LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 960.2 J71a 1971 CENTRAL CIRCULATION AND BOOKSTACKS The person borrowing this material is re- sponsible for its renewal or return before the Latest Date stamped below. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for each non-returned or lost item. Theft, mutilation, or defacement of library materials can be causes for student disciplinary action. All materials owned by the University of Illinois Library are the property of the State of Illinois and are protected by Article 16B of Illinois Criminal Law and Procedure. TO RENEW, CALL (217) 333-8400. University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign DEC 0 2 1999 When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. L162 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/africahistoryofe00jone_0 AFRICA THE HISTORY OF Exploration and Adventure AS GIVEN IN THE LEADING AUTHORITIES FROM HERODOTUS TO LIVINGSTONE BY CHARLES H. JONES WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY i875 Republished 1971 Negro History Press, P.0. Box 5129 Detroit, Michigan 48236 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 70-1 16301 ISBN No. 0-403-00375-X Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1875, by HEN11Y HOLT, In the Ofllce of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. e used, but death was to be inflicted for great crimes ; and “ the sovereign should not be permitted to drink spirituous liquors.” The new Queen speedily confirmed to the missionaries all their liberties and privileges. Mr. Ellis returned to England in 1866, having seen the thor- ough re-establishment of the mission — a work which he greatly aided by his tact and sagacity and unwearied perseverance. When the missionaries were driven from their post in 1835, they left a field in which they had labored alone ; and, now that they have returned, the work is chiefly theirs, but they arc efficiently assisted by agents sent to their help by the Society of Friends. These last are principally occupied in the work of the schools. A few years ago there was a wide-spread and general de- struction of the idols, in which the Queen 6et the example. Places of worship have sprung up in all directions, and every village which contains any great number of converts has its separate church. Almost the entire cost of these buildings has been borne by the people themselves. One of the mission- aries says, “ The work of chapel-building still goes on vigor- ously. The skill and care employed in erecting the house of prayer, the laudable desire of the people to have the best build- ing they can afford, perhaps also tne emulation excited in them by the newly finished work of their neighbors, all tend to pro- mote, not their religious welfare alone, but their comfort and civilization. It has already excited a marked influence in im- proving their dwellings, both as to neatness and comfort. Among the places of worship finished during the year, that at Nameliana deserves especial notice. It will accommodate 1,600 or 1,800 people, and its interior embellishments, without be- MADAGASCAR 41 ing at all costly or out of taste, are quite a triumph of Mala- art.” There is now a Theological Institution for training native ministers ; a Normal School for the instruction of teachers ; and many schools for children and others spread over the island. The number of English missionaries in 1872 was twenty, and, on account of the great increase in the number of hearers, an augmentation of ten was guaranteed. There are not fewer than two thousand native pastors and missionaries. Besides these, there is a large staff of teachers, some of them English, wholly devoted to their profession. Fears have been entertained, since the accession of the Queen and the Prime Minister to the ranks of the Christians, lest the liberties of those who still cling to heathenism should be interfered with, on the one hand, or that the Christians themselves should be overruled on the other. But such fears have not been realized. These exalted personages seem to have really learned the lesson of toleration, and, although there is a church in the palace, no one is compelled to attend, nor is the free action of the congregation either there or else- where allowed to be in anywise impeded or hindered. The general burning of the idols produced much excitement and inquiry in the whole population, including all ranks. In 1835, as has already been stated, the number of converts was 200. In the three last past years very large additions have been made. Within that space of time there have been not fewer than 258,000 converts, including 32,000 church members. Those who are styled converts are persons who have adjured heathenism, and who are gradually feeling