iii" 
 
 '"''iililjil!!!!;!; 
 
 SI l^'ial 
 
 ill 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
LiJiaiJ^rtciK 
 
THREE YEARS 
 
 IN 
 
 SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 BY 
 
 LIONEL DECLE 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 H. M. STANLEY, M.P. 
 5 
 
 WITH loo ILLUSTRATIONS AND 5 MAPS 
 
 FROM ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS, SKETCHES, AND SURVEYS BY THE AUTHOR 
 
 M. F. MANSFIELD 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 i8q8 
 
'13 
 
 \ 
 
 ^ 
 
TO 
 
 CECIL JOHN RHODES 
 
 TO WHOM WE OWE 
 
 THE OPENING OUT OF THE FAIREST PROVINCES OF AFRICA 
 
 TO THE TRADE AND CIVILIZATION 
 
 OF ALL NATIONS 
 
 Zbis JSooft Is BeMcatet) 
 
 AS A TRIBUTE OF ADMIRATION AND GRATITUDE 
 
 TO THE MOST CREATIVE OF STATESMEN 
 
 AND THE MOST GENEROUS OF MEN 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 MR. LIONEL DECLE, the author of this book, has 
 conferred upon me the honour of introducing him 
 to the British pubHc. During the last three years he has 
 been heard from repeatedly. After his return from his 
 great African journey he came into notice as the cham- 
 pion of the cause of Mr. Stokes, that unfortunate trader 
 who, it will be remembered, was so summarily hanged by 
 an official of the Congo State. He then became attached 
 to the Pall Mall Gazette, for which he wrote several 
 vigorous articles upon African events and politics, and 
 afterwards he represented the journal in Russia during 
 the last days of the late Czar and the wedding of the 
 present Emperor. To students of African travels and 
 geography he is not so well known as this book shows 
 he deserves to be. 
 
 Mr. Decle, though domiciled in England, is a French- 
 man by birth and parentage, and comes from a good 
 family. From his earliest youth he exhibited an aptitude 
 for travel. At nine years old he was taken to Italy, and 
 a year later his parents took him to Egypt and up the 
 Nile. In successive years he accompanied his people to 
 Belgium, Holland, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, until he 
 had almost gone the round of Europe. When he was 
 fourteen he first became fascinated with mountain climb- 
 ing, and by the time he was eighteen he had accomplished 
 several first ascents and climbed many of the highest 
 peaks of the Alps. It was during this period that he 
 acquired the art of observing, through his father's insist- 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ence that he should carefully describe his impressions and 
 note down every incident of his rambles and excursions. 
 
 Between 1881 and 1885 he made the grand tour of the 
 world on a more extended scale than is usually followed 
 by the ordinary globe-trotter. He visited the whole of 
 India, up to the frontier of Thibet. He penetrated into 
 Burmah, Cochin-China, Cambodia, China, and Japan 
 besides paying visits to the Straits Settlements, Java, 
 and the Pescadore Islands. After the traverse of America, 
 he returned home ripe with knowledge, having seen many 
 lands and many cities. 
 
 Finally, after performing several minor journeys, Mr. 
 Decle, in 1890, was entrusted by the French Government 
 with one of those scientific missions, about which we have 
 heard rather frequently from Continental travellers. Mr. 
 Decle's mission was to proceed to South and East Africa, 
 to study their ethnology and anthropology, for which he 
 was peculiarly well qualified by his training during years 
 of travels, and a lengthened practice of observation. The 
 results of his researches are embodied in the narrative of 
 Three Years in Savage Africa. 
 
 On his return from Africa, however, Mr. Decle was 
 received with marked coldness by both the French 
 Government and the French Press. He was reproached 
 with having been too partial towards the British Adminis- 
 trations in the various countries he had travelled, and 
 especially with having been too biassed against the French 
 padres in Uganda, and having charged them with political 
 intrigue. Another cause of the censoriousness of the 
 French was his staunch support of Mr. Cecil Rhodes' 
 African policy. The British, on the other hand, received 
 him most kindly, and paid him high compliments for his 
 brilliant feat of African travel, and, as I have said, he 
 ultimately became a contributor and special correspondent 
 of an English newspaper. After his trip to Russia he was 
 offered by the Times and Pall Mall Gazette a commission 
 to represent them during the late French campaign in 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Madagascar, but as the French Government was anxious 
 to have him organize the native transport of the expedi- 
 tion, he accepted that office instead. In July, 1895, this 
 duty terminated, and on coming to England he joined the 
 staff of the Pall Mall once more. On the dismissal of 
 his friend Mr. Cust from the editorship he also resigned 
 and a little later he accompanied Mr. Cust on a nine 
 months' tour in South Africa. 
 
 It should be mentioned that as Mr. Decle was brought 
 up by an English nurse he speaks our language as well as 
 his own, perfectly, and almost without an accent. He is 
 also proficient in German and Portuguese, and has a 
 sufficient knowledge of Hindustani and Kiswahili for 
 colloquial purposes. 
 
 After these preliminary remarks about our author's 
 personality, it is time for me to try and describe, as 
 briefly as I may, his great African journey, the methods 
 of his travels, and the results obtained from them. 
 
 This journey extended over 7000 miles, between Cape 
 Town, at the extremity of Africa, and Mombasa on the 
 eastern coast, a little south of the equator. It cuts across 
 four different zones of exploration ; first, the South African, 
 with which scores of explorers from Livingstone to Selous 
 are associated ; second, the Nyasa zone which gave fame 
 to such men as Livingstone, Kirk, Bishop Mackenzie, and 
 lastly Sir H. H. Johnston ; third, the Tanganika zone, 
 which recalls the names of Burton, Speke, Livingstone, 
 and others ; and fourthly, the Equatorial zone, which 
 reminds us of the exploits of Speke, Grant, Emin Pasha, 
 Mackay, and many a C. M. S. missionary. His object 
 was to study the ethnology and anthropology of the 
 interior tribes and nations of Inner Africa, as has been 
 already said, and to achieve this he united these zones 
 by one continuous journey. Notwithstanding these ex- 
 tensive travels he modestly disclaims being an explorer, 
 denies having any financial interest to gain, and states 
 that he had no political mission or was attached to any 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 administration, and that France had no claims to any 
 portion of Africa that he visited. The journey grew to 
 such a length solely through trifling circumstances. 
 Frequently he was tempted to return through illness, 
 or finding himself at advantageous points for easily reach- 
 ing the coast, but again and again he was led to turn 
 his face away from the sea — and so he continued his 
 wanderings until finally he reached Uganda, whence, 
 after a time, failing health obliged him to make his 
 way to Mombasa. 
 
 Despite the necessity of paying due regard to the 
 principal objects of his mission, it is too clear that Mr. 
 Decle was possessed with an innate love of adventure, 
 as well as a very laudable curiosity to see as much of 
 Africa as possible. South Africa was attracting public 
 attention at that period by its treasures of diamonds 
 and gold, and its politics as represented by the names 
 of Rhodes and Kruger. It is rather significant of the 
 effect of his political studies that the record of his travels 
 is dedicated to Mr. Rhodes " as a tribute of admiration 
 and gratitude to the most creative of statesmen, and the 
 most generous of men." The dedication fitly includes the 
 chief reasons for the esteem with which all South Africans 
 regard Mr. Rhodes, since there is no doubt that his munifi- 
 cence as evinced at Cape Town, Kimberley, Johannesburg, 
 ■ Bulawayo, and Salisbury, and to numberless individuals, 
 has stirred the hearts of the people as much as his bold 
 and successful projects for aggrandizing the empire have 
 won their admiration. 
 
 When Mr. Decle commenced his journey, the Great 
 South African trunk railway had only reached Vryburg, 
 the Chartered Company was but just then in possession 
 of Mashonaland ; Lobengula was still in his kraal at 
 Bulawayo ; Mr. Rhodes was heavily subsidizing British 
 Central Africa ; the Germans had not yet advanced to 
 Lake Tanganika ; and Uganda was being nursed by Sir 
 W. Mackinnon : consequently all the regions he visited 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 were still somewhat benighted, though the dawn was 
 breaking and the sounds foretelling the changes so soon 
 to come were in the air. Therefore a last look around at 
 the countries destined to be awakened out of their long 
 sleep cannot fail to be interesting. 
 
 The traveller reached Cape Town in May, 1891, by one 
 of the Castle steamers. By the few remarks he makes upon 
 this fine seaport he reveals the fact that Africa was a terra 
 incognita to him. He imagined it to be a kind of Bombay 
 or Calcutta and is sadly disappointed. He does not find 
 it picturesque, because the savages he expected to meet are 
 mere " black-looking villains " dressed in European clothes, 
 who drink hard, hate work, and speak Dutch. From this 
 kind of plain speaking, in which he indulges at the outset, 
 we are led to believe that whatever he thinks worth telling, 
 will be told in as clear idiomatic English as he can com- 
 mand, and we gather that his whole aim is to honestly 
 describe all that he sees. 
 
 His real African experiences begin at Vryburg, the 
 terminus of the railway. He there invests in buck 
 waggons and becomes the owner of thirty-six draught 
 oxen, and starts across the veld on the 25th of June. 
 His first trek and the night following are described in 
 vivid words. His camp is deluged by rain, the lightning 
 is terrific, the thunder crashes are appalling, the canvas 
 is stripped off the waggons, the wind and rain extinguishes 
 the lanterns, and drenched to the skin and in utter dark- 
 ness his little expedition passes the first night. This 
 misadventure is ominous — it seems to us calamitous 
 occurrences are freqiient. His waggons stick in the sand, 
 thirty-four oxen are hitched to one waggon, but despite 
 tremendous tugging and frantic yelling, shrieking, and 
 whipping, it is immovable. They dig out the sand from 
 before the wheels and try again without success, until at 
 last they are obliged to unload, and then only can they 
 move it. On the next trek they have to pass a morass, 
 into which one of the waggons sinks four feet, and the 
 xi 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 united efforts of thirty-four oxen cannot budge it Night 
 is falHng, the traveller is " dying " of hunger, but as the 
 provisions are in the vehicle behind he must make an 
 effort to reach them. The first step he takes sinks him 
 to the knees in muck. He recovers himself, remounts the 
 waggon, and has to sit caged in it all night with famishing 
 vitals. 
 
 This rough baptism of the traveller ends in a rheumatic 
 fever, and while suffering from its effects, he comes across 
 an English farm. The owner is affable, gives him milk, 
 and shows him where to outspan. This is in such contrast 
 to the treatment he received from a Cape Boer, that we 
 are not surprised at his abuse of the Cape Dutchmen in 
 general, whose intelligences he says are " dull and dry," 
 like the country of their birth. 
 
 On the fifteenth day from Vryburg he reached Mafeking, 
 which' is now a considerable town on the open and treeless 
 prairie, 4194 feet above the sea, and 870 miles from Cape 
 Town. Mr. Decle found it to consist of a few buildings, 
 chiefly of corrugated iron, grouped around the market 
 square. Since then it has become famous as the starting 
 place of the young lads who followed Jameson into the 
 Transvaal. We lately made the journey from Vryburg 
 to Mafeking in a few hours in a comfortable railway 
 carriage, and the touch of an electric bell brought us a 
 meal, five o'clock tea, or a mint julep whenever it was 
 needed. At night we slept between snowy sheets, during 
 the day we wrote our letters or read novels. But Mr. 
 Decle had to undergo veritable torture during his journey. 
 Sleep was impossible while the waggons were moving, as 
 he was pitched continually from one side to the other, and 
 narrowly escaped fracturing his head against the hard 
 wooden walls of his vehicle. Added to which the monotony 
 was terrible. " Nothing," he says, " is more tiring to the 
 sight and depressing to the spirits than these limitless 
 plains for days and weeks at a stretch." The dust was also 
 blinding, for the red sand was kicked up by the feet of 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 the oxen, and the waggon moved through a moving cloud 
 of fine sand. 
 
 But notwithstanding these unpleasantnesses, the traveller 
 by ox-waggon has greater opportunities of studying 
 nature than the rail tourist. He has daily talks 
 with chiefs and people, and becomes familiar with their 
 nature and lives, hears their local traditions, discovers 
 their vices and their virtues. We, flying by rail at 
 twenty - five miles an hour, get but mere glimpses of 
 brown faces and scantily costumed bodies, a momentary 
 peep at clusters of huts, and a passing glance at the 
 top of an uniform bush. Those who are not students 
 of primitive humanity will not care to be banged against 
 rocks in a springless buck -waggon, or jerked against 
 boulders with the waggon bed at an angle of 40°, or stuck 
 in fetid mud for hours ; nor would they like to be sub- 
 jected to tropical downpours, or to be baked in the sun, 
 and, when they want to wash, be charged a shilling for 
 a basin of water or a sovereign for helping one out of 
 the mud ; and they certainly would object when just going 
 to sleep to have their tent or waggon canvas whipped 
 off by a tornado and to have the trouble of outspanning 
 and inspanning every six miles of a thousand mile journey. 
 How many of us would like to be devoured by anxiety 
 about our cattle, who must needs stray far to get nourish- 
 ment, and are therefore exposed to lions and other feral 
 creatures ; who sicken from eating poisonous plants, or the 
 badness of the water, fatigue, and thirst? Men like Mr. 
 Decle must, however, suffer all these horrors, and worse. 
 He risked catching typhoid by drinking from tainted 
 pools and wells, nay, sometimes he had to quench his 
 thirst with liquid manure. 
 
 At Palapshwe, a town of 15,000 people, typhoid epi- 
 demics raged from the refuse being thrown near the 
 drinking water. While he was there more than forty 
 people died daily from typhoid. It was also one of the 
 worst places for horse sickness, and hundreds of oxen 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 perished daily from lung disease, and the heaps of carcases 
 increased the insanitation. Mr. Decle confesses to have 
 had enjoyments during his troublous waggon journey, 
 but with the horrors above mentioned — the great heat, 
 the gnats, stingy Boers, tiresome natives, mud, dust and 
 flies, which harassed and aged him — these must have been 
 very rare, or we should have heard more of them. His 
 reflections are such as belong to a forgiving disposition. 
 *' After all," he says, " a journey to Central Africa is not 
 so very terrible. It is very monotonous. One must be 
 endowed with an inexhaustible fund of patience and a 
 good stomach, bear many things without disgust, be able 
 to drink putrid water, eat no matter what, be without 
 meat, sugar, or salt for days, sleep whole nights in water, 
 remain long without washing ; for if one only makes up 
 his mind to endure the mean, degrading life, there will 
 be no disappointment." But, alas ! how many of us could 
 endure all these things ? 
 
 Every few pages or so we have a bold sketch of a native 
 chief, who is stripped of all romance. Men like Ikaneng 
 — who is jet black, six feet high, with a full grey beard, 
 and dressed in European clothes — who is unkind to our 
 traveller because he has no letter for him from the 
 Colonial Government ; or, like Khantura, who was once 
 half-executed by Lobengula and subsequently became 
 an independent chief, and now passes his time in smoking 
 bhang ; or, like Khama, who is presented in such an 
 unpleasant light, and appears to be too good to please 
 South Africans. 
 
 Missionaries do not seem to have taken kindly to Mr. 
 Decle. His experiences with them cause us to imagine 
 that in hospitality they are inferior to the natives. Their 
 houses, for instance, contain no guest-room, while the 
 native village always contains a " lekothla," or guest- 
 house, for the reception of the stranger, and possesses a 
 " king's field," the produce of which is devoted to a visitor's 
 wants. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Within four months Mr. Decle reached the Zambezi. 
 He crossed the river, and for two months Hved among the 
 Barotse people. His remarks upon this nation are full of 
 interest, and despite his gift of condensation, the notes he 
 gives of them prove him excellently qualified for the 
 investigation of native manners and customs, and show 
 his genius for making dry matter agreeable reading. 
 
 In December, 1891, he starts on his return from the 
 Zambezi, with only two tins of sardines, an ounce of salt, 
 and ten pounds of coffee for provisions, while his kit is 
 reduced to two flannel shirts, two under vests, three pairs 
 of stockings, a patched pair of knickerbockers, and a hat 
 without any crown to it. His barter stores are extremely 
 limited — for they consist of only six yards of sheeting and 
 a pound of beads. His means of defence are a revolver 
 and a rifle with five cartridges. Awful as his experiences 
 were from Vryburg to the Zambezi, they are tame 
 compared to those he meets on his return journey. 
 Misery in one shape or another haunts him continually, 
 and such startling adventures happen to him, that we 
 expect every minute to read that one of them has been 
 his last, and wonder to what other hand is due the rest of 
 the book. Fortunately he passes through his many perils 
 safely, and arrives at Palapshwe again. 
 
 Though woe-begone and terribly emaciated, he has no 
 sooner recovered a little strength, than he abandons his 
 purpose of going home and prepares to visit Lobengula at 
 Bulawayo. 
 
 The troubles along the road to Bulawayo are principally 
 at the crossing of the flooded rivers. They are described 
 in a vivid style, which makes us realize his danger and fills 
 us with anxiety for him ; but while we constantly expect 
 a final catastrophe, good fortune rescues him from every 
 predicament. 
 
 We who have just seen Bulawayo preening itself for the 
 great destiny which awaits it, and entertaining 300 guests 
 at the Palace Hotel, can relish the description of the place 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 as it appeared to Mr. Decle in February, 1892. " Imagine 
 a huge plain, extending for miles, with only two or three 
 trees rising above a short, miserable-looking grass, all over 
 which were strewn human bones, the remnants of Lo Ben's 
 victims. In the distance rose a flat-topped hill, Thaba 
 Induna — the Hill of the Induna — so named because a 
 number of induna (generals) were once put to death 
 there. On the left was a rise, on the top of which could 
 be seen the tips of a stockade, Lobengula's kraal. In the 
 middle of the plain were three groups of miserable tumble- 
 down native huts, half a dozen of which stood together 
 surrounded by a reed fence. These were the habitations 
 of the only three European settlers in the place." 
 
 At Hope Fountain Mission, 12 miles from Bulawayo, he 
 receives such hospitality from a missionary that amply 
 makes amends for any unkindness shown to him by other 
 reverend gentlemen. During a whole month he enjoys 
 the delights of a Christian home, and is nursed until health 
 and strength are recovered. 
 
 In his remarks upon the Matabele, he exhibits his 
 aptitude for observation and study of the natives, and is 
 always felicitous in his description of their character. 
 
 In the latter part of April, 1892, he leaves Hope 
 Fountain and endeavours to discover a better watered 
 route to the Victoria Falls ; but after varying difficulties 
 he returns a third time to Palapshwe in Khama's territory, 
 intending to go back to Cape Town. However, meeting 
 a party of officers at that place, he becomes animated 
 with a desire to visit the Zimbabwe ruins, and in July 
 he starts for Mashonaland. The first sign of the coming 
 civilization he meets is a frontier bar, at which an English 
 profligate who has run through ;^ 100,000 deals out drinks 
 at the small wage of ;^20 per mensem. The patrons of 
 the bar are of all classes, from the British peer to the 
 Yankee cowboy. Among the Company's police he is 
 astonished to find brilliant conversationalists, men who 
 have been intimate with the best club society in London, 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 naval and military officers, who appear to be sufficiently 
 happy with £,<) a month, and rejoice in their outdoor 
 life. 
 
 After his visit to the ancient ruins Mr. Decle returns to 
 Fort Victoria, disposes of his waggons and cattle, and 
 travels by mail cart to Fort Salisbury. His chapter on 
 Mashonaland is remarkable for its good sense, its happy 
 forecasts, and its appreciation of the agricultural value 
 of the soil. The tone is excellent, and shows unmistakable 
 evidence of ripening judgment. He has not only the 
 knack of getting at valuable facts, but he has a retentive 
 memory, and charmingly relates what he hears. Such 
 faults as may be here and there in the book professional 
 critics may be left to deal with, and therefore I confine 
 myself to pointing out the undeniable merits of book 
 and author. I think, however, some of the strictures on 
 the Congo Free State might have been omitted, at least 
 until he had visited it. 
 
 In October Mr. Decle begins what we may call the 
 second stage of his journey, that which takes him across 
 the Zambezi through Nyasaland to Ujiji on Lake Tan- 
 ganika. Among the numerous incidents of travel at the 
 outset of this stage are his meeting with a man called 
 Sagamuga, who has strong inclinations to murder him, a 
 visit to the great caves of Sinoia, his experiences with 
 a real Portuguese, who has a white skin but a black 
 heart, whose glib welcome ends in curses loud and deep, 
 his travels with a Governor and a doctor, and the pitiful 
 condition in which the three pass a night. 
 
 The historical chapters on the Portuguese of the 
 Zambezi and British occupation in Nyasaland are most 
 entertaining, because Mr. Decle is always so frank, 
 genuine, and faultlessly simple in his diction. He is 
 never ambiguous or dull, and every sentence, despite 
 the fact that he writes in a language foreign to him, 
 runs smooth, as though he were to the manner born. 
 
 At Zomba he meets with Sir H. H. Johnston, the 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Commissioner of Nyasaland. After a stay of several 
 days, during which he enjoyed unstinted hospitahty, he 
 fears he is outstaying his time, and meditates going down 
 the Zambezi and home, but consulting his host new ideas 
 are furnished to him. " Why not," said Sir Harry, " go 
 to Nyasaland, cross to Lake Tanganika, and thence to 
 Ujiji? From there you could reach the Victoria Nyanza, 
 and thus get to Uganda. Then perhaps you would find 
 Sir Gerald Portal and march down to the coast with him." 
 Needless to say, he eventually accepted the suggestion 
 and accomplished it to the letter. He took passage in 
 the steamer Domira in March, 1893, as she was bound for 
 Karonga at the north end of Nyasa Lake. The voyage' 
 he calls a heart-breaking one. He was stranded in the 
 mud for nine days while racked with fever, diarrhoea, and 
 stomachic pains. Getting freed finally, the steamer ran 
 for ten minutes and plunged again into a sand-bar, which 
 held her for three days longer. Freed a second time, a 
 day was spent in cutting fuel and replacing one of her 
 twin screws which had been smashed. Then came perils 
 from storms, as the boat was terribly overcrowded. The 
 cabin was a mere " cupboard with two bunks, while the 
 fare consisted largely of cockroaches, bugs, flies, fleas, and 
 ants." The unpleasant lake voyage lasted twenty-six days 
 — the lake being 360 miles in length. 
 
 Reaching terra firma, he started with a caravan of 
 sixty-seven men on his march overland between the 
 Nyasa and Tanganika. On the fourth day he was on 
 the uplands, which he likens to the plateaus of Mashona- 
 land. Our traveller meets with the usual troubles that 
 beset the white who depends upon black porters for his 
 transport. One of the men is caught stealing and is 
 flogged, presently the porters desert in a body because 
 they think they are underpaid ; but as he hates reciting 
 commonplace annoyances, he stops further mention of 
 them to find room for the odd bits of information which 
 he gathers about native pests, diseases, superstition, 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 wars, &.C. He is clever in lightening his paragraphs, and 
 before we are aware of it we arrive with Mr. Decle at Lake 
 Tanganika, though the march has consumed the best part 
 of a month. At Kituta, at the south end of the lake, he 
 chartered an arab dhow, by which after nine days' sail he 
 reached Ujiji, " more dead than alive." 
 
 When Captains Burton and Speke, in February, 1858, 
 came to Ujiji as the discoverers of Lake Tanganika, the 
 bazaar was some hundred yards from the edge of the 
 lake. When thirteen years later I met Livingstone at 
 this place, the market-place was just about the same dis- 
 tance from the water. At present it is about half a mile, 
 which shows how much the Lukuga outlet has emptied the 
 lake. From this town Mr. Decle proceeds to give us a 
 view of East Africa as it existed in 1893, some twenty- 
 one years later than when I first saw it. We may there- 
 fore call Ujiji ^ the terminus of the third stage of our 
 traveller's journey. 
 
 After a running commentary on the Arab slavers, 
 the slave trade, and the aborigines, and giving his 
 usual dig at the Congo State, Mr. Decle adapts himself 
 to the habits of the Central African traveller, engages 
 a caravan of porters, and starts for Urambo, so named 
 after the famous Mirambo, In blackmailing Uhha he 
 meets with various difficulties, which are tided over with 
 his customary good luck. At Mtali's he encounters the 
 van of the Germans who are going to occupy and 
 Germanize the lake port. With the commanders he 
 settles a quarrel between Mtali and his brother, though 
 the peace did not long continue. Soon after his departure 
 he heard the boom of the German cannon, and came near 
 being involved in a war with the Wahha in consequence. 
 Though Mr. Decle sometimes imprudently mixes himself 
 with local questions, he passed through without bloodshed, 
 and safely reached Urambo, where, according to him, he 
 was " petted and spoiled " by another missionary. The 
 mission was founded in 1881, and since then its moderating 
 
 k 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 influence on the turbulent, war-loving Wanyamwezi has 
 been most marked. Tuga Moto, Mirambo's son, now 
 reigns in his father's place, and received Mr. Decle with 
 perfect courtesy and in a way most unusual to natives. 
 One of the curiosities of this place is a necklace of 
 human teeth, all of which have been extracted from the 
 heads of Arabs slain by Mirambo in the war 1872-76, 
 
 In remarking upon the characteristics and customs of 
 the Wanyamwezi, Mr. Decle again shows his talents for 
 stringing together ethnological facts in a pleasing manner. 
 His sentences are not clogged with native names and 
 words, consequently such chapters look clean and attrac- 
 tive, and invite perusal. 
 
 Of his march to Tabora, the once great entrepot of the 
 Arabs in Central Africa, Mr. Decle remembers little, as 
 nearly the whole time he was lying in a hammock in a 
 semi-conscious state. This settlement will be remembered 
 by readers of African books as the refitting place of many 
 African explorers, such as Burton and Speke, Speke and 
 Grant, Livingstone and Stanley, Cameron and Dillon, &c. 
 Since the advance of the Belgians up the Congo it has 
 lost its importance, and only a few Arabs cling to it. 
 
 At the latter end of August, 1893, Mr. Decle struck 
 northward to gain the shores of the Victoria Nyanza. 
 The traveller has often been the victim of misadventures 
 at every stage of his journey. He has suffered greatly 
 from thirst and starvation, he has oft been in danger from 
 wild beasts and wild men, but on this stage we find him 
 tortured by jiggers and ticks, put to flight by swarms of 
 wild bees, and much disturbed by vermin. It is wonderful 
 how the jiggers have spread across the continent. In the 
 sixties they were first brought to St. Paul de Loanda 
 along with some lumber from Brazil. In the eighties the 
 Congo Expeditions carried them up the Congo. The 
 Emin Relief Expedition conveyed them through the 
 Great Forest to Kavalli. In 1 891-2 the Soudanese of 
 Emin brought them to Uganda, and just about the same 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 time Tippu Tib's Manyema carried them to Ujiji and 
 East Africa, and the Arabs of Ujiji imported them to 
 Nyasaland. 
 
 During this journey Mr. Decle had opportunities of 
 viewing the German military stations at Muanza, Bukoba 
 and Ukerewe, and reflects severely on the German 
 methods of civilizing as pursued by the non-commis- 
 sioned officers. He cites several instances of excessive 
 abuse of authority, and according to him the Worst 
 practices of the aboriginal chiefs, or slave-trading Arabs, 
 were innocent compared to the barbarities perpetrated 
 by Germans intoxicated with power. Fortunately about 
 the time that the whipping business which he daily 
 witnessed was beginning to pall on him, the expected 
 boats arrived, and he was enabled to depart across Lake 
 Victoria. 
 
 The description of the fourth stage of his journey 
 embraces nearly a half of Mr. Decle's book. It begins 
 with his trip to Uganda, and ends with his exit out of 
 Africa at Mombasa. He precedes his adventures in 
 Uganda with a resume of the events that led to the 
 British occupation, and this leads to the account of how 
 he became involved in " Roddy " Owen's brilliant dash 
 upon Unyoro. The whole chapter is exciting, as with 
 his accustomed easy style he glides along from adventure 
 to incident, smoothly blending instruction with interest, 
 and never allows a paragraph to lag. Anyone who has 
 doubts regarding the causes by which Emin's old troops 
 fell in the esteem of the English officials in Uganda, need 
 but glance at a few pages of Chapter XIX. There he will 
 find that the alertness of Major Owen and the firmness 
 of Captain Macdonald saved Uganda from the fate of 
 Emin's old province of Equatoria. Troops which had so 
 long enjoyed their own sweet wills could not possibly be 
 depended upon for long, but they received their first 
 lessons of discipline from Owen and Macdonald, and if 
 the control of them is always as firm there will be no 
 occasion to repeat it. xxi 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Stimulated by the magnetic influence of Owen, Mr. 
 Decle soon enrolled himself as a volunteer in the service 
 of the British, and thus the man who was said by the 
 Germans to be going to Uganda to make the English 
 " sit up " is actually found to be working a Maxim against 
 the enemies of the English. It is not the first time by 
 many that Mr. Decle, who was expected to denounce 
 the British, turns round to bless them. His services 
 against Unyoro were heartily acknowledged by Col. Sir 
 Henry Colvile. The expedition against Kabbarega was, 
 as we know, a complete success, though the Germans 
 anticipated it would be "chewed up, as the English had 
 no discipline." Whether there is discipline or not, there 
 must be something equally good to enable young British 
 officers to succeed so well as they do, even when tre- 
 mendous odds, as on this occasion, are arrayed against 
 them. 
 
 When he finally determined upon returning to the coast, 
 Mr. Decle's good luck, which had often saved him from a 
 desperate position, aids him once again. Col. Colvile 
 wants his dispatches to reach Mombasa, and thereupon 
 lends him an armed escort and fifty Snider carbines. Mr. 
 Scott Elliot, who has just arrived in Uganda, is dissatisfied 
 with forty of his men and wishes to discharge them, upon 
 which Mr. Decle gladly enlists them, and these with his 
 own thirty followers make up a sufficient force to venture 
 through Masai land. On the 6th February, 1894, he turns 
 his face towards home. At the crossing of the Nile he has 
 considerable difficulties with native ferrymen and chiefs, 
 and the conduct of two missionaries angers him. Reaching 
 Lubwa's — the scene of Bishop Hannington's murder — he 
 obtains the assistance of the officer commanding, by which 
 he passes through Usoga without trouble. Early in March 
 he finds himself in Kavirondo, the villages of which are 
 remarkable for their high earth ramparts and deep fosses. 
 The people go about stark naked, and strange to say the 
 men take kindly to field work. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 A few days later he met the Masai, who were obviously 
 bent on plundering ; but the long mileage which he has 
 covered since leaving Cape Town has taught him much, 
 and timely precautions save his camp. He then enters a 
 country where herds of antelope, zebra, hartebeest, wilde- 
 beest abound, and, of course, our traveller must try his 
 hand at game-killing — in which he is fairly successful. 
 With hunting incidents, visits from lions, and predatory 
 Masai, lie varies this stage of his journey most entertain- 
 ingly, and at the end of March arrives at Kikuyu. 
 Formerly the aborigines of this region had an evil reputa- 
 tion, but the civilized administration is gradually weaning 
 them from their bad habits, and, being devoted to agricul- 
 ture, they will no doubt in time become valuable subjects. 
 
 After a needful rest for himself and carriers he set off in 
 early April for Machakos, another of the British stations. 
 The natives 'are intelligent and industrious, and form a 
 kind of patriarchal republic. Mr. Decle furnishes many 
 interesting particulars concerning their political organiza- 
 tion, laws, and curious manners, but their personal 
 appearance does no justice to their many excellent 
 qualities. The vicinity of the station is notable for its 
 great crops of bananas and masses of flowers. It is 
 situated at an altitude of 5400 feet above sea level, sur- 
 rounded by hills with cultivated slopes, and so temperate is 
 the climate that European fruit and cereals would probably 
 do well. 
 
 The country between Machakos and the coast is crossed 
 over hurriedly by master and men, as all are anxious to 
 reach civilization as soon as possible. Of Ukambani and 
 its uninhabited plains, of Teita with its grassy plains, and 
 the waterless deserts Nyika, we therefore hear little. Just 
 as the third year of his travels is completed, Mr. Decle has 
 the pleasure of finding himself on board a steamer bound 
 to Zanzibar, with the comfortable reflection that he has 
 been the first to unite the four zones of African explora- 
 tion in one long continuous journey of 7000 miles. 
 xxiii 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 After the exciting narrative which has been hurriedly 
 outHned in this introduction, Mr. Decle proceeds to give a 
 summary of his impressions upon what he has seen, but 
 each reader must determine for himself whether he renders 
 a fair and judicious judgment upon administrations and 
 individuals. He confesses to having expressed himself 
 here and there with a too great candour, and it may be 
 that he has been a little inconsiderate, it being true, as he 
 saySy that most travellers find it easier to find fault in men 
 and things than to discover their good qualities. However, 
 if administrations and individuals do not mind the criticism 
 the reader is benefited by the candour of the critic. Mr. 
 Decle's honesty of intention is unquestionable, and there- 
 fore we are enabled to see the reverse side of things from 
 one who has no personal interest to serve. We must also 
 be lenient to youth and overlook the impulsiveness of a 
 generous temper. Otherwise if we harshly blame, we 
 shall lose more than we gain, and we would rather, as 
 seekers after truth, hear a sincere witness give his testi- 
 mony in his own way than not at all. Besides, Mr. Decle 
 is as frank about his own acts as he is with regard to the 
 acts of others. 
 
 The book now published is really a prose kinetoscope, 
 which faithfully translates the spirit rather than the details 
 of three years' travels. From the Cape to Mombasa the 
 long extent of country glides by the .reader without giving 
 him any fatigue or sense of weariness. The easy style 
 enables us to see the natives without anger or disgust, 
 though we are often aware that they must be trying and 
 sometimes dangerous. No page is dull, there is scarcely 
 one paragraph we wish to skip. It is all so refreshingly 
 frank and related so simply. One adventure follows 
 another so rapidly, the dangerous situations in which he 
 is so often found lead us on to see what will eventually 
 become of him. The lack of small details makes us some- 
 times imagine that he has an aptitude for misadventure, 
 and we are often persuaded that he is beyond hope of 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 salvation. But the style is natural to the writer ; his art 
 is the outcome of his own artlessness. His touch is light, 
 his language clear and idiomatic, his tastes are simple, and 
 the result is one of the brightest books of travel we have 
 ever read. The ideal German would have exhausted 
 volumes in elaborating the minutiae of such a journey as 
 Mr. Decle so successfully accomplished. 
 
 The author's remark that " things have changed enor- 
 mously ever since Mr. Stanley's great journey, and that 
 Africa is in the rapidest state of transition," is confirmed 
 by the even greater changes that have taken place in the 
 Dark Continent since he passed through — brief as the 
 time has been. For Bulawayo is now connected by rail 
 with Cape Town ; great waterworks have been established 
 in the city and its neighbourhood. Bulawayo is great 
 for its broad avenues and wide streets, its several brick 
 churches, its handsome edifices, its club, its scores of villas 
 and populous suburbs, its grand public pleasaunce, and its 
 newsboys who run through the streets crying out the 
 titles of the daily newspapers. 
 
 Salisbury is not the town that Mr. Decle knew ; its 
 population now numbers as many thousands as it then 
 did hundreds. Two railways are approaching the town, 
 the farms in the neighbourhood are flourishing, and the 
 mines are in a forward state of development. 
 
 Even Portuguese Tete has improved, being now the 
 head of the Zambezi navigation. Every point touched 
 by the traveller between Bulawayo and Mombasa would 
 require to be described anew to do justice to it. The 
 overland telegraph has reached Blantyre, the steamers 
 afloat on the Nyasa are larger and more numerous, the 
 transport is perfected, the slave trade has been totally 
 extinguished, and the advance of Nyasaland has been 
 phenomenal since 1893. 
 
 The shores of Lake Tanganika also bear evidences of the 
 changes Africa has witnessed of late years. The West 
 Coast is studded with military stations and great mission 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 establishments, and regular communication is maintained 
 as far as Lake Kivu. Thence down the East Coast as far 
 as Ujiji the land has been fairly occupied by the Germans. 
 
 As for Ujiji, the difference between what Mr. Decle 
 saw and what it is now is most surprising. A fortnight 
 after he left it the improvement began. An English 
 traveller last year declared that its population amounted 
 to 20,000 ; that it was arranged in one long, wide street, 
 lined with mango trees ; that the government buildings 
 were of stone and double-storeyed ; and that it held a 
 garrison of 200 soldiers. 
 
 The greatest changes have, however, occurred in Uganda 
 and British East Africa. British authority has been estab- 
 lished over all the regions between Lake Victoria and the 
 White Nile. There is a strong administration supported 
 by Indian troops in Uganda. Indian merchants have 
 established businesses there, and the exports for 1896 
 amounted to ^^30,000. The whites now number about 
 250 ; Christian work is represented by 2,7^ churches and 
 100,000 converts. Mombasa is connected by a long bridge 
 with the mainland, and the head of the great railway is 
 now near the isoth mile from the coast. Two steamers 
 have been floated on the Nyanza, and a good road, suit- 
 able for waggons, runs between the rail-head and the lake 
 shores. Loaded porters perform the journey in much less 
 than ninety days, while one bicyclist has been known to do 
 it in twenty-one days. 
 
 It is safe to say that since Mr. Decle's time over 6000 
 whites have settled along his line of march, and when we 
 think that each white, on an average, has ten blacks in his 
 service, we can form an estimate of the improvements that 
 are being made with 60,000 labourers. 
 
 Great, however, as has been the advance during the last 
 four years in the heart of " savage Africa," it is nothing to 
 what it will be four years hence. Rhodesia is only just 
 beginning to feel the benefits of its new railway, but by 
 January, 1902, the country will be permeated by railways, 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 the Zambezi will be joined by rail to Nyasa, while we 
 may well hope that the locomotive will have reached the 
 headwaters of the Nile. With the aid of the ox-waggon 
 and the fickle pagazi the white civilizer did wonders ; but 
 the locomotive, which is the great labour-saving machine 
 for Africa, will have increased his powers many fold, 
 and in the future we shall hear no more of stirring 
 incidents, disasters, and distresses, such as Mr. Decle 
 relates. 
 
 With this rapid glance at Mr. Lionel Decle's person- 
 ality, unique journey, and its vivid record, I heartily 
 recommend the narrative to English readers for its in- 
 trinsic interest, and the greatness of the achievement. 
 
 HENRY M. STANLEY. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 I. 
 II. 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 XX. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 The Start. 
 
 Khama 
 
 Across the Desert 
 
 The Barotse 
 
 The Return through the Desert 
 
 To BULAWAYO 
 
 The Matabele 
 
 Among the Makalaka 
 
 Mashonaland 
 
 From Salisbury to Tete 
 
 The Portuguese on the Zambezi 
 
 Nyasaland . 
 
 From Nyasaland to Ujiji . 
 
 From Ujiji to U ram bo 
 
 The Wanyamwezi . 
 
 Urambo to Tabora, 
 
 From Tabora to Lake Victoria Nyanza 
 
 Across Lake Victoria Nyanza to Uganda 
 
 Uganda .... 
 
 Uganda and its People 
 
 From Uganda to Kikuyu . 
 
 From Kikuyu to Machakos 
 
 To Zanzibar 
 
 The Problem of Africa : The Natives 
 
 THE European Powers 
 The Problem of Africa : The Political 
 
 Situation 
 
 Appendix I. 
 Appendix II. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 5 
 
 28 
 
 39 
 64 
 87 
 120 
 150 
 168 
 184 
 213 
 239 
 255 
 281 
 
 313 
 
 342 
 351 
 355 
 386 
 404 
 437 
 452 
 480 
 495 
 
 506 
 
 536 
 
 565 
 573 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 My waggons . 
 
 A South-African store 
 
 Khama's people 
 
 Khama, chief of the Bamangwato 
 
 In Khama's country 
 
 Masarwa nomads in the Kalahari 
 
 Desert 
 In the Kalahari Desert 
 My house on the Zambezi . 
 Type of Earotse 
 A street in Shesheke 
 Type of Mashubia 
 Barotse implements 
 Boats on the Zambezi at Kazun 
 
 gula 
 Type of Matoka 
 The top of the Victoria Falls from 
 
 the right bank 
 The Zambezi above the Falls 
 Travelling in the Kalahari 
 Makalaka women on the road to 
 
 Bulawayo . 
 On the way to Bulawayo 
 Crossing a drift 
 A ringed man 
 Lo Bengula , 
 Type of Matabele 
 Matabele women 
 The queen's hut 
 In the Makalaka country 
 Makalaka girl 
 Upset in a drift 
 The old fort at Victoria 
 The great wall, Zimbabwe 
 The post-cart 
 Mashona women 
 A Mashona village 
 
 17 
 29 
 
 31 
 41 
 
 49 
 51 
 61 
 
 65 
 71 
 
 n 
 83 
 
 86 
 91 
 
 97 
 
 lOI 
 
 107 
 
 123 
 
 133 
 135 
 138 
 H.3 
 151 
 159 
 17' 
 175 
 180 
 1S2 
 189 
 191 
 201 
 209 
 212 
 
 Type of Makolokolo 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Cave of Sinoia . 
 
 .215 
 
 Sepolilo's son 
 
 . 217 
 
 Type at Sepolilo's 
 
 . 218 
 
 At Mashumpa's 
 
 . 221 
 
 Leaving Matakania's 
 
 . 222 
 
 Matakania's band 
 
 • 223 
 
 Village of Inhamecuta 
 
 . 225 
 
 Gorge of Kebra Baca 
 
 . 228 
 
 The Governor's caravan 
 
 . 229 
 
 Senga woman 
 
 . 231 
 
 Goa man 
 
 . 232 
 
 Goa woman . 
 
 • 233 
 
 Axes from the Lower Zam 
 
 bezi . 237 
 
 Type at Tete 
 
 • 239 
 
 The arrival of an ivory caravan . 245 
 
 The mark of slavery on the chest 250 
 
 Hippopotamus' head . 
 
 • 253 
 
 Type of Manianja . 
 
 • 255 
 
 British gunboats on the SI 
 
 ire at 
 
 Chikwawa . 
 
 . 261 
 
 Sir Harry Johnston and some of 
 
 his staff . 
 
 . 263 
 
 Angoni at Chiradzulu 
 
 • 273 
 
 Sir Harry Johnston's house at 
 
 Zomba 
 
 • 277 
 
 David Kanisa 
 
 . 280 
 
 Type of Atonga 
 
 . 286 
 
 Atonga woman 
 
 . 287 
 
 Tanganika hut 
 
 . 291 
 
 Village of Fwambo . 
 
 . 296 
 
 Mambwe woman and chile 
 
 ■ 297 
 
 Native teeth from Nyasa . 
 
 . 298 
 
 Arab dhow on Lake Tanganika. 301 
 
 Rumaliza's cook 
 
 • 304 
 
 A woman of fashion . 
 
 . 306 
 
 The market-place, Ujiji . 
 
 - 310 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ujiji from Kasimbo . . -314 
 
 Crossing the Malagrazi river . 332 
 Mr. Shaw's house at Urambo . 337 
 Tuga Moto, chief of Urambo . 340 
 Weapons of the Wanyamwezi . 343 
 Small Musimo huts in the forest 346 
 
 My camp before a tembe . 
 The village of Solwa 
 Ivor}' armlet . . 
 
 Usikuma milk jugs and goblets 
 
 Speke Gulf, Lake Victoria Nyanza 378 
 
 Boy receiving the kiboko 
 
 Native German soldiers at Nuanza 3 
 
 A clay doll, Usikuma 
 
 Bukoba boat . 
 
 Native hat 
 
 Bahima pipe . 
 
 Paddle 
 
 Basiba boatmen on Lake Victoria 
 
 Nyanza 
 Axe . . . . 
 
 Milk pot and cover . _ , 
 
 360 
 375 
 376 
 377 
 
 381 
 
 385 
 3^7 
 389 
 389 
 390 
 
 391 
 393 
 395 
 
 Kayoza's Katikiro 
 
 The fort of Kampala from the 
 
 south . . . . 
 
 The capital of Uganda from Fort 
 
 Kampala . . 
 
 .Roddy Owen 
 Mwanga's council hall 
 Mwanga, king of Uganda, and 
 
 the katikiro, his prime minister 
 Lake Wamala from Fort Ray 
 
 mond 
 Soudanese and Lindu women 
 One of the king's palaces . 
 Mtesa's tomb 
 Inyarugwe and Sabao 
 Lubwa's katikiro 
 The entrance gate of a village ir 
 
 Kavirondo . 
 Man of Kavirondo, painted 
 A Masai warrior 
 Masai ear ornament . 
 A native of Ukambani 
 
 PAGE 
 
 399 
 
 406 
 
 407 
 414 
 417 
 
 419 
 
 423 
 433 
 441 
 
 447 
 453 
 462 
 
 463 
 464 
 466 
 475 
 485 
 
 MAPS AND PLANS 
 
 Map of Part of Africa 
 
 Map of Matabele and Mashona Lands 
 
 Map of Ujiji to Urambo 
 
 Map of Tabora to Mwanza 
 
 Map of Uganda 
 
 Plan of the Victoria Falls 
 
 Face 
 
 120 
 313 
 3^3 
 411 
 
 99 
 
/ have to thank the managers of the '•'■ Pall Mall Magazi?ie" 
 for permission to reproduce several of my photographs. The 
 portrait of the late Major Owen is by Chancellor and Co., 
 Dubliii. 
 
J 
 
i^vfk 
 
 '-^^ 
 
 V 
 
 7 '-■ ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 /i 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 
 
 w^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 'A. 
 
 
 
 
 ( 
 
 
 KV 
 
 Al 
 
 f 
 
 aanbaufi 
 
 50 100 ISO 200 
 
 CZ] Mffhlxcnds, 3000 to 6000 feet 
 nHS^fdands over 6000 feet. 
 
 
 
 ._ 
 
 35° 
 
 
 40° 
 
 
 1 
 
 •ndon. 
 
 &eorge. TkOip <L San, 32 Tlaet St.r£.C 
 
THREE YEARS 
 
 IN 
 
 SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 BEFORE proceeding with the description of my 
 journey, I. want it to be understood that I do 
 not wish to pose as an " explorer." Although I have 
 often been described as such I really have no claim 
 to the title. To Livingstone, Stanley, Burton, Speke, 
 Grant, and a few other great pioneers we are indebted 
 for our present knowledge of Africa. Before them and 
 their work the great Continent was an unopened book, 
 and they have left nothing to be discovered. To place 
 myself in their category would be as preposterous as it 
 would be impertinent. 
 
 I have, it is true, performed the longest journey that has 
 yet been achieved at one stretch from the Atlantic to the 
 Indian Ocean ; but although I have covered a distance of 
 over 7000 miles, and have been the first to go from the 
 extreme south of Africa to above the equator, the whole 
 of my travel cannot be compared with the smallest journey 
 of Mr. H. M. Stanley, the greatest explorer that ever lived. 
 The real interest of my trip, for the public, arises from the 
 fact that I have been able to study and compare the chief 
 
THREli YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 portions of the vast territory between the Cape and the 
 Nile, now in the hands of the British, Portuguese, and 
 German nations. 
 
 Those who preceded or who followed me into portions 
 of the regions that I crossed, have been there either as 
 traders, prospectors, missionaries, or administrators ; each 
 has seen and judged things from his special point of view, 
 and in relation to the particular aim before him. On 
 the other hand, I had no financial interest in any of the 
 countries I visited, nor was I attached to any religious 
 mission, or any executive or administrative department 
 of any Government having sovereignty in the districts 
 through which I passed. A Frenchman in lands where 
 my own country had neither claims to urge nor rivalry 
 to fear, I was in a position to form an independent and 
 unbiassed opinion. 
 
 My journey was performed at the most interesting 
 period of the history of Africa — ^just on the eve, or at 
 the beginning of its transformation, while still in a 
 primitive state, into European Colonies. To offer to 
 the reader a useful book will be my object ; and I will 
 endeavour to confine the narration of my personal 
 adventures to facts that may be of use to others, in 
 enabling them to avoid the mistakes I have made, 
 or to assist them with the experience I have gained. 
 The preparation of this volume has been necessarily slow, 
 inasmuch as it has involved the sifting of larger masses 
 of information than will possibly be apparent from the 
 mere reading of its pages. Perhaps I may allude to the 
 difficulty of writing in a language which, though it has 
 become to me a second mother tongue, must needs 
 continue to present certain difficulties. Further and 
 constant interruptions in the work have occurred. I had 
 only been a few months in Europe when I started for 
 
 2 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Madagascar in connection with the French Expedition to 
 that island. Upon my return I was able to bring to light 
 the murder of the unfortunate Stokes, and my time was 
 fully occupied with collecting evidence of the guilt of 
 Major Lothaire, and as I was about to set to work finishing 
 the writing of this book, I had to start on a fresh visit to 
 the Cape. For assistance in the preparation of the book 
 under these difficulties I am much indebted to my friend 
 Mr. G. W. Steevens, who has written some of the chapters 
 from my notes and seen the whole through the press, and 
 to my secretaries, Mr. C. F. Mant and Miss A. Otter. 
 
 I must not close this introduction without addressing 
 my deepest and sincerest thanks to all those who helped 
 me throughout my journey. My special thanks are due 
 to Sir Harry Johnston, K.C.B., not only for generous 
 hospitality and advice in Africa, but also for the kindest 
 aid in that part of the work which relates to his Adminis- 
 tration. Neither must I forget the Right Honourable 
 C. J. Rhodes, who granted me special facilities to travel 
 on the Cape Railways and in the various portions of 
 Rhodesia, where I also received much help and assistance 
 from Dr. Jameson. I must also mention Col. Sir Henry 
 Colvile, whose guest I was during the whole of my stay 
 in Uganda, and who gave me a large number of porters 
 with an armed escort of two-score men T;o accompany me 
 to the coast. Last, but not least, I must pay a tribute to 
 the memory of my poor friend Roddy Owen, whose sad 
 death in the Soudan has brought sorrow to so many hearts. 
 A most brilliant soldier, one of the bravest men that ever 
 lived, he was always a true and loyal friend to me, and the 
 memory of the happy time I spent with him during the 
 Unyoro war will for ever live in my heart. To mention 
 by name all those who have given me their hospitality 
 and assistance would take pages ; and I feel bound to 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 acknowledge that it is owing to the help I received 
 chiefly from British, and also from Portuguese and 
 German officials, traders, and travellers that I managed 
 to complete my trip. 
 
 There now remain but a few words for me to add, and 
 although it grieves me to say them, I feel bound to do so 
 in order to vindicate my character. When I returned to 
 Europe after my long journey I was treated with marked 
 coldness by my countrymen : the official world had no 
 abuse strong enough for me. I had committed the great 
 crime of openly expressing my admiration for the British 
 Administration in South Africa, Rhodesia, Nyasaland, and 
 Uganda, and when I tried to prove that I had merely 
 been fair and impartial in my reports, I was told by a 
 high official that I had no right to be fair and impartial 
 with regard to Anglo-African questions. I need not 
 comment upon this startling theory, neither can I help 
 comparing the reception given to me in France — my 
 own country — with the one I received in England. The 
 kindness that was shown me in this country went deep to 
 my heart, and increased tenfold the true love I had always 
 felt for the British nation, whose dominions have been to 
 me a kind of second fatherland ; the only nation where 
 individual liberty, broad-minded ideas, and true civilization 
 really exist ; a nation that throws its doors wide open to 
 all, irrespective of nationality or creed — in a word, the 
 greatest nation in the world. And I hope to see the 
 day when the union of England and France will be 
 an accomplished fact. Allied together we would defy 
 the world, and become for ever the arbiters of all nations. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE START 
 
 ON the 24th of April, 1891, I sailed from Dartmouth 
 on board the Grantully Castle, and arrived at Cape 
 Town in the middle of May. My first impression was most 
 disappointing. I expected to find a place resembling 
 Bombay or Calcutta ; like them, with plenty of natives 
 in picturesque costumes, etc., etc. On landing I got into 
 a hansom cab, and on my way to the hotel the only 
 native gentlemen I came across who could boast of the 
 smallest tinge of the picturesque were those who com- 
 posed a detachment of the Salvation Army in full dress. 
 I presented my letters of introduction, among them one 
 to the Governor, Sir Henry Loch, who received me with 
 the greatest possible kindness and courtesy in every way. 
 He introduced me to Mr. Cecil Rhodes, then Prime 
 Minister, who gave me most valuable introductions to 
 the officials of the Chartered Company, After a few 
 days I came to the conclusion that natives did not exist 
 at Cape Town. Black gentlemen, it is true, were to be 
 met with in the grog shops, the headquarters of the 
 Salvation Army, and the gaols ; but from an anthropo- 
 logical point of view they were but of slight interest, 
 and served only to show the result of the devolution 
 of a fine savage into a degraded, European-dressing, 
 hard-drinking, work-hating, Dutch-speaking, black-looking 
 villain : for such is the free-born, dark-skinned citizen 
 loafer of the Cape Colony, the proud and respected 
 owner of a vote. 
 
 5 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 I soon made up my mind to proceed farther up country 
 in order to try and discover genuine natives, and perhaps 
 also to try and escape from the too kind and generous 
 hospitaHty of the " Cape Towners." So I started for 
 Kimberley. The journey from Cape Town to Kimberley 
 takes thirty-six hours, across practically a desert covered 
 with short yellowish grass, strewn with stones. Every 
 now and then the grass is replaced by patches of heather 
 — but the stones are everywhere. The whole stretch of 
 country is without a drop of water, and consequently 
 without a single tree. In the midst of this desert, 
 there rise from time to time low ridges of hills as 
 naked and arid as the plain itself Here and there are 
 stations, round which are grouped a few houses, all having 
 a more or less desolate appearance ; and one hails one's 
 arrival at Kimberley as a relief from the dreadful monotony 
 of travelling for a day and a half in a railway carriage 
 through a country so uninteresting and woebegone. 
 
 Kimberley is a striking example of a settlement sprung 
 out of speculation. It is partly a camp and partly a city, 
 consisting of a few hastily erected shanties side by side 
 with splendid and substantial stone buildings. You feel 
 that a wave of speculation has been sweeping over the 
 country just as a cyclone sweeps over a town ; but, while 
 the latter leaves behind a mass of ruins and houseless 
 inhabitants, the former throws up a quantity of buildings 
 too numerous for the wants of dwellers in the place. 
 
 The entire life of the place has concentrated itself in 
 the gigantic undertaking known as the De Beers Mining 
 Company, one of the most powerful corporations in the 
 world — the gigantic conception of Mr. Rhodes, who, by 
 amalgamating all the diamond mines, stopped the fall in 
 the prices, regulating the supply by the demand. 
 
 Having decided to start for the interior, I immediately 
 set to work to get my equipment ready. Travelling in 
 South Africa is very different from a journey in other 
 parts of the Great Continent. No large caravan — in fact, 
 
THE START 
 
 no caravan at all — has to be organized ; the whole of the 
 transport is done by huge waggons drawn by sixteen or 
 eighteen oxen, and on to which from 5000 to 6000 lbs. 
 weight of goods can be piled. First, the buck -waggon, 
 a huge and cumbrous machine generally about thirty 
 feet long and six or seven across, and divided into two 
 parts ; the front open and uncovered, the back for a 
 length of about ten feet covered by an awning and 
 rising about fifteen feet from the ground. This is the 
 sleeping accommodation, and half-way up is a frame 
 covered with intertwined strips of raw hide used to support 
 a mattress. Covered waggons are smaller and narrower 
 than the others, with fixed awnings over their whole 
 length, and capable of holding about 4000 lbs. weight of 
 goods. To carry loads as transport for business purposes 
 buck-waggons are, no doubt, superior; but for the traveller 
 or explorer intending to carry out a long trip in the 
 interior of South Africa I should strongly advise the use 
 of covered waggons — they can be drawn by fewer oxen, 
 and can pass under trees that will catch the buck-waggon, 
 while they are more comfortable in every way. A slower, 
 more uncomfortable, dirtier, and generally more detest- 
 able kind of transport it is difficult to imagine. How 
 much better to travel by caravan — impossible until one 
 is north of the Zambezi. Unfortunately I was induced to 
 invest in buck-waggons. The selection of waggons and 
 oxen is by no means as simple as would at first appear. 
 A list of the small extras that are necessary would cover 
 pages ; and, however careful you may be, you will find 
 when you are well started that one half of what you 
 require has been forgotten. 
 
 The choice of servants is also a very difficult matter. 
 Each waggon requires a driver, a leader, a herd boy, a 
 cook, a boy to get wood, water, etc. ; and a serv^ant to look 
 after your own things. All the natives in Cape Colony 
 being " gentlemen," not only ask monstrous wages {£2 to 
 £6 per month for drivers, cooks, and servants, and £2 
 7 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 to ^3 per month for the others), but have also to be 
 supplied with daily rations of wheat, flour, coffee, and 
 sugar, and with meat twice a week. Considering that 
 such luxuries are not to be found in the veldt, and that 
 in such places as Palapshwe and Mashonaland flour costs 
 from 6d. to lod. per lb., sugar lod. to is., salt 6d., and 
 everything else in proportion, enormous quantities have 
 to be carried. The question of provisions is therefore 
 a most serious one, and, for a year's journey, tons of 
 them have to be bought ; although most people — myself 
 included — take a great deal too many. I purchased 
 sufficient tinned provisions for six months ; but here I 
 made a mistake, as I have since found that it is better 
 to take a herd of sheep and goats and some fowls in 
 coops. In this way you always have fresh meat, which 
 is both more wholesome and more economical than con- 
 suming tinned provisions. The sheep and goats travel 
 well ; they find their own food, and as they walk behind 
 your waggon you are able to save a lot of weight In this 
 connection I should like to say what a boon it would 
 be to travellers and explorers in the interior if an African 
 Society could be formed with branches at Cape Town, 
 Zanzibar, Aden, &c., having an information office and 
 library where any traveller might be able to consult books 
 and maps, and get from some competent official all infor- 
 mation as to the district he wished to visit, and learn at 
 the same time what trade goods, outfit, and provisions 
 he was likely to require for his journey, and where he 
 could best get them ; where also he would be informed 
 where he would be able to replenish his stores, and be 
 put in communication with competent persons. The 
 Society might also publish a monthly journal dealing 
 especially with Africa, and get its members and those 
 possessing information to furnish particulars about their 
 routes, discoveries, and other interesting facts ; for Africa 
 is of such importance now that even the Royal Geo- 
 graphical Society, with its very extended sphere of 
 
THE START 
 
 action, cannot cope with the continent to the extent it 
 deserves. 
 
 But to return to my own arrangements. After having 
 purchased ponies and donkeys for the journey, I found 
 myself ready to start. 
 
 The railway from Cape Town to Vryburg was then 
 completed, and the road between the two places being 
 very bad, I was advised to send everything on by train. 
 With very pleasant anticipations I took up my quarters 
 in one of the best hotels of the place. My first step 
 
 MY WAGGONS. 
 
 towards beginning my journey was to try the oxen in 
 the waggons and superintend their loading up. My 
 dismay can be imagined when I discovered that, despite 
 my large expenditure, an enormous quantity of accessories 
 had still to be procured before I should be in a position 
 to start. I obtained all these at Vryburg, and on the 
 25th June I was ready to start in earnest. 
 
 The waggons, one drawn by eighteen and the other 
 by sixteen oxen, proceeded very slowly. A " leader " 
 marches at the head of each team, guiding the two front 
 beasts by means of a strap of raw hide (reim) attached 
 to their horns. The " driver," armed with an immense 
 9 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 lash, usually of giraffe hide, fixed to the end of a bamboo 
 pole some twelve to fifteen feet long, walks alongside. 
 Each ox has a name, corresponding usually to some 
 physical peculiarity, and after a little time becomes quite 
 familiar with it ; each has also his allotted place in the 
 team, into which he drops quite naturally. To start his 
 beasts or to urge them to an extra strong pull, the 
 driver yells and shrieks in the weirdest manner; to 
 stop them he utters only one or two prolonged calls, 
 followed by a peculiar whistling sound. 
 
 My first halt was near a pond a few miles from the 
 town. A trek of a couple of hours enabled us to reach 
 the spot, and near a farm — a kind of hut built of mud 
 — I had the oxen outspanned and the ponies hobbled ; the 
 donkeys I left at liberty. I had the tent unfurled when a 
 storm burst upon us, accompanied by a deluge of rain. I 
 fixed the tent as well as I could, and profiting by a lull in 
 the storm my men started a fire and prepared their dinner 
 of meal boiled in an iron pot. For the first, but, alas ! not 
 the last time I sat before a tin of " bouillie-beef," washed 
 down with tea. We had hardly finished when the storm 
 began anew, worse than ever, my tent threatening to come 
 to the ground every minute. Everything was so dark that 
 it was impossible to go forward a single step without 
 knocking against some stone or tumbling into some hole. 
 The flashes of lightning followed one another incessantly, 
 illuminating t.he whole horizon ; and the noise was awful. 
 I rushed out to see if the waggons were well covered over, 
 when to my dismay I saw by the light of a vivid flash that 
 the large piece of sailcloth used to cover the waggons and 
 their contents was scudding away, leaving all the pack- 
 ages to the mercy of the tempest. I called the men 
 together, and we set to work to cover the waggons up 
 again. The job was a stiff one, as the saturated sails 
 weighed tremendously heavy, and over and over again 
 were blown out of our hands. The wind and the rain 
 extinguished the lanterns, so it was in utter darkness and 
 
THE START 
 
 not until we had got wet to the skin that we managed 
 to fix the wretched things. All night long the rain fell 
 in torrents, and my bunk under the awning, although 
 covered with one of the sails, let in the water, which 
 literally poured over me. I soon found out that the sails 
 before being used must be saturated with melted fat, or 
 else they let the water through them. I expected to see 
 at least three-quarters of the provisions spoilt — the meal 
 and flour a paste, the sugar a syrup, and the tobacco a 
 pulp. What was my delight then, when the morning came, 
 to find that the rain had stopped and that no serious harm 
 had been done to the goods. The sugar was a little wet, 
 and one or two sacks of meal were slightly damp, but 
 nothing had been really spoilt. It was Sunday, June 28th, 
 before I started again, the waggon in which I rode leading 
 the procession. I had hardly gone a couple of miles when 
 news was brought me that my second waggon had got 
 stuck. I outspanned my team and started to the assist- 
 ance of the waggon, which I found sunk up to the axles 
 in sand. The two teams, consisting of thirty-four oxen, 
 tugged for more than an hour, but without the slightest 
 result. We then tried digging out the wheels with our 
 spades, without better success ; there only remained one 
 thing to do, and that was to unload the waggon. If it is 
 remembered that this means undoing all the ropes, and 
 shifting more than 4000 lbs. weight of things on to 
 the ground, and then replacing them on the waggon, 
 and all this with only eight men to help, it must be 
 admitted that such a job was no easy business. However, 
 we all lent a hand, and it was only after we had removed 
 everything that we succeeded in getting free. We loaded 
 up once more and started again, having wasted five hours 
 over this incident. I had no time to lose, for night comes 
 on very quickly in these parts, and as soon as I came to 
 a " vley " (the South African name for a pool), where I 
 could water my beasts, I halted. It was icy cold, and 
 after a light meal I turned in, fervently praying that I 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 was not destined to have many nights or days Hke my 
 first. 
 
 The next day (June 29th) we set off at about 6.30 a.m., 
 the pools all round being covered with a thin coating 
 of ice. Until 11 o'clock we followed a track strewn with 
 enormous stones which knocked the waggons about to 
 such a degree that every moment I expected to see them 
 go to pieces ; but they stood it in a wonderful way, and 
 I began to see what African waggons are capable of. To 
 right and left extended an immense plain covered with 
 a yellowish grass, dotted here and there with stones, and 
 patches of thorny heather — the South African veldt. 
 
 In the morning we caught sight of some "steinboks," 
 little gazelles hardly bigger than a dog, but so wild that 
 it is impossible to get within four or five hundred yards 
 of them. At 1 1 o'clock I came to a farm, Mismifontein, 
 where we stopped ; we outspanned so that the beasts 
 might feed and drink. The farm, like so many in this 
 part of South Africa, consists of a mud hut of two rooms, 
 and was occupied by a Dutch farmer and his family of 
 nine children. No sign of cultivation : a few cows and 
 a dozen fowls and ducks were all the stock that I could 
 see. It is hard to realize what these people live upon. But 
 there was one comfort about the place. For the first time 
 since we left Vryburg I found a well of clear water — a 
 real luxury, as we had had nothing to drink but muddy 
 stuff for four days. About three o'clock in the afternoon, 
 just as I was preparing to start again, a regular shower 
 of locusts descended, covering the plain as far as one 
 could see, their white wings shining in the sun so as to 
 give the effect of a fall of snow. At the distance of 
 about a mile from the farm I reached a kind of swamp 
 of wet clay. I crossed this morass on my horse, which 
 sunk up to its knees, to try and find a firm spot where 
 the waggons might pass, but without success. There was 
 no choice; I had the two teams attached to the heavier 
 waggon, and we drove on as hard as we could. The 
 12 
 
THE START 
 
 first waggon sank a bit but did not actually stop. It had 
 almost crossed the bog when one of the oxen yoked to 
 the pole fell. His head sank in the mud, leaving but his 
 eyes visible, and it was only with the greatest trouble that 
 we kept his head up that he should not be suffocated. 
 Then the drivers, by means of yells, oaths, and blows, 
 succeeded in freeing the waggon ; but all this took a long 
 time, and night was fast coming on. The waggon in 
 which I rode had not yet crossed, and I returned with 
 the oxen to fetch it. When it started, it was still light, 
 but in these latitudes there is no dusk, and by the time we 
 got to the swamp it was already night. Major, my head 
 man, called out to the leader to go right ahead and 
 then turn to the right. The leader understood to the 
 left, and took the team into the middle of the bog, into 
 which the waggon sank four feet or so. The united 
 efforts of all the thirty-four oxen could not disengage 
 it. My beasts were exhausted, and the men done up. 
 It was no use thinking of getting out without unloading 
 the cargo, so I decided then, not being able to do anything 
 else, to remain there till the next morning. But I was 
 dying of hunger, and all the provisions that had been 
 broached were in waggon No. 2. By the light of a 
 lantern I got down from my waggon ; I had hardly put 
 my foot to what I trusted was earth, when I sank up to 
 my knees in muck. I remounted my waggon, and stayed 
 there caged-up all night. Next morning we had to unload 
 the waggon, and so got it free. 
 
 A few evenings after this I perceived a strong light 
 on the horizon — the plain was on fire behind us, and the 
 wind was blowing the conflagration in our direction. 
 Luckily the breeze was slight ; I saddled my horse and 
 started with one of the men to ascertain the importance 
 of the fire. If I found it near us, the only thing to do 
 would be to set light ourselves to the herbage in front 
 of us, and walk behind the fire that we had started. On 
 our way we perceived two other fires, one to our right and 
 13 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 one to our left ; the one at our back, however, commenced 
 to die out, and in any event was very far off. So we 
 returned to camp having nothing to fear. These fires, 
 which are of frequent occurrence in the veldt, are only 
 dangerous when the grass is long. Mr. Colenbrander 
 once lost all his oxen in one of them, and his waggon 
 itself barely escaped destruction. They are usually 
 lighted by natives in the hope of improving the grass 
 the following year. The evil of the practice is to be found 
 in the fact that tracts of land for miles are denuded of 
 herbage, leaving nothing to eat for the beasts of transport. 
 Natives caught firing grass are very severely dealt with. 
 
 On July 3rd I found my beasts somewhat knocked up 
 by the march of the day before, so I determined to give 
 them a few hours' rest, and did not start till 4 o'clock in 
 the afternoon. Even then I did not get further than 
 about six miles, for seeing a transport of four waggons 
 sink into the mud about 400 yards ahead of me, I 
 determined to halt rather than spend another night in a 
 swamp. For two or three days I had had a little 
 rheumatic fever, and next morning I woke with every 
 joint in my body aching. Sooner or later we were all 
 attacked by the fever, more or less. 
 
 On Monday, the 6th July, at about half-past nine a.m., 
 we arrived at a rather large farm, comprising one building 
 of real bricks. The owner was a most affable Englishman. 
 He gave me a large glass of milk, and pointed out a good 
 place where I could outspan and water the oxen. This 
 was a pleasing contrast to the Dutch farmer, who never 
 dreams of offering you anything, nor misses an opportunity 
 of trying to extort a few shillings from you for having 
 outspanned near his farm ; and if he sells you a dozen 
 eggs, for which he charges two or three shillings, he won't 
 let you carry them to your waggon, a distance of perhaps 
 only a hundred yards, without first having made you pay 
 for them ; and even then he won't lend you a dish to carry 
 them in. Yet these people are British subjects and 
 14 
 
THE START 
 
 electors, who send representatives to the Colonial Parlia- 
 ment, though they have never learnt to speak English, 
 and won't even allow their children to be taught English. 
 They call themselves Dutchmen, but they hardly know 
 where Holland is ; it is enough for them that their 
 great grandfathers were born out there : they are them- 
 selves " Afrikanders." Their intelligence is dull and 
 dry, like the country of their birth. To squeeze their 
 neighbour is their sole aim in life, and whether such 
 neighbour be English, Dutch, or native, makes no 
 difference to them. 
 
 On Thursday, the 9th July, I inspanned at 6.30 a.m. and 
 trekked for three hours, believing, from the information 
 I had received, that we were ten or twelve miles from 
 Mafeking. At 11 o'clock I sent two men on horseback 
 to the town, while I determined to remain with the 
 waggons. About an hour later several waggons met us, 
 and the drivers told us that we were quite near Mafe- 
 king. A few minutes later a native on horseback 
 informed me that it would take two hours and a half 
 to ride to the place, adding that the road was dreadfully 
 bad ; and shortly after the driver of a mule cart said we 
 were twelve hours from Mafeking, also assuring us that 
 the track was terrible. By this time I was so accustomed 
 to hear as many different accounts of distances as there 
 were people to give them, that I did not pay much 
 attention to the stories I was told. All were unani- 
 mous, however, as to the state of the road, so I caused the 
 wheels to be well greased and all the brakes to be put 
 carefully in order. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon I 
 determined to go on horseback to Mafeking, whatever 
 the distance might be. After riding about two miles I 
 came to a post-house, where I was told that Mafeking 
 was 16 miles off, and that from this point to the town 
 there was no water. I left word for my head man to halt 
 at this station, and to start next day at sunrise. I galloped 
 on for a couple of hours, crossed an enormous bog in the 
 15 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 dark, and arrived about 7.30, absolutely frozen and dying 
 of hunger, at Mafeking. I had a good dinner at Isaac's 
 Hotel, and I went to sleep in a good bed. At 2 o'clock 
 next afternoon a messenger sent by my head man arrived 
 with the news that the waggons were about two hours 
 from Mafeking, on the other side of the swamp. An 
 hour later I was in the saddle on the way to meet them, 
 and I joined them just as my men were about to inspan. 
 The two teams were joined and the first waggon started ; 
 the oxen crossed the bog sinking to their bellies. 
 The waggon sank to the axles, but moved on notwith- 
 standing. The front wheels had nearly reached the 
 other side — one more pull and it would have been safely 
 across — when, as always happens at a critical moment, 
 one of the " skeys " (thick pieces of wood placed on either 
 side of the animal's head and driven into the yoke) 
 broke. We had to 'change it, and then, whipping up the 
 oxen to the shouts of the drivers, the waggon moved. I 
 thought the difficulty had been conquered, but the wheels 
 had hardly made half a revolution when the chain broke. 
 After much trouble we repaired it. Again the animals were 
 whipped, again the drivers howled, again the beasts gave 
 a strong pull — and the chain broke again. Three times 
 did this occur. Meanwhile, four waggons which had been 
 following us tried to cross at another spot, and after 
 having broken their chains four times succeeded in 
 getting across with the help of my teams. When, 
 however, I asked the drivers to help me in their turn, they 
 only consented to do so upon my paying them £i. 
 Needless to add that they were Boers. I was perfectly 
 frozen, and as the waggons could not possibly reach 
 Mafeking that evening I started alone in the dark. But 
 I had not come to the end of my bad luck. Stopping 
 a moment to light a cigar I dropped the reins on my 
 horse's neck ; the beast was frightened at the noise made 
 by striking the match, and bolted into the veldt before 
 I could catch the reins up again. I lost the track, 
 16 
 
THE START 
 
 and it was only after wandering about for two hours that 
 I reached the river, which I was obHged to follow for 
 quite two miles before I found the ford. After having 
 again wandered about for some time I reached Mafeking, 
 dead beat. 
 
 Mafeking, the last settlement in British Bechuanaland, 
 was even then one of the most important stations 
 of this part of Africa. The " town " consisted of a big 
 open place called the " Market Square," round which 
 
 A SOUTH-AFRICAN STORE. 
 
 were grouped a few buildings, mostly of corrugated iron. 
 Two hotels, five or six stores, a barber, a butcher, and 
 a baker composed the commercial part of the place. One 
 building standing by itself contained the law court, the 
 Post, and the Government offices. Add to this a church 
 and a few private houses, where the clergyman, the magis- 
 trate, and the doctor lived, and you have Mafeking as it 
 was in 1891. About three-quarters of a mile off is a. big 
 native village, Mafeking owes its origin to the expedition 
 of Sir Charles Warren, who established his headquarters 
 there. It is from Mafeking that the greater part of the 
 c 17 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 goods destined for the interior is expedited. The railway 
 now runs from Vryburg to this place and much further ; 
 but at this time goods came by rail to Vryburg, and 
 thence by waggon to Mafeking, where most of the 
 transport contractors of the South used to stop. Others 
 did the service from Mafeking to Tuli. Most of the 
 trade between Mafeking and Mashonaland was then, and 
 still is, in the hands of Messrs. Julius Weil & Co., most 
 enterprising merchants who have rendered great services 
 towards the opening out of Bechuanaland. 
 
 For three days I remained at Mafeking, devoting the 
 time to cleaning up and to doing certain necessary repairs 
 to the waggons. On the fourth day (July 14th) I started 
 again. From this point I organized our 'treks" in African 
 fashion. We used to travel from five o'clock in the 
 afternoon till nine at night ; we then rested till two in 
 the morning, when we would go forward again until six 
 or seven, when a halt was called till five in the afternoon. 
 In this manner our beasts had ample time to drink, feed, 
 and rest, and also avoided the great heat of the day. 
 This arrangement, though all very well for the animals, 
 was for us a veritable torture. It was impossible to sleep 
 while the waggons were moving. I was continually 
 pitched from one side of the affair to the other, and it 
 was only by the greatest care that I could prevent myself 
 from breaking my head against the sides of the waggon. 
 The thing creaked the whole time : I could even feel it 
 yield and bend, yet it resisted in a wonderful manner. 
 
 From Baldapits, where we arrived on the 17th of July, 
 the country changes entirely in appearance. There are 
 quantities of trees, and hills of a respectable height, instead 
 of the arid plains that we had hitherto traversed. 
 Nothing is more tiring to the sight and depressing to 
 the spirits than those limitless plains for days and weeks 
 at a stretch. The tops of the hills are yellowish, and 
 dotted here and there with patches of bush, just like an 
 African's head with its short bunches of crinkly hair. 
 
THE START 
 
 On the i8th July we reached Aasvogel Kop; and here 
 the country is very picturesque. In the west rose a 
 mountain with rocky sides towering high above us : 
 in the east another less lofty, and about two miles away ; 
 other hills were dimly discernible in the south. The valley 
 in which we pitched our camp consists of a beautiful 
 lawn, dotted here and there with trees. In fact, it was 
 the first picturesque country we had come across since 
 our start. We devoted our day to shooting, but, with the 
 exception of a few partridges, we saw no game. At half- 
 past four we were off again. The road was very bad : 
 one moment our waggons would go over some big stone, 
 and the next fall into a rut. The dust was blinding, for 
 the soil is red sand, into which they sank to some 
 depth. The previous night had been fairly mild, and, for 
 the first time, we were not frozen ; in fact, the weather 
 altogether was warmer than we had before experienced. 
 
 Next day we arrived, at last, at a spot full of real 
 African life and colour. Ramootsa was its name— a big- 
 native village of nearly 12,000 souls. The inhabi- 
 tants form part of the tribe of the Bamalati, under the 
 chief Ikaneng, son of Magholi. The village is composed 
 of thatch -covered huts, enclosed by a strong wooden 
 stockade. The Bamalati are of a deep bronze colour. 
 Their costume consists, in the main, of a grey felt hat 
 of European manufacture, trimmed with feathers. Their 
 bodies are covered with skins of various animals fixed 
 to the left shoulder, and they wear sandals attached in 
 Japanese fashion. The women wear the upper part of 
 the body naked. They are dressed in either a kilted 
 skirt falling to the heels, or some skin bound round the 
 middle. A few of them, however, cover the breast with 
 a piece of calico, fixed round the neck and falling down 
 to the waist. Their heads are bare, or covered with 
 ochre ; some wear a simple bandage on the fore- 
 head. The hair is worn short. For ornaments they 
 
 i 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 of copper wire, whilst from one or two to as many as 
 twenty-four rings of copper wire are worn below the knee. 
 The feet are quite bare. Some are tattooed on the face 
 and some on the arms. These tattooings represent tribal 
 marks. 
 
 The next morning, accompanied by the telegraph clerk, 
 who acted as interpreter, I paid a visit to the chief 
 Ikaneng. I had to thread my way through a maze of 
 lanes, all of which, strange to say, seemed to lead into 
 other lanes inside, forming a regular labyrinth ; but 
 probably this was so arranged to facilitate the defence 
 of the place in case of attack. We arrived at a kind 
 of square, and my guide pointed out the chiefs hut. 
 It seemed to me to differ neither in height nor size 
 from any of the others, but near it was a clear space 
 of four or five yards roofed over with branches. This 
 is called the lekothla : here the chief shows himself, 
 receives visitors, and administers justice. Ikaneng was 
 seated on a chair under the lekothla. He was a fine 
 man, powerfully built, at least six feet high, jet black, 
 and wearing a full grey beard — this last a very rare 
 adornment among natives. Although over sixty-five years 
 old, he looked hardly more than fifty. He had on a suit 
 of greyish check clothes, flannel shirt, yellow shoes of 
 untanned hide (veldshoons) and woollen socks. A broad- 
 brimmed grey felt hat completed his costume. The only 
 piece of jewellery that he displayed was a gold watch 
 and chain. He was seated on a low chair, holding in 
 his hand a stick, or rather wand, of steel, about a yard 
 and a half long, at the extremity of which was fixed an 
 old brass door-handle. When we approached he stretched 
 out his hand. I did likewise, and he held mine in his 
 for some seconds. He signed to us to sit down on seats 
 in front of him, and my guide explained that he had 
 sent for his interpreter, as he did not know a word of 
 either English or Dutch. While we were waiting, I 
 examined the natives surrounding him. There were 
 20 
 
THE START 
 
 half a dozen of them all seated or crouched outside the 
 lekothla. The most striking in appearance was a tooth- 
 less old chap with a wrinkled face. He was quite naked 
 with the exception of a narrow cloth about his middle, 
 and a blanket thrown over his shoulders. Round his 
 neck was a strap, to which were suspended half a dozen 
 leather sheaths, which contained knives, scissors, and 
 the like. He was the local witch-doctor. The rest 
 were a lot of old men, who seemed fast asleep. At 
 length the interpreter arrived, and my guide commenced 
 by explaining in Dutch that I had been sent by the 
 French Government to study the people of the country. 
 Unfortunately the chief could not be made to under- 
 stand what or where France was. Then my guide 
 stated that the Governor of the Cape, Sir Henry Loch, 
 had given me letters of introduction. " Sir Henry 
 Loch," " the Cape," " Governor " : neither the chief 
 nor the interpreter seemed to understand what all this 
 meant, though Sir Henry was at that moment Governor 
 of Bechuanaland. At last my guide explained that the 
 Government had furnished me with letters of introduction 
 to the officials of the country. The chief thought there 
 was one for him, and insisted on having it. Did I come 
 from the Government ? " No," my guide replied ; I had 
 come to ask permission to take his portrait. " Well," said 
 the chief, " you are nothing but humbugs. First you say 
 ' Government,' then you say, ' Not from the Government.' 
 Bring me a letter from Sir Sidney Shippard, and I will 
 do anything you require." It was not the slightest use 
 persuading or insisting. My guide told me that the chief 
 was a most obstinate man, and always worse when he was 
 in a bad temper. So I took my leave without having 
 succeeded in photographing him. He shook me most 
 cordially by the hand, and I retired. Next morning (July 
 20th) I arrived at Gaberones, about ninety miles from 
 Mafeking, a native village of considerable size, under the 
 rule of the chief Linchw-se, whose capital is at Mochudi. 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 I passed the day in the company of Lieutenant Whight, 
 who commanded the police camp estabhshed there. The 
 camp consisted of a long alley edged with mud-plastered 
 huts, and roofed over with branches and thatch. 
 
 The way in which the natives construct these huts 
 deserves a special mention. A certain number of 
 branches about the thickness of a man's arm and about 
 six feet in length are piled up on the ground. Without 
 the assistance of any cord to trace it, a man plants these 
 posts one after the other in the ground in a perfect 
 circle. Four boards, leaving a square hole of about 
 eighteen inches, are fixed to one of the sides of the 
 round part so as to furnish a window. Unlopped branches 
 are arranged in the shape of a funnel to form the roof, 
 and tied together at their extremities, while half-way down 
 they are attached one to the other by strips of bark. A 
 sort of mortar, composed of sand and cow-dung, is then 
 laid thickly on the posts planted in a circle, resulting 
 in a wall of about nine or ten inches thick. The roof is 
 then covered with a thatch made from blades of grass 
 about a yard to a yard and a half long, commencing from 
 the bottom and tapering off gradually to the top. A 
 trellis of reeds forms the door, which is very low, not 
 rising above four or five feet from the ground. At the 
 end of this double row of huts a small fort was erected. 
 
 That evening the town was en fete. From my waggon 
 I could hear the sounds of singing and the beating of 
 tom-toms, long monotonous chants interspersed with 
 yells, followed at intervals by a kind of strident cry 
 interrupted by applying the hand to the mouth. I got 
 near the part from whence this noise proceeded, and 
 after endless turning among the huts I thought I had 
 attained my object, for on the other side of a thick 
 hedge the concert was being held. I followed this hedge, 
 but in vain, for on all sides the ring whence proceeded 
 the singing was enclosed by thick, high branches, through 
 which it was impossible to see anything. I got near the 
 
 22 
 
THE START 
 
 hedge and tried to pull myself up by means of a big 
 branch, in order, by looking over the top, to see what 
 was going on on the other, side. I was just mounting 
 when two natives rushed on me and seized me from 
 behind. They were in a tremendous state of excitement, 
 gesticulating and uttering cries, none of which, of course, 
 I was able to understand. They then addressed them- 
 selves to my head man, who had accompanied me, and 
 explained to him that a festival of young girls was 
 taking place, from which all males were rigorously ex- 
 cluded. This was a breach of etiquette indeed ; but I 
 charged my man to assure them that I had no desire to 
 infringe their rules, and having thus appeased them, I 
 was invited to enter one of the huts, where I found a 
 number of other natives seated round a fire. I gave them 
 sixpence with which to buy some native beer, and we 
 became the best of friends. 
 
 The following evening (July 21st) I left Gaberones, 
 intending to make for the Marico river. The road was 
 excellent, and having started at six o'clock, I did not 
 outspan until ten. From Gaberones to Palla camp I 
 had the choice of three routes. The most interesting was 
 by Mochudi, the capital of the chief Linchwee. This road, 
 however, was unfortunately very bad and almost without 
 water the whole of the way. But for this consideration 
 I should have followed it, since Lieutenant Whight 
 informed me that about four miles from Mochudi there 
 is an immense stone covered with fossilized impressions 
 of the greatest interest : traces of human feet of colossal 
 dimensions, and of the feet of certain animals differing 
 entirely from those we know at the present time. I 
 think it only right to refer to this, for the information of 
 any future travellers in these districts. Following the 
 advice given to me I chose the road along the Marico 
 river. 
 
 On the 23rd of July I reached John's Staadt on the 
 river Marico. The town consists of a number of 
 23 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 " locations " of about twenty huts apiece, some distance 
 apart from one another. I started with my photographic 
 apparatus for one of these villages. When I came inside 
 it, I noticed a native of a quite different type to any I 
 had hitherto come across. His skin was as black as 
 ebony, and he was very muscular. His look was most 
 intelligent, and he was very quick in his movements and 
 exuberant in gesture. At the moment of my arrival 
 he had just lighted a "dakka" (Indian hemp) pipe. 
 This pipe consists of a horn filled with water. Into the 
 water descends a wooden tube surmounted by a clay bowl 
 in which the tobacco is placed. By applying his hands 
 to the opening of the horn, leaving but a small interstice 
 whereto to apply his lips so as to inhale the smoke after it 
 had passed through the water, he filled his lungs with 
 smoke, which he inhaled with all his might and main in a 
 most laughable manner ; then throwing back his head and 
 showing his eyes all bloodshot, he puffed out the smoke 
 from his mouth, coughing, gasping, almost suffocated — 
 but triumphant. But hardly had the cough stopped when 
 he began again, even more violently than before. After 
 five or six repetitions he stopped to take breath. The 
 most curious part of the performance was that each 
 time that he stopped to take breath he commenced 
 spitting. Yet etiquette requires that this should be done 
 with great ceremony through a tube of straw. I must add 
 that the practice of smoking Indian hemp is followed by 
 most deplorable results. It produces at the time a 
 drunken excitement, followed by stupor, and those much 
 addicted to it soon suffer from regular delirium tremens. 
 The custom is found in every part of Africa I have visited. 
 The fellow was absolutely naked with the exception of a 
 narrow leather girdle, from which hung in front three wild 
 cats' skins with a single skin behind. Round his neck he 
 wore an amulet, consisting of a bit of lizard skin forming 
 a little bag of about an inch square ; the object of this, 
 he sweetly informed my servant, was to make girls 
 24 
 
 i 
 
THE START 
 
 love him. With most expressive and inteUigible signs 
 he gave me to understand that he did not belong to that 
 part of the country, but that he was a Matabele — a bath- 
 servant of King Lobengula — escaped a few months 
 previously because Lobengula wished to put him to 
 death. According to his story, one of the king's wives 
 was one day in her hut about to take her bath, and called 
 one of the men-servants to assist her. Khantura (this 
 was the name of our gentleman) ventured to remark to 
 Mrs.. Lo Ben that she ought to be ashamed of herself to 
 call a man to help her take her bath instead of sum- 
 moning one of her women. Of course the lady complained 
 to the King, her husband. Lobengula called Khantura 
 before him, who openly declared that the lady was the 
 mistress of the other attendant ; whereupon the King 
 ordered him to be executed. Khantura, however, after 
 receiving a violent blow from a knobkerry on the back 
 of the head, was left for dead, but recovered and managed 
 to escape to John's Staadt, in the British Protectorate ; 
 and although the King had since then frequently sent 
 word to him that he had pardoned him, and that he 
 wished him to return, he knew his master too well to 
 trust him. 
 
 I asked him if he would like me to take his portrait. 
 He accepted with delight, and led me inside the village 
 to the court- yard of a hut, where about thirty men, 
 women, and children were assembled. The men were 
 squatting round an immense earthen vessel containing 
 Kafir beer, and received us in the most cordial manner. 
 Soon after they put their pots aside, and commenced 
 to dance, shrieking and brandishing their clubs about in 
 a most terrific manner. Their dance consists of one 
 long slow step forward with one foot, while they strike 
 the ground heavily with the heel of the other, singing 
 all the time in slow monotonous rhythm, interrupted by 
 formidable shouts. There was no instrumental accom- 
 paniment. While this was going on I was preparing 
 25 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 my apparatus, and when it was ready I asked per- 
 mission to photograph them. They did not understand. 
 All the same they showed no fear, as the natives of 
 other villages had done. Shortly afterwards a number 
 of children came round me— a little mite of about five 
 years old caught hold of my hand, and after having 
 examined and felt it, caressed it. I caught hold of his 
 chin, turning up his face to mine, on which he smiled. 
 
 This was the first time I had seen native children so 
 tame ; generally when you approach them they run 
 away, uttering cries like those of a young monkey when 
 you take him in your hand. I called one of the men, 
 and told him to look into the camera. He was as- 
 tounded and delighted, and made the others come. Then 
 men, women, and children impatiently waited their turn 
 to look on the piece of ground glass. But they did not 
 push. They took the greatest care not to upset the 
 apparatus, and although more or less drunk, they were 
 all gracious, affable, and attentive. In short, I passed 
 two most interesting hours in their midst. 
 
 In this place the huts differed from those we had 
 hitherto come across. Their dimensions are about the 
 same, but they are in the shape of a huge beehive ; the 
 thatch is much neater, and kept together by strips of 
 bark about four inches apart. The spaces also in front 
 of each hut are oblong instead of round. The ornaments 
 of the people are also different. Some of the women 
 wear massive thick copper necklets. Men and women 
 wear necklaces of blue and white beads interspersed at 
 intervals by three brass buttons. In the ears three iron 
 wires are frequent, and some of the children wear a 
 piece of wood a little more than an inch in length. 
 As in other tribes the babies are carried about by children 
 of eight or ten years old, pickaback, and supported by 
 a skin attached to the shoulders and round the waist. 
 Huts are of bee-hive shape, very similar to those of the 
 Wahha. 
 
 26 
 
THE START 
 
 From this . point I had to follow the Marico river, 
 and then the Limpopo or Crocodile up to its junction 
 with the Notwani. As I proceeded, the aspect of the 
 country greatly changed. As the Marico widens, the belt 
 of trees by which it is bordered becomes broader and 
 the vegetation more abundant, the whole plain being 
 covered with brushwood. The Crocodile, at the point 
 where the Marico joins it, is more than two hundred 
 yards across, and very rapid. It runs at the bottom 
 of a ravine, which it quite fills in the rainy season. 
 You can see the marks of its highest level on the banks, 
 about sixteen feet from its actual level. It is fairly 
 abundant in fish, but it is impossible to procure specimens 
 without a boat. It is infested with crocodiles. 
 
 27 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 KHAMA 
 
 AFTER passing the picturesque valley of Sofala, to 
 our great relief, at last we caught sight of the 
 Palapshwe Hills. My oxen had greatly suffered from 
 their journey. The previous rainy season had been one of 
 the worst for many years, and scarcely any rain had fallen, 
 so that the grass was already dried up, and was hardly 
 sufficient to nourish the animals. To give them a rest 
 before setting out on my long journey across the desert 
 was a necessity. On the other hand, I had been warned 
 against the demoralizing influence over the men of a stay 
 of several weeks in a large centre, and especially in one 
 like Palapshwe, which was well known for its immorality, 
 so that I had to consider whether I would camp in the 
 town itself or outside. 
 
 I therefore decided to ride there and see the place 
 before making up my mind. The town is built on the 
 side of a hill, the top of which forms a plateau, over which 
 rises a range of high and well-wooded hills. 
 
 I had to follow for several miles a large plain covered 
 with deep sand into which my horse sank nearly a foot 
 deep, before I reached the base of the hill. Thence I 
 had to pick my way among a mass of huge boulders 
 strewn all over the place. So bad, so impassable did the 
 place look that I thought that I must have mistaken the 
 road. I was thinking of turning back when I came across 
 some natives, each carrying a Bible in one hand and a gun 
 in the other. In vain I asked them where Palapshwe was 
 
 k 
 
KHAMA 
 
 — they did not seem to understand;* when fortunately 
 there appeared a mounted policeman of the Bechuanaland 
 Border Police, and he informed me that I was on the 
 right road (?). How my waggons were to pass over this 
 mass of rocks I could not make out. 
 
 At last I reached a few huts, and found myself on flat 
 ground, where heavy sand succeeded the stones. Catching 
 sight of a corrugated iron roof I started at a canter, but 
 
 KHAMA S PEOPLE, 
 
 my horse, tired out, stumbled and rolled heavily over 
 me. I picked myself up with mouth, nose, eyes, and ears 
 full of sand, my chin, nose, and forehead torn to bits, and 
 feeling considerably dazed. 
 
 On the threshold of a hut sat a native perusing a Bible, 
 who interrupted his reading to have a good laugh over my 
 accident ; but when I asked him for water to wash my 
 damaged face, he replied in a Christian spirit and broken 
 English, " Yes, you give shilling." 
 
 I washed as well as I could, and went on my way. 
 
 * The name of Palapshwe is unknown to the natives, Khama's capital being 
 known to them by the name of Mangwato. 
 29 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 I soon reached the store of the Bechuanaland Trading 
 Association, but was informed by a boy that the master 
 was asleep. However, the manager soon appeared, and 
 having read Mr. Rhodes' letter of introduction, he offered 
 me food and refreshment. I explained to him my plans, 
 and he advised my taking up my quarters in the town, 
 and showed me the outspanning place. Taking every- 
 thing into consideration, I decided to follow his advice. 
 It was necessary that I should be among the natives to be 
 able to study them, and access to the place is so 
 difficult that camping at the foot of the hill was out 
 of the question. 
 
 I rode back to my waggons. It was with great 
 difficulty that the oxen had managed to drag the waggons 
 through the heavy sand as far as the Lechaneng Vley 
 at the foot of the hill. The next morning I anxiously 
 watched their progress over the mass of boulders leading 
 to the town. Every minute I thought the whole concern 
 would go to pieces, the wheels going over the boulders 
 and then dropping heavily down on the other side. 
 Sometimes the whole waggon was standing on two 
 wheels with the others lifted up in the air as if about 
 to capsize, but although at an angle of nearly forty 
 degrees the waggon did not tumble. At times they 
 were shaken all over, squeaking and trembling like a 
 living creature. At last, sick of the sight of the falling 
 oxen, the waggons threatening to break to pieces, I rode 
 ahead to choose a camping place. 
 
 Half an hour later the waggons arrived, mine minus 
 its awning, which had been torn away by the projecting 
 branch of a tree. Hundreds of waggons have to pass 
 this place — many have met with the same misfortune — 
 but not one of the drivers who has gone by has ever 
 thought of cutting this branch down. I have seen many 
 a place of the same kind in South Africa ; either it is a 
 branch that carries away the awning of a waggon, or a 
 tree against which all the waggons will bang themselves, 
 30 
 
 i 
 
^^^^^M^mm^M 
 
 KHAMA, CHIEF OF THE 
 
 KAMA\G\VATO. 
 
KHAMA 
 
 doing great damage. The accident over, the drivers 
 deplore it and go on. Time after time they will pass 
 the same spot, meet with the same accident, spend a 
 lot £)f time in repairing its consequences ; but they would 
 not dream of exerting themselves for five minutes in 
 order to remove the cause, and so save others, or even 
 themselves on their return journey. 
 
 We outspanned near a tree at the " outspan," where all 
 waggons go. This " outspan " is on a large open space 
 some ten acres in extent, covered with grass. On one 
 side at the foot of the hills stands a forge, erected by a 
 Scotchman, doing a large business. Next to this place 
 are stores belonging to the Bechuanaland Trading 
 Association. The centre is a swamp, and on the other 
 side begins the native town. In the middle of this 
 swamp numerous holes have been dug. In these the 
 natives come and wash their clothes, their domestic 
 utensils, and themselves. Cattle, horses, donkeys, and 
 goats feed on the grass. Still nearer to the native huts, 
 holes to the depth of twelve feet are dug, in which 
 refuse is thrown. The water rises at the bottom of 
 these holes, and the whole of such refuse and filth is 
 carried, by means of infiltration, to lower down the 
 village, whence the people fetch their drinking water. 
 
 Now, if one considers that 15,000 people throw their 
 refuse near their drinking water, it is easy to understand 
 how constantly epidemics rage in Palapshwe. When I 
 was there over forty people were dying daily of fever — 
 typhoid evidently, but it never came into Khama's head 
 to get a doctor to reside among his people. The place 
 was reputed one of the worst for horse sickness, and 
 hundreds of oxen were carried away by lung disease. 
 Add to that that the flesh of these dead animals was 
 consumed by the natives, and offered for sale to the 
 white men, and you will understand how reluctantly I 
 took up my quarters there. 
 
 Palapshwe, or Mangwato, as the natives call it, is the 
 D 33 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 residence of the Ba-mangwato, the most important of 
 the Ba-kuana tribes, and is ruled by the chief Khama. 
 So much attention has been directed to him and his people 
 of late years, that a detailed description is necessary. The 
 Ba-kuana, or Bechuana, tribes are closely allied by physical 
 appearance, language, and customs to the Ba-suto ; 
 agriculture and cattle-raising is their chief pursuit, and 
 they possess some of the warlike spirit of the Zulu, to 
 whom, however, physically and intellectually, they are very 
 inferior. The Ba-mangwato are the most northern of the 
 Ba-kuana tribes ; they consist of 1 5,000 to 20,000 individuals, 
 nearly all of them huddled up together in a huge village. 
 Their chief, Khama, is nominally the ruler of the huge 
 tract of country south and west of Matabeleland ; but this 
 territory of nearly 175,000 square miles consists almost 
 exclusively of arid, waterless, uninhabited desert — the 
 Kalahari. Until a few years ago Khama and his people 
 were settled at Shoshong, a hundred miles west of the 
 Crocodile river; but one day the chief took it into his 
 head that the place was unsuitable, and all his people had 
 to follow him up to Palapshwe. 
 
 I will now endeavour to sketch their ruler. Khama 
 has always been described as the Christian King of 
 Africa, and given as a model of what the civilizing 
 influence of Christianity can make of a black savage. 
 I can scarcely say that the result is very encouraging. 
 
 From his youth Khama got under the influence of the 
 missionaries ; the teaching of one of them, well known 
 for his meddling in politics, was not lost on the young 
 savage. Self-asserting, intensely fond of power, the boy 
 seized the first pretext to break out in open rebellion 
 against his father. Circumcision is practised among all 
 the Ba-kuana ; but when the time for the performance 
 of this ceremony arrived, young Khama, incited thereto 
 by his religious teacher, declined to submit to it. 
 Although still a boy, he collected around him a number 
 of followers dissatisfied with his father's rule, and 
 34 
 
KHAMA 
 
 successfully waged war against him. Soon after this, to 
 convert all his followers to the Christian faith became his 
 chief ambition ; but having been taught that the great 
 Queen Victoria was the head of the Anglican Church, 
 he decided to become the head of the Mangwatan 
 Church. He began by personally holding weekly services, 
 then daily ones, preaching his own sermons. Then, having 
 heard that teetotallers were certain to go to heaven, he 
 decided that all his people should become abstainers. He 
 forbade the brewing of " joala " — native beer, or rather 
 sour porridge. At first sight this appears a wise and 
 most commendable decision ; but it must be remembered 
 that this beverage, intoxicating when consumed in 
 enormous quantities, is perfectly harmless in moderation, 
 and really forms the only food of aged people. To 
 enforce this law the chief organized a most elaborate 
 system of espionage ; the offenders were expelled the 
 country, and their goods confiscated, a portion of them 
 being given to the informer. 
 
 So elaborate is this system of espionage that no native 
 is allowed to leave on a journey alone, and two men, at 
 least, are always sent out together ; everyone fears his 
 neighbour in Khama's country. 
 
 The occupation of Mashonaland by the Chartered 
 Company brought Palapshwe into enormous importance, 
 as it is situated on the road from Mafeking to Macloutsie, 
 and money soon began to flow into the place. 
 
 To build a cathedral now became Khama's great 
 ambition : he subscribed i^3000, and all his people had to 
 contribute to the fund. Unfortunately the cathedral 
 became a source of Homeric quarrels between Khama and 
 his moral adviser, the Rev. Mr. Hepburn, who had been in 
 Palapshwe for nearly twenty years. The whole thing 
 resulted in a violent contest, and Khama purely and 
 simply turned his old friend out of the country at a 
 day's notice, refusing even to allow him to return to 
 collect his property. Khama's professions of loyalty to 
 35 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 the British Government, his having asked to be placed 
 under British protection — chiefly in order to be protected 
 against the Matabele — made him a kind of spoilt child 
 whose whims were humoured in every way. His personal 
 importance grew daily in his own eyes. 
 
 When, however, it became necessary to place a magis- 
 trate in the district the chief began to fret. He could 
 not or would not realize that he had to submit to British 
 laws, and when it became rumoured that the Chartered 
 Company was going to take over the country, his wrath 
 knew no bounds. At the bottom of his heart Khama 
 hates white men, and since his visit to England, where 
 he was treated like a great man, probably despises them 
 also. 
 
 To give an idea of Khama's attitude towards white men 
 I shall anticipate my narrative a little and give an instance 
 of what happened between the Resident Magistrate, 
 myself, and him. When I returned from the Zambezi 
 the young Basuto boy who had accompanied me there 
 was suffering from very bad rheumatic fever, and was 
 unable to go to Matabeleland. I left him in charge 
 of one of Khama's men, who undertook to take care of 
 him upon being paid five shillings a week. When I 
 returned to Palapshwe this native came to me and said 
 that the boy was dead. At the same time he claimed 
 fifteen weeks' payment for the keep of the boy and one 
 pound for funeral expenses. " But," I said, " how do I 
 know that the boy died when you tell me, and what are 
 these funeral expenses?" 
 
 "Well, master, no one would help me to bury the 
 boy, as he was a stranger, and as to the date of his death 
 you can ascertain it by asking Khama." 
 
 I asked the man if he had reported the death to the 
 English magistrate, but he replied in the negative. I 
 therefore declined to pay what he asked for. The next 
 morning Khama came to my waggon. I bade him good 
 morning, and he opened the conversation by saying that 
 36 
 
KHAMA 
 
 he wanted me to pay at once the amount claimed by his 
 man. 
 
 " Look here, Khama," I replied, " how is it that the 
 boy's death has not been reported to the magistrate? He 
 was a British subject from Kimberley, and I must have 
 a certificate of his death." 
 
 " The man reported his death to me," said Khama, 
 " and that 's enough." 
 
 " No, my friend ; the magistrate is here to administer 
 the law, and he alone can give a death certificate. 
 Besides, I do not understand you when you come and 
 say that you want me to pay your man at once ; you 
 are the chief of the Bamangwato, but the magistrate 
 is the chief of the White Men, and I do not recognize 
 your right to give me orders." 
 
 ' The magistrate," said Khama ; " what is that to me ? 
 If you won't pay I will prevent you from going away." 
 
 " You had better not try this game, Khama, for I would 
 then prove to you that the magistrate is here to administer 
 the law." 
 
 Khama rose in great rage and went away. 
 
 Two days later Mr. Moffat, the Commissioner, returned 
 to Palapshwe during the night. Early in the morning 
 Khama again came to me. 
 
 " I want you to come with me to Mr. Moffat at once," 
 he said. 
 
 " What," I replied, " are you now Mr. Moffat's orderly ? 
 Has Mr. Moffat sent you to me? If so, where is his 
 letter ? " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " said the wily chief 
 
 " I mean that if Mr. Moffat wishes to see me he will 
 write to me ; but as I told you before, I have no orders 
 to receive from you." 
 
 " So you decline to come to Mr. Moffat ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Very well " — and Khama rose, trembling with rage. 
 
 After breakfast I called on Mr. Moffat and explained 
 37 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 the case to him. He said that he would at once send 
 for Khama. Soon after the latter came and was 
 reprimanded by Mr. Moffat for not having reported the 
 boy's death to the magistrate. Then Mr. Moffat asked 
 me what claim the chief was making. I told him. 
 " Why," said Mr. Moffat, " it is preposterous. Give me 
 two pounds for the man ; that is more than ample." 
 Khama was much dissatisfied with the turn things had 
 taken, and left me with a look of contempt. That was 
 the only time Khama ever looked me in the face. 
 
 38 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ACROSS THE DESERT 
 
 ON the 30th August I determined to leave Palapshwe. 
 My original idea had been to go straight to 
 Mashonaland, chiefly in order to visit the Zimbabwe 
 ruins; but having learnt that Mr. Bent, the well-known 
 archaeologist, was himself carrying out some important 
 researches there, I concluded it would be a waste of 
 time, and determined to make for the Zambezi. My 
 prolonged stay at Palapshwe had for its chief object to 
 give the oxen a rest, but the delay had done them 
 little good. They were in a dreadful condition — thin, 
 weak, and in some instances with their bones showing 
 through their skin. I had to replace many of them 
 by fresh ones at the cost of £8 per head. As I feared 
 would be the case, Palapshwe had also a very demoralizing 
 influence upon the men ; women and dissipation had done 
 their usual work, and when I announced my intention 
 to start there was an immense amount of grumbling. 
 The boys insisted upon a large increase of wages, 
 declaring that they were not going to travel in a country 
 of which they knew nothing, and where they were sure 
 to be either eaten by lions or drop from fever. In short, 
 of all my original followers but two remained faithful 
 — my head man, Major, and his nephew Joseph, both 
 Basuto, in whom up to then I had rightly placed the 
 utmost confidence. I had to engage fresh drivers, leaders, 
 and cooks. 
 
 I was warned of the great difficulties that awaited me 
 39 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 on the road to the Zambezi, and from all I heard I was 
 terribly afraid that I should not be able to reach the river 
 by the end of the year. My fears were greatly accentu- 
 ated by the state of my oxen, and at one moment I was 
 almost tempted to give up my plan. Ultimately I made 
 up my mind to try, and on the 2nd of September I made 
 a start. It was necessary to retrace my steps over the 
 terrible piece of road to Lechaneng Vley that I have 
 already described, a distance of about six miles, at the 
 end of which we outspanned. Here already I could see 
 that the oxen were done up, and on their last legs. From 
 Lechaneng I proceeded for a couple of days, without any 
 incident worth noting ; our pace was desperately slow. 
 It was curious to observe the gross blunders that all the 
 maps of this part of Africa contained. Rivers, mountains, 
 and stations are put down anyhow ; as for the roads 
 marked, most of them existed only in the imagination. 
 For want of a sextant it was impossible to ascertain our 
 exact position, but I did my best to correct the most 
 glaring mistakes. The road all this time was very sandy 
 and heavy. I observed a temperature of 96 degrees at 
 noon, and 57 at ten o'clock at night. 
 
 On September 5th the heat was intense, the temperature 
 at noon being 105 degrees under the tent. Spring began 
 to show signs of appearance, the trees and flowers be- 
 ginning to put forth much brighter hues. The road com- 
 menced to be a little better, and the sand was not quite so 
 plentiful, but the aspect of the country remained quite 
 flat, dotted only here and there with small trees. For two 
 days we had had no drinking water — the little we found 
 had an awful bitter* taste, and was only fit for the 
 oxen. Added to this, flies of all descriptions — common 
 flies, wasps, bees, bluebottles, daddy-longlegs, minute 
 flies with red eyes, which sting even through your clothes, 
 surrounded and followed us in myriads, making a terrible 
 noise and never leaving us at rest for a moment. I 
 was in a state of dirtiness impossible to describe, covered 
 40 
 
ACROSS THE DESERT 
 
 with a thick layer of black dust, and unfortunately too 
 short of water to dare to wash myself The next day, 
 September 6th, we reached the foot of Mount Tshaneng, 
 having trekked for ten hours, and covered a distance of 
 about twenty-two miles. It was absolutely necessary to 
 do this that we might reach a place where we could water 
 our beasts. Here we found a small clear stream, and at 
 last I was able to wash myself, and take a much-needed 
 
 [N KHAMA S COUNTRY, 
 
 bath. Only those who have done this when they were in 
 a state like I was then, know the meaning of the word 
 " luxury." 
 
 On the Thursday, the loth September, we reached a 
 small river, Metsi Moshu (white water). The road for 
 some time had been getting more and more difficult, and 
 at certain places there was none at all. The waggons were 
 always sinking in the black sand, and we were forced 
 continually to harness two " spans " to one waggon, and 
 then go back and fetch the other. 
 
 The river runs over a bed of enormous sandstone rocks, 
 the water being limpid and excellent. But fording this 
 41 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 river is most troublesome to the waggons, which are 
 compelled to desctnd a deep and very steep ravine over 
 enormous stones. At one point one of the waggons, while 
 passing over one of these rocks, dropped down a depth of 
 nearly four feet, and the shock broke one of the sides in two. 
 Luckily the iron braces kept the pieces together, other- 
 wise I do not know how we should have managed to go on. 
 
 Somewhat late in the day we arrived at Sokoso, after 
 a terribly slow journey, having made only six miles in 
 nine hours. The road is very sandy and passes over 
 several ranges of hills. Branches of trees continually 
 barred our passage, and the axe was in constant use. 
 Since we left Palapshwe we had not come across a 
 single village ; here and there we met a few bushmen 
 tending Khama's animals, but the country is practically 
 uninhabited. It is well wooded everywhere, and every 
 now and then we came across big trees, sometimes as 
 much as twenty and twenty-five feet high. I found but 
 few of the big ant-hills of which I had heard so much ; 
 they are indeed scarce, and are met with chiefly between 
 Palla and Cecil Camp, along the Crocodile river. Birds 
 were very rare, and the toucans, numerous before, had 
 absolutely disappeared ; a few partridges, pheasants, and 
 small geese were all the game we saw. 
 
 We occasionally met small bands of five or six natives 
 coming from the Zambezi and going to the colony 
 to work in the mines. Their costume consists simply 
 of a belt, to which is attached a skin passing between 
 the legs and fastened at the back. Over the shoulder 
 they carry a stick, to each end of which a gourd is fixed. 
 A native hatchet and an assegai complete their equipment. 
 A fact worthy of notice is that they have no notion of 
 time or distance. Thus we met a band at Tshaneng, 
 which is about four hundred miles from the Zambezi, 
 whence they had come. On being questioned, some 
 answered that we were five days from the Zambezi, while 
 others said that it would take us two months to get there. 
 42 
 
ACROSS THE DESERT 
 
 Yet these people march on an average twenty miles 
 a day, and consequently must have been travelling for 
 some three weeks. The best way to find out when they 
 had started was to ask them how big the moon was. 
 Their provisions for such a long trip were very meagre. 
 A little maize was all they carried with them, and as 
 there is no money in their country, they were unable 
 to buy anything en route; so with about thirty pounds 
 of maize they are able to cover nearly a thousand miles. 
 They were all fine men, very black and very muscular, 
 and mostly appeared to be from twenty to twenty-five 
 years of age. 
 
 It is curious to reflect that as one penetrates further into 
 the interior one loses, at the same time, the notion of great 
 distances. (With some it is rather the notion of time that 
 is lost.) By doing twelve miles a day, you end up by 
 getting over 350 miles in a month. These daily marches 
 gradually become a habit, and you think nothing of 
 them. But when — say at the end of a couple of months — 
 you look back, you are quite astonished to find you have 
 cleared 700 miles. On the other hand, when you travel in 
 a railway train, or a diligence, the rapidity of the journey 
 itself, the constant change of scenery, climate, and the 
 appearance of people give you a much more exact idea of 
 the distance you are covering as you go along, than you 
 can ever get while travelling in savage parts. The same 
 remark applies to the reader of a book of African travel : 
 in a few hours there appear before him a crowd of inci- 
 dents and events which take the traveller as many weeks 
 or months to experience, and it is for this reason that 
 the reader exaggerates the dangers and difficulties of such 
 a journey, which in reality is somewhat monotonous. 
 A great deal of perseverance, inexhaustible patience, and 
 a philosophy proof against every attack, are the real 
 elements of success. "To be prepared for everything, to 
 despair at nothing " : this is the only motto that an African 
 traveller should adopt. How intoxicating, fascinating, 
 43 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 and glorious it is to travel in Central Africa — some- 
 times ! But when at ten o'clock at night you find yourself 
 in the open country in the midst of a whirlwind that 
 almost carries you off your legs, and when, after having 
 experienced over a hundred degrees of heat at midday, 
 you see the thermometer gallop down nearly to freezing- 
 point ; when added to this your only companions are two 
 oxen and a waggon, and, to crown your joys, you have 
 only had a piece of bread and a cup of milk throughout 
 the whole day, — why then you are apt to lose sight of 
 the glory. 
 
 Such was my condition at ten o'clock at night on 
 September nth. I left Sokoso at six o'clock, and jogged 
 along at a terribly slow pace till nine, the waggons again 
 sinking deep into the sand. Till then we had moved very 
 slowly — but we moved ; when, coming to a fairly steep 
 ascent, the oxen protested, putting forth all the vis inertia 
 of which they are capable when they give their mind 
 to it. Blows rained down upon them, the air resounded 
 with the most inhuman yells that can issue from a native's 
 throat (and that is not a trifle), but nothing was of any 
 good. For each ox that pulled, five went backwards ; in 
 fact, one of them calmly dropped to the ground. Tom 
 (one of the drivers) cut him about the head with his 
 "shambock"* until his arms failed him — William relieved 
 him with fresh force, but no better success — I kept 
 leaping into the air, agitating my arms and howling with 
 all the strength of my lungs — the beast bellowed, but did 
 not budge. At last William, by means of biting his tail 
 (a method usually infallible), persuaded him to rise to his 
 legs. I then decided to harness the two teams together, 
 and thus to send off one of the waggons to the place 
 where we intended to pass the night, and then to let the 
 beasts return and fetch the other. I stayed behind with 
 the second waggon, and was not " fetched" till nearly three 
 hours later, and then I was forced to come to the conclusion 
 
 * Whip made of hippo hide. 
 
ACROSS THE DESERT 
 
 that the animals were too tired to proceed any further 
 that night ; in fact, one of them had fallen on the way 
 and had refused to rise. As the first waggon contained 
 all the provisions, I had nothing to eat till the next day, 
 when I overtook it about 9.30 a.m. On my way I found 
 the fallen ox, and, although I tried my hardest, nothing 
 would induce him to rise. So perforce I left him as 
 a feast for the vultures, feeling sure that I should find his 
 bones on the return journey if I did not leave my own 
 somewhere ahead. 
 
 The next day (September 13th) we stopped near a well 
 — a hole about half a yard in diameter and a yard deep, 
 containing a bucket of yellowish water — or rather of liquid 
 mud. There was just enough for the men and myself, 
 but the poor beasts had to go without. At half-past one 
 that afternoon we started off again. The sky was covered 
 with thick clouds, and at the moment of setting out a 
 dust-storm arose that lasted more than half an hour, and 
 nearly blinded us. The animals had not touched water 
 for nearly two days, and I was so afraid that they would 
 not hold out that I sent them forward to Mesa, where 
 I foresaw I should have to stay some days to rest them. 
 At seven o'clock we started for Mesa, which is situated 
 at one quarter of the distance between Palapshwe and the 
 Zambezi, and arrived there the same night. We passed 
 another caravan of natives proceeding south. 
 
 Unfortunately I again lost two oxen. When we 
 arrived they fell down exhausted, and we could not get 
 them up again. Out of kindness, and to spare them a long 
 agony of hunger and thirst, I put a bullet through their 
 heads. That evening I was surprised by a very odd 
 spectacle. Two young Englishmen rode into our camp, 
 each mounted on an ox, and followed by a third loaded with 
 baggage, driven by two boys about ten or twelve years 
 old. Having started the previous April for the Zambezi 
 they had first directed their steps towards Lake N'gami, 
 across the Kalahari desert. There their oxen died one 
 45 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 after the other, and one of the native chiefs refused 
 them permission to cross his territory, giving his men 
 distinct orders to kill them if they attempted to pass 
 northwards. They waited, however, hoping that the chief 
 would change his mind ; but their provisions became 
 exhausted. They had not sufficient oxen to draw their 
 waggon, so laying in a stock of maize-flour and maize- 
 ears — roasted like coffee — and mounting two oxen, with 
 a third to carry their provisions, they turned back. 
 All the time they had to undergo terrible privations, 
 constantly having to pass whole days without water ; 
 they were, at the same time, without food, as water 
 was necessary to cook their flour. It was with real 
 joy that they learnt that an expedition was on the road, 
 and they made straight for our camp. I offered them 
 what I had, and they passed two days with me. Then 
 I gave them some provisions with which to continue 
 their journey, at the same time entrusting them with 
 letters, pleased at having the opportunity of sending news 
 home. I am afraid they furnished me with stories, a little 
 in the style of Baron Munchausen, about the Bushmen. 
 According to them these tribes were very ferocious, never 
 missing an opportunity of killing any Europeans that 
 they met if only they could surprise them, and they 
 robbed and plundered whenever and wherever they had 
 a chance. This was by no means our experience. We 
 had been in constant contact with them for a fortnight, 
 and they never once attempted to steal from us. Often 
 when we had thrown away our empty tins they would 
 come and ask our permission to take them away. 
 
 It was with deep anxiety that I left Mesa. I knew 
 that the next water was nearly sixty miles distant, and 
 I wondered how the oxen, in their miserable state, would 
 ever manage to cover this distance ; on the 20th September 
 we had already been forty -eight hours without water. 
 The beasts were a pitiable sight, and I began to be much 
 afraid, as our chance of relieving them seemed still very 
 46 
 
ACROSS THE DESERT 
 
 distant. First one would fall and then another, and, once 
 they were down, we had great difficulty in getting them to 
 rise again. I sent one of my party forward to reconnoitre, 
 and he returned reporting water about twent3^-five miles 
 distant. At last, after having been sixty-seven hours 
 without water, I reached Mathlalamabedi with one waggon 
 and the double team, the other waggon having been 
 "left till called for." 
 
 But here again there was not enough for the oxen to 
 drink, so I unyoked them, intending to send them forward 
 a march of about three hours, to where I heard there was 
 a large well. But I had hardly got them " outspanned " 
 when they rushed off at full gallop in the direction of the 
 water, which they could now smell. Our difficulty then 
 was to prevent them getting there, for the well is dug 
 out to a depth of about thirteen feet below the level of 
 the ground, and is only about fifteen feet in diameter ; 
 if they all arrived at the same time, there was great 
 danger that they would knock one another about, and 
 that some of them would get suffocated and trampled 
 on. Already the first relay, to the number of sixteen, 
 which had been sent on first, had escaped from their 
 driver and rushed ahead, and had managed to crush one 
 of their number, which I found afterwards lying in the 
 water unable to rise. After an immense amount of 
 trouble we hauled him out by means of " reims " attached 
 to his horns and legs, but even then we could not get him 
 to his feet. At Mesa an ox had fallen exhausted, but 
 I succeeded in getting him up by administering to him 
 about half a bottle of brandy. I tried this method once 
 more here, but without success at the time, although two 
 hours later the beast managed to get up. We ourselves 
 were dying of thirst, but the water was so terrible that 
 even the " boys " had not the courage to touch it. 
 Imagine a mass of blackish mud, upon the top of which 
 was a stagnant ooze of liquid animal manure. Covered 
 with this layer of filth, it gave forth a putrid odour which 
 47 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 completely impregnated you if you touched it. I fished up 
 a pailful, and having thrown some alum into it I filtered 
 it over and over again, and having well boiled it made 
 some coffee and determined to try it. The coffee was 
 bitter, with a distinct ammoniacal taste, and in the evening 
 I was seized with violent vomiting. But if I had the 
 courage to drink it, I was not bold enough to wash in 
 it, the smell was too dreadful. Yet for three days I had 
 not passed a drop of water over my face or hands, and 
 I was covered with a thick layer of dust, which, as I freely 
 perspired, adhered to me all over. 
 
 The worst was that I was forced to remain near the 
 waggon, as the oxen could not return until the next day, 
 and then they would have to go back and fetch the other 
 waggon ; so there still remained the prospect of three 
 more days without a wash, not counting that if I wished to 
 drink at all I should have to make the best of this putrid 
 water. Near the well we found half a dozen Bushmen,, 
 two of whom were living skeletons, all shrivelled up, with 
 face and body covered with wrinkles ; they were at least 
 eighty years old. Their hair was perfectly white, and 
 their bodies, almost mummified, covered with ulcers, 
 presented a striking contrast to the natives we had up to 
 then come across. After all there was nothing to be 
 surprised at in their appearance, when one remembered 
 that every day of their life they partook of this kind of 
 water ; they consumed it without the slightest sign of 
 disgust. They begged us to give them some tobacco, 
 from which they might make snuff; they never smoke. 
 Their food consists of whatever they can find — locusts, 
 dead animals, and even snakes. One of my men having 
 shot a python, got the Bushmen to skin it, and this done 
 these men carefully took away the flesh and, after cooking 
 it, eat it. What is still more incredible, in the body of 
 the python was a small gazelle, covered with slime, and 
 this was also eaten up by the Bushmen. 
 
 The following day I sent the oxen to fetch the second 
 48 
 
ACROSS THE FJESERT 
 
 waggon, and when they returned I sent them once more 
 to Linokani, some six miles ahead, where they had been 
 watered before. My orders were to bring back the animals 
 as soon as they should have drunk, but as they had not 
 returned late in the day, I sent some of the men to the 
 place where the oxen were watering, and they returned 
 with the news that five of them were hors de combat — 
 one dead and four d}dng. It was absolutely impossible 
 
 MASARWA NOMADS IN THE KALAHARI DESEE 
 
 to go forward under these circumstances, and to go back 
 was equally difficult. On Friday, the 25th September, 
 the situation became still more serious, for having then 
 stayed the three previous days in the neighbourhood of 
 the stagnant pool I previously described, with nothing 
 but putrid water, T found myself down with a bad attack 
 of fever. 
 
 On Sunday, the 27th September, we shifted our camp 
 to Linokani, and it became absolutely necessary to make 
 up my mind what I would do. 
 
 I needed at least fifteen fresh oxen before I could 
 1'- 49 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 move ; then I might reach the Zambezi before the rains. 
 I had said that I would go there, and I was determined to 
 keep my word. Only how, without the fifteen oxen — how 
 on earth was it to be done ? 
 
 That evening another complication declared itself. My 
 men deserted en masse, Major and Joseph alone remaining 
 faithful. The others, declaring they had no desire to die 
 at this spot, set out without any means of carrying water, 
 and without provisions, for Palapshwe. They must have 
 suffered terribly before they got there, if indeed they ever 
 did. I had now nobody I could send for help. I en- 
 trusted some letters to a Bushman, but I had not the 
 slightest faith that they would be delivered, as I had 
 to pay him in advance. I determined to abandon the 
 waggons, take one ox, on which I should load enough 
 provisions to last for two months, my donkey to carry 
 my photographic outfit, and my pony to ride. I left 
 Major in charge of the waggons, taking only with me . 
 Joseph, the other Basuto boy — a lad of fifteen — who had 
 remained faithful ; in this way I hoped to get to the 
 Victoria Falls. In the meantime I trusted that help 
 would arrive, and that at least one of my waggons would 
 come and pick me up. Of course I risked losing a 
 waggon and all it contained, but what could I do .? I 
 had determined to go to the Zambezi, and I thought I 
 might just as well try to get there as remain in this 
 swampy desert until help came. 
 
 It took two days to reach Mathlala. At first the 
 pack ox refused to carry his load, and commenced by 
 sending everything flying into the air ; afterwards it 
 became more docile, and did its work fairly well. 
 At this point the appearance of the country changed 
 considerably. We came across numbers of trees with 
 very thick trunks, from which proceeded masses of leafy 
 branches, sometimes reaching to the ground. Approach- 
 ing Mathlala the country was well wooded, but before 
 us there again stretched out an immense bare plain, 
 
ACROSS THE DESERT 
 
 unrelieved by timber or vegetation of any kind. After 
 a trek of about four hours across this we halted, having 
 seen a very pretty mirage effect of Lake Makarikari. 
 At one part, for a distance of about two miles, the plain 
 is covered with thousands and thousands of white shells 
 and enormous quantities of huge ant-hills, from which 
 white ants pour in myriads. On the 4th October we 
 arrived near Lake Makarikari, but were unable to get 
 to the water, as it was very far out and there are quick- 
 
 IN THE KALAHARI DESERT. 
 
 sands all along the borders of the lake. Again we saw 
 a mirage : an island apparently suspended in mid -air. 
 The next day in pelting rain we reached Kuadiba, 
 which is the name of some wells, and not of the river 
 marked on the map. Near these is a small Mangwato 
 village. The natives — fine men, and very different from 
 the Bushmen we had been previously meeting — brought 
 us some cream of tartar fruit (the fruit of the baobab 
 tree), about twice the size of an egg, which when dis- 
 solved in water gives to the latter a slightly acidulated 
 taste. I passed the afternoon in taking photographs in 
 the native village, which consists of a few huts made out 
 of branches and covered with straw. The native utensils 
 51 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 are of a most primitive kind, consisting of earthen pots 
 for cooking, gourds* for boiling water, mortars for grind- 
 ing corn, and spoons, made of a kalabash cut in two, 
 for ladling liquids. The native costume is composed of a 
 kaross round the middle, with a few ornaments of 
 beads and some copper and tin bracelets, and earrings 
 of the ordinary sort. I bought a few articles, and 
 found that the most useful things for barter were red 
 beads and knives. The next day (6th October), after 
 a trek of four hours, we arrived at the Chuani river, 
 where we found another temporary village of native huts. 
 These were occupied by native hunters. Here we ate 
 some giraffe meat, which we found stringy but of a 
 very delicate flavour, and almost black in colour. The 
 water of the river is salt, and the natives collect the salt 
 in the form of very transparent crystals. I entrusted 
 some letters, asking for help, to some Ba-mangwato 
 who happened to be there ; but I did so with little 
 hope that they would arrive in time to be of any 
 service, seeing that the men had no intention of starting 
 for a month, and thus my letters could not get to 
 Palapshwe till late in November. 
 
