
traveller  returned  to  the  coast,  his  expedition  has  for 
convenience’  sake  been  noticed  here. 


cowardly  and  predatory  in  the  presence  of  a 
large  one — had  hitherto  prevented  any  ex- 
ploration in  their  country.  They  had  driven 
back  the  pacific  Krapf  and  Rebinann,  and 
when  Von  der  Decken  and  Thornton,  after 
visiting  Jipe  Lake  (p.  304)  and  Kilimanjaro, 
attempted  to  enter  their  country,  they 
were  met  on  its  borders  by  thousands  of 
these  dreaded  warriors  and  compelled  to 
return  to  the  coast.  This  disaster,  Mr.  Thom- 
son suspects,  was  not  caused  without  the 
machinations  of  Sadi- bin- Ahedi,  the  caravan- 
leader,  whose  little  ways  had  lost  nothing 
of  their  knavery  in  the  course  of  the  next 
twenty  years.  New  had  climbed  to  the 
snow-line  of  Kilimanjaro  and  discovered  its 
wonderful  crater-lake  Chala  (p.  304).  But 
as  he  also  was  accompanied  by  Sadi,  neither 
on  this  nor  on  another  expedition  a few 
years  later  did  he  manage  to  proceed  any 
farther.  Indeed,  mainly,  it  is  said,  through 
the  plots  of  this  rascally  Arab,  he  was 
plundered  of  everything,  and  died  on  the 
way  back,  broken  down  in  health  and  spirits. 
It  has,  we  are  aware,  been  affirmed  that  the 
unfortunate  missionary  was  poisoned  by  his 
Zanzibar  guide.  But  as  this  atrocity  is  laid 
to  the  charge  of  Sadi  by  Mandala,  the  Moschi 
chief,  who  robbed  the  traveller  and,  by  his 
own  confession,  was  only  prevented  by  his 
mother  from  killing  him,  we  may  dismiss 
this  crime  from  the  long  category  more  justly 
credited  to  this  oft-execrated  individual  (Vol. 
II.,  p.  263). 

Since  Thomson’s  day  “ a many  men  ” have 
visited  that  country,  not  taking  into  account 
the  American  lady  who  rafted  round  the 
crater-lake  of  Kilimanjaro  and  received  black 
kings  in  a court  dress  and  scimitar.  But, 
excepting  Hildebrandt,  a German  naturalist 
(p.  229),  the  explorers  mentioned  completed 
the  list  of  those  who  had  gone  farther  than 
the  threshold  of  the  region  f which  the 

t In  1882  Mr.  J.  T.  Last,  a lay  missionary,  who 
during  his  long  residence  at  Maraboia  made  useful  surveys 
and  ethnological  researches  in  Masaiiand,  visited  the 
Masai  living  beyond  the  borders  of  the  Xguru  country, 
at  that  time  only  known  by  hearsay  {Proceedings  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  1883,  p.  517). 


308 


THE  STOR\  OF  AFRICA. 


young  Scot  was  about  to  penetrate.  As  for 
the  region  lying  beyond,  nothing  was  known 

by  direct  observation,  geographers 

A retrospect.  J ° r 

having  to  be  content  with  the  rough 
itineraries  of  Sadi  and  other  traders,  compiled 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wakefield,  a veteran  East 
African  missionary,  who,  in  1861,  established 
the  United  Free  Methodist  Mission  among 
the  Wa-Nika  and  Galla  tribes  at  Jomvu, 


his  way  to  Lake  Victoria,  having  been  com- 
pelled to  return  after  reaching  the  volcanic 
country  around  Lake  Naivasha,  half  as  big  as 
Lake  Zurich,  and  6,500  feet  above  the  sea 
(p.  302).  This  sheet  is  surrounded  by  splendid 
pasture-lands.  Yet,  though  fed  by  two  small 
rivers  and,  like  so  many  lakes  in  this  section 
of  Central  Africa,  without  outlet,  its  waters 
are  said  to  be  pleasant  to  the  taste,  and 


(From,  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Thomas  Stevens.) 