their way into clearer light ; the members are those who have been proved and committed to the full communion of the Church. Among both classes there must, doubtless, be diverse grades of intelli- gence ; but the present position and the future prospect are both abundantly encouraging. CHAPTER III. NOTICES OF EARLIER AFRICAN TRAVELLERS. James Bruce was born at Kinnaird House, in the county of Stirling, Scotland, in 1730. He received his early education at Harrow, from which he went to the University of Edinburgh, where he studied with a view to the profession of the law. But li 3 changed his purpose, and entered into partnership with a wine-merchant, whose daughter he married. His wife died withii. a year, and he made a tour abroad. His father died during his absence, and he consequently succeeded to the es- tate of Kinnaird. On his return to England, he sought public employment, and at length was indebted to Lord Halifax for the appointment of consul at Algiers. He repaired to his post in 1763, and employed himself there for a year in the study of Oriental languages. He commenced travelling by visits to Tunis, Tripoli, Rhodes, Cyprus, Syria, and several parts of Asia Minor, where, accompanied by an able Italian draughtsman, he made drawings of the ruins of Palmyra, Baalbec, and other remains of antiquity, all of which he subse- quently deposited in the King’s Library at Kew. They are now to be found in the British Museum. He was accustomed to the language of hyperbole and boast, which was his weak- ness, and "he himself says, “ This was the most magnificent present in that time ever made by a subject to his sovereign.” Of his first travels he never published any acccount. In J une, 1768, he began his famous journey to discover the sources of the Nile. Proceeding first to Cairo, he navigated the Nile to Syene, thence crossed the desert to the Red Sea, and, arriving at Jidda, passed some months in Arabia Felix, and after various detentions reached Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, in Febru- ary, 1770. In that country, he ingratiated himself with the sovereign and other influential persons, both men and women, himself professing, not falsely, to be physician, courtier, and soldier. On Nov. 14, 1770, he obtained the great object of his wishes — a sight of what he thought to be the sources of the Nile. Claiming to be the first European who had accomplished this interesting discovery, his exultation was proportionate, and NOTICES OF EARLIER AFRICAN TRAVELLERS. 43 lie records it with characteristic exuberance of expression. On his return to Gondar, lie found the country engaged in a civil war, and was detained two years before he could obtain per- mission to leave it. Thirteen months more were then occupied in travelling back to Cairo, in which journey he endured ex- cessive privations. He returned to his native country in 1773, and retired to his paternal seat. lie married again and main- tained the character of an elegant and liberal host, and an ami- able man in private life ; but was capricious in his friendships, and haughty to strangers. His long-expected “ Travels ” did not appear until 1790, in four large quarto volumes, embellished with plates. These volumes are replete with curious informa- tion concerning apart of the world but little known to Europeans, and contain much interesting personal adventure and fine de- scription. It is to be regretted that the authority of the work, in regard to facts of natural history and native manners, was questioned on its first appearance ; for his statements have been more or less confirmed by all succeeding travellers who have come near or touched upon his track — namely, Salt, Coffin, Pearce, Burckhardt, Brown, Clarke, Wiltman, and Belzoni. Bruce, during the few remaining years of his life, felt keenly the incredulity of the public, and only hoped that liis daughter would live to see the time when the truth of all he had written would be confirmed by subsequent observations. After escap- ing great and manifold dangers in his wanderings through bar- barous countries, this enterprising traveller lost his life in con- sequence of an accidental fall downstairs in his own house in April, 1794. Andrew Sparkman, a Swedish naturalist and traveller, was born about 1747, and studied medicine at Upsal. In 1765 he made a voyage to China. On his return he went to the Cape of Good Hope in 1772 ; he there joined Captain Cook in his voyage round the world, and, returning to the Cape in 1775, undertook a journey into the interior of Africa. He first visited Mossel Bay ; then striking more into the heart of the country, he penetrated as far as the Great Fish Biver, and afterwards, taking a direct northerly course, advanced as far as lat. 28° 