CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM The i''qmily of S.!t. Williams Cornell University Library DT 731.S48 1881 How I crossed Africa: from the Atlantic 3 1924 028 680 548 The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028680548 HOW I CROSSED AFRICA: ATLANTIC TO THE INDIAN OCEAN, THROUGH UNKNOWN COUNTRIES; DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT ZAMBESI AFFLUENTS, &c. « By MAJOR SERPA PINTO. g^brihgtb front tfje fflrtgbal l^onboit €bifton, WHICH WAS TRANSLATED FROM THE AUTHOk's MANUSCRIPT By ALFRED ELWES. PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED. Part I. — THE KING'S RIFLE. Part XL — THE COILLARD FAMILY. PUBLISHED BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. HARTFORD, CONN.: E. W. BLISS AND COMPANY. A. L. BANCROFT & CO., SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 1881. COPTEIGHT BT E. W. Bliss & Compant. 1881. TO HIS MAJESTY THE KING, D. LUIZ I., BY GRACIOUS PEBMISSION THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. THE TITLE OF THE BOOK. African travels always partake, more or less, of romance, however much they may take the form of a scientific work. If my book, like all which have preceded it, is a veritable romance, it nevertheless contains geographic matter of some importance. ^ Inasmuch as the Expedition, and, as a necessary conse- quence, the whole fruits of my labor were saved by the King's' Rifle, it occurred to me to give that title to my entire work. One consideration, nevertheless, occurred to modify my original project. One man there was, the only one in the world who, however incapable of taking public exception to the exclusiveness of the title, might with reason deem that I had been unjust towards himself, in giving too great prominence in my book to the fact that it was the King's Rifle only which had saved the Expedition, when he possessed an equal right to my gratitude, in having saved me in turn. The original title, therefore, weighed upon my mind as an injustice, although it had been dictated solely by a contrary sentiment, being but little accustomed to burn incense on the altar of the great; and I immediately resolved to retain the title for the first part of my narrative, and give to the second part the name of rran9ois Coillard, the man who saved me, and, in doing so," saved the labors of the Expedition which I directed. It was a simple act of duty on my part. But this decision necessitated a general title for the work as a whole, no difiicult matter to supply when a Continent has been crossed from sea to sea. This is why my work is now called "How I Crossed Africa." LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Fasi TJiTWELCOME Night Visitors Frontispiece. MuNDOMBB Women and Girls 32 MuNDoasE Women, Vendors of Coal 33 Man and Woman of the Huambo 50 Bridge over the Cubango Kiver 63 The Chief Who Gave me a Pig 69 Banks of the River Cuato op the Ganguellas. Full page 74 Tomb of a Native Chief 76 A Village in the Bihe 83 Belmonte House, Bihe. Full Page 85 View of the Exterior of the Village of Belmonte . 89 Biheno Carrier on the March 96 Jose Alves's Kesidence 99 Ganguella, Luiaibai, and Luina Women .... 103 Crossing the Cuanza 109 Quimbunde Girls 110 The Sova Mavanda, Masked, and Dancing in my Camp. Full page 113 Cubango Woman's Head-dress 115 View of Lake Liguri 116 Fish of the River Onda 122 LucHAZE Trap 125 Village of Cambuta, Luchaze 124 Tomahawk, Tinder-box, Flint and Steel .... 126 Bee-hive, Basket, and Bolster 127 MoENE Cahbnga, Sova of Cangamba 130 Scene on the River Cubangul — The Quichobo. Full page 135 Ambuella Pipes 138 The Songue 140 CAHU-HElJ-tJE, the KiNG OF THE AmBUELLAS .... 144 Ambuella Hunter 148 Opudo 150 vi LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. Capeu 151 The Sova's Island Home. Full page 154 The Sova's Brother . . ' 157 The Cuchibi Ford. Full page 161 Head of the Malanca 166 The Buffalo. Full page 169 The Chief Cicota 176 LoBossi, King of the Bae6ze 181 Portrait of Gambella 183 LuiNA Woman 190 Attack on our Encampment in the Lux. Full page . . 204 LuiNA Man 207 My Camp at Sioma 223 GoNHA Cataract. Full page 225 Transportation of the Boats at Gonha. Full page . , 229 In the Rapids. Full page 236 "Three Europeans crossed THE River." Full page . . 250 Dr. Bradshaw's Camp 252 Encampment op the Coillard Family — Luchuma. Full page 257 "My Sensations were Bewildering." Full page' . . . 262 Mozi-oa-tunia — The West Falls. Full page .... 269 Mozi-oa-tunia — Perilous Mode of Measuring Angles. Full page 275 Mozi-oa-tunia 279 Mr. and Mrs. Coillard. Full page ...... 285 European Graves at Patamatenga 289 Ruins op Rev. Mr. Price's House, Shoshong. Full page . 310 Fly, My Horse of the Desert. (From a photograph.) . . 314 In the Desert. Full page 323 Fly Chasing the Ongiris 326 The Last Burial. Full page 350 Magalies Berg. Full page 353 Ant-Hills near the Limpopo 353 Myself AT Pretoria. (From a photograph, by Mr. Gross.) . 378 Betjuana Women. (From a photograph. ) Full page . . 386 The Remnant of the Expedition. Full page .... 403 Map of Tropical South Africa, showing Major Pinto's Route 14 CONTENTS. PAGB PhOLOGDE. — How I BECAME AN EXPLORER 15 Part I. — The King's Rifle. CHAPTER I. IN SEARCH OF CARRIERS. The Expedition at Loanda — Governor Albuquerque — No Camera — Canoe Trip to Ambriz — Voyage up tbe Zaire or Congo — Rausomed Slaves — Arrival of Stanley — I take Stanley on Board the Tamega — The Officers of tbe Gunboat — Stanley is my Guest — Our Itinerary — Ivens and Capello^I Proceed to Benguella 21 CHAPTER H. PROM BENGUELLA TO THE DOMBE. An embarrassed Governor and a surprised Explorer — A Sketch of Ben- guella — Young Adventurers — Long Delays — An old Trader Assists Us — A Start South — At the Dombe Grande — The Fortress — A Visit from three Sovas — Their Dress and Retinue — How I Made them Dance — Description of the Dombe Grande Valley — Sugar-cane and Rum . . 26 CHAPTER IH. THE STORY OF A SHEEP. The Start for the Bihe — On the Desert — Two Sheep, and a sad Mistake — " The Good Die Young " — We Meet a Caravan — I Lose Myself in the Bush — Two timely Shots — A little Nigger and Negress missing — A Disaster in Camp — A Forced March — Quillengues at last — Lieu- tenant Roza — An unhappy Christmas — Death of the Reformed Sheep . 34 CHAPTER rV. THROUGH SUBJUGATED TERRITORY. Verissimo Gon9alve3 and his History — Ascent of Mt. Quissecua — A curious Adventure — Capello's Dog — A Night Intruder — The Village of Ngdla — Its Chief Visits us with his Wives and Daughters — How I Astonished them — A ludicrous Scene — A wise Monarch — Swimming a River — Roque Teixeira's Compound — Voices of the Night — Caconda and its Fortress — I Visit Jose d' Anchieta, the Zoological Explorer — His Workshop — Bandera and its Potentate — Shabby Treatment and a great Disappointment — An Outpost of Civilization 41 viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. TWENTT DATS OF PROFOUND ANXIETT. I Leave Caconda— The Chief Quimbundo — Our Camp at Pessenge — Sur- prising Panorama — The great Village of Quingola — I am Considered a great Curiosity — Severe Illness — A Touching Incident— Destruction of a Cobra — In the Huambo Country — Surprising News — Capello and Ivens Desert me — A terrible Situation — I Decide to advance — My faithful Followers— Capfico, the Freebooter, and his beautiful Captive- Stirring Episodes — " How We Frightened Him " — I Start for the Sam- bo Country — Flight of Carriers— The stolen Gun, and a daring Raid — A frightful Tempest — The delinquent Chief — Fever— We Cross the Cuene — Arrival in the Sambo Country . 51 CHAPTER VI. TWENTY DAYS OP PROFOUND ANXIETY. — [Continued.] A Visit from the Chief of Dumbo and his Friend — Their Demand for Aguardente Causes an Altercation which Endangers their Lives — An anxious Night — A bold Front — I Secure a Princely Hostage and Start on— My Virgin Carriers — Incidents of Travel — Friendly Chiefs — The Carriers Mutiny and I Retaliate — My Hostage Orders them to Pro- ceed — We Cross the Cubango — Graves of native Chiefs — The Banks of the Cutato — I Visit the old Captain of the Quingue — The Village Diviner Tells ray Fortune and Predicts Success — Fearful Storms and dangerous lUqess — A terrible Adventure — Extreme Peril — Arrival at Belmonte 64 CHAPTER VII. BELMONTE. I Dismiss the grim Chief of Sambo with a Present — Life at Belmonte — Under the Orange-trees — Cora, my Pet — King Bombo's Daughter — A Love Match in the Bihe — I Resolve to Start for the Upper Zambesi — Reorganization of the Expedition — Augusto and his Latest Wedding — My Rifle-shooting Discourages a Medicine-man — More Trouble with Carriers — Interview with my late Companions 84 CHAPTER VIII. EASTWARD THROUGH THE BIHE. A Start forward — Our Encampment in the Cabir Woods — An old Explorer — A Visit from Coimbra — Interview with Cameron's fellow-traveller, Jose Alves — -A strange Adventui-e — My villanous Countryman, and how I punished his Insolence — The Sova of the Grande — Muzinda Women — Ontho Banks of the Cuanza — Pepeca Astonishes the Natives — An extraordinary Affair — A Slave-huntor's Impudence Resented — Slaves Released — No News from the Doctor — Why I Destroyed my Property 97 CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER IX. AMONG THE GANGUELLAS. Passage of the Cuanza — The Quimbande People — Mavanda's Army — His Majesty's Tailor — Sham-fights — Grotesque Dance of the Masked Sova — An African Carnival — The mysterious Dr. Chacaiombe — Visit from a Sova— Negro Jollification — The lovely Lake Liguri — Onthe Conti- nental Divide — In the Country of the Luchazes — Female Slaves Re- leased— A Panic and its Cause — Hunting Adventm-es- Terrible Ants —My Elephant-slayer in Trouble- A Parley 108 CHAPTER X. A VOYAGE ON THE CnBANQIJI. Climbing the Sena — On the Summit — Magnificent Panorama — The Sova's hospitable Wives — "The largest River in the World" — Lu- chaze Villages — Ingenious Traps — At the Head-waters of the Cuando — I Erect a Monument — Gigantic Trees — In the Jungle — A Sova in Uni- form — Description of a Canoe-trip down the Cubangui — Animal Life — Floating Gardens — A strange Ruminant — Looking for the Camp — Night Adventures on the Water — Signals from the Shore — Augusto Comes to the Rescue — The Midnight Camp-fire 123 CHAPTER XL AMONG THE AMBDELLAS. The Journey Continued — Insubordination Punished — Capture of a Songue — My Routine of Travel — Night Meditations — We Reach the Capital of the Ambuellas ^Visit from the Sova of the Cuchibi — Snare for Catch- ing Game — Capture of Mucassequeres — They Guide me to their En- campment — Nightfall in the Forest — JoUyTimes in Camp — Barbarous Music — Dancing Damsels — Singular Customs of the Countiy ... 139 CHAPTER XII. THE KING OF THE AMBDELLAS' DAUOHTEBS. A Visit from the haughty princess Opudo, and her pretty Sister — What they Said — My ridiculous Dilemma — I am Rescued by Mariana — The In-epressible Girls Renew my Acquaintance — Platonic Friendship — A Sunset Scene on the River— My gentle canoe-women — Our first Mon- keys — The King's Island Home — The Savage Element in Africa — Characteristics and Customs of the Ambuellas — A Kingly Present — I Resume my Journey and am Escorted by the King's Daughters — Opudo Assumes Command — Fording the Cuchibi — Hunting Excursions — Ex- citing Sport in Camp — Lions and Buffalo — Incidents of Travel — Fare- well to the Ambuella Princesses — Capeu's eloquent Supplication . . . 149 X CONTENTS. CHAPTEK XIII. THE JOUKNEY TO I.IAL0I. At the Sources of the Ninda— Old Antonio's Story — Luiz Albino'3 Grave —Troublesome Times — A successful Shot — An infernal Uproar — A welcome Visitor — Fatigue and Hunger — A Forced March — Raid on an Unfriendly Village — A Troop of Luinas — Across the Plain of Nhengo — Horrible Swamps — A Timely Arrival — The Zambesi at Last — The King's Programme —A magnificent Eeception — Undefined Pre- sentiment of Evil 167 CHAPTER XrV. KING LOBOSSI AND HIS EMISSARIES. The Kingdom of the BarSze — Lobossi and Gambella — Negotiations with the King and his Counsellors — Livingstone's old Friend — Private and Public Receptions — Visits from Lobossi — Visit from a Prince — A Queer Incident — Severe Illness — The King's Doctor Prescribes for me — Royal Entertainments — Convocation of Wai- — Historical Resume — TheLastof theMacololos 180 CHAPTER XV. TROUBLE IN THE BAE6ZE. A Dark Day in Lialui — War and Disaster — My Bihenos Desert — I am Ordered to March Westward, but Refuse — Plots and Counterplots — An Attempt at Assassination — I Plan a Revolution — Woman's Rights in Lialui — Life of an African Autocrat — Treachery in Camp — Mariana Reveals the Plot — " Forewarned is Forearmed " — An Eventful Night — I am Attacked by Fire and Sword — Desperate Battle — We Retreat to the Mountains 191 CHAPTER XVI. THE king's rifle. An overwhelming Disaster — The King's Rifle — Verissimo brings Tidings of a Missionary — My new Resolve — My false Prophecy — A Start down the Zambesi in Canoes — Insolent Boatmen — Miseiy — The Old Chief Muangana 208 CHAPTER XVII. AMONG THE CATARACTS OP THE ZAMBESI. Voyage down the Zambesi, Continued — River Scenery — Shooting a Lion — Description of the beautiful Cataract of Gonha — Portage of Canoes More Falls and Rapids — My First Elephant — Augusto's Buffalo Story — In the Rapids — A giddy and dangerous Voyage — Adventures of , the Land Party — Off Chichcque — Meeting withEliazar — A frightful Night Drama — Embarira 220 CONTENTS. xi Part II. — The Coillaed PAsniiT. CHAPTER I. IN LUCHUMA. PACE lam a Prisoner in Embarira — Tidings of an Englishman — I Send him a Message — A White Man Visits me — Three Europeans Cross the River — A Dinner with Dr. Bradshaw —f Bread ! — Trouble with the Chief — A Fortified Camp — The stolen Chronometers — Franpois Coil- lard Arrives on the Scene — I Proceed to Luehuma — A Surprise in the Wilderness — The Coillard Familj' — Serious Illness and Dehrium — Miss Elise Coillard — Bad News from Mr. Coillard — A Presentiment — A Night Walk in the Forest — Arrival of the Missionary — Death of Eliazar — A Fatal Spot — Departure from Luehuma — Guejuma's Kraal 247 CHAPTER II. MOZI-OA-TUNIA. Journey to the Cataract — Storms and Tempests — Lovely Site of our En- campment — A cruel Night — Description of the Great Cataract of the Zambesi — Measuring Angles under DifiBcuIties — An Imprudent Achievement — The Chief of the Falls — Our Return March — African Doves — A Day at Patamatenga with generous Gabriel Mayer — The Graves of Five Europeans — I Rejoin the Coillard Family at Daca — We Decide to Push Across the Desert to Shoshong 268 CHAPTER HI. THE COILLARD FAMILY. Labors of French Missionaries in Basuto Land — An Unfortunate Expedition — History and Characteristics of the Coillard Family — A Sublime Cour- age — Flores d'Alma 284 CHAPTER IV. THIKTT DATS IN THE DESERT. Start of the Caravan — Mr. Phillips — Forests — Desei-ts — Plains — The Sa- hara of the South — Incidents of the Journey — A Sunday in the Desert — The Grand Macaricari or Great Salt Pan — ^ A Night on the Road — The Native Massaruas — Rivers of the Desert — Death of Cora — Christmas Day — A Charming Valley — Scarcity of Water — Search for Lost Goods '^ In the Defiles of the Letlotze — The Last of Madame Coillard's Tea — Arrival at Shoshong 290 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. IN THE MANGtTATO. New Year's Day in Africa — I meet Stanley, but not the Stanley— Baman- guato History — Civil Wars — Some Account of King Kliama, the Christian Convert, and his People — Apparent Civilization of the Man- guatos — Influence of the Missionaries, Good and Bad — Three Worthy Names — Noble Examples — Physical Aspect of the Country — Descrip- tion of Shoshong — The European Quarter — The English in Africa . 303 CHAPTER VI. IN THE MANGDATO. — [Continued.] New Friends — The Generous Mr. Taylor — Mrs. Taylor — Fly, my Steed of the Desert — Our ramshackle Residence — Nights of Torture — Story of the Matebeli Tragedy — An Unsolved Mystery — Bamanguato Hora- men — A Race with King Khama — Farewells, and a Start for Pretoria — Stanley is Missing — I Encounter Night Vedettes — Nocturnal Adven- tures — Return to Shoshong — Troubles of an Explorer 313 CHAPTER VII. A JOURNEY WITH STANLEY. A New Start — Catraio and the Chronometers — History of Catraio — Stanley Found — An Upset — " Fly " on the Wing — His Sagacity — High Water in the Ntuani — Chasing Ostriches — A Successful Hunt — Stanley's Dilemma — We Cross the Ntuani and meet English Traders — On the Banks of the Limpopo — A mean Crocodile — Augusto in a Rage — Pur- suit of a Rhinoceros — Giraffe — Augusto's Leopard — The Camp at Adi- cul — Unwelcome Night Visitors — "Our Oxen were Saved " — Trouble with Stanley — A Clincher 320 CHAPTER VIII. AMONG THE NOMAD BOERS. Visit to an Encampment of Boers — A Picture of Rural Life — Friendly Re- ception—The Boers' Stoiy, a Thrilling Episode of the English Annexa- ation — I Dismiss Stanley and Travel with Boers — Low, My young Dri- ver — Meeting with Emigrants — A troublesome Christopher, and How He Lost Himself —Arrival at Soul's Port — Madame Gonin, the Mission- aiy's Wife — The hospitable Settlers of Piland's Berg — Glimpses of the Domestic and Religious Life of the Immigrants — Visit to the Homes of Settlers — The Cupid Room — Patriarchal Life of the Boers — Primitive Customs — A Psychological Paradox — A Breakfast with Boers — A Din- ner with Mr. Gonin — Young Ladies from the Cape — A Hunt for Oxen — My Guide, Farelan — Death of Mareolina — The Last Burial — The Mission of Betania — Hospitable Boers — Reception at a Boer Village — How We Crossed the Limpopo — Magalies Berg — Au Accident — Arri- val at Pretoria 33T CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTER IX. IN THE TKANSVAAL. Sketch of the History of the Boers — Their Origin, Immigration, Hardships and Worlis — Pieter Ketief — Wars with the Zulus — Pietermaritzburg — Adrian Pretorius — English Occupation of Natal — Insurrections — New Wanderings in Search of a Home — Potchefstroom — Bloemfontein — Treaty with England — The Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State — The Second Pretorius — Discovery of the Diamond Mines in Griqua Land — Rival Claims of Brand, Pretorius, and Waterboer — Eng- lish Annexation of the Diamond-mine Regions 354 CHAPTER X. IN THE TKANSVAAL. — [Continued.] History of the Boers, Continued — Francis Burgers and His Administration — Condition of the Transvaal and its Inhabitants in 1876 — Foreign Esti- mates of the Boers as Derived from Missionary Sources — English An- nexation and How it Was Aeeomplished — The New and Disastrous Emigration which Followed — Social Condition of the Boers — Why They are so Discredited — Evil Influence of some Missionaries — How They Preach Revolt and Malie Trouble — Good and Bad Missionaries Con- trasted — Wrong Ideas of the Boers — What I Saw and what I Think, 366 CHAPTER XI. IN THE TRANSVAAL. — [Continued.] My Experiences in Pretoria — Volunteers for the Zulu War — My many Diffi- culties — Dinner with Mr. Swart — New Sensations — Disappointment of the Populace — The Rev. Mr. Gruneberger, an amused Missionary — I discharge Low and Christopher with Presents — A Dinner with the 80th — "El Rei Dom Luiz " — Major Tyler and Captain Saunders — Insubor- dination of My Men — Adventures in Pretoria — The Swiss Artist . . 375 CHAPTER XII. THE END OF THE JOUBNET. Excitement in the Capital — Arrival of Sir Owen Lanyon — A new Governor and a new Hat — The Miraculous Tree — I Leave Pretoria — Heidelberg — Journey in a Dog-cart with Lieutenant Barker and his jolly Subaltern — How We Crossed the Waterfalls — In the Defiles of the Drakensberg — Incidents of Travel in the Transvaal — A Night in the English Camp — Entertainment at a Boer Homestead — New Castle — A Stage-coach Ride — Burlesque Episodes — The Despairing Couple — A Night at Lady- smith — My Revenge — Pietermaritzburg — Durban by the Sea — I meet General Strickland and World-Renowned Bohemians — Return to Mar- itzburg — Little Didi Saunders — My Adventures at Durban — I meet Prince Napoleon — 1 Embark on the Danubio — The Homeward Journey — The Remnant of the Expedition 387 PEOLOGUE. HOW I BECAME AN EXPLORER. IN the course of the year 1869 I formed part of the column which, in the Lower Zambesi, sustained many a sanguinary conflict with the natives of Massangano. Senhor Jos^ Maria Latino Coelho, the then Minister of Marine, gave orders to the Governor of Mozambique to furnish me, at the close of the war, with the means of mounting the Zambesi, so that I might make a detailed sui"vey of as much of the country as it was possible for me to investigate. The orders were given, but were never carried out ; and after repeated applications and a hasty run through the Portuguese possessions of Eastern Africa, I returned to Europe, with a greater desire than ever to study the inte- rior of that continent of which I had obtained only a super- ficial glance. Private reasons of a family nature stepped in to defer and, even for a time, to destroy my projects. An officer in the army, always in garrison in small pro- vincial towns, I was accustomed to convert my hours of idleness into hours of labor ; and though it appeared to me that the possibility of visiting Africa was remote, the study of African questions became my sole and exclusive pastime. Nor did I neglect the sublime subject of astronomy, so that the abundant leisure which my barrack-life allowed me was equally divided between Africa and a study of the heav- enly bodies. In 1875 I was in the Twelfth Chasseurs, and had in my comrade, Captain Daniel Simoes Soares, one of the most intelligent men it has ever been my fate to know. We had not been acquainted long ere we became fast friends. The (15) 16 HOW I BECAME AN EXPLOBEB. wretched little room of this illustrious officer in the bar- racks of the Island of Madeira gave us mutual shelter dur- ing the hours that the regulations compelled us to reside there ; and how often, when one of us was on guard, did he not have the other for companion ! Africa, and still Africa, was our subject of conversation. About the end of 1876 I returned to Lisbon, where I learned that African matters had assumed considerable im- portance in that city, owing to the creation of the Central Permanent Geographical Commission, and the establish- ment of the Geographical Society of Lisbon. There was especially much talk about a great geographical expedition to the interior of Southern Africa. I at once set about seeing the Minister of the Colonies, Snr. Joao d'Andrade Corvo. I bunted him up for eight days in succession, and on the very eve of my departure from Lisbon I obtained an audience at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. His Excellency received me somewhat stiffly, observing that he had but little time to dispose of. He then inquired what I wanted of him. This question led to the following dialogue : — " I have heard it stated that your Excellency is thinking of sending a geographical expedition into Africa ; and that is the object of my calling." The minister immediately changed his tone, and very courteously desired rae to be seated. " Have you been in Africa?" he asked. " I have ; I know something of the mode of travelling in the country, and have devoted much attention to the study of African questions." " Do you feel inclined to make a long journey into South Central Africa? " I must declare that I hesitated a moment before reply- ing ; but at length I said, — " I am ready to go." " That is well," he observed. Then he continued : " I HOW I BECAME AN EXPLORER. 17 have thoughts of sending out a great expedition to Africa, well provided with all necessaries, and when the organiza- tion of the staif is under consideration I will not forget your name." " By the by," he said, when I was on the point of leav- ing, " what terms do you ask for such a service ? " " None," I replied. And so we parted. I subsequently called upon Dr. Bernardino Antonio Gomes, who told me that he had already cast his eye upon a distinguished officer of our royal navy, Hermeni- gildo Capello, to form a part of the expedition. My family on the one hand and Africa on the other pulled my heartstrings in opposite directions, and kept me a long time in a state of perplexity. 1 at length hit upon a scheme which I thought might solve the question. Were I, for instance, appointed to the governorship of a district, I might make a portion of Africa my study with- out separating myself from my family. The idea of going out as a governor and of establishing myself in Africa became stronger every day, and I at length waited upon the minister to broach the subject. This time I was received at once, and very cordially too. I expressed my surprise at hearing no more about explo- rations. " And that has brought you here ? " was the inquiry. " Not exactly. I have come to entreat of your Excel- lency the governorship of Quillimane, which is now vacant." Snr. Corvo smiled. "I have a mission of far higher moment to entrust to you," he said; "I want you for a very diffei'ent matter than to govern an African district ; so that I cannot give you the governorship of Quillimane." " Your Excellency, then, is still thinking of an African exploration?" I replied. "Frankly, I believed that the whole thing was at an end." "I give you my word of honor," said the minister, " that either I shall cease to be Joao d'Andrade Corvo, or next 2 18 HOW I BECAME AN EXPLORER. spring an expedition, organized in a way hitherto unknown in Europe, shall leave Lisbon for South Central Africa." "And you count upon me ? " "I do, most certainly; and you will very shortly hear from me." I left the ministerial presence in a state of bewilder- ment. Months passed away, and no more was heard of the promised expedition. One morning I read in the newspapers that the minister, Snr. Joao dAndrade Corvo, had brought before Parliament a bill for a credit of thirty contos (about $33,000) for an expedition to Africa ; but shortly after, before the bill had passed, the ministry was defeated, and the Portfolio of the Colonies fell to Snr. Jos^ de Mello Gouvea. The projected exploration, however, again became a subject of public interest ; but the newspapers mentioned as explorers men who were totally unknown to me, and only occasionally mentioned the name of Capello. I was then residing at Faro, and although I had not given up my astronomical and African studies, I had ceased to cherish my former ideas of travel. Neverthe- less, in my quiet retreat, I followed with interest the re- ports published in the journals of the news from Lisbon. I there read that the new minister had again brought before Parliament the bill that had been introduced by his predecessor, and had succeeded in obtaining a vote for the sum of thirty contos, to be expended in an exploring expe- dition. The Algarve is a delicious country ; a perfectly eastern atmosphere pervades the place, and seeing the elegant tops of the palm-trees gracefully bending over the terraced houses, one felt inclined at times to forget that one was still bound to the prosaic shores of Europe. My position was that of military commandant, by which it will be under- stood that my life was not a particularly hard one. The HOW I BECAME AN EXPLORER. 19 intercourse of a select society, family affections, my books of study and scientific instruments, enabled me to spend very bappy bours — of tbat placid happiness wbicb it is not the fate of many to enjoy. My easy-chair, my dressing-gown and slippers, were fast becoming my very ideal of felicity. April had come to an end, and with the beginning of May set in the heat, which was very powerfully felt in Faro. I began to form projects for the summer, when one day I received a telegram requiring me to report my- self immediately to the general in command of the division. On proceeding thither I found an order to repair without loss of time to the presence of the Minister of the Colonies. Adieu to home, adieu to dressing-gowns, adieu to slip- pers ! Adieu to the tranquil and placid life I had been spending amidst my dear ones ! I must return to the busy world once more. Four days later on, seated around a large table, in a great hall at the Ministry of Marine, were a dozen grave person- ages, some with spectacles and some without, some old and others new, but all well known in the scientific or literary world, or for their public services, who had met together to discuss the often mooted question of Africa. This solemn session was presided over by the minister, Jos^ de Mello Gouvea. At the bottom of the table, and at one of the corners, ensconced in a large fauteuil, was a man with a head well covered with hair, and a heavy gray moustache, who, through his tortoise-shell-rimmed glasses, kept his eyes steadily fixed upon me. It was the late minister, Joao d'Andrade Corvo, whose look said as plainly as words could do, "I told you that this matter would be brought to bear." Capello sat next to me, and after a debate of some two hours we left the hall together, with precise instructions for our journey. We selected as third associate Lieu- 20 HOW I BECAME AN EXPLORER. tenant Roberto Ivens, a friend of Capello's, who was un- known to me, and who was at that time at Loanda, serv- ing on board one of his Majesty's vessels. It was on the 25th of May that the meeting was held, and we under- took to start on the 5th of July. It was a risky thing to promise, as we had to fit out the expedition in France and England, and we only had one month to do it in. Matters were so managed that on the 28th of May Capello and myself were enabled to leave for Paris and London, in order to make the necessary purchases. To this end, we were armed with a credit of eight contos, or about $8,500. On the 1st of July Capello and myself arrived at Lis- bon completely prepared for our journey. Our prepara- tions had been made in the space of nineteen days. ■ Tools of various kinds swelled the enonnous mass of impediments with which we were about to leave Lisbon in order to plunge into the unknown regions of South Central Africa. Arms, instruments, baggage, in a word, all the articles we took with us, bore the inscrip- tion : Portuguese Expedition to Interior of Southern Africa. — 1877. HOW I CROSSED AFRICA. Paet I.— the KING'S RIFLE. CHAPTEE I. IN SEAKCH OP CARRIERS. ON the 6th of August, 1877, we arrived at Loanda, on board the steamer Zaire, and found hospitality under the roof of Snr. Jos6 Maria do Prado, who immediately placed at our disposal one of the many houses he possessed in the toAvn, with accommodation sufficient to shelter the enormous equipage of the expedition. We received much kind attention from Snr. Prado ; and on the evening of the 6th we were waited on by one of the aides-de-camp of his Excellency Snr. Albuquerque, the governor-general, who sent us many cordial messages. The next day, the 7th, we called upon his Excellency, and received a most friendly reception. Snr. Albu- querque, after assuring us that he would render us every assistance in the district under his government, concluded by pointing out the impossibility of obtaining for us the means of transport. I at once determined to proceed to the northern part of the province, to see whether I could be more successful, and therefore begged Snr. Albuquerque to procure me a passage to the Zaire. The only war- vessel that could be placed at my disposal was then cruising in the mouth of (21) 22 THE KING'S RIFLE. that river. I resolved to join her ; and to that end, on the 8th, I started in one of the country boats, manned by eight blacks, supplied me by the captain of the port. I caiTied orders from the governor to the commandant of the gunboat. A voyage of one hundred and twenty miles in a small boat, with scarce room to stretch your legs, is any- thing but pleasant. On the 9th, at daybreak, I arrived at Ambriz, a charmins: town, seated on the level summit of an eminence with precipitous sides, that are washed by the sea some eighty feet below. Here I fell in with Avelino Fernandes, whose acquaintance I had been fortunate enough to make on board the steamer Zaire, and intimate relations sprang up between us. He was born on the banks of the Zaire, and has a perfect passion for that rich soil, whose gigantic trees, the offspring of a virgin forest, shaded his cradle. The numerous connections he possessed in Zaire might, I thought, assist me in arranging the difficult question of transport. I learned at Ambriz that the gunboat Tamega was ex- pected there in the course of a couple. of days, and I there- fore resolved to wait for her. On the 10th I took a ram- ble about the town and suburbs ; and on the llth I paid a visit to tke important agricultural establishment founded by the celebrated Jacintho, known as Jacintho de Ambriz, and now the property of his son Nicolao. The following day saw the arrival of the Tamega gun- boat. I at once went on board, but found her without stores, and with a large number of men on the sick-list; for which reason I arranged with the commandant, Snr. Marques da Silva, to wait for him at Ambriz, whilst he went on to Loanda to recruit. Three days later the Tamega came back, when I joined her, with Avelino Fernandes, and we immediately pro- ceeded on our voyage to the Zaire. We mounted the Zaire as far as Porto da Lenha, where MEETING WITH STANLEY. 23 I disembarked with Avelino Fernandes, who presented me to his friends in that place. I at once began to inquire about transport. They told me I might possibly obtain carriers if the native chiefs chose to assist me, but that the best plan would be to ransom a number of slaves and then engage them for the service I required. The idea of pur- chasing human beings, although it might be with the view of setting them subsequently at liberty, was repugnant to me. And then, how could I tell whether they would stick to me after all, if once they were free? I therefore deter- mined to reject the notion, even if not a single carrier were to be had in the place. * I learned at the house where I was stopping that the great explorer Stanley had arrived at Boma on the 9th, having descended the entire course of the Zaire. He had come by the way of Kabenda. I returned on board and arranged with the commandant to go on to Kabenda to offer our services to the intrepid traveller. We set off at once, and were no sooner anchored in the roads than I went on shore with Avelino Fernandes and some of the officers of the gunboat. I was quite affected as I pressed the hand of Stanley, who, though a man of small stature, assumed in my eyes the proportions of a giant. I offered him my services in the name of the Portuguese Government, and told him that if he desired to go on to Loanda, where he could most easily obtain transport for Europe, Commandant Marques would willingly give him and his men a passage on board the gunboat. In the name of the Portuguese Government I further placed at his disposal the money he required. Stanley answered me with a warm pressure of the hand. The officers of the Tamega confirmed my offer in the name of their commandant. Stanley accepted it, and from that moment the gunboat remained at his disposal. On the 20th we set off for Loanda, having on board the whole of Stanley's followers, to the number of one 24 THE KING'S RIFLE. hundred and fourteen persons, among whom were twelve women and a few children. Stanley was lodged at Loanda in my own house, — a distinction which was very agreeable to me, as he refused many other invitations, some from persons who could offer him accommodations far beyond my powers, seeing that the only furniture my poor dwelling contained was that supplied by my travelling resources. It is now time to speak of our projects, as defined by law and the instructions of the government. Parliament, as has been stated, voted a sum of thirty contos of reis ($33,000) for the purpose of surveying the hydrographic relations between the Congo and Zambesi basins, and the countries comprised between the Portuguese Colonies, on both coasts of South Central Africa. , Subsequent instructions laid more particular stress on a survey of the river Cuango in connection with the Zaire ; a study of the countries in which the Coanza, Cunene, and Cobango take their rise, as far as the upper Zambesi; and, if possible, a careful survey of the course of the Cunene. Capello and myself had thought of making our entry at Loanda, travelling eastward until we reached the Cuango ; descending that river for two degrees, entering the Cassibi, by which we intended to descend to the Zaire ; and finally, investigating the Zaire to its mouth. The arrival of Stanley, who had performed a part of the labor we had tracked out for ourselves, and above all the impossibility of obtaining carriers at Loanda, made us completely alter our plans. We decided now that I should go southwards to procure some men in Benguella ; and that, if I could obtain them there, we would enter by the mouth of the river Cunene, go up it to its source, and thence proceed in a south-east direction, as far as the Zambesi. As no great confidence could be reposed in the men we MY COMPANION IVENS. 25 hired, we thought it well to solicit the governor for a certain number of soldiers, to act as a kind of escort. His Excellency acceded to the request, and passed the word among the regiments to learn whether any of the soldiers felt inclined to volunteer ; for as the service was not a regular one, he could not compel any of the men to go. It was arranged that I should start for Benguella by the steamer which would arrive from Lisbon about the begin- ning of September. On board that steamer I met with our companion Ivens for the iirst time. Of a genial and ardent nature, possessing a great flow of words, and per- fectly enthusiastic on the subject of difficult journeys, we soon became friends. On the 6th I left for Benguella. On my voyage I made the acquaintance of a passenger who told me that I might possibly get a few carriers at Novo Redondo, and that he would undertake to contract there for some twenty or thirty of them. This put me in rather better spirits, and it was in such humor that I arrived at Benguella on the evening of the 7th. Although I had letters of recommendation for various merchants, I determined to call upon the governor, and ask his hospitality, with what result the next chapter will show. CHAPTER n. FROM BENGUELLA TO THE DOMBE. ON hearing my request for hospitality, Alfredo Pereira de Mello, Governor of Benguella, exhibited an amount of embarrassment which was only too perceptible, and after a pause said that he had no accommodation to oflfer me. His answer surprised me, as I knew him to be naturally courteous and open-handed. He then said that he had not a bed to offer me, at which I pointed to my travelling-bed, for I had had my luggage brought up with me. Defeated in this quarter, he asserted that he bad not a room ; to wliich I responded by saying that a corner of the hall in which we stood would serve my turn. Finding his objections thus overruled, he gave in, and I stopped. I was curious to learn the cause of the governor thus denying me hospitality, and a little investi- gation unravelled the mystery. His Excellency, who knew me very well by name, on hearing my request, forgot that he had the explorer before him, and only thought of the man habituated to a life of comfort and even luxury. The truth therefore was, that Pereira de Mello was ashamed to offer me shelter. A governor of Benguella, however upright and honora- ble he may be, is bound to live in the very humblest fashion, if dependent on the pay that he receives. The government-house is a hired one ; its furniture, many degrees below the designation of simple, is barely suf- ficient to garnish a sitting-room and one bed-chamber. (26) BENGUELLA. 27 Benguella is a picturesque town which extends from the shore of the Atlantic to the very summit of the mountains which form the fix-st steps of the lofty plateau of tropical Africa. It is surrounded by a dense forest'^he Matta do Cavaco, even at the present day peopled with wild beasts. The residences of the Europeans cover a large area, for all the houses have vast gardens and dependencies. Extensive ^a^ios, or courts, surrounded by overhanging galleries, serve as shelter to the large caravans which descend from the interior to the coast for the purposes of traffic, and remain three days under cover in order to efiect the barter. A river, which, in the summer season, looks scarcely more than a broad ribbon of white sand running from the mountains to the sea through the forest do Cavaco, consti- tutes nevertheless the great source or spring of Benguella, whose wells, that have been dug there, produce excellent water purified in its passage through calcareous sand. The broad and straight streets of the town are planted with two rows of trees, for the most part sycamores, but of no great age, and as yet therefore somewhat small. The squares ov places are of vast size, and in a public garden are flourishing many fine plants that are very agreeable to the eye. The European population is surrounded on all sides by senzalas, or the huts of the negroes, which in fact are occasionally discoverable in deserted grounds in the very midst of the dwellings of the whites. Take it for all in all, the general aspect of the place is agreeable and picturesque. The trade with the natives is in the hands of Europeans and Creoles, and we fell in there, fortunately, with a good many of those adventurous young spirits who leave their homes and country to seek for fortune in these distant climes. The governor called a meeting at his own residence, of the most important inhabitants of the town, and. 28 THE KING'S RIFLE. explaining to them the motives of my journey and its pro- posed direction, begged them to render me every assist- ance in their ^wer in the way of procuring me carriers, and thus enal^ me to carry out my mission. This they all promised to do; and by the 17th inst. I had got to- gether the number of men I asked for, viz., fifty, which, with the thirty expected from Novo Eedondo, made a total of eighty ; as many as I deemed necessary for the journey from the mouth of the Cuene to the Bih6. The old settler, Silva Porto, undertook to convey to Bihe the heavier portion of the baggage, which we could take up at that place, and where we should have to engage fresh carriers to pursue our journey. On the 19th my companions arrived on board the gun- boat Tamega, and on the same day we resolved that we would not go to the mouth of the Cuene, but make our way directly to the Bih^. This fresh resolution altered the engagements we had taken with the carriers, and besides this, the people of Benguella, who, Avhen led into a distant country, would not think of deserting, might perhaps feel inclined to do so when journeying at the outset through territory Avhose language and customs they were acquainted with. Imme- diately after the ari'ival of my two companions it was determined that Ivens should have the charge of the geo- graphical department ; that Capello should devote himself to meteorology and natural sciences, and that I should attend to the auxiliary staff of the expedition, whilst giv- ing each other, of course, mutual advice and assistance. As my duties therefore compelled me to set things going, I began by taking counsel of Silva Porto. Silva Porto came over to Benguella with me, as his house was some four miles distant from the town, and called at the various houses where caravans of Bailundos might be found, without, however, succeeding in getting any ofl'ers to carry the baggage to Bihd. AN OLD TRADER. i'J All that was left me to do was to hire some Bailundos to come over and fetch the baggage ; and Silva Porto having kindly undertaken the task of procuring them, despatched at once five blacks to Bail undo ior the purpose. The old trader, however, did not fail to assure me, from his long experience, that a good deal of delay must be expected, as it would take his messengers fifteen days to reach the country, and at least as many more to collect the carriers ; so that, adding these thirty to fifteen others for the return journey, we must reckon upon forty-five days ere they got back ; and there was little chance indeed of their being here before.* After taking counsel with my friends upon this fresh phase in our position, we resolved not to lose such valua- ble time at Benguella ; but, delivering over the heavy baggage to Silva Porto, for him to forward it by the Bai- lundos, start at once with such things as were indispensable, and wait for the remainder at Bih^. Out of the men hired at Benguella we could not reckon with confidence on more than thirty performing the jour- ney, and these, with the thirty-six obtained from Novo Redondo, made a total of sixty-six men. Besides these, we had fourteen soldiers, some young niggers for my per- sonal service, two or three Kabendas in the service of Capello and Ivens, and two native chiefs, one of whom, Barros, had been engaged by me in Katambela, and the other, Catraio, by Capello, in Novo Redondo. We set to work to select the loads judged indispen- sable, and found that they were eighty-seven, thus making twenty-seven more loads than there were carriers. No one can conceive how I labored to supply the deficiency ; but in vain, not another porter was to be had. The end of October came, and still we were in the same * As a matter of fact, a portion of these porters, viz., two hundred, only reached Benguella on the 27th of December, and two hundred more at the end of February. 30 THE KING'S RIFLE. position. It became absolutely necessary to come to some determination, and we resolved to go to Bih^ by the track leading through Quillengues and Caconda. The governor immediately gave orders to the chefe (head official) of the Dombe to have ready fifty carriers, to accompany us to the Quillengues, to which place the Mundombes are willing enough to go ; and Silva Porto, as agreed, took charge of the baggage which was to be for- warded to Bihe, amounting in all to four hundred loads. The 12th of November arrived at last, and with it our final exit from the town, after the most cordial adieus and good wishes of the friends assembled to wish us godspeed. On the 13th we reached the Dombe, having made a journey of forty miles. We had with us sixty-nine per- sons and six donkeys, which were all, men and asses alike, lodged in the fortress. We three, with our body-servants, were most kindly welcomed to the house of Manuel An- tonio de Santos Reis, a perfect gentleman, who could scarcely do enough to serve us. It was a couple of days later that our baggage, which had been sent by sea, arrived, and after a careful exami- nation of the whole I found one hundred men, besides those I had with me, would be necessary for its transport. The chefe declared that all the carriers should be ready by the 26th ; but so far from this being the case, only nineteen out of the hundred required appeared on that day. Next morning we procured twenty-seven more ; when, fearing if there were any greater delay those I had already obtained would take themselves off, I at once despatched them to Quillengues, under the charge of two of the soldiers I had with me. The chefe asseverated that it was impossible for him to get any more men ; whereupon I invited to the fortress the three Sovas (native chiefs or princes) of the Dombe, for the 28th, in order to see whether I could not myself treat with them. They came — three magnificent speci- THE DANCING SOVAS. 31 mens, whose appearance was calculated to strike a beholder with surprise, if not with awe. One was called Brlto, a name he had borrowed from a former Governor of Benguella, who had restored him to power ; the second, Bahita ; and the third, Bat^ra. My companions unfortunately could not be present at this serio-comic meeting, as they had been sufi'ering since the 24th from fever. Sova Brito was attired in three petticoats of chintz, of a large-flowered pattern, very rumpled and dirty, with an infantry captain's coat, unbuttoned, displaying his naked breast, for shirt he had none ; and on his head, over a red woollen nightcap, was jantily posed the cocked hat of a staff officer. Bahita also wore petticoats, of some woollen stuff of bril- liant colors, a rich uniform of a peer of Portugal, nearly new, and on his head, over the indispensable nightcap, a kepi of the Fifth Chasseurs. As to Batdra, he was dressed simply in rags, but had buckled about his waist an enor- mous sabre. These illustrious and grave personages were surrounded by the satellites and high dignitaries of their negro courts, who squatted on the ground about the chairs on which their respective sovereigns- were seated. Bahita was accompanied by a minstrel who played upon a Marimba, from which he drew the most lugubrious sounds. The sovas conducted themselves with such extraordinary gravity that in spite of myself I imitated their example. After having promised me carriers, they were good enough to accompany me to my temporary home, about a mile and a half from the fortress ; and as I made each of them a present of a bottle of aguardiente, they ordered their chief officials to honor me with a dance, and Bahita commanded some girls, who had hitherto been kept out of sight, to be brought forward to join in the entertainment. I begged them to dance themselves, but they gave me 32 THE KING'S RIFLE. to know that their dio-nitj^ would not allow of such a pro- ceedine:, it beine contrary to all established rule. I ardently desired, however, to see Bahita capering in petti- coats and a peer's uniform ; and aware of the power of liquor over the negro, I gave instructions that a fresh bot- tle should be presented to their Majesties. MUNDOMBB WOMEN AND GIELS. This was quite enough. Laws and established rules were soon cast to the winds, and I had the delight to see them all join in a grotesque dance in the midst of their people, who, fired with enthusiasm at the sight, I'olled about and went through such violent contortions that one would have thought they had all gone into fits, or were afflicted with some neAv kind of madness. The Dombe Grande is a most fertile valley, which extends first from south to north, and then westward almost in a right angle, to the sea. It is framed in by two systems of mountains, one on the west, which boi'ders the coast, and the other on the east ; and through it runs a DETENTION IN DOMBE. 33 river known under no fewer than four names. There are some important agricultural estates, and one of them, scarcely three years old, produces sugar-cane sufficient to yield more than eight thousand gallons of rum. Our compulsory delay in this country was most injuri- ous to the order and discipline of my people. Every day they put forward some fresh claim ; every day some quar- rel or other arose amons;- them ; and I feared to be too strict lest they should all desert in a body. They sold their clothes to purchase aguardente, and even went so far as to dispose of their rations of food to procure liquor. The soldiers were the worst. The sovas did not send us any men, and we could not stir. On the 1st of December thirty men arrived at Dombe, sent from Quillengues by the military cliefe, to fetch some baggage belonging to him. I at once pounced upon them, and arranged with my companions to start on the 4th. MUNDOMBE WOMEN, VENDORS OF COAL. 3 CHAPTER m. THE STORY OF A SHEEP. ON the 4th of December I left the Dombe, at eight o'clock in the morning, and bent my course to Quil- lengues. Capello and Ivens remained behind for a while to arrange about sending on some of the luggage, intend- ing to join me at night. After two hours' march in the plain, we arrived at the foot of the Cangemba range, which borders the valley of the Dombe on the east side. Here we got a little rest, and at eleven started off again, endeavoring to cross the mountain by the bed of a torrent, then dry. The differ- ence of level was barely five hundred and fifty yards ; but the bed of the toiTent, formed of calcareous rock, offered formidable obstacles to our progress. "We had purchased in the Dombe a couple of sheep, to be killed upon the road, and one of them followed our party readily enough ; the other, however, caused us a good deal of trouble, by not only refusing to follow, but showing a great and constant inclination to return to the . country we had left behind. Three hours were spent upon our fatiguing march, and in covering a thousand yards at most of ground. The sun poured down upon us as we toiled on, unsheltered, and we were fagged out with our exertions. We encamped, at length, beside a well dug in the sandy bed of a rivulet that (34) A STUPID MISTAKE. 35 had run dry. The spot was an arid one, and only here and there were visible some white thorns, curled and burnt by the sun, which at this period of the year literally pierce like a knife. Our horizon was formed by the summits of the mountains which run north and south. Toward even- ing Capello and Ivens put in an appearance. On the 5th, at early morning, we were on the move in a south-east direction, and after four hours' march, during which we got over a space of twelve miles, we pitched our tents in an extensive valley, surrounded by hills. Vege- tation continued poor, and the Avarit of water was great. During our march, if the young asses continued to be troublesome, the sheep above referred to was no less so : he was wonderfully wild, and more obstinate than the donkeys. I determined to have done with him, and my companions being of the same mind I gave orders to the niggers to this effect, and took a stroll in the environs. On my return to the camp, I discovered that the stupid fellows had misunderstood my orders, and instead of kill- ing the wild sheep had made away with the quiet one. On the following morning we started at daybreak, and after five hours' march pitched our camp at a place called Tiue, whei"e our guides assured us we should find water. Against all expectation, the sheep whose life had been saved by accident not only gave over his wild tricks, but took it into his head to follow me about like a dog, keep- ing constantly by me, whether on the march or in camp. On the following day we made sixteen miles, and pitched our tents in a forest called Chalussinga. We met in this forest with the first baobabs we had seen since leaving the coast. In the afternoon we were advised that a caravan was coming in the direction of our camp, on its way from the interior ; and on issuing out to meet it, we found that it was the ex-chefe of Quillengues, Captain Roza, on his way to Benguella, in ill health. We invited him to our tent, where he dined, and at parting we were able to fur- 36 THE KING'S EIFLE. nish him with some medicines, of which he stood greatly in need. After he had left I was informed by the young niggers that round the camp there were fresh tracks of game, and I went out to investigate. I followed the trail of some large antelopes, and it led me so far that night fell, with a darkness so profound that I lost all traces of the way back to the camp. A lofty mountain stood out in sombre relief against a hazy sky, where not a single star was seen to glitter. It occurred to me to scale it, so that I might from some elevated pinnacle discover the lights of the camp, by which to direct my steps. I deemed the notion a happy one ; for having ascended the mountain, I discov- ered in the distance a gleam of light, which I at once made for, having marked the direction by my pocket-compass. I arrived at length, guided during the latter part of the route by human voices ; but judge of my surprise and dis- appointment at finding that I had mistaken Captain Roza's camp for my own, and that I must still be some four miles distant from the latter ! As, however, a road, or rather the track left by a caravan, connected the two camps, I determined to push on by its guidance ; and after another hour's tramp I heard the welcome sound of the horns blown by my people, and the occasional crack of a rifle fired off to attract my attention and direct my steps. I reached my tent completely tired out and wounded with the thorns, and found Capello and Ivens in no little anxiety on my account. I was informed, to my annoy- ance though not to my surprise, that provisions were falling short, and that the soldiers especially had in five days consumed the rations of nine. "We made a somewhat forced march next day, and in six hours covered eighteen miles. The soldiers, having finished their rations, began to complain of hunger, and even talked of killing the sheep. I had taken quite a liking for the animal, which had been so suddenly converted from A SUCCESSFUL HUNT. 37 the wild creature it was into a gentle and domestic beast, following me, as I have mentioned, constantly about, and never allowing me out of its sight. The idea therefore of killing it was very repugnant to me, and Ivens for the time diverted the soldiers' attention by giving them a little rice from Qur own stores. On the 9th we brolie up our camp at five in the morning, and kept steadily on our march till one, when we rested on a slope of Mount Tama. Directly our. tents were pitched, the complaints of the hungry soldiers were again very audible, and the subject of killing the poor sheep was once more mooted. Ivens gave the fellows another ration of rice, which satisfied them for the time ; but of course it was only staving off, as it were, an evil day, and could not be considered as a positive salvation for the poor animal. Fagged out as I was, I resolved to go hunting for game, with a view to save the life of my poor sheep. For upwards of an hour I rambled through the forest without result, and was turning my steps camp ward, when in a small open space of ground, I sighted two antelopes grazing. I drew near, but at more than a hundred yards distance my presence was evidently discovered. The male leaped upon a rock, and there began to cast his keen eye in every direction, whilst the female, with ear on the alert, snified about her. The distance was great, but I did not hesitate to fire, aiming at the male, which I had the satisfaction to see fall and roll over. His companion, hearing the report, sprang on the rocky ground, when I discharged my second barrel. With one bound, however, she then disappeared in the underwood. My young nigger started off to secure the dead antelope, but I perceived that instead of stopping at the rock where the creature was last seen, he turned aside and went farther on, and I myself at length arrived at the spot, and began with an anxious feeling at the heart, to search all round. 