near  Mombasa,  and  at  Ribe  and  Ndara, 
some  miles  inland  (p.  131),  and  by  his 
labours  had  added  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
“ hinterland  ” of  the  region  in  question. 
With  £3,000  to  pay  his  way,  and  Martin,  a 
Maltese  sailor,  to  help  him,  Thomson  under- 
took to  do  (and  did)  what  had  been  found 
impossible  by  so  many  experienced  prede- 
cessors. He  learned,  indeed,  by  rumours 
on  the  road,  that  Dr.  Fischer,  sent  by 
the  Hamburg  Geographical  Society  (p.  295), 
had  started  ahead  of  him.  But  the  German 
traveller,  though  he  penetrated  the  Masai 
stronghold,  did  not,  we  have  seen,  go  far  on 


abound  with  hippopotami.  Crocodiles,  how- 
ever, were  not  observed. 

No  wonder,  therefore,  that  Mr.  Stanley  gave 
Thomson  the  significant  advice  before  leaving 
England,  “ Take  a thousand  men  or  make  your 
will ! ” But  between  the  15th  of  March,  1883, 
and  the  2nd  of  June,  1884,  the  period  during 
which  he  was  engaged  on  his  task,  though 
there  were  times  when  the  former  alternative 
would  have  been  desirable,  and  the  latter  was 
only  too  probable,  the  explorer  had  never 
occasion  to  kill  or  be  killed — his  invariable 
tact  enabling  him  to  go  where  a thousand 
men  could  not  have  gone  with  safety. 


THE  MASAI. 


309 


Patience,  it  is  true,  was  often  tried;  but  his 
motto  was — 

“ Chi  va  piano  va  sano ; 

Chi  va  sano  va  lontano.” 

“ He  who  goes  gently  goes  safe : he  who 
goes  safe  goes  far  ” — so  that  with  140  men  all 
told,  most  of  them  the  veriest  offscourings  of 


have  resorted  more  frequently  to  violence, 
albeit,  Dr.  Peters,  the  German  traveller,  who 
makes  this  absurd  commentary,  in  spite  of 
his  love  of  firearms,  failed  to  do  as  well  as  the 
Scotsman  without  them.  After  an  unsuccess- 
ful start,  in  which,  however,  he  reached  Kili- 
manjaro, and  ascended  it  about  9,000  feet,  he 


HILL  or  NDARA,  BETWEEN  KILIMANJARO  AND  THE  COAST. 


( From  a Sketch  by  Bishop  Tucker.) 


Zanzibar,  he  had  again  the  satisfaction  of 
completing  his  mission  without  bloodshed. 
The  Masai  were  all  that  rumour  had  painted 
them  (pp.  311,  312).  Cowardly  in  the  face 
of  a superior  force,  they  were  the  terror 
of  their  feebler  neighbours,  and  bore  so  bad  a 
name  that  the  Gallas,  cruel,  immoral,  and 
barbarous  though  they  are,  regard  it  as  a 
The  Masai  morta^  insult  to  be  compared  with 
and  their  this  race  of  black  men.  Yet  the  onl  y 

country.  ...  . 

criticism  a successor  in  the  same 
country  could  offer  on  Thomson’s  manage- 
ment of  his  expedition  was  that  he  should 


returned  from  Taveta  in  order  to  get  a few 
more  men  and  replenish  his  diminished  store 
of  goods,  starting  again  in  July  from  Mom- 
basa. The  Masai  were  not  friendly,  marauding 
bands  doing  their  best  to  intercept  him,  in 
default  of  Dr.  Fischer  having  escaped  their 
clutches ; and  the  local  chiefs  never  lost  an 
opportunity  of  fleecing  the  traveller  in  their 
power,  Muhinna  and  Sadi-bin-Ahedi,  whom 
he  had  engaged  as  guides  and  interpreters, 
maintaining  their  reputation  as  traitors. 