30' S. and 350 leagues from the Cape. On February 6th, 1776, he turned southward, and occasionally deviating from his former track, reached Cape Town on the 1 5th of April, laden with specimens of plants and animals. In the course of the same year, he returned home ; but in 1787 made another attempt to explore the interior, which was abortive. He died at Stockholm in 1820. Sparrman’s reputation is 44 NOTICES OF EARLIER AFRICAN TRAVELLERS. founded chiefly on his travels, which were published first in German at Berlin, and subsequently in English at London. The map prefixed to his book is the first in which the coast of Africa from the Cape to the Great Fish River is laid down with any degree of accuracy. Mungo Park was born at Fowlshiels, near Selkirk, Scotland, on the lOtli of September, 1771. Ilis father occupied the farm of Fowlshiels under the Duke of Buccleuch. lie received a good preliminary education, and afterwards studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He became fond of botany, and this gave a strong color to his whole future life. The African Association wanted a successor to Major Houghton, and Park was appointed. Having spent about two years in and near London, gaining the necessary qualifications, he set sail in May, and on the 21st of June following, in 1795, arrived at Jillifr«;e, near the mouth of the Gambia. He explored a con- siderable portion of the course of the Niger, and reached Lon- don on Christmas morning, 1797. Great interest was excited by the narrative of his expedition, and the profits on its publica- tion, together with the liberal compensation made by the Afri- can Association, placed him for a time in easy circumstances. Having married the daughter of the gentleman with whom he had served his apprenticeship as a surgeon, Miss Ander- son, he commenced practice on his own account at Peebles, in 1801 ; but being offered the command of another expedi- tion to the Niger and the central parts of Africa, he accepted it, and sailed from Portsmouth on the 30th of January, 1805. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law, Mr. Anderson, sur- geon ; Mr. George Scott, draughtsman ; five artificers from the royal dock-yards ; Lieutenant Martyn, and thirty-five privates of the Royal African Corps stationed at Goree, and a Mandingo, Isaaco, a priest and trader, who acted as guide. The object of the expedition was to cross from the Gambia to the Niger, and then to sail down the latter stream to the ocean ; but the expedition was altogether unfortunate. Mr. Anderson and others fell victims to the climate. Park’s last despatches are dated from Sandsanding, and he says, “ I am sorry to say that of forty-four Europeans who left the Gambia in perfect health, five only are at present alive; viz., three soldiers (one deranged in his mind), Lieutenant Martyn, and myself. . . . We had no contest with the natives, nor was any of us killed by wild ani- mals or any other accident.” He left Sandsanding on the 19th of November, and, from information afterwards obtained, he seems to have proceeded down as far as Boussa, 6 50 miles be- ' NOTICES OF EARLIER AFRICAN TRAVELLERS. 45 low Timbuctoo, where, having been attacked by the natives, he and his companions attempted to save themselves by swimming, but were drowned. Park was well qualified for the wort: which he undertook. Physically, he was a strong man, — six feet high, and well proportioned, with a pleasant countenance and plain, simple manners. Iiis literary and scientific acquire- ments were respectable ; and nothing can be more interesting than the idea which he gives of the African forests and deserts, the cities of the Bambarra, and the regions watered by the Niger. In such explorations, the treatment which one receives is very various, but Park, like others, found the disposition of the women uniformly benevolent, and in proof he relates his own experience. When he was prohibited by the King of Bambarra from crossing the Niger, and ordered to pass the night in a distant village, none of the inhabitants would re- ceive him into their houses, and he was preparing to lodge in the branches of a tree. Exhausted with hunger and fatigue, and unprotected from a storm, he was relieved by a woman re- turning from the labors of the field. He was kindly invited to her hut, and was most carefully tended. The other women lightened their labor by songs, one of which, at least, must have been extempore, for Park himself was the subject of it. It was sung by one of the young women, the others joining in the chorus. The air was sweet and plaintive ; and the words, literally translated, were : “ The winds roared, and the rains fell. The pooh white man, faint and weary, came and sat un- der our tree. He has no mother to bring