38 THE KING'S RIFLE. but I feared I was mistaken in seeing the first antelope fall. It was not so, however, for on the other side of the rock, to my great joy, I discovered the graceful animal stone dead. I had scarce time to satisfy myself on the point than my attendant appeared from the wood bending under a heavy burden. It was the second antelope, which he had found dead at no great distance from the open ground. The sheep, then, was for the time saved, and indeed, as in two days' time we ought to reach Quillengues, where provisions could be had, the poor b^ast might be looked upon as perfectly secure. During the next day's march we fell in for the first time with enormous grasses, clothing the open spots of the wood. So tall and thick were they that it was quite impossible to see over them, and very difficult to effect a passage through. In the course of the journey one of my young niggers dis- appeared, together with a negress, the wife of Capello's attendant Catraio ; and though I sent out people to look for them, they were nowhere to be found. The scarcity of provisions was great, and it was not the soldiers only who complained of hunger ; the whole lot were grumbling and would not listen to reason. There was no help for it ; on we must go. On the lltliwe encamped on the right bank of the river Tui, very near to Quillengues. "Whilst the men were busy with the camp, I started off" for the fortress of Quillengues, in search of stores, with which I returned at eight in the evening. Decidedly the sheep was saved. During the night the young negro and negress, whom we thought lost, found their way into camp, a circumstance which gave me much pleasure. The place where we had pitched our tents was low and marshy, without any conveniences at hand, and isolated. On this account, we resolved to shift our quarters and en- camp in the compound of the chefe of Quillengues, which we reached on the 12th of December. I there paid and A DISASTER IN CAMP. 39 discharged the carriers from Dombe who had engaged to come with us to Quillengues, and I begged the chefe, Lieutenant Eoza, to obtain others for me to Caconda. Quillengues is a valley watered by the Calunga ; it is extremely fertile , and covered with a native population. The Portuguese establishment occupies an area of rectangular shape, surrounded by a palisade., It has four bastions, built of masonry half way up each face ; and within are barracks which form the residence of the military chefe and quarters for the soldiers. Some baobab-trees and sycamores shade with their gigantic branches and thick foliage a ground covered with the huge native grass which affords pasture to the chefe's flocks. The petty chiefs of the country acknowledge the Portu- guese authority ; but being by nature predatory, they at- tack unceasingly other native tribes, and carry olf their cattle. The natives are tall of stature, robust, and by nature bold and warlike. A.guardenle is in great favor with them, and so given are these people to drunkenness, that during three months in the year — so long in fact as lasts the fruit of the gongo, from which a fermented liquor is made — they are constantly in a state of intoxication, and no possible service can be got out of them for love or money. On the 2 2d we had a disastrous event occur in our camp. One of my young negroes stole a Pertuisset explosive bullet, and in company of two of his fellows resolved to let it ofl", in order that each might have a piece of the lead. Eesting the bullet on a stone, one of them placed a knife across it, which he struck with a violent blow, the other two standing near to watch the sport. The bullet sud- denly exploded, wounding all three, one of them severely, as he received in diflerent parts of his body thirteen frag- ments of the desired lead, many of them producing deep wounds. We now begged the chefe to have some carriers ready. 40 THE KING'S RIFLE. This he did, and on the following day I allotted the men their loads. I felt, however, so extremely poorly myself, that though I sent the porters on I was obliged to stop behind, my friends remaining with me to bear me company. I struffjrled against a violent fever for three whole days, and was quite unconscious during the 25th, Christmas Day, and the anniversary of my daughter's birth. 1 was carefully nursed by Capello and Ivens, the Chefe Roza and his wife, and on the 28th was able to rise from my bed and go out. The wife of Lieutenant Roza made me two presents, which I was far from thinking would play an important part, later on, in my journey. They consisted of a Sevi'es tea-service and a remarkably tame she-goat, of small breed, on which I bestowed the name of Cora. Just at this time occurred a disaster which caused me sincere regret. My poor sheep, on whose behalf I had willingly borne so many annoyances with my hungry fol- lowers, was killed through a setter that I had brought with me from Portugal and had made a present of to Capello. Pursued by the dog, it endeavored to force its way through an opening in the palisade, and broke its leg and otherwise injured itself, so that it shortly died. It was my first great trouble during a journey so fruitful in mishaps. CHAPTEK IV. THROUGH SUBJUGATED TERRITORY. ON the 1st of January, 1878, we quitted Quillengues. The chefe. Lieutenant Roza, accompanied us a few miles on the road. During our stay at Quillengues I had managed to break in two of the asses, which were very useful to me as mounts on this new journey. We had on this occasion a travelling companion of the name of Verissimo Gon§alves, who had begged to be allowed to join our party as far as Bihe. He was the son of a well-known Bih^ trader, who had lately died, and had been acting at Quillengues in the capacity of a clerk to a former servant of his late father. This young man, a mulatto and but poorly educated, was short in stature and perverted in mind, being full of the vices proper to his race, but was still not wanting in good-nature or intelli- gence. He was shy and timid, though not cowardly, and under a rather weakly appearance concealed a strong con- stitution and muscles of iron. He could scarcely read or write, but was a tolerable shot and a crafty woodsman. The following day, at starting, we commenced the ascent of the mountain, here called Mount Quiss^cua. It was excessively toilsome work, and for three weary hours we had to struggle with the asperities of the mountain side, till we reached an elevation of five thousand seven hundred feet above the level of the' sea, or two thousand seven hun- dred and forty above the plateau which terminates at Quillengues. (41) 42 THE KING'S RIFLE. The soil continued granitic, but the vegetation had entirely changed in aspect — due, of course, to the eleva- tion we had reached. The baobab had disappeared, and ferns were nestling in the shade of the numerous and varied acacias which peopled the woods. The flora presented greater wealth of herbaceous plants, and in the grasses more especially the most vigorous vegetation was observ- able. During the night of the following day we had rather a curious adventure. We were encamped beside the Quicu6, a brook running southeast over a granitic bed, to swell the waters, most probably, of the Qu^, when we heard Capello's dog barking furiously at something in the neigh- borhood of the hut. At the same time we were conscious of a sound, at no great distance from us, like that of an animal chewing the cud, which induced us to believe that the donkeys had got out and were grazing in the camp that Avas surrounded by the thorny abattis. We therefore quieted the dog and went oflp to our beds. Day was just breaking, when we heard a great uproar in the camp, and turning out we learned that the blacks, who, at the outset, like ourselves, thought the donkeys had broken loose, had discovered their mistake, and that some strange animal had got into the camp. And so in fact it proved, for an enormous buffalo had done us the honor of a visit during the night. A clue to the mystery might have been proba- bly discovered in the repeated roarings of the lions, that were plainly audible, and which perchance drove the buffalo to our camp for shelter. The day after we moved our camp close up to the vil- lage of Ngola, and I at once caused my arrival to be an- nounced to the native chief. After breakfast I proceeded to the village to call upon him. I was accompanied by my young negro servants, who carried a chair for my use, and two parasols. The chief at once appeared, armed with two clubs and THE CHIEF AND HIS FAMILY. 43 an assegai. He wore a long waist-cloth, and over it a leopard's skin. His chest was bare, and from his neck hung a number of amulets. He received me outside his hut under a burning sun. I offered, him one of the para- sols I had brought with me, which was covered with thin scarlet cloth, — an attention that seemed to please him mightily. I informed him of the object of my journey, which he did not readilj" comprefhend. He perfectly understood, however, the value of the gifts I made him, and consist- ing of a small barrel of gunpowder, fifty gun-flints, and a dozen tin grelot-bells ; although my asking nothing in ex- change filled him with wonder. I invited him to my camp to see my companions, to which he agreed, and accom- panied me on the spot. "When I told him he might bring a vessel in which to put some aguardente, he went and fetched a bottle that would hold about a pint and a half. I could not help being astonished that a chief of his rank should be so little covetous, and desired him to procure a larger vessel. He then sent for a gourd which would contain about a couple of bottles, and I begged him to bring another of the same size. The chief could not conceal his admiration at my generosity. We set off on foot, accompanied by three of his wives, his daughters, and many of his people, all unarmed, to show me the confidence with which I had inspired him. We reached the camp at a time when Capello was mak- ing meteorological observations, and our guest was lost in admiration at the thermometers and barometers. Ivens shortly joined us, and after an exchange of compliments showed our noble guest the Snider and Winchester arms, at which he was quitfe dumbfounded. He offered us an ox, and readily consented to my re- quest to have it slaughtered, as we were in want of pro- visions. He wished, however, that I would slay it with 44 THE KING'S RIFLE. my own hand. The ox meanwhile had broken loose, and was making towards the wood. It was already some eighty paces from us, when I seized my rifle, and, telling the chief where I would hit it, fired, and the beast fell. Chimbarandongo went to examine the animal, and, on see- ing the wound in the very place I had indicated, he was so astonished that he embraced me again and again in his enthusiasm. At about four o'clock there broke over us a violent storm, with thunder and lightning and heavy rain, which lasted a couple of hours. The chief took refuge in our hut with his women-folk and a few of his chief followers. He then made them a speech, the object of which was to prove that we had brought down the rain, and with it a vast benefit to the country, then suflPering from the exces- sive heats of'summer. We tried to explain to him that we did not possess any such great powers, and that God only could influence the grand phenomena of nature. It was Ivens who undertook to illustrate how and why the rain fell. Before the lecture on meteorology was half over, the chief turned his followers out of the hut, and assembling them again at the close of Ivens's discourse, declared that if it left off raining he would pitch upon the unlucky mor- tal who was the cause of its ceasing and have him put to death without delay. When night fell, his Majesty retired in the most comic fashion, mounting pickaback on one of his counsellors, whose hands rested on the hips of another walking before him ; and as they were all more or less intoxicated, they reeled about in the most ludicrous way, threatening at every moment to topple over together, and perhaps break the sacred head of their sovereign into the bargain. Chimbarandongo was not wanting in sense or judgment. He did not believe in sorcery, nor did he Ijelieve that we had brought down the rain ; but it suited him to appear to SWIMMING A RIVER. 45 do so, in order not to lose his prestige among his people, who were quite satisfied with the form of government he imposed upon them. The next day, when he came to take leave of us, he let me know that it was his policy to remain on good terms with the whites. "Without the whites," he said, "we are poorer than the beasts, as they possess the skins we are forced to rob them of ; and those blacks are great fools who do not seek to gain the friend- ship of the palefaces." The village or hamlet of Ngola is strongly defended by a double palisade, put up with some art, one of the faces being even so arranged as to allow of a cross-fire. The space enclosed is so vast as to be able to contain the entire population of the country, which gathers there with all its flocks and herds when the district is in a state of war. The little stream called the Cutota runs right through it, and it is therefore capable of sustaining a long siege without any inconvenience in respect of water. On leaving Ngola, we journeyed till we fell in with the Que, the largest of the rivers running between Quillengues and Caconda. A bridge formed of the trunks of trees ofliered a difficult if not perilous passage to the men, en- cumbered with baggage, but could not be used at all by the oxen and donkeys, which had therefore to be swum over. After a great deal of trouble the oxen did swim to the other bank, but the asses at first refused to follow their example. Partly by persuasion, partly by force, and with a vast sacrifice of time and labor, the negro Barros, aided by two of his mates, succeeded at last in getting them across, the men swimming by their side. The danger of such a proceeding will, however, be appreciated when I tell the reader that the river was full of crocodiles. In the afternoon we pitched our camp on the banks of the Quissengo, near the village of Catonga, where a certain Roque Teixeira has his compound. On the 6th we were again travelling northeastwards. 46 THE KING'S KIFLE. I killed this day a large gazelle ; so large was it that it took four men to carry it to the camp. As nio-ht fell the dog kept up a constant yelling in the direction of the wood, proving to us that hyenas were wandering round the huts ; and when night had regularly set in we had other music in the form of a duet of bass and counter-bass, produced from the roaring of a lion from the undergrowth and the hoarse grunt of a hippopotamus from the river. We kept on our northeast course, passing near the vil- lage of Cgassequera, fortified among enormous granite cliffs, and surrounded by gigantic sycamores, producing a singularly picturesque appearance. We encamped on the bank of the Nondimba, an affluent of the Catdpi. The plateau on which we then stood was a very lofty one, the altitude being found to be five thousand two hundred and fifty feet. Later on we fell in with the Catipi itself, flow- ing west-southwest. The crossing of this river occupied time, and my cornpanions preceded me to Caconda. I reached the fortress an hour or two later, and was met at the entrance by the provisional chefe, a mulatto, and rich land-owner of the district, and sergeant-major of the black forces, who explained that the permanent chefe had gone to Benguella, and had left him (the speaker) the bother of receiving us (these were his actual words). After this most courteous address Snr. Matheus invited me to pass into the fortress. No sooner had I entered the enclosure than I observed talking with my companions a man above the middle height, thin of aspect, with a broad and well-formed head, a somewhat restless eye, wearing a surtout coat and a white cravat, whom Capello introduced under the name of "Jose dAnchieta." Yes, there stood before me the first zoological explorer of Africa, a man who had spent eleven years in the districts of Angola, Benguella, and Mossdmedes, enriching the cases of the Museum at Lisbon with most valuable specimens. I had A ZOOLOGICAL EXPLORER. 47 subsequently an opportunity of learning his mode of life, which is worthy of a passing notice. Anchieta was established in the ruins of a church situ- ated at about a couple of hundred yards from the fortress. The interior of his habitation was in the shape of the letter T, surrounded by broad shelves, on which, appeared a confused heap of books, mathematical instruments, pho- tographic apparatus, telescopes, microscopes, retorts, birds of every variety of plumage, flasks of various sizes, earthen- ware, bread, bottles full of multicolored liquids, surgical cases, bundles of plants, medical products, cartridge-boxes, clothes, and other undistinguishable articles. In one cor- ner was a pile of muskets and rifles of various systems. Alongside the house was an enclosure, wherein I observed some cows and pigs. At the door sundry negroes and negresses were skinning birds and preparing mammiferi ; and among them, seated in an old fauteuil, whi(^ showed evidence of long service, and before a huge table, I found Jose d'Anchieta. I give up as useless the attempt to describe what was on that table. Of nippers, scalpels, and microscopes there were not a few. On one side a heap of fragments of birds showed that he was engaged in the study of comparative anatomy. In front of him a flower carefully dissected proved that he had been occupied in determining from the disposition of its petals, the number of its stamens, the shape of its calyx, the aiTangement of its seeds and pistils, the names of the family, genus, and species in which it was to be ranked. With his scalpel in hand and his eye fixed on the microscope he is accustomed to pass the hours he can snatch from his labors as a collector, and now it is a flower, now a bird, which forms the object of his studies. Occasionally his researches are interrupted by the wail of a sufiering patient, to whom he devotes the care of a physician or dispenses the medicine necessary for his relief. 48 THE KING'S RIFLE. We learned on our arrival that the diefe Castro had been superseded and another officer of the army of Africa substituted in his stead. The latter arrived two days after ourselves, and with him Ensign Castro, in charge of the mails from Europe. The avidity with which our let- ters were "devoured may readily be conceived. I applied at once for carriers, and Snr. Castro offered to accompany me to the residence of Jose Duarte Ban- deira, the principal potentate of Caconda, through whose enormous influence, he said, the thing could be easily managed. We therefore started for Vicete on the morn- ing of the 13th. After trudging some twenty-six miles in a southeast direction, I arrived, as night fell, at Vicete, a fortified compound among I'ocks, on the summit of a hill which overlooks a vast plain. I was received by Jose Duarte Bandeira, who, after a hearty supper, showed me to an excellent bed, of which I stood greatly in need. The first thing next morning, Ensign Castro broached the subject of carriers, and Bandeira readily engaged to obtain one hundred and twenty, the number we required to help us on to Bihe. We turned our steps once more in the direction of Caconda on the 17th, taking with us a promise to be sup- plied with carriers in less than a week, and promising in turn to send the following day a keg of aguardente to in- augurate the convocation. In this part of Africa aguar- dente plays the same part with men as oil does in Europe with machinery. There is no moving without it. On the 19th, we sent off the keg of aguardente to Ban- deira, at the same time begging him to use the utmost despatch in getting together the carriers. On the 23rd, I sent off another messenger to Vicfete, urging Bandeira to let me have the carriers at once, as we were now waiting for them. Still the men did not appear, so that I was induced to CACONDA AND ITS FORTKESS. 49 beg the chefe himself to repair to Vic^te, and use both his influence and authority over Bandeira to procure us what we wanted. The chefe went, and shortly after wrote me that sixty- one men were ready and that there would soon be more. The day after this communication came another letter from the chefe to the effect that the carriers were going to be paid and would come on at once ; two days afterwards we had a third letter saying that there were already ninety- four men collected ; and finally, on the 5th of February, we received another epistle, informing us that there was not a single carrier ready or ever likely to be ! Imagine our disappointment ! The chefe came back from Vicete, but I never could get out of him a reasonable explanation of his and Ban- deira's conduct. It was then resolved that I should start for the Huambo country, to see whether I could get any men from the native chief there, inasmuch as all were agreed, the chefe and Anchieta into the bargain, that it was impossible to engage any nearer. I began to fancy that there was a fixed determination to throw difficulties in our way, al- though I did not suspect it so strongly at that time as I had occasion to do later on. The fortified post of Caconda, the deepest in the inte- rior of the district of Benguella over which at the present time wave the colors of Portugal, forms a square of three hundred and twenty-eight feet, surrounded by a deep fosse and a parapet, about which, here and there, are dis- tinctly visible the lines of a temporary fortification con- structed with some art. An interior stockade forms a second line of defence, and protects a few tumble-down houses, composing the residence of the chefe, the bar- racks, and powder magazine. Some good pieces of brass ordnance, mounted en barbette, and more worn by time 4 50 THE KING'S RIFLE. than use, exjiose their green and oxidized muzzles to the approaching wayfarer. At about two hundied yards or so to the south of the fortress are the ruins of a church. To the north is a group of poor little huts, occupied by the soldiers. The popula- tion is exceedingly scanty, and has withdrawn itself con- siderably from the vicinity of the fortress. The soil is most fertile, and many European plants readily flourish there, and produce al)undantly. Of trade there is but little, and that is carried on very far in the interior. MAN AND WOMAN OF THE HUAMBO. CHAPTEE V. TWENTY DAYS OF PROFOUND ANXIETY. ISTAETED fupm Caconda on the 8th of February, 1878, taking with me six Benguella men, my young negro, Pepeca, and Verissimo Gon^alves, to whom I have be- fore alluded ; and I was also accompanied by Lieutenant Aguiar, the cliefe of Caconda, who insisted upon attending me in this expedition, the sole object of which was to make arrangements for carriers. After a journey of some ten miles towards the northeast, I reached the villasfe of Quipembe, where I was hospitably received by the native chief Quimbundo. In the course of the evening he came to see me at my hut, and conversed upon the policy of the Portuguese in Caconda with a degree of judgment difficult to be met with in a provincial negro. His village is of vast size, well fortified and capitally situated. From the moment of my arrival troops of little negroes and negresses hov- ered about and regarded me with the utmost surprise, taking to their heels at the slightest movement I made. My spectacles, and more especially my rug, upon which there figured an enormous lion on a red ground, appeared to be objects of the greatest wonder to them. On the 9th I travelled northeast, passed to the south of the Banja village, magnificently perched on the summit of an eminence, and after crossing three brooks, arrived at the river Quando, which I consider one of the great aflluents of the Cunene. (51) 52 THE KING'S KIFLE. At the spot where I camped, by the village of Pessenge, the river disappears beneath enormous masses of granite, to see the light once more nearly a mile lower down. The place presented one of the most charming landscapes I have ever beheld. The banks of the river, which were some- what elevated, were covered with a luxuriant vegetation, elegant palms springing from the dark green of gigantic thorns. Blackened rocks here and there emerged from the tangled undergrowth, their exposed heads polished through the washing of innumerable storms. This was the first occasion during my journey of my lying down at night with only the starry sky for a canopy, but I did not sleep the less soundly on that account. I woke at daybreak in time to assist at the destruction of a venomous cobra found wriggling between my bed and that of Lieutenant Aguiar. At starting we travelled northeast from the village of Pessenge, and soon reached another, the Canjongo, gov- erned by a petty chief, from whom we obtained a few fowls in barter for some common cloth. We arrived at five o'clock in the evening at the great village of Quin- golo. Caimbo, the native chief, received me hospitably, and at once sent food for my people. Learning the motive of my journey, he told me that he would supply me with forty men, whom he would despatch to Caconda, and perhaps I might obtain the remainder in the Huambo. Here I had a slight attack of fever. Quingolo is situated upon a granite mount which over- looks an enormous plain. From between the rocks spring huge sycamores, which lend the place a constant and agree- able freshness. These same rocks, combined with the stockades, make a formidable defence against attack, and the place is rendered stronger by a fosse that runs round it, though it is half choked up. On the very summit of the mount are two gigantic cliffs that form a kind of observa- IN THE HUAMBO COUNTRY. 53 tory, from which I saw spread before me one of the most surprising panoramas I have ever beheld. On the 12th, although my fever had increased, I decided upon leaving, and having exchanged the most cordial adieus with the native chief and Lieutenant Aguiar, I resumed my journey, accompanied by three guides furnished me by Caimbo. At ten o'clock I reached the village of the petty chief of Palanca, of whom I solicited shelter, as it was im- possible for me to proceed with the fever increasing on me every moment. Three grammes of quinine, which I took during the in- termission of the fever, produced a rapid improvement in my health, so that I was enabled to go on the following day. I rode a-straddle on a powerful ox, and kept another in reserve. These animals were well broken in, and made my progress easy. I was able to get a very decent trot out of them, and even occasionally a short gallop. The heat was intense, and I began to feel extremely ill, so that I called a halt in order to get a little rest. There were no trees near the place, and I fell asleep upon the baked earth, under a burning sun. My slumbers were of the shortest, and on awaking I had a sensation of freshness, and observed that there was shade. It was caused by the thoughtfulness of my attendants, who were standing around me and sheltering my recumbent body from the ardent rays of a vertical sun. I was touched by such a proof of kindly care. I went on again, still toward the northeast, and at night- fall reached the village of CapSco, the powerful son of the native chief of the Huambo country. Cap6co received me very kindly, gave me his own house for my use, presented me at once with a large pig, and, learning that I was ill, sent me a couple of fowls. I had some talk with him about carriers, whom he promised to supply. I made hinl a present of two pieces of striped cloth and a couple of bottles of aguardente. Shortly after, a 54 THE KING'S RIFLE. numerous troop of virgins, recognizable by their bangles of bent wood worn upon the ankles, brought my negi'oes abundant food in wicker baskets. After taking some lunar altitudes, I lay down to rest in a happy mood, notwith- standing my indisposition, at seeing my excursion so far crowned with success. On the following day my companions were to join me, and with them I should have not only the society of dear friends and compatriots, but the resources which had now utterly failed me, and of which I stood in such sore need. I fell asleep, therefore, smiling, nor did any ugly dream disturb my slumbers ! And yet I was on the eve of a severe trial — a racking anxiety that was to endure for twenty days. I dismissed the three guides who had accomjoanied me from Quingolo, and sent letters by them to Capello and Ivens, informing those friends that I Avas anxiously await- ing them, and bidding them not to part from their loads, as the state of the country was anything but secure. The carriers were busy laying in their stock of provi- sions, with a view to starting next day for Caconda, and I was in the act of writing to my friends, when three porters arrived from the native chief of Quingolo, with letters from them and a basket containing salt and a little bag of rice. I opened the letters in all haste. Two of them were official and one was private, all signed by Capello and Ivens. They informed me that they had resolved to go on alone, and that, in respect of the forty carriers de- spatched by me from Quingolo, they sent me fort}- loads accompanied by the guide Barros, in order that I might convey them to the Bih^. It was only their imperfect knowledge or utter ignorance of the interior of Africa which could excuse" my friends in acting in so strange a manner: I was at that time in a hostile country, and if I had been respected hitherto it was because the people round me looked upon me and my little DESERTED. —A TERRIBLE SITUATION. 55 band as the vanguard of a considerable troop under the command of the friends in my rear, and the fear of repris- als had, up to that moment, restrained the natural rapacity of the natives. What would be my fate if it were known that my entire force consisted of but ten men? I looked my position fairly in the face, and found it replete with diflaculties. Capello and Ivens must have been deceived by some false counsellor, for of a certainty their loyalty would never have allowed them, knowingly, to abandon me in so terri- ble a position. Still what was to be done ? In three days I might reach Caconda and thence turn back to Benguella. On the other hand I had before me a journey of twenty days to the Bihd, a journey wherein I should have day by day, nay, almost hour by hour, to risk both life and property. What should I decide? The evening of the 17th of February was passed in an in- describable state of feverish agitation. The night was a fearful one ; for the fever assisted to worry my brain, and care and anxiety rapidly increased the fever. Daybreak of the 18th found me astir, and there were moments when a phrase forced itself on my mind, and I found myself mechanically giving it utterance. Audacia fortuna juvat. It was the watchword of the old Romans ; it is the law which from time immemorial has dictated the actions of adventurers. My resolution was taken. I would go on. I had not penetrated into Africa merely to visit the Nano country, however interesting it might be, especially to us Portu- guese. I aroused my men. I put before them in few words the precarious position in which we stood, and my determina- tion to go forward to the Bih^. They one and all assured me of their devotion and their resolve to stand by me to the last. 56 THE KING'S RIFLE. Of these ten men, three, viz. Verissimo Gongalves, Augusto, and Camutombo, got back to Lisbon after trav- ersing Africa with me ; four followed Capello and Ivens by my orders from the Bihe ; one, a negro, Cossusso, went off his head at the Quanza, and was entrusted to the care of Silva Porto Domingos Chacahanga, and the two remaining, Manuel and Catraiogrande, fell at my feet, pierced through by the assegais of the Luinas ; for, faith- ful to their promise made on that eventful day, they died in my defence while I was myself defending the national colors. I was still an inmate of Capoco's house, and hitherto he had been lavish of his favors ; but CapSco was celebrated far and near as the freebooter of the Nano country, who only a year before had extended his depredations even as far as Quillengues, which he had attacked. What then was likely to be his behavior when he came to know of my weakness ? Upon him depended the success of my enterprise. Ca- p8co was a man of some four-and-twenty years, of atti'active appearance and agreeable manners. Often had Verissimo Gongalves observed that it seemed impossible he could be the man whose name was a terror to the country round, and whose footsteps, wherever he wandered, were marked by devastation and death. Among his female slaves Ve- rissimo knew several girls who had been stolen from Quil- lengues during the attack of the previous year. There was one of them with whom I had myself conversed, the daughter of a Quillengues chief, and for whom Cap6co demanded a heavy ransom. CapQco was a man of intelligence, most moderate in both eating and drinking, and although in possession of a large number of female slaves, had a very limited harem. Amid the barbarism in which he lived and the looseness of his principles, he was not wanting in a certain nobility of feeling. For instance, I observed that the \'ouno- slave CAPOCO AND HIS CAPTIVE. 57 above referred to, a handsome and even elegant girl, wore upon her ankles the wooden bangles which were an infal- lible sign of virginity ; and in my surprise at the circum- stance, considering her surroundings, I ventured to ask Cap6co how it was he had not made her his own. "I cannot do it," was his reply; "she is my slave by right of war, but so long as her father shows a disposition to ransom her I must respect her, and she shall be re- spected, for I intend to deliver her up in the same state in which I took her." As I have already incidentally mentioned, the girls, so long as they remain virgins, wear upon both ankles, or upon the left ankle only, certain wooden bangles, and it is considered a great crime if any family should allow its daughters to use such distinctive mark if they have lost their title to wear it. One custom among these people struck me as very curi- ous, viz., the existence in every village of a kind of tem- ple for conversation. This retreat is in the shape of a huge vat, but the ribs which support the thatched roof are placed a good distance apart. In the centre, the hearth is blazing — for the Africans dearly love a fire — and most of the inhabitants of the place, in turn, sit around it on wooden blocks. It is the general meeting-place, more especially when it rains. There one may listen to stirring episodes of war or the chase ; love stories are not wanting, nor is there a greater lack than in Europe of tales of way- ward lives. I at length sought out Capoco and told him that my companions had proceeded by the way of Galangue ; that only fifty loads would come on, thus reducing the number of men I required to forty, and that I should want them only as far as the Bihe. On that same day the negro Barros arrived with the forty loads, and another letter from my companions confirming the contents of the first. From this last epistle I further learned that they had 58 THE KING'S KIFLE. left Caconda for the Bihd, accompanied by the ei^-chefe. Ensign Castro, and the banished Domingos, who had demonstrated to me the impossibility of obtaining men at Caconda and yet managed to get them himself the very day I left the place. It was to these last two, in all proba- bility, that I owed the critical position in which I was now placed. I do not of course accuse even them of a crime, but I cannot do less than charge them with great indiscre- tion. On the following morning the forty men assembled according to promise. I saw them oft' at about ten o'clock, accompanied by Barros, the guide, but they were thor- oughly discontented and grumbling. I was myself to follow them in about an hour's time, but had so sudden and violent an attack of fever that 1 was compelled to de- lay my journey. Since the evening before it had been i-aining in tor- rents, and the night was specially tempestuous. The fever began to abate about four in the afternoon, and the rain had, by that time, held up. At five precisely I strolled out of the place in the direction of a neighbor- ing wood, but my steps were uncertain and I had to lean heavily on my staff. Always liking to be ready for an emergency, I had told my young negro Pepeca, who was in attendance upon me, not to forget to bring one of my rifles. It M'as fortunate I did so, for we had no sooner entered the wood than an enormous buffalo sprang up within twenty paces of us, and looking at me with fiery eyes, snorted violently. I took the gun from my attendant's hand, but to my alarm and disgust saw that, instead of a rifle, he had only brought with him a common fowling-piece chai-ged with shot ! I felt that it was all over with me, and that death, as inevitable as it was ignominious, was travelling toward me in the shape of yon ferocious beast which was herald- ing his attack with a low roar. START FOR THE SAMBO COUNTRY. 59 My thoughts flew towards Heaven, my wife and my daughter. Meanwhile the creature was advancing by leaps, in that irregular way these animals use in making their attacks. At a distance of about eight paces I gave him the first charge of shot. It stopped him for perhaps half a second, and on he came again more madly than before. When I fired the second barrel the muzzle of the gun almost touched the beast's head, and the instant 1 had done so 1 leaped nimbly aside. The buffalo turned nei- ther to the right nor left, but continuing his wild career, disappeared in the thicket. Pepeca laughed fit to split his sides, and, apparently unconscious of the peril in which we had stood, clapped his hands when he recovered breath, and exclaimed, — " The bull has run away ! how we must have frightened him ! " I lost no time in returning to.Capfico's house after this adventure and passed the night in comparative ease. Be- fore I lay down I wanted to write, and was therefore com- pelled to improvise a lamp, which I made by sticking some cotton by way of wick into an old sardine box con- taining pig's lard. On the morning of the 21st of February I took leave of CapQco, and with the fever still upon me wended my way towards the Sambo territory. Before I reached the Calae I received a note from the guide Barros informing me that during the night the carriers had all fled, leaving their loads in the village of the petty chief Quimbungo, the brother of the chief or native king Bilombo. I turned back and sought an interview with Cap8co, to whom I related what had occurred. He advised me to go on to his uncle's settlement and that he would remedy the mis- chief. I therefore again proceeded, and shortly after crossed the CaMe. A bridge, roughly thrown together and composed of the trunks of trees, unites the two banks of the river. 60 THE KING'S EIFLE. I marched northeast, and at ten o'clock passed close to the village of the petty chief Chaeaquimbamba, at the entrance of >vhich there was a large assembly of people. I went by without their saying a word, but had not gone more than fifty yards when I heard a great noise from the direction of the settlement. At the same moment Veris- simo came running up to me with the intelligence that one of our own carriers was the innocent cause of the com- motion. I turned back and found the negro Jamba, on whom devolved the duty of carrying my trunk, in a great state of excitement owing to the natives having stolen his gun ; a feat which they performed the more readily as, appre- hensive of dropping his load, which he knew contained the chronometers and other delicate instruments, he made but a feeble resistance. Besides the firearm, they had carried off to the village a she-goat and a sheep, a present from CapSco. I gave them to understand that they must re- store what had been stolen, but I got nothing but mur- murs of a threatening tone in reply. I made a rapid survey of my position, and did not feel particularly comforted by the reflection that my party con- sisted of ten men, opposed to upwards of two hundred. Urged, however, by a sudden impulse, and putting aside the dictates of prudence and common sense, I deter- mined to test the mettle of those ten men, who were destined to be my comrades in even greater dangers. Moving, therefore, towards the entrance of the vilhige, I cocked my revolver, and ordered them to enter and regain possession of our property. My Benguella negro, ]\lanuel, a young man of whom I had never previously made any account, became, as it were, another being, and, cocking his gun, led the way at a trot into the village. He was at once followed by Augusto, Verissimo and Catraiogrande, and a moment after by the rest of my troop, leaving me alone to stand the brunt and become perhaps the victim of A SUCCESSFUL RAID. 01 the fury of the populace. The audacity, however, of our proceeding in all probability saved it from failure, and when Verissimo marched out from the place in triumph with the goat, and Augusto with the sheep, covered by their companions with their guns ready for use, the na- tives retired to a more convenient distance, and offered no opposition to our movements. We, however, lost the gun : easier of concealment than the animals, it was hidden securely away ; nor did a second search, which the success attending the first em- boldened us to make, bring the missing article to light. My negroes, heartened by the indecision of the natives, now became loud and warm in their desu'e for vengeance, and I had to exercise all my authority to prevent them opening fire on the groups that were watching us. I suc- ceeded in calming them at last by a promise of speedy and complete satisfaction at the hand.s of CapSco, in whom, to tell the truth, I began to feel a certain confidence. At three o'clock we reached the village of the petty chief, Quimbungo, brother of the native king of the Huambo, where we found the negro Barros iji charge of the abandoned loads. Quimbungo received me very cordially, and promised to fui-nish me with carriers to the Sambo country. On learning also of our adventure of the morning, he begged me not to let my anger fall upon Chacaquimbamba, and he would take care that the stolen gun was restored and full satisfaction given for the insult. About six that evening CapQco arrived, bringing with him several of the porters who had fled, and the goods which had been given to the others by way of advance of pay. He further told me that on the morrow the gun should be brought back, and the chief of the little village be placed at my disposal, that I might inflict upon bi m such chastisement as I thought proper. And more than this, he assured me that I need no longer fear the flight of any of the carriers, as he himself, or his uncle, would 62 THE KING'S RIFLE. accompany me as far as the Sambo. I retired to rest burning with fever, and passed a horrible night. On the next day more carriers were got together, but still not enough for our purpose. Capoco started at day- break for Chacaquimbamba's place, and at mid-day re- turned with the stolen gun and that chief himself, to whom I graciously extended full pardon for the offence of his people. The delinquent was profuse in his expressions of gratitude and — what was even more satisfactory — pre- sented me with a couple of splendid sheep. This done, Cap6co, the renowned and ferocious chief, the terror of the neishboring countries, whom I had succeeded in so completely winning to my service that he had heaf)ed me with favors, took his leave, and recommending me warmly to his uncle, quietly returned to his own residence. As evening fell, a frightful tempest broke over our encampment. Torrents of rain descended amid constant crashes of thunder, and forked lightning darted perpen- dicularly into the earth all around us. My fever increased amid this war of the elements. Shortly after daylight Quimbungo informed me that the carriers were ready, but that they demanded payment in advance. This I positively refused, for besides the expe- rience recently acquired of the folly of the practice, Capoco had advised me never to pay them beforehand. The men, in turn, refused to go, and disbanded. Quim- bungo assembled some of his immediate followers and or- dered them to accompany me, but the number was very small, so that, even with the addition of those brought me by Capoco, I had still twenty-seven loads without carriers for them, and was compelled to leave them behind under the charge of Barros, Quimbungo promising to send them after me to the Sambo, whither I decided forthwith to bend my steps. I started at 10 a. m. in an easterly direction, and at three in the afternoon we fixed our encampment in a thick ARRIVAL AT DUMBO. 63 forest of acacia-trees. The bad weather still pursued us, nor could I throw off the fever which weighed upon me. During the night an awful thunderstorm travelling from southwest to northeast passed over our heads, the vivid flashes of lightning being accompanied by torrents of I'ain. Breaking up our camp on the following morning at six, we pursued our journey, reaching the Cunene a couple of hours later. This we crossed by a bridge constructed, like all the bridges in this part of Africa, of unhewn trunks of trees. We arrived at the village of the native chief of the Dumbo in the Sambo territory at 2 p. m. BRIDGE OVER THE CUBANGO EIVEE. CHAPTER VI. TWENTT DAYS OF PKOFOUKD ANXIETY— (Continued). THE chief of Dumbo is a vassal of the King of the Sambo. He is a man of considerable wealth, and reckons a large number of inhabitants in the villages and hamlets over which he holds sway. He received me very courteously, and promised me carriers for the following day, although, as he said, I had not arrived at a very favorable juncture, as many of his people were absent on a war excursion. A short time before my own arrival, a wealthy chief, by name Cassoma, had reached the Dumbo. He was a friend of my host, whom he had come to visit, travelling for that purpose from his residence on the banks of the Cubango. This Cassoma was far from being sympathetic to me, although he was himself profuse in his expressions of friendship, and even offered to accompany me to the Bihg. In the evening I sent three bottles of aguardente to my host, and reminded him not to fail me next morning in the matter of carriers. Contrary to the hospitable customs of the natives in these parts the chief had sent me nothing whatsoever to eat, and as none would sell us flour, we were beginning to get very hungry. It was about eight o'clock at night that, in a very bad humor and with an empty stomach, I was about to retire to rest, when I heard a knocking at my door, which was immediately followed by the entrance of my host, the chief (64) AUDACITY PUNISHED. 65 Cassoma, another by the name of Pakmca, a friend and principal counsellor of my host, and five of the wives of the latter. "We conversed awhile about my journey, but Cassoma suddenly broke in with the remark that they had not come there to talk, and addressing himself pointedly to his friend, he added : — "We want aguardente, as you know, so tell the white man to give it to us." My host, encouraged by the impudence of Cassoma, then told me that I must give him and his wives some liquor. To this I replied that I had already given him three bottles, although he had not offered me bit or sup in return ; that it was the first time in the course of my trav- els I had been allowed by a chief, who proffered me hos- pitality, to go to my bed fasting, and that I should /not therefore part with another drop of aguardente. Cassoma then took up the cudgels and did all he could to awaken the anger of his brother chief; a warm controversy ensued between us, which lasted for more than an hour, and al- though I managed to keep my temper, my prudence and patience were tried to their utmost limits. Patience and prudence, however, alike gave way when my unwelcome visitors declared that, as I would not give them what they wanted by fair means, they intended to help themselves. Pushing the cask towards them with my foot, I seized my revolver, and cocking it, asked who intended to take the first drink. They hesitated a mo- ment, when Cassoma cried out to my host : — "You are king here, and have a right to the first swill." Dumbo threw off" his outer garment, which he delivered to Palanca, with the words : — " Take care the white man doesn't steal it ; " and he took two steps towards the cask. I raised my revolver to the height of his head and fired ; but Verissimo Gon^alves, who stood by me, knocked up my arm, and the ball went crashing into the wall of the 5 (J6 THE KING'S KIFLE. hut. The three negroes, trembling with fear, retreated to as erreat a distance from me as the dimensions of the building would allow, and the five women set up a horri- ble chorus of screams. I then for the first time became conscious of the sound of other human voices mixed with that laughter so peculiar to the blacks, and looking towards the door I discovered my faithful followers, Augusto and Manuel, who, on hear- ing the discussion, had softly approached, with the rest of my men in the rear, and now, armed with their guns, were keeping guard at the entrance, and heartily enjoying the scene. Verissimo then, in a confidential tone, informed my host and his companions that they had better retire and not say a word to arouse my anger, for that if I should put myself in a rage again he would not answer for the consequences, or be able perhaps to save their lives, as he had done awhile ago. They lost no time in taking his advice, and filed off, one behind the other, in the utmost silence. But for Verissimo's knocking up my arm in the way he did I should have killed the chief, and in the position in which we then stood we should in all probability have been massacred to a man. In saving my host's life he had therefore saved the lives of us all. The excitement occasioned by this last adventure so in- creased the fever within me, that when the place was cleared of my visitors I dropped in a state of utter ex- haustion upon the skins which, spread in a corner of the hut, served me by way of bed. My faithful blacks stretched themselves across the door and told me to sleep in peace, as they would watch over my safety. After a short and broken sleep I awoke to the sounds of a tempest that was raging violently outside. As I lay, I turned over in my mind the events of the few hours before, and did not derive much comfort or tranquillity from their contemplation. What would the morning bring forth? MY VIRGIN CARRIERS. 67 There was I, with my ten men, within a fortified village whence it was not easy to escape, and even were the pas- sage clear, where was I to obtain carriers now that I was, so to speak, at daggers drawn with their chief ? My read- ers may form some slight idea of the anxiety with which I watched for the first gleam of daylight. "When the dawn at last appeared I took it as a good omen that the fever had somewhat abated. I rose, made all preparations for departure, and then took the bold course of summoning the chief, who was not long in mak- ing his appearance. I told him that 1 was about to con- tinue my journey, and should leave my property under his care, until such time as I could send for it. In a very subdued manner he begged me not to do that, as he would furnish me with carriers ; he made a thousand apologies for the occurrence of the evening before, the whole blame of which he threw upon Cassoma, whom, as he averred, he had turned out of his house. This, however, was not true, as I caught a glimpse of the fellow a little later on. At ten o'clock the requisite carriers appeared. But I saw at a glance that they did not all deserve that name, for amid the group were half-a-dozen girls with bangles about their ankles ; so that, in his hurry to get rid of me, he had not waited to draw men from the surrounding hamlets, but put all he had at my disposal and made up the desired number by these female slaves. I, however, thanked him warmly and expressed my satisfaction at such a proof of courtesy, adding that I had not got with me a present worthy of his acceptance, but that I should be happy to ofier him a handsome gun if he would send a man with me, in whom he placed confidence, to receive it at the Bihd ; hinting, at the same time, that I should be pleased if he selected for such office his confidant, the chief Palanca. My delight was extreme (though I took care to conceal it) at his yielding to my request and appointing Palanca to accompany me. By so doing, this 68 THE KING'S RIFLE. Dumbo princelet delivered into my hands a precious host- age, who would be responsible not only for my own safety but for that of the loads I had entrusted two days pre- viously to the care of Barros, whom I informed of the cir- cumstances by a letter which 1 left for him at the Dumbo. I quitted the village, which had so narrowly escaped becoming a scene of successful treachery and bloodshed, at 11 A. M., marching at the head of my strangely assorted crew, consisting of my ten Beuguella braves, ten very doubtful characters of the Sambo country, and six virgin slaves of the native chief of the Dombo. The rain was falling in torrents ; but heedless of this inconvenience I trudged steadily on, anxious, as may well be supposed, to put as many miles as possible between myself and that inhospitable township. Four hours later, having ti-avelled northeast, I pitched my camp near the village of Burundoa, completely soaked through and shivering with cold and fever. I declined the hospitality offered me by the chief of the locality, for not only had I been vividly impressed with the experience of the evening before, but I began to see the wisdom of the counsel given me by Stanley — namely — never in Africa, if it could possibly be avoided, to pass the night under native roofs. I started at 7.40 a. m. in a northeasterly di^ction, traversing a highly cultivated and thickly peopled region. At noon we rested near Quiaia. The chief of this village turned out to salute me and made me a present of a large pig. I returned him its value in striped cotton stuff, at which he was very much pleased, and subsequently sent a lot of pumpkins for the use of my people. We pursued our journey in the same direction, and two hours later pitched our tents in a wood near the hamlet of the Gongo. A chief of the name of Capu90, who held sway over the neighboring hamlet, paid me the compliment of sending VISITORS IN CAMP. 69 me by three of his wives (all very ugly women) a present in the shape of a fowl and three pumpkins. In return I sent him about three yards of striped cloth and gave a few beads to the women. At nightfell we had other female visitors, offering flour, maize and manioc for sale. All these women indulged in the most extravagant head- dresses, the hair Ijeing interlaced with white coral and THE CHIEF WHO GAVE MB A PIG. made to shine with a lavish expenditure of castor oil, which seemed to 1)e a favorite article of the toilet. The men furnished mo by the chief of the Dumbo were the most insubordin-ite rascals I ever came across ; they were always either quarrelling with one another or with the Benguella porters, so that the only quiet spot in the camp, at night-time, was that occupied by the six negresses, my gentle virgin carriers. At 8 A. M. we were on our way, and at 9 passed close to the hamlets of Chacaonha, inhabited by the first of the 70 THE KING'S RIFLE. Ganguelk race in West Africa. The Bomba rivulet was shortly after forded, and we continued along its left bank for about a mile and a quarter, when the carriers suddenly laid down their loads, saying that they would not move another step, and demanded payment that they might return to their homes. We were then about a mile or so from the Cubango, and being very desirous of crossing that river, I tried to persuade them to go at least that short distance farther, and promised that, so soon as I was on the other side, I would pay them what was due and dismiss them. My persuasions, however, had no effect. They gave me to understand that the reason of their refusal was the fear of my vengeance ; that I had been grossly insulted in the village of their chief at the Dumbo ; and they were con- vinced that I would not spare them if I once got them on the other bank of the river and consequently out of their own territory. I tried to reason them out of such an absurdity, but it was labor in vain. I then refused to pay them at all if they did not carry the loads to the other side of the river. To this they replied that they would rather go without their pay than follow me, and they at once called the six girls and bade them come away with them. I was at my wit's end. Within a stone's throw, as it were, was the hamlet of that fellow Cassoma, and I thought I perceived in this business a craftily devised plan to be- tray me into his hands, he having gone on before to make his preparations. Any loads abandoned in such a place were as good as lost beyond redemption, and with this conviction on my mind my readers may imagine with what feelings I contemplated the departure of the carriers. I turned my eyes, in perplexity, towards my goods, and a sudden revulsion of feeling came over me. Seated on one of the packages that were spread upon the gi'ound was a tall, thin figure of a man, with a face as immovable THE CAPTIVE CHIEF PALANCA. 