By  the  middle  of  July,  his  caravan 
strengthened  by  that  of  a trader,  the 


310 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


explorer  was  again  in  the  Masai  country,  by 
a route  that  lay  along  the  eastern  side  of 
Kilimanjaro,  through  a beautiful  stretch  of 
pasture-land,  the  neighbouring  snows  of  the 
mountain-top  tempering  the  air  to  coolness, 
though  it  lies  in  the  depths  of  burning 
Africa.  As  the  expedition  marched  north- 
wards, the  ground  rose  into  a broad  flat  ridge 
of  5,000  feet  high,  swarming  with  game, 
rhinoceroses  especially  being  so  numerous 
that  there  was  at  times  danger  from  those 
that  boldly  burst  across  the  line  of  the 
caravan.  Buffaloes  were  also  numerous.  On 
one  occasion  an  old  bull  tossed  a donkey  into 
the  air,  nearly  killed  two  men,  and  was  intent 
on  more  mischief  when  a bullet  stopped  its 
mad  career.  Over  the  ridge  the  route  lay 
across  the  plain  of  Ngiri,  the 
Ngiri  Plain,  dried-up  bottom  of  a lake  that 
had  occupied  this  region  when  Kili- 
manjaro was  an  active  volcano,  and  they  were 
glad  to  hear  from  a few  elderly  Masai  that  the 
warriors  of  that  part  of  the  country  had  all 
left  on  a marauding  expedition.  The  scene 
from  this  vast  flat  Mr.  Thomson  describes  as 
weird  in  the  extreme.  Most  of  it  is  a grass - 
less  expanse,  varied  with  a few  sheets  of 
water  and  some  scraggy  trees  and  bushes. 
Natron  and  saltpetre  cover  other  tracts, 
their  brilliancy,  as  the  sun  shines  upon 
them,  being  remarkable.  The  giraffe  browses 
among  the  bushes,  the  zebra  and  the  wilde- 
beest gambol  over  the  grassier  spots,  and 
other  animals  appear  in  such  abundance  that 
the  wonder  is  how  they  manage  to  subsist 
in  such  a desert.  In  the  morning  the  mirage 
elevates  the  game  phantom-like,  till  they 
appear  to  be  moving  high  in  the  atmosphere, 
“ while  a marvellously  beautiful  effect  is  pro- 
duced by  the  heated  air  rising  from  the  sands, 
giving  a curious  wavy  motion  to  the  black 
and  white  stripes  of  the  zebra,  reminding  one 
somewhat  of  the  electric  advertisements  to  be 
seen  about  railway-stations  at  home.” 

At  the  base  of  the  Donyo  Erok  el  Matum- 
bato,  where  the  volcanic  country  ended,  the 
Masai,  and  with  them  misery,  began  to  appear. 
Day  and  night  these  most  arrogant  of 


African  savages  kept  the  caravan  con- 
tinually on  the  alert,  until  the  strain  was 
almost  too  much  to  bear.  When  they  were 
not  threatening  open  violence,  they  were 
begging  or  stealing,  so  that  every  camp  had 
to  be  surrounded  by  a fence  of  thorns.  Com- 
pared with  indignities  heaped  upon  the 
travellers,  and  necessarily  submitted  to,  the 
laughing  yell  of  the  hyaenas,  the  cries  of 
jackals,  and  the  roar  of  lions  outside  the 
stockade  at  night  were  welcome ; for  then 
their  human  tormentors  had  for  the  most  part 
gone  to  sleep.  Beyond  Donyo  Erok  stretches 
a sterile  desert,  at  the  base  of  the  Kapte 
plateau,  the  perpendicular  escarpment . of 
which  grows  dark  and  threatening  over  the 
plains. 