 For two long terrible days we crossed enormous plains 
 in a perfectly torrid heat. These plains run along one 
 of the Ma-Karikari salt lakes, and must have been part 
 of the bed of the lake. No vegetation grows on the sand, 
 which is impregnated with salt, so that the reflection of 
 the sun makes the heat intolerable. I was so exhausted 
 I could hardly stand on my feet. We had scarcely any 
 water left, and were literally dying of thirst. The second 
 day (October 9th) we made a start at seven in the 
 morning, and after going two hours, crossing the dry 
 beds of three rivers, we arrived at a well of detestable 
 water. Three-quarters of an hour later we halted, certain 
 
 * It seems at first sight absurd to think of boiHng water in a kalabash, , 
 but I have often seen it done. The only precaution to be taken to avoid 
 burning the gourd is to keep it far enough away from the fire. 
 52 
 
ACROSS THE DESERT 
 
 that we were in the neighbourhood of water but not 
 knowing where it was. At last, after a search of two 
 hours, whilst following a path at right angles to the road, 
 we found a pool of 150 feet by 15 feet, and about 3 feet 
 deep. The water was excellent, and it was a rare piece 
 of good fortune to have found it, for the morning before 
 I had only had a pint, and since then none at all. 
 
 On the following day (October loth), after a march 
 of sixteen miles across enormous plains, not quite so arid 
 as the ones we had crossed before, we arrived at the river 
 Nata. The waters were very salt, and undrinkable ; but 
 on the left of the road, about 1 50 feet from the river, we 
 found three small wells. Some Bushmen, who were look- 
 ing after Khama's cattle, brought us milk, and we had 
 plenty of fish and birds — the latter abounding in enormous 
 quantities on the Nata. That night we started again, and 
 went for three hours, keeping for at least half the time 
 along the bank of the river. The country was terribly 
 flat, and we were besieged by clouds of gnats. We 
 camped in an old kraal, but were kept awake all night by 
 the stings of the gnats and the bites of the vermin. A 
 few hours' march in the morning brought us to the Nata 
 drift, and there I decided to have a rest under some 
 beautiful trees. 
 
 On the 1 2th October we started again in the evening. 
 For the last few days, and especially during the nights, 
 we had suffered the most varied tortures, being positively 
 devoured by the insects : ants — black, red, and white, big 
 and small — spiders, beetles, mosquitoes, and flies of all 
 sizes and colours. 
 
 Taking stock at this time, I found that I had only 
 twelve boxes of sardines and five tins of beef left. Luckily 
 I had 100 lbs. of flour and 20 lbs. of coffee. We started 
 at 8 o'clock in the evening, and trekked till half-past two in 
 the morning, having found water after a march of two hours. 
 W^e were then crossing some enormous plains, called the 
 Mokoruani Flats, or " Palm Plains " ; as a fact, those 
 53 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRCIA 
 
 trees are very abundant at this point, and we halted 
 under an enormous one standing quite alone. We were 
 in the country of big game, and we found several giraffe 
 and lion spoor ; but we had something else to do than 
 attempt to follow it up, though all night I slept with 
 my rifle ready. 
 
 For the next five days our journey presented no 
 incidents worth recording. We marched as long each 
 day as the heat would permit over the thick sand, halting 
 wherever we were lucky enough to find water, which was 
 not often. All along the route we found the traces of 
 giraffe, elephant, koodoo, and other animals, but never 
 actually sighted any. At two o'clock in the morning of 
 the 19th October I was awakened by the sound of feet 
 approaching, and saw a caravan of a dozen porters, accom- 
 panied by a European, coming from the direction of 
 the Zambezi. We entered into conversation. The man 
 represented himself as an English minister, giving me . 
 an excellent address in the country, and adding that he 
 belonged to the Primitive Methodist Mission at Shesheke, 
 and that he had intended to go into the country of the 
 Mashukolumbwe, but that the loss of his oxen had pre- 
 vented his doing so. I afterwards found out that he was 
 merely a carpenter attached to the Mission, and that he 
 had just been dismissed. He gave us, however, lots of 
 information concerning the road to the Zambezi, telling 
 us where we should find water and the time that it would 
 take us to reach our destination. We found that we were 
 actually seventy miles from Pandamatenga, and 130 miles 
 from the Zambezi. 
 
 The 19th, 20th, and 21st of October were terrible days. 
 I pushed on as hard as I could, but progress was slow 
 as the ground was still very thick with sand, and the heat 
 terrible ; for hours I was without water, and as I was able 
 to get but little sleep, the fever again attacked me. 
 
 At 8 o'clock on the 22nd of October I arrived in sight 
 of Pandamatenga, and reaching it a little later, rejoiced 
 54 
 
ACROSS THE DESERT 
 
 in the sight of a number of habitations and human beings. 
 I was very kindly received by Henry Wall, a native 
 hunter, who had taken up his quarters here. The frightful 
 ordeal was over, and only those who have come through 
 anything of the sort can imagine what a joy it was. 
 
 I stayed in Pandamatenga until the afternoon of the 
 26th October. I had engaged six porters (Mashubias and 
 Barotses), and it was arranged that I should go and say 
 good-bye to Henry Wall. I started on ahead, and shortly 
 afterwards my porters arrived. They said that the loads 
 were too heavy, that they had all been ill in consequence, 
 and that six more porters must be engaged. I gave 
 my consent to this, and that night we camped near a 
 small river. At sunrise two of the men started off to find 
 the extra porters, and at the end of about an hour and 
 a half returned with a troop of six, two of whom were 
 children. Thus I had a train of twelve, and seeing that 
 they had only a load of 300 lbs. to carry between them, 
 it cannot be said that they were over-weighted. I grew 
 more experienced in the ways of porters before I was 
 done with them. 
 
 My men formed a curious collection of different types : 
 two or three Mashubias, who possessed no particular points 
 of interest ; some Barotses, carrying themselves with a 
 peculiar air of pride — they had very fine features and 
 seemed much more intelligent than the others ; a Batoka 
 and his two children, all with two of their front teeth 
 extracted, giving them an aged and sulky appearance ; 
 and lastly, a Mashukolumbwe, with hooked nose and 
 protruding lips which he would thrust forward. 
 
 It was very hot when we started, and at the end of 
 half an hour the men stopped. In vain I ordered them 
 to proceed : they calmly commenced to light a fire by 
 means of a rod rubbed against a piece of dry wood 
 and some tinder. Having quietly smoked their pipes, a 
 good many of them indulging in dakka (see p. 24) for 
 about three - quarters of an hour, they started again. 
 SS 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Twenty minutes later they stopped once more, this tini6 
 demanding food. I refused point blank, and ordered 
 them to go on, but they would not move an inch. Half 
 an hour helving elapsed I began to lose patience, and 
 having repeated my order to rise, to which they paid 
 not the slightest attention, I walked towards the biggest 
 of the band, the Mashukolumbwe, and put forward my 
 hand to seize him by the scruff of the neck. My gentle- 
 man did not give me time, but, stepping back, grasped 
 his assegai and pointed it towards me. I had my revolver 
 out in a second, and stood facing him with it. All the 
 rest bolted and hid behind trees, and it was only when 
 I had returned my weapon to its case that I could prevail 
 upon them to come out and start again. We had not got 
 forward another mile when they stopped again, declaring 
 that it was too hot to proceed. There was nothing to 
 be done, so I was forced to give in. The heat really was 
 terrible ; we were worried by flies, gnats, and minute bees, 
 that simply put me to torture, getting into the eyes, nose, 
 and ears, and penetrating underneath my shirt. The men 
 lit a fire, and hoping that perhaps after eating they would 
 make up their minds to go on, I distributed some millet to 
 them. Two hours passed before they were ready, and all 
 through the day it was the same thing : march for half an 
 hour and rest for twice that time, so that it was nearly 
 dark before we arrived at Gazuma, a distance of ten miles 
 from our starting-point, which had taken us ten hours to 
 traverse. 
 
 We halted on the borders of an immense flat near a 
 vley, and hardly had we stopped when the sky became 
 overcast with ink-black clouds ; a violent wind arose, and 
 all of a sudden we were plunged in complete darkness. 
 Lightning appeared on the horizon, and thunder could 
 be heard growling in the distance. The storm quickly 
 approached us. Near the place where we had halted 
 there were only two or three trees, and by the light of 
 the flashes of lightning I made my men cut some 
 56 
 
Across the desert 
 
 branches with which to make a shelter. They had 
 only got down a few branches when the storm burst 
 over us ; torrents of rain fell, and we put the baggage, 
 as well as we could, under shelter. As for ourselves, 
 we had to accept a soaking with resignation, for the 
 rain continued all through the night without ceasing. 
 
 The next morning (28th October) we started at 6.30 ; 
 after having crossed the plain we entered a forest. My 
 men marched much better, for they had had no water 
 and nothing to eat, and they were anxious to get to a 
 well. This we ought to have found near a dried-up 
 vley, and when I arrived there I discovered that all my men 
 had become separated, having scattered themselves in 
 the forest to look for fruit and honey. For the first time 
 I was able to witness the truly marvellous intelligence (I 
 use this word purposely) of the honey bird. This little 
 creature, very fond of honey, can only obtain it with the 
 help of man, as the hives are usually in the middle of a 
 dead trunk. When the honey bird catches sight of men, 
 he whistles until he has attracted their attention, and then 
 flutters from branch to branch, waiting for his two-legged 
 partners, and leads them to the hive. With axes the men 
 break the trunk open, taking the honey away, but always 
 leaving a little for the honey bird. 
 
 We walked on till three o'clock, when we stopped, 
 wondering what had become of the others. We had 
 marched very quickly, and ought to have caught them up 
 much sooner. After an hour we heard shouts, which we 
 answered, when two of the men appeared, announcing that 
 we had passed the water and that it was about an hour 
 and a half's march in the rear. We retraced our steps, 
 and when we reached the wells found only four of the 
 eight men who had separated themselves. 
 
 The water was in a well about eight feet deep, with 
 
 three pools, each containing about four quarts. We filled 
 
 our calabashes, and then had to wait till the water had 
 
 oozed once more through the sand, an operation that took 
 
 57 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 about five minutes for every quart. After we had waited 
 an hour the other men came up, the Mashukolumbwe in 
 a violent perspiration and carrying triumphantly a dozen 
 beautiful honeycombs. This was the honey of the big 
 bee, a certain number of which were still adhering to the 
 comb. They are larger round than our European bees, 
 but much shorter and of a greyish colour. The natives 
 declare that they have no sting ; in fact, they removed 
 them with their fingers without harm. The honey is 
 very aromatic, and the natives are extremely fond of it. 
 
 After having prepared some food we were just getting 
 ready to start when about one hundred yards from us We 
 saw a human form, which immediately disappeared. With 
 savage yells my fellows started in pursuit, and in about 
 twenty minutes returned, leading a little old man, who 
 was trembling all over. He was a Masarwa Bushman, 
 and had taken us at first for Matabele, of whom they are 
 terribly afraid. When he perceived a European he was. 
 perfectly reassured. I had just bought an ostrich egg of 
 him for a cup of grain, when suddenly there appeared by 
 him, without anybody having previously remarked his exist- 
 ence, a little monkey, who squatted behind the old man 
 and looked at us with astonished eyes. It turned out to be 
 the Masarwa's little boy, and he offered to sell him to me 
 for another cup of grain. I offered him half a cup, and 
 he accepted. He had got up to go, leaving the little 
 animal behind him without an adieu, when I called him 
 back and told him I was only joking, and that I did not 
 want to buy his little one. His face grew very long, and 
 he insisted that the bargain had been completed. Tthen 
 explained to him that he might keep both grain and 
 child, at which news his serenity returned. What I really 
 wanted, I said, joking, was a boy from ten to twelve years 
 of age. This he informed me would be much dearer, 
 and would cost at least a pound of powder. I told him 
 that was too dear, and without waiting for his reply we 
 continued our way. The old fellow plunged into the 
 58 
 
ACROSS THE DESERT 
 
 forest, his little boy trotting quietly behind him. He was 
 about four years old, and as agile as a young gazelle. 
 
 The next day my men marched very well, never stop- 
 ping until 8.30 p.m., when the rain began to fall again, 
 and when we found it necessary to construct a shelter out 
 of the branches of trees, under which we again managed 
 to sleep. When I awoke the following morning (October 
 29th) the sun was shining brilliantly. We emerged from 
 the forest, and struck the long valley of Leshuma, which 
 is bordered by a low range of well-wooded hills, and 
 where numerous springs of good water are to be found. 
 At this point we were not more than thirteen miles from 
 the Zambezi, and I calculated to reach it towards ten 
 o'clock in the evening. Nevertheless at the end of half 
 an hour the men stopped and clamoured for food. The 
 experiences of the first day were repeated, and I refused 
 absolutely to give them anything to eat. It was of the 
 utmost importance that I should reach the river quickly, 
 as the Leshuma valley is infested with " tsetse," and my 
 donkey ran the risk of being stung. Neither entreaties 
 nor threats were of the slightest avail, the men declaring 
 that they would only start when the sun had reached a 
 point that they indicated, and which meant two o'clock in 
 the afternoon. In a tremendous passion I took all the 
 grain and gave it to my donkey, determined that if they 
 insisted on remaining they should at least do so on an 
 empty stomach. They consoled themselves by smoking 
 their dakka pipes, and would not budge an inch, and as 
 a matter of fact it was past two before we again made a 
 start. 
 
 At the end of an hour and a half s march we entered 
 a forest. Here the vegetation assumed a very grand 
 appearance, gigantic trees rising high above a very thick 
 underwood. At about five o'clock we emerged from the 
 forest, and found a vast plain stretched at our feet, and 
 before us on the horizon a range of wooded hills. 
 We could not be far from the river, which I felt 
 ■ 59 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 sure must flow at the foot of these hills. We were 
 walking through some high grass, when what was my 
 astonishment to find an enormous mass of water at my 
 feet. 
 
 The Zambezi ! At last I had arrived, not without 
 difficulty ; but still I had accomplished what I had said I 
 would. 
 
 The river flows between low banks fringed with high 
 grass. On my left was the Linyanti, which here throws 
 itself into the Zambezi. The two bodies of water at 
 this point are about the same size, nearly seven hundred 
 yards across. Between the two lies the island of Mpalera, 
 on which were growing some palm trees, sole indication of 
 tropical vegetation. I might easily have fancied myself 
 on the banks of the Seine in Normandy if it had not been 
 for a crocodile that was playfully sporting in the middle 
 of the stream. On the other side of the river appeared 
 the huts of the French Evangelical Mission. That very 
 morning, when leaving camp, a native messenger whom 
 I had sent from Pandamatenga to the missionaries 
 announcing my arrival, gave me a letter from M. Jalla, 
 chief of the mission, bidding me welcome and asking me 
 to fire a gun to announce my arrival. I therefore dis- 
 charged my rifle several times, and shortly afterwards 
 was answered from the other bank. After waiting half 
 an hour I perceived a boat crossing the river ; it was 
 hollowed out of a tree, and was propelled by three rowers, 
 standing up, fore and aft. At last it reached me, and 
 a young Frenchman, M. Vollet — a recently - arrived 
 missionary — bade me welcome, explaining M. Jalla's 
 regret that he was unable, through indisposition, to come 
 himself He also told me that I could not cross that day, 
 for the country was very unsettled, and the natives very 
 sensitive, adding that M. Jalla had been forced to send to 
 Shesheke to ask the chief's permission for me to enter the 
 country. Meanwhile I installed myself in a native hut 
 belonging to a native hunter, another of Westbeach's old 
 60 
 
ACROSS THE DESERT / 
 
 men, who had settled down there after his master's 
 death. 
 
 I will here give an extract from my diary : — " So here 
 I am on the Zambezi, in that part of Central Africa that 
 for so many years I had been longing to visit. After all, 
 a journey in Central Africa is not so very terrible. It 
 is very monotonous ; you must be endowed with an in- 
 exhaustible fund of patience and a good stomach. You 
 
 MY HOUSE ON THE ZAMBEZI. {See page 63.) 
 
 must be ready to put feelings of disgust aside, to drink 
 water more or less putrid, to eat no matter what, to go 
 very often without meat, salt and sugar, to remain days 
 together without washing, to sleep whole nights in the 
 water, and frequently to remain for twenty or thirty hours 
 without a shred of dry clothing on you. If you make up 
 your mind to the worst you won't be disappointed. 
 You must get accustomed to live from day to day 
 without trying to know what will happen on the morrow, 
 61 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 You must be ready to change your route and plans from 
 one hour to the other. African travelHng is a constant 
 struggle against the elements, man, and animals ; you are 
 the slave of these three greatest factors of life in savage 
 parts." 
 
 These remarks, written at the time, show the frame 
 of mind I was in. Whether it is a failing or not, I have 
 always made it a rule throughout my life to try and make 
 the best of the present circumstances, letting the future 
 take care of itself ' Forward " has been my motto, and 
 the result has been pretty satisfactory, after all — up to 
 the present. 
 
 At the end of a few days, permission to cross the river 
 came from the chief of Shesheke — a gentleman afflicted 
 with the harmonious name of Nwiangnia Nwongio — and I 
 therefore shifted all my worldly possessions to the northern 
 bank of the Zambezi. My servant Joseph was, however, 
 so ill that I had to leave him in charge of the hunter. 
 When I reached Kazungola, I found the mission station a 
 few hundred yards from the river ; it consists of a well- 
 built house with two wings. Mr. and Mrs. Jalla bade me 
 welcome, and asked me to share their lunch. The meal 
 over — the first real meal I had sat down to for nearly three 
 months — Mr. Jalla asked me where I was going to put up. 
 The question seemed, to say the least, peculiar, considering 
 that there was no other house there but his own ; and it 
 was hard to think that 1 should not be even offered the 
 shelter of a roof, and that a countryman of mine, knowing 
 all the hardships I had gone through, being aware that I 
 was alone, ignorant of the language, without even a 
 servant, should deny me the hospitality of his roof in the 
 heart of Africa. But the situation was such a serious one 
 for me that, putting all feelings of pride aside, I begged 
 him to put me up. He replied that this was impossible, as 
 he was expecting an English missionary. I did not insist, 
 but left to look about and find what I could do. I soon 
 discovered an old tumbled-down house, consisting of two 
 
 62 
 
ACROSS THE DESERT 
 
 rooms, that had been erected by the first missionaries who 
 settled down there. It was now used as a stable for goats, 
 and I determined to take up my quarters in it. I returned 
 to see Mr. Jalla, and at first he made some objection ; but 
 I declared that I ivoiild make my quarters there, and I 
 proceeded to do so. I had secured the services of a boy of 
 twelve, and, Mr. Jalla having been induced to lend me two 
 of his men, I set to work to make the place habitable. 
 I made a bed by sticking four poles in the ground, and 
 fastening cross sticks and reeds on to them. Over this I 
 placed a heap of dry grass. After sleeping for so long a 
 time on the ground this was almost comfortable. With 
 reeds I made a kind of shelf and a table, and an old box- 
 made a substitute for a chair. I shall never forget the 
 misery of the days I spent in that place. It was inhabited 
 by all the pests in creation — vermin, rats, wasps, scorpions, 
 and snakes. Once while I was writing a puff-adder jumped 
 from among my papers, and, falling in my lap, slid down 
 one of my legs ; and another time I woke up with the 
 sickly sensation of something cold passing over my face. 
 I jumped out of bed, and soon after discovered a huge puff- 
 adder- between my blankets. Mr. Jalla asked me, it is 
 true, to partake of lunch at his house, but for breakfast 
 and dinner I had to share the porridge cooked by my boy. 
 To add to all this, the roof of the hut was in so dilapi- 
 dated a state that the rain used to pour through it in 
 torrents. Immediately after my arrival I had sent fresh 
 messengers to the chief of Shesheke to ask for his leave to 
 go there, and it was with true delight that I hailed the 
 arrival of canoes sent to fetch my baggage. I decided to 
 go myself overland, and prepared for an immediate start. 
 
 63 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE BAROTSE* 
 
 THE next morning we left at about 8.30, and after 
 a three hours' march arrived at a fairly large village 
 called Mombova. We halted under the "lekothla," the 
 kind of open shed used by the chief to receive strangers. 
 Crowds of people came to see me, saluting me with 
 cries of " Tumela." Mokumba, the chief of the district, 
 was away, but just as I was about to start the small 
 chief who represented him in his absence came and 
 demanded "setsiba" (a present). I promptly refused, 
 and asked him what he meant by asking a present without 
 even bringing me one. My answer evidently greatly 
 astonished him, and without further discussion I pro- 
 ceeded on my way. Soon afterwards an intelligent 
 looking native approached and offered to accompany 
 me ; though I refused his offer I could not get rid of 
 the fellow, and I gave him to understand that he was 
 wasting his time, as he would not get anything for his 
 trouble. 
 
 Soon after leaving Mombova we passed some women 
 working in the fields : most of them wore strings of 
 beads on the breasts, their costume merely consisting 
 of a skin round the waist ; some of them had children 
 tied across their loins in another skin. The men wore 
 large wooden combs in their hair and bands of beads 
 on their foreheads ; to their hair were also attached 
 duck's feet, hare's tails, and quills containing medicines. 
 
 * The correct plural is Marotse, but I retain the form crystallized by usage, 
 64 
 
THE BAROTSE 
 
 One of them wore a regular helmet made out of the 
 beak of a pelican. 
 
 As far as Mombova our path had been across the plains, 
 and all the way huge grey flies had surrounded us in 
 myriads. But a little way out of Mombova we entered 
 a forest well known for its lions ; the tsetse fly was also 
 very abundant, while the heat was intense, and rendered 
 more disagreeable as it was damp at the same time. We 
 soon reached a small river, nearly dried up (the Umgwezi), 
 in which, however, were still to be found a few pools of 
 
 TYPE OF BAROTSE. 
 
 excellent water. My men had marched well, seeing that 
 between half-past eight in the morning and two in the 
 afternoon they had only rested half an hour at Mombova. 
 After a short halt we set off again about a quarter-past 
 two. Our path still lay through the forest, and we passed 
 numerous lots of natives at different times. At 6.30 p.m. 
 we reached and crossed a small river, close to which we 
 settled ourselves for the night, one of the most miserable 
 I ever spent. We had scarcely halted when such a 
 perfect deluge of rain poured down that we found it 
 impossible to light a fire for cooking, so I had to be con- 
 tent with a piece of wet bread. I spread out my blankets 
 F 65 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 under a tree, and with four sticks, rigged 'Up my macintosh 
 sheet and mosquito net above me. The soil, however, 
 was soaked through, and all I could do was to heap up 
 some damp grass and try and keep myself above the 
 water. Then rolling my blanket round me, I managed 
 to sleep till two o'clock in the morning, when I awoke 
 — dreaming I was drowning. Rain was still pouring in 
 torrents and I was soaked to the skin, while the boots 
 which I had beside me were full of water, and I had to 
 empty them and put them on immediately, or else I 
 should never have got into them again. I fell asleep 
 again, and on waking at daybreak found the rain had 
 not in the least abated. I had no more bread ; there 
 was no chance of fire-kindling, and consequently nothing 
 to eat. Like all natives, my men strongly objected to 
 marching in the rain, and it was only with the greatest 
 trouble I could persuade them to proceed. We started 
 at 7 o'clock in the morning, and in the midst of the 
 driving rain crossed some large plains between belts of 
 forest ; the ground was covered with clay which caked 
 under and along the side of my boots, large quantities 
 even penetrating inside, which rendered walking neither 
 easy nor pleasant. Right and left the grass was very 
 high, and the path so slippery that we almost fell at 
 every step, while the ever-accumulating mud made the 
 weight of my boots unbearable. 
 
 About 1.30 p.m. we entered the forest, and at 3.45 
 crossed the river Kasaia. The rain had ceased, and we 
 were able to make a small fire and cook some millet, of 
 which I was in great need. At 4.30 we started again ; so 
 did the rain, and for hours we trudged on through that 
 dreadful clay. As night began to fall the path got better, 
 and I set my men going at a good pace ; but at 8.30 they 
 stopped and refused to proceed, saying they were done up. 
 As a matter of fact we had accomplished eighteen hours' 
 good walking in the two days, so that I reckoned we 
 ought to be quite near Shesheke ; however, it was no good 
 66 
 
 i 
 
THE BAROTSE 
 
 making a fuss, as the men would not go on. It was 
 raining in torrents all the time ; besides, we were in the 
 middle of an immense plain with no tree of any size 
 worth mentioning, so it was useless seeking shelter. I 
 simply rolled myself up in my blanket and fell asleep, 
 almost floating in water. 
 
 Next morning we were on the march at 7 a.m. ; it had 
 rained continuously through the night, and I had not a 
 dry thread on me. I took off one boot to get rid of the 
 mud, and removed an enormous handful ; but I had so 
 much trouble to get it on again that I made no experi- 
 ment with the other. Without knowing it, we had been 
 sleeping about a mile from a village. At last, about 
 10.30 a.m., the rain having somewhat abated, we reached 
 Shesheke ; the boats bringing my heavy luggage had 
 arrived the night before. I cannot describe how pleased 
 I was to take a bath and get a change, for during three 
 days I had been soaked to the skin and up to my knees in 
 heavy mud. Yet more pleased was I to think that now at 
 last I was settled among genuine African natives. 
 
 Dr. Livingstone was the first to introduce us to the 
 Upper Zambezi. About 1840 he entered on the career 
 of a missionary, and founded a mission at Kolobeng in 
 Bechuanaland, near the chief Sechele ; but, attracted by 
 the unknown, he soon pushed northwards, and in 1849 
 he discovered Lake N'gami, situated to the south of the 
 Zambezi in the middle of the Kalahari Desert. From 
 there his idea was to reach Sebitoani, the King of the 
 Makololo, whose power extended right over the Upper 
 Zambezi. He sent a messenger to Sebitoani, who 
 replied by asking the Doctor to come to him. But 
 Livingstone was a very long time before he was able to 
 put his plan into execution, because of the ill-will of 
 Leshulatchi, the chief of Lake N'gami, who would not 
 allow him to pass. At last, after two fruitless attempts, 
 Livingstone arrived on the Zambezi. There on the island 
 of Mpalera he found Sebitoani, the chief of the Makololos, 
 67 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 who was a native of Basutoland, but had quitted that 
 country shortly after its invasion by Sekonyela, the chief 
 of the MantaHs, and with incredible perseverance cut a 
 way by force of arms to the Zambezi, after having covered 
 a distance of nearly 2000 miles. He found on his arrival 
 on the Upper Zambezi that the Matoka were in power 
 there. They were an extremely fierce tribe, given to all 
 kinds of cruelties, their villages being ornamented with 
 the skulls of their enemies. Sebitoani's contact with 
 them nearly resulted in his downfall. At the very first 
 the Matoka came across the Basuto, hoping to surprise 
 them, but Sebitoani kept the chief of the Matoka at 
 arm's-length, and on the other side of the river the two 
 enemies came to blows. The Matoka were beaten, 
 leaving an immense number of cattle in Sebitoani's hands. 
 The Basuto chief then established himself on the banks 
 of the Katone river, but was constantly harassed by the 
 warlike Matabele, sometimes conquering, sometimes con- 
 quered. At last, in order to avoid these incessant 
 conflicts, he decided to go higher up the river ; and after 
 having beaten the Barotse, who defended themselves 
 bravely, he took possession and settled down in their 
 valley. Nothing daunted, the Matabele determined to 
 revenge their last repulse, and sent an impi along the 
 right bank of the river Zambezi. On their arrival 
 Sebitoani appeared to receive them in a most friendly 
 manner, and conducted them to an island where he had 
 already despatched some herds of cattle. While the 
 Matabele gorged themselves with meat in happy ignor- 
 ance of their fate, the canoes departed, and when famine 
 had done its work and the Makololo judged their enemies 
 sufficiently weakened, they fell upon them and slaughtered 
 them to a man. When the news of this treachery reached 
 the Matabele, Umsili Gazi sent out a fresh impi, who built 
 their own canoes this time ; but the fever reduced them to 
 such a state of weakness that they were forced to retire. 
 On their march homewards they were fiercely attacked by 
 68 
 
THE BAROTSE 
 
 the Matoka, and only five finally returned to the country 
 to tell the tale. Such at least is the version of the affair 
 as narrated by the Makololo. 
 
 Sebitoani, by his kindness and justice, soon gained the 
 affection of the tribes he had conquered, and they were 
 not long in accepting his rule with a good grace. When 
 once his rule was established, he divided his power, 
 according to an old Barotse custom, with his eldest 
 daughter, Ma Moeriosane, who succeeded him on his 
 death, which occurred from inflammation of the lungs, 
 shortly after Livingstone's arrival. Livingstone decided 
 to stay and explore the Upper Zambezi, but not wishing 
 to expose his family to the dangers of the murderous 
 climate, he returned to the Cape in 185 1. In 1853 he 
 started again and went straight to Linyanti (on the river 
 of that name), then the capital of the Makololo, but to-day 
 abandoned. The king was then the son of Sebitoani, 
 Sekeletu, who, though he refused to be converted by 
 Livingstone, yet accompanied the celebrated traveller 
 with an escort of 160 men. Livingstone first betook 
 himself to Shesheke ; then he conceived the idea of 
 opening communications with the West Coast, and for 
 this purpose Sekeletu furnished him with an escort 
 of 27 men. Foreseeing his possible death, Livingstone 
 confided his journal to Sekeletu, begging him to try 
 and forward it to his father-in-law, Mr. Moffatt, in case 
 any disaster happened to himself However, he arrived 
 quite safely at Loanda, and six months later returned 
 to the Zambezi, not without having endured most terrible 
 sufferings. He then began to think of establishing himself 
 on the Zambezi, but the extreme unhealthiness of the 
 country caused him to hesitate. The quantity of rain, 
 the periodical inundations, and the prodigious quantity 
 of matter in a state of decomposition — which, after each 
 overflow, remains exposed to the rays of a tropical sun, 
 while the density of the forests prevent the air from 
 circulating — render the climate most dangerous even to 
 69 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 the strongest constitutions ; so the Doctor determined 
 to leave the country — this time by a new route to the 
 East Coast. No man who has tried the discomforts 
 and discouragements of African travel can sufficiently 
 admire the indefatigable energy of this illustrious 
 explorer. 
 
 After Livingstone's departure grave trouble arose, 
 which upset the empire of the Makololo. When 
 Ma Moeriosane succeeded her father she found herself 
 unable to govern, and yielded her power into the hands 
 of her brother Sekeletu. But a very influential per- 
 sonage, Mpempe (the very wicked), sought to possess 
 himself of the sovereignty ; on one occasion he organized 
 a plot to kill the Queen and the young King when they 
 were ascending the river in company with Dr. Living- 
 stone. But the conspiracy was discovered in time, 
 and Mpempe put to death. Sekeletu proved himself 
 a most cruel ruler. He was extremely superstitious, and 
 always fancying that people were trying to bewitch him, 
 wherefore he caused numbers of chiefs, with their entire 
 families, to be put to death. Somewhat later, as Living- 
 stone tells us, some young Barotse gave the first signal 
 for revolt by making for the north, in the country of 
 Masiko, and killing a Makololo. The Matoka of Suna- 
 nane declared themselves independent, and those of 
 Monemba followed their example, as did also Mashotlane, 
 the chief of the Falls. At last, on Sekeletu's death in 
 1 864, a revolution broke out ; a portion of the Makololo 
 put themselves in opposition to the regency of Impololo, 
 the uncle of Sekeletu, and went and settled on Lake 
 N'gami. After their departure all the other vassals of 
 the Makololo rose, and Impololo was put to death. 
 
 I was able to make some very interesting notes, from an 
 anthropological and ethnographical point of view, on the 
 Marotse and the natives of the Upper Zambezi generally. 
 
 The absolute ruler is the King — " Morena," " N'Kosi." 
 His power is unlimited. In theory he is proprietor of all 
 70 
 
THE BAROTSE 
 
 his people and of everything they possess. Among the 
 Barotse he is chosen by the most powerful chiefs from 
 among the royal family, and is always a male. Next 
 to him ranks the Queen, his sister, who shares his 
 power. The King is assisted by a Prime Minister, 
 called "Gambella," and a Council of State composed 
 of the other chiefs of the tribe. A curious and signi- 
 
 ficant feature of the Barotse Cabinet is that it contains 
 a minister especially appointed to soothe the King's 
 anger. He is called Matamoyo. His hut is in close 
 proximity to the lekothla, and its courtyard is sacred. 
 Every morning the King goes in state to the lekothla, 
 attended by guards beating drums and playing on the 
 instruments of the country. Here he remains till noon, 
 dispensing justice, hearing complaints, receiving petitions, 
 and the like. On one side of this open space lies a 
 vast circular enclosure. Along the whole length of its 
 inner wall is a row of women's huts, their courtyards 
 divided off by branches. In the middle is an enormous 
 71 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 hut set apart for the King. He alone of all males has 
 the right to a hut entirely to himself. He is elaborately- 
 hedged about with ceremony. His people address him 
 as "Tao" (lion) or " Namane Etauna" (great calf). To 
 perform the grand salutation the people go down on their 
 knees, raise their hands high in the air, and cry aloud 
 three times, " Ocho," which means " Great King." Yet 
 more complicated is the name by which chiefs demon- 
 strate their respect. They, too, lift their arms on high, 
 crying, " Tao Tona Siche." 
 
 Then they kneel down, pour water or sand into the 
 hollow of their hands, and spread it over the King's 
 arms. The next step is to strike their heads against the 
 ground, then, beating their palms together, they intone 
 general praise of His Majesty. This is called " Shalela," 
 and is not unlike the salaam of the Indian. When 
 the King has had enough of this, the chief officer 
 calls out " Puma Noko " (the King is satisfied.) Con- 
 sidering how much he gets of it. His Majesty seems 
 a good deal less easily satisfied than I should be in his 
 place. 
 
 The country is divided into districts with a chief over 
 each ; these again into villages ruled each by a sub- 
 ordinate chief. All these chiefs are nominated by the 
 King, and must be of pure Barotse blood. Arrived at 
 his village the chief's power over it is unlimited — 
 always remembering the superior authority of the King. 
 He wears on his head a distinguishing ornament (sekala), 
 made of ostrich feathers. A great chief has a specially 
 big feather for specially big occasions. On the march the 
 principal chief always goes first, and his canoe similarly 
 precedes those of lesser men. When the chief comes to a 
 village he has the right to half the young of the cattle ; 
 the other half goes to the King along with half the butter 
 produced in the village ; this is melted before it starts, and 
 very nasty it is. Indeed, the chief may take from any- 
 body anything he happens to possess — his cattle, the 
 72 
 
THE BAROTSE 
 
 produce of his handiwork or cultivation, even his children ; 
 but the King in turn can take what he pleases from the 
 chief Private property, therefore, does not really exist. 
 In each village, however, every inhabitant has his own 
 field, but one must be cultivated for the chief and one for 
 the King. The old women of the village usually look 
 after the King's field. From its produce comes a present 
 to any traveller or ambassador of a neighbouring chief 
 passing through. It is likewise drawn upon for the King 
 or Queen if they be travelling by, or for a chief on his 
 way to or from the King. Each chief pays tribute in 
 skins and children. If it fails, or is insufficient, the neces- 
 sary revenue is secured by a raid on the village. 
 
 Personal freedom, speaking strictly, is as non-existent 
 as personal property. Each chief has his slaves, and the 
 whole people, of course, are potentially the slaves of the 
 King. Children do not belong to their parents. The 
 people at large, however, are virtually free, unless they 
 are requisitioned by King or chief, which usually happens 
 when they are children. There is no export trade in 
 slaves, yet I have often been offered a child in exchange 
 for a gun. One can buy a child for an ornament — the 
 same price which is required for the purchase of an ox. 
 If a slave falls sick on a journey and retards the march 
 he is killed out of hand. 
 
 The greatest crimes among the Barotse are any attempt 
 against the King, and witchcraft. It is thoroughly charac- 
 teristic of the institutions of the country that theft is 
 considered as a crime only when it affects a chief In- 
 fanticide, usually by strangulation, is fairly common. 
 Assassination is rare ; while rape and adultery are severely 
 punished. The punishment most in practice is strangula- 
 tion, after which the body is thrown into the river. 
 Crucifixion is rarer, but I have known cases of it. 
 Another punishment consists in tying the criminal's hands 
 behind his back, binding his feet, and then leaving him 
 stretched out upon the sand with his face to the sun. 
 73 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Hanging by the wrists is also in vogue among these tribes. 
 Every chief can sentence to death ; usually he executes 
 the sentence himself, and on the spot. If a person who 
 has been found guilty escapes, or is reprieved, he is nearly 
 always pardoned afterwards. Fines, in the form of 
 children and cattle, are frequently exacted ; children often 
 hang themselves when they hear they are to be thus 
 enslaved. Suicide, indeed, is common enough. A man 
 will kill himself on the tomb of his chief; he thinks, as 
 he passes near by, that he hears the dead man call him 
 and bid him bring him water. 
 
 These natives believe in transmigration of the soul into 
 animals : thus the hippopotamus is believed to shelter the 
 spirit of a chief Nevertheless they do not appear very 
 clear that the soul cannot be in two places at once; else, 
 if a chief has become a hippopotamus in the Zambezi, 
 why should one slay one's self to bring water to his tomb ? 
 The Barotse chiefly worship the souls of their ancestors. 
 When any misfortune happens, the witch-doctor divines 
 with knuckle -bones whether the ancestor is displeased, 
 and they go to the grave and offer up sacrifice of grain 
 or honey. They believe in a Supreme Being, " Niambe,"' 
 who is supposed to come and take away the spiritual part 
 of the dead. Thus, to express a man dead, they say, " O 
 Nkeloe had " (he has been taken). They understand 
 what fainting is, and distinguish it from death, saying 
 " Umeletsi " (he is stiff). In time of war they carry the 
 assegais that the King uses to the tomb of some departed 
 warrior, that he may bless them and so insure a victory. 
 They also bring to the tombs cooked meat, which they 
 leave there a few minutes and then eat. When they go 
 to pray by a grave they also leave some small white beads. 
 Whilst an Englishman was journeying to Lialui, he passed 
 near a little wood where there lay a very venerated chief 
 The boatmen stopped, and, having sacrificed some cooked 
 millet, their headman designated a man to offer up a 
 prayer, which ran thus : " You see us ; we are worn-out 
 74 
 
THE BAROTSE 
 
 travellers, and our belly is empty ; inspire the white man, 
 for whom we row, to give us food to fill our stomachs." 
 The tombs of kings — about five-and-twenty of them — are 
 sanctuaries or places of refuge ; so also are the residences 
 of the Queen and Prime Minister. Sometimes the spirits 
 of the dead return to this world : the Barotse term for 
 this is " Litsosela." Cognate to this worship of ancestors 
 is the great, respect displayed for parents and the old — 
 especially the eldest of a family or tribe. They have 
 altars in their huts made of branches, on which they place 
 human bones ; they have no images, pictures, or idols. 
 
 The Barotse are very superstitious. Like true Africans, 
 they will never allow that a man can fall ill or die 
 (even by an accident) without somebody having cast 
 a spell to bewitch him. The sorcerers are supposed 
 to carry on their persons pieces of wood and feathers 
 containing meSicine poison. When they wish to kill 
 anybody they penetrate secretly into the hut and spread 
 or sprinkle over the meat the medicine which causes 
 anyone who touches it to fall ill. When blood is found 
 spilt in a courtyard it is a sign that a sorcerer has passed 
 by. They believe in dreams : a woman often comes asking 
 for a handful of millet, because she has dreamt that she 
 is going to have some sickness if a certain person does not 
 give her a handful of grain. 
 
 Another flourishing superstition is akin to the European 
 were-wolf They believe that at times both living and 
 dead persons can change themselves into animals, either to 
 execute some vengeance or to procure something that they 
 wish for : thus a man will change himself into a hyaena or 
 a lion in order to steal a sheep and make a good meal off 
 it ; into a serpent to avenge himself on some enemy. At 
 other times, if they see a serpent it is one of the "Matotela" 
 or slave-tribe, which has thus transformed himself to take 
 some vengeance on the Barotse. 
 
 The ubiquitous witch-doctor is, of course, to be found 
 among them, though not in the same potent and pestilent 
 75 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 authority as among the Matabele. When anybody is ill 
 the doctor diagnoses the disease by throwing the divining 
 bones. Before a war the doctors concoct a special medi- 
 cine, and, taking some of the froth from it, mark with it 
 the forehead of those who have already killed a man. 
 Similarly when they are about to start for the chase they 
 arrange themselves in a circle at sunset, and the doctor 
 comes with the bark of a tree filled with medicine, and 
 with his finger marks the chiefs on the forehead in order 
 to give them authority over the animals. The Queen's 
 husband marks her himself in the same way. On the 
 occasion of a storm, should a thunderbolt fall near a hut 
 the doctor sprinkles the people with medicine to protect 
 them. When a man is accused of practising magic they 
 force him to undergo a terrible ordeal : they place a stone 
 at the bottom of a jar of boiling water and make him 
 take it out ; then they shut him up in a hut, and if the 
 skin peels off his hand he is a sorcerer. In such a case 
 the punishment is death, and he is either burnt alive or 
 strangled and thrown into the river. 
 
 Often when a person dies, poison is given to his fowls 
 in order to see whether he has been the victim of magic. 
 If they die he has been bewitched. Certain chiefs are 
 supposed to have a special gift for the preparation of 
 terrible poisons, whereof the Barotse are acquainted with 
 various kinds. 
 
 The Barotse have no family names. Each individual 
 has a name of his own, and they add a kind of inverted 
 surname, derived from their children. A man is called 
 Ra (father of) and a woman Ma (mother of), with the 
 name of the child added. A chief usually takes the name 
 of his district, or coins a special term of eulogy for himself. 
 Thus Lewanika was formerly called Robosi, but he 
 changed his name to Lewanika because this means " He 
 who collects all around him," or Emperor. From ten or 
 twelve years, children eat and sleep separately from their 
 mothers ; the women always eat apart. Nevertheless, 
 76 
 
THE BAROTSE 
 
 family feeling subsists strongly — at any rate, in form. 
 Relations take leave of each other with elaborate 
 ceremony. They spit upon each other's faces and heads 
 — or rather pretend to do so, for they do not really emit 
 saliva. They also pick up blades of grass, spit on them, 
 and stick them about the beloved head. They also spit 
 on the hands : all this is done to warn off evil spirits. 
 Spittle also acts as a kind of taboo. When they do 
 not want a thing touched they spit on straws and stick 
 
 \ 
 
 TYPE OF MASHUBIA 
 (Barotse Country). 
 
 them all about the object. On meeting after a long 
 absence, relatives kiss hands, and children so greet their 
 fathers every morning if they have slept apart. Outside 
 the bonds of kinship greetings are less tender and less 
 studied — always excepting the honour done to the King, 
 as I have already described. For small chiefs it is sufficient 
 to cry " Shangwe " (my master) two or three times and 
 strike the hands together ; the chief acknowledges the 
 salute by rubbing his hands. For myself, I observed — and 
 this was my introduction to the anthropology of the 
 Barotse — that when a native met me, whether for the first 
 time or not, he said " Tumela," which means " hail." If I 
 77 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 met a band of them they all said " Tumela " — not in chorus 
 but one after another. They also dignified me at times as 
 " Nwiangnia Morena " — son of a king. 
 
 They do not smoke tobacco, but make it into a kind 
 of cake, taking it in the form of snuff mixed with 
 the ashes of certain woods. They smoke dakka (Indian 
 hemp) through water, out of a horn, spitting through 
 blades of straw. They hardly ever take more than a 
 mouthful at a time, the pipe being passed in a circle to 
 each in turn. 
 
 Circumcision is not practised among the men or boys; 
 but when a girl arrives at the age of puberty she is sent 
 into the fields, where a hut is constructed far from the 
 village. There, with two or three companions, she spends 
 a month, returning home late and starting before dawn 
 in order not to be seen by the men. The women of the 
 village visit her, bringing food and honey, and singing 
 and dancing to amuse her. At the end of a month her 
 husband comes and fetches her. It is only after this 
 ceremony that women have the right to smear themselves 
 with ochre. 
 
 The women are betrothed from infancy and marry as 
 soon as they arrive at the age of puberty. There are 
 no marriage ceremonies. When a man wishes to marry 
 he goes and finds the father of some little girl of five or 
 six years of age and asks for her hand. If his request 
 is granted thenceforth he is bound to provide food and 
 clothing for her, and send from time to time grain, skins, 
 beads, and so on. After puberty, having previously sent 
 an ox to her father, he comes and takes her. Husbands 
 do not care for large families, and should they increase 
 rapidly will frequently send the woman back to her 
 people. Polygamy is common. On the death of a 
 husband his brother has the control of the children and 
 the first claim to the widows ; if he does not exercise 
 this right they are free to take another husband. The 
 duty of the wife is to cook the food, fetch water, clean 
 78 
 
THE BAROTSE 
 
 out the hut, and work in the fields. She does not sew; 
 that is the husband's part. 
 
 Funerals take place at night, and generally immediately 
 after death, while the body is still warm. If the person 
 when alive possessed the skin of an animal they wrap 
 the body in it, and also in a plain mat, and then bury 
 it near the hut. But death inspires them with a mortal 
 terror, and thus the hut of a dead man is nearly always 
 abandoned. Anything that has been used for the burial, 
 such as the wood on which the corpse was carried, is 
 left near the grave. It is the fashion to display great 
 external signs of grief — howls and cries of lamentation 
 and the like. Formerly the graves of chiefs were dis- 
 tinguished by elephants' tusks turned towards the East. 
 All cattle belonging to the deceased are killed, and any 
 animal of which he was particularly fond, such as the 
 cow whose milk he drank, is killed first. They bury in 
 the kraal itself those who died in the kraal, but when- 
 ever it is possible the dying are taken out and laid in 
 the fields or forest. There are two reasons for this : first, 
 they think that away from other people there is a better 
 chance of the invalid making a recovery ; and, secondly, 
 wherever the person dies he must be buried, therefore, if 
 possible, far from their habitations. When a man dies, 
 visits of condolence are paid to the relations, the visitors 
 bringing a calf or a head of cattle as a mark of sympathy, 
 which is killed and eaten as a kind of consolation. The 
 night after the funeral is passed in tears and cries. A 
 few days later the doctor comes and makes an incision 
 on the forehead of each of the survivors and fills it 
 with medicine in order to ward off contagion and the 
 effect of the sorcery which caused the death. They 
 place on their tombs some souvenir of the profession 
 or vocation of the defunct : for example, if he had 
 been a hunter, horns or skins ; if a chair-maker, a chair ; 
 and so on. Over the grave a sacred tree is planted. 
 This tree is a kind of laurel, called Morata. 
 79 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 The costume of the Barotse is simple, consisting of 
 the skin of some small animal attached to a belt of grass 
 or leather ; another skin hangs down behind. In cold or 
 wet weather they cover the shoulders with a skin, usually 
 of antelope, which they also use to wrap round them at 
 night. Another mode of dress is the " setsiba," which is 
 said to have come into vogue since the time of Living- 
 stone. This " setsiba " is a piece of calico, which is passed 
 through the belt so as to hang down in front, then 
 gathered between the legs, and passed through the belt 
 behind, hanging down at the back. 
 
 Their ornaments are many. The most usual is the 
 circlet worn round the calf; it is made of copper wire 
 or cords placed very close together just where the calf 
 begins. In these regions you never see more than three 
 rings on each leg. Round the waist is a belt, either 
 of lizard skin or covered with shells, beads, or buttons. 
 The women sometimes wear a band round the chest, 
 passing over the breasts. Round the neck hang strings 
 of beads — big ones of all colours ; and little beads 
 (less sought after) are sometimes worn on a leather 
 band in patterns ; snake skins rolled round the neck 
 also serve as necklaces, while charms are very much 
 appreciated. 
 
 Every man carries a small scoop of iron, which is 
 used to clean out the nose, to take snuff, to scrape off 
 the perspiration, mud from the feet, to cut fruit, and 
 to insert snuff deep inside the nose. 
 
 Men and women wear the hair short, but a few let 
 it grow to about seven or eight inches long. Some wear 
 a band on the forehead where the hair begins to grow. 
 They use wooden combs, and some fasten to the back 
 of the head a little string of beads two or three inches 
 in length. They also stick feathers in their hair (ostrich 
 plumes preferably), also hares' and ducks' feet, while some 
 even wear a serpent's skin round a plait of hair on the 
 forehead. The women carry their " nose-cleaner " stuck 
 80 
 
THE BAROTSE 
 
 in the hair. They all have their ears pierced. The 
 commonest kind of earring is from one to half a dozen 
 circles of copper wire. Others wear a ring of beads, and 
 some, less smart, merely a button, or a fairly long and 
 thick piece of wood. Nearly all (men included) wear pins 
 and needles of wood, and carry a snuff box — either a 
 horn or a cartridge — while some have pieces of horn or 
 ivory. Rings are very unusual. The commoner bracelets 
 are of plaited straw or string, of which they wear as 
 many as twenty. Then come bracelets of giraffe, buffalo, 
 or hippopotamus skin, with a few of copper ; while those 
 of ivory are worn only by royalty. It is customary 
 for hunters to wear bracelets made from the entrails of 
 animals. Women smear their hair and skin with ochre 
 as an ornament ; but this privilege, as I have said, is 
 reserved to the marriageable. 
 
 Among the Mashukolumbwe and Matoka two or four 
 of the front teeth are drawn out. Other tribes file the 
 incisors. They are usually, though not always, covered 
 with scar-like designs on the stomach, below the breasts, 
 and on the arms. Sometimes you find some of them with 
 drawings, generally in blue, on the forehead and beneath 
 the eyes. 
 
 The weapon most in use is the assegai, without which 
 a man never travels ; the boatman takes it with him to 
 cross the river, the shepherd to the fields. It is used for 
 everything. As a means of defence they either thrust 
 or throw it. It serves also as a pickaxe and spade to 
 dig out holes, and plant branches wherewith to make a 
 shelter. It is a knife to cut grass, twigs, and meat. It 
 is a razor for feast days, and used to cut the hair ; in 
 short, it is the indispensable instrument of their every- 
 day life. The more highly-placed natives have guns, 
 generally old muskets (Tower pattern, 1807), which they 
 handle very skilfully. The chiefs nearly all possess 
 Martini- Henrys, and some also knives. Hatchets assume 
 all sorts of shapes. To cut wood they simply employ a 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 chisel mounted like an axe, with which they strike short 
 quick blows, or else they employ it like a plane, seizing 
 it in both hands ; as a chisel, for handwork, they draw 
 it from the handle. They have also picks. 
 
 Their manufactures comprise cords, pottery, leather, 
 baskets, stone instruments, and metal-work. The Zambezi 
 tribes are very hard-working people. Much of their time 
 is given to utilizing the iron that they find in the beds 
 of the rivers, out of which they make assegais, knives, 
 picks, hatchets, and chisels for wood-cutting ; they are 
 clever at wood- carving and sculpture. They make seats, 
 mortars, and pots with covers of all shapes and sizes ; 
 these are nearly always round, and are really very well 
 fashioned. Everything is made out of a single piece, 
 as they have no idea of joining. They thus carve out 
 their own boats, which are naturally very solid and can 
 attain a good rate of speed. They are also very deft at 
 making baskets out of straw ; these are of all shapes and 
 colours. They know also how to work in clay, making 
 bottles and pots in a kind of terra-cotta very prettily 
 ornamented. They dig holes in the ground, and cover 
 the vessel they wish to bake in red-hot ashes. After 
 baking, it is polished with a piece of horn, usually the 
 foot of an ox or antelope. They only know of one 
 colour for ornamenting their pottery — red — which they 
 produce by the use of ochre. From leather they make 
 bracelets and shambocks, mats from reeds, fishing-nets 
 from a string they manufacture. From the fibre of the 
 palm - tree they make bark cloth, with which they 
 cover their grain. The cords used for common purposes 
 are made by cutting out a strip from a simple palm- 
 leaf; for finer objects they make a cord by rolling these 
 strips on their knees. They know neither the use of nails, 
 nor how to weave. I think I have said that the men 
 do all the sewing, never the women. Straw hats form a 
 large portion of their work, in order to sew which they 
 have to make holes for the thread. Gold, silver, and silk 
 82 
 
THE BAROTSE 
 
 are unknown. They have cotton, but not the least idea 
 how to use it. With feathers they make large "pompons," 
 which the chiefs use to decorate their heads, but they look 
 most like a dusting-brush. 
 
 The native habitations on the Zambezi are well 
 made and well arranged. They consist of several huts 
 surrounded by an enclosure of bamboo or branches. 
 These huts are divided inside ; the inner compartment 
 
 rir333^' 
 
 Knobkerry. 
 
 BAROTSE IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 is the sleeping-room, while the outer gallery is the place 
 where they spend the day and receive their guests. 
 The usual position of the natives is a squatting one, 
 but on the Zambezi they use little seats. The partitions 
 in the huts are made from a mortar composed of earth 
 and cow-dung. The door is ornamented with different 
 designs. They light no fire in these huts ; a separate 
 hut is generally used for cooking purposes. In a 
 corner of the courtyard is placed the altar on which 
 they deposit their offerings — bones, and birds' tails or 
 feathers. Every woman has a hut to herself The chief 
 has no special dwelling — the King only, as I have 
 83 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 explained, enjoys this prerogative — but he hves sometimes 
 with one wife and sometimes with another. 
 
 Their usual manner of making a fire is with a stick 
 of hard wood, about four and a half feet long, and 
 rather thin. With an assegai they make a hole in a 
 piece of very dry wood ; they then take tinder (made of 
 the dried fibres of the palm), and insert the extremity of 
 the stick in the hole. One man keeps the stick between 
 two pieces of wood so that it shall not jump out of 
 the hole, while another turns the stick ; first slowly, 
 between the palms of the hands, and then quicker, 
 until at the end of a minute or two smoke begins to 
 appear ; they drop the smouldering pieces so produced 
 on to the tinder, which soon catches fire. Then they 
 place the tinder on the grass and blow. As soon as a 
 flame springs up, they place on it little twigs of very 
 dry wood, and as soon as these have caught, sticks a 
 little bigger, and then pieces of wood are piled over, 
 until they crown the whole with the largest of all. It 
 sounds ordinary enough, but the Barotse are astonishingly 
 deft at it. I have seen an enormous fire obtained thus in 
 less than five minutes. 
 
 The natives about Shesheke are very great hunters ; 
 in fact, hunting is one of the necessities of existence 
 on the Zambezi. The elephant furnishes ivory, which 
 is their means of procuring all sorts of merchandise ; 
 other animals supply food and skins, which are the clothes 
 of the country. 
 
 Besides the private hunts every year, there are big 
 hunts organized, generally under the direction of the 
 Queen ; these take place some time after the cessation 
 of the rains. At this period the whole of the country 
 in the neighbourhood of the rivers is transformed into a 
 vast lake, from the middle of which arise little islands 
 where the game takes refuge. Then, accompanied by 
 a numerous body of slaves and chiefs, the Queen goes 
 to some village on the borders of the river. All the 
 
THE BAROTSE 
 
 inhabitants and their canoes are requisitioned, and a 
 certain number of the canoes surround one of the 
 islands. Some of the men land and start the game, 
 which take to the water, where they meet their death. 
 Thousands of beasts are thus captured. They are then 
 cut up, and the natives gorge themselves with meat ; 
 what they do not eat is dried in the sun. Half the 
 skins go to the King ; then the Queen distributes one 
 or two skins to each chief and to some of the favoured 
 slaves, and keeps the rest herself 
 
 Fishing is carried on by means of nets or baskets. 
 They also fish with a special kind of assegai. What 
 fish they do not eat they preserve with salt, which 
 is found on the Linyanti, about three hours' journey from 
 Kazungula and also to the north of Shesheke. 
 
 Agriculture is scarce, and rudimentary ; it resolves itself 
 into the production of millet, maize, and peas. Women 
 exclusively are occupied with field work. They use but 
 a single instrument, the spade, and there is no irriga- 
 tion of any kind. The results are proportionate to the 
 methods, though the soil is good, and should be extremely 
 fertile. 
 
 One or two further fragments of raw material for 
 anthropology, I was able to collect among these tribes. 
 They have no knowledge of writing, though they make 
 patterns on their utensils and engrave cleverly enough 
 on wood and iron. They have no more definite 
 standard of measurement than most other savages. To 
 indicate the height of a person they stretch out the 
 hand at a certain level ; to measure cattle they span 
 the length between the tips of the horns. Distance is 
 reckoned by pointing to the sun and mentioning so 
 many days. They tell the time of day by the sun, 
 but calculate long periods by moons. The new moon 
 is the occasion of grand festivities. It is a general 
 holiday ; men of all ranks sing and dance, while the 
 women assemble apart and give vent to strident howls 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 of their own. They kill oxen, which they cook in the 
 public places and begin to eat with the appearance of 
 the moon. Their most fashionable instrument of music, 
 besides the drum, is a kind of piano. On this they 
 can really perform airs of a kind, and that in four-time, 
 not five-time like the Arabs. The piano is often accom- 
 panied by songs pitched very high, and sung through 
 the nose ; the instrument consists of a square piece of 
 wood hollowed out, on which are fixed a number of 
 pieces of iron : it is played with both hands. 
 
 ||g|^^^^f|-- 
 
 BOATS ON THE ZAMBEZI AT KAZUNGULA. 
 
 Their boats, as I have said, are dug out of the solid 
 trunk of a tree ; each one of them has a crew of five, 
 the men rowing in a standing position, with oars about 
 10 feet long-. 
 
 86 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 WE were at the beginning of December, and the 
 rains had started in right down earnest. My 
 provisions were nearly exhausted ; their inventory did 
 not take long to make. I found that one tin of corned 
 beef, two tins of sardines, one ounce of salt, and 
 lo lbs. of coffee constituted the whole of my stores. 
 My worldly possessions consisted besides of six yards 
 of unbleached calico and one pound of red beads. 
 These were my trading goods. My wardrobe was not 
 much more plentiful. I had the remnants of what had 
 been two flannel shirts, two under-vests, three pairs of 
 stockings — or rather of the legs of what had once been 
 stockings — a pair of knickerbockers, patched up with 
 samples of the various qualities of calico used in the 
 interior, and a hat that my boy had carefully placed 
 on the top of the fire to dry, a process by which one half 
 of the crown had been reduced to cinders, and which I 
 had been compelled to repair with a pad of cotton wool 
 between two pieces of calico. I also possessed one gaiter, 
 a broken pipe, and a very thin piece of " Pears' Soap." 
 My only hair-brush and comb had attracted the kind 
 attention of the rats, and they had left very little of 
 them. Fortunately my razor was still in good order, 
 for during the whole of my trip I always shaved every 
 day, a beard being misery to me. In my saddlebags, 
 which never left me, were my notebooks and the forty 
 photographic plates that I had exposed and developed 
 87 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 during my stay on the Zambezi. I had only reserved 
 a dozen for the Victoria F'alls. My medicines consisted 
 of half an ounce of quinine, and, if I add to this my 
 photographic apparatus and my photographic tent, I 
 shall have given a full description of my paraphernalia. 
 No ; I must not forget to mention two blankets and a 
 macintosh sheet that I used as my bedding. 
 
 Under the circumstances I considered it imperative to 
 make an early start before fever knocked me up 
 altogether. I had hoped when I arrived at Shesheke to 
 ascend the river to Lialui, the capital of the Barotse 
 nation. But for this it was necessary to get permission 
 from Lewanika. I sent a message to ask for it, but though 
 I waited and waited it never came. 
 
 The first question to be considered was that of porters. 
 A good many natives constantly leave for the south 
 in order to go and work in the gold and diamond mines. 
 A dozen or so join together, and they are usually glad 
 to escort a white man. However, when I tried to get 
 some I found the greatest difficulty. In several instances, 
 natives, emboldened by the meekness of the missionaries 
 who had allowed themselves to be robbed and half 
 murdered by their flock, thought that they would stand 
 a splendid chance of doing the same with a solitary 
 traveller in a solitary hut, with only a boy of twelve 
 as a companion. Several times they tried their hand 
 with me. I endeavoured to impress upon their minds 
 that I was not a missionary, and that I should allow no 
 natives to come and rob me, and, further, that any man 
 who .should either threaten me or lift up sticks or assegais 
 over my head would soon find himself a corpse. Judging 
 these threats to be empty ones, one fellow broke out one 
 night into my hut and only escaped after getting a sound 
 thrashing. But he was determined to have his revenge, 
 so that the next night he came to my place, and, setting 
 a huge stone through the opening that served as window, 
 dropped it on the structure I used as a bed. Fortunately 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 for me I happened to be out just at the time, and thus 
 escaped being crushed, as the stone weighed some 60 lbs. 
 Having my revolver at hand, I fired two shots on the 
 author of this practical joke. The missionaries, terrified 
 at my doings, were daily predicting that I would get 
 them and myself butchered. They had long talks on 
 the subject with their people, and thus got me the 
 reputation of being a bad, cruel man, and the natives 
 christened me " Ra-di-Tao " (the father of the lions) So 
 that, when I wanted men, all were afraid to come with 
 me. At last I managed to get together eighteen fellows. 
 Remained to get food for five days, until I reached the 
 Victoria Falls, where I hoped to get more. But while 
 before this villagers constantly came to offer me food, 
 now that I wanted some, none came forward. I sent 
 a boy to try and get some, but he could only find 
 about twenty pounds of mealies and twenty pounds of 
 monkey nuts ; but to purchase these I had not enough 
 calico. -I therefore went to M. Jalla and asked him 
 to let me purchase from him a piece of thirty yards. He 
 pleaded that he was short of goods, and would only let 
 me have fifteen yards of damaged cloth. He also gave 
 me about five pounds of mealie meal for my own use. 
 
 On the 6th of December, just as I was going to start, 
 boats from the King came to fetch me, and a most kind 
 letter from M. Coillard, the French missionary at Lialui, 
 was handed over to me. He invited me to share his 
 hospitality, and offered to supply me with whatever 
 trading goods I might require. This was most tempting ;. 
 unfortunately, having no news from Major, who was 
 alone with my waggon at Linokani, right in the middle 
 of the Kalahari Desert, I dared not leave him alone any 
 longer, and I reluctantly had to give up an excursion 
 that would have entailed three months' more travelling. 
 Therefore, on the 8th of December, I bade good- 
 bye to M. and Madame Jalla, and I crossed the 
 Zambezi en route for the Victoria Falls. Two ways lead 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 from Kazungula to the Falls — one along the northern bank 
 of the river (this road keeps pretty far from the river and 
 passes through numerous villages), the second through 
 the forest, along the southern bank. For several reasons 
 I chose the latter ; firstly, I knew that the chief of the 
 village on the northern bank, near the Victoria Falls, 
 was an old villain who demanded an exorbitant price 
 for the loan of his boats, and having but a very limited 
 supply of trading goods left, I ran great risk of being 
 unable to cross the river ; secondly, the forest to the 
 south being full of game, I hoped to kill a sufficient 
 quantity to be able to dry it up and lay aside a reserve 
 that would take me to my camp at Linokani, Unfortu- 
 nately, there was a good deal of wind blowing when I 
 crossed the Zambezi, and the fellow who was carrying 
 my cartridge bag, in his hurry to bale out the dug-out 
 canoe that was conveying him to the other side, dropped 
 the bag in the river and I was left with five cartridges ! 
 The day before I left Kazungula, a miserable, half-starved 
 boy of sixteen came and implored me to take him with 
 me ; he told me that he was a slave and had been bought 
 by a native hunter established in Mr. Middleton's hut 
 on the southern bank, adding that he was constantly 
 beaten by this man and his wife. I engaged him and 
 promised him my protection. I had hardly landed on 
 the southern bank when I heard most awful howls. I 
 rushed to see the cause of this and found Courteman, 
 my rescued slave, tied up and the hunter beating him with 
 : a stick. I ordered him to desist, but the hunter began 
 to abuse me, declaring that the boy belonged to him, and 
 that he would not let him go even if he had to shoot him 
 to prevent his doing so. In answer, I ordered my other 
 men to untie the boy and told him to march along ; 
 thereupon the hunter caught hold of me by the arm and 
 used the most abominable language. This was more than 
 I could stand, so drawing my revolver I covered him, 
 and declared that if he did not let go of my arm I would 
 90 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 shoot him down. His wife rushed out of her hut with 
 a gun, shouting " Murder " ; his other slaves appeared with 
 sticks. I immediately collared my man and informed 
 his wife that unless she put her gun down at once, her 
 husband was a dead man. This calmed her, and soon 
 order was restored. I then explained to the man the 
 hideousness of his conduct, showing him what a good 
 man I was not to take him with me as a prisoner to hand 
 him over to H.M. Commissioner at Palapshwe for slave 
 dealing. He fell on his knees and implored me to do 
 nothing of the kind, and I magnani- 
 mously consented to forgive him /*il|^; 
 upon the production of a fowl. I - "^ -5^' 
 am ashamed to say that had he {'^ ^ 
 thought of bribing me with the offer / ^ 
 of a second fowl I might have ,^'' ,^' .{'^ 
 silenced my humanitarian scruples '^'f 
 and handed back his slave. The 
 latter, however, had thought it better 
 
 to disappear, and I did not see him ^ 
 
 again until late that night. He had 
 spent the day hidden in the reeds. '^'^'^^ °^ matoka 
 
 T r J J 1 r 11 r (Near Victoria Falls). 
 
 i lound my donkey mil oi grass, 
 and in splendid condition ; and at 3 p.m. I made a definite 
 start in the pouring rain. We marched through long grass, 
 and soon reached the forest, and at 6 p.m. halted for the 
 night. The ground was most uneven, and the only flat spot 
 I could find lay at the foot of a tree. I got some grass 
 collected and my blankets stretched on the top of it. 
 My porters, who all carried a fire stick, the end of which 
 was covered with a reed to preserve it from the rain, 
 had soon managed to light some fires, in the way 
 already described. How they did it, with the wood all 
 damp from the heavy rain of the day, seemed perfectly 
 marvellous. I have often tried myself with dried wood, 
 but always unsuccessfully. Joseph, my Basuto boy, who 
 had not yet recovered from his fever, began to pluck 
 91 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 the fowl, and I set to to roast some monkey nuts. 
 The men put their meahes in their pots on the fire, and 
 I was trying to dry my clothes when the rain began anew. 
 It soon fell in torrents, putting the fires out, and the only 
 thing I could do was to turn in between my blankets : 
 and in the dark, starving with hunger, with the rain 
 falling in buckets -full over me, I meditated on the 
 vanities of this world and on the glory of African 
 travelling. Soon, however, Joseph brought me a cupful 
 of monkey nuts that he had rescued from the ashes. 
 I tried to eat them, but the rain had made a cake of 
 them and the ashes, and I had to give it up. I care- 
 fully enquired after my precious fowl, and Joseph assured 
 me that it was safe in the fork of a tree. 
 
 I soon found that I was lying down in a hole where 
 the rain collected, forming a pool, so that I had to move 
 away. I could find no other place to lie down, so had 
 to spend the night propped up against a tree ; and when 
 morning came I looked a most disconsolate object. I 
 was soaked through and half frozen ; my men had lighted 
 a fresh fire, and were squatting round it shivering with cold. 
 With what delight I swallowed a cup of boiling coffee 
 that Joseph had just prepared for himself, I need not 
 tell. I then thought of changing my shirt, the only article 
 of clothing I had to change, so I told Joseph to bring 
 the second and only other one I possessed. He produced 
 a piece of hard pasty stuff. I asked him what he meant 
 — what had been done to that shirt. It turned out that 
 it had been washed with soap of my manufacture. Being 
 short of soap, I remembered having read in a little book 
 on travelling how to make soap. " Take," said the author, 
 " some ashes, put them into boiling water, pour fat over 
 it, and get an old woman to stir the mixture for twenty- 
 four hours." I had followed the prescription ; I had 
 got an old woman to stir up the stuff for twenty- four 
 hours, and I had obtained a residue of rather nasty 
 appearance which I had given to a boy, with which to 
 92 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 wash my precious shirt; and this was the result! Whether 
 the woman I had employed was not old enough or 
 whether she did not stir the stuff during the twenty- 
 four hours I could not tell, but there remained the fact 
 that I was now reduced to one shirt, and a wet one at that. 
 I gave the second to one of the boys. After a lot of 
 trouble he managed to get it on, and it looked like a piece 
 of antique armour after many fights. Although he wore 
 it for over three months, without ever taking it off, it 
 never looked more dirty than the first time he put it 
 on, and remained quite as stiff. 
 
 At 6.30 a.m. we made a start. There was no sign of 
 a footpath, and we had to cut our way through the forest. 
 We kept the Zambezi in sight the whole time, marching 
 along the river fifty yards or so from it, as otherwise, had 
 we kept along the higher ground upon which grows the 
 forest, we should have had to climb constantly up and down 
 the various ravines cut out by the small rivers running 
 into the Zambezi. Our march was most difficult, and our 
 progress very slow ; constantly we had to cross bits of 
 swamp covered with high reeds, making use of the paths 
 cut through them by the numerous hippopotami who come 
 out to feed during the night. These ponderous beasts 
 sink deep in the soft ground, so that one has to hop along 
 on the bits of dry ground between the holes made by the 
 hippos. During the whole of the journey we never had 
 anything dry on us, as whenever the rain stopped we were 
 equally wet through, the water dripping from the reeds, 
 about 15 feet high, through which we had to wind our 
 way. My unfortunate donkey was constantly falling into 
 one of the holes left by the passage of the hippos, and 
 it took the combined efforts of several men to extricate 
 him. The second day of our march we camped on high 
 ground near the river. Determined to try and sleep under 
 a cover of some kind, I got the men to build a long shelter 
 of branches. When this was finished they all spread 
 along the forest in order to try and find something to 
 93 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 eat. The instinct of these people is most marvellous. 
 Guided by the honey-birds some of them always brought 
 back some honey. Two kinds of bees are found along 
 the Zambezi. One kind, very small, half the size of a 
 common house fly, makes its nest in the hollow of dead 
 trees : very little honey is found in these nests. Another 
 kind of bee, the grey one I have described before, gives 
 a most delicious honey. Some of it contains large 
 quantities of red pepper, but as a rule it has a delicious 
 flavour, quite different from that of our European honey. 
 Others of my men used to bring back long black roots 
 resembling a horseradish. These are the roots of the huge 
 creepers that climb up the trees. When cut they are full 
 of a milky and sticky juice, and their taste is very acrid. 
 Others at times caught small tsipa, a striped animal half 
 monkey, half squirrel. Turtles, of the land species, were 
 pretty numerous. I caught a very large one nearly two 
 feet long. Inside we found some eggs ; these were 
 excellent, but the white, even after thorough boiling, 
 remained transparent and gelatinous. I had some soup 
 made of the flesh, and I scarcely ever enjoyed a better 
 meal. This second evening was splendid, with a pure 
 bright sky, and I thought that we should escape rain. 
 Towards eight o'clock four hippos came gambolling 
 within a few yards from the bank; but having, as I 
 explained before, only five cartridges left, I did not want 
 to waste a shot unless I felt certain of a bag. So I took 
 up my position in a tree hoping that the hippos would 
 come out to feed, when I should kill one on land, and 
 thus get enough meat to last us a month. Shooting one 
 in the water would have been useless, as a wounded or 
 dead hippo always sinks, for a couple of hours at least, 
 and it is necessary to have a boat to secure the carcass. 
 I was disappointed in my expectations, as, having 
 probably scented us, the animals did not come on 
 shore. Towards 2 a.m. a terrible storm arose ; the 
 shelter I had built was useless to keep off the deluge 
 94 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 that fell over us, and when morning came the rain was 
 still falling in torrents. To my dismay I found that the 
 bag containing my few clothes had been left in a hole, 
 and only the top of it appeared above the water. The 
 natives hate travelling in the rain, almost as much as 
 they object to walking in the sun, and nothing would 
 induce my men to start while it lasted. One of them — 
 the witch-doctor of the party — went through a curious 
 ceremony. Taking a quantity of branches from a bush 
 of a certain kind, he piled these over a huge log that had 
 been burning against a tree and that the rain had not yet 
 put out. The bush began to emit large volumes of 
 smoke. Taking one of these smoking branches the 
 witch-doctor shook it in the air, shouting, " Rain, rain, 
 go away ; you are no good for men on the road ; go 
 away, go away ! " This he repeated several times, and 
 a few minutes later the rain stopped. He came 
 triumphant to me and asked me what I thought of his 
 wonderful power. 
 
 During the day we came across the spoor of several 
 lions, and we saw large herds of reedbuck and other ante- 
 lopes ; but of course I could not fire a single shot, being 
 compelled to keep my five cartridges in case of a night 
 attack by a lion. That evening and night were as wet as 
 the previous ones. The following day's march was chiefly 
 through the forest, as we had to abandon the river-side, 
 the banks being most precipitous. We passed several 
 rapids, near which large herds of hippos could be seen ; 
 these animals are very partial to quick-running water. 
 The river in these parts is very imposing, being nearly a 
 mile and a half broad. The next day we came again 
 near the river and reached a native village. We found 
 numerous monkeys of several species in the forest around 
 it. The natives of this village brought us some dried 
 plums of a peculiar kind (the stone adhering to the flesh, 
 as is the case with all the fruit found in Africa), but 
 asked such exorbitant prices for them — two yards of 
 95 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 calico for each basket holding hardly over one pound — 
 that I could not buy any. 
 
 At the end of the fourth day's march we began to hear 
 the noise of the Victoria Falls, although we were still over 
 ten miles from them. The next morning we caught the 
 first sight of three huge columns of what looked like 
 steam rising up high in the air. The native name given 
 to the Falls, " Musia Tunia " (cloud and noise), is most 
 appropriate. Gradually as we approached the noise 
 increased, and at last we reached the southern end of the 
 Falls. Above them the river is over a mile broad ; the 
 water boiled and rushed in a wild way. Right in front of 
 us, between an island on the brink of the chasm and the 
 bank where we stood, a huge mass of water, over a 
 hundred yards broad, rushed madly along, then suddenly 
 turning to the left seemed to disappear into the bowels of 
 the earth. 
 
 In order to see the Falls properly one has to turn round 
 so as to get a view from the opposite side of the chasm 
 into which they fall. After taking a cup of coffee I 
 therefore decided to go and camp at the place where I 
 could get the best view, as I intended taking a number of 
 photographs. How fatal this decision turned out will be 
 seen presently. We had to make our way through a dense 
 forest covered with the most luxuriant vegetation, the 
 place being constantly covered with the shower of water 
 that drops from the columns of spray rising from the Falls. 
 
 I find it an absolute impossibility to describe the Falls 
 of the Zambezi. All that I had read about them and all 
 the descriptions that had been given me had created an 
 impression in my mind quite different from the real thing. 
 I expected to find something superb, grand, marvellous. 
 I had never been so disappointed. Of course, to anybody 
 who passed half his existence in South Africa, like 
 Livingstone, or who had never been out of his country 
 before, like Serpa Pinto, it is possible that these Falls 
 present a wonderful sight. But anyone who has travelled 
 96 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 about in the world cannot help saying, " After all, other 
 wonders of nature have impressed me much more than 
 this." When reflecting a little on what had more struck 
 my imagination, I could not help thinking of the Pyramids 
 of Egypt, of the Taj of Agra in India, of the Temples of 
 Rangoon in Burmah, and of those of Nikko in Japan. 
 But I shall be told those are the works of man. Quite so. 
 Let us take the works of Nature. Can one ever forget 
 
 THE TOP OF THE VICTORIA FALLS FROM THE RIGHT BANK. 
 
 the panorama of the Col du Geant in the Alps when seen 
 on a fine clear day? What is more marvellous than 
 the Bay of Naples, or more grandiose than the range of 
 the Kinchunjunga Mountains on the frontier of Thibet in 
 the Himalaya, or, again, the Yosemiti Valley in California? 
 Or, to make a closer comparison, what spectacle is more 
 imposing than the Falls of Niagara ? — the more you look 
 at them the more you are compelled to wonder. The 
 Falls of the Zambezi produce quite another sort of im- 
 pression. It is hell itself, a corner of which seems to 
 open at your feet : a dark and terrible hell, from the 
 H 97 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 middle of which you expect every moment to see some 
 repulsive monster rising in anger. 
 
 The stream above the Falls is about 1800 yards wide: 
 all of a sudden it disappears into a gulf about 130 yards 
 deep and at most 100 yards broad. All the water that 
 falls to the bottom of this chasm leaves it through a 
 gorge just as deep and hardly 100 ft. broad. This gorge 
 winds in and out for many miles towards the east, then 
 gradually broadens until the river has resumed its normal 
 course and proportions. It is only by means of a plan 
 that it is possible to understand the topography. The one 
 shown here is from Mr. Fry's survey, and conveys a far 
 better idea of the place than any description. If it were 
 possible to see the Falls in all their height and breadth, the 
 spectacle would certainly be magnificent. But the water, 
 hurled down from such a tremendous height, gets broken 
 against the rocks and forms a current of air which sends 
 up above the chasm a column of water — mixed with 
 vapour — which rises to an enormous height and falls 
 back again in the form of rain. At certain points the 
 water pours on you in pailfuls. 
 
 A few hours after my arrival I made my men build 
 me a strong shelter of branches (about thirty feet long), 
 hoping to pass several days near the Falls, that I might 
 take a series of photographs of them, and, as far as 
 possible, get out an exact plan. 
 
 I went out to take some photographs, and as I returned 
 to my camp I fixed up my photographic tent in order to 
 develop the plates. I had just begun developing one of 
 them when I experienced a feeling of faintness that 
 gradually grew so strong that I had to abandon the plate 
 I was washing, and had only strength enough to rush to 
 the shelter and throw myself down on my blankets. For 
 the next three days I was almost the whole time un- 
 conscious with heavy fever. My servant Joseph had been 
 feeding me with a little sour milk one of the men had 
 bought from some native fishermen. The third day, when 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 I recovered my senses, I found that one half of my porters 
 were also attacked with fever, so I determined to leave 
 this pestilential spot and to move a few miles higher up 
 the river. I was hoisted on my donkey, and, supported by 
 a man on each side, I managed to reach a spot higher up 
 and drier, where I found an old shelter. I then discovered 
 
 ^ 
 
 VICTORIA FALLS 
 
 BjrW. merton Yry 
 
 O/ie Statute Mile 
 
 G. Phdxp <& Son. 
 
 PLAN OF THE VICTORIA FALLS. 
 
 at the bottom of a bottle a few of Messrs. Burroughs and 
 Wellcome's tabloids of Warburg's fever tincture. I took 
 four of them, and half an hour later began to perspire 
 profusely. In the evening I felt so much better that I 
 decided to make a start the following day. My men told 
 me that the natives whose villages were on the northern 
 bank of the river could not be induced to bring us food, 
 as there was a rumour that the Matabele were raiding in 
 L.ofC. 99 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 the neighbourhood. Our only chance was therefore to 
 push on towards Pandamatenga as speedily as possible, 
 as this was the only place where we could hope to get 
 food It took us three days to get there, over a most 
 difficult country, very hilly, and with seven or eight rivers 
 running at the bottom of deep ravines. All our food was 
 exhausted, and during these three days we had to live on 
 roots : we found a large number of thick black ones, very 
 acrid, somewhat resembling horse-radish. It was with 
 real delight that I caught sight of the houses, with the 
 prospect of a real meal, of which I was greatly in want. 
 
 As soon as I reached Pandamatenga I went to Henry 
 Wall's house, some four miles from the old station. There 
 I was most kindly received by the old hunter, who offered 
 me a cup of milk and some slices of bread and butter, 
 followed afterwards by a hearty meal : a splendid stew 
 with a dish of young mealies that I shall never forget. 
 I was delighted to hear that my pony was in splendid 
 condition ; in fact, I found him with a glossy skin, looking 
 better than he had ever done. When, however, I men- 
 tioned that I wanted to purchase food for my party and 
 myself, Henry replied that it was quite impossible for 
 him to let me have the smallest quantity. He and the 
 other hunters had been ill, and had been unable to do 
 any cultivation that year, and they had not even enough 
 to carry them through the summer, which corresponds to 
 our winter — December to June. I offered to pay what- 
 ever price he liked to mention, but in vain, and all he 
 would promise was to send me a small basket of lo lbs. 
 of wheat to make bread for myself This was serious 
 news. My camp was nearly 300 miles away ; with the 
 exception of coffee I had no provisions whatever, and we 
 had been living on roots before reaching Pandamatenga. 
 Even marching hard I could not possibly get to my 
 camp under fifteen days. Counting my men, Joseph, and 
 myself, I had twenty mouths to feed, and putting down 
 our daily allowance at the smallest amount necessary to 
 100 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 keep body and soul together, one pound of grain per man 
 per diem was the least we required. This meant 300 lbs. 
 I had to get. I mounted my horse and returned to my 
 men in a most dejected frame of mind. In the afternoon 
 Henry came over to me. I had put up in the abandoned 
 station of Westbeach,* and we discussed once more the 
 question of food. He declared that he could not spare me 
 a single pound of grain, but added that he was bringing 
 me the side of a sable antelope that one of his men 
 
 THE ZAMBEZI ABOVE THE FALLS. 
 
 had just shot. I immediately got the meat cut into 
 strips and hung up to dry. 
 
 Early the next morning I saw a dark-skinned, 
 corpse-like European coming from the south. He was 
 accompanied by a little black girl about twelve years 
 of age, who was a most distressing sight ; her bones 
 literally protruded through the skin, and both were 
 
 * Pandamatenga was originally a Jesuit Mission Station. When it was 
 abandoned, Westbeach, an English trader, took up his quarters there, but 
 after his death the place was abandoned and was used as a store by the native 
 hunters of Westbeach, who remained on the spot. 
 loi 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 ravenous. I had just had some soup made out of the 
 meat given me the day before, and after they had 
 been comforted a bit, I tried to find out their history. 
 It was rather peculiar. It appears that a few months 
 previously a caravan of Mambari (native traders from the 
 West Coast) came to Lialui, the capital of the Barotse. 
 With them was a Portuguese, accompanied by two boys 
 and two girls. He stated, through the men of the 
 caravan, that he was a colonel in the Portuguese army, 
 and wished to go to Zumbo, the westernmost Portuguese 
 station on the Upper Zambezi. He had no trading goods, 
 and possessed only a Martini-Henry rifle and ammuni- 
 tion. Lewanika — the King — declined to send him to 
 Zumbo, but in exchange for his Martini-Henry supplied 
 him with a boat and food to take him down to Kazun- 
 gula, also giving him an old matchlock gun. M. Coillard, 
 the French missionary, gave him a letter for M. Jalla, 
 at Kazungula, asking him to try and send him down 
 to Palapshwe by some waggon when one should be going 
 down there. On the way down the river, while the boat 
 party was camping on the shore, lions came during the 
 night and carried away the two boys. Ultimately he 
 reached Kazungula with the two girls, aged respectively 
 twelve and eight, his wives, according to his statement. 
 He was given a hut and food, and during the month 
 he spent there, he was constantly firing his matchlock 
 without any reason, and behaving in a most eccentric 
 fashion. M. Jalla was therefore glad to get rid of 
 him when the waggon that had brought Mr, Vollet from 
 Bechuanaland returned south. 
 
 His story of what had happened since, was the follow- 
 ing. The driver of the waggon had daily ill-treated 
 him ; had threatened to take away his wives, until, 
 terrified, he ran away from the waggon when they reached 
 the Makarikari Salt Lakes, taking with him his wives, 
 his matchlock, an enamelled plate, and a small basket- 
 ful of mealies. He then retraced his steps towards the 
 
 I02 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 north. The food supply was soon exhausted, and his 
 wives, these children of twelve and eight, began to be 
 unable to go on. Fortunately he came across a party 
 of natives who gave him an old spear and a little mealies 
 in exchange for his matchlock. Very soon the small 
 girl was unable to proceed, and she died. Here the 
 fellow, with tears in his eyes, gave me a most appalling 
 description of how he had been compelled to dig a grave 
 with his hands. After that he had had to carry on his 
 shoulders the other girl, until he was picked up by some 
 of Henry's hunters. 
 
 I confess that I felt full of pity for the poor fellow. 
 Although I did not credit the whole of his tale, I could 
 not help thinking what an awful position his was — a 
 European alone, friendless, foodless, in the middle of 
 Africa. I gave him one of my three pairs of stocking 
 legs (the feet had been worn to shreds) and half a yard 
 of calico, and I divided with him the half-ounce of 
 quinine 1 possessed. I then made him what I considered 
 to be a most liberal offer. If he was willing to leave 
 the little girl he called his wife in charge of Henry 
 Wall, who consented to take care of her, she would 
 be sent down to join him by the first waggon going 
 to Palapshwe. In the meantime I would lend him my 
 donkey, and take him down in this way to my waggon, 
 sharing with him my scanty stock of food. When I 
 reached my waggon I would give him some clothes, 
 take him to Palapshwe, and there give him ;^5 in order 
 to enable him to communicate with his Consul and await 
 the help that the latter might send him. He thanked 
 me, called me " Excellencia," and his father, and other very 
 touching names that I did not understand. But later on 
 in the day, when Henry Wall came to take charge of 
 the little girl, my Portuguese friend said that before 
 starting he should like me to sign a contract. " A 
 contract," I said ; " what do you mean ? " " Yes, your 
 Excellency must write clown his promises; that he will 
 103 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 give me a suit of clothes, a Martini-Henry carbine, and 
 500 rounds of ammunition plus one hundred thousand 
 reis (about i^2o) when we reach Palapshwe, and then 
 I shall be his Excellency's slave, and shall never leave 
 him." I was dumbfoundered. " Why, man," said I, 
 "are you mad? I don't want you. When you reach 
 Palapshwe you can write or wire to your Consul ; and 
 it strikes me that you do not realize that what I am pro- 
 posing to you is a great favour." " No contract, no go ; 
 me no want Consul, want contract," was his reply in broken 
 French. This was too much for me, and I told him to go 
 to a place said to be still warmer and more dreary than 
 the Kalahari Desert — if such a thing is possible. 
 
 All this had made me forget the more important subject 
 of food. A great misfortune occurred during the day ; a 
 heavy shower of rain came, and the meat that had been 
 hung up to dry, got soaked, and I much feared that it 
 would soon rot, which duly happened. In the afternoon 
 I saw a native bringing on his head a huge basket full of 
 mealies — about 60 lbs. I went to him and asked him 
 whether this was for me. " No," he replied ; " I am 
 bringing this for the men who look after Henry's cattle." 
 I assured him that he made a mistake, and as he would 
 not be convinced I drew my revolver. At once he 
 dropped his basket and bolted. I hurriedly got my men 
 to pack up my ill-gotten food, and without waiting for 
 explanations gave the signal to start. How I was to 
 cover the 300 miles that separated me from my camp 
 was a question that I dared not consider. 
 
 It was a real comfort after so many hardships to be 
 once more on a horse, and I expected to be able to 
 proceed at a brisk pace and to reach my camp in twelve 
 or thirteen days. 
 
 However, we had scarcely been two hours on the road 
 
 when I felt an intense lassitude creep over me ; I felt cold 
 
 and could hardly resist falling asleep. I soon started 
 
 vomiting, and got so weak that I could not proceed a 
 
 104 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 single step further. I dismounted, and lay down there 
 and then, among a mass of small sharp stones. In vain 
 did Joseph implore me to come on a little further, where 
 we should find a better camping-ground ; I declined to 
 move, and could not even be induced to lie on my 
 blankets. Joseph covered me up with them, and I was 
 told afterwards that I was delirious the whole night. 
 In the morning I woke up with all my limbs aching ; but 
 we had to go on, as not a single hour could be wasted. 
 When we camped that evening I had the food brought 
 to me, and after carefully measuring it, I found that there 
 was just enough to allow each man one quarter of a pound 
 of mealies per day, the smallest amount sufficient to keep 
 alive men who had to cover twenty miles daily, in heavy 
 sand. This bare allowance would, I calculated, just last 
 twelve days, after which we should have to starve. 
 
 I began to feel violent pains in the left shoulder and 
 in the knees, with daily attacks of fever ; quinine brought 
 on instant vomiting, and shortly afterwards I was un- 
 able to get on my pony without assistance. For a man 
 who is suffering from bilious fever and the beginning of 
 rheumatic fever, to ride twenty miles daily on half a cup of 
 boiled mealies, and to sleep in the rain day after day, is not 
 exactly the treatment I should recommend. Daily I got 
 worse. On Christmas Day I reached Gerufa Vley. A poor 
 Christmas dinner I had — a handful of boiled mealies and 
 a little honey my men found. All night the hyaenas kept 
 us awake. The next morning we came across the corpse 
 of the poor little girl whose death and burial my Portu- 
 guese had so dramatically described. The corpse was 
 scarcely decomposed ; part of it only had been eaten by 
 the animals, and the face showed signs of intense suffering, 
 so that it was evident that the scoundrel had abandoned 
 the child to die of hunger and thirst. A further proof of 
 this was that we found traces of the spot from which she 
 had dragged hersel 
 piece of palm fruit. 
 
 105 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 I was riding ahead of my men when, all of a sudden, 
 I found numerous fresh spoor of oxen, and a little further 
 on I caught sight of several ponies. I hurried on and 
 found two waggons ; these belonged to an American and 
 an English officer, and I rejoiced to think that at last 
 I should get something to eat and sufficient provisions 
 to take me to my camp. How I was to be disappointed 
 will soon be seen. I was greeted most cordially by the 
 two travellers, who had heard about me. They asked 
 me to breakfast, but I was so done that I could hardly 
 eat, and only enjoyed a cup of coffee with sugar and 
 milk. How delightful it seemed also to smoke a 
 cigarette. I explained to them the terrible plight I 
 was in ; but, although they condoled with me, no offer 
 of help was forthcoming. Putting pride aside, I asked 
 them to give me a few tins of preserved meat and sundry 
 jorovisions to go on with. What was my astonishment^ 
 nay, my disgust — when the American, the owner of the 
 waggons (the British officer only accompanied him as a 
 companion) excused himself on the ground that their 
 tinned provisions were at the bottom of the waggons. 
 Then I begged for at least a little flour. " Well," said 
 the American to his companion, ' you might give him 
 a couple of pannikins of meal." The Englishman took 
 me to his waggon, and gave me about four pounds of 
 Boer meal. He also gave me about a pound of sugar, 
 and begged me to accept a packet of cigarette papers 
 and a good supply of tobacco — his own property. He 
 was so ashamed of the shabbiness of his companion 
 that he apologised for it. " You see," he said simply, " all 
 the things here are his own, and I can't dispose of 
 what isn't mine ; but I 'm disgusted." This is the only 
 time during the whole of my African experience that 
 I have found a white man unwilling to assist another 
 white man. I should have done more for a starving 
 native than he did for me ; in fact, I often have. How 
 many times have I been pressed to accept the half of 
 1 06 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 the scanty provisions or clothing of a European, an 
 utter stranger whom I met for the first time ; and how 
 often have I done the same, and rejoiced to be of use 
 to one of my fellow creatures. There is no room for 
 churls in Africa. 
 
 But enough of this. I shall not quote the name of 
 this young American, a man of wealth, who started with 
 grand plans : he was going to reach the Congo from the 
 Cape, and, like many others, stopped short at the first 
 
 TRAVELLING IN THE KALAHARI. 
 
 difficulty. That evening I slept near Watcha Vley, 
 feeling too bad to go any further that day. When I 
 awoke the next morning I found that my legs could not 
 carry me any longer. The pains in my knees and general 
 weakness increased every day, and I had to be hoisted 
 by four men on to my pony. I suffered real agony in 
 the saddle, and, in order to remain on horseback the least 
 possible time, I adopted the following system. Early in the 
 morning I used to start ahead, and holding hard to the 
 pommel of my saddle, go at a brisk pace until I reached 
 a pool or until I had ridden for four or five hours. I then 
 107 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 used to let myself drop down, tie up my pony to a 
 stump, and await my men. Several disagreeable incidents 
 happened to me in this way. One day I had started 
 ahead for my afternoon march. Towards 5.30 I reached 
 Tamakaliani Vley, and after securing my pony I crawled 
 under a shelter I had built on my way up. All of a 
 sudden I heard the roar of a lion : it seemed to be quite 
 close by ; my pony was shaking with fear, and trying 
 to break the reins by which I had fastened him to a 
 tree. His master, I confess, was not less afraid. I only 
 had a revolver, and I was helpless. Looking round I 
 caught sight of the lion a quarter of a mile away, fanning 
 himself with his tail and already rejoicing at the good 
 meal he was going to enjoy. With what longing I 
 looked at a tree that was close by ; I made a desperate 
 effort to rise, but in vain. Being unable to do any- 
 thing else I remained still, but I felt most uncomfort- 
 able. Then it struck me that the lion would probably 
 prefer a well-fed pony to a half-starved, bilious, fever- 
 stricken, tobacco-stinking piece of humanity like me : 
 and I awaited the course of events. A few minutes 
 later — minutes that seemed hours to me — my men came 
 along singing, and the lion disappeared. That night 
 we made big fires all round the camp ; but although 
 we heard the lion once or twice, he did not come to 
 disturb us. 
 
 Another time I had to cross a huge plain, at the 
 end of which a big palm tree stood as a landmark. 
 The waggon track made a long detour to the left, so 
 I thought of taking a short cut : the sun was broiling 
 hot, and when I reached the middle of the plain I 
 suddenly noticed that the palm I was making for was 
 swinging round. I understood that I was pretty near 
 fainting, and had to brace myself up, as, had I fainted, 
 my men, who were certain to follow the waggon track, 
 would not have failed to go on, thinking that I was 
 ahead ; and therefore I stood a good chance of feeding the 
 108 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 wild beasts. At last I reached the palm tree, and pushed 
 on ahead until lo a.m. I let myself drop under a shady 
 tree, and, having fastened my pony to a stump, went to 
 sleep. When I awoke I looked at my watch ; half-past 
 eleven and no sign of my men; I felt certain that they 
 must have passed on without seeing me — a foolish idea, 
 considering that my pony was tied up within a couple of 
 yards of the path ; but my fever-worked brain did not 
 realize this. I waited a quarter of an hour, half an hour ; 
 no one. I made up my mind to go and look for them, 
 so, crawling on all fours, I approached my pony. This 
 frightened him ; he backed, broke the stump to which he 
 was fastened, and started away. Well knowing how 
 difficult it was to catch him, once loose, and how apt he 
 was to stray away, I determined to catch him myself, as 
 had I lost him, I should have been unable to go any 
 further. So I crawled on all fours towards him ; with 
 the pains I suffered in my knees this was agony. At last 
 I got within two yards. I stretched out my hand to seize 
 the reins, but at this moment off he started and went 
 fully fifty yards further, when he stopped to graze. Once 
 more I went after him, crawling on my belly this time. 
 My hands were torn by the bush and . thorns, but I 
 managed to get within a yard of him ; I was just going 
 to grasp the reins hanging on the ground when off he 
 went as before. The strain on my nerves was such, my 
 position seemed so desperate, that I sobbed violently like a 
 child. I was nearly 1 50 yards from the road, too weak to 
 get back there, and running the risk of being left behind 
 should my men pass on, which they might do at any 
 moment. I was in this uncomfortable state of mind 
 when I noticed that my horse had caught his hind fetlock 
 in the reins and was unable to move on any further. He 
 lugged and pulled and shook his head ; would the rein 
 stand the strain ? I trembled at the thought of its giving 
 way. Once more I braced myself up, and taking a piece 
 of wood as a support I dragged myself like a snake 
 109 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 towards the horse. At last I secured him ; but there 
 remained to get on his back. I threw the snaffle reins 
 over his head, and then seizing hold of the stirrup 
 managed to haul myself on to my knees. I then caught 
 hold of the mane with one hand and of the saddle with 
 the other, and with a desperate effort stood on my legs, 
 the sweat pouring from my forehead. I then caught 
 hold of the off-side stirrup leather and hoisted myself 
 half-way up the saddle ; then, catching the girth, I gave a 
 shove forward ; the saddle turned, but I lay across the 
 back of the pony. I then managed to lift my right leg 
 over his hind quarters, dragging it over with my right 
 hand. At last I was mounted. But another difficulty 
 arose ; the sun had disappeared behind clouds, and having 
 no compass I had not the faintest idea where the path lay. 
 I remembered having noticed three palm trees near the 
 place where I had gone to sleep, and I now looked for 
 them ; but to the right, to the left, and behind me were 
 three different groups of three palms. I decided to try 
 them all. My first attempt was a failure, but at last I got 
 to the road. No men were to be seen. I tried to 
 discover their spoor. No fresh spoor was visible in the 
 sand — where could they be ? It was now one o'clock, and 
 they ought to have been here by ten at the latest. I was 
 about to start back, when one of them appeared. I had 
 not had a drop of water since six the previous night, and 
 with the exertions I had just had to make I was almost 
 unable to speak through intense thirst. The man who 
 had just appeared carried two calabashes, and I asked him 
 for water. He tapped one to show me that it was 
 empty, and declared that he had no water. I was 
 so desperate that I threatened to shoot him if he 
 did not bring the other calabash at once. Frightened, he 
 hastened to produce it, and I drained the hot, muddy 
 contents, nearly one gallon, that tasted like nectar to my 
 parched lips. The whole caravan soon turned up ; it 
 appeared that they had stopped to cut down palms, the 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 young shoots of which gave a pretty good food. They 
 gave me some, and it tasted Hke the very best of celery. 
 The poor fellows had so little to eat that I had not the 
 heart to abuse them for their delay, and we started 
 again. 
 
 That same evening I had to quiet a small rebellion. 
 Improvident, like all natives, they grumbled when I dis- 
 tributed the small daily ration. One of the Barotse — the 
 reigning tribe of the Upper Zambezi — declared that they 
 were superior to the others, who were but slaves, and that 
 therefore they should have double rations. I told them 
 that they should have nothing of the kind, as myself— the 
 big master and a white man — was satisfied with the same 
 ration as my men. Thereupon the fellow seized the 
 calabash, containing what remained of the food, and 
 was making away with it, when I ordered Joseph, my 
 Basuto boy, to catch hold of him and to bring him to 
 me. Seizing him by his necklace, I told him to beg 
 pardon on his knees. I was myself on my knees. But, 
 instead of doing so, he seized an assegai near at hand. 
 Before he could lift it up I had dealt him a violent 
 blow on the face, and he dropped stunned. The men, 
 who thought me half dead, were much astonished at 
 the result, and the defaulter came and humbly begged to 
 be forgiven. I took this opportunity to warn the others 
 that they had better never attempt to threaten me, as I 
 should not hesitate to shoot any man who did so. I 
 explained to them the wonderful power of my revolver 
 by firing five shots at a tree ; having never seen a 
 revolver, they were perfectly astounded, and never gave 
 me any trouble after that. 
 
 On New Year's Eve we reached the Nata drift, but 
 the water being utterly unfit for drinking purposes I 
 pushed on to the next camp, close to the salt-pans. I 
 got there once more ahead of my men and dropped down 
 from my pony close to a pit, but when it came to drinking 
 out of it I found myself in great trouble. The hole was 
 III 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 about two feet deep and two feet wide. I tried to put 
 my head in it, but only managed to get my forehead in 
 the water, and made so much sand fall in that I had to 
 scrape it away gently before the water reappeared. I then 
 tried to put my two hands in it as a cup, but once more 
 the sand covered the little water at the bottom before 
 I had managed to reach it. It never entered my head 
 to get a straw to suck it through, Bushman fashion, and I 
 spent two hours alongside the tantalizing fluid until my 
 men came and I got a cup. Grass was collected under 
 a tree, and I lay on it. When I sent for the food to 
 distribute it, to my horror I discovered that there was but 
 one day's rations left, and we were still one hundred miles 
 from my camp ! There was nothing to do but to march 
 on as hard as we could go. Accordingly, after a couple 
 of hours' rest, I got hoisted once more on my pony, but I 
 was so exhausted that I immediately fainted. My men 
 put me back on my improvised bed, and it was not till 
 late at night that I recovered my senses. I had a violent 
 fever, and was unable to think of anything ; in fact, I felt 
 pretty certain that the next day would be my last, and 
 my thoughts centred into one, "Que diable suis-je venu 
 faire dans cette galere ? " 
 
 The next day — New Year's Day, 1892 — it was evident 
 that the state of my health made it absolutely impossible 
 for me to proceed any further. After having well studied 
 the situation from every point of view, I decided on the 
 following plan : I would kill my donkey, whose flesh I 
 would dry in the sun, then I would send my servant 
 ahead with my pony and sixteen of my men till they 
 got to my camp. I would only keep two men by me, 
 on whom I could depend. As soon as my servant got 
 to the camp, Major (the man I had left in charge) was 
 to come to me on horseback, as quickly as he could, 
 bringing some provisions for me. 
 
 Meanwhile I hoped that my health would improve with 
 rest, although the place where I was was not very favour- 
 112 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 able, seeing that I had to sleep under a tree which hardly 
 protected me from the sun, and that I had only muddy 
 water to drink. The flesh of my donkey would partly 
 suffice to feed my servant and his caravan, and 1 would 
 keep the rest for myself and my two men. Ten days, 
 at least, must pass before help could come. 
 
 What I most feared was to lose consciousness, and to 
 be buried alive by my escort under the impression that 
 I was dead. This idea no doubt was due in great 
 measure to the state of my mind, arising from my 
 feverish condition — but the thought was none the less 
 disagreeable. 
 
 I was just about to put my plan into execution, and 
 sacrifice my poor donkey, when a native caravan appeared 
 on the scene, accompanied by a transport waggon. This 
 was an embassy of King Khama, returning from a mission 
 to the King Lewanika. I soon concluded an arrangement 
 with the chief of the expedition, who agreed for a sum 
 of money to carry me to my camp in his waggon. I was 
 then lifted in by four of my men and placed on the top 
 of a pile of bales of all kinds. I cannot be sufficiently 
 thankful for the kindness that was shown me by these 
 natives. Although very short of provisions themselves 
 they shared their food with me. My poor men were 
 less lucky, and when we arrived at my camp, at Linokani, 
 for three days they had eaten nothing. I cannot possibly 
 describe what I suffered during the six days that this 
 journey lasted — every shake of the waggon seemed to 
 break my pain-stricken limbs. The day after my arrival 
 I was very annoyed to find that two of my men failed 
 to answer to the roll-call. Since my departure from the 
 Zambezi they had always lagged behind, arriving at 
 camp after the others. I was told that for three days 
 no one had seen them. I im.mediately sent some men 
 with provisions, to try and find them, but no trace of 
 them was ever discovered. Evidently they must have 
 died in some bush — a habit of natives and wild beasts. 
 I 113 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 They must certainly have died of hunger, for that part 
 of the desert was absolutely uninhabited. 
 
 When we reached Linokani I was " unloaded " from the 
 waggon and carried into a good hut, that, according to 
 my orders, Major had built, with the help of Bushmen, 
 during my absence. In this hut he had made a bed 
 by sticking posts in the ground and stretching cross-pieces 
 of wood over them ; with a thick layer of grass this 
 made a very good bed. I gave orders to distribute four 
 pounds of flour to each one of my men, and then asked 
 Major for news. 
 
 The first he gave me was good : the oxen I had left, 
 with the exception of two that had died, were in splendid 
 condition. Twelve fresh oxen had been sent to me, and 
 had arrived a fortnight previously ; some of them were 
 good, but most were old animals worth nothing. Then 
 came the bad news. While the new oxen were being tried, 
 my waggon tent had once more been carried away by a 
 branch — one of the reasons why buck waggons ought 
 never to be taken for such expeditions ; then the tyres 
 had become perfectly loose — a very common occurrence 
 with most waggons except Weddeburn's ; last, and worst 
 of all, myriads of rats had attacked my goods, got fat 
 on the flour and sugar, and not content with this had 
 destroyed most of my trading goods : incredible to say, 
 they had even nibbled at some bars of lead ! It could 
 not be helped. 
 
 I now considered ways and means to effect my 
 return. Oxen I had, but I had no leader, and what was 
 more serious, no driver. Major, who had suffered greatly 
 from pains in one of his arms, was utterly unable to use 
 it now, in fact it was almost shrivelled up. I therefore 
 suggested his making arrangements with one of the 
 Bamangwato, in whose waggon I had just been brought 
 back, and we- soon struck a bargain. Reims had to be 
 looked after, and fresh skeys to be made, so I decided to 
 start four days later. 
 
 114 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 While these arrangements were being made Joseph had 
 prepared dinner, and he soon brought me some corned 
 beef, with boiled peas, bread, and a smoking cup of 
 coffee with milk. How I enjoyed this dinner; how I 
 enjoyed smoking a cigarette afterwards ! Only those who 
 have known what it is to starve for a month can understand 
 my feelings. Then it began to rain ; how delightful it 
 was to see the rain falling, and not to receive it all 
 over me. It seemed incredible at first, and I had to pass 
 my hand over my face to realize that I was not getting 
 soaked through. I really felt then that life was worth 
 living to enjoy such luxuries. After a thorough wash I 
 put on a clean shirt, real socks — not only the legs — and 
 a pair of trousers without holes. Never did I feel more 
 proud of my appearance, not even when I donned my 
 first dress suit. 
 
 The day after my arrival I was drinking a cup of 
 coffee on my bed when a rat fell down on my blankets 
 from among the logs that formed the wall of my hut ; 
 the beast looked scared, and instead of making a bolt 
 of it, kept shrivelled up and looking upwards. Looking 
 up myself to find the cause of its extraordinary behaviour, 
 I noticed a huge snake partly hanging down above my 
 head. Unable to jump out of bed I let myself roll down 
 and hurriedly crept out of the hut, calling out to Major to 
 come and kill the beast. Major accordingly took an 
 assegai and stuck the serpent through the head ; but in 
 its dying convulsions the snake spat in my servant's face, 
 a distance of over five feet, and some of the venom went 
 in his eye. I immediately washed him with boracic acid, 
 and told him to go on washing himself with the lotion.* 
 He suffered a good deal of pain the whole day, but 
 towards evening all inflammation had subsided. During 
 two months no symptoms of any injury manifested them- 
 
 * I have heard of other similar cases, and I found that the eye ought 
 to be washed at once with a solution of ammonia (i part ammonia to 50 
 of water) introduced into the eye. 
 
 J15 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 selves, but at the end of that time they broke out, as 
 I shall have to relate later on. 
 
 Four days after my arrival, everything being ready, we 
 made a start. I shall not describe our return journey for 
 the reason that I spent the whole time stretched in my 
 waggon. Every day, when we had outspanned, I used 
 to be pulled out of it, trying to make use of my legs ; and 
 after twelve days, when we reached the Lechaneng Vley — 
 it had taken us nearly a month to get to Linokani from 
 this spot on our way up — I was able to walk about a 
 dozen steps with the help of a stick. My intention 
 was, on arrival at Palapshwe, to get rid of my waggon and 
 oxen there, then, taking the first post-cart to Macloutsie, 
 to remain in the hospital there until I should have re- 
 covered the use of my legs. I then intended going down 
 to Pretoria by post-cart, and thence home via Natal and 
 Zanzibar. 
 
 Not wishing to appear a miserable invalid on my arrival 
 at Palapshwe — I hate to have people pitying me — I 
 donned, the next morning, my best pair of breeches and 
 field boots ; and having been hoisted on my pony, I 
 rode, for the third time, over the terrible road that leads 
 into Palapshwe. 
 
 On my arrival I went to the hut of the officer who had 
 lately been appointed Resident, Captain Carr Ellison. I 
 found him outside his hut and told him my name. " Are 
 you coming to look for your missing relative ? " said he. 
 I informed him that I was the missing relative, and he 
 looked rather astonished to hear that I was not dead, 
 as reported. I declined to dismount — knowing that I 
 should not be able to remount — and promised to call on 
 him the following day. When I returned to the usual 
 outspan, I was most astonished not to see my waggon 
 there. I felt certain that it had come to grief over that 
 disgraceful bit of road, and started off in search of its 
 remnants. Just two hundred yards further, near the first 
 hut of the village, I found it ; the oxen were outspanned ; 
 ii6 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 on the box sat the driver, a Bible turned upside down in 
 his hands. . 
 
 I asked Major why he had stopped. " Well, you see, 
 Master, your driver is one of Khama's Christians, and 
 I could not persuade him to come inside what he calls 
 the town ; as one of Khama's men he is awfully frightened 
 of his chief, and says that the latter would be certain to 
 fine him if he came inside the town on the Sabbath. 
 Now you see he reads his Bible upside down, but it 
 does not matter ; and," added Major, who was very sharp, 
 " the other day, while we were outspanned, he saw some 
 natives coming, and hurried to get his Bible, but unable 
 to find it he picked up one of your books, and pretended 
 to read it." I was much amused, but less so when I had to 
 pay 23. for a fowl worth everywhere else, outside Khama's 
 territory, about 2d. ; but then probably Khama's fowls, 
 being reared among Christians, are worth more than others. 
 
 The next day we came to the usual outspan, and there 
 I witnessed a most amusing scene of animal intelligence. 
 My donkey Jack used to follow the waggon like a dog. 
 When we started he had probably been in search of some 
 dainty morsel, and a few minutes after we had outspanned, 
 he came along. Seeing a waggon he cantered towards 
 it and stopped. This was not my waggon, but one belonging 
 to Mr. Lloyd, a missionary, who has since written a book 
 to refute what I said about Khama in a London paper. 
 Jack began to examine it — the waggon, not Mr. Lloyd — 
 and soon discovering his mistake, came to his own 
 lodgings. In the middle of the patch of swamp close 
 to which we stood, several horses were grazing. For a few 
 minutes Jack looked at them, then, after braying in the 
 most desperate fashion, started at a mad gallop towards 
 a white pony some two hundred yards off. When he got 
 to it he rubbed himself against it ; both animals began 
 to lick one another, then rolled down together and lay 
 literally in one another's arms. I discovered afterwards 
 that this was a pony that had belonged to a man I had 
 117 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 travelled with, and had always been Jack's particular chum. 
 They had not seen each other for months, but Jack 
 had at once spotted his old friend. But the most curious 
 part of the performance was to come. After lying down 
 together for a few minutes they got up, and Jack began 
 to examine in an inquisitive fashion the head of his 
 friend, then started licking him on the eye, soon braying 
 in the most heartrending fashion. I discovered afterwards 
 that the pony had had an eye put out since we last saw 
 him, and there is no doubt that the donkey expressed his 
 sorrow for his friend. This donkey was the most intelli- 
 gent animal I ever had in my possession. 
 
 Anxious to return to Europe without delay, I en- 
 quired about means of transport. I soon heard that 
 the Macloutsie post - cart had left the day before 
 my arrival. I then enquired about the oxen that 
 had been sent to my camp while I was on the 
 Zambezi. I heard that they had been sent, at the request 
 of the French Consul at the Cape, by the Bechuanaland 
 Trading Association, and that £<^ apiece had been 
 charged for them. Considering that, at that time, the 
 best oxen were worth £6, and that four out of the 
 twelve that had been sent, ranged between 12 and 15 
 years of age, I found that a little too much advantage 
 had been taken of the fix I was in. But better still 
 followed. The next day the manager of this Company 
 sent me a bill for 15s., for petty expenses connected with 
 the cashing of the money, being the cost of a wire sent 
 to know whether the French Consul was good for the 
 amount. This, of course, I declined to pay. Then wishing 
 to get rid of the whole of my outfit, I went to see the 
 manager, and asked him to take back the animals. He 
 replied that to oblige me he would do so, and offered 
 me ;^3 per head ! I was offered £a,o for a waggon that 
 had cost over £\20. Disgusted, I made up my mind 
 to leave Palapshwe ; fresh meat and rest had worked 
 wonders with my health, and I decided that, rather 
 118 
 
RETURN THROUGH THE DESERT 
 
 than make a present of the waggon and oxen, I would 
 get some use out of them. 
 
 So that, to everybody's astonishment, four days later 
 I started for Matabeleland. 
 
 " Why, have you not had enough of it ? " asked someone 
 of me. 
 
 " No," I replied ; " I am only just at the beginning of 
 my trip." 
 
 I little thought then, that a couple of years later, I 
 should still be at it, and that I should find myself in 
 Uganda. 
 
 119 
 
^ CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TO BULAWAYO - 
 
 ON the 27th of January, 1892, 1 left Palapshwe at sunrise. 
 I had fancied that no worse road than the one leading 
 from Lechaneng Vley could be found, but I soon dis- 
 covered that the road to the Lotsani river was ten times 
 worse. In fact, to this day, it is a wonder to me how 
 a waggon can pass over the place without falling to pieces. 
 It is disgraceful that a man like Khama, who poses as 
 having advanced ideas, should let the approaches to his 
 village remain in such a condition. Instead of spending 
 thousands of pounds on the building of a cathedral for 
 the use of one-tenth of his subjects, whose prayers would 
 be quite as welcome to the Lord if they came from a less 
 grandiose building, the chief could, with very little expen- 
 diture, have rendered what he calls his capital approach- 
 able, and thus conferred a lasting benefit on the whole 
 of his people, to say nothing of the white men. But 
 we know that these count for so little, in Khama's 
 estimation, that he does not trouble about them. To 
 return to the so-called road : imagine a series of huge 
 polished slabs of rock forming a gigantic staircase, with 
 steps two to three feet high ; throw over these, boulders 
 five to six feet in diameter, and you will have an idea of 
 the place. Over it the waggons must pass for a distance 
 of nearly three miles. The oxen at each moment fall down, 
 breaking yokes and skeys ; the waggons are shaken by 
 epileptic-like convulsions, and, however well fastened may 
 be the goods on them, these at each minute fly in all 
 120 
 
MATABEl 
 
MATABELE and MASHONA LAndS 
 
 Scale.lt 5,000.000 , l_ , \ 
 
 BeorgeJTtOip i SanSZ FleeL StJE.C 
 
 Published bi/ Methuen di; Co., London. 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 directions. At the foot of the hill you find heavy sand, 
 until you reach the Lotsani river, about six miles from 
 Palapshwe. 
 
 We arrived there at 9 a.m. and outspanned. I then 
 went with Major and Chick we, a Zambezi boy, to see if the 
 river could easily be crossed. I found it hardly thirty 
 feet broad, but with a precipitous bank on the offside. 
 Just then, some natives started crossing it : muddy water 
 was rushing down at a great speed, and the natives formed 
 a human chain, holding each other by the hand before 
 getting into .it. These precautions seemed superfluous, 
 but I soon discovered how necessary they were ; the fore- 
 most man soon got water above his chest, and it was all 
 he could do to keep his legs, so powerful was the current. 
 Two- girls who were in the party were carried bodily off 
 their legs, and only saved from drowning through the pre- 
 caution I have described. Unfortunately in their struggle 
 their clothes that they had not removed — consisting of a 
 piece of calico tied round their breast— got disentangled, 
 and floated away. Great was the ladies' dismay — and, 
 unwilling to appear in a state of nature before a white 
 man, they could not be induced to get out of the water. 
 Shortly, however, the cold got the better of their modesty, 
 and getting out of the stream they rushed, screaming and 
 laughing, towards some reeds. There another girl took 
 them some skins she had borrowed from their male com- 
 panions, and they proceeded on their way to the town. 
 Getting my waggon across with such a depth of water 
 and such a current was out of the question ; and it was 
 well I did not try, for in the evening, an empty native 
 waggon, having attempted the passage, got swept away 
 and rolled over, two of the oxen being drowned. During 
 the night more rain fell, and the next morning the river 
 was fuller still. I planted some sticks in the mud to mark 
 the rise or fall of the water, but during the whole day 
 it remained pretty much the same. All the afternoon 
 we suffered terribly from the attacks of millions of vicious 
 121 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 flies, resembling our common house fly, but with a most 
 painful sting that they managed to inflict through the 
 thickest of clothes. 
 
 In the evening my pony showed alarming symptoms 
 of poisoning. His belly was greatly swollen, his legs 
 icy cold, and he lay down in great pain. I had him 
 rubbed hard with Elliman's embrocation, and after three 
 to four hours of treatment he had quite recovered. This 
 medicine is one of the most useful I know, and to its use 
 I owe, myself, the recovery of the use of my legs after 
 my hardships in the Kalahari. "Horse" embrocation should 
 be used for men : the " General " is too. weak. I attributed 
 the poisoning of my horse to his having eaten a kind 
 of tulip abundant alongside the rivers of this part of 
 the country. Some months later, Mr. Weil lost in this 
 way three out of four beautiful salted mules ; their 
 symptoms were exactly similar to those my horse 
 suffered from. 
 
 The next morning at sunrise the river had fallen 
 eighteen inches, and by lo a.m. there remained but two 
 feet of water in its bed. We therefore started to cross it. 
 We experienced considerable difficulty in doing so, the 
 banks being, as I have said, most precipitous and slippery. 
 We passed that day a good many fields well cultivated 
 by Khama's people ; but after that, until we reached 
 Tati — about one hundred miles farther — we came across 
 no sign of human habitations. With the exception of a 
 few steinboks, we saw no trace of game ; guinea fowls 
 were, however, pretty numerous. 
 
 After suffering as we had done in the Kalahari from 
 the want of water, we now began to suffer from the other 
 extreme. Daily we encountered terrible storms, and 
 the numerous rivers we came across were much swollen 
 and gave us a deal of trouble. 
 
 On the 1st of February we reached the Mothloutsie* 
 
 * This river, called the Macloutsie near the Crocodile, is called the 
 Mothloutsie further up. 
 
 122 
 
2 ^ 
 
 w| 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 river — the frontier of Matabeleland and Khama's country 
 — near which we found an outpost of the B.echuanaland 
 Border Pohce, usually known as B.B.P. This was a mere 
 picket of three privates and a corporal. Their quarters 
 consisted in a bell tent, outside which they had manu- 
 factured a table out of pieces of wood stuck in the 
 ground, supporting a frame of small branches. They 
 presented a most ludicrous appearance, as, having no 
 scissors, they had shaved their heads. They very kindly 
 offered me to share a cup of coffee with them, an offer 
 I readily accepted. I was most astonished, talking with 
 them, to find men of such brilliant conversation. The 
 privates were men between thirty and forty. One of 
 them knew all about the London Law Courts, and it 
 was easy to see that he had an intimate knowledge with 
 the best London Clubs. The other had travelled through 
 the whole world, and the Royal Navy had no mysteries 
 for him. The third was well acquainted with India, and 
 mentioned several incidents that had occurred in a 
 native State while I was there myself I discovered 
 afterwards that I had met a broken-down barrister, a 
 cashiered naval officer, and an ex-captain of a crack 
 Indian regiment. The corporal himself was a young 
 Boer farmer. The number of men who are hiding their 
 misfortunes or disgrace under the uniform of the B.B.P. 
 corps is astounding ; but whatever may have been their 
 past career they were a fine body of men, plucky and 
 well disciplined, ready for anything in exchange for the 
 pay of six shillings a day they drew for their services — 
 and they fully earned their money. The corps was a smart 
 one, and their smartness was chiefly due to their admirable 
 commanding officer, Colonel, now General, Sir Frederick 
 Carrington, a grand soldier, beloved by his men and his 
 officers. 
 
 I had just finished my coffee when the corporal advised 
 me not to lose any time crossing the river, as we could 
 notice a heavy fall of rain towards the north, and the 
 125 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 river swells up with extraordinary rapidity although its 
 bed is nearly 300 yards broad. The warning came just 
 in time, as we crossed over some two feet of water, and 
 a few hours later over six feet of water was racing down 
 the stream. 
 
 We outspanned on the opposite bank, and one hour later 
 my herd-boy came to report that my pony was lost. I at 
 once despatched all the men in search of it, but in vain, 
 and it was only due to the great kindness of the policemen, 
 two of whom started on horseback, that I recovered it. 
 The country is there covered with dense bush, and the 
 men cannot possibly keep the animals in sight. The only 
 way to avoid such mishaps is to fasten a bell on the 
 neck of the leader of your ox team — the oxen always 
 keeping together. The ponies ought to be tied up by 
 a long rope to a peg and moved along every half hour 
 or so. 
 
 Two days later we reached the Shashi river, over 400 
 yards broad, with high steep banks on the northern side. 
 I rode across before getting the waggon in the water, 
 and, finding but two feet of water in the bed, gave orders 
 for the waggon to proceed. When we reached the middle 
 of the stream we got stuck into soft sand, and the water 
 driving more sand against the wheels we got seriously 
 fast. On we whipped the oxen, then we yelled, screamed, 
 and howled, but to no effect. First a skey broke, then 
 a yoke, then another skey. In the meantime the water 
 was rising rapidly, and things were assuming a serious 
 look, when at last the waggon began to move. On we 
 went, and now I thought that we were out of the difficulty: 
 the front oxen were within twenty yards of the bank and 
 we were moving on nicely when I saw one of my Zambezi 
 boys, who was leading the team, disappear under the water, 
 followed by the two leading oxen. I pushed my pony 
 towards the scene of the mishap, when the two leading 
 oxen, having regained their legs, turned sharply round, 
 pushed my pony, and upset me in the water with the 
 126 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 animal on the top of me. I was soon up, soaked through 
 of course, and I tried to discover the cause of the mishap. 
 Right in front of the bank was a huge hole five feet deep 
 and about fifteen feet broad. I caught hold of the two 
 leading oxen myself; but no sooner did they lose their 
 footing than they turned wildly back, rushing among 
 those behind, knocking one of them over, and entangling 
 themselves in the chain. Cursing and swearing, my boys 
 rushed to the rescue ; six skeys and one yoke were broken, 
 and while we were hurriedly changing these, the water 
 was still rising and nearly reaching the inside of the 
 waggon. We had a fresh try, but again we broke skeys ; 
 the driver's whip was carried away by the current and 
 we could hardly keep our legs, so strong was the rush 
 of water. The waggon was shivering all over, and it 
 looked pretty well as if it was going to be carried away — 
 not an uncommon occurrence. At last, I heard crackings 
 of a whip, and caught sight of a waggon that had just 
 arrived on the northern bank. I rushed to the driver 
 and asked him for the loan of his team. He was a Boer, 
 and, obliging like all the people of his race, answered 
 that he would help me for two pounds. 
 
 " All right, man," I said ; " come on." 
 
 " No, you pay first," was his quiet reply. 
 
 So I rushed back to my waggon, got the money, arid 
 a few minutes later his team was hooked on to mine. 
 Six of his oxen were on the bank, and having a good 
 purchase of the ground began to set the waggon in 
 motion. To my intense relief ten minutes later it stood 
 on the top of the bank. It was none too soon, as half 
 an hour later the water had risen another four feet, so 
 that nearly eight feet of water was rushing at the rate 
 of ten miles an hour down stream, and had I not secured 
 this unexpected help my waggon and team would have 
 been rolling down towards the Limpopo river. 
 
 As it was, all the goods had to be off - loaded 
 and put out to dry, as the whole of the cargo at the 
 127 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 bottom of the waggon had been soaked. Several bags 
 of flour, sugar, and salt had been completely melted or 
 ruined. The next morning had to be spent in making 
 fresh skeys ; we had still a big river to cross — the Tati — 
 before reaching the settlement of that name, and as we were 
 only six miles from the place I decided to ride ahead. 
 Just as I was going to leave I saw a policeman coming 
 on horseback with despatches for Captain Scott, then 
 on his way to Bulawayo, and we started together. When 
 we reached the Tati river we found it full of water. It 
 is pretty wide, being between 400 and 500 yards, and 
 expecting that we should have to swim, I removed my 
 boots ; the water, however, was only three feet deep, and 
 we got across all right. We soon passed some ruined 
 buildings, near which stood an old portable engine — how 
 it was brought up there seemed a wonder — and at last 
 we arrived near a corrugated iron store. 
 
 Out of a hut came a young man in knickerbockers, who 
 asked me to dismount. 
 
 " I have a few friends here," he said, " and we are having 
 a bit of refreshment : will you join us ? " 
 
 I readily accepted, and as we were going towards the 
 hut he enquired who I was. 
 
 " Decle is my name," I said. 
 
 He stared at me from head to foot. 
 
 " What, are you Decle, the scientific Johnnie ? " he then 
 asked. 
 