71 as if cut out of stone, and with a long gun lying across his knees. It was the petty chief Palanca, who had accom- panied me from the Dumbo, and whose existence I had almost forgotten. Now or never was the time I could make him useful. Making a spring upon him, I disarmed and threw him to the ground. Calling to my men, I ordered them to bind him hand and foot, and in a loud voice commanded Augusto and Manuel to hang him up to the projecting branch of an acacia which conveniently presented itself for the purpose. Seeing by the rope put about his neck that the order was being most undoubtedly carried out, the fellow exclaimed, " Don't kill me I don't kill me ! the carriers shall go across the Cubango." At the same time he gave vent to a loud halloa which lirought back the men, who were already at some little distance. When they were reassembled he gave the word for them to take up their loads and follow him, a command which they obeyed without hesitation. I then ordered that his feet should be unbound, and threatened him with a bullet through his head at the slightest mutiny of the carriers. Half an hour afterwards we passed the Cubango by a well-constructed bridge, and camped on the left bank near the hamlets of Chindonga. At length I stood in the Moma country, and free of the territories of the Nano, Huambo and Sambo, of which I shall retain a life-long memory. I paid and discharged the Sambo carriers, giving them a yard of striped cloth each, which was the recompense agreed on. I then called the six girls and told them I should give them nothing, as women were bound to work, and deserved no pay. They hung their heads in a very downcast fashion, but made no remark at my decision, so degraded is the position of women in this part of the world. Just as they were about to start, and had turned their heads towards the Sambo, I ordered them to come back. 72 THE KING'S RIFLE. when I made each of them a present of a couple of yards of the most brilliant chintz I possessed, and some strings of different beads. It is impossible to describe the de- light of these poor creatures at receiving so splendid a gift. The men looked on in envy, and I improved the occasion by pointing out to them that, if they had not mutinied on the other side of the Cubango, I would have given them the same guerdon. This was my revenge, and I hope the lesson was not lost upon the fellows. In the course of the evening a petty chief from Chindonga came to visit me, bringing with him a pig as a present. He promised me carriers for the following morning at the rate of half a yard of striped cloth per day. My fever had yielded to the tremendous doses of quinine I had taken ; but, completely wetted through for three whole days, I began to feel the first symptoms of that rheumatism which threatened more than once to bring my journey to a sudden close. The night was tempestuous, and the following day continued very wet. The chief was as good as his word, and put in an ap- pearance early next morning with the carriers ; but I had resolved to give myself some hours' rest, and therefore dis- missed them till the following day. I learned from the chief that my companions had passed through his place on the previous eve, coming from the south. The chief, Palanca, from the Sambo, was carefully watched, but was otherwise free. The day before I had despatched a message to my former host of the Dumbo, informing him that the head of his friend should answer for the loads that had been left behind in the care of Barros, a resolution which Palanca found most just and natural, as it was the law of the country. Just as I was starting the next morning I had the ill luck to break my spectacles, which I had worn ever since I left Lisbon. After five hours' tramp we pitched our tents on I ON THE BANKS OF THE CUTATO. 75 the left bank of the Eiver Cutato dos Ganguellas, the stream being passed by stepping-stones a little above a small cataract. At that point the river runs eastward, bending subsequently to the north and then east by south. This gigantic S is a series of rapids, where the river rushes with a tremendous roar over the granite rocks which form its bed. The right bank is covered with the plantations of the inhabitants of Moma. Before reaching the planta- tions, I crossed a forest of enormous acacias of surprising beauty. The aspect of the banks of the Cutato is veiy singular. Where the granite of the river-bed terminates, a soil commences of termitic formation, the ground undulating in thousands of little hills, some cultivated, others covered with a sylvan vegetation ; and as they are all connected, the aspect is that of a system of miniature mountain chains which perfectly enchant the beholder. During the night the rain came down in torrents, and it was not till noon on the following day that the rain ceased ; and though my pulse was going at the rate of 144 per minute, from fever, I resumed my journey at 2 p. m. I tramped along on foot, as I found it impossible to keep my seat on the ox ; but after an hour's march my legs refused to carry me farther. We therefore camped ; and I met with the utmost attention and care not only from my own negi'oes, but even from the Ganguella carriers. On my road I fell in with several gra\'es of the native chiefs, which are covered with clay, similar in shape to many in Europe. These graves are protected from the rain by a species of open shed witlr thatched roof, and are always shaded by a large tree. Upon most of them I saw earthen vases and platters, placed there by the relatives of the deceased, as we are accustomed to deposit garlands and immortelles upon the tombs of our own loved ones. On the following morning I went on, and half an hour after having left the camp I passed near the large Aillao-e o 7(5 THE KING'S RIFLE. of Cassequcra. My young negro Pepeca had so violent and sudden an attack of fever that he sank down power- less I called a halt, and sent off a messenger to the vU- lao-e of Cassequera to hire a man for the purpose of ca'rryinc. the poor fellow on his shoulders. At noon I passed near the residence of the captain of the Quingue, the first village in the (\iquingue country. I took up my quarters in the house of Joao Albino, a half-caste of Ben- .ruella, the son of the old Portuguese trader Luiz All)ino, who was killed l^y a buffalo in the wilds of the Zamljesi. TOMB OF A NATIVE CHIEF. Joao Albino resides in the compound of Camenha, son of the captain of the Quingue. Camenha himself was absent, having gone to take the command of the forces of the native ktng of Caquingue, in a war then waging, I paid a visit to the old captain of the Quingue, taking with me, by way of offering, a piece of linen cloth. He made me a present of an ox, which I ordered at once to be slaughtered. The captain was very old and infirm. He conversed with me at great length about my journey THE CAPTAIN OF THE QUINGUE. 77 and its motives, and could not comprehend what I in- tended to do. When I was about to leave him he said : — " I know now who you are ; you are a chief of the white king, and he has sent you to visit these parts, and study the roads ; for the white king knows that many things are done here that are not good , and he wants to put a stop to them. I pray you, when he does so, not to forget that I gave you an ox, and treated you as my brother. I have not long to live, but then you can remember my sons, and will do them, I hope, no injury." I was touched by the old man's words. His chiefs accompanied me respectfully to the village of the son, where I was lodging, and there were few of them who failed, during the day, to bring me over some little pres- ent, such as.a hen or two, some eggs and sugar-cane. On my return to the village, I found Francisco Gon- jalves, known as Carique, the half-brother of my follower Verissimo; who, learning of my arrival, had come to pay me a visit. This Carique was, like Verissimo, the son of the trader Guilherme, but by a different mother, and on the mother's side he was heir to the throne of Caquingue. He lives with the native king, his uncle, and is married to a daughter of the future sovereign of the Bihe. He brought several negroes with him, slaves of his father, whom he placed at my disposal to accompany me in my journey eastward from the Bihe country. As there happened to be a diviner in the village, I turned over in my mind whether I might not put him to some account. I therefore called him apart, made him sundry presents, showed him very great respect, and pre- tended to have entire belief in his science. I then besra-ed him to divine my future fate, a task which he readily accepted, calling together the whole of the inmates of the village, and many of the inhabitants of the Capitao, to be present at the divination. The ceremony was performed with great circumstance, 78 THE KING'S RIFLE. and he failed not to read in the fragments of the basket, as they were shaken uppermost, the most flattering things concerning me. I was the best of white men past, pres- ent, and future ; my journey was to be crowned with the utmost success, and happiness was to attend all those who went with me. This prophecy produced the best eflect, and no doubt had a great influence over the result of my departure from the Bih^. Day broke on the 5th of March, 1878, after a most stormy night, in which the rain had come down in tor- rents. My fever had somewhat abated, but the rheumatic pains were more persistent, and extended from the knees to the ankles. My young negro, Pepeca, was better, so I resolved to start again. Apprehensive, however, of my rheumatism, I hired a hammock and bearers^ that were most kindly supplied me by Francisco Gongalves. After many cordial adieus, I started northward. In crossing a little river, my saddle-ox, Bonito, got entangled in some weeds, lost his courage, and sank to the bottom. .1 had great difficulty in saving him, and it was past noon before we could resume our journey. On my I'oad I passed near two large villages, Cacurura and Cachota. I had already reached territory that owed obedience to the native king of the Bih^, and found the country all aljout thickly peopled and well cultivated. During the night the rain descended in torrents, and loud claps of thunder came from the eastward. My fever had completely left me, but the rheumatic pains went on progressing in violence, and threatened to extend to my whole body. The river Cuchi is at this spot twenty-seven yards wide by sixteen feet deep, and runs southward to the Cubango. One catches a glimpse from the bridge of the magnificent cataract of the Cuchi, rather more than a mile to the north, the roar of which came plainly to the ear. During the whole of that day I fell .in, on my road. A FEARFUL STORM. 79 with many bands of armed men, who were on their way to join the forces of the native liing of Caquingue ; and even after I had camped for the night, a large number of negroes, equipped for war, passed by, bound on the same errand. Between 7 and 9 p.m. there was a modei'ate fall of rain, and in the northeast distant sounds of thunder were audi- ble. The storm came nearer and spread, so that by nine o'clock there were claps of thunder from various points of the horizon, which seemed to be all converging upon my camp, which was situated on a height. At ten, five dis- tinct thunder-claps burst upon us at once, and the most horrible tempest it has ever been my fate to witness broke loose in all its fury. The flashes of lightning succeeded each other with intervals of three to five seconds, and the crash of the thunder was simply incessant. The air was as yet perfectly calm, and but a few large rain-drops were observable. The fall in the barometer was scarcely per- ceptible, and the thermometer maintained a temperature of sixteen degrees Centigrade. The magnetic needles lost their polarity, and were in a constant state of oscillation. This state of things lasted until eleven o'clock, when there was another change, even more terrible than before. A wind of excessive violence, in fact a perfect hurricane, came down from the eastAvard, and in an instant veered from point to point of the compass, until it settled in the southwest. A perfect deluge of rain followed. The wind, in its fury, literally carried our huts into the air from above our heads, and left us thus unsheltered and exposed to the pitiless rain, which fell in torrents until four in the morning, when the tempest began to abate. The rain soon extinguished our fires, the wind carried off the wreckage of the huts, and the lightning in its zig- zag course only served by its momentary brilliancy to show the havoc which the storm had made. From time to time, to the crash of the thunderbolt succeeded another 80 THE KING'S RIFLE. sound, which caused no less alarm. Some giant tree, a very monarch of the woods, which it had taken ages to bring to its state of maturity, was struck to the very heart and went toppling down, destroying others in its fall. Day broke at length, and displayed many a gap in the forest about us. The horrors of the night had painfully affected my mind, but they were absorbed, as morning appeared, by my physical suffering. An attack of rheumatism of more than usual intensity affected my every joint, and took from me all power of helping myself. When we started, therefore, at noon, stretched upon my hammock, I had to exercise no common command over myself to stifle in my throat the groans and cries provoked by the intense suf- fering which the movement of the hammock caused me. We had not been more than an hour on the road when we found ourselves in an extensive bog where the water came up to the waist-cloths of my bearers. We reached some higher ground, after great difficulty, when a fresh storm burst upon us. From my hammock, where I was lying a prey to the acutest pain, I encouraged my people to push forward. I have no recollection of anything more till the follow- ing day, when, awaking as from a trance, I found myself lying in a hut, with Verissimo standing by my side. He informed me I was at Belanga, in the village of Vicentes ; but I had not the slightest idea either of the road we had come or the night we had passed through, although by my followers' account it must have been a horrible one. I had in fact, for the time, succumbed to fever and delirium. I found my head somewhat clearer, but my pains acuter, if possible, than before. I could not make the slightest motion, and my very fingers refused to bend. I learned that the river Cuqueima was extraordinarily full, and that to wade across it was simply impossible ; but hearing that IN EXTREME PERIL. 81 a small canoe was to be had just below the cataract, I determined to go on and pass the river at that spot. On reaching the stream, it became necessary to caulk the canoe witli moss, for it was a wretched old thing, and would barely sustain the weight of a couple of men. The river, swollen with the late rains, was rushing along with great rapidity. After leaping over the rocks which formed the cataract, the waters divided, leaving an islet in the centre, and shortly after they blended again into one channel, some one hundred and ten yards wide. That was the spot selected for crossing. 1 was laid at the bottom of the canoe with the utmost care, as every involuntary jolt wrung from me a cry of pain. A skilful boatman handled the paddle, and the canoe left the bank. The water was not only made peril- ous by the rapidity of the current, but by the excessive "choppiness" of the surface caused by the proximity of the falls. The hoatman steered his cainoe for the ait, and until he reached the junction of the waters all went right enough ; but there the fragile skiff, caught in the furious eddies, could not be persuaded to advance a foot in spite of all the skill and strength of the negro. As I lay, I saw the water leaping in foamy waves about us, becoming larger and more threatening as we got more into the current, and I began to comprehend the extreme peril in which I was placed. I tried to move one of my arms, but only called forth a groan with the effort. I gave myself up for lost, for if the canoe went to the bottom I was surely incapable of swimming. The canoe, worked upon by the eddies of the seething water, would not go forward, and suddenly the unfortunate skiff began to whirl round itself. My boat- man, apprehending we should go to the bottom, deter- mined to jump overboard to lighten the canoe, and warning me of his intention leaped into the stream. 82 THE KING'S RIFLE. The canoe, thus lightened, floated certainly higher, but scarcely improved my position, as it was now at the entire mercy of the rushing water. All of a sudden, a wave leaped over the side and soaked me through. My senses for the time almost forsook me, and I scarcely knew M'hat occurred until I found myself swimming with one arm with all my remaining strength, whilst the other hand was endeavoring to keep from out the. water one of the chro- nometers I happened to have with me. My sensations returned in the act of swimming, and I remember being conscious of a certain pride in thus buffet- ing with and overcoming the waves ; a task that would have been easy enough to me under ordinary circum- stances, as I had been accustomed from childhood to wrestle with the rapids of my native Douro. The negroes, who are ever ready to admire feats of physical skill, stood upon the bank and animated me with cries of applause. My pains had ceased, my fever was gone, as if by magic, and I felt, whilst the excitement lasted, as though my strength had returned to me. / When the canoe foundered, out of a hundred men that were present at the spectacle, and stood open-mouthed and undecided as they looked on, one at least tempted the perils of the waters and leaped in to save me. A less skilful swimmer than myself, he did not reach the bank till after I had done so, nor did he render me any help ; but his devotion, at such a time, made a, deep impression upon me which will never be effaced. He was one of my own negroes, Garanganja, who, poor fellow, subsequently went out of his mind, unable to bear up against the misery and privations to which we were subjected. When I got to land I found myself, as I have men- tioned, without either pain or fever. I stripped at once ; but unfortunately I had no change of clothes, as the whole of the baggage was still on the other side of the stream, so that I was compelled to remain exposed to the burning ARRIVAL AT BELMONTE. 83 rays of the sun until they had thoroughly dried my things. The consequence was, the pains and fever came back with redoubled violence, and I remember no more until 1 found myself next day lying on a bed in the compound of the Ann unci ada. Racked as I was with pain, and burning with fever, but somewhat better for the long rest, I decided on leaving, so great was my anxiety to meet with my companions. I arrived at Silva Porto's village (Belmonte) at one in the afternoon, and by making a supreme effort reached the house of my late companions. Confirming verbally what they had told me in writing, they said they had determined to go on alone, and Mrould leave me a third part of the goods and stores, saving such things as were incapal)le of division, which they would retain themselves. Ivens offered to accompany me back to Benguella, seeing the precarious state of my hetdth, if I made up my mind to return to Europe. I could but express my gratitude for so generous and disinterested an offer. A VILLAGE IN THE lilllE. CHAPTER Vn. BELMONTE. AFTER the twenty days of toil, anxiety, and suffering detailed in former chapters, I found myself at length in the Bihd — very ill, it is true, but full of faith, and sat- isfied with what I had done. Directly after my conversation with my late comi^an- ions, I left Belmonte and was conveyed in my hammock to the neighboring village of Magalhaes, where, on my arrival, I dropped without strength or motion on to my couch of skins. The first symptoms of inflammation of the brain (meningitis) became perceptible in the pace that the rheumatic pains were increasing in intensity. On the following day Capello and Ivens came to see me and bring me medicines. I rapidly grew worse till de- lirium took possession of my senses. When I recovered consciousness, I thought I was in a dream. I perceived that I was lying on a magnificent bed, divested of my clothes and between fine linen sheets. The bed was up- holstered with elegant curtains of pink rep with a snowy white fringe. I was informed that Capello had come during my de- lirium, and had ordered the bed to be sent me from Silva Porto's house at Belmonte. I had much ado to believe that an article of such luxury existed at the Bilie. My attendants had literally covered me with leeches, and the amount of blood they had drawn from me left me in a state of indescribable weakness. The pains had some- what subsided, but the fever still continued. (84) a o THE GRIM CHIEF OF DUMBO. 87 A couple of days later Ivens called on me, and we had a long talk. I gave him all the letters of recommendation with which I had been favored by Silva Porto in Ben- guella for the obtaining carrievs, and I undertook not to apply to the native king, Quilemo, for any men — thus leaving the field entirely open to himself and Capello. Ivens informed me that they intended moving into their encampment and that they would leave me my share of the baffsage in Silva Porto's house. In return I delivered over to him all the loads I had brought with me, together with those under the care of Barros, which had already arrived in safety. Barros himself declared that he had no wish to go any farther, so I dismissed him — as I did also some of the Benguella negroes, who did not care to con- tinue the journey. I wrote a few lines to Pereira de Mello, which the state of my health did not allow me to extend, and then begged to be left alone. Quite worn out with such unwonted exertion I was about to turn in to the sheets and seek in sleep a relief from pain and worry, when there rose up befoi'e me, like a spectre, a tall, lean man, with cold and impassive look, and strongly-marked features. It was my prisoner, the chief Palanca, the counsellor and friend of the native king of the Dumbo in the Sambo country, whom I had, truth to tell, entirely foi-gotten. " Thou hast dealt according to thy will with all thy peo- ple," was his greeting. " Some thou hast dismissed and others thou hast retained ; what dost thou determine with respect to me, and what is to be my fate ? " "Thou shalt return to thy home," I replied ; "thou shalt take back to the Dumbo the gun I promised the king, together with some powder ; and thou shalt also take with thee a present for thyself. I owe thee some reparation for the rope put about thj^ neck at the Cubango, and for the cords with which thy hands and feet were bound." I then called Verissimo and gave him the necessary in- 88 THE KING'S RIFLE. structions for the purpose. Palanca, as impassible in face of freedom and of guerdons as he had been in that of im- prisonment and impending death, retired without a word, and I saw him no more. The door which let out the grim chief of the Sambo gave entrance to two other visitors. It was destined that I should have but little rest on the first day of improve- ment in my health. They were two confidential negroes, Cahinga and Jamba, sent me by Silva Porto from Ben- guella. They were profuse in their compliments and ofiers of service, which, however flattering to mj'' self- love, I could well have dispensed with just then. I got rid of them at last, and with a sentiment of immense relief found myself between the sheets, and alone. And yet not quite alone, though the companion left to me would in no way disturb my rest. By my side, the place she best loved to occupy, was the creature that proved my greatest comfort in my journey across Africa. It was Cora, my pet goat, her fore-paws resting on the bed, that, with low bleating, whilst she licked my hands, sought the caresses of which she had been so long de- prived. On the following day Capello and Ivens sent me notice that they were moving out of Silva Porto's house, and in consequence I had myself conveyed thither in my ham- mock. I found they had left me seven loads of goods; six cases of provisions, a trunk with instruments, and three Snider rifles. The settlement of Silva Porto, or more correctly speak- ing th^ village of Belmonte, is situated upon the highest portion of a rising ground, M'hose northern declivity slopes gently down to the bed of the river Cuito, which flows eastward into the Cuqueima. The position of the place is very charming, and from a strategic point of view is strong. Within its enclosure is an orange orchard, where the trees are ever covered with UNDER THE ORANGE TREES. 89 fruit and blossom, which I found was not the case with any others in the Bih^. This orchard is surrounded by a hedge of rose-bushes, that attain to the height of ten feet, and are never without flowers. Enormous sycamores give shade to the streets and surround the village, which is fur- ther defended by a strong wooden stockade. Under those orange-trees, whose perfumed shade pro- tected me from the burning sun, how many hours, how many days, indeed, did I not spend, pondering over my position, and weaving projects more or less reasonable ! VIEW OF THE EXTERIOE OF THE VILLAGE OF BELMOXTB. If I feel proud of any portion of my journey, the feeling certainly belongs to this particular period, for, situated as I was, scarcely able to crawl, the determination grew within me not to turn my back upon the unknown regions that lay before me, let them be as full of horrors as they might, but to overcome one by one the obstacles as they arose ; to reconstruct the edifice I had raised with so much labor and thought, and which had toppled over like a child's house of cards ; and to organize a fresh and grander expedition out of the ruins of the one which had come to so untimely an end. 90 THE KING'S RIFLE. After patient study of the direction I proposed to pursue, I determined to make directly for the Upper Zambesi, following the lofty ridge of the country in which the rivers of that part of Africa take their rise. On arriving at the Zambesi, I resolved to travel eastward and survey the affluents of the left bank of the stream, and descending to the Zumbo, proceed thence to Quillimane by Tete and Senna. The most experienced traders, who heard cf my project, •'assured me that I should not get half-way to the Zambesi, and I believe they thought me not quite right in my mind to attempt it. Not so very long ago, this territory of the Bihe was covered with dense jungles, abounded in elephants, and boasted but a few sparse hamlets inhabited by the Gan- guella race. The monarch of the Gamba was a certain Bomba, who had a daughter of extreme beauty, called Cahanda. It happenned that this beautiful princess requested her father's permission to visit certain relatives, ladies of distinction in the village of Ungundo, the only place of any importance in the Bihe of those days. King Bomba's daughter having gone on this visit, it also happened that a famous elephant-hunter by the name of Bihe, son of the Sova of the Humbe, attended by a numerous suite, passed the Cunene and in the pursuit of his sport reached those remote regions. One day, this worthy disciple of St. Hubert being hungry, and finding himself near the village of Ungundo, repaired thither to seek materials for a meal. On this occasion he cast eyes upon the beautiful Cahanda, and, as a matter of course, fell deeply in love with her. In ques- tions of love it would not appear that there is much differ- ence between Africa and Eui'ope, and very shortly after the accidental meeting of the young people, Cahanda was wooed and won, and Bihe planted the first stockade of the great village which remains to this day the capital of the country — a country on which he bestowed his own name, A LOVE MATCH IN THE BIH^. 91 and whereof he caused himself to be proclaimed the sova or king. The scattered Ganguella tribes were little by- little subjected, and the father of the first Queen of the Bihe, becoming reconciled to his daughter, allowed a con- siderable emigration of his people to the latter state. The marriage of their sovereign was succeeded by many other unions between the women of the north and the huntsmen who had followed in his train, and thus was the country of the Bihe called into existence. The rains had been gradually decreasing, falling from six to nine at night only, since the beginning of the month. The weather was splendid, and was admirably fitted for travelling ; it was already the 14th of April, and yet I was detained in the Bihe ! The fact was, that I was still waiting for the bulk of the goods and effects left behind in Benguella in the month of November of the previous year, only a portion having reached me at the beginning of March ! The delay was becoming a very serious matter, and altogether the pros- pects of my enterprise looked anything but promising. The want of occupation was beginning to tell prejudicially upon my men, and vices would creep out which amid the fatigue and excitement of travel lay dormant. On the 19th Ivens came to call upon me, and caused me, by his appearance, no little anxiety concerning the state of his health. He had got exceedingly thin, was deathly pale, and bore a look of constant suffering upon his features. I wanted him to come and dine with me the following day, it being the anniversary of my birth, but he excused him- self on the score of his health. Two days afterward I went over to my late companions' encampment to return Ivens' visit. Capello was absent, having gone to determine the position of the source of the Cuanza. On the 25th, the first Bailundos arrived with the Ben- guella goods, and on the following day more of them appeared. These Bailundos turned out to be insolent 92 THE KING'S RIFLE. fellows, and caused great disorder in Belmonte ; indeed the mischief would have assumed larger proportions if I had not myself interfered to check the rioters. I was just at this time so busy as to have scarcely a moment to eat my dinner. I had to arrange the loads, and be present at every operation to avoid being robbed, for all the blacks, Silva Porto's and my own into the bargain, were a band of thieves. There was one exception, however, but one only. This was my negro Augusto, who always displayed the utmost fidelity towards me. When I engaged the porters at Benguella, I hired Augusto among the rest, and at the time attached no sort of importance to him, as there appeared but little to distinguish him from the others, unless it was perhaps his being given somewhat more than they to drunkenness. , In distributing the fire-arms, the men made some diflS- culty about accepting the Sniders, whilst Augusto on the contrary specially asked for one. This first attracted my attention to him. One day, in the Dombe country, I exercised the men in shooting at a mark, and found he was a very tolerable shot. Later on, in Quillengues, I heard that he had asserted among his fellows his determination never to leave me, and as, on account of his herculean strength and courage, he had secured a great ascendancy over his companions, I made him one of my body-guard. At the time at which my narrative has arrived he had improved his position, and from being a simple carrier was promoted to the rank of chief, a position which he filled most satisfactorily, for those who did not like or respect him, and they were few, were afraid of him. Augusto was decidedly the best negro I met with in Africa. But no one is pei'fect in this world, and Augusto was far from being an exception to the rule. Amonii- his defects I must mention one, which I am nevertheless inclined to treat rather tenderly, for though it is unques- A WELL MARRIED AFRICAN. 93 tionably a serious failing in an African traveller, it may elsewhere be ranked among the virtues. To describe it briefly : Augusto was desperately fond of the fair sex. Strong as a bufialo, courageous as a lion, he deemed it, I suppose, his duty to give protection and support to the frail beings he met upon his way. It would be too long to record his aventures galantes from Benguella to the Bihe. Married in Benguella, he took another wife at the Dombe, another at Quillengues, a fresh one at Caconda, wedded anew in the Huambo, and since his arrival at the Bihe had gone through the mar- riage ceremony three or four times more. Obedient enough in all things else, he was completely deaf to my admonitions on this subject. But one day, as the complaints of his various wives Avere loud and trouble- some, I summoned him to my presence, reprehended him severely, and threatened to turn him adrift if he did not amend. He blubbfcred a good deaf, threw himself on his knees at my feet, made a thousand promises to reform, and said if I would only let him have a piece of cloth to divide among the women and stop their tongues he would have nothing more to say to them, but would remain faithful to his Marcolina, his Benguella partner. I gave him the cloth, and felt delighted at having brought about such sincere repentance. That very evening I was disturbed by an unusual noise in a distant part of the village, Avhere songs and other sounds of merriment indicated some festive event. I had the curiosity to learn the cause and sent some one out to inquire. The reader may conceive my feelings -when I was told that it was Augusto celebrating his fresh marriage with a girl from the village of Jamba ! There was no help for it. I saw that this mania of get- ting married was stronger than his will, and I therefore determined in my own mind to interfere no more with his matrimonial affairs which, after all said and done, com- 94 THE KING'S RIFLE. promised no one, as the rascal always kept within the limits of the law. It was now the second of May, and as yet I had been unable to get the carriers together, while I was still wait- ing for the powder and salt that had been despatched from Benguella. Verissimo was doing his best to collect the men, but hitherto without success. On the following morning as I was busy about the house, I heard outside, to my astonishment, the sounds of a violin, playing very melodious airs, and totally different to the monotonous music usual among the negroes. I ordered that the minstrel should be brought in, and there appeared before me a tall, spare, black man, almost naked, with a countenance at once melancholy and expressive. The instrument he carried was a fiddle manufactured by himself, e t> o g K litfH^l^iiiiiBiiSiSii^^fliiS THE CHACAIOMBE MYSTERY. 115 I have frequently spoken about Dr. Chacaiombe, and never explained to my reader who he was. He was the diviner who, it may be remembered, predicted such agree- able things in respect to my future fate, when I was tem- porarily staying in the house of the Captain of the Quin- gue's son. He had come unsolicited to attach himself to my stalf when in the Bihe. CUBANGO woman's HKAD-DEESS. After many words of compliment, Chacaiombe informed me that carriers would arrive within a couple of days ; so I resolved to wait for them. Next day I again explored the Onda, and was greatly surprised at the appearance of a hamlet which I descried at a distance on its })anks. On a nearer approach I found that what I took for negro habitations were no other than the residences of white ants {termites), collected in con- siderable groups, with conical tops, and having all the appearance, seen afar off, of native huts. 116 ■ THE KING'S RIFLE. On getting back to camp I found the Sova of Cabango, who had just arrived with a suite of sixty men and a great many women. Though in ahnost a complete state of nudity of body, they were extraordinarily dressed about the head. The head-dresses were infinite in variety, in fact, were true works of art, and have a technology of their own. The sova offered me an ox, which I returned in a fashion that seemed perfectly to satisfy him. VIEW OP LAKE LIGUEI. On that same day the carriers from Cap8co arrived ; they wei'e l)ut four, it is true, but four were then enough. In the evening my negroes and those of the locality had a jollification, which lasted amid great uproar until past ten. The cold that niajht was intense. The sova now paid me another visit, and furnished me with scraps of information about the country. After a long talk he pretended that he was entitled to a variety of things on the ground of another ox he had given me, which was a pure invention. I saw myself under the necessity of desiring him to leave my encampment. THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. 117 I resumed my journey on the 28th, and after a three hours' walk I stopped again on the banks of the river Onda. For upwards of an hour after leaving the encamp- ment I strolled along the river upon open ground, but I then came upon a splendid forest which at times assumed the aspect of one of those extensive English parks, where the ground was completely clothed with a soft green turf. I wandered on and on, until at length my steps were arrested as if by magic, while my eyes contemplated with delight one of the most charming prospects they had ever beheld. Before me lay in perfect repose a lake of crystalline water, whose bed of fine sand was visible at a considera- ble depth. Enormous trees springing from the borders of the lake formed an appropriate frame, while the rich, deep green of the foliage reflected to the smallest bough on the placid surface of the water greatly enhanced the beauty of the landscape. The green turf to which I have alluded ceased only at the water's edge, and hundreds of birds chirped and twittered amid the dense foliage, and at times skimmed rapidly over the lake. The natives of the country, who are not much given to poetry or sentiment, are nevertheless sensible of the ex- treme loveliness of this spot, and call the sheet of water — of which they had frequently spoken to me — by the name of Lake Liguri. On the 30th of June I reached the valley of the Chi- conde, a rivulet whose course I followed till I reached the Cuito, where I camped. I was much moved on falling in with the Chiconde to observe its waters running rapidly towards the river Cuito, for until then I had only met with streams which ran towards the Atlantic ; and their waters, whose ripple and rush had so often lulled me to sleep, were, so to speak, a tie which still bound me to my dear country, as they emptied themselves into the same ocean which bathed the shores of my native Portugal. 118 THE KING'S RIFLE. Could those waters only have conveyed the sighs and whis- pered words that were uttered over them, how many tender messages would they not have carried to my dear ones ! That very day a year had passed since I bade farewell to my dear old father ; and how vividly did I not remember his parting words, and the expression of his fears that we were bidding each other an eternal adieu ! My camp was next pitched in the country of the Luchazes. Several men and women came into camp ; but they brought nothing with them for sale, and we wanted food. They promised, however, next day to let us have some canary-seed. The Luchazes women carry their baskets suspended from their heads by a broad strip of the bark of a tree, and falling upon their backs. This prevents them cany- ing their children in the mode generally in use in Africa, upon their shoulders, so that the little ones are slung by their sides. While I was giving orders to break up the encampment, a gang of female slaves, conducted by three negroes, ar- rived on the banks of the Cuito. I seized the three blacks, and had the poor creatures set at liberty. When they were assembled in my camp, I informed them that they were free, and that if they chose to join my company, I would find means of sending them on to Benguella. I assured them they had nothing more to fear from their guards, and that they were quite at liberty to act as they pleased. To my astonishment, they one and all declared that they did not desire my protec- tion, but wished to continue their course, which I had interrupted. Whence came they? None could furnish me with an intelligible reply. What then was to be done ? I felt a natural repugnance to take them with me against their own will ; so, after due deliberation, I resolved to let the poor women follow the sad fate which they had the A PANIC AND ITS CAUSE. 119 means, but lacked the inclination, to escape. They were therefore allowed to follow their leaders. I set out again in an easterly direction, and after a two- hours' march sighted a village and pitched my camp on the banks of a rivulet close up to it. I learned that both rivulet and village bore the name of Bembe. When the work of cutting down the wood for our encampment commenced, I saw a sudden commotion among my blacks, who then took to their heels in every direction. Not understanding the cause of their panic, I immediately proceeded to the spot to make inquiries. On the very place which I had selected for my camp, appeared issuing from the earth millions of that terrible ant called by the Bihenos quissonde, and it was the sight of these formidable creatures which scattered my men. The quissonde ant is one of the most redoubtable ivild beasts of the African continent. The natives say it will even attack and kill an elephant, by swarming into his trunk and ears. It is an enemy which, from its countless numbers, it is quite vain to attack, and the only safety is to be found in flight. The length of the quissonde is about the eighth of an inch ; its color is a light chestnut, which glistens in the sun. The chiefs of these terrible warriors lead their compact phalanxes to great distances, and attack any animal they find upon the way. On more than one occasion during my journey I had to flee from the presence of these dread- ful insects. Some messengers whom I had despatched to the village of Bembe returned with the unpleasant news that the petty chief of the place had given orders to his people to sell me no provisions. We were all beginning to feel the cravings of hunger ; game there was none, and our entire food during the day had been a handful or so of mas- sango. Next morning, early, we had another mishap through 8 120 THE KING'S RIFLE. one of the earners falling ill, but my Doctor, Chacaiombe, though he could not cure the patient, nevertheless reme- died the evil by shouldering the sick man's pack. After a trying march, we came to an incline, at the foot of which appeared a plain whose extent was incalculable, owing to a dense forest. We descended till we reached the edge of the wood, but had then to alter our course, as the jungle was_simply impenetrable. We lighted upon the track of some animal, which we followed, until we came to a dead stop on the edge of a precipice, three hundred feet at least in depth, at the foot of which was brawling a mountain torrent. The difficulty of the path, the heavy loads with which the men were weighted, and the weakness of the latter, induced me to call a halt and pitch our camp. The hunarer from which we were sufTerins: was begin- ning to get unbearable. I felt that game must be ob- tained, for nature could not hold out much longer. Hav- ing therefore made my arrangements, I started off in one direction, and sent my attendants Augusto and Miguel, the only trustworthy woodsmen I possessed, in another. Shortly after leaving the camp I found the track of a herd of buffaloes, and at once followed it. It led me at length to the very bottom of the precipice, where the water was brawling over its uneven bed, and for a con- siderable time I kept along its right bank, till, finding an opportunity, I crossed to the other side, whence I per- ceived my buffaloes grazing at the outskirt of a dense virgin forest. They were at least five hundred yards from me. Then began the fatiguing operation of stalking — my gun on the trail, wading, as it were, through a sea of dry grass. From time to time I would raise my head to see how much my distance had been shortened, and to make sure the creatures had not taken the alarm. The very idea brought the moisture to my skin, for I longed in THE ELEPHANT SLAYER IN TROUBLE. 121 fancy to return to the camp and bid my followers hie to the banks of the torrent, where they would find provisions to stay the cravings of their hunger. My hopes and fancies were dispersed as if by an en- chanter's wand. When I lifted up my head for the last time, not a buflalo was visible. They must have disap- peared within the forest. I rose in all haste, and with the utmost speed of which I was capable, followed in the direc- tion they must have taken. It was perfectly in vain. The thick and springy moss which covered the ground left not a trace of their passage, nor could my keenest endeavors overcome the difficulty. It was a deep disappointment, unrelieved by any after- success ; so that about six in the evening, worn out with fatigue and hunger, I made my way back to the camp, having, as I calculated, covered some twelve miles in vain. The others, however, had been more happy than myself. Augusto came running out to meet me with a radiant face, and with no little triumph led me up to a superb antelope which he had shot a little while before. I lost no time in cutting it up and dividing it equally among us all. The contentment caused in my whole being by the con- sumption of a hearty supper was somewhat dashed at the aspect of my worthy Miguel, the elephant-slayer, who ap- peared before me with such a long face that I was sure something very serious had occurred to disturb him, and when I learned the cause, I did not wonder, though I could not help being inwardly amused, at his dismay. During his absence my pet goat Cora had got into his tent and sacrilegiously munched up the wonderful charm which he possessed for slaying elephants ! The next day we started in a southeast direction, and after a two-hours' march, came upon a river that was very difficult to cross over. I gave orders for the felling of some large trees, and managed to throw them across the 122 THE KING'S RIFLE. stream by way of a bridge, over which the caravan passed in safety. I subsequently halted near two villages, and the inhabitants gathered about us, with whom we had a parley about provisions. A lot of massango, — the canary-seed before alluded to, — was brought into camp by negroes who were almost entirely destitute of clothing, and, as we did not dispute about price, we shortly had sufficient for that day's consumption. The people with whom we were in communication were only recent settlers and had no store of provisions to dis- pose of; but they informed me that on the other side of a lofty serra lying to the eastward, there were several Luchaze villages and abundance of food. I hired guides to take us thither. FISH OF THE KIVEB ONDA. CHAPTEE X. A VOYAGE ON THE CUBANGUI. THE next morning we left the camp, and directed our course to the Serra Cassara Caiera, the lofty mountain to which allusion had been made the day before. The actual height of the mountain is 5,298 feet above the sea- level, or 450 feet above my camp on the Cambinbia. It forms a table-land with tolerably steep slopes. The climb to the top was fatiguing. During the process the carriers beguiled the time, and perhaps lightened their labors, by a monotonous chant, which literally translated, ran as follows : — " The cobra has no arms, n6 legs, no hands, no feet. And yet he climbs the mount ! Why should not we get up as well, with arms and legs and hands and feet?" I went on for about an hour along the summit of the serra from west to east until I came to the descent. From the highest point, a magnificent panorama meets the eye of the spectator, extending from northeast to northwest. The entire course of the Eiver Cuango is visible. I pitched my camp at the source of the Cansampoa, a rivulet which runs into the Guango. In the immediate vicinity, but on the other side of the rivulets, were five Luchaze hamlets. The petty chief came to call on me, bringing with him a kid by way of present. He promised to send me some massango, and guides to conduct me to the village of Cambuta. He was as good as his word, and the massango and guides appeared in due time. (123) 124 THE KING'S RIFLE. On the 6th of July I started in an easterly direction, and, after three hours' journey camped near the River Biceque. The country is dotted over with hamlets, whose populations obey the Sova of Camhuta. I was able at the latter place to get a tolerable supply of massango, the sole article of food they cultivate in any quantity, and con- sequently the only one they offered for sale. Fortunately there were large flocks of wood-pigeons, and I managed to bring down not a few, charging my gun with little pebbles from the bed of the rivulet. "VILLAGE OF CAMBUTA, LUCHAZE. Among the girls who came into my camp to dispose of massango, I noticed more than one of elegant form and graceful carriage. It could not be said that they owed anything to art, for clothing they had none ; a little strip of bark doing duty for the traditional fig-leaf. The cold continued intense during the night, and we could get no rest except in the neighl)orhood of our fires. On the following day thei'e was considerable sickness in camp. "THE LARGEST RIVER IN THE WORLD.' 125 The Sova of Cambuta was absent at the chase, and the honors of his house were done me by his wives, with whom I was soon on the most cordial terms. I obtained from them not only a good share of massango, but a dozen porters to carry it, and two guides to lead me to the sources of the Cuando and the Cubangui, an affluent of the latter— rivers which the natives of the country told me were the largest in the world. I started on the 9th of July, crossed the river Cutangjo, and camped on its right bank. I paid a visit to the village of Chaquicengo, which, like the whole of the inhabited places throughout the country, is very pretty and extremely LUCHAZK TEAP. neat. The houses are made of the trunks of trees, about four feet in height, which is in fact the height of the walls. The space between each upright is filled in, occasionally with clay, and in other cases with straw. The roofs are thatched, and, as the frame-work is composed of very fine rods, the thatch' bends inward, and produces an eflfect similar to the roofs of the Chinese. The granaries are perched at a considerable height upon a timber frame- work, entirely of straw, with a movable cover. Access is obtained by means of a hand-ladder, and they are, in fact, little more than gigantic water-proof baskets, on which conical covers have been placed. The fowl-houses are 126 THE KING'S EIFLE. quadrangular pyramids of twigs and trees, placed upon four lofty stakes, to protect the inmates from the attacks of small carnivora. In the centre of the village I observed, as in the Cuambo, a Mosque or temple for meeting or conversation. I found several men squatted round the hearth, busy making bows and arrows. They received me very courteously, and offered me for drink a liquor composed of water, fermented honey, and powdered hops. They called it " Bingundo," and I thought it the most alcoholic stufi' I had ever tasted. The Luchazes make use of a gin or trap to catch small antelopes and hares. It is ingenious in construction and will be readily understood by a glance at the drawing. On my return to camp, after an excursion to the sources of the Cutangjo, I was accompanied by a large number of men and women, who were never tired of looking at me. They were none of them remarkable for beauty. On the 10th of Jul}' we started at eight in the morning, and half an hour later, lost ourselves in a forest of excessive density, from which we only managed to emerge, with considerable trouble at ten o'clock. We then traversed a space that was free of underwood, but covered with gigantic trees, which shaded us delightfully from the sun. In another half-hour we were in a thick jungle again, where ■locomotion was difficult and even painful. At length I descried the pleasant slope of an -eminence, at whose feet , la}^ the sparkling water of a little lake, surrounded by a verdant carpet of waving grass. Having determined the position of the sheet of water, I drew off from it, and had my camp pitched some hundred yards or so to the south upon the rising ground, and about ninety feet above the surface of the marsh, — for the spot where the great affluent of the Zambesi takes its rise rather deserved that name than the designation of a lake. In the midst of my labors I had a sudden and violent attack of fever, which completely prostrated me for some TOMAHAWKS, TINDEE-BOX, FLINT AND STEEL. KNIFE-SHEATH. — BASKET. — WOODBH-BOLSTER, — BEBHrVE. 