Space  will  not  permit  of  our  following 
Mr.  Thomson  march  by  march  in  the  midst 
of  Wakikuyu  and  Masai,  past  pleasant  places 
where  food  was  plentiful,  over  deserts  where 
the  animals  fell  dead  for  want  of  water  and 
lions  followed  in  troops  to  prey  upon  them, 
past  the  great  extinct  crater  of  Donyo  Logonot 
rising  3,000  feet  above  the  surrounding  plain 
— every  day  the  scenes  different,  though,  un- 
fortunately, not  with  a corresponding  change 
of  fortunes,  until  Lake  Naivasha  was  a wel- 
come sight.  Here,  after  ten  days  of  plunder- 
ing, the  expedition  had  literally  to  bore  its 
way  through  the  Masai.  But  while  Martin, 
the  Maltese  sailor,  went  on  with  the  bulk 
of  the  party  to  Lake  Baringo,  Thomson, 
making  his  way  out  of  the  great  meridional 
trough  with  its  string  of  charming  lakes, 
ascended  a lofty,  misty,  Scots-like 
plateau,  occupied  by  great  numbers 
of  Wakwafi,  a tribe  of  Masai  (p. 

232),  and  covered  with  splendid  forests  of 
firs,  heaths,  and  Cape  Calodendrons.  Then 
the  traveller  tramped  over  hills  and  treeless 
plains  and  the  fine  Aberdare  Mountains, 
nearly  14,000  feet  high  (p.  235),  continually 
annoyed  by  the  Wakwafi  until  Kenia,  shaped 
like  a sugar-loaf,  was  reached.  Unable  to 
spend  much  time  in  examining  this  interest- 
ing peak  (p.  230),  owing  to  the  tireless  per- 
secution of  the  tribesmen,  a forced  march 


THE  ELGON  CAVES. 


311 


was  made  to  the  Likipia  mountains,  from 
which,  from  a height  of  8,000  feet,  the  Baringo 
Lake  presents  a magnificent  spectacle  as  it 
lies  glittering  below  in  the  great  trough  or 
valley  of  subsidence,  which  extends  from 
Naivasha.  Of  all  the  scenes  witnessed  by 
him  in  Africa,  Mr.  Thomson  declares  this  to 
be  the  most  magnificent. 


EL-MORAU  (OLD  MEN)  OF  THE  MASAI  TRIBE. 
( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Thomas  Stevens.) 


Crossing  the  Kamasia  Mountains,  the  El- 
geyo  precipices  were  ascended  from  a narrow 
valley,  and  the  shelterless  plateau  of  Guas- 
'Ngishu  traversed  until  Kabaras,  in  Kavi- 
rondo  (Vol.  II.,  pp.  80,  92),  was  reached. 
Then,  for  the  first  time  since  leaving  Taveta, 
the  expedition  revelled  in  fowls  and  eggs, 
Indian  corn,  sweet  potatoes,  ground  nuts,  and 
other  good  things  strange  to  the  Masai 
country.  The  Wakavirondo  proved  to  be 
a pleasant  people— as  the  people  of  this 
region  go, — formed  by  the  coalition  of  two 
different  races,  the  one  in  the  north  belong- 
ing to  the  Waswahili  races,  while  the  more 
southerly  tribes  clearly  belong — their  speech 
betraying  them— to  the  Upper  Nile  stock. 


On  the  10th  of  December  Thomson  had  the 
pleasure  of  drinking  the  waters  of  Lake 
Victoria  some  forty-five  miles  east  of  its 
outlet.  But  here  the  general  good  fortune 
of  this  admirable  explorer  deserted  him. 
Stores  began  to  get  exhausted,  and  fever 
to  fasten  itself  on  the  leader  of  the  ex- 
pedition. He  therefore  wisely  determined, 
instead  of  going  to  the  Nile,  to  turn  back, 
through  the  more  northern  district,  for  the 
sake  of  visiting  Elgon,  or  Ligonyi  (Vol.  II., 
pp.  84, 93,  96),  a splendid  mountain 
that  almost  reaches  the  snow-  Tcl^fon 
line.  The  chief  features  of  Elgon 
are  the  vast  caves  that  honeycomb  the 
mountain.  Numbers  of  them  contain  whole 
villages,  with  their  cattle.  But,  as  the  fact  of 
their  extending  far  into  darkness  shows,  this 
could  not  have  been  their  original  intention. 
Mr.  Thomson  considers  that  they  -are  artificial 
and,  since  the  material  of  which  those  he 
examined  consists  is  a veiy  compact  vol- 
canic conglomerate,  that  they  must  have 
been  mines  at  a very  remote  period.  On  this 
assumption  some  attractive  theories  have 
been  formulated  (Vol.  I.,  p.  10).  But  later 
investigations  show  that  they  occur  in  the 
lava,  as  well  as  in  the  conglomerate,  and  are 
probably  not  artificial,  but  merely  vast  blow- 
holes in  the  mountain,  which  is  an  extinct 
volcano,  with  a crater  eight  miles  in  diameter, 
and  from  1,500  feet  to  2,000  feet  in  depth. 
The  cave-dwellers  inhabit  the  southern  side 
of  the  mountain,  which  is  14,000  feet  high, 
the  northern  side  being  populated  by  a 
wretched  tribe  akin  to  the  Waelgumi,  still 
farther  north.  With  the  exception  of  a few 
Wanderobbo,  they  are  the  only  inhabitants 
of  this  mighty  mountain,  which,  by  the  way, 
has  a base  150  miles  in  circumference.* 