 " Well, I am Decle ; as to being a scientific Johnnie," 
 I said, laughing, " I cannot claim the title. I have been 
 sent out by the French Government to collect documents 
 for scientific men, but I am a very great ignoramus — at 
 least so far as science goes." 
 
 When we entered the hut I found a collection of lively 
 fellows sitting on tables, chairs, and boxes ; on the table 
 stood a respectable number of empty Heidseck bottles. 
 
 " Why," exclaimed Farley, my host, " here is the great 
 savant we have heard of"; and having introduced me to 
 128 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 Captain Scott, Major Maxwell, and other officers who 
 were there, he apologised for the empty bottles that stood 
 about, adding that he supposed that I was a member of 
 the Blue Ribbon Army, but at the same time filled up a 
 tumbler and handed it over to me. 
 
 It was quite a treat to taste once more a glass of 
 champagne, and first-rate champagne too, after months of 
 putrid water. 
 
 I found out that Captain Scott and his companions 
 were going to see the big dance— the great yearly festival 
 of the Matabele, on the first moon of February, when 
 15,000 warriors gather round Bulawayo and go through 
 all sorts of military evolutions. Of course I was most 
 anxious to accompany the party, but Farley informed me 
 that no one was allowed to go to Bulawayo without the 
 King's previous leave. Farley promised to write at once ; 
 but no answer could come before twelve days at least, 
 which meant my arriving when the dance would be over. 
 In the meantime he invited me to stop as his guest ; and 
 more kind, liberal, and genial hospitality I never received. 
 My host hearing that my waggon was coming' up, 
 at once sent a team to help it over the Tati river, and 
 in the meantime we adjourned to lunch. Besides the 
 B.B.P. officers and our host, the indefatigable manager of 
 the Tati Company, were two of the assistants and an 
 American, MacDowell, amalgamator at the Monarch Gold 
 Mine, some 35 miles up the Tati river. He had been 
 cowboy, miner, speculator, and what not, had the most 
 inexhaustible stock of fun, and kept us in roars of 
 laughter. Champagne flowed, songs followed, and when 
 we adjourned to Farley's house we found an organ, on 
 which our host was no mean performer. 
 
 How delightful it was to me, after these months of 
 hardships, of solitude, to find myself among such genial 
 fellows, with every kindness lavished on me. I have not 
 forgotten, and shall never forget, my reception there. 
 But let it be said, this was but one of the many instances 
 K 129 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 when I have received the most unbounded and kind hos- 
 pitahty. In fact, looking over the three years I spent in 
 Africa, I can only remember two exceptions when I have 
 been treated in a different way by white men, and in both 
 cases those who treated me badly were not Englishmen. 
 
 When I left Palapshwe I had only just recovered from 
 the severe attacks of rheumatic and bilious fever that had 
 laid me so low in the Kalahari Desert. The soakings 
 I got in the various rivers we had* to cross to get to Tati 
 now began to tell on me, and I soon got prostrated once 
 more with bilious fever ; but I was so well looked after by 
 my kind host that I soon recovered. 
 
 Major Maxwell, who had remained behind awaiting, 
 like me, Lo Bengula's leave to proceed to Bulawayo, then 
 proposed that we should go and visit the Monarch Gold 
 Mine, some 35 miles up the Tati river, where the mining 
 operations of the Tati Concession were being carried on. 
 Farley kindly lent me a light covered waggon, and we 
 made a start. Three days later we reached Monarch, a 
 considerable settlement, where great activity prevailed. 
 On the way I was struck with the extreme beauty of 
 the country we crossed. Well watered, well timbered, 
 with magnificent grazing grounds, a perfect climate, the 
 country seemed admirably suited to farming, and, with 
 the exception of Matabeleland proper, I consider that 
 no more valuable property than the immense territory 
 of the Tati Concession is to be found south of the 
 Zambezi. 
 
 On our arrival at Monarch we were most kindly received 
 by the manager and his staff. I found my friend Mac- 
 Dowell ready to spin any amount of fresh yarns, and I 
 struck up a real friendship with the assayer and chemical 
 expert, a German named Kessler, a most able mining 
 engineer. 
 
 After a couple of days we heard that the King's leave 
 had arrived, and we accordingly returned to Tati. There, 
 Farley insisted upon my leaving my cumbersome buck- 
 130 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 waggon behind, lending me his Hghter and more com- 
 fortable covered waggon. He also offered to take charge 
 of four of my oxen which showed signs of sickness, 
 and on the i8th of February we were ready to make 
 a start. My personnel consisted of Major, my faithful 
 headman, a Mangwato driver, and eight of the Zambezi 
 boys who had come with me from Kazungula. Just as 
 I was going to leave, all these Zambezi boys declared that 
 they were not going to Bulawayo to be sold as slaves or 
 killed by Lo Bengula. The natives of the Zambezi, it must 
 be remarked, were then in a mortal terror of the Matabele, 
 who used to constantly come and raid their country. In 
 vain I explained that under my protection they ran no 
 risk ; they would not listen to anything. I then declared 
 that of course I could not and would not compel. them to 
 go, but that under the circumstances I should not pay 
 them any of the wages that were due to them. So great was 
 their terror of Lo Bengula that they preferred to lose their 
 wages rather than to face the terrible King of the 
 Matabele. I was in a fix, having no leader for my 
 waggon, so back I went to Farley, and he managed to 
 find me a Matabele, who consented for ten shillings a 
 month to act as ox leader. Of my Zambezi boys, 
 Courteman alone — the slave I had rescued when I left 
 Kazungula — consented after much pressure to accompany 
 me. Major Maxwell had gone ahead, and later in the 
 afternoon I joined him half way between Tati and the 
 Ramokwebane river. 
 
 In the evening I opened a tin of potted fish, and not 
 caring much for the taste of it I gave it to our men. 
 Major Maxwell's driver finished it all, and very soon 
 began rolling about in terrible agony ; his body was 
 covered with kinds of huge blisters, and he showed every 
 sign of poisoning. At once I administered an emetic 
 (mustard and water), and relieved him a little, but he 
 remained very ill during twenty-four hours. I was soon 
 taken myself with violent vomiting, and I subsequently 
 131 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 got a fresh attack of bilious fever that lasted nearly 
 four days. I was so bad that Major Maxwell insisted 
 upon my returning to Tati ; but I declared that I should 
 do nothing of the sort, and we went on. I take this 
 opportunity to warn all travellers against potted fish ; 
 I have had three instances of poisoning through it* 
 
 After crossing the Ramokwebane river the appearance 
 of the country changes altogether. We trekked between 
 numberless small kopjes consisting of huge boulders 
 piled one on top of the other, on which grow chiefly 
 euphorbus and aloes. 
 
 Nine miles further, near the 'Mpakwe river, we camped 
 near some ruins of very ancient date, which I proposed 
 examining in detail on my return. Until we reached 
 the Mangwe river we found no trace of inhabitants, but 
 there we met a good number of Makalaka natives, the 
 original inhabitants of this region before it was conquered 
 by the Matabele. 
 
 The following day we reached the Shashani river, which 
 runs at the bottom of a wild gorge amidst the wildest 
 scenery I have ever met in Africa. As far as you can 
 see rise jagged hills (the Matopo), consisting of enormous 
 boulders piled on the top of one another. I find the 
 following entry in my diary : — 
 
 " From all accounts war is bound to break out sooner 
 or later with the Matabele ; if this ever happens the 
 campaign will be a most serious one. The country is 
 most difficult, and would afford splendid cover for the 
 enemy. Artillery would be practically useless, and the 
 war would consist of a series of guerilla skirmishes. The 
 natives with their knowledge of the country, and being 
 able to retire into caves when beaten, could constantly 
 harass the invading army, and mounted infantry would 
 
 * As I do not wish to have a libel action I will not quote the name of the 
 maker whose provisions were of such inferior quality, but I may say that I 
 recommend strongly the use of Fortnum and Mason's, Brands', and Cross and 
 Blackwell's provisions. They are excellent and quite safe. 
 132 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 be the only corps of any use. If British regulars are 
 taken to Matabeleland fifteen thousand men at least 
 will be required. Every inch of the road will have to 
 be guarded, and each convoy will have to be escorted 
 by a strong mounted force ; and even so the general who 
 brings the campaign to a successful issue will deserve the 
 highest credit. Rapidity of movement is the only chance 
 of success in such a country." This was written in 
 February, 1892. 
 
 I 2 3 
 
 (i) Farley. (2) The Author. (3) MacDowell. 
 ON THE WAY TO BULAWAYO. 
 
 How the Chartered Company, with only two thousand 
 volunteers, managed to crush the Matabele is known to 
 every Englishman, and I can only say that it is the most 
 brilliant episode of Colonial warfare that has taken place 
 during our generation. If anybody answers that the 
 Matabele were not crushed, and points to the recent 
 revolt, then I can point him back to this entry. I was a 
 wholly unprejudiced man, writing before the event. Even 
 taking the two wars together, I think the success of the 
 Chartered Company has been brilliant and astonishing : 
 the more so as it has had lately to contend with the 
 133 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Rinderpest — a crushing handicap which I did not at this 
 time foresee. 
 
 Nothing of importance happened on our journey to 
 Bulawayo with the exception of two accidents to Major 
 Maxwell's waggon. His driver, who was in a permanent 
 state of drunkenness, and his leader, who was completely 
 mad, tried their best between them to smash the waggon ; 
 and whenever the poor Major walked a couple of hundred 
 yards ahead, either to shoot a bird or else to take some 
 exercise, we used to hear tremendous yells, and turning 
 round we usually noticed the waggon right in the middle 
 of the long grass, jammed against a tree or down a huge 
 hole. Unfortunately when the Major himself took the 
 management of affairs even worse luck used to befall 
 him. He once managed to get in a bog where two 
 of the wheels altogether disappeared, and only with 
 the help of my team did we manage to extricate the 
 waggon. 
 
 Another time, just before reaching Bulawayo, crossing 
 a drift the Major managed to pass over the only bad 
 place in it, with a clean drop of four feet on a rock 
 in the bed of the river. I was in the waggon at 
 the time. Down it came with a flop ; the next minute 
 I was on the top of one of the oxen, and when I regained 
 my feet I could not help bursting out with laughter when 
 I saw the Major perfectly crestfallen, staring at the wreck. 
 The desselboom or pole was smashed, and considerable 
 other damage done, and it took us a good many hours 
 to repair the concern — an old rickety spring waggon that 
 its owner considered only equalled in beauty by the Lord 
 Mayor's state coach. 
 
 Twelve days after leaving Tati we reached Bulawayo. 
 Never was I more disappointed in my life. 
 
 Imagine a huge plain extending for miles, with only 
 two or three trees rising above a short miserable-looking 
 grass, all over which were strewn human bones, the rem- 
 nants of Lo Ben's victims. In the distance rose a flat- 
 134 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 topped hill, Thaba Induna — the Hill of the Induna, so 
 named because a number of induna (generals) were once 
 put to death there. On the left was a rise, on the top of 
 which could be seen the tips of a stockade — Lo Bengula's 
 kraal. In the middle of the plain were three groups of 
 miserable tumble-down native huts, half a dozen of which 
 stood together surrounded by a reed fence. These were 
 the habitations of the only three European settlers in the 
 place. Mr. Colenbrander, the Agent of the British South 
 
 Africa Company, occupied one of these groups of huts, 
 Rennie Taylor and Boyle another one, and in the third 
 was Jim Dawson's store. 
 
 A terribly cold wind was blowing and never stopped 
 during the month I spent there, and all I can say is 
 that it gives me the shivers to think of the dreariness 
 of what Bulawayo was in 1892. This was five years 
 ago ; and when I now read descriptions of churches, hotels, 
 '35 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 clubs, and what else, that have since grown out there, 
 just as in a Drury Lane pantomime a palace rises out 
 of the ground by the stroke of a magic wand, I cannot 
 help thinking what a great and marvellous man is the 
 magician who worked this wonder. As Mr. Stanley is 
 the greatest African Explorer, so Mr. Cecil Rhodes stands 
 out as the greatest African Statesman that ever existed, 
 and their names will live for ever in the history of what 
 once could be called the Dark Continent, but which has 
 now been turned into the land of the future by two of 
 the greatest men of this century. 
 
 I drew up my waggon near one of the only two trees 
 that stood in the middle of the plain, and I sent my driver 
 with the oxen to bring a thorn tree in order to make 
 a thorn enclosure round my camp — a very necessary 
 precaution if one did not wish getting one's waggon 
 looted. 
 
 Having given these orders, I was soon joined by Major 
 Maxwell, who took me to the huts occupied by Mr. Colen- 
 brander, the agent of the Chartered Company, to whom 
 I presented the letter of introduction Mr. Cecil Rhodes 
 had given me for all the officials of the Chartered 
 Company. I was most cordially received by Mr. 
 Colenbrander and his charming wife, and they invited 
 me to come and take my meals with them, and to 
 make use of their quarters so long as I should stay 
 at Bulawayo. They apologized for being unable to give 
 me a' hut, but they were themselves very short of 
 accommodation. 
 
 I could not help admiring the pluck of Mrs. Colen- 
 brander : a most remarkable woman, fearless of danger, 
 a splendid rider, a capital shot, and possessing the 
 knack of doing what she liked with the natives, 
 most difficult to handle, and who would have been too 
 glad to seize the slightest pretext to assault an unpro- 
 tected lady. But many a time I have seen her, in her 
 husband's absence, turn out two or three stalwart natives 
 136 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 drunk and most threatening ; more than once she had to 
 seize her gun and to threaten to use it. It was a pleasing 
 sight to see these savages, who rather despised most white 
 men, quail before this plucky British lady. She had 
 considerable influence over Lo Bengula. Often when 
 she visited him she used to sit boldly on his throne 
 (an old wooden chair) ; a sacrilege that would have cost 
 any man's life. But the old African chief used merely to 
 laugh. 
 
 " What funny people you white men are," he used to 
 say, "to bend before a woman. If }ou were my wife," 
 he used to add, turning to Mrs. Colenbrander 
 
 " Well," she usually interrupted, " if I were your wife I 
 should make you do what I liked. I should be the 
 King of the Matabele, and you— well, you would be my 
 husband." 
 
 Then Lo Ben used to roar, and grant what she had 
 come to ask for. Through her man)^ a difficulty was 
 smoothed down that might otherwise have become most 
 serious. 
 
 I was most anxious to see the famous Lo Bengula of 
 whom I had heard so much ; he was then away at a kraal 
 some six miles from Bulawayo, and Colenbrander sent 
 messengers to ask him to grant me an audience. In the 
 meantime many were the stories I heard about him, and 
 from all accounts he appeared to be an eminently wise 
 and far-seeing man. Until the occupation of Mashonaland 
 by Mr. Rhodes's pioneers, he had held his people with an 
 iron hand ; understanding that his young men wanted , 
 some outlet to their over-exuberant spirits, he used to 
 send yearly expeditions to raid neighbouring tribes, 
 Mashonaland being their favourite raiding-ground. In 
 this way his power soon extended far and wide, and 
 all the Mashona chiefs acknowledged his rule. These 
 raids had also the advantage of preventing conspiracies, 
 a thing he was most afraid of For that reason he would 
 never allow any of his subjects to own or use waggons, 
 137 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 ploughs, or labour-saving implements. When asked why 
 he prevented his people from benefiting from these im- 
 proved machines, his answer showed a wonderful knowledge 
 of human nature. 
 
 " You assure me," he would reply, " that by the use of 
 these machines one man would do the work now per- 
 formed by five men : then you see, while one worked the 
 four others would be conspiring against me — and I won't 
 have that." 
 
 Another time, being taxed by a missionary with killing 
 too many of his people, he 
 replied : 
 ^P^^- - " Well, I should like you 
 
 to sit in this chair " (point- 
 ing to his throne) " for a 
 week, and we should see 
 then if at the end of that 
 time you would not have 
 ; killed more than me ; un- 
 I less, what is most likely, 
 you had been killed your- 
 self It's all very well for 
 you white men, who have 
 gaols with iron bars, not to 
 kill people ; but here if I 
 locked up my people they 
 would enjoy eating without any work to do. As it is, 
 they must either obey or else die; besides, if I locked 
 up a thief for a year, wouldn't he still be a thief when 
 he was let loose ? " 
 
 While I was in the country I heard many tales of what 
 we should call in England his cruelty. For instance, 
 once he ordered his waggon driver — the King always 
 used waggons for travelling — to cross a river at a certain 
 drift. This involved a rather long detour, so the driver 
 did not obey his orders, and took the short cut. The 
 river was very full, and waggon and oxen were carried 
 138 
 
 A RINGED MAN. 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 away, the driver only, escaping with his Hfe. The King, 
 informed of this, sent for him. 
 
 " So," he said to the trembhng driv^er, " so you have 
 disobeyed your orders, and you have lost my waggon. 
 Very well, you shall go and look for it, and when you 
 have found it you can bring it back." 
 
 He then got the fellow's hands and feet tied together 
 and had him thrown into the river. 
 
 Another time a man met a party of girls carrying 
 pots of joala (native beer) for the King. The man asked 
 the girls to let him have a sip, but they declined, 
 informing him that it was the King's beer they were 
 carrying. 
 
 " Never mind," said the fellow ; and, seizing a pot, he 
 drank some of the beer. Lo Ben sent for him, and when 
 he appeared, said : 
 
 " So, my friend, you have very big ears ; but it seems 
 that they are so close that you cannot hear well with 
 them, as you did not hear yesterday when you were told 
 that the beer you drank was mine. Then you have also 
 a tongue that will be fatal to you one of these days, 
 for you let it run in the most foolish fashion. I shall 
 therefore have these obstructions to your welfare re- 
 moved." And forthwith he had the man's ears and 
 tongue cut off. 
 
 Some months before I came to Matabeleland, one of Lo 
 Ben's indunas (generals and chiefs of villages) came 
 and told the King that one of the tributary chiefs 
 of the Makalaka country was getting too big for his 
 shoes. 
 
 " Why," said the informer, " he goes about in a 
 waggon, dresses like a white man, and says to all 
 comers that he does not care a bit whether you dislike 
 it or not." 
 
 " Well, well," said Lo Ben, " take an impi (army corps) 
 and wipe him out." 
 
 This consists in surrounding the village at the dead of 
 ^39 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 night. Next morning, at early dawn, the warriors invade 
 the place, kill the chief, all the men, the old women and 
 babies, capturing the young women and children between 
 eight and fourteen years of age, and seizing the sheep, 
 goats, and cattle. The latter are handed over to the King 
 as his perquisite, and each warrior usually keeps the other 
 booty he has made. 
 
 So the chief was duly " wiped out," with some three 
 hundred of his people. 
 
 Unfortunately some months later the King discovered 
 that the information on the man's doings was a pure 
 fabrication, and immediately a fresh impi was sent out 
 to " wipe out " the informer in his turn. Altogether this 
 cost over five hundred lives. 
 
 While I was in Bulawayo Lo Ben sent out an impi 
 to kill a chief and his family. The induna entrusted with 
 the work thought that he would be very clever, so 
 having hidden his men far away from the village he 
 marched in alone, and told the doomed induna that the 
 King had sent for him and told him to come back with 
 him. The induna not having a very clear conscience 
 readily agreed, but said that he would go into his hut 
 and fetch some water for the journey. The other waited 
 outside. But after half an hour's time, finding that he 
 was being kept waiting too long, he went inside the 
 hut and found it empty. The village was searched, but 
 in vain. The other had bolted. 
 
 In great dismay the induna sent word to Lo Ben to 
 explain matters, and to ask what he should do. The 
 King replied that he had sent him to kill the other fellow, 
 and that until he had killed him he need not show his 
 face back in his village, adding that if he was too long 
 over it — well, he (Lo Ben) might lose patience and have 
 him killed instead of the other. 
 
 After two months' search they managed at last to 
 secure their man and to carry out the King's justice (?). 
 
 While I was in the Makalaka country the enormous 
 140 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 village of Impandini was "wiped out," over five hundred 
 people being killed ; my ox leader, who was from that 
 village, just escaped death, being then away with me. 
 
 I could multiply these stories ad infinitum^ but I 
 have quoted enough to give an idea of Lo Bengula's 
 character. 
 
 One native, however, managed to get the best of him 
 in a rather clever way. This was Jose d'Araujo Lobo, 
 commonly called Matikania, of whom I shall have a good 
 deal to say later on. Matikania, when Lo Ben was still 
 a young man, came to purchase some ivory. While the 
 bargain was being concluded Lo Ben took his friend 
 aside : 
 
 "You are a clever man," he said, "and you know a 
 lot of things. Now tell me, how do the white men make 
 these beads t " 
 
 " Oh," said Matikania, " this is a great secret that I 
 purchased for a lot of money, and I could not possibly 
 tell you. I know myself how to make them, and all these 
 you see I made myself" 
 
 Lo Ben insisted, and at last offered Matikania a lot 
 of ivory for the secret ; and the latter, having extracted 
 a promise of absolute secrecy and a considerable amount 
 of ivory, produced a handful of large beads. 
 
 "Now," he said, "you must plant these in the ground, 
 and for a year exactly, as the sun rises and when the sun 
 sets, they must be watered. At the end of the year 
 they will have grown into many thousands of small 
 ones. But if once only you forget to water them at the 
 proper time no result will be obtained." 
 
 So they were planted ; but whether they were not 
 watered carefully enough, or whether he was swindled, 
 Lo Ben never knew until many years later, when a 
 missionary enlightened him. Since then Lo Ben often 
 invited his friend to come and pay him a visit, but 
 Matikania was not foolish enough to let himself fall 
 into the hands of his " friend." Wise man, Matikania. 
 141 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Two days after asking for an audience I received word 
 that the King would receive me the following day. Early 
 in the morning we set out on horseback, Colenbrander and 
 myself, towards the King's kraal. We soon came in sight 
 of a huge kraal surrounded by a strong palisade of tree 
 stumps about fifteen feet high. 
 
 All round hundreds of beautiful cattle were grazing. 
 
 Having entered the kraal we came to a first enclosure 
 full of natives, where we left our horses. We then 
 entered a second enclosure, about 150 feet long by 90 
 feet broad — the royal enclosure. A few low huts 
 stood on one side — the Queen's houses — and in the 
 middle of this kind of yard were two waggons which 
 formed the King's favourite domicile. 
 
 In front of one of these waggons stood a kind of giant, 
 enormously stout, but broad in proportion and quite 
 naked but for a number of monkey skins that hung 
 from his girdle. A piece of coloured material rolled 
 into a rope was wound round his body, passing below 
 his breast and round his waist ; but so stout was the man 
 that this entirely disappeared under the folds of his skin, 
 and could only be guessed by being noticed when he was 
 seen sideways. 
 y^ He wore an enormously brimmed soft felt hat. He 
 held his head erect and looked at you from his great 
 towering height (he was 6 ft. 3 in. at least) with such an 
 air of command that it was impossible to mistake him 
 for anyone else, and it could be seen that he was 
 accustomed to command, and to be obeyed. 
 
 I have seen many European and native potentates, 
 and, with the exception of the Tsar Alexander, never 
 have I seen a ruler of men of more imposing appearance. 
 He came forward and shook hands with Colenbrander 
 and myself Having asked Colenbrander to explain the 
 object of my visit, Lo Ben, after being told, enquired 
 what I wanted. 
 
 Through Colenbrander I replied that I wanted nothing; 
 142 
 

 LO BENGULA. 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 I had merely come to visit the country and to see the 
 great Lo Bengula, of whom I had heard so much. 
 
 "Bah," said Lo Ben, "what does he want? Leave 
 to shoot in the country ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Now this is a He," retorted Lo Ben ; " no white man 
 ever comes here who does not want something out of me." 
 
 "Well," said I to Colenbrander, "tell him that as I do 
 not want to give him the lie, I shall ask for something " ; 
 and pointing to some lion skins hanging on the stockade, 
 " ask him to give me one of these." 
 
 " You can have one," replied the King ; " but they are 
 all moth-eaten " — which was true. 
 
 Some indunas thereupon came in, and, after saluting 
 Lo Ben, squatted down around him. He began to talk 
 to them, listening to two conversations at one time, and I 
 took this opportunity to look round. 
 
 Lo Ben was sitting on an old champagne box, nervously 
 shaking one of his legs the whole time. Crowds of 
 natives were pouring in continuously, and as soon as they 
 reached the opening leading into the royal enclosure, they 
 threw themselves flat on the ground, shouting " Nkosi 
 [chief], Ithlabantu [eater of people], Lion of lion, Stabber 
 of heavens, Great black calf, Thunderer" — and other 
 terms of praise. Crawling on all fours, the natives 
 one by one approached the royal presence, and then 
 after a last loud salutation they squatted down in a 
 circle round him. 
 
 The inside of his waggons was most extraordinary 
 to behold. All round hung skins of all sorts of animals 
 and birds, more or less freshly killed — all for making 
 medicine, i.e. witchcraft, which was one of Lo Ben's 
 chief daily occupations. 
 
 In former times, before he became chief, he used to 
 
 wear European clothes, but from the moment he ascended 
 
 the throne he discarded these, and always stuck to the 
 
 national costume of monkey skins, with the exception 
 
 L 145 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 of the large felt hat described before. In doing so 
 he gave another proof of his extraordinary good sense. 
 That Lo Bengula never wanted the war, that he knew 
 that he would be beaten in the long run, is quite certain ; 
 but he could not control his young men, and was forced 
 into the adventure that cost him his throne and his life. 
 
 Soon after, more natives having come and the chief 
 being busy, we took leave of him and returned to 
 Bulawayo. 
 
 I remained about one month in the place, suffering from 
 incessant diarrhoea, and being, indeed, seriously ill. While 
 I was there, Mr. and Mrs. Helm, the missionaries of Hope 
 Fountain, came to pay a visit to the Colenbranders, 
 and kindly asked me to come and recruit at Hope 
 Fountain — an offer I gladly accepted. 
 
 So, a few days later, I prepared to make a start. I 
 purchased an old spring waggon from Mr. Bo3de, my 
 headman, Major, assuring me that it would never 
 reach Tati. 
 
 The day previous to my departure my pony looked 
 out of spirits, but did not seem particularly ill ; the next 
 morning he was feeding all right at 8 o'clock, but one hour 
 later Major came to fetch me and said that the pony 
 was very bad. I went to look at him and found him 
 lying down, evidently in great agony. I got him well 
 rubbed with Elliman's embrocation ; he tried to rise, 
 but fell down, tried to rise again, but fell once more, 
 then gave a few kicks, and died. Half an hour later a 
 quantity of froth was issuing from one of his nostrils, 
 one of the signs of " horse sickness," that terrible disease 
 that has carried off many a good steed in Africa. Poor 
 fellow, he had undoubtedly saved my life, as without him 
 I should never have been able to return from the Zambezi 
 across the Kalahari. After surviving so many hard- 
 ships that we had shared together, he had died in 
 miserable agony. I confess it, I felt awfully cut up at 
 losing this old companion. 
 
 146 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 I forgot to mention a rather amusing incident that 
 happened to me one day with a Matabele of some import- 
 ance. I must say here that, when a waggon was outspanned 
 in Bulawayo, crowds of Matabele ladies used to come 
 round it from morning to night under the pretence of selling 
 joala (native beer) or mealies, their real object being to 
 find a temporary purchaser for themselves. They were 
 ugly and dirty, and emitted a most repulsive smell ; the 
 one indigenous to the native himself is bad enough, but 
 the Matabele women scent themselves by fastening round 
 their neck a small sachet containing a certain plant, the 
 smell of which can only be compared to the odour of 
 the Malay fruit, dorian — a compound of excrements and 
 rotten meat. To drive away these odoriferous ladies 
 was impossible, as they hoped, I suppose, that the most 
 persistent would at last touch my heart, and that I should 
 investigate their charms in exchange for the usual price 
 of two yards of calico. I may here say that the utmost 
 liberty is left to unmarried Matabele girls, and, as Lo 
 Bengula used to put it, "before she is married, a girl's 
 body belongs to herself, but after marriage it belongs to 
 her husband." 
 
 In order to avoid as much as possible the importunities 
 of these ladies, I had made it a rule that no native, male 
 or female, with the exception of my men, should be allowed 
 inside my thorn enclosure. One day I was lying in my 
 waggon dreadfully ill with a very bad headache, when I 
 heard a tremendous row. I got out, and found a Matabele, 
 very drunk, who had forced his way inside the enclosure. 
 I told Major to order him out, but, like the proverbial 
 drunkard who is told to move on by the London police, 
 the fellow replied that fifty white men would not turn him 
 out. I therefore caught hold of him by the neck and 
 by his monkey skins, threw him right in the middle of the 
 thorns, and with another shove turned him over the other 
 side of my " scarum," as the enclosure is called out there. 
 Fuming with rage he regained his legs, and swore that he 
 147 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 was going to come and kill me. Accordingly, a quarter 
 of an hour later he returned with five assegais. I im- 
 mediately drew my revolver and waited to see what 
 course the man was going to follow. He advanced in 
 front of the opening of my enclosure, and began to shout 
 that I had insulted him, that he was a big man, and 
 that he had come to kill me. I then told my interpreter 
 to inform him that I did not want to fight, but that if 
 he came inside my scarum I would shoot him. He kept, 
 however, outside, and after a little time, seeing that he 
 was calming down, I spoke to him once more through 
 my interpreter. 
 
 " Presently," I said, " I intend going to your house, and 
 there I will make a great noise and abuse you in every 
 way I can." 
 
 " Will you ? " he replied. " Very well, if you do so, 
 I will beat you out with a stick." 
 
 " But," I answered, " if you resent the idea of my going 
 to make a noise in your house, why shouldn't I resent 
 your having done the same in my house ? You know my 
 scarum is my own house here ? " 
 
 The idea seemed to strike the Matabele, and after a few 
 minutes' reflection he replied, "Well, there is sense in what 
 you say ; I will go now, and come and talk about it 
 again." 
 
 A couple of hours later he returned, followed by 
 six girls carrying "joala," and asked me if he could 
 bring it inside my scarum, and come there himself to 
 seal the peace between us. I replied that he could come 
 in, but that if he made a noise I would turn him out 
 once more. After that we became firm friends. He 
 used to come every day to see me, and not only did 
 he never make a noise, but he prevented other natives 
 from bothering me. 
 
 I quote this incident merely to show that, although 
 a wild race, the Matabele are, like all natives, fond of 
 arguing, and easily impressed by a striking argument. 
 
TO BULAWAYO 
 
 The distance from Bulawayo to Hope Fountain is about 
 twelve miles, and one easy day's trek took us there. The 
 mission station was built on the slope of a hill, at the foot 
 of which runs a pretty stream. On the opposite bank 
 grows a clump of most magnificent elms, rising to a height 
 of nearly loo feet. Mr. Helm's house, built by himself, 
 consisted of brick walls with an enormous thatched roof 
 spreading over a broad verandah. The sitting-room was 
 surrounded by rows of shelves covered with most valuable 
 books. Mrs. Helm put me up in a most comfortable room, 
 and, for the first time for a year, I slept in a real bed 
 with a spring mattress — a luxury I thoroughly enjoyed. 
 I arrived at Hope Fountain in such a miserable state 
 of health that 1 thought I should have to go straight 
 back home, but I was so kindly nursed by Mrs. Helm 
 that I soon recovered, and after a month's stay at Hope 
 Fountain I was ready to resume my journey. Never 
 shall I forget the kind nursing of Mrs. Helm, and during 
 the month I spent as her husband's guest I was able 
 to appreciate the sterling qualities that gained for him 
 universal love and the respect of all — whites and blacks 
 alike — who came in contact with him. Mr. Helm also 
 greatly helped me to complete the notes I had already 
 collected in Bulawayo on native customs, of which I 
 will now speak. 
 
 149 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE MATABELE 
 
 THE Matabele, or Amandabili as they ought really 
 to be called; are an offshoot of the Zulu race. Some 
 fifty years ago one of the indunas, or generals of the great 
 Zulu King Chakwa, having reason to believe that he 
 would be put to death by the chief, determined to leave 
 Zululand. This induna, Umsili Gazi, father of Lo Bengula, 
 collected his warriors and settled in the country now 
 known as the Transvaal. When the Boers crossed the 
 Vaal river he tried to oppose their ingress into what he 
 now considered his own country, but he was defeated 
 and retired to the north. In the meantime his followers 
 had, according to the Zulu custom, been raiding the 
 country and capturing many slaves. The women had 
 been taken as wives by the warriors, the children had 
 grown up and had been incorporated in the various regi- 
 ments, and thus the number of Umsili Gazi's warriors 
 had swelled considerably. More Boers crossed the Vaal 
 river and pushed on to the north, so that the Zulu chief, 
 wishing to settle in a country where he would not be 
 disturbed, crossed the Limpopo river with all his people 
 and marched into what is now known as Matabeleland. 
 There he found a powerful Swazi chief in possession. 
 This ruler, Mambo, had his capital in the Makalaka 
 country, near the sources of the Tati river. Great battles 
 were fought, and Mambo, beaten by the Matabele, retired 
 to the foot of a hiU^ — now a sacred spot — with all his 
 wives. The Matabele warriors followed him there, and 
 150 
 
THE MATABELE 
 
 when he saw that he was about to be captured he first 
 killed all his wives and then himself. His pep^e, retiring 
 to the north, crossed the Zambezi, and, as will be seen 
 later on, formed what is now called the Wahehe tribe, 
 that has given so much trouble to the Germans since 
 they occupied East Africa. 
 
 Umsili Gazi then settled close to the source of the 
 Kumalo river, not far from the spot where Bulawayo 
 ow stands. The Kumalo river is named after then 
 reigning family of the Amandabili, of which stock 
 Umsili Gazi was a descendant. 
 
 Umsili Gazi, in his turn, had -^^.^sul^^ 
 
 difficulties with one of his brothers /-"f^?^^"**^ 
 
 or indunas : the latter parted from 
 the king, and with his followers 
 crossed the Zambezi. Backed by 
 well -disciplined followers, inherit- 
 ing the perfect military organiza- 
 tion of the Zulus, he found little 
 difficulty in crushing the quiet, 
 agricultural races with which he 
 came in contact, and quickly sub- 
 jugated the country east of the 
 
 Ro-Angwa river and west of Lake Nyasa. It was on 
 hearing of his approach that the Swazis of Mambo, 
 still remembering the crushing defeat they had sustained 
 from the Matabele, retired to the north, and formed 
 the Wahehe tribe. The Matabele induna whose history 
 I have just related was the father of Mpeseni, who 
 still occupies the east of the Ro-Angwa river, and 
 whose people are now known as the Angoni. What 
 had happened before repeated itself, and two of the 
 Angoni indunas parted from Mpeseni's father. One of 
 them, repelled by the Wahehe, who had established 
 themselves in great strength, passed on to the east 
 of Lake Nyasa, and formed the tribe known as the 
 Ma-Viti, over which Makanjira lately ruled. The other 
 151 
 
 
 1- 
 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 TYPE OF 
 
 MATABELE. 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 joined the chief of the Wanyamwezi, Mirambo, whose 
 battles he and his warriors fought as Ruga-Ruga. It was 
 chiefly owing to their help that this most powerful chief 
 managed to reduce all the neighbouring tribes under his 
 rule. Unfortunately for these Zulus they were never 
 more than mercenaries of Mirambo, and they therefore 
 did not thrive like the others. When Mirambo died, the 
 Wanyamwezi, then ruled by Mpanda Chalo, himself a 
 great warrior, expelled the Ruga-Ruga from their territory, 
 and they are now settled to the S.W. of Lake Victoria 
 Nyanza, between the Wahha and Ruanda countries. 
 
 All the other Zulu tribes increased most rapidly in 
 numbers and military force, through their custom of inter- 
 marrying with captured women and enlisting in their 
 regiments the children looted in their raids, when the latter 
 had grown into manhood. Curiously enough, these boys 
 become so identified with their captors that, when a raid 
 is made on their former homes, they are the most ferocious 
 of all the invaders. It may be safely said that whenever 
 you find a Zulu settlement you will find there a splendid 
 grazing country, as the Zulu never settle where they 
 cannot rear their big herds of cattle. 
 
 But I must get back to the Matabele. In their polity 
 witchcraft played a leading part, if not the leading part 
 altogether ; and it must be well understood that there 
 were two kinds of witchcraft. One was practised by the 
 witch-doctors and by the King — such as, for instance, 
 the "making of medicine" to bring on rain, or the 
 ceremonies carried out by the witch-doctors to appease 
 the spirits of ancestors. The other witchcraft was sup- 
 posed to consist of evil practices pursued to cause 
 sickness or death. According to native ideas all over 
 Africa such a thing as death from natural causes does 
 not exist. Whatever ill befalls a man or a family is 
 always the result of witchcraft, and in every case 
 the witch-doctors are consulted to find out who has 
 been guilty of it. In some instances the witch-doctors 
 152 
 
THE MATABELE 
 
 declare that the evil has been caused by the angry 
 spirits of the ancestors, in which case they have to be 
 propitiated through the medium of the witch-doctors. 
 In other cases they point out some one or several 
 persons as having caused the injury by making charms, 
 and whoever is so accused by the witch - doctor is 
 immediately put to death, his wife and the whole 
 of his family sharing his fate. To bewitch anyone, 
 according to Matabele belief, it is sufficient to spread 
 medicine on his path or in his hut. There are also 
 numerous other modes of working charms — for instance, 
 if you want to cause an enemy to die you make a clay 
 figure that is supposed to represent him. With a needle 
 you pierce the figure, and your enemy, the first time 
 he comes in contact with a foe, will be speared. The 
 liver and entrails of a crocodile are supposed to be most 
 powerful charms, and whoever becomes possessed of 
 them can cause the death of any man he pleases. For 
 that reason killing a crocodile is a very heinous crime. 
 While I was in Matabeleland a crocodile was one day 
 found dead, speared, on the bank of a river. The witch- 
 doctors were consulted in order to find out who had 
 been guilty of the deed, and six people were denounced 
 as the offenders and put to death, with their families. 
 
 The idea of a Supreme Being is utterly foreign, and 
 cannot be appreciated by the native mind. They have 
 a vague idea of a number of evil spirits always ready 
 to do harm, and chief among these are the spirits of their 
 ancestors ; but they do not pray to them to ask for their 
 help if they wish to enter on any undertaking. They 
 merely offer sacrifices to appease them when some evil 
 has befallen the family. 
 
 Of witch-doctors there are two different kinds. The 
 first deliver oracles by bone-throwing. They have three 
 bones carved with different signs ; these they throw 
 up, and according to the position they assume when 
 falling, and the side on which they fall, they make 
 'S3 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 the prediction. The other kind dehver their oracles in 
 a slow and very shrill chant. Both are supposed to be 
 on speaking terms with spirits. They are in constant 
 request, but are usually poorly paid. Their influence, 
 however, is tremendous, and in Lo Bengula's time their 
 power was as great as, if not greater than, the King's. 
 Lo Bengula always kept two or three of them near 
 him. Chief among their work was that of rain-making ; 
 this was done with a charm made from the blood 
 and gall of a black ox. No witch - doctor, however, 
 could make rain except by the orders of the King. It 
 was a risky trade, for they were put to death if they 
 failed in their endeavours to produce rain. Dreams are 
 considered of deep significance by the witch-doctors. 
 Madmen are supposed to be possessed of a spirit, and 
 were formerly under the protection of the King. 
 
 One of the most remarkable ceremonies that used to be 
 performed by the witch-doctors was that of smelling out 
 the witches. On the first moon of the second month of 
 the year, all the various regiments gathered at Bulawayo 
 and held a big dance, in which the King took part; usually 
 from 12,000 to 15,000 warriors assembled for this cere- 
 mony. After the dance the smelling of witches began. 
 The various regiments being formed in crescent shape, the 
 King took his stand in front, surrounded by the doctors, 
 usually women. These began a slow song, accompanied 
 by a dance ; they carried in their hands a small wand. 
 Gradually the song and the dance became quicker; they 
 seemed to be possessed. They rushed madly about, pass- 
 ing in front of the soldiers, pretending to smell them. 
 All of a sudden they stopped in front of a man, and, 
 touching him with their wands, began howling like 
 maniacs ; the man was immediately removed, and put 
 to death. In this way hundreds of people were killed 
 every year during the big dance. No one, however high 
 his position, was protected against the mandate of the 
 witch-doctors — usually the tools of the King, who found 
 154 
 
THE MATABELE 
 
 in this a way of getting rid of his enemies, or of doing 
 away with those in high station whose loyalty he had 
 reason to doubt. 
 
 The office of induna, or general of a township, was 
 hereditary. There were different ranks, graduated accord- 
 ing to birth ; the highest belonged to the Kumalo family, 
 of which Lo Bengula came. There was also a Prime 
 Minister, Umlagala, who was consulted in all important 
 cases, and a Chief Judge, Magwewe. He tried all cases 
 of appeal from the decision of the induna, but the people 
 could appeal against his decisions to the King. Lo Ben- 
 gula had always at least half a dozen councillors around 
 him, but their influence was very small. After the King 
 the witch-doctors were the only great power in the land, 
 and they had an enormous influence over Lo Bengula and 
 the whole people. I was not in the least astonished to 
 hear that the outbreak that has lately taken place in 
 Matabeleland was traced to the witch-doctors, who would 
 seize the occasion of the rinderpest to make use of their 
 power. Naturally they must have felt more than any- 
 body else the occupation of Matabeleland by the whites, 
 as it meant the disappearance of their former power. 
 When the rinderpest broke out they probably persuaded 
 the natives — who understood nothing about an epidemic, 
 and attribute, as I said before, whatever ill befalls them 
 to witchcraft — that it was the spirit of Lo Bengula which 
 was dissatisfied with them, and which caused their cattle 
 to die. To appease Lo Ben's spirit it was necessary to 
 fight the whites. They, the witch-doctors, would make 
 medicine to turn the bullets of the white men into water, 
 so that the Matabele could not be hurt by them. I 
 pointed out all this at the time, and it appears I was 
 mainly right. 
 
 I spoke just now of the big dance, and so remarkable 
 
 was the sight and so great was the influence of it over 
 
 the natives, that it is necessary to describe it in detail. 
 
 The big dance of February was preceded by a smaller one 
 
 155 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 in January. In four towns medicine was prepared for this 
 dance — Inyati, Imbezu, Ingubo, and Bulawayo. For the 
 small dance, in which the regiments of a few towns near 
 Bulawayo were assembled, the people were not allowed 
 to wear any ornaments. In the afternoon the dance 
 took place by regiments. No musical instruments were 
 used, but only songs marked the time. At this dance 
 the King did not appear ; he remained in his kraal, 
 busied in completing the medicine that had been brought 
 from the four towns. I have not been able to ascertain 
 for what object this medicine was prepared. It seems to 
 have been a kind of expiation time, and the assembly was 
 decidedly serious and solemn. The women did not take 
 part in the dance. Next morning there was some more 
 dancing and they dispersed. On the new moon following 
 (February), the beginning of the Matabele year, the King 
 was supposed to fast from food and drink. Lo Bengula 
 compromised this self-denying ordinance by drinking beer 
 only out of a bottle. During that day he was supposed 
 to have communication with the spirits of his ancestors, 
 and he abstained altogether from business. 
 
 The big dance took place a few days after the full 
 moon, and the regiments from all the towns generally 
 assembled for it. The men came to settle round Bula- 
 wayo, building huts ; while the women went to and fro 
 between the villages and the camp to bring food. On ■ 
 the day of the dance the proceedings were opened by the 
 arrival of the doctors of the Feast (Abakudamo), an office 
 hereditary in one family. After their arrival the dance 
 began towards ten in the morning. The whole of the 
 15,000 warriors were formed in a semi-circle, singing and 
 dancing in time ; before assuming their formation they 
 marched past the King, who then retired into his kraal, 
 accompanied by the witch-doctors, and made medicine. 
 At last he would come out and sit on his chair at the 
 door of the kraal, and occasionally he got up and took 
 a few steps. In front of the warriors stood numbers 
 156 
 
THE MATABELE 
 
 of women and girls singing and dancing also. When 
 the King took part in the dancing everyone had to 
 join him ; and to compel those who did not feel inclined 
 to do so the witch-doctors rushed about, followed by- 
 servants carrying thorn bushes, with which they struck 
 the people who did not dance with enough vigour. When 
 the King had resumed his seat some men came forward 
 from the ranks one after the other singing their own 
 praises, proclaiming aloud how many people they had 
 slain, and pointing with their spears in the direction 
 of the places where they had killed an enemy, while 
 the other warriors of the same village shouted the name 
 of the place where the deed was done. At one period 
 of the ceremony the King went out to the gates of the 
 town, followed by one or two regiments. He then threw 
 a spear and the young warriors all rushed after it, and 
 the one who secured it brought it back in triumph to the 
 King. It was supposed that the direction in which the 
 spear was thrown indicated the direction in which the next 
 raid would take place. After the dance a large number 
 of cattle given by the King to the regiments were 
 slaughtered. The meat was not eaten that same night ; 
 it was left for the spirits of the ancestors, who were 
 supposed to come and partake of it. But the following 
 day the people came to take it and had a great feast. 
 Large quantities of native beer were consumed at the 
 same time, and the dancing used to last for several 
 days. It is interesting to note the way in which the 
 animals were slaughtered : they had to be stuck with 
 an assegai in the left side, any other mode of slaughter 
 being considered as likely to cause the direst evil. The 
 dance over, the warriors, before returning to their villages, 
 burnt the huts they had temporarily erected around 
 Bulawayo. 
 
 After the big dance the ceremony of the firstfruit took 
 place — a most important one, as no one was allowed to 
 eat vegetables of the new season until after it. In the 
 157 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AERICA 
 
 morning all the inhabitants of each town went to the 
 river to wash, and when they returned they prepared 
 a dish of vegetables mixed up with medicine. The witch- 
 doctor who prepared it took it by handfuls and scattered 
 it amongst the people, who seized and ate it. After this 
 they could eat any vegetable growing. The women did 
 not take part in this ceremony. 
 
 Of all the customs of the Matabele the marriage 
 ceremony is certainly the most interesting. Unlike the 
 other African tribes, they do not buy the wife from her 
 father, but after the first child is born the husband has 
 to pay its value, or else the wife's father has the right 
 to take the child away. In case, however, a wife dies 
 shortly after marriage or remains barren, the husband 
 has a right to claim her sister or nearest relation in 
 place of her. When a young man has noticed a girl 
 and wishes to marry her, he calls on the father and 
 obtains his permission. People of the same class bearing 
 the same family name cannot marry ; the relationship, 
 however, is only considered in the male line. For in- 
 stance, a Kumalo cannot marry a Kumalo. When the 
 father has given permission for the marriage to take place, 
 the intended husband kills an ox or a sheep, according 
 to his means, and takes part of it to the town where the 
 girl's father lives. The young man stops outside, accom- 
 panied by his friends, and shouts, " Here is meat for your 
 child." The young warriors of the town then rush out 
 and drive the messengers away, and after a sham fight and 
 pursuit they all come back and feast. A few days later the 
 girl proceeds to her husband's town, accompanied by the 
 young girls of her own. Sometimes her father gives 
 her an ox or a cow to take with her, or, if he cannot 
 afford it, perhaps a sheep. The procession then goes to 
 the house of the bridegroom. The bride, who has brought 
 a calabash filled with water, at the bottom of which are 
 strings of beads, pours some of the contents over the 
 bridegroom, and sprinkles his people and his friends with 
 158 
 
THE MATABELE 
 
 the remainder. She then puts the beads on her head, 
 and placing the calabash on the ground in front of her 
 husband she crushes it with her foot, and the marriage 
 is sealed. The girls who have accompanied her are 
 entertained for the night ; the husband slaughters an 
 animal and feeds them as well as his friends, and during 
 the whole of that night and of the next day there is 
 dancing, with beating of drums and drinking of native 
 beer. The following day the bridesmaids go to collect 
 wood in the bush ; the bridegroom presents them on their 
 return with a goat, and after eating the meat they go back 
 
 MATABELE WOMEN. 
 
 to their homes. There is one very striking custom con- 
 nected with marriage. A married woman can neither 
 speak to, nor even look at her father-in-law ; and her 
 husband must observe the same reserve towards his 
 mother-in-law. Many people, I dare say, would like to 
 see this custom introduced in this country. 
 
 One day, I remember, an old man brought to me a child, 
 his grandson, who was ill ; he wanted medicine for the 
 baby. I asked him what was the matter with it, and he 
 said that he did not exactly know, but that the mother 
 did ; so I asked him why he had not brought her. Upon 
 his informing me that she was close by, I told him to call 
 her; the moment she appeared in the distance, to my utter 
 astonishment, he placed the baby in my arms and went 
 '59 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 to hide himself behind a hut. It was only afterwards 
 that his conduct was explained to me. 
 
 Before marriage women are allowed entire freedom, but 
 not so afterwards, since the least infringement of the 
 marriage vows is punished by the death of the two 
 guilty parties. Divorce is not permitted, at least on the 
 woman's side. If, however, a man does not like his wife 
 he can send her away and return her to her parents ; but 
 in such a case she is allowed to marry another man if she 
 chooses. But a wife cannot leave her husband of her own 
 free will. When a man dies his widows become the 
 property of his eldest brother. Polygamy is the rule, the 
 average number of a man's wives ranging from two up to 
 several hundreds. For instance, Umsili Gazi, Lo Bengula's 
 father, had 800. The children are numerous, the average 
 number being three or four for each woman. Twins are 
 put to death, and the mortality among children is 
 enormous, owing chiefly to the lack of care — so that only 
 the fittest can survive. More than seventy per cent, die 
 before they reach the age of five months ; and for that 
 reason, if polygamy ceases to exist, the native races will 
 disappear from Africa. 
 
 Most of the hard work is performed by the women ; the 
 whole of the cultivation is done by them. They plough 
 with short spades of native manufacture ; they sow the 
 fields, and they clear them of weeds. After the big dance 
 the girls go with great ceremony into the fields, having taken 
 off all their clothes, which they replace by grass. No man 
 is allowed to be upon the road when the procession passes. 
 
 When they find caterpillars in their fields they apply 
 to the witch-doctors for medicine, or charms, to drive 
 them away. They also place an ear of corn in a cala- 
 bash, fill it up with caterpillars, and place the receptacle 
 in a road leading towards another village, so as to 
 induce the insects to migrate thither. The only share 
 of the men in the cultivation lies in making, towards 
 April, huge fires to the windward of the gardens, their 
 160 
 
THE MATABELE 
 
 idea being that the smoke, by passing over the crops, 
 will assist the ripening of them. After the corn has been 
 thrashed it is placed in baskets and covered with clay. 
 The baskets are then placed in holes under the cattle 
 kraal ; sometimes they place them in clay pillars near 
 their huts. They reap towards the end of April, but in 
 Lo Bengula's time everyone had to wait until the chief had 
 reaped his own garden. No one dared to begin before, 
 so that if for some reason or another the King's crops 
 happened to be backward, many of the people had their 
 crops rotten, being unable to gather them. 
 
 The funerals are conducted with a good deal of 
 ceremony. As soon as a man is dead his relations tie 
 up the corpse in blankets or skins in a sitting position, 
 and begin to howl. The people of the town, and the 
 friends of the dead from neighbouring villages, come to 
 the hut and join his family in their bowlings. If the dead 
 is a man of importance, such as an induna, everybody in 
 the neighbourhood comes to cry over him ; if he is not a 
 man of importance, his friends only. As soon as they 
 arrive within sight they begin to scream at the top of their 
 voices ; after they enter the hut they cease their cries, but 
 begin again on departing. A grave is dug by the rela- 
 tions outside the town, no special place being appointed 
 for the burials. The corpse is laid in the ground in the 
 same sitting posture and covered with bushes ; then the 
 grave is filled up with earth. On the top stones and 
 bushes are laid. After the funeral the nearest relations, 
 and anyone who has come into actual contact with the 
 corpse, go out into special huts that are built outside 
 every town for the purpose, and remain there for several 
 days, through the same fear of impurity, until they have 
 been thoroughly physicked and cleansed by the witch- 
 doctors. When a man is in a dying state he is taken 
 into a small hut outside the town to die. There is 
 no special sign of mourning, but the widows walk out 
 every morning and every evening and howl mournfully 
 M i6i 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 during several days after the death of their husbands. 
 People, however, who have been executed for witchcraft 
 are not buried, but are left in the bush to be eaten up by 
 the hyaenas and the birds of prey. 
 
 There is no individual landed property in Matabeleland. 
 The land belongs to the tribe, and in Lo Bengula's time the 
 people were allowed to own sheep and goats, as well as a 
 small quantity of oxen ; but when a man began to own a 
 large number of cattle he was exposed to the danger of 
 death for witchcraft, on the accusation of the witch- 
 doctors acting as the tools of the King, or of the local 
 chiefs, who eyed with extreme jealousy the wealth of any 
 one of their subjects. In each village a large number of 
 cattle was also given by the King, to be cared for by his 
 people. These cattle were nominally the property of the 
 King and of the nation ; Lo Bengula could call for them 
 whenever he required them. It was from these herds that 
 the oxen were taken which were slaughtered at the time 
 of the big dance. I also found that Lo Bengula, when he 
 visited the various towns of his country, followed by a 
 large number of warriors, had some of these regal cattle 
 slaughtered. The people, however, who had charge of 
 them had a right to the calves as well as to the milk, and 
 also to the skins of the animals when they died. These 
 skins were used to make shields. It may therefore be 
 easily understood that when, after the Matabele war, the 
 Company claimed all the cattle belonging to Lo Bengula, 
 which were in this way entrusted to the people of the 
 various villages, the demand was much resented by the 
 natives. Lo Bengula also had a large quantity of cattle 
 which were his own exclusively, while the others were 
 practically national property. 
 
 Each town, as I explained before, was organized into 
 a regiment. These were of two kinds— the regiments 
 of young men, Majoka, and the regiments of old men, 
 Amadota, This did not mean that the various regiments 
 were composed exclusively of young or old men. The 
 
THE MATABELE 
 
 latter were distinguished from the others by the ring they 
 wore on their head, a ring made of grass sewn on to the 
 hair and covered with glue. This distinction was conferred 
 not on individuals but on the whole regiment, as a reward 
 for bravery or for services rendered the King. The 
 " young men" were not allowed to have official wives : 
 they could indeed be married, but could not build 
 separate huts for their wives. The distinctive mark for 
 each division (composed of several regiments) was the 
 colour of the shields, and also the shape and colour of 
 the head - gear worn, which consisted of a big ball of 
 feathers placed on the top of the head, and held by a 
 string passed under the chin. The war dress was most 
 magnificent. For the regiments of young men it consisted 
 of a kind of helmet enveloping the whole of the head, and 
 only showing the eyes, the nose, and the mouth ; this 
 was made of black ostrich feathers, as well as a huge cape, 
 with which the neck and shoulders were covered. The 
 old men wore the same, but no helmet ; it was replaced 
 in their case by a band, about four inches broad, of otter 
 skin tied round the forehead, with a crane feather stuck 
 in it. The army consisted of all the male population 
 from 1 5 years upwards ; and the children who had been 
 enslaved in the various raids were incorporated in the 
 regiments when they reached manhood. There was thus 
 always new blood in the Matabele army, and the strength 
 of the fighting men was yearly increased. At the head 
 of each village, and consequently of each regiment, was 
 an induna, having under him several captains (Umzuli), 
 appointed by him ; this office was usually hereditary. 
 
 When a tow-n was removed from one place to another 
 each division kept its relative position, and the gardens 
 of each division were marked out in the same position 
 as in the previous town, each man taking his own. 
 Every year Lo Bengula used to send a large impi to raid 
 some neighbouring tribe. Mashonaland was the chief 
 
 163 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 in cattle. It was in order to protect themselves against 
 these raids that the inhabitants of what is now called 
 Mashonaland built their villages on the very top of the 
 highest hills ; hence the nickname of Amashuina given 
 to them by the Matabele, Amashuina meaning baboons 
 — "these monkeys living on the top of the hills." The 
 passage of the Matabele raiders was marked by a trail 
 of perfectly wanton destruction. Among the most 
 celebrated raids were those in the country around Lake 
 N'gami. The Matabele were severely beaten, and had 
 to cross hundreds of miles of desert to return to their 
 country ; having failed to secure cattle they had no food, 
 water was scarce, and numbers of them died on the way. 
 The induna in command was put to death on his return 
 to Bulawayo. Another disaster befell them in the 
 Mashukolumbwe country, north of the Zambezi, and 
 west of the Kafui river. This district is celebrated for 
 its cattle — a small breed, but very abundant. These 
 Mashukolumbwe wear no clothes of any kind, and are 
 remarkable for the way in which they do their hair. 
 They let it grow long, and then dress it in the shape 
 of a long pointed horn, starting from the back of the 
 head, and reaching a height of two or three feet. The 
 Matabele invaded the country and captured a lot of cattle; 
 but on their return, when they reached the neighbourhood 
 of the Zambezi valley, they had to cross huge swamps. 
 There the Mashukolumbwe had laid an ambush for them ; 
 many were killed, others drowned, and more than half of 
 the cattle were drowned also. The occupation of Mashona- 
 land by the whites was eyed with much anger by the 
 Matabele warriors, as they resented being prevented from 
 carrying on their raids there. How this finally led to 
 the war and the break-up of the natives everybody now 
 knows. 
 
 The food of the Matabele usually consists of porridge 
 made of Indian corn or millet flour, boiled in water, and 
 sometimes of meat; dead animals are always eaten up. 
 164 
 
THE MATABELE 
 
 The meat is either stewed in earthenware pots, or roasted, 
 and almost burned, on the fire. The natives also make 
 large quantities of native beer, "joala," consisting of a 
 thick porridge of millet and Indian corn flour, boiled in 
 pots, and allowed to stand for a few days until fermenta- 
 tion sets in. This drink is slightly intoxicating, but the 
 natives drink enormous quantities of it : Lo Bengula, 
 as I have said, drank several gallons daily. It is the only 
 food that old men take, since it affords nourishment as 
 well as drink. To make it stronger rice is added, and 
 sometimes really intoxicating drink is manufactured in 
 this way. 
 
 The Matabele, to sum up their characteristics, are 
 essentially a warlike tribe, easily roused, always ready 
 to fight ; and they have from their early youth grown 
 so accustomed to the idea of death, that they possess 
 nothing analogous to our respect for human life. They 
 are intensely superstitious ; and their idea of power, 
 known or unknown, is always associated with evil. The 
 good sides of human nature are neither known nor under- 
 stood by them. Honesty, kindness, gratitude, do not 
 exist for them. The thief is not despised because he has 
 stolen, but because he has allowed himself to be caught, 
 and if his crime remains undetected he is admired by all. 
 The higher powers, whether chiefs or spirits, are respected 
 in direct proportion to what we should call their cruelty 
 and tendency to evil. At the big dance, as we have seen, 
 the great warriors came forward and enumerated the 
 number of people they had killed, not only in war, but 
 also in their own country — for instance, if they had 
 put a man to death by orders of the King. Whenever 
 Lo Ben wanted someone killed every man was anxious 
 to be entrusted with the mission, whether the intended 
 victim were his bitterest enemy or his best friend. Kind- 
 ness is considered by them the result of fear. I had a 
 Matabele as ox-leader, and I had been particularly good 
 to him. I made him one day a present of a coat, an 
 165 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 article that they greatly value ; I promised to increase 
 his wages, and gave him five shillings more than he was 
 entitled to : that same night he disappeared, after stealing 
 a box of gun-caps. Before going he said to my headman 
 that there was something wrong with me ; I had been 
 giving him a lot of things without reason, and he thought 
 that, as I was shortly going out of Matabeleland, I must 
 have had some evil design on him, and I had probably 
 done all this to decoy him away, and to bewitch him 
 when once we got out of his country ! 
 
 From an economic point of view the Matabele are a 
 useless race. They are destructive, despise work, and 
 have always considered their weaker neighbours as a 
 legitimate prey. The women, in their eyes, are only 
 worth slightly more than cattle, merely representing their 
 value in oxen. They are only appreciated for the work 
 they are able to perform and the number of children they 
 bring to their husbands ; our conception of love is unin- 
 telligible to them. Of course they are susceptible of 
 improvement, but it will take several generations before 
 the deeply-rooted prejudices that they are imbued with 
 can be eradicated. The first thing that must be done, 
 now the rebellion is over, is to set to work against 
 the witch-doctors, but great care will have to be taken 
 not to do so in a hurry, as persecution is so great an 
 incentive to proselytism. 
 
 Apart from the great service that has been rendered 
 by the Chartered Company to the Empire in the addition 
 of this valuable country to the possessions of Great 
 Britain, the crushing of the Matabele, as a ruling power, 
 has been an immense step towards the civilization of 
 Africa. It has saved thousands of natives of neighbouring 
 tribes from murder and incessant persecution, enabling 
 them to carry out in peace their agricultural labour ; and 
 I have no doubt that the next generation of Matabele 
 will learn to work, in order to satisfy the new wants that 
 are certain to arise among them through daily contact 
 1 66 
 
THE MATABELE 
 
 with civilization. To the close observer it is already a 
 remarkable fact that the Matabele have, during the recent 
 rebellion, but seldom adopted their old method of fighting ; 
 and if this rebellion is an incident to be deplored, I feel 
 certain that when it has been quelled the country will 
 arise from the ordeal with a fresh vitality, and the natives 
 will feel for the whites a much deeper respect than they 
 ever did before. 
 
 167 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 AMONG THE MAKALAKA 
 
 I LEFT Hope Fountain, pretty well restored to health, 
 on the 23rd of April' On starting at four in the 
 afternoon we first followed the tracks of previous 
 travellers over a plateau, but soon lost them, and went 
 on through tall grass, passing numerous maize fields, in 
 the middle of which grew lemons and water-melons. 
 Presently we came to a small village, where a native 
 stopped me to ask for medicine. He had been fighting 
 with another man, and one of his fingers had been cut 
 in two with an axe. The wound was quite fresh, and 
 he said it did not hurt him. I dressed it as well as I 
 could, and by way of thanks he asked me for a present. 
 We camped on a dry upland, without any wood for fire, 
 and to all intents and purposes lost in the veldt. But 
 I was used to that by now. 
 
 Starting at sunrise next morning, we found ourselves 
 at the end of an hour near a village bearing the musical 
 name of Magogweni. The young warriors came out of 
 the village and demanded the inevitable present ; they 
 were all armed with knobbed sticks and assegais, and 
 the demeanour of some of them was very menacing. 
 Of course I did not give them a present, whereon they 
 began to threaten me, and broke out into a song to the 
 effect that they would soon kill all the whites. Next 
 they began to beat one of my men — the smallest of 
 the lot, of course, a poor devil who was nothing but 
 skin and bone. This was going too far, so I told them 
 168 
 
AMONG THE MAKALAKA 
 
 through my interpreter to be gone. As this had no effect, 
 I finished by producing my revolver. At last I had found 
 an argument they could appreciate. They drew back 
 immediately, but continued to follow us for about half 
 an hour, brandishing their weapons and yelling out 
 threats. This was only a fair specimen of the feeling 
 of all the young warriors at the time. Consequently, I 
 for one was by no means surprised a few months later 
 to hear that the Chartered Company had been driven to 
 war with them. 
 
 At half-past nine we got to the river Khami, a name 
 now familiar to the British public — if not already 
 forgotten — by reason of several severe fights on its 
 banks during the recent Matabele revolt. We crossed 
 it near its source, where it is not much more than a 
 rivulet a few yards wide. But its banks are very steep, 
 and it is dangerous to bathe in the deeper holes, where 
 crocodiles lie. Halting on the southern bank, we had 
 great difficulty in getting a little dry wood to cook our 
 breakfast. 
 
 We halted for the night at the river Mabokotwani, 
 where a number of natives arrived from a neighbouring 
 village with baskets of maize, potatoes, and the like. 
 Among them was a tall native, adorned with an old hat 
 and vest, of which he seemed exceedingly proud. 
 Approaching me, he explained that the Queen wished 
 me to come and pay her a visit the next morning. I 
 remembered then that when this august lady paid me 
 a visit on my way to Bulawayo I had promised her 
 a present. I therefore gave her messenger a handful 
 of glass beads, and bade him tell Her Majesty that I 
 much regretted being unable to pay her a visit, but 
 I expected to start again at the break of day. An hour 
 later the messenger returned, followed by slaves carrying 
 gourds of beer, a present from the Queen. Her message 
 was that I must certainly stay the next day, as she could 
 not think of letting me go without seeing me. Thinking 
 169 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 there might be something of interest to see, I promised 
 to visit her. 
 
 Next morning, according to promise, I went to her 
 village, which was only a few hundred yards from the 
 camp. The country was undulating and covered with 
 high grass ; owing to this and the exceeding lowness 
 of the huts of Her Majesty's village, the place was 
 hardly visible a hundred yards away. It was surrounded 
 by a high palisade ; we had to climb over a barrier 
 of trunks of trees to pass this, and then found ourselves 
 in a large well -levelled courtyard, in which were three 
 huts. Two on the right belonged to the Maholi or slaves ; 
 that on the left was the royal hut, rather higher than 
 the others, and adorned with ox-horns. The Queen was 
 seated on a mat in front of the door, with an enormous 
 gourd of beer at her side. Imbolo — such was her name 
 — was of a remarkable type. An enormous woman, nearly 
 six feet high, and with the build of a blacksmith; her 
 breasts hung down below her waist, while her enormous 
 stomach drooped down like an apron. Her only garment 
 was a petticoat of ox-skin, which is the official costume 
 of queens. Before her, at a respectful distance, squatted 
 some twenty natives, while Maholi women went to and 
 fro in the courtyard. On my appearance they brought 
 me a mat to sit down on, and placed at my side a pot 
 containing several pints of beer. The Queen then pro- 
 ceeded to examine all my belongings, being especially 
 interested in my revolver and my watch. The interpreter 
 explained to her that the latter moved with the sun, and 
 that with its aid I could tell where the sun and moon 
 were without seeing them. This she found very extra- 
 ordinary. She then noticed my Japanese tattoo marks ; 
 a dragon appeared to her a new and very engaging beast, 
 but she was rather troubled by the fear that it went when 
 I washed. Her next question was whether my country 
 was very far away. I explained how many moons it 
 would take to march thither going northward. She replied 
 170 
 
AMONG THE MAKALAKA 
 
 with decision that this was a He, because all white men 
 came from the south. Was I married ? was her next 
 inquiry ; but here she was interrupted by one of the by- 
 standers. " Come, come/' he said, " he is too young for 
 that," The whole party burst into roars of laughter when 
 I blew my nose. After a desultory conversation of this 
 rather unprofitable kind, I said I must go ; but Her 
 Majesty's hospitality cried out against the idea. I must 
 wait till the sun went down, she said ; then she would kill 
 a beast and we would eat meat — the suvununi bonum of 
 the native mind. I was firm ; but before departing got 
 them to show me the whole place. The Queen's hut, 
 
 THE QUEEN S HUT. 
 
 of which I have already spoken, was low, the door 
 hardly two feet high by three wide. I wondered how this 
 enormous woman could ever manage to get through it. 
 The ground inside was polished like a waxed floor. For 
 such floors they use a sort of cement they get from ant- 
 hills. This is kneaded into mortar and then polished by 
 rubbing with a stone. On the threshold a row of small 
 stones is embedded in the cement. The walls of the hut 
 are made of mud. Behind the royal hut was another 
 enclosure almost as important — the ox-kraal. In the 
 middle of this were planted four poles about twelve 
 feet high, on the top of which stood a little square hut. 
 Here were kept the shields of the warriors ; they were 
 the property of the King, and the Queen was their 
 guardian. 
 
 Before bidding adieu to Her Majesty I again presented 
 171 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 her with some beads, and was followed back to my camp 
 by a small crowd demanding the eternal present. A few 
 moments after I reached my camp the messenger re- 
 appeared with slaves carrying more beer and a sheep — 
 more presents from the hospitable Queen. At the 
 moment when I was starting Imbolo appeared in person, 
 her enormous body rolling like a ship at sea. She had 
 come in the benevolence of her heart to bid me au revoir. 
 I offered her a box of preserves — a great wonder in 
 native eyes — but she refused it. " You will need it for 
 the journey," she said. Altogether she was a treasure 
 of a woman, and Lo Ben was to be congratulated on 
 at least one of his marriages. She insisted on accom- 
 panying me for nearly half a mile, and left me with 
 loud protestations of friendship. 
 
 Two hours' march next day, over a series of bushy 
 plateaux and among kopjes of the wildest and most 
 fantastic shape, brought us into the heart of the Matopos. 
 Then we began to descend rapidly. The path wound 
 through wild gorges hemmed in by rocks covered with 
 the richest vegetation. At one point we looked over 
 a wide valley, with a pile of huddled kopjes in the middle, 
 on the other side of which appeared a new range of 
 mountains of the strangest form. It looked as if some 
 giant had broken up a few mountains of the orthodox 
 shape, and tossed down the fragments anyhow to form 
 a new range. The descent became more and more rapid ; 
 presently we crossed a small river, the Little Shashani, 
 on the further side of which we came out among fields. 
 Soon we approached the range of mountains we had 
 seen the other side of the valley, and at the bottom 
 of a romantic gorge came upon the river Shashani itself. 
 A more difficult country for military operations with white 
 troops cannot be imagined. 
 
 We were now entering on the country inhabited by the 
 Makalaka, with only one Matabele village six miles west 
 of Mangwe. A great number of Makalaka came to us 
 172 
 
AMONG THE MAKALAKA 
 
 to trade by the Shashani with the usual maize, potatoes, 
 water-melons, and so on. The men are of a by no means 
 disagreeable type, without the air of arrogance which 
 the Matabele affect. The women, on the other hand, are 
 hideous. As a rule they shave their heads, leaving only one 
 tuft, which they allow to grow very long and smear with 
 a mixture of earth and fat. They wear round their waists 
 a skin embroidered with rows of beads, the back of which 
 forms a bag. Like all natives, they carry their children 
 on their backs. These infants have their hair covered 
 over with glass beads. They are exceedingly precocious, 
 beginning to walk long before the age of twelve months. 
 I saw one infant, who could not have been more than two 
 months old, standing on his mother's back, his feet pressed 
 on to the small of the back, and holding on to her shoulders. 
 The Makalaka, I discovered, rejoice in a god of the name 
 of Shumpaoli. He is found in the enclosure outside their 
 huts, and is manufactured in the following manner. The 
 head of an axe and a stone from the river are placed 
 on the ground together; between these are planted a twig 
 and a long stalk of grass — and there you have your god. 
 When they make beer they pour some of it round the 
 god, and the children come and lick him. They also 
 scatter the first-fruits of the harvest about him, and on 
 the great days when they kill a beast they skin it in his 
 presence. 
 
 We left the Shashani at three that afternoon, and con- 
 tinued to follow the line of the Matopos, which were 
 now on our left and east of us. The country was still 
 very grandiose. In the evening two Makalaka, both 
 appallingly drunk, arrived at my camp with a boy of 
 about five. One of them wanted to sell me milk, 
 and I offered him a price for it. The moment the 
 words were out of my mouth, he began shouting out 
 that I was mocking him, that he was a man ; and to 
 prove it he Hfted up his son. "Very well," I said, "then 
 take your milk away." Again he yelled out that I must 
 173 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 not mock him, and again he hfted up his son. He 
 repeated this performance about a dozen times, and then 
 accepted the ten gun-caps which I had offered him. His 
 comrade next approached, and asked if I would Hke to 
 buy some maize, and how much would I want for a piece 
 of cotton. I told him ten baskets. That wound him up, 
 so to speak, and instantly he too began a series of blood- 
 curdling yells"; but he too finished by offering to bring 
 eight baskets at sunrise, and leaving his old musket as 
 a guarantee of good faith. He did not appear next 
 morning, so I started without waiting for him, well 
 knowing that he would come to fetch his gun. Before 
 long he came hurrying after us with the maize, and the 
 transaction was completed ! Such is shopping in Africa. 
 
 Next morning as we approached Mangwe the mountains 
 gradually disappeared, and we passed through a succession 
 of fields. In the middle of each was a small hut for the 
 accommodation of women who had come there to get 
 in the harvest. We reached Mangwe that evening, and 
 started next day for Tati. The country became dull, 
 and all signs of habitation ceased. On the 30th of April 
 we reached the ruins of Mpakwe — on the further side of 
 the river of the same name — which showed interesting 
 traces of old gold workings. They are surrounded by 
 a wall. About three-quarters can still be traced, and 
 there is some sort of sign of a smelting furnace in the 
 middle. Next day rather more than six hours' trek 
 through hot sand, covered more and more with bush as 
 we advanced, brought us to Tati. 
 
 When I arrived in Tati I found that the oxen I had left 
 sick when I started for Bulawayo had disappeared. I sent 
 natives in search of them, while I devoted a week to letter- 
 writing. At the end of that time I decided to push north- 
 ward through the Makalaka country to try and find a 
 better route to the Victoria Falls. I went first to the 
 Monarch Mine, where I received a hearty welcome ; there 
 I was detained a fortnight getting my waggon repaired. 
 174 
 
AMONG THE MAKALAKA 
 
 Mr. Kessler, the assayer, then mentioned some remarkable 
 ruins, said to be quite as large as Zimbabwe, which were 
 reported to exist near the sources of the Tati river, and 
 it was arranged that we should visit them together. 
 
 We took a native guide, and after three days' trek 
 through a well-timbered country, covered with luxuriant 
 grass and well watered, we camped at the foot of a hill, 
 on the top of which rose a rocky point looking like a 
 miniature imitation of the Matterhorn. The following 
 morning our guide took us to see the celebrated ruins. 
 First of all he led us to a huge flat slab of rock some 
 
 IN THE MAKALAKA COUNTRY. 
 
 three hundred feet in diameter, in the middle of which 
 was a deep pool of water. We then climbed the slopes 
 of the hill, and when we reached the base of the peak our 
 guide informed us that we stood upon the sacred spot 
 
 " But," said I, " where are the ruins ? " 
 
 " There are no ruins, master ; but this is the place where 
 the great Mambo died." 
 
 After much questioning we discovered the tradition 
 connected with this rock. When Umsili Gazi, Lo Ben- 
 gula's father, invaded Matabeleland, the country was 
 ruled by a Swazi chief, Mam.bo (" the Chief"). Beaten by 
 Umsili Gazi near the place where Bulawayo now stands, he 
 took refuge to the west and established himself near this 
 rock. He hid in a cave by the big slab we first saw ; but 
 175 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 heavy rains came and the cave was flooded, many of the 
 women hidden in it being drowned. Mambo himself 
 took refuge with his wives at the foot of the rock. Soon 
 the Matabele came, and the Swazi were once more beaten 
 by the invaders. Feehng that he was about to be taken 
 prisoner, Mambo cut off the heads of his wives and 
 slaves, and then, making a huge heap of dry wood, burned 
 himself in the midst of their bodies. 
 
 The tradition was interesting ; but Kessler was not too 
 well pleased at having come all the way to see a mere 
 rock. Anxious at least to get an idea of the geography 
 of the country for his trouble, he suggested our climbing 
 a high hill : to reach the foot of it we had to pass through 
 very long grass covered with seeds. These stuck in my 
 stockings, inflicting excruciating pain. However, we 
 reached the top of the hill, and were rewarded with a 
 magnificent view. Coming down by the other side we 
 found at the foot still denser grass. From time to time 
 I. tried to pull the grass seeds off my stockings, but soon 
 so many got stuck in that I gave it up. I could go no 
 further. These seeds, about half an inch long, have three 
 barbs at their extremity shaped like a fish-hook ; not only 
 do they stick into woollen garments, but, what is more 
 to the point, into your skin. I was covered with so many 
 of them, and the agony was so intense, that I sat down 
 and declined to go a step further. Kessler, who had 
 corduroy trousers, laughed at me ; but I got quite angry, 
 and swore that I would stop there till he sent me the 
 pony. 
 
 The next day he returned to Monarch, and I went on, 
 determined to penetrate as far as the Nata river, in order 
 to ascertain whether it was possible to join the road across 
 the Kalahari to the Victoria Falls. 
 
 Presently I reached the first Makalaka village, the chief of 
 
 which was not able to welcome me, as he had recently been 
 
 killed by Lo Ben. A few natives appeared, and desired 
 
 to sell fowls and sheep at a most exorbitant price ; but 
 
 176 
 
AMONG THE MAKALAKA 
 
 my object being to see the country, I decided to push on to 
 Umsuazi's, the largest kraal of that district. The country 
 became much flatter ; there were no kopjes, but much 
 high grass and wood. We passed .a native cemetery, 
 conspicuous by the funeral mounds, and there we found 
 some natives. " Where is Umsuazi's village ? " I asked. 
 There were no wheel tracks in the direction they pointed 
 out, and we plunged into the veldt without much con- 
 fidence. The direction was right all the same, and after 
 half an hour we halted fifty yards from the chiefs huts. 
 We were now about eighty miles from Tati, a hundred 
 and seventy from Palapshwe, and only fifteen days south 
 of the Zambezi. I have no hesitation in saying that this 
 is the road of the future rather than that which I had 
 taken when I visited the Barotse country. There is no 
 thick sand, water is plentiful, and provisions can be got 
 on the way. That at any rate is the case with the road 
 so far as I trekked it. 
 
 Half an hour after our arrival Umsuazi appeared with 
 two or three of his followers. He was a tall old man, 
 very dirty of course, with a malignant and rascally ex- 
 pression. He began by measuring me with his eyes from 
 head to foot ; I did the same by him. At the end of 
 some minutes, seeing that I was not disposed to make any 
 advances, he made up his mind to greet me, and squatted 
 down opposite my fire. 
 
 " Who told you to come into my country ? " was his 
 first question. 
 
 " Lo Bengula," I boldly replied. 
 
 " What have you come for ? " 
 
 " To buy mealies," I said. (It is always as well to have 
 a definite object.) 
 
 " Where is the King's man ? " next asked Umsuazi. 
 
 " I have no man with me, but I am coming from Bula- 
 wayo, and the King has allowed me to travel through his 
 country." 
 
 " Well," said the chief, " if you want mealies I will sell 
 you some ; but you can't go any further." 
 N 177 
 
AMONG THE MAKALAKA 
 
 I made no reply, and the old man retired. 
 
 Next morning he appeared bringing me a present, and 
 I made him one in return. There was not much trading 
 to be done, as the prices his people asked for beasts were 
 simply ridiculous. However, grain could be bought at 
 a fair rate for beads. Umsuazi took no great interest 
 in any of my affairs, except my firearms, and was 
 disagreeable in general. My men were much afraid of 
 him, and said he would send us away, if he did no worse. 
 On the second morning some women had appeared to sell 
 us maize, when all of a sudden the chief appeared, 
 storming and swearing. He was foaming at the mouth, 
 and evidently drunk. He drove the women away with 
 a stick, approached my camp, and then suddenly went 
 off again swearing. In the afternoon he sent to say I 
 had better go back whence I came, which added to the 
 terror of my men. The next morning he appeared and 
 did not greet me, only stared at me in silence, which is 
 a great insult among the natives. I told him to go away, 
 which he did, but again sent to say he would not let me 
 go further. Without troubling myself about his ravings 
 I made my preparations to go on. At the moment when 
 I was inspanning he appeared again, accompanied by 
 about a dozen men with assegais. He looked at me ; 
 I looked at him. Seeing that I would not speak first, 
 he said to me : 
 
 " What did you say ? " 
 
 " Nothing," I replied ; " did you say anything ? " 
 
 He then turned to my men and threatened to kill them 
 if they followed me. They translated his threats to me, 
 and I made them tell him that if he had anything to say 
 he had better say it to me and not to my slaves. I had 
 had enough of his foolishness, I said, and was decided 
 to go on. If he did not want me to, he had better stop 
 me. 
 
 " Where are you going ? " he asked, 
 
 " I am going to the next village." 
 178 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 " No, you won't." 
 
 " Who will prevent me ? " 
 
 " I shall prevent you " ; and thereupon he called his 
 escort. 
 
 " Now, look here, my friend," I said, losing my temper, 
 " no nonsense. I am going, and you won't stop me." At 
 the same time I seized my gun, and, seeing two birds 
 in a tree about a hundred yards off, I aimed at them. 
 The gun went off by accident, and" to my amazement 
 the two birds dropped dead, cut in two by my express 
 bullet. 
 
 " You see," I said, seizing the opportunity, " that is how 
 I can shoot. So you needn't try to stop me." 
 
 The old chief responded that I was a bad man, that 
 he would send messengers to Lo Ben, who would send 
 an impi to kill me. Knowing that I should be out of 
 the country before the messengers could reach Lo Ben, 
 I went on. He sent some armed men after us ; I 
 pretended to take no notice of them, and they soon 
 disappeared. 
 
 We trekked through a forest, and soon I noticed that 
 my leader was guiding the oxen in such a way as to make 
 a circle and to come back on our steps. I told him that it 
 was no use trying that game on me, and I marched 
 myself ahead of the waggon, following a footpath leading 
 to the north-west. Towards evening we passed a village, 
 where the people were most friendly ; they informed me 
 that in a day's march I would get to Matamdumba's kraal, 
 the residence of the biggest local chief We camped that 
 night near a river. The next morning, after trekking for 
 five hours, we found the footpath obstructed by a huge 
 tree quite recently felled. With much difficulty we 
 removed it, but soon came across fresh obstructions. I 
 heard afterwards that Umsuazi had sent messengers ahead 
 to warn the various chiefs to stop me. 
 
 In the evening, however, we reached Matamdumba's 
 kraal. My guide had bolted, afraid of Umsuazi's threats ; 
 179 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 but a man of Matamdumba showed me the way in 
 exchange for a box of gun-caps. Soon after my arrival 
 old Matamdumba himself came to see me ; he was very 
 friendly, but also much afraid. He promised to show 
 me the Nata river the next day from the top of a hill. 
 In the evening numbers of women brought me fresh milk 
 and mealies. I paid two strings of beads for a gallon 
 of milk, and about half a pound of them for a sack of 
 mealies. 
 
 The girls were all dressed in a kaross, which is made of 
 
 skins sewed together and covered with elaborate designs 
 
 of red and white beads. These 
 
 are fastened on to the shoulders 
 
 and hang below the ankles. They 
 
 last a life-time, and being never 
 
 washed emit a most dreadful odour. 
 
 The girls' hair is shaved, with the 
 
 exception of a tuft about four 
 
 inches in diameter; this is allowed 
 
 to grow long, and is smeared with 
 
 a mixture of rancid butter and 
 
 black ashes ; mixed up with the 
 
 / \ hair it forms a heavy coating, and 
 
 / I makes the people look most re- 
 
 ' pulsive. The children are carried 
 
 MAKALAKA GIRL. ^ 
 
 naked in a skin on their mothers 
 backs, and the hair is done up like the girls', but with 
 beads strung in it. Married women wear a small triangle 
 of beads strung on the hair and hanging down on the 
 forehead. 
 
 The villages consist of circular huts with low conical 
 roofs. In the centre stands the cattle kraal, and the whole 
 village is surrounded with a strong palisade of wood 
 stuck in the ground. The country is most fertile ; the 
 people cultivate mealies, sweet potatoes, millet, water- 
 melons, and pumpkins. They possess large numbers 
 of cattle, small in size but perfect in shape. These are 
 1 80 
 
AMONG THE MAKALAKA 
 
 trained as pack animals, and many natives also ride 
 them. They have also large numbers of goats, and a 
 few sheep. 
 
 For cattle they ask high prices — the equivalent of ^^5 
 to £6 in trading goods — beads or guns. Goats can be 
 purchased for about six shillings' worth of beads. 
 
 The next morning the old chief took me up a hill, and 
 I got from there a splendid view over the surrounding 
 country. It finally convinced me that this is the best 
 way to reach the Victoria Falls. By following this route 
 you avoid all the waterless part of the Kalahari ; the 
 grass is excellent, and there is no fear of losing your 
 cattle through lack of water. 
 
 From Matamdumba's kraal only five to six days are 
 necessary to reach Wacha Vley, whence water is abundant 
 right lip to the Zambezi. The old chief promised to 
 give me guides to take me right up to the Nata river ; 
 but in the afternoon I unfortunately climbed up a small 
 hill with my theodolite and my camera. I was taking 
 some angles when the chief appeared, followed by more 
 than a hundred of his men, all armed. The old man was 
 shaking all over with excitement. 
 
 " So," he exclaimed, " you have come here to bewitch 
 the country. I have a good mind to kill you." 
 
 " Yes, yes," shouted his followers ; " kill him, kill him ; 
 he has been doing witchcraft" 
 
 My position was most disagreeable. I only had my 
 revolver, but I was determined to shoot the first man 
 who came near me. Through my interpreter I spoke 
 to the people, trying to explain what I had been doing; 
 but I hardly managed to calm them, and I returned 
 to my waggon followed by the angry crowd. My 
 interpreter strongly advised me to clear out that night, 
 assuring me that the people meant to try me next day for 
 witchcraft. So, as soon as the moon rose, we inspanned 
 the waggon and trekked all night. In the afternoon 
 we again moved away. I timed myself to pass Umsuazi's 
 181 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 kraal at night, and was glad when I once more reached the 
 sources of the Tati river. In three days more I arrived 
 at the Monarch Mine. I have since heard that Lo Bengula 
 was very wroth at my having visited this part of his states 
 without his leave, and my unfortunate guide was seized 
 by Umsuazi, sent to Lo Ben, and put to death. 
 
 I spent some time at Monarch in order to get my 
 waggon repaired, as I had upset it in a dry river and con- 
 
 1;-*^ 
 
 
 UPSET IN A DRIFT. 
 
 siderably damaged it. I also developed my photographs, 
 and then, taking leave of my kind friends, I trekked 
 towards Palapshwe. My intention Avas to go back to 
 Cape Town by the Transvaal, but when I reached 
 Palapshwe I found some officers who had just returned 
 from Mashonaland. 
 
 They were full of enthusiasm about the Zimbabwe 
 ruins, and strongly urged me to go and visit them. This 
 merely meant a detour of three weeks, and I therefore 
 decided to proceed once more northwards. Before leaving 
 I had to part with my headman Major. As I have 
 182 
 
AMONG THE MAKALAKA 
 
 described above, a snake spat in his eye at Linokani six 
 months before. He had appeared all right since then, 
 but while we were at Monarch the eye got inflamed, and 
 the doctor found that a false membrane had formed. He 
 advised Major to go and be operated upon at Kimberley, 
 and even so he feared that the poor fellow would have to 
 get his eye altogether removed. 
 
 183 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MASHONALAND 
 
 I LEFT Palapshwe on the 25th of July, and glad indeed 
 I was to think that this would be my last experience 
 of the villainous approaches to Khama's village. The 
 first stage of the journey into Mashonaland was getting 
 to Macloutsie. The road diverged almost immediately 
 from that which I had followed to Tati on the way 
 to Matabeleland, but except for its unspeakable badness 
 it does not call for much comment. A good deal of it 
 was heavy sand alternating with forest. The oxen were 
 good for four or six hours' travelling a day, and we 
 got into Macloutsie on the first of August. At this 
 station, which, until the colonization of Mashonaland, 
 was the northernmost position occupied by British troops, 
 I stayed three days. It was the principal post of 
 the Bechuanaland Border Police, and I received much 
 kindness from the officers of that fine irregular force. 
 Sir Frederick Carrington was their colonel at the time, 
 and his stories were the delight of everybody. Even 
 then he had the reputation of being one of the very 
 best British officers who ever came to South Africa, and 
 that reputation, I need not remind anybody, he has 
 since maintained and heightened by his conduct of the 
 recent operations against the Matabele rebels. I had 
 met him before on my way to the Victoria Falls, and 
 great was his astonishment to find me still on the tramp. 
 On the 4th of August we jolted out of Macloutsie 
 on the way to Tuli. The journey occupied a week. 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 and was only diversified by occasional rumours of lions ; 
 but beyond seeing two Dutchmen who had seen two 
 lions, I did not add much to my experiences of these 
 beasts. Instead of that I added something to my 
 already overwhelming experiences of the manners and 
 customs of the draught ox, as a great many members 
 of my team spent the best part of their time being ill 
 and requiring medical attendance. A Dutchman I met 
 informicd me that the whole team was suffering from foot 
 and mouth disease. " The transport to Mashonaland," he 
 added, " is almost stopped through it, but if you follow 
 my advice your beasts ought to be all right in a fortnight. 
 You must throw each one of them every day and wash 
 their feet well with tepid water, then paint them with 
 paraffin oil and put a thick coating of waggon grease over 
 them. This done, rub their mouths well with powdered 
 alum, and pour a thin broth of mustard and water down 
 their throats." I then had nineteen oxen, and this meant 
 no easy job. Fortunately I possessed all the necessary 
 ingredients, and I began forthwith to follow the prescription. 
 The worst of it was that I had but four men with me, so 
 that the operation took a considerable time ; but the result 
 was worthy of the trouble, as before I reached Victoria 
 every one of them was all right, and my team was the 
 only "salted"* one in the place. 
 
 I reached Tuli on the nth of August, and was now in 
 Mashonaland. Civilization at once presented itself in the 
 shape of a bar, where it was possible to get a whiskey 
 and soda. This was my first experience of that drink 
 for eighteen months. Here also I found myself in the 
 true frontier society, which is the same all over the 
 world. The barman was an excellent fellow, who at 
 one time had been well known in London Society. He 
 had held a commission in a crack Hussar regiment, and 
 
 * "Salted" is a South African expression, meaning that an animal has 
 suffered from a usually fatal disease and, having recovered from it; is proof 
 against a fresh attack 
 
 185 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 after running through well over ;£" 100,000 had come 
 out here to mix drinks at ;^20 a month; and very well 
 he did it. In the bar you might converse with any 
 class of society you wished, from the British peer to 
 the American cowboy. A good many of them had 
 come croppers of one sort or another — that was why 
 they were there— but they were all good fellows. 
 
 Tuli then consisted of a small dilapidated fort, at the 
 foot of which stood enormous corrugated iron sheds filled 
 with stores of all kinds, the remnant of what had been 
 sent from the south to feed the first settlers when they 
 were cut off from all communication with the Cape 
 Colony owing to an extra heavy rainy season ; two or three 
 private stores — chief among them being Mr. Julius Weil's 
 — and a hotel built of bricks composed the town. But a 
 few police were left to guard the place ; their officer — who 
 at the same time was acting as local magistrate — was 
 Captain Barnett, a most kind and hospitable fellow. I 
 took up my quarters at the hotel opened out by Mr. Weil 
 on the other side of the Sashi river. This river, nominally 
 over half a mile broad, was then dry, but during the rains 
 it gets quite full, the water rising to 15 or 16 ft. above 
 its bed, so that waggons are often detained for a week, 
 or even more, before they can cross it. Here I took out 
 my shilling prospector's licence, the only legal preliminary 
 to entering the Chartered Company's country, and after 
 a week set out for Victoria. Travelling by waggon 
 was not the most cheerful or expeditious means of 
 getting over the country, though we were on the road 
 constructed by the Mashonaland pioneers, which, although 
 not perhaps up to the best European standard, was 
 quite practicable for African waggons. Hence I was by 
 no means displeased when, about half-way to Victoria, 
 we were overtaken by the Company's post- cart. This 
 was drawn by oxen, and ran once a week from Tuli to 
 Salisbury, taking about fifteen days to accomplish the 
 journey. Until a year before all the mails had been 
 186 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 carried by policemen on horseback. These men went 
 alone, having during the rains to swim across about fifteen 
 rivers. They could find no food on the way, and their 
 only supplies for the five days the journey lasted were a 
 few tins of corned beef, some biscuits, and a little coffee. 
 Daily they had to sleep in a wet blanket, and whenever 
 they could do so they rode during the night, the country 
 being infested with lions. One of them was once chased 
 by seven of the beasts, while another had a lion spring on 
 his horse's back, but he managed to shoot the beast, and 
 the pony escaped with little injury, being saved by the 
 mail bags. Notwithstanding all these dangers, every man 
 in the force was anxious to undertake the journey. 
 
 I had been very kindly furnished with passes to use the 
 post-carts, and gladly took the opportunity of going on 
 ahead, leaving my waggon to follow. My fellow-passengers 
 were two clergymen, one of whom, Archdeacon Upcher, 
 I found a delightful companion, and the other the re- 
 verse, as, with true Christian charity, he was very angry 
 at not having the whole cart to himself 
 
 The scenery on the journey up country consisted mainly 
 of public-houses and granite kopjes. Of the former we 
 passed eighteen between Tuli and Victoria, and of the 
 latter a countless number. Their shapes were hardly less 
 fantastic than those of the Matopos, though on a somewhat 
 smaller scale. The vegetation was of tropical richness, 
 especially along the deep valleys of the rivers. We passed 
 more than one Mashona village, perched high up among 
 the rocks — many of them almost impossible of access. On 
 the top of them we could see the heads of the people 
 as they squatted high above us, and peered down in a 
 way that recalled and justified their Matabele name of 
 "baboons." It was very difficult to get at them suffi- 
 ciently to have any intercourse, as they were exceedingly 
 shy and timorous. Later, however, I managed to get 
 the camera to bear upon some of them. They orna- 
 ment themselves somewhat liberally with beads, to 
 187 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 which they add a touch of civiHzation in the form of 
 tin ornaments made out of the white man's discarded 
 meat tins. The Mashona are by no means without 
 industry and ingenuity. They grow good crops of 
 meahes, and some of them are very expert smelters 
 and ironworkers. They make pottery also with a certain 
 amount of skill. All the same, I cannot call them an 
 attractive race, as they are cowardly and incurably given 
 to pilfering. The country was then very sparsely inhabited, 
 but it only needs irrigation, for which the many rivers give 
 great facilities. 
 
 The last part of the journey to Victoria leads through 
 a gorge at the foot of Providential Pass, as it is called, 
 from the fact that the pioneers on their way up 
 country discovered it by an accident. The scenery 
 here is enchanting, richly green, with cool streams 
 bubbling through the vegetation. The surrounding hills 
 are less grotesque in their aspect than those of other 
 parts of the country, and possess a graceful charm, 
 which, for the most part, is lacking in Africa. The 
 township of Victoria was represented at that time by 
 a group of straw huts. It was built on a flat plateau, 
 and did not seem over healthy ; but that was in early 
 days. There were three public-houses, all doing a rattling 
 trade. Chief among them was Napier's bar, kept by its 
 enterprising owner, whose name has been so often 
 mentioned since he acted as colonel of the Bulawayo 
 contingent at the beginning of the Matabele rebellion. 
 I was put up in a hut in the company of Lord Henry 
 Paulet and Major Browne, where I spent a fortnight 
 most enjoyably. From visits which I made to the 
 neighbouring mines I was greatly impressed with the 
 future prospects of this country. They were not of 
 course in full working order, but there was no mistaking 
 the indications of riches in the samples of quartz and 
 assays submitted to me. 
 
 From Victoria I made an excursion to the famous 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 ruins of Zimbabwe.* To see these had been one of the 
 objects that brought me to Africa ; but as I found 
 Mr. Theodore Bent had been before me and made a 
 thorough examination of the ruins, I visited them rather 
 to satisfy my own curiosity than from any desire or 
 expectation of adding anything to the work of an 
 eminent archaeologist so much more capable of describ- 
 
 THE OLD FORT AT VICTORIA. 
 
 ing them than myself In this place, therefore, I shall 
 only give a brief sketch of the extent and appearance 
 of this astonishing phenomenon, referring those who 
 wish to make a closer acquaintance with it to the 
 admirable monographs of Mr. Bent. 
 
 * The word Zimbabwe, or Zimbabye, as it is called, has puzzled many, 
 but I think it can be easily explained. The true signification is clearly 
 " House of the chief or master." In Nyasaland the house of a chief is 
 called Nyumba ya Mbuye. The letters y and z are often used one for the 
 other in the Bantu languages ; for instance, the natives call lake Nyasa 
 either Nyanja or else Nyasa, or again Nyanza. Therefore it is probable 
 that Nyumba ya Mbuye was pronounced Nzimba ya Mbuye, of which the 
 first Portuguese who visited the place made Zimbabowe. The proof of this 
 is that de Barros, in his book pubHshed in Lisbon in 1777, speaks of the 
 Simbaoes, or palaces of Benomapata, and all the early Portuguese travellers 
 call every residence of a chief by this name. 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 One of the most remarkable and baffling features 
 of this, as of most parts of savage Africa, is the almost 
 absolute lack of any history. Such traditions as I could 
 gather from the natives I have for the most part already 
 recounted, especially those relative to the origin of the 
 Matabele and the recent history of the Zulu race 
 generally. I was now about to make acquaintance with 
 the most considerable example of another kind of 
 historical evidence — if such vague enigmas can be called 
 evidence — the extraordinary ruins which are to be 
 found in several parts of this vast region. Some of 
 these I have briefly noticed already, but the notice has 
 been of necessity very brief indeed, because it is 
 impossible to find any trustworthy theory concerning 
 them. Before visiting Zimbabwe I had seen, as has 
 already been said, several ruins which, unimportant in 
 themselves, are of interest as being unquestionably of 
 similar origin. 
 
 It might be well briefly to recount the lesser ruins I 
 had seen before approaching the greatest of these 
 romantic puzzles. First, at Tati there were two circles 
 on the top of a hill between 40 and 50 yards in diameter. 
 The wall, however, is almost entirely destroyed, as the 
 stones have been used by miners to build their huts. 
 Second, I found another circular wall on a hill to the 
 north of Mount Inyangakwe — this also very ruinous. 
 Third, on the river Umbukwe, a tributary of the Tati, 
 is a ruin on a little rocky eminence. The outer wall 
 is in excellent preservation, and you can trace very 
 plainly a passage leading into the interior. These 
 ruins display work exactly similar to that of Zim- 
 babwe, and it can hardly be doubted that they date 
 from the same epoch. Fourth, on the river M'pakwe. The 
 outer wall here is very dilapidated, but the plan of the 
 interior is like that of Zimbabwe in certain respects, 
 though on a very much smaller and less elaborate scale. 
 Fifth, on the river Lundi, in Mashonaland. Here again 
 190 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 we find points of similarity to the outer wall of Zim- 
 babwe. In all these ruins there still remain distinct signs 
 of furnaces which must have been used for smelting gold 
 or iron. Those I have named by no means exhaust 
 the list ; many others exist along the Semokwe and 
 Sabi rivers. These are all circular, and not more than 
 40 yards or so in diameter. 
 
 As for the ruins of Zimbabwe, I found nothing more 
 
 THE GREAT WALL, ZIMBABWE. 
 
 interesting in the whole of my journey. Their extent, 
 their gigantic proportions, and their general plan indicate 
 a loftiness of conception very far superior to the present 
 ability of the negro race. They consist of two perfectly 
 distinct parts. The first of these stands on a rising 
 ground in the middle of a plain. It consists of an 
 elliptical, almost circular enclosure, nearly 400 yards in 
 circumference, and surrounded by walls varying from 
 
 14 to 30 feet in height. In some parts this wall is nearly 
 
 15 feet thick at the base, and rather more than half as 
 much at the summit. The second part of the ruins is 
 rather over a quarter of a mile from this enclosure. Here 
 a hill rises to a height of some 300 feet above the level 
 
 191 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 of the plain, and on this hill again are found considerable 
 ruins. Between the hill and the large walled enclosure 
 below, a considerable number of small walls appear to 
 indicate the existence of a town defended by a rampart 
 on its western side. At one time a river must have 
 run at the foot of the hill, for I found a stone nearly 
 15 feet high, whose base was worn by the action of a 
 somewhat powerful current. 
 
 As for the ruins themselves, I find it quite impossible 
 in a brief sketch to convey even an impression of them. 
 Both lower and upper structures are a mass of walls so 
 elaborate that it is difficult without long practice to find 
 your own way about them, much less convey a description 
 of their detail to others. 
 
 The lower enclosure seems to have been devoted to 
 some kind of worship. In its exterior wall, which is about 
 400 yards in circumference, we find three entrances — on 
 the N.N.E., on the N.E., and on the W., the first evidently 
 the principal entrance. Penetrating into the ruins by this 
 entrance (hardly a yard wide) we are stopped by a ditch 
 2 yards deep, doubtless dug in great haste as a means of 
 defence. On our left towards the S.E. we find a long 
 passage, a yard and a half wide, lying between the 
 surrounding wall and an interior wall. This passage runs 
 towards the south of the ruins and ends in a conical tower 
 II or 12 yards high, on the N.N.E. of which are the 
 remains of a smaller tower. These two towers are solid, 
 and evidently an emblem. On the north of the large tower 
 the inner wall stops, and the centre of the ruins is reached 
 by a narrow passage, in which the traces of a door are 
 found. 
 
 ' On the other side (W.) the approaches to the tower 
 are equally protected by a wall at right angles to the 
 great outer wall and a narrow passage of about a yard 
 wide, where a staircase appears to have given access to the 
 approaches to the towers. To the left of the first passage 
 there is a sort of circular platform, of which the walls 
 192 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 which skirt the passage leading to the sacred enclosure 
 are composed of alternate rows of black and white stones. 
 
 The walls consist of granite, fashioned, without doubt, 
 by the hammer. I was not able to discover any trace of 
 the chisel. The stones were built up without cement. 
 From the east to the south the wall is ornamented and 
 topped by little monoliths. Except the weakest part 
 of the wall mentioned above, the whole indicates a work 
 executed at one period ; it must have been carried out by 
 slaves, but on a plan w^ell conceived by an architect. The 
 superior ruins above all show a plan admirably conceivedj 
 and a true knowledge of the laws of architecture. 
 
 As I have already explained, at the north of the 
 enclosure there exist what appear to be the remains of a 
 town. Between that and the hill ran, no doubt, a river, 
 while a wall protected the settlement on the west. 
 
 On the north side the hill is relatively easy of access, 
 but at the top a range of enormous blocks of rock nearly 
 20 yards high makes all passage towards the south im- 
 possible, except in one place where there is a fissure 
 between two rocks where a man may squeeze through 
 with great difficulty. It was to the south of these rocks, 
 on a platform about 50 yards wide by 120 yards long, that 
 the fortress was established ; on the south of this platform 
 there is an almost perpendicular precipice of polished rock 
 about 30 yards high. It is from this side that one reaches 
 the fortress through a narrow fissure in the rock, defended 
 on each side by a wall. At the top of the ascent the 
 passage turns towards the right along the precipice, at the 
 brink of which stands a wall about 10 yards high and 
 4 yards wide. ■ In this is arranged a passage which winds 
 for nearly 10 yards between two other walls, and in 
 the whole length of which staircases appear to have 
 existed. At intervals of some yards in this passage are 
 little semi-circular platforms built into the wall, evidently 
 to accommodate sentinels. To the left there is a rather 
 large semi-circular enclosure, and towards the right an 
 o 193 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 infinity of little enclosures surrounded by rocks and walls. 
 It is in this part of the ruins on the hill that Mr. Bent 
 discovered the greater part of his curiosities. At the same 
 time, I must say I have been much astonished at the 
 comparatively small results of Mr. Bent's researches, and 
 I am convinced that numerous documents remain to be 
 discovered. All these ruins have half disappeared because 
 of the enormous quantity of vegetation that has overgrown 
 them. All the interior of the lower ruins is covered by a 
 mass of trees and shrubs which prevent the visitor from 
 obtaining a view of the whole. 
 
 The most interesting part is without doubt the smelting 
 furnace. This is at the extreme south-west corner of 
 the ruin, and to reach it you pass through a small 
 temple with an altar. You descend a flight of steps to 
 the furnace, which is in the darkest corner of the whole 
 building. The furnace is constructed of a very hard 
 cement apparently made of powdered granite, with a 
 chimney of the same substance. Among the things that 
 Mr. Bent found here were small crucibles used for smelting, 
 and a soapstone mould for casting ingots, apparently of 
 Phoenician manufacture. The gold appears to have been 
 brought from old workings, many of which have been 
 discovered in the neighbourhood. The quartz was crushed 
 with huge stones, then washed, then smelted in the 
 crucibles, and finally cast in ingots. It is largely on the 
 evidence of these processes that the theory has been 
 formed that the original builders of Zimbabwe were early 
 Arabs, who disposed of their gold in the markets of 
 Phoenicia and Egypt. 
 
 But who exactly they were, when they came and how, 
 how long they stayed, what was their history, and why 
 they disappeared, there is nobody in the world to answer. 
 The whole thing is one of the most weird and tantalizing 
 problems that can be imagined. The difficulty is increased 
 by the fact that parts of the building, and some of the 
 implements discovered in the ruins, appear to belong to 
 '94 
 
MASHONALAND - 
 
 a different period of workmanship, inferior to the rest. 
 Judging from the early Portuguese records concerning the 
 empire of Monomatapa, it appears that three hundred 
 years ago the natives of this part of the country enjoyed 
 a higher state of civihzation than they do to-day. Never- 
 theless, it is impossible to believe that any African natives 
 were at any time capable of constructing these extra- 
 ordinary works. Zimbabwe is one of the mysteries of the 
 world, and at present there appears to be nobody capable 
 of finding the key. 
 
 On returning to Victoria I witnessed two important 
 functions — the opening of the new township and the 
 formation of the volunteer corps. The position of the 
 fort, around which stood the old township, consisting, as I 
 have said, of a few huts, was deemed unfavourable to the 
 building of a town, the water supply being insufficient for 
 the growing population. The Chartered Company there- 
 fore chose a better site some four miles to the north. 
 Plans were drawn of the proposed new town, divided into 
 a number of stands, which were put up to auction. At the 
 first sale stands realized from £2^, the upstart price, to 
 £Ap. When I was there in June, 1892, twenty brick 
 houses had already been built, and fine Government 
 buildings were nearly completed. 
 
 At a sale of stands which took place just before my 
 arrival some reached i^28o. I was myself offered a stand 
 on the market-place for £60, but failed to buy it as I 
 should have had to build a house, and I knew no one I 
 could trust to superintend the work.* As for the formation 
 of the volunteer corps, I must explain how it happened. 
 When the pioneer expedition was organized, Lord Loch, 
 then Governor of the Cape, declined to allow this small 
 band of 200 men to proceed some 1000 miles from 
 Kimberley without adequate protection in case of attack. 
 Therefore a body of police was formed as an escort to the 
 pioneers. When these were disbanded, as I shall relate 
 * This stand is now worth over ;!^iooo. 
 195 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 in a moment, it was still necessary to take measures to 
 defend the country in case of unforeseen attack : for that 
 purpose the volunteers were organized. The call was 
 responded to with alacrity by all. After the township 
 was declared open, the volunteers were enrolled by our 
 friend, Major Browne, and the men then elected their 
 officers. The Colonel-Elect was Lord Henry Paulet, who 
 had also been nominated Chairman of the Church Com- 
 mittee. That same day poor Wilson was elected Lieutenant, 
 and we little thought then that this was to be his death- 
 warrant. In the evening all joined in a smoking concert. 
 A waggon had been provided to carry back to the old 
 township all those whose legs might refuse to carry them 
 there ; but the proceedings were most orderly, and the 
 evening a very pleasant one. I was able there to judge of 
 the good comradeship that existed in this community. 
 The election and concert took place in a large room 
 adjoining Mr. Napier's new bar. As usual, he was to the 
 front, being the first to open a bar in the new Victoria. 
 This day must have been a hard one for him, a stream 
 of customers constantly pouring into his admirably-kept 
 establishment. 
 
 I had had no very definite idea of going any further 
 than Victoria, but I found travel in Mashonaland so 
 pleasant, and was so struck with the energy of the settlers 
 and the intelligence of the Government, that I decided to 
 push on and see more. So that after my visit to Zimbabwe 
 I soon found myself on the road again. I got rid of my 
 waggon, and availed myself of the post-cart from Victoria 
 to Salisbury. This post-cart proved to be a two-wheeled 
 trolley, and I am bound to say that it formed an exception 
 to the general excellence of arrangements in Mashonaland. 
 My fellow-traveller was again Archdeacon Upcher, who 
 was going up to Salisbury. We had a tremendous struggle 
 to get ourselves perched on top of the luggage and mail- 
 bags, and were none too comfortable during the seven and 
 a half days' journey. The driver also took the opportunity 
 196 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 to get drunk with a German storekeeper, and upset us 
 twice within an hour. The first time was in the 
 middle of a river, and, as the baggage came down on top 
 of me, it took some time to get me out. On the second 
 occasion the exhilarated driver disdained to go round a 
 large stone which was in the road, and over we went 
 again. However, it was a good deal quicker than waggon 
 travelling, and all discomfort was atoned for when I got 
 to Salisbury. Here I enjoyed myself enormously, being 
 again the guest of Major Browne. Salisbury consisted 
 then of a long street with brick houses on both sides. 
 The finest building in the place was the Government 
 offices, near which Dr. Jameson lived in a circular straw 
 hut. There were even several ladies in the place, among 
 them Mrs. Caldecott, the wife of the Attorney-General, 
 and the wife of Dr. Jameson's secretary. They were all 
 young and pretty, and, what with that and the admiration 
 of their pluck in coming so far up country, the whole town 
 was at their feet. A less pleasing feature was the 
 Salvation Army, which was already organized there, and 
 even had a newspaper. I don't think I ever met a better- 
 hearted lot of men than the Salisbury settlers, from Dr. 
 Jameson down to the roughest miner. Hospitality was 
 abundant everywhere, and nobody who needed a helping 
 hand ever went without it. Everybody was devoted to 
 Dr. Jameson, as, indeed, is always the case wherever he 
 may be. 
 
 I may now, perhaps, be allowed to give a brief summary 
 of what had been done in the Chartered Company's 
 territory up to the time of my visit, with such references 
 to subsequent progress as may be necessary to an estimate 
 of the prospects of the country. 
 
 The country was secured for the British Empire, as 
 everybody knows, by the energy and foresight of Mr. 
 Cecil Rhodes. But everybody does not perhaps know 
 how nearly Mr. Rhodes failed of this achievement, or, 
 to put it more accurately, how near these vast and 
 197 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 valuable territories were to being secured by others when 
 Mr. Rhodes stepped forward at the critical moment and 
 added the magnificent prize to the British Empire. 
 
 As early as 1885 the Boers had cast covetous eyes on 
 this country, the richest agricultural land in South Africa. 
 Even before this, in 1882, they had endeavoured to get a 
 concession of it from Lo Bengula, but without success. 
 President Kruger, indeed, alleged in 1888 that such a 
 treaty had been signed ; but he was not able to produce 
 the least jot of evidence for his assertion, and there is no 
 doubt whatever that it was false. Besides the Boers, the 
 Germans, who had already to some extent occupied their 
 present sphere of influence in South-West Africa, were 
 preparing to advance upon Matabeleland, attracted thither 
 by the glowing reports of their fellow-countryman, Herr 
 Weber. The Portuguese, on the other side, had long laid 
 claim to Lo Bengula's empire, and had coloured it as their 
 own on official maps. 
 
 In 1888 Mr. Rhodes, aware of the danger, and having 
 received information that the Boers were sending an 
 embassy to Lo Bengula, urged the High Commissioner 
 to lose no time in securing the first claim to the country. 
 Mr. Rhodes's foresight saved this magnificent province 
 from the grasp of the Boers, as, just as a treaty had been 
 made between Lo Bengula and Mr. J. S. Moffatt, by which 
 the King bound himself to abstain from making any 
 concession to any other Power than Britain, the Boer 
 envoy arrived in Bulawayo, only to find that his journey 
 had been useless. But this agreement could only be 
 considered as a provisional measure, for under the Berlin 
 Act no claim for territory in Central Africa could 
 be recognized which was not supported by effective 
 occupation. What was wanted, then, was that such 
 effective occupation should be provided, and this was the 
 supreme service rendered by Mr. Rhodes. The celebrated 
 embassy of Messrs. Rochfort Maguire, Rudd, and 
 Thompson secured from the Matabele King the con- 
 iq8 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 cession of mineral rights for Mashonaland. This was 
 submitted to Her Majesty's Government along with 
 schemes for development. At the end of April, 1889, 
 about six months later, the Government granted a charter 
 to the British South Africa Company, and its directors set 
 to work in earnest. The pioneer expedition of one 
 hundred and sixty-five settlers, with three hundred 
 mounted police, was collected at Macloutsie, on the 
 northern frontier of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and 
 started north under the leadership of Colonel Pennifather, 
 on June 28th, 1890. The difficulties they had to contend 
 with were enormous. They had to march a thousand 
 miles through country hardly known to any white man. 
 Besides this, a vast deal of decision was required to avoid 
 collision with the natives, as the expedition was watched 
 and followed by a strong Matabele impi. The pioneers 
 had to form laager every night, and use an electric search- 
 light to make sure against surprise. No member of the 
 force was allowed to fire a shot even at game. Thanks 
 to these precautions the natives became gradually assured, 
 first, that the white men had no hostile intentions, and 
 secondly, whether they had or not, that it would be hardly 
 safe to attack them. In three months they reached 
 Mount Hampden, building a road as they went along, and 
 erecting forts at Tuli, Victoria, Charter, and Salisbury. 
 After this the expedition was disbanded, and the work 
 of prospecting and colonizing begun. 
 
 I will now review the progress that had been made 
 at the time I reached Mashonaland in 1892. Considerable 
 difficulties had been encountered in consequence of the 
 influx of more or less destitute settlers on the heels of the 
 original pioneers. The country as yet was not capable 
 of supplying the necessities of these men, and all the 
 stores had to be sent up from the Cape Colony. The 
 rains in the first year had been exceptionally severe, and 
 this made the difficuly of getting up supplies all the more 
 difficult. Early in 1891 the colony had lost its first 
 199 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 administrator, Mr. Colquhoun, who had suffered much 
 from the effects of the chmate. His successor was Dr. 
 Jameson, who had accompanied the pioneer expedition, 
 and after spending some time at Fort SaHsbury had 
 made an adventurous journey through Gazaland to the 
 coast. Dr. Jameson's first task was to resist outside 
 aggression. The Boers had organized a great trek of 
 5000 men to seize the territory of the Company. 
 President Kruger, it is true, had been compelled to 
 withdraw his official support from the expedition, though 
 only after the strongest remonstrances from the High 
 Commissioner. Nevertheless 400 armed Boers started 
 to cross the Crocodile river. But when they appeared. 
 Dr. Jameson, by the exercise of great tact and the 
 exhibition of a Maxim gun, persuaded them to turn 
 back, permitting only such to come into the country as 
 were willing to sign an agreement to conform to the 
 Company's laws. After that there had been difficulties 
 with the Portuguese. These, however, were solved by 
 the so-called battle of Massi-Kesse, in which Captain 
 Heyman with forty half-clothed, half-fed policemen put 
 to flight a little Portuguese army of 600 men. Another 
 difficulty which engaged the attention of Dr. Jameson 
 when he took up the administration in June, .1891, was 
 concerned with the police, who had accompanied the 
 pioneer expedition up country. As there was nothing 
 left for them to do, and idleness was not good for them, 
 he decided on disbanding them, and most of them became 
 admirable settlers. 
 
 In spite of all these difficulties, the progress that had 
 been made in the year and a half between the first 
 expedition and the time that I arrived in the country was 
 nothing less than astounding. Out of the eighteen months 
 ten had been rendered practically useless by rain, during 
 which no work could be done. Everything had to be 
 organized in the eight months of possible work. Town- 
 ships had been laid out and partly erected at Tuli, 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 Victoria, and Salisbury. The early settlers had lived 
 in huts of grass, straw, and mud, but these were already 
 largely replaced by rows of well-built brick houses. At 
 Salisbury the Government had just erected fine buildings 
 at a cost of nearly iJ"20,ooo. There were Law Courts, 
 where the magistrates sat daily, hotels, excellent stores, 
 and at Salisbury even a music-hall, where Mdlle. Blanche, 
 a French lady of little more than fifty summers, sang 
 " Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay." The confidence of the natives 
 
 THE rOST-CART. 
 
 had been won, and they were ready to undertake work for 
 the whites. A great deal of prospecting had been done, 
 many shafts sunk, and more than one property proved 
 to show excellent promise of richly-paying gold. Many 
 farms had been put under cultivation, and in Salisbury 
 there was never any difficulty in getting fresh vegetables. 
 A very competent farmer, Mr. Moodie, had been des- 
 patched towards the eastern border with a large party of 
 settlers to develop the agricultural resources of that part 
 of the country. A good road, if rather rough, was to be 
 found all the way from Tuli to Salisbury, a distance of 
 about 400 miles. The post-cart, as has been seen, was 
 201 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 primitive in those days, but very handy ; while the 
 telegraph wire was already completed to the capital, 
 having been constructed from Kimberley northwards, a 
 distance of more than looo miles. 
 
 I think it will be admitted that these results, attained 
 in eighteen months in the face of the most extraordinary 
 difficulties, were little short of miraculous. I know that 
 the enemies of the Chartered Company are in the habit 
 of calling anybody who sees any good in the work it has 
 done prejudiced and self-interested, and similar names. 
 I can only say that as a Frenchman, with nothing 
 whatever to gain by admiring a British colony, my 
 observations and the conclusions I came to were wholly 
 disinterested. As for prejudice, so far from having any 
 prepossession in favour of the Company, I entered 
 Mashonaland strongly prejudiced against it. I conceived 
 it to be a monopoly working only for itself, and con- 
 tracting and crushing the individual energies of others. 
 I found it to be conspicuously the reverse. I have 
 visited a great many new and partially developed 
 countries in my life, including colonies of every nation 
 on earth that has colonies at all : I can truthfully say 
 that in none did I find a more admirable administra- 
 tion than I found in Mashonaland. The country was 
 extraordinarily free from burdensome duties and from 
 vexatious red tape. I remember, in one of the various 
 papers at the time of the French expedition to 
 Madagascar, a caricature which gives a very good 
 epitome of the situation in many imperial colonies, and 
 in all those of my own country and other Continental 
 Powers. Crowds of Hovas were depicted looking out to 
 sea through telescopes at a large fleet which was 
 approaching. " They are coming ! they are coming ! " 
 exclaimed the crowd. " Who ? " asked one of the by- 
 standers, " the colonists ? " " No," was the reply, " the 
 officials." Having been present myself at the French 
 occupation of Madagascar, I know this picture to be 
 202 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 exactly true to fact. In every colony except those of 
 Britain the end and aim of the Government appears to 
 be not the development of trade, but the filling up of 
 the country as soon as possible with useless officials. 
 The British South Africa Company avoided this mistake. 
 Its officials were few, but most of them thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with the management of natives, its system 
 simple and practical. The country was divided into 
 districts, each under a magistrate, who acted both as police 
 magistrate and county court judge. Rough as the settlers 
 were, the amount of serious crime among them was 
 wonderfully small. As for the natives, if there was a fault 
 in the administration of justice at all, it was that they were 
 too leniently treated. For this mistake, as I take it to 
 have been, both before and after the conquest of Mata- 
 beleland the Company has had to pay very heavily. 
 Knowing more than most Europeans have occasion to 
 know of the manners and disposition of the African 
 native, I may truthfully confess that the recent rising 
 in Matabeleland and Mashonaland was produced far 
 more by over-leniency in the treatment of the natives 
 than by over - severity. For instance, the use of the 
 whip, which is permitted and regulated by law in other 
 parts of Africa, including British possessions, was for- 
 bidden by statute in Mashonaland. I think this was a 
 mistake. It must be remembered that before the advent 
 of the white man the only notion of punishment which 
 the Mashona had was death, accompanied by the massacre 
 of his whole village. To the man nurtured in these tradi- 
 tions imprisonment has naturally no terrors. On the 
 contrary, the food in prison is better than what he is 
 accustomed to, the housing is better, and he receives a 
 term of imprisonment rather as a piece of good luck 
 than otherwise. But if the Company's Government made 
 a mistake in forbidding the use of the lash, that made 
 it, not less, but much more wonderful that the thousands 
 of natives were kept in such excellent order. The laws 
 203 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 against the sale of intoxicating liquor to the blacks 
 were exceedingly severe. It was the one part of Central 
 Africa where the sale of intoxicating liquors was absolutely 
 forbidden. When we consider that in the neighbouring 
 Congo State black labour is usually paid in gin, so 
 poisonous that the lowest white navvy would refuse to 
 touch it, we shall get some idea of the self-denial and 
 the wisdom of the Chartered Company in setting its 
 face against any such abuse in the territories under its 
 rule. 
 
 But perhaps the most remarkable feature of the whole 
 government was the prudence with which, while dis- 
 couraging speculation, it fostered individual enterprise. 
 The taxes imposed on the settlers were only those abso- 
 lutel}^ necessary to recoup the cost of administration. 
 
 The only tax levied on the incoming settler was the 
 paltry sum of a shilling, which is paid for the prospecting 
 licence. This licence confers the right of searching for 
 minerals and of pegging out twenty claims, and each new- 
 comer on receiving it has to sign an undertaking to submit 
 to the Company's laws. As soon as claims are pegged out 
 the holders must set to work at developing them, and they 
 must be registered by the mining commissioner within 
 fifteen days. Within four months of this registration the 
 claimholder must do development work by sinking a shaft 
 of at least thirty feet, after which his property must be 
 inspected by the mining commissioner, who then grants 
 him a certificate stating his title. In each succeeding year 
 he must do sixty feet of shafting, drives, or tunnels, and 
 take out a similar inspection certificate. Failing to do so, 
 he is deemed to have abandoned his property. Each 
 claim is 1 50 feet long in the direction of the reef, and 600 
 feet wide. The charges for registration and certificate are 
 very smiall ; beyond these the prospector is subjected to 
 no impost until he disposes of his property. 
 
 When the holder of a claim has so disposed of his property 
 the Company has the right to take 50 per cent, of the price 
 204 
 
 I 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 received for it."^ A good many people have grumbled at 
 this, and thought the charge excessive. Grumbling comes 
 naturally to the Englishman ; and I have no doubt 
 that some people would find much to complain of in 
 heaven. Upon the other hand, we must remember that 
 the Chartered Company, like several other governments, 
 must somehow raise funds to pay its expenses. It seems 
 to me that the expedient the Company has hit upon is 
 eminently reasonable, and falls far less heavily upon the 
 miner, especially the miner without capital, than do the 
 regulations of other goldfields. The poor man has only 
 to pay for his prospecting licence and the small fees due 
 on registration. The amount of work required by law he 
 can do with his own hands. So that if the Company does 
 take half the purchase money when he sells his mine, it 
 takes what after all is clear profit, and leaves the owner 
 a very handsome gain for himself In other mining 
 countries the claimholder has to pay from 5s. to los. a 
 month for each claim. If the money is not forthcoming, 
 the property is forfeited. Now, supposing a man has 
 pegged out ten claims, he must, in these countries, pay 
 from £^0 to £60 a year until he finds a purchaser. This, 
 it will be readily understood, is a heavy drain upon a poor 
 man's pocket. I know of many cases in which miners, 
 after struggling for some time to keep up with these 
 payments, have been obliged to forfeit valuable property 
 on which they had spent pretty well every penny they 
 had in the world. The better a mine was, the longer they 
 struggled, and therefore the more they lost when in the 
 end poverty compelled them to give it up. No man need 
 fear this disaster in Rhodesia. 
 
 It must be borne in mind, again, that the miners in 
 Mashonaland and Matabeleland are free from the crushing 
 
 * This right has never been exercised, and 35 per cent, is the most that has 
 ever been claimed. And I can only refer those who complain of this to the 
 new regulations about to be issued by the Mozambique Company, by which 50 
 per cent, of the whole of the shares of each Company will have to be handed 
 over to the Mozambique Company. 
 
 205 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 burdens imposed, for instance, by the South African 
 Repubhc. No Customs duties are imposed on produce of 
 any kind. So far from the country being monopoly ridden, 
 as I had supposed it to be before I visited it, it is a paradise 
 of freedom compared with the Transvaal. Food is far 
 cheaper, native labour is far cheaper, and, to take a case 
 peculiarly applicable to the mining industry, explosives 
 cost about 62s. per case of 50 lbs., while in the Transvaal, 
 thanks to the monopoly system, they cost 85 s. And this, 
 it must be remembered, although the difficulties of trans- 
 port into Rhodesia are at present infinitely greater than 
 those presented by the journey to Johannesburg. 
 