128 THE KING'S RIFLE. three hours. When I came to my senses I could scarcely refrain from smiling at my curious plight. I was literally covered with amulets, my chest alone being thickly strewed with the horns of small antelopes full of the most precious medicines. A bracelet of crocodile's teeth encircled my right arm, and two enormous buffalo-horns were suspended from a couple of poles set upright in my tent. During the fever my negroes had lavished the greatest care upon my person, and, in obedience to Dr. Chacai- ombe's instructions, had heaped these things upon me with the utmost faith in the result. A strong dose of quinine, which I took as soon as I was able, brought about my speedy recovery, a result that was no doubt, however, set down to the virtues of the amulets. Early next day I drew up a rough map of the marsh ; rec- tified my position, and constructed a small monument of clay in the hut where I made my observations. "Within this tumulus I buried a bottle which had contained qui- nine, carefully wrapped up, and containing a paper, on one side of which I wrote the names of the members of the Central Geographical Commission, headed by that of His Majesty the King of Portugal, and on the other the co- ordinates of the spot and the date. My twelve Luchaze carriers were very homesick, and complained bitterly of the cold. The country is depopu- lated, and should contain a great deal of game, judging from the traces that were observable. Another clear evi- dence of the fact was the number of leopards we started, but, unfortunately for us, we started nothing else. On the morning of the 12th July, with a temperature only two degrees above zero, I broke up my camp and prepared to leave. Thousands of paroquets, that were harbored in the woods, were all shrieking at once, and the noise they made was perfectly deafening. I kept along the right bank of the Cuando for a couple THE SUMMIT OF THE SERRA. 129 of hours, and then, at the direction of the guides, crossed over to the left, by a bridge which we improvised out of the trunks of trees. I encamped beside the river. The next morning I was again on the move, and tramped on till noon, camping at that hour near a brook which ran into the Cuando. The woods I had passed through, and the one where I was now encamped, were almost exclusively composed of enormous trees, which the Bihenos styled Cuchibi, and that turned out most service- able to my half-famished caravan. They produced a fruit not unlike a French bean, having one bright scarlet seed enclosed in the dark-green husk. After a lengthened concoction the scarlet envelope separates from the white sheaths and forms the edible portion of the fruit. The next day I left the river Cuando and travelled east- ward. At noon I arrived at the summit of the serra, whence the guides pointed out to me in the far distance the sources of the river Cubangui. In the afternoon I camped hard by the sources themselves. Our last rations were here served out, and hunger again stared us in the face. The guides averred we were at no great distance from the vil- lages, but it would take us at least a couple of days to reach them, owing to our numerous invalids. On the following day I could not keep up the march of the caravan over four hours, and was compelled to camp alongside the Cubangui, which river, in fact, I had not left from the time of making its source. A gnu which I shot, and a little honey which the negroes gathered in the forest, furnished our only rations for that day. Next morning I went on again, following the right bank of the stream, and after another four-hours' march camped beside the Linde rivulet, opposite three Ambuella villages. I at once despatched messengers, not only to those places, but to others lying on the same side of the river as our- selves, but all we obtained was a scanty supply of mas- sango. 130 THE KING'S RIFLE. It took six hours next day to reach the sova's village, Cangamba. I forthwith despatched a present to the great man, in the shape of an old uniform of an infantry captain, with which he was delighted, and gave prompt orders to his people to supply me with food. We obtained, in ex- change for beads, some of that eternal — I had almost said cursed — massango, from which there appeared now to be no escape. I discharged my guides and the twelve Luchazes MOENE OAHENGA, SOVA OF CANGAAtBA. who had accompanied me thus far, and who took their leave well satisfied with ^vhat I gave them. I saw and conversed with a band of hunters who were travelling southwards in search of elephants. It was the first time I had heard speak of elephants, as not one is to be found throughout the country I traversed from Ben- guella to the Culiangui. A couple of days after my arrival I received a visit from the Sova of Cangamba, by name Moeue Cahenga, who AFLOAT ON AN UNKNOWN STREAM. 131 brought with him as a present four chickens and a large basketful of massango. He was wearing the uniform I sent him, to which he had added a belt hung with leopard-skins. He carried in his hand an instrument formed of antelopes' tails, with which lie kept off the flies. Having obtained guides, a few carriers, and a good store of the despised food, I decided upon making a fresh start on the 22d of July in the direction of the villages under the sway of Sova Cahu-heu-iie on the River Cuchibi. My guides informed me that I should have to travel through a desert country for eight days, and that I must consequently be well provided with provisions. The guides having assured me that for a couple of days we should have to stick to the river's bank, I took it into my head to descend the stream in my India-rubber boat. Having ordered it to be conveyed to the river, I broke up my camp, and, entrusting the command of the caravan to Verissimo, I embarked with two young niggers, my at- tendant Catraio, and another little fellow, about twelve years of age, called Sinjamba, the son of a Biheno carrier, whom I had selected for his knowledge of the Ganguella tongue, and converted into my interpreter. I confess that it was not without a certain trepidation that I pushed ofl" from the bank into the middle of an unknown stream, with mere children for companions and a fragile canvas-boat beneath me. The Cubangui is sixteen yards across and nineteen feet deep at Cangamba, but widens out a little below that vil- lage, and shortly displays a breadth of forty to fifty yards, and occasionally even more. Its bottom, varying from ten to nineteen feet in depth, is covered with a fine white sand, which evidently rests upon a bed of mud, as the aquatic flora is something wonderful. Many kinds of rushes and other aquatic plants take root in the prolific bed, shoot their leaves and stems, in con- 132 THE KING'S RIFLE. stant motion with the current, through nearly twenty feet of water till they reach the surface, where they display their multi-colored and elegantly shaped flowers. Occa- sionally this wealth of vegetation will occupy the whole expanse of the river, and seem to bar the passage of any floating thing. At the outset I had some hesitation about venturing my boat upon this aquatic meadow, as I thought it betokened too shallow a depth of water for navigation ; but when my sound constantly gave me twelve and then twenty feet of depth, I acquired more confidence, and steered boldly through the floating garden. Thousands of birds chirped and fluttered among the reeds and canes which lined the banks ; the weight of a dozen of them producing scarce an impression on the gigantic grass-stems. Occasionally a brilliant kingfisher would be seen hovering motionless in the air, until at a given moment it would descend from its lofty observatory like an arrow from a bow, and carry off its glittering prey from the sur- face of the water. The birds were not the sole inhabitants of the clustering rushes on the banks. A sudden commotion amid the gi-een stems would attract my attention, and a rapid glance would discover a crocodile just disappearing beneath the waters. Or the splash of a heavy body in the stream would betray the presence of an otter, either alarmed at our approach, or, like the kingfisher, intent upon his daily meal. The whole place was instinct with life ; and death, as usual, was following quickly in its train. Some three miles below Cangamba I came upon a bevy of eighteen women, who were standing on the bank and fishing up small fry by means of osier-baskets. At one of the turns of the river I perceived three ante- lopes, of an unknown species, at least to me ; but, just as I was in the act of letting-fly at them, they leaped into the water and disappeared beneath its surface. The circum- stance caused me immense surprise, which was increased AN INTERESTING ANIMAL. 133 as I went further on, as I occasionally came across several of these creatures, swimming and then rapidly diving, keeping their heads under water, so that only the tips of their horns were visible. This strange animal, which I afterwards found an oppor- tunity of shooting on the Cuchibi, and of whose habits I had by that time acquired some knowledge, is of sufficient interest to induce me for a moment to suspend my nar- rative, to say a few words concerning it. It bears among the Bihenos the name of QuichSbo, and among the Ambuellas that of Buzi. Its size, when full- grown, is that of a one-year-old steer. The color of the hair is dark gray, from one quarter to half an inch long, and extremely smooth ; the hair is shorter on the head, and a white stripe crosses the top of the nostrils. The length of the horns is about two feet, the section at the base being semicircular, with an almost rectilinear chord. This section is retained up to about three-fourths of their height, after which they become almost circular to the tips. The mean axis of the horns is straight, and they form a slight angle between them. They are twisted around the axis without losing their rectilinear shape, and terminate in a broad spiral. The feet are furnished with long hoofs similar to those of a sheep, and are curved at the points. This arrangement of its feet and its sedentary habits render this remarkable ruminant unfitted for running. Its life is therefore, in a great measure, passed in the water, it never straying far from the river banks, on to which it crawls for pasture, and then chiefly in the night-time. It sleeps and reposes in the water. Its diving powers are equal, if not superior, to those of the hippopotamus. During sleep it comes near to the surface of the water, so as to show half its horns above it. It is very timid by nature, and plunges to the bottom of the river at the slightest symptom of danger. There are many points 134 THE KING'S RIFLE. of contact between the life of this strange ruminant and that of the hippopotamus, its near neighbor. I cannot but speak in the highest terms of praise of my Mackintosh boat, which carried me so bravely over the waters of the Cubangui. Its only drawback was its re- stricted size, which confined me to so constrained a position that by four o'clock in the afternoon every joint in my body was aching. I had seen no signs of my people since I left Cangamba, and, to the pain caused by my cramped posture were added considerable anxiety of mind and undoubted hunger of the body. My young rowers were perfectly exhausted with fatigue ; I made them pull up on the left bank, and ordered little Sinjamba to climb to the top of a tree in order that he might, from that elevation, see whether there were any signs on the other bank of the smoke of the encampment. He thought that he perceived smoke in a northwest direction, and consequently higher up the stream than the point we had then reached. We therefore retraced our course, and, after some diffi- culty, I managed to get ashore upon the marsh on the right bank, and threaded my way towards the spot whence the smoke appeared to proceed. I had walked about three-quarters of a mile, when I came upon traces of my caravan towards the south. The impressions of the men's footsteps might have misled me, but there was no mistaking the tracks of my goat and the dogs. I returned to the boat, and again steered down the river. From time to time we pulled up, and the boy was set to climb a tree and look out, but the operation was repeated in vain. Evening was now coming on, and my anxiety increased. Not only were we all desperately hungry, but I did not like sleeping away from the camp, on account of my chronometers, which would not be wound up. The sun at last disappeared, and, as twilight is exceed- l> a o c a 5 ts o NIGHT ADVENTURES ON THE RIVEE. 137 ingly short in these latitudes, I deemed it wiser to go ashore ; which I did, with the two young niggers, on the left bank of the stream. Before we had settled ourselves down, I fancied I heard the distant report of a gun to the southwest. We at once got back into the boat, and pushed on vigorously upon hearing another report, to which I replied. My signal was immediately answered by another, the flash of which I saw at some two hundred yards' distance. I steered the boat in that direction, and shortly came upon my henchman Augusto, who was up to his waist in water in the marsh, along with a Biheno who had accompanied him. His delight at seeing me was very great, and he and his companion lost no time in pulling me out of the boat and conveying me across the mai'sh to the higher ground. It was an arduous task, which it took half-an-hour to accomplish, but we reached terra firmu at last. The lads, having secured the boat to some canes, quickly followed us. Augusto informed me that the camp was at some distance, and that we should have to cross a dense forest ere we reached it. Unfortunately the night was pitch-dark, and locomotion was excessively difficult, owing to the unevenness of the ground and the resistance of the underwood. Stumbling here, falling there, covering a dozen yards of ground in about as many minutes, tearing one's clothes, and one's flesh too, with the thorns of the brambles ; such are the incidents which accompany a journey by night through a virgin forest. After an hour of violent exercise, we heard, with inde- scribable pleasure, the report of rifles and the buzz of human voices. They came from my own people, who were speedily gathered round us. Verissimo Gon^alves appeared at the head of a troop of Bihenos, who insisted upon conveying me to the camp on a litter which they improvised with stout poles and the 9 138 THE KING'S RIFLE. branches of trees. It was in this guise that I returned to the encampment, where at midnight, beside a roaring fire, I appeased my hunger, made almost ravenous with a thirty-six hours' fast. I remained in this spot the whole of the next day ; but on the following one, at early morning, I commenced the passage of the river, which was a work of time, as my Mackintosh boat was the only floating thing I had to trust to. At about nine, I set out with my people along the left bank of the river, and an hour afterwards I fell in with a brook, and started a good deal of game. Continuing on, I came to a halt at one o'clock, pitching my camp close to another little stream which, like the former one, is a tribu- taiy of the Cubangui. The next day, after a somewhat forced march of six hours' duration, I reached the ri^ht bank of the river Cuchibi, where I camped. AMBUELLA PIPES. CHAPTER XI. AMONG THE AMBUELLAS. IT was on the 25th July that I camped on the right bank of the river Cuchibi. The ground lying between this river and the Cubangui is clothed with a primeval forest, the vegetation of which is of the richest nature. Next morning we followed the downward course of the river by the right bank. About noon I discovered that many of my people were absent. ' I called a halt, and retraced my steps to look for them, when I found several of the fellows in the wood, bartering my cartridges, which they had stolen, with sundry Ambuella natives, for qui- chobo flesh, fish, and other articles. On finding themselves discovered, they took to their heels, saving two, viz., the pombeiro Chaquigonde and Doctor Chacaiombe, whom I caught in the act. The lat- ter threw himself on his knees and prayed for pardon ; but not so Chaquigonde, who drew his hatchet and made a movement as if to strike me. I wrenched the weapon from his grasp, and gave him such a blow with the haft of it on the head, that it felled him senseless to the ground. I thought I had killed him : a mishap which occasioned my mind less pain than the cause which led to it, as it was the first time I had experienced positive insubordina- tion from one of my own people. I turned to the men, who had now gathered about me, and ordered them to carry the wounded man into camp, which they at once did, the sight of the blood oozing from a rather ugly wound, rendering them very silent and submissive. (139) 140 THE KING'S RIFLE. On an examination of the hurt, I felt convinced that it was not mortal ; and wounds in the head, if they do not kill at once, soon heal up. I did what my little skill dic- tated on l)ehalf of the foolish fellow, and then called a council of the other pombeiros, to decide what punishment should be awarded for his double crime. The majority of them were for putting him to death, the rest for thrash- ing him within an inch of his life. As he had recovered THE SONGUE. his senses, I ordered him to be brought up for judgment, and having harangued him on the heinousness of his offences, ordered him to be set at liberty, with an in- junction to "sin no more." My forbearance produced a great effect, though at first the fellows had a difficulty in believing that I was in earnest. On the following day we had a march of six hours, still along the right bank of the river. A good deal of game was visible in the course of the journey, but it was THE SONGUE. 141 very wild, and the only animal killed was a songue. It measured four feet seven inches to the shoulder, and was four feet five inches in' length from the shoulder to the root of the tail. Its short hair was of a reddish yellow, and uniform in tint. I found, on examination, that it could cover 171 feet in a leap, and I saw several of them go over the tops of canes which stood six feet out of the ground. When brought to bay, it will fight with great courage and ferocity. The flesh is tasty enough, but, like that of all antelopes, it is very dry. It feeds in herds, and al- ways in the open ; and sets a watch while grazing. It takes to the forest only when it is closely pursued, on which occasions it will not hesitate to swim across a stream. On the 29th of July, after a march of three hours, we pitched our camp opposite the village of Cahu-h^u-ue, where the Sova of the Cuchibi has his residence. Before speaking of the Ambuellas tribe, I wish to say a few words about my mode of life in Africa. My custom, with very rare exceptions, was the following : I rose at five o'clock, removed my clothes (as I always slept dressed and armed), and took a bath in water at a temperature of 65 ° Fahrenheit. The English are accus- tomed to bathe in cold water, which is a capital tonic. I, for my part, used simply to wash, for the purpose of cleanliness, and always had an iron pot with hot water ready, to produce the desired temperature. After my bath came my toilet. My wash-basin was formed out of a calabash, eighteen inches in diameter. My towels were of the finest Guimaraes linen. My toilet over, in which I was assisted by my body- servant Catraio, that worthy brought me the chronometers, thermometers, and barometer. I wound up and compared the first, and registered the indications of the others. By that time, the young Pepeca had got tea ready, and 142 THE KING'S RIFLE. brought it in. It was served in a china tea-service to which I attached the very highest importance, it having been the gift of the wife of Lieutenant Roza in Quillen- gues. Fine as a sheet of paper, transparent in texture, and elegant in form, that tea-service was my delight, and I thousht the beverage never had the same flavor taken from any other vessel as out of that delicate porcelain cup. Having swallowed three cupfuls of green tea without sugar, as I had not got any, the traps were packed up, and I gave orders to start ; which, however, we rarely did before eight o'clock, as it was next to impossible to get the men away from the fires, round which they gathered out of the intense cold. Our order of march was the following : The lead was taken by Silva Porto's negro, Cahinga, bearing the flag, and immediately behind him came the cases containing the cartridges, and the wood and rof)es for camp use. The other carriers followed indiscriminately, in single file ; and I, Verissimo, and the pombeiros brought up the I'ear. During the journey I noted the course we took, and calculated our marches by the pedometer and watch. Then came camping-time, and for the next hour all hands were employed in constructing huts. In order to do so, some of the men were set to felling timber, others to lop off branches, and others again to gather grass. I, meanwhile, as if I had nothing else to do, stretched myself on the turf and slept, or at least tried to do so, till they came and told me my hut was ready. It generally took about an hour; but, before I retired to my quarters, I used to take my observations for the meteorological record. At the proper time I called Catraio, who brought me the instruments. I used a swing-thermometer which had been the property of the ill-fated Baron de Barth ; and each time I moved the instrument all of the Biheno car- riers woukl stand at a distance watching the operation NIGHT MEDITATIONS. 143 in wonder, and though it was regularly repeated every day, they always did the same thing, and always expressed the same mute surprise. The observations having been duly registered, the young nigger, Moero, brought in the plates and my ration ; for I cannot dignify with the name of dinner the handful of massango, boiled in water, which constituted the repast. When it was over, if I were too tired to hunt up game or scour the neighborhood, I employed my time in writ- ing up my diary from my rough notes, in calculating observations, or in drawing. The ink which I used for all my work was obtained from small, so-called " magic " irik-bottles, each of which lasted me from two to three months. When night fell, the wood crackled on the temporary hearth, and gave me warmth and light. If I had no ob- servations to make during the hours of darkness, or if — as was often the case — my fatigue compelled me to seek rest, I would lie down on the leopard-skins which formed my bed, using as a pillow the little valise in which I kept my papers. A habit which I acquired during the journey, springing probably in the first instance from the cold which always preceded daybreak, was to wake I'egularly at three o'clock. I then rose and replenished the expiring fire, came to the door of the hut, just outside which hung a thermometer, and noted the point at which the mercury stood, for at that hour I could obtain a pretty correct minimum. From 3 A. M. till 5 my time was passed beside the fire, smoking; and I would often thus consume from ten to twelve cigars, whilst thinking of my country and the dear ones I had left behind me. How often at that hour — my time for meditation and sad reflection — did I not cogitate over present troubles and the uncertain future which lay before me ! At the time of which I am now writing I was on the 144 THE KING'S RIFLE. Cuchibi, at twenty degrees east of Greenwich and four- teen and a half to the south of the equator. I was far removed from all assistance of which I might stand in need, and where was 1 to seek for means and resources to pursue my onward journey ? I was now upon the track of the Bih^ caravans, and as I intended remaining there a few days, I sent a little present to the sova and a message informing him of my arrival. THE SOVA CAHU-HEU-UE. The sova lost no time in sending me provisions and a good supply of maize. What a rich treat was that dish of boiled Indian corn ! I saluted it with reverence, moved by the reflection that the reign of massango was for the moment at an end. His Majesty further sent me word that he would pay me a visit next day. Early on the following morning I turned out for a stroll, but found walking difScult on account of the thorny nature of the underwood. Still, I managed to get about three A MUCASSEQUERE ENCAMPMENT. 145 miles from the encampment, when I came across an enor- mous snare for catching game. It was formed of a lofty hedge, which must have been a mile or two in extent, enclosing a nearly circular space. At about every twenty yards there was an opening in the fence, which led into smaller enclosures, carefully covered by a strong gin or urivi. A band of men being assembled, they beat the wood all round, and with loud cries frightened the hares, small antelopes, and other animals, which, in their efforts to escape, darted into the enclosures referred to, and were caught in the urivi pre- pared for their reception. On my way back to the huts I found in the wood an encampment of Mucassequeres, which gave evidence of being only recently abandoned. The sova called on me in due course. I found him a man somewhat advanced in years, of a sympathetic coun- tenance, and rather a Jewish profile. He was extremely well dressed, wearing, over a sort of uniform, a cloak of white linen, with a large and handsome kerchief round his neck. His head was covered with a cap of red and black list, and in his hand he carried a concertina, out of which he wrung the most painful sounds. He made me a fresh present of maize, manioc, beans, and fowls, which I returned in the shape of a few charges of powder, the most valuable gift that could be made on the Cuchibi. The old chief retired extremely satisfied, and promised shortly to return. During the afternoon my negroes captured in the forest two Mucassequeres, whom they at once brought before me. The poor savages were trembling with fear, and gave themselves up for lost. They knew a little of the Ambuella dialect, and by means of an interpreter we were able to understand each other. They imagined that sen- tence of death was about to be passed upon them, or that the rest of their days were to be spent in slavery. 146 THE KING'S RIFLE. I desired my men to let them go, and return them their arms. I then told them that they were free, and might return to their people, and I gave them also a few strings of beads for their wives. Their surprise knew no bounds, and they had much ado to believe that I was in earnest in what I said and did. Having ordered them something to eat, I inquired whether they would take me to see their camp. After a warm discussion between them, carried on in a language unknown to all the bystanders, and completely different in intonation to any tongue I had hitherto heard spoken in Africa, they said they were quite willing to con- duct me to their tribe if I would trust myself to go alone. I accepted the offer, and immediately started with the two ill-favored aborigines. Accustomed as I was to the forest, I had much ado to keep up with my agile guides, who more than once had to wait for me to join them. An hour's fatiguing walk brought us to a patch of cleared ground, in the middle of which was the encamp- ment of the tribe. Its inmates were three other men, seven women, and five children. A few branches of trees bent downwards, with others interlaced in front, consti- tuted their only shelter. Of cooking appliances there was not a semblance. I had come among them, but was perfectly at a loss how to act now I had done so, for we neither of us could under- stand the other. I thought the best thing to do was to ingratiate the women, so gave them a few strings of beads I had brought with me for the purpose. They received them, however, without the slightest sign of pleasure at the gift. I managed to make my guides understand that I wanted to return, when, without leave-taking, they preceded me, and just as night fell left me at the edge of the wood, where I could hear the voices and merry songs of the peo- ple of my camp. • NIGHTFALL IN THE FOREST. *147 The Mucassequeres may be styled the true savages of South tropical Africa. They construct no dwelling-houses or anything in the likeness of them. They are born under the shadow of a forest-tree, and so they are content to die. They despise alike the rains which deluge the earth and the sun which burns it ; and bear the rigors of the seasons with the same stoicism as the wild beasts. In some respects they would seem to be even below the wild denizens of the jungle, for the lion and tiger have at least a cave or den in which they seek shelter, whilst the Mucassequeres have neither. As they never cultivate the ground, implements of agri- culture are entirely unknown among them ; roots, honey, and the animals caught in the chase, constitute their food, and each tribe devotes its entire time to hunting for roots, honey, and game. They rarely sleep to-day where they lay down yesterday. The arrow is their only weapon ; but so dexterous are they in its use, that an animal sighted is as good as bagged. The two races which inhabit this country are as differ- ent in personal appearance as they are in habits. The Ambuella, for instance, is a black of the type of the Caucasian race ; the Mucassequere is a white of the type of the Hottentot race in all its hideousness. When my Mucassequere guides left me, as related, at nightfall at the edge of the forest, they uttered a few words, which probably meant a farewell, and disappeared in the darkness. The ruddy state of the atmosphere, due to the numerous camp-fires, and the sound of merry voices, guided my footsteps, and shortly after I found myself within the precincts of my encampment, where, to the notes of the barbarous music of the Ambuellas, the fellows were capering like madmen. There were several Ambuella girls who were dancing with my carriers, and the bangles on their arms and wrists made a tinkling accompaniment to their motions. 148 THE KING'S RIFLE. I was much struck with the tjq^e of many of these girls, which was perfectly European, and I saw several whose forms, as they undulated in the dance, would have raised envy in the hearts of many European ladies, whom they equalled in beauty and surpassed in grace of motion. What followed was calculated to increase my surprise. It would appear that these Ambuellas, on the arrival in the country of a caravan, are accustomed to flock into the camp, to sing and dance ; and, as night advances the men retire, and leave their women-folks behind them. It is their hospitable custom thus to furnish the stranger way- farers with a few hours of female society. On the follow- ing morning, at daybreak, the visitors steal away to their villages, and rarely fail to return to bring gifts to their friends. This custom led to an extraordinary adventure which befell myself. AMBUELLA HUNTER. CHAPTER Xn. THE KING OF THE AMBUELLAS' DAUGHTERS. THE old sova, Moene Cahu-heu-tie, sent me his two daughters, Opudo and Cap^u. Opudo was about twenty and Cap^u counted some sixteen years. The elder was a plain girl enough, and was wonderfully haughty in manner ; but the other was an attractive little creature, with a smiling and agreeable countenance. From the moment of my setting foot in Africa, I had determined to lead an austere life, a practice which gave me considerable influence over my negroes, who, seeing me only drink water, and detecting me in no aventure galante, looked upon me as altogether a superior being. But now, notwithstanding my fixed determination, I was called upon to exercise no little restraint upon my feelings to resist the temptations of the younger daughter of the Sova Cahu-heu-ue. Cap^u only spoke the Ganguella dialect, which I did not understand, but Opudo talked Hambundo fluently. " Why do you despise us?" she inquired in an imperious tone. " Are the women in your country more lovely and loving than my sister? Any way, we intend to sleep here ; for it shall never be said that the daughters of the chief of the Ambuellas have been thrust out of a tent by a white man." Here was a ridiculous position for a man to be placed in ! I was indeed so taken aback that I had not a word to say for myself. (149) 150 THE KING'S RIFLE. There sat the two girls upon my leopard-skins, and there stood I. The large fire which separated us cast over the interior of the hut a ruddy light, somewhat subdued and softened by the green foliage which lined the cabin walls. The bright flame displayed to great advantage the un- draped figure of the young girl, whose languishing eyes were occasionally fixed upon me with an expression half- pouting, half-beseeching. My own looks wandered away, OPUDO. but involuntarily turned again and again to the statuesque and graceful figure. Without, the noisy sounds of the barbarous music had ceased ; the voices were more subdued, and silence was gradually taking the place of the previous uproar. My braves were evidently selecting their companions for the night ; and there was I, still shut up with those irre- pressible girls. " We intend to remain here," repeated the haughty Ambu- THE HAUGHTY PRINCESS. 151 ella princess. "I don't mean to expose my sister to the scorn of all the old women of the villages ; and let me tell you, white man, that if you are a chief of the White King, I am the daughter of a sova." The ridicule of my position increased ; I was compelled to put the firmest restraint upon myself, and, conscious that if I looked or spoke softly I was lost, I had to assume a severity of aspect and hardness of behavior that were quite foreign to my character. Still, things could not remain in the state in which they were, and I did not know how to alter them. I would have preferred, a thousand times over, risking a conflict with the warrior father to continuing this colloquy with the amorous little daughter. Suddenly the skin which formed the door of my hut was raised, and some one entered. It was little Mariana, who had overheard our limited conversation and came to the rescue. She approached the 152 THE KING'S RIFLE. fire, which she mended and replenished. Then, turning to the Ambuellas and repeatedly clapping her hands, as is the customary mode of complimentary salutation in the country, she uttered the words Cd-que-tH Cd-q-de-tii, and added : — " The white man does not scorn you ; but if he does not wish you to sleep here it is because I am the only one who does so ; the white man is mine. My hut is alongside this one, and you are quite welcome to sleep there." The daughters of Sova Cahu-heu-ue at once rose and left with Mariana, to whom I felt myself very greatly in- debted for getting me out of my dilemma ; but a few moments after, Opudo came back and whispered fiercely in my ear : — "To-night we sleep elsewhere, but my sister does not mean to let you off." I must confess it, this young woman inspired me with more fear than the wildest of wild-cats could occasion. Next day the chief's daughters came in the usual way, to bring me presents. I gave them a few beads in return, and they retired without alluding to the scene of the pre- vious night. Shortly afterwards a messenger came from the father, to announce that he expected me that after- noon, and that he would send a boat to convey me to his village. My occupations had so engaged me during the day that it was not till evening that I remembered the canoe which the sova told me would be in waiting near the river to convey me to his village. On reaching the appointed spot my surprise was considerable at finding the frail skiff re- ferred to manned by Opudo and Cap(^u, the two daughters of the chief ! I do not consider myself a man of a partic- ularly timid nature, but the sight of these two girls caused me some alarm. This was no time, however, for indulging in such feel- ings, so I stepped into the canoe, and settling myself ON THE RIVER. 155 down, gave the signal for departure. The dexterity of these young women was remarkable, and they soon cleared the little creek or canal which led into the river. The sun was fast nearing the horizon. The canoe sped swiftly through the open spaces left by the abundant aquatic vegetation, which displayed upon the surface of the water a vast wealth of beautiful flowers. So thick were the clusters of Victoria-regias and many species of the nenuphar, that at times they held us as in a net. On one occasion we were so imprisoned that I fully expected an upset, and in imagination saw those dark-skinned nymphs and myself struggling in the water among the crocodiles. No such mishap, however, occurred. By a skilful manoeuvre of the paddles we were set free, and Opudo then found her tongue. "It is too late now," she said, "to go to our father's house. "We waited for you long. We will return by land, and you shall come to-morrow." Shortly after, at a convenient spot, we went ashore, and they accompanied me to the camp. Night fell, and found the sova's daughters again within my hut, conversing on indifferent subjects, whilst the sounds of dancing and merriment were heard without. When the noise attendant on these festivities had ceased, they lay down near the entrance of the hut, beside the brightly burning fire. I wanted them to take up their quarters once more in the hut of little Mariana ; but Opudo declined, saying she was a fawn of the forest, and little cared where she took her rest. In the course of that day Augusto, who had been scour- ing the wood for game, fell in with a troop of small mon- keys, the first I had come across in my journey from the coast westward. On the following morning I paid my visit to the sova ; but, being desirous of avoiding further adventures, I got 10 156 THE KING'S RIFLE. out my india-rubber boat, and proceeded to the village in that conveyance. The canal I traversed communicated with an arm of the river, twenty-two yards wide by nine- teen feet deep, with a rapid current. The river divides, forming aits, little bays and marshes, which are the beds of thick and lofty canes. It is upon these small islands, themselves intersected by other chan- nels, which form a perfect labyrinth, that these Ambuella villages are planted, springing from a marshy soil, on the level of the river. The houses are perfectly imbedded in the thick tufts of cane. Their walls are formed of reeds ; their foundations are stakes driven into the muddy ground, and the roofs are composed of thatch. They are wretched habitations, badly constructed, and affording little effec- tive shelter. Outside the doors, suspended from large poles, are im- mense calabashes, in which the inhabitants preserve their wax and other articles. The huts themselves are filled with calabashes. Indeed, among the Ambuellas these use- ful vegetables perform the office of trunks, cupboards, and other household receptacles. On one of the small islands above referred to, a little group of buildings constitutes the residence of the Sova Moene Cahu-heu-ue. One hut is occupied by himself, four more are assigned to his four wives, and the rest are store-houses. The sova received me very graciously, he having two of his favorites by his side. No sooner was I seated than my interpreter and one of the favorites commenced vigor- ously clapping the palms of their hands together ; after which, scraping up a little earth, they rubbed it on the breast, and repeated many times, in a rapid way, the words bamba and calunga, terminating with another clap- ping of hands, not quite so vigorous as before. This completed the ceremony of introduction. The chief expressed a wish to see my boat, and made a THE KING'S ISLAND HOME. 157 little excursion in it upon the river. His wonder at the floating power of this portable canoe knew no bounds ; and again and again he urged upon me not to sell any such to the Ambuellas of the Cubangui. On our return to his island-home he sent for a calabash of bingundo and a tin cup, together with a pot of Lisbon marmalade, left there by some Biheno trader. Having filled the cup, the chief allowed some drops of the foaming THE SOVA S BEOTHER. liquid to fall upon the ground, and, covering the place with damp earth, he drank off the contents without draw- ing breath. The interpreter having informed him that I only drank water, he passed the calabash round to his favorites, who lost no time in disposing of what was left in it. At noon I took my leave, and returned to the encampment. I passed the rest of the day with a petty chief, the brother of the sova, who informed me that he intended 158 THE KING'S RIFLE. . starting for the Zambesi by way of the Cuchibi and Cuando. My relations with the aborigines continued to be most cordial and pleasant. The sova's daughters were inde- fatigable in bringing me presents, and, in fact, my own food and that of the young niggers about my person was supplied entirely by these good Samaritans. Anything for which I expressed a wish was at once pro- cured, and presumably their desire was to make others believe that closer ties than those of platonic friendship existed between us. I had learned by this time that they would have been held up to scorn if suspected of being repudiated by the stranger of their choice, and, out of regard for their feelings, I let them have their own way, We consequently lived on, the best friends in the world, and their co-operation was really of the highest importance in procuring me the carriers and stores of which I stood in need for traversing a vast depopulated space, where provisions would be simply unattainable. My pecuniary resources were drawing to an end, and, saving a quantity of powder in the shape of cartridges, a few beads, and a little copper for bangles, I had literally nothing left. Two of my carriers were bearers of the present I had reserved for the sovereign of the Baroze, the chief article being a small organ, having a couple of automatic dolls, which executed a dance to the sound of music. This was a universal source of amusement to the aborigines. Augusto turned it to very profitable account, and many an egg did he conjure from the natives by the exhibition of the dancing figures. Moene Cahu-heii-ue, no doubt upon the recommendation of his daughters, solved every difficulty as it arose, and actively aided me in my preparations for departure. The daughters themselves had resolved to accompany me to the borders of their father's territory, and it was Opudo who assumed the command of my escort. THE SAVAGE ELEMENT IN AFRICA. 159 In this country, where I was received as a friend, and was therefore unbiassed by any influence adverse to the African, I sought in vain to read in the negro soul other than the most sordid cupidity, the most sensual appetites, cowardice in presence of the strong, and tyranny to the weak. I cannot at times help thinking that what is considered by many people in Europe as quite possible, viz. the civil- izing the negro in Africa, is a pure chimera. The civilizing element is, at all events at the present time, so infinitesimal as compared with the savage element, that the latter must inevitably preponderate until the other shall assume far larger proportions. In order to realize this dream of many exalted spirits in the old world, there must be a white man for every black upon the African soil, as by such means only can the element of civilization be made to outweigh the savasre. We have an instance of this among the Boers of the Transvaal, who, European by origin, have in less than a century of time lost all the civilization they brought with them from Europe, have become conquered by the savage element amid which they have been living, and now, though Europeans in color and professing the faith of Christ, are the veriest barbarians in customs and behavior. Of all the peoples I met with on my road, the Ambuellas were the greatest and most successful cultivators of the soil, which repays with wonderful prodigality the care and labor bestowed upon it. Beans, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, ground-nuts, the castor-oil plant and cotton, are raised among enormous fields of maize of excellent quality. Domestic poultry is the only live-stock possessed by the Ambuellas. Their mode of life, constantly disturbed by apprehensions of attacks from their neighbors, prevents them ever becoming herdsmen or shepherds ; so that vast tracts of land, upon which enormous flocks and herds might be easily raised, are totally abandoned. 160 THE KING'S RIFLE. The dog, that faithful and devoted friend of man, does not forfeit among the negroes his character as a sociable companion and trusty guard, and he is found among all the tribes of the Ganguella race. Among the inhabitants of the river Cuchibi there are no places set apart for the interment of the dead. Their sovas are buried in any convenient spot in the wood, but the people find unmarked graves in the mud by the river- side. The customs of the Ambuellas may be designated as mild and sociable, and their hospitality, as will be gathered from what I have already recorded, is of the frankest order. They are tolerable woodsmen, and gather a great deal of wax from the forest. They are also skilful fishermen, which is not surprising, living as they do on a river whose aquatic fauna is extremely varied. I had obtained a good supply of maize, and had got together carriers to convey it, under the command of the daughters of the sova ; so that on the 4th August I took my departure, after the most cordial adieus, and continued the descent of the river upon its right bank. Two hours after leaving Cahu-heii-ue the guides pointed out to me a ford where the passage of the river might be safely effected. The river at that spot was eighty-seven yards in width. I stripped off my clothes, and proceeded to examine the ford. I found it was a narrow bar, with a depth imme- diately above and below it of ten to twelve feet, with a very hard sandy bottom. The current of the river over the ford was at least sixty-five yards a minute. The passage took a couple of hours in the performance. I remained the whole of that time in the water, with Verissimo and Augusto, the only two who were capable of swimming, ready to assist any of the men who should lose their footing. The passage of the river having been an excessively K II o o 5 EXCITING SPORT. 163 fatiguing operation, I determined to pitch our camp shortly after crossing, which was done on our arrival at the village of Lienzi. The natives soon flocked in great numbers into the camp, bringing with them presents, and provisions for barter or sale. I never saw before in Africa so many fowls as were that day brought over by the Ambuellas. There was not a carrier or the youngest nigger but feasted that day on roast chicken. Among the Ambuellas who came into the encampment was one exceedingly pleasant-mannered fellow. He tried every possible means to convince me that I should be driving a capital bargain by exchanging a charge of powder for a fine cock he carried under his arm. I was much diverted with the ingratiating way in which he tried to per- suade me to effect the exchange ; and at last I told him that I would consent if he could kill the cock at fifty paces' distance with a bow and arrow. He accepted the proposal, and I measured the distance. The cock being set up at the allotted place, eight arrows, each of which was infinitely wide of the mark, were fired at the intended victim. A lot of the bystanders got quite excited with the sport, and at length a perfect cloud of arrows might be seen flying in the direction of the poor cock ; but though the distance had been lessened to forty paces, the best shot was still half a yard away from the mark. I then told the Bihenos that I would make the cock a present to whoever could kill it. The best marksmen from my caravan now came forward ; the most successful of whom was Silva Porto's negro Jamba, who planted an arrow within a quarter of an inch of the cock, which might, however, have lived and crowed for some time longer had I not put an end to the sport with a bullet from my Winchester rifle. Our canap was the resort of a considerable number of women, attracted probably by the presence of the daughters 164 THE KING'S KIFLE. of their chief. They wore a great quantity of iron bangles round their wrists, about an eighth of an inch in thickness, of a quadrangular section, having the two outer edges in- dented. When they danced (and the Ambuellas are much given to dancing) , the tinkle of these bangles had a very musical sound. From Lienzi I went on a hunting-excursion down the river to its confluence with the Cuando. "When I got back to the encampment I found my followers so given up to the delights of Capua, that there was no tearing them from the arms of the lovely daughters of this new African Nineveh. The double intoxication produced by bingundo and love made the fellows deaf alike to entreaties and threats. The Soveta of Lienzi came to call upon me, in company of a Mucassequere, his guest. 1 gladly engaged the latter to serve as my guide to the sources of the river Ninda, which I was desirous of reaching ; and as the inclination was strong upon me to start at once, I called the pombeiros together and told them of my intention to go on with the Ambuellas and my young attendants, and that they might remain behind if they thought proper, but that, in any case, I should carry away with me the whole of the rations. Having made them this communication, I set off under the guidance of the Mucassequere, and accompanied by the daughters of the sova and their followers. My Quimbares, seeing me in earnest, at once left the camp and followed me, leaving the Quimbundos and Verissimo's niggers be- hind. After a painful march of six hours through the tangled forest, and where not a drop of water was met with, we reached the right bank of the Chicului, parched with thirst. This river runs through a desert and swampy plain from 1,800 to 2,000 yards in width, and the forest, of un- varying density, only terminates where the marsh begins. During the night the lions and leopards roamed inces- INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 165 santly around my encampment, roaring in the most fright- ful manner. Next morning, at daybreak, I crossed the river at a place where a bridge had evidently at one time been thrown across the stream by Biheno caravans, and which I reconstructed. The passage was effected easily enough, but it was not so easy to reach the forest on the left bank, as we had to traverse the swampy plain, where we occa- sionally sunk to above our waists. My little nigger Pepeca more than once remained with only his head out of the bog, and we had much ado to disinter him ; and there were 1,600 yards of this most trying and fatiguing swamp to get over. After crossing the river, I sighted, at about 600 yards down the stream, a considerable herd of songues, and, stealing a rapid march upon them through the brushwood, I man- aged to kill three. My favorite goat Cora never left my side for a moment, and since she had heard the roaring of the lions, was in a constant state of nervous alarm. A good many birds were caught by my negroes, among which were a variety of quails and a white lapwing with white legs. About 1 o'clock in the day my Quimbundos made their appearance, with the pombeiros, who in very humble guise entreated my pardon for not having come on with me the day before. I was in no mood just then to be too hard upon them, so forgave their temporary desertion, and shortly after I went on a fishing excursion, with a very large net, by the aid of which I caught a good many fish, very similar to the mullet of the Portuguese rivers. The serious illness of one of my blacks induced me to remain a couple of days in that place. It was on the 9th of August that I was at length enabled to resume my journey. At night my camp was pitched at the source of a little brook called Combule. I succeeded in persuading the sova's daughters to return 166 THE KING'S RIFLE. to their father's roof; and they departed, after a very cordial leave-taking. Even Opudo deigned to entreat me to take Cuchibi on my return, and come and live among them ; whilst Capeu made her supplication still more elo- quent by a glance of her eye, — one of those women's glances which are so powerful when spontaneous, and not acquired in the school of coquetry. It was not without regret that I saw those two faithful girls depart ; the only examples, as they were, that I had met with in Africa of natives forming an actual friendship. HEAD OP THE MALANCA. o CHAPTEK Xm, THE JOURNEY TO LIALUI. N the following day we penetrated into an extensive thorny forest, through which we had literally to cut our road. After a fatiguing march of five hours we pitched our camp at the source of the river Ninda, having left a great part of our wearing apparel on the brambles by the wayside. Half an hour after our arrival I must have cut a very ridiculous figure ic^the eyes of any one but a native, as I was covered with bits of court-plaster where the thorns had picked out pieces of my flesh. As evening fell, a cloud of flies, so small that they were impossible of measurement, swooped down upon the encampment, and, whirling about in a mad dance, pene- trated the nostrils, the mouth, the ears, and eyes, till we were nearly wild with pain and annoyance. I had a visitation of another kind, in the shape of a violent attack of fever, which did not, however, prevent me getting up more than once during the night, and turn- ing out to learn why the dogs were barking. All through the dark hours the lions roared about the camp, and towards morning a chorus of hyenas helped to complete the infernal uproar. I remained where I was till the afternoon of the next day, in order to determine my position, and then moved my camp a mile farther to the eastward. Close to the spot where I took up my new quarters was the grave of a fellow-countryman, the trader Luiz Albino, who was there (1G7) 168 THE KING'S KIFLE. killed by a buflalo. Among my followers I had Luiz Albino's favorite negro, old Antonio de Pungo Andongo, the very man I converted into the Sova Mavanda's tailor. Luiz Albino had left the Bih^ with a large quantity of goods, which he was carrying to the Zambesi to trade with, and pitched his camp on the very same spot where mine was then standing. He turned out to give chase to a buffalo, which he wounded in the leg. Seeing it fall, he came back to camp, and summoning old Antonio (who was young Antonio then), bade him call the men and go out to seek a buffalo he had mortally wounded. The Bihenos, who push caution to a fault, declined the task, and Albino, calling them a set of cowards, started off with Antonio for sole companion. On reaching the wood, the buffalo, which like all wounded buffaloes was waiting its chance to avenge the blow it had received, staggered to its feet and rushed at him. Luiz Albino fired off in quick succession, but without taking aim, both barrels of his gun ; they had no effect in stopping the animal, which drove its horns into the unfortunate man's body. Antonio fired with better success, but too late to save his master, for the corpse of the huge beast toppled over on to the corpse of the white man. A strong wooden stockade enclosing a piece of ground, some fifteen feet square, protects a rude timber cross, and reminds the wayfarer of the necessity of having his rifle prepared and his arm steady when sojourning in these regions. I continued my journey, still keeping on the right bank of the Ninda, without anything of note disturbing us on our march. On the 14th I happened to be marching along at the head of the caravan, with no other companion than young Pepeca, when, on reaching the place where I resolved to come to a halt for the day, I perceived an enormous buffalo quietly grazing. Sheltered by the wood, I was able to get close up to him, and let fly at about ' , K-prpI*: :;:;:::, ■^'":'':: Bl&KiS^i^::::^„ /-■^■.:'' -';••.- ■^;::-l;'iiii ^^ip ^fe^l'^^ft^fci^^^. .i^ PT^'' 1 '# .'-<^-^.; 1^ H^ pKj^^^ '■,■*- 1*. K'vM § - '^H Wry- n* S^'"^'''"^''' ^^hI L^;t |E'*-'V:".f : '/^-f^^H L^^ H S^^^^i^i wBf ^^ -^SIBI^^I ^B ^^L f ^t 1 ^^^HHi l^h ^iSHI B ^r^vli. >- o m ft ' ' *'%-^-t--;;- fti^ f_) ik.. iijPgtef^ JW 1 s.Tittff^Baw ■■ Yi^ \-;v I;|J... . ,ji'(i.:il ■■■- - .^' *','"■ ,-,M„Tu:,-„ ..-„. i Iki^WZa ^mh^SSSSp^. ^ ^^%^^ ^^ *r *— ^*» 1 ""u^ S^^wi^S r » iS \i^St^^^at '' 3^?;'^ ■« vll : --" .-, ^".'i^:W1v'':,^''"' f ■"-'■-' '■■; . . '■ ' ■'. "r ", : -■ -,- ,.'. ,y ''.■'■: '[;}■ :i! ■.IIIIP"" ri!"-"'' ■ ' '■!:'. ~~, ;" ■''"'■ ' .- '■-'■ "■ '■''.', •!'*■'■■ ■' '■■ !, w m^. ^J "^JM TROUBLESOME TIMES. 