After  narrowly  escaping  death  from  a 
wounded  buffalo,  Thomson  set  out  for  the 
coast  by  way  of  the  base  of  the  lofty  Chib- 
charagnani  range,  Elgeyo,  Kamasia,  and 
Njemps,  where  a halt  was  made  to  enable  him 
to  recover  from  the  tossing  he  had  suffered  at 
the  horns  of  the  infuriated  bull.  Dysentery 
* The  Time*  (London),  May  29,  1893. 


312 


THE  STORY  OF  AFRICA. 


now  added  its  misery  to  the  other  mis- 
fortunes that  had  begun  to  gather.  Yet 
Baringo  Lake  an  inland  basin  3,000  feet 
above  sea-level,  but  not  salt — was  examined, 
an  elephant  was  shot,  and  many  fresh  geo- 
graphical facts  were  collected. 

But  before  Naivasha  was  reached,  walk- 
ing became  impossible,  and  even  riding  on 
a donkey,  without  assistance,  an 
bo°imdWaanS  effort  too  much  for  his  strength. 
of°troubies0n  Luckily,  the  Masai  were  tolerable ; 

and  by  the  time  Ulu  was  passed, 
the  expedition  was  among  friendly  natives. 
Still  weak,  the  lack  of  goods  with  which  to 
buy  food  compelled  the  party  to  push  on 
with  all  speed,  with  meat  or  without  it,  and 
often  in  sore  need  for  want  of  water ; until, 
on  the  26th  of  May,  they  encamped  at  the 
base  of  Ndara  (p.  309),  and,  on  the  2nd  of 
June,  1884,  emerging  from  the  wilderness, 
were  greeted  by  their  friends  at  the  mission- 
station  of  Ribe.* 

* Thomson  : ‘‘Through  Masai  Land,”  etc.  (1885);  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society , 1884,  p.  690. 


Thus  ended  a remarkable  expedition,  and 
with  it,  also,  an  era  in  the  history  of  Africa. 
For  by  the  time  Mr.  Thomson  emerged- 
from  the  continent,  a very  notable,  though 
not  unexpected,  event  had  taken  place. 
This  was  the  “Scramble  for  Africa.”  All 
pretence  of  disinterestedness  in  exploring 
had  been  thrown  aside ; the  struggle  was 
now  to  exploit  the  continent,  every  nation 
for  itself.  Then  began  the  partition-  of 
the  Black  Man’s  Land,  after  which  nearly 
every  exploration  was,  more  or  less,  con- 
nected with  Chartered  Companies  and 
Spheres  of  Influence.  However,  the  country 
which  was  divided  up  among  the  Euro- 
pean nations  who  had,  eight  years  before, 
met  with  so  many  protestations  of  philan- 
thropy on  the  lips  of  their  delegates,  was  only 
what  had  not  been  already  seized.  Before, 
therefore,  considering  the  new  partition  of 
Africa,  it  will  be  necessary  to  glance  at  the 
old  one' — in  other  words,  at  the  colonies  which 
had  for  centuries  been  carved  out  of  the 
continent.  ‘ 


( From  a Photograph  by  Mr.  Thomas  Stevens.)