 As to the mines themselves, it was too early when I 
 visited Mashonaland in 1892 to form any exact idea of 
 their value. Since then, first the Matabele War, which 
 interrupted work and sent more than half the population 
 westward, and later the rising of the Matabele and the 
 Mashonas, have been an exceedingly heavy handicap 
 upon the development of Mashonaland. It requires at 
 least two years of work under the most favourable circum- 
 stances to open up a mine ; and although many of the 
 mines of Mashonaland have been open for twice that 
 time, there are comparatively few to which this amount of 
 steady work has been devoted. I should say, although I 
 cannot claim to be a mining expert, that on the whole 
 Mashonaland in not so rich in gold as Matabeleland. I 
 also think that it will be impossible to do justice to any 
 of the richest mines until they are connected by rail 
 with the coast. The rates of transport are terribly high, 
 and inevitably so. When the two lines now rapidly under 
 construction have converged upon Salisbury the cost will 
 be very different. I may, however, take a case — not from 
 Mashonaland, it is true, but from Matabeleland — which 
 shows that, even with the present costly rates of transport, 
 there are mines in the country which can be worked with 
 large profit. From the Dunraven mine alone, many 
 thousand tons of ore have been taken out, yielding on the 
 206 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 average one ounce of gold a ton. The working is reckoned 
 to cost about 5 dwt. per ton, leaving a net profit — taking 
 gold at ;^3 per ounce — of £2 \2s. 6d. per ton. On this 
 mine the machinery is capable of crushing at least 150 
 tons a day. Counting only 200 working days in a year, 
 30,000 tons would be crushed, and a net profit realized 
 of £7?>2^. On this mine therefore it is plain that the 
 expenses of transporting machinery can easily be borne. 
 
 At present transport from Beira to Salisbury comes 
 to about £21 a ton, and from Cape Town to Bulawayo 
 to from ^20 to about £2^, according to the season. With 
 the completion of the railways the rates in each case will 
 come down to about £12 per ton, a reduction of at least 
 40 per cent., and in some cases a good deal over 50 per 
 cent. 
 
 Another difficulty in Rhodesia, as in the Transvaal, is 
 the question of native labour. The natives, I need hardly 
 say, hate work in any form, and especially continuous 
 work. If a native makes a pound a month, as many do, 
 a very few months' work will put him in possession of 
 what he regards as an enormous fortune, on which he 
 can buy women to keep him in idleness for a year or 
 two. He may be engaged on a six months' contract ; 
 but that makes no difference to him — as soon as he finds 
 himself a moneyed man off he goes. Then you must get 
 in a fresh hand to take his place, and you must begin the 
 training of this man from the very beginning. This was 
 always a difficulty, and at the present time, after the 
 insurrection, it is of course a greater difficulty than ever. 
 Probably it will only be overcome by time. As the 
 country settles down the natives will be more willing to 
 come in from the neighbouring countries and earn money 
 — an opportunity which of course did not exist under 
 the sanguinary misrule of the Matabele. Another cause 
 which will gradually operate to furnish a more continuous 
 supply of native labour will be the civilization of the 
 natives. By contact with the whites they will acquire 
 207 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 fresh wants, and have to work in order to satisfy them. 
 To civihze them, to raise their moral standard, can only 
 be done by compelling tKem to work, and although this 
 may at first sight appear unfair to them, it is, after all, 
 only what exists in every civilized country, where the man 
 who remains idle is punished as a rogue and vagabond. 
 This principle is the keynote of Mr. Rhodes's whole native 
 policy, whether in Charterland or in the Cape Colony. 
 Some sensitive philanthropists, with more heart than head, 
 have been pained at the thought of the white man teach- 
 ing the black man to want things he had never wanted 
 before, and then making a profit out of the labour by 
 which alone the black man can satisfy these new wants. 
 The civilized man and the savage may be equal in that 
 each .one can satisfy in equal measure the wants he feels ; 
 but surely the highest and completest type of man is he 
 who wants most, and from his wants derives most satis- 
 faction. 
 
 From an agricultural point of view there can be little 
 doubt that Mashonaland is one of the most promising 
 territories, if not quite the most promising, in the 
 whole of Africa. The occupier of a farm, like the 
 occupier of a mine, is required to do a certain amount of 
 development work within a given time, if only to secure 
 his title. Land can be bought in Mashonaland at is. 6d. 
 for a morgan, which is a little over two acres. The buyer 
 is subject to an annual quit-rent, payable in advance, of 
 ;^3 for 1500 morgan, and 4s. for every additional 100. The 
 experiments in farming have, up to the present, met with 
 considerable success, and shown promise of even greater 
 things in the future. Water is plentiful and irrigation 
 easy. The grass is excellent when put into proper con- 
 dition. It is an unfortunate consequence of the Matabele 
 raids, which made it impossible for the Mashonas to keep 
 any considerable herd of cattle, that the grass has grown 
 exceedingly long, in many parts to a height of 12 feet. 
 In Matabeleland the King's cattle ate it off, so that in this 
 208 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 country the pasture is short and sweet. In Mashonaland, 
 and still more in Gazaland, on the way up from Beira, the 
 long grass rots during the rains, and fever is the result. 
 But the disappearance of this is naturally a question of 
 time. As the land comes into cultivation, and the grass 
 is first burned and then fed down, the value of the land 
 will improve enormously. With the disappearance of the 
 great fever-breeder, this long, rotting grass, the country 
 
 MASHONA WOMEN. 
 
 will become in proportion healthier. As this process goes 
 on horse-sickness will likewise disappear, and the tsetse 
 fly — which, even as it is, is not actually found in Mashona- 
 land — will retire from Gazaland before civilization. 
 
 I mentioned above that Mr. Moodie, a skilled agricul- 
 turist, started farming experiments on a large scale 
 about the time I was in Mashonaland. The result of 
 these experiments I did not see myself, but perhaps it will 
 not be out of the way to give a rough sketch of them. 
 Mr. Moodie was accompanied at first by twenty Europeans, 
 who, before very long, increased to nearly six hundred. 
 I' 209 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 The country occupied was along the Sabi river. His 
 report of the agricultural possibilities of this country is 
 exceedingly favourable. Cultivation, thanks to the facili- 
 ties for irrigation, can be carried on both in winter and 
 summer. All European cereals have been grown with 
 good results. Mr. Moodie has also conducted very inter- 
 esting experiments with tobacco ; and though there is 
 doubtless much to learn and to do in the way of importing 
 the best plants suitable to the soil, even at present the 
 tobacco of Mashonaland is largely smoked in the country, 
 and is found greatly preferable to the products of other 
 parts of South Africa. Two crops a year can be grown. 
 As a pastoral country this part of Mashonaland is similarly 
 attractive. Cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry are 
 thriving exceedingly. A good deal of attention has been 
 given to the leather trade. Barks suitable for tanning 
 have been found on the spot, and there is no doubt that 
 this industry has a future before it. The same may be 
 said of lumbering : the district is full of excellent timber, 
 and with the starting of sawmills all the requirements of 
 Mashonaland can be supplied, while it would be possible, 
 Mr. Moodie thinks, even to institute a profitable export 
 trade. 
 
 But what, it may be asked, is the use of all this 
 information.'' Is it not now entirely irrelevant? Have 
 not, first, the recent native rising, and secondly, the rinder- 
 pest, put an end to every kind of work, whether mining 
 or agricultural ? It must be acknowledged that this is to a 
 great extent true. The loss during the native rising was 
 ruinous. Mr. Selous in his latest book has quoted a 
 number of claims for damages made up to the 15th 
 August, 1896. These refer to Matabeleland alone, and 
 perhaps, on the whole, Mashonaland has not suffered so 
 severely. Nevertheless, they are worth summarizing as 
 an example of the wholesale losses which the white 
 settlers have undergone. Nearly 1500 acres of growing 
 crops were destroyed, and more than 21,000 trees, with 150 
 210 
 
MASHONALAND 
 
 homesteads, besides 7788 agricultural and other imple- 
 ments stolen or destroyed. The head of stock carried 
 off or killed amounted to nearly 30,000, without counting 
 poultry. The sum paid in compensation up to the 
 15th August was ;^iii,439. There were 371 claims in 
 course of settlement, while for Matabeleland the total 
 filed was over 800. But disastrous as the rebellion has 
 proved, the rinderpest has been even more so. It has 
 made the development of the country impossible for the 
 present, as the destruction of draught oxen has sent 
 rates of transport up so high that the cost of living is 
 practically prohibitive. Stock farming and dairy farming- 
 have of course disappeared, while the destruction of the 
 oxen has similarly made ploughing and the transport of 
 agricultural produce almost impossible. The country 
 must now stand still for a while in military occupation, 
 until railways come up from Mafeking and Beira. 
 
 Yet after all, the results attained in Mashonaland and 
 Matabeleland, which I have briefly summarized, are still 
 relevant and of the greatest importance. The first 
 requisite in settling any territory in South Africa is to 
 know of what industrial developments it is capable. 
 This has been shown in the case of Rhodesia. No 
 candid consideration can fail to lead to the conclusion 
 that these countries are among the most valuable in 
 South Africa. 
 
 Although much of the work already done — at any 
 rate in the way of agriculture — has been wasted so 
 far as its immediate results are concerned, the experience 
 gained will serve as a most valuable guide for that recon- 
 sideration of the country which must now be entered 
 upon. After all, Mashonaland and Matabeleland are 
 to-day as rich as ever they were. Much capital may 
 have been lost, but the fine land is still there, the 
 minerals are still there, the temperate climate is still 
 there, the white man is still there. When the railways 
 are there also, the reconstruction and repopulation of 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 the country will present no difficulties worthy to be 
 mentioned by the side of those which have already been 
 overcome. Never for one moment has my faith in the 
 future of these countries faltered, and I believe just as 
 strongly to-day that Rhodesia will be one of the greatest 
 countries in Africa as I did when I first visited it five 
 years ago.* 
 
 A MASHONA VILLAGE. 
 
 * This was written in 1896, and since then the extraordinary rapidity with 
 which the railway to Bulawayo has been built has proved how right I was 
 to beheve in the future of this magnificent country. Mr. Rhodes's foresight 
 has surmounted all the obstacles in his path ; and while, on the one hand, 
 the disasters that have befallen Rhodesia one after the other have caused the 
 loss of a year in the development of the country, on the other, the marvellous 
 rapidity with which the Mafeking-Bulawayo railway has been pushed forward 
 has placed Rhodesia in a position that the province would not otherwise have 
 attained — before, at least, half a dozen years hence. The best proof of the 
 absolute confidence placed in the country and its administration by those who 
 are on the spot is the fact that, notwithstanding last year's disasters, there has 
 been no drop, but rather an increase, in the value of property. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 HAVING collected all the information I required, I 
 began to think about my future plans. I did not 
 wish to return by the way I had come ; I was anxious 
 to visit the Portuguese territory, and I 
 consulted Dr. Jameson as to the best 
 way of reaching Tete. He strongly ad- 
 vised me not to go straight to Tete, as 
 little or no water was to be found on 
 the way ; he suggested that I should 
 go to Zumbo, an easier way, which 
 would also enable me to visit the Sinoia 
 caves. Having completed my arrange- 
 ments, I left Salisbury at half-past ten 
 at night on the loth of October, 1892, 
 and camped outside the town. Dr. 
 Jameson had kindly lent me a Scotch 
 cart, and Mr. Borrow (who was after- 
 wards killed with Major Wilson) some oxen. The Scotch 
 cart proved too small, and I hired a waggon at a farm 
 a day or two's journey out of the town. 
 
 The country through which we were travelling was 
 mostly open and undulating, with bush here and there. 
 At times, however, we had to cross heavy swamps, and 
 with a waggon these were no joke. As we approached 
 Sinoia the bush became thicker and the country most 
 mountainous. 
 
 During the first week of the journey there was no 
 213 
 
 TYPE OF MAKOLOKOLO 
 (SinoVa, Mashonaland). 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 incident worth recording except that one day we passed 
 some deserted huts, to which a very pathetic story was 
 attached. They had been built by a Dutch family, every 
 member of which was sick the whole time they were 
 there. The first huts they had built were burned ; then the 
 father died, then one of the children, and then another, 
 who was shot by accident by his brother. We hear a 
 good deal of the successful pioneer, but not much of 
 the failures, of which this was a very typical case. 
 
 On the 1 6th October we reached the camp of Mr. 
 Spreckley, Mining Commissioner, who has of late dis- 
 tinguished himself in the wars with, the Matabele, as 
 everybody knows. Thence we went next day to see the 
 celebrated caves of Sinoia, the finest and most extra- 
 ordinary sight I saw in this part of the world. The 
 caves are at the foot of a hill about seven miles west 
 of Sino'ia's kraal. From the top you first perceive a 
 deep hole about 400 feet by 250, cut in the rock, the 
 bottom of which it is impossible to see. Two passages 
 lead down this pit. The easier of them is a long, steep 
 tunnel which leads down to the water at the bottom. 
 Here is a large pool surrounded by huge precipitous 
 walls of rock some 300 feet high. The water is extra- 
 ordinarily limpid, and its colour is a deep, rich blue. The 
 descent by the other passage is even more striking. You 
 find in the middle of a native kraal a deep gully, at the 
 bottom of which is a small tunnel almost perpendicular : 
 a shaft would be a better name for , it. Entering the 
 tunnel, we were plunged in complete darkness and had 
 to light lanterns. In our ears was a loud buzzing sound, 
 not unlike the noise made by a fire kindled in a strong 
 wind. As we descended we found numerous recesses 
 filled up with pillars of bark covered with mud, which 
 are used by the natives to store grain in case of attack. 
 Then the tunnel suddenly turned to the right, and 
 passing over a huge flat rock, we found the explanation 
 of the noise we had heard. Myriads of bats were 
 214 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 flying about in the darkness. They hit us on the face 
 and all over the body every second. To give an idea 
 of tJie enormous numbers of them, I may say that by 
 merely taking a stick and waving it about I knocked 
 down dozens. We passed through two chambers covered 
 
 THE CAVE OF SINOlA. 
 
 with a thick layer of guano, the roof and walls alive 
 with bats, which made such a tremendous whirr that 
 it was impossible to hear oneself speak. Descending 
 the tunnel further we came at last to an opening, whence 
 from a small platform of rock we looked straight down 
 into the water. It is of a most wonderful blue colour, 
 215 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 much darker than the Blue Grotto at Capri, and so 
 clear that I could see the bottom, which was certainly a 
 hundred feet down. From the spot where we were a 
 sort of ladder of sticks led down to the water and over 
 the rocks along its edge. These are used by the natives 
 to get down in case of attack ; when the sticks are taken 
 away it is quite impossible for any pursuer to follow. 
 Mr. Spreckley told me that if you swim in this water 
 your legs drop down and it is impossible to keep them 
 level with the surface. This is not due to any suction 
 in the water, but, according to him, to its extreme 
 lightness. The reverse of this phenomenon is found in 
 such waters as those of the Dead Sea and the Great 
 Salt Lake in America. 
 
 I had only engaged the waggon to go as far as 
 Mr. Spreckley's camp, so that it was necessary to enlist 
 some porters. Mr. Spreckley kindly got twenty boys 
 from the chief of Sinoia, and at the same time sent his 
 two policemen to the kraal of Shinanga, a neighbouring 
 chief, to try to get forty more. Of course the chief pro- 
 mised them, and of course they did not come. The only 
 thing to do was to adopt Mr. Spreckley's suggestion — that 
 we should put all the loads on the boys we had already, 
 and then go with him to Shinanga's. This we did — a 
 tedious march of eight hours across very bushy and un- 
 dulating country. Spreckley shot two fine sable antelopes 
 on the way. At sundown we reached the village of the 
 chief, who was fertile in the usual excuses. He had not 
 understood the policemen, said he, but the boys would be 
 ready in the morning without fail. I need not say that 
 they did fail ; and when Shinanga was questioned on the 
 subject he was full of the most ingenious falsehoods. One 
 had gone to fetch his sandals, another had had to go to 
 fetch food, and so on and so on. At last we took strong 
 measures, and began to drive the cattle out of the kraal. 
 Twelve boys appeared instantly, and others soon followed. 
 I divided the loads, and started at about half-past eight 
 
 2l6 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 in the morning. The country we followed was hilly and 
 cut by numerous ravines, at the bottom of which ran small 
 rivers, affluents of the Panyami, which ran about 50 miles 
 to the west of our road. 
 
 On October 23rd we crossed the Mopingue river and 
 reached Sepolilo's kraal. The chief himself had been 
 made prisoner by the Portuguese some four years before. 
 His son and substitute, Sagamuga, received us very well. 
 Apparently he was not very 
 much in love with the sweets 
 of power, as he begged me 
 to intercede with the Portu- 
 guese to obtain the release 
 of Sepolilo. It appeared 
 that the Portuguese had 
 come into this part of the 
 country, hoisting flags at 
 each kraal. At Lomun- 
 ganda's the people left the 
 flag flying, whereon Lo Ben 
 promptly sent an impi to 
 wipe them out. Sepolilo, 
 on the other hand, refused 
 
 to have the flag, and pulled it down when it was hoisted. 
 Hearing of this, the Governor of Zumbo sent for him on 
 pretence of giving him a present, and made him prisoner. 
 Such was the story told by his son, but I have since found 
 out that he had been arrested for having killed several 
 Portuguese. 
 
 Sagamuga came to me next morning and said that as 
 we were going to inquire after his father, it was only right 
 that he should accompany us, and he would give us boys 
 as porters. Knowing the ways of the natives, I had 
 no very great confidence that the boys would appear. 
 However, I gave him a blanket in return for some meal, at 
 which he was vastly pleased. Of course the boys were not 
 present the next morning, nor yet the next. On the third 
 217 
 
 ^EPOLIIOS SON. 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 day the chief appeared with any number of Hes in his 
 
 mouth, and at last offered to give me boys to go to the 
 
 junction of the Angwe and Panyami rivers, if I would 
 
 give each man a blanket in advance. He also repeated 
 
 his offer to come with us. I agreed 
 
 to give the blankets, but declined to 
 
 part with them until the men were 
 
 actually ready to start. Thereon they 
 
 adjourned to eat, which means to talk 
 
 over the matter once more ; they had 
 
 ■ -^ done nothing but talk over the matter 
 
 y- for three days. But to my astonish- 
 
 *^ ment they actually did appear that 
 
 afternoon. I gave nine men a blanket 
 
 apiece, whereon four more immediately 
 
 appeared. We left Sepolilo's at three, 
 
 TYPE AT sepolilo's '^^^'^ marchcd three hours. 
 
 Next day we were off again at a 
 quarter to six in the morning, and by nine had reached 
 the kraal of Simanikiri. This potentate gave me a large 
 basket of meal and a fowl as a present, and received 
 a present in return. We bought a good many eggs 
 from the people, but as they could never be induced 
 to bring more than seven or eight at a time, trade 
 became a rather tedious process, especially as nine out 
 of ten eggs were rotten. Leaving the kraal at half-past 
 three, we soon reached the Nyamanga Mountains ; thence 
 we descended a deep valley, and thence again a steep 
 climb brought us to the top of a hill, which commanded 
 a most splendid view over the plains towards the Zam- 
 bezi. A tedious descent of nearly 2000 feet, down 
 nearly perpendicular rocks, brought us into the Zambezi 
 valley. There the aspect of the country changed alto- 
 gether : we were in a big plain covered with dense 
 elephant grass. The heat was almost unbearable, and 
 the stings of the tsetse fly absolutely maddening. To 
 the next day a certain amount of interest was imparted 
 218 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 by the disappearance of my donkey with Charley, one of 
 the boys. I sent men after them, having some sort of 
 idea that the boy might have been killed by natives. 
 Hours and hours passed, and still nobody. I sent more 
 men, and towards evening these returned with the report 
 that they had found Charley done up, and had shown him 
 where to get water. It afterwards appeared that he had 
 said he was afraid to come back without the donkey until 
 night had fallen. Accordingly at dusk he did turn up. 
 As he had nothing whatever to do except to look after 
 the donkey, I fined him £i. I greatly felt the loss of 
 the animal, as to walk in this terrible heat was almost 
 overpowering. 
 
 Next day we marched to the Dandi river, through 
 very high grass, with any amount of fresh spoor of buffalo, 
 rhinoceros, zebra, and wild pig, halting at a kraal called 
 Banyanda. The chief said he would show us a short cut 
 to the junction of the Dandi and Panyami, and offered 
 to give us guides to lead us. In return he wanted a 
 piece of cloth for himself and for each of the two 
 guides, to be paid in advance. Of course, as soon as 
 they had the stuff the men went back to their kraal. I 
 had to storm and rage a good deal before they would 
 condescend to leave. The next day we reached the 
 Panyami just below the junction. Here Sepolilo's son 
 declared that he would not go any further, nor would 
 his men. He had been paid to go as far as the Angwe, 
 several days further on, but as he was thoroughly un- 
 trustworthy, and a great nuisance, I was rather glad to 
 get rid of him. 
 
 Partly before this and partly after I learnt what a 
 thorough- paced scoundrel Sagamuga was. Some time 
 before I reached his village an Englishman died there 
 very mysteriously, and I need not say that nobody ever 
 saw his death certificate. The very day before we 
 arrived, a Portuguese trader was tied up to a post by 
 him, and only released at the report of our approach. 
 219 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 But that was far from being the worst of him, so far 
 as I was personally concerned. A morning or two 
 before he left us, while we were at breakfast, one of 
 the men came and told me that he had overheard a 
 plot which this rascal had concocted to detain me in 
 the village where we had halted, and cut my throat 
 that night. After breakfast I went up to the chief and 
 pretended to admire his gun. While I did so I stuck 
 a bit of match in the nipple and put back the cap over 
 it. When I gave orders to start, the chief began to 
 make the usual excuses. It was too late to start that 
 day, we should not get any water, and so on, with all 
 the tiresome lies I knew so well. I merely repeated my 
 orders, and then he grew very angry. 
 
 " No white man," he said, " shall make me do what 
 I don't want to do." 
 
 " Perhaps not," said I ; " but I recommend you to alter 
 your mind." Thereupon I took a whip, and added, "When 
 I engage a man he has to obey my orders." That brought 
 him to his senses. He got up and I made him march 
 in front of me, keeping a very careful look-out upon 
 his movements But I got very tired of this, and a 
 few hours later, having caught sight of a wild pig, I 
 went to shoot it. Just as I had fired I caught sight of 
 my friend Sagamuga, who was aiming his gun at me. 
 Fortunately I had put that match in the nipple, so that 
 it missed fire. I had a good mind to shoot him, but I 
 thought better of it, remembering that I had only two 
 men I could rely upon, while he was accompanied by 
 a lot of his followers. I was therefore rather glad to 
 get rid of him. 
 
 There were natives at the junction of the rivers, and 
 their chief, Mashumpa, received us kindly. When I asked 
 for ten fresh porters, about twenty came forward most eager 
 to go, and I engaged fourteen. In spite of the friendliness 
 of the chief, he would not come to our camping-ground. 
 And when I brought him a red blanket as a present 
 220 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 he sprang up from his seat under a tree and bolted for 
 dear hfe ! It appeared that his spirit forbade him to 
 look at anything red or at a gun. I got over the first 
 scruple by changing the blanket for a blue one. But as 
 he was at war with two neighbouring chiefs, the latter 
 prohibition must have been a trifle awkward. 
 
 We had little difficulty with the new 
 porters ; of course they wanted to be 
 paid in advance, but they were quite 
 good-humoured when the demand was 
 refused. I noticed that they carried a 
 great deal of fish to eat on the journey, 
 which they roasted on sticks over a 
 fire. When we came to a village where 
 their wives were living, they insisted 
 on taking them some fish also. We 
 marched on without any incident for three days, being 
 
 AT MASHUMPA ; 
 
 November I struck the Zambezi for the second time. 
 
 The point reached was Matakania's village. The river 
 there was very broad and at that season very low ; more 
 than half of it was dry. We had to wait for nearly 
 half an hour outside the village in a blazing sun, until 
 at last a young man in semi-European 
 costume came out to meet us. He 
 was one of Matakania's sons, and was 
 actually able to read. I therefore pro- 
 duced for his benefit my letter from 
 the Portuguese Government. With great 
 difficulty he gave me to understand 
 that his father was away, but asked us 
 inside the village and gave me a hut 
 furnished solely with white ants. I could 
 get nothing to eat, either for my men or myself, so that 
 I left early next morning for Zumbo. The Portuguese 
 Commandant, Senhor Joaquin Antonio Marques, kindly 
 sent a boat to meet me and received me very cordially. 
 
 221 
 
 MASHUMl'A S. 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Unfortunately he was only able to understand a very 
 few words of French, and I even less of Portuguese. 
 I discovered, however, that there was a Mission Station 
 eight miles off at Ricico, where there were two German 
 missionaries. I therefore wrote to ask if I might visit 
 them. They kindly sent me an invita,tion, and I went 
 by boat the same night. I found one Hungarian brother 
 and one Swiss lay brother, who could speak both French 
 and German ; he very kindly suggested that he should 
 return to interpret. This he did the same evening, and 
 
 LEAVING MATAKANIA'S. 
 
 next day I was able to buy from the Commandant 
 sufficient cloth to pay all my men. This was a very 
 great favour on his part, as war had broken out some 
 months before below Tete, and all supplies were stopped. 
 He also undertook to let me have a large Government 
 boat to take me as far towards Tete as Kashumba. After 
 spending ten days at Zumbo, I returned to my men 
 at Matakania's. They had killed two hippopotami in 
 my absence. On my arrival the chief apologized for his 
 son's churlish behaviour, and gave me fresh quarters. On 
 the 22nd November I paid off all the men, and next day 
 started on my way to Tete. The Commandant, with his 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 invariable courtesy, sent me the boat he had promised, 
 and Matakania gave orders that one of his houses should 
 be placed at my disposal at Tete. 
 
 The station of Zumbo consists of four houses built of 
 stone and covered with tiles, the only inhabitants being 
 the Commandant, a Portuguese trader, and Matakania, 
 the chief of the Panyami river. The latter deserves a 
 few words of description. He was (he died some time 
 
 ""^^mmm 
 
 it! « M. *V. 
 
 m.. 
 
 MATAKANIA S BAND. 
 
 ago) the richest and most powerful of the Capitao Mores 
 of the Zambezi. He possessed an army of over 6000 
 men, armed with breach-loaders given to him by the 
 Portuguese Government. With this force he used to raid 
 all the Senga country, over which he ruled absolutely. 
 He had in this way amassed a considerable number of 
 slaves, and possessed a store full of ivory ; when I visited 
 this store I found there more than thirty tons of it. 
 His strength was such that the Portuguese dared not 
 interfere with him. He was honorary colonel of the 
 Portuguese army, and on great occasions used to attire 
 223 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 himself in a magnificent uniform, over which he wore 
 the Order of Christ, of which he was knight commander. 
 Matakania was merely his nickname. He called himself 
 Jose d'Araujo Lobo ; but although he called himself a 
 Portuguese, he was of the purest black, and the greatest 
 villain that ever lived. 
 
 From Zumbo to Kashumba the Zambezi is very broad, 
 but most shallow, and could only be navigated by small 
 steam launches. On the 28th November we reached 
 Kashumba. The only man in the place who could speak 
 Portuguese was the garrison : I say the garrison, as it 
 consisted of one man all told — a black corporal. He 
 explained to me that he could not give me porters with- 
 out sending to his superior, Senhor Curado de Campos, 
 who lived thirty miles lower down the river. I then asked 
 him whether the boat could go so far down, and he said 
 that this was impossible, on account of the rapids. I 
 decided therefore to go myself and see Senhor Curado, 
 and told the corporal to get me twelve men by two o'clock 
 to take me there in a machilla or hammock — the mode of 
 travelling in Portuguese territory. He promised to do 
 so ; but at four, no one having put in an appearance, 
 I went to look for him. I found him very busy watching 
 the natives fish for frogs. Asked for the men, he replied 
 that they would come the next morning. On that I 
 decided to take matters into my own hands, beat up the 
 men in the village, and started at five with a dozen of 
 them. I halted for the night, after an hour and a half's 
 march, and stopped at a small riverside village, where a 
 hut was given me. It was very small, and the door had 
 to be closed because lions were in the habit of stealing 
 in at night ; consequently the heat was awful, and I could 
 not sleep. The next day again was broiling hot ; but 
 all the same I got to Inhamecuta, where I found Senhor 
 Curado de Campos, a real Portuguese — white in skin, but 
 black at heart. He received me with joy and a torrent of 
 broken French. 
 
 224 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 "Ah, mon cher Monsieur," he cried, "que je suis con- 
 tente de vous voir ! Une francez, une amigo ; Senhor, 
 tout ici est votre, vous etes chez-vous ; ce n'est pas comme 
 ces sals english. Si un english vient ici il paye pour tout, 
 mais vous c'est une plaisir, une honneur de vous recfivoir ; 
 et ne me parlez pas de payer, vous me feriez injure." 
 
 VILLAGE OF INHAMECUTA. 
 
 "Look here," he added, "this for the English, 
 he produced a board with the following : 
 
 Tabella of Prizes. 
 For the eating and sleping one day 
 For drink bottle red wine 
 For the eating one brekfest 
 For the eating of the diner 
 For drink one tas of thea 
 For take you in machilla at Tete 
 For a carier take charge 50 pounds to Tete 
 For the drink one Utre brandy 
 For one panch mapira 
 
 So saying. 
 
 3 or 5 shiUng 
 5 shihng 
 8 shihng 
 
 1 2 shihng 
 5 shihng 
 2 
 
 Reis 
 
 5000 
 4000 
 
 For bae a piece of algodao 
 For bae a piece leso 
 
 Note. — 4500 Portuguese reis = one pound sterUng, 
 Q 225 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 I explained that I only intended making a stay of a 
 few days, being anxious to catch the Governor at Tete, 
 for whom I had official letters. 
 
 " But, my dear sir, my friend the Governor will be here 
 in a few days, and you had better remain here until he 
 comes," 
 
 I told him that I did not wish to overtax his hospitality; 
 but he insisted, and I remained. As for the matter of 
 transport, he told me that the boat could perfectly well 
 have come down as far as that ; but excused the corporal 
 for not finding men, as he could not have got them 
 without applying to him. He promised, however, to get 
 some next day, and promised to send for my luggage. 
 This he did so promptly that they were off before I knew 
 of it next morning, and I had to send a special messenger 
 with a note and instructions for my men. This was on 
 the I St December : they arrived on the 4th. I waited 
 to see the Governor, who was expected daily. I spent 
 four days tolerably uncomfortably with dysentery until 
 he arrived on the 9th. I then went back with him the 
 thirty miles to Kashumba, whither he had to go to instal 
 a new military commander, and did not leave Inhamecuta 
 until the 19th. The only interesting incident of these 
 days concerned a woman and a crocodile. The woman 
 was seized by the crocodile, but clutched hold of its 
 jaws and opened its mouth to free herself The crocodile 
 caught her again, but a second time she wrenched its 
 mouth open, and actually managed to get away. 
 
 As we left Inhamecuta I took my dear friend Curado 
 de Campos aside, and asked what I owed for some calico 
 I had bought from him. 
 
 He told me the amount, and added : " Well, my dear 
 sir, there is also a small charge for board and lodging. 
 You see if you had only stopped here for three or four 
 days I should have been happy to entertain you, but as 
 you stopped over twelve days you see I am compelled 
 to make a charge." 
 
 226 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 " All right," said I ; " how much is it ? " 
 
 " Well, deuss livres." 
 
 I understood two pounds, and put it down. 
 
 " No, no, my dear sir — dix livres," and he wrote it 
 down. 
 
 I fairly jumped, and looked at him. 
 
 "Well," said he, "you can see yourself the tabella of 
 prizes." 
 
 I did not want to discuss, and I merely said, " All right ; 
 I will write a draft." 
 
 " Certainly not ; I want money." 
 
 " But I have none. I may remind you that a few days 
 ago I mentioned the fact, and you offered to cash me a 
 draft for any amount" 
 
 " Well," said the Senhor, growing excited, " I call this 
 disgraceful, to eat a man's food, and to have no money 
 to pay." 
 
 " Well, if you don't want to take my draft, I will pay 
 your agent at Tete." 
 
 " No, I want the money at once, or else I shall have the 
 law of you." 
 
 " Very well — do so : as you can only bring a case at 
 Tete, you won't be paid sooner ; and even so, I may then 
 choose to dispute the claim." 
 
 Thereupon the Governor came. I explained my case, 
 and he said that he would hold himself responsible for 
 the amount, and asked Curado to make out the account. 
 This was calculated in Portuguese currency at 4500 reis ; 
 Curado began to object, but I produced his own tabella 
 of prizes, and left him cursing me and the Governor and 
 the dishonesty of an ungrateful world in general. 
 
 From Inhamecuta we started on an unexciting and 
 sufficiently miserable march. The magnates, among whom 
 I was kindly included, were carried, Portuguese fashion, in 
 a machilla or hammock slung to a pole. The Governor 
 kindly offered to make a detour in order to show me the 
 celebrated gorge of Kebra Baca, where the Zambezi flows 
 227 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 through a channel about 150 feet broad. The sight is most 
 imposing : the river rushes wildly between two banks of 
 basaltic rocks of the purest black and polished like steel. 
 Until we reached Tete it rained for at least an hour 
 every day, and generally more ; as a rule we were soaked 
 through at night. The country was hilly, varied by 
 swamps, and the number of times we had to cross rivers 
 that happened to be in the way was heartbreaking. 
 
 Gorge of Kebra Baca. 
 
 One day especially rain came down in such" torrents that 
 the footpath soon became a rushing river, with a bed of 
 several inches of peculiarly sticky mud. I stopped most 
 conscientiously by the way to take observations, and of 
 course fell much behind the party in doing so. Things 
 were bad enough until we reached a small valley, where 
 the water was running in a great number of small but 
 deep sluits at the rate of a good five miles an hour. 
 The first two I crossed on the shoulders of a man, but 
 in the third my bearer slipped, and we both rolled into 
 the water. Being quite soaked through I took no further 
 228 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 trouble about myself, and waded through all the other 
 sluits till I overtook the Governor and his suite at a 
 regular small torrent. All had crossed except the doctor. 
 He was not a man of great stature, and as those who had 
 got over had had to wade waist-deep, he was not certain 
 how he should proceed. After much painful hesitation he 
 got astride of the bamboo from which his machilla was 
 slung — in which position he reminded me of a monkey on 
 a stick — and was ferried across safely though without 
 much dignity. I did the same. About eight hours after 
 
 THE GOVERNOR'S CARAVAN. 
 
 our start we reached a series of small villages, at one of 
 which we stopped. I found the Governor and most of his 
 companions gathered in a hut, looking like drowned rats. 
 To add to the general misery the porters had not arrived, 
 and we had no change of clothes. So we all stripped to 
 the costume of our first father, and huddled ourselves up 
 in the hut round a smoky fire. It continued to rain 
 abominably all day, and we could not dry our clothes, 
 so we remained in the simple costume I have described 
 until night. It was not the happiest position that can 
 be imagined for preserving the dignity of a Governor. 
 The next day, however, things were not so bad ; we 
 229 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 made a good march, and the following day, Christmas 
 Eve, arrived at Tete. 
 
 The town is very much larger than I had pictured it, 
 and contained a white population of some thirty. We 
 proceeded to Government House, where all the officers 
 and civilians were assembled to greet His Excellency. 
 The soldiers were in full uniform and the civilians in frock 
 coats, with patent leather boots — a most charming and 
 refreshing sight in the wilds of Africa. The Governor 
 kindly invited me to stay at his house. There was no 
 special rejoicing on Christmas Day, except a breakfast 
 party and a midnight mass. There was a kind of club, 
 with a billiard table and a library, in which I spent the 
 evening. 
 
 I stayed at Tete for over a month, receiving every sort 
 of kindness from everybody I met ; and studied, so far as 
 I was able, the Portuguese administration of the colony. 
 A new Governor was expected. to relieve my host, and I 
 hoped to be able to take the opportunity of his arrival to 
 get a gunboat to enable me to continue my journey, as 
 the natives being at war on the lower part of the river, 
 all traffic was stopped. I noticed that the northern side 
 of the Zambezi is much better watered than the southern, 
 on which Tete stands ; it rains there twice as much. 
 The reason I conjectured to be that the other side is 
 very hilly and contains much iron, which attracts the 
 storms. Tete itself is desperately barren ; there are 
 no trees — indeed no vegetation of any kind; nothing 
 but stones. In former times Tete was an island, and 
 the stream used to run south and west of the town, 
 through what is now a most fertile valley, where the 
 river only penetrates when it is very high. There seems 
 no doubt that the Zambezi has very much decreased in 
 volume. For instance, old people at Inhamecuta told me 
 that in former times no sand was ever seen there, whereas 
 now there is a large beach of it. This testimony is 
 confirmed by Livingstone's accounts and his description of 
 230 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 the Victoria Falls. From what I saw there must be far 
 less water in them now than there was in his time.* 
 
 During my journey to and stay at Tete I did my best 
 to acquaint myself with the ways of the surrounding 
 natives. The principal native races of the Portuguese 
 Zambezi are the Senga, who 
 live north-west of Zumbo. The 
 women of this tribe insert 
 enormous pieces of metal in 
 the upper and lower lips, 
 which give them a most repul- 
 sive appearance. The Chinyai 
 live between Tete and In- 
 hamecuta ; the Tuwala round 
 Chikoa ; and the Goa, a very 
 superior type, to the north of 
 these. Perhaps the most re- 
 markable feature of these tribes 
 is the large families they pro- 
 duce. Among other African 
 natives it is rare to find a 
 mother of more than three or 
 four children, but here a woman 
 often has as many as ten. They 
 do not kill twins, as almost all 
 other natives do. Women suckle 
 their children until they are three 
 years old — sometimes several 
 children at once. The country, 
 
 however, being low for the most part, and swampy, is 
 exceedingly unhealthy. Without the large families which 
 one finds here there can be little doubt that the natives 
 
 Vi 
 
 SENGA WOMAN. 
 
 * Sir Harry Johnston has noted the same phenomenon in connection with 
 the river Shire. In August, 1889, he ascended that river to Katunga, in the 
 James Stevenson, which draws 3ft. 6in. Two years later gunboats drawing a 
 foot less found this task impossible in June, when the river is normally higher 
 than in August. 
 
 231 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 would have died out long ago. The mortality among 
 children is enormous, and you do not often meet a native 
 over fifty years old. Dysentery is very common, especially 
 just before the rams. There is much malaria, fever, small- 
 pox, and a kind, of leprosy, while the people also suffer 
 much from ulcers on the leg. 
 
 The most elaborate and interesting of the customs of 
 these people, as of other Afri- 
 cans, relate to marriage and 
 death. When a man wishes 
 to marry, the principal mem- 
 bers of his family go to ask 
 the girl of her parents. They 
 take with them a ring of 
 beads for the bride, and some 
 beads for her father. Next 
 day they return to the wooer 
 either with another ring, which 
 signifies acceptance, or else 
 bringing back the ring sent 
 by him in sign of refusal. If 
 the answer is favourable the 
 suitor goes to the girl's home 
 
 
 of beads, which he gives to 
 the mother. After that he 
 goes home again, but returns 
 GOA MAN. ' once more, and gives the 
 
 mother five strings of beads, 
 repeating at the same time a formula which literally means 
 "parched by the wind"; that is to say, cold — the im- 
 plication being that he wishes to take away his wife to 
 keep him warm. For the wedding the girl is clothed 
 and ornamented in the presence of all their friends. 
 These clap their hands during, the ceremony, and after- 
 wards accompany the couple to their hut, where they 
 drink beer and dance all night. After that there comes 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 Each of the first has 
 are simply bought, and 
 
 the usual round of presents. The day after the marriage 
 
 the husband gives the mother two pieces of calico, which 
 
 is called " the price of the virgin." The day after that 
 
 he goes back again and gives her another piece with the 
 
 words, " My wife cannot leave me." Polygamy is the rule 
 
 among these people, and they have two classes of wives 
 
 — wives proper and concubines. 
 
 a hut of her own. The others 
 
 are practically slaves. They all 
 
 occupy a hut together. A man 
 
 can always dismiss his wife; and 
 
 if he dies the lawful wives go 
 
 back to their parents, and are 
 
 free to marry again. The others 
 
 form part of the deceased's 
 
 estate. 
 
 When a man dies everybody 
 howls very mournfully ; then 
 they wash the body, clothe it, 
 decorate it with beads, and wrap 
 it up in a piece of calico soaked 
 in saffron. Thus it is left two 
 days until it begins to decom- 
 pose. A hole is then dug in 
 the hut, four or five feet deep. 
 The body is wrapped in a kind 
 
 of bag of rushes with three layers, put into the ground, 
 and covered first with thorns and then with earth. The 
 hut is then abandoned. If the dead man be a chief 
 the whole village is deserted also. On the grave, above 
 the head, is placed a large urn of earthenware con- 
 taining a little flour, while a roast chicken is placed 
 by the side of it. Having thus left the dead man with 
 every comfort, the natives clap their hands by way of 
 adieu, and shut up the hut, as I have said. Every one 
 who has touched the body then washes in the river, 
 while the family cut their hair and deposit it at a 
 ^}>3 
 
 % 
 
 .r 
 
 \'h! 
 
 GOA WOMAN. 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 place where two roads meet. They decorate themselves 
 with black beads as a sign of mourning, and if they can 
 afford it dress in black clothes. The death of a person 
 of importance is never considered natural, but everybody 
 among his surroundings has to go through the poison 
 ordeal. It is only in the case of such a man that the full 
 ceremonies I have described are gone through, and that 
 the body is buried inside a hut. Common people and 
 slaves are thrown into the river, or deposited in holes 
 among the rocks. 
 
 Three months after a death the friends assemble for a 
 great feast. Preparing large quantities of native beer, 
 they go to the hut where the tomb is. Digging a large 
 hole outside it they set down a pot of beer, cover it with 
 a plate, and drop on the plate a little flour. They then 
 enter the hut, taking with them a sheep. They remove 
 the urn which was placed above the head of the body, 
 dig a little hole, and pour in beer ; they then kill the 
 sheep, and let the blood also drop into the hole. Then 
 they take out the sheep, shut the door, and feast on the 
 meat, after which they wash their hands in the pot of beer 
 which they have left outside. When the feast is over they 
 leave the house with a very curious ceremony. One of 
 the wives of the dead man is carried away on a man's 
 shoulders, and the whole company follow her, clapping 
 their hands. This woman they call " musimo," or the 
 spirit. She has her head covered with a piece of stuff, 
 and as the procession goes on they call for beer for the 
 spirit, and take it to her. She drinks it under the veil. 
 All proceed thus to the hut of the most important widow, 
 where a hole has been dug and cemented inside. Into 
 this they pour the inevitable beer, and all lie down on 
 their bellies to drink of it. A great feast follows with 
 dancing and music, and then the dead man is done with. 
 The heir enters into possession of his property, and the 
 mourners resume their ordinary attire. 
 
 Witchcraft, and especially exorcism, are highly de- 
 234 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 veloped. Another very curious ceremony is gone through 
 in case a dead man's heir should fall ill. It is called 
 "arungo." The sick man sits on the ground, and a 
 female doctor passes her hands over his leg and pre- 
 tends to throw that which she takes from it into a 
 basket placed at her side. This is the " musimo," or 
 spirit of the dead man, which has been withdrawn from 
 the heir's body. The whole family assembles and goes 
 through the same pantomime. They then take a piece 
 of stuff and wrap it tightly over the basket to prevent 
 the spirit from getting out. The next day the doctor 
 comes back and says to the basket, which has been left 
 in the hut of the invalid, " You are quite well, are you 
 not, and have slept well ? " The spirit replies with a 
 whistle, which the medicine lady translates thus : " Yes, 
 I have died once, and I am very well." " Are you 
 comfortable in this basket ? " the doctor then asks. 
 " Will you stay there ? " Another whistle. " Yes, yes ! " 
 answers the spirit, " I am comfortable, and I wish to stay 
 here." After that follows a process called " marombo," 
 which is pursued in all cases of illness alike. The 
 doctor dances, and, during the dance, places a piece 
 of stuff over the head of the patient and a gourd 
 on the top of that. In this uncomfortable posture 
 the patient is expected to wag his head from side 
 to side while the dance continues. Presently he also 
 gets up and dances himself, a sign that the evil 
 spirit within him wishes to leave. Upon this the doctor 
 pretends to faint, breaking off short in the middle of 
 the dance and clutching at his heart — or more generally 
 hers, for most doctors are women. When she comes to 
 she kills a kid and mixes its blood with beer, and 
 the sick man drinks it. Thus the evil spirit is satis- 
 factorily driven out. The next day the man is well 
 — or ought to be. 
 
 These illustrations will give a sufficiently clear idea 
 of the chief religious beliefs of these tribes, if religion 
 235 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 it may be called. Among them, as among most Africans, 
 the " musimo," or spirits of the dead, are the one imma- 
 terial idea which the native mind can grasp. Even this, 
 however, is only very crudely spiritual, as the fact of 
 offering a disembodied soul beer shows plainly enough. 
 They also attribute other evils besides disease to the 
 spirits of the dead. With this belief in ghosts they 
 combine curiously enough the doctrine of metempsy- 
 chosis, as do many other tribes. The spirits of the 
 dead are believed to pass into other animals — men of 
 rank become hya;nas-^but never into men. 
 
 Except that a man of these tribes will divide any- 
 thing that is given him among all his companions, they 
 have no idea of morality. I could tell many stories of 
 all kinds of unnatural and barbarous abominations 
 among them, and especially among the black Portu- 
 guese, but I do not think there would be any useful 
 purpose served by their recital. 
 
 Industrially, however, these people take a comparatively 
 high rank among negroes. Of course witchcraft enters 
 largely into all their operations. When a man intends 
 to build a house, the inevitable sorcerer is called in. 
 He brings with him some flour and makes a little 
 heap of it on the ground. If next morning this heap is 
 undisturbed the site is a good one. If the rats have 
 eaten it or it has been scattered in any other way, it 
 would be madness to build in so unpropitious a spot. The 
 huts are always round, built of wood, and covered with 
 mud. Poor families live together ; the rich have, as I said 
 above, a hut for each wife. There are no windows, and the 
 smoke of the fire escapes through any interstices it can 
 find. Each hut is surrounded by a fence of reeds, making 
 a little court four or five yards in extent. One of these 
 joins on to another, and as they are all square it is 
 very difficult, despite the number of little paths, about 
 a yard wide, to find your way to any particular hut in 
 a village. The whole village is surrounded by a similar 
 236 
 
FROM SALISBURY TO TETE 
 
 fence of rushes with several gates. All refuse is carried 
 outside. In each village there are a certain number of 
 enclosures roofed in, containing grindstones for making 
 flour ; the women perform this work all in a body. 
 They both spin and weave the native cotton, and know 
 two vegetable dyes, one yellow, the other black, obtained 
 by soaking the bark of certain trees in hot water. They 
 make very strong string, both of cotton and of bark 
 
 AXES FROM THE LOWER ZAMBEZI. 
 
 fibre. They also make considerable use of leather, 
 especially for bags, and are not unhandy at pottery 
 work. Their canoes are dug out of the trunk of a 
 tree, but are very much larger than those of the 
 Barotse. They are propelled either by paddles, with a 
 very large crew sitting the whole length of the canoe, 
 and the captain steering with a long oar astern, or 
 else in shallow water with a punt pole. I have seen 
 as many as twenty-five people in one canoe. Their 
 principal food is flour made of mealies called mapira, 
 besides which they grow beans and maize. They take 
 237 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 only one regular meal a day — ^just before sunset. A 
 man's ration is two handfuls of flour. The men eat 
 first and then the women. The cooking is generally 
 done by the men. They also work in iron with great 
 skill, as may be seen by the shape of their axes shown 
 on page 237. 
 
 The new Governor arrived at Tete on New Year's Day, 
 with two gunboats. He was a naval officer, and a most 
 distinguished looking man. He told me he would place a 
 gunboat at my disposal to take me as far as the Anglo- 
 Portuguese frontier at Chiromo, at the junction of the 
 Ruo and the Shire rivers, whither he was himself going. 
 After a few days' longer stay in Tete I finally left on 
 board the gunboat Cuama on the 30th of January, 1893. 
 
 238 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 THE PORTUGUESE ON THE ZAMBEZI 
 
 THE earliest pioneers of the Portuguese Empire 
 appeared in the neighbourhood of the Zambezi 
 about the middle of the sixteenth century. One of the 
 first was a priest, Joncalo da Silveira, who in 1560 pene- 
 trated into the middle of the kingdom of Monomapata, 
 and was there put to death. 
 About the same time one ^^-;:^^^^^''^ 
 
 Francisco Baretto ascended the 
 Zambezi as far as Senna, where 
 he established himself. Thence 
 
 he continued to press up the '" ^ 
 
 river, and came into contact ^^\ 
 with the tribes adjacent to the -^ 
 Gorge of Lupata. He estab- 
 lished a fort at Tete. He died *i'-— ^ 
 at Senna while returning from 
 a journey to Mozambique. His / 
 aide-de-camp, Vasco Fernandez ' 
 Homena, succeeded him. He type at tete. 
 visited the gold mines of Man- 
 
 ica, and returning to Tete, travelled to the silver mines 
 of Chikoa, where he left his second in command. This 
 officer, with 200 men, was cut to pieces by the natives 
 about 1572. All these officers were under the command 
 of the Viceroy of Portuguese India. In 1608 another 
 Portuguese officer again visited the silver mines of Chi- 
 koa, and left in the interior one Diego Madeira, who 
 239 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 during- the next six years explored the surrounding 
 country. By slow degrees the Portuguese thus founded 
 two empires, one north of the Zambezi, and the other 
 in the district of Monomatapa. From the very begin- 
 nings of the Portuguese Empire, Manica was celebrated 
 for its gold. The Portuguese established a number of 
 fairs or markets all over the country, where the natives 
 brought gold and slaves, which were exchanged for 
 European goods. Starting from Tete, a long line of 
 markets and forts is said to have extended by Fort 
 San Miguel and Montedoro as far as Tati on the Shashi 
 river. I should rather doubt, however, if this is true. 
 By 1700 missionaries had spread themselves over the 
 Lower Zambezi district, and in 1763 the market of Zumbo 
 was constituted a town. As well as gold and copper, 
 which came from mines between Manica and Montedoro, 
 the Portuguese took away ivory from this country from 
 the first years of their occupation. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the Portuguese rule on the 
 Zambezi is more than three centuries old, and this fact 
 should be taken into consideration in judging the system 
 which is found there. In one way, no doubt, this length 
 of occupation should have enabled them to do much 
 with the country. On the other hand, it brings con- 
 siderable difficulties. The organization of the country 
 is rather mediaeval than modern, and it is no doubt 
 more difficult to reform long existing abuses than to 
 establish a satisfactory system of government where no 
 government previously existed at all. 
 
 The supreme authority of the Portuguese Colonies is 
 in the hands of the Minister of Marine and Colonies 
 at Lisbon. He is assisted by a civilian Director- 
 General and a Council. There is the Governor-General 
 of Mozambique, and the country is divided into sub- 
 ordinate Governorships. These districts are Angoche, 
 Cape Delgado, Inhambane, Lorenzo Marques, Tete, and 
 Quilimane. Besides these, the Mozambique Company has 
 240 
 
THE PORTUGUESE ON THE ZAMBEZI 
 
 the administration of a large territory. The functions of 
 the Governors of Districts are principally four. The 
 Governor holds the military command, is President of the 
 Board which supervises taxation, Civil Administrator, and 
 a sort of Judge of Instruction for criminal cases ; these 
 are first heard before the local tribunal by the Governor, 
 who prepares documents dealing with the case, and sends 
 them to Mozambique for trial. Appeals go to the 
 Governor of Goa in India. That at least is the theory ; 
 but as a matter of fact, the Governor often sends people 
 to prison without any trial at all, and keeps them there 
 indefinitely. For instance, some months before I was 
 in the Portuguese territory some natives had come down 
 from the Shire country to see what trade could be done 
 in Tete, bringing a document given them by the British 
 authorities of Nyasaland. This document merely stated 
 
 that " chief of ■ " was in the English 
 
 sphere of influence ; that he paid his taxes regularly, 
 and that any one attempting to seize his country would 
 be proceeded against according to law. No doubt the 
 men had brought this document as a kind of passport ; 
 but when they were taken before the Governor and 
 produced it, that gentleman chose to believe that the 
 English had sent them with this paper to annoy the 
 Portuguese authorities. He therefore had them beaten, 
 and sent them to prison, where they were still when I 
 arrived in Tete. In vain I tried to obtain their release, 
 offering even a substantial security. 
 
 The most striking piece of mediaevalism in the Portu- 
 guese administration is the prazzo system. A prazzo is 
 a district constituted for purposes of revenue. Each one 
 is put up to auction. The highest bidder has to pay 
 the amount of his bid annually, and in return is allowed 
 to collect a revenue from the district. The system is 
 regulated by a law of 1886, as follows: — 
 
 " The prazzos are put up for auction for three years 
 but the Government has power to rescind the contract by 
 R 241 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 giving six months' notice. The lessee of each prazzo has 
 to pay for six months in advance. He has a right to 
 levy a tax or mussock of 800 reis per head in cash, or if 
 he prefers it, to make the native work for him, such work 
 reckoned at 400 reis per week ; 800 reis is about 3s. 6d. 
 Children below sixteen are not liable to this tax, nor 
 are natives who are physica,lly incapable of work ; but all 
 others, men and women alike, are liable. For the main- 
 tenance of roads, public works, and the building of houses 
 for officials, the lessee can requisition native labour 
 without payment. He can also requisition labour for 
 his own purposes at the rate of 400 reis per week, or 
 its equivalent in goods at market price. Children under 
 sixteen can be made to work at half this price. Natives 
 who refuse to pay are sent to hard labour on public works 
 until they have made up their mind to pay the tax. The 
 lessee is not allowed to illtreat his people ; he must send 
 them before the authorities if they are not amenable, and 
 allow them to go before the officer of the nearest station 
 if they have any complaint to make. The lessee is 
 allowed to cultivate land not already occupied, but he 
 may not export timber or minerals without a special 
 concession." In 1890 this law was modified by the 
 creation of two kinds of prazzos. The first class consists 
 of those which are so situated as to be exposed to native 
 attack, or from any other cause are not suited to either 
 agricultural or industrial development. The second class 
 — those which are so fitted — are to be put up to auction for 
 twenty-five years. The upstart price is 800 reis per head 
 of the population. At least half the tax is to be paid 
 by the natives in labour, but the lessee must supply to 
 them, free of charge, water, fire, and grass to thatch 
 their huts. Every five years a census is to be made, 
 and if the population of the district has increased, the 
 price to be paid by the lessee is to be increased in pro- 
 portion. In five years the lessee is to have at least one- 
 third of his land under cultivation, and the whole by the 
 242 
 
 i 
 
THE PORTUGUESE ON THE ZAMBEZI 
 
 end of the twenty-five years. The lessee possesses a 
 certain official status analogous to that of a sheriff. He 
 also has power to arm, at his own expense, a certain 
 number of sepoys, the maximum to be fixed in the 
 lease. He must lend these to Government for the defence 
 of the country if they are requisitioned. This new enact- 
 ment does not seem particularly sagacious, for the lessee 
 would hardly be likely to work hard for twenty-five years 
 (supposing he lived so long) in the country to get no profit 
 for it at the end. 
 
 Now the system of prazzos was no doubt quite right 
 and satisfactory when it was first instituted in the seven- 
 teenth century, but to-day the working of the system 
 comes to very little more than legalized slavery, and an 
 uncontrolled opportunity for the lessee to grind money 
 out of the natives. He makes the people pay their tax 
 either in goods or in work. The value of the work is 
 measured by European goods. The usual price is 4000 
 reis, or 17s. 6d., for twenty yards of cotton cloth, which 
 he buys at Tete for 800 reis, about 3s. 6d. 
 
 The natives pay their tax in their own produce ; the 
 lessee fixes the value of such produce, and also measures 
 it with his own measure, so that 27 litres nominal is often 
 really 40 or 45 to the lessee. The sepoys are not 
 supposed to be liable to the tax, but they have to be 
 ready for any kind of work. One lessee, for instance, 
 whom I came across, makes you pay los. per man for 
 porters for a five days' march. He pays these men 
 IS. lod. worth of calico, gives them sixpenny worth of 
 food for the journey, and makes them bring back his 
 goods on their return. He thus makes a profit of 7s. 8d. 
 per man, and avows openly that you will not be able 
 to get a single porter without coming to him. Thus on 
 an expedition requiring 60 porters he makes about £2^. 
 It is difficult to see what good bloodsuckers of this kind 
 can possibly do to any country. 
 
 They have only one object — to get money, and to get 
 243 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 ivory especially, by every possible means. What is the 
 use of cultivating the land when one can send natives 
 to hunt ivory ? Observe that I say to hunt ivory, not to 
 hunt elephants. It is very seldom that the man who 
 kills an animal gets the profit of the ivory ; it is probably 
 stolen half a dozen times before it comes finally into the 
 hands of the white men. The lessees employ a large 
 number of hunters, and make heavy profits out of them. 
 
 For instance, they advance them a certain number 
 of guns, put down at say £'] apiece, a keg or two of 
 powder, caps, and a few trading goods, all reckoned at 
 the same exorbitant price. When the hunters return after 
 an expedition of five or six months the masters pay, it 
 is true, for the ivory very nearly at the price it fetches in 
 Tete, but then they pay in goods, on which, according 
 to their valuation of them, they make four or five hundred 
 per cent, profit An arroba (15 kilogrammes of ivory) 
 never costs them more than £6,, and they sell it for 
 about ;^20 at Tete. Evidently it does not need many 
 arrobas a month to bring in a comfortable income. After 
 the lessee has bought the hunter's ivory in this way, he 
 will make him another advance of guns, powder, and 
 the like, so that in a few years the unfortunate man 
 will find himself some hundreds of pounds in debt, while 
 the ivory merchant has already made ;^iooo profit out 
 of him. It must also be remembered that some of the 
 hunters in the employment of these gentlemen possess 
 as many as fifty or sixty guns. It may well be imagined 
 what very extensive and various kinds of hunting they are 
 able to pursue with such resources. 
 
 Why indeed cultivate the soil when you can get ivory .-' 
 It is a sight to see these traffickers gloating over their 
 ivory — the arrival of a consignment is a feast-day. It is 
 a cruel thought that every tusk has cost the life of one 
 man at the very least. Ivory in Portuguese Africa is the 
 synonym for slavery, theft, and murder. For instance, one 
 day the lessee of a prazzo said to me, quite as a matter of 
 244 
 
THE PORTUGUESE ON THE ZAMBEZI 
 
 course, " I am expecting a great deal of ivory from such 
 and such a place," and he named the kraal of a native 
 chief; "only I do not know when it will come, because 
 the chief will have to make war to get it ; but he told 
 me that he was going to war, as he knew that I should 
 give him a good price just now." The truth is that the 
 ivory trade will never be anything but a scandal until 
 
 "^■:.. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF AN IVORY CARAVAN. 
 
 every one who deals in it is obliged to take out a licence, 
 pay a heavy fee, and be subject to a rigid supervision. 
 
 Another extraordinary institution of Portuguese Africa 
 is the Capitao Mor. These gentlemen are a kind of 
 militia officers, usually with the honorary rank of 
 Lieutenant - Colonel in the Portuguese army. They 
 are blacks. They raise their irregulars themselves, and 
 Government supplies them with thousands of guns to arm 
 them. In no part of Africa have I seen such a profusion 
 of guns, most of them lent by Government, which will 
 never see them again. So many guns and so much 
 245 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 ammunition have these people received that a revolt 
 of one or two of them to-day would be a very grave 
 affair. Most of these Capitao Mores employ their troops 
 and arms for slave-raiding and general brigandage, and 
 are guilty every day of frightful atrocities. One of these 
 gentlemen, who was in the habit of levying blackmail in 
 ivory and gold dust, and of borrowing people's wives from 
 them by force, was the sole cause of a native war a few 
 years ago. Another one had the misfortune to lose his 
 brother, whereon he attributed his death to sorcery. He 
 made everybody who could possibly have come in contact 
 with him go through the ordeal of taking muavi, or 
 poison. Those who did not vomit were considered guilty 
 of witchcraft and promptly put to death ; some were 
 shot on the spot, others hanged, and others thrown into 
 the Zambezi with a stone round their necks. In one way 
 or another fifty were disposed of Even then all who had 
 vomited were put in chains. 
 
 The total store of ivory possessed by this enterprising 
 official is valued at ;^20,ooo, at least three quarters of 
 which was stolen. Another Capitao Mor is in the habit 
 of amusing himself by mutilating his people, which he 
 does as punishment for the smallest fault. The country 
 belonging to this gentleman, named Kanyemba, is now in 
 British territory. Particular note of this should be taken. 
 
 I was present at an amusing suit brought by one of 
 these fellows before the Governor. He accused one of his 
 sepoys of stealing four women and a cash -box, and 
 blandly requested the Governor to send him to prison 
 out of hand. The Governor answered that he could not 
 condemn a man in this manner ; he must have witnesses 
 to prove his guilt. " Oh," said the Capitao Mor, " I have 
 plenty; here are four men who will prove the affair." The 
 Governor called them up, and to the great disgust of the 
 official, interrogated them one by one. The first said 
 that the accused had stolen three women, and the Capitao 
 Mor had told him that he had also stolen some things, 
 246 
 
THE PORTUGUESE ON THE ZAMBEZI 
 
 but witness did not know what. The second witness said 
 the man had made off with four women, and had also 
 stolen a box. " What was in it ? " asked the Governor. 
 Here the Capitao Mor interrupted, but the Governor told 
 him to be quiet. It appeared that witness did not know 
 what was in the box, and did not know where the box 
 was before it was stolen. The third witness did not know 
 quite so much as the others. The Capitao Mor again 
 interrupted, and the Governor began to lose patience. 
 The fourth witness knew even less than any of the others. 
 " He is a fool," cried the accuser, and then he ingeniously 
 suggested that the witnesses should undergo the ordeal 
 by poison to see if they spoke the truth. When the 
 accused was questioned he declared that he had stolen 
 nothing, but had made off because the Capitao Mor 
 wanted to kill him. " What nonsense," shouted that 
 gentleman ; and when the Governor refused to condemn 
 the man at once, he gave up the idea of the poison ordeal, 
 and said he would apply to the tribunal at Tete instead. 
 What he really did was to make off into the country, not 
 liking the presence of the military commander in his 
 district. Later on one of his headmen told me that 
 one day this gentleman had picked up a knife and 
 stabbed one of his people, afterwards ordering this head- 
 man to follow him up and finish him. 
 
 Another kind of legalized slavery which exists on a 
 great scale here shrouds itself under the cloak of religion. 
 Nowhere is slave dealing carried on so openly and 
 shamefully as it is by the Jesuits. They are perpetually 
 buying young slaves for a couple of pieces of cotton " to 
 save them from slavery." This seems to me a very 
 curious way of discouraging the slave trade. They teach 
 the children under their care a little religious history and 
 a few elementary principles of education ; but their chief 
 care is to put them to a trade, making them masons, 
 carpenters, and the like. During the holidays, as they 
 are ironically called, the children are made to work in 
 247 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 the fields. All this would be a very good work if it 
 were disinterested. The fact is that when the children 
 are grown up the Jesuits claim to keep them for their own 
 purposes. For example, one of their carpenters went 
 away to work on his own account. The Jesuits had him 
 seized by the authorities and forced to work for them. 
 While I was in the neighbourhood a child left their 
 seminary for a week. On his arrival at his home he com- 
 plained of having been illtreated, and his state of health 
 confirmed what he said. His brother, although a black, 
 had been educated in Lisbon and happened to be a man 
 of some education — a notary ; and he decided not to send 
 him back to the Mission, but to keep him at home and 
 send him to school at Tete. Immediately the authorities 
 were bombarded with letters asking them to compel the 
 child to return to the Mission. The Jesuits observed 
 that constraint was indispensable in such cases ; that it 
 was deplorable to give in to the caprices of the blacks, 
 and that in the interests of civilization it ought not to be 
 done. It is not necessary to comment on this except to 
 ask in what respect it differs from slavery. A slave 
 among the natives is generally well treated by his master, 
 and it is remarkable that children carried off from their 
 own tribe usually become so closely assimilated with their 
 new tribe that in war they are the fiercest enemies of 
 their own people. I do not mean to hold up this state 
 of things as an admirable one ; but, at any rate, the 
 disposition of these slaves is in very striking contrast to 
 that of the pupils of the Jesuits, whose one hope is to 
 escape. The Protestant missions may have their faults, 
 and plenty of them ; but, at least, when they teach the 
 natives a trade they also put them in a position to profit 
 by it. The Jesuit fathers, on the other hand, seem to think 
 that they have returned to the good old Middle Ages 
 with their serfs and vassals. On the religious side they are 
 transported with horror to think of the superstition of the 
 barbarous negroes, their ancestor-worship, and their belief 
 248 
 
THE PORTUGUESE ON THE ZAMBEZI 
 
 in evil spirits. This they replace by the belief in miracles 
 and the devil. 
 
 As confirmation of what I saw, I need only quote the 
 words of a high official to whom I was talking one day, 
 " I am going to do a kindness to the fathers," he said, 
 "by sending them back a shepherd of theirs that had 
 escaped." 
 
 " But how can you force a man," I asked, " to go back 
 to work which he does not like, if he is under no contract, 
 and earns his living by work elsewhere ? " 
 
 " Oh," he said, " but I made the man come to me, and 
 asked if he had been paid for. He said, ' Yes,' so I told 
 him he was a scoundrel to leave his masters and put 
 them to so much trouble. So I sent him back to them 
 with two sepoys." 
 
 " But that is slavery," I said. 
 
 " Oh, no," he said, " not if the man has been bought. 
 Don't you think it necessary to force the blacks to work 
 for the masters who have paid for them ?" 
 
 In fine, although there are no slave markets in Portu- 
 guese Africa, slavery exists, nevertheless, on a much larger 
 scale than it did, for instance, in Egypt twenty years ago. 
 I had heard a good deal of it before I reached Tete, but 
 I never imagined that it was anything like what I actually 
 found it to be. Slavery is universal. You can buy a 
 slave anywhere, the price ranging from one to four pieces 
 of calico. Matakania was the principal merchant in the 
 trade ; but everybody, black or white, either is engaged in 
 it, or encourages it by buying slaves. I have heard people 
 of education and refinement say, " Oh, this girl " — or 
 " this boy," as the case may be — " belongs to me. I 
 bought her myself, and paid so much." These slaves are 
 always taken in war. A chief sends his men on a raid, 
 and they bring him back thirty, forty, or fifty men and 
 women. They are led back in various ways, usually by a 
 cord round their necks. But the Angoni have a way of 
 binding their slaves by making an incision in the skin 
 249 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 of the waist, and passing the thong through it. Ten years 
 
 ago slaves were branded hke cattle, each master having 
 
 his own distinctive brand. This generally took the form 
 
 of two or more incisions across the chest. 
 
 Now that slavery is no longer recognised, 
 
 the treatment of these creatures by the 
 
 ^-^ "^^^^BF whites is very much worse than it was, 
 
 since their value is now infinitesimal, as 
 
 ":, they can only be bought, but not sold 
 
 *^ again. In most cases, however, they do 
 
 not seem unhappy. 
 
 Another feature of society on the Portu- 
 
 ' guese Zambezi is, so far as I know, without 
 
 " , any parallel in the world. All the white 
 
 men established there have one, two, three, 
 
 or even four native wives, with whom they 
 
 :he mark of slavery live openly. They are dressed like the 
 
 ON THE CHEST. Ordinary native women, in a single piece 
 
 of stuff, which covers them from above the 
 
 breasts to below the knees. They are, in fact, servants — 
 
 a little higher than the ordinary domestics, but treated 
 
 in almost exactly the same way. They live with the 
 
 servants, and yet whenever they bear their master a child 
 
 he takes it publicly to church to be baptized, and gives a 
 
 little entertainment in its honour. There were few men I 
 
 met at Tete who had not two or three half-bred children ; 
 
 yet, strangely enough, anybody who legally married a 
 
 native woman would lose caste. These women are not 
 
 jealous one of another, nor even of any of the servants of 
 
 the house upon whom the master may smile ; but they 
 
 are furious if he bestows his favours outside the house. 
 
 The Church appears to find this kind of relation perfectly 
 
 natural, as I have several times heard the cure ask how 
 
 so-and-so's wife was. And this state of things is found 
 
 not only among private residents, but also among the 
 
 highest officials and military officers. In this kind of 
 
 relation affection seems to play no part. The woman 
 
 250 
 
THE PORTUGUESE ON THE ZAMBEZI 
 
 has not much more place in the family than a dog in 
 England. They eat on the floor after their master has 
 finished ; indeed, they are simply machines for the manu- 
 facture of mulattos. Yet, strangely enough, while there 
 seems to be no affection for the mother, the white men 
 often love their children tenderly. When they travel they 
 very frequently take wives and children with them. I was 
 talking one day to a high official, and remarked that one 
 of his servants, a little girl of perhaps eight, was very 
 pretty. " Yes," he said, " I am waiting until she grows 
 older." This gentleman, who is over forty-five, has already 
 four wives — three living in his house — and between them 
 three children from one to four years old. I said to him 
 that I could not understand how he had these children 
 baptized in church and let them bear his name. " Anyone 
 who behaved otherwise," he answered simply, "would be 
 a scoundrel, unfit for decent men to speak to." The 
 Portuguese in this colony, in short, live under a code of 
 morality which they have made for themselves, and which 
 is quite different from that of any other European 
 society I ever heard of It is Orientalism without 
 Oriental luxury. 
 
 There is absolutely no restriction on the sale of in- 
 toxicating liquors to the natives. Public functionaries dis- 
 tribute alcoholic drinks to everybody by way of largesse. 
 When they are on a journey they deal liquor out to all the 
 people of every village they pass through, even to women 
 and children. I saw it done more than once, and drunken 
 natives were singing and dancing the whole night. I do 
 not assert that drink is given with any bad motives ; it 
 is simply as I say, a kind of largesse, which is freely 
 distributed, but which is surely the most mistaken form 
 of kindness possible. 
 
 This colony is very heavily handicapped by the fact 
 
 that until quite lately most of the settlers and some of 
 
 the officials either were or had been convicts. I was 
 
 introduced to this fact in a rather startling manner. One 
 
 251 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 day I was playing billiards at the club at Tete, of which 
 I have already spoken. The marker was exceedingly 
 drunk, and fell up against me several times. I pointed 
 out to the president what a disgraceful state the man 
 was in. 
 
 " Oh, yes," he replied, " he certainly is, but all the same 
 I cannot find it in my heart to be hard on the poor 
 fellow. You see he is very hard up ; he only gets about 
 £i a month as billiard marker, and the same amount as 
 lamplighter. Outside that he has nothing in the world 
 except the £i which he gets from the gaol." 
 
 "The gaol?" I asked. "What do you mean? Is he 
 employed at the gaol ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," said the president, " he is a convict ; he is 
 doing ten years' hard labour." 
 
 It appeared that the poor fellow had had the misfortune 
 to kill his uncle, I think it was. I was astounded at first 
 to find myself almost entirely surrounded by convicts, but 
 I soon got used to it. 
 
 I may add a pleasing little anecdote concerning the cure 
 in one of the towns, who was hated by all who knew him. 
 He had a sacristan under him, who received 5000 reis a 
 month — a little more than a guinea. The cure approached 
 him one day and said it would be a much cheaper plan, 
 and better for all parties, if the sacristan gave up his 
 salary to him, in return for which he would feed him at 
 his own table and give him his clothes. The unsuspecting 
 sacristan saw economy in the proposal, and agreed to 
 it. But when he found that the cure only gave him a 
 little rice and some beans to eat he began to change his 
 mind, and in a week, being reduced to a very low state, 
 he had had enough of it. He therefore refused to con- 
 tinue the arrangement, upon which the cure refused to 
 give him back his clothes. The unfortunate sacristan 
 had to bring an action to get them back. On Christmas 
 Day, I was told, this cure held a public auction in front 
 of the church for the benefit of that institution. It was 
 252 
 
THE PORTUGUESE ON THE ZAMBEZI 
 
 HIPPOPOTAMUS HEAD 
 (Lower Zambezi). 
 
 an auction of rather an original character, consisting in 
 
 the drinking of large glasses of water, containing about 
 
 a couple of pints. He put up each glass for auction. 
 
 On somebody crying out, " A thousand reis if the cure 
 
 drinks it" — he did drink 
 
 it ; and in this way he 
 
 swallowed no less than 
 
 seven of these glasses. 
 
 After that he proceeded to 
 
 a midnight mass, which was 
 
 not more dignified. He had 
 
 borrowed a musical box, 
 
 and by way of attracting 
 
 a congregation set it going 
 
 before the service. The 
 
 first tune it produced was 
 
 " Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay." 
 
 It may not be known 
 that the colonists of Portuguese Zambezia are mostly 
 electors for the Cortes in Lisbon. The province of 
 Mozambique sends two members, one for the provinces 
 of Cape Delgado and Mozambique, the other for the 
 Zambezi districts — Inhambane and Lorenzo Marques. 
 Every head of a family, black or white, is an elector. 
 The polling places are always churches, and the priest 
 has to be present at the election to certify the identity 
 of the voters. The election is thus a very simple matter 
 for the lessees of each prazzo. They give each of their 
 natives a piece of paper with the name of the constituent 
 they support written on it, and say, "Take this letter to 
 the Governor at the church." The natives go to the 
 church, hand over the letter, give their names, and there 
 you are. 
 
 In this brief sketch I have laid more stress on the 
 
 defects of Portuguese rule than on its merits ; but it 
 
 must not be inferred from this that it is without merits. 
 
 The more recently appointed Portuguese officers and 
 
 253 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 officials, for instance, are almost all men of the highest 
 character and capacity. 
 
 The fact that they are handicapped by the system 
 under which they have to work is more the fault of the 
 Cortes at Lisbon than their own. To me, personally, 
 both whites and blacks constantly showed the greatest 
 kindness, and it was easy to see that this was perfectly 
 genuine. I think that it would be a good thing both 
 for Portuguese and English in Mashonaland to establish 
 a connection between the two countries. Each nation 
 has something to gain from the other, and the present 
 cordial relations between them would only become more 
 and more cordial with time. 
 
 254 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 NYASALAND 
 
 AS I said before, I left Tete on the 30th of January in 
 the gunboat Cuaina. At Bongo, our halting-place 
 the first night after leaving Tete, the Zambezi is about 
 two miles broad. When we reached the Gorge of Lupata, 
 which we did early the second morn- 
 ing, the spectacle v;as most imposing. 
 On the right hand were enormously 
 high cliffs towering above the river; 
 on the left grand hills gently sloping 
 down to it : a magnificent stream 
 flowed majestically between. It took 
 two hours and a half to pass through 
 this gorge, after which the Cuama 
 stopped all day to get wood. The 
 next day saw a complete change in 
 the scenery. The river was now 
 nearly four miles broad, and ran 
 
 through many channels, between numerous islands. Thanks 
 to one of these we made no progress whatever this day. 
 Another gunboat, which was carrying the mails, passed 
 us steaming up another channel, so we went back after 
 her to get letters, and stayed the rest of the day. On 
 the 2nd of February we came to a small village on an 
 island opposite Iniakatanda. There we met a native chief 
 who had given valuable help to the Portuguese in one of 
 their wars. In recognition of this service two hundred 
 and seventy pieces of cloth were now to be distributed to 
 255 
 
 \ 
 
 TYPE OF MANIANJA, 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 him and his men. The chief arrived next day, and asked 
 the Governor to stay there one day longer and go to the 
 mainland, where all his men would come to get their 
 calico. The uniform in which this gentleman came on 
 board deserves to be chronicled — a blue dolman with 
 cavalry epaulets, naval buttons, and infantry stripes. 
 
 It took a quarter of an hour next day to get to the 
 mainland, and after waiting an hour or two we saw the 
 natives begin to roll up. They were in great numbers, 
 all armed with guns and decked with ornaments and 
 most wonderful hats of their own manufacture. They 
 were formed up in ranks, if ranks they could be called, 
 and came to salute the Governor, dancing a war dance. 
 War drums were beaten, and the men in the ranks all 
 sang together, while from time to time one sprang 
 forward and simulated with a battle-axe the attacking 
 and killing of an enemy. This performance lasted about 
 six hours, after which we left, passed the military station 
 of Gwengwe, and steamed on down the river till about 
 half-past five. The Zambezi kept widening: it is here 
 five or six miles broad, and covered with islands. The 
 banks are very marshy, and must be most unhealthy. 
 
 Next day we met the Sabre, another Portuguese gun- 
 boat, which was to take me to Chiromo, in the British 
 sphere of influence. This boat was astern of the two 
 gunboats which had brought us from Tete, and instead 
 of keeping the prescribed distance of "200 yards went 
 ahead full speed and came up within 50 yards of us. 
 The natural result followed. We got into shallow water 
 and signalled the fact to her, but she had no time to 
 stop, and went at full speed into a sandbank, where she 
 remained stuck. It took the rest of that day and night 
 and a good part of the next to get her off I spent 
 the day in making an excursion to the town of Senna, 
 which is built in the middle of a marsh at the foot of 
 a hill. It consists of a few houses and a small fort. 
 In former times the Zambezi used to run round the 
 256 
 
NYASALAND 
 
 base of the fort, whereas now it is half an hour from 
 the river. This confirms the theory that the volume of 
 the river is greatly diminished. 
 
 Early on the morning of February 8th my goods were 
 transferred on board the Sabre. The three gunboats left 
 together — the Governor's two down the Zambezi, while 
 we went down the Ziu-Ziu, which joins it opposite Senna, 
 and connects it with the Shire. The Sabre seemed to make 
 a habit of taking the bit between her teeth, for once more 
 we dashed off at full speed, and in an hour were again 
 fast on a sandbank. Everything had to be unloaded on 
 to an island, but even so we could not get off until the 
 next afternoon. Then we went on for a short distance, 
 and stopped for the night at Mosquito Bank — well named 
 indeed. The Ziu-Ziu runs through a marsh covered with 
 the greatest number of geese, ducks, and other sorts of 
 water fowl I ever saw. In the distance at certain points 
 we caught sight of real forests of palm trees. On the 
 loth we entered the Shire. This river is only a hundred 
 yards or so broad, running between low banks. On the 
 nth we reached Port Herald, the first station of the 
 Nyasaland Protectorate, on the right bank of the Shire. 
 
 We heard very bad news of the state of things higher 
 up : it was said that a hundred thousand natives had 
 risen and were attacking Fort Johnston. This made 
 me the more anxious to hurry on, though it diminished 
 the chance of my being able to do so. Need I say that 
 we wound up the day by running aground, and did 
 not get off till the following morning } Here the captain 
 decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and 
 that he could go no further. I got some boats from the 
 British station near, which took on board part of my goods, 
 but had to wait three or four days before I could start off 
 with the rest. Two days brought me to Chiromo, where 
 I was very kindly received by the Portuguese officer in 
 command. The Portuguese station here is on the left 
 bank of the Ruo ; the British on the right. The first 
 s 257 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 consists of a house, an iron store, and a well-built 
 magazine. On the British side, which I next visited, 
 I was almost startled to see the extraordinary amount 
 of work that had been done. A new house occupied 
 by Mr. Hillier was surrounded by a large compound, 
 scrupulously clean, from which there were roads branching 
 out in all directions. On one side of the station was a 
 private factory consisting of half a dozen or more houses 
 with laid paths, and the beginning of a garden. On the 
 other side was the office of the African Lakes Corporation, 
 presenting a wonderful contrast with the rest. The 
 buildings were falling to pieces, and looked as if they 
 had never been clean in their life. 
 
 The most alarming news was rife at Chiromo about 
 the war up country. Fort Johnston, they said, was 
 isolated, and the Commissioner cut off. Two white men 
 had been killed and one captured. The rebellion, it 
 was added, was rapidly spreading down the river. Blue- 
 jackets had been sent for, and relief asked from the 
 men-of-war at Zanzibar. I hardly knew whether to 
 believe these terrible accounts or not, but came to the 
 conclusion that, on the whole, they were probably ex- 
 aggerated. This opinion was confirmed by a steamer 
 which arrived the day before I had intended to leave. 
 I wanted, in any case, to get up to Nyasaland and see 
 what was going on ; that being so, of course all the 
 porters I had engaged took the opportunity to desert. 
 Fortunately, the Pfeil, Major Wissmann's steamer, arrived 
 just then, and her captain kindly offered to take me up 
 with him. I accepted with pleasure, and started two 
 days later. The Pfeil was towing three English boats 
 with stores and a large German barge. We had not 
 steamed an hour before we ran aground. The captain 
 did all he could to get off, but was unsuccessful. In 
 the evening he killed a large crocodile under the steamer 
 —I had nearly fallen into the water a moment before 
 —but even this did nothing to get the vessel off. So 
 258 
 
 I 
 
NYASALAND 
 
 I returned next morning to Chiromo, got the remaining 
 porters I required, and started that afternoon overland. 
 I was promised that I should be captured or killed 
 by the natives ; but I doubted that, and in any case 
 resolved to chance it. 
 
 The march led us first through the Elephant marsh, 
 formerly full of these animals, with grass everywhere 
 six feet high. At times we passed beautiful palm 
 forests, the trunks festooned with creepers. These 
 forests, however, were the only pleasing feature of the 
 march, for the grass got higher and higher. On the 
 second day it was ten feet high, while on the third we 
 had to cross a regular forest of reeds fifteen feet high. 
 Nothing could be more trying than walking through this 
 long grass ; it was constantly hitting me in the face and 
 tearing my arms. 
 
 On the third day we reached the Muabanzi river, 
 which we found very full. I sent some of my men to 
 try and ford it, but they said it was full of crocodiles, 
 and would not venture in the water until I had fired 
 several shots into it. When they did go in they 
 very soon found themselves out of their depth. We 
 tried several other places, and at last found one where 
 there were only four feet of water. My headmen went 
 in here, but the others declined, and I took off my clothes 
 and swam across to set them an example. Then they 
 all followed eagerly, and only one lost his footing, and 
 dropped two hundred yards of calico, which was imme- 
 diately carried away by the current. I afterwards heard 
 that this river simply swarms with crocodiles, which 
 I can well believe, although I am bound to say I did 
 not see any. Going forward again, we passed the 
 camp of Wissmann's Expedition, on our way to the 
 British station of Chikwawa. Here the two stern - 
 wheel gunboats Mosquito and Herald were stationed ; 
 the place was covered with innumerable packages, con- 
 taining the pieces of two more gunboats for Lake Nyasa. 
 259 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 The gunboats were lying up, the crews having been 
 hurried to the seat of war. The Shire about here swarms 
 with crocodiles. The natives catch them with forked 
 sticks, which get fixed between their jaws when they 
 try to eat the meat attached to them. More often, 
 however, the crocodile catches and eats the natives ; 
 one man had been devoured the morning of my arrival. 
 They dread this reptile so much that they never draw 
 water from the river except by tying a calabash to the 
 end of a long stick. Some years before, during a famine, 
 the crocodiles used even to land and attack the natives 
 in their villages. 
 
 A day and a half's march from here over a very 
 good road, made by Captain Sclater, R.E., brought us 
 to Blantyre, the capital of Nyasaland, where I was most 
 kindly welcomed by the constructor of the road himself. 
 I was put up in the house of Mr. Sharpe, the Deputy 
 Commissioner — a substantial building, with the first 
 sitting-room I had seen in Africa, and a piano. I 
 had a very excellent lunch from real China plates and 
 real glass glasses, served on a tablecloth — and you 
 cannot imagine what a luxury it was. That evening 
 Mr. Sharpe came home, and while we were at dinner 
 Mr. H. H. Johnston himself, the Commissioner — now 
 Sir Harry — came in from Matope. The war, he said, 
 was all over. It was sufficient to be in Mr. Johnston's 
 company for ten minutes to be won over for life by 
 his charming manner. He was tired with his journey, 
 yet showed himself a most brilliant talker. He had 
 been kind enough to send me special messengers to 
 bring me from Tete overland. Unfortunately they left 
 too late to catch me ; but I was most grateful for the 
 attention all the same. 
 
 I remained in Nyasaland nearly a month, rejoicing 
 
 in the delightful companionship of Mr. Johnston and his 
 
 staff, which formed a charming interlude between the 
 
 wearisome journeys I had just come through and the long 
 
 260 
 
NYASALAND 
 
 stretch which was to follow. Through their constant 
 and kindly aid I was able to make myself acquainted 
 with the leading points bearing upon the past history 
 and the future prospects of this part of British Central 
 Africa. Sir Harry Johnston has lately published a book 
 on his Protectorate which will remain a monument in the 
 history of Africa. I will therefore confine myself to a 
 brief sketch of what I learnt in Nyasaland, referring the 
 
 BRITISH GUNBOATS ON THE SHIRE AT CHIKWAWA. 
 
 readers to this great work, in which Sir Harry has also 
 revealed himself as an artist only surpassed by Landseer. 
 
 After the discovery of Lake Nyasa by Livingstone, a 
 Scotch Mission established itself to the south of the 
 lake, whither a steamer was transported for the use of 
 the missionaries. About eighteen years ago a commercial 
 Company, the African Lakes Corporation, opened a 
 trading station at Blantyre, in the mountainous region 
 near the Upper Shire. A steamer plied on this river from 
 the Zambezi as far as the Murchison Rapids, while above 
 them the missionary steamer was acquired by the Cor- 
 poration. Little by little this boat extended its operations 
 northwards along -the lake, and a station was established 
 261 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 at Karonga. The Arab merchants installed in this region 
 were alarmed at the appearance of this competitor, and 
 were afraid that they would find themselves hampered 
 in the slave trade which they carried on. They therefore 
 attacked the station of the Lakes Corporation. ■ Hostilities 
 went on for some time, but without any serious result. 
 
 In 1889 the Portuguese manifested an intention of 
 occupying the Upper Shire, and Major Serpa Pinto 
 advanced with an expedition up the river. Thereupon 
 Mr. Johnston, at that time Consul at Mozambique, was 
 sent into Nyasaland — nominally to settle the disputes 
 between the Lakes Corporation and the Arabs, but really 
 to report on the Portuguese doings. In this mission he 
 succeeded in a diplomatic manner. He went up the river 
 on one of the African Lakes steamers, hoping to pass the 
 Portuguese in the night, and thus get ahead of them. 
 But one day towards sunset the steamer rounded a 
 bend of the river and came in full sight of Serpa 
 Pinto's camp. It looked as if all were over with the 
 mission, and Mr. Johnston stopped and landed. He 
 explained his motives and powers frankly to Major Serpa 
 Pinto over an afternoon tea, but the latter placed no 
 obstacle in his way, it being understood between them 
 that the Portuguese forces should not advance beyond the 
 Ruo till reference had been made to Lisbon and London : 
 neither should a British Protectorate be declared as long 
 as the Portuguese army remained south of the Ruo. 
 Serpa Pinto loyally observed this understanding and 
 stopped short at the Ruo ; but while he was absent on 
 the coast awaiting instructions, his impatient heutenant 
 crossed the stream and marched on Blantyre; the British 
 Protectorate was then declared by the late Mr. John 
 Buchanan, C.M.G., Acting Consul. 
 
 Mr. Johnston then pushed on to the north of the 
 
 lake. He made a peaceful settlement with the Arabs, 
 
 which on the whole was loyally maintained by them. 
 
 The most important chief on the lake, Jumbe of 
 
 262 
 
NYASALAND 
 
 Kota-Kota, whom I had tlie pleasure of meeting later, 
 proved his loyalty on more than one occasion in the 
 most practical way. Mr. Johnston advanced from the 
 north of Lake Nyasa to Lake Tanganika, making 
 numerous treaties with the native chiefs he met on the 
 way. He then returned to the coast, and for some two 
 years Great Britain was only represented in this country 
 by the Consul at Blantyre. In 1891 Mr. Johnston returned 
 
 SIR HARRY JOHNSTON AND SOME OF HIS STAFF. 
 
 I. Mr. Alfred Sharpe, Deputy Commissioner. 2. Sir H. H. Johnston.^ 
 
 3. Captain Bertie Sclater, R.E. 4. A Naval Officer from the Shire. 
 
 5. Captain Sclater's Servant. 
 
 as Commissioner for Nyasaland, as well as Consul-General 
 for Mozambique and Administrator of the huge region 
 belonging to the British South Africa Company north 
 of the Zambezi. He then set about the extraordinarily 
 successful work which has stamped him as one of the 
 great men of African history and the ablest of Colonial 
 Administrators. 
 
 The problem which confronted Mr. Johnston at the 
 beginning of his administration was widely different from 
 that faced by the Chartered Company. The latter had to 
 263 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 tackle a work of colonization not altogether different 
 from that which had been dealt with in the past in 
 America and Australia, or, to take a more exact parallel, 
 in the previously settled portions of South Africa. There 
 was indeed a large native population to be managed, but 
 the future prosperity of the country as a British posses- 
 sion was primarily ensured by bringing in white settlers. 
 Rhodesia, south of the Zambezi, is, as I have already 
 insisted, a white man's country ; and though there is no 
 reason to expect the immediate disappearance of the 
 native, as he has disappeared in America and Australia, 
 it is to the white man's work that the country looks for 
 its future greatness. The white man can make his home 
 there, and can bring up his family to succeed him. In 
 Nyasaland and British Central Africa generally^using 
 this expression to denote all the British territory north 
 of the Zambezi — colonization by white men is a very 
 different affair. Taking the country as a whole, it must 
 be pronounced unfit at present, and in great part likely 
 to remain unfit, to become the home of Europeans. 
 There are, it is true, certain not inconsiderable patches 
 of high ground where Europeans can preserve their health, 
 and perhaps even rear children. These districts are for 
 the most part over 5000 feet in altitude. They comprise, 
 first, the plateau of Mlanje, which rises at its greatest 
 elevation to 10,000 feet above sea level. The temperature 
 is moderate, the air bracing, and the soil suited partly 
 for the cultivation of European vegetables, and partly 
 for pasturage. The drawback is the exceedingly heavy 
 rainfall, which amounts to nearly 75 inches annually, and 
 its limited extent, which according to Sir Harry Johnston's 
 calculation hardly exceeds 36,000 acres. More extensive 
 than this is the Nyika Plateau, which rises to an average 
 altitude of 7000 feet. Its extent is reckoned at 1250 
 square miles. This region again is well watered — not so 
 superabundantly as Mlanje — temperate, fertile, and hardly 
 inhabited by natives. These two areas, of which the first 
 364 
 
NYAS ALAND 
 
 is situated in the extreme south-east of the territory, the 
 second to the west of Nyasa, almost at its head, are the 
 largest districts suitable for European colonization. There 
 are, however, several other areas of high ground dotted 
 here and there over the whole province, each affording 
 an almost ideal habitation for white men. The plateau of 
 Zomba is one of these, and there are several others in 
 the whole country westward of the lake. 
 
 But these, even taken all together, make up the very 
 smallest portion of the whole country. It is, perhaps, 
 the most remarkable feature of Sir Harry Johnston's rule 
 that he recognized immediately that, so far as the rest 
 of the country is concerned, it is unfit for development 
 by white labour, and set to work to devise other means 
 of progress. The work of civilization he laid down clearly 
 from the very outset must be carried on by lower races 
 under European direction. This decision may be thought 
 a simple exercise of very ordinary common sense. But the 
 annals of European colonization, from Darien to Mada- 
 gascar, prove that this common sense, which in the 
 colonial administrator may be called a form of self- 
 denial, is very much rarer than might have been expected. 
 For the present, then, until man acquires a power over 
 the conditions of climate that will make him practically 
 independent of nature, Sir Harry Johnston looks for the 
 development of his Protectorate to a limited white 
 population perched on the high ground, and thence 
 controlling a large, settled, and industrious black popu- 
 lation. 
 
 To this end the first step was to get the population 
 large and settled. And the first necessity was to suppress 
 the slave trade. Sir Harry Johnston early resolved that 
 the curse of Central Africa was the Arab, and that the 
 Arabs must be expelled. At the present day he has 
 virtually succeeded in expelling them. For my own 
 part, my experience has led me to take views perhaps 
 less extreme, both as to the forcible suppression of the 
 265 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 slave trade and the iniquity of the Arabs, than those 
 held by the Commissioner. But of course I recognize 
 that he knows very much more of the country under 
 his rule than I do, and it is impossible to deny that 
 the arguments by which he supports his opinion are 
 most powerful. He says that the discovery of the founda- 
 tions of old villages, old pottery and the like, buried 
 under several feet of soil, is evidence that this part of 
 Africa once contained a much denser native population 
 than it carries at present, and one considerably superior 
 in culture. He attributes the degeneration of the black 
 races to the introduction of the slave trade at the period 
 when the Arabs first established their influence on the 
 East coast, and to its enormous development when the 
 Portuguese arrived with firearms and gunpowder. The 
 country was depopulated, big game spread over the 
 deserted tracks, and the tsetse fly followed. Such 
 natives as remained in their homes, being liable at any 
 moment to be attacked and carried into slavery, found 
 no inducement to develop the country more than was 
 required to produce food for the necessities of the 
 mom.ent. To do more was to invite aggression, plunder, 
 and enslavement. It cannot be denied that there is 
 very much reason in this. I am not in favour of the 
 violent and immediate suppression of slavery where it 
 is the one known industrial organization, and where 
 there is nothing ready to take its place. But I recognize 
 quite fully that there is all the difference in the world 
 between Zanzibar, and even Ujiji, where the Arab makes 
 himself a home, and the districts of Central Africa, where 
 he is a mere adventurer, only concerned in making a 
 fortune as quickly as possible, and retiring to enjoy it 
 elsewhere. Taking this difference into account, I make 
 no doubt that Mr. Johnston's determination to get rid 
 of the Arabs as quickly as possible — always excepting 
 the benign Jumbe — was eminently just and necessary. 
 The tribe which gave most trouble in the course of 
 ?66 
 
NYASALAND 
 
 its suppression, and led the Adnninistration into continual 
 wars, was that of the Yaos. They originally lived to the 
 east of Lake Nyasa, and supported themselves for the 
 most part by plundering their neighbours. By contact with 
 the Arabs they acquired a slight tinge of Mahommedan- 
 ism, and an intense enthusiasm for the slave trade. Under 
 pressure of invasion from the north, and of famine, they 
 began to work westward round the southern end of 
 Lake Nyasa, dispossessing the original inhabitants, the 
 Manianja, either by violence or by absorption. When the 
 country became a British Protectorate, and slave-trading 
 was put down, the Yaos began to give trouble. Those 
 who lived within the immediate sphere of British influence 
 soon submitted, both nominally and actually. Those 
 further east placed themselves theoretically under Her 
 Majesty's protection, but soon took up arms in defence 
 of their inalienable right to enslave their fellow men. 
 During the whole time that I was in Nyasaland, and 
 for a long while afterwards, desultory fighting went on. 
 It was the Yaos whose attack created the alarm in the 
 southern stations which was my first introduction to 
 Nyasaland. But both then and later they were defeated, 
 their esteemed Arab chiefs expelled or reduced to sub- 
 jection, and the slave trade among them almost entirely 
 stamped out. The difficulties were not entirely at an 
 end when I was in the country ; but the victories of the 
 Commissioner and of the late Captain Maguire, im- 
 mediately before my arrival, had conclusively shown that 
 the work was only a matter of time. 
 
 At the moment of my visit to the Protectorate the 
 Yaos were the only tribe with which the Administration 
 had come to hostilities. The other principal black 
 races of the Protectorate, naming them in their order 
 northwards along the Shire and the lake, are the 
 Makololo, the Manianja, the Angoni, and the Atonga. 
 The distinction between the two first-named is more a 
 matter of title than anything else. The Makololo came 
 267 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 originally from Bechuanaland, and marched north to- 
 wards the Zambezi about fifty years ago, where they 
 ruled over the Barotse, as I have already described. 
 The original Makololo of Nyasaland were imported by 
 Dr. Livingstone, who left about a dozen of them 
 as herdmen in the Shire district to help the Manianja 
 against the attacks of the Yaos. At the present day 
 there is hardly a trace of anything distinctive in the way 
 of language among them. The Manianja, the original 
 inhabitants, are a peaceable and industrious race, who 
 have been much harried in their time by the Portuguese 
 and the Yaos. Agriculture and blacksmiths' work are the 
 industries in which they most excel. The Angoni, who 
 stretch northward, are of Zulu descent, as I have already 
 said. There is not, however, very much Zulu left in 
 them. Intermarrying, according to the custom of their 
 tribe, with the conquered Manianja, these also, for the 
 most part, have lost their distinctive institutions and 
 language. Such at any rate is the case with those on 
 the shore of the lake, though in the higher grounds 
 westward I was told they still speak the Zulu tongue. 
 They are a fine race physically, and, like their progenitors 
 in the south, are far more honest and trustworthy when 
 they take up work for Europeans than most African 
 tribes. They are, however, predatory and turbulent. The 
 Atonga inhabit the middle western shore of Lake 
 Nyasa. But for the arrival of Europeans they would 
 probably have been raided out of existence by their 
 Angoni neighbours. The earliest missionaries, however, 
 by a judicious mixture of remonstrance and subsidy, 
 protected the Atonga from their oppressors, and these 
 people show their gratitude by steadily supporting the 
 white men, and coming south in considerable numbers 
 to work for them. They are not always absolutely 
 orderly, and not irreproachably honest, but they are 
 very useful to the whites. 
 
 These, then, were the heterogeneous and troublesome 
 268 
 
NYASALAND 
 
 material out of which Sir Harry Johnston set to work to 
 build up a great African province. There was little enough 
 apparently to be done with them ; they were absolutely 
 uncivihzed, without the least understanding of the 
 methods and requirements of the white man ; and, to 
 add to the difficulty, the climate made it almost impossible 
 for the white man to live among them. In this fix Sir 
 Harry Johnston had the brilliant idea of bringing in natives 
 of India, so that the yellow man might serve as an interme- 
 diary between the black and the white. He thought that 
 whereas the black and white races stand too far apart in 
 development to intermarry and produce a satisfactory 
 medium between the two, there was a great possibility 
 of elevation for the negro by a mixture of Indian blood. 
 The evidence of the Arab half-castes on the East Coast 
 and the Soudanese of mixed Berber and negro race points 
 decidedly to the fact that a cross of Asiatic and negro 
 will produce a race superior in intelligence to the primitive 
 black, and in no way inferior in physique. At the time 
 of my visit to Nyasaland it was of course far too early 
 to judge whether this experiment was likely to succeed 
 or fail. It is still too early at the present day ; but, apart 
 from the matter of breeding, it is undeniable that the 
 importation of Indians has been an enormous help to the 
 young country. It is mainly by a small force of Sikhs 
 that the handful of British officers have been able to put 
 down the slave-trading chiefs, with invariable and brilliant 
 success. Industrially, again, the Indian is a link between 
 the Englishman and the negro. Perfectly able to stand 
 the chmate, the Indian finds his place as a retail trader, 
 collecting native produce in small quantities for the 
 British wholesale merchant, and distributing European 
 goods to the natives. A considerable number of Indian 
 artificers have settled in the country, and have done good 
 work in teaching their crafts to the blacks. Subordinate 
 offices under Government have also largely been filled 
 by natives of British India. In any case, whether it 
 269 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 succeeds or fails, Sir Harry Johnston's attempt to use a 
 middle race for the elevation and development of the 
 African is perhaps the most original and interesting con- 
 tribution to the problem of civilizing the Dark Continent 
 that any one man has yet made. 
 
 To Sir Harry Johnston's indefatigable activity is due 
 the enormous progress realized in that part of Africa, but 
 v;^e must not forget Mr. Rhodes's share in the accomplish- 
 ment of this great work. Until last year the Chartered 
 Company allowed Sir Harry a subsidy of ;^ 17,000, which 
 enabled him to face the first necessary expenditure of his 
 Administration. The Chartered Company has derived 
 much benefit from it, as it has opened out the route to its 
 own territory ; since the Company has taken over the 
 administration of Northern Zambezia this subsidy has 
 been withdrawn, and therefore, in order to fill up this gap, 
 and in return for the sacrifices made by the Government in 
 the suppression of the slave trade and for the benefits that 
 the natives derived from these sacrifices, it was thought 
 that taxes should be levied upon them as far as possible. 
 Sir Harry Johnston of course was only able to begin with 
 the more settled districts, as the tax-collector would hardly 
 have been a welcome guest elsewhere. But with regard 
 to the country in the southern part of the Protectorate, 
 surprisingly little difficulty was encountered on this head. 
 Perhaps it is a unique fact in the history of government 
 that the natives actually came and offered to be taxed. 
 The natives of the Lower Shire province had been accus- 
 tomed to pay taxes to the Portuguese, and when the district 
 was taken over by Sir Harry Johnston they approached 
 him to ask what they were to pay. Thereon the Commis- 
 sioner held interviews with all the more important chiefs 
 he could get at, and, as the result of treaties with them, a 
 hut tax of six shillings a year was levied. This was 
 subsequently reduced by one half, and it appeared to be 
 paid without any difficulty. Ten per cent, or so of the 
 sum raised among the people of each chief was returned 
 270 
 
NYASALAND 
 
 to this gentleman as a subsidy, so that he viewed the 
 march of civih'zation in this direction without over- 
 whelming regret. 
 
 The question of native labour has not been much easier 
 in Nyasaland than in any other part of Central Africa. 
 It has impeded coffee culture, road making, draining, 
 everything. On the other hand, the hut tax furnishes a, 
 mild stimulus to labour, while the careful attention of 
 the Government to the fair treatment and fair payment of 
 the native labourer has done a good deal to reconcile 
 him to the horrors of regular work. When he under- 
 stands that he may complain of any illtreatment to the 
 nearest official with a good chance of redress, he becomes 
 far less shy of entering the white man's service. For the 
 rest, Sir Harry Johnston was doubtless perfectly right in 
 interfering as little as possible between the chiefs and the 
 people. There is an appeal from the decision of a chief 
 to the nearest magistrate, but it is very little used, and 
 considering the newness of the British Government, I 
 should say this is a very good thing. 
 
 In the meantime it must not be supposed that Nyasa- 
 land is standing still to wait for the Indian cultivator 
 or the complete reconciliation of the native to work. The 
 parts of the country which are unfit for agricultural 
 production of one sort or another are probably very 
 small, although it is true that over a great deal of it 
 the rainfall is comparatively slight and shows a tendency 
 to decrease. This fact was ascribed by Sir Harry Johnston 
 mainly to the disappearance of the great forests. But 
 in consequence of the wide range of temperature there 
 is hardly any vegetable product — tropical, sub-tropical, or 
 temperate — that cannot be produced in one part of the 
 country or another. The disappearance of the forests 
 has of course on one side greatly diminished the wealth of 
 the country. There remain, however, magnificent forests 
 of cedar trees on the Mlanje Plateau of a variety not 
 known elsewhere. Attempts have been made to reintro- 
 271 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 duce it in the higher altitudes of the Shire district. 
 When I was at Blantyre the tree was newly discovered, 
 and had not yet been put to practical use, but since then 
 this wood has been largely used both for building and for 
 the manufacture of furniture. Several varieties of palm 
 are found fairly plentifully and used freely for constructing 
 stakes, piles, and the like, being impervious both to the 
 white ant and to rot through the action of water. The 
 oil palm and the cocoanut palm are also found, and could 
 probably be largely spread. Then there is the bamboo, 
 of whose thousand uses there is no need for me to speak. 
 Until the advent of the European the African in this part 
 of the world made singularly little use of it. Here, at 
 any rate, is one point in which he has much to learn from 
 his white master and his yellow elder brother. Reeds 
 and rushes — a heartbreaking nuisance to the traveller — 
 can be made exceedingly useful for thatching and 
 matting. 
 
 But the great triumph of Central Africa has been in 
 coffee, and there seems no reason why it should not 
 become one of the most prosperous centres for this pro- 
 duction in the whole world. It was introduced, like many 
 other plants, in consequence of the intelligent enterprise 
 of the late Mr. John Buchanan. This gentleman first 
 came out as a horticulturist in the service of the Church 
 of Scotland Mission. He got coffee plants from the 
 Edinburgh Botanical Gardens and planted them in the 
 mission grounds at Blantyre. They flourished so well 
 that Mr. Buchanan took up large plantations of his 
 own, and many other settlers followed his example. 
 The greater number of plants in the Shire district had 
 not in 1892 yet come into bearing; but since that time 
 the total export has gradually risen to 350 tons, and 
 will probably rise very much higher in the future. 
 
 I had the opportunity, at Chiradzulu, of seeing how a 
 coffee plantation is made. The land is cleared for plant- 
 ing by cutting down the timber and uprooting the bush, 
 272 
 
NYASALAND 
 
 which is then burnt according to the native method, the 
 ashes being mixed with the soil. The ground is then 
 cleared of grass by hoeing, and laid out in rows six 
 or seven feet apart ; at similar intervals along the rows 
 pits are dug some i8 inches deep. This takes place in 
 June, and the pits are left open until September. Mean- 
 while the planter is rearing his seedlings, which he plants 
 out at the beginning of the rains late in November. 
 About 60 or 70 acres can ^ 
 
 be opened up in a year if 
 100 men are employed. 
 The coffee begins to bear 
 in three years, being 
 ready for picking about 
 the end of June. It is 
 then passed through a 
 
 pulper, which separates ^ '' -^'-^ 
 
 the bean from the fleshy "^^ 
 fruit which covers it. The 
 beans are then fermented 
 
 in a brick vat for over -- % \ 
 
 twenty - four hours, then \ 
 
 passed into a second vat, \ 
 
 washed, and dried. The ' \, 
 
 yield per acre is on the 
 
 average about 3 cwt. In angoni at chiradzulu. 
 
 some cases as much as 
 
 17 cwt. per acre has been turned out, but this is of 
 course very exceptional. The coffee fetches a good price 
 in the London markets : it averaged about io|d. per lb. 
 a few years ago, and the price has improved since. 
 
 The immediate prosperity of Nyasaland must rest upon 
 its agriculture, especially upon its coffee plantations, and 
 perhaps, after that, upon the cultivation of the sugar cane. 
 This latter cultivation was in its infancy in my time, but 
 I believe it has made great strides since. Yet although 
 it is to agriculture that most attention has been given, it 
 
 T 273 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 is not improbable that Nyasalaiid, like all the neighbour- 
 ing territories, is highly mineralized. The country is 
 especially rich in iron ; but to be of practical value this 
 metal must of course be found in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood either of coal or of large forests, Vi/hich might 
 supply fuel for smelting. The large forests, as I have said, 
 have by now almost disappeared ; but a considerable coal- 
 field is known to exist on the north-west shore of Lake 
 Nyasa, and, for aught anybody knows, there may be many 
 more. Gold is found among the south-western mountains, 
 and in the district of Marimba, part of the country ruled 
 by Jumbe, the Sultan of Kota-Kota. It is also said that 
 alluvial gold exists further north ; but at present very little 
 development work has been done in any part. 
 
 More important than minerals is the ivory export, 
 which, indeed, makes a larger figure in the balance sheet 
 of Nyasaland even than coffee. Large as it is in the 
 ofhcial figures, the real quantity exported is probably 
 larger, since a certain amount is smuggled out of the 
 country. Elephants did not, of course, even in 1892, 
 come near the settled districts except very rarely ; but in 
 the wide tracts to the west of the Nyasaland Protectorate 
 proper they are said to be extraordinarily abundant. 
 Whether the elephant is dying out as fast as many 
 people believe appears to be doubtful. Both the Commis- 
 sioner and Mr. Sharpe thought that it was not. There are 
 in the region of Lake Mweru large tracts of reedy marsh 
 whither the elephants can retire : the natives have not the 
 enterprise to follow them there, while the Government is 
 too anxious to preserve the beasts to encourage white men 
 in the enterprise. With this reserve at their disposal for 
 refuge and breeding, it appears probable that the value 
 of ivory will not lead to so rapid an extermination of 
 the elephant in British Central Africa as that which has 
 overtaken the animal elsewhere. 
 
 In Nyasaland, as in the territory of the Chartered 
 Company, great attention has rightly been given to 
 274 
 
 
NYASALAND 
 
 facilities of communication. I have spoken already of 
 the admirable Sclater Road, of which I had the benefit 
 from Chikwawa to Blantyre. As this was quite solid 
 enough for waggons it was of the greatest value to the 
 transport of the country. There was also a road from 
 Blantyre to Zomba, and a rough road from Zomba to 
 Mpimbi on the Upper Shire, by which subsequently I 
 left the country. But there was not much encourage- 
 ment, as Mr. Johnston pointed out, to build roads while 
 the tsetse fly was rampant. What the country needed, 
 and presumably needs still more to-day, was a railway 
 running from the Lower to the Upper Shire. The river 
 is not navigable for the whole distance because of the 
 Murchison Rapids, and there is no doubt that the full 
 development of trade and communication will only be 
 attained by means of the locomotive. 
 
 The postal service was established by Sir Harry 
 Johnston, acting on the initiative of the Chartered 
 Company. As I have already explained, it must not be 
 forgotten that Sir Harry Johnston's success, though 
 always primarily due to his own energy and ability, 
 was much facilitated by the subsidy of ^17,000 a 
 year which he was then receiving from that body. 
 Thanks to their combined efforts, there is established a 
 regular postal service in all the settled parts of the 
 country. At the present day it is possible to post 
 letters at Lake Mweru, in the very heart of Africa, and 
 get them sent home for fivepence every fortnight. As for 
 the telegraph, it has by now been carried from Salisbury, 
 via Tete, as far as Blantyre, and it is proposed now to 
 extend it northwards to Lake Tanganika and Uganda. 
 Mr. Rhodes's great conception of a wire from Cape Town 
 to Cairo is therefore well on its way to become solid 
 fact. It may not be generally realized, by the way, among 
 stay-at-home Europeans what the maintenance of this 
 line means. Wire is a most precious possession in the 
 eyes of the native, and it speaks most highly for his law- 
 275 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 abiding respect for the white that the line is not stolen 
 wholesale. 
 
 I can say that, with the exception of Rhodesia, nothing 
 I saw in Africa struck me more than the astonishing 
 transformation effected in a savage country in a couple 
 of years by the Commissioner and his able assistants. 
 I can say, without prejudice as a Frenchman, that I 
 much doubt whether this precise work could have been 
 done by any but Englishmen. If it comes to that, it 
 could perhaps have been done by no man but Sir Harry 
 Johnston, and certainly he deserves as well of his country 
 as any of her greatest Colonial Administrators. English- 
 men ought to be proud to call themselves his countrymen. 
 
 I will now return to my own unimportant doings. After 
 a few days at Blantyre I went to Chiradzulu, to the coffee 
 plantation of Mr. Hastings, where also I stayed for a few 
 days, learning what I could of the methods and prospects 
 of this cultivation. After that I went on to Zomba, 
 where Sir Harry Johnston entertained me in the kindest 
 manner. His house is an ideal of beauty — built of brick, 
 with a tower at each corner, and two large verandahs, 
 the whole covered thickly with most lovely creepers. 
 Behind the house the ground rises to a high hill covered 
 with the most luxuriant vegetation, and embellished by 
 a picturesque cascade. In front, a flight of steps leads 
 down to a terrace covered with flower beds, and further 
 down to a beautifully laid-out garden. I took great 
 delight in Sir Harry's aviary, especially in a tame 
 guinea fowl, which followed like a dog. The terrace 
 commands a magnificent view of the Mlanje Mountains 
 thirty miles away. The ground is high and the climate 
 perfect ; 90 degrees is the greatest heat known. 
 
 I now began to consider my future movements. Up to 
 now my journey had always been about to conclude, and 
 then some fresh vista would open before me, and I was 
 in for a thousand miles or so more. I had already far 
 exceeded the original limit of my trip ; but now, as on so 
 276 
 
NYASALAND 
 
 many other occasions, I felt that, having come so far, it 
 was a pity not to go farther. At any rate, I was resolved 
 to have a look at Lake Nyasa. A steamer of the African 
 Lakes Corporation was on the point of leaving for the 
 north of the lake, and I determined to go with her. I 
 consulted Sir Harry Johnston as to my future move- 
 m.ents, and suggested that from the northern end of Lake 
 Nyasa I might make my way overland to Zanzibar. 
 
 " Well," replied my host, " I don't quite see how it 
 would work. You would have to cross the country of the 
 Wahehe, and they are at war with the Germans. You 
 certainly could not get through, and would almost 
 certainly be killed. But if you want to go home another 
 way," he continued, " why not march from the northern 
 end of Nyasa to Lake Tanganika, and thence to Ujiji .'' 
 From Ujiji you could reach the Victoria Nyanza, and thus 
 easily get across to Uganda. There you would probably 
 find Sir Gerald Portal, and I am sure he would take 
 you down to the coast with him." 
 " It seems rather a tall order," I said. 
 " Well," replied my host, " it will probably take you 
 some time, but I believe it can be done." 
 
 "Very well then," I said, "I will try to do it." So I 
 went down from Zomba to Mpimbi, on the Upper Shire, 
 and awaited the arrival of the steamer. 
 
 Before leaving Nyasaland it was necessary that I should 
 find an interpreter who could speak Kiswahili, the language 
 universally spoken from the south of Lake Tanganika 
 right up to Uganda. Many men could be found speaking 
 the language, but none who could also speak English. 
 At last Mr. Sharpe very kindly offered to let me have his 
 cook, a young boy of sixteen, David Kanisa, who had 
 already been five years in his service. Very fond of 
 travelling, an ardent sportsman, the boy was delighted 
 to come with me. I soon appreciated his great qualities. 
 Intelligent, most active, scrupulously honest, he soon 
 became my right-hand man. When I was ill he nursed 
 279 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 me with absolute devotion, and so pleased was I with him 
 that at the end of the journey I brought him to Europe ; 
 there he soon learned the ways of civilization. Wherever 
 he went he became a favourite with all, and, far from 
 getting spoiled, he improved his qualities. Since then 
 he has never left me : he has been with me to Madagascar, 
 and he has just returned with me from my last journey to 
 Africa. He is devoted to me, and on my side I consider 
 
 DAVID KANISA. 
 
 him more as a child than as a^servant. He neither smokes 
 nor drinks, and his only ambition is to learn, which he does 
 with great assiduity. Sir Harry Johnston and Mr. Sharpe, 
 who have both seen him since he came to Europe, have 
 declared that they would never have believed that it was 
 possible to make of an African native what I made of 
 him. But I must say that he is a remarkable exception. 
 I may perhaps appear to have insisted at too great a 
 length on this subject, but the boy's devotion and qualities 
 fully justify the notice I have taken of him, and besides 
 he greatly contributed to the success of my journey. 
 280 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 ON the morning of March 28th the African Lakes 
 Company's steamship Domira arrived from Matope. 
 We left Mpimbi next morning, and then began as heart- 
 breaking a voyage as I ever experienced. The Domira 
 was a dirty httle boat of about 80 tons. The only 
 cabin consisted of a kind of cupboard with two bunks, 
 this being considered proper accommodation for three 
 passengers — Mr. Crawshaw, one of the Protectorate 
 officials ; Lieutenant Bronsart von Schellendorf, of Major 
 Wissmann's expedition ; and myself. Not that this 
 mattered, for the cabin was so hot that it was impossible 
 for anybody but a very resolute suicide to sleep there. 
 Meals were served in another little den : we were six 
 at table, and the heat was 92° ; cockroaches, bugs, flies, 
 fleas, and ants formed a large part of the daily fare. 
 But this was all nothing to what was to come. We had 
 hardly left Mpimbi when the steamer touched bottom, 
 and finally with a jerk we ran fast aground just abreast 
 of a small stockade called Fort Sharpe. There we 
 remained for nine mortal days. One hour or so was 
 spent every day in hauling at a hawser fastened round 
 a tree, or else in digging at the sand with shovels. It 
 was impossible to get the vessel afloat without unloading. 
 So the captain sent for some boats, and then sat himself 
 calmly down to wait for them. They took a week to 
 arrive ; and then a part of the cargo was shifted, the 
 fires were lit — but the Domira steadily refused to budge. 
 281 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Meanwhile, following the example of Crawshaw, who 
 knew the Company's ways, I was installed ashore under 
 my tent, horribly ill. I could eat nothing without the 
 most violent pains in the stomach and loins ; even a 
 little soup caused torments. Add to that fever, bilious 
 diarrhoea, and irresistible somnolence after eating, and it 
 will be understood that the week's delay was a maddening 
 one. I must have been poisoned by the potted lobster 
 that they gave us for breakfast — why should potted 
 lobster pursue one into the wilds of Africa? — but, after all, 
 my state was exactly what it had been at Hope Fountain 
 a year before. I spent my time pondering a passage of 
 Lieut. Young's Mission to Nyasa, of which I now began to 
 realize the full truth. " I know nothing in African travel," 
 he says, "so likely to break a man down as having to 
 remain idle on one spot. It may be said, But why 
 be idle? Reader, were you ever the victim of nightmare? 
 If so, perhaps you can understand me better when I put 
 the case thus. The effect of fever poison is to make 
 you languid and indisposed to bestir yourself Excite- 
 ment will operate beneficially upon you ; but if you have 
 to live in a hut week in and week out, gazing a hundred 
 times a day up a large reach of river for the expected 
 appearance of a sail — anxious not to be too far away 
 when the consummate moment arrives — you do not care 
 to exert yourself" 
 
 So far as I was concerned I was always asking myself, 
 " What is the use ? why not return to Europe at once ? " 
 But I always saved myself with my usual reflection that 
 it would be a pity not to go on to Tanganika, having 
 come so far. Having got there, of course I wanted to 
 go on further ; and I suppose I have only to thank the 
 Mahdi and his successor that I did not try to emerge into 
 civilization at Cairo instead of Zanzibar. 
 
 So I spent my days between being a little better and 
 being a good deal worse, buying a few shields and assegais 
 from a number of Angoni (the Zulu tribe settled west of 
 282 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 Lake Nyasa, who passed on their way to Blantyre to 
 get work) and from bands of Atonga, who were continu- 
 ally passing with prisoners from Liwonde up the river ; 
 and asking myself, as I woke each morning and saw the 
 Domira lying placidly in the sand before me, why they 
 do not use elephants for draught here as they do in India. 
 At last, on April 7th, thanks to the Angoni, whose services 
 we had the greatest difficulty in persuading the captain 
 to employ, the steamer was got afloat, and we started 
 again. 
 
 The Angoni are not such a fine set of men as the 
 Matabele, the reason being that, like all Zulu tribes, they 
 intermarry with the women they capture, so that they 
 remain Zulu but in name and tradition; physically they are 
 closer allied to the Senga than to the Zulu race. Their 
 costume and weapons are similar to those of the Mata- 
 bele : they wear cat and monkey skins round the waist ; 
 they carry ox-hide shields of the same size and make as 
 the Matabele ; their knobkerries also are similar ; their 
 spears alone differ, being smaller and lighter, and used 
 as throwing-spears. 
 
 We had hardly been going ten minutes when we 
 bumped against a submerged trunk and smashed one of 
 the blades of the screw. A little further up we came to 
 the rapids, called " The Stones," and there we ran straight 
 aground on to the rocks. Boats had to be sent for once 
 more from Fort Johnston, and this meant again days of 
 waiting, as all the cargo had to be shifted into small 
 boats before we could move on. Two days I tried to 
 amuse myself by going to Fort Liwonde and back ; by 
 the third the Domira was afloat again, and then another 
 day was lost in cutting wood. Part of the cargo went up 
 in boats to Fort Johnston, these boats having to come 
 back for the other half The captain informed us that 
 after leaving Fort Johnston we should have to stay a few 
 days at Monkey Bay to change the broken screw. On 
 the whole, there seemed just a chance that we should get 
 283 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 to Karonga — less than 300 miles from Mpimbi — by the 
 end of the week. 
 
 However, on April loth we actually made some 
 progress. We passed through Lake Malombwe, which 
 is a good deal larger than it looks on the maps :. I should 
 say from 17 to 20 miles long by 7 or 8 . broad. The 
 bottom is of a rich mud, about the consistency of molasses ; 
 but the surface is wonderfully clear. High mountains rise 
 to right and left, and the whole scene is refreshingly 
 beautiful. On leaving the lake we passed some shallows, 
 and by some miracle we did not run aground, and 
 reached Fort Johnston, where I was received in the 
 friendliest manner by the Englishmen in charge. The 
 fort is armed with a couple of seven - pounders ; the 
 garrison then was forty Sikhs and Maquas. The day 
 after our arrival I watched the Maqua artillerymen 
 at work under Captain Johnson. Considering that they 
 had never touched a cannon three months before, they 
 made very good practice. The uniform of the Sikhs — 
 black zouave jacket with yellow braiding, white shirt, 
 yellow trousers with gaiters, and black puggery — is a 
 pleasing bit of colour amid the dingy squalor of this part 
 of Africa. The station outside the fort — a few houses for 
 the whites, huts for the garrison, stores and the like — is 
 built on the former bed of Lake Nyasa, which must have 
 sunk considerably. 
 
 I found at Fort Johnston the chief Jumbe of Kota- 
 Kota, an old man of sixty, asthmatic but very intelligent ; 
 he promised, at the kindly instance of Mr. Nicoll, to 
 give me letters to the principal Arabs on the road to 
 Ujiji. He sent a confidential agent with me to Kota-Kota, 
 where I was to be joined by a follower of his by the name 
 of Wana-Omari. This fellow, for the sum of twenty-five 
 rupees a month — or thirty, need I add, if I was pleased 
 with him — was to go with me all the way to Zanzibar, 
 and explain to the Arabs that I had nothing to do with 
 the suppression of the slave trade. It had been sug- 
 284 
 
 J 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 gested by Lieutenant Bronsart von Schellendorf, who 
 came up with me on the Domini, that I should join 
 Major Wissmann's expedition. He reckoned, said Bron- 
 sart, to occupy Ujiji with two hundred men, which, 
 from all I heard of the strength of the Arabs there, I 
 considered madness. On this ground, as well as others, 
 I thought I should reach Ujiji sooner by travelling with 
 the Arabs, with whom I had no sort of quarrel, than 
 by mixing myself up with a war against them. 
 
 On the 14th we left Fort Johnston. Once on Lake 
 Nyasa itself we had to wait two hours in pouring rain 
 for a couple of boats with cargo, but we anchored in 
 Monkey Bay by nine in the evening. This bay is very 
 picturesque, being surrounded by high hills ; it reminded 
 me of Keelung in the Pescadores, recently annexed to 
 Japan. Here we only stayed two days, during one of 
 which an hour's work was devoted to unshipping the 
 damaged screw. The natives spent the first night in 
 howling for the death of one of their people, who had 
 been carried off by a crocodile the day we left Fort 
 Johnston. I spent it in being bitten by mosquitoes. But 
 in the morning I chanced the crocodiles, and had a 
 delicious swim in the lake. When we left Monkey 
 Bay the deck was crowded with timber, and the Domira 
 was well below her waterline. On the top of this we 
 took one hundred and twenty natives on board, but had 
 to put them off again next day, when I had my first 
 experience of a storm on an African lake. The seas, 
 short and choppy, ran at times so high that they washed 
 over the bridge, and, top-heavy as we were, the steamer 
 was in danger of capsizing ; we therefore insisted upon 
 the captain landing the natives, which after much pressure 
 he ultimately did. That morning I spent in a quarrel 
 with Mwinji-Kombo, Jumbe's confidential man. He 
 accused me of wishing to throw him into the lake, and 
 swore he would kill me at Kota-Kota. The fact was, 
 that I and he had been in a boat crowded with Atonga, 
 285 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 and that it had been on the point of capsizing. I threw 
 the Atonga into the water, whereon Mwinji-Kombo, 
 believing that we were about to go over, had made 
 himself fast to the ship's cable, and, the boat having 
 twirled round, he remained suspended above the water 
 for a minute or two. In the evening we were reconciled, 
 and I explained to him that, if I had wished to throw 
 him overboard, I should have 
 done so. To which he replied, 
 " It is a journey," meaning that 
 on a journey such little mis- 
 understandings are all in the 
 day's work. 
 
 We reached Kota-Kota at five 
 next morning. The village is 
 a large one, on a low, swampy 
 beach. Two dhows lay off the 
 W''"""'''' ' V shore. I felt at once that I had 
 
 arrived within the sphere of the 
 Arabs : the men all wore long 
 \ white robes and white turbans ; 
 Jumbe's house had carved gates 
 and a palm tree before it. The 
 men wear sticks through a hole 
 in the middle of the ear ; Jumbe's wives wore four or five 
 bits of reed in their ears and a small stick through the left 
 nostril. Here Jumbe's agent supplied me with two men — 
 Wana-Omari and Somaili ; I paid Mwinji-Kombo ten 
 rupees, and we parted on the best of terms. Next day we 
 passed Bandawe, where there is a mission station of the 
 Free Church of Scotland ; and the day after came to 
 Luarwe, a lovely bay surrounded by hills, with a fine 
 cascade in the distance : had it not been for the heat I 
 could have imagined myself in a corner of a Swiss lake. 
 The population of these villages is Atonga. The village 
 lies within a palisade of reed covered with creepers, with 
 very low gates opening into it. The thatch of the huts 
 286 
 
 ^ 
 
 TYPE OF ATONGA 
 
 WEST OF LAKE NYASA 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 descends to the ground, and the doors are also very low. 
 The women, who are very wild, wear nothing but a piece 
 of bark cloth hanging before and behind, and a girdle 
 of beads : they dye their hair with ochre. Like the 
 Senga women, they ornament themselves with a pelele : 
 this consists of a piece of ivory, about one inch or more 
 in diameter, inserted in a hole in the upper lip ; but while 
 the Senga women wear it flat, the 
 Atonga let it project so as to come 
 above the nose, against which it 
 presses. It does not seem to inter- 
 fere with their speech, or even to 
 inconvenience them. Fortunately 
 they do not know what kissing 
 means, or else it might be very 
 awkward. 
 