171. thirty-five yards, aiming at the shoulder-blade, as he stood right across me ; the animal fell like a stone. Next day we had a six-hours' march, and then encamped alongside a lake of good water, not far from the little village of Calombeu, an advanced post of the sovereign of the BarSze country. The people would sell us nothing, and provisions were beginning to get scarce. I was now in the vast plain of the Nhengo, lying 3900 feet above the level of the sea, which extends eastward to the Zambesi and southward to the confluence with that river of the Cuando. The ground, dry in appearance, is little better than a sponge, yielding slowly but surely to the pressure of the body, the water oozing up and filling the cavity thus made. During the nights that I was forced to stop there, I lay down on a bed that was dry enough, formed of dry leaves and covered with skins, but I always woke up in a puddle. My life at this particular time was one of constant tor- ment, as I failed to procure during the dark hours that refreshing sleep which repairs the fatigues of the day and helps one to bear better the troubles and apprehensions of the mind. The dearth of provisions to which we were fast hurrying, the difficulties presented by the country that lay before me, the state of my own health, which I felt was deeply shattered, and the unsatisfactory condition of my people, among whom symptoms of insubordination had frequently shown themselves, affected my spirits to such a degree that I was in a constant state of ill-humor. On the 19th of August there came upon me a feeling of despair. I felt myself alone, — completely alone, — not a man of my whole crew seemed to have a scrap of energy left in him. I transcribe a few lines from my diary at this period, which will show the state of mind through which I was then passing. "This upset me, and put me in a very bad humor. Great heaven! how much will, how much pertinacity, 172 THE KING'S RIFLE. how much energy are required by the man who, standing alone, surrounded by difficulties, created as much by his own followers as by natural causes, strives to fulfil a mis- sion such as mine ! Alone as I am in the centre of Africa with a great duty to perform and the honor of my coun- try's flag to sustain, how much do I not suffer ! Shall I ever bring it through untarnished? Truly, in situations such as these one must be either an angel or a demon, and at times I cannot help thinking I play the double part ! " On the day I wrote the above entry we were put upon . rations, and maize was the only article we had left. Seated at the door of my hut, as evening was falling, I was finishing my frugal meal, and listlessly watching my carriers, who were squatting about and eating in silence. It seemed as if some profound sadness had fallen upon the camp, and cast a spell over all its inmates. Suddenly my dogs started up and ran towards the wood, barking furiously. A stranger man, followed by a woman and two lads, came from the bush, and, paying no heed to the dogs, entered the encampment, and giving a rapid glance round, advanced and seated himself at my feet. He was a negro, whose bits of rags scantily covered his nakedness. What had once been a mantle hung from his bare shoulders. On his head he wore what only a great stretch of the imagination could caU a cap, and in his hand he carried a stout stick. His weapons were borne by the lads who followed him. The energetic physiognomy, keen eye, and decision of manner of the stranger immediately commanded my atten- tion. " Who are you? " I inquired, " and what do you want of me?" He answered me" in Hambundo : " I am Caiumbuca, and I have come to seek you." On hearing the name of Caiumbuca I could not restrain A WELCOME VISITOR. 173 my emotion. I beheld before me the boldest of the Bih^ traders. The name of Caiumbuca, the old pombeiro of Silva Porto, is known from the Nyangwe to Lake Ngami. In Benguella, Silva Porto said to me : " Seek out Caiumbuca ; engage him in your service, and you will have the best assistant you can meet with in all South Central Africa." On reaching the Bih^, I sought him high and low, but none could give intelligence of him. " He is gone into the interior, and nobody knows where." This was the unvarying answer to my inquiries. It happened that Caiumbuca was on the Cuando, when, hearing of my approach, he started across country, with the woman and two young niggers, to join me. I had a talk with him for an hour ; I even read him a letter which Silva Porto had given me in Benguella for him: I made him my proposals, and by nightfall, every- thing being settled, I called my carriers together, and pre- sented him to them as my second in command. On the 17th of August I made a forced march, for our provisions were at an end, and it was absolutely necessary to reach human dwellings. I camped on the right bank of the river Nhengo, which is in fact the Ninda, after receiving from the north an affluent of considerable vol- ume, the Loati. This important affluent of the Zambesi runs through the immense plain of which I have already made mention, a plain so spongy and humid that it may be considered a veritable swamp. It is the resort of myr- iads of snails, which drag their spiral houses through and over the short and wiry grass. Caiumbuca having in- formed me that at a short distance from the encampment there were some native villages, I decided upon stopping where I was for another day, in order to obtain provisions. Early next morning I sent off some of the men for the purpose, but the natives turned out to be so shy, that they fled at their approach, and would not even listen to them. Our position was now sufficiently serious, as we had liter- 174 THE KING'S RIFLE. ally nothing to eat, and all attempts both at hunting and fishing yielded no result whatsoever. A group of our fellows, headed by Augusto, came run- ning into shelter, pursued by several lions, which only retired on hearing the noise of the encampment. We set oiF again on the 19th, having eaten our last ration on the morning of the 17th ! The march was kept up for eight hours, and at the close we pitched our camp near a lake, having left the banks of the river in order to get nearer to villages. In spite of the fatigue of the journey and the weakness produced by hunger, I sent off a deputation to procure provisions, Caiumbuca himself being one of the party. At nightfall they returned, but empty-handed. They obtained absolutely nothing. And the natives not only refused to part with any stores, but showed a disposition to hostilities ! I then summoned some of the negroes who had been up to the villages, and questioned them as to the actual exist- ence of stores among the inhabitants. On their answering me in the affirmative, I took an immediate resolution, and I bade the pombeiros encourage their men with the assur- ance that next morning they should have a good feed. When alone with Caiumbuca, I informed him of the resolution I had taken to m^irch on to the villages and procure provisions at any cost. In pursuance of this determination, at daybreak of the 20th I again sent oft" Augusto with a few negroes to the vil- lages, to request the people to sell me maize or manioc, and explain the circumstances under which we were placed. The only reply my envoys obtained were insults and threatened blows. Thereupon I collected all my people who were not completely prostrated by exhaustion, amounting to some eighty semi-valiant men. I placed myself at their head, and at once attacked the chiefs compound ; but, after a A TBOOP OF LUINAS. 175 skirmish with no casualties, the place surrendered at discretion. I lost no time in repairing to the general stores, which were full of sweet potatoes, and took out the quantity re- quired to appease my people's hunger, returning afterwards to the camp with the petty chief and a few other negro prisoners. I then gave them the value of the potatoes in beads and powder, and set them at liberty, after pointing out to them that in future it would be far better to act in a more hospitable spirit. They were astounded at my gen- erosity, and promised to supply me with everything I needed directly I applied for it. The inhabitants of these villages, like all the aborigines of the Nhengo plain, are of the Ganguella race, subjected, by force, to the Luinas, or Barozes. They are a miserable and intractablfe set. Toward evening, a troop of Luinas arrived at the camp. It appears they were scouring the country round, and learning that it was my intention to come to a halt in the neighborhood, they gave me a look up. The band was commanded by three chiefs, the principal of whom was named CicSta. These chiefs were wonderfully civil, and offered me their services. On my requesting them to obtain provis- ions for me, they replied that they were themselves badly off in the way of food ; but that on the following day they would accompany me to other villages, where resources were to be obtained. My Luina visitors were of good presence, tall, and robust. An antelope's skin, nicely dressed, was fastened to the leather belt in front and at the sides, and an ample mantle of skins completed the costume. All three chiefs had rifles. The men carried shields of an oval shape, and were armed with a sheaf of assegais for casting. The chest and arms were covered with amulets. The wrists were adorned with bracelets of copper, brass, and ivory, 11 176 THE KING'S RIFLE. and below the knees were from three to five very fine brass bangles. Their heads were the most remarkable, not on account of their hair, which was cut short, but from the way in which they were adorned. That of the chief CicQta, for example, was covered with an enormous wig made out of a lion's mane. THE CHIEF C'ICOTA. On August 22d, I broke up the camp, and five hours later pitched it again, close to the village of Canhete, the first occupied by the Luina race. No sooner were my huts raised, than, at Cicota's insti- gation, many girls came into camp, bringing me poultry, manioc, massamballa and earthy-nuts. During the whole of the afternoon presents continued to pour in, which I returned in the best way I could. ENVOYS FROM THE KING. 177 I paid a visit to the village of Canhete. In the fields there tobacco and the sugar-cane were growing in the utmost luxuriance. The houses were built of reeds, cov- ered with thatch ; their shape being sometimes semi-cylin- drical, with a radius of a yard and a' half, and at others oval, of no greater height than the former. The Luinas returned my visit, and treated me in the camp to a war-dance, a very picturesque performance, in which a masked figure played the part of buffoon. When night had fallen, my negro Cainga, whom I had despatched two days previously to the king to inform him of my arrival in his country, returned in safety. With him came various chiefs, bearing presents from his Majesty, among which were six oxen ! I could scarcely believe my eyes, and kept repeating, "Beef! We have really got beef to eat ! " Cainga told me that he seemed very proud at the idea of my visiting him by order of the Mueneputo, the White King, and that he intended giving me a splendid recep- tion. With a view to display his greatness, he had ordered many boats to be got in readiness, so that my whole caravan might cross at the same time. Cainga informed me that he was a young man of some twenty years of age, and that when he learned I was my- self young, he said we should be friends. Just as I was breaking up my camp, fresh envoys arrived from the king, bringing salt and tobacco as a present, and with them a message desiring me not to fol^ low the direct road to the mouth of the Nhengo, as he wished to punish the inhabitants of the villages lying on the route, by depriving them of the pleasure of my visit. I sent word, in reply, that I intended to come by no other road, as it was the one that would suit me best. No sooner had we quitted Canhete then we fell in with a horrible swamp, which, though scarcely five hundred and fifty yards wide, took us an hour to pass. We trav- 178 THE KING'S RIFLE. elled eastward, and three hours later reached the village of Tapa, where I accepted a house offered me by the chief, it being impossible to camp without the precincts of the village, owing to the swampy character of the ground. On the 24th of August we started at eight o'clock in the morning. After crossing a swamp similar to that of the day before, we reached the right bank of the Nhengo at nine o'clock ; and, keeping along it until half-past ten, we arrived at that hour at the Zambesi. With what enthusiasm did I not salute the grand river ! A group of hippopotami were poking their huge snouts out of the water, at some thirty yards distant, and two of them fell victims to their imprudence. An enormous crocodile, that was basking in the sun on an island hard by, shortly after shared the same fate. I had thus appro- priately saluted the mighty Liambai, by dyeing its waters with the blood of its ferocious denizens ! It was while the enthusiasm of my own people and of the numerous Luinas who accompanied me was at its height that the king's canoes arrived, and at mid-day we crossed to the left bank of the river. Keeping still in an easterly direction, at two o'clock we fell in with another branch of the Liambai, which separates from it near Nariere. We therefore proceeded to a large island, on which there are hamlets, the chief of which is Liondo. The branch of the river above referred to, although 164 yards wide, is very shallow, and we waded across it. On the other bank a good many natives were assembled, envoys of the king. Still proceeding on, at three o'clock I arrived at a large lake near the village of Liara, which I crossed in a boat. My course continued easterly, and led through a perfect laby- rinth of little lakes that had to be avoided, and it was not until five in the evening that I reached Lialui, the great capital of the Baroze or Kingdom of the Lui. I found the king had drawn up a programme ! THE CAPITAL OF THE BAk6zE 179 Some twelve hundred warriors were drawn up in parallel lines, extending to the house I was provisionally to occupy, and one of the grandees of the Court, accompanied by thirty attendants, formed my suite. On my arrival at the house, which had a large pateo or courtyard, surrounded by a cane- fence, I found a dais, on which I was compelled to sit to receive the compliments of the Court. Four of the king's counsellors, with Gambella, their president, at their head, then arrived. At their back came all the grandees forming the court of King Lobossi. They seated themselves, and then began, both on their side and mine, a series of com- pliments and ceremonies, with a thousand protestations of friendship. When they gravely retired, their place was taken by other envoys, who only left me when night had fallen. I was then able to retire to the house set apart for me ; but I got little or no sleep, owing to my speculations on the future of my enterprise. The following chapter will show that it was not without reason that an undefined presentiment of evil took pos- session of my mind, and caused me that sleepless night on the 24th of August, 1878. CHAPTER XIV. KING LOBOSSI AND HIS EMISSARIES. ON the 25th of August I rose, feeling very ill and burning with fever. I was in the Upper Zambesi, close to the fifteenth parallel South, in the city of Lialui, the new capital, founded by King Lobossi, of the Kingdom of the Bar8ze, Lui or Ungunge, for by all three names is that vast empire of South tropical Africa known to the world. We learn from the descriptions of David Livingstone that a warrior coming out of the South at the head of a powerful army, by name Chibitano, a Basuto by origin, crossed the Zambesi close to its confluence with the Cuando, and in- vaded the territories of the Upper Zambesi, subjecting to his sway the whole of the tribes who inhabited the vast tracts of country thus conquered. On this army, formed of different elements and of peoples of many races and origins, its commander bestowed the name of Cololos : hence the designation of Macololos, which became so well known throughout Africa. At the time of my arrival the ministry of foreign affairs was entrusted to a certain Matagga, whilst Gambella, the president of the king's council, had charge of the war department. I was advised at daybreak that King Lobossi was pre- pared to receive me. I at once undid my traps, and put on the only complete suit of clothes I possessed. I then went to the great square in which the audience was to be (180) KING LOBOSSI. 181 held, and found the king seated in a high-back chair in the middle of the open space. Behind him stood a negro shading him with a parasol. Lobossi was a young man aljout twenty, of lofty stature, and proportionately stout. He wore a cashmere mantle over a colored shirt, and in lieu of cravat, had a numerous collection of amulets hanging on his chest. His drawers THE KING LOBOSSI. were of colored cashmere, displaying Scotch thread stock- ings, perfectly white, and he had on a pair of low well- polished shoes. A large counterpane of smart colors, in lieu of capote, and a soft gray hat, adorned with two large and beautiful ostrich-feathers, completed the costume of the great potentate. He held in his hand an instrument formed of a wooden carved handle, into which were stuck bunches 182 THE KING'S RIFLE. of horsehair, that served to keep off the flies, and as he sat he waved it to and fro with great gravity. On his right, and on a lower chair, was seated Gambella, and the other three counsellors were on the opposite side. About a thousand persons squatted on the ground in a semicircle, displaying their hierarchy by the distance at which they were placed from their sovereign. On my arrival King Lobossi rose, and after him the counsellors, and the whole people. I shook hands with the king and Gambella, bowed to the three counsellors, and then sat down near Lobossi and Gambella. After an exchange of compliments and polite greetings, which appeared rather to belong to a European court than a barbarous people, I explained to the king that I was not a merchant, but came to visit him by order of the King of Portugal, and that I had that to say to him which could not well be said before so numerous an assembly. He replied that he knew and understood that it was so, and that the reception he had given me the evening before, and the one he made me on this occasion, must prove that he did not confound me with any trader whatsoever ; that I was his guest, and that we should have time to talk about affairs, as he hoped to have the happiness of keep- ing me for some time in his court. After this amiable expression of opinion, he dismissed me, and I returned to my house in a high fever. I found in my courtyard no fewer than thirty oxen, which the king had sent me as a present. The favorite slave of Lobossi hinted that it would be an act of delicacy on my part to order the animals to be slaughtered, to offer the best leg of beef to the king, and distribute the meat among the courtiers. I gave orders to Augusto to act accordingly, and, the whole of the cattle having been killed, the flesh was divided among my carriers and the people of the court. I took good care to send to the king and the four counsellors the better parts, not forgetting to LIVINGSTONE'S OLD FRIEND. 183 make Gambella's the choicest, and letting him know that I did so. At one o'clock I was received by the king in private audience. He ^yas seated on a stool, and opposite him were the four counsellors upon a bench, attended by some gi-andees, among whom was a hale old man, whose sym- pathetic and expressive face greatly struck me. This was Machauana, the former companion of Livingstone on the GAMBELLA. journey which the celebrated explorer made from the Zambesi to Loando, and of whom he speaks in his "Jour- nal" in such high terms of praise. An enormous pot of quimhombo was placed in the mid- dle of the room, and, after the king had drunk of it, all followed his example in copious draughts, without offering any to me, being informed that I drank only water. We conversed upon indifferent matters, and I understood that the time had not yet come to talk of my affairs. On my 184 THE KING'S RIFLE. retiring, the king whispered, in a tone which none could hear, that he should like to see me that night. Shortly after my arrival at my own house, Machauana called upon me, and I had a long talk with him about Livingstone. He left me with many professions of friendship. At nine o'clock I repaired to the king's residence. I found him in one of the ixrnev pateos, seated upon a stool, near a large fire burning in an earthen brazier, a couple of yards at least in diameter. Opposite him, in a semi- circle, were some twenty men, armed with assegais and shields, who, during our conference, remained as motion- less and silent as statues. Shortly after my arrival, Gam- bella came in and our conference began. I commenced by saying that I had been compelled to leave upon the road the rich presents I had brought for him, but that, even as it was, I had been able to save a .few trifles, and among them a uniform and hat, which I then presented him. Lobossi was delighted both with the uniform and hat, and thanked me very warmly for the gift. We then, after some conversation upon indifferent subjects, began to talk of business. Verissimo and Cai- umbuca served me as interpreters. I at once informed the, monarch that I came as the envoy of the King of Portugal (the Mueneputo, for by that name His Most Faithful Majesty is known among all the peoples of South Africa, and which is formed of two words, Muene, meaning King, and Puto, the name given to Portugal in Africa. ) I said that my chief aim was to facilitate commerce between the two countries, and that, as Lui was in the centre of Africa, and already in commu- nication with Benguella, I desired to open the road to the Zumbo, which would afford a much nearer market, where it would be easy for himself and his subjects to furnish themselves with those European products of which they stood most in need. A VISIT TO THE KING. 185 Gambella, an intelligent man and acute diplomat (for such are not wanting among the blacks) , tried more than once to catch me tripping ; but I would not travel out of the road of facts and logic, and he apparently gave in. After much discussion, it was decided that King Lobossi should send a deputation to Benguella, I supplying it with a man in whom I could place confidence, with letters for the governor and for Silva Porto ; and that, in return, he should give me the people I wanted to accompany me to the Zumbo. It was one in the morning when I retired, and, in spite of my mistrust of negroes, I freely confess that I went away satisfied. The whole of that day I was busily en- gaged, and at night-time, when I lay down, I had a severe attack of fever. I rose next morning very ill. At ten I went to pay a visit to Lobossi, whom I found in a large circular house, surrounded by people, and having before him six enor- mous pans of capata. My own followers, Augusto, Verissimo, and Caiumbuca, and the king's attendants, were very soon in a helpless state of drunkenness ; and, as I could do nothing to stop it, I returned to my own house, and went to my couch with a great increase of fever. Lobossi sent me six oxen, the flesh of which was all stolen by his men, for the major part of my people were away constructing an encampment, and Augusto, Veris- simo and Caiumbuca were too drunk to attend to any- thing. Early next morning, the king came to see me ; and at ten he sent to request me to appear before his great coun- cil, which he had convened expressly in order that I might lay my projects before it. Again did Gambella, who presided at the meeting, try to confuse me, but with no better success than before. I 186 THE KING'S RIFLE. had, however, to give Gambella and the other members of the Board a lecture in Geography. The audience were astonished at my erudition. After a long discussion, it was resolved to send the deputation to Benguella, and to allow me sufficient people to cross the Chuculumbe to Cainco, leaving three or four strong posts on the road to secure the passage, on their return, of those who should accompany me to the Zumbo. I returned to the house with such an accession of fever that I lost my senses, but recovered somewhat by six next morning. In the evening of that day a visitor was announced in the person of Manutumueno, a son of King Chipopa, the first monarch of the Luina dynasty. I ordered him to be shown in, and beheld a youth of some sixteen or seventeen years, with a handsome figure and sympathetic face. He wore a pair of black trousers and the uniform of an ensign in the Portuguese light cavalry, in excellent condition. The sight of the uniform made a deep impression on me. To whom had it belonged ? How had it found its way into the centre of Africa ? Moved by curiosity, I ques- tioned Manutumueno as to how he had come by the uni- form ; to which he replied that it was a present of a Biheno trader, made him some time previously. I then inquired if he had met with nothing in the pockets. He answered that there were none. " None ! " I exclaimed. " What, no pockets in an officer's coat? Impossible ! " I requested him to let me examine it, which he willingly did, and unbuttoned the coat for the purpose. True enough, there were no pockets in the breast. I then turned him round, and examined the skirts, which, to his astonishment, did contain such contrivances ; and, foraging in one of them, I found and drew out a tiny little note. It was not without a certain feeling of emotion that I scanned the few lines it contained, hurriedly written in pencil. The paper contained these words : — THE KING'S DOCTOR. 187 " If I am not indiiFerent to you, kindly let me know how we can correspond." And beneath, there was a name and address. The name was that of one of my friends and companions at college, who now holds a high position in one of the scientific branches of the Portuguese army. " No doubt, good fiiend of mine," I thought, " some severe papa or lynx-eyed mamma, who is always incon- veniently in the way in such matters, prevented thee, on leaving the theatre or festive ball, from delivering the little missive to thy Dulcinea of that night, and compelled thee to stuff the precious document into thy pocket. Little didst thou dream that the forgotten note would travel across the seas, penetrate into far different regions to that in which it was indited, and be carried — an unknown treas- ure — on the person of a negro in the Upper Zambesi ! For thy consolation, however, know that the negro was at least the son of a king ! " Next day my fever had so increased that I could not stand upon my legs. Lobossi came to visit me, and brought with him his confidential doctor. He was an old man, small in stature, and thin of frame, with white beard and hair. He began by drawing from his breast a string that was run through eight halves of the stones of some fruit that was unknown to me. He then, with great gravity, pronounced certain cabalistic words, and cast the fruit-stones on the ground. After examining the positions they had taken, he came to the conclusion that my deceased relatives had possessed me, and that it was necessary for me to give him something, that he might charm them away. I bore all this nonsense with the utmost patience whilst feigning to lend the greatest credence to his words, and dismissed him with a small present of gunpowder. My encampment being now finished, I lost no time in shifting my quarters into it. By the 29th of August the 188 THE KING'S EIFLB. fever had yielded somewhat to the strong doses of quinine I had taken, and my strength was coming back to me. Unfortunately, my moral condition retrograded in a like degree. At times, indeed, the depression of spirits was most inexplicable, and my energy gave way as my moral weakness took the stronger hold of me. I was becoming crushed by the weight of a terrible attack of homesickness. On that day Lobossi sent his musicians to play and sing for my entertainment; but when they had done, a demand was made of two cartridges of powder per man. In the afternoon I heard a great beating of drums in the city, and the king sent to request that I would fire off some volleys in the great square — a wish that I gratified by despatching a dozen of my men for the purpose. I afterwards learned that it was a convocation to war, and before referring to the motives which led to it, I would fain say a few words about the history of the Lui, taking up the narrative from the point at which it was left by Dr. Livingstone, that is to say, from the death of ChicrSto. Chicreto was succeeded by his nephew Omborolo, who was to reign during the minority of Pepe, younger brother of Chicreto and son of the great Chibitano. The Luinas conspired, and Pepe was one day assassinated. Omborolo ere long shared the same fate, and the Luinas, having organized what amounted to another Saint Bartholomew's, slew without mercy the remnant of the former invading warriors, of whom only a handful escaped, who, under the command of Siroque, a brother of Chicreto's mother, fled westward and crossed the Zambesi. The Luinas, after this sanguinary act, proclaimed their chief Chipopa, a man of ability, who took measures to prevent any dismemberment of the country, and managed to keep the empire in the same powerful condition that it boasted in the time of Chibitano. Chipopa reigned many years, but treachery was soon at HISTORICAL RESUME. 189 its old work, and in 1876 a certain GsHnbella caused him to. be assassinated, and proclaimed his nephew Manuanino, a youth of seventeen, king in his stead. The first act of Manuanino's exercise of authority was to order Gambella, the man who had brought him to the throne, to be beheaded; and, not content with this, he deposed from office all the relatives and friends of his father, who had assisted to procure him his dignity, and collected about him only his maternal kinsmen. The former conspired in turn, and made a revolution, with the object of assassinating him, in March, 1878 ; butManuanino, learning of his danger through some who were yet faithful to him, succeeded in escaping, and fled towards the Cuando, where he assailed and devastated the village of Mutambanja. Lobossi, having been proclaimed king, despatched an army against him, and Manuanino had to retire from his new quarters, and repassing the Zambesi at Quisseque, plunged into the country of the Chuculumbe, which he crossed, and joined a band of whites, elephant-hunters, who were encamped on the borders of the Cafucue. Lobossi, apparently conscious that his own safety depended upon the death of Manuanino, sent a fresh army against him. It was of the result of that very expedition that news had arrived that day. It seems that, on nearing the spot where the late sover- eign was harboring with his newly found white friends, whom they styled Muzungos, the chiefs demanded that Manuanino should be given up, that he might be slain ; and on receiving a flat refusal, they attacked the band, but with so little success, that they were completely routed by the whites, few only being left to escape back to Lialui and narrate the disaster which had befallen the expedition. Among the few Macololos who, on the occasion of the African St. Bartholomew's, managed to, escape, was, as I have mentioned, a chief of the name of Siroque. He 190 THE KING'S RIFLE. subsequently mouhted the rivei- Cubango to the Bih^, and remained there a consideral)le time, paying an occasional visit to Benguella, with trading caravans, He afterward returned to the interior and passed his days hunting elephants. But Manuanino at length got him into his power in a most treacherous way, and caused him to be assassinated. All his adherents fell victims at the same time, and the assegai of the slayer of Siroque opened the tomb to the last of the Macololos. lUINA WOMAN. CHAPTER XV. TROUBLE IN THE BAEOZE. THE day on which intelligence of the disaster which had befallen the king's arms reached the capital was dark and gloomy, and seemed in harmony with the state of Lobossi's mind. Ill news flies apace, and rumors of fresh mishaps tread upon the heels of each other. Among other scraps of sinister intelligence, it was next reported that Lo Bengula, the powerful monarch of the Matebeli, was projecting an attack upon the Lui. Everything was topsy-turvy in the city ; every one had a pet expedient to propose, or some mad scheme to venti- late ; and two men, only, appeared to retain their wits and coolness amid the general confusion. These were Machau- ana and Gambella — the latter the Minister of War, Machauana the General-in-Chief.* Decided and rapid orders were issued by these two chiefs to faithful emissaries, who were at once despatched to distant villages. It was said, and repeated, that they were the Muzungos who had slain the troops of Lobossi despatched against Manuanino, and that if it were known that I was a Muzungo, my life was not worth a day's purchase. Luckily the * News of the Lui, which I have since received in Europe, inform me that the Luinas, after my stay among them, suffered a fierce attack from certain northeast tribes, and that, subsequently, Lobossi ordered Gambella, Machauana, and young Manatumueno, son of King Chipopa, to be put to death. Shortly afterwards it was reported in the Bihe that King Lobossi had himself been assassinated, and another sovereign proclaimed in his stead ; the new monarch being the Manuanino before referred to. 12 (191) 192 THE KING'S RIFLE. people were ignorant of the fact, and thought that the Portuguese of the East were of a different race to those of the West. On the 30th August, at early morning, Lobossi sent to inform me of his intention to proceed to hostilities. His emissary was Gambella himself, who further communicated that, as Chuculumbe was the theatre of the intended war, my journey thither was impossible, and that, as a necessary consequence, everything which had been arranged between us was at an end. In the afternoon, having meanwhile had a violent attack of fever, a message was sent me that the Biheno pombeiros wished to speak to me. Although with difficulty, I rose and proceeded to hear what they had to say. After a good deal of beating about the bush, they at length came to the point. They were going to leave me, seeing, as they did, the ugly turn that things were taking in the Lui, and only wanted to get back to the Bihe. The cowardly crew ! They were about to desert me at the very moment I most needed their services. Miguel, the elephant-hunter, the pombeiro Chaquiconde, and two carriers, Catiba and another, and Dr. Chacaiombe, protested their fidelity, and declared they would stand by me. The whole of the Quimbares also came forward to make a like declaration. This unexpected move on the part of the Bihenos restored to me, as if by magic, the cool determination which had abandoned me for days past. I forthwith dismissed the deserters and ordered them out of the camp. This done, I reviewed my forces, and found that they amounted to fifty-eight men. On the day after this event Lobossi called to see me, and said that my journey to the Chuculumbe was impossible, but that he would furnish me with guides and some people to proceed southwards as far as the Zumbo. He then complained most bitterly of the few things I gave him, and LOBOSSrS MESSAGE. 193 said, if I had nothing else left, I ought to let him have all my arms and powder, with the greater reason, as, if I went to the Zumbo with his people, I should be under their protection. I offered him the arms of the Bihenos who had left me that day, and seven barrels of powder ; but I formally refused to give up a single gun which belonged to the men who remained or to my immediate followers. I then retired, not too well satisfied with the interview. On the 1st September I rose feeling very ill, and, after making my morning observations, I turned in again to try and get a little sleep, when Verissimo, in an alarmed state, entered my hut, and told me that Lobossi had called all my people about him, and informed them that I had come there for the express purpose of joining the Muzungos who were on the Cafucue with Manuanino, and making war upon him ; that this was proved by my persistence in wishing to go to the Chuculumbe ; that he had, during the night, been made acquainted with the projects I medi- tated, and intended therefore to order me out of his country, and only to leave the road to the Bih6 open to me. He had charged Verissimo to bring me this message. I did not fail to despatch a I'eply to Lobossi, pointing out to him the impolicy of the course he was adopting, as I had it in my power to do him a deal of harm by preventing the traders of the Bihe from setting foot in his domains ; but I got, for sole rejoinder, a fresh order to pack up, and to look to the Bih& as the sole available road. In the afternoon I received another message, to the effect that the forces which had been got together for the war would not march until I had quitted the Lui and was on my way to Benguella. I told the envoy to inform King Lobossi, from me, that he had better sleep upon the matter, as night was a good counsellor, and that I should wait for his ultimate decision till next day. On the 2d September I had a visit from Gambella, who 194 THE KING'S RIFLE. came from the king to command me to quit his territory forthwith, and to take no other road than that which led to the Bihe. That I must not go there, nor there, nor there, pointing successively to the North, East, and South. Against all usage in the country, Gambella, whilst he remained in my house, retained his arms, and I followed his example by toying with a splendid Adams Colt re- volver. I pretended to meditate over my answer, and then said : "Friend Gambella, go and tell Lobossi, or accept the message for yourself, that I don't budge a step from here in the direction of Benguella. Let his army be as numer- ous as it will, if I am attacked, I shall know how to defend myself; and, if I fall, the Mueneputo will call him to account for my death. Any way, you may take it as my resolve that I only leave here to follow my own road." Gambella left my hut in a towering rage. Late at night, Machauana came secretly to visit me. He informed me that Gambella had counselled the king to order me to be put out of the way, but that Lobossi for- mally refused to take such a step. The advice was given at a council which Machauana attended, and he urged me warmly to be upon my guard. In a long conversation which I held with Livingstone's old companion, I discovered that there was an ancient grudge between liim and Gambella. The old warrior, once attached to Chibitano's service and subsequently to that of King Chipopa, was very desirous of seeing raised to the throne of the Lui, the son of the latter, his own pupil and protege, young Monatumueno, my ensign in the light cavalry. The discovery of this hatred, and of this aifection in the heart of the old man, put me at ease upon my own safety. His power was great, as he had an enormous influence over great part of the Lui tribes, and hence the assegais, PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 195 which spare but few in the revolutions of the country, had spared him. I expressed to him all the gratitude I felt, and begged him, at parting, to give me timely warning if Lobossi decreed my death. He promised and retired. After this interview I lay down, and revolved in my mind a singular plan I had been for some time cogitating, but which I had abstained from communicating to Machau- ana, in order to prevent him conceiving ambitious projects, which he might not at that moment have been nourishing. I had resolved, if Lobossi decided upon my death, to surround myself with five of my most reliable men, to act as bull-dogs, such as Augusto, Camutombo and others, and repair with them at once to the king's audience, where all are alike unarmed ; to cause them, at a given signal, to spring upon Lobossi, Gambella, Matagja, and the other two privy counsellors, whilst I, accompanied by Machau- ana, the General-in-Chief, who had ten thousand warriors at his call, would shout out : "Live Monatumueno, King of the Lui ; long live the son of Chipopa ! " A revolution effected in this way could scarcely fail to be successful in a country which dearly loves revolutions. I fell fast asleep while ruminating this notable project, and slept on till awoke by Catraio next morning, who came to inform me that Lobossi was there, and wanted to speak to me. I at once arose, and went to receive him. His object in visiting me was to say that he had altered his mind, and that all the roads were open to me. That he would furnish me with guides to the Oquisseque, but that, in consequence of the events that were occurring in his states, he could furnish me with no forces, nor would he be responsible for any disaster that might occur through my attempting the journey with barely fifty-eight men. I thanked him for his decision, and, with respect to his caution, said I was accustomed to guarantee my own safety apd to make no one responsible for my life. 196 THE KING'S RIFLE. On the morning of the 4th, I attended an audience of the king, who behaved towards me in a very amicable way. It was Lobossi's custom, at sunrise, to leave his quarters, and, at the sound of marimbas and di'ums, to proceed to the great square, where he took his seat near a lofty semicircular fence, the centre of which was occupied by the royal chair. Behind him squatted the natives who composed his court, and on his right were Gambella and the other counsellors, if present. In front, and at about twenty paces distant, stood his musicians in a line, and files of the people were ranged at the sides. Many causes which did not require to be treated in the privy council were there heard and tried, for the audience was in every sense a judicial one. On the day in ques- tion, among other matters, was a case of robbery. The complainant summoned the accused (who squatted down in front), and stated his grounds of complaint. The accused denied the crime, and at once a man came forward from among the people to defend him. Any friend or relative is competent for such a purpose. Gambella acted as public prosecutor, and, the accused kneeling before him, he put a variety of questions to which the other replied. The discussion went on, and various witnesses for the accusation and defence came forward in turn. The crime was held to be proved, and the plaintiff demanded that the thief's wife should be delivered up to him, which was done ; so that he was indemnified for the loss of his prop- erty (a few strings of beads) by the possession of the other man's wife. The case being thus terminated, it is to be hoped to the satisfaction of the parties conceriied, another man pre- sented himself, who accused his wife of failing in her obedience to him. This complaint was followed by many others of a similar character, and I counted more than twenty of Lol)ossi's subjects who made bitter complaints WOMAN'S RIGHTS IN LIALUI. 197 against their partners, so tliat it seemed to me the women of the Lialui were in a state of complete domestic revolt. After some discussion, it was resolved that any wife who failed to yield blind and absolute obedience to her lord, should be bound hand and foot and thrust into the lake, where' she was to pass the night with only her head out of water. One thing which struck me as particularly curious in these audiences, was the mode in which Gambella con- ferred with the king, in secret, before the whole assembly. At a signal from the minister the music struck up, and the eight hatuques made such an infernal noise that it was sim- ply impossible to hear a word of what was being debated between the king and his minister. The audience being over, the king is accustomed to retire to a convenient place, and go in for hard drinking. Numerous pipkins of capata are sent round, and the sov- ereign and his courtiers devote themselves to the worship of the god Bacchus. From this scene he retires to bed, and in the afternoon, after fresh libations, he gives another audience. This lasts till nightfall ; he then feeds, and repairs to his seraglio, whence he rarely issues till one in the morning. At that hour, amid the beating of drums, he turns into his own house to sleep. The cessation of the hatuques is a sign that the monarch has retired. His guard, composed of some forty men, then strike up a music which, though monotonous, is far from disagreeable, and all the night through they join their voices, in an undertone, in a soft and harmonious chorus. This music, which is presumably soothing to the king's ear, and lulls him agreeably to sleep, serves to show that his guard are watching round his house. The foregoing will give the reader a general idea of the monot- onous life led by this African autocrat. On the same day, I learned that I owed my life to Machauana, who, at the privy council, formally opposed 198 THE KING'S RIFLE. a motion for my assassination, saying that he had been in Loanda with Livingstone, had been well treated by the whites, as were the Luinas who accompanied hiin, and that he would never consent to any evil befalling a white man of the same race. The council, in view of the attitude and reasoning of Machauana, resolved that sentence of death should not be passed upon me ; but, as it would appear, one of its mem- bers came to a contrary decision, on his own account, for that night, having left the camp with the intention of tak- ing the altitudes of the moon, an assegai, cast by some unseen hand, came so near me that the shaft glanced along my left arm. I cast a hasty glance in the direction whence the missile came, and saw, in the dim light, a negro, at twenty paces' distance, preparing for another throw. To draw my revolver and fire at the rascal was an act rather of instinct than of thought. At sight of the flash, the fellow turned and fled in the direction of the city, and I pursued him. Finding me at his heels, he threw himself on the ground. I seized hold of one of his arms, and whilst I felt his flesh tremble at contact with my hand, I also felt a hot liquid running between my fingers. The man was wounded. I made him rise, when, trembling with fear, he uttered certain words which I did not understand. Pointing the revolver at his head, I compelled him to go before me to the camp. I called for two confidential followers, into whose hands I delivered my prisoner, and then proceeded to examine his wound. The ball had penetrated close to the upper head of the right humerus, near the collar-bone, and, not having come out, I presumed that it was fixed in the shoulder-blade. Having bound up his hurt, I sent for Caiumbuca, and ordered him to accompany me to the king's house, my young niggers with the prisoner follow- ing behind. Lobossi had returned from his women's quarters, and TREACHERY AND ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION. 199 was conversing with Gambella before retiring for the night. I presented to him the wounded man, and inquired who and what he was. The king appeared to be both alarmed and horrified at seeing me covered with the blood of the assassin, which I had not washed ofP, when a hurried glance exchanged between the bravo and Gambella I'evealed to me the true head of the attempted crime. I narrated the occurrence, and Gambella loudly ap- plauded what I had done. His only i-egret was that I had not killed the wretch outright, and he said that he would take a terrible vengeance for the act. The negro was unknown in Lialui, and the men of Lobossi's body-guard asseverated that they had never seen him. Lobossi begged me to keep the incident a profound secret, assuring me that nothing more of the kind should occur so long as I remained in his dominions. I returned to the camp, more than ever distrustful of the friendly professions of Gambella. In the middle of the night, lying awake, I heard some one attempting to steal quietly into my hut. I was on my feet in an instant, ready to surpiise the intruder. The person, whoever it was, could be no stranger, as my faith- ful hound Traviata, instead of growling, began to wag her tail as her nose pointed in the direction of the uninvited guest. I waited an instant, and then, by the light of the fire, I recognized the young negress Mariana, who, with her body half in and half outside the hut, made me a signal to be quiet. She entered, drew close up to me, and whis- pered : " Be cautious. Caiumbuca is betraying thee. After returning home with thee, he went back to the city to speak with Gambella ; on again returning here, he quietly sum- moned Silva Porto's men, and got them together in his own hut. I was on the alert and listened, and heard them talk about getting thee put to death. Verissimo was there too. They said that, as thou didst not understand the Lui Ian- 200 THE KING'S RIFLE. guage, when thou saidst one thing to the king, they would say another, and answer in the same way, so that the king should get angry, and order thee to be killed. So be cautious — for they are all bad — very bad ! " I thanked the young girl for her advice and courage, and gave her the only necklace of beads I had left, and which I destined for one of Machauana's favorites. This intelligence of Mariana was a heavy blow to me. The men in whom I most trusted were then the first to betray me ! A thousand sad thoughts trooped through my mind, and, though they did not shake my courage, they completely banished sleep from my eyelids. It was true that Mariana's caution gave me an enormous advan- tage over my enemies, who remained in ignorance of my knowledge of their treason ; and next morning, as I rose from my uneasy couch, I found myself muttering the old proverb, " Forewarned is forearmed. " I resolved that the traitors should be betrayed by one of their own party, and cast my eyes upon Verissimo Gon^alves. I called him into my hut, and showed him, before saying a word, an imaginary letter despatched to Benguella, wherein I informed the governor that, having reason to mistrust him, I had to request the authorities to seize his wife, son and mother, and hold them as hostages ; so that, if perchance I fell a victim to any plot, they might be at once sent to Portugal, where, as I then explained to Verissimo, my relatives would cause them to be burnt alive. After this exordium, I assured him that the letter had been written as a simple measure of precaution, as I fully confided in his devotion to me, but that such devotion behoved him to be upon the watch, as I strongly mistrusted Caiumbuca ; for that, if any mishap befel me, I should be unable to prevent the horrors which were reserved for the beings that were most dear to him. I took care to apprise him, more particularly, that I apprehended Caiumbuca's AN EVENTFUL NIGHT. 201 not imparting to the king what I told him to say, and distorting in turn Lobossi's replies. Verissimo, in great alarm, blurted out that I was not mistaken, and confessed the whole plot. I warned him about letting Caiumbuca know what had occurred, and impressed upon him the necessity of -teeping me informed of the other's doings. My encampment was very extensive, and spread out more than usual, owing to the Quimbares having taken up their quarters in the huts of the Quimbundos since the latter had left me. The centre was a vast circular space, more than a hundred yards in diameter. On one side was a row of huts, in which my own habitation was situated, having round it a cane-hedge, within whose precincts no one passed except my immediate body-servants. We had reached the 6th of September. The thermom- eter during the day had stood persistently at thirty-three degrees Centigrade, and the heat reflected from the sandy soil had been oppressive. Mght camfe down serene and fresh, and I, seated at the door of my hut, was thinking of my country, my relatives and friends. My Quimbares, who had retired within their huts, were chatting round their fires, and I alone, of all my company, was in the open air. Suddenly my attention was caught by a number of bright lights flitting round the encampment. Unable as I was at the moment to explain the meaning of this strange spectacle, nevertheless my mind misgave me as to its object, and I jumped up and looked out from the cane- fencing which surrounded my dwelling. Directly I caught a fair view of the field, the whole was revealed to me, and an involuntary cry of horror escaped from my lips. Some hundreds of aborigines surrounded the encamp- ment, and were throwing burning brands upon the huts, whose only covering was a loose thatch of dry grass. In 202 THE KING'S RIFLE. a minute the flames, incited by a strong east wind, spread in every direction. The Quimbares, in alarm, rushed out from their burning huts, and ran hither and thither like madmen. Augusto and the Benguella men gathered quickly about me. In presence of such imminent peril, there fell upon me, what I have more than once experienced under simi- lar circumstances, namely, the completest self-possession. My mind became cool and collected, and I felt only the determination to resist and to come out victorious. I called aloud to my people, half-demented at finding them- selves begirt by a ring of fire, and succeeded in collecting them together in the space occupying the centre of the camp. Aided by Augusto and the Benguella men, I dashed mto my hut, then in flames, and managed to get out in safety the trunks containing the instruments, my papers, the labor of so many months, and the powder. By that time the whole of the huts were ablaze, but happily the fire could not reach us where we stood. Verissimo was at my side. I tui-ned to him and said, "I can defend myself here for a considerable time ; make your way through, where and how you can, and speed to Lialui. There see Lobossi, and tell him that his people are attacking me. See also Machauana, and inform him of my danger." Verissimo ran towards the burning huts, and I watched him till he disappeared amid the ruins. By that time the assegais were falling thickly round us, and already some of my men had been badly wounded, among others Silva Porto's negro Jamba, whose right eye-brow was pierced by one of the weapons. My Quimbares answered these volleys with rifle-balls, but still the natives came on, and had now made their way into the encampment, where the huts all lying in ashes ofiered no efiective barrier to their advance. I was standing in the middle of the ground, before alluded to, guarding my country's flag, whilst all A FIGHT WITH THE SAVAGES. 205 round me my valiant Quimbares, who had now recovered heart, were firing in good earnest. But were they all there? No. One man was wanting, — one man whose place before all others should have been at my side, but whom no one had seen, — Caiumbuca, my second in com- mand, had disappeared. As the fires were going down, I perceived the danger to be most imminent. Our enemies were a hundred to our one. It was like a glimpse of the infernal regions, to behold those stalwart negroes, by the light of the lurid flames, darting hither and thither. Screaming in unearthly accents, and ever advancing nearer, beneath the cover of their shields, whilst they brandished in the air and then cast their murderous assegais. It was a fearful struggle, but wherein the breech-loading rifles, by their sustained fire, still kept at bay that horde of howling savages. Nevertheless, I revolved in my mind that the combat could not long continue thus, for our ammunition was rapidly disappearing. At the outset, I had but four thou- sand charges for the Snider rifles and twenty thousand for the ordinary ; but it was not the latter which would save us, and directly our firing should slacken, through the falling ofi" of our rapidly charged breech-loaders, we should be overwhelmed by the bloodthirsty savages. Augusto, who fought like an enraged lion, came to me, with anguish depicted in his face, as he held up his rifle, which had just burst. I passed the word to my little nigger Pepeca to give him my elephant-rifle and cartridge- box. Thus armed, the brave fellow ran to the front, and discharged his piece poin1>blank against the enemy where their ranks were thickest. At the instant, the infernal shouts of the assailants changed their tone, and, amid screams of fright, they precipitately fled ! It was not till the following day that I learned, through King Lobossi, what had produced this sudden change in the aspect of affairs. It was solely due to the unexpected 206 THE KING'S RIFLE. shots of Augusto. In the cartridge-box entrusted to him were some balls charged with nitro-glycerine ! The effect of these fearful missiles, which decapitated or otherwise tore in pieces all those subject to their explosion, had pro- duced the timely panic among those ignorant savages, who fancied they saw in this novel assault an irresistible sor- cery ! Their unpremeditated employment at such a criti- cal time seemed almost providential. I saw at once that I was saved. Half an hour after- wards, Verissimo appeared with a large force, commanded by Machauana, who had come to my rescue by order of the king. Lobossi sent me word that he was a stranger to the whole affair, and he could only suppose that his people, imagining that it was my intention to attack them, in conjunction with the Muzungos of the east, who were collected under Manuanino, had taken the initiative, and fallen upon me of their own accord ; but that he would take the most vigorous measures to prevent my suffering further aggression. I explained the matter to myself in another way, feeling convinced that, if the assault had not been ordered by him, it was the work of Gambella. Verissimo, seeing the disasters occasioned by the con- flict, asked me what was now to be done ; a question I answered in the words of one of the greatest Portuguese of ancient times : " Bury the dead, and look after the living. " The conflagration had caused us serious losses of prop- erty, but infinitely more serious were the valuable lives which had been sacrificed through so unexpected an assault. The Portuguese flag was rent by the many assegais which had pierced through it, and besprinkled with the blood of many a brave man ; but the stains it bore only served to bring out in stronger relief its immaculate purity, and again, far from the country to which it belonged, and in unknown lands, it had commanded respect, as it has always hitherto done and will continue to do till the end. ESCAPE TO THE MOUNTAINS. 207 I laid down my soldier's arms, to take up the instru- ments of the peaceful surgeon ; and the remainder of the night was spent in dressing the hurts of the wounded and sustainins: the couruijc of the sound, whilst I set a careful watch to guard against another surprise. At break of day I went to seek the king, and spoke to him in bitter terms of the events of the preceding night. Before his people, there assembled, I held him responsible for what had occurred, and said aloud that they who had to bemoan the loss of parents and kindred should attribute the blame to him, and him only. At nhie o'clock on the same day we quitted the plain, and succeeded in reaching the mountains near Catongo, all of us, sound as well as wounded, in the greatest state of weakness. Our only resource for food was the fish which abounded in the lakes. LUUJA MAN. CHAPTER XVI. THE KING'S KIFLE. AFTER a march of fifteen miles, we came to a halt, and pitched our camp in the forest which covers the flanks of the mountains of Catongo. Quite close to me was a little hamlet, to which I sent to procure some food. A few women came over to us, bringing some trifling articles, which they exchanged for the metal cases of the cartridges fired from my Winchester rifles. After the camp was constructed, we went ofi" to fish in the neighboring lakes, whence we drew a small supply, which we boiled and ate without salt. On the 10th I set the men to fish in the lakes, so as to obtain the wherewithal to stay our hunger. I spent the day at work, and as I had on the western side a boundless horizon, where, as in the open sea, the azure firmament covered the earth like an enormous dome, I thought it a good opportunity of determining the variation of the mag- netic needle by the amplitude, a simpler method than by the azimuths which I had hitherto been compelled to employ. I was desirous of observing during the night of the 10th and 11th a reappearance of the first satellite of Jupiter, and I told Augusto to call me when the moon was at the height I explained to him, which would be eleven o'clock, and, thoroughly fagged, I lay down early and slept pro- foundly, trusting, of course, that Augusto would keep watch. In the middle of the night I awoke at Augusto's (208) STARTLING NEWS. 209 summons, believing it to be the hour I had appointed; but no sooner had I answered the faithful fellow's call than he said, in a broken voice : — " Sir, we are betrayed ; all our people have fled, and have stolen everything ! " I sprang to my feet and hurried out of the hut. True enough, the camp was deserted. There were Augusto, Verissimo, Camutombo, Catraio, Moero and Pepeca, and the wives of the young niggers, all silent — lost in wonderment — and eying one another. I sat down with my eight fiiithful ones around me, and began making inquiries about what had occurred. But I sought in vain for details, which none could give me. The men had all fled without one of those who were left behind having been a witness of the desertion. The dogs, to which they were all known, uttered no warning bark. Pepeca, who had been the round of the huts, had found them all empty. The few loads that had been deposited at the door of my own hut, and which consisted of powder and car- tridges, had also disappeared. This was the deepest wrong they could inflict upon me. All that they had left were the contents of my scanty dwelling; these were my papers, my instruments, and my arms, — but arms that were now valueless, for one of the stolen loads contained my cartridges, and without them the former were of no account. Without delay I made an inventory of my miserable belongings, and found I had thirty charges with steel balls for the Lepage rifle, and twenty-five cartridges with large shot for the Devisme musket, which were of but little use. And those were all my heavy weapons. I could not but bow my head before this last heavy blow which had been dealt me, and a terrible tightening of the heart awakened for the first time since I set foot in Africa, the presentiment that I was lost ! I was in the 13 210 THE KING'S RIFLE. centre of Africa, in the midst of the forest, without re- sources, possessing some thirty bullets at most, when to the sole chance of bringing down game I had to look for food, when in fact game only could save our lives, and when I had as supporters but three men, three lads, and two women. Augusto accused himself again and again for having slept when I had told him to keep watch, and in his rage would, at a word from me, have followed the fugitives and essayed to carry out his threat of killing them all. I had some difficulty to restrain the fury of my faithful negro, and scarcely conscious of what I said, certainly without my words carrying any conviction to my own mind, I ordered them to retire to rest, to fear nothing, and that I would find a remedy for the evil. Meanwhile I would keep watch. When they were all gone and I was left to myself, I sat down by my fire with my senses dazed and my limbs nerveless. The moral shock reacted on my body, already considerably shattered by constant fever. With my arms on my knees and my head buried in my hands, I watched the wood as it blazed without a single thought or idea assuming a definite shape in my mind. I was, in fact, in a state bordering on imbecility. Nevertheless, instinct, the child of habit, soon made me conscious that I was unarmed, and I aroused myself sufficiently to call Pepeca and bid him bring me my gun. He came, delivered me the weapon, which, almost unknowingly, I laid across my knees, and again retired. This wretched state of moral and physical depression lasted long, and when it began to yield it was to give place to the terrible consciousness of the horrors of my position. It must be in some such state of mind as the one in which I was then plunged that men commit suicide. Thus brooding, my chin drooped upon my breast till my half-dimmed eyes caught the glitter of the rifle lying THE KING'S RIFLE. 211 across my knees, and as I gazed upon it, by slow degrees an idea, formed I know not how, took shape until it thor- oughly roused me. Springing to my feet, I bounded into the hut and raised the skins which formed my bed. I removed the little valise which served me as a pillow, and then with the utmost care brought forth from beneath, a leather case, in shape rectangular, low and long. With feverish hand I opened the case thus carefully concealed, and noted with eager eyes the articles it contained. Laying aside the case, I opened the trunk of instru- ments where the box containing my Casella Sextant was kept in its place by two tins, of whose contents I hastily satisfied myself. I then hurriedly rose, quitted the hut and the encampment, and gained the wood where in the daytime I had spread out my net to dry after using it for fishing. To my delight it was still there, kept out- stretched by the weight of the lead fastened to its outer meshes. I handled the leaden weights with trembling fingers, and then gathering the net in a bunch returned to camp, bending beneath the heavy burden. When I reached the fire, I deposited my load upon the ground beside me. The miser, devouring with eager, covetous eyes the treasure of which he is possessed, must wear some such expression as brightened mine, when gazing upon a rifle in that case. It was in fact new life to me, it was my safety and my victory. It was, for my country, an expe- dition happily carried to an end ; it was the realization of the ardent desire expressed in solemn conclave, it was the crowning of the edifice, all the more meritorious as being eflfected in spite of every obstacle. The arm which I now fondled so tenderly, as one would fondle, a beloved child, the arm which was to work out my destiny, and with it the expedition across the broad continent of Africa, was the King's Rifle. Within its case were stored the implements for casting 212 THE KING'S RIFLE. bullets, and all things needful to charge the cartridges, when once the metal envelopes were obtained, each of which, by its system of construction, would serve again and again. A small box, also within the precious case when the king presented to me his valuable gift, con- tained five hundred percussion caps. The thoughts which had trooped so tumultuously through my mind brought to my recollection two tin boxes of powder, which I had used since leaving Bengu- ella, in default of something better, to jam tightly into its place in the trunk, the box containing Casella's Sextant. Lead only was wanting, and that was now supplied me by my net ! I had therefore the means within my power to dispose of some hundreds of shots, and I felt that with such a supply, I could command the wherewithal to support life in a country where game was to be found. The remainder of that night was, to my distracted mind, like a peaceful morning after a night of tempest, and I awoke calm and confident. I summoned the chief of the neighboring hamlet and induced him to send off a couple of messengers to Lialui , to relate what had occurred to King Lobossi, and at the same time inform him I was shifting my camp to a spot somewhat nearer to the village. We then set to work to construct four huts and a strong fence, to which place we removed with all the despoilers had left me. The messenger dispatched to Lobossi returned with a message from the Idng, to the effect that I should take up my quarter's at Lialui until a determination was come to. I at once made up my mind not to quit the forest where I was encamped, and therefore decided to despatch Veris- simo to Lialui to treat with the potentate. A violent attack of fever prostrated me, and I was compelled to lie down, feeling very ill. Next day I was even worse, and got most anxious for LOBOSSrS DECISION. 213 the return of Verissimo, who did not put in an appearance till evening. With him came some of the king's young negroes, bringing food and a present of curdled milk from Machauana. Lobossi sent word that he was my very good friend and was quite ready to help me, but that I must go and live in his house. I dismissed my visitors with what haste I could, as I was longing to find myself alone with Verissimo, to learn news of Lialui. The very first bit of intelligence he imparted gave me subject for deep reflection. He said that when he reached Lobossi's house the great council was assembled and a heated debate was going on. Some envoys of Carimuque, the chief of Chicheque, had recently arrived, requesting permission from an- English missionary, who was at Patamatenga, to enter the country, as he was very desir- ous of visiting the Lui. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Matagja, opposed the entrance of this missionary, and a hot discussion ensued which Verissimo stayed to hear. It ended with a resolve not to allow the Englishmen to penetrate into King Lobossi's dominions. Verissimo then began to narrate all the gossip he had succeeded in picking up ; but my thoughts were elsewhere, and the English missionary was the sole subject of my meditations. By the time my follower had ceased his repoi-t, none of the latter part of which I had heard, my problem was solved, and my resolution taken to go and seek that missionary. I eagerly ferreted out a map, a very wretched one, of Africa, and calculating approximately the distance from Patamatenga, I made out that it was some 375 railed from my present place of sojourn. I already felt an ardent desire to be upon the road, but my fever was ardent too, so, as a preliminary to my journey, I went to bed. On the 14th and 15th the fever increased in intensity, so that I was unable to leave my hut. 214 THE KING'S RIFLE. On the 16th, although very ill and weak, I set out for Lobossi's quarters. I was well received by him, and assured that he had connived in no way whatsoever with Caiumbuca and Silva Porto's negroes in the flight of my Quimbares ; which however was false, because without his consent they could not have crossed the Zambesi. I then requested him to assist me in my journey, to go and join a missionary who I knew was at Patamatenga, to which he answered by inquiring how I intended to get there without carriers? This question was much ap- plauded by the bystanders, who admired the skill with which he parried my question. I responded it was true that I had no carriers, but that there was the river Liambai and he had boats, so that if he gave me boats I could dispense with the carriers, more particularly as I had no loads to carry. He replied that no doubt the Liambai was there, but that it had cataracts also, and how could I get over them? This elicited fresh applause from the auditory. I rejoined that I was quite aware of the fact, but that in those places the boats and their contents might be brought ashore and be relaunched in the water below the falls. He retorted that his people had very little strength, and could not drag the boats ashore. This retort elicited fresh applause, and he evidently took much pleasure in displaying his wit before his hearers. Then suddenly, without waiting for further remark on my part, he in- quired why I had not come to live with him at Lialui, as he had ordered me. I answered quietly that I had not done and did not intend to do so, for many reasons, the principal being that he was a crafty knave, who since my arrival had done nothing but try and deceive me in order to rob me of all I had. I then rose, and bestowing upon him the epithets of robber and assassin, abruptly left the presence. The DEPARTURE FROM LIALUI. ' 215 assembly were so astonished at my audacity tliat not one of them attempted to bar my way. I repaired at once to the house of Machauana. I found him conversing with Monutumueno, the son of King Chi- popa, and lawful heir to the sovereignty, who, as I proph- esied, would one day be King of the Lui.* When about to leave them for my mountain-home, an envoy from Lobossi appeared to beg me in his name to go and see him. I went at once. The king said that I had no reason to distrust him, for that he was very much my friend ; that he intended to have some boats got ready, and that the Liambai was open to me. I returned to my camp in the mountains of Catongo on the 17th of September, after partaking of curdled milk and potatoes in Machauana's dwelling. It was already night when I arrived, and I learned with no little satisfaction that Augusto had killed a gazelle. On the 19th, not having heard anything from King Lobossi, I decided to send Verissimo down to the capital, in order to learn whether the promise of the canoes was mere moonshine. On the 21st Verissimo returned from Lialui with the information that the canoes were ready, and waiting my orders. On the 23d I left Catongo for Lialui, where I arrived in the afternoon. Gambella received me with much cere- mony, and had me shown into an apartment he had pre- pared for my reception. The walk under a burning sun had for the time completely knocked me up, and it was not until night that I was able to wait upon Lobossi, who received me very graciously. The next day I had a visit from Lobossi, who came to take leave and present me with his slaves who came to man the canoes as far as certain villages on the Zambesi, * I was a false prophet ; for Monutumueno was assassinated by King Lobossi in December, 1879. 216 THE KING'S RIFLE. where the chief would supply me with fresh boats and crews. He gave me a small tusk of ivoiy, as a present to the chief of the villages who was to arrange about the boats, and he also presented me with an ox as provision for the voyage. I thanked him warmly, and we parted the best of friends. I started in a southwest direction, and an hour's walk brought me to the arm of the river which is called the little Liambai. Shortly afterwards three small canoes put off from the bank laden with my baggage, and carrying myself, Verissimo, and Camutombo. Augusto, Moero, and Pepeca, with the two women, followed us on foot, accompanied by the hunter Jasse and the chief Muleque- tera, sent by Lobossi to convey his orders to the chiefs, and see that the road was kept free for my passage. There were two other creatures belonging to our little band, concerning which I have hitherto said little or noth- ing ; two beings whose devotion to me had never faltered, whose fidelity had never been called in question, that were ever ready to follow when I marched, to remain still when I pitched my camp, to load me with caresses when I was sad, and to divert me in my gayer moods. These were Cora, my pet goat, and Calungo, my parrot. This river- voyage would separate me all day from Cora, as, on account of the narrowness of the canoes, it was impossible to take her on board ; but Calungo, seated fearlessly upon my shoulder, made one of the boating-party as a matter of course. After paddling southwai'ds for a quarter of a mile, we left the little Liambai and steered southwest by a canal, through which the western branch of the river pours a small stream of water, from lake to lake, into the eastern branch. After tremendously hard work, we came to a halt at six o'clock, on the bank of a lake, in a plain recently fired, where there were no materials to construct the slightest CANOE TRAVELLING. 217 shelter. I had had the precaution to bring some wood with us, which enabled us to roast some meat, that I ate with a voracious appetite, not having partaken of food the whole of the day. I then spread my skins upon the damp ground, and lay down with the sky for a covering. The boatmen sat up all night roasting meat, and eating it when it was done, by which means they made a great hole in the ox given me by Lobossi. After a wretched night I started with the canoes at day- break of the 25th, and paddling along the lake for half an hour we then entered the main branch of the Liambai. So great a quantity of game appeared upon the banks that I made the boats pull up, and handselled the King's Rifle, which thus early furnished me with food sufficient, as I calculated, to last for a coujole of days, notwithstanding the voracity of the Luinas. The Liambai, at that spot, was two hundred and twenty yards broad and very deep. I camped on the left bank at five in the afternoon, under the same conditions as the night before, without shelter and under the open sky. The boatmen, who, as I observed, were slaves of King Lobossi, were very inclined to be insolent, so that I was compelled to keep them in order with the stick, in accord- ance with instructions given me by Lobossi himself, who, no doubt, foresaw that they might be so. Verissimo, who, since leaving Quillengues, had escaped the fever,, now had a violent attack, and I was not myself quite free. On the following day we paddled on for about an hour. Verissimo was much worse, and at night I was also in a burning fever, and yet was compelled to sleep in the open air upon damp ground. I woke completely wet with dew, and feeling wretchedly ill. I continued my voyage next morning, and after six hours of steady navigation, camped again upon the left bank. On the 28th we paddled along to the village of Muan- gana, whose chief was to furnish me with a boat by 218 THE KING'S RIFLE. Lobossi's orders. Muangana turned out to be a Luina with grizzled hair, very respectful in manner, who re- ceived me most cordially. He said that he would, next day, himself go over to the village of Itufa, and would manage to obtain for me a boat and some provisions. We continued on, and in about an hour and a half arrived at Itufa, a large village built upon the left bank of the stream. More than once we were in great danger of cap- sizing, and the reader may believe me that the prospect of tumbling into a river teeming with crocodiles is not a pleasant one. I found, on arriving at the village, that I was expected, as notice had been given of my coming by my people, who had reached there in the morning over land. The chief gave me a good reception, put a house at my dis- posal, and offered me a pan of curdled milk and a basket of maize flour; he, however, told me that Lobossi had been misinformed, and that he had no boats. At night, when I lay down to rest, I saw that I was literally surrounded by enormous spiders, flat in shape and black, which began scuttling down the walls at such a rate that I fled from the house in dismay, and lay down in the open pateo. It was evidently written that during my journey on the Zambesi I was not to have a night's rest under a roof. On the 29th at daybreak, old Muangana arrived with the promised boat. He renewed his assurances of good will, and retired with the remark that he had fulfilled the orders of his King Lobossi, and hoped that I was satisfied, as he desired the friendship of the whites. The diflBculty of procuring another canoe at Itufa con- tinued ; but Jasse the hunter and the chief Mulequetera set to work and made so vigorous a search that they fer- reted out a boat, which elicited from the chief of the Itufa a world of protestations that he knew nothing of its existence. SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS. 219 For the first time since leaving the Bih^ I saw cats in Africa, these animals abounding in the village of Itufa. There are a good many dogs, also, of excellent race, which the natives employ with advantage in hunting the antelopes. The difficulty of obtaining provisions still continued, but my rifle supplied the place of goods for barter, and we always managed to get a little massambala flour in ex- change for the antelope flesh and skins. My new conveyance was a canoe scooped out of a long trunk of a Mucusse tree, and measured thirty-three feet long, by seventeen inches amidships, and sixteen inches deep. My canoe was manned by four men, one forward and three aft. I was seated about a third of the distance from the prow, upon my small valise that contained my labors. I carried a duplicate of my diary, initial observa- tions, &c. in a woollen girdle wound about my waist. My guns were laid ready to my hand, and the skins composing my bed completed the cargo. In the other canoe were Verissimo, Camutombo and Pepeca, the trunks with clothing and instruments, and the game (when any), which was shot down. The boatmen always paddle standing, to balance the canoes, which would otherwise capsize. CHAPTER XVII. AMONG THE CATARACTS OF THE ZAMBESI. IT was under such circumstances that, on the 1st of Octo- ber, I started from Itufa and embarked my fortunes upon the gigantic river, whose waves, raised by a stiff breeze from the east, threatened at every moment to swamp the fragile vessels. After four hours' journey, we came to a halt on the left bank, in a small creek, which my people, who were com- ing on foot, had appointed beforehand as our rendezvous. I met with no game in the jungle, but a flock of wild geese having settled in a neighboring lake, I returned to the boat to get my fowling-piece carrying small shot, for which I had only twenty-five cartridges, and managed in half-a-dozen shots to bring down seventeen birds. The place where I had halted was at the extreme south of the vast Lui plain. The two ridges of mountains which at the fifteenth parallel are thirty miles apart, there con- verge, leaving only sufficient space for the bed of the Zam- besi, a mile and a quarter wide. The monotonous and bare plain is here succeeded by a broken ground and cov- ered with a luxurious vegetation. A still greater contrast is presented by the soil. To banks of the whitest and finest sand, succeeds, by a rapid transition, a volcanic ground where huge blocks of basalt form the river banks. It was with indescribable delight that my eyes rested upon these blackened masses, vomited forth in waves of fire during the early ages of the world. (220) VOYAGE DOWN THE RIVER. 221 I had seen nothing in the likeness of a rock since I left the Bih6, and I gazed upon these as upon the faces of old friends. When my cook, Camutombo, lit his fire to roast the geese, a spark flew into the lofty, dry grass which cov- ered the soil, and, fanned by a strong wind, speedily blazed and spread with inconceivable rapidity. Indeed, so rapid and fierce were the flames that, for a moment, we were completely enveloped, and had to make a rush for the canoes to escape the danger. We started again next day, and after four hours pad- dling fell in with huge basaltic strata, which crossed the river from east to west. Some of the rocks were so near the surface that they made navigation difficult, and al- though the current was scarcely perceptible we still had to diminish the way on the boats in order to avoid danger- ous collisions with these natural walls, which appeared more like a work of art, raised by the hand of man, than the cooling of lava which at one period must have flowed so plentifully. In the basaltic region the river begins to be dotted with little islands, rich in vegetation. I encamped on one of these islands, which was of consider- able extent and charming of aspect. On the 3rd of October I resumed my voyage, still glid- ing by most lovely islands, all covered with luxuriant vegetation. We had been paddling for about a couple of hours when we sighted two lions on the right bank, which were drinking out of the river. Notwithstanding my having established as a rule for my guidance that I would have nothing to do with wild beasts, unless compelled thereto by circumstances, and notwithstanding also the value which every cartridge had in my eyes, the instinct of the sportsman was stronger than reason or prudence, and I ordered the canoe to be put alongside the bank on which the creatures were standing. They caught sight of us at once, and quitting the river-side leisurely walked up to 222 THE KING'S RIFLE. the top of a hill some 600 feet in height. I then leaped ashore and set off in their direction. They allowed me to approach to within about one hun- dred paces, and then resumed their way up stream, stop- ping again after they had walked a short distance. By this time I had got within fifty paces of them, but they once again set off and were lost to view in a little thicket of shrubs. They were lions of unequal size, one being in fact almost double the dimensions of the other. I crept quite close up to the shrubs and, peering cau- tiously through them, saw the head of one of the majestic beasts within twenty paces of me. I raised my rifle, but in the act of taking aim felt a sudden tremor run through all my limbs. It flashed upon me that I was weak and debilitated by fever, and my hand trembled as I put my finger on the trigger. It was a singular sensation which took possession of me, one that I had never experienced before, and that was probably caused by fear. By a strong effort of will I subdued it, and by degrees my rifle remained fii-m in the direction I slowly gave it, as if I wei'e firing at a mark, and I was then almost surprised at my own shot. The puff of smoke passed rapidly away, and looking intently I saw nothing at the spot where only some seconds previously I had observed the head of the superb animal. I again loaded the empty barrel, and with both locks ready cocked, skirted the clustering shrubs. On the northern side I distinctly saw the spoor of a lion, but of one only ; the other must have remained behind. With natural precaution, I then ventured into the thicket, and on a tuft of grass I saw the inert body of the king of the African forests. An express ball had pen- etrated his skull and killed him on the spot. I called my people about me, and within a very few minutes they stripped off his skin and claws. Shortly after leaving the bank we began to hear, some- what indistinctly, a distant noise, similar to that of the THK CATARACT OF GONHA. 223 sea breaking on a rocky shore. It must be a cataract, I thought, and the idea was confirmed l)y my boatmen. A little later the basaltic strata were multiplied, forming natural ramparts, and the river assumed a rapid current which made navigation most perilous. Late in the afternoon we paddled to shore near the hamlets of Sioma, and pitched our camp beneath a gigan- tic sycamore close to the river side. That night my sleep MY CAMP AT SIGMA. was broken by the roar of the cataract of Gonha, which, below the rapids of Situmba, interrupts the navigation of the Zambesi. The next morning I took a guide and set off for the cataract. The arm of the Liambai, whose left bank I skirted, receives two other branches of the river, which form three islands, covered with splendid vegetation. At the site where the river begins to bend westward, there is a fall in the ground of three yards in one hundred and 224 THE KING'S KIFLE. twenty, forming the Situmba rapids. After the junction of the three branches of the Zambesi, it assumes a width of not more than 650 j'^ards, where it throws out a small arm to the southwest of trifling depth and volume. The rest of the waters as they speed onward meet with a transverse cutting of basalt, with a rapid drop in the level of fifty feet, over which they precipitate themselves with a frightful roar. The cutting lies north-northwest, and creates three grand falls, a centre and two side ones. Between and over the rocks which separate the three great masses of water, tumble innumei'able cascades, producing a marvellous effect. On the north, a third branch of the river con- tinues running on the same upper level as the cataract, and then disembogues into the main artery in five exqui- sitely beautiful cascades, the last of which is 440 yards below the great fall. There the river bends again to the south-southeast, narrows to fifty yards, and has a current of 165 yards per minute. The different points of view whence one can take in the entire space of the falls render the scene more and more surprising, and never had I before beheld, in the various countries I had visited, a more completely beautiful spec- tacle. I remained hovering about it until night, my eyes unsa^ tiated with gazing on the superb picture, where at each moment I discovered some fresh beauty. On the 5th I surveyed the track along which the boats would have to be conveyed to take the river again at a safe place below the cataract, and found that it lay through a dense forest, not less than three miles in length ; for throughout the whole of that space the Zambesi, enclosed in rocky banks not more than from forty to fifty yards asunder, retained a speed of 165 yards per minute, with boiling billows in which no canoe could possibly have lived. This narrow space below the Gonha cataract is TRANSPORTATION OF CANOES. 227 called the Nanguari, and terminates in a fall which bears the same name. The point where it again commences to be navigable is styled the Mamungo. The conveyance of the canoes, by land was effected by natives of the hamlets of Sioma, who are established there by the Lui government for the express purpose of per- forming this service, to which they are bound without being entitled to any recompense whatsoever. The labor they had to undergo was very great, and I felt really grieved at the thought that I had nothing to give to those poor fellows who performed their heavy task so patiently. The Zambesi at Mamungo widens to 220 yards, but ' still continues shut in by walls of rock, on which the va- rious heights that the waters have reached are marked by discolored lines left by the mud held in solution by the stream. No sooner does vegetable soil appear upon the rocks of basalt than it is followed by abundant vegetation. After navigating for about an hour and a half, I came across the mouth of the river Lumbe, where I pulled up. A hundred yards or so before emptying itself into the Liambai, its level is nearly a hundred feet higher than the latter ; and it makes its way down in se\eral cascades. On the 7th, I again set out, and after an hour's paddle reached the Cataract of Calle. The river there runs to the southeast and assumes a width of nearly a thousand yards. Three islands divide it into four branches. "We turned everything out of the canoes and towed along a little runnel which skirted the right bank, and on reaching the river below the falls, we re-embarked and continued, our voyage. Half an hour later we fell in with some rapids, which only vessels of light draught could pass, and over which our men steered us with admirable dexterity. Other rapids shortly succeeded, which we got over with like good fortune, and navigated for the rest of that day amid jagged cliffs ever washed by the violent current, but without meeting any more rapids, properly so called. 14 228 THE KING'S RIFLE. When we camped that night I felt seriously ill. The fever had increased upon me, and the want of vegetable diet was very sensibly felt. During the night a violent thunder-storm burst over us, and with it fell the first drops of the new rainy season. On the 8th of October I felt worse, sufiering from great weakness of body, but fortunately not dejected in spirit. I therefore continued my voyage, and, in half an hour or so, found myself near the great rapids of Bombue. The river here forms one huge central rapid, where the ine- quality of level is about six feet. Above the first descents, an island, covered with vegeta- tion, divides the river into two equal branches. Bombue has two other descents, the second being 330 yards below the first, and the third 220 yards below the second. All these rapids are full of jutting rocks in every direction, making navigation simply impossible. The canoes, being emptied, were floated down, close into the bank — a fatiguing operation, and one which occupied a great deal of time. Putting off again in the canoes, we started afresh, and against our will were carried over another rapid, fortu- nately without mishap, and after four hours' paddling came to a halt near the confluence of the river Joco. Our voyage that day had been beside and between islands of exceeding beauty, displaying the most picturesque pros- pects imaginable, and which appeared doubly so in my eyes, fatigued as they had been by the monotony of the African table-land. In the afternoon of that day, having lain down to get a little rest, I was suddenly roused by the negroes, who had seen some elephants in the immediate neighborhood. In spite of my state of health, I seized my rifle and went in search of them. It was on the bank of the Joco that I sighted the enormous beasts, that were wallowing in a muddy pool. I got to leeward of them, and crept up C O "3 W B fei O c IS AUGUSTO'S BUFFALO STORY. 231 very cautiously. On getting nearer, I saw they were seven in number. The thick jungle which grew close up to the pool allowed me to approach comparatively close without being seen. For a moment I gazed upon the giants of the African fauna, and will not conceal that I had some hesitation about doing them an injury. Necessity, however, soon overcame any sentimental scruples, and I fired at the nearest, taking aim at the frontal bone. The colossus, on receiving the shot, staggered a moment without moving his limbs ; he then dropped inertly upon his knees, rested an instant in that position and finally toppled over on his side, making the earth about him tremble with his fall. The other six made for the river at a round trot, and, having crossed it, disappeared in the forest. The following day I was much worse, being attacked with severe inflammation in the liver, for which I applied caustics of pulverized quinine. As it was impossible for me to travel in such a condition, I resolved to stop where I was till I got better. On that day Augusto met with the most extraordinary adventure that I ever remember to have heard of. He had fired at a buffalo, which he wounded, but not so badly as to prevent his turning upon and chasing him. Finding himself closely pursued, he drew his hatchet, and as the huge creature lowered its head to butt at him, he struck the animal a blow with all the force that his herculean strength allowed him. Both man and buffalo rolled upon the ground together. The natives who were hard by looked upon him as lost, when to their astonishment, the beast regained its legs, and made off" in the opposite direction. Augusto then rose, and, with the exception of a bruise or two occasioned by his fall, found himself none the worse for the encounter. The fellows then gathered about him, and when one of my young niggers stooped to pick up the hatchet, he discov- 232 THE KING'S RIFLE. ered, lying beside it, one of the creature's horns, which had been cut clean off, with the violence of the blow. On the 10th, I was able to rise, feeling considerably relieved. The first news which greeted me when I did so, was that Augusto had disappeared since the evening before, and all the efforts to discover his whereabouts by the men who had sought him in the woods, were vain. I sent scouts out in every direction, and I myself headed one of the searching parties, notwithstanding my state of health. In the afternoon, to my relief, Augusto reappeared. He said he had lost his way in the forest, had fallen in with a hamlet of the Calacas, who had robbed him of everything he possessed, barring his gun. The Luinas on hearing this, declared they would avenge the injury, and all my efforts to restrain them were perfectly useless. They did not return till night, when they appeared laden with the spoils, having completely sacked the place. The state of my health was anything but satisfactory, and I passed a wretched night ; still, I gave orders next morning to pack up and proceed on our voyage. About an hour after leaving behind us the mouth of the river Joco, we fell in with the rapids of Lusso. I there got ashore and proceeded on foot, taking three hours to get over a couple of miles. The river at Lusso is of very great width, and divides into a variety of branches, forming the most lovely aits, covered with the richest vegetation. After the splendid cataract of Gonha, I beheld nothing more beautiful than the Lusso rapids. I re-embarked just below them, and having navigated for two more hours, I ordered the men to pull up a little above the cataract of Mambue. I resolved upon clearing the cataract that same day, although it was tremendous work, with the few hands at my disposal, to drag the boats overland. It occupied four hours in the operation, but I carried my point and took up my quarters for the night just below the falls. BETWEEN SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS. 233 During the night I thought my end was come. An in- tense fever seemed to be devouring my very vitals, and I had little hope of living to see the 12th of October, a festive day for me, as it was the anniversary of my wife's birthday. I called Verissimo and Augusto to my side and handed them the fruits of my labors, charging them, if I should die,- to continue the journey which I was now pur- suing, until they found the missionary, into Avhose hands they were to deliver the books and papers. I pointed out to them that the Mueneputo, the white king, would reward them handsomely if they saved those records, and were thus the means of conveying them in safety to Portugal. The repeated hypodermic injections of sulphate of qui- nine, in strong doses, had, against my expectations, never- theless overcome the fever, so that by six o'clock on the morning of the 12th I felt so much relieved that I deter- mined to pursue my voyage. We started at half-past 6, and at quarter-past 7 shot over some small rapids, and immediately afterwards some larger ones, that were highly dangerous. We steered into the only practicable channel, but no sooner had the canoe entered it, and began to feel the strength of the current, than a hippopotamus appeared blowing just below us. We were thus placed between Scylla and Charybdis, and had to choose between the monster or the abyss. We fought bravely with the current, and managed by a skilful manoeuvre to get out of it, and avoided the threat- ened peril beneath the shadow of a rock, almost on the ground. The other boat, in the endeavor to steer clear of the beast, shot out of the channel, and rushed with fearful velocity towards some rocks which guarded the entrance to another apparently impassable runnel. We all gave her up for lost, but she made her way through the obstruc- tions, and escaped the danger, having shipped one large wave that almost swamped her. 234 THE KING'S EIFLE. At ten minutes to 8 there were more rapids, and others again at 8 o'clock presented a great volume of water, of considerable extent. We would have gladly made for the bank, as we heard at some distance below us a frightful roar, similar to the reverberation of thunder from the mountain sides, which made us apprehend other greater rapids, or another cataract, impossible to get oVer — alive. But all our efforts, even if we made the attempt, would have been vain. The nearest bank, the one on the left, was upwards of 650 yards from us, and the current, which was most rapid, enclosed between walls of basalt whence the waves were driven back in foam, made the approach simply impossible. It was one of those moments that are per- fectly indescribable. Hurried along by a giddy current, towards an unknown bourne, vividly feeling the imminent danger which each succeeding fall in the river's, bed too clearly demonstrated, emerging from one gulf only to rush into another in which the waters were seething, we poor hapless navigators expe- rienced at each moment a new sensation, and suffered a hundred times the pangs of death as we recalled the pleasures that life might yet have in store for us. From a little after 8 o'clock to within twenty minutes of 9, we passed six rapids of trifling inequality of level, but at that hour a fall of fully three feet stood right in front of us. Like to a man, who, in running a race, stops short by an instinctive movement on beholding a chasm lying open before him, our canoe, as though an animated creature, was stayed for an instant by a mechanical and unconscious back motion of the paddle. That motion caused us to swing round, and it was when the long canoe was right across the current that it leaped into the abyss, amid the foam of an enormous wave. It took but a second of time, but it was the fullest of sensation that I had c\'er expe- rienced in my life. We owed our safety to the ^\'ill of NARROW ESCAPE FROM DESTRUCTION. 237 Providence. Had the boat gone into the gulf head first, nothing could possibly have kept us from destruction. The loss of steerage was our salvation. Immediately below the fall from which we had escaped, were other smaller rapids, and on passing them we suc- ceeded, after immense efforts, in reaching a cluster of rocks which reared their heads in mid-river, at a point where the current was somewhat less violent. Having grappled them, we baled out the water and put things a little straight, disordered as they were by the shock to which we had been subjected. By 9 o'clock we were again under way, and an hour later came upon fresh falls. These were followed at 9.25 by the great rapids of Manhicungu ; at 9.30 by others, and so on again to those of Lucandu, presenting seven more falls, which we passed at a few minutes after 11. Another small rapid having been cleared a little later on, we arrived at about noon at the cataract of Catima-Moriro (^Fire-extinguisher) . Catima-Moriro is the last fall of the higher region of the cataracts of the Upper Zambesi. Thence to the fresh regions of rapids, preceding the great cataract of Mozi-oa- tunia, the river is perfectly navigable. The mind becomes fatigued just as the body does, and I was utterly fagged out, when I reached the close of that perilous 12th of October, a day which I cannot even now look back upon without a shudder. The emotions of those terrible hours had nevertheless so acted upon my system, that I found myself without fever, though lamen- tably weak. I re-embarked on the 13th and did not stop till I reached the village of Catengo, where I pitched my camp. By that time I was feeling much worse, the fever which had temporarly left me having returned. At Catengo I was again joined by my people, who had arrived the night before. They also had their adventures. 238 THE KING'S RIFLE. and the previous day had escaped most imminent danger when they were attacked by several lions. They had saved their lives by climbing to the tops of trees, where, for a considerable time, they were surrounded and be- sieged. My poor little goat, Cora, was hauled up by a cloth which they tied round her horns, and she remained lashed to a branch close to Augusto. That worthy fellow, too, succeeded in killing one of the lions from his elevated perch, and afterwards exchanged the skin at Catengo for a good lot of tobacco. On the 14th I journeyed eastward, that being the direc- tion taken by the Zambesi, and in the afternoon found myself not far from the village of Chicheque. On that day we were fortunate in falling in with fishers, though not exactly fishermen, that supplied us with plenty of fish. These were gigantic pygargos, or aquatic eagles, which inhabited the banks of the river. Many, on being pursued, dropped the prey that they had been at some pains to catch. These pygargos of the Zambesi, which I had not seen near the cataracts, have heads, breast sand tails perfectly white, with ebony wings and sides. On the morning of the 15th I arrived ofi" Chicheque, having navigated in an easterly direction for about an hour. I did not choose to take up my quarters at the village, owing to my distrust of the natives, but pitched my camp among the canes on a neighboring island. I then sent word to the chief of my arrival, and lay down in a burning fever which had come on again with great vio- lence. Shortly after I had done so, I had a visit from a European descendant, whom I recognized b}^ the peculiar cafe au lait color of the skin as a native of the Orange territor3^ He informed rae through Verissimo and by the aid of the Sesuto language, that he was a servant of the missionary I was seeking, and was there waiting for King Lobossi's answer to his master's application. I then MEETING WITH ELIAZAE. 239 learned, to my great astonishment and pleasure, that the missionary was a Frenchman. The servant's name was Eliazar, and the man, observing that I was very ill, showed me attentions that I never obtained from a negro. When I told him that I was actually on my way to see his master, he expressed the utmost satisfaction,. and assured me that the missionary was one of the best of men. I cannot explain why it was that my pleasure was so great at learning that the man I sought was French, but the fact remains. While conversing with Eliazar, the chief of the village arrived. His name was Carimuque. I communicated to him my desire to leave the next day, as I was seriously ill and was anxious to reach the missionary to procure proper remedies for my ailment. I also let him know that I had no provisions or means to purchase any, and he promised to send me over, that very day, food for myself and people. In the afternoon my boatmen showed an inclination to strike ; they were very noisy and discontented, declaring that they would not leave Chicheque until they were paid. I summoned them before me, and pointed out that I had nothing whatsoever to give them ; that the ivory I possessed could only be converted into goods when I arrived at the missionary's quarters, so that in order to procure their pay, they must necessarily go on. They retired, apparently convinced by my arguments, and I was left to my own reflections. I passed a horrible night in the cane-brake on the island. All through the dark hours I was disturbed by the cobras pursuing the rats, and the rats rushing away from the cobras. Meanwhile my fever increased. Carimuque, the chief, came to see me in the morning of the 16th, bringing with him, as a present, some massambala and a small quantity of manioc flour. He declared that the men absolutely refused to go further without being 240 THE KING'S EIFLB. paid, and that I had better despatch a messenger to the missionary, to desire him to send me goods, and wait where I was till they came. This, however, I positively refused to do, and averred that I would pay the men nothing if they did not start with me next day. After a lengthened discussion, in which Eliazar manfully supported me, repeating again and again that his master wquld certainly at once pay the men's demands upon arri- val, it was resolved that on the following morning, the 17th, our journey should be resumed. A little later in the day, the envoys whom Carimuque had sent to the Lui with the missionary's message to the king, returned. Lobossi's reply, as dictated by Gambella, was a fine specimen of diplomacy, neither admitting nor absolutely rejecting the proposal. It expressed great pleasure at learning that he had arrived in the country, but that at the present moment, owing to imminent hostil- ties and the want of accommodation which the Lialui afforded, owmg to its being a city so recently constructed, it was ,not advisable for him to proceed any further. He was therefore requested to forego his intention, and return next year to make another application. Carimuque, at the same time, received positive orders not to furnish him with means to pursue his journey northward. Eliazar, who was very disheartened at the receipt of his naessage from King Lobossi, continued to keep me com- pany, and dilated in glowing terms upon the merits and goodness of his master. On the 17th I took my departure, and before noon reached the mouth of the Machilla. This river runs through a vast plain, in which graze thousands of buffaloes, zebras, and a great variety of antelopes. I was there witness to a surprising effect of mirage, which presented to my astonished gaze a mass of heterogeneous animals with their hoofs in the air. I never in my life saw so much game together as I A TERRIBLE DRAMA. 241 beheld in that district. All the animals, however, were wonderfully shy, and would not allow a nearer approach than a couple of hundred yards. I succeeded in killing a zebra. After a stay of a couple of hours, we continued our voyage for two hours and a half more, and at five in the afternoon pulled in to the bank on perceiving an old tree floating down with the current. This tree, which we eagerly seized upon, was quite a godsend, as without it we should have had no wood that night for warmth or cooking purposes ; the place being utterly destitute of even a shrub. We were on the point of starting again, when a negro came running to say that the other canoes were moored much higher up the stream, and the crews'encamped there. We had therefore, however unwillingly, to turn back, as all the stores and meat were in one of the other canoes. It was consequently half-past six, and quite dark, before we were all met together. I may mention that on leaving Chicheque all my people had embarked, as Carimuque had placed two large boats at my disposal, in which I had stowed Augusto, the women, the lads, and my goat. Calungo, the parrot, always trav- elled with me. During the night a terrible drama was enacted, in the darkness, within earshot of my camp. This was a frightful combat between a buffalo and a lion, which terminated in the death of the former, whose bellowings in his death- agony were mingled with the prolonged roars of his con- queror and the howls of a troop of hyenas. We pursuedour voyage, and, after five hours' navigation between islands divided by small channels, stopped just above a rapid with a descent of upwards of a yard, the first link in that chain of falls which terminates ih the great cataract of Mozi-oa-tunia. With the basalt reappeared the ever-beautiful forest, where among other trees towered the baobabs — those giants of the African fiora that I had 242 THE KING'S RIFLE. not seen since leaving Quillengues. On getting ashore I went and lay down in the shade joi one of those colossal trees. I had terminated my navigation of the Upper Zambesi, and from that point, until I met with the missionary, my journey would be performed by land. The village of Embarira was six miles distant from the place where I was lying, and my late boatmen had already started with the packs upon their heads. Sleep fell upon me, and it was quite dark when I awoke. The only persons around me were Verissimo, Camutombo, and Pepeca. To my inquiry why we were still there, Verissimo answered that he did not like to wake me. I got up, and in spite of the darkness set out on my journey, when I discovered that we were all completely unarmed. Verissimo, who from time to time certainly did very stupid things, had allowed my weapons to be carried away with the rest of the traps to Embarira. I certainly felt ill at ease after 1 had made this discovery, for it is not by any means pleasant to find oneself without arms in the midst of a forest infested with wild beasts. I therefore set the men at once to gather wood to make a fire, but in the darkness they could find none to suit the purpose. Pepeca suddenly remembered he had seen at no great distance an old boat, which we managed to find, but being made of the hard wood of the Mucusse, my hunting-knife made no impression upon it. I then bethought me of using it as a battering-ram against the trunk of the baobab, and three of us, swinging it to and fro, dashed it full butt against the tree. This had the desired eflect. The old canoe could not resist this operation, and after it had been practised a few times, we had wood in suflSciently small pieces to make a good fire. We were taking our measures to pass the night there, when we heard the voices of people approaching, and shortly after, Augusto appeared with several men who had A NIGHT OF TRIBULATION. 