 Deep Bay was the next stopping -' .', 
 
 place — and here I parted, with -^--.- -- 
 
 regret, from Crawshaw ; thence, on ^ ; ,-' 
 
 April 23rd, we reached Karonga. --'"^ \.i.-*-^ 
 They were, very anxious there 
 about the Domii'a, as well they 
 
 might be. A few days before some natives had picked 
 up a solar helmet, and it was feared she had gone down. 
 She had not ; but that was all that could be said for the 
 twenty-seven days of the voyage, and glad was I to see 
 the last of her. 
 
 Karonga itself lies on a low and sandy beach, but on 
 the opposite shore of the Lake the Livingstone Mountains 
 rise some 2500 feet above it; their sides run almost 
 sheer down into the water. The station of the African 
 Lakes Corporation is one of the most habitable I saw, 
 but its bastioned wall is far too large ; it would need 
 over 1000 men to defend it. I found here Mr. and 
 Mrs. Swann and Dr. and Mrs. Cross, besides officers 
 of the Lakes Corporation. Mr. Swann told me that 
 the Germans had lately sustained a reverse : an expedi- 
 287 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 tion sent to the coast had been massacred and two 
 messengers assassinated only two days from camp. The 
 Arabs of Ujiji, he added, were much excited against the 
 Germans, but he assured me that with the letters Sir 
 Harry Johnston had given me for Rumaliza, the chief 
 Arab there, I had nothing to fear, and that I should be 
 most kindly received; he added that two of their dhows 
 were at the south end of Tanganika, shortly to leave for 
 Ujiji. As I reckoned to arrive at Tanganika about May 
 20th, I could probably make use of these to go to Ujiji. 
 Getting there about June 15th, I should, with luck, reach 
 Uganda at the beginning of August. 
 
 Should I ever reach Uganda, though ? I wondered. On 
 April 24th, 1893, it was just two years since I had em- 
 barked for Africa. How quickly the time had gone, and 
 how little I had then expected that two years after my 
 departure would find me north of Lake Nyasa. Then 
 I thought I was rash to undertake to reach the Zambezi, 
 a gigantic enterprise, as I imagined. A year ago I 
 had believed myself on the point of turning back, 
 and fancied I had already done much : I was now nearly 
 seven hundred miles north of where I had been then. 
 If anybody had predicted this to me a year ago I should 
 have laughed. Now I wondered what my people were 
 thinking, and whether I should ever, at last, see my 
 mother proud of her son. If I succeeded I should be 
 the first man to march from the Cape to the sources 
 of the Nile, and the fourteenth to traverse Africa from 
 one side to the other. The following day Major Wissmann 
 arrived in Karonga. When he came in to lunch he turned 
 round to me and said, " Where is that Frenchman that has 
 arrived here?" When I told him that I was the man, he 
 expressed his astonishment, but of course, being a foreigner, 
 he could not well notice my foreign accent. I had a long 
 talk with him, and when he heard that I meant to go to 
 Ujiji he tried hard to dissuade me from doing so, as he 
 assured me that the Arabs would either kill me or else 
 288 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 keep me as a prisoner. But I placed absolute confidence 
 in Sir Harry Johnston's assurances to the contrary, and, 
 after all, if the worst came to the worst I could die but 
 once. 
 
 Anyhow I was resolved to have a good try for it, 
 and I spent the next few days collecting my caravan 
 of sixty-seven men for the journey to Lake Tanganika. 
 They were enlisted in time, and on the afternoon of 
 April 30th we were again on the march. After a couple 
 of hours we encamped for the night at a village in a forest 
 of bananas. Next morning rain began at five o'clock 
 and lasted till ten, delaying our start ; in the meantime 
 I discovered that my keys had been stolen. The thief 
 turned out to be a new servant I had engaged at Karonga, 
 so I sent him straight home again with twenty-five lashes 
 on his back. When at last we got started we found 
 ourselves following the course of the river Rukuru, a 
 stream of some volume, which we crossed and recrossed 
 several times this day and the next. We were now 
 entering upon a picturesque and mountainous region 
 traversed by numerous streams, and our path frequently 
 led through the gorges along which the water ran. On 
 the fourth day of the march we followed a delightful little 
 river, the Kionga Nionga, which runs over a bed of rocks 
 through most luxuriant palms and other tropical plants. 
 Next we climbed a steep escarpment of rocks, and on 
 the summit enjoyed a magnificent retrospect over the 
 road we had come by. Westward stretched a vast plain, 
 the plateau of Tanganika, and in the distance rose Mount 
 Flaori, which we had seen from Karonga. Thence we 
 went over a wide plain that reminded me of the plateaux 
 of Mashonaland. All day we kept passing trees or rocks 
 on which were placed little heaps of stones or bits of 
 wood : in passing these each of my men added a new 
 stone or bit of wood, or even a tuft of grass. This is 
 a tribute to the spirits, the general precaution to ensure a 
 safe return. 
 
 u 289 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 In the evening we reached Mwiri Wanda, a large village 
 fortifi.ed with a strong palisade. It was the filthiest I 
 had yet seen in Africa. Down the middle trickled a 
 small gutter stream filled with refuse of every kind, and 
 exhaling a disgusting odour. This was the only drinking 
 water in the place. The chief was an old man whose 
 legs were paralyzed, and nothing but skin and bone : he 
 had apparently not washed for years. I could get neither 
 chickens nor goats, but he promised me some for the 
 morrow. 
 
 On that morrow occurred one of the usual disputes 
 inseparable from travelling with porters. The day opened 
 with fierce wind and a fine, ice-cold rain, in the midst of 
 which I began to cut the calico to pay my men from 
 Karonga— three yards apiece. When I had cut thirty 
 pieces the headman and all the others disappeared, saying 
 I was not cutting enough per man. Knowing their ways 
 I took no notice. At this point there appeared most 
 opportunely an ex-agent of the African Lakes Corporation 
 with a numerous caravan. He allowed me to take twenty 
 of his men. Others came in and I had soon enlisted 
 seventy-six: these were to go only as far as Mwenzo, three 
 or four days forward, after which I should have to get more. 
 The next task was to call the roll, cut and distribute a 
 yard of calico apiece as "posho" — that is to buy their 
 food for the journey with — and distribute the loads. That 
 done, my Karonga men thought better of it and turned 
 up to be paid — three yards apiece to cut and distribute, 
 still in the same freezing rain. Glad I was to be on the 
 move again. We marched three hours that afternoon, and 
 then halted at a village with the huts piled one on top 
 of another as in the last one we had passed, and, if 
 possible, even dirtier. 
 
 Next day we halted at midday in an abandoned village 
 
 and spent the night in another. I took advantage of the 
 
 fact to study the typical hut of the Tanganika plateau, of 
 
 which I here give a plan. All the villages are strongly 
 
 290 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 palisaded, and the gate is made of a tree trunk split in 
 two and swinging from a cross pole passed through a hole 
 on the upper part of the split trunk. All the villages and 
 huts are alike, and so are all the people. They are as 
 wild as animals, and take to flight at once at sisrht of the 
 
 TANGANIKA HUT. 
 
 A — Raised stand, for the cooking pots when they are not used. 
 
 D — Fireplace, consisting of two pillars of clay a foot high, on which the pots 
 
 are placed. The same arrangement, but smaller, is found outside, and 
 
 cooking is done there when the weather is fine. 
 Z — Stone embedded in the ground for grinding corn. 
 X — Hole where the flour is collected when ground. 
 
 white man. Men, women, and children look as if they 
 had sedulously rolled in the mud and got covered all 
 over with a thick coating of it. 
 
 During these days I looked in vain for any trace of 
 the famous Stevenson Road, of which I could discover 
 no sign. Notwithstanding the cold rain, which was in- 
 cessant, I took numerous observations, and I may remark 
 291 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 here on the astounding patience required to go on making 
 maps in Africa. Judging by the specimens I have seen, 
 few travellers have so far given themselves much trouble 
 in this line. To take hundreds of angles when you are 
 dead beat and wet to the skin is most trying, but it is 
 the only way to obtain serious results. If every traveller 
 would take the trouble to do this we should soon have 
 real maps, which at present we have not. I do not 
 pretend that my own are perfect or near it, but at any 
 rate they would serve as a more or less trustworthy basis, 
 and could be easily connected. 
 
 On May 8th I finished the first half of the journey, 
 arriving at the village of Mwenzo at a quarter to two ; 
 and at Fife, the station of the African Lakes Company, 
 an hour and a half later. Fife is surrounded by a strong 
 boma and an admirably -constructed fort. Here I was 
 hospitably received by Mr. McCormick, of the African 
 Lakes Co., and by Mr. Kidd, who happened to be there. 
 Mr. McCormick told me that two small rivers which we 
 passed before coming to Mwenzo unite with the 'Mkalesi 
 about thirty miles from Fife to form the Tshambezi. 
 This river is the actual source of the Congo. The 'Mkalesi 
 runs through marshes which you can see from the station, 
 and after receiving the two small streams forms a lake 
 which the natives call the Nyanza ya 'Mkalesi. No 
 European has ever visited it ; in that part of the 
 country, which abounds with elephants, the natives 
 are ill-disposed: it seems that Livingstone once passed 
 through their country, and shortly after this their principal 
 chief died — a clear case of witchcraft against the white 
 man. 
 
 There was the usual dearth of porters at Fife — but one 
 dose of that story is enough for a chapter. I managed 
 to get started on the afternoon of the 9th, and in order 
 to reach the next village before dark I did five miles 
 in an hour and a half, which is a fine performance for 
 Africa. After two dull days of marshy walking I reached 
 292 
 
 I 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 Mambwe, where I was laid up six days under the kind 
 care of the fathers of the Mission d'Alger. 
 
 As Mambwe is the most important place on the Tan- 
 ganika plateau, I may here sum up what I was able to 
 observe of the inhabitants of this part. Mwini Mambwe, 
 the chief of Mambwe, is nominally lord of the whole 
 country; but in reality the other chiefs — Fwambo, Kera, 
 and Mpenza — are independent. 
 
 On the death of a chief the succession is decided by 
 the people of the village, and it is a mistake to suppose 
 that his eldest son succeeds as a matter of course. For 
 instance, the last chief of Fwambo was not succeeded by 
 his eldest son ; his election was objected to by the women 
 of the village, with whom he was unpopular. At Mpenza 
 there was a kind of contested election between the son 
 and the nephew of the late chief The son won after 
 a prolonged dispute. Otherwise the government of this 
 tribe presents no noteworthy features. 
 
 Slavery is, of course, very common. The price of a 
 man is four or five dotis (each of two yards of calico), 
 and slavery for debt is enforced. 
 
 These people have a vague sort of Supreme Being 
 called Lesa, who has good and evil passions ; but here, 
 as everywhere else, the Musimo, or spirits of the ancestors, 
 are a leading feature in the beliefs. They are propitiated 
 as elsewhere by placing little heaps of stones about their 
 favourite haunts. At certain periods of the year the 
 people make pilgrimages to the mountain of Fwambo- 
 Liamba, on the summit of which is a sort of small altar 
 of stones. There they deposit bits of wood, to which 
 are attached scraps of calico, flowers, or beads : this is 
 to propitiate Lesa. After harvest, for instance, they make 
 such an offering. So, when a girl becomes marriageable, 
 she takes food with her and goes up to the mountain 
 for several days. When she returns the other women 
 lead her in procession through the villages, waving long 
 tufts of grass and palms. The girl may be already 
 293 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 married, for many are wives before they are marriageable. 
 A man pays for his wife about four or five dotis ; if the 
 wife leaves him her father must make it good. Saving 
 young men can pay for their wives by instalments; but 
 the prudent father will not give delivery of the article 
 until the whole price is paid up. An old man, a sort 
 of godfather, conducts the girl to her husband ; whether 
 the happy occasion is celebrated by a dance or not seems 
 to be a matter of private discretion. After marriage a 
 man makes a present to his wife — "to' appease her." A 
 man of these parts may no more look upon his mother- 
 in-law than may a Matabele. Here, as on the Zambezi, 
 we iind a public brothel, " 'Nsaka," and prostitution as 
 a profession exists, as Emin Pasha says it does in Unyoro. 
 Nevertheless, adultery is rigorously punished ; the co- 
 respondent has to pay the husband the equivalent of a 
 gun. Other crimes are few, except the ever-present witch- 
 craft. To bewitch an enemy on the Tanganika plateau 
 you scatter a red powder round his hut, and a white one 
 near his door ; this never fails to kill. Ordeal by muavi 
 is, of course, flourishing, with the enlightened modifica- 
 tion that if the accused does not die he can recover 
 damages from his accuser. In the Mambwe district the 
 muavi is made of a poisonous bean. Besides the ordeal, 
 these people possess the vendetta, which applies even 
 when one man kills another by accident. If he escapes, 
 the dead man's next of kin slays his next of kin. No- 
 where else have I found this custom. 
 
 Funerals follow upon death with commendable prompti- 
 tude. If a person dies too late to be buried the same day 
 the ceremony takes place by night. The body is wound 
 round in a piece of stuff which is slung on to a stout 
 pole like a hammock, and carried several hundred yards 
 from the village. It is buried in a recumbent attitude. 
 At the grave they fire salutes, and there is the usual 
 weeping and funeral feast. The most notable feature 
 of the Tanganika etiquette is that none but men may 
 294 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 take part in the burial of a man, and none but women 
 in that of a woman. In the latter case all the women 
 who meet the procession pick up a handful of earth and 
 throw it upon the body. On returning from the grave 
 the nearest relative of the deceased walks with her head 
 bowed down and her hands leaning on the shoulders of 
 a woman who precedes her ; and for several days after- 
 wards she walks thus whenever she goes abroad. 
 
 Among these people, as elsewhere, the first night of the 
 new moon is a public festival. About Tanganika it is 
 celebrated by a dance in which the men alone take part. 
 Girls and boys smear wet clay over the nose and round 
 the eyes in order to avoid a rash very common in these 
 parts. The people salute in true operatic style by bending 
 the knee and laying the right hand on the heart. 
 
 As the surface of the soil of this country is poor, they 
 change the site of their gardens every year. About May 
 they cut down the trees, and let them dry on the ground 
 till near the time of the first rains, when they burn them 
 for manure. To secure the best soil possible they dig 
 great holes here and there, and spread the earth from 
 them over the intermediate spaces. For beans they make 
 heaps of earth, and sow on them. The fields are, as a 
 rule, not more than a hundred yards across, and sur- 
 rounded by strong palisades to keep out wild beasts. 
 Sowing takes place at the first rains ; and they mix 
 their various kinds of grain together. These are maize 
 (kipambo), millet ('mkona), and eleusine (matesi). The 
 harvest is in June. The castor oil plant grows wild, and 
 they collect the oil to rub on their hair. They also 
 cultivate the banana, and have a curious custom connected 
 with it. No man is permitted to sow; but when the 
 hole is prepared a little girl is carried to the spot on a 
 boy's shoulders. She first throws into the hole a sherd 
 of broken pottery, and then scatters the seed over it. 
 The grains I have mentioned are ground on a stone. 
 The Amambwe are very fond of caterpillars, which they 
 295 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 preserve by drying, and then eat roasted. They make a 
 kind of salt by burning a plant called musilia, and also 
 from the leaves of the banana tree. 
 
 The villages on the Tanganika plateau are usually built 
 near a river, and almost invariably in the middle of stately 
 forest trees. They are surrounded by a stout palisade 
 four to five feet high, with earth banked up about the 
 base; sometimes a ditch is dug outside this. The gates 
 
 Granary. Hut 
 
 VILLAGE OF FWAMBO, 
 
 TANGANIKA PLATEAU. 
 
 in this palisade are made of a split tree-trunk ; this pivots 
 on two pieces of wood, and at night is fixed by a bar. 
 Inside the stockade a pot is buried near the gate, where 
 grain is placed for the Musimo. The huts themselves are 
 round, low, and huddled one against the other. In any 
 space between them are set up high and huge pillars of 
 reeds, coated with earth and covered with a thatched roof 
 These are granaries. The opening is reached by a pole 
 notched to serve as a kind of ladder. The thatch of the 
 huts projects so as to form a verandah, under which is 
 the mill-stone. The inside is bare of anything except the 
 296 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 fireplace. As I have already said, all the villages are dirty 
 beyond words. No sort of filth is ever carried outside the 
 stockade ; everything accumulates for five or six years, 
 at the end of which time, all the surrounding soil being 
 exhausted, the village is usually deserted. As it is, I 
 have known the fields as much as five miles from the 
 village before it was thought worth while to leave it. 
 
 The people of Mambwe are famous for their skill in 
 .i working iron. It is very abundant in the neighbourhood, 
 and the smiths — whose trade is hereditary — win and smelt 
 the metal themselves ; their ^ 
 
 furnaces are built of earth, 
 with small openings all round 
 the base. Having prepared 
 a certain quantity of wood- 
 charcoal they make a fire of 
 it, put in the metal, and 
 cover it with green wood ; 
 the openings at the base are 
 all stopped but one. Into 
 this one is inserted a sort of 
 bellows made of two goat 
 skins. Towards the top of 
 the furnace is an oblique 
 opening through which the 
 artificer can watch the pro- 
 gress of the operation ; this 
 lasts about three days, after 
 which the holes 
 are opened and 
 
 the pig-iron (• 
 
 runs out, and ' -*c, 
 
 is left to cool. • ■ - 
 This operation 
 may only be N •"" .. 
 commenced at ^"""''^''^ 
 
 the new moon, mambwe woman and child. 
 
 297 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 and is accompanied by the preparation of suitable " medi- 
 cine." For forging they use heavy stones, wielded with 
 both hands ; for the finer work, mallets. The articles 
 made are arrow-heads, spear-heads, hatchets, and picks. 
 They know nothing of tempering. 
 
 The dress of these people is most primitive. Men and 
 women alike wear a strip of calico or bark-cloth round the 
 middle, and the children nothing at all. Few of them even 
 possess beads, but all the women wear in their ears 
 enormous sticks of wood (mantenga). In some villages 
 
 ■m^ zc^ 
 
 ■jj. 
 
 NATIVE TEETH FROM NYASA. 
 TANGANIKA PLATEAU. 
 
 these "mantenga" project beyond the ear, and are 
 decorated with bits of copper and steel. Others are 
 like " men " in a game of draughts, but twice the size. 
 Many women have their two lower incisors pulled out, and 
 some both upper and lower, but these are mostly slaves 
 from the North ; others file the teeth (see above). The 
 men compete with these embellishments either by growing 
 their hair long and braiding it, and smearing it with a 
 red powder, or sometimes by making scars on their faces. 
 The effect is equally hideous in all cases. 
 
 War consists in surprises, and the attacking tribe select 
 the women at work in the fields as their first objective. 
 Their assegais and arrows they poison with a kind 
 of resin. If they kill any enemies they stick up 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 the heads on their paHsades. For hunting, nets, pits 
 with sharp stakes, and snares are used. The nets are 
 about a yard high and are spread over a space of two 
 or three hundred yards. Some of the hunters drive in 
 the game while others He in ambush to fall upon it before 
 it can extricate itself But as a matter of fact game was 
 very rare. It had been decimated by a strange disease 
 (sotoka), which had especially played havoc with the 
 larger antelopes, buffaloes, and even the elephants. This 
 disease had destroyed all the cattle north of Lake Nyasa 
 and all along the Tanganika plateau, and had also killed 
 most of the goats and even the fowls. This sotoka, I after- 
 wards discovered, was no other than the terrible rinderpest* 
 It came from the north. Small-pox is very common on 
 Lake Tanganika, but not widespread. Other diseases 
 are dysentery, chest affections, and ophthalmia. But the 
 worst scourge of this district is a kind of flea — pulex pene- 
 trans— yN\\\c}i\ lurks in the sand, and lays its eggs under 
 the human skin. Unless the bunch of eggs is removed 
 it sets up inflammation, followed by gangrene and death. 
 This pest was imported from America to the West Coast, 
 and native indolence has made Africa a rich field for it. 
 It spread from Angola up the Congo, and was brought 
 to Tanganika by the Arabs. The son of Tippo Tip 
 is especially singled out for the honour of its importation. 
 It is found now as far south as Nyasaland. I brought 
 three away with me from Mambwe to Fwambo, and 
 they punished me most cruelly. 
 
 The Tanganika people can only count up to seven, but 
 they can reckon up to ten on their hands. For one they 
 hold up one finger ; for two, the second and third fingers 
 of the left hand ; for three, the same, and one finger of the 
 
 * It was there that I first made my acquaintance with rinderpest, and 
 I followed the whole of its march right up to Uganda. I was so impressed 
 with it that I wrote to the Field describing all the symptoms (I did not know 
 that it was rinderpest), but no one then attached much importance to the 
 matter. (See, for rinderpest and jiggers, Appendix I.) 
 299 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 right ; four is two fingers of each hand ; five, the closed fist 
 with the thumb between the second and third fingers ; six, 
 three fingers of each hand ; seven, the left hand open, and 
 two fingers of the right ; eight, the eight fingers opened ; 
 nine, I did not see, but I suppose one fist and an open 
 hand ; ten, two closed fists. But they have no word to 
 express a higher number than seven; eight they call 
 seven plus one ; for multiples of ten they begin all over 
 again. 
 
 When I left Mambwe I was still ill, and, notwithstanding 
 that, had to go through a killing day. I had reckoned to 
 halt at the river Saisi — which we reached seven hours 
 from our start — to build a bridge. Finding one already 
 there I went on, and as there was no wood for fire was 
 obliged to push right on to Kirunda, which we did not 
 reach till four hours later. Just before getting to the 
 village we had to cross the river Lumi. Night had 
 fallen, and we had long been wading up to our knees in 
 a swamp. The river was very full and very deep, and to 
 cross it there were only a few rotten trees felled across 
 the stream. By a miracle we got safely over in the dark 
 without losing a man ; as it was, a goat fell in and was 
 drowned, and one man went over too ; but he clutched 
 hold of the so-called bridge, and was got out with the 
 loss of his load of 200 yards of calico. All this time I 
 was standing on the bank with mud up to my thighs, 
 and gnats feasting on my face and neck. There were 
 thousands and thousands of them, and they stabbed 
 through handkerchiefs and mufflers like the point of a 
 needle. Never had I suffered such torment. Next day 
 I got to Fwambo, where I was kindly received by the 
 missionaries, Messrs. Carson and Brett ; with them I 
 stayed two days, and on May 22nd arrived at Kituta, 
 on Lake Tanganika, too ill to take any observation or 
 notice anything on the way. 
 
 At Kituta I found two Arabs with their dhows, and 
 induced them, after the usual haggling, to take me to 
 300 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 Ujiji with my men and goods, for 300 rupees. We 
 started on May 26th, and the voyage was horribly 
 trying. Sometimes we could land for the night or for 
 a meal, but often we had to go for thirty-six hours at 
 a stretch so as to avoid the hostile natives. It was not 
 possible to get regular food or sleep, still less to write 
 or take observations. Wherever we landed the natives 
 took to flight, but returned when they saw that a white 
 man was of the party. One whole day we spent 
 ashore in mending a broken rope. This was Africa all 
 over : one loses all count of time, and forgets its value. 
 Everything is to be done " to-morrow." I myself put off 
 making up my journal from day to day. The lassitude 
 and fever made me eager for the end of my journey, but 
 incapable of doing anything to get forward ; yet the 
 lassitude did not shut out the perpetual anxiety and 
 uncertainty of the morrow. I felt myself growing very 
 old. 
 
 Lake Tanganika differs greatly in appearance from 
 Lake Nyasa. Its shores consist of rocky hills of huge 
 boulders piled one on the top of the other, those that 
 are bathed by the lake being perfectly white. The water 
 is not blue like that of Nyasa. While the latter is often 
 covered with large waves, a wind equally strong leaves 
 Tanganika comparatively calm. For all that we had 
 several days of rough weather, and touched ground once 
 at some risk of breaking up. We also picked up a party 
 of Arabs of Ujiji, who had been shipwrecked. At last, at 
 ten in the morning of the fourth of June, in a level down- 
 pour, more dead than alive, I arrived off Ujiji. 
 
 Ujiji lies at the extremity of a small open bay ; the 
 town itself is built on rising ground. What most strikes 
 one as one approaches is the aridity of the surround- 
 ings—evidently all the wood has been used up long ago. 
 Gradually, on drawing nearer the coast, the town comes 
 into view : lines of dull red walls topped by flat roofs. 
 At last we reached land, where a good-sized crowd of 
 303 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Arabs had assembled to meet us — an arrival being always 
 an event. The men unshipped the sail, and then set 
 to work to land the cargo. Having seen all my baggage 
 ashore and covered up I set off with my Arabs for the 
 town, which is about half a mile distant from the shore. 
 Traversing a swamp we reached the first native huts. 
 Then we came to a dilapidated wall of sun-burnt bricks, 
 and passed through a gate into the market-place. 
 A little further on we stopped before a large house. A 
 numerous company of Arabs under the outer verandah 
 greeted me with cries of "Yambo" 
 
 ,. - (Hail !). I was led into a very 
 
 f '^- .^ clean chamber, wherein was a bed 
 
 covered with a counterpane; and 
 ^ the Arabs, having received my 
 
 letter for Rumaliza, retired. Soon 
 after they brought me a cup of 
 tea and some biscuits, of which 
 I stood in great need. Men were 
 sent for my baggage, which was 
 set out in another room, and then 
 
 ?k 
 
 % 
 
 I flung myself on the bed ex- 
 /"^ ' hausted. In a few minutes a 
 
 rumaliza's cook. servant appeared with a dinner 
 
 of pilaf and currie. I managed to 
 eat a little, but was obliged to lie down again without the 
 energy to wash or change. All day long came an end- 
 less procession of Arabs to visit me. I had to receive 
 them and to put a good face on it, but I felt more fit 
 to lie down and die. What struck me greatly was the 
 confidence they all appeared to have in Mr. Swann, and 
 their friendship for him. In the afternoon came one of 
 the servants of Rumaliza. " Vous etes francais. Monsieur," 
 he began in excellent French. I was stupefied ; but he 
 explained that he had been brought up by the missionaries 
 of Bagamoyo — the Peres du St. Esprit — and had spent a 
 year in France in 1870. A little later Rumaliza himself 
 304 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 appeared, accompanied by several Arabs. Clothed in 
 white from head to foot, he was rather above the middle 
 height, and of a very fine physiognomy, although his beard 
 was very straggling, and his face pitted with small-pox. 
 He continually scratched his head. He told me to con- 
 sider myself in my own house, to ask for everything I 
 desired — in a word, he offered me Arab hospitality. No 
 monarch could have been more lavish or more dignified. 
 Next day I had to hold another levee, to which came 
 many Arabs of distinction ; among them, Musaba-ben- 
 Luari, the former " Wali " (viceroy) of Ujiji — toothless 
 and very dirty. 
 
 The first night I had slept a little from sheer exhaus- 
 tion. This next was terrible. I vomited incessantly ; I 
 was chilled to the bone, and could not warm myself I 
 suffered horrible pain in the head and throughout my 
 whole body. Next day, of course, I was a wreck. They 
 told me I had been delirious half the night. I remember 
 nothing of the day ; but next night I got a couple of 
 hours' sleep, and was rather better in consequence. But 
 vomiting went on steadily, and the fourth night I was 
 again delirious. The next day I was as bad as ever ; but 
 thanks to a good dose of Beecham's Pills I had an 
 excellent night, and I truly believe that they saved my 
 life. I was still very weak, having eaten hardly any- 
 thing (and that very temporarily) since arriving at Ujiji. 
 I went out, but could neither keep on my legs nor get up 
 to my room again without aid. The sixth night also I 
 slept ; and next day got as far as looking in the glass — to 
 find myself appallingly thin. The day after I took my 
 first real meal, but was still unable to write or do 
 anything else continuous. Such is the simple story of 
 my first week in Ujiji. I knew well where I picked up 
 this fever — in the marshes of Mwenzo, and near Kituta — 
 and the killing thing was being unable to stop to cure 
 it ; the ten days on the lake especially, often without 
 food for twenty-four hours, nearly finished me. I felt 
 X 305 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 certain at the time that I was done for; and I very 
 
 nearly was. 
 
 The Arabs of Ujiji are all people of position. Their 
 
 spotless white garments and dignified walk form the 
 liveliest contrast to the squalor 
 and timidity of the indigenous 
 population ; their servants, how- 
 ever, are distinguished by their 
 insolence and rudeness. Their 
 wives are the most elegant women 
 of Africa. Several times at the 
 fashionable promenade in the 
 market-place I observed them in 
 their glory. They are mostly 
 
 JManyema women, generally 
 slaves taken very young. 
 
 llJM 
 
 Their colour is a dusky yel- 
 low ; they wear one ivory 
 A WOMAN OF FASHION. or silver button in the left 
 
 nostril, and five in each ear ; 
 the cheek is decorated with half a dozen bluish marks 
 like ink stains, which are made with fruit juice. Some 
 of them paint under the eyes. Their head-dress is also 
 remarkably ambitious for Africa. They divide the hair 
 into some dozen tresses, and plait it together between 
 each two partings ; the end of each plait is turned up 
 and hidden in the plait itself A ribbon of coloured 
 cotton passes over the crown of the head and under 
 the chin ; from the crown a long strip of stuff hangs 
 down below the knees like a Chinese pig-tail. Some- 
 times pieces of metal are fastened to the top of this 
 adornment. But the head-dress of any one woman 
 has a way of varying from day to day. Some cover 
 the head with a coloured kerchief folded something 
 like a Spanish mantilla ; others wear a kerchief simply 
 folded in four. The dress of the women is similarly 
 elaborate. Round the body they wind some three yards 
 306 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 of coloured stuff, which is fastened above the breast, and 
 hangs straight down to the ankles ; round their shoulders 
 is a rather shorter piece of coloured stuff, whose end is 
 thrown over the left shoulder like a Venetian mantle. The 
 richest bedeck themselves with collars of coral, inter- 
 spersed with large silver beads, and bracelets of silver and 
 glass beads alternating. In full dress they, wear silk 
 trousers, with heavy silver anklets, which come from 
 Zanzibar. They walk barefoot, not without a certain 
 grace, and are heavily perfumed with musk. Nobody v/ill 
 be surprised to hear that these magnificent beauties are 
 very vain. They can make eyes at the passer-by against 
 any women in the world, and dearly love to have their 
 portraits taken ; the nuisance is that the enquiring 
 traveller has always to take two — one for himself, and one 
 for the lady. I will add, in justice, that these are the only 
 clean women in Africa. They generally promenade in 
 pairs, followed by one or two female slaves. 
 
 The indigenous population are the Wajiji. Their 
 slaves — the slaves of the slaves — are the most miserable 
 specimens of humanity I ever saw anywhere. Thin, 
 haggard, starveling, clothed, men and women alike, 
 with a miserable shred of cloth, they are most painful 
 even to look at. One day I saw before an Arab's house 
 two men and women with a baby, all chained together by 
 the neck and wrists ; they were nothing but skin and 
 bone, and you could read a long series of sufferings in 
 their faces. On enquiry I found that they were murderers 
 awaiting their trial. Slavery is certainly horrible enough, 
 but there are two sides to the question none the less. 
 In any case it is not by force that it will be suppressed, 
 but by the introduction of commerce. Bring in railways, 
 and slavery will go out. The policy of the Belgians is 
 exactly the opposite : they drive out legitimate commerce, 
 and inevitably force the Arabs into the slave trade. 
 They have ruined the ivory trade by impossible duties : 
 the Arabs have to pay one tusk out of every five. This 
 307 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 is the Congo Free State, whose freedom is all sham and 
 humbug. So far as Africa is concerned I have no faith 
 left in philanthropists, or missionaries, or foreign Govern- 
 ments. I pity the dupes who give their money in Europe 
 to anti-slavery societies and missions. Much better employ 
 the money to find capital for railways and banks. It is 
 very possible that these also may bring in no return, but 
 the result will be there ; philanthropy will have attained 
 it, and European commerce will have profited thereby. 
 
 As for the Congo State, I heard a characteristic story 
 of its methods at Ujiji. No doubt there are two sides 
 to it, as to others ; but it is sufficiently borne out by what 
 I heard later from German officers, and again lately by 
 the lawless action of Lothaire, which remains unpunished. 
 There came to me one day an Arab, named Nassor-ben- 
 Suliman-ben-Juma, who was brother to the well-known 
 Tippo Tip. He wanted me to write a letter to the 
 Belgian Consul at Zanzibar, to complain of the treat- 
 ment he had received from Captain Jacques, a Congo 
 State officer. Nassor-ben-Suliman, it appeared, had been 
 sent by Tippo Tip from Zanzibar to conduct a Belgian — 
 M. Mariam was his name, as far as I could make it out 
 — to Kasongo, and there to furnish him with a thousand 
 soldiers. Before M. Mariam reached Ujiji he received 
 orders from Captain Jacques not to visit Rumaliza in 
 that town, and the caravan took the direction of Karema. 
 There they found Captain Jacques and crossed the lake 
 to go to 'Mtowa. At Karema Captain Jacques met the 
 Arabs on friendly terms. On reaching the other side 
 of the lake they heard that there was war in Kasongo, 
 the representative of Tippo having revolted. It was 
 decided, therefore, that M. Mariam should remain at 
 'Mtowa, and when the caravan arrived there Nassor-ben- 
 Suliman asked to be paid. M. Mariam said he would 
 see to that later. Captain Jacques added that, Rumaliza 
 being at war with him, he should keep Nassor-ben- 
 Suliman's merchandise, and therewith had it taken into 
 308 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 his own hut. These goods consisted of two packages 
 of powder, two of calico, and various other stuffs. More- 
 over, Jacques declared that he would keep as hostages 
 three of the Arab's followers — Mahmud, an Arab of 
 Zanzibar, and a man of Bagamoyo with his wife. Nassor- 
 ben-Suliman protested, but Jacques ordered him to be 
 silent. If he wanted his people and his goods back, 
 added the Belgian, he had only to go to Rumaliza and 
 ask him to make peace ; when the war was over he 
 should have them back. This was six months before 
 my arrival. Since then he had written four times to 
 Jacques to claim his servants and merchandise, and had 
 received no reply. Now he desired to get them back by 
 addressing the Belgian Government through the Consul 
 at Zanzibar, being himself a subject of the Sultan's. 
 Whether he ever got them I do not know. From the 
 record of the Congo State I should say most likely not. 
 This story is only one of hundreds I have heard ; with 
 such principles is it wonderful that the Free State is not 
 a success ? 
 
 I promised not to inflict the account of any more diffi- 
 culties about porters on the reader, so I will pass lightly 
 over the awful struggle I had with Rumaliza on this point. 
 Rumaliza's hospitality was magnificent, but it was to 
 him no hindrance to making all the money possible oiit 
 of his guest. He led off by offering me seventy-five 
 men to Muanza, on the Victoria Nyanza, for forty piastres 
 per man, or a grand total of ;^300. Working out the 
 scale of prices at Zanziba.r, where Indian contractors 
 make handsome profits, I found that at the same rate ten 
 piastres per man was a liberal price. When I proposed 
 this price, or half as much to go to Urambo, which is 
 only two-thirds of the distance from Karonga to Kituta, 
 Rumaliza only laughed. He compromised things in 
 the African fashion by putting it off till " to-morrow." 
 To-morrow, again in true African fashion, ran into the 
 next day and the next and the next. At the end of six 
 309 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 days we came to a sufficiently extortionate arrangement, 
 by which I was to' take thirty- five men to Urambo at 
 sixteen piastres per man — total £^0, which was the 
 outside of what I could afford, and at least twice as 
 much as I ought to have paid. But I was in his power 
 and had to submit. 
 
 I tried to buy a donkey, and was asked 530 rupees 
 (^13) for the only decent animal in the place; finally I 
 paid 240 for an evil beast worth thirty shillings. 
 
 THE MARKET-PLACE, UJIJI. 
 
 But after all, Arabs, as I found, were not the only ones 
 who took advantage of one's position in Africa, and 
 although they tried to make the best bargain they could, 
 their confidence in the white man was quite remarkable. 
 Of course I had no money at hand to pay Rumaliza with, 
 and when I informed him that I could only give him 
 drafts on Zanzibar, he made no difficulty whatever in 
 accepting them : his confidence was the more striking as 
 he could not read English, and had to take my word that 
 the amount was correctly stated. 
 310 
 
FROM NYASALAND TO UJIJI 
 
 I was rather anxious to start without delay, as I had 
 still a considerable portion of my journey to accomplish, 
 and besides the sanitary conditions of Ujiji were such that 
 I did not wish to remain there longer than necessary. 
 In each house is a cesspool, and close by a well from 
 which the drinking water is drawn, so that it is no wonder 
 that a kind of yellow fever indigenous to the place should 
 affect so many people. Moreover, my room, though clean 
 to the eye, was a hot-bed of vermin. For all these 
 reasons, by June 20th, on which day I concluded my 
 bargain with Rumaliza, I was more than ready to turn 
 my back on the luxuries of Ujiji and be off. I discovered, 
 some time after leaving the place, that I had, without 
 knowing it, been partaking of human flesh two or three 
 times during my stay there. Rinderpest had destroyed 
 all the cattle and most of the goats, so that the few that 
 were brought over from the other side of the lake were 
 sold at a comparatively exorbitant price, ten yards of 
 calico being asked for each. Young slaves, on the other 
 hand, used to fetch only from four to six yards of calico ; 
 and as a considerable portion of the population consisted 
 of Manyema cannibals, children used often to be slaughtered 
 and their meat retailed among the Manyema. Some of 
 the natives whom I had engaged at Ujiji had been assured 
 by David that nothing could be hidden from me, and they 
 determined to test my power ; they accordingly supplied 
 my cook with human flesh to see if I would find it out, 
 and I confess that I ate it with great relish, unconscious 
 of what it was. David found this out afterwards, but 
 was afraid to tell me about it ; however, to avoid a 
 repetition of the experiment, he only bought meat from 
 goats he saw killed himself It was only afterwards that 
 he told me about it. I then remembered eating a curry 
 I thought excellent, and having brought to me some 
 grilled bones that I enjoyed so much that I asked several 
 times for more of them, but without being able to get 
 them : these, it appears, were human ribs. So far as I can 
 311 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 recollect they had but very little flesh on them, but this 
 had a fine flavour of venison with a salty taste, one of the 
 reasons why cannibals greatly relish human flesh. I may 
 add that cannibals seldom eat this meat without having 
 kept it for a few days ; usually they bury it, and when it 
 is a point they feast on it. A great deal of unsuspected 
 cannibalism still exists in Africa ; for instance, in Nyasa- 
 land in many cases the dead are secretly unburied and 
 eaten up. This practice is, however, strongly condemned 
 by local public opinion, and whenever those who have 
 ,been guilty of it are discovered they are condemned to be 
 burned alive. 
 
 But to return to my journey. I gave myself a month to 
 reach Urambo, another to Uganda, a month's stay there, 
 and then three more to the coast. At that rate I should 
 sail for Europe early in 1894. At the time my hope was 
 to find the late Sir Gerald Portal in Uganda and return 
 with him. But that was not to be. 
 
 312 
 
^ TABORA TO MWANZA 
 
 Bote Jftoii/ iXufiaga^ are. -nwjclv Hcrtker to Hue, North tharv sTwum^lLere. 
 
 Published by Methuen S Co., London. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO. 
 
 AT last, on the 27th June, I left Ujiji. With flag flying 
 and drums beating we passed through Kasimbo, the 
 name of the portion of Ujiji on the hill, where dwelt old 
 Msaba-bin-ben-Luali, the oldest inhabitant of Ujiji, who 
 was there when Burton and Speke visited the lake, and 
 who had known Livingstone, Stanley, and all the great 
 pioneers of Africa. He expressed his delight at some 
 medicine I had given him for his eyes — a zinc lotion — 
 and asked me for more ; and after partaking of a cup of 
 coffee I gave a last look towards Ujiji and started in 
 earnest. Large numbers of natives accompanied me a 
 few hundred yards farther and left me, firing guns as a 
 wish of good speed. It being late in the day I only went 
 as far as Maekere, a village two miles from Ujiji. The chief 
 presented me with a fowl and a large basket of potatoes, 
 and gave me a good tembe — rather clean for a wonder — 
 for myself and my goods. Next morning I awoke minus 
 sundry bits of flesh on which the cockroaches had been 
 having a grand feed. I ordered the drums to be beaten 
 and called out the roll of my men. The nyampara (head- 
 man) and five porters were missing. I sent out for them 
 and proceeded to examine the village. In front of each 
 house stood huge piles of sweet potatoes cut in slices and 
 put out to dry. These are used to make pombe (native 
 beer). A market is also held here, and trade must be 
 pretty brisk, as I noticed ten shoulders of goat exposed 
 for sale, the price of each being one fundo (six strings) of 
 313 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 beads. Blue and white beads resembling the cut stem of 
 a clay pipe are used as currency in Ujiji and all over that 
 portion of Africa. These beads are not used as ornaments. 
 The houses are square, and consist of two square rooms 
 without windows ; outside grinding-stones are laid into the 
 ground. Rats, crickets, and cockroaches run about the 
 place, and jiggers are found in great numbers. 
 
 At last Njumba Serere, my headman, appeared, as drunk 
 as could be. I told him to go and look out for the missing 
 men. With much dignity he brought me three men who 
 
 UJIJI FROM KASIMBO. 
 
 had already answered to the call. I gave him the names 
 of the missing men, but he brought me four other men 
 who had also answered the call ; so in order to bring him 
 to his senses I ordered David to give him six lashes of the 
 whip, and half an hour later he returned, much sobered, 
 with the missing men. I found that these men had been 
 put in chains the previous evening by Rumaliza's orders, 
 the rascals having engaged themselves to an Arab, and 
 received an advance from him after having been already 
 paid to accompany me. They had just been released 
 after receiving a couple of dozen of well - deserved 
 lashes. 
 
 Just as I was about to leave a little Manyema girl of 
 314 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 ten rushed among my men. One of the chief's men came 
 to claim her as an escaped slave, and having found the 
 child to be well fed and well clothed I returned her to her 
 master. Our way lay across an undulating plain at the 
 foot of a circus of mountains. We marched through long 
 grass, among which rose a good many wild date trees. 
 Not a single other tree was to be seen, all had been cut 
 down for fuel ; no care had been taken to plant others to 
 replace those that were cut, so that the whole place 
 presented the most desolate appearance. In four hours' 
 march we reached a picturesque spot at the foot of the 
 hills, and we camped for the night near the Kasike river. 
 In the evening some Wangwana came to me and asked 
 me to allow them to travel under my escort, a permission 
 I readily granted them. 
 
 Soon after leaving camp the next morning we 
 climbed the hills north of Ujiji, getting a splendid 
 view of Lake Tanganika from their top ; it was from 
 this place that Mr. Stanley first caught sight of the 
 lake, and I could picture his feelings when he stood 
 there after all the dangers, all the difficulties he had 
 conquered ; how proud he must have felt, and at the 
 same time how anxious he must have been to rush 
 down to Ujiji, and to find whether Livingstone was there! 
 What a small, humble traveller I felt in comparison with 
 Stanley ; every inch of the ground he covered meant a 
 new discovery ; he had to contend with man, beasts, and 
 nature. But nothing had stopped him ; and where I then 
 stood he could proudly exclaim, " I have succeeded." 
 
 Ahead of us stretched what looked like an undulating 
 and well-wooded plain. We began the descent, and one 
 hour later we reached the Luiki river, a stream as pure 
 as crystal, about forty yards broad and three feet deep. 
 We crossed it, and after following its banks for half an 
 hour halted for food. Just before arriving there I had 
 remained behind the caravan with David, my servant, to 
 take some observations, and I was hurrying on to pick up 
 315 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 my men when I found ahead of me the tail of another 
 caravan. Behind walked some Wangwana (coast men), 
 then came some Wanyamwezi porters carrying ivory. I 
 next found two little slave girls tied together by a rope 
 fastened round their necks. I caught hold of the cord to 
 cut it, but the little girls seized it in their hands, screaming 
 at the top of their voices. I held on tight, but when I 
 got out my knife to cut the cord they literally went off 
 their heads with fright, persuaded that I was going to kill 
 them. I had got to the end of this little incident when a 
 villainous looking one-eyed Wangwana came running up 
 with a gun in his hand. I drew my revolver, when he 
 immediately became as quiet as a lamb. " I am not the 
 chief," he tremblingly ejaculated. "Where is he?" . I 
 asked ; and he pointed towards a seething crowd higher 
 up the road where ropes were being hastily undone. The 
 caravan consisted of about fifty slaves, with as many 
 porters carrying splendid tusks of ivory ; only five of the 
 men were armed. My first impulse was to set the slaves 
 free and to take possession of the ivory, in order to hand 
 it over to the official in charge of the Tabora Station ; but 
 I determined not to do so, as I was too near Ujiji ; the 
 caravan belonged to Arabs, and I had only three men 
 on whom I could rely. Under these circumstances I de- 
 termined to have recourse to diplomacy. I made the three 
 headmen come to the spot where my caravan had halted, 
 and I informed them that I was not at all satisfied — that 
 they had sought me out the day before, asking leave to 
 accompany me because they had only a small caravan of 
 ivory ; that they had not said that they possessed any 
 slaves ; and that they knew perfectly well that white men 
 did not allow the traffic in slaves. However, I said, that 
 had nothing to do with me, and all I insisted upon was 
 that they should not tie up the children. We parted 
 very good friends, but, afraid that I might get them 
 arrested when I should reach Tabora, they took another 
 road, and I saw no more of them. 
 3i6 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 My headman wanted me to sleep at the place where the 
 men had halted, but it was still early and I determined to 
 push further on. The country we now crossed, although 
 it looked a plain from the top of the hills, was very hilly, 
 and right in front of us rose the Unyonga Mountains, 
 towards which we directed our steps. For two hours we 
 went up and down over wooded hills, then once more over 
 an immense, arid, undulating plain. We got near the 
 Unyonga Mountains, arid and uninteresting. As for a 
 tree, such a thing was now not to be seen ; no matter in 
 which direction I looked I could see nothing but brown 
 dried-up grass. Just before getting to a village, however, 
 one or two trees did actually appear. These were solitary 
 baobabs rising on the side of a hill which was absolutely 
 barren, and only covered with dried-up grass. At five 
 o'clock we halted a short distance from the village of 
 Unyonga. The villagers came to sell us potatoes and 
 cassawa flour. These people were dressed differently 
 from what I had seen so far. The men's costume con- 
 sisted of an animal's skin, from which the hair had been 
 removed. This was simply attached by two of the animal's 
 legs, and a strap passing over the right shoulder. Some 
 of the women had enormous copper bracelets. They 
 were dressed in a piece of calico, tied round the breasts 
 and hanging down to the knees. As I was told that these 
 people frequently take advantage of the night to rob, 
 I placed three sentinels round the camp. 
 
 The 30th of June was a most tiring day over moun- 
 tainous ground. We first climbed a spur of the mountains 
 that rose in front of us, then shortly after we crossed the 
 river Muserere, and followed the valley in which it flows. 
 At the entrance of this valley, to my great surprise, I per- 
 ceived right in the middle of our road a large group of 
 about fifty natives. Getting a little nearer I discovered 
 that a market was held there, salted meat, potatoes, millet, 
 and so on being exposed for sale. Some bananas were as 
 much as nine inches in length. We were in a little valley 
 317 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 as bare as the country we had crossed the previous day ; 
 here and there, quite close to the river, a tree or two 
 appeared, but, Hke most trees in Africa, they afforded 
 neither shadow nor shelter. The valley is well populated, 
 but properly speaking there are no villages — only groups 
 of two or three huts built in the shape of a beehive, 
 and even these groups very scattered ; close to them grew 
 some fine banana plantations. The further we proceeded 
 the better I was able to note the remarkable spirit of 
 industry that the population of this district displays, and 
 all, so to say, " off their own bat," for these people had 
 never come into contact with white men. P"or the first 
 time in savage Africa I found • artificial irrigation. We 
 passed many artificial beehives, placed in the trees ; they 
 consist of a round basket entirely closed except for a little 
 hole; this basket is surrounded by reeds and placed on the 
 tree. From the immense quantity of copper bracelets 
 that I saw, I concluded that this metal was to be found 
 in the country, but I could find no confirmation of this 
 surmise. Men and women wear little charms of ivory 
 prettily carved, which they use to hold their medicine. 
 I saw one man wearing round his neck a curved hippo- 
 potamus' tusk, ground down to the thickness of a big 
 paper-knife and admirably polished. They make a kind 
 of bark-cloth, very superior to anything I had previously 
 seen ; this is usually dyed grey instead of red as in all 
 other parts of Africa. Their arms consist of assegais, like 
 the Matabele's, fixed together with animals' tendons ; they 
 also use arrows with feathers. The bow has one of its 
 extremities filed to a point, evidently for the purpose of 
 serving as a weapon of defence in case of need. The 
 men are big and well made, but very timid and not 
 easily approached. 
 
 I came across an old chap who asked if I would like 
 
 to buy a goat and a little girl. He wanted 80 yards 
 
 of calico for the pair. He was much astonished to hear 
 
 that the white men did not permit the traffic in human 
 
 318 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 flesh. That morning old Njumba Serere, my headman, 
 complained to David that one of his little slaves had 
 escaped during the night because I refused to allow him 
 to tie them by the neck. I discovered also that two of 
 my Wangwana had each half a dozen Manyema slaves 
 whom they had brought away to sell. They were children 
 of ten or twelve years old ; their condition was simply 
 terrible — I have never seen such living skeletons. These 
 poor wretches had only four to five potatoes a day to 
 eat, and most of the time they ate these raw. What 
 could I do? Nothing but shut my eyes and be silent. 
 
 Arrived at the top of the valley where the river 
 Muserere springs, after an almost perpendicular climb, 
 we began to descend into another valley. In it appeared 
 many huts and banana plantations. This valley was 
 almost as desolate-looking as the previous one ; far apart 
 from one another a few single trees stood up as if they 
 had been planted there for their sins. In the distance 
 we could see an immense plain. After having crossed a 
 small river we climbed the spur of a mountain. Number- 
 less little rivers take their origin there among marshes. 
 All of a sudden we came upon a big camp of twenty or 
 twenty-five tents, in the middle of which the German flag 
 was flying. It was an Arab caravan, or rather the first 
 section of it, on the way to Ujiji ; the other portion, with 
 the " great master," was following. They had taken two 
 months to come from Urambo ! 
 
 Next morning, just as we were about to start, the 
 main body of the caravan, with about 500 porters, passed 
 near us. Two Arabs were in charge ; they said they were 
 going to Ujiji, and that their master would follow later on. 
 They seemed to have had much trouble during the pre- 
 ceding days on account of the prairie fires — they had had 
 three men burnt to death. They strongly advised me to 
 avoid the Uvinza country, where they had found no water, 
 and recommended me to pass through Uhha. How I was 
 to regret following this advice will soon be seen. The 
 319 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 road was absolutely uninteresting, passing through big 
 arid plains covered with high grass. At one o'clock we 
 got to a little forest : one of the women dropped to the 
 ground, declaring that she could go no further. I left her 
 in charge of another woman and an Arab : later in the 
 evening she walked into camp carrying a newly -born 
 baby, and looking very little the worse for it. One of 
 the little slaves, a small chap of about ten years, all skin 
 and bone, was also done up. He complained of pains 
 in the back and legs. I took pity on him, and hoisted 
 him on to my donkey. At last, about 1.30, we arrived 
 near the river Mariba, where we pitched camp. In the 
 afternoon two panthers came and howled quite close to 
 us. Four times I went for them, but could never get on 
 their track. I was much annoyed to discover that the boy 
 I had placed on my donkey was suffering from small-pox, 
 and I much feared that it might break out among my 
 caravan. 
 
 Next morning I woke about 5.30 thoroughly frozen, 
 the thermometer having fallen to 52° F. Just as we were 
 about to start I was told that the little slave who had 
 small-pox had died. I was assured that he had been 
 buried, but perhaps the two panthers had a meal after 
 all. These two brutes returned to the camp during the 
 night, and howled all the time till dawn. I was 
 afraid that they would get my donkey, so twice I got 
 up and went out, but I never got a glimpse of them. 
 Two hours after our start we got out of the forest, 
 and again began to cross one of those arid plains 
 covered with high dried-up grass. Half an hour later 
 Njumba Serere wished to stop. I got a little bit angry, 
 and forced the men to go on for another hour. I stopped 
 for lunch, but was so implored to pass the night there that 
 I yielded. The heat was something awful, 109° F. in the 
 sun ; that is to say, fifty-seven degrees' difference since the 
 morning. The country that we had crossed for the last 
 two hours was well populated ; huts of the same shape as 
 320 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 before, same costume, same bracelets, hair cut in the same 
 fashion, and the huts again in groups of three and four 
 together, three or four hundred yards apart. When our 
 camp was pitched, a number of the inhabitants of the 
 villages came and brought us potatoes, flour, wood, and 
 monkey nuts. A "lupanda" (two yards of calico) was 
 the price asked for four pounds of flour. Firewood had 
 to be purchased at a high price, as none was to be found 
 about the place. Beads are little cared for. In the evening 
 I perceived one of my Arabs with five goats. " From 
 information received " I knew he had bought them with a 
 little slave. 
 
 I have forgotten to describe the manner in which every 
 day we used to pitch our camp. I think it sufficiently 
 interesting to merit a mention. The men commenced by 
 cutting down the grass from a fairly large piece of ground. 
 In the centre the ground was levelled, and on this my tent 
 was pitched. In front of my tent the loads were piled in 
 heaps ; then all round in groups of four or five the men 
 made for themselves little conical huts, the framework of 
 which they used to cover with long grass. Around the 
 camp a " boma " enclosure was erected. My caravan, 
 including the women of the Wangwana and their slaves, 
 amounted to about lOO individuals — a very small caravan 
 indeed. Nevertheless it is a pleasure to look back and 
 remember that I was obeyed to the letter. My Wangwana 
 soon learnt that they had to obey as well as the others. 
 Of course I had to commence by using "kiboko";* but 
 after a short time this was unnecessary, and I had only to 
 give an order for it to be obeyed at once. 
 
 We were now in Uhha, the country of the Wahha. No 
 white men had so far crossed their country. When 
 Stanley went in search of Livingstone he tried to cross 
 the southern extremity of Uhha, but was compelled to 
 turn back so as to avoid the extortionate demands made 
 upon him by the chiefs. Since then all the travellers 
 * Rhinoceros-hide whip. 
 Y 321 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 going to or coming from Ujiji have followed the road 
 through Uvinza. 
 
 On the 2nd of July, after passing a good many groups 
 of huts, I pitched camp among long grass near a small 
 river. The natives appeared friendly and brought us 
 food and goats for sale. Many of them also came out 
 of curiosity to see a white man — a species of animal they 
 had never seen before. The women and children were 
 most shy, and would not allow me to come near them, 
 running away when I approached within a dozen yards. 
 There were but few trees near the place, so that I could 
 not get a " boma " built round my camp. 
 
 At 3 a.m. I was awakened by shots followed by piercing 
 screams. As I jumped out of bed, gun in hand, several of 
 the women and many of the children of my caravan 
 rushed into my tent uttering deafening shrieks. I darted 
 out and found all my men firing at random in the dark. 
 I first stopped them and enquired what was the cause 
 of this commotion. It appeared that some natives had 
 broken into the camp, fired shots, and taken advantage 
 of the confusion to steal a large number of things. I 
 called the two sentries and asked them to give me their 
 account of the affair. They came forward unarmed, and 
 when I told them to go and get their guns they hesitated, 
 and then confessed that they had gone to sleep, and that 
 their guns had been taken from them, They slept so 
 soundly that the thieves had actually taken the guns 
 from under their heads without their noticing it. 
 Promising to deal with them in the morning, I went 
 through the camp to see if anyone was wounded ; while 
 I did so I heard a rustle in the grass, soon followed by 
 a shot. I ordered my men to fire a volley in that 
 direction. I heard a scream, but the fellow, who had 
 evidently been winged, had already escaped when I sent 
 men to fetch him. Having placed fresh sentries, with 
 the promise of one hundred lashes if they went to sleep, 
 I retired to bed. 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 In the morning I made an inventory of the goods that 
 had been stolen : two rifles, my mackintosh, the waterproof 
 cover of my bedding, my coffee filter, a teapot, axes, and 
 many other things had been taken away by the thieves. 
 To allow this to pass unpunished was to expose myself 
 to be killed with all my caravan the following night, as 
 natives will only respect your life if they think that you 
 do not fear them. I therefore sent for the chief of the 
 next village, and he soon came accompanied by two 
 followers. The moment they appeared they were seized 
 by my men and securely handcuffed and chained up. 
 Then I represented to the chief Umteko the hideous- 
 ness of his conduct in attacking travellers who passed 
 through his country paying for all they had and respecting 
 the people's property. He replied that the thieves were 
 very bad people, but that he knew nothing about them. 
 This, I pointed out to him, was a lie, as the attack had 
 not been made by a single individual but by an armed 
 band, who would not have acted without his knowledge. 
 I then informed him of my decision : he would have to 
 send back to the village one of the two men I had 
 captured with him to warn the people that, unless all 
 the things that had been stolen were returned to me by 
 noon, I would hang him to a tree I pointed out to him. 
 He again protested his innocence, and offered to take 
 " Muavi " (to undergo the trial by poison). I declined 
 to listen to anything, and, unfettering one of his two 
 followers, told him to go and take my words to the 
 people of the village. Soon after a band of about 
 200 men, armed with spears, bows and arrows, appeared 
 on the other side of the river and halted within 200 
 yards of it. The pluckiest of them came forward and 
 shouted to me to come to the side of the water with not 
 more than two men. I did so, and through my inter- 
 preter asked the herald to come on my side of the river 
 to talk over matters, but this he absolutely declined to 
 do. So the negotiations were howled across the stream. 
 323 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 I repeated the message I had already sent to the village, 
 to the effect that I would hang the chief by noon unless 
 my stolen property was restored by that time. The 
 herald, having carried this message to the warriors, 
 returned. None of the people, he said, knew about the 
 attack made against my camp ; but if I liked to stop 
 there till the following day they would send for the 
 two principal chiefs of the district, Kisa and Niao Nalozi, 
 who would make enquiries and get back my things. 
 
 " Where is their village ? " I said. 
 
 They pointed to a couple of villages two or three 
 miles distant. I replied that white men did not know 
 what to-morrow meant ; the chiefs did not live far away, 
 so if they chose they might go there, but in the meantime 
 at noon I would fulfil my threat. Once more the herald 
 returned to the main body of warriors, and returned to say 
 that they were going to make enquiries. 
 
 One hour later all of them came back, observing the 
 same precautions as before, and the heralds appeared near 
 the river. They had, they began, made enquiries, but 
 in vain. Evidently the thieves must have come from very 
 far away, for they could find no trace of them. Again 
 they suggested that I should wait till the following day. 
 In the meantime if I released their chief he would go him- 
 self to try and find my goods. All this, it must be under- 
 stood, was not expressed in a few words, but was 
 accompanied by endless speeches absolutely beside the 
 question, and the Shauri (palaver) had already lasted more 
 than two hours. I declined to continue the discussion any 
 longer, and ordered the preparations to be made for the 
 execution. A stout rope was passed over a branch of 
 the tree ready to hoist the prisoner. Seeing that I was 
 in earnest, the natives then suggested that they should 
 pay me a ransom for the life of their chief. This I 
 declined to accept, adding that now I would no longer 
 be satisfied with the return of the stolen property, but that 
 the thief I had wounded on the previous night would also 
 324 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 have to be handed over to me to be hanged, or else, 
 not only would I execute Umteko, but I would also 
 make most powerful " medicine " to cast a spell over 
 the land, causing the cattle to die and the people to suffer 
 from all kinds of terrible evils. Back went all the party to 
 the village. When they came back they brought over 
 with them six very thin goats and one very stout woman 
 ornamented with a huge snake tattooed, or rather carved 
 with a knife, on her chest and stomach. Thus, they 
 thought, they might appease my wrath, but I declared 
 that white men never took women. 
 
 " But," shouted the herald, " look at her, how fine, how 
 fat she is, look at her back." ... I was not, after all, 
 particularly anxious to hang the chief, and was rather 
 glad to find this loophole that would save me from keeping 
 my word ; but I declined to take the lady, and told one 
 of my men to explain, when I should have retired, that I 
 might release the old man if many goats were brought to 
 me. Half an hour later came ten goats and a little boy 
 of six or seven years of age. Tired of the whole thing, 
 I accepted the ransom, and released the prisoners. Before 
 they went, however, I told the chief that if during the 
 following day my things were brought back to me, I would 
 give the bearer a piece of thirty yards of calico, but 
 that otherwise I should make " medicine " to inform 
 my white brothers at Tabora, some 300 miles away, of 
 what had happened, and they would come and burn every 
 hut in the place. I may add that the goods never turned 
 up, but my medicine must have appeared miraculous 
 to the natives, as a few days later I met, as will be 
 seen, a German caravan of 100 soldiers with a cannon, 
 who fully avenged me. 
 
 I then turned to the little boy who had been brought to 
 me, and told him that white men had no slaves, and that 
 if he liked he could go away: if he cared to stop with me I 
 should give him good clothes and good food. He made 
 no reply, but followed me when I started. I afterwards 
 325 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 found out his story. He came from the other side of Lake 
 Tanganika, and a year or so before his brother had sold 
 him to an Arab for two yards of caHco. On. the way to 
 the coast he fell ill, and being unable to go on was sold to 
 Umteko for five goats. He was very fat, and my men 
 nicknamed him Mbo Mbili, "double tummy." He had 
 never seen a white man before, and his first impressions 
 were most interesting. He told my men that white men 
 were very peculiar. " Why," he said, " they have big feet 
 without toes, and with horn underneath." This, of course, 
 referred to my bootS; which he had taken to /be part of my 
 body. The second day he was with me David sent him to 
 get a light from my tent ; he collected a bunch of dry 
 grass, and sticking this against the glass of my lantern 
 blew hard on it. To his astonishment it did not burn. 
 Three times he repeated this operation, and then left my 
 tent, shaking his head and saying, " The fire of the great 
 master, he refuses " {Moto ya Bwana Nkuba anakatd). 
 Whenever we reached a village he used to come to me, 
 saying that he had discovered some goats for sale. I 
 thought him most useful, but soon found out that he was 
 not disinterested in the matter. It appears that he told 
 my men, " Well, I must get goats, as these white men are 
 so fond of meat. The Bwana Nkuba' (big master) gets a 
 goat killed every other day ; he has only a dozen or so 
 with him, and as he has a long, long way to go, when 
 all the goats have been killed, unless he finds others, he 
 will certainly eat me, as I am so fat." For a long time he 
 imagined that this would be his ultimate fate. I may add 
 that the belief that white men eat natives is universal 
 among savage tribes : this legend has been circulated by 
 the Arabs in order to prevent their slaves from running 
 away and seeking refuge among the whites. But to return 
 to Malainga — my little slave : he was such a good boy that 
 I took a great fancy to him, and brought him also with me 
 to Europe. After his arrival here friends of mine offered 
 to look after him. He received much care and attention 
 326 
 
FROM -UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 from Miss Grace Burns, of Hamilton, and I must say that 
 he proved worthy of the kindness shown to him. He went 
 to Scotland in August, 1894, not knowing then a single 
 word of English, but notwithstanding this he passed the 
 fifth standard some months ago. This reflects the greatest 
 credit on the child, and also, I must say, on his kind 
 mistress. He has never been ill since he has been in 
 Scotland, and does not suffer from the climate in the 
 least. 
 
 Now to return to my journey. Fearing that the 
 natives might take advantage of the night to take back 
 the ten goats they had handed over to me, I left this 
 inhospitable spot and made my way towards Mount 
 Hero, a conspicuous landmark. Before reaching it we 
 crossed the Rusizi river, and I pitched camp on high 
 ground some 500 yards from a village. Fearing a fresh 
 attack I placed three sentries about the camp, with orders 
 to keep a sharp look-out, and to shoot down anyone who 
 did not stop after being challenged. Had I been attacked 
 I could not have resisted for more than a few minutes, as I 
 had only a dozen guns altogether. 
 
 During the night a number of natives came by, but, 
 perceiving my sentinels by the light of our fires, they 
 cried out to them not to shoot, as they were only passing 
 by. They were all going to the village close to my 
 camp, and all night long I could hear them singing, 
 dancing, and beating the war drums. I thought it just 
 possible that some surprise was in store for me, and so I 
 determined to watch myself About two in the morning 
 many of them passed by us again, but on being challenged 
 they sheered off I am sure that it was only to these 
 precautions that we owed our safety. From enquiries 
 made in this place I found that to the south, in the valley 
 through which the river Rusizi runs, are to be found the 
 Uvinza. Their country supplies all the salt used in the 
 surrounding districts. From this point two roads lead 
 to Urambo. The one most used passes through Uvinza, 
 327 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 while the other, which we took, crosses the southern- 
 portion of Uhha. 
 
 The first day's march after leaving Mount Hero was 
 a difficult one. About midday we reached the river 
 Mogunja, which runs through one of the worst bogs I 
 ever saw. The natives have built a bridge over it, about 
 lOO yards long, but it does not reach the dry ground on 
 either side of the bog, so that to get to it it is necessary 
 to wade for a distance of nearly ten yards through liquid 
 mud about three feet deep. It took my caravan three- 
 quarters of an hour to get across, but my donkey had 
 now to be taken over. He could not pass over the bridge, 
 consisting of a few logs of wood supported by piles, and 
 he had therefore to be driven through the mud. Ten men 
 had to work for three hours before they could succeed in 
 landing him safely on the other side. Several times one 
 or two of the men and the donkey disappeared entirely 
 under the mud, and it took the united efforts of all the 
 others to extricate them. I was much relieved when they 
 had got safely over, as once or twice I feared that one of 
 the men would be drowned. Ukaia, a vassal of 'Mtali, 
 lives near this place ; he gave me a beautiful sheep, and 
 I bought a dog of him. I had much difficulty in getting 
 him to part with it, as it was his " Musimo." He told me 
 that if I wished to prevent the dog from running away, 
 I was to rub his paws with meat. 
 
 That night we had another alarm. Thieves again tried 
 to break into the camp, but the sentries noticed them and, 
 firing at them, put them to flight ; shortly after the village 
 dogs began to bark, evidently disturbed by the return of 
 the robbers. 
 
 Next morning we passed through a forest, where we 
 found an abandoned village, Indoba. The people had 
 left everything behind them — evidently pursued by an 
 enemy. We continued our march for two hours and a 
 half across the forest, in the middle of which we found 
 the remains of a big encampment, and there we pitched 
 328 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 our camp for the night. On the previous day one of my 
 Arabs purchased a woman for the price of four dotis. 
 
 On July 6th, after two hours' march through the forest, 
 we came out upon an undulating plain dotted with palm 
 trees and covered with many little villages. We camped 
 near 'Mtali's village. My Arabs assured me that 'Mtali 
 would make me pay a considerable " hongo " (right-of-way 
 tax). My camp had hardly been pitched when some 
 messengers arrived, bringing me a big jar of milk, some 
 eggs, two fowls, and a sheep. These were all sent by 
 'Mtali. I sent him my thanks, and said I would call and 
 see him when it was cooler. I was delighted to get 
 fresh milk, but could not make out why it had such a 
 pronounced taste of ammonia. I discovered afterwards 
 that the natives of this country look to the cow to supply 
 the necessary liquid to rinse the wooden jars used to hold 
 the milk, the shepherds carefully washing their hands and 
 face with the same liquid before milking the animal. A 
 number of people then came to stare at me. During the 
 day, when I talked of going to see the chief, old Njumba 
 Serere, my headman, informed me that it was useless, as 
 he would not receive me. The Arabs appeared to fear 
 him very much, and none of my men seemed inclined 
 to accompany me. I told them that if they did not care 
 to accompany me they could stop behind, and that I 
 would go with David alone. In the end live bold fellows 
 made up their minds to come with me. The village was 
 surrounded with a natural " boma " of big trees : inside 
 were many huts shaped like beehives. At last I stood 
 before 'Mtali. He was a man of about thirty years of 
 age, very fat, but with very pleasant manners. I gave 
 him five dotis of "Amerikani," * and one doti of beautiful 
 red cloth, which seemed to please him very much. He 
 told me I should find a white man encamped on the other 
 side of the Malagrazi river, and promised to let me 
 have boats to cross the river. I learned that he expected 
 * American sheeting. 
 329 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 to be attacked by his brother, Umtagazo, who was jealous 
 of the '"hongo" paid to 'MtaH. As I was leaving he sent 
 to ask me if I would stay and help him with my men and 
 guns. If I had been strong enough I would have accepted, 
 in order to get some idea of how these people make war, 
 so I sent word that if the white man on the other side of 
 the river would join me, I might return " to see the fun." 
 I was much astonished to find there enormous quantities 
 of beautiful cattle. They are the only ones I have found 
 north of the Zambezi of such size : some of the bulls are 
 over seventeen hands high. They have no hump, and 
 their horns are of enormous size and span. The most 
 remarkable fact with regard to these animals is that they 
 have escaped the "sotoka" — rinderpest — while it has been 
 sweeping away all the animals in every one of the surround- 
 ing districts. These oxen are not, however, indigenous to 
 that district, but have been imported there by the Watusi, 
 a nomadic tribe closely allied to the Wahima inhabiting 
 the western shore of Lake Victoria Nyanza. These 
 Watusi are a race absolutely distinct from the Bantu 
 family among which they have settled, and, from their 
 appearance, I should say that if they are not a branch 
 of the Somali family, the two races must at least come 
 from a common stock. Like the Somali they are slim 
 in body, with fine extremities. They have a long, narrow 
 face with the skin drawn tightly over it ; the mouth is 
 narrow, showing the teeth well when they speak ; the nose 
 is long and straight ; the forehead high and the hair silky, 
 undulating, and growing evenly over the head, not in 
 bushy patches like the Bantus. Their demeanour is sober 
 and most dignified ; their colour is light brown. In fact, 
 they so resemble the Somali, that when they see Somali 
 they say, " Oh, these are our brothers ! " The Watusi 
 have adopted the language of the people among whom 
 they live, but they do not consider themselves as subjects 
 of the chiefs in whose country they dwell. Their principal 
 — almost only — occupation consists in tending the cattle, of 
 330 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 which they take remarkable care. At night, for instance, 
 they light huge fires covered with green bushes in the 
 middle of the kraals ; the cattle collect around these, and 
 thus, while getting warm, they also avoid the bites of 
 mosquitoes. Another striking thing is the tameness of the 
 animals, among which the Watusi will walk, pulling their 
 tails, stroking their heads, and climbing on their backs 
 without the least sign of irritation on the part of the animals. 
 
 I should have liked to be able to study this tribe 
 carefully, but could not do so on account of the hostility 
 of the Wahha. It may be added that they have a 
 tradition that they originally came from the north. The 
 Waganda might be, and most likely are, an offshoot of this 
 race, with a certain amount of Bantu blood among them. 
 The people of Uganda greatly appreciate Watusi, or 
 rather Wahima, women. Watusi and Wahima are, as 
 I said, the same tribe, but the former have penetrated 
 more to the south than the latter. 
 
 The following day we reached the Malagrazi river ; it 
 was about forty yards broad, and of a distinctly reddish 
 colour. The canoes were of two sorts ; some hollowed 
 out of palm trees and the others made of bark sewn 
 together with palm fibre. The latter are from twelve to 
 twenty-four inches broad and from twelve to fifteen feet 
 long. It is positively marvellous to see what they can 
 carry : in the smallest I stowed seven men and some of 
 the baggage. Our crossing took two hours, and I found 
 it most difficult to prevent the men, women, and children 
 from crowding the boats. I pitched camp on the other 
 side of the river, where I heard that two Europeans 
 were in the neighbourhood. Anxious to get news, I 
 sent them a letter. 
 
 The next day an answer came. The two Europeans 
 were Germans, Herr Siegl and Lieutenant von Bodmer, 
 on their way from Tabora to Ujiji with a hundred soldiers. 
 They- were stopping with the chief, Luhaga, and they 
 asked me to wait for them. At ten o'clock they turned 
 331 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 up, and halted near the river. I found them charming 
 men. Siegl, who was in command of the expedition, was 
 an Austrian, and von Bodmer an officer in the German 
 army. Siegl only intended to go on a visit to Ujiji, and 
 hoped to return by Karema, There was no news from 
 Europe. He was no whit better off in this particular than 
 I was, his last letters dating from December. During 
 the day 'Mtali sent messengers, imploring the whites "to 
 
 CROSSING THE MALAGRAZI RIVER. 
 
 come and sleep at his place," as he expected to be attacked 
 during the night by Umtagazo. At Siegl's suggestion I 
 determined to return to 'Mtali's with him. I stopped 
 there two days with the Germans. The chief sent us 
 quantities of kombe for our men, and presented the 
 Germans with some fine tusks of ivory, and some thirty 
 head of cattle ; these Siegl asked me to take to Tabora, 
 and presented me with a milch cow for my trouble. 
 'Mtali then explained the cause of the row with his 
 brother : it appears that Umtagazo, jealous of the great 
 number of Arab caravans passing through 'Mtali's country, 
 332 . ■ 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 demanded from him a half share of the hongo — price paid 
 for right of way — extorted from the Arabs. 'Mtali dechned 
 to give him anything, and Umtagazo decided to fight him. 
 Siegl sent messengers to Umtagazo, ordering him to 
 desist from hostilities and to come to him. At first he 
 refused to do so, but next day he sent word that he was 
 coming, and all chance of a fight seeming over I took my 
 leave of Siegl. The fight came off all the same, as will 
 be seen. 
 
 Two days later I found my donkey's head and muzzle 
 all covered with hard swellings. His gums were bleeding 
 and in a frightful state of congestion, and his tongue was 
 enormously swollen, his breathing very difficult, and his 
 extremities quite cold. I had his belly rubbed with 
 Elliman's embrocation, and applied ' mustard plasters to 
 his legs. He had great trouble to keep on his feet, but 
 after a time my treatment seemed to have brought him 
 round a little. At 6.30 we started, and kept going till a 
 quarter to eight, when down he tumbled. He got up, 
 then fell again. He tried to walk, but trembled on his 
 legs, and began knocking himself against the trees. I 
 could see he was suffering terribly. I once more applied 
 Elliman and mustard, but it was no good. He was 
 taken with convulsions, and began biting the ground. All 
 treatment was useless, so I put an end to his sufferings 
 with a bullet through his head. I made a rapid post- 
 morteiu, and found pulmonary and intestinal congestion, 
 but no ulceration. The Mtusi, who drove the oxen, 
 informed me that this was the " sotoka " — rinderpest ; * 
 in any case, it was neither " lung sickness " nor " horse 
 sickness." After passing Yakelela, of which Mokeba was 
 the chief, we arrived at another village, surrounded by a 
 good boma, five or six hundred yards further on. 
 
 * After comparing the symptoms of the attack, and the state of the organs 
 after death, with the description given in the Bechuanaland Government 
 Gazette of rinderpest, I had no doubt that the animal had died of this 
 disease. 
 
 333 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Some natives, who had arrived from the Malagrazi 
 river, said that they had heard the boom of cannon. I 
 concluded that the Germans must have been fighting 
 after all. 
 
 Next day, after five hours' march, nearly all the time 
 across forests and over low hills, we reached Kulonga, 
 whose chief was Sahiri. It is a big village, surrounded 
 by a boma, with inner bomas, inside one of which I 
 camped. Shortly after my arrival I heard an ass bray. 
 I sent David to find out to whom it belonged. It 
 appeared that it had been left for dead by some Arabs 
 a few months earlier. One of the natives had taken it 
 in, and was willing to sell it for a trifle. I bought it for 
 ten dotis of "Amerikani" and one piece of handkerchiefs, 
 glad to be able to replace so soon the one I had lost. 
 
 At sunset some of my people rushed into camp with 
 the news that a herd of oxen was coming, driven away 
 from the seat of the war that the Germans were making. 
 The news I had received the day before was therefore 
 correct. My headman informed me in the evening that 
 the people meant to attack me during the night. 
 
 In order to avoid a surprise, I stationed sentinels 
 around the camp, and before sunrise I had the baggage 
 taken out of the village. I then sent for the chief Sahiri, 
 and told him that I was perfectly aware that he had 
 meant to attack me, and that I should take possession 
 of all the oxen in the village, amounting to nearly one 
 hundred ; and that I would hand them over to the 
 Germans at Tabora, where he could go and claim them, 
 adding that they would only be returned to him if I was 
 not attacked so long as I was in Uhha. Unfortunately 
 they were somewhat in the nature of a white elephant, 
 as I had not enough men to drive them ; and while I 
 was considering what I should do, Sahiri's people came 
 rushing out of the village, crying " Vita ! Vita ! " (" War ! 
 War ! ") Threats, cries, howls, assailed us on all sides. 
 They would smash me ; they would not allow the oxen 
 334 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 to go ; and so on and so on. I walked towards them 
 with David, rifle in hand. In one moment the whole 
 band took to their heels. When we entered the village 
 not a soul remained there. I wanted, if possible, to avoid 
 a fight : so, giving my gun to one of my men, I cried out 
 to the people hidden in the long grass that I wanted to 
 speak to them, and that if they came forward I would not 
 hurt them. After a great deal of hesitation, one fellow 
 at last came to a spot about fifty yards from me. I told 
 him that I had no wish to make war against them ; that 
 I had taken possession of the oxen because they had 
 meant to attack me. I then added that I had not the 
 slightest desire to keep their oxen, but that I insisted on 
 the payment of a fine for their having threatened me. 
 After I had wrangled with them for some time, it was 
 agreed that they should pay me a fine of three animals. 
 So I went with three men to give them back their oxen, 
 keeping three fine beasts. But then a fresh row sprang 
 up ; they declared that there were six short in the herd. 
 It was just possible that they were ahead with the oxen 
 from 'Mtali belonging to the Germans, but I did not 
 know. However, I was sick of the thing, and I wanted 
 to close the incident. So to conclude the matter I pro- 
 posed to give them six pieces of " Amerikani " for the 
 animals they pretended were missing. The three animals 
 paid to me as a fine I handed later on to the Germans, 
 for of course I considered this " take " to belong to them. 
 The incident over, we started, and, after a wearying 
 march of more than five and a half hours across a sandy 
 plain, I arrived at 'Mforongo, where Kisinda was chief 
 This village was surrounded by a natural boma of 
 euphorbus trees. Most of the huts were in the shape of 
 a beehive, but pointed at the top. Kisinda being absent 
 on a visit to Luhaga, the paramount chief of the district, 
 his prime minister brought me some rice and five or six 
 baskets of patatas. I then had the honour of a visit from 
 the sister of Luhaga. ■ She came to ask me for some 
 335 
 
. THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 medicine for her stomach, as she complained of great 
 suffering, and thought I might be able to afford her relief 
 I did my best, but I am afraid that she did not appreciate 
 my medicine, as she complained that " it did not taste 
 bad at all"! 
 
 The next day, after crossing a big swamp, we arrived at 
 Irindi. At last we were in Unyamwezi, and I felt very 
 glad to think that at length I was out of Uhha. The huts 
 were quite different from those of the Wahha, being 
 pointed, with the roof descending till it almost touched 
 the ground, and with a little kind of verandah running 
 all round. By the side of each hut is a smaller one for 
 the Musimo, such as I have before described ; the natives 
 preserve their grain by storing it in immense bottles of 
 wood, some of them over six feet high. 
 
 I found the Wanyamwezi very different from their 
 Wahha neighbours. I was greeted most hospitably in all 
 the villages I came across. I was only disturbed several 
 times by lions that broke out among the cattle during the 
 night, and at the end of five days, on July 23, I arrived at 
 Urambo. I had written to Mr. Shaw, the missionary in 
 charge of the London Missionary Society's station, 
 announcing my arrival, and saying that I expected to 
 stop at a native village that day. I did not wish to arrive 
 at the Mission on a Sunday ; but on the way some 
 messengers arrived with a charming letter begging me to 
 come straight on. The country we crossed was thickly 
 strewn with villages, and after a march of three hours and 
 a half we arrived at the Mission. Mr. Shaw received me 
 with the greatest kindness and cordiality ; his wife was a 
 charming, elegant, and refined lady. She was the proud 
 mother of an adorable baby, who seemed to be in the best 
 of health, and who had not the curious waxy complexion 
 so common to white children brought up in Africa. 
 
 The Urambo Mission was founded in 1881, and for 
 more than ten years Mr. Shaw had been at its head. The 
 house he occupied was quite new ; it had already been 
 336 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 burnt down twice, once by lightning, and once by a 
 servant. From the windows stretches quite a fairy view of 
 the surrounding country, the house being situated on the 
 top of a hill. All the doors and windows are of the 
 mahogany of the country, and of rosewood. In the 
 dining-room there is a superb sideboard and table, also 
 made from native wood, and of perfect workmanship. 
 What struck me most was the simple elegance and 
 good taste reigning in this pleasant household. Pretty 
 services of china appeared at meals ; spotless, well-washed, 
 and embroidered table-linen, all so clean and well kept 
 that you could hardly believe yourself in the heart of 
 Africa. But from this description my readers must not 
 imagine that a missionary's life is all rosy. All the little 
 refinements of civilized life are only obtained at an 
 enormous expenditure of time and trouble, during the 
 rare intervals of leisure that the constant labour connected 
 with the Mission leaves to Mr. and Mrs. Shaw. They are 
 never idle for a moment ; and when one thinks of the 
 pecuniary resources at their disposal the result is simply 
 marvellous. To say that I was feasted, petted, and spoilt 
 at Urambo would give but a very poor idea of how I was 
 treated. I shall never forget the kindness I received 
 there ; kindness offered so cordially and so generously 
 that I shall ever be touched by its recollection. 
 
 Mr. Shaw is one of the few missionaries I came across 
 who realized that his duty did not consist in baptizing the 
 greatest possible number of natives, and thus being able 
 to show that he had converted so many heathen. His 
 conception of the duty imposed on him by his calling was 
 loftier : he took great interest in the welfare of the people, 
 without distinction between those who attended the 
 Mission and those who declined to do so. He tried to 
 educate the people by teaching them to lead cleaner and 
 healthier lives than they did when he first came among 
 them ; he taught many of them trades, and showed them 
 how to use what Nature had given them. As I said 
 339 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 just now, his own house was a marvel considering that 
 it had been entirely built from materials found in the 
 country. 
 
 What struck me most, as one of the results of his 
 instruction, was the gentlemanly behaviour of the young 
 chief of Urambo, " Tuga Moto," son of the celebrated 
 Mirambo. This lad of fifteen, the son of a Watusi 
 woman, had most refined features, with large expressive 
 
 TUGA MOTO, CHIEF OF URAMBO. 
 
 eyes and a golden complexion. When he came to see me 
 I was much impressed by his dignified appearance and his 
 reserved, though not shy manners ; and when I returned 
 his call he received me with perfect courtesy, offering me a 
 chair — a present from Mr. Shaw — and doing the honours 
 of his home in a way I never found in any other native. 
 He was most respectful to his mother, and lacked the 
 arrogance displayed by most boy chiefs towards their 
 inferiors. All this was due to the teaching of Mr, and 
 340 
 
FROM UJIJI TO URAMBO 
 
 Mrs. Shaw, in whose house he had lived for several years. 
 I was much interested in a necklace that came from his 
 father, Mirambo. This was made entirely of human teeth ; 
 there were eighty-four of them, each one having been 
 extracted from the mouth of an Arab slain by Mirambo. 
 
 3.41 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE WANYAMWEZI 
 
 WHILE at Urambo I was enabled to collect a good 
 deal of information concerning the Wanyamwezi. 
 The first subject that naturally engages one's attention 
 is the political constitution and conditions of the people. 
 At the head of all, and possessing absolute power, is a 
 principal chief called Umtene, which means " King." The 
 monarchy is elective, not hereditary, although, generally 
 speaking, a new ruler is chosen from among the nearest 
 relatives of the deceased monarch. Thus when Mirambo 
 died he was succeeded by his brother Upanda Chalo, who 
 in turn was followed by Tuga Moto, a son of Mirambo. 
 On his succession the King takes a special name, by 
 which alone he is known and addressed during his tenure 
 of power. 
 
 Next to the King come the chiefs, or viceroys, of the 
 various districts, called "Wagani," nominated by the 
 people and chosen by the King on the occasion of the 
 latter's election ; then the vassal chiefs, hereditary in 
 certain places in the country of Unyamwezi proper, but 
 nominated by the King in countries that have been 
 conquered and annexed. All these inferior chiefs have 
 power to decide questions of local and minor importance ; 
 but the Umtene alone has the power of life and death. 
 Even in cases decided in the first instance by the inferior 
 chiefs there is always a right of appeal to the King. 
 To his decision are referred the quarrels between the 
 chiefs themselves. Women, and even minors, can be 
 342 
 
THE WANYAMWEZI 
 
 elected or nominated chiefs ; and the former, especially 
 the Wogoli, or King's wives, exercise a great influence 
 in all state affairs. All these inferior chiefs, together with 
 certain officers of the royal household, form a council, 
 which it is the duty of the King to consult in all impor- 
 tant matters. This he does for some time after his 
 accession, and until his 
 power has been firmly 
 established, when he 
 usually acts on his own 
 initiative, and without 
 taking the trouble of call- 
 ing the council together. 
 
 The system of govern- 
 ment is distinctly feudal, 
 since every subject of the 
 King has, indirectly at 
 least, to render him cer- 
 tain services each year : 
 this is effected by each 
 
 WEAPONS OF THE WANYAMWEZI, 
 
 1. War Arrow. 
 
 2. Spear-head. 
 
 3. Hunting Arrow. 
 
 4. Wooden Arrow-head for birds. 
 
 by the people. The King and chiefs of districts are 
 entitled to a portion of the harvest ; but I was not able 
 to ascertain that this was a fixed quantity. I was told 
 that it varies considerably according to the size of the 
 villages, and according as the harvest has been good or 
 bad. 
 
 The religion of the Wanyamwezi is founded mainly on 
 the worship and cult of spirits, " Musimo." Their cere- 
 monies have but one object — the conciliation or propitiation 
 of these spirits. They have no idea of one supreme power 
 or God — personal or impersonal — governing the world, 
 and directing its destinies or those of individuals. They 
 believe in the earthly visitation of spirits, especially to 
 announce some great event, and more generally some big 
 disaster. Thus they tell how Mirambo one day met a 
 number of Musimo, carrying torches, who invited him to 
 343 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 follow them into the forest, which he did. Once there 
 they attempted to dissuade him from proceeding with a 
 war which he was then contemplating, and in which he 
 subsequently lost his life. 
 
 They believe also in " transmigration," both during life 
 and after it. Thus, according to them, a sorcerer can 
 transform himself into a wild animal in order to injure his 
 enemies ; but in such cases the change is not permanent, 
 and the soul does not remain in its new habitation. 
 
 The dead in their turn become spirits, under the all- 
 embracing name of Musimo. The Wanyamwezi hold 
 these Musimo in great dread and veneration, as well as 
 the house, hut, or place where their body has died. 
 Every chief has near his hut a Musimo hut, in which 
 the dead are supposed to dwell, and where sacrifices 
 and offerings must be made. Meat and flour are 
 deposited in the Musimo huts, and are not, as with 
 many other peoples, consumed afterwards. The common 
 people also have their . Musimo huts, but they are smaller 
 than that of the chief, and the offerings they make are, 
 of course, not so important as his. 
 
 They are constantly consulting oracles, omens, and 
 signs, and attach great importance to them. Fowls are, 
 for instance, slaughtered, and if on examination the 
 internal organs prove healthy and in good condition 
 (especially the heart and lungs) the sign is good, and 
 the enterprise in which they are about to engage will 
 proceed satisfactorily. The most solemn and important 
 consultation of the oracles, however, is made with the 
 assistance of a " Mfumu," or witch-doctor ; relations and 
 friends meet together, and are shortly afterwards joined by 
 the Mfumu with his instruments : these usually consist of 
 a number of little gourds filled with medicine, a wooden 
 instrument which opens and shuts like a concertina, a little 
 pot, and some tails of animals mounted on a stick. The 
 whole party then betakes itself to the Musimo house, in 
 front of which the Mfumu stands with the others arranged 
 344 
 
THE WANYAMWEZI 
 
 in a circle behind him. The Mfumu then holds a kind of 
 religious service ; he begins by addressing the spirits of 
 their forefathers, imploring them not to visit their anger 
 upon their descendants. This prayer he offers up kneeling, 
 bowing and bending to the ground from time to time. 
 Then he rises and commences a hymn of praise to the 
 ancestors, and all join in the chorus. Then, seizing his 
 little gourds, he executes a pas seul, after which he bursts 
 out into song again, but this time singing as one inspired. 
 Suddenly he stops and recovers himself All this time, 
 except when chanting, the spectators observe a most pro- 
 found silence. After a brief interval of silence the Mfumu 
 proceeds to publish the message which he has just 
 received from the Musimo. This he does by intoning 
 in a most mournful and dreary manner. The congrega- 
 tion then retire, and wind up the proceedings with a noisy 
 dance in the village. 
 
 Besides these consultations with the oracle there are 
 numberless ways of propitiating the Musimo. I ought 
 to say that the Wanyamwezi are great travellers, and for 
 nearly three months I was able to observe their customs, 
 having had during that time nearly 150 Wanyamwezi 
 porters in my service. The night before starting they put 
 big patches of moistened flour on their faces and breasts. 
 On the way, if by chance they are threatened with war 
 or any other difficulty, some of them go on ahead in the 
 early morning for about a hundred yards along the path 
 over which they are about to travel. They then place a 
 hand on the ground and throw flour over it in such a 
 manner as to leave the impression of a. hand on the soil. 
 At the same time they " wish " hard that the journey may 
 go off well. On the march from time to time each 
 of them will deposit in the same spot a twig of wood 
 or a stone in such a way that a great heap gets collected. 
 I have observed the same custom on the plateau of Tan- 
 ganika, but that was to ensure a safe return. If they halt 
 in the midst of high grass each will plait a handful of 
 345 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 grass, which they tie together so as to make a kind of 
 bower. In the forest, if they are pressed for time, each 
 will make a cut with a blow of a hatchet in a tree ; but if 
 they have time they will cut down trees, lop off the 
 branches, and place these poles against a big tree ; in 
 certain places I have seen stacks of hundreds of them 
 round a single tree. Sometimes they will strip pieces 
 of bark from the trees and stick them on the branches, 
 and at others they will place a pole supported by two trees 
 right over the path. On it they will hang up a broken gourd 
 
 SMALL MUSIMO HUTS IN THE FOREST. 
 
 or an old box made of bark. On some occasions they 
 will even erect a little hut made of straw to the Musimo 
 on the road itself, but this is usually done when they 
 are going on a hunting expedition and not a journey. 
 Near the villages where two roads meet are usually found 
 whole piles of old pots, gourds, and pieces of iron. When 
 a hunter starts for the chase he prays to the Musimo to 
 give him good luck. If he kills any big game he places 
 before the hut of his Musimo the head of the beast he has 
 killed, and inside a little of the flesh. This is a most 
 remarkable fact, as I have never found in any other part 
 of Africa the idea of a superior being whose help might 
 be invoked. 
 
 The customs connected with marriage are very similar 
 to those found among other tribes. Generally there 
 is a preliminary understanding or betrothal between 
 the young people themselves, called sohosa ; but the 
 young ladies are allowed full liberty before marriage. 
 A woman may even have relations with other men during 
 346 
 
THE WANYAMWEZI 
 
 the sohosa, provided that the engaged couple have not 
 definitely agreed to cohabit. When the father of the girl 
 has learnt the intention of the young (or old) man to 
 marry her, if he approves of the marriage — that is to say, 
 if the intending husband can pay him a sufficient quantity 
 of calico, beads, or their equivalent — the " young man " 
 comes and makes a preliminary present to him. The 
 dowry (paid to the father) is agreed upon, and its 
 payment is called Kufulu Pundu (the completion of the 
 arrangements). This dowry must be paid before the 
 marriage. The price of a free girl is from forty to 
 fifty "dotis"* (paid in slaves, calico, or copper); over 
 and above this a present ought to be made to the girl's 
 mother : this gift is called Sani, that to the father before 
 marriage Kiswanlandeso. All this having been duly 
 arranged, the girl's friends conduct the bride to the 
 young man's village ; he comes, accompanied by his 
 friends, half-way to meet her, bringing with him a quantity 
 of beads and calico, which he distributes on the way to 
 the people he meets. When the party arrives at the young 
 man's village they begin by dancing ; then they eat and 
 take pombe (men and women apart). The festival com- 
 mences in the early morning, and food is served towards 
 II o'clock. The banquet over, dancing begins again to 
 the sounds of drums and singing. "Shortly after the young, 
 but by no means shy, newly-married couple retire, and do 
 not put in an appearance again ; the friends continue 
 dancing and singing indecent songs about marriage and 
 its details. 
 
 Divorce cannot be claimed on account of sterility ; but 
 if a woman does not cook her husband's food properly, 
 has a bad temper, or commits the fault of dying, her 
 parents are bound to supply their son-in-law with another 
 wife in exchange for the defective article. The husband 
 must, however, pay something in compensation for the 
 wear and tear of his first wife if he wishes to be supplied 
 
 * A doti is a piece of calico four yards long. 
 347 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 with a substitute. Polygamy of course exists, but the first 
 wife is considered the principal one. 
 
 When a woman has had a child she ceases all relations 
 with her husband for a period of two years. The age of 
 marriage is among men from seventeen to twenty years, 
 among women from twelve to twenty. The King has 
 usually a wife in every village. Mirambo had about twenty, 
 and a thousand concubines. Adultery is of course severely 
 punished. The accused are brought before the King, and 
 if found guilty are sentenced to death. They are then 
 led into the forest and killed with assegais. 
 
 At a man's death the eldest son of his principal wife 
 inherits the larger portion of the property, including the 
 other wives of his father ; a share is, however, given to the 
 other children. Families are very small, males predomi- 
 nating ; women with more than one child are the exception. 
 Sometimes they have twins, but these seldom survive. 
 Three children are the most I found belonging to one 
 wife. Drugs are employed to produce sterility; this and 
 the practice of abortion account largely for the small size 
 of the usual family. The doctors administer drugs for this 
 purpose, but they keep them secret, and it is impossible 
 to obtain any precise information concerning them ; that 
 they exist, and are effective, is a certainty. If an un- 
 married girl gives birth to a child the father of the child 
 has a right to it ; but in any case if a man renders a girl 
 enceinte he must marry her before the child is born, other- 
 wise he is bound to pay for the woman and also for the 
 child about three times the value of the ordinary dowry. 
 
 Since the death of Mirambo the population has con- 
 siderably decreased, the causes assigned for this being 
 two years of famine and the disintegration of the empire. 
 In a radius of ten miles from Konongo, the capital district 
 of Unyoa, the population may be reckoned at 15,000. 
 Unyoa and Wiliamkuru are the central districts of the 
 Urambo. Besides these the following districts are feudal : 
 Uyogo, Usange, Usagosi, Umsene, Usarambo, Ubague, 
 348 
 
THE WANYAMWEZI 
 
 Kerera, Ushetu, Ukombe. In all, under the rule of Tuga 
 Moto there are at least fifty thousand souls. 
 
 Each man has his own field, and preserves all rights 
 over it so long as he maintains it in a certain state of 
 cultivation. 
 
 In September the ground is cleared and freed from 
 weeds. In October and November wood and grass are 
 burnt for manure, and in December and January the 
 ground is broken up with large hoes shaped like a heart. 
 The seeds are sown along the tops of the furrows. A 
 woman walks along making little holes in the ground, in 
 which she drops some seeds, while another follows her 
 and covers this hole with earth. Here and there in the 
 dry ground they make pits about a foot deep to collect 
 water. 
 
 They begin by sowing rice, then maize and millet, 
 together with vetch in alternate furrows, then beans and 
 monkey nuts among the maize. Cassava and patatas are 
 planted in January and February. Pumpkins are generally 
 planted by themselves in the villages about December. 
 The main harvest takes place in July, the first nuts being 
 collected about the end of June. 
 
 * The following are the principal products cultivated : — 
 
 1. Millet — Matama. 8. Monkey nuts — Kalanga. 
 
 2. Maize — Mdeke. 9. Pumpkins — Maboga. 
 
 3. Rice — Mpunga. 10. Gourds — Madodoke. 
 
 4. Cassava — Mohogo. 11. Bananas — Madoke. 
 
 5. Patatas — Kafu. 12. Tomatoes— Niania. 
 
 6. Various kinds of vetches. 13. Cotton — Lua, grows wild, but 
 
 7. Haricots — Mahargive is very little cultivated. 
 
 (always eaten dry). 
 The following woods are used for building purposes : — 
 
 1. Rosewood of two sorts : (a) " Umkolungu," the ordinary sort, and (6) 
 
 " Kasanda," of very fine grain, very hard, and unaffected by insects 
 and ants. 
 
 2. Teak— "Mininga." 
 
 3. Mahogany — " Umkola." The core of this wood is unaffected by insects, 
 
 but not the outside. 
 
 4. Lignum Vitse — "Muanga." 
 
 5. " Mgando " of two sorts : (a) The ordinary Mgando, which is a very 
 
 349 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 up in January and February; while the maize is sown very 
 early, so that it may be gathered in March and eaten green. 
 No one is allowed to gather in his harvest before the 
 chiefs' fields have been cleared. After the harvest there 
 is a kind of festival, accompanied by singing and dancing 
 and great jubilation generally. 
 
 Every year, or at most every two years, they change 
 the crop ; in fact there is a regulation rotation of crops, 
 although how this rotation is regulated I cannot say. 
 
 The bark of most of the big trees is largely used, and 
 from it are made most ingeniously constructed boats, bee- 
 hives, boxes for grain, and almost every kind of receptacle. 
 Cotton (" Lua ") is employed for making thread and a 
 certain stuff called masigeta. Baskets are largely used, 
 and the coarser sort are generally made of the palmus 
 borassus. Besides these one finds the ordinary rush 
 baskets, and others made from common grass. 
 
 The rainy season begins in November, and during that 
 and the following month there are constant little showers. 
 In January and February the rains are very heavy, and 
 the storms terrible. There is a short interval of about a 
 fortnight in February, but at the end of March and 
 beginning of April the downpour is heaviest. This 
 diminishes gradually towards the end of the month, and 
 in May the rain is over. Nearly all the heavy rains are 
 accompanied by thunderstorms, and many people are 
 struck and killed by the lightning. 
 
 resinous wood, and of which the natives manufacture charcoal, (d) 
 Mgando Karati, of very poisonous qualities, like aconite, from which 
 whole families have been known to succumb. This is what is generally 
 used for "Muavi." 
 
 6. " Mkune " — very hard wood, the colour of snuff. 
 
 7. "Umkukuti" — very hard ; light brown. 
 
 8. " Umsamua " — soft ; dark brown. 
 
 9. " Gogonde " — for making laths. 
 
 10. Wild plum — " Mlungulungu," a most useful wood: and numberless 
 other trees of small dimensions. 
 
 350 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 URAMBO TO TABORA 
 
 HAVING recruited men to complete my caravan I 
 left Urambo, sorry to leave my kind and hospit- 
 able friends. The first day's march was a short one, 
 to the Pero* or boundary of the district of Urambo. The 
 following- day I felt rather seedy at starting. With 
 difficulty I marched for two or three hours, and then felt 
 so bad that I could scarcely move. We were in an open 
 forest, and not expecting to find a village. I was about to 
 return when my men informed me that I should find 
 a small village quite close by. I dragged myself along. for 
 a quarter of an hour, having to rest every two or three 
 minutes, but the effort was so great that I felt quite 
 exhausted, and had to be helped by two men to reach the 
 village a mile further on. It consisted of a dozen huts in the 
 middle of a clearing. I threw myself down, and from that 
 moment until three days later I remember nothing. All 
 my men thought that I Was going to die, and were much 
 astonished when I appeared in front of my tent on the fourth 
 day. I then engaged eight men from the village to carry 
 
 * On many maps this Pero or Monosopero constantly appears as the 
 name of a village. This is a great mistake, as it merely means the last 
 village of a district. In the same way the word Guilmru means the capital 
 residence of the chief This reminds me of an amusing mistake that appeared 
 on a foreign map. The name of a village was put down as Sijui, which 
 means " I do not know." Evidently the traveller, ignorant of the language, 
 wrote down the reply he received from the man he questioned, and thus 
 arrived at this brilliant result. The only way to avoid such mistakes is to 
 make it a rule to enquire of various people before jotting down a name. 
 
 351 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 me to Tabora in a hammock. Of this part of my journey 
 I can say nothing. I merely remember being carried 
 through forests, all along which I noticed hundreds of poles 
 about fifteen to eighteen feet high piled up against trees. 
 I enquired what they were, and was told that they were 
 offerings to the " Musimo " (spirits). That same afternoon, 
 as soon as the camp was laid, as I was sitting in my 
 long chair, I noticed my men busy cutting trees and 
 clearing them of branches, and afterwards adding them 
 to one of the piles. This, they said, was to prevent 
 any harm happening to us, as otherwise the spirit of the 
 forest might be angry with us. 
 
 Whenever we camped on the edge of a grass plain they 
 used to plait together quite a number of pieces of grass, 
 thus forming a collection of arches to propitiate the spirit 
 of the plains. At the end of a few days we left the forest 
 and uninhabited plains, and found ourselves among grassy 
 hills covered with numerous villages. We were in 
 Unyanyembe. At last we reached Tabora, where I 
 was most hospitably received by Frau Siegl, the plucky 
 and charming wife of the officer I had met in the Wahha 
 country. Tabora was formerly one of the most important 
 centres of Central Africa. Through this place the caravans 
 bound for Ujiji, those going to Victoria Nyanza and 
 Uganda, as well as those proceeding towards Kazembe, 
 used to pass and halt for a month or two to recoup 
 themselves ; in fact, until fifteen years ago the whole of the 
 trade of Central Africa passed through Tabora. Now all 
 is changed. The ivory of the Manyema country goes 
 either by the Congo or else by Nyasaland or Uganda. 
 The trade of Uganda passes through the Masai country to 
 or from Mombasa, and Tabora has lost all its former 
 importance. Half a dozen Arab traders are still settled 
 there, and the Germans have erected a small fort or rather 
 built a wall around some Arab buildings in the village. It 
 was only in 1892 that they managed to break down 
 the power of Sikhi, an Arab chief, who lived some six 
 352 
 
URAMBO TO TABORA 
 
 miles from Tabora in the best fortified village of the whole 
 of Africa. Twice he repelled the Germans, but at last his 
 place was taken after a regular siege by one of the most 
 brilliant officers of the German service — Lieutenant Printz. 
 In the absence of the chief of the station, a non-com- 
 missioned officer was left in command. This man, who by 
 trade was a working baker, was thus in sole charge of 
 a district comprising over 40,000 square miles with a 
 population of nearly half a million of people. The natives 
 bitterly complained of him, and I must say that he was 
 not the man to raise the white men in their estima- 
 tion. What struck me most was the absolute lack 
 of respect this fellow and a companion of his (a hospital 
 sergeant) showed towards their officers. Even before me 
 — a stranger and a foreigner — they never ceased abusing 
 their officers and all their superiors, including the Governor- 
 General. I may add that this was not an isolated instance, 
 as I found the same disposition in every German non-com- 
 missioned officer I met, as will be seen further on in the 
 description of the gentleman at Bukoba. 
 - More than three weeks elapsed before I had altogether 
 recovered from the severe attack of fever that had nearly 
 carried me off after leaving Urambo. My stay at Tabora 
 was, however, not wasted, as I devoted my time to the study 
 of the Kswahili language. I also put into shape the survey 
 I had made of my route from Ujiji to Urambo, and I paid 
 several visits to the neighbouring villages. In one of these 
 I found the chief of Unyanyembe — a woman : she was 
 a constant visitor at the German station, only four miles 
 distant from her place, and the chief object of these visits 
 was to get a sip of Poinbe ya Ulaya (beer of Europe), the 
 native name for brandy. I confess that I considered it 
 a most disgraceful thing on the part of the Germans 
 thus to encourage among the natives a taste for spirits, 
 of which they were, so far, absolutely ignorant. The non- 
 commissioned officers thought it a great joke to send the 
 woman away drunk after she had come to call on them. 
 2 A 353. 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 My trading goods were nearly exhausted, and it was 
 absolutely necessary that I should invest in a fresh supply. 
 I found four or five Arab traders settled in the place. All 
 of them had a large stock of calico, beads, copper and 
 iron wire, the currency of the country, and I was much 
 astonished at the comparatively low prices they asked for 
 these— their prices being fully thirty per cent, below those 
 asked by the African Lakes Company at Blantyre. I 
 purchased a large stock of about 8000 yards of calico, 
 and, as usual, the Arab made no difficulty in accepting 
 my draft on Zanzibar in payment. 
 
 Six Mauser carbines and two donkeys were lent to 
 me by the Germans on the understanding that I should 
 hand them over to the officer in command of the station at 
 Muanza. I was assured that the country I was going 
 to cross was perfectly quiet, as the Waduhu had not 
 forgotten the lesson given to them by Mr. Stanley. 
 
 UNYAMWEZI HUT. 
 
 354 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 FROM TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA. 
 
 I LEFT Tabora on the 29th August, 1893. In an hour 
 and three-quarters' march we reached the village of 
 Malahani, the "pero" or frontier village of Unyanyembe. 
 
 The second day of the journey I started early, as the 
 principal village of Unye, for which we were making, is 
 a long march distant through a waterless forest. Nothing 
 of importance happened except the disappearance of one 
 of my men. He left his gun and cartridges, and made 
 off into the jungle. The astonishing thing (for an African) 
 was that to find the cause of his desertion you had to 
 chercher la feinme. And such a woman ! Ugly as the 
 seven deadly sins she appeared to rriy uninstructed eyes, 
 and for her this imbecile went off without forty-nine rupees 
 which I owed him. 
 
 Six hours' march on the 31st brought us to Isikisa, the 
 capital of Unye. Just before we arrived we heard several 
 shots in the distance. Knowing that there had been 
 war in this part, I lost no time in distributing cartridges to 
 my men — only of course to discover afterwards that the 
 shots formed part of the ritual of a big dance. I marched 
 past the village and camped a few hundred yards beyond, 
 at the station of Mr. Stokes, of whose subsequent death at 
 the hands of a Belgian officer I shall have something to say 
 presently. Soon after my arrival the chief Magembe, a 
 small boy of twelve, came to pay me a visit. He brought 
 me the usual present, a goat, five chickens, and two dozen 
 eggs — they were rotten, but that was a detail. In return 
 355 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 he made a modest demand for sugar and brandy. Here 
 I perceived at once the civiHzing influence of the Germans. 
 In the course of the day I returned his call. His village 
 is very large, and I had to pass no less than five stockades 
 before I reached his two palaces. I say palaces, because 
 I had never seen a native chief with so magnificent an 
 abode — two square houses some fifty feet high with large 
 thatched roofs. At the entrance was a verandah with 
 Moorish windows, from which circumstance I knew that 
 the houses had been built by an Arab. Although mag- 
 nificent, they were of course extremely dirty. The young 
 chief had twenty little slaves about eight to twelve years 
 old, and it was his great delight to beat them. He made 
 them file in front of him, and landed each of them a heavy 
 blow with a stick as he passed. He was especially trium- 
 phant >j/hen he left a good big weal. I should have 
 liked to give the little ruffian a couple of dozen for 
 himself I was detained here a second day by a sore foot, 
 due to the horrid jiggers, and took the opportunity to show 
 the chief a few simple conjuring tricks, to his immeasurable 
 astonishment ; and I had no cause to regret the delay, as 
 it enabled me to see a great dance which came off in the 
 afternoon. This was very interesting. The Mfumu (witch- 
 doctor) first danced a pas seul, accompanied by five tom- 
 toms, beaten with little sticks. He wore on his head a 
 diadem made out of a zebra's mane ; two bands of 
 goatskin were arranged crosswise over his chest, and his 
 arms were covered with the same. A piece of cloth hung 
 down to his knees in front and to his ankles behind. He 
 was also covered with anklets. He began by walking in 
 a circle in front of the drums, then gradually increased 
 his pace till he broke into a run. Then he stopped sud- 
 denly and began a jig, in the middle of which, heaving his 
 chest vigorously, with his arms stretched out before him, 
 he dropped to the ground. While dancing he sang a little 
 solo of his own, accompanied by the spectators. Then 
 he rose, and striking one of the drums two or three times 
 356 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 began another song, the whole company joining in the 
 chorus, after which he went through the whole of the 
 previous performance. This lasted all day and went on 
 till late in the night. A large crowd had collected round 
 him, and at times grew quite enthusiastic, men and women 
 divesting themselves of their ornaments, necklaces, bracelets, 
 and anklets, and throwing them at his feet — for all the 
 world like the crowd in a Spanish bull-ring when the 
 toreador has slain the bull. He picked up these presents 
 without speaking, and deposited them in front of the 
 orchestra of drums as he passed. The whole thing was 
 grotesquely impressive. 
 
 On the 22nd of September we marched three hours and 
 a half across sandy plains covered with brushwood and 
 dotted with numerous villages, until we reached the pero 
 of Unye. An hour further brought us to a little village 
 called Lukogo qua Kanaka, where we camped under a 
 group of very fine trees. The chief gave me a most 
 desirable sheep, a fowl, and some flour. 
 
 Since leaving Tabora I had discovered a new African 
 pest — a sort of tick. This abomination (" kufu " is its 
 native name) plants its head in your skin and sucks the 
 blood till its body is swollen to the size of a pea. If 
 it attacks you during the night and finishes its supper 
 undisturbed, you will find in the morning a little red point 
 at the spot where it has fed. It deposits in the wound a 
 sort of watery liquor, and five or six hours afterwards 
 this creates inflammation. Later on a blister is raised, 
 and the watery liquor contained in it produces a violent 
 sore. 
 
 Our first stopping-place the next day was the capital of 
 the district of Ndala ; its chief, Utao, is a woman. She 
 owns a fine herd of cattle, which escaped rinderpest when 
 it cleared the surrounding neighbourhood. Our road led 
 at first through a dry, sandy plain, with many small villages; 
 then we entered a forest. Never have I seen a forest of 
 so desolate an aspect — great trees without a single leaf on 
 357 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 them, while the ground was covered with brown leaves. 
 I might have thought myself in Europe at the beginning of 
 winter, and the blazing sun seemed oddly out of place. 
 After two hours we left this forest and came out on an 
 undulating plain, very dry, and thickly dotted with 
 villages. 
 
 September 4th was the anniversary of Sedan, and, like 
 our armies in 1870, I sustained a crushing defeat; and 
 my fate was still worse, for I was driven to an ignominious 
 flight. Two hours and a half over a dry undulating 
 country, covered with scrub and grass, brought us to a 
 little village where I meant to camp. We entered it, and 
 while I was having some food I saw some of my men leap- 
 ing out of one of the huts as if possessed of demons. Close 
 behind them came an army of bees. Everybody bolted 
 into the huts ; some daring heroes tried to save the goats 
 and fowls, which were attacked by the furious enemy. All 
 that were not brought in fled on every side — simply mad 
 with pain. One of my donkeys broke his tether and 
 dashed through the village at a furious gallop ; then, 
 charging into the tembe, burst through the outer wall 
 and escaped into the open country. My other two 
 donkeys, whose ropes were too strong for them, rolled 
 on the ground and howled ; I had followed the example 
 of the natives and dashed into one of the huts, but upon 
 seeing this I wrapped myself in blankets, and, waving 
 torches of burning straw, hastened to the rescue. I managed 
 to get the donkeys loose and had them led out of the 
 village. I have seen a herd of oxen in terror of lions, 
 but never have I seen so many living creatures in such 
 mad panic as I saw on that day, and they had good reason. 
 Instead of flying in a compact swarm the bees darted 
 with the swiftness of lightning to every part of the village; 
 nobody could venture out of the huts without half a 
 dozen of them literally fastening themselves upon him; 
 if the door of a hut was so much as left ajar the swarm 
 of bees darted at the opening, and only in the darkest 
 358 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 corners could one escape their attack. In spite of their 
 great number there was no humming: it was a silent, grim, 
 pitiless onslaught. At the end of an hour I ventured 
 out of my retreat, as the bees seemed to have disappeared, 
 but in a moment I was attacked again and driven back 
 into the hut. At last when their numbers had diminished 
 I blew my whistle, the signal of the assembly. Every 
 burden was strapped on in the twinkling of an eye, and 
 we fled from the village. My men had never shown 
 themselves so nimble. 
 
 I soon discovered what had provoked this attack. The 
 Wanyamwezi of this part of the country are great bee- 
 keepers ; outside each village a few trees, which manage to 
 grow in the miserable sandy soil, are covered with artificial 
 hives— old gourds, with a hole bored through them ; pots 
 upside down ; old boxes made of bark, or any other thing 
 that comes handy. Besides this they put down in the 
 darkest corner of their huts short poles smeared with 
 honey, and on these the bees come and make their combs ; 
 almost every hut thus has its open hive. You can go near 
 and watch the bees at work. They are harmless if un- 
 disturbed. But it appeared that one of my men had gone 
 into a hut and carelessly lit a fire near one of the nests : 
 the disturbed bees rushed at him in a body; the alarm was 
 passed from hive to hive, and the scene I have just 
 described was the result. If we had not been able to 
 take shelter I verily believe that more than one of my 
 men would have been killed ; as it was, many of them 
 were stung most cruelly. The two donkeys, which had 
 not been able to escape immediately, were in a terrible 
 state an hour later, and in spite of several doses of 
 ammonia were very bad all night. Besides providing the 
 natives with honey their bees are most useful to defend 
 the villages from the attacks of an enemy. The villages 
 of this part of Africa greatly differ in construction from 
 those we had met so far : they consist of two walls, an 
 outer and an inner one, about ten feet apart, and made of 
 359 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 poles stuck in the ground and plastered over with earth 
 and cow-dung mixed together ; the space between these 
 two walls is covered up with a flat roof of sticks over 
 which is heaped a thick layer of earth. This sort of 
 covered gallery is then divided with partitions of sticks 
 plastered over like the walls. These chambers are used 
 by the natives instead of huts, so that in the centre of the 
 village is a huge open space where a single hut — the chiefs 
 residence — stands. These chambers in the walls are called 
 " tembe " ; they are very dark, light coming only through 
 the door opening inside the village. In the outer wall, 
 with the exception of the two doors leading into the 
 
 MY CAMP BEFORE A TEMBE 
 
 village, there are no openings. Small holes about half 
 the size of the hand are cut out and are used by the bees 
 to go outside. In case an enemy attempts to climb the 
 wall — about twelve feet high — he must put his foot inside 
 one of these openings, and immediately the bees rush to 
 attack him, and will drive away an army more effectually 
 than hundreds of .guns. 
 
 Next day we came to a village, in the middle of which 
 were three ostrich eggs fastened to a pole. Desiring to 
 buy one of these I went in. Not a soul was to be seen. 
 After waiting awhile I heard a noise in one of the huts, 
 and called to the people. No answer. Then my men 
 cried out to the inmates not to be afraid, I should do them 
 no harm. Still no answer. My men insisted, but all their 
 360 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 assurances were useless until they said I was not a 
 German. The effect was instantaneous : the people came 
 out of their huts in a moment. It happened to be a 
 chief's hut I had hit upon, and he gave me one of the 
 eggs. While we were talking David came to tell me that 
 some of my men, led by one of the German post-boys 
 who accompanied my expedition, were busy pillaging the 
 village. I hurried up and caught the post-boy and four of 
 my men in the act. One had in his hand a chicken he had 
 just killed, another a skin and three assegais; three dead 
 chickens lay on the ground. I had the malefactors seized, 
 paraded my men, and sent for the chief of the village. 
 " The people of this village are absent," I told him, " and 
 my men have profited by that fact to loot it. But white 
 men never steal, and do not allow their people to do so. 
 When your men return you can tell them how Mpanda 
 Chalo* punishes thieves." And on the spot I ordered 
 each of the guilty parties to receive two dozen. The chief 
 then explained to me that all the women and most of the 
 men of the village had fled, having heard that the Germans 
 were coming. This was the second time in two days that 
 I had heard the same tale. The day before, at the village 
 where I camped, the chief told me, as an excuse for giving 
 me only a little flour as a present, that all the women had 
 fled believing me to be a German. Wanyamwezi call the 
 Germans " Wa-daki," which may be translated " the men 
 of wrath." In vain did I explain to the natives that the 
 Germans were no worse than other people. " Yes, yes," 
 they answered, "they are; the Germans are bad men." 
 " But if their people do you any harm you have only to 
 complain to the Bwana Nkuba" (the "Big Master," chief 
 of a caravan or district). " Yes," they replied, " and if 
 you complain the Bwana Nkuba has you beaten. Their 
 soldiers steal everything and take women by force. Why 
 did Stokesi (Stokes) allow them to come here ? " In vain 
 
 * The name given to me by my men. It means literally " The man who 
 ploughs the land," i.e , the man that nothing stops. 
 361 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 I tried to make them understand that the country belonged 
 to the Germans and not to Stokes. " No, no," they 
 invariably answered, " Stokes is and has been for years 
 our Sultan, and he is no German, but an Englishman, and 
 he only allowed the Germans to come here, not knowing 
 how bad they were. If he had not told us that they were 
 his friends we would have fought them, and they would 
 not have been able to pass through here." 
 
 But to get back to my subject. Having punished the 
 thieves I set off again. After about an hour and a quarter's 
 march the character of the country began to change. Up 
 to now we had been crossing undulating plains covered 
 with scrub — thorns without leaves, but bearing charming 
 red flowers. But now the country suddenly changed, and 
 an infinity of splendid palms rose in every direction. 
 After more than two hours' marching we crossed the 
 tv/o arms of a small dry stream running south-west. 
 All the natives of the country agreed with my guides in 
 asserting that this was the Igombe, and I cannot doubt it. 
 Half an hour after this point we halted for the night at 
 a village very different from those we had found hitherto. 
 Most of the habitations were huts of the Urambo type, 
 and there was no tembe encircling the village. 
 
 I forgot to say that during this day's march I wit- 
 nessed a very interesting little scene. We met a witch- 
 doctor on the road, and one of my men asked him for 
 medicine to keep him from illness during the journey. 
 The Mfumu took one of his little gourds, poured some 
 white powder into his hand and passed half of it to my 
 man. He then put the powder on his forehead, laying 
 it in a semicircle from one temple to the other and saying 
 " Iwile." My man did the same and repeated the same 
 word. Then the witch-doctor repeated it once more, 
 together with some other words which I did not catch, 
 and these also my man said after him. I fancy these 
 words were " Muvile ku sewa," which in Kinyamwezi 
 means " the body being hot " — their expression for fever. 
 362 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 Next day we passed through large plains sprinkled 
 with villages. The path wound across the plain so as to 
 lead from one village to the other ; so I abandoned it, and 
 made straight for a large rock that was our ultimate 
 destination. My guide was intensely disgusted at such an 
 unsportsmanlike method of travelling. Our stopping- 
 place that night was .Itogo, an immense village, consisting 
 of three circular tembes about thirty yards one from the 
 other. The space between them was absolutely bare, 
 without a hut or tree, and gave a most desolate aspect to 
 the place. It might have been a fortress with all the 
 buildings razed and only the walls left standing. I was 
 conducted to the dwelling of the chief; he received me in 
 a most peculiar hut built of logs, which formed his audience 
 chamber. This hut is round, about four yards in diameter, 
 with walls inside it over three feet thick. The walls bulged 
 outwards, so that the chamber was larger at the top than 
 at the base. Inside the coolness was delicious. Kumba 
 Masaka — such was the gentleman's name — was a big fellow, 
 six feet high, and about forty years old. On his arms he 
 wore numerous ivory bracelets. Round his neck was a 
 large necklace made of shells, and he had leather rings on 
 his ankles. His people seemed very much afraid of him. 
 He possessed a considerable number of goats, sheep, and 
 cattle with large humps ; in fact, he was a very important 
 person altogether. He was also the proud possessor of a 
 dozen dancers, and in the evening he gave a performance 
 for my benefit. These dancers wore on their heads a great 
 tuft of guinea-fowls' feathers, surmounted by a white ostrich 
 plume; this head-dress is tied on a high pivot of wood 
 fastened with a string round the head. From their arms 
 hung long strips of white skin, and smaller strips were 
 bound round the chest. The most interesting part of the 
 costume was special dancing sandals worn by each dancer; 
 these consisted of five or six strips of leather fastened 
 lightly together, so that they clattered each time the dancer 
 struck his foot on the ground. As for the dance itself, the 
 363 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 performers arranged themselves in a circle round the 
 conductor; he began a song which the dancers accom- 
 panied. This air was in four-time — a sort of African 
 polka. The first two beats were danced on one foot with 
 the other raised; at the third the foot in the air was brought 
 down and struck vigorously on the ground ; the fourth 
 beat was received in silence, while the other foot was in its 
 turn raised ; at the end of each verse all the dancers took 
 up the song in chorus. Then they started leaping into the 
 air, and on coming down beat the ground rapidly with 
 their two feet in succession. The spectators seemed to 
 appreciate the performance very much, and from time 
 to time pointed with their fingers towards the dancer 
 who was doing best. The dancers for their part seemed 
 enthusiastically in love with their art. 
 
 I was told that no white man had ever been there 
 before, and I appeared such a monster that the women did 
 not dare to come near me. Many people in this country 
 let their hair grow very long and roll it up in braids 
 like the Bazizulu and the Amambwe. Calico seemed 
 very rare in the place, and by way of economizing it 
 children went absolutely naked up to fifteen. 
 
 The next day (September 7th) we made good progress, 
 and came in an hour and a half to a little river called 
 Uhlo. During the afternoon we had a sharp shower 
 for half an hour. The prospect of a downpour was 
 not cheerful, especially seeing that my waterproof had 
 been stolen, like so many of my other belongings, by 
 the Wahha. It rained hard again all night, and there 
 was a fine drizzle next morning. We went on through 
 a country consisting chiefly of wide open plains with hills 
 on either side. On the way we passed many game 
 pits. These are holes about twelve feet long, six wide, 
 and nine deep. At the bottom are sharp stakes, and 
 the hole is covered with tufts of grass ; these pits are 
 only used during the rains. We found many fresh traces 
 of game. We crossed the river Manyonga, which runs 
 364 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 north-west, and in a quarter of an hour came on it again 
 journeying east. Crossing it we came to a village whose 
 people make salt from the mud found near the river ; they 
 wash this mud and filter it in earthen pots and then let 
 the water evaporate. Soon after leaving this village I saw 
 a troop of zebras, and shot one of them. Then in an 
 hour I reached Zimizia, a little village where we camped. 
 The chief was a woman — Kalulu. There again I witnessed 
 an interesting ceremony connected, I need hardly say, with 
 the witch-doctoring industry. 
 
 It appeared that a sorcerer, wishing to cause the death 
 of some enemy, had recently come in the night to put 
 down medicine before his huts. Consequently the people 
 had called in an eminent doctor to preserve them from the 
 effects of this medicine. The ceremony was the most 
 elaborate I ever saw in Africa, or anywhere else for 
 that matter. It opened with the slaughter of six goats, 
 the doctor in the meanwhile pounding some black sub- 
 stance in a mortar. Then, placing the flesh in two 
 large pots over a fire, he threw in the medicine he had 
 just prepared. Six persons — the eldest about forty, the 
 youngest about one — then went into a hut : these were 
 the people to be unbewitched. They were followed by 
 the Mfumu and his four assistants, one of whom stood 
 at the door shaking a gourd full of pebbles. The doctor 
 intoned a song, and at the end of each couplet the people 
 inside the hut responded with a long dull murmur. At 
 the end of half an hour the song ceased, and the six 
 persons for whose benefit the ceremony was taking place 
 emerged from the hut seated on little wooden stools, 
 which they clutched under their bodies, jumping along 
 with them in a sitting posture, not unlike a frog. The 
 doctor and his acolytes walked behind them. Each of the 
 patients had white stars marked all over the body — two 
 on the hair, one each on the forehead, on the extremity 
 of the nose, on the upper lip, on each temple, two on the 
 left cheek, two on the left shoulder, three on the left arm, 
 36s 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 and three on the left leg. They came hopping out of the 
 hut, clinging to their little stools under them, in order of 
 age. The baby came last, helped by the doctor, and then 
 they all stopped. The doctor put round the neck of each 
 a large collar of blue and white beads ; then he arranged 
 them in a semicircle, always without letting them leave 
 their stools. He placed upon the ground an oblong 
 wooden trough containing a little water with medicine 
 in it, and the six patients each put one foot in this. 
 The doctor and each of his assistants then took small 
 medicine cups and shook them, singing the while a 
 monotonous chant, while the spectators shook gourds 
 full of pebbles. Little by little the doctor and his 
 assistants advanced towards the trough, still shaking 
 their medicine cups : these had handles and were mounted 
 on a small piece of leather split in two in the centre. 
 These cups were held over the trough ; the six patients, 
 still leaving one foot in the water, looked up towards the 
 doctor ; he and his men then passed the handle, which 
 had been previously covered with medicine, between each 
 of the toes of the patients, then along the foot, and up 
 the leg as far as the knee. The patients then turned 
 their left hands, palms upwards, towards the doctors, who 
 slowly passed the handle of the medicine cup along 
 each finger, then over the palm and up the arm to the 
 shoulder, then over the back of the neck, over the arm 
 and left cheek, under the eye, over the lips, along the nose, 
 over the forehead, and finally over the head — in fact, all' 
 along the line of the .white stars marked on their bodies. 
 The doctors then placed the leather strap holding the cups 
 on the heads of the six subjects. All this time the chief 
 doctor was still singing, and his assistants accompanying 
 him. At this point the song became more rapid and the 
 spectators broke into a dance. This song over, the 
 patients themselves removed the leather talismans from 
 their heads, placed them for a moment to their lips, and 
 then hung them from their left shoulders. There was 
 366 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 another song and another dance, after which the chief 
 witch-doctor assumed an air of inspiration. He extended 
 his two arms, with the hands spread out and joined 
 together, and bowed his head between them. Then, 
 always singing, he pressed his left arm against his fore- 
 head, his hands stretched out and pointing to the right. 
 He shook his whole body violently, and the dance and 
 the song became more lively for about ten minutes, after 
 which they ceased. The doctor took the medicine cups 
 from the shoulders of the patients, they withdrew their 
 feet from the trough, and this also the chief doctor took 
 away. He and his four assistants then placed themselves 
 each before a patient, turning their backs to them. The 
 patient put his little finger in the hand of the Mfumu, who 
 took a step forward, and the patient rose. The chief 
 doctor examined the meat, turned it over and distributed 
 it to the whole company. The ceremony was over. It 
 had lasted more than two hours. Soon afterwards the 
 holy men departed, carrying the horns of the goats which 
 had been killed for the ceremony strung on a stick. I 
 took my notes of this extraordinary ritual as it went on, 
 so that I can guarantee their accuracy. If two hours and 
 a half of it did not unbewitch the patients I should think 
 nothing would. 
 
 The next day I passed from religion, or physic if you 
 like, to sport. We had hardly been going half an hour 
 when I saw a large herd of wildebeest, perhaps a mile 
 away. A little further, not much more than a quarter 
 of a mile from us, ten or a dozen zebras appeared. I 
 managed to get within shot and dropped a zebra. The 
 others galloped off, but stopped again about three hundred 
 yards further. A wildebeest which was accompanying 
 the zebras stood out by himself, and I brought him 
 down with the second shot. As this was the first game 
 I had seen since leaving the Shire river, I decided to 
 spend the rest of the day stalking them. I pitched my 
 camp at the first village we came to, and went off with 
 367 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 David after the beasts. We had not gone half an hour 
 before we came on some more wildebeest, and I shot 
 another. We then went towards a valley, where we came 
 upon the most beautiful spectacle of animal life I have 
 ever seen. The whole plain was alive with game ; on 
 my left a score of zebras were feeding, and by them 
 as many hartebeest ; in front of me was another herd 
 of about thirty zebras, and on the right a herd of 
 more than two hundred wildebeest with thirty more 
 zebras. It was impossible to get to the wildebeest 
 without frightening the zebras before me. I therefore 
 approached these on all fours; but when I was about 150 
 yards from them they saw' me and turned towards me, 
 superbly beautiful. I fired and missed ; but as they were 
 scampering off in a serried mass I fired again and brought 
 one down. My two shots had put the whole plain in 
 motion ; the zebras fled in a close body at a slow 
 gallop, the hartebeest scampered after them with little 
 bounds, while the wildebeest were off in single file. They 
 ran a few hundred yardS; then all stopped again ; but I 
 had plenty of meat for my men, and no desire to kill 
 for the sake of killing. I stopped awhile before turning 
 back to contemplate the ravishing spectacle before me. 
 There can be nothing more graceful than these perfectly- 
 formed zebras as they play together. I hate killing a 
 zebra : they are such perfect specimens of the equine race.. 
 Nothing would be easier in these great plains than to 
 capture them with the lasso. A few good cowboys with 
 good horses are all that would be needed, and I am con- 
 vinced that the zebra can be domesticated. Never before 
 in Africa had I seen so much game together, and the 
 country is admirable for stalking — ^wide plains with short 
 grass, intersected by little streams. One could see the 
 whole country round for three or four miles, while 
 the unevenness of the ground allows you to get . near 
 the game. On our return to camp we hardly went for 
 a minute without starting gazelles, small antelopes, or 
 368 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 foxes. We met two more herds of wildebeest, and 
 so great was their number that for ten minutes they 
 cantered in front of me in Indian file. That night my 
 men never went to sleep, but spent their time cooking 
 and eating. 
 
 Next day I still saw herds of hartebeest and zebras 
 in great plenty. An hour's march brought us to a plain, 
 marshy during the rains, but now quite dry. After this 
 the aspect of the country changed, the plain becoming 
 covered with brushwood and palms. I had been much 
 struck during the last day or two by the number of fair 
 children I saw. The women in this part of the Wanyam- 
 wezi country are of a dark yellow colour, but their hair is 
 a dirty greyish-black. The children, on the other hand, 
 have quite fair hair growing in towzled tufts, but much 
 less coarse than is found in the people further south. 
 They all have short faces, large, prominent cheek-bones, 
 and short, very wide noses. I wanted to measure them 
 and to get some of their hair, but that would never do. 
 They knew very well what I wanted it for : it was to 
 make medicine to bewitch them. 
 
 The hunters of this region all wear bracelets cut out 
 from elephants' nails, and necklaces made of elephants' 
 tails, to which they attach great value. The women smoke 
 earthen pipes. The children wear round their waists a 
 girdle of beads, with strings of white and blue beads 
 hanging down in front of it. In one of the villages I 
 assisted in the manufacture of copper bracelets. The 
 smith took a bar of copper and heated it over a wood 
 charcoal fire ; he then gripped the two ends each in a 
 kind of vice and bent them inwards, and finally completed 
 the bracelet on a little anvil planted in the earth. 
 
 The habit I had adopted of always camping in the 
 interior of a village was, I believe, the only way to study 
 the natives ; but it had its inconveniences. The vermin 
 was beyond words. However, I was now beginning to 
 become accustomed to it, and slept peaceably among fleas 
 2 B 369 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 and ticks which devoured me. All this time my health 
 was perfect, a most agreeable change. This region must 
 be very healthy ; the water, all of which comes from 
 holes in the ground, has a milky appearance, but is very 
 good. 
 
 The 1 1 th September was marked by a weary march, 
 through forests and dried-up swamps, of six and a half 
 hours. In the marshes the ground was cracked by the 
 heat, so that walking was very difficult; and when I tried 
 to use one of my donkeys, the sagacious brute immediately 
 put his feet in a hole and rolled over me. We camped 
 at Nindo, and here I found that a good action is never 
 done in vain. When I was on the march from Ujiji 
 to Urambo, a woman came to me and asked leave to 
 accompany my caravan as far as Usikuma; she had been 
 carried off in slavery in the course of a war, but had 
 succeeded in escaping. I gave her my permission, and 
 a little calico to buy food. At Nindo she discovered her 
 brother, who came to thank me, and brought me two 
 sheep and some flour. 
 
 The chief of Nindo — Pangiro by name — was a young 
 man of about twenty, distinguished by an irreproachable 
 and even startling cleanness. All his followers were 
 similarly remarkable for the same rare quality. The 
 chief showed himself very friendly, thanked me for having 
 taken care of one of his people, and begged me to remain 
 at his village during the next day that we might be- 
 come blood-brothers, an invitation which I accepted. He 
 showed a lively interest in all my belongings, particularly 
 my watch. Among other questions he asked whether it was 
 true that there were two suns — one which went to bed one 
 evening, and another which got up next day. I explained 
 the true state of affairs to him, and he was intensely 
 interested. He spoke to me of Bula Matora,* which is the 
 native name for Mr. Stanley, and told me that the people 
 
 * " The man who breaks the stones." 
 370 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 of Nera had made war upon him, intending to rob him, 
 but that he gave them such a lesson that they have never 
 attacked any caravan since that time. Nobody among 
 the natives I came across had anything but good to say 
 of Mr. Stanley. " He did not let his soldiers steal, and 
 then if one complained to him he went carefully into the 
 case, and if one of his men was guilty of an offence against 
 the natives he never failed to punish him. He was not 
 like the Wa Daki [Germans] ; when they came into the 
 country two years and a half ago [Emin Pasha] the 
 soldiers sacked all the villages, and if any one complained 
 he was beaten. Ah ! the Wa Daki are bad men. They 
 speak like an axe splitting wood ! " 
 
 The next day I gave an exhibition of patience that 
 would have done credit to an angel. The chief and six 
 of his people were in and about my tent from six in the 
 morning to six at night. In the afternoon Pangiro 
 returned to his idea that we must become brothers. I 
 agreed. He then led me to his hut, and there presented 
 me with — a woman, and a very ugly one too. What in 
 the world was I to do with this embarrassing present? 
 Yet that might have been got over ; I might have given 
 her to one of my men. But Pangiro also declared that 
 I must give him in exchange eight pieces of calico, which 
 is over 250 yards, and four guns with cartridges. That 
 was too much. No, I said, I would give him two pieces 
 of calico and no more. Thereupon arose an interminable 
 shauri (conference), until I declared that I was going to 
 eat. " Well," he said, " we will speak again to-morrow." 
 " No," said I ; " to-morrow I go away." " Oh ! no, no, 
 you will not," answered his prime minister ; and with that 
 chief and ministers retired, the chief declaring that we 
 would not become brothers, and that we were no longer 
 friends. After I had dined I sent him this message — 
 "Upanda Chalo is a friend of the blacks when they treat 
 him as a friend. But when they choose to treat him as 
 an enemy, while he behaves as a friend — very well : if it 
 371 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 has to be war, let it be war. Let Pangiro then send his 
 word to Upanda Chalo — peace or war ? " 
 
 These words will seem to show a good deal of rashness 
 on my part ; and, to tell the truth, if Pangiro had chosen 
 to take them ill I should have been in a very tight place. 
 He had men enough to annihilate me and my people in 
 a matter of minutes. But I was beginning to know the 
 natives ; and my attitude, as I never doubted it would, 
 produced a good effect. " No," was the reply ; " I do not 
 wish for war, but I do not see why you should not give 
 me what I asked for ; white men are so rich." I 
 answered that I came from a long way off, and had been 
 on the road for thirty moons ; I had no more calico left, 
 except what would serve to pay my way to Zanzibar 
 to return to my brothers. My guns were necessary to 
 defend myself against the Ruga-Ruga. To-morrow, I 
 went on, I would resume my journey ; and since we were 
 not to become brothers, not having exchanged blood, 
 we would still remain friends. That evening Pangiro's 
 principal wife came to call upon me. " To-morrow," she 
 told me, " you will exchange blood with the chief" " No ; 
 to-morrow I start again." I flattered the lady by admiring 
 her beauty, gave her some beads, and sent her away 
 delighted. 
 
 I was very glad to get off the next morning without 
 further incident after exciting the covetousness of Pangiro; 
 however, we parted good friends, and three days' march, 
 remarkable only for rain and thunder, brought me to 
 Salawe. 
 
 I had taken great care, in passing through this country, 
 to question the natives very carefully about its geography, 
 and especially as to the rivers we crossed from time to 
 time. The conclusion to which I came, on the unanimous 
 testimony of all the hunters I questioned during ten 
 days' march, was this : the river Igundo runs between 
 the mountains of Msalala and Mohondo. It passes to 
 the south of Solwa, which was my camp on the 14th 
 372 
 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 September. From the south it receives the river Uhlo 
 and the river which comes from the country of Lohumbo. 
 These rivers I had crossed about ten days before. The 
 Igundo, said the natives, then flows north-west and falls 
 into the Victoria Nyanza at Makolo, where on the German 
 maps it is called the Isanga. This information was quite 
 clear and precise, and everything tended to confirm it. 
 From Sindai, my halting place on the i6th, I could 
 discern, and took the direction of, the Msalala Mountains, 
 which extend to Makolo ; and the Igundo runs on the 
 near side of them. This being so, I can assert with 
 confidence that it is the most southern affluent of the 
 Nile, whose basin thus extends as far south as about 
 the fourth degree of south latitude, being divided from 
 the basin of Lake Tanganika by a low range of hills, 
 on the other side of which the river Igombe takes its 
 rise. Hitherto Speke had been the only traveller who 
 had occasion to cross this river, and it might be con- 
 sidered strange that he does not mention it. But it 
 must be remembered that at this time the Victoria 
 Nyanza was unknown, that Speke was travelling at 
 hazard, and that it is not surprising that he should omit 
 to notice a river, doubtless more or less dry, running 
 north-west, while his guides were leading him north-east. 
 In any case I believe I may claim the distinction of 
 having discovered the true source of the Nile. The 
 fact would have been more likely to be considered an 
 important one forty years ago. All the same, it is 
 gratifying to be able to tack an appendix on to the 
 work of the great explorers. 
 
 On Saturday, 15 th September, we marched to Salawe. 
 The journey was very tiring, and at its end I was little 
 disposed to sleep. But even had I been it would have 
 been impossible, for about eleven in the evening David 
 rushed into my tent, crying in despairing tones, " Bwana 
 nkuba inioka" (Great master, a serpent). He had been 
 bitten in the finger by a snake. I immediately made a 
 373 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 tight ligature above the bite and a large incision; then, 
 while they brought me my medicine chest, I made several 
 other ligatures on the finger, wrist and arm. I cauterized 
 the place first with pure ammonia and then with a red- 
 hot iron. As the finger was not very much swollen 
 I did not think it necessary to amputate it; but in spite 
 of a strong dose of ammonia, toxic symptoms soon 
 appeared. The unfortunate David howled continually 
 with the intense pa^in, and his extremities began to 
 grow cold. I kept on making him drink brandy, of 
 which I luckily had a bottle with me. In spite of 
 this, tetanus and convulsions came on in half an hour, 
 and I thought it was all over. As a last resource I 
 tried strychnine, which I had seen recommended in an 
 English medical journal ; having no hypodermic syringe, 
 I administered one-sixth of a grain by the mouth, and 
 repeated half the dose in a quarter of an hour with 
 good results. For the next hour, however, it took five 
 men to hold him. At last, three hours after the bite, 
 his circulation became normal again ; but his sufferings 
 were so terrible that, having no morphine, I gave him 
 one grain of opium. At the end of half an hour he 
 became calm. An hour later his pain recommenced, 
 but less severely. Next morning I applied cataplasms 
 and had him carried in a hammock ; incredible as it 
 may seem, he was all right the next evening. My men 
 of course regarded me as a witch-doctor of the first 
 eminence after this, for they never believed that David 
 would get over it ; for that matter neither did I. The 
 village of Solwa stands among enormous rocks; in the 
 distance appear the mountains of Nera, towards which we 
 were going. At Sindai, where we arrived that evening, 
 my reputation as a Mfumu had preceded me, and I was 
 met by a man who came to show me his foot. The 
 little toe was enormously swollen and full of matter. 
 I told him to go and wash it, because it would have 
 to be opened. The imbecile misunderstood me and 
 374 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 returned a quarter of an hour later, very tranquil, having 
 cut off his toe. I dressed it, and in a few moments a 
 dozen others had collected, with their feet in an awful 
 condition from the jiggers. Half of them had removed 
 the parts attacked, cutting themselves to the bone. Others 
 had removed the big toe-nail. All these sores were most 
 dreadful, and all I could do was to dress them with 
 corrosive sublimate and iodoform. It was there that I 
 was first able to judge of the terrible havoc caused by 
 funza — jiggers. In this village there was not a man, 
 woman, or child who was not covered with ulcers. The 
 people had fine humped oxen, which they kept in large 
 
 
 ^^' 
 
 ■' 
 
 -x 
 
 1 
 
 /^ 
 
 ■^ 
 
 1 
 \ 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 'l ^ 
 
 
 ., 
 
 '4s 
 
 \ - 
 
 '" ■%:~C^;T^u. 
 
 ^i.-^rt.-^-l 
 
 ^-^^ 
 
 T; 
 
 THE VILLAGE OF SOLWA. 
 
 covered kraals, and plenty of sheep. The village was built 
 in the midst of grand, wild mountain scenery, and among 
 the rocks were numerous monkeys, rock rabbits, and some 
 magnificent lizards with red heads and shoulders and blue 
 bodies and tails. 
 
 Two days' march on the 17th and i8th among mountains 
 brought us to Urima. The country is an alternation of 
 mountains and treeless plains, dotted with little hills. 
 Before reaching Urima we had entered the district of 
 Usikuma : the population here is of a very different type 
 from the natives we had already met. The cheek-bones 
 are very prominent, and the lower part of the face from 
 the nose to the chin very long and pointed. The colour 
 of the people is a clear yellow. They let their hair grow 
 375 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 very long, and arrange it with the greatest care in rolls. 
 This done, they fasten a cloth round the head so closely 
 that it flattens the hair, and on the following day 
 they place on top of the head a great lump of butter. 
 This melts in the sun and runs down over their foreheads, 
 necks, and arms, scenting them with the most delicious 
 rancid odour. The most elegant of these people wear 
 a costume somewhat similar to that worn by the Wahha, 
 an ox-skin fastened over the right shoulder and open 
 at the side. The less elegant have only a goat- 
 skin covering the middle and the left side. The 
 ornament most cherished by them is a flat 
 bracelet of ivory, worn above the elbow. The 
 women wear round their waists a number of 
 skins falling to the ankles — a costume not unlike 
 that of the Makalaka women. Round the neck ivoRy armlet 
 they wear heavy collars of beads, mostly small 
 red or white ones, though the most valued are red or blue, 
 flat and transparent. On the wrists they wear five or 
 six heavy bracelets of copper; these are continuous circles, 
 not broken like the bracelets I have lately described. On 
 the ankles are perhaps fifty rings of iron wire. As ear- 
 rings, both men and women wear flat pieces of copper, 
 or sometimes of copper wire, with a small ball attached. 
 The men tattoo their faces and the women their chests. 
 The villages again in this part of the country show a great 
 difference from those last described. Each is surrounded 
 by a large irregular fence of euphorbus. The huts are 
 grouped in clusters of three or four, connected together 
 by smaller hedges of euphorbus standing in the middle 
 of the outer enclosure. The natives possess large numbers 
 of sheep, goats, and cattle. They drink milk from large 
 three-footed goblets. 
 
 Half an hour after leaving Urima we got a fine view of 
 
 the arm of the Victoria Nyanza which runs up to Nera. 
 
 Our path led through a plain covered with hills, until, 
 
 an hour and three quarters from our start, we descended 
 
 376 
 
 1 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 to a marshy flat, on the other side of which was a range of 
 hills extending as far as the lake. On reaching these 
 we found them formed of huge rocks of a most wild 
 and savage appearance. There we were overtaken by 
 
 USIKUMA MILK JUGS AND GOBLETS. 
 
 a violent storm of rain, and had to take refuge in a small 
 village among the rocks. The inhabitants, as was now 
 becoming a matter of course, all took to their heels and 
 hid among the rocks until they were quite certain that 
 we were not Germans. Next morning the weather was 
 magnificent, and I climbed up a hill above the village, 
 whence I enjoyed one of the finest views I ever saw 
 in Africa. At my feet was the lake, which is only three or 
 four miles broad at this point, covered with little islands, 
 and bounded by mountains on the opposite shore ; behind 
 me a confused mass of great rocks, grouped together in 
 indescribable confusion, with the most savage and 
 romantic appearance possible. An hour's quick march 
 through a narrow valley entirely surrounded by these 
 enormous piles of rock brought me to the French Mission 
 of Bukumbi, where I was received with the greatest 
 cordiality by my compatriots. 
 
 Next day came a letter announcing that a German boat 
 would leave on the morrow for Bukoba. Desiring to profit 
 by the opportunity, I made a hurried march to Muanza — 
 five hours of mountainous and difficult country. On 
 arriving I found that the boat could not take me with 
 all my men and baggage, so I sent on ten loads with 
 Wana-Omari, the man I had brought with me from Lake 
 377 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Nyasa. By the same boat I sent a letter to the non- 
 commissioned officer in charge of the Bukoba station, and 
 asked him to send me boats. Two days later four 
 arrived from Uganda, but they could not take me as 
 they had come to fetch an English missionary. However, 
 the boatmen offered to take me to Bukumbi, whither I 
 had promised to return, and at five in the evening I 
 embarked. There was a good deal of sea running, and 
 it was six hours before we got into the bay of Bukumbi, 
 
 SPEKE GULF, LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA. 
 
 and in the dark it took us more than half an hour before 
 we could find a place where we could land. The whole 
 shore of the Victoria Nyanza is covered with tall reeds, 
 which grow several hundred yards into the lake, so that 
 it is very difficult to land anywhere. After three days I 
 returned to Muanza, and busied myself with correcting my 
 maps, taking photographs — Dr. Langheldt, of the Anti- 
 Slavery Society, having very kindly lent me an apparatus, 
 as I had left mine at Bukumbi — and writing a great 
 number of letters, as one of the French fathers was about 
 to start for the coast. 
 
 378 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 I spent my time between the Mission Station of 
 Bukumbi and the German Station at Muanza. I am 
 afraid I cannot altogether admire the purpose and method 
 of the missionaries. If they only spent the whole day 
 teaching natives their catechism, I would call it useless 
 but harmless enough ; but my objection to them is a 
 more serious one. I refer to their meddling in politics. 
 I have not forgiven their Bishop, Monseigneur Hirth, 
 having requested me to write officially to the Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs to inform him that eighteen French 
 missionaries and 100,000 Roman Catholics were in danger 
 of being put to death any day in Uganda; this information 
 he gave me in writing, adding, " Notwithstanding the 
 danger, the French missionaries cannot think of abandoning 
 their converts." It will be seen further on how far this was 
 true. As I suspected, nay, knew for a fact, that it was 
 an absolute fabrication, I declined to communicate this 
 information to the French Government, and resolved to 
 study most carefully the true situation of Uganda. Having 
 found nothing but praise to bestow on the British Adminis- 
 tration, I gave it in all impartiality. I suppose that if I 
 had done the reverse, and, like Prince Henri of Orleans, 
 courted popularity by abusing everything English, I should 
 have been received on my return with open arms instead 
 of becoming the best abused man in France. 
 
 The German station is built in the worst situation that 
 could possibly be found. They had the vandalism to cut 
 down all the trees round it to save themselves the trouble 
 of going a quarter of a mile to get firewood. Faithful 
 to their system, the Germans have also burnt all the 
 villages within a radius of five miles or so from their 
 station, and I am bound to say, from what I saw of them, 
 that they well deserve the name of " men of wrath." 
 None of those I met there ever spoke to a black except 
 with foam on the lips and insults on the tongue. The 
 smallest fault was punished by twenty-five strokes of 
 kiboko — i.e., hippopotamus-hide whip — a regular institution 
 379 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 there ; blows with the fist and sticks did not count. Of 
 the ten days I spent at Muanza not a single one passed 
 without two or three poor devils being flogged in this 
 manner ; I have seen as many as eight at a time. Now 
 I am not a philanthropist, but I have a horror of seeing 
 either men or beasts ill-treated without cause. Above all, 
 seeing a vicious non-commissioned officer playing the 
 grand seigneur is sickening to me. For myself, I own 
 freely and gratefully that I was always most kindly received 
 by all the Germans I came across. But unless they change 
 their system of dealing with the natives I do not think 
 they can either hope or deserve to succeed in Africa. 
 
 One day in particular I was present at a scene which 
 was simply heartbreaking. Some days previously a few 
 pounds of beads had been stolen from the room of one of 
 the Germans in the station. It was proved, or was said to 
 have been proved, that two of the women of the station 
 had stolen them ; it was also said they had bought pombe 
 (native cider) with the proceeds. As the first step, all 
 the women were put in irons and received fifteen lashes 
 apiece "to make them speak." That had happened some 
 days before. On the day I speak of the female chief of 
 the wives of the native soldiers had been sent for, from 
 a station some ten miles away to the south, and also the 
 representative of Mr. Stokes, who had a station a mile or 
 two to the north. It was in these two places that the 
 women were supposed to have bought pombe. Observe 
 that neither the chief of the soldiers' wives nor the repre- 
 sentative of Stokes was implicated in the theft. The 
 proceedings began with the examination of the latter 
 witness, a black, but rather superior in education. " You 
 sold some pombe ? " " No," Bang, bang ; a shower of 
 blows with the fist rained on the wretched man's face. 
 " You sold some pombe ? " " No, master." Another 
 volley of blows without giving the witness a moment to 
 explain himself The poor wretch's mouth was running 
 with blood, and I was so disgusted that I retired. 
 380 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 A few moments afterwards I returned ; the second 
 witness — the head-woman — was being examined. 
 
 " Where are the beads ? " " Master, I beheve that this 
 
 woman " " Give the baggage ten lashes." They 
 
 threw the witness on to the ground, and while four 
 
 BOY RECEIVING THE KIBOKO. 
 
 soldiers held her down, a corporal administered the 
 kiboko. 
 
 " Where are the beads ? " " Master, a woman " 
 
 " Ten lashes." The former scene was repeated, and the 
 wretched woman thus received forty lashes to make her 
 give false evidence. Besides this, the so-called magistrate 
 was every minute dealing her blows with his open hand or 
 his fist And this disgusting scene had the most grotesque 
 setting — the so-called magistrate sitting with a loaded 
 revolver beside him, when he had no one to do with 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 except an unarmed black and a woman. Next day 
 the inquiry began again — that is to say, the pummelling 
 of women, who were all the time in chains. The 
 " magistrate " appeared to notice that I did not altogether 
 admire his method of administering justice, for he said to 
 me, " I hope you will excuse me for being obliged to 
 conduct this inquiry while you are here, but I want to be 
 able to clear up the matter before my colleague arrives. 
 And then you see I am very hasty." 
 
 At this point I interrupted him. " Certainly, certainly," 
 I said ; " don't mind me." 
 
 I also spent two days at Ukerewe, another post of the 
 Anti-Slavery Society. The Germans had built a magnificent 
 station there, but it is not difficult to build magnificent 
 stations if you have four or five hundred men always at 
 forced labour. If a man tries to escape he is fired upon. 
 
 Such were the proceedings of the agents of a society 
 which professed to be suppressing slavery. I could make 
 allowances for a black chief who condemns to death a 
 man accused of sorcery: at least the chief lets the accused 
 take " muavi," in which the man places the same faith as 
 an Englishman does in the intelligence of a jury : both 
 may be mistaken, but they are satisfied that justice has 
 been rendered to them. I can even make allowances for 
 the Arabs, whom it is the delight of every philanthropist in 
 Europe to abuse ; at any rate, I never saw them treat the 
 blacks so badly as the German Anti-Slavery Society does. 
 For the agents of that Society it is certainly difficult to 
 make any allowance whatever. 
 
 It must of course be understood that I am not including 
 all German officers in Africa in one condemnation. What 
 I saw of the expedition of Herr Siegl was absolutely 
 different. I am convinced that a juster, more reasonable, 
 and more scrupulous leader than he never travelled in 
 Africa. But unfortunately the Germans are not all like him. 
 Many of the officers are very young men, coming straight 
 from a German regiment to Africa to stay there two years. 
 382 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 From a subaltern's position in their regiment, where they 
 have not the right to inflict even a small punishment, they 
 come to Africa to find themselves invested with power of 
 life and death. I know a young officer who boasted to 
 me that in British territory he had seized all the fowls of 
 a village, because the chief refused to sell him any. 
 Another German similarly boasted to an Englishman that 
 he had made war on the natives every day during his 
 journey from the coast, and that in this way he had never 
 had to open a bale of trading goods, and my informant 
 said that he appeared very proud of the exploit. 
 
 Now I assert, without fear of contradiction, that in the 
 most hostile country in Africa it is unnecessary to have 
 recourse to force of arms more tlian once. If the natives 
 insist on war, or harass you, then fight and give them 
 an exemplary punishment : that is easy enough if your 
 expedition is accompanied by soldiers, as are those of 
 all Germans. That done, hang the chief if he deserves 
 it ; in any case let the punishment be exemplary. But 
 then return to the people everything you have captured — ■ 
 cattle, slaves, women — and explain to them clearly that 
 white men do not come into the country to do harm to 
 the blacks. If the blacks rob or attack them, the whites 
 will punish the blacks, but when the war is over, it is over. 
 Prove your sincerity by buying from these very people 
 what you require, or if they have escaped send messengers 
 to the next village you wish to visit, to assure the people 
 of your pacific intentions. Very soon all the country will 
 know that you are a " good man," and you will find none 
 but friends. Above all, repress severely all theft or outrage 
 on the part of your men, and remember that it is not 
 possible to pass through a country without leaving your 
 mark upon it. Every traveller worthy of the name 
 should do his utmost to impress the native mind with 
 the idea that the white man is a superior being, and that 
 not only by reason of his strength, but above all, of his 
 justice. 
 
 383 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 The weakest spot in the German system is to be found 
 in the European non-commissioned officers, with whom 
 they flood the country. These men command caravans, 
 and are often left in charge of important stations. I know 
 that this has been denied by German officials and editors, 
 who never set eyes on Africa ; all I can say is, that 
 in three places — Tabora, Muanza, and Bukoba — I found 
 sergeants in charge. To the blacks the sergeant is, of 
 course, a great chief just as much as an officer, and 
 
 NATIVE GERMAN SOLDIERS AT NUANZA. 
 
 these men of the lower class naturally play the grand 
 chief as much as they possibly can. Most of the failures 
 of German colonization are traceable, I am sure, to 
 the intoxication which unaccustomed power creates in 
 men. 
 
 I quite expect people to say, " Oh, you are a French- 
 man, and naturally you can see no good in the Germans." 
 I can only answer — first, that I did see much good in 
 the Germans, and have already expressed my gratitude 
 for the kindness I received from them, and my admiration 
 for the conduct of some of them. In the second place, 
 after a few months' travel in Africa you forget the 
 existence of such comparatively petty distinctions as 
 384 
 
TABORA TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 
 
 Frenchmen or Germans, British or Portuguese. There 
 only exist two classes in your mind — whites and blacks ; 
 and among the whites some know how to conduct them- 
 selves, and others do not. You judge them as you find 
 them. 
 
 A CT.AY DOLL (FEMALE) 
 
 USIKUMA. 
 
 385 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ACROSS LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA TO UGANDA 
 
 ON the 15th October, 1893, nine boats came for me 
 from Bukoba, and two days later I started from 
 Muanza. I was not sorry to go ; the daily business 
 of kiboko was beginning to pall. Two hours and a half 
 on the lake brought me to the island of Juma, where 
 I found Mr. Wise, who had just returned from Uganda. 
 Everything, he told me, was quiet there. Mr. Wise, a 
 former clerk of Stokes', had built a house in the most 
 charming spot, surrounded by trees, with a garden full 
 of flowers ; and he gave me the most cordial hospitality 
 that night. Like me he was much shocked by the 
 proceedings of the Germans. When he passed through 
 Bukoba, the sergeant-major in command said to him, 
 " Did you know that there is a Frenchman going to 
 Uganda, who is sent by the French Government? He 
 will make the English sit up." 
 
 Starting next day we came on the 19th to the west 
 extremity of the island of Kome, where I landed in order 
 to allow the men to eat. The Germans had warned me 
 against the people there, telling me that they had lately 
 fired on a native soldier ; but I knew that native soldier. 
 I had my own ideas as to the probable disposition of the 
 natives, and thought I would chance their hostility. I 
 was extremely well received by them, and they gave 
 me their version of the story. The askari, said they, had 
 come with the Anti-Slavery Society's boat ; with the 
 crew he had at once begun pillaging everything. The 
 
LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA TO UGANDA 
 
 natives naturally enough tried to defend their property, 
 and the askari shot one of them. I asked them why 
 they did not go and lay their case before the chief of 
 the district at Muanza. " Yes," said a little fellow with 
 a grin, " to be beaten for our pains ; thank you." 
 
 The next day I camped in a beautiful spot surrounded 
 by trees ; but no native appeared : however, I had learnt 
 by now the way to deal with them. I sent a man to 
 explain that I was not a German, and they soon turned 
 up in numbers, bringing with them quantities of food. 
 
 Having been now some days with my Bukoba boatmen, 
 I had had ample leisure to observe them, and will attempt 
 a description. It is impossible to fix their average height, 
 some being as tall as 5 ft. _i i in., which is a great height 
 for an African, others not more than 5 ft. 2 in. Their 
 costume consisted of a girdle of grass and a cape of the 
 same material, which fell to about their middle. Some 
 bound their heads round with a piece of banana fibre ; 
 others protected themselves from the sun with a sort of 
 visor of the fibre or bark of the same 
 plant ; others again wore a great hat 
 as big as an umbrella, made of banana 
 bark. The banana is the Providence 
 of Equatorial East Africa. These people 
 are. all furious smokers ; they smoke 
 even when rowing, holding their long '^'^^PS^il^ 
 
 pipes between their toes. The stems native hat. 
 
 of these are made of thorny wood with 
 the thorns left in place: they suggest an Irish blackthorn. 
 The natives always keep a fire going in the boats, taking 
 
 a tuft of dry grass and 
 winding it closely with green 
 grass to keep it smouldering. 
 They light the dry grass 
 before starting, and from 
 
 BAHIMA PIPE. . .7,1 
 
 time to time they keep the 
 fire alive by blowing on it. The boats are made of a 
 389 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 number of long boards shaped with an axe out of 
 a tree, and sewn together with banana fibre through 
 holes dug with a red-hot iron. A lot of water passes 
 through these holes, so that a man has to be con- 
 stantly baling it out. The shape of these boats is 
 peculiar, and the appended photograph will give a 
 better idea of them than any description. Some very 
 large ones are built, holding as many as forty rowers. 
 They use short paddles, and their power of endurance 
 is quite wonderful ; they will paddle for ten to twelve 
 hours in a day with an interval of only half an hour's 
 rest. Their average speed is about four miles an hour, 
 but I have seen them cover as much as fourteen miles 
 PADDLE, jj^ ^ little above two hours' time. Curiously enough, 
 none of them can swim, probably because they never 
 get the chance to learn on account of the numbers of 
 crocodiles that swarm in the lake. On each boat there is 
 a drum, on which a child keeps up a continual beating 
 with a couple of sticks. From time to time he strikes up 
 a song, which is taken up by the rowers in chorus. When 
 he is not doing this he marks the time of the stroke on 
 the drum. At the stern a man steers with a paddle. 
 They usually row quite naked. 
 
 They live entirely on bananas ; these they pluck green 
 and peel with a bit of wood : then they pour water into 
 a large earthen pot, fill it with bananas, and cover it up 
 with banana leaves to keep in the steam. In about an 
 hour the bananas are cooked, and then taste exactly like 
 mashed potatoes ; you can hardly tell the difference. 
 There is a kind of banana that they allow to ripen until 
 it begins to go bad ; then they crush it and put it in 
 a pot with the rind, add water, and let it boil for a 
 considerable time. The result is a kind of sweet cider, 
 which ferments at the end of twenty-four hours, and 
 makes a very sour wine, of which they are very fond. 
 It is called "mwenga." They drink this out of long- 
 necked gourds through a straw, the end of which is crossed 
 390 
 
AXE. 
 
 LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA TO UGANDA 
 
 by a kind of lattice of fine straw to form a filter. Attached 
 to their clothes they generally carry two little bags made 
 of banana fibre, one to hold tobacco, and the other a very 
 small kind of wild coffee called "muani," which they 
 chew raw. They also wear a great number of wooden 
 charms, and a goat's or ram's horn or a boar's tusk, 
 containing the inevitable medicine (dawa). Each man 
 also carries an axe of a peculiar form. 
 
 On Sunday, the 22nd October, after having passed 
 a large number of islands, most of them hilly and 
 denuded of trees, with only clumps of bananas appear- 
 ing near the villages, we made a halt on the mainland, 
 not far from Bukoba. The coast consists of hills rising 
 above the lake, and tumbling sheer into it. These are 
 covered with grass, and in the valleys between them flow 
 streams fringed with trees. The natives of the various 
 islands we had visited live, like my boatmen, almost entirely 
 on bananas. Their huts are of beehive shape. These people 
 are great fishermen, either spearing the fish at night by 
 the light of a torch, which attracts them to the surface, 
 or taking them in nets. We arrived at Bukoba next day 
 — the most northern German station founded by Emin 
 Pasha, consisting of a few very miserable buildings. In 
 the absence of the captain in charge I was received by 
 a sergeant-major, a thoroughly objectionable creature, 
 who spoke of his officers in a revolting manner. Captain 
 Macdonald had most kindly sent me a steel boat from 
 Uganda ; but the sergeant insisted so urgently that I 
 should await the arrival of his captain,- that I consented 
 to delay my start for a day or so. 
 
 The four principal chiefs of the west coast of the lake 
 up to the river Kagera, which forms the boundary between 
 the British and German spheres, are Kahigi, Mokotani, 
 Kayoza, and Muta Tembo. Mokotani's village being a 
 trifle over a mile from Bukoba, I determined to fill up 
 some of the time by paying him a visit. Climbing the 
 rocks which sweep towards the lake, we found ourselves 
 393 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 on a plateau three or four hundred feet above the water 
 level. The country was remarkably undulating, consist- 
 ing of bare, grassy hills, between which ran numerous 
 rivulets, at the bottom of valleys clothed with abundant 
 vegetation. Along each of these rivulets were a few 
 straggling huts hidden amidst luxuriant banana plan- 
 tations. Two hours of difficult walking brought us to 
 the chiefs village, which stands on a hill. A belt of 
 about twenty-five yards round the outer enclosure was 
 cleared of weeds, and the bare soil thus exposed was 
 covered with a thick carpet of dry grass. A large avenue, 
 carefully cleared of vegetation and bordered with high 
 palisades surrounding banana plantations, led to the abode 
 of the chief On each side of this avenue narrower roads, 
 from ten to twelve feet wide, branched off to the huts, 
 each of which stood in the middle of its own banana 
 plantation. At the end of the principal avenue was a 
 wooden gate, about ten feet high and twelve feet broad, 
 surmounted by a long staff, on the top of which hung a 
 bell so arranged that it was impossible to move the screen 
 without giving the alarm. This door led into a yard 
 where the cattle were kept ; then another door, likewise 
 furnished with a bell, opened into a second courtyard, at 
 the further end of which stood the chief's house. This 
 courtyard had four openings, each one closed with a door 
 like those already described. 
 
 After a few moments the chief arrived, attended by 
 nearly fifty of his people. He was a tall, thin man, of 
 a bronze colour, dressed in bark-cloth. He wore bangles 
 of copper wire on his wrists, and of iron on his ankles. 
 The chief and all people of importance were anointed 
 from head to foot with so thick a layer of butter that 
 it oozed out through their clothes and dripped from their 
 fingers ; the rancid odour that emanated from them was 
 most appalling ; and as the chief insisted on constantly 
 shaking hands with me and desired to touch all my 
 belongings, I was soon covered with a coating of grease. 
 394 
 
LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA TO UGANDA 
 
 From time to time the chief and his followers sucked 
 banana cider through a straw from a long-necked gourd, 
 just as my boatmen had done. After a few moments' 
 conversation Mokotani invited me to visit his village. 
 He showed me the way— leaning on the arm of one of 
 his chief men and preceded by a young girl, absolutely 
 naked, who carried four sacred horns — a water-buck horn 
 and a small elephant's tusk, one on each shoulder, and 
 two ox-horns under her arms. All these were filled 
 with medicine (charms). Behind the chief walked another 
 naked girl, carrying a gourd of banana cider ; none of 
 the chiefs slaves wore the least rag of clothing. The 
 people of consequence in this region wear a costume 
 of bark-cloth, or a skin fastened on the right shoulder ; 
 the common people go about naked or wear costumes 
 of straw like those of my boatmen. In this village I 
 found a great many dogs of a much better 
 breed than any I had yet met in Africa ; they 
 are about the height of a foxhound, but in 
 build and appearance more like a mastiff: all 
 of them wore round their necks four or five 
 heavy collars of straw or leather. I was duly 
 marched round the village, and found at the 
 further end of it about 200 women working in 
 gangs of twenty, under a male overseer, at 
 enlarging a circular avenue which surrounds 
 the village. I was then shown 
 the house of the chief's mother, 
 which was like his own, except 
 that inside it were arranged a 
 large number of milk pots covered 
 with a pretty design in straw 
 mosaic. All the people who 
 accompanied the chief carried 
 either a long assegai, six feet 
 high, or a pointed staff six to 
 ten feet long. 
 395 
 
 MILK rOl AND COVER. 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Having seen the village I took leave of the chief, who 
 gave me a fine sheep and a pot of the inevitable cider, 
 and started back for Bukoba. I had walked about half 
 an hour when a small boy stopped me and told me that 
 a woman wanted to speak to me. 
 
 " Very well, she has only to come." 
 
 The boy returned and gave me to understand that 
 the woman was the chief's sister and insisted on seeing 
 me. It was getting very late, but, thinking that I should 
 perhaps be able to observe something of interest, I went 
 to meet her. I found her sitting on the ground directing 
 a number of slaves who were at work in a field. In 
 front of her there was set up a moveable screen of plaited 
 straw to keep off the wind. I asked her what she wanted. 
 
 " I want you to sit down by me, because I have some- 
 thing very important to say." 
 
 I sat down and she came to the point at once. 
 
 " I want some calico." 
 
 " I have none left," I answered. 
 
 " Oh, I know that you have a great deal." 
 
 "But I have come from Bukoba and only brought one 
 piece, and I used the whole of it to buy things in the 
 village." 
 
 " That does not matter, you have plenty ; all white 
 men have much calico." 
 
 " I have no more," I replied in haste ; " and I must go, 
 because it is getting very late." 
 
 " No," said she ; "just wait a short while, I am going to 
 make you a present ; I have sent a slave to the village to 
 fetch it." 
 
 She was so importunate that I consented to stay. In 
 a quarter of an hour the slave returned running, and 
 handed her a little packet wrapped up in banana bark. 
 She opened it, and producing an old bracelet — an article 
 de Paris, worth three halfpence — she showed me that the 
 spring was broken and asked me to mend it for her. I 
 was intensely disgusted at having been kept half an hour 
 396 
 
LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA TO UGANDA 
 
 for such an absurdity ; I therefore rose with great dignity 
 and said I was a great master and not a " fundi " (smith), 
 and left her on the spot discomfited. 
 
 On the 27th I decided to leave Bukoba, but as the 
 captain had not yet returned, my sergeant-major asked 
 me to stay till the next day. I answered that I could not 
 keep the English boat waiting any longer ; I had written 
 to Captain Macdonald that I would start on the 27th, and, 
 with great regret, I was unable to wait for the return of 
 Captain Langheldt. The sergeant answered that it did 
 not matter keeping the English waiting : they were not 
 like the Germans, and had no discipline ; they did not 
 want their boat, and if they did they could do without it ; 
 and if they could not, it did not matter. He said, more- 
 over, that I had detained the boats he had sent me to 
 Muanza long enough. Not wishing to discuss the question 
 with an individual of his stamp, I simply answered that 
 if I kept the native boats waiting at Muanza it was at 
 the express desire of Lieutenant Richter, his superior 
 officer. Thereon this gentleman seized the opportunity 
 to say that the lieutenant had nothing to do with it; that 
 he, Hartmann, was the oldest German soldier in Africa 
 and chief of the station of Bukoba. My answer to this 
 was to put all my things on board the boat ; it was 
 very heavily laden, but I had no wish to leave any of my 
 property in the care of the oldest German soldier in 
 Africa. 
 
 We put out about three in the afternoon ; the pilot 
 wished to stop for the night at a little island he knew 
 of, but we were overtaken by darkness before we reached 
 it. When we arrived there, afraid of running the boat 
 on to the rocks which surround it, I made the pilot put 
 out into the open sea again. At last, at eleven in the 
 evening, we were enabled by the light of the moon to land 
 on a sandy beach near a swamp. I ordered the boatmen 
 to sleep in the boat, and while my servants were pitching 
 the tent ashore I fell asleep on board. About two in 
 397 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 the morning I woke up; the wind had risen and I found 
 the boat drifting out to sea. I called to the boatmen, only 
 to discover that the pilot and David were alone on board. 
 We were already more than half a mile from shore, and 
 it gave us the greatest trouble to fight our way back 
 against the wind. Arrived at our halting place again I 
 searched in vain for the boatmen, till at last I discovered 
 them all comfortably asleep under an upturned native 
 boat. The hour was not a usual one for punishment, but 
 I thought it would be more effective to convince them 
 of their wickedness at once, so I sentenced each one of 
 them to receive a dozen on the spot. 
 
 Next morning we started off again at eight. Presently 
 a gale sprang up, and the waves began to run tremen- 
 dously high. The boat, overladen, shipped a great deal 
 of water; the situation became serious; it was impossible 
 to run ashore, as the coast was very rocky, and it was 
 not until midday that we were at last able to take refuge 
 in a little bay. There was nearly eighteen inches of water 
 in the boat, and everything was soaked through. I there- 
 fore had to disembark, and open all the cases and bales 
 of calico to dry the things in the sun. It was impossible 
 to go further under these circumstances, and I therefore 
 decided to find the nearest chief and ask him for boats. 
 I found a few natives fishing, who began by refusing to 
 show me the road, but when I seized their boat one of 
 them consented to accompany me. Climbing a high 
 cliff, we came after an hour and a half's march to a 
 village. There my guide led me through a number of 
 little streets among banana plantations, and ended by 
 stopping in front of a large hut. I told him I did not 
 wish to stop there ; I wished to see the chief, Kayoza. 
 He replied that he could not take me further without 
 having seen the Katikiro* of the village. I insisted on 
 going straight to Kayoza, but all in vain. My man 
 
 * Katikiro means Prime Minister, and the term is applied to the repre- 
 sentative of a big chief. 
 
 39S 
 
LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA TO UGANDA 
 
 left me and started off to find the Katikiro. At the 
 
 end of half an hour he returned ; the Katikiro was 
 
 coming directly. I waited another quarter of an hour and 
 
 then lost patience. I told my guide that I insisted on 
 
 going to the chief at once, and 
 
 made him walk before me, fol- .^'"' " 
 
 lowed by an armed man, whom 
 
 I ordered not to let him escape. -^^^ ,-, 
 
 The fellow, however, simply ' 4 
 
 walked me round and round the L -^ "' / 
 
 village, and when I told him that T 
 
 he was mocking me he solemnly ^ 
 
 repeated that he could not take *: 
 
 me to Kayoza without having 
 
 first seen the Katikiro, As I 
 
 had not the least idea where the 
 
 chief's village was, I was obliged kayoza's katikiro. 
 
 to sit down in front of a hut 
 
 and wait for the arrival of the Katikiro. Two hours I 
 
 waited, and then three of the Katikiro's Avives appeared. 
 
 In answer to my complaints they overwhelmed the 
 
 wretched guide with abuse, and ordered him to take 
 
 me to Kayoza at once. But by this time the sun was 
 
 beginning to set, and as they said the chief's village 
 
 was a long way off I thought it best after all to sleep 
 
 where I was. Of course I could get nothing to eat in 
 
 the absence of the Katikiro. It was quite dark before 
 
 the villain appeared ; he was full of excuses and apologies, 
 
 but what was more to the point was his giving me a hut 
 
 to sleep in, and sending for a quantity of bananas for 
 
 my men and fowls for myself 
 
 We could not start next morning until eight o'clock, 
 as it was raining hard. By half-past nine we reached 
 Kayoza's village, which is like Mokotani's, but much 
 larger. I found the chief standing on a small eminence 
 outside the village surrounded by some fifty of his people, 
 all carrying firearms, and standing in a semicircle. In 
 399 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 front of him grovelled a native awaiting judgment ; he 
 had committed the heinous crime of breaking a jar of the 
 king's beer, and was sentenced to death ; he was taken a 
 few hundred yards away to be despatched. Kayoza was 
 tall and thin, and of course swimming in butter, as were 
 all his principal followers. He received me very graciously, 
 took my hand, and held it for a while in his own buttered 
 palm. I explained the object of my visit, and he promised 
 to supply me with boats. He then took me to his house, 
 accompanied by all his people, and preceded by a boy 
 carrying the sacred horns, and followed by another bearing 
 his gourd of pombe. Near him walked his Katikiro ; his 
 house \vas like Mokotani's, but the avenue leading to it 
 was wider, and the palisades higher — about fifteen feet, I 
 should say. He did not make me remain at the door, as 
 Mokotani had done, but bade me enter, and offered me a 
 chair, sweating with butter. He first examined my gun 
 and those of my men with much interest, and offered me 
 a frazela (about 75 lbs.) of ivory for a Mauser carbine, 
 which I of course declined to sell him. He then presented 
 me with two handsome knives, and some other native 
 curios, receiving of course a present in return worth about 
 six times the value of what he had given me. At the end 
 of about two hours I retired to breakfast in a hut, which 
 he put at my disposal. His sons came to visit me — the 
 eldest some twenty years old, and the others fourteen 
 or fifteen. I found them very remarkable for the dis- 
 tinction of their carriage and the purity of their features, 
 and as, unlike their father, they were extraordinarily clean, 
 not being anointed with butter, they were an agreeable 
 change. After breakfast I returned to the chief, who told 
 me he had ordered two boats to be at my camp the next 
 day. After that he entertained me with a war dance by 
 his guards. The more I saw of his village the more 
 important I found it. It must have contained at least 
 5000 souls. I counted during my short stay more than 
 300 guns of one sort and another, mainly percussion locks. 
 400 
 
LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA TO UGANDA 
 
 A curious detail that I learnt was that Kayoza sends some 
 canoes every day several miles away into the lake to draw 
 his drinking water. He spoke to me at great length about 
 the Germans, telling me many tales of their " wickedness," 
 and declaring that he would never allow them to erect a 
 station in his village, and would fight them to the death 
 rather than do so. 
 
 I took leave of this magnificent potentate, and his eldest 
 son accompanied me a long way. The people we met 
 wore a straw costume similar to that which I have described 
 before. We soon came to a large swamp, across which 
 was built a road on piles about three-quarters of a mile 
 long. At this point I was attacked by a horrible head- 
 ache, and obliged to stop at the village where I had slept 
 the night before. Next morning, after a torrent of rain, I 
 set out again for my camp. The son of Kayoza, having 
 heard that I had stopped half-way, came and joined me, 
 and went with me as far as the boat. I then discovered 
 why he had come so far with me : he wanted some yellow 
 medicine (iodoform) for the jiggers, which are found in large 
 numbers in this region. I gave him some, and we parted 
 excellent friends. According to Kayoza's promise the 
 boats arrived about midday, and I was able to unload the 
 steel boat. I sent back a present to the chief of about 
 forty rupees' worth by a dumb page, whom he had 
 sent with me. That day and the next we made good 
 progress. We halted for the night at the river Kagera, 
 the boundary of the German and British spheres,* after 
 which the country completely changed. We were now 
 
 * The frontier, according to the Anglo-German agreement, is the l° of 
 south latitude : the mouth of the Kagera is supposed to be a little north of the 
 first degree, but as it winds a good deal in places England has a small bit of 
 land in Karagwe, while the Germans have a small strip of Buddu. A more 
 ridiculous arrangement cannot be conceived. Captain Macdonald had very 
 sensibly offered to Captain Langheldt— the German Commissioner — to recognize 
 the Kagera provisionally as the frontier ; but the German declined the offer, 
 preferring to complicate his own administration rather than do anything that 
 might simplify matters for the British. 
 
 2 D 401 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 coasting the shore of Buddu, one of the provinces of 
 Uganda. The beach is low and wide, and covered with 
 luxuriant undergrowth. On the night of the ist November 
 we were overtaken by a tremendous storm ; rain fell in 
 torrents : we were blinded by the lightning, and what 
 with rain and thunder I could not make the men hear 
 my orders. We had the greatest trouble to get ashore. 
 My tent was planted in the middle of a swamp, but that 
 was a small matter ; with my bedding soaked through 
 there was no question of sleep that night. Next day we 
 were delayed until two o'clock in the afternoon by the 
 task of drying the things, and only got four hours on 
 the lake, which brought us to a village in the district 
 of the chief Kageriro. I sent a message to him and 
 asked him for a boat to take me to the French Mission 
 at Budjoju ; but in the evening the canoe sent by Kayoza 
 came up with us. The natives brought us food, and my 
 men seized the opportunity to regale themselves on a 
 delicate dish of fish and grasshoppers. I reached the 
 Mission the following day. It is about a mile from the 
 coast, from which it is reached by a wide road. The 
 country is covered with beautiful vegetation and looks 
 very fertile. In front of the Mission the fathers had 
 erected an enormous cross. The buildings themselves 
 are only provisional ones made of reeds. The station was 
 shortly to be abandoned for a new one on one of the 
 islands of Sesse. I was very kindly received by the fathers, 
 and after lunch returned to the lake and put out again. 
 We spent that night on a small island of the Sesse group. 
 The next two days we made good progress, and on the 
 third (November 6th) we arrived at Ntebe, now the head- 
 quarters of the Uganda Administration. I found there a 
 fort built on a hill some 500 feet above the water, and 
 commanding an admirable view of the lake and the 
 surrounding country. I was received in the friendliest 
 manner by Lieutenant Villiers — at that time all un- 
 conscious of the fame he was afterwards to gain as one of 
 402 
 
LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA TO UGANDA 
 
 the participators in the Jameson Raid. I could scarcely 
 have believed that an officer in the Blues would have 
 undertaken so cheerfully the hard work he had to do : 
 from 6 a.m. till sundown he had scarcely a minute to 
 himself. He had to superintend the building of houses, 
 and to lay the foundations with his own hands. At other 
 times he had to spend the whole day paying the troops in 
 calico, and every afternoon he drilled his Soudanese soldiers. 
 I was greatly impressed with their excellent discipline, 
 and the way in which they drilled did him the greatest 
 credit. 
 
 403 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 UGANDA 
 THE WAR IN UNYORO 
 
 IN order to describe the position of affairs in Uganda 
 when I reached it, a brief historical retrospect is 
 necessary. When Stanley first visited Uganda in 1875 
 he was much struck by the importance of the empire 
 as it then was, and by the superior intelligence of its 
 inhabitants. Their King Mtesa having expressed a 
 desire to have Europeans near him to instruct his 
 people, a number of English missionaries responded to 
 the appeal in 1877, and they were followed two years 
 later by the French fathers of the Mission d'Alger. At 
 the same time Mtesa, a monarch of considerable ability, 
 had introduced Mahomedan missionaries into his country. 
 Both they and the Christians of both denominations 
 began to mingle poHtical intrigues with their religious 
 instructions. As long as Mtesa was alive these intrigues 
 did not come to a head, but when his son Mwanga suc- 
 ceeded him in 1884, he found himself in the presence 
 of three rival political parties — Protestants, Mahomedans, 
 and Catholics. The young Prince, devoid alike of intelli- 
 gence and character, wavered between them without 
 satisfying any one of them, and a series of revolutions 
 followed. Mwanga was deposed in 1888, and had to 
 take refuge south of the Victoria Nyanza among the 
 Arabs. He then betook himself to the Catholic Mission 
 at Bukumbi. While he was there a new revolution 
 404 
 
UGANDA 
 
 broke out, and Mwanga, supported by Stokes, started 
 for Uganda and was restored to the throne in 1889. 
 
 About this time the British East Africa Company was 
 beginning to penetrate into the interior from the east 
 coast of Africa, while the Germans, who, under the 
 able leadership of Major von Wissmann, had occupied 
 the coast opposite Zanzibar, were likewise pushing into 
 the interior. At the end of 1889 Mwanga happened, 
 after a conflict with the Mahomedan party, to be once 
 more deposed for the moment. Hearing that a European 
 expedition was in the neighbourhood of his country, he 
 sent messages to request its support. This expedition 
 had been sent by the Imperial British East Africa 
 Company to the Masai country. Its leader, Mr. Jackson, 
 did not consider his force sufficient to warrant him in 
 entering upon a war. He informed Mwanga therefore 
 of his inability to come to his aid ; at the same time, 
 however, he sent him a British flag, promising him that 
 if he accepted this, and by consequence the British 
 Protectorate, the English Company would not delay in 
 sending him assistance. Mwanga accepted both flag 
 and Protectorate. Soon after this, in February, 1890, 
 arrived Dr. Peters, who had traversed the Masai coun- 
 try. After numerous intrigues he succeeded with the 
 aid of the Catholic party in persuading Mwanga to sign 
 a treaty of friendship with Germany, although he had 
 just accepted the British Protectorate. 
 
 Mr. Jackson, hearing of this, at once marched into 
 Uganda, and Dr. Peters, hearing of his arrival, hastened 
 away. Mr. Jackson established himself in the capital and 
 remained there until December, 1890. It was then that 
 Captain Lugard appeared on the scene as the official 
 envoy of the British East Africa Company. Soon after 
 his arrival the King signed a formal treaty with him. 
 Meanwhile, in the month of July, 1890, came the conclusion 
 of the Anglo-German agreement, under which Uganda was 
 definitely recognized as belonging to the British sphere. 
 405 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 At the beginning of the next year Captain Lugard was 
 reinforced by a new expedition under Captain WilHams. 
 A fort was built at Kampala, commanding Mengo, the 
 residence of the King. In August of the same year the 
 Mahomedans attempted a new rising, and it was decided 
 to drive them out of the country. Protestants and 
 Catholics coalesced against them, the British officers 
 gave their support, and the Mahomedans were expelled. 
 Captain Williams then returned to the capital, while 
 
 THE FORT OF KAMPALA FROM THE SOUTH. 
 The Soudanese Quarters are on the slope of the hill. 
 
 Captain Lugard, who had followed the Mahomedans, 
 pushed further into the interior. After traversing the 
 southern part of Unyoro he reached Lake Albert Edward 
 Nyanza ; then, circling round the Ruwenzori mountains, 
 he marched as far as Lake Albert Nyanza. At Kavalli's 
 (rendered famous by Stanley's expedition) he found 
 the greater part of the Soudanese, who had refused 
 to follow Emin Pasha when he evacuated the equatorial 
 provinces. Under the command of Selim Bey they had 
 established themselves on the Albert Nyanza. Shortly 
 before the arrival of Captain Lugard Emin Pasha had 
 come to Kavalli's, but none of his old men would join 
 406 
 
5 
 
UGANDA 
 
 him, and he marched towards the Arruwimi river, where 
 he lost his hfe.* Captain Lugard brought these men 
 back with him and installed them in a number of forts 
 between Lakes Albert and Albert Edward, and on the 
 southern border of Unyoro. In January, 1892, he returned 
 to Uganda, bringing with him 100 of these Soudanese 
 soldiers. 
 
 During his absence the Waganda had not been idle, 
 or rather, to speak more correctly, had not been quiet. 
 The Protestants and Catholics, united in face of the 
 Mahomedans, had seized the moment of their expulsion to 
 begin plotting against each other. Numerous isolated 
 hostilities arose from time to time. Sometimes a number 
 of Catholics would meet a Protestant and take away his 
 gun. At other times it would be the Protestants who did 
 the same thing to a Catholic. The relations between the 
 parties became more and more strained till at last there 
 came a spark to fire the magazine. Some Protestants in 
 the service of the Katikiro had seized a gun belonging 
 to a servant of one Mugolaba, a Catholic chief Instead 
 of bringing the matter before Captain Lugard, this man 
 resolved to take the law into his own hands. For this 
 purpose he employed a stratagem. He posted one of 
 his men in front of the palisade round his hut with a 
 pot of beer, which he offered for sale. Presently there 
 came along a Protestant, and while he was discussing 
 the price of the beer some of Mugolaba's men, hidden 
 behind the palisade, rushed out and seized his gun, which 
 they took into the hut. The Protestant followed in a 
 fury, and Mugolaba shot him dead. The Protestants 
 complained to Captain Lugard, who requested the King 
 
 * I heard from the Soudanese who were under Major Owen's command 
 that when Emin appeared flying the German flag all his former soldiers asked 
 what this flag meant. Without replying he retired into his tent, and shortly 
 after reappeared with an Egyptian flag that had been hastily manufactured. 
 Brandishing it he exclaimed, "Here you are, my children ; I only showed you 
 the other flag to test you, but you see I am still true to Egypt." But all the 
 men said that he was a liar, and that he had better take himself off". 
 409 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 to punish the murderer. Mwanga, however, acquitted 
 him; and when Captain Lugard's interpreter complained 
 against this judgment, pointing out that to leave such 
 a crime unpunished would certainly lead to civil war, 
 the King answered, " I am ready " ; and added a number 
 of insults to Captain Lugard. The Captain, however, 
 merely wrote to the King asking him to reconsider his 
 decision : the only answer he received was a long list 
 of Catholic grievances. Captain Lugard then wrote to 
 the Catholic Bishop asking him to use his influence to 
 avoid a conflict : the Bishop responded in the same 
 terms as the King. Meanwhile the Catholics were 
 organizing themselves for war. This went on for some 
 days, and then Captain Lugard, anticipating an attack, 
 and knowing that a Catholic victory would mean the. 
 annihilation of the authority of the British Company and 
 of British influence, distributed arms to the Protestants. 
 Then war broke out ; the Catholics were beaten, and 
 Mwanga took refuge on an island on the lake, where he 
 was joined by the Catholic missionaries. On their advice 
 he refused to listen to the overtures of Captain Lugard, 
 who invited him to return. The war went on, therefore, 
 and the King with the Catholic missionaries took refuge 
 in the island of Sesse. At last, after long negotiations. 
 Captain Lugard induced him to return to his capital. 
 The various provinces were then divided between Catholics 
 and Protestants, the latter obtaining a slightly better 
 share than the Catholics. As discontent was still ripe, 
 Captain Lugard brought back the Mahomedans to counter- 
 balance the intrigues of the other two parties. 
 
 Meanwhile, the question had attracted much attention 
 in Europe, and it was proposed to build a railway 
 between Mombasa and Lake Victoria Nyanza. A sum of 
 money was voted by Parliament to enable the Company 
 to make a preliminary survey, and Captain, now Major, 
 Macdonald, R.E., was put in charge of it. But, mean- 
 while, all the troubles in Uganda had put the Company 
 410 
 
G.Pluli.p i, Son. 
 
 MAP OF UGANDA. 
 
 This map shows the different Provinces of Uganda, each Province 
 being ruled by a distinct chief, who takes his title from his Province. 
 
 Sir Gerald Portal settled the Catholics and the Protestants in 
 separate Provinces, Buddu and the Sesse Islands being assigned to 
 the Catholics. 
 
UGANDA 
 
 to expense which it was not able to bear any longer ; it 
 therefore in 1892 declared its intention to evacuate the 
 country. This could only mean the certainty of massacre 
 for all the missionaries, and of anarchy and ruin for 
 Uganda. It was in these circumstances that the late 
 Sir Gerald Portal was sent up to investigate the question 
 and decide whether or not Her Majesty's Government 
 should take over the administration of Uganda. He left 
 Zanzibar on New Year's Day, 1893, accompanied by 
 Colonel Rhodes, Major Owen, his brother, and Lieutenants 
 Arthur and Villiers. Captain Macdonald, who had finished 
 his railway survey, was also ordered to Uganda. Sir 
 Gerald's orders were merely to study and report on the 
 situation, but he found it such that to avoid a new 
 revolution he had to settle a number of questions on his 
 own initiative. He began by making considerable con- 
 cessions to the Catholics. Two new provinces as well 
 as the island of Sesse were added to their territory, and 
 a Catholic Katikiro, a Catholic commander-in-chief, and 
 a Catholic admiral were created side by side with the 
 Protestant officers of the same rank. The Catholics 
 were also given a belt of territory leading from their 
 sphere to the capital. My opinion is that these con- 
 cessions did them full justice. The next question to be 
 settled concerned the Soudanese soldiers. These were 
 placed under the command of Major Owen, assisted by 
 the English officers who had come with the Commission, 
 although Selim Bey remained in nominal authority. But 
 Sir Gerald Portal had hardly left when Captain Macdonald 
 discovered a new Mahomedan plot, in which it was clearly 
 proved that Selim Bey had promised his help to the rebels. 
 He was arrested, and the Soudanese stationed at Kampala 
 were disarmed. The Waganda Protestants and some of 
 the Catholics were then enlisted to drive out the Mahome- 
 dans, and after these had been defeated by Major Owen 
 near Lake Albert Edward, they dispersed either to Unyoro, 
 or across the Kagera into German territory. 
 413 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 I should say here a few words about Major Owen. To 
 the majority of his countrymen he was known only as 
 a brilliant steeplechase rider. If he had lived I think he 
 would have been as well known as a great general and a 
 ruler of men. As soon as he reached Uganda he was 
 sent by Sir Gerald Portal to organize the Soudanese who 
 had been left in the forts south of Unyoro by Captain 
 Lugard. These men, with their families and slaves, made 
 
 RODDY OWEN. 
 
 Up several thousand souls. Left to themselves for many 
 months they had lost all notion of discipline, and lived 
 by making raids into the territory round their forts. 
 Their nominal chiefs were the same officers wlio had 
 mutinied against Emin and put him in chains. From the 
 first moment of his arrival among this turbulent horde 
 Major Owen showed them that they had at last a master. 
 He stopped their raids and conciliated the native chiefs 
 round the forts. He was next confronted by a plot 
 originated by the rebel Mahomedans, who, driven out of 
 414 
 
UGANDA 
 
 Uganda by Captain Macdonald, had collected in great 
 force around the frontier forts. With these the Egyptian 
 officers, who had not been re-enlisted by Major Owen on 
 his arrival, but had been allowed to remain in the forts, 
 conspired to seize him as a hostage and then join the 
 rebels. The presence of mind of Major Owen frustrated 
 this design ; he called the ringleader — an Egyptian officer 
 who had not been re-enlisted — and told him that, having 
 heard of a plot, he had appointed him in command of the 
 forts; he further told the surprised conspirator that of course 
 now that he was in command he was one of the Queen's 
 soldiers and responsible for the good behaviour of the men, 
 and also for the safety of the magazine. In case anything 
 happened to him (Major Owen) there were plenty more 
 officers in Uganda who would come and make the 
 responsible commander pay for his crime. The man was 
 so impressed that he not only remained loyal but declined 
 to give the keys of the magazine to his fellow con- 
 spirators. The Major then called out the troops and asked 
 them if they were ready to fight the Mahomedans. They 
 swore they were anxious to do so, and immediately Major 
 Owen took them to fight the rebel Mahomedans and 
 completely routed them. The day before this battle he 
 had received orders to evacuate the forts, without any 
 instructions relative to the Mahomedan rebels. At the 
 same moment small-pox broke out in the Waganda army 
 that had followed the Mahomedans, and Kabarega, King of 
 Unyoro, attacked the western forts. As no instructions 
 had reached him, Major Owen made an armistice with 
 the rebels and decided to take them back to Uganda, 
 holding their chiefs as hostages. On the way he met 
 Captain Macdonald, but his negotiations with the chiefs 
 of the Mahomedans were interrupted by their flight, all 
 their people dispersing, partly into Unyoro and partly 
 into the German sphere, as I have said. A certain 
 number of them, however, who had taken no part in the 
 rebellion, remained in Uganda. After this the Soudanese 
 415 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 were partly enlisted as soldiers and partly sent down to 
 the coast. At the moment of my arrival, Colonel Colvile, 
 the Commissioner, who had taken over the administration 
 on behalf of the Imperial Government, had decided to attack 
 Kabarega. This chief had continued his aggressions on 
 Uganda, carrying large numbers of its natives into slavery. 
 To begin the campaign it was decided that Major Owen 
 should attack Chiccaculi, . the nearest and most powerful 
 of Kabarega's chiefs. I had met Owen at Ntebe imme- 
 diately on my arrival, and subsequently accompanied him 
 to Kampala, which was then the seat of government ; 
 I obtained from Colonel Colvile permission to follow his 
 expedition. 
 
 Before leaving Kampala I accompanied Colonel Colvile 
 to an interesting ceremony at the court of King Mwanga. 
 We went to what I suppose I must call the palace, 
 with an escort of fifty soldiers. After passing through 
 a series of very dirty courtyards we reached another, 
 some 60 feet in diameter, at the end of which was the 
 audience hall. At its entrance there were, drawn up in 
 two more or less straight lines, a score of ragged 
 Waganda. This was Mwanga's guard of honour. The 
 audience hall is a large hut, supported by high wooden 
 pillars, those nearest the King being covered with bark 
 cloth up to the height of a man. The King was seated 
 on a throne, which had been presented to him by the East 
 Africa Company. It was surmounted by a crown, and 
 decorated with a sun, under which was the slightly 
 inapposite motto, " light and liberty." The floor of the 
 hall was covered with a thick bed of fine grass, and before 
 the King was a Turkish carpet. In the old days, before 
 the advent of " light and liberty," any native who had the 
 misfortune to touch this carpet with his toe was imme- 
 diately executed. On the left of His Majesty, on a gilt 
 chair, was the principal Katikiro, attired in a fancy 
 uniform with gold frogs. All round the hall were native 
 chairs for the principal dignitaries of the kingdom. 
 416 
 
UGANDA 
 
 Mwanga is of middle height, with a small beard, and 
 his countenance does not radiate intelligence. Roguery 
 is written plainly all over his face, and the addition of 
 large sensual lips does not enhance the beauty of his 
 appearance. After the presentations had been made by 
 Captain Macdonald, the Colonel delivered a short speech : 
 
 12 3 4 5 
 
 (i) Capt. iSIacdonaia. (2) Capt. Gibb. (3) Col. Colvile. 
 (4) Major Owen. (5) Lieut. Arthur. 
 
 mwanga's council hall. 
 
 " I have been sent by the Government to take up the 
 administration of this country. I come as a friend. I 
 intend to administer justice with the greatest impartiality, 
 whether it concerns Catholics, Protestants, or those who 
 belong to the old religion, the highest in the kingdom " 
 (here Mwanga did not look up) " or the lowest. I hope 
 that the Kabaka (King) will do all he can to aid me in 
 my task." Mwanga replied, " It is well ; I am satisfied." 
 After discussing several subjects of no importance we 
 retired. Before we went away the Colonel gave His 
 2 E 417 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Majesty to understand that I desired to take his photo- 
 ^f^raph. He professed to be quite willing, but refused to 
 budge from his throne to come to the door of the 
 audience chamber, on the pretext that the sun was too 
 strong for him. As a matter of fact there was no sun 
 at all : his real reason was that he did not wish to be 
 photographed with all the British officers and soldiers 
 about his palace. 
 
 Major Owen had a good deal of business to clear up 
 at Kampala, so that we could not leave for Ntebe, whence 
 our expedition was to start, until nearly four in the after- 
 noon. The distance is rather over 20 miles. Before long 
 it began to grow dark, and we could only go slowly. 
 About nine o'clock we imagined we must be near our 
 destination, but about a quarter of an hour later we had 
 not the least idea where we were. Owen went on a little 
 to reconnoitre, and presently called to me ; we were 
 utterly lost. At last we found a hut, and with great 
 difficulty woke up its occupants; but neither of us could 
 make them understand what we wanted. At last one of 
 the natives grasped the fact that he was to accompany us 
 to Ntebe, whereon he immediately took to his heels. 
 Owen pursued and caught him. He howled vigorously, 
 and the women came out of the hut and added their yells 
 to the alarm. In a few moments Owen returned with his 
 captive, and we made him walk in front of us. He put us 
 on the road, and then ran away for dear life ; two hours 
 passed and still the fort had not appeared in sight. 
 Meanwhile Owen's pony was done up, and we took turns 
 wdth mine. Soon after eleven o'clock we entered a forest, 
 where it was too dark to see your hand. We felt con- 
 vinced that we were on the wrong road, but at last 
 at midnight we saw the hill of Ntebe before us. Now 
 there was a fresh difficulty. Owen's pony had the 
 greatest difficulty in getting up the hill. Half-way up 
 he absolutely declined to go any further, and I went 
 on ahead to fetch an askari (native soldier). Reaching the 
 418 
 
^^:^^^' 
 
 „^,v-r-^ 
 
 The Katikiro. 
 
 Mwanga. 
 
 MWANGA, KING OF UGANDA, 
 AND THE KATIKIRO, HIS PRIME MINISTER. 
 
UGANDA 
 
 village where the Soudanese soldiers lived, I saw what 
 I thought to be two natives crouched about fifty paces in 
 front of me. I called to them, but they did not move. 
 I then advanced, and they began to crawl away on all 
 fours along the palisade into the shade. I galloped after 
 them, and all of a sudden my two natives emerged from 
 the darkness and faced me in the full light of the moon. 
 They were two fine leopards ! My horse whipped round 
 in no time, and as I had not even a revolver with me 
 I made no effort to restrain him. At last I managed to 
 wake up the Soudanese, and at half-past twelve we were 
 housed in the fort. 
 
 Next morning — it was the 19th November — was spent 
 in preparing the expedition, distributing loads to the 
 porters, and similar necessary but unexciting duties. The 
 whole afternoon was spent in getting men, loads, ponies, 
 donkeys, oxen, and so on, across a small arm of the 
 lake ; after which we went on to sleep at Kabunga's, 
 about six miles distant. Next day we made a furious 
 march of twelve hours across an abominable country. 
 It began with a small swamp, followed by a series of 
 hills, and then by a large swamp overgrown with papyrus, 
 which took more than an hour to cross, with water up 
 to our chests. Next came another series of hills covered 
 with high grass, then at the foot of them another swamp, 
 and then another hill, on which was the village of the 
 chief Kitanbala ; we halted at half-past six, having 
 had nothing to eat for twelve hours ; it was decidedly 
 the most fatiguing day's march I had had in Africa. 
 Next day we only went nine miles instead of the 
 eighteen the indefatigable Owen had proposed to cover : 
 but as there were three swamps to cross, and we en- 
 countered a hailstorm with stones as big as bullets, nine 
 miles was quite enough. On the 22nd the country was 
 no better. There was the same alternation of marshes 
 and hills covered with real forests of grass more than 
 six feet in height. We reached Mukwenda's village in the 
 421 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 afternoon, where we stopped at the EngHsh Mission. 
 Mr. Fisher was in charge, and he welcomed us with first- 
 class tea and delicious pancakes. Major Owen had about 
 an hour's palaver with the chief, and then we made for 
 Fort Raymond, so called in memory of Captain Raymond 
 Portal, Sir Gerald's brother, who died on his return from 
 Unyoro during the journey to Uganda. The fort had 
 been erected by Major Owen himself, and considering the 
 enormous quantity of other work he had to do at the 
 same time, and the short time he was able to devote to the 
 fort, the result did him great credit. It is built on a hill, 
 whence there is a superb view over Lake Wamala. The 
 stout palisade of palm trees was almost finished, and a 
 certain number of provisional huts put up, while three tall 
 palms in the middle of the fort broke the monotony of the 
 general appearance of the place. The rest of the day was 
 spent in organizing the 150 askaris who made up our 
 expedition, forming them in sections, getting together the 
 porters and passing their medical examination, which 
 work devolved upon me, putting the Maxim in order, and 
 so on. 
 
 Next morning was devoted to completing these ar- 
 rangements and distributing cartridges to the soldiers and 
 carbines to the porters. Major Owen was indefatigable ; 
 no officer could have had his heart so completely in his 
 work, and he did not let the smallest detail escape his 
 notice. At half-past twelve the caravan was off ; and 
 at half-past three we came to the worst swamp I have 
 ever seen — an arm of Lake Wamala, covered with papyrus, 
 through which a way had been cut. For nearly two hours 
 we waded with the water above our waists — a putrid and 
 evil-smelling water, and horribly cold. Every moment we 
 had to climb up a clump of papyrus roots, only to drop 
 into a hole five feet deep at the next step. And yet I am 
 bound to say that I preferred the water to the mud of 
 the swamps we had crossed in the last few days, where I 
 often got stuck up to the knees. The wading might have 
 422 
 
UGANDA 
 
 been avoided by crossing the lake in a canoe ; but that of 
 course was impossible with an expedition like ours, which 
 contained nearly 300 souls — if our men had any, which I 
 sometimes doubted. 
 
 Next day, November 24th, the aspect of the country 
 changed. It undulated considerably, but without high 
 hills. Except at rare intervals, the grass was not much 
 more than eighteen inches high. We only crossed two 
 small swamps ; and so easy is it to accustom oneself to 
 anything that I no longer grumbled at having to splash 
 
 LAKE WAMALA, FROM FORT RAYMOND. 
 
 MUKWENDA. 
 
 about in water up to the knees. I cannot say that I liked 
 it ; but I had the most charming companions, and with 
 such, small inconveniences are easily forgotten. 
 
 On the march Major Owen was constantly drilling his 
 men, who seemed to pick up what they were taught very 
 quickly. We also tried the Maxim, and succeeded in 
 making it work very well. Later on Owen went off to 
 try and shoot some game to feed the men, who were on 
 very short rations, as the villages could hardly furnish 
 enough to feed so large a number; he returned, however, 
 empty-handed. The more I saw of Owen the more im- 
 pressed I was with his qualities as a soldier and as a man ; 
 423 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 and the news of his untimely death, which reaches me 
 as I write, has struck me, in spite of the short time I was 
 with him, with a sense of personal loss. It is a loss to his 
 country as well as to his friends that it would be difficult 
 to over-estimate. 
 
 We reckoned to attack Chiccaculi, a subordinate chief 
 of Kabarega's, against whom we were marching, on the 
 night of the 27th. If the native reports were correct 
 we might look forward to a certain resistance, as he was 
 said to have some thousands of men armed with breech- 
 loaders. To avoid his getting aware of our intentions, we 
 pushed on about nineteen miles on the 25th. The first 
 part of the journey was through the same sort of country 
 as that just described. We passed fresh spoor of in- 
 numerable elephants along the track. At the end of 
 three hours we entered upon a more mountainous region ; 
 and after five hours' toilsome march arrived at Tshota, 
 where we camped. Although the natives had been warned 
 of our approach, they had not brought any food for the 
 men at nine in the evening ; and as our poor fellows were 
 dying of hunger. Major Owen sent a detachment in charge 
 of an officer to cut bananas for them, with strict orders, 
 however, not to spoil the trees, and not to take more 
 than was really necessary. It may seem strange to those 
 who do not know the country that the natives should 
 be forced to find supplies. It must be remembered, how- 
 ever, that when a Waganda army is on the march its 
 track is one of universal pillage. The English officers, on 
 ' the other hand, not only pay for the supplies requisitioned, 
 but give the most stringent orders, which I am bound 
 to say are obeyed in a remarkable manner, not to cut 
 a single tree or pluck a single leaf The natives, therefore, 
 have hardly any reason to complain of their treatment. 
 Now that I had come to know the country and the 
 methods of the administration, I began to blush for my 
 countryman, Monseigneur Hirth, whose insinuations against 
 the British Government I could only think wantonly unjust. 
 424 
 
UGANDA 
 
 As we drew nearer to the frontier of Unyoro the country 
 grew worse and worse. First we had to climb a high hill 
 to get out of the valley where we had camped. We then 
 crossed two rivers, the Nabugabe and the Nabutiti, after 
 which we had another very high hill to climb. Then, after 
 crossing a plateau, we descended along a kind of arete, and 
 climbed again on to a higher plateau. It rained hard all 
 day, and we reached the village of Kuruma, whence we 
 were to start that night against Chiccaculi. Here we 
 found the garrison of Fort Grant, which had been brought 
 up the day before by Mr, Foster, a civil servant in charge 
 of the fort. The chief of the village seemed to be in 
 a thoroughly bad temper. Major Owen, who was very 
 anxious to keep the object of the expedition secret until 
 the last moment, interrogated him indirectly about Chic- 
 caculi, with the following result. Our enemy, it seemed, 
 was one of the most important, if not quite the most 
 important, of Kabarega's subordinate chiefs ; he was the 
 guardian of the frontier, and every one who wished to visit 
 Kabarega had to pass through his country. If a caravan 
 wanted to buy ivory it had to go to Chiccaculi, and he 
 arranged the business on behalf of his master. He was , 
 said to possess over 2000 guns, and his village was said to 
 be about four hours' march from Kuruma. Our chief had 
 previously expressed to Major Owen his willingness to 
 show him the road if ever he meant to attack Chiccaculi, 
 so we reckoned to take him as guide. Our force consisted 
 of about 200 Soudanese armed with Remingtons, with 
 100 rounds per man, as well as lOO porters with Snider 
 carbines and twenty rounds ; also the Maxim, in whose 
 working I had no very great confidence ; Villiers was 
 in charge of the machine, and I was to assist him. To 
 complicate matters, at eight in the evening Villiers was 
 seized with a violent attack of fever. 
 
 We started about ten o'clock that evening, guided by 
 the chief of Kuruma, who had promised to take us to 
 Chiccaculi's in four hours. The profoundest silence was 
 425 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 observed. We marched all night through a rolling country 
 without a single halt ; we had to wade through no less 
 than seven swamps. The grass was very long, and we 
 knew nothing of the enemy's movements. Soon after day- 
 break we came in sight of a large and straggling village, 
 the thatched roofs peeping out from the high grass and 
 shrubs, with Chiccaculi's kraal standing out in the centre. 
 The natives opened fire upon us instantly ; first spread- 
 ing out in a long line, and then forming up in groups, 
 sheltered by the tall grass. A good deal of desultory 
 firing followed. Owing to the nature of the ground, the 
 natives were able to rush up to within a few yards and 
 open fire, and then rush back again. They do not seem to 
 have any great confidence in their weapons ; and I am 
 bound to say that the character of their shooting was not 
 calculated to inspire it. However, our position was not a 
 perfectly comfortable one. We were faced, as we after- 
 wards learnt, by an army of some 3000 natives whom we 
 could not see. Only from minute to minute could we 
 discern a dark face peeping through the grass, or a gun 
 barrel protruding from a clump of bush. Moreover, our 
 men were pretty well done up by their forced marches, 
 and besides they had little ammunition and no bayonets. 
 The Maxim, the first time we tried to use it, jammed, and 
 we could not get more than a dozen shots out of it during 
 the whole day. Major Owen therefore forbade desultory 
 firing on the part of his men, and only allowed volleys on 
 the word of command. However, he would not permit 
 his men to halt, but pressed on towards the stockade on 
 the summit of the hill. 
 
 When we were about a mile from the chief's village 
 Major Owen decided to charge. Our best chance, con- 
 sidering the state of our equipment, was to rush the 
 position and frighten the natives. The charge was 
 sounded, and with bugles calling and drums beating we 
 dashed through reeds, having literally to cut our own 
 path to the village. Major Owen led the force the whole 
 426 
 
UGANDA 
 
 time with great gallantry, even standing out alone many 
 yards ahead of the advance guard, and cutting down the 
 grass which impeded them. There was a slight eminence 
 between our position and that of the enemy, and both 
 sides, perceiving the advantage, made a simultaneous rush 
 to gain it. We won the race by a few yards, and the 
 enemy again fell back on the village ; without stopping we 
 dashed on in pursuit, and when we had got in full charge 
 within 150 yards of the enemy, they suddenly bolted. 
 They had probably expected to see us sneaking through 
 the grass in the native fashion, and our rapid advance 
 with drums and bugles completely demoralized them. 
 Major Owen ran into the village well ahead of everybody, 
 and found it deserted and in flames. But for his gallantry 
 and the rapidity and energy of his advance, the force 
 would probably have been cut up. The general impres- 
 sion in Uganda, I heard afterwards from Colonel Colvile, 
 was that we should be "chewed up." We took a few 
 prisoners in the village, but the main body of the 
 enemy had made off, and it was impossible for our 
 exhausted men to follow them ; they ran through the 
 grass like deer. The elderly Maxim was by this time 
 only in a condition to fire two shots at a time, which was 
 doubtless as well for the enemy. Major Owen gave strict 
 orders to the troops in no case to kill the prisoners, and to 
 abstain from all unnecessary bloodshed. It was for this 
 reason no doubt that the enemy's loss was comparatively 
 small, considering their large numbers. However, seventy 
 of them were killed, including six chiefs and Chiccaculi's 
 son. However, this fight had very important results, as it 
 destroyed Kabarega's self-confidence, and inspired great 
 respect among the Waganda. It was due to this that 
 Colonel Colvile was able to rally the whole nation when 
 he made the main expedition against Unyoro. We had 
 scarcely begun to pitch camp in the open space before the 
 village, when the enemy once more attacked us from a hill 
 commanding the position. Major Owen therefore decided 
 427 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 to drive them away, and once more the fight was resumed. 
 We captured the hill and then made for another one 
 where the enemy had collected, and having driven them 
 away from this fresh position we pitched camp at 3 p.m. 
 Towards six o'clock we had to repel a fresh attack ; and 
 we were so tired that Owen, Villiers, and myself went to 
 sleep while we were eating our dinner. I cannot speak 
 too highly of the pluck of Villiers, who fought the whole 
 day while suffering from a violent attack of fever. 
 
 I am glad of this opportunity publicly to thank Colonel 
 Colvile for a most flattering letter he wrote to me after 
 receiving Major Owen's report. He very kindly thanked 
 me in the name of the British Government for the help 
 I gave to the British force, but he much overrated the 
 little I did and which I was so glad to be able to do. 
 
 On the 29th we returned to Fort Grant, and next day 
 Owen set to work to build a provisional bridge over the 
 river Kunungori, which runs at the foot of the hill on 
 which the fort stands, and forms the frontier between 
 Unyoro and Uganda. The natives fired once or twice on 
 our men as they worked, but without doing any damage. 
 I spent the best part of the day examining and dressing 
 the wounded and the sick, who were very many. Several 
 of them had shocking ulcers on their feet produced by 
 jiggers. 
 
 On December ist Owen was on the point of leaving for 
 Fort Lugard, when he heard from his spies that the 
 Wanyoro were intending to attack us next day from two 
 sides simultaneously. He decided therefore to remain 
 until next day, and to leave part of his force at Fort 
 Grant. He would then evacuate Fort Lugard and con- 
 centrate all his men at Fort Grant, which he considered to 
 be the starting-point for the invasion of Unyoro. As soon 
 as the news of our expedition had been received at 
 Kampala, the war drums would be beaten, and Colonel 
 Colvile with all his force, and followed by such of the 
 Waganda as could take the field, would start for Unyoro. 
 428 
 
 i 
 
UGANDA 
 
 The anticipated attack did not take place, and at nine 
 o'clock on the morning of the 2nd Owen and myself left 
 for Fort Lugard, leaving Villiers in charge of Fort 
 Grant. Following the high plateau on which the fort 
 stands we gradually descended into a valley, which, 
 unlike the country which we had been passing through, 
 was thickly covered with bush and trees. We crossed 
 the stream which forms the boundary of the provinces 
 of Lwekula and Singo, and soon afterwards saw in the 
 distance behind us a most magnificent cascade, which 
 falls from a height of some 700 feet over the side 
 of a hill. Mounting again from the valley we got a 
 magnificent view over Unyoro, and discerned in the 
 distance the river Kafui. After a six hours' march we 
 reached Fort Lugard. Owen, with his usual energy, had 
 built a bridge nearly a quarter of a mile long over the 
 river Katumbi, beyond which the fort lies. It is built 
 in an excellent position on a steep hill, and fifty men 
 cotild defend it against an army. The rest of the day 
 was spent in marching off all the garrison to Fort Grant. 
 Next day we started through very difficult country to 
 get back to Fort Raymond. For some reason or other 
 I was thoroughly knocked up, and I am afraid I was 
 rather a drag to Owen's energy. The most exasperating 
 of my symptoms was that both hands were covered with 
 ulcers caused by the bites of small flies that had rested 
 on the ulcers of the sick men I had been dressing : 
 a blister followed immediately after a bite, and two 
 days later ulcers formed. We got to Fort Raymond 
 on the seventh day, and Mr. Fisher, of the Mission at 
 Mukwenda's, once more refreshed us with excellent tea. 
 At the fort we got news from Kampala. Colonel Colvile 
 had sent me two kind letters, of which I have already 
 spoken. It seems that the Waganda had heard that 
 Kabarega had concentrated his forces at Chiccaculi's, 
 and they expected us to be devoured alive. Our victory 
 therefore produced the best possible effect. The Colonel 
 429 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 announced that he had officially declared war, and he 
 expected to invade Unyoro with four or five hundred 
 Soudanese, 5000 Waganda armed with firearms of one 
 sort and another, and 15,000 spearmen. 
 
 We stopped ten days at Fort Raymond, and I spent 
 my time partly in my former business of looking after 
 the sick, and partly in trying to get some game. 
 One day we spent with Fisher duck shooting on the 
 lake. The canoes of the country are simply hollowed 
 out of tree trunks. We embarked in one of these, 
 and after pushing through rushes for about two hours 
 found ourselves among thousands of ducks. They are 
 very wild here, and will never let the boat come within 
 200 yards of them. However, Owen bagged half a dozen 
 of them, and I shot a pelican with my Express. Another 
 day Owen went buffalo shooting. He saw several, but 
 could not get a shot. I also sent David with fifteen 
 men on an elephant hunt. They found seven a day's 
 march off, and wounded two ; but one of these made a 
 charge, caught one of the Waganda, and, in the simple 
 language of David, " beat him a little with his foot, and 
 hurt him very much." A volley from the whole party 
 drove him off, but he escaped uncaptured. 
 
 The most interesting incident of these days was a 
 Soudanese wedding, at which we were present, the bride- 
 groom being one of the Soudanese officers. The cere- 
 mony took place at eight in the evening, and was 
 preceded by several hours' drum beating. A number 
 of men danced to the drums, and from time to time 
 a woman came forward and executed a dance which was 
 not remarkable for its propriety. This took place outside 
 the village. After half an hour the company advanced 
 nearer to the hut where the marriage was to take place, and 
 the dance recommenced. This was repeated several times 
 until the company found itself in front of the hut. After 
 ten minutes the bridegroom appeared, and soon four men 
 were seen dashing through the crowd at full speed, bearing 
 430 
 
UGANDA 
 
 in their arms the bride, her head and whole body covered 
 in a white cloak. They bore her into the courtyard of the 
 bridegroom's hut — followed by the happy man himself — 
 and put her down. Behind them the crowd made a con- 
 fused rush, and almost threw down the palisade of the 
 courtyard, making believe to try and rescue the bride from 
 her ravishers. The women gave vent to the most violent 
 clamour meanwhile ; but when the bride and bridegroom 
 were together everybody retired from the hut, and recom- 
 menced dancing, which lasted all night. 
 
 On the 17th December Colonel Colvile arrived with 
 his expedition at Fort Raymond. He was to leave for 
 the frontier two days later. He had kindly given me leave 
 to accompany him, but for several days I had been much 
 exercised in my mind whether I ought to do so. I had 
 now been so long in Africa that I thought a little Europe 
 again would do me no harm. If I could get started 
 for Mombasa about the middle or end of January I 
 could get to the coast in April, and should be in England 
 at the end of May at the latest, in time for the season. If 
 I followed the operations against Kabarega there was no 
 question of this. After a long conversation with the 
 Colonel I came to the conclusion that, supposing I joined 
 him, I could not expect to start for the coast until April. 
 I therefore decided, with great regret, not to go with the 
 expedition. 
 
 They all started early in the morning of the 19th, 
 and I walked with them five miles to the village of 
 Lubanja. The expedition was commanded by Colonel 
 Colvile, with Captain Macdonald (staff officer). Captain 
 Thruston, Captain Arthur, the best fellow that ever lived 
 (now representing H.M. Government in the Congo State), 
 Dr. Moffat, and Mr. Purkiss. Major Owen, second in com- 
 mand, had gone on ahead two days before. The force 
 consisted of 500 askaris, some 300 porters, and 200 
 followers of various sorts. They took with them a steel 
 boat, which afterwards proved very useful on the Albert 
 431 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Nyanza, but which was a horrible drag on the march. The 
 health of the Europeans of the expedition left much to 
 be desired. The Colonel and Dr. Moffat were suffering 
 from ulcerated feet, the result of the attacks of the jiggers. 
 Arthur was covered with ulcers, Purkiss was just con- 
 valescent from blackwater fever, Owen had a bad leg, 
 and Villiers, who was to be picked up at Fort Grant, 
 had been troubled with fever when I last saw him. As 
 for myself, I still suffered with ulcers on the hands, 
 and was unable to close them. However, they all went 
 off in good spirits, and, as everyone now knows, so far 
 triumphed over their constitutions that the expedition 
 was completely successful. It was rather heart-breaking 
 to see everybody go and to remain behind myself; but I 
 had been in Africa long enough, and was beginning to 
 feel very played out. 
 
 I started for Kampala the next day and camped at 
 Mukwenda's. I suffered all the time from a violent attack 
 of fever which quite knocked me over. However, it passed 
 in the evening, and next day I started, accompanied by 
 twenty-six Soudanese women and seventeen Lindus, whom 
 the Colonel was sending back to Kampala. An excellent 
 road had been made by the chief, which, extraordinary 
 to relate, did not pass through a single swamp. This 
 brought me to Kinako, where I found Spire, Colonel 
 Colvile's servant, and camped for the night. The 
 Colonel had been obliged, by the way, to send Spire, 
 as a European officer, to the station on Lake Victoria 
 Nyanza to fetch things of various kinds from the south 
 of the lake, as the Germans refused to let any canoes 
 leave their shores unless accompanied by a European. 
 
 At Kinako I heard news of the Waganda army. It was 
 going to the front in two divisions — the Protestant and 
 the Catholic ; a very curious result of missionary enter- 
 prise which seemed hardly compatible with complete 
 military efficiency. The Protestant army, accompanied 
 by Mr. Pilkington the missionary, was about four or 
 432 
 
SOUDANESE AND LINDU WOMEN. 
 
UGANDA 
 
 five days' march ahead of the CathoHc. I was told that 
 the Cathohcs had devastated all the country on their 
 line of march, but I am bound to say that I still found 
 enough food for my men. It was, however, to say the 
 least of it, curious that the Catholics went this way instead 
 of crossing their own provinces, and it hardly seemed the 
 best way to avoid friction between the two parties. 
 
 On the 27th we had a hard day's march through the 
 usual swamps, the principal feature of which was the 
 passage of the river Moanja. It is overgrown with 
 papyrus, like all the streams in this part of the world, 
 but is unfortunately deep in the middle — about six feet. 
 A bridge had been built over it, but of course my donkey 
 demolished the whole thing as soon as he set hoof on it ; 
 and, instead of wading up to the knee, the porters who 
 followed descended to the waist. The more people passed, 
 the lower the bridge sank under water, until presently one 
 of my men went up to the neck. It took an hour's work 
 on the part of all my men to get the women and children 
 over. We then followed the right bank of the river. 
 It here flows towards the north between a succession of 
 little hills, among which were marshy valleys covered 
 with superb tropical forests. As my last pair of boots had 
 lost their soles the day before, the passing of any difficult 
 place was no joke. Moreover, as I was trying to cross a 
 particularly muddy swamp on my donkey, that sagacious 
 beast plunged up to the belly, and then fell on his side and 
 shot me into the middle of the mud. 
 
 The next day was like the preceding — the same kind of 
 rivers, the same country, and very similar conduct on the 
 part of the donkey ; otherwise it was only enlivened by 
 an attempt of the women and of some of the porters to 
 steal a heap of monkey nuts which were drying in the 
 sun outside a hut They were duly chastised. 
 
 On Christmas Eve I was so bad with fever that I could 
 not start till one in the afternoon. My boots were in 
 pieces, and it was not a pleasing reflection that I should 
 435 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 have to march in them seven or eight hundred miles to 
 the coast. However, we reached Kampala after a five 
 hours' tramp, and on Christmas Day I dined with Gibb 
 and Wise. Two bottles of champagne and a plum 
 pudding ! 
 
 436 
 
 1 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 UGANDA AND ITS PEOPLE 
 
 I REM A I NED at Kampala about six weeks, the first 
 part of which was mainly taken up with fever, a 
 legacy of the swamps of Unyoro. The time was not 
 particularly eventful. I spent most of it putting my 
 papers and such like in order, writing the many letters 
 called forth by the fact that I was once more in touch 
 with a certain kind of civilization, and observing the 
 manners and customs of the natives. It was not perhaps 
 a very high grade of civilization by which I was sur- 
 rounded, and the postal facilities were the leading feature 
 of it. My immediate environment may otherwise be 
 judged of by two interesting cases which arose on the 
 same day. One was an instance of sorcery among the 
 Soudanese. One of the soldiers, happening to find himself 
 ill, remembered that some time before he had woke up 
 in the night and seen a naked woman looking at him. 
 There could be no doubt therefore that she had bewitched 
 him. She was promptly seized, and the next day was 
 submitted to an ordeal. A sacred bean was cut in two, 
 and half of it was given her to eat: if she was guilty she 
 would fall dead. In the afternoon I asked what the result 
 had been. " Oh," answered my informant, " she ate the 
 bean, and she is dead. Then she was burnt, because 
 otherwise she would have returned as a spirit." "But," I 
 said, "did she not move at all while she was being 
 burnt ? " " Oh, yes," was the answer ; " but only for just 
 one moment." I need not say that the offenders were 
 severely punished. 
 
 437 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 The other case was that of a native who came to 
 complain that another native went to his hut the day 
 before, and told him he could give him a most astonishing 
 medicine. He had only to hang it up in front of his hut, 
 and then he could sleep quite quietly, for no one would 
 go to rob him. He was highly delighted, and went ,to 
 sleep like a top. In the morning he found that someone 
 had made a hole in the wall of his hut, and robbed him 
 of everything he possessed. He brought with him the 
 sorcerer, who turned out to be the brother of the Catholic 
 Katikiro. This gentleman did not deny the facts in the 
 least ; he only pointed out that the medicine was not 
 quite strong enough. Captain Gibb thereupon advised 
 him to make some stronger medicine that would compel 
 the thief to bring back the goods that had been stolen, 
 or else he would have to go to prison till they were 
 recovered. This time the medicine was quite efficacious, 
 for the next morning, when the man who had been robbed 
 woke up, he found in front of his hut the whole of the 
 stolen property. Well, David often tells me, "Ah, master, 
 people in Africa, whatever master thinks, can make very 
 good medicine." This was a proof of it. 
 
 Another case which arose while I was at Kampala was 
 less amusing, but of considerable political importance. 
 It concerned the niece of King Mwanga, aged three. 
 She had been brought up in the King's palace, and as 
 soon as she was able to speak had been tackled by the 
 Protestant missionaries, with a view to securing her to 
 their faith. The Catholic missionaries meanwhile had 
 made no claim upon her; but some days before she had 
 escaped the vigilance of her nurses, and walked abroad 
 alone. She happened to stray to the Catholic Mission, 
 and returned with a medallion round her neck. This 
 grave event caused the greatest excitement between the 
 Protestant party and the Catholics, who claimed the 
 princess as a convert of their own Church. The case 
 was submitted to Captain Gibb. He went into the 
 438 
 
UGANDA AND ITS PEOPLE 
 
 evidence with great care, and it was established that 
 until the day of her unlucky straying the Catholics had 
 made no attempt to secure her, whereas she had been 
 several times interviewed by the Protestants. Captain 
 Gibb therefore decided that she was to be regarded as 
 a Protestant until she arrived at years of reason ; after- 
 wards she was to be allowed to choose for herself A 
 decision which was a great solace to the Evangelical 
 party. 
 
 While I am on the subject of Catholics and Protestants, 
 I may remark that the claim made by the French fathers 
 for compensation, on account of the losses they had 
 suffered during the religious wars, though possibly justified 
 in part, was most grossly exaggerated. For instance, 
 they claimed 25,000 francs as compensation for their 
 doctor; 75,000 for manuscripts and mission papers; and 
 135,000 for wholly unspecified damages. They are en- 
 titled to compensation, but iJ" 10,000 would be very liberal. 
 
 The only other incidents of interest at Kampala were 
 the arrival of Mr. Scott Elliot, on his mission to study 
 the Natural History of Ruwenzori for the Royal Society, 
 and numerous fires. In one of these the whole fort was 
 nearly burnt down ; we had to pull down a good many 
 huts and strip the thatch off others to save the fort itself: 
 as it was, only the servants' quarters were destroyed. 
 
 I shall now put down what I was able to learn about 
 the Waganda. Perhaps the most characteristic feature 
 is their elaborate mythology, which is almost on a Greek 
 or Indian scale. The oldest of all the gods was Katonda, 
 who was not born of woman. Kulanda, a kindred word, 
 it is to be observed, means to create. His son was Kintu, 
 the founder of the Waganda race, who came from the 
 north ; his capital was Magonga. The wife of Kintu was 
 named Matu, and their son was Tshua. When the god 
 appeared on earth from above he had only his wife and 
 a fowl with him. Matu had forgotten the fowl's food, and 
 went back to heaven to fetch it. Whereon Katondn, the 
 439 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 creator, said, " For having forgotten the food I give you 
 death," and accordingly she brought back death with her 
 to earth. 
 
 The god most honoured after Kintu is Mokasa, who 
 gave the human race the power of bearing offspring, with 
 his brothers Musoke and Kiboka, and Linda, son of 
 Musoke. These were all great chiefs, and became gods 
 after their death. Mokasa is also the god of the lake, 
 on which he had his capital : a temple was built to him 
 on one of the islands. He is worshipped by the Wanyoro 
 and Basiwa, as well as the Waganda. Kiboka is the war 
 god ; Nayaonie, the rain or food god ; Kitinda, the god 
 of the Nile. There are numerous other personalities — 
 brothers, sons, and the like — in the Waganda mythology, 
 but they are of less importance. 
 
 The chief, as I have said already, is called the Kabaka ; 
 he is chosen out of the royal family by three principal 
 chiefs. He has unrestricted power of life and death, and 
 in old times used to exercise it pretty freely. His Prime 
 Minister is the Katikiro, and under him come the chiefs 
 of the various provinces. These various chiefs form 
 a judicial hierarchy. Supposing a poor man has any- 
 thing to complain of, he brings his case first before his 
 master. If he is dissatisfied with his master's decision, 
 he takes the matter to the chief of his own or another 
 province, giving him goats by way of a fee. If dis- 
 satisfied again, he has to appeal to the Katikiro ; and 
 if still dissatisfied, to the King himself The King judges 
 all important cases in person. Only three people in the 
 kingdom are considered as having the title of royalty. 
 These are the Kabaka ; the Namasole, his mother ; and 
 the Lubuga, his sister. These two latter have elaborate 
 households on almost the same scale as the King's, whose 
 officers I shall enumerate in a moment ; they and two 
 sisters of the Queen Mother (called Nabikande and 
 Bayumba) are the only women who can hold land, with 
 the exception of a lady called 'Nganda, who has care of 
 440 
 
UGANDA AND ITS PEOPLE 
 
 all children of the sisters of the King. The King's own 
 children are committed to the charge of the Nabikande, 
 the King's aunt. 
 
 The household of the King is most elaborate, and even 
 bewildering. I was able to get together a list of the chief 
 officers, with their functions, which is as follows — 
 
 The chief of the household is called the Lubadu. His 
 duties are a trifle mixed, as he combines the functions 
 
 ONE OF THE KING S PALACES. 
 
 of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Physician to the 
 Royal Household : he is to tell the King when offerings 
 are to be made to the gods, and look after the health 
 of the King's women. My friend Mukwenda occupies 
 the honourable position of Labagabo, or armour-bearer 
 to the King. Other ceremonial officers are the Musale,* 
 who goes in front of the King in case of war, acting as the 
 
 * All these names, Mukweitda, Musale, Pokino, etc., are the names of the 
 various provinces of which the high officers of the King's household are 
 chiefs or governors. 
 
 441 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 herald ; and the Waluyembe, who carries the sacred 
 medicine horns. Three officers are employed to build 
 houses, fences, and the like every three or four months, 
 so that probably they find plenty of work to occupy them. 
 One of these gentlemen, Pokino by name, commanded 
 the Catholic army in Colonel Colvile's expedition. A 
 chief of the name of Kangoo is Mugosi. His interesting 
 duty is to construct the King's sepulchre. This task 
 is begun as soon as the King comes to the throne, and 
 the sepulchre is built in the house where his principal wife 
 lives. Mugema is a very important chief, and goes by 
 the title of Katiwe wa Kabaka, or father of the King. 
 His business is to keep in order the sepulchre of His 
 Majesty's predecessor. Another interesting function is 
 Kosju's, who has charge of the King's brothers, who are 
 kept in prison. The last two are among the principal 
 chiefs, and have the election of the Kabaka in their hands. 
 The third elector is the Katikiro. Among other officers 
 is the Musigiri : if the King leaves his capital for a short 
 time this functionar}^ takes his place ; while it is to him 
 that a chief, or even a commoner, must prefer any 
 complaint he has against the King. Then, again, there 
 is the Commander-in-Chief— very characteristically, he 
 only commands in time of peace, while for war the King 
 appoints a special general. Then come the Chief Cook, 
 the Cup-bearer, the Lord High Executioner (who goes by 
 the sufficiently terrifying name of Mutanan-Yangamba), 
 with two Chief Executioners under him. 
 
 Subordinate to all these are any number of sub-chiefs ; 
 and each province is ruled by a Governor (Bamasasa), 
 under the direction of the Kabaka. It is, as I have said, 
 from among these governors that the high officers of the 
 royal household are chosen. A chief has power to in- 
 flict capital punishment for the crimes of theft, adultery, 
 or breaking some of his furniture. The penalty is inflicted 
 by severing the vertebral column with a knife, and then 
 cutting off" the head. 
 
 442 
 
UGANDA AND ITS PEOPLE 
 
 Witchcraft and cowardice in war are punishable by 
 burning alive : though I do not gather that the latter 
 offence is very strictly enquired into. A punishment only 
 one grade less severe is mutilation of the eyes, nose, ears, 
 or lips. When a new King succeeds he appoints new 
 officers — a change of cabinet, so to speak. 
 
 The Waganda nation is divided into clans, each of 
 which goes by the name of an animal, which is its totem. 
 This animal may not be eaten by members of its own 
 clan ; for instance, a man who belongs to the Buffalo clan, 
 and keeps cattle, will never eat a black ox or cow. Other 
 clans are named after the grasshopper, the beaver (this 
 is Mwanga's clan, while the Katikiro's is a grasshopper), 
 fish, lizard ; and in the Sesse Islands, a crocodile. No 
 man can marry in his own clan. 
 
 I come now to the daily life of the people. Their 
 clothes usually consist of bark-cloth, of which there are 
 three kinds, one of superior quality, one commoner, and 
 one used only at night. It is made in the following 
 way. A kind of fig tree used for the purpose and named 
 Mituba is first stripped of its bark ; the upper layer of 
 this is employed for common stuff, while the inner layer is 
 made into the better qualities. After the bark has been 
 stripped off, the tree is wrapped round with banana leaves, 
 and in less than a year the bark has grown again. The 
 bark itself is beaten hard on the first day with a short thick- 
 headed mallet on a piece of dry wood. The stuff is then 
 exposed to the sun, and then beaten with a mallet whose 
 head is cut in grooves. The different pieces are then 
 sewn together with banana fibre with coarse native needles. 
 If the stuff has any holes in it they are sewn together, 
 and then the edges are lightly hammered to make them 
 close. When made, the cloth is dyed by means of wood 
 of three kinds, and is perfumed by placing it on sticks 
 above a fire of a wood called mogavu. The garment 
 of bark-cloth is called lubogo. It is worn by the men 
 fastened on the right shoulder, and by the women rolled 
 443 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 round the body, and fastened with a girdle about the 
 waist. Even the women of the highest rank wear no 
 outer garment except of bark-cloth ; but below it some 
 of the very fashionable have stuffs of European manu- 
 facture. Girls do not wear this dress until the age of 
 sixteen. Before that age they only wear a girdle made 
 either of beads or of wreaths. The lubogo is buried with 
 its proprietor ; the old garments are given to his slaves. 
 Sandals are made of buffalo hide, which is tanned by 
 first burying it for six days ; it has then to be beaten 
 for two days before it has got its right shape : these 
 sandals are hollow and ornamented with neat designs. 
 The straps are usually made of otter skin ; the King 
 alone has straps of leopard skin for his shoes. These 
 sandals are hardly ever used except by people of the 
 highest class. The ornamentations on the leather are first 
 of all traced out with a piece of iron, and then coloured 
 with a stick dipped in a mixture of red potter's clay and 
 water. Ornaments are very rare, and nothing is worn 
 in the ears. Copper or iron bracelets may occasionally 
 be seen, but these are about all. 
 
 Each family has its own dwelling-place, surrounded by 
 its own banana plantation. The people of the lower class 
 have one hut for sleeping and a smaller one for cooking ; 
 they eat in the open air. The abodes of the chiefs are 
 more elaborate, consisting of a sleeping hut (kisulo), a 
 kitchen, and a house for their women. Very exalted people 
 have a house for each of their women, and the female 
 slaves sleep in the same house as their mistress. All 
 these are surrounded by high rush fences. Outside these 
 again, in the case of important chiefs, is the audience 
 chamber (kigango). The floor is covered in all cases 
 with fine grass. The beds of the poorer people are 
 made of short piles planted in the earth and covered 
 with papyrus branches ; those of the upper classes are 
 real beds made of interlaced strips of leather, and the 
 great chiefs have also straw mattresses. 
 444 
 
UGANDA AND ITS PEOPLE 
 
 Marriage, as is usual in Africa, is mainly a question 
 of purchase. When a man sees a woman who pleases 
 him, he tells her he would like to marry her, and if she 
 is willing he goes to her father. If the father consents, 
 he names his daughter's price. Among the peasants 
 the customary price is fifteen gourds of beer, a basket 
 of salt, one bark-cloth "lubogo," looo shells* (simbi), and 
 a goat. When the payment is made, the day is fixed 
 for the husband to take delivery of the article. He 
 comes with his friends to the father's village and stops 
 outside the hut. The father comes out, and the bride- 
 groom says to him, " I have come for my wife." If it 
 should be thundering or raining, the father answers, " My 
 daughter cannot go with you ; the weather is not favour- 
 able." If it is fine he says simply — what in the former 
 case he adds to his first speech — " What have you brought 
 me ? I cannot let my daughter go without a little beer 
 to drown my sorrow in the midst of my friends." Thereon 
 the wooer produces three or four gourds of beer. The 
 girl is then brought by her mother, who has first washed 
 her with a native sponge and clothed her in a new 
 lubogo. The girl, at the sight of her husband, begins to 
 weep, and her father loads him with reproaches. " There 
 she is ; take her," he says, adding that he is a churl, that 
 he has not paid him enough, and similar compliments. 
 The girl cries all the time, and says, " Oh, mother, you 
 have sold me." One of the husband's friends then takes 
 her up astride of his shoulders! and carries her off, the 
 father sending with her her youngest sister as an attendant ; 
 she remains three days with the bride and then returns to 
 her father, having received as a present a lubogo and some 
 shells. The husband gives his friends a goat, on which they 
 
 * Shells (cowries) have been introduced as currency by the Arabs. Two 
 hundred to two hundred and fifty go to a rupee. 
 
 t This mode of riding is considered a high honour. Before horses had 
 been introduced into Uganda the King and his mother never walked, but always 
 went about perched astride the shoulders of a slave — a most ludicrous sight. 
 In this way they often travelled hundreds of miles. 
 
 445 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 feast. The bride does not speak to her husband during the 
 first three days, nor does she go abroad. If for any reason 
 she is obHged to leave the hut, she covers her head with 
 her lubogo, and is led by an old woman, whose duty is 
 to warn off any man they may meet. On the fourth 
 day the husband gives his wife a goat, which she kills and 
 cooks for him ; she may then speak. All her friends come 
 to visit her after that, the visit lasting two days. They 
 bring with them a present ; if they fail to do so, the bride 
 does not speak to them. On the seventh day her mother 
 comes to see her, but leaves the same day. On the 
 eighth she goes herself to see her father, and returns 
 with fowls and bananas ; these she cooks and serves 
 to her husband, and the ceremony is then complete. 
 
 Unmarried people are not allowed to possess land, but 
 on marriage the man goes to the chief, who gives him a 
 garden, in return for which he has to do such work 
 as building the chief's house or mending his fences if 
 called upon. The chief can evict him at pleasure, and 
 similarly the tenant can leave at any moment that suits 
 him. 
 
 The funeral ceremonies are as elaborate as those con- 
 nected with marriage, especially in the case of chiefs or 
 their womenkind. After death the body is straightened 
 out and wrapped up in bark-cloth. With it they bury 
 a number of cloths; for a big chief the number of the.se 
 cloths is anything from 200 to 3000;* for a peasant fifty 
 is enough, while the body of a slave is merely thrown 
 into a swamp. A chief's body is always embalmed ; his 
 widows have to squeeze out all the juices from the body 
 for a space of thirty or forty days. During the whole of 
 this time his relations neither wash nor cut their hair or 
 nails. They wear only rags of bark-cloth, and under this 
 next their skin a girdle of green banana leaves. As 
 soon as one girdle is dry they put on another. Tomtoms 
 are incessantly beaten, and the relatives spend most of 
 
 * When Mtesa died over ;^io,ooo worth of cloth was buried with him. 
 446 
 
w-i|:^ 
 
 ■i 
 
UGANDA AND ITS PEOPLE 
 
 their time in weeping and wailing. The body is carried 
 to the grave on a stretcher, and men and women aUke 
 follow it. For an ordinary chief the grave is as much 
 as ten feet deep. It is dug in an open space, on a hill 
 if possible, and a house is built over it. The grave is 
 first lined with bark-cloth three feet deep, then the body 
 is put in, and the hole is filled up to within a yard of the 
 surface with more bark -cloths. In this way, it will be 
 seen, there is no extraordinary difficulty in getting rid of 
 a couple of thousand or so. No ornaments, or weapons, 
 or anything of the kind are buried with the body. In the 
 case of a chief, women and slaves remain for a time in 
 the hut built above the grave. Some twenty days after 
 the funeral the dead man's successor is brought before 
 the King and formally recognized. He then returns 
 with his people to his father's house ; beer is made 
 and drunk all night to the accompaniment of drum 
 beating. Next day the new chief takes his father's 
 weapons, and standing on the threshold is publicly 
 recognized by his people. The oldest relative of his 
 father approaches him and clothes him with the lubogo, 
 and his relatives each bring him one shell apiece. These 
 are strung together and wound round his arm ; if there 
 are any over they are placed on the bark-cloth on which 
 he is sitting. The question of the disposal of his pre- 
 decessor's wives then arises. Half are washed and taken 
 to the King ; of the remaining half, all that have borne 
 children are set apart to guard the grave ; * the rest the 
 new chief takes to himself There is then a great feast 
 by way of termination to the period of mourning. The 
 father usually chooses his successor from among his 
 sons in his own lifetime, but the family can overrule this 
 choice and appoint another son ; women have no voice in 
 the matter. The ceremonies and customs of succession 
 
 * Departed kings retain the whole of their household ; food is cooked and 
 deposited daily on the grave, and every month a great "baraza" (levee) is 
 held in front of it. 
 
 2 G 449 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 are similar in the case of the common people, but of 
 course on a smaller scale. 
 
 There are several kinds of ordeal in force in Uganda, 
 but since the British occupation these have been naturally- 
 repressed as far as possible. One of them was the familiar 
 device of taking muavi ; the party who could not get up 
 after drinking it was guilty. At other times a spade was 
 heated and passed over the legs of accuser and accused ; 
 the man whose skin came off was in the wrong. Another 
 method was to put fire in a pot and apply it to the chest ; 
 if it made a blister and stuck where it was like a cupping- 
 glass, the man was guilty. 
 
 Of the industries of the Waganda, agriculture is natu- 
 rally the most important. The cultivators or peasants 
 are called bakobi. The only implement they use is a spade, 
 which is worth 250 simbi (shells). The plants cultivated 
 are very numerous, comprising bananas, sweet potatoes, 
 Indian corn, cassava, peas, beans, a root called mayuni, 
 monkey nuts, millet, wheat, another small kind of red 
 millet called wimbi, rice, tobacco, gourds, and vegetable 
 marrows of various sorts. They begin to prepare the 
 ground in February and sow in March. The crops are 
 ready for harvesting in three months. In September a 
 second crop is planted. To keep down weeds they 
 strew the ground with banana leaves. Bananas them- 
 selves appear in eighteen months. They are planted in 
 rotation so as to have some always in yield. Bananas 
 are the staple food of the country ; they are eaten 
 green, and are cooked as I have described in a previous 
 chapter. Their fruits are wild dates, a kind of plum 
 called unsali, the wild fruit of the incense tree, and the 
 wild plantain. 
 
 Weaving is unknown, but the Waganda make various 
 kinds of rope with banana fibre, papyrus, and certain 
 leaves. To make fast the rushes used for fences and 
 houses they bind them wi^th strips of banana bark. They 
 are very clever at working leather, as I have already said, 
 450 
 
UGANDA AND ITS PEOPLE 
 
 rubbing it after it is dry with stones, and afterwards 
 rolling it in their hands to make it supple. 
 
 Pottery is the art of special artisans called babumbi. 
 A large pot takes two days to make, and is reshaped 
 four times on each day. When the shape is perfect it 
 is scraped over with a small piece of wood. Designs 
 are made by running a four-pronged stick over the surface. 
 To bake the pots they put them on four stones, placing 
 a large number together. They then light dry grass 
 on the ground, and when it is well alight pile up more 
 dry grass and leaves all over the pots until they are 
 wholly covered by a glowing fire. 
 
 451 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 WHEN I left Colonel Colvile at Mukvvenda's he pointed 
 out to me that I should have much difficulty in 
 finding porters to go to the coast, and therefore offered 
 to lend me some, as he had a good many men whose time 
 was up and whom he would have to send back. He also 
 enquired about the number of guns I had, and finding 
 out that I possessed but a few, he gave orders for fifty 
 Snider carbines to be lent to me, and also promised to give 
 me an armed escort of twenty men, as the Masai country 
 was still unsettled, and it was not wise to cross it without a 
 well-armed party. In return he asked me to take charge 
 of his mails. 
 
 My own party consisted of the faithful David, who by 
 this time had become my Katikiro — Prime Minister; 
 Inyarugwe, the little Senga slave who had been given to 
 me by Matakania, the Portuguese Capitao-Mor of Zumbo ; 
 and Malainga, the little slave paid to me by the Wahha as 
 a ransom for their chief. I have since brought this little 
 family to England, and all three of them have given me the 
 utmost satisfaction. David, as I have already said, has 
 travelled all over Europe with me and has since accom- 
 panied me twice to Africa ; Inyarugwe, who was constantly 
 suffering from fever in Africa, has never been ill since he 
 came to Europe ; and little Malainga has lately passed the 
 fifth standard after two years' schooling. They are all 
 perfectly happy, and although I had been warned that they 
 would soon get spoiled, I found them quite the reverse, and, 
 452 
 
INYARUGWE AND SABAO 
 {Tiuo of my Zambezi children). 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 what is rare in an African native, each one of them has 
 appreciated the kindness shown him; although Miss Burns 
 has done her best to spoil little Malai'nga, he simply 
 worships her — as does everyone who knows her, I may add. 
 Among my faithful followers were also Wana Omari, who 
 had come with me from Jumbe's, on Lake Nyasa ; Ambali, 
 a Zanzibari I had engaged at Ujiji; besides about twenty 
 of my old Wanyamwezi porters, who had been promoted 
 to the rank of askari (soldiers) and acted as my body- 
 guard. I had given them four hours' drill every day since 
 I had arrived in Uganda, and Major Owen was much 
 struck with their efficiency. Besides these, I had twenty 
 askari and fifty porters lent to me by Colonel Colvile, 
 sixteen men of the postal caravan, and twenty men I had 
 engaged myself in Uganda. Shortly after his arrival Scott • 
 Elliot had made up his mind to get rid of his headman 
 and of some forty porters, whom he asked me to take to 
 the coast, warning me that they were a bad lot — absolutely 
 unmanageable, — but I had no fear in that respect, knowing 
 well that I should soon knock them into shape. Having 
 gathered all my force together, I explained to them what I 
 expected from them : " There are a few things," I said, 
 " that I want you to bear in mind : so long as you do 
 your work well and obey my orders you will find Mpanda 
 Chalo (my native name) a good master. If any one of 
 you is ill or finds himself in trouble, come to me and I 
 will look after you. But if you disobey orders, if you 
 steal anything either from your comrades or from the 
 natives among whom we pass, you will be punished with 
 the utmost severity. Every day I want the camp to be 
 properly laid, and when the drums are beaten every man 
 must fall in into his own appointed place. Now a few among 
 you have lately travelled with Bwana Mdudu — (the master 
 of the insects — Mr, Scott Elliot's native name)— and 
 because he has been too good to you, you took advantage 
 of him. You had better not try the same game with me, 
 as you will find Mpanda Chalo a very different master. 
 455 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 As to you," I went on, turning towards the headmen, 
 "remember that you are getting double pay and double 
 rations, and, therefore, if you misbehave yourselves, you 
 will get double punishment. I have but one thing to 
 add : if a single one of you fires at a native and kills him 
 without my orders, I will have him shot or hanged on the 
 spot. That is all ; go to your quarters." The next two 
 days were spent in distributing the loads, nearly forty of 
 which consisted of curios I had collected since I had left 
 Lake Nyasa* I also had a good lot of ivory I had 
 purchased, and on which I lost some ^20. Then, having 
 taken leave of the King and Katikiro, and bidden good- 
 bye to the missionaries, who had shown me much kindness, 
 on the 6th February I shook hands with Captain Gibb and 
 Scott Elliot, and at last turned my steps towards the 
 coast. 
 
 That day we camped near a village only one hour's 
 march from Kampala. 
 
 There had been as yet no news from Colonel Colvile, 
 and I was to wait in Usoga for twenty porters, already 
 overdue, who were to bring the Colonel's mail from 
 Unyoro. Captain Macdonald had most nobly given me 
 a pair of boots, which caused me, however, considerable 
 torture, and on the third day I had to give them up 
 and walk in an old pair of shoes I had bought from 
 a native. Some of the loads were too heavy, and it was 
 a difficult question how I could carry the twenty-three 
 days' food necessary for my men. On the second day 
 I had, as is usually the case with new porters, to estab- 
 
 * All these curios were presented by me to the French Museums — Musce 
 ethnographique du Trocadero and Musetun d'histoire naturelle — but I am sorry 
 to say that I have not yet had time to classify them. The cost and transport 
 of these curios came to over £\QiOO, but I only received from the French 
 Government 4000 francs (;i^i6o) towards the cost of the whole of my journey, 
 and on my return I received no thanks and still less reward. If, following 
 the example of one of my countrymen on the Niger, I had pretended that 
 Colonel Colvile had tried to poison me, I should most likely, like this traveller, 
 have been rewarded by a governorship. 
 456 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 lish my authority by punishing one of them for steaHng 
 bananas from the natives. 
 
 Several of my porters broke down on the third day ; but 
 my anxieties on account of food were somewhat alleviated 
 by the amiable chief Nansombo, who brought me a good 
 supply of bananas for my men. I also had the luck to buy 
 a saddle ox, who carried me magnificently : his only fault 
 was that he was so fat that his skin rolled about on his 
 back, and it required the skill of a circus rider to maintain 
 a balance on him. The men, however, became worse and 
 worse; on February lOth one of them deserted, and all 
 were in bad condition. I needed at least twenty fresh 
 ones before I could get started in earnest. 
 