243 come in search of me. I readily started off with them, and arrived at Embarira at midnight. The chief of the village had prepared a house for me, in which I lay down, fagged out and burning with fever. The state of my health, shattered as I have described it, the doubts which I entertained of the future, the appre- hensions which I felt for the present, joined to the bodily discomfort caused by the visitation of thousands of bugs with which the house was swarming, made me pass a night of tribulation. Another subject also tended to engage if not disturb my mind. On my arrival I was informed that a white man (Macua), who was neither a missionary nor a trader, was encamped opposite me, on the other side of the Cuando. Whom was I about to meet in those remote regions ? My curiosity was indeed great, and I tossed about upon my couch, impatient for the dawn of another day. NOTE A few words about Captain Capello and Lieut. Ivens, Major Pinto's companions in the early part of his journey, and from whom he parted at Bih6, may be of interest to readers of this American edition, — especially as Pinto says nothing of their subsequent operations. After leaving Pinto, Capello and Ivens visited the high- lands of the Bihe, and followed several rivers to their sources. They explored the rivers Quango and Quanza, and the territories bordering upon them. They could not descend the Quango to the Zaire, on account of the resist- ance of hostile tribes. They were well received by the chief of the Motiango Territory, from which the German explorer Schultz was excluded ; but they were not allowed to pass eastward, under penalty of their lives. Nearly all their followers deserted them. The travelers reached the Coast, at Loanda, in November, 18Y9, and were received with great enthusiasm. Both were ill and destitute, and Capello appeared quite old and was hardly recognizable. They brought a general map of Loanda; notes extending over 32 degrees; plans of the territories and roads; and meteoroligical, magnetic, and geographical observations of much value. PART 11. THE COILLARD FAMILY. HOW I CROSSED AFRICA. Past II.— THE COILLAED FAMILY. CHAPTER I. IN LUCHUMA. THE night that I passed at Embarira was a frightful one. Assailed by thousands of bugs and clouds of mosquitoes, I had to quit the house offered me by the chief and seek in the open air a refuge from such cruel persecution. The nineteenth day of October dawned upon me at last, after a long and sleepless night. The first intelligence I was able to procure was that the missionary was some twelve or fourteen miles distant, but that on the other side of the Cuando an Englishman had taken up his quarters. To request the chief to furnish me with a canoe to cross the river was my first impulse, but I only obtained a formal refusal, on the plea that he had no canoe. After considerable wrangling, he flatly told me that he should not allow me to quit his village till I had paid the boat- men a certain portion of goods. I called JassCj the hunter, and pointed out to him the impossibility of complying with his request until I had communicated with the Englishman and procured from him the goods wherewith to settle with the men, as I had 15 (247) 248 THE COILLARD FAMILY. none of my own. Jasse summoned the boatmen and the chief, and explained what I had told him, but without avail ; the refusal to allow me to go over to the other side of the Guando was formally repeated. Seeing that nothing could be done on that tack, I re- quested that a message might be sent to the Englishman, and I wrote a few hues on a visiting-card, which Verissimo took over. The wretched night of watching I had passed and the never-failing fever quite prostrated me. I lay down again in the open air to wait for a reply to my com- munication. An hour or so elapsed, when a white man appeared before me. The feeling I experienced at sight of him was indescribable. The man on whom I gazed might have been from twenty-eight to thirty years of age, and looked an Eng- lishman in every feature. He had a small and very fair beard, blue eyes, well-opened and bright, with hair closely cropped and fair as his beard. He wore a shirt of coarse linen, the unbuttoned collar of which displayed a strong and massive throat, whilst the turned-up sleeves exposed to view muscular arms, burnt brown by the African sun. His trousers of ordinary material were secured by a strong leathern belt, whence hung an American bowie-knife. His feet were protected by stout shoes, which, from the stitching being all on the outside, betrayed the work of his own hand ; and he wore blue socks of coarse cotton. I explained to him who I was ; briefly narrated my position, and begged him to supply me with goods in barter for ivory which I had in my possession. I pointed out to him the necessity of such an arrangement to get rid of my importunate creditors and continue my journey to the missionary station. To this he made answer that he had no goods, that he was himself without resources, and that they could only Oil 'll:!!jiij:i!i:vi,,;' MEETING WITH WHITE MEN. 251 be obtained by sending to Luchuma. The style of his discourse and his well-chosen phrases convinced me at once that my visitor was no common man. Subsequently he persuaded the chief to let me accom- pany him across the river, on condition that I should re- turn that night to Embarira. We started, and after cross- ing the broad stream, that very Cuando whose sources I had discovered and determined months before, we arrived at a small camp, where we were met by another white. This was a man of lofty stature, with a long beard and white hair, who was certainly not old, for his activity of body and expression of face forbade that idea, but who appeared prematurely aged by long suffering and labor. His dress was almost a counterpart of the other's, but he seemed very much better shod. We conversed about my position, but came to the con- clusion that in their present state of impecuniosity they could do nothing for me. That word nothing, however, had to be taken with a certain reserve, for if they had nought else to give they were able to offer me a tolerable dinner, and I had a famous appetite to expend upon it. After thoroughly satisfying my craving, I arranged with them to write to the missionary and beg him to let me have some goods to pay my boatmen. I despatched a carrier to Luchuma, and myself returned to Embarira, where I lay down again in the open air, having a keen remembrance of the terrors of the night before. I had a sound and unbroken sleep, and was awakened at daylight of the 20th by the arrival of the goods from Luchuma in order to pay the crews. I settled with them all, and obtained from the chief carriers sufficient to convey my belongings and the ivory to Luchuma. I saw them safely off, and sent a letter to the missionary with a request that he would grant me hospitality and pay the carriers on their arrival. At mid-day a light canoe, impelled by a couple of 252 THE COILLARD FAMILY. negroes, started from Embarira to cross the waters of the Cuando, having three white men as passengei's. The old and wretched skifl' leaked badly, so that the passenger in front took off his shoes, which he carried in his hand ; the one behind imitated his example, and set to work to bale out the water, which threatened to swamp them ere the voyage was half over ; whilst he who stood in the middle, being provided with splendid water-proof boots, contemplated m a dreamy sort of way the flounder- ings of the enormous crocodiles which were swept by at DE. BEADSHAW S CAMP. the mercy of the current, quite indifferent to the inch or so of water in the canoe. Those three men thus thrown together in the centre of Africa by the chances of exploration were myself, Dr. Benjamin Frederick Bradshaw, a zoological explorer, and Alexander Walsh, likewise a zoologist, a preparer of specimens and the doctor's companion. On our arrival at the right bank, one of the three huts they possessed was immediately placed at my disposal. Dr. Bradshaw, as excellent a cook as he was an able A DINNER WITH UK. BKADSHAW. 253 physician, a distinguished savant, and famous hunter, at once set to woric to prepare brfflikfast, composed mainly of partridges he had shot that morning. The doctor's professional cook, an active Macalaca, seeing his master thus take the work out of his hands, quietly looked on and watched the proceedings. The meat was ready, and we seated ourselves at table, where were placed before us a large bowl of maize, cooked whole, and a noble dish of stewed partridges. We had not eaten the first mouthful when a negro came into the hut carrying something wrapped in a white linen cloth. He had just arrived from the French missionary, and put his parcel into my hands. It contained something heavy, and on my unfastening the cloth, my surprise was great at perceiving an enormous loaf of wheaten bread ! Bread ! which I had not seen for upwards of a year ; bread, which was always my favorite food, the want of which was so severe a deprivation ; about which I con- stantly dreamed during the weary nights of fasting and hunger; for which I at times felt an immoderate desire, and thought I could undei'stand how men for a lengthened pei'iod deprived of it could commit a crime for its posses- sion! I found my eyes grow misty with tears as I gazed upon ' the loaf, and believe that I was more touched at the sight of that old familiar friend than I had hitherto been during my journey. It was Dr. Bradshaw who restrained my voracity, that might have proved fatal, and made me take a capital cup of cocoa ; shortly after which I fell into a deep sleep, the more refreshing and invigorating as it was under the shel- ter of a roof and free from the visitation of vermin. All my people and baggage had gone to Luchuma, and only Augusto and Catraio were left with the trunk containing the instruments. I ^voke next morning with a light heart and in high 254 THE COILLAKD FAMILY. spirits, happy to begin a day which was to turn out one of the most trying and anxious of my life. We had had~a,n excellent breakfast of pai-tridges and chocolate, and were chatting pleasantly over some most aromatic Chuculumbe tobacco, when suddenly appeared the carriers who had started the previous day for Luchuma, making a great outcry, and declaring that they had not been paid there. This assertion quite took me aback, the more especially as Verissimo had not written a line upon this subject, and he had himself accompanied the party and carried with him the ivory which was to cover any outlay made at the place of destination. We ourselves had nothing, and in fact we did not exactly know what to do to pacify these savages, who seemed to be under the conviction that they had been swindled, having carried the goods from Embarira, and received no payment for doing so. Shortly afterwards, the chief of Embarira and Jasse appeared upon the scene, and they soon got into high words with me and with the Englishmen, threatening us, and usino' the most insulting language. I was ashamed and annoyed beyond measure to see these Englishmen, who had treated me with such extreme kindness, mixed up in a matter that was entirely my own, and insulted on my account, but I could not, of course, foresee the event that was now occurring. After a score of demands, not one of which it was possible to satisfy, the carriers, with Jasse at their head, declared that they would start off for Luchuma and get the baggage and ivory back, which they would keep until they were fully paid ; they then went away, leaving the chief Mucumba with a troop of natives to keep watch over us. Upon the advice of Dr. Bradshaw we retired into one of the huts and got our weapons ready for a stout defence, in case of a veiy pi'oljable attack. TROUBLE WITH MUCUMBA. 255 At nightfall Mucumba began to make a great uproar, and calling his men about him made a raid upon the other two huts, from which they took my trunk of instruments, and conveyed it in the boat to the other side of the river. They then surrounded the third hut, in which we had taken shelter, insisting that I should return with them to Embarira. Apprehensive that my hosts would be exposed on my account to imminent peril, I wanted to give myself up to the natives and thus put an end to what threatened to be an inevitable conflict ; but Dr. Bradshaw would not hear of anything of the kind, and declared that we ought to resist the fellows to the utmost. We were four men in that hut, three whites and Augusto, — all disposed to sell our lives dearly, — and our attitude was such that the savages hesitated at the idea of an attack which must be fatal to many among them. After a pro- longed council among the ringleaders of the party, they resolved to abandon the field, and at once retired to the other bank of the stream. I had been very anxious at not having seen anything of my young nigger Catraio during this uproar, and feared he had been made prisoner ; but when all was quiet he popped his head into the hut, with that knowing grin upon his features which was natural to him, and then coming forward, put into my hands my chronometers, which he had gone across the river to bring out of my trunk while the Macalacas were surrounding us and otherwise engaged. So that Catraio for a second time prevented the chronometers stopping for want of being wound up. At 9 o'clock at night the French missionary, Fran9ois Coillard, arrived at the camp, and on hearing what had occurred assured me that the carriers had been paid, and liberally too, at Luchuma, and that he would lose no time in making the chief Mucumba listen to reason. Next morning, at daybreak, the chief himself, with 256 THE COILLARD FAMILY. Jasse and a number of followers, crossed the river and came over to the camp. Mr. Coillard, who speaks the language of the country as fluently as he speaks French or English, made the chief of Embarira a long speech, wherein he pointed out the shameless dishonesty of the carriers. Mucumba, on hear- ing this, at once gave orders to restore all my property that had been taken away the night before, and apologized for his conduct on the plea that the men had thoroughly deceived him. This was very satisfactory, but when I thought all fur- ther controversy was at an end, the hunter Jasse brought forward a new claim. He demanded that I should pay his own immediate attendants — young niggers he had brought over with him, with whom I had had nothing whatsoever to do. After a short discussion, in which I was ably sup- ported by Mr. Coillard, two yards of stuff were allotted to each of the blacks, and the matter was thus settled. "We then sat do^n to breakfast with a feeling of immense relief that oui; troubles were over for that day, but it was not so written in the book of fate. The fellow Jasse once more appeared ; this time making a claim on/ his o vn account and that of the chief Muti- quetera, although I had paid them both very handsomely. A fresh dispute arose, in which Mr. Coillard's assistance was again invaluable, and it was not terminated until a promise of a rug had been made to each of them. Mr. Coillard informed me that he was on his way to Chicheque to receive the reply of King Lobossi to his application, but that in the course of ten or twelve days he would be back. He therefore begged me to await his return at Luchunia, where his wife, Madame Christine Coillard, expected me. I decided to go to Luchuma the next day. During the night I had a violent attack of fever, and felt exceedingly ill in the morning. o g a o c P e >^ d o A SURPRISE IN THE WILDERNESS. 259 The doctor and his companion made up their minds to leave at the same time, and proceed to Luchuma, as the events of the previous day warned them of the danger of trusting to the treacherous natives. I started with the thermometer at forty degrees Centi- grade, along a sandy tract in which walking was a difficult operation. The fever had taken all the strength out of me, and I rested quite as long a time as I was upon my legs. The ground was thickly covered with trees, and began to rise dii'ectly I left the river. After five hours' slow and painful marching I came upon a little spring at which I was enabled to slack my burning thirst, and two hours later I reached Luchuma. It was then 6 o'clock in the evening. In a narrow valley, not more than 260 feet in width, shut in by mountains of no great elevation and gently sloped, grows a coai'se and weedy grass. The mountains that enclose the little valley are richly wooded. On the east side a collection of huts forms the establishment of an English trader, Mr. Phillips. Opposite, on the west- ern side, two abandoned hamlets constitute the factory of Mr. George Westbeech. North of Mr. Wegtbeech's hamlets a strong stockade surrounded a circular space of 100 feet diameter, wherein stood a thatched cottage, two travelling- wagons and a country hut. This was the encampment of the Coillard family, and in fact was Luchuma. I entered the space thus enclosed by the high wooden stockade, my body bent with fatigue and my mind unsettled by the violent emotion I experienced. Before me, at the door of the cottage, were seated two ladies, embroiderinjj in colors some coarse linen material. On seeing those ladies seated there, in the centre of Africa, my sensations were bewildering. The reception given me by Madame Coillard was that 260 THE COILLAKD FAMILY. which might have been accorded to her own son. With consummate tact she at once put me at my ease. She said they had not yet dined, as they were waiting my arri- val to sit down to table. She then begged me to come into the hut, where a table covered with a fine white cloth displayed a simple service containing a nourishing dinner. Opposite me sat Madame Coillard ; beside me was Miss Elise Coillard, her niece, with downcast eyes and face suffused with a modest blush at seeing a total stranger thus dropped into their inner and retired life. Madame Coillard's kindness and attention were extreme, and long ere the meal was over the strangest feelings took possession of me. The company of those ladies, the din- ner, the service, and such simple things as tea, sugar, and bread, of which I had been so long deprived, produced a perfect bewilderment of brain. I was at last unable to form a single definite idea, and the impressions of that moment were almost more than I could bear. I know not how I got through the remainder of the meal, but I d,imly remember that I found myself alone in the hut. Then, an attack like an ague-fit shook my whole body ; I gasped for breath, and then at last hot tears burst from my eyes and wetted my cheeks that were parched and cracking with fever. I wept long and unre- strainedly, and I. do not attempt to hide the fact ; and I believe the shedding of those tears saved me. If I had attempted to restrain them and succeeded, I should proba- bly have gone off my head altogether. How long I reniained in that state of excitement I can- not say, but it must have been a long time afterwards that I was aroused by the entrance of the ladies into the hut, who came to prepare my bed for the night. The condition to which I was reduced may be judged from the fact that I found myself telling them, them, of all people, of a rumor I had heard that morning in Embarira IliflM^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ MISS ELISE COILLARD. 263 of a great fire having broken out at Chicheque in the houses of the chief Carimuque, and that the whole of the baggage of the Frencli missionary had been consumed in the flames ! It was high time that I went to bed — and I did so, and slept. When I awoke at daybreak the scenes of the preceding day one by one, came confusedly back to my memory, and as they did so the impressions were like those of a dream. I rose to find they were only too real, and again the pertur- bation of mind from which I had only partially recovered returned. Mechanically, without the slightest consciousness of my acts, and from the mere force of habit, I wound up and compared the chronometers, made the meteorological observations and entered the results in my diary. Shortly afterwards Miss Elise, in snowy cap and apron, came smiling into the hut and was soon busy in preparing breakfast. Madame Coillard followed shortly after, and was sedulous in her efl'orts to secure me every possible comfort. I cannot even now explain how it was that these two ladies should produce upon the mind of a man like my- self, who had seen and undergone so much, the singular impression which they did, but the fact remains undoubted; It may have been the weakness caused by the approach of fever which, after a couple more days passed I know not how, completely knocked me down, and proved of such excessive violence that delirium shortly supervened. My state was a very serious one, but more fortunate than on previous occasions, I had two guardian angels who watched by my bedside. On the 30th of October the delirium left me ; but with returning consciousness I felt that my life was held by a mere thread to a body worn out with fatigue and long pri- vations', and I thought I should never stand on my feet 264 THE COILLARD FAMILY. again. On that day I entrusted my papers to Madame Coillard, and begged her to have them safely conveyed to the Portuguese authorities. Dr. Bradshaw had paid me repeated visits, and used every effort of his skill to save my life. The fever, how- ever, would not give way, and my stomach refused every- thing in the shape of medicine. I then decided upon making a last effort myself, and tried repeated hypodermic injections of strong doses of quinine. On the 31st, to my own astonishment, I was still alive, and increased the dose of quinine by hypodermic absorp- tion. Dr. Bradshaw advised and caused me to take a strong dose of laudanum, and next day, the 1st of Novem- ber, symptoms of improvement began to appear. On the following day I made rapid progress and was able to sit up a little. This gave me an opportunity of observing that provisions were falling short, and thinking about this made me lie awake part of the night. On the next morning, at daybreak, when all were still wrapped in sleep, I got up noiselessly and aroused my men. Though still tottering on my legs, I started off with them for the forest, and was pleased that we were able to do so unobserved. It was evening ere we returned, my men bending under the weight of the game I had suc- ceeded in shooting. I found Madame Coillard in great distress, thinking I had abandoned the camp for good and all, and I was received with maternal solicitude and was rated soundly for my imprudence. The same thing occurred on all this as on former occa- sions of my violent attacks of fever. I had, so to speak, no period of convalescence, but, thanks to a robust consti- tution, passed from the condition of a patient to that of a man in sound health. A few days later bad news ai-rived from Mr. Coillard, who, in a long letter to his wife, confirmed the news of BAD NEWS FROM MR. COILLARD. 265 the fire to which I have referred. Everything he pos- sessed that was in the Iceeping of the chief Carimuque had fallen a prey to the flames — a circumstance which greatly complicated the position. In addition, there was another piece of intelligence, which more seriously troubled the good lady's mind. This was that Eliazar, the man whom it may be remembered I met at Chicheque, had been attacked by a bad fever and was in considerable danger. Madame Coillard was much attached to him, he having been formerly in her service, and she anxiously waited for further news. Two days after this, another letter was received from the missionary, which increased the trouble already reign- ing in the encampment at Luchuma. Eliazar was worse, and but little hope was entertained of his recovery. On the 7th of November I had been sitting up rather later than usual to make my astronomical observations, the two ladies keeping me company, and talking about the absentee and poor Eleazar's illness. Madame Coillard told me she had a strong presentiment that her husband would arrive that night. I proposed at once that we should go out to meet him, and the suggestion being eagerly adopted by the courageous women, we set off at once on the road to Embarira. We had scarcely gone a mile from the encampment when I, who was walking a little ahead, announced that I heard the tread of people in the forest ; they thought, however, that I was mistaken, as we met no one after another twenty-minutes' march. I knew, however, that I made no mistake, for more than once a sound, but ill- defined, and intelligible only to the practised ear of a woodsman, reached me as I proceeded. Had it not been so I would scarcely have induced those two ladies to ap- proach a forest, peopled by wild beasts, with which I felt but little inclination just then to do battle. 266 THE COILLARD FAMILY. At about half-past eleven the noise which I had heard became more distinct, and I had no hesitation in telling my companions that people, shod like ourselves, were coming along the track we were pursuing. Shortly after- wards, figures appeared emerging from the darkness, and the missionary, accompanied by two or three negroes, stood before us. Madame Coillard looked in vain for another form beside her husband. But that form was missing. Another grave had been dug in the Upper Zambesi ; another lesson had been taught to those imprudent enough to risk a sojourn in that country of death. We returned in sadness and silence to the camp at Luchuma. On the following day I had a long talk with Mr. Coil- lard. What I appi'ehended was only too true. His resources were insufficient to supply me with the means to proceed to Zumbo. We decided not to separate, but go on together to Bamanguato. He was anxious to start at once, for Lu- chuma was a fatal spot, where two of his most faithful servants were already mouldering in their graves. I could not, however, quit the country, without visiting the great cataract of the Zambesi, and it was arranged that we should all proceed to Guejuma's Kraal, and that I should thence start upon my expedition. At twenty minutes past ten, on the night of the 13th, we broke up the camp of Luchuma. It was difficult trav- elling with heavy wagons through the forest. At fre- quent intervals the trunk of a tree or a fragment of rock would stand in the way, and it was necessary to cut away the wood or remove the stone. Augusto, who put out his herculean strength, performed prodigies of labor. It was not until six o'clock in the afternoon of the 15th that we reached Guejuma's Kraal, having travelled night and day, with such short intervals of rest as the oxen and AERIVAL AT GUEJUMA'S KRALL. 267 ourselves absolutely needed. There is no water between the two places, and though we had a scanty supply for ourselves, the poor cattle had to pass three days without drinking at all. When therefore we reached Guejuma they made extraordinary efforts to free themselves from the yoke, and when released they started off for the pools of wretched water which supply the kraal. Guejuma's Kraal had been established by the English traders as a place of rest and depository for their herds, which they cannot keep in Luchuma, owing to the presence there of the terrible tsee-tsee fly. In spite of the wretched state of my health, I deter- mined to leave next day for the falls, and Madame Coil- lard gave herself no Uttle pains to supply me with pro- visions for the journey. I could not possibly find a guide, but did not let the want of one stand in the way of my departure. CHAPTER n. ^ MOZI-OA-TUNIA. EARLY in the morning of the 16th of November I made my preparations for departure, which cost me indeed no great labor, as Madame Coiilard had already got ready the most important part, namely, the commis- sariat. I took the whole of my followers, as 1 was afraid of leaving them behind me at Guejuma, lest they should behave improperly during my absence. The only things I did not bring away were my baggage, my pet^goat Cora, and Calungo the parrot. As my excursion would occupy some twelve to fifteen days, it was arranged that Mr. and Madame Coiilard jjhould leave their present quarters and proceed to Daca, where I was to join them. Finally, everything being ready, I started at ten o'clock, being accompanied for a mile along the road by my kind host and hostess, who then, after an affectionate leave- taking, returned to the kraal. I travelled along the plain in a northerly direction, and an hour later came upon a dense forest, into which I pene- trated, in order not to alter my course. After some forty minutes' battle with the jungle, I reached a small lake of crystalline Avater, and halted awhile to rest during the heat of the day. About four o'clock I fell upon recent traces of game, which I followed till I reached the open, when I found myself by the side of a muddy pool, evi- dently a common watering-place of the denizens of the (268) ON THE WAY TO THE CATARACT. 271 forest. There we camped, and set about forming as strong a shelter as possible against the rain, which threat- ened to be abundant. We started again the next morning, and kept up our tramp for four good hours. At noon the march was resumed. At night we camped by the side of a natural reservoir of rain water. Next morning we crossed belts of densely wooded ground, but with none of those giant trees which are peculiar to the intertropical flora. The Avhole of the ground we had been recently traversing was of volcanic formation. Some enormous convulsion of nature had evi- dently taken place in this region, leaving behind it strik- ing evidence of its passage and indelible traces of its power in ffigrantic works of basalt. Personally I got on very well and comfortably, but the men had great difficulty in making their way barefoot over the sharp-pointed rock. Our journey was kept up for nearly four hours, and we then camped by a rivulet and hastily constructed our huts, to be pi'epared against another threatening storm. The site of the encampment was lovely. A little stream of pure, crystal water which ran purling northwards, lay on my west. On the eastern side a rising ground covered with dense foliage embellished the landscape in that direc- tion. And my camp, which consisted of four small huts, stood in a narrow valley, and was shaded by enormous trees as different in Ijulk as they were in kind and foliage. It was a most peaceful scene, its repose not disturbed but made the more complete by a distant booming sound, like the reverberation of thunder, from the mountain sides, which the wind, as it blew from the north, brought dis- tinctly to the ear. It was the voice of Mozi-oa-tunia in its eternal roar. Next day we followed a little rivulet running northward, through a deep and arid valley, and after three hours' march made a halt for rest. We were 16 272 THE COILLARD TAMILY. off again at noon, but an hour afterwards came to a dead stop. Thunder-clouds had been gathering since the morning, and the horizon all round had been alive with lightning, but at the hour just mentioned the clouds had gathered above our heads and the storm burst upon us with all its fury. A torrential rain came down in sheets, driven by a brisk wind. The thick black masses of vapor swooped on to the ground and belched forth fire and water in equal abundance. Zigzag forks of fire played about in every direction, until the upper air appeared to be ablaze. My people, prostrate on the ground, and too alarmed to seek shelter from the water which was running over them in torrents, were shivering with cold and fright. I had enough to do to arouse and calm them, putting on for the efibrt an appearance of ease which I was far from feehng. An hour later the tempest, as if fatigued with its own violence, began to diminish in intensity, and calmed down sufficiently to enable us. to continue our journey. At about five o'clock we reached the vicinity of the great cataract, and finding some deserted huts just above it, we put them into habitable condition and encamped for the night. And what a cruel night it was ! During the dark hours a fresh storm broke over us in fury, many of the trees in the neighborhood being struck by the lightning. The rain inundated our huts, extinguished our fires, and wetted us and our belongings through and through. To the rever- berations of the thunder-claps was added the ceaseless roar of the cataract, till the brain gi-ew bewildered with the sound. The tempest lasted till four in the morning. The day broke with fresh rain, so that until nine o'clock it was impossible for us to quit our huts. About that time the clouds began to break, and the sun at length burst upon the glorious landscape. At noon I reached the western extremity of the great cataract. The Zambesi, MOZI-OA TUNIA. 273 two miles above the falls, runs east-northeast, and then takes a curve to the eastward, — the direction in which it is rushing when it meets the chasm into which it leaps. Mozi-oa-tiinia is neither more nor less than a long trough, a gigantic crevasse, the sort of chasm for which was invented the word abyss, — an abyss profound and monstrous into which the Zambesi precipitates itself bodily to an extent of 1978 yaixls. The cleft in the basaltic rocks Avhich form the northern wall of the abyss is perfectly traceable, running east and west. Parallel thereto, another enormous wall of basalt, standing upon the same level, and 110 yards distant from it, forms the opposite side of the crevasse. The feet of these huge moles of black basalt form a channel throusfh which the river rushes after its fall, a channel which is certainly much narrower than the upper aperture, but whose width it is impossible to measure. In the southern wall, and about three-fifth parts along it, the rock has been riven asunder, and forms another gigantic chasm, perpendicular to the first; which chasm, first taking a westerly curve, and subsequently bending southward and then eastward, receives the river and conveys it in a capricious zigzag through a perfect maze of rocks. The Zambesi, encountering upon its way the crevasse to which we have alluded, rushes into it in three grand cataracts, because a couple of islands which occupy two great spaces in the northern wall divide the stream into three separate branches. The first cataract is formed by a branch which passes to the south of the first island. It is 196 feet wide and has a perpendicular fall of 262 feet, tumbling into a basin whence the water overflows to the bottom of the abyss, there to unite itself to the rest in rapids and cascades that are almost invisible, owing to the thick cloud of vapor which envelopes the entire foot of the falls. 274 THE COILLARD FAMILY. The island which separates that branch of the river is covered with the richest vegetation, the leafy shrubs extending to the very edge along which the water rushes, and presenting a most marvellous prospect. This is the smallest of the falls, but it is the most beau- tiful, or, more correctly speaking, the only one that is really beautiful, for all else at Mozi-oa-tunia is sublimely hoi'rible. That enormous gulf, black as is the basalt which forms it, dark and dense as is the cloud which enwraps it, would have been chosen, if known in Biblical times, as an image of the infernal regions, a hell of water and dark- ness, more terrible perhaps than the hell of fire and light. At times, when peering into the depths through that eternal mist, one may perceive a mass of confused shapes, like unto vast and frightful ruins. These are peaks of rocks of enormous height, on to which the water dashes and becomes at once converted into a cloud of spray, which rolls and tumbles about the peaks where it was formed, and will continue so to do as long as the water falls and the rocks are there to receive it. Opposite Garden Island, through the medium of a rain- bow, concentric to another and a fainter one, I could per- ceive from time to time, as the mist slightly shifted, confusedly appear a series of pinnacles, similar to the minarets and spires of some fantastic cathedral, which shot ujj, as it were, from out the mass of seething waters. Continuing our examination of the cataract, we find that the beginning of the northern wall, which starts from the western cascade, is occupied to an extent of some 218 yards by the island I have before alluded to, and which confines that branch of the river that constitutes the first fall. It is the only point whence the entire wall is visible, simply because along that space of 218 yards the vapor does not completely conceal the depths. It was at that point I took my first measurements, and by means of two triangles I found the upper width of the MOZI-OA TUWIA-A PEKILOUS ACHIEVEMENT. A PERILOUS ACHIEVEMENT. 277 rift to be 328 feet, and the perpendicular height of the wall 393 feet. This vertical height is even greater, further to the east- ward, because the trough goes on deepening to the channel through which the river escapes to the south. At that point, likewise, I obtained data for measuring the height. In my first measui'ements I had as my base the side of 328 feet, found to be the upper width of the rift ; but it was necessary to see the foot of the wall, and I had to risk my life to do so. I made Augusto and Catraio strip off their garments, which I tied together. These were composed of striped cotton-cloth, which had already seen a good deal of ser- vice, and did not present all the security one would have desired, but 1 had no other available. I bound the impro- vised rope about my body under the armpits, in order to leave my hands free, and taking my sextant, ventured over the precipice. The loose ends were held by Augusto and a jNIacalaca residing in the neighborhood of the falls. They trembled with fear at the whole proceeding, and made me tremble in turn, so that it took me a much longer time than usual to measure the angle. When I told them to pull me up, and I found myself once more with the solid rock under my feet, it seemed as if I had just awoke out of a terrible nightmare. I read in the nonius 50° 10', and no sooner had I re- corded the measurement than I was seized with horror at what I had done. An excess of ill-regulated pride, and the desire to ascertain with the utmost possible exactness the height of the cataract, had induced me to commit the greatest imprudence of which I was guilty throughout my journey. Taking measurements and triangles in such a locality is indeed a diflScult task, where one is met at the very outset by the want of ground whereon any reliable base can be marked out. I barely succeeded in measuring 246 feet. 278 THE COILLARD FAMILY. and that, by dint of enormous labor. I can but suppose that the triangles made by Dr. Livingstone from Garden Island were resolved by the angles only. After the first island, where I made my measurement, comes the chief part of the cataract, being the portion comprised between the above island and Garden Island. In that spot the main body of the water rushes into the abyss in a compact mass, 1312 feet in length, and there, as is natural, we find the greatest depth. Then follows Garden Island, with a frontage of 132 feet to the rift, and afterwards the third fall, composed of dozens of falls which occupy the entire space between Garden Island and the eastern extremity of the wall. As the water ivhich runs from the two first falls and , from part of the third near Garden Island rushes eastward, it meets the remainder of the third fall coursing west, and the result is a frightful seethhig whirlpool, whence the creamy waters rush, after a mad conflict, into the narrow rocky channel before alluded to and go hissing away through the capricious zigzag chasm. The islands of the cataract and the rocks which lie about it are all covered with the densest vegetation, but the green is dark, sad-colored and monotonous, although a clump or two of palms, as they shoot their elegant heads above the thickets of evergreens which surround them, do their best to break the melancholy aspect of the picture. Never-ending showers of spray descend upon all objects in the proximity of the falls, and a ceaseless thunder growls within the abyss. Mozi-oa-tunia cannot be properly either depicted or described. The pencil and the pen are alike at fault, and in fact, saving at its western extremity, the whole is enveloped in a cloud of vapor, which, perhaps fortu- nately, hides half the awfulness of the scene. It is not possible to survey this wonder of nature without a feel- ing of terror and of sadness creeping over the mind. THE CATARACTS CONTRASTED. 279 How great the diti'erence between the cataract of Gonha and that of Mozi-oa-tunia ! Both have their attractions, — both are superbly grand ; but Gonha has the attraction of the lovely virgin crowned with the tiowers of innocence, toying in a delicious gar- den, freshened by the perfumed zephyrs of a summer -^wmm^. MOZI-OA-TUNIA. morn ; Mozi-oa-tunia is grand and repellent as the free- booter, burnt by the summer's sun and hardened by the winter's frost, with l)lunderliuss in hand, roaming amid the mountain flistnesses in a dark and stormy night. Gonha is beautiful as a balmy morning in spring ; Mozi- oa-tunia is imposing as a tempestuous night' in winter. The 22nd of November arrived, — the day which I had fixed for my return, — but my position was rather a critical one. We had barely rations for a couple of days, and we could not hope to reach Daca under six ; so I went out on the hunt, in spite of the bad weather. 280 THE COILLARD FAMILY. At a short distance from the camp I was fortunate enough to fall in with and bring down a malanca, and I returned to the huts to give orders to have it brought in and dismembered, when there suddenly appeared upon the scene the chief of the villages at the falls, whom I had not previously set eyes upon, who had come to visit me. In attendance upon him was a posse of negroes, who helped to bring in the malanca I had shot. The chief brought with him a quantity of grain and a brace of fowls, which he offered to barter for the antelope's skin and my rug. Pressed as I was for time, I accepted the arrangement, at which the old fellow was delighted. And thus did my rug and I, — that rug which had shielded me during so many sleepless nights passed in the African wilds, — part company! On the following morning I set out, retracing my steps to the place where I had diverged to the cataract. It had not been dilEcult for me to find the huge falls of the Zam- besi, for their voice announced their presence from afar ; but the making for a spot which had no existence on the map, and whose position I had calculated from the vaguest information, was not so easy a task. According to my calculations, Patamatenga lay due south of me, and I therefore so steered my course, determined not to deviate from it on any account whatsoever. After four houi-s' march, I came to a halt by the side of a brook, in a most unpromising position. The soil pro- duced nothing but black stones, and the landscape was rendered all the more grim and sombre by a sky laden with heavy clouds. A profound silence reigned over the con- tracted and dreary valley. The night was no less unpleas- ant, for a strong wind was blowing. On the 24th of November the journey was resumed, our course being southwai'd over broken and difficult ground. We had a seven-hours' tramp next day over a huge plain covered with shrubs and tall grass. Of water there ARRIVAL AT PATAMATENGA. 281 was not a vestige. "We stopped at length, worn-out with fatigue, and I determined upon camping, when, just above my head, from a branch of the tree against which I leaned, I heard the cooing of some African doves. Water, I knew, could not be far distant, for it was late in the afternoon, — the hour when most creatures drink, — and unless watering-places were near, the doves would not have gathered there. The dove is an index in Africa to the existence of water in the vicinity of the spot where she is found at morning and evening, for that bird invari- ably drinks twice a day. I therefore sent Verissimo and Augusto to explore the neighborhood, and an hour later the former returned, hav- ing discovered a little spring about half a mile or so to the northwest. To this we at once proceeded, and it was quite dark ere we could settle ourselves to rest. Next morning, November 26th, after quitting the spot where we had camped, we found ourselves in a dense jun- gle, which cost us twenty minutes to get through. On clearing it, we came upon a rivulet of some volume, brawling over its stony bed, and beside it stood a kraal of admirable construction, above whose strong stockade appeared the gable roofs of several houses. It was Patamatenga ! close to which I had halted, with- out knowing it, and passed a miserable night in the open air, when I might have slept comfortably in a bed within the shelter of a well-built house ! An Englishman, whose name I did not even know, came forth to meet me at the river, and conduct me into the kraal, and when there, without more ado, he placed food before me. By eleven o'clock I had been made to devour I do not know how many things, and my host informed me that another dish was being got ready. He had, it appears, a capital European cook with him. He would not hear of my going on to Daca that day, as I must, he said, spend the rest of it with him. 282 THE COILLARD FAMILY. When my host found I intended to stop, he ordered his best sheep to be killed, and invited me to have a look round his farm. We went, and to my horror I saw him destroy an entire plot sown with potatoes, in order that he misrht obtain a few for the table. Nor was that all ; he plucked all the tomatoes, onions, and pimentos that came within his reach ! I essayed in vain to stay his hand. He was determined to supply me with the best he had, and I fear if I had stopped a week with him he would have stripped his grounds to feed me. The farm itself was delightful, and in splendid condition, but it was the season of the year when there was least produce. Still, my hospitable Eng- lishman had managed to secure half-a-dozen potatoes, sixteen tomatoes, a handful of pimentos, and some deli- cious little onions, which he delivered in triumph to the cook to prepare for dinner. Dinner ! He called it so, but it really would be difficult to know what name should be assigned to the meal ; numerically speaking, we had got far beyond supper, and yet by the hour of the day it was nearer to luncli. The repast — to which I fear I could not dq all the jus- tice my host desired — being at an end, I took a stroll with him in the neighborhood of the kraal. In the course of our walk we came upon five heaps of stones which mark the graves of five Europeans, who are there taking their last sleep, lying side by side beneath the shadow of some trees, in the same soil which insinu- ated into their system, through the miasma it exhaled, the poison that was to cut short their existence at so pre- mature an age. Alas ! how many similar graves, dug in remote corners, exist upon this enormous continent, which give no sign of the secrets they hide so securely ! Happier in this respect, the five graves at Patamatenga enclose the bodies of men who are known, and whose names I here record; MY LAVISH HOST. 283 and if friends are still left to cherish their memory, it will be a sad satisfaction to them to learn in what corner of the earth they have decent rest. The first grave bears the name of Jolly, who died in 1875 ; the second of Frank Cowley ; the third of Robert Bairn, who also succumbed in 1875 ; the fourth of Bald- win, and the fifth of Walter Gary Lowe, who died in 1876. Next day, having already been compelled to devour two meals, I once more resumed my march at 7 o'clock, well supplied with provisions for the road, as Gabriel Mayer, my lavish host, would not allow me to take leave of him until he saw that my wallets were well filled. Five hours' march to the eastward brought me in safety to Daca, where the Coillard family were eagerly awaiting me, and where I was received with the utmost demonstration of sympathy and friendship. Unlike the weather I had experienced at Mozi-oa-tunia, no rain had fallen near Daca, and we hesitated about our departure, for it would have been highly hazardous to cross the desert before sufficient rain had fallen to fill the pools at which water could be obtained for the cattle. We determined, however, not to defer our start longer than the 2nd of December, although we might run some risk of not finding water during the early days of our march. » We numbered fifteen persons, all told, and our stock of provisions was anything but large. We had therefore to make for Shoshong with the utmost possible despatch, and were bound to reach the city of King Khama ere our stores were exhausted. Abandoning the caravan road, we proposed to trace out a new one for ourselves. Eain fell on the 30th of November, and again the next morning, December 1st, which strengthened us in our resolve to start, on the following day. CHAPTER m. THE COILLARD FAMILT. BEFORE entering upon my nan-ation of this adventur- ous journey across the desert, 1 deem it proper to say a few words respecting my travelling companions. May they pardon what I write concerning them, if their modesty should feel wounded by my remarks, but it is right that the outer world should know the name and the acts of some of these obscure African laborers, who quit Europe and all the delights of civilized life to wander into inhospitable climes, bent only on the great work of civilizing the Dark Continent. In Basuto Land, whose southern and eastern limits touch the confines of the colonies of the Cape and Natal, while its northern and western boundaries meet those of the Orange Free State, some fifty years since a few French Protestant missionaries took up their abode. Those men, whose numbers increased from year to year, managed to tame, so to speak, this barbarous people, these hordes of cannibals, and raise them to a state of civilization and knowledge hitherto unattained by any tribes of South Africa. At the present day the Christian schools of Basuto count their pupils by thousands, and a great part of the population, being Christian, have abandoned polygamy and the barbarous customs of their forefathers. The missionaries, after a time, finding the field too small for their numbers, felt the necessity of expansion, (284) MR. AND MRS. COILLARD. HISTORY OF THE COILLARD FAMILY. 287 and proceeded to establish their missions to the north of the Transvaal near the Limpopo. They even desired to go further, and an expedition for that purpose was duly organized, with a young missionary at its head. This expedition, which was bound for the country of the Banyais or Mashonas, situated between the Matebeli and the Natuas Lands, was not, however, fortunate. On entering the Transvaal, it met with such opposition from the Boers as to be unable to go forward, so that, after suffering the grossest insults and even imprisonment at their hands, the missionary and his followers at length arrived at Pretoria. It was then that Mr. Francois Coillard, Director of the Lerib& mission, was instructed to take the place of the expedition that had failed. He at once started from Ler- ibd, a station situated near the river Caledon, an affluent of the Orange, and with his wife and niece and his follow- ers travelled northwards, and after meeting with numerous difficulties, which only the most tenacious will could have overcome, succeeded in reaching the country for which he was bound. Being well received by the Mashonas, he lost no time in commencing his labors, when he was attacked by a band of Matebelis, who made him prisoner, and dragged him with all his people before their chief, Lo-Bengula. What the missionary and those poor ladies suffered during the time they remained in the power of the terrible chief of the Matebelis is a sad and painful story. The chief, who claimed sovereign rights over the country of the Mashonas, had taken umbrage at the strangers having proceeded thither without first obtaining his royal license, and strictly forbade his return to that territory. On escaping from the clutches of the inhospitable chief, he made his way back to Shoshong, the capital of Baman- guato, when, anxious not to allow so costly and fatiguing a journey to turn out fruitless, he determined to make an 288 THE COILLARD FAMILY. attempt to penetrate into the Bar6ze. We have seen that his endeavors to get into that country were unsuccessful. These were the motives which brought the Coillard family into the Upper Zambesi, and led to our me'eting in those remote districts. Mr. Coillard and his wife, when I met them, had resided in Africa for twenty years. Mr. Coillard was a man scarcely past forty ; his wife, as may be said of all married ladies who have passed their twenty-fifth year, was of no age at all. The missionary was warmly attached to the aborigines, to whose civilization he had devoted his life. Ever calm in gesture and in speech, he never to my knowledge lost his temper, and never did I hear issue from his mouth other words than those of pardon for the faults he saw committed around him. Franyois Coillard was and is the best, the kindest man I ever came across. To a superior intelligence he unites an indomitable will and the necessary firmness to carry out any enterprise, however difficult. Possessed of great learning, the French missionary has a soul moulded to take in the sublimest sentiments, and if ever there existed a true poet, he lives in Mr. Coillard. Mr. Coillard at times produced on me the strangest effect. There was something about him altogether beyond my comprehension. One day, I remember, he was relat- ing to me, with all the warmth of description which his poetical spirit supplied him, one of the most thrilling episodes of his journey, which he concluded with, — " We were all but lost ! " " But," I answered, " you had arms, and ten armed and devoted followers to back you ; so that, under the circum- stances you have described, there was an easy way out of the difficulty." He shook his head and i-eplied, — " It could not have been done without shedding blood, and I could not kill a man to save either my own life or the lives of my people." BLOSSOMS OF THE SOUL. 289 I was astonished as I listened, for this was a type of manhood perfectly new to me. I could not understand how in that southern and ardent organization could exist an icy coui-age, a courage that I tried to grasp in vain. I could not understand the man who traversed the African wilds with a switch in his hand that Avas scarce strong enough to cut down the blades of grass he met upon his path. It must have been a sublime kind of courage which I grieve not to call nij^ own. It was in fact a courage springing from those fiores d' alma (blossoms of the soul), which one of our best Por- tuguese poets succeeded in defining by that beautiful and expressive phrase. It was the courage of the early mar- tyrs, which it is given to few to fathom and experience. Madame Coillard, like her husband, is overflowing with human kindness. The needy never sought her and went empty away, nor did the sorrow-laden without being con- soled. In their eyes all men are indeed brethren ; their hand is open to the native as to the European, to the poor as to the rich, when the native, the European, the poor or the rich, want their aid. As regards myself, I can never sufficiently thank them for the services they rendered me, — services which made me more their debtor on account of the delicacy with which they were bestowed. EUROPEAN GRAVES AT PATAMATENGA. CHAPTER IV. THIRTY DATS IN THE DESERT. ALL precautions having been taken, dictated by Mr. Coillard's long experience in journeys of this nature, we managed to leave Daca by two o'clock in the afternoon of December 2d, and directed our course southward. Our caravan was composed of four wagons, Avhereof two be- longed to Mr. Coillard and two to Mr. Frederick Phillips, an English trader. After a march of three hours we fell in with water in a small lake filled by the rain of the previous days, and took up our quarters for the night in its vicinity. Next day we travelled south-southeast, and after camp- ing for the night found water three-quarters of a mile distant. On the 4th we set out at 4.30 in the afternoon, and in two hours and a half came to a lake of excellent water, which induced us to pitch our tent there. We started next day with the early morning and trav- elled on for seven hours and a half in three mai'ches, the last of which terminated at nine at night. There was no appearance of water where we halted. The journey of that day had been an arduous one through a tangled forest, where the wagons ran great risk of parting company with their wheels, owing to their coming into collision with the trunks of colossal trees. At six next morning we started again, marching two hours, at the end of which time we came across a lake of permanent water. We rested for seven hours, and were (290) DANGEROUS ILLNESS. 291 off once more at three in the afternoon, camping for the night in the vicinity of another lake. Our journey of that day had been through most beauti- ful forests, abounding in the white thorn. The soil was covered with a thick layer of sand. A beautiful carpet of soft grass covered the ground about the lake, and looked all the more charming from being broken into little mounds and dells. But amid that delicious grass is found an herbaceous plant of which the oxen are immoderately fond, and from which, nevertheless, they must be kept with the utmost care, as it is deadly poison to them. I sat up late that night to make some astronomical observations, and perhaps I owed to my doing so a violent attack of fever which completely knocked me over next day. For some hours I lost consciousness, and delirium supervened, and it was only on recovering my reason that I knew of the tender nursing I had had at the hands of my excellent friends. The next day also was one of acute suffering, and it was not until the thii'd that our journey could be resumed, I being still in a most deplorable state. A bed was im- provised for me in Mr. Coillard's wagon, and surrounded by the family, who were indefatigable in their care and watchfulness and in their efforts to procure me every possible comfort, I spent a day of which but scanty memory is left me. I recovered sufficient; consciousness to know that on the 10th of December we were encamped in a place which some called Muacha and others Uguja. At this point, where branches off the track followed by the English traders, we took leave of Mr. Phillips, who had been our travelling companion from Daca. Next day we crossed one of the most superb and lovely primitive forests I had yet beheld upon the continent. At nightfall we were compelled to halt, as it was simply im- possible to continue through the jungle without running the utmost risk of coming to grief with the wagons. 17 292 THE COILLARD FAMILY. We had not travelled next day for more than half an hour when we reached the edge of the forest, and came upon a little muddy pool of water. Before us stretched the bare, arid, and cheerless plain ; that plain which was crossed for the first time, but two degrees more to the west of my track, by Livingstone ; one degree more to the west by Baines ; and a degree more to the east by Baldwin, Chapman, Ed. Mohr, and others, — that sandy and inhos- pitable plain, the Sahara of the South, in a word, the terrible Kalahari. We journeyed along it for the space of a couple of hours, and halted to rest the oxen near some miserable stunted thorn-trees, which, with their parched leafage, only made the barrenness of the desert more perceptible. We resumed our march at four o'clock in the afternoon, and continued on till eight at night, when we stopped at a thicket of stunted thorns, camping with considerable discomfort amid the prickly and sharp-pointed briers. During the night jackalls and hyaenas kept up an infernal concert all roimd us, and at times the contour of their forms would be visible, as the light from the camp-fires overcame the darkness. Rain was falling as we started next morning. We trudged on for five hours, with only one short rest, meeting by the way several pools of water produced by the rain. Unhickily they were of no use to us, as the water was quite brackish. The thirsty oxen, however, were not so particular, and they very soon sucked them all dry. Water, however, fit for our own use, we wanted badly, so on we went for four more hours, and were obliged to halt at last without finding what we sought. At daybreak we started and took our way for an hour and a half through the arid and sandy desert, where the wagon-wheels got deeply buried. At the lapse of that time we fell in with the dry bed of a river, along whose right bank we trudged for a good hour, crossing it at a A SUNDAY IN THE DESERT. 293 spot where it bore off to the southwest. The scarps of the sandy banks were nearly ten feet in depth, and sloped rapidly. It was simply frightful, after the wagons had plunged down on one side and threatened to come to pieces, to see how the poor oxen labored and strained to pull the huge vehicles up on the other bank. When they had succeeded in doing so, we pitched our camp forthwith. In the sandy bed of the river many deep pools were left, containing a limpid crystalline water which delighted the eyes that had become weary with the aridity and sameness of the desert. We hastened towards them, eager to secure a hearty draught, but at the first drops which touched the lips our joy was turned to sorrow and dismay. The sparkhng liquid was more than brackish : it was salt as the waters of the sea. Happily, we succeeded in finding at a distance from these deceptive pools several wells of considerable depth which yielded a tolerably drinkable water. It was resolved to make a halt there for forty-eight hours, as the day following that of our arrival was Sun- day — a day on which the Coillards did not care to travel. A better encampment was prepared in consequence, for which we were enabled to procure boughs of trees from the banks of the river, where the vegetation — absent further north — began once more to show itself. By midday a kiosque or wigwam was run up and the camp was ready. The two ladies set heartily to work. They made some bread and prepared such other dishes for the Sunday festival as the scanty means at their command enabled them to do. Since my last attack of fever, and the infinite care and kindness that had been bestowed upon me, close contact with those ladies, to whom illness had rendered me so deeply indebted, had sunk deeply into my mind, and pro- duced there a singular revulsion of feeling. Until the moment I fell in with them I had forgotten, amid the 294 THE COILLAED FAMILY. savages with whom I was compelled to live, all the ameni- ties and softness of civilized life. Their society brought back to my memory the fact that there were angels upon earth, beings which, like roses, sweeten the thorny paths of life, or like fresh oases, afford the weary traveller rest and refreshment upon the thorny desert of his mundane journey. The remembrance of a beloved wife and daughter be- came thus ever-present to my thought, kept alive by the constant sight of those two ladies, who thus became the innocent and unconscious instruments of moral torture. This constant suffering, ever fed by the sight of my fair companions, and irritated by their every act of kindness, became converted into an atrociously bad humor, which threatened to become permanent. During those outbursts of ill-temper I lost all the social forms of conventional good-breeding, and became trans- formed into an ill-mannered boor. My ill-temper was directed more particularly against Madame Coillard, and it was only necessary for her to say a word, to insure a flat contradiction from myself. I am at a loss now to understand how so great a revolution could have been wrought in my mind, or how I could possibly have been guilty of such barbarity. We started on the 16th of December, travelling on the left bank of the river, and halted quite close to it, after five hours' march. The Massaruas, who bestow upon the river the name of Nata at the point where we spent the Sunday, distinguish it by that of Chua at the place where we pitched our camp. This part of the desert was cov- ered with a short and wiry grass, and it was only on rare occasions that we observed a solitary tree. Nevertheless, the river-sides were not wanting in vegetation, so that from time to time pretty bits of landscape met the eye. Mr. Coillard deemed it prudent not to set out until the afternoon of the following day, so that the oxen might be A NIGHT ON THE ROAD. 295 thoroughly satisfied before going further in the hope of discovering otlier problematical watering-places ; but I decided upon pushing forward ahead, accompanied only by young Pepeca, so that we arranged to meet on the banks of the Simoane. My main object was to visit the lakes on which the Massaruas bestow the name of Macari- caris, or salt-pans. After traversing seven miles of them, I plunged into a forest, through which I pursued my way for some three miles more, until I came upon the bed of a river, in which there was some stagnant water, and which I conjectured to be the Simoane. I descended by its bed till I arrived at the Grand Macaricari or Great Salt Pan. After tramp- ing about the neighborhood till I was tired, I sought for a place which, by my reckoning, the caravan would have to pass, and there lay myself down to wait. It was not till nine at night, and a pitch-dark night too, that my well-tutored ear caught at a distance the sound of the rattling wagons, when, getting up, I walked in that direction to meet them. Madame Coillard had become very anxious at my absence for the entire day with only a lad for company, and the first thing she did when the car- avan halted was to make me some tea, a beverage of which she knew me to be inordinately fond. Truly, the havoc that I made in Madame Coillard's stock of tea was some- thing enormous ! On the 19th we arrived at the dry bed of a river whose banks produced a luxuriant vegetation. The Massaruas who, as usual, were soon round us, called it the Lilutela, and said it was the same that others designated Chuani, that is to say, the little CJiua. The Lilutela, the name which I have retained as being that used by the nomad tribes of the desert, has dug for itself a bed through a forest formed of gigantic trees but bare of shrubs. One of the Massaruas who paid us a visit guided us to a pool, about three-quarters of a mile to the westward, 296 THE COILLAKD FAMILY. where the oxen were enabled to slake their thirst and we to lay in a good stock of water. "We started again the same day at five in the afternoon, and trudged on till half-past eleven at night, constantly through the splendid forest glades. On the 20th we fell in with the dry bed of the river Cualiba, which runs — when it runs at all — due west, into the Great Macaricari. We camped on the opposite bank of the Cualiba, in order to seek for water. The Massaruas, who came about us, did not choose to reveal where any was to be found, their not unusual mode of treating strangers, but after hunting about for ourselves and making many trials in the bed of the river, we man- aged to procure some from a well, which we dug at some- what less than a mile below our camp. At 4.25 p.m. we were again upon the march, and halted at 5.10 to water the cattle at a pond which we discovered to have been filled by a recent torrential rain. We then pushed on for two hours longer, and camped at length, at eight o'clock, having crossed on our way a portion of the Great Macaricari. In the vast and remarkable desert of the Kalahari, where Nature seems to have been pleased to bring into juxtaposition the most discordant elements ; where the luxuriant forest borders the dry and sterile plain ; where the loose and shifting sand is a continuation of the stiff clay, upon the same level ; where drought is frequently the next door neighbor to water ; in that desert, which at one time assumes the appearance of the Sahara, at another the American Pampas, and at another again the steppes of Russia ; in that desert raised 3,000 feet above the sea-level, — one of the most remarkalile phenomena is the Grand Macaricari, or Great Salt Pan. It is an enormous basin, a basin where the ground has sunk from nine to sixteen feet, and which at its lonsfer axis must be from 120 to 150 miles, and at the shorter THE GRAND MACARICARI. 297 from eighty to one hundred in extent. Similar to all Macaricaris, it affects a nearly elliptical shape, and, like the others, has its greater axis due east and west. In the Massarua language, macaricaris signify basins covered with salts, or salt-pans, where the rain-water is held for a certain time, disappearing in the summer season through evaporation, and once again leaving behind it the salts which it had dissolved. The linings of these pans are of coarse sand covered with a crystalline layer of salt, which attains to a thickness varying from half an inch to an inch. The great lake receives during the rainy season an im- mense volume of water through its tributaries the Nata, Simoane, Cualiba and others. These waters, which form enormous torrents, must fill the Great Macaricaris very speedily. This vast basin communicates with Lake Ngami, by the Botletle or Zonga, and its level is the same as that of the latter lake, a circumstance which gives rise to a very remarkable phenomenon. As the two lakes are some degrees distant from each other, the great rains will frequently fall in the east, and cause the Macaricari to overflow, whilst the springs which feed the Ngami have not increased in volume. The Botletle then runs westward from the Macaricari to the Ngami. At other times, the reverse of this takes place, and the Ngami uses the same conduit to drain its surplus waters into the Macaricari. This is its natural course, as the Ngami is supplied by a permanent and voluminous river. On the 21st of December we continued our way south- ward, leaving the Great Macaricari at five o'clock in the morning, and came to a halt, four hours afterwards, near a small lake of good water furnished by the rain, which fell abundantly the evening before. We started again at midday, and pushed on until nine at night, when we fell in with a small lake of permanent water. 298 THE COILLARD FAMILY. Between six and eight o'clock that same evening a ter- rific tempest swept down upon us, accompanied by abun- dant rain, which converted the ground into a marsh, and made it difficult to move the wagons. Some of Mr. Coil- lard's goats, and my Cora among them, in their desire to take refuge from the storm, crept under the moving wag- ons, and one was almost immediately orushed beneath the wheels. Poor Cora was the second victim. A wheel passed over her haunches, and although I managed to convey her alive to Linocanim, I saw at once that her fate was hopeless. Poor dear beast ! I lost in thee the only truly loved object I met with on African soil, before I came to know the European family who admitted me into their inner circle. With thee disappeared the constant companion of my days of sadness, the valued friend of my brief periods of joy. The memory of Cora yet lives, for in dying she left behind her a Uttle one, on which Mr. Coillard's Basutos bestowed the name of Coranhano. We left at six next morning, and halted at nine at a spot where the Massaruas had dug a deep well. We. were disappointed, however, at finding no water in it, as there was nothing but a fetid mud at the bottom. We toiled on for five and a half more hours that day, the rain pouring down upon us the whole time. On the 24th we came to a station of the Massaruas, subject to King Khama of the Manguato. After resting awhile we went on, and at four o'clock halted beside a lake of delicious water. The 25th of December, Christmas Day, broke upon us, and as being the day of all others set apart throughout the Christian world for festivity and rest, was destined to be to us one of rude labor, in which we had to travel for thirteen hours, in three long spells, and only procure rest at an hour after midnight. It was the old story, the want of water, which compelled us to make such fatiguing jour- A CHARMING VALLEY. 299 neys, and as it was, we got none really fit to drink till three days later. Shortly after starting we were met by a gang of Ba- manguatos whom King Khama had sent to Mr. Coillard with fresh oxen for his wagons. We learned from these men the news of the deaths of Captain Paterson, Mr. Sargeant, and Mr. Thomas, with a few attendants, who, having proceeded to the Matebeli in the service of the English Government, had been, as it was reported, assas- sinated by Lo-Bengula. On the 26th we made two journeys, one of five, the other of four hours, without coming upon the slightest indication of water. We camped at half-past eleven at night at the entrance to a valley, where the ground appeared too difficult and hazardous to venture in the darkness. On waking, a lovely landscape, lovely at least to eyes fatigued with the monotony and sterility of the desert, was sjDread out before us. The valley, or rather dell, for it was very small, before whose entrance we had drawn up the night before, was formed by hills of no greater elevation than sixty or seventy feet, but rugged and picturesque. Notwithstand- ing the green grass that covered the bottom of the valley, we found no water, although, during the periods of the great rains, it must flow there abundantly. The Baman- guatos told us that this charming site was called Setlequan. The oxen broke away and fled during the night, doubt- less in search of water, which they could not find, and they were brought back to camp by the natives we de- spatched in search of them, but not till eleven o'clock. We started directly they were put to, and three hours later we arrived at the partially diy bed of the river Luale. Both man and l)east having slaked their thirst, we decided upon pushing forward. When on the point of starting we discovered that five 300 THE COILLAED FAMILY. of Mr. Coillard's goats were missing. We let the wagons with the ladies go on ahead, whilst Mr. Coillard and my- self with a few of the natives searched about for the miss- ing animals. We were enabled for a long time to follow their track, but lost it at last, so that at 6.30 p. m., with the shades of evening already upon us, we set out in pursuit of the wagons, leaving some of the negroes behind to continue the search next day. We picked our road with what care we could, it being now quite dark. Mr. Coillard, with his firm belief in the protection of God, was com- pletely unarmed, merely carrying in his hand a slight switch. My belief was great as his, but I believed also in wild beasts on the African continent, and therefore was armed with my trusty rifle. An hour after leaving the Luale, we heard, quite close to us upon our left, a most unholy chorus of hyenas and jackals, but could see nothing. Madame Coillard, uneasy at our absence, had caused the wagons to halt, so that we came up with them after three hours' walking. We then all went on together, and camped at 1 a. m. beside the Cane rivulet. At daybreak Augusto made his appearance with the missing goats, which he had found during the night. At seven we were again astir, crossing a mountainous country clothed in luxuriant vegetation, which presented at every turn some beautiful panorama. After two long marches we camped by the dry bed of a rivulet called Letlotze, where we fortunately found water in a small pool. It was resolved to stop there the whole of the next day, for being Sunday, my friends preferred not to travel. We were aroused early next morning with the alarming news that the cattle had made their way to the pool dis- covered over night, and drunk up every drop of its con- tents. A search for another supply Avas therefore at once MISS ELISE'S TEA-CANISTER. 301 set on foot, and it was Catraio, who, after long and careful hunting, found out a fresh store, but at a considerable dis- tance from the encampment. On the 30th of December we were off again with the dawn. I woke up in one of my bad fits of spleen, when I seemed to hate everybody and everything ; the ladies, the missionary, myself, and all about me being equally objects of my detestation. This wretched state of mind was not improved on learning that Mr. Coillard intended making a long journey that day. In fact, there was no help for it, as we plunged into the defiles of the Letlotze and had to cover nearly sixteen miles without halting. We stopped at length, and I seized the opportunity to get away from the encampment ere I committed myself by some ill-advised and ill-tempered speech. I returned after a tramp about the neighborhood, and, as I drew near the temporary habitations, I perceived through the trees Madame Coillard talking with her niece in a way which indicated some trouble or anxiety. I could not hear what was said, but what I saw gave me a clew to the story. Miss Elise held in her hand the tea-canister, Madame Coillard a cup. Into this cup were poured the entire con- tents of the canister, which, being divided into two, were, as regards half of them, returned to the latter. It was the last of Madame Coillard's tea ! I was so struck and touched at the expression on the face of this good Scotch lady as she surveyed the few remaining leaves, that my ill-humor fled as if by magic, and, strange to relate, it seemed like some foul spirit to be exorcised for good and all. Our course still lay through the defiles of Letlotze, a deep furrow, as it were, which wound its serpentine course beside and above the dry bed of the river of the same name. Seven times did we cross that stony bed to the great risk of the wagons, which alternately thundered down 302 THE COILLARD FAMILY. and then had to be dragged up the steep and shelving banks. On the 31st of December, after a two hours' march, we made our entry into Shoshong, the great capital of the Manguato. By eight o'clock that morning I had purchased a sack of potatoes and another of onions ; I had fallen in with a Mr. Stanley (not the renowned H. M.), of whom I shall have more to say later on ; and by 11 a. m., having shaken hands with King Khama, the most notable native of South Africa, I was seated at breakfast with a fine dish of pota- toes and ham, and a magnificent beef-steak steaming on the board. Madame Coillard too had laid in a fresh supply of tea. CHAPTER V. IN THE MANGUATO. WITH daybreak of the 1st of January, 1879, I saw a new year open in Africa. I passed the festival with the Coillard family, in the half-ruined house belong- ing to the missionary, Mr. Mackenzie, which had been assigned us for our residence. On the 2nd I went to the city, to the English quarter, and in one of the houses there I was presented with a magnificent cigar, a pure Londres. It seemed an age since I had seen such a thing, and I thought the flavor of that Havana simply delicious. It was on that day I felt the symptoms of an ap- proaching fever of a serious kind. It rapidly assumed an alarming character, and until the 7th I hovered between life and death. The care and kindness bestowed upon me by Madame Coillard are indescribable, and I certainly owe it to her nursing that I did not take my last sleep in those distant regions. By the 7th I was sufficiently recovered to receive a visit from Stanley, the person referred to at close of last chapter. This Stanley was a Transvaal colonist, — an English- man, but married in Marico to a Boer. He had come to Shoshong to sell potatoes and onions. I had a long talk with him, and succeeded in making a contract. In virtue of the arrangement his wagon was to be at my service, and himself into the bargain, since he was to be my driver and obey me in every particular. (303) 304 THE COILLARD FAMILY. The fellow imposed another condition, which I accepted, namely, that of calling at his house, to assure his wife that he had not been devoured by the lions. He told me that he would go no further than Pretoria, as he had a little boy from whom he could not part for any length of time. I had therefore in drawing up my contract to take into consideration the paternal feelings of my Transvaal driver. It was decided that he should be ready to start on the 13th, and we parted mutually satisfied with each other. The Manguato, or country of the Bamanguatos, occupies in South Africa an area that cannot be very clearly defined, so vast is its extent. A few years ago it was governed by an old and barbarous imbecile. This was King Khama's father. Khama, a Christian convert, educated by the English, a civilized man of lofty intelligence and superior good sense, not unnaturally failed to secure the good graces of his father; and although the eldest son, and therefore the legal heir to the kingdom, he was persecuted incessantly by the old man, whose sole object was to make his second son, Camanhane, his successor. Kiama, in his desire to keep clear of the intrigues which his enemies at Shoshong were constantly planning, very prudently got out of the way, and retired to the Botletle ; but on the road all his cattle were dispersed for want of water, and being caught and collected by the Massaruas, were taken back to his father. These were reclaimed by Khama, but the only answer his messengers obtained was that he must come and seek them at Sho- shong ; but if he did, it would be at the peril of his head. Khama replied that he would not fail to put in an appear- ance, and appointed the spring of the following year as the time of his intended visit, when he hoped that they would be prepared to do him justice. Khama kept his word, and marched into the Manguato at the head of a very respectable force, recruited from the KING KHAMA'S VICTORIES. 305 borders of the Botletle and Nagami. Opposition being offered to his advance, he routed the natives in various encounters, and shortly after took possession of Shoshong. He was proclaimed king, and his father deposed. He delivered up to the old man all his herds and wealth, made a good provision for his brother Camanhane, and, having banished them to the south, on the borders of the Corumane, he quietly settled himself down into his new position. A twelvemonth having elapsed, Khama recalled his father and brother to the capital and loaded them with .favors. The act may have been a kind, but it was not a politic one. No sooner did the father and younger son find themselves comfortably settled than they conspired against the generous king, who, disgusted at finding himself thus involved in fresh intrigues, gave up the reins of power to his father and retired to the north. But the Bamanguatos, who had estimated the wise government of Khama at its true value, chafed at this arrangement, and very shortly afterwards they rose in mass against the restored king and brought back the eldest son once more to reign over them. The former, exiles for the second time, found their way to the Corumane, and were again the recipients of the king's bounty. This last episode in the history of the Manguato took place seven years before my arrival in the country, and from that time Khama's power had gone on uninterrupt- edly to complete consolidation. In the wars which he carried on with his family and with strangers, he acquired the reputation of a great captain. During the time that I remained in Shoshong, Caman- hane was still living there, although he had no part in public affairs. Khama had long since pardoned him, kept him about his, person, and endowed hiin with considerable wealth. In contr^ist to all the native governments of Africa, that 306 THE COILLARD FAMILY. of Khama was anything but selfish. The king gave his thoughts to his people in preference to himself. A great portion of the population was Christian, and all clothed themselves in European fashion. Perhaps there was not a single Bamanguato that did not possess a gun, but out of the forest districts one rai-ely saw an armed man. Khama himself never carried arms. He was a frequent visitor to the missionary quarter, situated at a mile and a half from the city, and returned thence late at night, alone and unarmed. What other African chief would do the same ''. Khama's age was about forty, although he appeared considerably younger. In person he was tall and robust, but he had one of those faces which it is difficult to read. His manners were "distinguished," and his European costume was simple and in the most exquisite taste. Like all the Bamanguatos, he was a capital horseman, a good marksman, and an eager hunter. He breakfasted almost daily with the Coillards, and his demeanor at table was that of a refined European gentleman. His wealth was great, but it was freely spent on behalf of his people. It was a beautiful sight to behold the respectful way in which all saluted him as he went by. It was not the homage paid to the sovereign, but rather the affection dis- played towards a father. He visited the houses of the poor as well as of the rich, and encouraged all alike to labor ; and the Bamanguatos do labor, heartily. Women as well as men take part in field work, and the ploughs imported from England are used in tilling the ground. Besides being great agriculturists, the Bamanguatos are cattle-graziers, and many of them possess large herds. Within doors they employ themselves in dressing skins, and sewing them with the nerves of antelopes ; and they turn out most valuable coverlets and other articles for winter use. During the hunting season they are keen sportsmen, and they hunt both ostriches and elephants. MISSIONARIES, GOOD AND BAD. 307 The people take kindly to the Europeans, and the lives of the latter are as secure in the Manguato as they would be in their own country. How comes it that, in the midst of so many barbarous peoples, there should be one so different from the others ? It is due, 1 firmly believe, to the English missionaries ; and I cannot refrain from mentioning their names ; they are those of three men who have more especially brought about this great work. If I do not hesitate to aver that the labors of many missionaries and of many African mis- sions are sterile, or even worse, I am just as ready to admit, from the evidence of my own senses, that others yield favorable, or apparently favorable, results. The passions to which man is subject will often lead the missionary — but a man and with all a man's weaknesses — to pursue a wrong course. The strife between Catholics and Protestants in the African missions is an example of this, — an incontestable proof that evil passions may insti- gate the missionary as they do any ordinary mortal. The Protestant missionaries (of course I mean the bad ones) say to the negro, that "the Catholic missionary is so poor that he cannot even afford to buy a wife ! " and thus seek to cast opprobrium upon him ; for it is as great a crime to be poor in Africa as it is in Europe. On the other hand, the Catholics leave no stone un- turned to throw discredit upon the Protestants. From this strife springs revolt, which is the cause of the barrenness of many missions where various beliefs are struggling for mastery. I have spoken of this incident- ally, in order to show that missionaries have evil passions and err. It is even the general rule in such cases. To the south of the tropics the country swarms with missionaries, and to the south of the tropics England is engaged in perpetual war with the native populations. It is because the evil labors of many undo the good labors of some. Let us, however, speak only of the good. 18 308 THE CQILLARD FAMILY. I said that there were three men who had done more than all others in securing the relative (and to me appar- ent) civilization of the Manguato. I use the word appar- ent advisedly, because I am convinced that if the monarch who is destined to succeed King Khama should not choose to admit the missionary, he will carry with him the entire population, who will have no hesitation in throwing over the doctrine of Christianity, which they do not thoroughly grasp, and returning to polygamy, which appeals to their sensual appetites, if the change be sanctioned by their king and father. But as matters stand, the civilization of the Manguato is now matter of notoriety, and the first man who labored to bring it about was the Eev. Mr. Price ; the same, if I mistake not, who was recently charged with the Ujiji mis- sion in the Tanganika, and who was so unfortunate in his first journey. The second was the Eev. Mr. Mackenzie, the present Corumane missionary ; and the third was he who even now preaches the gospel to the Bamanguatos, the Rev. Mr. Eburn, whom I had not the honor to meet, as he was absent on his duties. It is with the utmost pleasure that I cite those worthy names, and put them forward as noble examples to all workers in the field of African civilization ; and my satis- faction in doing so is all the greater as those distinguished gentlemen are personally unknown to me. Returning to the physical aspect of the country I would observe that the valley of the Letlotze widens towai'ds the south, assumes a width of three miles, and continues to be shut in by high mountains. In this valley, leaning, as it were, against the mountains on the north, Shoshong, the chief town of the Bamanguatos, is situated, — a town with a population of 15,000 souls ; in the time of Khama's father it contained as many as 30,000. The mountains separate at that spot to allow the pas- sage of a torrent which springs into life in the rainy season 1 THE ENGLISH IN AFRICA. 311 and cuts off one section of the city. It is at the bottom of this narrow neck, formed by lofty mountains of bare, precipitous rock, that the missionaries have established their quarters. The site could scarcely have been worse chosen, as it is damp and unhealthy. Not improbably the dearth of water, which is cruelly felt at times at Shoshong, determined such a choice, by inducing the missionaries to draw near the bed of the river, where, in the summer season, a few wells are the only means of supplying water to the dense population of King Khama's chief city. The houses at Shoshong are built of reeds and covered with thatch, are cylindrical in shape and have conical roofs. They are divided into wards to which access is gained through a labyrinth of narrow and tortuous streets. In the missionary ward stand the ruins of the Rev. Mr. Price's house ; the dwelling of the Rev. Mr. Mackenzie, the one we inhabited, also in a dilapidated state ; and a church, abandoned on account of its being too small to contain the multitude who flocked thither for divine ser- vice. These structures are situated on the right bank of the river ; on the left bank, a new building has been erected in a far better position than the former one, and it is the residence of the present missionary. All of these buildings are constructed of brick, and have galvanized iron roofs. On the opposite side of the city, in the open plain, stands the European ward, where the brick houses show the dwellings of the English merchants. The English in Africa are unlike the inhabitants of other countries, and therefore go much farther afield than the latter, although their temperament and constitution are not so well adapted as tho^e of the Latin race to resist the climate and associate with the natives. When an Englishman makes up his mind to penetrate into the interior for the purposes of trade, he packs into 312 THE COILLARD FAMILY. wagons his family and goods, and sets out. On arrival at the destined spot, he builds his house, surrounds himself with every possible comfort, and says to himself, "I came here to make my fortune, and if it takes a lifetime to do so, I must spend that life here. Let us try therefore to make it as pleasant as we can." He ceases to think of the old country, passes a sponge over the past, and looks only to the present and the future. Homesickness is not a malady which troubles him. There are others, and many of a lower class, who do not even care to return to their own country, and who at once take up their residence in this distant land for good and all. Herein consists their colonizing strength. Another thing which the English have succeeded in doing has been to introduce the pound sterling every- where. If a native arrives with ivory, skins, feathers, or other articles of trade, and requires powder, fire-arms, &c., in exchange, he will not get them from the Englishman, for the Englishman will not deal with him in the way of barter. He will pay the value in current coin, and perhaps, on an opposite counter, will sell the native — also for coin — the goods the latter needs. It was troublesome at first, but the native soon got used to it, and learned to know the value of money ; so that now it is difficult to induce him to accept anything else. At Manguato there resides an English merchant, a Mr. Taylor, of whom I shall have more to say presently, who has even succeeded in introducing paper-values into Sho- shong, and bills given by him are readily received by King Khama and by many of the more opulent natives. CHAPTER VI. m THE MAN6UAT0.— (Continued). I HAD a long journey before me to reach Pretoria, the nearest point where I could hope to procure means from some European authority. I had to pay debts already contracted for the maintenance of my people, and they were still without clothes ; my negroes, covered with rags, asked me for some cloth wherewith to make them- selves decent, and I had no money whatsoever to give them. Mr. Coillard offered me his purse, but he needed it too badly himself for me to dare to make inroads on it. I wanted beside to settle scores already contracted with him, and I knew that the means at his disposal were very small. I was in an unpleasant fix, and could not see my way out of it. Things were in this state when, on the 8th of the month, I went with Madame Coillard to pay a visit to Mr. Taylor, the Englishman spoken of in the last chapter. He was a man of somewhat grave aspect, a great traveller, and had been married for about three years to a young and beauti- ful English lady with black hair and eyes. Well-educated and of refined manners, Mrs. Taylor made you feel, when in her presence, the power which belongs to the lady who has moved in good society. In fact, during the time I passed in her company, I completely forgot that I was in a remote district in the interior of Africa, and was transported to a drawing-room at the West-End of London. (313) 314 THE COILLARD FAMILY. In the course of conversation between the ladies and myself, the subject of my coming journey was not un- naturally alluded to. It was impossible, the}^ said, to travel in that part of the country without a horse, and Mr. Taylor thereupon invited me to go and see his. After a turn tiirough the stables he joointed out to me a splendid hunter, a light chestnut with black extremities, and ob- served : — - PLY, MY HORSE OF THE DESERT. (From a Photograph.) " There's the l>east to suit you ; fit either for the road or the chase." I looked with longing eyes on the beautiful creature, and remarked, "I only wish I had the money to buy him." "Yes," said Mr. Taylor, abstractedly, in answer, "Fly is a valualile horse." We returned to the house, where I spoke in glowing terms of the splendid animal I had just seen, and shortly after we took our leave. The niglits which we passed in the ramshackle house of A MUNIFICENT GIFT. 315 the Eev. Mr. Mackenzie were simply horrible. The place, having been for a long time unoccupied, was full of the most loathsome insects, which sucked our blood, robbed us of sleep, deformed our features, and tried our patience to the very utmost. The mosquitoes were in legions, and the bugs in swarms. Ticks, similar to those in dogs in the south of Europe, brown in color and flat in shape, but which, after their fill of blood, assumed the form of a round, compact ball, produced terrible inflammation of the parts they attacked. It was a perfect martyrdom, from which there was no escape. After one of these wretched nights of torture, the very night following upon the visit above recorded, I had just been summoned to breakfast, when Mr. Taylor was an- nounced. He addressed himself to me, and, with that calm and serious manner which belongs to every legitimate English- man, he said that he had brought, me Fly, the chestnut horse I had admired the day before, and a couple of hun- dred sovereigns, all the gold he had at that moment in the house ; and he furthermore ofiered me his credit among the merchants both in Manguato and at Pretoria, if I should require to make use of it. Such a munificent offer, as unexpected as it was unso- licited, quite took my breath away, and left me barely a few words of ordinary thanks, which I blurted out by way of acknowledgment. Mr. Taylor seemed perfectly satisfied. He stayed to breakfast with us, and he and I afterwards repaired to his house together. When there, I mounted the splendid beast that had just been presented to me, and experienced that sensation of delight which every rider feels on cross- ing the back of a beautiful horse, more especially when he has been a long time deprived of such a pleasure. Mr. Taylor and I talked at considerable length about my affairs. I would not accept the money so generously 316 THE COILLARD FAMILY. offered me, but contented myself with the horse, which was indeed a boon ; begging him to pay the debts I had al- ready contracted, in the shape of travelling expenses, amounting to a hundred and odd pounds, and drawing upon me for the sum at Pretoria, where I reckoned upon obtaining money from the English Government. Even in complying with my request, Mr. Taylor was determined to be generous, for he would not take my acceptance at a shorter date than two months, payable at Pretoria. During my stay in Shoshong, the chief subject of con- versation was the death of Captain Paterson and of his companions in the country of the Matebeli. Different versions were afloat of this calamity, but all concurred in affirming that they were assassinated by the order of Lo Bengula. Captain Paterson left Pretoria charged with an official mission to various African chiefs. He was accompanied by Mr. Sergeant and a few followers, and in the Matebeli he was joined by Mr. Thomas, a young Englishman, the son of a missionary long resident in the ^latebeli, and who was himself born in that country. After Captain Pater- son had done what he had to do with Lo Bengula, he started with his companions to visit that wonder of the Zambesi, the cataract of Mozi-oa-Tunia, and none came back. What took place ? And who knows the true story of the tragedy that was enacted? None but the terrible Lo Bengula. Some said that the whole party were poisoned, others that they were shot down ; but I, who know something of the system by which the great African potentates work, doubt whether any reliable facts will ever come to light, as they are accustomed to destroy the executors of their sinister orders. That a crime was committed seems to be beyond a doubt, because it is not possible for fever to carry off in a THE MATEBELI TRAGEDY. 317 day so many people, and among them many who were acclimatized, such as young Thomas and the natives. Mr. Coillard, who remained in Shoshong a considerable time after I left, assured me at a later period in Europe that King Khama knew the mystery of the death of those unfortunates, and led me to believe that a horrible crime was perpetrated by order of the malignant Zulu.* To resume my narrative : on the 11th of January our wretched old house was alive with unwonted labor ; Madame Coillard and her niece were here, there, and everywhere, getting ready provisions for my journey. Biscuits were being made and baked with a lavishness that made me quite ashamed of the appetite I was supposed to possess. How could I ever return the favors that were showered upon me? Presents came pouring in from Mrs. ' Taylor, among others a large basket of cakes and a lot of eggs — somewhat of a rarity in Shoshong. On the 13th of January I took leave of the English merchants, with the exception of Mr. Taylor, who had gone to the place where he kept his cattle, some six miles' distance from the town. Although my road lay south- ward, and Mr. Taylor's farm was in the opposite direc- tion, I resolved to ride over on the moi-ning of the 14th and bid farewell to one to whom I felt so deeply indebted. I was not alone, for King Khama and Mr. Coillard honored me with their company. We started with a train of a dozen Bamanguato horse- men, and no sooner were we clear of the streets of the city than King Khama gave spurs to his horse and left us at a hand gallop. Half an hour afterwards he rejoined us at the same speed, and I could not forbear asking him the cause of the spurt. He said it was the custom in the Manguato, and that horses that would gallop freely could assume any other pace readily enough. Khama and I had a neck and neck race to Mr. Taylor's * Matebelis are Zulus. 318 THE COILLARD FAMILY. station. A first-rate lunch was put before us, at which Mrs. Taylor presided, and after most cordial leave-takings we took our way back to Shoshong. The Bamanguatos use no bits to their horses, and the English bridle is of the simplest. They say that bits and curbs are of no use to make horses run, but may very possibly retard their pace. I found my man Stanley ready to start, and only await- ing my signal. This was not long withheld ; he cracked his huge whip over the heads of the oxen, and the beasts in their slow, deliberate way began to move and draw the heavy wagon after them. My negroes went with it, ex- cepting Augusto and Pepeca, who kept me company. I stopped another hour or two with my good friends, from whom, however, I was at length compelled to separate, and, making tremendous efforts to conceal my emotion, I bade them farewell, mounted my horse, and departed. The sun was already sinking on the horizon when I left Shoshong. I followed the road that was pointed out to me, and three hours afterwards I believed I had reached the spot where we were to pass the night, but there were no signs of the wagon. It was now night, and a night, too, of profound darkness. I called and hallooed, but obtained no response, — at least from my own people, — but I conjured up a couple of aborigines, who came to learn the cause of the cries. They were vedettes of King Khama, posted by way of precaution for some miles round the city, to give notice of any possible attack from the Matebelis. These sen- tinels are so well placed that they would be able to unite and keep an enemy for some time at bay, whilst others on fleet horses are ready to gallop off to the city and give the alarm. The two who came up to me, and who had been scouring the roads still further to the south, assured me that for several days no wagon had been seen in that direction, and that I TROUBLES OF AN EXPLORER. 319 must have therefore passed mine on my way thither. I was too used to forest life to have done that, even in the darkness, without seeing it, and if it had escaped me, it could scarcely have hid itself from the lynx-eyes of Pepeca. The two Bamanguatos offered to accompany me in search of the wagon, and we retraced our steps under their guidance. After exploring a great part of the valley with- out discovering any vestige of the missing vehicle, we made our way back to Shoshong wondering, annoyed, and fagged out with the fatigues of the day. We had now reached the small hours, so what was to be done? The best course, I thought, was to return to my late quarters and wait till morning. Mr. and Mrs. Coillard rose at once in obedience to my knock, and whilst I was relating my misadventure to the missionary, his wife was busily engaged in getting me something to eat and preparing a good bed. I had been accustomed whilst there to lie upon the floor with my skins under me, notwithstanding Madame Coillard's persuasions to take my rest upon a bed ; she now, however, had her revenge, for, all my skins having been carried off lia the wagon, I was compelled to take my rest on the European bed she had got ready for me. I bade my friends "good-night" and turned in. But not to sleep, unfortunately, for my anxiety was so great that I did nothing but toss and turn upon my couch. One of the main causes of my trouble was that my chro- nometers were carried off. Heaven knows where, in the mysterious wagon, and would undoubtedly stop in the course of next day if I could not get hold of them to wind them up. It is not to be wondered at, if, with these subjects of worry, I should scarcely close my eyelids. CHAPTER VII. A JOURNEY WITH STANLEY. DAY had scarcely broken when I was astir and dressed. The chronometers had been in my head all night, and they were the first things in my thought in the morn- ing. Mr. Coillard participated in my anxiety, and would not allow me to depart alone. He sent to borrow a horse of Kins Khama, and determined not to leave me till we found the wagon. There were fresh adieus to be made to the ladies, and a fresh pull at one's heart-strings on turn- ing away. We were soon clear of the town, and riding through the cistus which covered the fields to the south of Shoshong, we had no diflaculty, in the broad daylight, in following the track of the heavy wagon, and, after we had done so for some little time, we observed a negro seated by the roadside ahead of us. As we drew nearer, ni}' astonish- ment was great at recognizing my attendant Catraio. He started up at our approach, and came towards us, carry- ing in his arms a heavy object which he carefully set down before me, and exclaimed : — "Here, Sinho, give me the keys to open the trunk; it's time to wind up the clocks." My joy was great at seeing the trunk which contained the chronometers ; I slipped out of the saddle and was soon deeply engaged in making my usual morning obser- vations. It was decreed that during my protracted jour- ney the chronometers should not be allowed to run down ! (320) CATEAIO'S HISTORY. 321 Catraio, whose special duty it was to watch over them, had been, as usual, faithful to his trust. Catraio had been brought up by a Portuguese, who, ob- serving in him when a mere child a proneness to knavery, conceived that the only mode of curing it was by the administration of unlimited stick. The young nigger by this process lost. all sense of shame, if he ever had any, and got so used to the stick that it ceased to have any terrors for him ; so that in the end he became both a drunkard and a thief. His master, whom the lad, then only twelve years of age, had robbed of some valuables, determined to get rid of him altogether, and ordered him to be cast adrift in Novo Redondo. When, at Benguella, I was looking out for a sharp, intelligent young fellow for my own private service, more than one person spoke to me of Catraio, the fame of whose exploits had given him an unenviable notoriety. I deter- mined to see what kind words and treatment would do ; and, the better to encourage him, I never let fall a sylla- ble about his past life. Finding him to be by far the most intelligent of those who were about me, I made him assist me in my scientific labors. Although he could neither read nor write, he very shortly became familiar with my instruments and all my books. When, having separated from my early trav- elling companions, I found myself alone in Africa, I became alarmed at the thought that during some severe attack of illness my chronometers might stop for want of being wound up. I therefore called Catraio, and in a very serious voice, made him the following edifying speech : — " Bear in mind, that from this time forth you must come to me every day, directly it is light, and bring the chro- nometers, thermometers, barometer and diary, — whether I am well or ill, far oflF or near, — never allowing any cir- cumstances to interfere vrith your doing so. And remem- 322 THE COILLARD FAMILY. ber this : I have never beaten you, and never scolded you, but if the chronometers stop through their not being wound up, I will have you spitted like a partridge and roasted alive before a monstrous fire ! " Catraio who was ready to believe that a white could be capable of any atrocity, and who stood, I believe, in more fear of my mild treatment than ever he» had been of the stick of his former master, trembled as he listened. The spitting and roasting which he perhaps imagined were my mode of punishing oiFenders, were too much for him. He never once failed to pay me an early morning visit with the instruments, till the thing grew into a habit. Hence it was that in my worst attacks of fever the chro- nometers were wound up and compared, and at Embarira, Catraio at the risk of his life got them out of the hands of the Macalacas. Hence, too, it was that we discovered him that day with his burden by the roadside ; for, not seeing me appear the evening before, he had set out in the middle of the night in the hope of meeting me. I learned from Catraio that my English driver had mis- taken his road and struck into a side track instead of pursuing the proper course, but that he intended at day- break to repair the error, and would doubtless be found waiting for me at the place originally agreed upon. Mr. Coillard and myself, followed by our men, then resumed our way, and about nine o'clock we came up with the missing wagon. We at once breakfasted, and at noon I for the second time took leave of the friend to whom I owed so much. Our little caravan was now again upon the road, and we pursued our route until four o'clock, when we camped in a spot where there was no water. The following morning, January 16th, we started an hour after daylight, and after a three hours' march reached a lake, the only permanent water existing between the Limpopo and Shoshong. .i^fert X 'I I I J r II \m I' lililli ii''ii III ' \\ iii nilflll'lili STANLEY IN DESPAIR. 325 We made two journeys that day, one of three and another of four hours, camping at five in the afternoon. From four till ten at night the rain fell in torrents, wetted the wagon through and through, as its wretched old cov- ering afforded no effectual shelter whatsoever, and caused me serious losses, not the least being the whole of the bread and biscuits prepared with such care by Madame Coillard. They were converted into one huge mass of pap and were irretrievably ruined. I resumed my journey next morning. The ground was very rough, and my apprehensions for the safety of the vehicle were not misplaced. On descending a hill, the wheels on one side got into a deep rut and over went the wagon. Fortunately we were not in the open, and a couple of trees that stood on that side received the pon- derous conveyance as it capsized and prevented it going^ completely over. I had had grave doubts about the efficiency and re- sources of my Stanley from the first, but this accidei\t set the question permanently at rest. No sooner did he behold the wagon in the position I have described than he sat himself down, clutched his head in his hands, and looked the picture of despair. I ordered the men to unyoke the oxen and set about examining the best way of righting the vehicle without doing it permanent damage. I then gave directions to Augusto, Verissimo and Camutombo to cut down three stiff and long poles which I lashed to the vehicle, and by means of ropes fastened to the trees on the other side succeeded in raising it into its natural position — a yoke of oxen being quite sufficient for that purpose. It was not until half-past three that we succeeded in getting again under way, and we had not proceeded far when the tempest so increased in violence that we were compelled to halt, for the clayey soil was rendered so pappy that the wheels sunk deeply into it and stuck there. 32G THE COILLARD FAMILY. The Storm was a frightful one, and lasted till ten at night ; for two hours the lightning played around us, striking at intervals the forest trees, which fell with a great crash. FLY CHASING THE ONGIKIS. Things were not much better on the 18th, for soon after starting we reached an open plain, in so boggy a state that the wheels sank into it up to the axle-boxes, and we barely made a mile an hour. By ten o'clock we had gained a slight eminence where the ground was drier, and on reaching the top found ourselves on the left bank ot the Limpopo, known in that place by the name of Croco- dile River, where I called a halt. The weather had by that time improved, and I walked Fly quietly along tlie river bank, the rein held loosely in my hand. Suddenly he pricked his ears, neighed, bounded and darted off with the Unable to explain the cause, I seated with one leap into the grass, utmost rapidity. FLY ON THE WING. 327 myself firmly in the saddle and tried to rein him in, but without success. ( Uneasy in my mind, and under the impression that the creature was fleeing from some danger of which I was ignorant, I did not well know what to do, but soon be- came aware of a great commotion in the grass ahead of me, and saw peeping above it the horns of several ongiris. The mystery was solved ; I was not flying away from, but pursuing an object. From that moment I gave the horse the rein, and perceived that we were gaining ground upon the light-footed antelopes. How long the gi OO., 01 H^R.TiT'ore.r), ooisrisr-, ^re ihiblishers of First-Class, Standard, Illustrated Works, which, are sold Sy Subscription Only. 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