 I camped on the night of the loth at Kamanyro, in 
 the midst of a hilly country covered with high grass, 
 bush, and stones. Next morning I started for the Ripon 
 Falls of the Nile. They consist of three cascades divided 
 by small islands, whence the natives fish, spearing their 
 prey with a sort of two-pronged harpoon. The current 
 above the falls is most powerful, and the boats going to the 
 small islands that stand between the different cascades 
 are frequently carried away by the current ; this had 
 happened the very day before. On the near banks of the 
 falls, which are overlooked by steep hills some i6o ft. high, 
 are a few huts where the native fishermen live ; the fish 
 appear very numerous and are very large. At the foot of 
 the falls swim large numbers of cormorants, while above 
 them crocodiles and hippopotami are as plentiful as in 
 the Shire itself During the day I shot a hippopotamus 
 and two crocodiles. Wishing to send a letter to Mr. Grant, 
 the official in charge of Usoga, asking him to send me 
 boats to get my caravan over the river, I hired a native 
 boat, but when my askari was about to step into it the 
 boatmen rowed away and disappeared. I sent another 
 askari to fetch the chief from whose village the boat came 
 — a certain Molyoa ; nothing was heard of him till next 
 morning, when his Katikiro arrived at half-past six. He 
 457 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 asserted that it could not have been one of his boats 
 that rowed away the previous day — after the boatmen 
 had received payment — since Molyoa had no boats. 
 
 " Very well," I said ; " by the way, did you not send 
 me bananas yesterday ? " 
 
 " Yes, certainly." 
 
 " By boat, I believe ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then you told me a lie when you said the chief 
 had no boats. I am going to keep you here until the 
 owner of the boat comes here ; his name is Mfumbiro." 
 
 "I do not know him." 
 
 " I am sorry for it, because I shall be obliged to keep 
 you until your memory comes back to you." 
 
 Thereupon he decided to send his wife to the village 
 with one of my soldiers to fetch the man. Presently 
 the chief of the district on the other side of the river 
 arrived with Molyoa himself I reported to Molyoa 
 what had happened, but he said that he did not dare to 
 send for some of his men unless I gave him two soldiers, 
 for his people were " kali sana " (very bad) and would 
 kill him. 
 
 " What," said I, " a chief afraid of his people ? Well, 
 then, I shall go myself." 
 
 I started with four askaris in the boat that had brought 
 the two chiefs ; but on the way I met a messenger from 
 Grant, saying that he had heard of my arrival and was 
 sorry he could not send me any boats, because all his own 
 were away that day, but adding that he would send me 
 some the next day to Lugumba, six hours' journey from 
 the falls. I sent him a reply by the boat which had 
 brought his letter : I said that I would come myself with 
 the greater part of my baggage direct to his station at 
 Lubwa's, sending my men and the rest of the baggage to 
 Lugumba. I managed to hire six boats, the biggest of 
 them belonging to the chief on the opposite side of the 
 river, who had come to see me ; he asked me to let him 
 458 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 cross over to his own side, and promised to send back the 
 boat immediately ; to make sure, I sent a soldier with him, 
 bidding him return at once. Meanwhile the owner of 
 the boat, who had vanished after being paid on the 
 previous day, had at last turned up, and I asked him why 
 he had behaved as he did. 
 
 " Oh," he said, " a hippopotamus knocked a hole in my 
 boat." 
 
 " That is a lie," I replied. " I watched your boat all the 
 time ; and if a hippopotamus had knocked a hole in it, 
 you would very soon have come ashore instead of crossing 
 the lake. Now you see you have told me a lie, and you 
 have robbed me, and you deserve a punishment." 
 
 " Yes, master, what can I do ? White men know every- 
 thing ! " 
 
 So I ordered the sergeant of the guard to give him 
 twenty lashes. While this was going on I saw that the 
 chief's boat, which had crossed the river, instead of return- 
 ing as promised, was making off with my soldier. I 
 waited an hour in vain, and as he did not return I got 
 another boat and went after him, and found him nearly 
 four miles away ; he said the people had told him they 
 were going to fetch more men. 
 
 " What were my orders ? " I asked him. 
 
 " To return immediately." 
 
 " Why did you disobey ? " 
 
 " The people told me . . ." 
 
 " Very well, you will be punished when we return to 
 camp." 
 
 As for the chief, who was standing by with a long face, 
 I told him that I knew by the way his people behaved 
 that he did not care for my orders, and that I should 
 report him to Mr. Grant. He explained that if he beat 
 his people, they threatened to kill him : this was a chief 
 indeed ! 
 
 " Very well," I said ; " I will inform Mr, Grant of that 
 too." 
 
 459 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 He besought me not to tell him : I answered that that 
 would depend upon the future behaviour of his people. 
 At last I brought the boat back, and after an hour's hard 
 work got all the loads across ; but then, thanks to the un- 
 speakable procrastination of the natives, it was too late 
 to start, and I had to send a new messenger to Grant 
 to ask him to have the boats sent to me here after all. 
 They arrived the next afternoon ; but I required certain 
 time to get them loaded, and was not able to start till 
 evening. As it took four hours by water to reach Lubwa, 
 I had to stop half-way so as not to arrive there in the 
 middle of the night. I had the bad luck to get my tent 
 pitched on the top of a nest of red ants which ate me 
 up. It took an hour to get the packages ashore and count 
 them all ; then, having set a guard for the night, I took 
 a turn round the camp, which, including the boatmen, 
 contained nearly 200 men. As I expected, I caught 
 several of them in the act of stealing bananas, and 
 presently a patrol which 1 sent out brought in five more 
 with the stolen fruit in their hands. True to my promise, 
 I punished them all on the spot Next day an hour 
 and a half's row brought me to Lubwa Station, where 
 I was most kindly received by Mr. Grant. The place 
 was admirably kept and garrisoned by 100 askaris ; 
 there were also a number of Soudanese, not enrolled, 
 who had been allowed to settle down there. 
 
 While I was at Lubwa's two missionaries came whose 
 names I will not mention ; but I must mention their 
 extraordinary conduct, to show how some of them imagine 
 that every one ought to be at their orders. They were 
 going to open a station in Kavirondo, and before leaving 
 they asked Mr. Grant to keep some of their packages. 
 He agreed, and they produced twenty-nine, for which they 
 gave him a receipt to sign. This he refused to do unless 
 they agreed to relieve Government of all responsibility 
 with regard to them, as once before some other missionary 
 made a heavy claim for some packages he had asked the 
 460 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 Company to keep for him as a matter of courtesy; these 
 having been destroyed by a fire, he claimed their full 
 value. When the things had all been stored in the 
 magazine, they made Mr, Grant take them all out twice 
 on the pretext that among them were some boxes they 
 wanted to take away with them. They did not give 
 themselves the trouble to take any part in this work, not 
 even to look for the boxes in question. That evening Mr. 
 Grant sent word to ask them to dinner. They replied 
 through a native boy that if Grant wanted them to do him 
 the honour of coming to dinner, he must ask them early in 
 the morning. Another day Mr. Grant asked them to dine, 
 and then sent to beg the loan of their table, his own being 
 too small. Their reply, " Certainly not," was curt and to 
 the point. I am bound to say that most of the colleagues 
 of these fellows were absolutely different, but this shows 
 how extremely disagreeable a churlish missionary can 
 make himself 
 
 I stayed at Lubwa's fort a fortnight, and during this 
 time the chief came to pay me a visit. He was a fine old 
 man and seemed very intelligent ; it was he who had Bishop 
 Hannington killed, but he cannot be held responsible for 
 this, as he was only acting under the orders of Mwanga, 
 King of Uganda. Speaking of the death of Hannington, 
 it is incorrect to imagine that he was killed near the Nile. 
 As a matter of fact, Lubwa's village is nearly eight miles 
 from the river as the crow flies, and two long days' 
 journey by the path. 
 
 Lubwa gave me some curious information about the 
 government of Usoga. It is tributary to Uganda, and 
 consists of a number of small states independent of one 
 another. The chiefs of these are called Muami. At their 
 death they are succeeded by their sons, but the chief 
 himself designates the particular son who is to succeed. 
 After the dead chief has been buried for some time his 
 bones are dug up again. Anyone who has the misfortune 
 to pass near the tomb while this operation is going on 
 461 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 — man, woman, or child — must die. The skull and the 
 larger bones are put aside, while the smaller ones are 
 taken away to be used as drumsticks. When the chief's 
 bones have been disinterred they are laid in a hut built 
 specially for the purpose, upon a bed, and covered with 
 fine bark-cloth ; then the drums are beaten with the small 
 bones, and all the people chant that their chief has come 
 back again. The reigning chief appoints a certain number 
 of people to watch the hut and the bones. 
 
 On February 28th Colonel Col- 
 
 ;^ "" * ,^ vile's mail arrived with the fresh 
 
 ^■C *^-., porters for whom I had been 
 
 / ' -.5^ waiting, and I started for the 
 
 j long march of 1000 miles that 
 
 ./ separated me from the coast. 
 
 > / Before leaving I collected the 
 
 //' J food necessary for my men be- 
 
 "J- tween Mumias and Kikuyu, a 
 
 C twenty-five days' march, during 
 
 which no villages are passed. 
 
 Mr. Grant sent thirty Lindu to 
 
 accompany me as far as Kavi- 
 
 rondo, and help to carry the 
 
 2000 lbs. of flour necessary to 
 
 ' feed my men. Two hours and 
 
 LUBWA's KATiKiRo. ^ half of quick Walking brought 
 
 us to Lubwa's village, where we 
 
 camped. Lubwa treated me most handsomely, giving me 
 
 two fine goats and a sheep. He also offered me a wife, 
 
 to escape which effusive kindness I am afraid I falsely 
 
 said that I was already married in my own country. Next 
 
 morning we went on through a magnificent country and 
 
 most luxuriant vegetation. Big trees were abundant, 
 
 and among them was an almost uninterrupted succession 
 
 of banana plantations. The villages, which are many, 
 
 consist merely of a group of four or five huts erected in 
 
 the middle of the plantations. The entrance to each 
 
 462 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 village is marked by a sort of porch made of a grass roof 
 raised on sticks. There are huts for the gods in each 
 village ; these are exactly like the Musimo huts found in 
 the Wanyamwezi country, being surmounted by a pair of 
 tall horns. We also found a pot buried at the junction 
 of two roads, as among the same people. It would have 
 been very interesting to trace the connection between 
 these peoples, if any really exists, but I was not able to 
 do so. The Usoga huts are built on the same model as 
 those of Uganda. The entrance is only about three feet 
 high and eighteen inches wide. 
 
 There followed three more or less uneventful days, 
 marked only by occasional petty thefts on the part of my 
 men, and by one of the Lindu* breaking down. The 
 headman in charge of the Lindu helped him on with cuts 
 from a whip. To punish the brute I made him carry the 
 sick man's load, I had to leave this man on the road, 
 paying the chief of a village to take care of him. On the 
 5 th March we entered Kavirondo ; the appearance of the 
 
 THE ENTRANCE GATE OF A VILLAGE IN KAVIRONDO. 
 
 country, the people, and the villages completely changed. 
 Instead of the magnificent trees of Usoga we found un- 
 dulating plains covered with grass, with here and there 
 tufts of little trees marking a village. These villages 
 consist of a few huts surrounded by a wall of earth ; round 
 this wall is a ditch about 15 feet deep, and outside of it 
 
 * The Lindu are a tribe coming from the N.W. of Lake Albert :-they had 
 been enslaved by Emin's soldiers, and followed them when Captain Lugard 
 removed them from Kavalli's. Their emancipation was considered a serious 
 grievance by the Soudanese. 
 
 463 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 euphorbus and other trees grow. The villages are dirty 
 and stinking; the people, on the other hand, superb. The 
 men carry assegais with very long shafts and short heads. 
 Men and women alike despise clothes, and go naked ; they 
 cover their necks, arms, and legs with 
 rings of iron wire, and wear smaller 
 rings of copper wire in their ears, which 
 shine in the sun, giving them a very 
 curious appearance. Some of them 
 wear on the forehead a crescent made 
 out of hippopotamus tusk. Men and 
 women alike are tall and well made, 
 but they have especially large hands. 
 The Wa Kavirondo pull out four or 
 five of their lower front teeth by way 
 of beautification ; the Wasoga and Masai 
 only two. Unlike the people of Uganda 
 and Usoga, they do not appear to culti- 
 vate the banana much ; but I saw several 
 fields of potatoes. The men work as 
 hard as the women — a very rare phenomenon for Africa. 
 
 The people of Kavirondo are great blacksmiths ; there 
 is a large forge outside every village, where two or three 
 men are always found at work, some making picks, others 
 axes, or assegais ; they shape the object they want to 
 manufacture on an anvil of stone, and finish it by stamping 
 it with a little iron pestle ; while hammering they keep up 
 a continual monotonous chant. The picks they make are 
 like those of the Waganda, but smaller. 
 
 On the night of the 5 th March hyaenas broke into 
 the camp and carried off two goats. The sentinels fired 
 on them, but without effect. I could not help thinking the 
 next morning while my tent was being folded up, and I 
 was breakfasting with mud above my ankles, how peculiar 
 life is at times in Africa compared with our modern 
 civilization. Who in Europe would ever think of camping 
 in a newly-ploughed field after a week's rain ? I forgot to 
 464 
 
 MAN OF KAVIRONDO, 
 PAINTED. 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 say that since we left Lubwa's it had been raining hard 
 every day. 
 
 Crossing the river Scio (which took an hour, since the 
 bridge had fallen to pieces), we took the direction of the 
 Samia Mountains, on which we saw a great deal of game, 
 mostly hartebeest ; we also found fresh spoor of 
 elephants and buffaloes, but as we had to go on until we 
 found water to camp by, I could not stop to go after them. 
 We camped, after four and a half hours' march, by a hill, 
 and were entertained in the evening by a concert of 
 whistling frogs. I remembered the joy with which I had 
 heard their strains in the Kalahari Desert when water had 
 given out ; but here there was water, or at any rate mud, 
 enough and to spare. 
 
 Next day, after skirting the base of the mountains 
 for some time, we entered a grassy region dotted with 
 villages, surrounded by fine trees, and contrasting singu- 
 larly with the bareness of the neighbouring country. The 
 villages there were more important than those we had 
 passed the previous day, and uncommonly well defended ; 
 round each was a wall of earth nearly ten feet high, outside 
 which a fosse more than fifteen feet deep and about ten 
 feet broad had been dug. There were two small gates 
 on each side of the village, and in front of them the ditch 
 was interrupted by an earthen bridge about three feet 
 wide, but at this point the wall was higher and some six 
 feet thick. 
 
 Next day (March 8th) we made our way towards 
 the village of Mumia. Several of my men professed to 
 know the way well, but as I thought they all took a 
 wrong direction I steered myself by the compass, and to 
 their great astonishment brought them straight to the 
 goal. Captain Macdonald, I must say, had given me the 
 large scale map of the railway survey, and its remarkable 
 accuracy was of the greatest use to me. Before reaching 
 the village we had to cross the river Nzoia, which was 
 very swollen. It was impossible to ford it and to get my 
 2 H 465 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 1 50 men, their loads, and my beasts across the water, and 
 I could find nothing but two of the most primitive canoes I 
 had yet seen. They were made of a large tree-trunk, 
 roughly hollowed out, but on the outside left absolutely 
 in a state of nature. It took three hours of uninterrupted 
 labour to get the whole caravan to the other side. We 
 reached the village in the heaviest downpour I had yet 
 seen in Africa : for the last few days it had been raining 
 in torrents with hardly any interruption, and being quite 
 done up I was very glad to spend the next day dealing 
 out ten days' rations to my men. I had to watch my 
 headmen measuring out more than 3000 cups of flour, 
 and at the end of the day I was covered all over with a 
 white cake of flour mixed with rain. I engaged six 
 men at Mumia's to go all the way to the coast, and three 
 more to accompany me for the next two days. It was 
 only by this means that I could transport enough food 
 for my whole company. On leaving Mumia's I had the 
 
 good fortune to meet a 
 
 %t^ m war party of Masai. There 
 
 i) were about forty of them, 
 
 returning from a raid : 
 
 they belonged to Mumia, 
 
 who employed them for the special 
 
 purpose of raiding his neighbours. 
 
 All of them were adorned with a 
 
 crown of ostrich feathers, passing 
 
 over the head and under the chin, 
 
 and a cape of cock's feathers. 
 
 Their weapons consisted of an 
 
 assegai — absolutely different from 
 
 those used by other natives ; the 
 
 blade is about 2 ft. to 2 ft. 6 in. 
 
 long, and 4 in. broad, the wooden 
 
 shaft just long enough to allow the hand to grasp it, and 
 
 the point of iron about 3 feet long — a knife, a knobkerry, 
 
 and a shield. Their standard was an assegai, with a 
 
 466 
 
 A MASAI WARRIOR. 
 (el nandi tribe.) 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 bunch of ostrich plumes at the end. Some of them wore 
 a small bell, shaped as a crescent and fastened round 
 their calves, and some had their faces covered with a layer 
 of ochre and fat. I have seldom seen a more picturesque 
 company. They had been making war, I was told, to the 
 west of Mount Elgon, of which we had had a magnificent 
 view for the last few days. 
 
 The people of this part of Kavirondo let their hair 
 grow long, and roll it up in braids. Others cover their 
 faces and body with a reddish earth, and adorn themselves 
 by making tracings on it with their fingers. A favourite 
 position of the Wa Kavirondo is standing on one leg, with 
 the unoccupied foot resting on the other knee. They 
 reminded me of large storks at rest. 
 
 During these days there were the usual difficulties on 
 the march — now porters missing, now loads lost, now a 
 donkey left behind — of which I should imagine the reader 
 has had enough by now. On the 13th, having crossed 
 the Ningen mountains, we saw a number of antelopes 
 at a considerable distance. As we were descending the 
 next mountains, all of a sudden David cried out, " Master, 
 a great beast down there." I looked, but saw nothing. 
 The next moment I heard a roar, and the beast galloped 
 up towards the summit of the hill. It was a superb old 
 lion with a black mane. I started off after him, and had 
 got half-way up when I saw in the many rocks above 
 me, perhaps a quarter of a mile away, six lions more. I 
 crawled towards them, followed by some of my men, but 
 when we reached the rocks the lions had departed. We 
 followed their tracks for nearly an hour, and saw any 
 number of antelopes, but I did not wish to fire for fear 
 of frightening the lions away. At the end of an hour I 
 was forced, to my deep regret, to give up the chase. These 
 were the first lions I had seen in Africa, except one a very 
 long way off in the Kalahari, and I must say that a lion in 
 a wild state is a most magnificent creature. While on 
 the track of the lions I found fresh traces of rhinoceroses, 
 467 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 so that I promised myself good sport for the future. 
 All this happened about an hour from the river Guaso 
 Masai, where we were to camp, and we had to push 
 on through heavy showers of rain. 
 
 Next day, March 14th, was a day to be remembered 
 from a sporting point of view. I marched over four 
 hours, and stalked for seven. Never have I seen so 
 much game in one day. It was impossible to go ten 
 minutes in any direction without coming on a herd of 
 antelopes, mainly kongoni (Jackson's hartebeest). I shot 
 one of these, a very fine hind, and two small gazelles 
 {Thompsoni). I wounded three others, but could not follow 
 them for fear of detaining the caravan too long. These 
 beasts are very difficult to kill. My kongoni received 
 the first bullet, which broke her shoulder, and despite 
 that I had to follow her more than half a mile, and it 
 needed two more bullets to finish her. One of the small 
 gazelles received a shot which entirely opened her belly. 
 Ypt she ran with her intestines dragging on the ground 
 more than ten minutes, and it took a second shot to kill 
 her. Half an hour after I had halted, and the men had 
 begun to pitch the camp, I saw a herd of hartebeest about 
 1500 yards away, on the opposite side of the river Nallaso- 
 gewi. I started to stalk them, but the camp fires had 
 frightened them, and I could not get near enough to 
 shoot. I think it most disgraceful to fire at every animal 
 one sees, when one knows that there is little or no chance of 
 killing it : why should one inflict useless sufferings on the 
 poor beasts .-' On the way I started an eland — or at any 
 rate it looked like one — and a dozen gazelles, but could 
 not get near enough for a shot. The country consisted of 
 waving plains covered with grass and bush. We were 
 rising gradually, and had by now reached an altitude of 
 6200 feet. 
 
 Next day we went on through the same kind of country, 
 following the course of the river. Game continued to be 
 extremely abundant, but very difficult to approach. At 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 the end of five hours' march we were getting near to the 
 spot where I reckoned to camp, when I saw a number 
 of natives hiding in the distance. I halted to observe 
 their movements, and one of them, seeing that I had 
 noticed the party, approached within about 500 yards. I 
 made my people hail him, and he asked that a single man 
 should come towards him. I advanced immediately, but 
 with one of my men who spoke Masai, and two askaris. 
 The Masai, who was in war paint — face and body smeared 
 with ochre — and carried his shield and spear — advanced 
 towards me. At fifty paces he plucked some grass and held 
 it in his hand. This was the sign of peace. When I came 
 near him he stuck his spear in the ground, approached me, 
 and held out his hand. When I put out mine to shake 
 hands with him he spat in my open palm — the sign of 
 friendship — and I returned the compliment. He then sat 
 down behind his shield. It appeared that he was the 
 " Hgonan " (captain). Soon he was joined by two other 
 officers, but when others approached they were ordered 
 back with an authority not to be disobeyed. He then 
 proceeded to tell me an impossible story. A month 
 before, he said, a Swahili caravan had come into his 
 country and bought ivory, and thinking that we were 
 the same caravan on the way back he had come to see 
 if we would buy any more. I replied that I was a white 
 man, that my caravan was the caravan of the great queen 
 " Queeny," and that my flag was her flag. I had not 
 come to buy ivory, but was going down to the coast. 
 He then asked me to pay a " hongo," i.e., make some 
 payment for being allowed to pass. " No," I said, " white 
 men do not pay ' hongo.' " Next he asked me to wait a 
 little, and retired with his two warriors about twenty yards 
 ofiT. After a few minutes' discussion he returned : he 
 wanted a present. " No, white men do not give presents." 
 He wanted one of my oxen. I laughed. Then he asked 
 me to wait again, and then again retired with his two 
 lieutenants. When he returned I told him that the 
 469 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 conference was over, but that as he had many men with 
 him I had better tell him that it was dangerous to come 
 near my camp at night, as my askaris had orders to fire 
 on anyone who came close to the camp. He replied that 
 he did not want war, and his followers repeated it. Each 
 spoke in turn, and the speaker held in his hand the knob- 
 kerry of the chief, with which he gesticulated. The chief 
 then asked me if the Masai in my caravan belonged to 
 me. " Yes." He then asked permission to speak to them. 
 " Certainly," I said. Afterwards, when I began to pitch 
 my camp for the night, my Masai came and told me that 
 I must expect to be attacked during the night. The 
 captain had said to them that as I would not give him 
 an ox he would come and take all I had, and kill me 
 and all my men. They added that " they should not sleep 
 that night, as the El Nandi are very bad men who come 
 crawling up to you like snakes." I assured them that 
 they need not be afraid, that I was as cunning as the 
 cleverest Masai, and would answer for it that nobody got 
 inside my camp. I formed a strong zareba, round which 
 over a space of about ten feet I got the ground covered 
 with small twigs of thorn bushes, that were bound to 
 stop an army of bare-footed men. I also posted four 
 sentries, with orders to fire on anyone approaching the 
 camp. Towards sundown I saw several Masai observing 
 my arrangements; but, as I expected, the night passed 
 quite quietly. My experience is that natives never attack 
 anyone who is on his guard.* 
 
 Next day we went over twenty miles across a series of 
 grassy plains without a tree or bush. Game was most 
 abundant ; hartebeest, small gazelles, and zebras : we also 
 found fresh spoor of rhinoceroses and several buffaloes' 
 skulls. The next day the country was most delightful, 
 
 * The same people one year after destroyed a caravan of looo men merely 
 because they took no precautions, and were surprised in the middle of the 
 night. The Masai tactics differ from those of other tribes : African natives 
 usually attack their enemy just before sunrise, but the Masai always attack in 
 the early part of the night so as to be able to get a long way off before morning. 
 470 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 recalling an English park in the most curious way — 
 sweeps of undulating short grass with groups of mag- 
 nificent forest trees. We were now on very high ground 
 — 8600 feet above sea-level ; an icy wind blew from the 
 north, and the temperature at 6 p.m. was only 54 degrees. 
 Next morning I was almost frozen, and my men, who were 
 next to naked, felt still worse ; every one of them suffered 
 from fever. The country remained much the same until 
 we reached the highest altitude of our road, 8700 feet. 
 Here we entered a forest, and the path descended until we 
 came out again into open ground, where we camped. 
 
 That afternoon a Zanzibari arrived in my camp in a 
 miserable condition. His story was that he had belonged 
 to a Swahili caravan, which had gone to Lake Baringo, 
 but he had been abandoned, and had lived for a month 
 on roots. I allowed him to join my party, leaving him 
 to explain himself at Kikuyu, Several of my men were 
 down with fever and dysentery, and one was evidently 
 doomed within a day or two. It is curious how callous 
 a long stay in Africa makes one about a man's life. 
 In a country where one is exposed every moment to 
 be carried off by a wild beast, or stabbed by a native, 
 one soon comes to think very little of one's own life or 
 anybody else's. 
 
 Next day, the 19th March, we passed through the 
 forest of Subugo. It is very thick, and walking through 
 it is very tiring. Every moment we had to pass 
 through veritable tunnels of vegetation. The path was 
 soaked by the rain, so that the ground was very slippery, 
 and intersected with roots, while in other places we had 
 to climb over great trunks of fallen trees. The effects 
 of lightning in this region are terrific. Immense trees, 
 100 feet high, had been shattered to pieces, and the 
 fragments flung far and wide. After four and a half 
 hours' march we reached the river Eldoma, running at 
 the bottom of a gorge more than 200 feet deep, and 
 after crossing it camped on a grassy tableland. This 
 471 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 region is admirably adapted for European settlement, and 
 stock-breeding ought to succeed admirably. It would be 
 even more successful if transport by ox-waggon were 
 established here. I had been asked by Colonel Colvile 
 to examine the country with a view to the establishment 
 of a service of ox-waggons ; and except the gorge 
 through which the Eldoma runs, I found no serious 
 obstacle. But that was in 1894, and the railway has 
 since then been begun. In the meantime Captain Sclater 
 has completed an excellent road, suitable for waggon 
 transport, the whole way to Uganda. 
 
 The country continued to be most extraordinarily 
 abundant in game, and on the 20th March I spent the 
 best part of the day shooting. Antelopes and zebras 
 appeared at every turn, and I shot six fine hartebeest 
 in the course of the day. One of them displayed most 
 extraordinary tenacity of life. I fired at a distance of 
 about 200 yards, and he rolled over with his hoofs in the 
 air. David ran up to finish him, and fired, but the second 
 bullet seemed to bring him back to life. He jumped 
 up and galloped off: 300 yards further he stopped. 
 David fired another shot and again he fell, but once more 
 got up and made off I got within shot and put a 
 fourth bullet into him, but even then he was not finished, 
 and had to be killed with the knife. He was a superb 
 buck — as large as a small ox. My men gave me three 
 cheers when they found the splendid supply of meat I 
 had provided. Next day we had to make a very long 
 and tiring march to make up for lost time. The country 
 was very varied and cut up by many ravines. There was 
 still any amount of game to be seen ; but I was feeling 
 very seedy, and not disposed to go out of my way for 
 them. There were many fresh traces of elephants and 
 rhinoceroses, and we also found an ostrich feather, but 
 saw nothing of any of these animals. I also found 
 a large number of buffalo skulls, and indeed they had 
 been very frequent for several days, but there was no 
 472 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 sign of the animals themselves. Rinderpest had destroyed 
 all the buffalo here. 
 
 I was so bad this day with fever that I could hardly 
 hold myself upright on my ox. Finally I made myself 
 fairly comfortable by sitting sideways ; but the beast, 
 annoyed by flies, bucked and sent me flying to earth — 
 which finished me. When we came to our camp, I saw 
 a dozen zebras in the exact spot we were making for. 
 I got to within fifty yards of them, and then took 
 aim and fired ; but I was so weak that I could not 
 hold my rifle. It gave me a terrible cuff on the side 
 of the head, and the zebras made off. With great diffi- 
 culty I got to a tree one hundred yards away. It 
 seemed to me a league. I threw myself down, and 
 have a vague recollection of lying on the ground while 
 they pitched my tent. After that I was indifferent to 
 everything. 
 
 Next morning I was a wreck, but started off all the 
 same. We soon saw big troops of zebras ; but as we 
 had nearly sixteen miles to go before finding wood 
 or water, I made a solemn resolution not to go out of 
 the way except for an elephant, a rhinoceros, a lion, 
 or an ostrich. Sure enough, after about an hour we saw 
 a dozen ostriches. I started after them with David, and 
 we passed quite close to some charming little antelopes, 
 but I did not fire for fear of frightening the ostriches. 
 However, these saw me more than six hundred yards 
 off, and decamped with huge strides. Suddenly David 
 cried out, " A lion ! " The beast was about two hundred 
 and fifty yards off, behind a tree. I crawled towards 
 it ; but it was only an enormous hygena, the biggest 
 I ever saw, but not worth powder and shot. I was 
 just starting back to rejoin the caravan, when in the 
 distance I saw a huge beast which David pronounced 
 to be an elephant, but which looked to me more like 
 a rhinoceros. We gained rapidly on the quarry, but 
 unluckily I was obliged to make a big detour for fear 
 473 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA — 
 
 of giving him my wind, and a dozen of my men who*- 
 had seen the animal came to join me. We got up to 
 within fifty yards : it was a superb rhinoceros. He 
 stopped and faced us. I was about to approach still 
 nearer, so as to make sure of hitting him in a 
 mortal spot, as I had only a 450 Express, when 
 one of my men, afraid that he was going to charge, 
 shouted out, " Piga, piga ! " (" shoot, shoot "). Before I 
 knew what was happening, all my men blazed away. 
 For a moment or two I was blinded with the smoke, 
 and when it cleared the beast was making off one 
 hundred and fifty yards away. I sent a bullet after 
 him, but without any result. My men wanted to follow 
 him, but I stopped them ; the morning was well advanced 
 and we had far to go. That, however, did not prevent 
 me from relieving my feelings by abusing them roundly 
 for having fired without orders. It did not bring back 
 the rhinoceros, but it was a small consolation to me. 
 After five hours' march through thorny bushes we came 
 in sight of the little Lake Nakuro, at the bottom of a 
 valley surrounded by hills. Its aspect was sufficiently 
 melancholy, as the water appeared a dull yellow, and 
 its surroundings were quite bare of trees. An hour later 
 we camped by its side. This day I found on the road 
 an empty box surrounded by broken bottles. The box 
 had evidently been opened by the Masai, who had 
 burnt one side of it to get at the contents. This was an 
 interesting relic of Mr. Scott Elliot's expedition. It 
 was near this spot that he had lost his donkeys, goats, 
 and several loads. His men told him that the Masai 
 had attacked them, which they afterwards confessed to 
 me was a fable : they had merely chucked away their 
 loads, well knowing that he was too kind-hearted to 
 punish them. The animals had been sold to the Masai 
 by his headman. 
 
 During the next three days the country remained much 
 the same — grass-covered plains rising and falling, here and 
 474 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 there covered with bush or dead trees. The zebras and 
 antelopes of various kinds were still abundant, and I was 
 able to get a certain amount of meat for my men. I 
 could not help thinking what a pity it was that the vast 
 herds of zebras should not be turned to some use. As I 
 said before, a few good cowboys with good horses could 
 easily capture them with the lasso; and it has been proved 
 that they can be reduced to a state of domesticity. 
 
 On the 26th March we camped at Lake Naivasha. On 
 approaching it we saw a large number of Masai, 
 evidently on the war-path. They passed four or five 
 hundred yards in front of us, crossing our track without 
 stopping. I called to them, and gave them to understand 
 that I wished to buy some of their spears and other 
 implements, and they came at once and were very , 
 friendly, in spite of what had been told me, and seemed 
 very desirous of earning a little calico. Their spears were 
 magnificent, but I had to pay a sheep for each. Most 
 of them refused to sell their shields even for an ox, but I 
 was able to get one for two sheep. They were all fine 
 men, tall and well built, adorned with the diadem of 
 ostrich plumes and the mantle 
 of cock's feathers. Some of 
 them had short sticks of 
 bamboo as large as 2f inches 
 thick in the lobe of their ears ; 
 others a curious elongated piece 
 of wood. All had their heads 
 covered with a cap, generally 
 made of an ox's stomach smeared 
 with ochre, though some wore 
 bonnets of lion's skin. They 
 
 „,,,.,. 1 -^1 MASAI EAR ORNAMENT. 
 
 all had their hair smeared with 
 
 ochre, and tied up in bunches, hanging either over the 
 forehead or else in a pigtail behind. Their ornaments 
 usually consisted of a bracelet of iron on the left arm 
 round the biceps, and iron collars and bracelets. Others 
 475 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 wore charms round the neck. Round their shoulders 
 they wore a leather vest. Besides spears and shields 
 they carried a sword (simie) on the right side. To 
 clinch a bargain they spit on the earth ; and the form 
 of taking an oath is to pull a handful of grass and 
 chew it. They shake hands in the European manner, 
 but, as I said before, as a sign of friendship spit in 
 your hand; or in the case of special friends spit in each 
 other's face. David told me that these warriors had 
 told the Masai of my caravan that they were coming 
 back from Kikuyu. There, they said, they had attacked 
 the station and killed five men, losing two of their own. 
 They had taken large booty; and it was quite true that 
 they were driving more than forty head of cattle, but 
 I doubted very much whether they had attacked the 
 station. They could easily have overwhelmed me, being 
 in very superior force, but they showed themselves most 
 friendly. 
 
 The Masai at one time formed an immense and 
 compact nation, but they are now divided into a large 
 number of separate tribes. Their cohesion was due to 
 the influence of a very celebrated sorcerer named Battiani. 
 His death was followed by the epidemic of " indushi " 
 (rinderpest), which came from the north in 1891. Nearly 
 all the cattle of the Masai perished, and then they fell 
 out among themselves for the possession of the few that 
 survived. Finally, small-pox added its ravages to those 
 of famine, and the nation was irretrievably broken. The 
 Masai still maintain their hardy and warlike character, but 
 as an African power they are no longer to be feared. 
 
 While I am on the subject I may as well describe their 
 huts. They are about four feet six inches high, with a 
 very small door hardly a foot wide : a man of moderate 
 size has to turn sideways to get into his hut. These huts 
 are made of grass, caked with clay, and are constructed 
 in two chambers, as shown in the plan. Both inside and 
 out they are disgustingly filthy, as the people do not 
 476 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKUYU 
 
 remove any kind of filth from inside. When you come 
 to a village all the men come to shake hands with you. 
 Children come and stand in front of you, bowing their 
 heads, and you rub the backs of their necks. Before rinder- 
 pest broke out the elmoran or warriors never ate anything 
 but beef, and even when hungry would not have touched 
 any other meat. The fact that they never hunt animals 
 accounts for the large number of game in their country. 
 They own large numbers of donkeys, which they use to 
 carry their goods when they move from one place to 
 another, as they shift their houses as soon as the cattle 
 have cleared the grass round the then existing village. 
 The loads on the backs of the donkeys are balanced 
 by two sticks trailing on the ground, a very ingenious 
 method. 
 
 On the 25 th March we followed the shores of Lake 
 Naivasha for a short distance in the direction of Mount 
 Logonat, an extinct volcano. We then crossed a wide 
 sweeping plain clad with short grass, and covered with 
 the ruins of deserted Masai villages. We then began to 
 descend into the Kedong Valley, the country changing in 
 appearance, and becoming covered with resinous bush of 
 a pale yellowish colour. After five hours and a halfs 
 walking, which seemed interminable, I came to the con- 
 clusion that we must be going in a wrong direction, so I 
 took the lead, and with the help of the map made my 
 way across the bush. At last, after eight hours' march, 
 we reached the little river Kedong, where we pitched 
 our camp. There was a tremendous wind blowing, and 
 my tent was hardly up before one of the cross poles 
 snapped. I had another cut and fitted ; and no sooner 
 was the tent at last in position than I hastily took my 
 bath and flung myself on my bed exhausted. . Next 
 moment the headman of the rear-guard came to announce 
 that one of the men was missing. It was the porter who 
 carried my box of cartridges, so that if he could not be 
 found I was in a sorry condition. I sent the headman 
 477 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 and two askaris to look for him, but at ten in the evening 
 they returned unsuccessful. 
 
 At three in the morning David rushed into my tent 
 wildly excited, and said that a lion was eating one of the 
 men. I jumped out of bed, and found that David was 
 quite right ; a lion had seized a man, and dragged him 
 by the leg ten yards away, but had been frightened by the 
 other men, who rushed at him with firebrands, and had 
 driven him off. I had the wounded man brought to the 
 front of my tent ; four of the lion's teeth had penetrated 
 his leg, and one had torn away the calf for about six inches 
 — a wide and very ugly wound. He was also very badly 
 bitten on the fingers. I washed his wounds, and stitched 
 up the biggest — not at all an agreeable job, with an 
 icy wind, in the middle of the night, and with nothing to 
 see by except a flickering lantern. 
 
 Next morning I again sent a man to look for the lost 
 porter, and he was at last found. The poor fellow had 
 lost himself, and had to spend the night in a tree under 
 which a lion had been sitting most of the time. In addition 
 to the funza, and the innumerable swarms of flies, I 
 discovered a new pest of Africa. It was a small bird, 
 with a grey body and a red head, which takes up a 
 position on the backs of the oxen and donkeys, and 
 pecks at them until a very bad ulcer is produced. This 
 is what is usually called the rhinoceros bird, as he always 
 keeps company with the rhinoceros, eating the lice with 
 which his huge friend is covered. 
 
 On the 29th March we climbed the escarpment of the 
 Kikuyu Mountains, and then, getting over a further small 
 rise, we followed a long grassy valley. Then came a forest, 
 on the other side of which we at last found traces of 
 habitation. We had done our eight hours' walking, and 
 now crossed a small stream, from which I knew that 
 Kikuyu was nearly six miles further on ; so I decided 
 to push on. We crossed a series of hills intersected by 
 magnificent valleys, with rivulets running through them, 
 478 
 
FROM UGANDA TO KIKIJYU 
 
 and at last arrived at Fort Smith, where I was greeted 
 by Mr. Hall, the agent of the British East Africa Company. 
 I found there also Major Cunningham, on his way to 
 Uganda. From him I heard of the deaths of Sir Gerald 
 Portal and M. Waddinsfton. 
 
 479 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 FROM KIKUYU TO MACHAKOS. 
 
 THE WAKAMBA. 
 
 THE station of Kikuyu is very strong and admirably 
 built, with a good trench, a good parapet, and an 
 indestructible magazine — a position impregnable to native 
 attack. When the station was first established it was 
 built in another situation, about a mile and a half off, at 
 Dagoreti. The place was, however, besieged by the natives, 
 and the defenders, having run short of ammunition, had to 
 evacuate the fort. The existing station was built from 
 the plans of Major Smith by Captain Nelson, the com- 
 panion of Stanley, who died there of dysentery in 1882. 
 
 The Wakikuyu enjoy, and with great justice, an un- 
 equalled reputation for duplicity and bad faith ; however, 
 they are a good deal better than they were, thanks to the 
 good administration of Mr. Hall. A few days before my 
 arrival all the chiefs of Kikuyu, with one or two excep- 
 tions, had made a solemn treaty with him, by which 
 they undertook to be collectively responsible for the future 
 misdeeds of any individual one of them : the only ques- 
 tion was whether they would abide by this treaty. The 
 Wakikuyu are the aborigines of the country round Mount 
 Kenia, and although distinct from the Masai they have 
 certain affinities with them. In consequence of an intestine 
 war they separated into two distinct branches — the pastoral 
 portion of the tribe driving away those who devoted 
 themselves chiefly to agriculture ; it was the latter with 
 whom I found myself in contact. They are industrious 
 480 
 
FROM KIKUYU TO MACHAKOS 
 
 and very successful cultivators. Having chosen a suitable 
 patch of forest, they cut down the trees about a yard 
 from the earth, chop off the smaller branches, and burn 
 them along with the trunk as manure. They then begin 
 to plough, and plant the seeds between the stumps. Each 
 year they burn a little more of the stump, and so maintain 
 a supply of ashes for the land. All European vegetables 
 thrive magnificently in this soil. The Wakikuyu also raise 
 a large number of fine cattle. 
 
 Their villages are concealed in the forest, and are very 
 difficult of approach. Some 150 or 200 yards from the 
 village is an opening about three feet high cut through 
 impenetrable undergrowth, and defended on either side by 
 a stout palisade some six feet thick ; this narrow path 
 passes occasionally through regular tunnels of vegetation. 
 In case of attack the warriors are posted along the path, 
 so that any progress forward is almost impossible. Here 
 and there it is covered with pointed stakes. Supposing 
 an attacking party made its way through this path during 
 the night, it would find these short pointed sticks planted 
 firmly in the earth to pierce the feet of the assailants. In 
 the bush surrounding the villages there are also enormous 
 pits, with their openings hidden by branches and full 
 of pointed stakes at the bottom : I saw no villages so 
 ingeniously defended in the whole of Africa. Like the 
 Masai the Wakikuyu carry spears, knobkerries, and short 
 swords hanging on the right side ; their shields also are 
 somewhat similar to those of the Masai. Besides these 
 weapons they use poisoned arrows. They do not, however, 
 imitate the magnificent war costume of their neighbours. 
 
 The general type of the race can only be called bestial 
 — very prominent cheek-bones, short noses, and bulging 
 eyes, with a ferocious expression. Most of them let their 
 hair grow long and braid it. Their hair, face, and whole 
 body are smeared with ochre and butter. They distend 
 the lobe of the ear with the same kind of ornaments as the 
 Masai, in addition to which they pierce three holes in the 
 21 481 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 upper part of it ; through these young bachelors wear 
 three bits of reed fastened together, while the elder men 
 pass through them an enormous number of rings made of 
 brass or beads. The weight of these pulls the ear down, 
 and entirely destroys its natural shape. While the Masai 
 are exceedingly partial to iron wire, the Wakikuyu prefer 
 copper ornaments. They wear large numbers of copper 
 necklaces and bracelets, and also armlets of rhinoceros skin, 
 like the Masai. They also wear a circlet round the calf. 
 They take snuff, but smoke very little. Altogether they are 
 perhaps the most cunning and certainly the most detest- 
 able of all the African tribes with which I came into 
 contact. They were so treacherous that no white man 
 could go as far as a mile from the fort without being 
 accompanied by at least twenty soldiers. 
 
 I stayed at Kikuyu for a week, and was uncommonly 
 glad of the rest. Mr. Hall and Major Cunningham 
 accompanied me as far as the Athi plains when I started 
 on the 5th April. The country through which we went 
 on the next day was simply swarming with game, and, in- 
 credible as it may seem, I am certain that we caught sight 
 of over 6000 head of game during the day. From a 
 small eminence we commanded a view of about five miles 
 in every direction : the whole plain was black with 
 animals — wildebeest, zebras, hartebeest, waterbuck, and 
 innumerable gazelles. We also passed the fresh spoor 
 of lions, rhinoceroses, and ostriches. In the morning I shot 
 two hartebeest, and towards evening fired at a third, which 
 was galloping along a good 300 yards off. He dis- 
 appeared over a ridge, and I was too tired to follow him. 
 David, however, ran after him, and presently called to me ; 
 the beast was dead, shot through the lungs. That night, 
 thanks to a tremendous storm which had soaked us 
 through during the whole day, I was very bad with fever, 
 and woke up in the morning with an ulcerated throat and 
 pains all over the body ; I therefore decided to remain 
 near the Athi river for the rest of the day. In the after- 
 
FROM KIKUYU TO MACHAKOS 
 
 noon David went out shooting, and returned in the 
 evening with a superb waterbuck whose horns were 
 twenty-six inches apart. He had also seen three rhin- 
 oceroses, and succeeded in dropping one, but as he was 
 going up to finish it two lions appeared. He hesitated, 
 and the rhinoceroses got up and lumbered off; as for the 
 lions, on mature reflection he decided not to fire at them. 
 He had also seen a number of hippopotami on the river 
 Athi, near which our camp was. 
 
 I spent a good deal of this day investigating a case of 
 theft. During the night a shield and the food of three 
 of the men had been stolen. I went over the whole 
 baggage of the caravan, and found in one of the loads the 
 bags which had held the stolen food. In defence the thief 
 declared that he could not account for these bags being in 
 his load, but he suspected his Musimo (evil spirit), who 
 most likely placed the bags there to get him punished. 
 In the afternoon we caught a Masai prowling round 
 the camp. He refused to say who his chief was, or to 
 explain what he was doing there, so as a precaution I put 
 him in chains. 
 
 Next morning I sent my caravan on ahead, and went 
 with David to the pool where he had seen the hippo- 
 potami and the two lions. Needless to say the 
 hippopotami had disappeared, and there was no sign 
 of the lions except the spoor of the day before. When 1 
 started back to overtake the caravan I came on a herd of 
 hartebeest, and succeeded in bringing down two of them. 
 Our path led over great grass-grown plains, and when 
 we halted at the end of five hours' march we had not 
 come to the end of them. During the day we had 
 been winding round a range of rocky hills — a place 
 celebrated for lions : it was there that a caravan had been 
 attacked by ' twenty-seven lions, and a few months after 
 I passed it Captain Macdonald shot two lions out of 
 a troop of seven at this very spot. We had hardly 
 halted when a band of Wakamba came down a hill 
 483 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 to meet us. They said they were lying in wait for the 
 Masai, who had attacked them recently, and from whom 
 they anticipated a fresh invasion. 
 
 Next day, after climbing the hill Lanjora, we got a 
 fine view of the plain of Machakos, and three hours and 
 a half s march brought us down to the station of Machakos. 
 Mr. Ainsworth, the officer in command, has made a 
 charming spot of this station. The whole place is 
 planted with masses of bananas and flowers, which give 
 it a thoroughly homelike appearance. Mr. Ainsworth 
 had been here two years, and had obtained a great 
 influence over the natives, who were not only well 
 disposed towards Europeans, but willing to give their 
 active support to the administration. It appeared from 
 what he said that it was from an attack on this station 
 that the Masai, whom I met at Lake Naivasha, were 
 returning. They had, however, been repulsed, and had 
 not succeeded in capturing the Company's cattle. They 
 had, notwithstanding that, afterwards surprised several 
 Wakamba villages, and taken a good many oxen and 
 goats from them. The Masai, as I have already said, 
 are in the habit of attacking at the time of the full 
 moon. They wait till night comes, make their raid, and 
 then travel by moonlight so as to put a considerable 
 distance between themselves and their enemies before 
 daybreak. 
 
 I stayed at Machakos several days, and, from my own 
 observation and the information Mr. Ainsworth gave me, 
 I learned a good deal about the Wakamba, the last and 
 in many ways the most interesting tribe which I was 
 able to study. Their country comprises between 70,000 
 and 80,000 square miles, lying north-east of Mount Kilima 
 Njaro* and south and west of the Athi river. The 
 northern part of it alone, which covers about 12,000 
 
 * I have used the expression Mount KiHma Njaro, although it is redundant. 
 The name of the mountain is Njaro. The word Kilima is Kiswahili, 
 meaning "the mountain." 
 
 484 
 
FROM KIKUYU TO MACHAKOS 
 
 square miles, is estimated to have a population of at least 
 400,000. 
 
 The East Africa Company occupied the country in 
 1889, and in 1891 the Wakamba, justly exasperated by 
 the ill-treatment they received from one of the Company's 
 agents, rose against him and attacked the station. At the 
 time when I visited the country, however, they were, as I 
 have said, exceedingly friendly to the tactful administra- 
 tion of Mr. Ainsworth. They are intelligent, industrious 
 people, and capable of very rapid improvement. Their 
 customs and laws indicate a power of political and civil 
 organization altogether differ- 
 ent from those of other native 
 races I came across. 
 
 Unlike other tribes, they 
 possess no paramount chief. 
 There is indeed in the district 
 of Mala one chief called - j 
 
 Mwatu, who is regarded as - .' , ^x 
 
 the real chief of that province, 
 but he has no special title ' " 
 and no special prerogatives ; 
 nor is he hereditary, having 
 gained his position by prowess 
 in war. In reality the Wakam- a 
 
 ba form a kind of patriarchal 
 republic ; they are distributed 
 among thousands of small 
 villages (muchi), each one -^'-^ 
 
 being the property and resi- f' 
 
 dence of a single family; these a native of ukambani. 
 contain an average of about 
 
 fifteen huts. The head of each village is the father (um- 
 tumia) : he usually has three or four wives, each of whom 
 has a hut and a grain store of her own. If he is an 
 old man he may have grown-up sons. The married sons 
 form each a village of his own ; the unmarried have their 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 own huts in their father's village. The daughters live each 
 with her own mother until they are married. 
 
 Property goes from the father to the eldest son, and he 
 exercises authority over his younger brothers and sisters. 
 Supposing his father leaves him any cattle, he must give 
 his younger brothers enough to buy wives with. On the 
 other hand, he is entitled to the cattle paid as the dowry 
 of his sisters. If the father has left no cattle, two-thirds 
 of the beasts paid as the price of those of his daughters 
 who may get married after his death go to his eldest son, 
 the remaining third being divided among the rest of the 
 sons. The father's wives can either remain with the 
 eldest son or pass by arrangement into the possession of 
 the father's brother. They then become his wives, but 
 not without their own consent. A woman cannot inherit, 
 although she can own cattle earned by her own labour. 
 If the eldest son of the deceased is a minor, his uncle 
 or nearest male relative on the father's side takes 
 possession as trustee. When the heir comes of age — 
 that is to say when he wants to get married — the trustee 
 must account for the property on a fixed scale. For 
 each cow he received he must produce one calf for every 
 two years ; for each female child, if she is married, two 
 cows, while, if she is not, he must produce her. Any 
 death of cow, calf, or girl must be proved by witnesses. 
 If a man leaves no male issue, his property goes to 
 his brother or the male issue of his brother ; any relation 
 on the male side appears to count as an honorary brother. 
 
 The country is divided into districts, which are organ- 
 ized together. If a case arises concerning the people of 
 the same district, the owners of the villages of that 
 district assemble to settle it. If it concerns two or more 
 districts, the owners of the villages of the districts con- 
 cerned meet together in the same way. Sometimes, if 
 the elders cannot thus settle the case, the people of the 
 different districts go to war. 
 
 The laws of the Wakamba are numerous, and for 
 
FROM KIKUYU TO MACHAKOS 
 
 Africa singularly just and reflecting. There is no real 
 individual property in land ; if a man on his marriage 
 sets up a village of his own, he can take any land that 
 is unoccupied. The penal code is especially discriminating. 
 A murder is judged by the elders ; if it is a man's first 
 offence of that kind he is punished by a fine — five or ten 
 cows for a murdered man, and two for a woman. 
 If the murderer cannot pay, his relations must pay for 
 him ; but a man convicted for the second time of murder 
 is killed at once, everyone setting on him the moment 
 judgment is delivered. It is not murder for a man to 
 kill his own slave, but it is to kill anybody else's. The 
 top price of a slave, an engaging young woman for 
 instance, is fifteen to twenty goats. Such a woman is 
 valuable, not only for herself, but as a brood slave, so to 
 speak. If a man kills another when he is drunk, he is 
 fined for the first offence as if he had been sober ; but 
 in the case of a second offence, the elders may either 
 sentence him to death or make the seller of drink pay 
 compensation to the family of the victim. This struck 
 me as far beyond the judicial level of the rest of Africa. 
 For rape a first offender is flogged, and has to pay a 
 fine of one cow ; for the second offence he is killed. 
 If a man is caught in adultery at night, the husband 
 has a right to kill him ; but if the injured man thus 
 takes the law into his own hands in the daytime, he is 
 dealt with as a murderer. If the husband catches the 
 co-respondent and does not kill him, he can bring him 
 before the council of elders and get damages ; the woman 
 is flogged. But the husband has also a very practical 
 remedy for his wrongs; he can compel the adulterer to 
 take over the woman and to refund her price. A woman 
 may be divorced for persistent adultery or for refusing to 
 work, and in each case her father has to refund what he 
 got for her. A woman, however, cannot divorce her hus- 
 band, nor can she herself be divorced for sterility. As a 
 rule, however, if a woman has no children she puts an end 
 487 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 to the false position by eloping with another man. The 
 husband in that case can claim her price from the man 
 with whom she has gone. A thief entering a village at 
 night can be killed ; this provision, as well as the similar 
 one about adultery, furnishes a curious parallel to the 
 provisions of the Mosaic Law. When a theft is committed, 
 the elders, if the thief is caught, may compel him to 
 restore what he has taken, as well as to pay a fine. If 
 a thief is killed at night, the incident generally gives rise 
 to a vendetta between his family and that of the killer, 
 which goes on until both are extinct. Trial by ordeal 
 is unknown among this tribe. 
 
 In consequence of the extreme subdivision of the people 
 in their villages, the regimentation of the Wakamba for 
 war is rather an elaborate matter. They have no or- 
 ganized system of defence : the huts of each village are 
 defended by a small hedge of thorns, but only the titular 
 head chief, Mwatu of Mala, has any number of people 
 grouped round him. If the Wakamba wish to attack 
 a neighbouring tribe, the elders meet together ; each 
 one says how many of his sons he is willing to send. 
 When they have agreed on this point they call together 
 all the warriors, and appoint a man of middle age to lead 
 the contingent of the district. If several districts join 
 in the campaign, each contingent has its leader ; but there 
 is no supreme command. They travel all night to the 
 place they wish to raid, and attack at early dawn, 
 generally opening the engagement with a flight of 
 poisoned arrows. The heads of these arrows are made 
 to come off the shaft, and the poison with which they 
 are smeared is made of the leaves and the wood of a 
 certain tree chopped into small pieces and boiled in an 
 earthen pot. The stuff is then strained, and the sediment 
 reboiled in the same manner; the residue, a black resinous 
 substance, is the poison. The Wakamba are not fond of 
 fighting at close quarters, but if driven to it use swords 
 or spears. They have no knobkerries. They carry banners 
 
FROM KIKUYU TO MACHAKOS 
 
 of coloured cloth, but no drums. The great aim of war 
 is the capture of cattle, for the Wakamba do not, like the 
 Matabele, kill for the sake of killing. Naturally they kill 
 all the men that fall into their hands, but they spare even 
 the oldest women and the children. The captives are 
 sold if possible ; and women do not as a rule become 
 the wives of their captors. After they return from war all 
 the men who have taken spears parade with them before 
 the elders. The father of any man who has so distin- 
 guished himself is expected to celebrate the occasion by 
 killing a goat. The captured spear is kept in the hut of 
 the family, and for seven days all the friends come to 
 look at it and bring some pombe for the gallant warrior. 
 
 Even when fighting between themselves, the Wakamba 
 do not sell any of their own countrymen they may have 
 captured — again a curious parallel with the laws of Moses. 
 
 The Wakamba have, properly speaking, no religion ; 
 but they differ from most tribes in their beliefs, as they 
 acknowledge a well-intentioned supreme being. They 
 attribute good and evil to a superior being by the name 
 of Ngae, but they have no regular religious ritual, although 
 in case of drought the elders hold a meeting and take 
 a calabash of native cider and a goat to a baobab tree ; 
 they kill the goat, but do not eat it. These people neither 
 worship their ancestors nor believe in witchcraft, though 
 they have great faith in second sight. There is a rude 
 kind of surgery practised which consists chiefly — as, for 
 that matter, it did in Europe a hundred years ago — in 
 letting blood. They also use drugs and charms, and 
 attempt to arrest infectious diseases by going through 
 certain spells on the path by which it is travelling. 
 Doctors are both male and female, and are held in great 
 honour. 
 
 They count, like most African tribes, on their fingers, 
 
 beginning with the little finger of the right hand. They 
 
 hold up one, two, three, or four, as the case may be, 
 
 to signify the first four numbers. Five is the closed 
 
 489 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 fist. For six they catch the httle finger of the right 
 hand in that of the left, for seven two fingers, and so 
 on. Both fists together signify ten ; after ten they begin 
 again, keeping tally of each ten with a stick. 
 
 Their marriage customs are not very different from 
 those of other tribes : a man goes to the girl's father, 
 supposing that the couple mutually please each other, 
 and says he wants to marry her. There is the usual 
 haggling as to price, but it is generally settled at about 
 thirty goats or two cows. If the suitor has the price 
 ready he can take the girl on the spot. More usually 
 the price is brought in three days' time by the man's 
 brothers, who bring back the bride. Sometimes the 
 event is celebrated by a dance three days after delivery. 
 The newly-married wife cannot go out for four days, 
 and only after that time may she cook for her husband. 
 On the eighth day her mother and sisters come to visit 
 her. On this occasion the husband keeps out of the way, 
 since among the Wakamba, as among many African 
 tribes, a man may not look at or speak to his mother- 
 in-law. In many families the betrothal of infants is 
 practised, but here again the Wakamba display a social 
 instinct much in advance of other tribes : when a girl 
 comes of age she is at liberty to refuse a proffered husband 
 if she does not like him. This is so even when, as often 
 happens, the dowry has all been paid up in advance. In 
 that case the father finds out whom she prefers, and if he 
 is willing gets the same dowry from him, and pays it over 
 to the disappointed suitor. The average age of marriage 
 for a girl is about twelve : for a man, when he can afford it. 
 
 No man may be present at the birth of a child. Three 
 days after this event the father gives the infant a present 
 of beads ; the woman stays in the house for three days 
 after the birth of a child, but usually is at work again 
 after a week. Two days after a birth there is a great 
 feast, and all the relations bring presents of food and 
 drink. On that occasion there is a dance, in which old 
 490 
 
FROM KIKUYU TO MACFiAKOS 
 
 people alone take part ; the young are not admitted 
 to it. It is at this feast that the child is named, the 
 grandmother acting as sponsor. A mother suckles her 
 child, unless another arrives in the meantime, for two 
 years. The average number of children from one mother 
 is from four to six, although I had the honour to know 
 a man who by his two wives had had a family of 
 seventeen. (This, though not extraordinary in itself, is 
 considerably above the average in Africa.) Thus the 
 population of the country is steadily increasing. Twins, 
 which are not infrequent, are supposed to bring bad 
 luck, as it is thought the father will die before they 
 grow up to be strong ; the Wakamba do not, however, 
 kill twins. Married women will not drink milk unless 
 it is churned, as they consider it dangerous in childbirth. 
 A further striking instance of the relative enlightenment 
 of the Wakamba is furnished by their ideas about death. 
 Instead of believing, like almost all other natives I know, 
 that death from natural causes is impossible, and that 
 therefore death is always a case of bewitchment, the 
 Wakamba believe the exact opposite. It is fate (ingue). 
 If an old man dies, "he was due to die." In the case 
 of such an old man — the owner of a village — the body 
 is bent up and wrapped round with an old piece of cloth : 
 it is then buried inside the thorn hedge, of the village 
 on the second day. The work of burial must be done by 
 men who are neither warriors nor elders. The wife of the 
 owner of a village is also buried inside the stockade, at 
 the door of the hut she occupied ; but in the case of 
 children and young unmarried people the body is merely 
 stripped of its ornaments and thrown away. The women 
 only weep on the day of the death, and no one wears any 
 sign of mourning ; but all the relatives come at once 
 to look after the disposal of the property. A very 
 practical people, the Wakamba. They are not so fond 
 of dancing as most natives ; nevertheless they have three 
 different dances : these are -usually restricted to young 
 491 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 men and women. In the first, women and men place 
 themselves in two lines opposite to each other. The men 
 have each a long drum, consisting of a hollowed-out piece 
 of wood about five feet high and four inches in diameter, 
 with a handle at the top, and a skin stretched across the 
 bottom. On the outside of this drum are rows of small 
 bells. While they are dancing the men rush forward from 
 time to time and each one of them rubs his cheek against 
 that of the girl opposite, singing and beating his drum on 
 the ground. The men are absolutely naked for this dance. 
 The second is somewhat similar, as the women and men 
 here also face each other in lines. Big drums beat time, 
 but they are behind the line of dancers in this case. The 
 men first walk up to the women, who remain standing with 
 their hands on their breasts ; then they go back, rush 
 forward again, and rub cheeks ; this goes on for some time, 
 and the men get very excited, rushing in the maddest way, 
 rubbing cheeks furiously, and singing all the while. If 
 a girl does not like her partner she slips out of her place — 
 women's rights are astonishingly developed among the 
 Wakamba. Both these kinds of dances are impromptu, 
 and appear, like our own dances, to be engaged in much 
 more for the fun of the thing than as a ceremonial duty. 
 Old women have a slow dance to themselves ; drums are 
 beaten, and they fling their arms about and sing slowly. 
 No dance is allowed either at the new moon, or after a 
 hostile attack until vengeance has been taken on the 
 enemy ; in the meantime only war drums may be beaten. 
 Before going out to war no dance is organized, but an 
 enormous one takes place after the warriors return 
 successful. 
 
 The Wakamba cultivate Indian corn (mombemba), millet, 
 (mubia), potatoes (makwasi), bananas (mayu), and cassava 
 (manga), beans of five kinds, and a sort of pea, called " nzu." 
 Fish is unknown, but they eat fowls, locusts, and all sorts 
 of meat. They also cook blood and eat it. (This reminds 
 me of a curious custom of the Masai which I forgot to 
 492 
 
FROM KIKUYU TO MACHAKOS 
 
 mention : they daily bleed their cattle, drawing from one of 
 the veins of the neck between one and two pints of blood, 
 which they cook and eat. The animals seem none the 
 worse for it.) The women do the cooking, and both men 
 and women eat together out of calabashes split in two. 
 If an animal has been killed with a poisoned arrow, they 
 still appear to be able to eat its flesh without any bad 
 results. Grain is ground to flour on stones, and then 
 pounded in wooden mortars ; each wife has her own grain 
 store. They make a sort of gruel by stirring flour in milk. 
 Another way of cooking milk is to put it into a calabash 
 along with a burning stick of juniper wood, and then 
 close it down so as to get the full taste. It is also 
 essential to the right flavour that the calabash should 
 never be washed. The national drink is more elaborate 
 than the usual pombe ; the Wakamba call it tembo. It is 
 a kind of cider made of sugar-cane, honey, and water. 
 Only old men drink it. The Wakamba, instead of a 
 single meal, take food three times a day like Christians. 
 Some of them abstain from certain foods ; but it would 
 be quite a mistake to think that these foods are totems, 
 as in the clans in Uganda. A sensible Wakamba abstains 
 from certain food merely because it does not agree with him. 
 They practise agriculture extensively, and both sexes 
 work in the fields. All heavy work, such as clearing and 
 breaking new ground, is done by men with a wooden hoe 
 nine or ten feet long. Planting and cleaning the land 
 is done by women, children, and old men. They begin to 
 prepare the ground in September and October, just before 
 the first or small rains which come in October. When 
 they come everything is sown except millet, and the crops 
 are ripe in January or February. They then clear and 
 hoe the fields, and when the big rains come, towards the 
 middle of March, they plant everything, including millet. 
 This crop is ripe in about three months. They produce 
 a third crop of potatoes by artificial irrigation. At 
 harvest time there is a big dance. 
 493 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Another important industry of the Wakamba is 
 metallurgy. They obtain iron from the river beds, smelt 
 it in a furnace of earth, and then hammer it on stone 
 anvils with iron hammers fastened on handles of twisted 
 twigs. They chiefly make arrow-heads and axes. They 
 also work in brass, making beads, bracelets, anklets, and 
 the like. 
 
 They have no form of swearing, but to assure you of 
 their good faith and friendship they have a peculiar 
 ceremony. Two men sit knee to knee bareheaded, and 
 their weapons are held over their respective heads by the 
 men who are acting as their sponsors or guarantors. 
 One guarantor then proclaims that his man has sworn 
 to be the other man's friend, and that the weapon he 
 holds cannot be used against a friend. The other 
 guarantor responds in the same terms. Meantime a 
 goat is killed, and its liver and kidneys roasted on a fire. 
 Both breasts of the parties to the agreement are now 
 bared, and one of the friends draws blood. A piece 
 of meat is dipped in the blood of each and eaten by the 
 other ; they then embrace, and three days after exchange 
 presents. On the whole this is but a variation of the 
 blood brotherhood of other parts of Africa. 
 
 I am sorry to say that the personal appearance of the 
 Wakamba hardly does justice to their many excellent 
 social qualities. They file their four upper front teeth, 
 and some knock off two of the lower incisors. The teeth 
 are chipped with a small axe. This is their tribal mark. 
 They shave their heads and all the hair of their face, and 
 pull out their eyebrows and eyelashes. Likewise they 
 tattoo their chests and stomachs, and complete the effect 
 by anointing themselves all over with a kind of red clay 
 mixed with butter. In spite, however, of these small 
 outward eccentricities, it will be apparent from what has 
 been said that these are among the most interesting and, 
 in their way, enlightened of the tribes of Africa. 
 
 494 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 TO ZANZIBAR 
 
 I LEFT Machakos on the 12th April, 1894. I could 
 hardly believe that in a few weeks I should be in 
 Europe again. Africa had got into my blood — probably 
 in more senses than one — and I almost doubted if I 
 should ever be civilized again. Of course I was delighted 
 to be going home, but even before I reached the coast 
 I began to form projects of returning to Africa. There 
 is something in African travelling that seems to fascinate 
 all those who have tried it : of course I am speaking of 
 travelling in Central Africa, and not of waggon travelling 
 in the south. That portion of what was formerly called 
 the Dark Continent must be left to those who want 
 to make money. 
 
 After leaving Machakos the path led at first through 
 a region traversed by enormous valleys, richly cultivated, 
 and splendidly stocked with oxen, sheep, and goats, and on 
 the second day I struck the river Kilungu. We followed 
 the bed of the stream, and walking on damp sand every 
 here and there interspersed with rocks was by no means 
 pleasant. For two days we paddled through the Kilungu, 
 and on the 15th camped at the foot of Mount Nzoi. 
 When I got there I found that four of my men were 
 missing — among them one of the headmen. I sent seven 
 askaris to look for these people. They returned with the 
 missing men ; they had been detained by the death of 
 one of the porters. Just as I was leaving Machakos 
 Mr. Ainsworth warned me that the pits near this place 
 495 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 had been poisoned by the natives. I told my men to 
 drink no water except that of the river, but one of them 
 disregarded my orders and drank water out of a pit : in 
 a few minutes he died. The nearer we got to the coast 
 the more trouble there was with the porters. The 
 very next day one of them disappeared with my 
 bath, my washing-basin, my lantern, and a box full of 
 insects and curiosities. It appeared that the village by 
 Mount Nzoi was a great slave-dealing centre. The 
 natives were exceedingly anxious to acquire the Masai 
 woman who milked my cows, and offered me the 
 tempting sum of ten goats for her. Two days' march 
 brought me to the river Kiboko, or Hippopotamus — so 
 called, I suppose, because there is not enough water in 
 it to wash a hippopotamus' feet. That night I was 
 awakened by the news that a lion was prowling round 
 the camp. I took a goat and fastened it by the feet to a 
 tree, into which I climbed. At the end of half an hour 
 I heard a tremendous roar quite close to me, but could 
 not see the beast : I had never heard a lion roar so close, 
 and was not altogether displeased to be up a tree. After 
 an hour's waiting, with cramp in every limb, and all my 
 clothes, as well as my hands, torn to rags by thorns, 
 I decided to come down again and go to bed. I climbed 
 down and untied my goat ; immediately the lion roared 
 again as close as ever. I tied the wretched goat up again, 
 and climbed once more into the tree, leaving en i^oute 
 several strips of clothes and flesh. Half an hour more 
 of miserable waiting, and the lion condescended to roar 
 again, but this time further off; the roaring now went 
 on, but got more and more distant. The hunt was over, 
 and I went to bed. In the morning before starting I 
 examined the spot, and found that the lion had been 
 concealed in a thorny covert not more than fifteen yards 
 away. 
 
 On April 19th, travelling still over up-and-down 
 country covered with long grass and thorns, we had 
 496 
 
TO ZANZIBAR 
 
 reached Kibwezi. Here there was an Industrial Mission 
 under Dr. Charters. He had seen a deal of Africa on 
 the Congo, where he had commanded a steamer on the 
 Ubanghi river, and was full of stories of Mr. Stanley, 
 for whom he had the greatest respect.* 
 
 The day after I arrived there I had to put one of my 
 men in chains for desertion. The men I had sent two 
 days before after the defaulting porter had not yet 
 returned, and I had discovered that in addition to his 
 other thefts he had made off with two packets of cart- 
 ridges and a medicine chest. It was not till two days 
 afterwards that the soldiers turned up with the deserter. 
 Part of his load had been recovered, but the lantern, the 
 washing-basin, and a box with 500 specimens of insects, 
 were irretrievably lost. The man confessed to desertion 
 and theft, and as it was the second time he had run away, 
 I sentenced him to chains unjtil he should be dealt with 
 by the proper authorities at Mombasa. 
 
 I left again on the 23rd, and on the 28th reached the 
 station of Tsavo : a native was in charge of the place, 
 which had been practically abandoned by the British East 
 Africa Company. On the way we still saw a good deal 
 of game, but the bush was too thick to get a shot at 
 it. During these days the temperature changed in the 
 most extraordinary manner. The heat was moist and 
 oppressive, and we now began to have hot nights. I had 
 not known what it was to feel the heat at night since 
 leaving the Zambezi. At 10 p.m. the thermometer 
 registered over 80 degrees, while at two in the afternoon 
 it often marked over lOO degrees in the shade. 
 
 On the 30th we passed Ndi, w^here I found a store in 
 which food is kept for the caravans, but, anxious to push 
 on as fast as I could, I availed myself of the new road 
 built by Mr. Wilson, who had been entrusted with the 
 work by the late Sir William Mackinnon : this road saved 
 
 * Dr. Charters has since died in a mysterious way : he went out shooting 
 with another missionary, and was never heard of again. 
 2 K 497 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 nearly three days, as it cut straight across country instead 
 of winding round the hills. In the evening we camped 
 on the other side of the Voi river, over which several 
 excellent bridges had been built. When I reached camp 
 the headman in charge of the rear-guard rushed up out of 
 breath and said that one of the men in chains had died. 
 I asked if he was quite certain that the man was really 
 dead. " Oh, yes," was the ready reply. Thereon I gave 
 the headman the key to unlock the fetters, and sent two 
 askaris with picks to bury the body ; I gave them, how- 
 ever, a bottle full of cold water from the river, and 
 recommended them to throw it on the face of the corpse 
 before burying it. Later in the evening the supposed 
 corpse turned up alive. 
 
 There was intense excitement in the camp, and I was 
 much amused to hear the comments of my men on the 
 occurrence. " Well," said the headman whom I had sent 
 to bury the dead man, " when we got there we found the 
 fellow dead and already stiff; the other men of the chain 
 gang saw him drop dead, and so did the askaris of the 
 rear-guard. I turned him around and shook him, but, as 
 I just told you, he was dead, absolutely dead. Then I took 
 some of the ' dawa ' (medicine) the Bwana Nkuba (the 
 great master) had given me, and threw it over the dead 
 man's body and face. He shook himself, and after I had 
 poured out a little more over him, he opened his eyes and 
 stared at us. We all ran away, but he stood on his legs 
 and called out to us to let him have some water to drink. 
 When we came back to him there he was alive once more. 
 He told us himself that he had been dead, and recollected 
 that just after he died he was greeted by the spirits of 
 his departed relatives ! " Mawe, Mawe ! " (oh, mother, oh, 
 mother !) exclaimed all the hearers, " can't the master 
 make good ' dawa ' (witchcraft). Fancy his merely taking 
 water from the river and bringing a dead man back to life 
 with it ! " " But," replied the headman, " I saw him do it, 
 and while he poured out the water in the calabash he 
 
TO ZANZIBAR 
 
 spoke some words and put some very strong medicine in 
 it." The fact was that, as I suspected the man had fainted 
 from a sunstroke, I had mixed a httle Hquid ammonia with 
 the water ; but all my men thoroughly believed that I had 
 caused the man to be resuscitated. The following day we 
 had a very long march, as no water was to be found until 
 we reached Maungu, some 25 miles from the river Voi. 
 The country we crossed was covered with dense thorny 
 bush. Towards noon David noticed a few gazelles, and 
 suggested that I should go and shoot one of them ; bat I 
 scorned the idea, saying that nothing would induce me to go 
 inside that bush except a rhinoceros or a lion. I had no 
 sooner said this than we heard two lions roaring quite close 
 by: as a rule lions do not roar in the day-time except 
 when they are over a kill. I therefore made sure that I 
 should find them feeding on the carcass of some animal, 
 and that at last I should be able to shoot a lion. But I 
 was disappointed in my expectation. I crept inside the 
 bush, followed by David ; the vegetation was so dense that 
 we had to go on all fours, leaving a considerable portion of 
 our clothes sticking on the thorns. We soon found the 
 fresh spoor of the lions, but getting to an open space lost 
 the spoor there, as the ground was harder than under the 
 trees. I sent David to the right to find the spoor while I 
 went to the left. As I was looking round I noticed, thirty 
 yards ahead of me, a huge tree, and at the foot of it what 
 looked like a broken trunk : it seemed to be moving, and 
 as I looked more carefully I discovered that it was not a 
 trunk but a huge lion looking at me. His head was resting 
 on his paws, the body was hidden behind the tree. To fire 
 at a lion's head is most risky, as it is convex, and the bullet 
 may glance off; besides, the wind was blowing from behind 
 him, and his mane formed a huge aureole, in the middle of 
 which glared his eyes. I was going carefully round so as 
 to obtain a view of his body, and be able to give him a side 
 shot, when David came rushing towards me. The lion 
 jumped up, and before I could aim disappeared in the dense 
 499 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 bush. I turned round to ask the boy what he meant by 
 rushing along when he saw that I was going to fire, but 
 before I could finish what I was saying, a huge black mass 
 flew in fi-ont of me, hardly three feet from my face, and 
 landing five or six feet beyond disappeared among the 
 thorny bushes. The whole thing happened in a few seconds, 
 and I could not at first realize the situation. David then 
 explained his conduct. It appears that as I was going to 
 fire at the lion he noticed a lioness hidden in a bush hardly 
 more than six feet to my left, and, seeing that she was 
 about to spring at me, he rushed forward " to be ready to 
 shoot her if she got on the top of me." This frightened 
 the animal and caused her to miscalculate her jump, so that 
 she missed me. There is no doubt that David saved my 
 life, and it was most plucky of the boy to rush forward to 
 my help as he did ; two other men who had followed me 
 ran away and climbed up a tree. 
 
 For an hour we crawled through the thorny brake, but 
 as their track unluckily showed they had taken the direc- 
 tion opposite to our own, and as we had to go far that day, 
 I was constrained, to my great regret, to give them up. 
 It was the first time I had seen a lion in the savage state 
 so near, and never had I seen any animal so superb. It 
 was heartbreaking not to have been able to get a shot, and 
 to finish my journey without having bagged a single lion. 
 
 At Maungu we found very good water on the top of 
 a hill in a rocky hollow. Mr. Wilson, who was making 
 the Mackinnon road, had enlarged the existing water 
 hole so as to get a permanent supply of water for the 
 caravans. Previously it was very seldom that water could 
 be found between Taru and Taveta, three long days' 
 march, so that porters had to be sent ahead with cans 
 filled with water — a most expensive process, and the 
 cause of much delay. 
 
 After passing Maungu we entered the Taru desert — a 
 sandy plain, covered with thorn bushes — called a desert 
 because, like the Kalahari, no water is found at the surface 
 500 
 
TO ZANZIBAR 
 
 of the soil, and it is therefore uninhabited. In four and 
 a half hours' march from Maungu we reached " Marago a 
 Fundi," where a large pit had been dug under Mr. Wilson's 
 supervision, and where we found rather muddy, but 
 drinkable, water. After walking for two and a half hours 
 more we reached Butzuma, where we camped for the 
 night. We found no water there, so that the men had 
 to go without food that evening. 
 
 The following day, March 3rd, after three and a half 
 hours' hard m.arching, we reached the Taru rocks, where 
 we found an abundant supply of good water ; we were 
 then out of the desert. After stopping for a few hours 
 to enable the men to have a meal, I pushed on to 
 Samburu, two and a half hours further on. There we 
 found a village inhabited by natives — Wa Duruma. I 
 had intended to go on as far as Maji a Chumvi (the Salt 
 Water), but I received a letter from Major Owen telling 
 me that he was following a day behind. I therefore sent' 
 back two askaris to say that I should wait for him. 
 The next day he turned up ; he had been following 
 close upon my heels ever since he had left Kibwezi. 
 He left that place only six hours after my departure ; 
 but, although he was the best walker I ever met in 
 Africa, I had gained two days on him — to his great 
 astonishment. That evening we celebrated his birth- 
 day, and he told me all the adventures that had be- 
 fallen him since I had parted from him at Mukwenda's. 
 He gave me vivid descriptions of his useless pursuit of 
 Kabarega, and also told me about his journey to Wadelai 
 — one of the pluckiest and most daring feats ever 
 achieved in Africa. He left Kibero on Lake Albert in 
 a steel boat, accompanied by Mr. Purkiss and twenty- 
 seven men only. When he entered the Nile he found 
 the banks of the river covered with armed natives, who 
 threatened to shoot him if he went any further. At last, 
 having reached a spot where the river is but a couple 
 of hundred yards broad, he had to approach the bank 
 501 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 in order to palaver with the natives. They insisted upon 
 his going ashore, but he decHned to do so, and, after 
 considerable trouble, induced two of them to get into 
 the boat, while others promised to go by land to warn the 
 people of Wadela'i of his forthcoming arrival and of his 
 friendly intentions. On arriving at Wadelai, although 
 his instructions were merely to reconnoitre the place, he 
 had to land, as his provisions were exhausted. The people 
 at first looked unfriendly, but he managed to enlist about 
 fifty of them, giving them three months' pay in advance. 
 Having hoisted the British flag, he instructed them to 
 guard it, and promised that another officer would 
 come later on and reward them if they had faithfully 
 guarded the flag. He then returned, but was blamed for 
 having hoisted the British flag, whereas he ought rather to 
 have been highly rewarded for doing so. After returning 
 to Kibero, he started with Lieutenant Villiers to re-establish 
 the forts in Toro, so as to protect Kissagama, the King 
 of that province, who had remained loyal throughout the 
 Unyoro war, although he had suffered much at the hands 
 of Kabarega for his fidelity to the British Government. 
 His instructions were also to punish the chief of Ankori 
 for many acts of disloyalty. Unfortunately, on the way 
 Lieutenant Villiers was taken with a most severe attack of 
 ophthalmia, and Major Owen had to bring him back to 
 Kampala. There Colonel Colvile, having heard that 
 Major Cunningham was on his way to relieve Owen, 
 allowed the latter to return to Europe for a well-deserved 
 rest* He had left Kampala on the 2ist March, so that 
 
 * While I am mentioning this subject, I think it only fair to defend the 
 memory of poor Roddy with regard to an accusation made against him. 
 When we reached Mombasa Reuter's agent came to interview me, and, 
 thinking that Roddy Owen had telegraphic reports of the Unyoro campaign 
 for the Foreign Office, I gave to Reuter's agent all the particulars of Owen's 
 expedition to Wadela'i. These were published the same day in the London 
 IDapers, and caused the late Lord Randolph Churchill to ask the Under- 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it was true that Major Owen 
 had hoisted the British flag at Wadelai. The Foreign Office knew nothing 
 about it, as Owen's despatches were addressed to the Consul-General at 
 502 
 
TO ZANZIBAR 
 
 his journey had been as extraordinarily rapid as might 
 have been expected from so energetic and tireless a man. 
 
 The day after we met we had a very fatiguing march, as 
 the damp heat was almost unendurable ; but there was so 
 much to tell and hear from Owen that the time passed 
 quickly. 
 
 I had been nearly three years on the way, and during 
 two years and a half I had been without a single letter, 
 almost without news, with the exception of a few old 
 newspapers that were lent to me in Uganda. My only 
 object was to reach Mombasa as fast as possible, and 
 Owen shared my anxiety to push forward with all speed. 
 Our men were as impatient as ourselves, so that we 
 hurried along ; we had sent messengers to Mr. Pigott, 
 the Company's administrator at Mombasa, and a reply 
 came to say that he would send a steam-launch to meet 
 us at Banderini. Of the country we crossed during the 
 last two days of our march I am unable to speak : our 
 thoughts were very far from Africa. I cannot describe 
 with what beating of the heart we caught the first glimpse 
 of the sea far away in the distance. "Puanil puani !" 
 (the coast) our men shouted. Roddy and myself gave 
 three cheers. " Aya ! aya ! aya I " (forward, forward, 
 forward) exclaimed all our men. On we rushed, and 
 when at last we found the administrator's steam-launch 
 waiting to take us to Mombasa—a distance of about 
 twelve miles — we could hardly believe that our long 
 tramp was over. A few hours later we were on board 
 the Jiiba, a steamer of 400 tons, that was taking us to 
 Zanzibar. It was quite a new sensation to find ourselves 
 on what seemed to us such a big steamer; we even 
 enjoyed being sea-sick, a thing neither Roddy nor myself 
 had ever experienced before, but the Juba, as a roller, 
 
 Zanzibar, whence the official news was not telegraphed until the following day. 
 Roddy Owen was accused of having committed a breach of trust by giving 
 the news to Reuter's agent ; but the fault was entirely mine, and he knew 
 nothing whatever about it at the time. 
 
 • 503 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 is the champion of all the ships afloat. Zanzibar at 
 last ! There we revelled in the lavish hospitality of Mr. 
 Cracknell, the Acting British Consul-General, and how we 
 did enjoy sleeping in a good broad bed ! It was nearly 
 three years since I had slept between sheets, and the next 
 morning I could not at first realize where I was. It was 
 broad daylight, and I could not understand why I had 
 not yet heard the drums calling the assembly. Then 
 I remembered where I was ; there was no more tent, 
 no more camp, no more marching. It was but two 
 days since I had done my last thirty-two miles' tramp, 
 and I felt as if I had just dropped from another world 
 into one of which I had but a dim recollection. I went 
 into Roddy's room and reminded him that Hatch, who 
 was in command of the Zanzibar contingent as Brigadier- 
 General, had mustered his whole force" to present it to 
 him. " What time is it ? " grumbled Roddy. " Quarter 
 to seven, and we are due on the manoeuvring ground at 
 seven." Roddy merely rolled himself up in his sheets. 
 " All right," he muttered, " go yourself and inspect the 
 troops for me ; do what you like, but / am not going 
 to budge from this bed till ten o'clock." So I went to 
 see the troops, and admired their splendid training and 
 the perfect way in which they marched past. During the 
 two following days we were feasted and entertained by 
 all. We were presented to the Sultan, who made each 
 of us a Knight Commander of his Order. Three days 
 later we parted from our kind friends on our way to 
 Europe, which we had many a time thought never to 
 see again. 
 
 I have perhaps expressed myself too candidly with 
 regard to the various Administrations and people I came 
 across, but whether I have been impartial or not I must 
 leave to my readers to decide. I have honestly endeavoured 
 to describe what I have seen, always bearing in mind 
 that it is easier to find fault with men and things than 
 to discover their good qualities. 
 504 
 
TO ZANZIBAR 
 
 I cannot say that I am satisfied with this book : now 
 that it is printed I find that I have devoted too long 
 a space to my own unimportant doings, and too Httle to 
 the various parts of Africa that I visited. My only 
 excuse is that much of it was written while I was travel- 
 ling in South Africa, so that a long time often elapsed 
 between the writing of two consecutive chapters. 
 
 There remains now but to recapitulate the general 
 impressions I gathered from my long journey across 
 Africa, and I will attempt to do so in the two following 
 chapters ; but this much I will now say — if we consider 
 the partition of Africa among the great European Powers, 
 it is clear that from one point of view we have acted 
 like pirates, and laid violent hands on territories to which 
 we had no claim whatever. The only excuse that can be 
 invoked, the only atonement that can be made, lies in 
 the way in which we deal with the territories we have 
 acquired. To improve the natives, to develop their country, 
 and to aim at increasing their welfare, is our duty — in fact, 
 we must consider ourselves as their guardians and their 
 trustees. In exchange for this they owe us a duty, and it 
 is not too much to ask from them the use of lands that 
 they cannot occupy and of minerals that they cannot 
 themselves work, provided that we act fairly and justly 
 towards them. For their own good they must be taught 
 to work, but the choice of their masters must be left to 
 them. To seize their country and to do nothing towards 
 its development is criminal, and I do not hesitate to say 
 that Great Britain alone has fulfilled her duty in that 
 respect, and that wherever her flag has been planted, 
 justice, civilization, and protection have gathered round 
 it. Under it the freedom of trade, open to all, has not 
 been a mere word, while she alone has respected the 
 Brussels Act, to which other nations have subscribed, it 
 is true, but only to evade it whenever they found a chance 
 of doinp; so. 
 
 505 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 THE NATIVES AND THE EUROPEAN POWERS 
 
 IT was my privilege during the three years of my 
 journey to witness at its very beginning what is 
 probably the largest and most interesting experiment in 
 government that the world has seen. Civilized nations, 
 wherever they have established their rule over territories 
 abroad, have usually commenced the process half uncon- 
 sciously. Led into colonization either by the pressure 
 of over-population at home or in some cases almost by 
 accident, they have proceeded step by step, and have 
 gradually extended their system of government, according 
 to the developing conditions of each colony. Starting 
 in many cases from a small foothold on the seashore, 
 they have extended their influence only when successive 
 collisions with indigenous tribes have forced them, so to 
 speak, into piecemeal annexation and conquest. In other 
 cases the natural growth of the colony has compelled its 
 enlargement without reference to the disposition, hostile 
 or otherwise, of the neighbouring natives. 
 
 The expansion of European rule over Africa has been 
 altogether in contrast to these methods. It has begun 
 at quite the other end. Instead of drifting into empire, 
 the European Powers have deliberately carved up Africa 
 and dealt it out among themselves. Elsewhere annexa- 
 tion has followed occupation ; in Africa, Europeans have 
 first annexed and then proceeded to occupy. The whole 
 proceeding has been deliberate ; but for international 
 506 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 jealousies it might even be called unnecessary. No single 
 Power was overwhelmingly anxious to take up the 
 government of huge territories in savage Africa, but 
 each was perfectly ready to do so rather than see the 
 country pass into the hands of a rival. Each Power 
 was in a position to sit down and deliberately decide 
 what it would do with the sphere of influence that had 
 been pegged out for it. Instead of following and being 
 guided by events, each nation had more or less of a blank 
 sheet on which it could inscribe the colonial system more 
 or less according to its own taste and judgment. 
 
 I say more or less, because there was one condition 
 of the first importance to which all the Powers attempting 
 to accomplish anything in Central Africa were bound to 
 submit themselves. This condition was climate and the 
 existence of the native races. The climate and the native 
 together make up the principal factor to be considered 
 by white governments at work in Africa. Here again 
 the problem was quite different from those presented by 
 other parts of the world. Other colonies may have been 
 fairly populated, like North America, or almost unpopu- 
 lated, like Australia, when the white man appeared upon 
 the scene. But whether they were populated or not 
 mattered comparatively little, for the climate was such 
 that the white man could do without the native. If there 
 were no natives, or few natives, so much the better. But 
 however many there were they were bound to die out 
 before the advance of civilization, and they were no loss. 
 In Africa things are very different. Only in a compara- 
 tively small part of the territory thrown open to 
 Europeans could white men permanently settle. There- 
 fore the country was valueless without the native. Even 
 in that part — in such countries as Rhodesia, the Transvaal, 
 and even the Cape Colony — although white men can 
 settle and rear families, the climate is still such that a 
 great deal of the more exacting work is best done by 
 native hands. If the African native, therefore, were to 
 507 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 be allowed to die out like the American Indian, the 
 problem of African colonization was doomed to absolute 
 failure. The native had to be preserved, and the task of 
 preservation was no light one. It included in some cases 
 his conquest, in all the gaining of his confidence, and, to 
 some extent at least, his education. Here once more 
 the conditions were wholly new. Europeans had before 
 then occupied countries in which they were unable to 
 settle permanently or to perform manual work — India, 
 for example, Indo-China, and the Dutch East Indies. 
 But in all these there was some sort of civilization 
 existing before the Europeans appeared. The new 
 master had to make that civilization conduce to his 
 own ends as best he could, while careful not to destroy 
 it. In Africa there was no such existing organization 
 of society. In one way this fact seemed to make the 
 task easier. It is simpler to build up out of nothing 
 than to transform what has existed for centuries. But 
 on the other hand, it must be remembered that the 
 African has been what he is as long as the Indian. 
 Centuries of brutish debasement are as difficult to wipe 
 out as centuries of alien civilization. However, be the 
 task light or heavy, it must be faced. \Be the gulf 
 between white and black ever so wide and profound, it 
 must somehow be bridged. Whatever progress and 
 development Africa is to receive at the hands of the 
 white must still be based upon the black. The first 
 step, therefore, in the making of Africa must be the 
 careful consideration of the native, his limitations and his 
 possibilities. \ 
 
 Between the Cape and the Equator, Africa is populated 
 by the great Bantu race. This does not, however, extend 
 to the extreme south, for here we find the Hottentots and 
 Bushmen — doubtless the tribes which originally peopled 
 Africa, and which have been pushed gradually southwards 
 by the Bantu invasion. The Hottentots themselves are 
 not a pure race ; they are a mixture of Bushmen and 
 508 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 Bantu, and I am inclined to think that the Basuto and 
 their Bechuana cousins have themselves an admixture of 
 Hottentot blood. Scattered among the Bantu we find 
 also the Pigmy race of the great forest of the Congo, 
 whose almost impenetrable retreat has enabled them to 
 resist absorption by the Bantu. The extreme limit of 
 this latter race northward is the river Ubanghi. Its 
 frontier thence runs gradually southward, touching Lake 
 Albert Nyanza, to the northern shore of Victoria Nyanza. 
 South of this line the non-Bantu races are rapidly dis- 
 appearing. Of an inferior type, they are wholly unable 
 to compete with their aggressors, and still less to survive 
 under European civilization. Their low intelligence, idle- 
 ness, and proclivity to drink will lead within a few years 
 to their absolute extermination. The Pigmies of the 
 Congo will doubtless be preserved for a time by their 
 geographical position, but they will be equally unable 
 to resist the competition of superior races. In consider- 
 ing the ethnology of the southern portion of Africa, we 
 may also leave out of consideration the tribes of the 
 Cape Colony and of the Transvaal. These have mingled 
 so much among themselves — not only Bantu with 
 Hottentots and Bushmen, but also black blood with 
 white, whence come such bastard races as the Griquas 
 — that no profitable study can be made of their institu- 
 tions. In the most southern' part of Africa the natives 
 are generally spoken of collectively as Kaffirs. The 
 name is suitable enough for the very reason that it is 
 wholly unscientific, and designates no distinct race ; in 
 truth there is no distinct race to designate. 
 
 In these summary remarks I shall avoid as much as 
 possible formulating any theories as to the origin of the 
 African races, being content to give a general impression 
 of those with which I came in contact. The formulation 
 of primary anthropological theories I leave to the learned. 
 I am afraid my general estimate of the negro race as 
 specimens of the genus homo is not a lofty one. The 
 509 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 contemplation of the African negro can only be agreeable 
 from one point of view ; this is the consideration of him 
 as a striking example of the transformation and develop- 
 ment of our species. He is a kind of landmark far, far 
 behind us, which shows what a distance we have advanced 
 upon the road. True, the negro, meaning thereby the 
 Bantu, is not the lowest type of the species. That 
 distinction belongs to the bushman. The bushman is, 
 perhaps, a little more developed than the anthropoid ape, 
 but he remains his first cousin. He makes himself a fire, 
 and we understand his language. The ape cannot make 
 a fire, and at present we do not understand his language. 
 That is the difference between the two. Considering this, 
 it is much to be regretted that the bushman is dying out. 
 He is an animal which ought to be preserved, unless he is 
 to share the fate of the white rhinoceros, and disappear 
 from the surface of the globe. Certainly he is not a 
 valuable animal ; by instinct he is intensely malicious and 
 destructive ; but from the point of view of natural history 
 he is of incontestable value. 
 
 The African black in his primitive state is hardly 
 further removed from the beast. His existence centres 
 itself almost wholly upon one aim — for it can hardly be 
 called an ideal — eating. Thought for the morrow is 
 absolutely unknown to him. Give him his food for a 
 week he will devour it until he cannot gorge another 
 mouthful, and then he will spoil the rest. He is as little 
 conscious of the past as of the future. Things are wiped 
 from his mind the moment after they have happened ; he 
 is absolutely incapable of measuring time, even from the 
 most recent and most important events. Only in one 
 way does he bring himself into relation with the past — 
 through the sentiments of fear and revenge. Gratitude is 
 unknown to him. The animal affection of parents for 
 their young rarely extends with the primitive African 
 beyond the years of infancy ; after that the relation is 
 forgotten, as it is among beasts. Love is unknown to 
 510 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 him. There is no word in any Central African language 
 meaning " kiss." His wives, or rather his females, are 
 valued for the work which they spare him ; they bear him 
 children, who also represent work avoided ; and later, in 
 the case of girls, a tangible value when they are sold to 
 their husbands. It is significant that the price of a 
 woman is almost the same whether she is taken to wife or 
 bought as a slave. The negro, indeed — I am speaking 
 always of the primitive tribes — is not only ignorant of 
 love, but even of lasciviousness. He couples exactly like 
 a beast, and there is an end of it. 
 
 I do not mean to imply that he is incapable of improve- 
 ment. If he were, then the sooner we clear out of his 
 country the better. Certainly he is superior to the ape ; 
 his brain is more developed, and is therefore susceptible 
 of a more rapid transformation. Even the ape, it must 
 be remembered, is presumably evolving. It would be an 
 interesting experiment to take several couples of apes and 
 bring them up with their descendants exactly as we bring 
 up children for, say, twenty or thirty generations. The 
 result might be astonishing, for the ape has already some 
 well-developed ideas. He has, for instance, the idea of 
 property, and there are such things as monogamous apes, 
 which strongly resent any aggression by their fellows upon 
 their wives. If we conceive the possibility of attaining a 
 measurable development in the ape within a limited series 
 of generations, then such a development must be even 
 more practicable in the case of the negro. For it must 
 be remembered that civilization progresses with an in- 
 creasing velocity. As Sir Harry Johnston has observed, 
 it may have required a million years for the evolution of 
 the brute into man, and half a million to raise him to the 
 level of the Australian savage. On the other hand, a 
 hundred years were probably enough for the development 
 of the savagery of the Hamitic races into the civilization 
 of the Egyptians. Consider Europe at the opening of 
 this century and Europe at the present day. Is not the 
 511 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 advance man has made as great as that aecomphshed by 
 the savage in raising himself to the antique and primitive 
 culture of Egypt ? 
 
 It is hardly to be supposed, however, that the next 
 century will see any sudden leap by the barbarous 
 natives of Africa, even under tutelage, into a full- 
 blown civilization. They are too far behind. Their 
 whole habits of mind are entirely foreign to those 
 of their white instructors. Probably the most radical 
 difference is one which I have referred to again and 
 again. The native has absolutely no idea of causation — 
 or perhaps it would be more correct to say that heTias 
 no idea of natural causation. The simplest case of this 
 is death. Man after man dies in the same way, but it 
 never occurs to the savage that there is one constant and 
 explicable cause to account for all cases. Instead of that 
 he regards each successive death as an event wholly by 
 itself — apparently unexpected — and only to be explained 
 by some supernatural agency. You would suppose that, 
 the African expected everybody to live for ever, since his 
 one explanation of death is an immediate recourse to 
 witchcraft. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that every 
 natural death entails a violent one as its consequence. 
 Along with witchcraft and the inevitable accusation of 
 sorcery when anybody dies, goes the custom of " muavi " 
 — the ordeal by poison. I have said enough in the 
 preceding, pages to make it plain what complete domina- 
 tion this practice has got over the native mind. The 
 reason is that the native thoroughly believes in its efficacy. 
 My own porters have constantly offered to submit to the 
 ordeal on the most trivial charges. Of course, this 
 thorough belief in " muavi " hands the native over com- 
 pletely defenceless to the witch-doctor. The doctor 
 can get rid of anybody he likes. Besides this, he is a 
 kind of public prosecutor ; that is to say, that when he 
 accuses any man or woman of sorcery he is not obliged, 
 like any ordinary accuser, to take the poison himself 
 512 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 The first step, therefore, towards preparing the native 
 mind to receive the first rudiments of civilization, not to 
 say of rationahty, is to free them of the tyranny of the 
 witch-doctor. The most effective way to do this, if it is 
 possible, is to explain the action of rudimentary physical 
 causes : whether in this way or another, the witch-doctor 
 must be eradicated. 
 
 An interesting corollary of witchcraft is cannibalism. I 
 do not mean such cannibalism as that of certain Congo 
 tribes, or of the Solomon Islanders, who kill people to eat 
 them as we kill game. With such tribes I did not come 
 into contact. But there is another form of cannibalism 
 less generally known to Europeans, and perhaps even 
 more grisly, which consists in digging up dead bodies to 
 feast on their flesh. This practice exists largely among 
 the natives in the region of Lake Nyasa. I know of a 
 case in which the natives of a village in this region seized 
 the opportunity of a white man's presence to break into 
 the hut of one of these reputed cannibals, and found there 
 a human leg hanging from the rafters. This incident 
 shows that cannibalism is practised, but also that it is not 
 universal with the tribes among which it is found, and is 
 condemned by the public opinion of those who do not 
 practise it. But public opinion in Africa is not a highly 
 developed power. The real public opinion is not so much 
 the feeling of the mass of the people on such a question 
 as this ; the real public opinion is witchcraft. And, 
 indeed, in the case of cannibalism the real public opinion 
 tends to shield the perpetrators, because they are reputed 
 to be witches of high quality. Therefore, although there 
 is a theory that cannibals when caught should be burnt 
 alive, they are hardly ever denounced even on the clearest 
 evidence, for fear of their occult power. Here, then, 
 again, is a piece of the deepest barbarism — not perhaps 
 very widespread, but sufficiently repulsive and antagonistic 
 to civilization — which depends for its existence solely 
 upon witchcraft 
 
 2 L 513 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 But if you put down witchcraft and exterminate the 
 witch-doctor, what, it will be asked, are you going to 
 substitute? Witchcraft is not exactly religion; it is 
 rather an essential condition of thought among the 
 natives ; yet it is, perhaps, the nearest approach to 
 religion that they boast. The only other religious 
 element in the native world is represented by the 
 " musimo," or spirits of the dead. Perhaps this is a 
 nearer approach to religion than the other, for witch- 
 craft, after all, is supposed to be set in motion by living 
 men, while the " musimo," so far as they go, are spiritual. 
 But however widely spread and deeply engrained may be 
 the belief in spirits, it remains perfectly true that all the 
 African tribes I met with from the Zambezi to the 
 Victoria Nyanza are wholly lacking in any idea of a God. 
 The " musimo " may be productive of evil : sacrifices 
 are offered to them to keep them in a good humour, 
 or to appease them when they are angry. But there is 
 no idea of a Creator or of a Supreme Cause productive 
 of good as well as evil. Good, you may say, is believed 
 by the African to be the normal state of things, and 
 requires no supernatural explanation. It is only when 
 some calamity befalls him that he looks about for a 
 cause outside ordinary human agency. As for the 
 control of the forces of Nature, it is not usually attributed 
 to spirits, even when it brings disaster. It is ascribed 
 rather to a living witch-doctor or chief 
 
 This matter of the native's religion, or, rather, atheism, 
 brings us to the question of missions and missionaries. Is 
 the native mind so blank with regard to spiritual affairs 
 that we may not fill the blank with Christianity as 
 expounded by white missionaries, and that the native 
 may not thus possess himself of a religious and moral 
 standby when witchcraft disappears ? I do not say 
 that this is impossible, but I do say that it is a far 
 bigger task than people who sit at home and subscribe 
 to missions imagine. I also say that on the whole, so 
 5'4 
 
THE PROBLEM OE AFRICA 
 
 far as my observation goes, the missionary is not at 
 present tackling it in a right manner. ■ In saying this I 
 have no intention of exalting one faith or denomination 
 at the expense of another. I have a great and equal 
 respect for all religions sincerely believed. Still less 
 have I any intention of depreciating the missionaries 
 themselves. To many of them I owe a great debt of 
 kindness which it would be the height of meanness to 
 minimise or deny, and I hope I shall never be guilty of 
 so despicable a thought. Yet it does not follow that 
 because I owe gratitude and respect individually that 
 I ought therefore to disguise my opinion that in very 
 many cases they are working on the wrong lines. 
 Thoroughly good men they unquestionably are. Nobody 
 could see them and doubt it. Hospitable and helpful to 
 the white traveller, they are kindly towards the natives, 
 and thoroughly earnest in their work. They are some- . 
 times accused of being political agents, but that I do not 
 believe. I can understand, however, how the idea gained 
 credence. It is the tendency of most missionaries, 
 especially those who have lived a long time in one 
 country, to assimilate themselves with the natives, and 
 to take a personal interest in their quarrels. Of course, 
 this tendency is intensified in cases where missionaries 
 of different denominations are working in the same 
 country. In such cases each tries, very naturally, to 
 secure the chief. The natives attached to each mission 
 support their missionary, and the country is divided into 
 political parties, which masquerade as religious sects. It 
 may happen, again, that a missionary secures influence 
 over the son or some other relative of a chief, who has 
 come to learn at his station. In that case he is liable 
 to urge his disciple to resist the authority of the chief 
 when the latter wishes to enforce some harmless native 
 custom. Supporters gather round the rebel, and civil 
 war again results. The first of these cases has been 
 seen in Uganda, with results that have been thoroughly 
 515 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 disastrous to the natives themselves, and have reacted 
 most perniciously upon the relations between English 
 and French. The second case has been exemplified 
 almost as perniciously in the history of Khama. 
 
 Leaving aside the missionary and incidental results of 
 missionary enterprise, let us go to the heart of the 
 question, and ask whether the problem which the 
 missionaries set themselves to solve can be treated in 
 the way they treat it. Are the natives, in short, how- 
 ever much without religion, fit to become Christians ? 
 For my own part I answer emphatically " No." The fact 
 that they have no conception of God, so far from making 
 the extension of Christianity easy, makes it impossible. 
 There may be nothing to clear away to make room for 
 the ideas of Christianity, but the very fact that there is 
 nothing makes religious aspiration an impossibility to 
 the native. The idea is wholly outside the range of his 
 mind. Before he is capable of appreciating it, his whole 
 mental plane must be raised and broadened. This will 
 be a matter of many years, and can only be done, not 
 by distributing tracts, but by making a man of the 
 African in his practical daily life. No doubt it is very 
 ■ easy to teach savages to sing hymns or to repeat their 
 catechism ; some of them will learn to read and write 
 with wonderful ease. But this is mere imitativeness, like 
 that of the monkey or the parrot. It means nothing at 
 all. 
 
 To the native the Bible is simply a series of stories 
 of what recently took place in the white man's country; 
 so that instead of assisting civilization, the teaching of 
 the Bible, by giving wholly false ideas, actually hinders 
 it. The idea of the redemption of the world by Christ 
 is utterly incomprehensible to the native, for no native 
 has the faintest idea of self-sacrifice. Another fact which 
 works strongly against any conception of a beneficent 
 Creator is that the native sees nothing beautiful, wonder- 
 ful, or attractive in Nature. Flowers and trees, and the 
 516 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 most enchanting scenery are entirely lost upon him. A 
 tree only begins to interest him when it is fit to burn. 
 And yet, though he finds nothing to be enjoyed in 
 Nature, he is quite satisfied with his position. All he 
 wants is plenty to eat and little to do, and these wants 
 are generally perfectly easy to satisfy. The African 
 native is squalid, but it is a mistake to imagine him to 
 be either poor or unhappy. The skin of a wild beast 
 gives him clothing for half his life. The cutting of a 
 few trees, the plucking of a little grass, the mixing of a 
 little mud and water, is enough to make him a house. 
 A few hours' work in the year, usually done by women, 
 is enough to give him food. With all his wants thus' 
 easily satisfied, and with no aspirations beyond them, 
 what need has he of a deity? What need has he to 
 explain, by the idea of a Creator, the wonders of a 
 world to which he is blind ? What need ha.s he of the 
 hope of happiness in a future world when he is perfectly 
 happy in this ? 
 
 And if the aim of the missionaries is difficult — for the 
 present almost hopeless — of attainment, it must also be 
 said that they appear to be going the wrong way to attain 
 it. Much of their religious teaching is of the narrowest 
 and most unprofitable kind. Here, for instance, is a list 
 of leaflets furnished to Uganda by the Church Missionary 
 Society : 
 
 1. Reading sheet, with model of writing. 
 
 2. First Catechism. 
 
 3. Large Catechism (28 pages). 
 
 4. Small reading sheet containing alphabet, Lord's Prayer, 
 
 Apostles' Creed, and Ten Commandments. 
 
 5. The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 6. First Epistle of John. 
 
 Now, I ask any open-minded person to consider what 
 sort of education this is. What can anybody expect to 
 gain by cramming the barbarous African with the logical 
 S17 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 subtleties of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans? It must 
 be borne in mind that reading and writing have been 
 taught in Uganda now for nearly twenty years, and that 
 the people in a way have shown great aptitude. Is it not 
 time that they should be educated in something a little 
 wider than the curriculum quoted above? Would it not 
 have been better to have taught the people something of 
 the world outside Uganda — the rudimentary elements of 
 geography, history, and science? 
 
 It is to be feared, again, that the results produced by 
 missionaries in the way of native converts are not any 
 very high testimonial to the value of their work. Sir 
 "Harry Johnston, in his book on Kilima Njaro has given 
 his opinion that the native Christians of the Mombasa 
 district are liars, cowards, thieves, and drunkards. From 
 my own experience I should say that almost every boy 
 brought up in a mission is the same. Of course, this 
 result is not in any way attributable to Christianity. If 
 he had been brought up in a Buddhist mission it would 
 have been exactly the same. Still more monstrous would 
 it be to attribute such results to anything in the nature of 
 precept or example given by the missionaries themselves. 
 It is not Christianity, and it is not the missionaries. It is ' 
 the contact of the African nature — the nature of the ; 
 brute — with white civilization. He learns the vices of [ 
 the white man, but is incapable of their virtues. But the 
 part in this deplorable result for which the missions may 
 fairly be condemned is that they try the native too high — 
 cutting away all respect for his own laws, and then leaving 
 him open to all the worst influences without check or 
 restraint. It is very easy to make a native a drunkard, 
 but it is also very easy to make him a hypocrite. The 
 missions may not directly do the first ; but with the best 
 intentions I fear they very often do the second. You 
 have only to go about Khama's capital and see a native 
 as you approach pull out his Bible and begin to read it 
 upside-down to understand the hollow character which 
 518 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 is inseparable from ninety -nine hundredths of native 
 Christianity. 
 
 The truth is that in Africa it is worse than useless to 
 pull down without building" up, and that building up is a 
 far more tedious and thankless process than most people 
 care to believe. Another mistake similar to the attempt 
 at the wholesale introduction of Christianity has been the 
 attempt at wholesale suppression of slavery. I know that 
 in my opinions about this, as about missions, I may shock 
 the feelings and incur the condemnation of many excellent 
 people, but I can only say what I honestly believe. On 
 this question of slavery we must make a fundamental 
 distinction. Slave-raiding by Arab adventurers in the 
 interior is one thing, while domestic slavery in the settled 
 districts, where the Arabs have made themselves permanent 
 homes, is quite another. With regard to the first, I own 
 as fully as any anti-slavery society can do that it ought to 
 be put down. It causes a vast amount of suffering to 
 individuals, though perhaps not very much more than 
 they would endure under the rule of their own chiefs and 
 witch-doctors. What is worse than this, the raiders make 
 any progress or settlement of the country impossible, 
 because there is no incentive to be prosperous so long as 
 prosperity only invites attack. But where I differ from 
 the Anti-Slavery Society is that I do not for a moment 
 believe that the slave trade in the interior is of anything 
 like the proportions they allege it to be. I think I may 
 claim to know as much of the interior of Africa as most 
 professional philanthropists, and I cannot believe that if 
 the slave trade existed on so enormous a scale I should 
 not have seen more of it. It has been stated within the 
 last eighteen months at the Mansion House that half a 
 million lives were sacrificed by the African slave trade, 
 while two million people were torn from their homes. 
 The theory of these benevolent people appears to be that 
 the Arabs march into the interior some thousands of miles, 
 and return after three or four years' business with the 
 519 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 proceeds of their nefarious trade. I should very much 
 Hke to know how they imagine it is done. In the first 
 place it would be exceedingly dangerous, if not im- 
 possible ; and in the second place it would be exceedingly 
 unprofitable. There are four great caravan routes from 
 the interior leading to Zanzibar or Pemba. These routes 
 are studded with numerous European posts, and no Arab 
 with a large following could escape detection by them. 
 Now caravans of any size are obliged to take one or other 
 of these roads, because they pass through the most thickly 
 peopled districts, and only in these can travellers get 
 food. How little the spokesmen of the Anti-Slavery 
 Society could have troubled to verify the truth of their 
 assertions is shown by the fact that when challenged they 
 quote Dr. Livingstone as their authority for the vast 
 extent of the trade. Since Livingstone's time thirty years 
 have elapsed, and Africa has been in the rapidest state of 
 transition all the time. Things have changed enormously 
 even since Mr. Stanley's last great journey. To quote 
 Livingstone, in short, as an authority for the present 
 condition of Africa is about as reasonable as to quote the 
 novels of Fielding as a picture of English life to-day. 
 
 Even if it were possible for the Arab to tramp 
 thousands of miles and spend dozens of months in the 
 quest of slaves, it would be exceedingly bad business. 
 The Arab is mainly an ivory merchant, and this is the 
 only business that really pays him. He starts from the 
 coast with five or six hundred bales of calico with which 
 to buy his wares. Now, when he returns with his ivory 
 nothing could be more dangerous than to mix up slaves 
 with them, since if he is caught not only will the slaves 
 be set free, but the whole of his ivory will be confiscated. 
 Moreover, slaves, as compared with ivory, are almost a 
 worthless article of commerce. A slave will only fetch 
 some ^3 to £6 at the coast ; a load of ivory about ten 
 times as much. So that if an Arab arrived at Zanzibar 
 with sixty slaves and sixty loads of ivory, he would get 
 520 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 about ;^ 200 for the first and ;^2000 for the last. Clearly, 
 then, the slave traffic would hardly pay at the best; still 
 less would it be worth risking the loss of the ivory to 
 secure so comparatively valueless an addition to the 
 profits of the expedition. There is another reason why 
 it will not pay the Arabs to raid the country for slaves. 
 The natives who have secured the ivory do not keep it 
 exposed in public or store it where the first looter will 
 know where to find it. They bury it or hide it in some 
 other way, and only produce it in small quantities for 
 trade when their confidence is won. Now, if the Arabs 
 attacked villages and enslaved the people, after the old 
 fashion, they not only would get no ivory, but all the 
 villages would be deserted for miles around, and the 
 Arab would have to turn back for want of food. The 
 Arab is not perfect, I know. No one pretends that he 
 is a philanthropist, and I don't assert that if he saw a 
 chance of picking up a* slave or two without danger he 
 would not take it. But I do assert that in business 
 matters he is no fool, and a fool he would certainly be 
 if he conducted the systematic business in slaves which 
 is laid to his charge. That such slave trade as still 
 exists should be gradually suppressed I fully believe, 
 but the way to do this is to develop legitimate trade, 
 and to establish regular communications and such 
 administration of justice as the country is fit for. These 
 measures have already succeeded, as I have explained, 
 in enormously decreasing the volume of the slave trade, 
 and they may safely be left to stamp out what still 
 remains. 
 
 The question of domestic slavery is wholly different. 
 The British Government is loudly called upon from time 
 to time to abolish this institution in Zanzibar and Pemba, 
 which are under its protectorate. I think that so violent 
 a course would be simple madness. It would amount to 
 an economic revolution, sweeping away the whole fabric 
 of industrial society and putting nothing in its place. 
 521 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 The whole business of Zanzibar and Pemba would be 
 utterly ruined. The country would be made impassable 
 by emancipated blacks turned sturdy beggars and 
 brigands. More than that, the sudden abolition of 
 slavery would mean utter ruin to the blacks themselves. 
 Its effect would be somewhat similar to that of the 
 premature emancipation of the serfs in Russia, only 
 far more disastrous.* The slave, in short, is, in the first 
 place, unable to stand on his own legs as a free man, 
 and, in the second place, unwilling to do so. He has 
 to work for his master, no doubt, but in return his 
 master acknowledges special obligations towards him. 
 The free labourer is the creature of the laws of supply 
 and demand. If the quality and quantity of his work 
 is insufficient to buy him food and clothing and shelter, 
 he must starve. The slave, on the other hand, is main- 
 tained by his master through disability, sickness, and 
 old age. True, he has no civil or political rights, but 
 then he does not want any. In his own country he had 
 none, and he wants none now. In his own country his 
 life was in hourly imminent danger from chief or witch- 
 doctor, war, and the ordeal by poison. Before he reaches 
 the age of manhood his life is wholly dependent on his 
 father's. If his father is killed from any of the causes 
 mentioned, the children are promptly sent to follow him. 
 Still less is it a hardship to be separated from his family. 
 To suppose that the African negro pines for those he 
 loves is utterly absurd, because he loves nobody but 
 himself The maternal affection itself is little more 
 -^than brutish instinct, and lasts, as with the brute, only 
 as long as the child is incapable of taking care of 
 itself 
 
 Slavery, therefore, is no hardship to the negro, nor does 
 he pretend that it is. I have had many opportunities 
 of finding out from slaves themselves the feelings which 
 
 * This step has lately been taken by the British Government, and the result 
 has been that many of the rich Arabs have crossed over into German territory. 
 522 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 they entertain towards their masters. On my journey 
 from Ujiji to Victoria Nyanza I came across many slaves, 
 as I have already recounted, who either had been left 
 in villages by their Arab masters because they were 
 sick and unable to go on, or had run away for the 
 same reason. If the chief brought me a boy who had 
 thus come into his care, I put before him the choice of 
 three courses. " Which do you wish to do," I asked ; 
 " to go back to your own village, stay where you are, 
 or go back to your Arab master ? " The invariable 
 reply was that the slave wished to go back to his 
 master. " But you need not go unless you want," I 
 used to say, " and if you do he will very likely sell you 
 to another Arab." " I don't mind," the slave would say, 
 " as long as I am sold to an Arab." The truth is that 
 the slave, as compared to the hired servant or porter, 
 enjoys a proud and comfortable position. They describe 
 themselves with great satisfaction as " the people " of such 
 and such an Arab, while all other natives they call by 
 the derogatory name of savages. They never carry a 
 load when on the march with their own masters. I 
 often had, however, in my caravan, a number of slaves 
 belonging to Zanzibar Arabs, who came voluntarily to 
 engage themselves, and whose masters I never even saw. 
 I asked several of them how it was that, being slaves, 
 they were allowed to go about as they liked, "Why 
 not ? " they all answered. " We are not children, but 
 grown men. When our work is over we shall go back 
 to our masters, and there we shall find our wiv^es and 
 children." " But what will you do then ? " I would ask. 
 " If our master has work for us to do," they would reply, 
 "we shall do it. If there is war, we shall fight for 
 him. If there is no work to do we shall engage our- 
 selves with some other white man. And when we are 
 too old we shall rest while the younger ones work," 
 
 The truth is that the African native, being a grown-up 
 child, is very much better off with a master to make him 
 523 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 work, and at the same time to take care of him, than he 
 would be if left to himself I am all for the regulation of 
 slavery ; for the gradual reduction of the master's rights 
 over the slave ; and for giving the slave an opportunity of 
 redeeming himself, if by any strange chance he should 
 wish to do so. But I am not in favour of taking away 
 the only guarantee he has that he will be looked after by 
 his employer, and of handing him over to the tender 
 mercies of his worst enemy — himself 
 
 The same sort of considerations as apply to religion 
 and slavery forbid the violent interference with certain 
 other features of native African life. The instant sup- 
 pression of polygamy, for example, would mean the 
 extinction of nine out of every ten native races, and that 
 for a sufficiently obvious reason. It is very rare, as I have 
 already pointed out more than once in the course of my 
 anthropological chapters, to find a tribe whose women 
 average more than two or three children apiece. Con- 
 sidering the enormous infant mortality — of which the 
 European can hardly form an idea — the restriction of one 
 man to one wife would mean a rapidly dwindling 
 population and the steady disappearance of the race. It 
 is true, of course, that under European rule the influences 
 which produce this awful infant mortality may be 
 expected gradually to disappear. Witchcraft will be put 
 down ; the sins of the fathers will no more be visited 
 upon the innocent children ; native wars and the slave 
 trade will gradually be made impossible. But there still 
 remains the insanitary, not to say bestial, life of the 
 native, and this, though doubtless it will be mitigated in 
 time, is likely to go on reaping its crop of death for at 
 least a generation, and probably a century. The wise 
 administrator, therefore, will take care that the restriction 
 and ultimate abolition of polygamy does not move faster 
 than the influences which will make polygamy un- 
 necessary. 
 
 It may, indeed, be said generally that any attempts to 
 524 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 raise the native code of morality must be made with the 
 greatest caution, unless they are to do more harm than 
 good. The native knows nothing of morality. In its 
 place he puts the idea of property. Take the case of sex.'^ 
 After marriage a woman belongs to the husband who has 
 bought and paid for her. Before marriage she is perfectly 
 free to conduct herself as she likes, and should she have 
 children that only increases her market value. So, again, 
 the idea of expiation is wholly strange to the African, and 
 it would seem a monstrous thing to him that a man should 
 be killed merely because he has killed another. What 
 killing there is, is usually done from the simplest utilitarian 
 motives — in war, for example, or to prevent a man doing 
 harm by witchcraft. But the proper penalty in African 
 eyes for ordinary murder is the payment of a price. The 
 murderer has destroyed a piece of property, and must 
 make it good to the relatives of his victim, who are 
 considered to have a sort of ownership in him. You 
 must pay more for a man than for a woman, and 
 more for a woman than a child. If you cannot pay, 
 then your relatives, as having a sort of ownership in 
 you, must pay for you. On the other hand, you are at 
 perfect liberty to kill your own wife or your own slave : 
 they are yours, and with what is yours you may do as 
 you like. These ideas have grown into the native mind 
 for centuries. Any attempt, therefore, to graft European 
 ideas of jurisprudence on to native minds could only be 
 entirely disastrous. The laws there are would be over- 
 turned ; while for the new laws there would be neither 
 support, sympathy, nor even comprehension. 
 
 All these considerations will give some idea of the 
 enormous difficulty presented by the native side of 
 the African problem. Without the native you could do 
 nothing ; without improving the native you could do 
 hardly anything. Yet if you try to improve the native 
 too quickly you will make him ten times more impossible 
 to do with than he was before. 
 525 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 As for the first step in his regeneration I have very 
 Httle doubt. He must be made to work — a pursuit at 
 present absolutely distasteful to him and almost unknown. 
 The influence of steady work is the best education for 
 him in his present state — is, indeed, all the education he 
 is at present fit for. The influence of labour will make 
 itself felt in every direction. It will steady the native, 
 and urge him to settle and make himself a home. It will 
 tend to the suppression of slavery, because when each 
 man learns to work for himself slavery is no longer 
 necessary. It will tend to the material prosperity of the 
 country, and thus furnish funds which the white master 
 can employ in keeping order and establishing a regular 
 administration. Best of all, the habit of labour will bring 
 the native into contact with these same white masters. 
 And supposing the native is justly and firmly treated — for 
 this condition is essential to any kind of education — it will 
 instil confidence, inspire respect, and hold up before the 
 savage an example of a superior standard of comfort 
 which he may in time be impelled to try to obtain for 
 himself We must create needs in the native — needs that 
 he will have to work to supply. If anybody considers 
 this brutal .and cold-blooded exploitation of the black, 
 I should like to ask him in what else but the development 
 and satisfaction of new needs the course of civilization 
 consists ? 
 
 The first and most vital duty of European powers in 
 barbarous Africa is that, so far as possible, they should 
 pursue a common policy with regard to the natives, and 
 above all that they should not present to him a spectacle of 
 quarrels and even warfare among themselves. The process 
 of the partition of Africa has been perplexing enough to 
 the native mind without any further complication. As 
 soon as a sphere of influence was allotted to a European 
 power its emissaries hastened to occupy it. A white man 
 appeared, gave the chief a present, and asked him to make 
 a cross at the bottom of a piece of paper, at the same 
 526 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 time giving him a coloured piece of calico (a flag) to hang 
 up on the top of a pole. Presently another white man 
 came along, produced another paper and another piece of 
 coloured material to hang up on a pole. The chief had 
 no idea what it was all about. It appeared a great waste 
 of calico to hang it on a pole ; but he was willing to do 
 anything in reason, so long as he got his present. But 
 sometimes the first white man came back, and was very 
 angry to find his piece of calico taken down from the pole. 
 Then the chief was either killed or taken away or deposed 
 and all his cattle seized as a fine. At other times a white 
 man would suddenly appear with soldiers and porters. 
 The chief would hasten joyfully to his camp in the 
 hope of receiving a present, and would be informed 
 that the country now belonged, for example, to the Sultan 
 of the Germans— that he must pay so many tusks of 
 ivory a year and build so many houses, and supply food 
 for the white men who were coming to protect him. The 
 natives did not quite know what it all meant. They could 
 not make out how the country had suddenly come to belong 
 to somebody else, of whom they had never heard ; and they 
 had no particular desire to be protected. But the white 
 man said so, and the white man was a sort of god, and the 
 natives usually submitted. All this was puzzling enough ; 
 but sometimes the case was even stranger. The diplo- 
 matists who divided Africa treated it as unoccupied land, 
 and drew their frontiers in long' straight lines, entirely 
 ignoring the existence of the natives. The result was, 
 of course, that most of the frontier lines cut states or 
 tribes in two. Hence arose no end of difficulties. How 
 could the natives be expected to understand that one half 
 of the tribe was to belong, let us say, to England, and the 
 other half to Germany ? If war arose — and this was just 
 the sort of complication to end in war — either nation 
 found it impossible to subdue the revolting chief As 
 soon as one side of the frontier became too hot to hold 
 him he bolted over to the other. No doubt it would be 
 527 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 possible for the officials of the nation in whose territory 
 he had taken refuge to seize him and hand him back to 
 his pursuers. It would also be possible to allow the 
 pursuers to follow him up over the frontier. This, how- 
 ever, would be a very strong measure, and would almost 
 certainly lead to grave difficulties ; while the handing over 
 of fugitive chiefs might even appear in the light of 
 abetting oppression, and would be almost as objectionable. 
 The true remedy for difficulties of this kind lies, I think, 
 in the rectification of frontiers. This is a lengthy and 
 laborious business, and it involves a complete and 
 detailed knowledge of the local conditions in each 
 several case ; but I think it offers the only satisfactory 
 settlement. 
 
 But the want of union between the civilized Powers 
 may lead to even more disastrous consequences. The 
 perplexities of annexation and divided allegiance are 
 bad enough, but when it comes to white men fighting 
 among themselves, or murdering one another in cold 
 blood, the result is lowering to white reputation for 
 hundreds of miles around. To the native there is no 
 such thing as distinction between nationalities of white 
 men, and indeed the distinction is apt to become a very 
 slight one in the eyes of European travellers themselves. 
 There is only room in Africa for one line of partition — 
 black and white. If white men fight among themselves, 
 one side must be beaten. The native then sees that 
 white men are not invincible, and he is encouraged to 
 see if he cannot beat them himself 
 
 But far worse than any fighting between white men 
 in Africa is such an appalling blunder, to say nothing 
 of its criminality, as the recent murder of Mr. Stokes. 
 I have already given a few examples which came under 
 my notice of the way in which the officers of the Congo 
 State go about their business. Thanks to the detestable 
 system of giving them a commission on the ivory and 
 rubber they bring in, the expeditions of these officers 
 528 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 are little better than the worst raids of the slave-dealing 
 Arabs. The Congo State is a vast irresponsible com- 
 mercial company, with the King of the Belgians as its 
 managing director, and the business of the company 
 pursued through its agents — these officers — is systematic 
 loot. The result is bad enough even from the point of 
 view of the Congo State itself, for it means the rapid 
 exhaustion of the country. The elephant is being 
 exterminated to satisfy the greed of the officer, who 
 wants his commission. This same legalised blackmailer 
 will appear in a village and demand so much rubber in 
 such a time, on pain of execution for the chief and 
 destruction for the village. The chief sends out his 
 men in a hurry to get the rubber. Instead of making 
 incisions in the creeper, they cut down a whole plant 
 and bring in the whole of its gum. The Belgian takes 
 his commission for a plant which has taken hundreds of 
 years to grow, and which is destroyed for ever. So with 
 the coffee plantations. The officer receives a premium on 
 the number of bushes he plants and rears. He gets his 
 money at the end of three or four years, and then clears 
 out. His successor is not going to waste his time looking 
 after the old plants when he can get a premium by 
 planting new ones. So he leaves the established plants 
 to run wild, and there is so much time and labour 
 wasted. 
 
 All this is bad enough, but it concerns only the Congo 
 State itself. But when it comes to such outrages as 
 the murder of Mr. Stokes, and when it is quite impossible 
 to bring the perpetrator of such a murder to justice, then 
 the State becomes a menace to the authority, and even 
 the existence, of white men throughout the whole of 
 Africa. Very few people realize who Mr. Stokes was, 
 and what a prodigious stir his murder must have 
 produced through an enormous tract of country. From 
 Tabora to the Victoria Nyanza, throughout the whole 
 of Unyamwezi and Usikuma, there never was, and never 
 2 M 529 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 will be, another man, white or black, so well known 
 and so highly honoured as Stokes. In all this district 
 he was regarded as the real chief. I have met with 
 numerous proofs of this in my own experience. One 
 day in Unyamwezi I came to a village which, as usual, 
 had been deserted by the inhabitants on my approach. 
 They thought I was a German. I discovered the old 
 chief, and when he found that I was an Englishman — 
 for to the native mind in this country every white man 
 who is not a German must necessarily be an English- 
 man — he began to complain bitterly of the Germans. 
 "The Germans are bad men," he said; "they make us 
 give them all our food, beat our men, ravish our women, 
 and drive away our cattle. Why does Stokesi allow 
 them to come into his country ? " " But this is not 
 Stokes's country," I said ; " it belongs to the Germans." 
 " Oh, no," he said ; " you don't know. I tell you this is 
 Stokesi's country. He is our Sultan. He is the Sultan 
 of all the country up to the lake, and he would never 
 have allowed the Germans to come if he had known what 
 bad men they were. Before they came only Englishmen 
 passed through the country, Stokesi's brothers, good 
 men like him. If the people had known you were 
 English they would not have fled, for they know that 
 Englishmen do not steal. They pay for what they take. 
 They are good men, like Stokesi." At another place 
 messengers came to meet me from the chief. He had 
 heard that a good man was coming, and concluded that 
 it was Stokes. He wished Stokes to come to his village 
 because he had a difference with another chief. They 
 had not fought, because Stokes did not approve of 
 fighting, but they wanted him to settle the case. All 
 through this country there was no slave-dealing, and no 
 demand for payment on passing through the country 
 such as I found in other parts. Stokes had changed 
 all that. Now this district had previously been a byword 
 among African travellers for the extortions practised by 
 530 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 the natives. So that from this fact alone it can easily 
 be seen how enormous was Stokes's influence. So much 
 was this so that Major von Wissman, the best ad- 
 ministrator of German East Africa, appointed Stokes 
 commissioner for that part of the country. 
 
 Now if the accusations of gun-running brought against 
 Stokes by the Congo State officials were as demonstra- 
 tively true as they were almost certainly false, it still 
 remains a monstrous crime to hang a man so universally 
 honoured before the eyes of every native who cared to 
 see. I may not admire the Germans in all their 
 methods in Africa, but I am bound to say that a 
 German officer when complaining to me — erroneously I 
 think — that an Englishman was helping the Masai 
 against his people, always added, " It is a pity nothing 
 can be done ; but then, it would never do to shoot a 
 white man in Africa." If you remember that the natives 
 are only grown up children, it can be seen in a moment 
 how perfectly true this is. The country is held by a 
 handful of white men, whose power is wholly based 
 upon their prestige. The moment that prestige dis- 
 appears, white rule in Africa will be a thing of the 
 past. If the natives understood that white men can be 
 murdered with impunity, they will rise and try to do a 
 little murder on their own account. How serious such 
 a rising may be it only needs the recent experience in 
 Matabeleland to prove. And Matabeleland, it must be 
 remembered, had a relatively large white population, 
 whereas the countries to the north have but a man or 
 two scattered here and there. A rising would mean 
 the massacre of all these men, and the sacrifice of 
 many more European lives before it was put down. 
 Such atrocities, therefore, as the murder of Stokes are 
 more than common crimes. They are outrages upon 
 the prestige of white men throughout Africa, whose 
 consequences it is impossible to measure or to over- 
 estimate 
 
 531; 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Enough, then, of the case of Stokes, for after all it 
 is not of general application to African nations. Wars 
 between one European Power and another it might be 
 necessary to give warnings against, but such a cold- 
 blooded murder as this is possible, I believe, in the 
 Congo State alone among African territories. Perhaps 
 I may add here a few other suggestions which it seems 
 to me the Powers interested in Africa might profitably 
 adopt, and if possible adopt in concert. The first aim, 
 naturally, in opening up a savage territory, is to improve 
 the means of communication. The number of railways 
 projected, or actually under construction, in the countries 
 of Central Africa is considerable ; but railways, after all, 
 take years to build, are very expensive, and cannot be 
 expected to render any immediate return for the money 
 invested in them. Instead of discussing their creation 
 for years, and then waiting more years for their comple- 
 tion, would it not be better to set to work at once and 
 open up roads in the meantime .-* This need not be 
 more than a track some six feet wide. To make it 
 wider would be a mistake, as the natives would then 
 make a narrower track along the road as they passed 
 from side to side to avoid such obstacles as stones 
 or fallen branches. Such road would of course have 
 to be kept up, as otherwise they would be overgrown 
 in a few months, like the celebrated Stevenson Road 
 from Nyasa to Tanganika, and it would be as much 
 trouble as to make a new one. But the mere fact of 
 having fairly direct tracks, instead of the innumerable 
 windings of the native footpaths, would be an enormous 
 addition to the facilities of African travel. The supply 
 of water ought to be improved along this line, and made 
 permanent at intervals of a dozen miles or so. At 
 longer intervals, say from lOO to 150 miles, I would 
 suggest the establishment of small trading stations with 
 a small garrison. The advantages of this plan, could 
 it be realized, would be manifold. It would be a heavy 
 532 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 blow at the slave trade, as the leaders of caravans would 
 be obliged to take the road and pass through the stations, 
 and they could not be seen with slaves in their posses- 
 sion. This plan would also put an end to the trick of 
 demanding " hongo," or passage dues, since chiefs would 
 no longer attempt to levy this if they knew that there 
 was a military station within a week's march of them. 
 
 Another and perhaps even more important gain from 
 the establishment of such stations would be that by their 
 means a coinage might be introduced. Probably the 
 greatest obstacle to the development of trade and 
 industry in Africa is the cumbrous and almost impos- 
 sible system of using beads and calico as a currency. 
 A market might be held at intervals of, say a week, 
 at each of the trading stations I have suggested. The 
 first steps towards this have already been taken by the 
 much-abused Arabs. There are markets in the Unyonga 
 Valley with a currency consisting of strings of blue and 
 white beads of a certain shape. To these markets the 
 natives bring their produce from a long distance. The 
 Arabs introduced smaller markets in Uganda with a 
 currency of cowries, and here again trade has been very 
 brisk. The Portuguese established a similar institution in 
 their best days. I have already spoken of their fairs or 
 markets (fereiras), and it is noticeable that as they were 
 neglected and declined, the Portuguese power declined 
 also. It will, of course, be useless to attempt to intro- 
 duce a currency unless the natives have opportunities of 
 exchanging it for things they value, such as calico, 
 beads, and wire. Otherwise the coinage will be like the 
 issue of banknotes with no gold to redeem them. In 
 order to give a real value to the coins issued — none of 
 which would need to exceed fivepence in value — it will 
 be well that the various Governments should agree 
 among themselves that they will limit the use of coins 
 to a fixed sum, and that they will exchange these coins 
 for gold within a limited number of years. It would, 
 533 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 of course, be an immense advantage that all the coins 
 issued, whether by one nation or another, should be of 
 the same value. 
 
 There are many other questions which the European 
 Powers in Africa will have to grapple with if their 
 domination is to prove of real service to the country. 
 One of these is the question of the ivory trade. Ivory 
 is at present the principal source of revenue in most 
 Central African territories, and its very value tends of 
 course to the indiscriminate killing of elephants. Now 
 whether we look merely to commerce, or also admit 
 the possibility that the elephants may some day be 
 utilized as beasts of burden, it is plain that the extinc- 
 tion of this beast would be the heaviest of calamities, 
 and that it ought to be carefully preserved. On this 
 ground, as well as others, the sale to the native of 
 firearms and ammunition should be absolutely pro- 
 hibited. The danger is not so much the native's skill 
 with his gun, for he usually has none, but the 
 confidence which the possession of firearms inspires in 
 him, and which emboldens him to fight against the 
 white. 
 
 Without going any further into this and similar 
 questions, it will be recognized at once that none of them 
 could be efficiently dealt with except by all the African 
 Powers acting in concert. Without such concert it will 
 be impossible for the white man, unless after prodigious 
 efforts and the lapse of very many years, to justify his 
 presence in Africa, Besides this there is the danger — no 
 imaginary one, as more than one case in recent history 
 has shown — that the African question might conceivably 
 lead to a European war, I do not believe myself that 
 the possession of the whole of Africa would compensate 
 any single nation for such a calamity. With a view to 
 rendering it impossible in any case, a permanent Inter- 
 national Commission might be appointed to deal with 
 African affairs. Questions in dispute regarding Africa 
 534 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 might be profitably submitted to this body, not necessarily 
 for arbitration — although if arbitration was desired it would 
 offer a tribunal ready-made— but, at any rate, for expert 
 advice. Such a body would be the natural source for 
 combined measures to deal with the question of firearms, 
 intoxicating liquors, regulation of the ivory trade, the 
 suppression of the slave trade, and the like. It could 
 draw up a scheme for the establishment of a coinage. 
 In the delimitation of frontiers its knowledge and expert 
 advice would be of the greatest possible value. By means 
 of such a body I most firmly believe it would be possible 
 to give an enormous impetus to the development of 
 Africa, with the smallest possible risk of collision through 
 one Power's jealousy of another. 
 
 I think all these points are deserving of some attention, 
 because I feel that the territories of Central Africa cannot 
 afford to throw away a single chance. They have been 
 so much before the public of Europe of late years, and 
 have been so keenly competed for by various nations, that 
 they have obtained quite a fictitious value in the public 
 eye. When everybody is struggling for a thing, it is 
 natural that everybody should think it worth attaining at 
 almost any cost. But the truth is that the value of those 
 parts of Africa through which I passed has been greatly 
 over-estimated. If it is to be worth the while of the 
 European Powers to govern and exploit these territories, 
 they cannot afford to throw away a single ounce of energy 
 in friction one with another. Considering the enormous 
 distances and difficulties of transport, about which I have 
 already said enough, it is fairly plain that it is only by 
 co-operation, instead of mutual jealousy, that Africa can 
 be made to pay its way in the very slightest degree. 
 
 535 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 THE POLITICAL SITUATION 
 
 I WILL now try to recapitulate the general inripression 
 I gathered from my three years' journey. On the 
 whole I was much astonished to find the Dark Continent 
 so different from what I had conceived after reading the 
 accounts of Livingstone, Stanley, Burton, Speke, and many 
 others. What struck me most was the actual state of 
 development of this vast continent, absolutely unknown 
 fifty years ago, and still in its savage state ten years 
 before I visited it. 
 
 The modern history of Africa can be divided into 
 three great periods. First the Livingstone-Stanley Era, 
 from 1850 to 1875. This period was one of discovery. 
 Till then, the interior of Africa was considered as 
 a desert extending from the Pyramids to the Orange 
 River. Livingstone was the first to prove the fallacy, of 
 this theory. His remarkable journey from the Cape to 
 the Portuguese settlements of the West Coast, and thence 
 along the Zambezi from its sources to its mouth, began 
 to enlighten the world with regard to the nature of the 
 interior of Africa. His further wanderings resulted in the 
 discovery of Lake Nyasa and Lake Bangweolo, and in the 
 better knowledge of Lake Tanganika, first discovered 
 by Burton and Speke. It is probable that if Livingstone 
 had worked upon a more systematic plan he might have 
 added much to his discoveries. The rumour of his loss 
 was not, however, without good results, for it brought in 
 536 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 the field the greatest of explorers, Mr. Stanley. I certainly 
 place him far above Livingstone ; but while recognizing 
 the greatness of Livingstone's work — for it must be 
 acknowledged that with the means at his command he 
 achieved remarkable results — one cannot help regretting 
 that he should have declined the help offered to him, 
 and that he should have persisted in roaming about the 
 country wasting much valuable time in going in search of 
 what he imagined to be the Nile, a mere supposition based 
 on no actual proofs. 
 
 We find him spending months and months at Nyangwe, 
 persuaded that the Luapula was the Upper Nile. He was 
 then unable to follow the river down its course, but when 
 he returned to Ujiji and was met there by Mr. Stanley, 
 bringing him supplies of all sorts, it is hard to understand 
 why he did not return to Nyangwe in order to follow the 
 river he had discovered there until he had determined 
 its connection with the Nile. Instead of that he started 
 for the south in the hope of discovering the sources of the 
 river that he considered to be the Nile, and died near Lake 
 Bangweolo. 
 
 Mr. vStanley's method was a very different one. He 
 knew no more of the interior of Africa than Livingstone 
 did, but he was determined to avail himself of that know- 
 ledge to work by the method of elimination. Speke and 
 Grant had proved that the Nile flows out of Lake Victoria 
 Nyanza. In order to determine if the Luapula, discovered 
 by Livingstone, was the real source of the Nile, it was 
 necessary to ascertain if a large river flowed into Lake 
 Victoria Nyanza. Mr. Stanley, therefore, proceeded to this 
 lake, determined, if he found a large river flowing into it, 
 to follow it up until he had reached Nyangwe. In that case 
 the Luapula would evidently be the upper waters of the 
 Nile, and there would only remain to follow the river from 
 Nyangwe to its sources. In this way the problem that 
 puzzled Livingstone for so many years would be solved. 
 Mr. Stanley, therefore, circumnavigated Lake Victoria 
 537 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Nyanza, but, with the exception of three or four com- 
 paratively insignificant rivers, he found no stream of first- 
 class importance flowing into the Victoria Nyanza. He 
 therefore made up his mind to find out where the giant 
 Lualabu, running northwards more than 1500 miles from 
 any sea, found its ultimate outlet, and directed his steps 
 towards Nyangwe. There he began his long journey 
 down stream. What he would encounter on his way 
 was absolutely unknown to him. Even the Arabs, those 
 first pioneers of the interior of Africa, had hardly been 
 further than one hundred miles north of Nyangwe. For 
 months the plucky, indefatigable explorer made his way 
 down stream with a handful of devoted followers. He 
 discovered mighty falls, he crossed dangerous cataracts, 
 almost daily he had to repel the attacks of savage 
 cannibals, and three years after leaving Zanzibar he 
 reached the mouth of the Congo, after . innumerable 
 dangers, and after conquering all the obstacles he had 
 met from man, beast, and nature. During these three 
 years he had not come across a single white man; for 
 three years he had been unable to obtain fresh supplies of 
 goods or ammunition. Only those who have a thorough 
 knowledge of the interior of Africa can realize what such 
 a journey means. As I said in my introduction, I do not, 
 like so many travellers, claim the title of explorer. If 
 such a term were applied to me, what word would fitly 
 describe Mr. Stanley? With his journey across Africa 
 and his discovery of the Congo the first era of the 
 modern history of Africa closes. The great lines of the 
 geography of this vast continent have been laid. Some 
 discoveries still remain to be made, but these will hence- 
 forth be secondary ones. 
 
 A new era now begins — the Stanley Era — the practical 
 application of the discoveries previously made. On his 
 return to Europe Mr. Stanley was determined to organize 
 and administer the vast territories which he had dis- 
 covered and which owed their value to the Congo. 
 538 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 There, immense quantities of india-rubber were lying idle 
 in the forests ; thousands of tons of ivory were accumulated 
 in the native villages, the people having no conception of 
 its value, and using it to make pestles for grain and snuff. 
 On his way down the Congo Mr. Stanley had seen hundreds 
 of villages abandoned, fertile fields overgrown with weeds 
 — the result of intertribal wars. He dreamt of bringing 
 peace where war was constantly raging, he dreamt of 
 steamers navigating the magnificent waterway he had dis- 
 covered, of bringing to Europe all the india-rubber, all the 
 ivory then rotting or lying idle in a country extending 
 thousands of miles from the coast, and of creating a new 
 market for European trade. In vain he offered to add this 
 magnificent territory to the Colonial Empire of his native 
 country, Great Britain. His countrymen treated him as a 
 visionary, and others even called him a liar ; but what 
 England refused to do, the King of the Belgians promised 
 to undertake out of his private purse. Mr. Stanley then 
 returned to Africa, and there founded the Congo Free 
 State. Stations were built, steamers were launched, and 
 patrolled the river right up to Stanley Falls in the heart 
 of Africa. English, French, Portuguese, and Arab traders 
 opened out trading stations and daily penetrated further 
 into the interior along the affluents of the Congo. Over 
 that immense territory of 900,000 square miles Mr. Stanley 
 ruled as absolute master : but he was not a mere passive 
 -administrator; he gave his orders and went himself to see 
 that they were carried out. His work was closely watched 
 by all the great European Powers, and the great free trade 
 area conceived by him was, as we all know, soon after 
 accepted by them. Unfortunately he required a well- 
 deserved rest after all his labours, and he was compelled 
 to go home. With him disappeared the great chief, and 
 he had hardly reached Europe when all his chosen subor- 
 dinates were eliminated and replaced by inexperienced 
 young men who all wanted to be kings in their district. 
 Money was squandered, atrocities were committed and 
 539 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 remained unpunished and unexposed, until the murder of 
 the unfortunate Stokes revealed to the astonished world 
 what was going on in this once promising State. 
 
 When Mr. Stanley gave up the Governorship of the 
 Congo Free State, the European Powers — struck by the 
 results he had obtained in so short a time — began to realize 
 the possibilities offered by the Great Continent, and rushed 
 forward to annex it — like a pack of hyaenas who have just 
 scented a herd of goats. At first Great Britain alone stood 
 aloof. The Government, the House of Commons, failed 
 to grasp the enormous value of the country. In the first 
 rush the Germans were the most active : the German 
 Colonial Society, supported by Prince Bismarck, sent 
 representatives west, south, and east, with orders to secure 
 everything they could lay hands on. To acquire territory, 
 and as much as they possibly could, seemed at first to be 
 their sole object. By a trick, and owing to the apathy of 
 the British Government, they laid hands on the Cameroons ; 
 they compelled the Sultan of Zanzibar to transfer to them 
 his rights on the East Coast, and when the Cape Colony 
 declined to take charge of Damaraland they hastened 
 to annex it. Fortunately, what the British Government 
 failed to do was accomplished by private citizens. 
 
 Sir William Mackinnon had secured the rights over the 
 fertile plateaux of the Masai country, and thus stopped 
 the advance of the Germans north of Kilima Njaro. 
 With patriotic unselfishness he — at enormous expense — 
 occupied Uganda, and saved it also from the ever grasping 
 Germans : the latter, it is true, had secured an immense 
 stretch of country right up to Lake Tanganika, but, to 
 use one of Lord Salisbury's striking expressions, this 
 territory consists of very light soil. As I said just now, 
 through the extraordinary apathy of the Cape Govern- 
 ment they established themselves in Damaraland, of little 
 value as a colony, giving them a footing in South Africa. 
 
 There remained then but one region — an enormous one 
 — that had not yet been secured. Its value was immense, 
 540 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 as it consisted of a series of high and fertile plateaux, 
 and was well known as a rich gold-bearing country. 
 Germans, Portuguese, and Boers were casting covetous 
 glances towards it, and this wealthy country — Lo Bengula's 
 dominions — would have been lost to the British Empire 
 had not Mr. Rhodes intervened. He was always urging 
 the British Government to annex it, but the Ministers 
 shrank from the responsibility and possible expenditure. 
 At last Mr. Rhodes heard positive news that the Boers 
 were about to send an embassy to Lo Bengula, whose 
 object was to make a treaty with him. At once Mr. 
 Rhodes went to the Governor and High Commissioner, 
 Sir Hercules Robinson, and pointed out to him the 
 imminent danger. Sir Hercules acknowledged the truth 
 of Mr. Rhodes's warning, but at the same time stood 
 perplexed. 
 
 " What do you want me to do ? " he said to Mr. Rhodes. 
 " I can't annex the country ; what then do you want me 
 to do?" 
 
 " A very simple thing," replied Mr. Rhodes ; " send a 
 Commissioner and make a passive treaty with Lo Ben. 
 You can promise to help him in case he should be 
 attacked, and in exchange get him to undertake not to 
 dispose of his territory nor to grant any concession to any 
 foreign Power or private individuals without the previous 
 consent of the British Government." 
 
 This suggestion was at once acted upon and Mr. Moffat 
 sent out as Commissioner. He obtained Lo Ben's 
 signature to the treaty, and the very day after it had 
 been signed the Boer envoy reached Bulawayo only to 
 find that he had been forestalled. 
 
 But Mr. Rhodes's conception extended far beyond the 
 mere npminal control of the country. He was determined 
 to expel savagery from the south of the Zambezi. The 
 extension of the British Empire towards the north had 
 been a long matured plan of his. It was due to his 
 efforts that Stellaland and Goschenland were rescued from 
 541 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 the grasp of the Boers : the Warren expedition was 
 suggested by him. This reminds me of a story that I heard 
 from Mr. Rhodes's own hps and that is worth mentioning. 
 When Sir Charles Warren's expedition had occupied the 
 country, Mr. Rhodes — who was Commissioner — was con- 
 stantly interviewed by Boer farmers anxious to know 
 what would happen to them and their property. They 
 used to swear that they would never become British 
 subjects, and were in a state of great excitement. One 
 day an unusual number of Boer farmers were talking to 
 Mr. Rhodes under a tree, and making loud protests as 
 usual. An old Boer then interrupted them — 
 
 " Look here, friends," he said, " it 's no use talking 
 as you do : after all, what does the question amount to ? 
 If we accept the British Government we retain our farms, 
 if we don't we lose them. As to talking to Mr. Rhodes, 
 it's no use. The question is not merely the possession 
 of a few millions of morgen more or less. No ; two men 
 only understand the value of this land — Rhodes and 
 myself. This is the key to the north, and Rhodes knows 
 it ; he '11 never give it up. I know him well ; he 's youngj 
 but he 's stubborn ! " 
 
 But to return to Matabeleland. Mr. Rhodes had pre- 
 vented, for some time at least, the occupation of the 
 country by a foreign Power, but, according to the rule laid 
 down by Lord Salisbury himself, no Power could maintain 
 its claim to a territory in Africa unless such claim was 
 substantiated by effective occupation. To attain this 
 object, and to do so peacefully, was now the problem to 
 be solved. Mr. Rhodes secured a concession from Lo Ben 
 through Messrs. Rudd, Thompson, and Maguire, and 
 having formed a company to work the concession, he 
 obtained a charter from the Queen. The pioneer expedi- 
 tion was organized, and at the end of 1890 the British 
 flag was flying one thousand miles north of Kimberley. 
 I have described in Chapter IX., p. 198, the occupation 
 of Mashonaland, and I need not refer to it a second time. 
 542. 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 But Mr. Rhodes did not merely intend to stop at the 
 Zambezi. North of it were wealthy regions still un- 
 occupied: he first secured the Barotse and its dependencies 
 by a concession from the King, Lewanika. It was about 
 that time that, while talking with Sir William Harcourt, 
 this statesman said to him — throwing up his arms in 
 despair — 
 
 "But where do you mean to stop? Is not the Zambezi 
 far enough north for you ? Where else can you go ? " 
 
 " It strikes me," replied Mr. Rhodes, " that you do not 
 know your geography. Look here," added Mr Rhodes, 
 taking a map of Africa that lay open on the table, 
 " What do you see here ? — Lake Tanganika ; to the west 
 of it the Belgians have pegged out the country : to the 
 east the Germans lay claim to it — but up to there I mean 
 it to be British territory. You asked me just now where 
 I meant to stop — now you know it ; the only reason why 
 I don't mean to go farther up is that I can't." 
 
 And as Mr. Rhodes had said, so he did. But, busy with 
 the development of the country south of the Zambezi, 
 he did not lose sight of what ought to be done to open 
 out the northern territory of the Company. The natural 
 road to it was through Nyasaland, that had been shortly 
 before added to the empire through the untiring efforts 
 of Sir Harry Johnston. Mr. Rhodes entrusted him with 
 the administration of the Company's northern possessions, 
 and granted him a yearly subsidy of ^15,000, soon in- 
 creased to ^17,000. It was chiefly this money that enabled 
 Sir Harry Johnston to lay the foundation of the British 
 Central Africa Protectorate. With it he was able to 
 bring out from India a splendid body of Sikhs to subdue 
 rebel chiefs, to make roads, and to open out access to the 
 Chartered Company's territory through Nyasaland. 
 
 But Mr. Rhodes's work was constantly threatened by 
 dangers of all kinds — by difficulties that would have 
 baffled or disheartened any other man. 
 
 First of all came the first Matabele war : to accuse the 
 543 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Chartered Company of having brought it about through 
 greed and with the object of securing Matabeleland is a 
 downright perversion of the truth. I can bear witness to 
 the fact that the Matabele were the aggressors, and that 
 war was forced by them on the Company. 
 
 Then came rinderpest and the rebelhon : all these diffi- 
 culties were surmounted, and although they have in a way 
 retarded the present development of the country, they have 
 been the indirect cause of advancing it in the very near 
 future. The Beira- Salisbury railway and the Mafeking- 
 Bulawayo line would never have been pushed forward with 
 such wonderful activity if the rinderpest had not caused 
 the rebellion. The construction of the Mafeking-Bulawayo 
 line beats, I think, all colonial records of railway construc- 
 tion. As much as two and three-quarter miles of line has 
 been laid in a single day, and work had to be stopped at 
 three p.m. as the supply of rails and sleepers had been 
 exhausted, and a fresh supply was only expected in the 
 evening. In January of this year the line was already laid 
 up to Palapshwe, and ought to be completed to Bulawayo 
 in a short time. 
 
 The two-feet-gauge line from Beira towards Salisbury is 
 already completed over a distance of more than 250 miles 
 from the coast over the worst part of the road to Salisbury, 
 and entirely covers the belt of Tsetse fly, that has caused 
 so much trouble, the loss of so many animals, and resulted 
 in such heavy rates of freight. 
 
 But Mr. Rhodes's undertakings do not stop there. The 
 telegraph line from the Cape to Cairo, that has been con- 
 sidered by many as the dream of a visionary, is in a fair 
 way of being completed ere long. Major Forbes, who 
 came to see Mr. Rhodes in November last, received orders 
 to push forward the construction of the line with all speed. 
 The line completed to Blantyre in a rough way is now 
 being laid permanently, and forty miles only remain to 
 complete it as far as Lake Nyasa. Before two years have 
 elapsed Uganda will be in telegraphic communication with 
 544 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 the Cape, and within that time the Mahdi will most likely 
 have been crushed, and it will be possible to connect the 
 line with the one already erected from Egypt southwards. 
 
 Mr. Rhodes's example has given a general impulse to the 
 development of Africa, and everywhere some new enter- 
 prise is being daily set on foot. The Mozambique Company 
 and a number of other companies have shown much activity 
 in the Portuguese possessions of East Africa. The Ger- 
 mans have tried to follow suit in German East Africa, 
 but, with the exception of the coast, their operations in 
 the interior are confined to a renewed activity in killing 
 " niggers." Last, but not least, the Uganda railway is 
 being pushed forward with great activity. The foundation 
 of a serious trade with Uganda is being laid, and in ten 
 years' time Africa will have been transformed altogether. 
 What the other Powers require to keep pace with England 
 is a second Rhodes, a great statesman with mighty con- 
 ceptions, and the possessor of a fortune and a credit that 
 enable him to carry them out. 
 
 To call this the Rhodes Era is, therefore, only natural ; 
 it has no precedent in the history of the world : never 
 before has a Government been indebted to a private indi- 
 vidual for the addition of 750,000 square miles to its 
 territory, and never before has a new colony been developed 
 so rapidly, and all this without the cost of a single farthing 
 to the taxpayers. 
 
 Let us now consider the resources and the administration 
 of the various countries I have visited. 
 
 The Cape Colony possesses legislative powers, and on the 
 whole the Cape Parliament in its short career has done 
 excellent work. One of the chief difificulties, however, is 
 the strong racial feeling that exists throughout the land. 
 The old Dutch settlers, whose families have been established 
 in South Africa for four or five generations, or even longer, 
 have kept their language, customs, and traditions. 
 
 Many of them feel as bitterly what they consider the 
 British yoke as their forefathers did when the country 
 2 N 545 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 passed from the hands of Holland into those of England. 
 Being entitled to the franchise, they form a very strong 
 party in Parliament and throughout the country. Their 
 leader is a shrewd and able man — Mr. Hofmeyer — who 
 has been clever enough to keep always aloof from power, 
 and has thus retained all his influence. This racial feeling 
 was, however, much smoothed down by the tact and the 
 ability of Mr. Rhodes so long as he held office, but although 
 the Jameson raid gave Mr. Hofmeyer a splendid chance of 
 fanning the dying embers, there still remains among the 
 Dutch party a strong personal feeling in favour of Mr. 
 Rhodes, whose past services have not been forgotten. 
 
 I need not dwell upon the resources of the Cape Colony, 
 as they are known to all, but I may say that this 
 Colony has largely benefited by the opening out of the 
 northern territories, and will still more benefit by it when 
 the railways of Rhodesia have been completed. Mr. 
 Rhodes's object is to work hand in hand with the South 
 by uniformity of rates, taxes, etc. 
 
 The hostility of the Transvaal, its custom tariffs, and its 
 outrageous railway rates, have caused much discontent in 
 the Colony, but the losses sustained thereby ought to be 
 largely compensated for by the opening out of a brisk 
 trade with Rhodesia. 
 
 Of the Transvaal I can say little or nothing. I cannot 
 enter into details of its present state, being bound by the 
 promise made to my friend Mr. H. C. Cust, with whom I have 
 lately revisited South Africa, not to write anything on our 
 journey; but this much I can say from my previous and pre- 
 sent knowledge of the Boers : there is no country in the world 
 where foreigners are trodden down in such a way, where 
 officials are more corrupt, and where honest industry is so 
 heavily handicapped by legislation ; where ignorance, con- 
 ceit, and impudence are so common among the lower and 
 even the upper classes, a distinction hard to make, as rich 
 and poor are equally ignorant, equally dirty, and live in the 
 same semi-savage way. During my journey across Africa 
 546 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 I have never received a single kindness from a Boer, but 
 many have been the occasions when I have been swindled 
 and insulted by them. The grievances of the Uitlanders 
 are only too real — the bad faith of the Government cannot 
 be denied. If the adversaries of Mr. Rhodes and Mr. 
 Beit knew the exact state of affairs, they would acknow- 
 ledge that in the part they, and other capitalists, took in 
 the intended revolution they were actuated by the noblest 
 motives ; for it is not on them or on their properties that 
 the burden of the present legislation falls, but on the 
 owners of the numerous small mines that can, under the 
 present circumstances, only be worked at a loss, while 
 under the legislation in force in the Cape Colony or 
 Rhodesia they could pay between five and six per cent. 
 Neither must we forget that it was in answer to President 
 Kruger's appeal that the Uitlanders came into the country : 
 it is to the money invested by the so much decried 
 capitalists that the Transvaal owes its present prosperity. 
 Millions of English money were invested in the mines 
 before anyone knew whether they would pay or not. We 
 hear a good deal of a few capitalists who have made 
 millions in the Transvaal, but we are apt to forget the 
 thousands of people who have lost millions through the 
 iniquitous laws of the most iniquitous of Governments. 
 And even now, with all its prosperity, the Transvaal 
 Government would be unable to develop the country 
 without the help of the Uitlanders. On the whole, the 
 South African Republic can be compared to a patient 
 suffering from cancer : its cancer consists of its Govern- 
 ment ; but although it may be operated upon it will 
 reappear, and its existence is doomed without remedy. 
 So far as Bechuanaland is concerned, I think that it can 
 be far better administered from the Cape than from the 
 Colonial Office. It would be a mistake to think that a 
 similar measure could be extended to the whole Protecto- 
 rate ; the northern part of the country is not ripe for 
 self-government. On the other hand, it is much to be 
 547 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 deplored that circumstances compelled the Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies to withdraw the administration 
 from the Chartered Company, as no region in the interior 
 can be administered from Downing Street, and no Colonial 
 Secretary will dare to ask for an amount of money equal 
 to that which would have been spent by the Chartered 
 Company to develop it. 
 
 Bechuanaland proper and the Protectorate are in- 
 valuable as a route to the north, and had not Mr. 
 Rhodes's efforts succeeded in recovering the country from 
 the grasp of the Boers, it is most likely that Rhodesia 
 would not be under the British flag at present. As a 
 colony, Bechuanaland did not strike me as likely to be 
 developed for many years to come, until, in fact, all the 
 available fertile grounds of Matabeleland and Mashona- 
 land have been taken up. Competent experts have 
 assured me that in Bechuanaland ideal stretches of 
 country for ranching can be found, far superior to 
 any of the American ranches ; but the country struck 
 me as too dry — too badly watered — to become of any 
 practical use, unless much money was spent to cope with 
 the droughts that occur every two or three years. 
 Especially now, when the railway is going to place 
 Matabeleland and Mashonaland at the very door of the 
 Cape Colony, farmers will not settle in a region where 
 they will have to spend much money and wait for many 
 years before they can expect to get a profitable return 
 for their work and expenditure, especially when they can 
 settle in a country where they will find already provided 
 by nature whatever they could only get by hard and 
 expensive work in Bechuanaland. 
 
 The Protectorate is nominally under the rule of native 
 chiefs, prominent among them being Khama. Most of 
 these chiefs are ignorant ; and all of them, relying upon 
 the enormous profits they realize by the sale of their 
 cattle and produce to the white men passing through their 
 country, have made no effort to increase their fields, as 
 548 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 their people hate work above everything. The result has 
 been that instead of laying aside, as they formerly did, 
 a considerable reserve in case of accident, they have sold 
 all their available grain, and now that rinderpest and a bad 
 crop have come among them, they are reduced to semi- 
 starvation. I pity them but little, and I have seen with 
 deep regret the money that is wasted in London for the 
 purpose of relieving them. Those who, impelled by their 
 kindness of heart, have headed and organized this move- 
 ment-are, indeed, very ignorant of the workings of the 
 native mind. When I first heard of this movement I 
 predicted that almost every chief would refuse to accept 
 the proffered relief, and that those who would accept 
 it would make use of it to extort money from the white 
 men of South Africa by selling them, at famine prices, 
 the grain that would be supplied to them by the white 
 men of England. This is exactly what has taken place. 
 Khama and other chiefs declined to receive the grain 
 offered to them, saying that their people were not hungry. 
 Sechele replied that he was not such a fool as to accept 
 such presents, as, later on, the white men would come and 
 ask for something on the grounds that they had helped 
 him. As to the individual native, if you offer him some 
 food when he is hungry, unless he is one of your own 
 men who works for you, he will refuse it, considering your 
 offer with absolute mistrust, and this under the impression 
 that you want to bewitch him. The conception of pity 
 does not come within the range of the native mind, and 
 he cannot understand that strangers should wish to help 
 people they do not know. The mere fact of your having 
 offered him food without his having asked for it will make 
 the native go to his witch-doctor to get some " medicine " 
 to preserve him from your machinations. 
 
 Besides, if the people are hungry, why do they not 
 
 go to seek work on the Bulawayo or Beira railway lines — 
 
 the contractors are short of labour, and would welcome 
 
 them and give them good wages ; but then, as I have 
 
 549 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 already said, the Bechuana do not care to work, but much 
 prefer the alternative of going with an empty stomach. I 
 have already said what I thought of Khama as a chief; 
 I will now speak of his country. It looks enormous on 
 the map, but really consists only of the huge village of 
 Mangwato or Palapshwe, as the white men call it. His 
 rule extends over the fifteen thousand or so of people 
 huddled up in his village, and over the wild beasts of the 
 Kalahari desert — a portion of South Africa hardly likely 
 to become of any use until South Africa has reached the 
 present stage of development in the United States. 
 
 The Barotse is practically unknown with the exception 
 of the immediate neighbourhood of the Zambezi : this is a 
 most unhealthy region, but I have been assured by the 
 many natives I saw coming from the interior that within 
 fifty to sixty miles of the Zambezi the country is a 
 splendid one, consisting of high plateaux, well watered, 
 most fertile, and covered with thriving cattle. Iron is 
 abundant in the Matotela country east of Lialui, and the 
 natives there are great iron workers. The drawback is the 
 great distance from both coasts and the difficulty of access. 
 Evidently this difficulty will be solved in time when the 
 railway will have penetrated to the north of Bulawayo. 
 From a sporting point of view Bechuanaland and the 
 Kalahari have long ceased to be good hunting grounds : 
 in fact, the whole region south of the Zambezi (the much 
 overrated Pungwe included) will disappoint sportsmen 
 whose object is to come to Africa on a shooting tour. 
 Travelling there is most expensive, most uncomfortable, 
 and one half of the game shot cannot be brought into 
 camp through the scarcity of boys. In the whole of 
 South Africa a bag of thirty heads in as many days is 
 considered a grand one, while in the Masai country you 
 can shoot the same number of heads in a week. 
 
 There is no doubt in my own mind that of all the 
 countries I traversed Matabeleland is the most valuable. 
 As to its mineral wealth I cannot speak from my own 
 550 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 experience, for at the time I was in the country 
 Lo Bengula took good care that no mines should be 
 exploited. But for agricultural and st6ck-raising purposes 
 this certainly was the best part of Africa I saw. Its 
 advantage over Mashonaland was that cattle had been 
 kept in the country for long periods in large numbers, 
 and they had fed down the long grass until it was 
 perfectly sweet and wholesome. I have no doubt that 
 this difficulty will be overcome in time in Mashonaland 
 also, though of course the ravages of the rinderpest have 
 greatly delayed the process. As for the progress that 
 had been made in Mashonaland I have already spoken 
 of it at length, and need only add here that the results 
 of brief occupation of the country in the face of pro- 
 digious difficulties was the finest piece of colonization I 
 ever saw or heard of 
 
 Passing northwards, we come to the Portuguese sphere 
 on the Zambezi. In this territory the crushing dis- 
 advantage to which Rhodesia is as yet subject — its 
 prodigious distance from any civilized base — does not 
 exist. The Zambezi provides fairly quick, cheap, and 
 easy means of transport. The country is exceedingly 
 rich. Nevertheless the Portuguese territories have made 
 hardly any progress at all of recent years, nor is the 
 reason difficult to state. Rich as is the soil, the climate 
 is deadly to Europeans, and there are few, if any, areas of 
 high ground which might afford healthy sites for white 
 settlements such as I noticed in speaking of Nyasaland. 
 Moreover, the character of the Portuguese administration, 
 as will haye been readily imagined from the stories I have 
 told about it in its place, is not favourable for the develop- 
 ment of industry or the attraction of capital. The 
 Portuguese, in brief, had at the time of my journey been 
 in Africa almost as many centuries as other colonizing 
 Powers had been years, and had yet made far less 
 progress than any of them. This appears at sight a 
 most severe reflection upon that nation, but it is not 
 551 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 really so. The truth is that the fact of their long 
 occupation is just what has proved their sorest dis- 
 advantage. The British and Germans have been able to 
 start fair with a clear sheet, and establish administrations 
 according to the latest and most improved models. The 
 Portuguese are handicapped by three hundred years of 
 mediaevalism, and it is a very difficult matter to clear away 
 the old before establishing the new. For instance, the 
 " prazzo " system, which I have described in a previous 
 chapter, is as fatal to the development of the country 
 as it well could be. Yet we must remember that the 
 system has been in force for the best part of three 
 centuries, and is not to be cleared away in a day. While 
 making every allowance for this, it must be owned that 
 there are faults and mistakes in the Portuguese adminis- 
 tration which can be removed with no insuperable 
 difficulty — the convict system, for example, and the 
 conflict between the military and the naval powers. 
 Whether the Portuguese are likely now or in the 
 immediate future to set to work seriously to remedy this 
 state of affairs is another matter, and one in which I 
 should not care to speak with too much confidence. 
 
 Continuing our northward survey, we come to another 
 valuable British territory in Nyasaland. I have little to 
 add to what I have already said about this promising 
 country, which serves as admirably for a model of tropical 
 colonization as do the Chartered Company's territories of 
 European settlement. The pre-eminent advantage enjoyed 
 by this territory is, of course, the excellent water-way 
 provided by the rivers and the lake. North of the 
 Nyasaland Protectorate, between it and Lake Tanganika, 
 we find a high plateau where an infinite number of 
 rivers take their source to join either the Zambezi 
 basin or that of the Congo, This country is fertile 
 enough, and affords excellent pasturage. Iron here is 
 abundant and of good quality. But this territory will 
 be of little value from any point of view until means are 
 552 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AERICA 
 
 found of draining the many marshes which destroy 
 health, cripple agriculture, and hopelessly retard commu- 
 nication. The southern end of Lake Tanganika, I may 
 mention, appears to me to have a great future as a 
 commercial centre. The principal mart which gathers 
 up the produce of the interior northward is Ujiji, 
 whence boats can reach the station of Kituta under a 
 fortnight, while it takes four months to make the overland 
 journey to Zanzibar. The Arabs already send large 
 quantities of ivory by this route. What is wanted to 
 develop this line of trade is a competitor for the African 
 Lakes Company, which at present enjoys an almost 
 exclusive monopoly of the trade of these regions, and 
 imposes almost prohibitive rates. 
 
 Passing to the German sphere of influence, I cannot, 
 say that I think highly of its value. I ani speaking of 
 course only of those parts which I visited, and leaving 
 the coast districts out of consideration. Their frontier, 
 as a glance at the map will show, extends southward 
 to the river Rovuma, takes in the north-east shore 
 of Lake Nyasa, thence runs north to the south-east of 
 Lake Tanganika, and following the eastern coast of this 
 lake to its further extremity, it then takes an oblique 
 direction as far as the first parallel of south latitude, where 
 we come upon British territory again. A considerable 
 part of this territory was little known when I was in the 
 country, and except in the coast lands the Germans had 
 nowhere established their influence. Since then much 
 has been done, and in particular the country has been 
 explored, and in great part surveyed. But even to-day 
 the interior is very little developed. Major von Wissmann, 
 despatched by the Anti-Slavery Society, founded a station 
 at the north-east extremity of Lake Nyasa, in the Bay of 
 Parumbira. I have not been able to discover the reason 
 for the existence of this station. The lofty Livingstone 
 Mountains rise on all sides of it to a height of over 6000 
 feet. No slave caravan would ever think of touching 
 553 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 this point, as slaves are generally disembarked at Amelia 
 Bay, further south. Northward from this the Germans 
 were at war with the Wahehe, a powerful race of Zulu 
 origin, with the formidable military organization of their 
 race. They had attempted to subdue this tribe many 
 times without success. Further west the frontier passes 
 south of Lake Rikwa, an arid and inhospitable region 
 without the least future. The east coast of Lake Tan- 
 ganika is similarly arid, mountainous, and hardly 
 inhabited. Ujiji is the most important Arab centre in 
 this part of Africa ; but when I was there the inhabitants 
 were very ill-disposed towards the Germans, and fully 
 decided to evacuate the place should the Germans 
 attempt to establish themselves there. Now as Ujiji is 
 simply and solely a market, the place will lose its whole 
 value from the moment the Arabs leave it. 
 
 From Ujiji to the first degree of latitude the country 
 is occupied by the Wahha and the Waruanda. These 
 tribes are exceedingly hostile to Europeans, and are not 
 likely to submit to them without a long and obstinate 
 struggle. Moreover, the Wahha country is absolutely 
 miserable from the colonial point of view, and, so far 
 as I know, is quite destitute of mineral resources. Nearly 
 300 miles east of Ujiji is Tabora — another important 
 Arab centre, where the Germans have established a 
 station. Now Tabora, like Ujiji, owes its importance 
 to the ivory trade, which passes from the latter place 
 on its way to the coast. From the day when the 
 Arabs cease to send their ivory by this route and 
 dispose of it in British territory, south of Lake 
 Tanganika, there will remain to Tabora little but the 
 ruins of a few Arab houses in the middle of a dry and 
 barren plain. Northward from Tabora, up to Lake 
 Victoria Nyanza — another distance of nearly 200 miles 
 — is found a great sandy plateau without water, and 
 absolutely dry, where the sparse inhabitants have great 
 trouble to grow the few grains of millet on which they 
 554 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 live. The whole of the Victoria Nyanza below the 
 first degree of south latitude belongs to the Germans, 
 who have established three stations upon it — Muanza, 
 in the territory of Usikuma, south of the lake, and 
 Bukoba, west of it, near the river Kagera, are Government 
 stations ; the third, on the peninsula of Ukerewe, was 
 founded by the Anti-Slavery Society. In a belt of three 
 or four miles from Muanza you do not meet a single 
 native. The Germans have burnt all the villages, as I 
 have already recounted. For the rest the country is 
 waterless, and of little value. The whole shores of the 
 lake from Muanza to Bukoba, with its numerous islands, 
 are almost bare of vegetation, with the exception of 
 sparse and poor grass. The interior of the country 
 consists of a bushy plateau, intersected by deep valleys, 
 at the bottoms of which are banana plantations. Cattle 
 were abundant at one time, but have been decimated by 
 the plague. 
 
 It is true that coffee grows in a wild state in the 
 German sphere. But it will be always difficult to 
 conduct this business at a profit, because of the distance 
 from the coast. Even the railway which is now being 
 built will hardly improve matters, as traffic rates must 
 be high unless the line is to be run at a ruinous loss. 
 At any rate, it will always be difficult for the country 
 to compete with Nyasaland, which is nearer the coast, 
 and where transport by water is largely available. 
 
 From this brief retrospect it will be seen that other 
 nations have little cause to envy the Germans their Central 
 African territory. If they continue to occupy it, it must 
 for a long time remain a source of great expense, with 
 the slightest possible prospect of proving eventually 
 remunerative. As for the manner in which the Germans 
 treat the natives, I have already said enough about it 
 in the chapters dealing with my journey through the 
 country. The fact that a succession of high colonial 
 officials have been condemned for maltreatment of the 
 555 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 natives appears to confirm the impression of their 
 methods which I got on the spot. Quite apart from 
 the morality of these proceedings, they are quite fatal 
 to any idea of profitable exploitation of the country. 
 The Germans will make no progress without the aid 
 of native labour. A certain amount of forced work 
 they have been able to command, but to burn the 
 villages and continually unsettle and depopulate the 
 country is the worst possible way to procure labour of 
 the quality or in the quantity which is needed to secure 
 any useful result. 
 
 Passing north along the western shore of the Victoria' 
 Nyanza, we cross the river Kagera and find ourselves 
 in Buddu, one of the provinces of Uganda. Here the 
 country undergoes a sudden and complete change. 
 Instead of cliffs covered with scrub the shore is low, 
 and clothed in the most luxuriant vegetation. This 
 immense province is one of the richest in Uganda. 
 
 Uganda itself has been represented by the missionaries 
 and by a few others as a kind of earthly paradise, 
 inhabited by saints and martyrs. What the future of 
 the country will be I cannot even surmise. It consists of 
 a series of ranges of grassy hills, at the foot of which stand 
 stagnant rivers, covered with forests of papyrus. Bananas 
 are the staple food of the country, cut green and then 
 cooked. In Buddu coffee grows wild, and I daresay that 
 the country might be suitable for plantations of sugar-cane, 
 rice, and coffee ; but the great drawback will always be 
 the difficulty of finding labour. The people of Uganda 
 are the laziest natives I ever came across. They are a weak 
 race/ unsuited to hard work, and accustomed from time 
 immemorial to let the women cultivate their bananas — an 
 easy task. The men, having nothing to do, have always 
 spent their time in conspiracies, and civil war is ever wel- 
 come to them. The recent struggle between Protestants 
 and Catholics, a mere denomination of political factions, is 
 fresh in the memory of all, and Captain Lugard, who has 
 556 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 been attacked from all quarters for the part he took in it, 
 deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen, as his deter- 
 mination saved the country from falling into German 
 hands. After this war the Protestants and Catholics 
 were given separate provinces — an excellent arrangement 
 for the time being, but one that cannot last, and that will 
 have to come to an end as soon as the British administra- 
 tion is strong enough to quell any disturbance. The 
 missionaries, although they have done much good, have 
 also done much harm to the country, dividing it into two 
 powerful and hostile factions. The French fathers have 
 always considered the British officials as interlopers, and, 
 instead of smoothing down the restlessness of their 
 adherents, have only kindled the latent fire that was 
 smouldering among them. 
 
 Unyoro, from all points of view, is a far finer country — 
 richer, flatter, more fertile, and inhabited by a more manly 
 race. It is from Unyoro that all the iron implements 
 used in Uganda chiefly come. 
 
 Usoga, on the other hand, combines the advantages 
 of Uganda with those of Unyoro, and, besides, contains 
 forests that will prove a source of great wealth when the 
 railway has been opened from Mombasa to Lake Victoria 
 Nyanza ; and I have no doubt that when the work of 
 colonization begins, it is Usoga that will attract the 
 attention of all the new comers. 
 
 One of the most remarkable features of the administra- 
 tion of Uganda is the happy choice the Foreign Office 
 has made in selecting the officers that have been sent to 
 that region. To say nothing of Captain Lugard, who was 
 sent by the Imperial British East Africa Company, we 
 find such men as Sir Gerald Portal, Major Owen, Captain 
 Macdonald, Colonel Sir Henry Colvile, and Mr. Barclay, 
 It would take too long to quote all those who have helped 
 them, but one whose name has never caused much 
 attention at home may be mentioned on account of the 
 great services he has rendered during many years. He was 
 557 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 one of the first officials who came into the country in 
 the Company's time, and his ability and activity have 
 done much towards the development of the Protectorate. 
 I am speaking of Mr. Grant ; he was with Major Owen 
 during most of the arduous times he had to go through, 
 and poor Roddy could say nothing too good of him. I 
 have myself seen him at work when he was in charge 
 of Usoga, and I can fully endorse all that Owen said 
 of him. 
 
 Kavirondo, through its relative proximity to Uganda, 
 ought to form part of the Uganda Protectorate, a better 
 name for which would be British Equatorial Africa 
 Protectorate, as Uganda proper is but a small portion 
 of the various territories under British rule. The great 
 stretch of uninhabited country, extending from Kikuyu 
 to Kavirondo, puts its administration from Kikuyu out 
 of the question. 
 
 Ethnographically, the race inhabiting Kavirondo belongs 
 to the same category as the inhabitants of the Upper Nile, 
 and its language forms a kind of connecting link between 
 the Bantu and the Dinka dialects. The features of the 
 natives of Kavirondo offer a striking contrast to those of 
 the Bantu tribes : they are taller, stronger, much darker, 
 and chiefly remarkable for the great size of their hands and 
 feet. Men and women go about absolutely naked, their 
 ornaments consisting almost exclusively of brass and iron 
 wire of great size and weight. Iron is worked on a large 
 scale in their country, and they supply their neighbours 
 with spades, hoes, and spear heads. The people of Uganda, 
 however, as already stated, get these articles from Unyoro. 
 In Kavirondo the men share with the women the labour of 
 the fields, and their country seems a most fertile one : it is 
 yet very little known, and their ethnography has never 
 been studied. I much regretted that time prevented my 
 stopping for a few months among them. 
 
 The Masai country is an immense region — still almost 
 unknown — consisting of a series of large undulating 
 558 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 plateaux, ranging in height from 8000 to 10,000 feet above 
 the sea level. The whole country is covered with beautiful 
 grass- lands, with here and there stretches of imposing 
 forests, where trees many centuries old are to be found. 
 The climate is perfect, admirably suited to European 
 labour, water abundant everywhere, and the soil far more 
 fertile than anything I have seen in the whole of my 
 journey across Africa. I feel absolutely certain that within 
 a few years' time, when the railway to Uganda is completed, 
 the whole of this region will become populated by a 
 large number of European colonists, who will be able to 
 develop their farms without the help of natives. The 
 Masai, so much dreaded for many years — without apparent 
 reason — have altogether ceased to exist as a nation, and are 
 now divided into a number of small tribes. Their collapse 
 began with rinderpest, which broke down their former tra- 
 ditions. Until it carried away their cattle, the elmoran or 
 warriors never ate anything but beef; they would have 
 despised eating a goat or the flesh of game. But with the 
 loss of their cattle came hunger. These nomadic tribes, 
 relying absolutely on their animals for food, had little or 
 no grain to supply their wants, and starvation began to 
 make itself felt among them. They ceased to raid their 
 neighbours — their raids having but one object, cattle, as the 
 Masai seldom carried away slaves— and they were soon 
 reduced to the most cruel situation. It was then that 
 their great witch-doctor, Battiani, died; he had been to 
 the Masai what Chaka had been to the Zulu, having 
 gathered into one great nation and one great military 
 power the hitherto disseminated tribes. After his death 
 his great work fell to pieces, and instead of remaining 
 one big nation the Masai relapsed into a series of small 
 tribes ; this enabled the Germans to drive them away 
 from Kilima Njaro. Many of them came to ask for 
 British protection, and now they have ceased to become 
 formidable. But they are still a proud, warlike race, and 
 could be used with great advantage as soldiers — out of 
 their own province. 
 
 559 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 The Wakikuyu, who have for many years been con- 
 sidered as belonging to the Masai race, have little or 
 no connection with it. Physically they are absolutely 
 different ; their language also differs, and their mode of 
 life has nothing in common with the Masai. They are 
 essentially a mountain tribe, coming from the slopes 
 of Mount Kenia ; they can be divided into two classes, 
 the pastoral and the agricultural. The latter have 
 gradually been driven away by the former, and have made 
 their way towards the south-west. Their cultivation is 
 chiefly carried out in forest clearings, where the soil is 
 without equal for fertility. The climate of the region they 
 inhabit is also admirably suited to European labour, the 
 temperature never exceeding 86°, and often falling as low 
 as 45°. As a race they are treacherous ; they never keep 
 their word, and it is still dangerous to venture more than 
 a mile from the Government station without an escort of 
 at least twenty-five armed men. A great improvement 
 has, however, taken place in the country through the 
 energy and proper handling of the natives by Mr. Hall, 
 who was for a long time in charge of the station of Kikuyu. 
 He has managed to bring together the various chiefs, who 
 have pledged themselves to be jointly responsible for the 
 misdeeds of any individual one of them, the English officer 
 promising in return to protect them from any attack from 
 the Masai or from their pastoral kindred. With the 
 advent of the railway a complete transformation may be 
 looked upon as a mere matter of months. An expedition 
 will have to be led against the northern tribes dwelling 
 south of Mount Kenia, but this ought to thoroughly subdue 
 the country, which is one of great value. So far, it may be 
 added, nothing whatever is known of the immense region 
 between the proposed railway line and the Juba river — 
 with the exception of the immediate neighbourhood of the 
 Tana river — and anyone wishing to make a new and useful 
 journey ought to turn his attention towards the exploring 
 of this part of Africa. It must also be noted that neither 
 560 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 Masai nor Wakikuyu have ever made use of guns, or even 
 shown eagerness to be possessed of them. 
 
 I have dwelt at great length on the curious customs 
 and patriarchal mode of government of the Wakamba, 
 and I have pointed out how useful these people might 
 become if properly handled. What I wrote three years 
 ago on the subject has turned out perfectly correct. 
 Under the able administration of Mr. Ainsworth the 
 Wakamba have proved themselves daily more useful : 
 they make excellent mail carriers, first-class and readily- 
 trained soldiers, and good porters and labourers. Their 
 country covers an enormous area, with a population 
 denser than that of most African regions, but still with 
 ample room for thousands of white men. They are a 
 quiet, peaceful, and easily-handled race susceptible of much 
 improvement. Although the climate is warmer than that 
 of the Masai country, it is a mild one without excessive 
 heat: it is well watered, and wheat, Indian corn, sugar-cane, 
 and coffee ought to give good results there. Tobacco 
 might also be most successfully grown, but the native 
 plants will never pay : what is wanted are imported plants, 
 properly cultivated, under the supervision of a competent 
 man. The future welfare of Africa is a question in which 
 I take much interest : I have at heart its development, 
 and I shall not rest satisfied until I have seen the question 
 of the cultivation of tobacco taken in hand. Gold in my 
 eyes is a secondary matter : gold mines may enrich many 
 during the two or three next generations, but their supply 
 is bound to get exhausted sooner or later ; the area 
 where they are to be found is a small one compared with 
 the total amount of the British possessions from the 
 Cape to the basin of the Nile, and when these have 
 supplied a home to the hundreds of thousands of English- 
 men who are bound to come and settle there, the gold 
 industry will only supply work to a comparatively small 
 number of the new inhabitants. Agriculture is therefore 
 the main question to be considered, and, as I have said 
 20 561 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 over and over again, there is no reason why British Africa 
 should not take the place of Havana, Manilla, and 
 Sumatra as a tobacco -producing country ; it must not 
 be forgotten that the demand for tobacco increases daily, 
 and it is only natural to surmise that a Continent like 
 Africa, where tobacco is universally grown and used by 
 the natives, offers every chance of success if plants of 
 superior quality are cultivated there. Failure may follow 
 the first experiments : the plants that are first imported 
 may lose their quality in some regions or under some 
 circumstances ; but if one considers the enormous area, 
 the diversity of climate, and the variety of soils, upon 
 which experiments can be carried out, it is impossible to 
 doubt that success will ultimately come. 
 
 From the territory of the Wakamba south-east to the 
 coast the country is poor, and the sooner the railway 
 shortens the transit through this belt the better for the 
 more valuable territories inland. 
 
 To recapitulate, I will say that the chief impression I 
 gathered from my long journey is that Great Britain 
 possesses the very best portion of Africa from the Cape 
 to the Nile, that she alone has justified her right to be 
 in the country by developing every spot where the Union 
 Jack has a right to fly, and she alone understands how 
 to colonize ; and if one considers the gigantic work that 
 has been carried out under the aegis of her flag within the 
 last ten years in the heart of Africa, comparing it with 
 the work accomplished by the Portuguese and the Germans, 
 it will be found that England has, within these ten years, 
 accomplished ten times as much as the Germans are 
 ever likely to do within the next fifty years, although 
 the German East African Colony has already cost to 
 the German taxpayer* more than the whole of the 
 British possessions North and South of the Great African 
 Continent have cost to the British Government. 
 
 * The yearly expenditure comes to over ^300,000 ; so that about three 
 m illions have been already spent. 
 
 562 
 
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA 
 
 But what impressed me most was the genius, the in- 
 domitable energy and the greatness of the conceptions of 
 Mr. Cecil Rhodes, Mr. H. M. Stanley, and other English- 
 men, who have left wherever they have been the imprint 
 of their great minds, and who have never hesitated to 
 support their schemes with money and with their lives, 
 men, in fact, of whom every Englishman ought to be 
 proud and whose names will live for ever in the history 
 of Africa and of the world. 
 
 563 
 
Appendix I. 
 THE PLAGUES OF AFRICA 
 
 THE PRESENT AND THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE 
 
 RINDERPEST, of which so much has lately been said, did 
 not spring up suddenly in the various parts of Africa, but 
 has been steadily making its way from North to South, carrying 
 ruin and desolation throughout the land. It is a remarkable fact 
 that until it reached Matabeleland no one suspected the nature 
 of the disease. I was the first to call attention to it in a letter 
 I addressed to the Field in 1893. As I have already said, I 
 found the first traces of the disease in the Wakondi country, 
 north of Lake Nyasa. This was in April, 1893. This district 
 was celebrated in former times for the abundance of its cattle; 
 and when Sir Harry Johnston visited it in 1889, he found so 
 much milk there that he declared that he could have taken a 
 bath every day in the milk brought to him. In 1893, when I 
 was there, it was almost impossible to get a glass of milk. It 
 was the previous year, in 1892, that the Chinpuinba, as the 
 rinderpest is locally known, appeared in the place. It came from 
 the West, having travelled over the Tanganika-Nyasa plateau. 
 There it swept away all the cattle, killing also the buffalo, and 
 destroying nearly all the game, zebras, wildebeests, and even 
 elephants ; goats and fowls also died in great numbers. In one 
 place, however, the cattle were saved : the French Fathers of 
 Mambwe treated their animals with large doses of quinine, 
 and none of those that were so treated died. I think that 
 this is well worthy of notice. All along the eastern shore of 
 Lake Tanganika the disease had passed, and not a single head 
 of cattle was to be found. In the Wahha country, however, I 
 found enormous herds of cattle — splendid animals standing from 
 56s 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 1 6 to 17 hands high; and I heard that the Sotoka, as rinderpest 
 is called in that part of Africa, had done little or no damage. 
 This cattle is the only kind I found north of the Zambezi 
 belonging to the species without a hump. They have been 
 imported by the Watusi, a variety of the Wahima tribe, in- 
 habiting the region west of Lake Victoria Nyanza. 
 
 In Unyamwezi rinderpest had been most virulent, and had 
 also attacked Usikuma, sparing however the Burru country 
 between Unyamwezi and Kilima Njaro. But at the end of 1893 
 it had entirely disappeared from Unyamwezi and Usikuma, where 
 it had passed two years previously. 
 
 Uganda had been also visited by the plague about the same 
 time. During the year 1891 it swept away the whole of the 
 cattle of the Masai, and destroyed every buffalo in that region. 
 This plague played there a most important part in the politics of 
 the country. In former times the Masai Elmoran (warriors) 
 never touched any food but beef. Even when they were out on 
 a raiding expedition, and found themselves short of food, they 
 preferred to starve rather than eat game or meat that was not 
 beef When their cattle had been destroyed by rinderpest, they 
 had to eat porridge, and were glad to sell a donkey for a couple 
 of pounds of meal. This seems to have degraded them in their 
 own eyes, and to have broken their proud spirit. In 1894, 
 however, no trace of the disease was found in Uganda or in the 
 Masai country, and the natives were gradually recovering their 
 cattle. I have not been able to trace the origin of the plague 
 further north, but it seems to have altogether disappeared after 
 a period of two years wherever it has passed. 
 
 My own impression is that no precaution will be able to stop 
 its invasion of the Cape Colony unless all traffic is stopped; 
 even so, game will carry it about.^ That it affects donkeys I 
 have had undoubted proof, having lost a donkey from it in 
 Central Africa in 1893 ; and having compared my recollections 
 with the description published in the Bechuanaland Government 
 Gazette^ I find that the symptoms which my donkey showed 
 were absolutely those of rinderpest. So far as I can see, 
 rinderpest has travelled at the rate of ij miles per day, and the 
 question is whether it is not a mistake to try and check its 
 ^ This was written in 1896, and has proved correct. 
 566 
 
THE PLAGUES OF AFRICA 
 
 progress. If it is bound to invade the Colony, is it worth 
 spending enormous sums to postpone the evil? There is this 
 to say in favour of the measures adopted — that if it can be 
 kept off for a period of from a year and a half to two years, 
 by which time it appears probable that it will have died out in 
 Rhodesia, the latter province will be able to supply the South 
 with meat. 
 
 But there is another plague, quite as serious, that threatens 
 South Africa — a plague that nothing will stop, and that will 
 seriously affect the labour market — I am speaking of the jiggers. 
 This is an insect of the flea family, indigenous to South America. 
 It was brought to West Africa by a slave ship. The jigger, or 
 Piilex penetrans, is a small flea that burrows in the flesh, chiefly 
 of the feet, choosing in preference the neighbourhood of the 
 toe-nails. The female penetrates under the skin with its head 
 only sticking out ; this head is so small that it can only be 
 detected with a magnifying-glass, and cannot be seen in the skin 
 of a black man. At first it causes no pain, but after a couple of 
 days it gives the same sensation as a small thorn. After five to 
 six days the body of the insect reaches the size of a pea, and is 
 full of eggs ; the pain is then very great, and when the insect has 
 been extracted its place is marked by a deep ulcer, that usually 
 gets badly inflamed, and often brings on blood-poisoning. The 
 natives dig it out with a pointed piece of wood, tearing the skin 
 all round to make a hole large enough to allow the body of the 
 insect to come out without breaking the pocket of eggs. They 
 imagine that if they break the pocket, the eggs will generate 
 under their skin. They are right in a sense, as they possess no 
 antiseptics; and I have myself seen a fellow out of whom two 
 hundred jiggers were extracted ! But even when a hole has been 
 made large enough to allow the insect to be removed, it is most 
 painful to get it out, as it is fastened to the ulcer it has produced. 
 The best way is to open the place where the insect is with a 
 lancet, and then to syringe the wound well with a sublimate 
 lotion. The body of the insect having been removed with a 
 forceps, the wound must again be well syringed, and carbolic oil 
 appUed to it. In order to avoid these pests getting to a large 
 size, white men ought to have their feet carefully examined twice 
 daily. When a jigger is discovered, it can be easily removed 
 567 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 during the first two days with the point of a needle. In many 
 cases, however, they cannot be discovered until they have reached 
 a certain size, and then extraction often amounts to a regular 
 operation. Often they penetrate under the edge of the nails, and 
 I have seen some of them right under the middle of the nail ; this 
 necessitated a most painful operation. Boots are of little avail, 
 and only prevent you from getting large numbers of them. They 
 jump like a flea, and get at your foot by the top of the boot. 
 Besides, when they have invaded a country, they are found on the 
 ground outside and inside every house. Although I had my feet 
 examined twice daily, I have had as many as three extracted at one 
 time, after they had reached a good size, as they had escaped the 
 notice of my servants during three or four days. I had from two 
 to four of them taken out almost daily. When Colonel Colvile 
 started for the Unyoro Expedition, out of eight white men four 
 of us were unable to wear a boot or walk, on account of ulcers 
 brought on by the jiggers. Colonel Colvile had seven of them 
 extracted the day he left Kampala ; and Dr. Moffat had to ride a 
 donkey, his feet being tied up in bandages. 
 
 But it is among the natives that they cause the most damage. 
 Among the Soudanese troops in Uganda I have myself made the 
 following observations. At Fort Raymond the garrison consisted 
 of 1 60 askaris (soldiers) and 70 porters; out of this number of 
 men 72 askaris and 30 porters were absolutely unfit for service 
 through ulcers brought on by jiggers, and 30 more men were 
 lame. At Fort Grant the proportion of invalids through jiggers 
 was over 50 per cent. I was in charge of the medical department 
 — having volunteered to help Major Owen during the war — and 
 never in my life have 1 seen such awful ulcers. Some of the 
 men had the bone of their big toe protruding fleshless for more 
 than an inch, others had quite a square inch of the bone of the 
 heel exposed. I remember, among others, a corporal whose 
 foot was covered with an ulcer about five inches long by three 
 inches broad. In some villages of Uduhu (south of Lake 
 Victoria Nyanza) I found the people starving, as they were so 
 rotten with ulcers from jiggers that they had been unable to 
 work at their fields, and could not even go to cut the few bananas 
 that had been growing. In many villages of Uganda things were 
 almost as bad. 
 
 568 
 
THE PLAGUES OF AFRICA 
 
 When I crossed Africa I found the first trace of jiggers at 
 Mambwe, half-way between Lake Nyasa and Lake Tanganika. 
 From there I found them all over the shores of Lake Tanganika, 
 in Uhha, in Unyamwezi, in Usikuma, all over the shores of Lake 
 Victoria Nyanza, throughout Uganda and Usoga. The southern 
 part of the Masai country alone was free from them. 
 
 Sir Harry Johnston informed me last summer that the jiggers 
 have come down to Blantyre, having therefore travelled about 
 500 miles southward in two years' time. I calculate, accordingly, 
 that they will reach Mashonaland in about two years' time, and 
 with the railway communication they will be all over the Cape 
 Colony in a year more. In fact, I feel absolutely certain that 
 they will invade the Colony before the year 1900.^ 
 
 Those only who have seen what damage the jiggers cause can 
 realize what the prospect means for South Africa. The matter 
 is most serious, and steps should be taken to try to ward off 
 the danger. 
 
 To give an idea of the prolific way in which they generate, 
 I must explain that the moment the jigger is taken out of the 
 flesh she begins to lay her eggs ; and I have counted, with a 
 magnifying-glass, 150 eggs that came out of one jigger in less 
 than 30 seconds, and she went on laying them for more than five 
 minutes. Even if each jigger lays only 500 eggs — and this is 
 far below the number — it must be remembered that these be- 
 come insects in a few days, and it may be understood how the 
 whole of Africa north of the Zambezi is now infested with them. 
 Sandy soil is the most suitable to their development, and in all 
 the sandy regions where I found them the place swarmed with 
 them. The natives are chiefly responsible for their increase, 
 as, instead of destroying them as they extract them from their 
 skin, they merely throw them on the ground, where they soon 
 generate. 
 
 Animals are also attacked by them— dogs, monkeys, fowls, 
 and others. I saw in Muanza, south of Lake Victoria Nyanza, a 
 tame eagle that had lost one of his legs through jiggers. In 
 order to give an idea of the way in which these insects attack 
 men, I may quote the example of a dwarf (one of those discovered 
 by Mr. Stanley) who was in the service of Major Owen. The little 
 ^ They had already made their appearance at Beira in 1896. 
 569 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 fellow was very dirty, and while Major Owen went to Unyoro he 
 was left for a month at Fort Raymond. When we returned there 
 we found that he could not walk, and, having examined him, I 
 discovered that he was full of jiggers. I got a Soudanese to 
 take them out, and the first day he got two hundred and eighty 
 out of the boy's body. His feet, his toes, knees, hands, fingers, 
 elbows, shoulders, and back were full of them, and when he was 
 brought to me after the operation he was a mass of blood, and 
 it took me over an hour to bandage him. 
 
 As I have explained, the natives dig the jiggers out with a 
 pointed bit of wood, breaking the skin all round the body of the 
 insect. The result is that the skin gets hardened and mortified, 
 and when fresh jiggers get in the same spot they cannot be 
 discovered till they have grown quite large, and often they are so 
 deep in the flesh, having crept in by one of the crevices left in 
 the mortified skin, that a hole half-an-inch deep has to be made 
 before they can be got at. The result is usually a deep ulcer, 
 dirt gets in, and the native medicines they apply to it, consisting 
 of all sorts of filth, bring on gangrene, causing death or at least 
 the loss of a limb. In many instances I have had to perform 
 amputations of toes in order to save a man from the effects of 
 gangrene, and in all such cases I found iodoform the most effective 
 antiseptic to prevent ulceration after the jigger had been extracted. 
 In fact, the natives soon learned its use ; and when I arrived in 
 Karagwe, a native chief, having heard that a white man had 
 landed, came from a long distance to ask me for yellow medicine. 
 A brother of his, he said, had some of the yellow dawa (medicine) 
 given to him by a German officer, and if I would give him some 
 he would give me anything I liked. I gave him a little iodoform, 
 and in the evening his katikiro (prime minister) came also to beg 
 for some of it. I had obtained canoes from the chief to take me 
 to Uganda, and being short of iodoform I did not care to spare 
 any more; so I made a mixture of iodoform and sulphate of 
 zinc. The katikiro, however, soon returned, and complained that 
 his medicine was not as yellow as the one I had given to the 
 chief. I replied that he could not expect the same medicine as 
 a big chief, and he quite understood the distinction. 
 
 To conclude, I think that I have done my duty in pointing out 
 the serious and new danger that threatens South Africa. I feel 
 S70 
 
THE PLAGUES OF AFRICA 
 
 sorry to appear as a prophet of evil, but perhaps my warning 
 may enable the Government to take steps to check the impending 
 danger. I cannot think of any measure that may stop the 
 invasion ; but I should advise the responsible authorities to have 
 the subject thoroughly studied, so that when this new plague 
 makes its appearance it may not take the people unawares, and 
 that proper remedies may be known beforehand, and precau- 
 tions recommended to avoid the spreading of the pest. From 
 Central America and the West Indies, whence the jigger comes, 
 considerable information can be obtained on the subject, and 
 measures should be taken to obtain it without delay. My 
 experience makes me look upon the jigger as the greatest curse 
 that has ever afflicted Africa, and I hope that my warning will 
 be taken up and turned to practical account. 
 
 571 
 
Appendix II. 
 
 A VOCABULARY OF SIMPLE WORDS IN SOME 
 EAST AFRICAN LANGUAGES 
 
 It may be thought presumptuous in me, who can make no 
 claim to be a philological scholar, to add to my story the 
 following brief vocabulary of some of the principal native 
 languages I met with. It may be that I have made mistakes. 
 The difificulty of picking up a language about which you know 
 nothing needs no explanation from me ; and it is, of course, 
 quite possible to make oneself understood by the natives without 
 having any real grasp of the idiom and structure of their 
 language. I am also of course aware that there are very many 
 white men far better acquainted with each of the tongues of 
 which I here append specimens than I can claim to be. 
 Nevertheless, though it is perhaps dangerous to venture on 
 these vocabularies, I do it because it is also possible that they 
 may be of some small use to somebody. Our knowledge of 
 these languages is after all not so long established or complete 
 but that any contribution may happen to be useful in some 
 particulars, even though it provoke a smile from the expert in 
 others. At any rate, now that the countries whence I gleaned 
 the words that follow are very much more traversed, whether 
 for business or pleasure, by white men than they were even 
 three years ago, it is possible that they may be of use in the 
 same way as the travellers' phrase books, which are issued to 
 supply the rudiments of conversation .in other parts of the 
 world. It is also possible, I promise myself, that the kinships 
 and differences revealed by this list of words between the 
 dialects of various tribes may be of some slight interest to the 
 amateur of language, who does not feel equal to attacking 
 systematically the philology of Eastern Africa. 
 573 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 English. 
 
 Kiswahili. 
 
 Kinyamwesi. 
 
 Luganda. 
 
 All ... 
 
 Woti 
 
 Ose (Itange ose = 
 Call all) 
 
 
 Arrow 
 
 Chaari . 
 
 Tsonga 
 
 Kirungu Katale 
 
 At . . . 
 
 Ni added . 
 
 H-a. 
 
 
 Axe . . . 
 
 Choka 
 
 Mbata 
 
 Mbazi . 
 
 Bad . . . 
 
 Baya 
 
 Be . . . 
 
 
 Basin 
 
 Bakuli 
 
 Lieso. 
 
 
 Basket . 
 
 Tundo 
 
 Chero . 
 
 
 Bird 
 
 Ndege . 
 
 Noni . 
 
 Noni . 
 
 Black . 
 
 Neaose . 
 
 api. . . . 
 
 
 Blue . 
 
 do. . . 
 
 do. . 
 
 
 Bracelet (brass) . 
 
 . 
 
 Kumanga 
 
 
 Brother 
 
 Ndugo 
 
 Ndugo. 
 
 Nganda (Baganda, 
 plural) 
 
 Buffalo . 
 
 Nyati 
 
 Mbogo 
 
 Mbogo . 
 
 Careless 
 
 Zembe 
 
 adv. Uyaga. 
 
 
 Close by 
 
 Karibo 
 
 
 
 Cloth . 
 
 Nguo 
 
 Muenda 
 
 Ngoye Lubugo Bark- 
 cloth. 
 
 Cooking pot 
 
 Tshungo . 
 
 Nungo . 
 
 Mtamu . 
 
 Cold . 
 
 Baridi 
 
 Mbeho 
 
 Mpeo . 
 
 Cotton . 
 
 Pamba 
 
 Lua . . . 
 
 Pamba . 
 
 Country 
 
 Inche 
 
 Chala (Upanda 
 
 Kialo Bialo (Group 
 
 
 
 Chalo, the one 
 
 of houses nsi — 
 
 
 
 who ploughs 
 
 Chalo.) 
 
 
 
 through the land, 
 
 
 
 
 i.e., that nothing 
 
 
 
 
 stops ; my name 
 
 
 Cross (bad- 
 
 Kali . 
 
 Daki (Wadaki = 
 
 
 tempered) 
 
 
 Germans). 
 
 
 Cup 
 
 Kikombe . 
 
 Sonza (Grass cup, 
 Kitusi wooden) 
 
 
 Dead . 
 
 Fu verb. Kufa . 
 
 Fu . . 
 
 
 Dirt 
 
 Taka 
 
 Makui . 
 
 Bisasiro (sweepings) 
 
 Down . 
 
 Dress man . | 
 ,, woman • 
 
 Chilli 
 
 
 
 Mavasi Nguo . 
 
 Masualo. 
 
 
 (both plural, 
 
 means clothes. ) 
 
 
 Drum 
 
 
 
 
 Ngoma 
 
 Mganda (to beat) 
 
 Ngoma 
 
 Ngoma . 
 
 Egg • ■ • 
 
 Yai . 
 
 Igi (magi, plural) . 
 
 Nggi (magi, plural). 
 
 Elephant . 
 
 Tembo 
 
 MpuH. Nzova 
 
 Njovu 
 
 574 
 
VOCABULARY 
 
 Kavirondo. 
 
 Masai. 
 
 Kikamba. 
 
 Kisenga. 
 
 Navvangi 
 
 Mpoke . 
 
 Angonve. 
 
 
 Awoyango 
 
 Mba 
 
 Mesie , 
 
 Matete. 
 
 Eayua . 
 
 Endolo . 
 
 Gesoka 
 
 Katemo. 
 
 Nomubi 
 
 Soriki 
 
 Movugu 
 
 Mui. 
 
 Usumuero. 
 
 
 
 
 Amayoni (mayoni, 
 
 Enguregni 
 
 Ndei . 
 
 Yoni. 
 
 plural). 
 
 
 
 
 Rategni 
 
 
 Nziu. 
 
 
 Muana . 
 
 Enganeshe 
 
 Ndu . 
 
 Mlongo. 
 
 Imboko . 
 
 Olosogwan 
 
 Mbo. 
 
 
 Anambi 
 
 Atana 
 
 Kakuve. 
 
 
 Inanga . 
 
 
 Ingua . 
 
 Tsalo. 
 
 Tshinuni (small) 
 
 Moti . 
 
 Niungo 
 
 Tshungo. 
 
 Amuniere 
 
 Inkijave . 
 
 Bebo . 
 
 Bepo. 
 
 Iniungo . 
 
 
 
 Tonje. 
 
 Ichalo . 
 
 Ankop 
 
 Weoni . 
 
 Chalo. 
 
 Nomolulu 
 
 Epe . . . 
 
 Ngulu, 
 
 
 Gisanda 
 
 . 
 
 Kikombe. 
 
 
 Afuire . 
 
 Olotwa . 
 
 Kukwa -. 
 
 Atchitanda. 
 
 Lighwe (gh. Dutch) 
 
 Kuluko 
 
 Ndaka 
 
 Madioo. 
 
 Upwero 
 
 Engop 
 
 Vini. 
 
 
 Ignoma . 
 
 Ngingiri . 
 
 Klvembe 
 
 MBiribiri. 
 
 Maboyo . 
 
 Ngera 
 
 Itumbi (Matumbi, 
 lural). 
 
 Mazai (plural). 
 
 Amalua 
 
 Neshi 
 
 Mzo . 
 
 Nyovu. 
 
 575 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 English . 
 
 Kiswahili. 
 
 Kinyamwesi. 
 
 Luganda. 
 
 Evening 
 
 Manderibi . 
 
 Mpindi 
 
 Luagulu Kaungezi . 
 
 Far away . 
 
 Bali . 
 
 . 
 
 
 Fat . . . 
 
 Maputa 
 
 Maguta 
 
 Musigofat. 
 „ oil . 
 
 Father . 
 
 Baba 
 
 Ise (wawa) . 
 
 My father = Sebo . 
 
 Fever . 
 
 Homa 
 
 Mubile ku sewa 
 (Body to be hot) 
 
 Msujia. 
 
 Fire 
 
 Moto 
 
 Mulilo 
 
 Moliro . 
 
 Fowl . 
 
 Kuku 
 
 Kuku . 
 
 Kuku. 
 
 Giraffe . 
 
 Tuiga 
 
 Tuiga . 
 
 
 Goat 
 
 Mbusi 
 
 Mbuli . . . 
 
 Mbusi . 
 
 Harvest 
 
 Mavulo 
 
 Wimbulo 
 
 Makungula . 
 
 He 
 
 Uyu . 
 
 Uwe . 
 
 . 
 
 Heat . 
 
 Kitwa 
 
 Mutui. 
 
 
 Here . 
 
 Hapa 
 
 Enaka . 
 
 Wano. . 
 
 Hill 
 
 Kilima 
 
 Lugulu 
 
 Lusosi (Kasosi, 
 small). 
 
 Hold . 
 
 Kamata . 
 
 Jamia . 
 
 . 
 
 Honey . 
 
 Asali 
 
 Wuki . 
 
 Mbuki . 
 
 Hot . . . 
 
 Moto 
 
 Lia sewe (it is hot), 
 Kusewe(tobehot). 
 
 Musana {subs.). 
 
 Hut . . . 
 
 Nyumba . 
 
 Numba 
 
 Nyumba Ndju ; Royal 
 Lubiri, Chief Kisulu, 
 on grave kiggia. 
 
 I . . . . 
 
 Mimi 
 
 nene . 
 
 Nze . . . 
 
 111. 
 
 Mgonja (sick 
 
 Umhaili; WaUiala 
 
 
 
 man) 
 
 (are you ill ?) 
 
 
 Inside . 
 
 Indani 
 
 Agati . 
 
 Munda . 
 
 Iron 
 
 Chuma 
 
 Kisinza 
 
 Kiuma . 
 
 Ivory . 
 
 Pembe 
 
 Mpuli . 
 
 Sanga . 
 
 Journey 
 
 Sapari 
 
 Mohinzo (to go on 
 journey, Kuk- 
 wawa). 
 
 
 Keep . 
 
 Weka 
 
 Tula . 
 
 
 Large . 
 
 Kubua 
 
 Hania . 
 
 
 Leopard 
 
 Tshui 
 
 Sui . . . 
 
 
 Lie . . . 
 
 Wongo 
 
 Ulamba 
 
 
 Lion 
 
 Simba 
 
 . 
 
 
 Little . 
 
 Dogo 
 
 Dogo . 
 
 Uto. 
 
 Man 
 
 Mtu . 
 
 Munhn 
 
 Muntu (Banta, plu. ). 
 
 Medicine 
 
 Dawa 
 
 Mganga 
 
 
 576 
 
VOCABULARY 
 
 Kavirondo. 
 
 Masai. 
 
 Kikainba. 
 
 Kisenga. 
 
 
 Kawalie , 
 
 Utuko. 
 
 
 Neale . 
 
 Alakwa . 
 
 Kuaza. 
 
 
 Amafora . 
 
 Ngurin 
 
 Manta. 
 
 
 Ra Baba 
 
 Baba 
 
 Asa . 
 
 Baba. 
 
 Molilo . 
 
 Engema . 
 
 Muaki . 
 
 Ntuia, 
 
 Molilo. 
 
 Imbusi (plu., same) 
 
 Ingine 
 
 Mbui . 
 Muaka. 
 
 Mbusi. . 
 
 Waghono o Korashi 
 
 Le . . . 
 
 Uya. 
 
 
 Reghano (Dutch ^/^. ) 
 
 Inne . 
 
 Va. 
 
 
 Chikulu (kigulu, 
 
 Oldegno . 
 
 Kilima 
 
 Piri. 
 
 plural). 
 
 
 
 
 Mtira. 
 
 
 
 
 Obushi . 
 
 Enesho . 
 
 Uki . 
 
 Uji. 
 
 Insu 
 
 Angaji 
 
 Nyumba. 
 
 
 Nisie 
 
 Nano 
 
 Ninie. 
 
 /' 
 
 Nomuluare 
 
 Em we 
 
 Uwao. 
 
 
 Inshu 
 
 Atwa 
 
 Vini. 
 
 
 Chuma . 
 
 Mbareik . 
 
 Kilea . 
 
 Chuma. 
 
 Luika 
 
 Lala . 
 
 Mzo . 
 
 Myanga. 
 
 Abantu (men) 
 
 
 
 
 awaji (many). 
 
 
 
 
 Oghtirao 
 
 Tokonara . 
 
 Kwata. 
 
 
 Nomokali 
 
 Olgatani Kitok . 
 
 Manene 
 
 Kalamba, 
 
 Ingue . 
 
 Logwarumara . 
 
 Ngo . 
 
 Kaingo. 
 
 Abubel . 
 
 
 Ovungo. 
 
 
 Atugui . 
 
 Alnatung . 
 
 Muniambo. 
 
 
 Omundu (aivandu, 
 
 Oltognagne 
 
 Mundu (wandu, 
 
 Muntu. 
 
 plural). 
 
 
 plural). 
 
 
 Mamusala 
 
 Altjani 
 
 Muti . 
 
 Mangwara. 
 
 577 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 English. 
 
 Kiswahili. 
 
 Kinyamwesi. 
 
 Luganda. 
 
 Milk . 
 
 Masiwa . 
 
 Mawele 
 
 Mata (thick, Bbongo; 
 fresh, Nusununu). 
 
 Moon . 
 
 Muezi 
 
 Muezi . 
 
 Muezi . 
 
 Morning 
 
 Asabue 
 
 Ndiu . 
 
 Inkia 
 
 Mother . 
 
 I\Iama 
 
 Nina . 
 
 My mother, Mange 
 nina 
 
 Much . 
 
 Mingi 
 
 Mingi . 
 
 Ngi . . . 
 
 Name . 
 
 Jina . 
 
 Sina . 
 
 
 
 
 Night . 
 
 Usiku . 
 
 Ufuko . 
 
 Kiro 
 
 
 
 Noise . 
 
 Kelele . 
 
 Ibubu . 
 
 
 
 
 On top . 
 
 Dhiii 
 
 Kuigulia 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 Ostrich . 
 
 Mbuni 
 
 Manungu 
 
 
 
 
 Outside . 
 
 Inji . 
 
 Hanzi . 
 
 Bueru 
 
 
 
 Ox . . . 
 
 Ngombe . 
 
 Ngombe 
 
 'Nte 
 
 
 
 Poison . 
 
 Suma 
 
 Umala. 
 
 
 
 
 Potatoes (native) . 
 
 Viazi 
 
 Kafu . 
 
 I.umonde 
 
 
 Present (gift) 
 
 Sewaki 
 
 Mdosi . 
 
 (Mpera?) 
 
 Pretty . 
 
 Zuri . 
 
 Soga (you are 
 pretty = wewe 
 umsoga. 
 
 Mouengi 
 
 Rain . 
 
 Umvua 
 
 Umvida 
 
 Nkuba . 
 
 River . 
 
 Umto 
 
 Mongo 
 
 
 Road 
 
 Njia . 
 
 Nsila . 
 
 Kubo . 
 
 Sheep . 
 
 Kondo 
 
 'Nholo 
 
 'Ngiga. . 
 
 Sick (are you ?) 
 
 Uwezi 
 
 Waluala 
 
 
 Sister . 
 
 Ndugo 
 
 
 
 
 muonamke 
 
 Ndugo mkima 
 
 Muanina (my sister) 
 
 Sky . . . 
 
 Mbingu 
 
 Kunde 
 
 Gulu (above) . 
 
 Small . 
 Snake . 
 
 Dogo 
 
 Do. . 
 
 
 
 Nioka . 
 
 Nsoka . 
 
 Msota . 
 
 
 Spear . 
 
 Mkuki . 
 
 Ichima 
 
 Famu 
 
 
 Stars . 
 
 Niota 
 
 Sunda . 
 
 Munienie 
 
 
 Stone . 
 
 Jiwe . 
 
 Iwe 
 
 
 
 Stop . 
 
 Simameni . 
 
 Imaga, singular ; 
 imagi, plural. 
 
 
 Sun 
 
 Toz.Mtoto. 
 
 Muana 
 
 Njuba . 
 
 Take . 
 
 Twa . 
 
 Sola . 
 
 Kwata . 
 
 Tent . 
 
 Hema 
 
 Numba (house). 
 
 
 There . 
 
 Uko . 
 
 Kwenuko 
 
 Eri ... 
 
 Thorn . 
 
 Miba 
 
 Minhua 
 
 
 578 
 
VOCABULARY 
 
 Kavirondo. 
 
 Masai. 
 
 Kikamba. 
 
 Kisenga. 
 
 Mavere . 
 
 Kute. 
 
 lya. 
 
 
 Muesi . 
 
 Malava 
 
 Mwi . 
 
 Muezi. 
 
 Motsiili . 
 
 Tadegagna 
 
 Kioko . 
 
 Mawa. 
 
 Ra Mama 
 
 Teyo 
 
 Mueito 
 
 Mama. 
 
 Awangi . 
 
 Kumok 
 
 Namueta. 
 
 
 
 Ngarna 
 
 Wiuta. 
 
 
 Moshiro . 
 
 Kawati 
 
 Vtuko. 
 
 
 Olugho (Dutch ^/i.) 
 
 Tigerayo . 
 
 Koya. 
 
 
 Ghirama {gh. Dutch) 
 
 Keber 
 
 Yulu and ulu. 
 
 
 
 Osidoi 
 
 Nya. 
 
 
 Munsu . 
 
 Aulo . 
 
 Dhome. 
 
 
 Ignombe 
 
 Ingeding . 
 
 Ghombe 
 
 Kamgorombiro. 
 
 Ufira . 
 
 
 Oi. 
 
 
 Mabuni . 
 
 Taboni . 
 Vecho. 
 
 Makwasi 
 
 Vinchevere (meal- 
 ies), Mapira 
 (matama). 
 
 Nomolai 
 
 Nakishan . 
 
 Mzeo . 
 
 Mueme. 
 
 Umfula . 
 
 Nkai. 
 
 Mvua . 
 
 Umfula. 
 
 Omualo (mialo, 
 
 Nkare 
 
 Use. 
 
 
 plural). 
 
 
 
 
 Ingila 
 
 Algme . 
 
 Njia . 
 
 Njira. 
 
 Likundi (makundi, 
 
 Ulkir 
 
 Elondu 
 
 Mberere. 
 
 plural). 
 
 Enewe. 
 
 
 
 Muana niuanamao . 
 
 
 Mwetu a ia. 
 
 
 Likulu . 
 
 
 Etu. 
 
 
 Namututu 
 
 Olgatani ote 
 
 Kanini. 
 
 
 Ingogha (Dutch ^/i.) 
 
 Alaserai . 
 
 Njoka . 
 
 Nioka. 
 
 Mfumu . 
 
 Embele . 
 
 Itumo . 
 
 Muando. 
 
 Zinianinini 
 
 Laghir 
 
 Ndata . 
 
 Nieniezi. 
 
 Lrikina . 
 
 Soeto 
 
 Ibia(Mabia, plural). 
 
 
 Yema . 
 
 Ntasho . 
 
 Omama. 
 
 
 Mobaso . 
 
 Ingholo . 
 
 Chua . 
 
 Zua. 
 
 Ntira 
 
 Mbogna . 
 
 Kwata. 
 
 
 Barirere . 
 
 Igge . . . 
 
 Yaya. 
 
 
 Mikatji . 
 
 Ilkeko . 
 
 Mwiwa. 
 
 
 579 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 English 
 
 
 Kiswahili. 
 
 Kinyamwesi. 
 
 Luganda. 
 
 To-day. 
 To-morrow 
 day after 
 To 
 
 Ugly . 
 Underneath 
 Village . 
 
 Water . 
 Wildebeest 
 With . 
 Wood . 
 
 „ (to burn 
 
 Woman 
 Ye terday 
 
 Y 
 
 Zebra . 
 
 ) . 
 
 Leo . 
 
 Kecho 
 
 Kecho Kutua . 
 
 Ni added . 
 
 Umfunguni 
 Umji 
 
 Maji . 
 Nyumbo . 
 N-a . 
 Umti (miti, 
 
 plural) . 
 Kuni 
 
 Muananke 
 Jana . 
 
 We . . 
 Punda 
 
 Lelo . 
 
 Igolo . 
 
 Masuli 
 
 Ku. 
 
 (no word). 
 
 Umselile . 
 
 Kaya . 
 
 Minze . 
 Mbushi(?) . 
 Hamuna 
 
 Umti (miti) . 
 
 Lukivi (Nhwi, 
 plural) 
 
 Nikima 
 
 Igolo (as to-mor- 
 row). 
 
 Wewe . 
 
 Nduru . 
 
 Lero 
 
 Ndjio . 
 
 Kialo 
 Madzi . 
 
 Mugasi . 
 
 It must be noted that these words are spelled according to the orthography 
 adopted by the Geographical Society, The vowels to be pronounced as in 
 Italian. ^The consonants to be pronounced as in English. 
 
 580 
 
VOCABULARY 
 
 Kavirondo, 
 
 Masai. 
 
 Kikaniba. 
 
 Kisenga. 
 
 Lero 
 
 Tata . 
 
 Indino. 
 
 Lero. 
 
 Motsuli . 
 
 Kaiseri 
 
 Kioko. 
 
 
 Ekulo. 
 
 
 
 
 Mukungolisi. 
 
 
 
 
 Litala (matala, 
 
 Engang 
 
 Mushi . 
 
 Muzi. 
 
 plural). 
 
 
 
 
 Amatzi . 
 
 Angale 
 
 Manzi . 
 Kena. 
 
 Mazi. 
 
 Tsinaye . 
 
 Enjogobira. 
 
 
 
 Musala . 
 
 Inyata 
 
 Miti. 
 
 
 Tshikghwe (Dutch 
 
 Elkek 
 
 Guni. 
 
 
 gh.) 
 
 
 
 
 Moghasi {gh. Dutch) 
 
 Mgorojoni. 
 
 Aka . 
 
 Namuari. 
 
 Ekulelulia 
 
 Engole 
 
 Tyo. 
 
 
 Eive o Korashi 
 
 Tye . . . 
 
 Kwakwa 
 
 Weye. 
 
 • 
 
 Oletuko . 
 
 Nzai. 
 
 
 For numerals see further on. 
 
 S8i 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 NUMBERS 
 
 Kiswahili. 
 
 Kinyamwesi. 
 
 30 
 
 40 
 SO 
 60 
 70 
 80 
 100 
 1000 
 
 Moja . 
 
 Mbili . 
 
 Tatu . 
 
 Nne . 
 
 Tano . 
 
 Sita . 
 
 Saba . 
 
 Nane . 
 
 Kenda 
 
 Kume 
 
 Kume na moja 
 ,, ,, mbili 
 „ ,, tatu 
 etc. 
 
 Makume na Mb: 
 
 Solo . 
 
 Wili . . . 
 
 Yatu datu Idatu . 
 
 Inne . 
 
 Nhanu 
 
 'Meaga (Samou) . 
 
 Umpungate (Tandatu) 
 
 Nane . . . . 
 
 Kenda 
 
 Ikume 
 
 , , na imo . 
 
 ,, ,, wili. 
 
 ,, ,, yatu. 
 etc. 
 Makume a wili (twice) 
 
 Igana (gana) 
 
 Ki kumbi (one thousand) 
 
 582 
 
VOCABULARY 
 
 
 Kavii-otido. 
 
 Kikambi. 
 
 Masai. 
 
 I 
 
 Molala . . ' . 
 
 Mundi 
 
 Nabo. 
 
 2 
 
 Mabidi 
 
 
 
 
 Ele . 
 
 
 Are. 
 
 3 
 
 Wataro 
 
 
 
 
 Tatu 
 
 
 Uni. 
 
 4 
 
 Banne 
 
 
 
 
 lana 
 
 
 Ognany. 
 
 5 
 
 Barano 
 
 
 
 
 Tano 
 
 
 Miet. 
 
 6 
 
 Uasaba 
 
 
 
 
 Thanthatu 
 
 
 Ille.' 
 
 7 
 
 Mosonvu 
 
 
 
 
 Munza 
 
 
 Saba. 
 
 8 
 
 Monana 
 
 
 
 
 Nane 
 
 
 Itchiet. 
 
 9 
 
 Waranavane (5 + 4) 
 
 
 Kenda 
 
 
 Sal. 
 
 10 
 
 Akume.* . 
 
 
 Kume 
 
 
 Tomon. 
 
 II 
 
 Akume na molala 
 
 
 No word ; they begii 
 
 1 Tomon nabo. 
 
 
 
 again 
 
 
 20 
 
 Makume ka bidi . 
 
 Molungo ele = two fu 
 counts of 10. 
 
 1 Tomon wore. 
 
 30 
 
 
 Three full counts of i 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 Four full counts of i 
 
 D 
 
 50 
 
 
 Five full counts of i 
 
 3 
 
 6o 
 
 
 Six full counts of 10 
 
 
 70 
 
 
 Seven full counts of i 
 
 
 
 8o 
 
 
 Eight full counts of i 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 Makume Karanua Karanua . 
 (No word). 
 
 Yona 
 
 
 K is gh. Dutch. 
 
 583 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aasvogel Kop, 19 
 
 Abakudamo, 156 
 
 African Lakes Co., 258, 261, 287, 354 
 
 Agriculture — 
 
 Matabele, 160 
 
 Tanganika plateau, 295 
 
 Wakamba, 492 
 
 Wakikuyu, 481 
 
 Wanyamwezi, 349 
 
 Waganda, 450 
 Ainsworth, Mr., 484 
 Albert Edward Nyanza, 406 
 Albert Nyanza, 406, 501 
 Amadota, 162 
 Amambwe, 295, 364 
 Amandabili, 150 
 Amashuina, 164 
 Ambali, 455 
 Amerikani, 329 
 Angoche, 240 
 Angoni, 151, 249, 267, 282 
 Angwe (river), 218 
 Ankori, 502 
 Anti Slavery Society, 383, 386, 520, 
 
 553 
 Arabs, 194, 265, 306 
 Arruwimi (river), 409 
 Arthur, Capt., 413, 431 
 Athi Plains, 482 
 Athi (river), 482 
 Atonga, 267, 282, 286 
 
 Bagamoyo, 304 
 Bakuana, 34 
 Baldapits, 18 
 
 Bamalati, 19 
 
 Bamangwato, 34 
 
 Bamasasa, 442 
 
 Bandawe, 286 
 
 Banderini, 503 
 
 Bangweolo Lake, 536 
 
 Bantu, 330, 508 
 
 Barclay, Mr., 557 
 
 Baretto, Francisco, 239 
 
 Baringo Lake, 471 
 
 Barotse, 64, 543, 550 
 
 Basiba, 440 
 
 Basuto, 509 
 
 Bat oka, 55 
 
 Battiani, 559 
 
 Bayumba, 440 
 
 Bazizulu, 364 
 
 Bechuanaland, 547 
 
 ,, Border Police, 29, 125 
 , , Trading Assoc. , 30, 33, 
 118 
 
 Bees (attack by), 358 
 
 Beira, 544 
 
 Beit, Mr., 547 
 
 Belgians, 307 
 
 Bent, Mr., 189 
 
 Bismarck, 540 
 
 Blantyre, 260, 261, 354 
 
 Bodmer, Von, Lieut., 331 
 
 Boers, 150, 198, 546 
 
 Bongo, 255 
 
 Boyle, Mr., 135, 146 
 
 Brett, Mr. , 300 
 
 British East Africa Company, 405, 
 479 
 
 British South Africa Company, 135, 
 199, 203 
 
 585 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Bronsart, Von Schellendorf, 281 
 
 Brothel, 294 
 
 Browne, Major, 188, 196 
 
 Buchanan, Mr. John, 262, 272 
 
 Buddu, 401, 556 
 
 Budjoju, 402 
 
 Bukoba, 377, 386, 393, 555 
 
 ,, boatmen, 389 
 Bukumbi, 377 
 Bulawayo, 134, 156 
 Bushmen, 48, 508 
 Burns, Miss Grace, 326, 455 
 Burton, 536 
 Butzuma, 501 
 
 Cairo, 275 
 
 Caldecott, 197 
 
 Cameroons, 540 
 
 Campos, Senhor Curado de, 224 
 
 Cannibalism, 311, 513 
 
 Cape Colony, 545 
 
 Cape Town, 5 
 
 Capitao Mor, 245 
 
 Carr Ellison, Capt., 116 
 
 Carrington, Sir Frederick, 125 
 
 Carson, Mr., 300 
 
 Chakwa King, 150 
 
 Chartered Company, 133, 136, 166, 
 
 186, 202, 263, 275 
 Charters, Dr., 497 
 Chiccaculi, 416, 424 
 Chicoa, 239 
 Chikwawa, 259 
 Chinyai, 231 
 Chiradzulu, 272 
 Chiromo, 238 
 Chuami, 52 
 
 Churchill, Lord Randolph, 502 
 Church Missionary Society, 517 
 Coffee, 272, 555 
 
 Colenbrander, Mr., 14, 135, 137 
 Colquhoun, Mr., 200 
 Colvile, Col. Sir Henry, 416, 452, 
 
 502, 557 
 Congo, 292 
 Congo Free State, 308, 539 
 
 Cracknell, Mr., 504 
 Crawshaw, Mr., 281 
 Crocodile River, 27 
 Cross, Dr., 287 
 Cuama, 238, 255 
 Cunningham, Major, 479, 502 
 Cust, Mr. H. C, 546 
 Customs — 
 Funerals : 
 
 Barotse, 79 
 
 Matabele, 161 
 
 Portuguese Zambezi (Goa, 
 Senga), 232 
 
 Tanganika plateau, 294 
 
 Waganda, 446 
 
 Wakamba, 491 
 Marriage : 
 
 Barotse, 78 
 
 Matabele, 158 
 
 Portuguese Zambezi (Goa, 
 Senga), 233 
 
 Soudanese, 430 
 
 Tanganika plateau, 294 
 
 Waganda, 445 
 
 Wakamba, 490 
 
 Wanyamwezi, 346 
 
 D 
 
 Dagoreti, 480 
 Dakka, 24 
 
 ,, pipe, 24 
 Damaraland, 540 
 Dance, Matabele, 155 
 Dandi (river), 219 
 David, 280, 311, 373, 452, 472, 499 
 Dawson, J., 135 
 De Beer's Mining Company, 6 
 Deep Bay, 287 
 Delgado, Cape, 240, 253 
 Dinka, 558 
 Domira, 281 
 
 Eldoma (river), 471 
 Elgon, Mount, 467 
 Elliot, Mr. Scott, 439, 455 
 El Nandi, 466, 470 
 Emin Pasha, 406 
 
 586 
 
INDEX 
 
 Farley, Mr., 128, 129 
 
 Fife, 292 
 
 Fires (in Veldt), 14 
 
 Fisher, Mr., 422 
 
 Flaori, Mount, 289 
 
 Forbes, Major, 544 
 
 Foster, Mr., 425 
 
 Fountain Hope, 146, 149, 168 
 
 French Evangelical Mission, 60 
 
 Funerals. (See Customs. ) 
 
 Funza, 375 
 
 Fwambo, 293 
 
 ,, Liomba, 293 
 
 G 
 Gaberones, 21 
 Gazuma, 56 
 Gazaland, 200 
 Germans, 353, 356, 361, 371, 530, 
 
 553 
 Gerufa Vley, 105 
 Gibb, Capt., 438 
 Goa (people), 231 
 Gold working, 207 
 Goschenland, 541 
 Grant, Fort, 425 
 
 ,, Mr.. 457, 460, 558 
 GrantuUy Castle, 5 
 Griqua, 509 
 Guaso Masai (river), 468 
 
 H 
 Hall, Mr., 479, 560 
 Hampden, Mount, 199 
 Hannington, Bishop, 461 
 Hartebeest, 368 
 Hartmann, 397 
 Hastings, Mr., 276 
 Hatch, Brigadier-General, 504 
 Helm, Mr. and Mrs., 146, 149 
 Hepburn, The Rev., 35 
 Herald, 259 
 
 ,, Port, 257 
 Hero, Mount, 327 
 Heymann, Capt., 200 
 Hillier, Mr., 258 
 
 Hirth, Major, 379, 424 
 Hofmeyer, Mr., 546 
 Homena, Vasco Fernandez, 239 
 " Hongo," 469 
 
 Hope Fountain, 146, 149, 168 
 Huts, Native, 22, 26, 83, 360 
 ,, Musimo, 346 
 
 I 
 
 Igombe, 362, 373 
 Igundo, 373 
 Ikaneng, 18, 20 
 Imbezu, 156 
 Imbolo, 170 
 Impandini, 141 
 Implements, Barotse, 83 
 Impololo, 70 
 Indians, 269 
 Indoba, 328 
 Ingubo, 156 
 Inhambane, 240, 253 
 Inhamecuta, 224 
 Iniakatanda, 255 
 Inyangakwe, 190 
 Inyarugwe, 452 
 Inyati, 156 
 Irindi, 336 
 
 Iron-working, 297, 494 
 Isanga, 373 
 Isikisa, 355 
 Itogo, 363 
 Ivory, 244, 274, 521, 534 
 
 Jack, 117 
 Jackson, Mr., 405 
 Jacques, Capt., 308 
 Jacob, 62 
 Jalla, M., 60, 89 
 Jameson, Dr., 197 
 Jesuits, 247 
 Jiggers, 375, 567 
 Joala, 35, 165 
 Johnson, Capt., 284 
 John's Staadt, 23 
 
 ,, Fort, 257, 284 
 Johnston, Sir Harry, 260, 275, 5i{ 
 543 
 
 587 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Joncalo de Silveira, 37 
 Joseph, 92 
 Juba, 503 
 Juma, 386 
 Jumbe, 263, 284 
 
 K 
 Kabaka, 440 
 Kabarega, 416, 501 
 Kabunga, 421 
 Kaffirs, 509 
 Kafui (river), 164, 429 
 Kageriro, 402 
 Kagera, 393, 401, 413 
 Kahigi, 393 
 
 Kalahari (desert), 7, 67, 89, 176 
 KakTlu, 365 
 
 Kampala, 406, 436, 456, 502 
 Kamanyro, 457 
 Kangoo, 442 
 Karagwe, 401 
 Karema, 308 
 Karonga, 262 
 Kasaia (river), 66 
 Kasembe, 352 
 Kashumba, 224 
 Kasiki, 315 
 Kasimbo, 313 
 Kasongo, 308 
 Katikiro, 440 
 Katiwe wa Kabaka, 442 
 Katone (river), 68 
 Katumbi, 429 
 Katunga, 231 
 
 Kavalli's, 406, 463, 467, 558 
 Kavirondo, 460 
 Kayoza, 393, 398 
 Kazungula, 85 
 Kebra Baca, 228 
 Kedong (valley), 478 
 
 ,, (river), 478 
 Kenia, Mount, 480 
 Kera, 293 
 Kerera, 349 
 Kessler, Mr., 175 
 Khama, 34, 548 
 Khami (river), 169 
 
 Khantura, 25 
 Kibero, 501 
 Kiboka, 440 
 Kiboko, 321, 381 
 Kiboko (river), 496 
 Kibwezi, 497 
 Kidd, Mr., 292 
 Kikuyu, 452, 479, 480 
 
 ,, Mountains, 479 
 Kilima Njaro, Mount, 484 
 Kilungu (river), 495 
 Kimberley, 6 
 Kinako, 432 
 Kinyamwezi, 362 
 Kionga Nionga, 289 
 Kirunda, 300 
 Kisa, 324 
 Kisinda, 335 
 Kissagama, 502 
 Kiswahili, 279, 353 
 Kiswanlandeso, 347 
 Kitanbala, 421 
 Kitinda, 440 
 Kituta, 300 
 Kolaberg, 67 
 Kome, 386 
 Konongo, 348 
 Kosju, 442 
 Kota Kota, 263, 286 
 Kruger (President), 198 
 Kuadeba, 51 
 Kufu, 35.7 
 Kufulu Pundu, 347 
 Kulonga, 334 
 Kumalo, 151 
 Kumba Masaka, 363 
 Kunungori, 428 
 Kuruma, 425 
 
 Labagaba, 441 
 Lahumbo (river), 373 
 Langheldt, Dr., 378, 397 
 Lanjora, 484 
 Lechaneng VI ey, 30, 116 
 Lekothla, 20 
 Lesa, 293 
 
INDEX 
 
 Leshulatchi, 67 
 Leshuma, 59 
 Lewanika, 76, 88, 543 
 Lialui, 74, 102, 550 
 Limpopo (river), 27, 150 
 Linchwe, 21 
 Linda (god), 440 
 Lindu, 432, 463 
 Linokani, 49, 1 1 9 
 Linyanti (river), 15, 19, 60 
 Lions, loS, 467, 499 
 Livingstone, Dr., 67, 536 
 
 ,, Mount, 2S7, 553 
 
 Liwonde, 283 
 Lloyd, Mr., 117 
 Lobengula, 137, 143, 155 
 Lobo, Jose d'Araujo, 141, 224 
 Loch (Lord), 5, 21, 195 
 Logonat, Mount, 477 
 Lomunganda, 217 
 London Missionary Society, 336 
 Lothaire, Major, 308 
 Lotsani (river), 121 
 Lualabu (river), 538 
 Luapula River, 537 
 Luarwe, 286 
 Lubadu, 441 
 Lubanja, 431 
 Lubuya, 440 
 Lubwa, 458, 460 
 Lugard, Capt., 405, 410, 556 
 
 Fort, 428 
 Lugumba, 458 
 Luhoga, 331, 335 
 Luiki (river), 315 
 Lukogo qua Kanaka, 357 
 Lumi, 300 
 Lundi, 190 
 Lu panda, 321 
 
 Lupata, Gorge of, 239, 255 
 Lwekula, 429 
 
 M 
 Macdonald, Capt., 410, 557 
 MacDowell, Mr., 129 
 Machakos, 484 
 Macloutsie, 184 
 
 Mackinnon, Sir William, 497, 540 
 
 Madeira Diego, 239 
 
 Mafeking, 15, 17 
 
 Magembe, 355 
 
 Magog weni, 168 
 
 Magonga, 439 
 
 Maguire, Mr. Rochfort, 198, 542 
 
 Magwewe, 155 
 
 Maholi, 170 
 
 Maholo, 373 
 
 Magi a Chumvi, 501 
 
 Majoka, 162 
 
 Major, 146, 183 
 
 Makalaka, 132, 139, 150, 168, 172 
 
 Makangoira, 151 
 
 Makarikari Lake, 51 
 
 Makololo, 67, 267 
 
 Makwenda, 421 
 
 Mala, 485 
 
 Malagrazi, 355 
 
 Malahani, 355 
 
 Malainga, 326, 452 
 
 Malombwe, 284 
 
 Mambari, 102 
 
 Mambo, 150, 175 
 
 Mambwe, 293, 300 
 
 Ma Moeriosane, 69 
 
 Manianja, 267 
 
 Mangwato, 29 
 
 Ma.T\gwe, 132, 172, 174 
 
 Mantalis, 68 
 
 Manyema, 311, 352 
 
 Manyonga, 364 
 
 Marago a fundi, 501 
 
 Mariam, M., 308 
 
 Mariba, 320 
 
 Marico (river), 23 
 
 INIarimba, 274 
 
 Maqua, 284 
 
 Marques Lorenzo, 240, 253 
 
 Marriage. (See Customs. ) 
 
 Masai, 464, 466, 469, 475 
 
 Masarwa, 13 
 
 Maekere, 313 
 
 Masiko, 70 
 
 Mashonaland, 163, 184, 551 
 
 Mashotlane, 70 
 
 589 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Mashukolumbwe, 8i, 164 
 Mashumpa, 220 
 Massi-Kesse, 200 
 Matabele, 147, 150 
 Matabeleland, 130, 150, 542, 
 
 550 
 Matakania, 141, 221, 223, 452 
 Matamdumba, 179 
 Mathlala, 50 
 Mathlamabedi, 47 
 Matoka, 68, 81 
 Matope, 260, 281 
 Matopo, 132, 172 
 Matotela, 550 
 Matu, 439 
 Maungu, 499 
 Ma-Viti, 151 
 
 Maxwell, Major, 129, 134 
 McCormack, Mr., 292 
 Mengo, 406 
 Mesa, 45 
 
 Metsu Moshu River, 41 
 Mforongo, 335 
 Mfumbiro, 458 
 Mfumu, 244, 356, 362, 365 
 Middleton, Mr. , 20 
 Miguel, Fort San, 240 
 Minerals — 
 
 Gold, 274 
 
 Iron, 274, 297 
 Mini Mambwe, 293 
 Mirambo, 340 
 Mission d' Alger, 293 
 Mkalesi, 292 
 Mlanje, 264 
 
 ,, Mountains, 276 
 Moanja, 435 
 Mochudi, 21 
 MofFatt, Dr., 431 
 ,, Mr., 541 
 Mogunja, 328 
 Mokasa, 440 
 Mokeba, 333 
 Mokondo, 372 
 Mokoruani Flats, 54 
 Mokumba, 64 
 Molyoa, 457 
 
 Mombasa, 352, 410, 503 
 
 Mombova, 64 
 
 Monarch Gold Mine, 139, 174, 
 
 182 
 Monemba, 70 
 Monkey Bay, 283, 285 
 Monomatapa, 195, 240 
 Montedoro, 240 
 Moodie, Mr., 201, 209 
 Mopingue River, 217 
 "Mosquito," 259 
 Mosquito Bank, 257 
 Mozambique, 240 
 
 ,, Company, 205, 240, 
 
 545 
 Mpakwe River, 132, 190 
 Mpalera, 60 
 
 Mpanda Chalo, 152, 361 
 Mpempe,7o 
 Mpenza, 293 
 Mpesine, 151 
 Mpimbi, 281 
 
 Msaba-bin-ben-Luali, 313 
 Msalala, 372 
 
 ,, Mountains, 373 
 Mtali, 329, 332 
 Mtesa, 404 
 Mtowa, 308 
 Mtusi, 333 
 
 Muabanzi (river), 259 
 Muami, 461 
 Muanza, 377, 555 
 Muavi, 323 
 Mugema, 442 
 Mugiolaba, 409 
 Mugosi, 442 
 Mumia, 462, 465 
 Murchison Rapids, 261 
 Musale, 441 
 Muserire River, 317 
 Musia Tumia, 21 
 Musigiri, 442 
 
 Musimo, 293, 328, 343, 344, 352 
 Musoke, 440 
 Mutanan Yangamba, 442 
 Muta Tembo, 393 
 Mwanga, 404, 410, 417 
 
 590 
 
INDEX 
 
 Mwatu, 485 
 Mwenzo, 292 
 Mweru (Lake), 275 
 Mwingi Kombo, 285 
 Mwiri Wanda, 290 
 
 N 
 Nabikande, 440 
 Nabugabe, 425 
 Nabutiti, 425 
 Naivasha Lake, 475 
 Nakuro (lake), 474 
 Nallasogewi (river), 468 
 Namasole, 440 
 Nansombo, 457 
 Napier, Mr., 196 
 Nassor - ben - Suliman - ben - Juma, 
 
 308 
 Nata Drift, 1 1 1 
 
 ,, (river), 53, 176 
 Nayaonie, 440 
 Ndala, 357 
 Ndi, 497 
 
 Nelson, Capt., 480 
 Nera, 371, 374 
 Ngae, 489 
 
 Ngami (lake), 69, 164 
 Nganda, 440 
 Niao Nalozi, 324 
 Nicoll, Mr., 284 
 Nindo, 370 
 
 Ningen Mountains, 467 
 Njumba Serere, 314, 329 
 Ntebe, 402, 418 
 Nwiangnia Nwongio, 62 
 Nyamanga Mountains, 218 
 Nyangwe, 537 
 Nyanza ya Makalesi, 292 
 Nyasa (lake), 151 
 Nyasaland, 255, 552 
 Nzoi, Mount, 496 
 Nzoia, 465 
 
 Orleans, Prince Henri of, 379 
 Owen, Major, 414, 501, 557 
 
 Palapshwe, 8, 28, 116 
 
 Pandamatenga, 55, 100 
 
 Pangiro, 370 
 
 Panyami River, 219 
 
 Parumbira, Bay of, 553 
 
 Paulet, Lord Henry, 188, 196 
 
 Pennifather, 199 
 
 Perkiss, Mr., 431, 501 
 
 Pero, 351 
 
 Peters, Dr., 405 
 
 Pfeil, 258 
 
 Pigott, Mr., 503 
 
 Pigmies of Congo, 509 
 
 Pilkington, Mr., 432 
 
 Pinto, Serpa, 262 
 
 Pokino, 442 
 
 Portal, Sir Gerald, 413, 479, 557 
 
 Portuguese, 239, 551 
 
 Prazzo system, 241 
 
 Printz, Lieut., 353 
 
 Prostitution, 294 
 
 Providential Pass, 188 
 
 Pungwe, 550 
 
 Quilimane, 240 
 
 R 
 
 Ramokwebani River, 131 
 
 Ramootsa, 19 
 
 Raymond, Fort, 422 
 
 Rhodes, The Right Honourable 
 
 Cecil John, 136, 197, 20S, 275, 
 
 541 
 Rhodes, Dedication, vi 
 
 ,, Colonel, 413 
 Rhodesia, 207, 264, 507 
 Richter, Lieut., 397 
 Ricico, 222 
 Rikwa, Lake, 554 
 Rinderpest, 333, 565 
 Ripon Falls, 457 
 Ro Angwa (river), 151 
 Robinson, Sir Hercules, 541 
 Rokuru, 289 
 
 591 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Rovuma, 553 
 
 Ruanda, 152 
 
 Rudd, 198, 542 
 
 Ruga- Ruga, 152, 372 
 
 Rumalisa, 304 
 
 Ruo River, 238, 257 
 
 Rusizi (river), 327 
 
 Ruwenzori Mountains, 406 
 
 Sabi (river), 191 
 
 " Sabre," 256 
 
 Sagamuga, 217 
 
 Sahiri, 334 
 
 Saisi, 300 
 
 Salawe, 372 
 
 Salisbury, 197 
 
 Samburu, 501 
 
 Samia Mountains, 465 
 
 Sani, 347 
 
 Scio (river), 465 
 
 Sclater, Capt., r.e. , 260, 472 
 
 Sclater Road, 260, 275 
 
 Scotland, Free Church, 286 
 
 Scott, Capt., 129 
 
 Sebitoani, 67 
 
 Sechele, 67 
 
 Sekeletu, 69 
 
 Sekonyela, 68 
 
 Selim Bey, 406, 413 
 
 Selous, Mr., 210 
 
 Semanikiri, 218 
 
 Semokwe (river), 191 
 
 Senga, 231 
 
 Senna, 239, 256 
 
 Sepolilo, 217 
 
 Serpa Pinto, 262 
 
 Sesse, 402 
 
 Sharpe, Fort, 281 
 
 Sharpe, Mr., 260 
 
 Shashani River, 132 
 
 J, ,, Little, 172 
 
 Shashi (river), 126, 186 
 Shaw, Mr., 336 
 Shesheke, 62, 67, 84 
 Shinanga, 216 
 
 Shire, 238, 257, 261 
 
 Shoshong, 34 
 
 Shumpaoli, 173 
 
 Siegl, Herr, 331, 352, 384 
 
 Sikki, 353 
 
 Silveira, Joncalo da, 239 
 
 Sindai, 373, 374 
 
 Singo, 429 
 
 Sinoia, 214 
 
 Slavery, 247, 249, 293, 519 
 
 Smith, Fort, 479 
 
 ,, IN'Iajor, 480 
 Sofala, 28 
 Sokoso, 42 
 Solwa, 372, 374 
 Somali, 330 
 Somasti, 286 
 Sotoka, 299, 333 
 Soudanese, 269, 406 
 Speke, 536 
 Spire, 432 
 Spreckley, Mr., 214 
 Stanley, Mr, H. M., 136, 315, 321, 
 
 354> 370, 404, 537 
 Stellaland, 541 
 Stevenson, Rd., 291, 532 
 Stokes, Mr., 308, 355, 361, 529 
 Stones, The, 283 
 Subugo (forest), 471 
 Sunanane, 70 
 Swann, Mr., 287 
 Swazi, 150 
 
 Tabora, 351, 352, 554 
 
 Tamakaliani Vley, 108 
 
 Tana River, 560 
 
 Tanganika, Lake, 263, 290, 300, 
 
 315 
 Taru, 500 
 Taru Desert, 500 
 Tati, 186 
 
 ,, Company, 129 
 
 ,, Concession, 130 
 
 ,, River, 128, 150, 174, 190 
 Taveta, 500 
 
 59: 
 
INDEX 
 
 Taylor, 135 
 
 Telegraph, Transcontinental, 275 
 
 Tete, 230, 240 
 
 Thaba Induna, 135 
 
 Thompson, Mr., 542 
 
 Thrushton, Captain, 431 
 
 Tippo Tip, 308 
 
 Toro, 502 
 
 Transvaal, 150, 507, 546 
 
 Tsavo, 497 
 
 Tshambezi, 292 
 
 Tshaneng Mountain, 41 
 
 Tuga Moto, 340, 342 
 
 Tuli, 18, 184 
 
 U 
 
 Ubague, 348 
 
 Ubanghi (river), 509 
 
 Uganda, 288, 404, 452, 461, 556 
 
 Uhha, 319, 321, 336 
 
 Uhlo (river), 364, 373 
 
 Uitlanders, 547 
 
 Ujiji, 303, 554 
 
 Ukaia, 328 
 
 Ukambani, 485 
 
 Ukerewe, 383 
 
 Ukombe, 349 
 
 Umbukwe, 190 
 
 Umlagala, 155 
 
 Umsene, 348 
 
 Umsili Gazi, 68, 150, 175 
 
 Umsuasi, 177 
 
 Umtagazo, 330, 332 
 
 Umteko, 323 
 
 Umtene, 342 
 
 Ungwezi (river), 65 
 
 Unyamwezi, 336 
 
 Unyanyembe, 352 
 
 Unye, 355 
 
 Unyoa, 348 
 
 Unyonga Mountains, 317 
 
 „ Valley, 533 
 Unyoro, 404, 557 
 Upanda Chalo, 342, 372 
 Upcher, Archdeacon, 187, 196 
 Urambo, 313, 348, 356 
 
 Urima, 375 
 Usagosi, 348 
 Usange, 348 
 Usarambo, 348 
 Ushetu, 349 
 
 Usikuma, 370, 375, 555 
 Usoga, 456, 461, 557 
 Utao, 357 
 Uvinna, 319, 327 
 Uyogo, 348 
 
 V 
 Vaal (river), 150 
 Vallet Mountain, 60 
 Vendetta, 294 
 Victoria, 188, 195 
 Victoria Falls, 96 
 Victoria Nyanza, 152, 355, 378, 
 
 386 
 Villiers, Lieut., 402, 413, 425, 
 
 502 
 Voi river, 498 
 Vryburg, 9 
 
 W 
 "Wa Daki," 371 
 Waddington, M., 479 
 Wadelai, 501 
 Waduhu, 354 
 Wa Duruma, 501 
 Waganda, 331, 409, 439 
 Wagani, 342 
 
 Wahha, 152, 321, 336, 554 
 Wahehe, 151, 554 
 Wahima, 330 
 Wajiji, 307 
 Wakamba, 480 
 Wa Kavirondo, 467 
 Wakikuyu, 480, 560 
 Wall, Mr., 55, 100 
 Waluyerabe, 442 
 Wamala, Lake, 422 
 Wana Omari, 284, 286, 377 
 Wangwana, 315, 316 
 Wanyamwezi, 152, 316, 336, 342, 
 
 345 
 Wanyoro, 428 
 
THREE YEARS IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 Waruanda, 554 
 
 Wasoga, 464 
 
 Watcha Vley, 107, 181 
 
 Watusi, 330 
 
 Weber, 198 
 
 Weil, Mr. B., 122 
 
 Weil, Messrs. Julius and Co., 18, 
 
 186 
 Westbeach, 100 
 Whight, Lieut., 22 
 Wildebeest, 368 
 Wiliamkuru, 348 
 Williams, Capt., 406 
 Wilson, Major, 196 
 Wilson, Mr., 497 
 Wise, Mr., 386 
 Wissmann, Major, 258, 281, 285 
 
 288, 405, 553 
 
 Witch Doctors, 153 
 Wogoli, 343 
 
 Yakelela, 333 
 Yaos, 267 
 
 Zambezi (river), 60, 82, 89 
 
 Zambezia, Portuguese, 551 
 
 Zanzibar, 504 
 
 Zebras, 368 
 
 Zimbabwe, 39, 175, 189, 191 
 
 Zimizia, 365 
 
 Ziuziu, 257 
 
 Zomba, 265, 276 
 
 Zulu, 150, 152 
 
 Zumbo, 102, 221, 240 
 
 594 
 
PLYMOUTH 
 
 WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON 
 
 PRINTERS 
 
6f 
 
 15 Ql R 
 
 e