him milk ; no wife ' to grind his corn. Chorus , — Let us pity the white man ; no mother has he, etc. etc.” These words were put into verse by the Duchess of Devonshire, and set to music; by Ferrari, in the following song : “ The wild wind roar’d, the rain fell fast ; The white man yielded to the blast : He sat him down beneath our tree ; For weary, sad, and faint was he ; And ah ! no wife or mother’s care For him the com or milk prepare. Chorus. “ The white man shall our pity share : Alas ! ho wife or mother's care For him the milk or corn prepare. “ The storm is o’er, the tempest past : And mercy’s voice has hushed the blast : 46 NOTICES OF EARLIER AFRICAN TRAVELLERS. The wind is heard in whispers low, The white man far away must go : — But ever in his heart will bear Remembrance of the negro’s care. Chorus. “ Go, white man , go; hut tcith thee bear The negro's wish, the negro's prayer ; Remembrance of the negro's care." Frederic Conrad IIornemann was born in 1772, at Ilildes- heim, Germany, and became a divinity student at Gottingen. He received a clerical appointment in Hanover ; but an ardent desire to visit the interior of Africa induced him, in 1705, to request Blumenbach to recommend him to the African Society in London. Being accepted by the Society, he visited Cyprus and Alexandria, and remained several months in Cairo, to learn the language of the Mangrabins, or Southern Arabians. The French having landed in Egypt, he was, like all other Euro- peans, detained in the castle at Cairo, that he might escape the rage of the people. Bonaparte, being informed of his plans, gave him passports, and showed a disposition to promote his object* in every possible way. On the 5th of September, lie left Cairo with the caravan of Fezzan. On the 8th he entered the Libyan desert, reached Siouah on the 16th, and arrived, after a tedious journey of seventy-four days, at Murzook, the capital of Fezzan. He remained there sick for some time, but on his recovery made an excursion to Tripoli, which he left in January, 1800, and, on the 12th of April following, lie wrote that he was about to start on a journey with the great caravan of Bornu. From that time nothing certain was heard of him till 1818, when Yon Zach, in his u Correspondanco Astrono- inique.” intimated that he had ascertained that Hornemann had died on his return from Tripoli to Fezzan, of fever, and lay buried at Aucalus. His journal, written in German, was translated and published by the African Society in 1802, that having been sent home before his decease. John Louis Burckiiardt was descended from a respectable family in Basle, Switzerland, and was born in 1794. As he was unwilling to enter into the service of his country, at that time oppressed by France, after having completed his studies at Leipsic and Gottingen, he went to London in 1806, when the African Association wished to make a new attempt to ex- plore Africa, from the north to the interior, in the way already traversed by Hornemann. They received Burckhardt’s pro- NOTICES OF EARLIER AFRICAN TRAVELLERS. 47 posal to undertake this journey in 1808. He now studied the manners of the East, and the Arabian language, in their purest school at Aleppo. He remained two years and a half in Syria ; visited Palmyra, Damascus, Lebanon, and other regions ; after which he went to Cairo, in order to proceed with a caravan through the northern part of Africa to Fezzan. In 1812 he performed a journey up the Nile, almost to Dongola, and afterwards, in the character of a poor trader and a Turk of Syria, proceeded through the deserts of Nubia (where Bruce had travelled before him), under great hardships, to Berbera and Shendy, as far as Suakin on the Red Sea, whence he pro- ceeded through Jidda to Mecca. He was so well initiated into the knowledge of the language and manners of the Ara- bians, that when a doubt arose concerning his Islamism, he was, after having passed an examination in the theoretical and practical parts of the Mahometan faith, acknowledged by two learned jurists as being not only a very faithful, but a very learned Mussulman. In 1815 he returned to Cairo, and afterwards visited Sinai. Just before the arrival of a long- expected caravan for Fezzan, which he intended to join with the view of exploring the source of the Niger, he died at Cairo, April 15, 1817. The Mahometans performed his obsequies with the greatest splendor. He had previously sent home all . his journals. His last thoughts were devoted to his mother. He was the first modern traveller who succeeded in penetrating to Shendy in the interior of Soudan, the Meroe of antiquity (still, as it was three thousand years ago, the depot of trade for Eastern Africa), and in furnishing exact information of the slave-trade in that quarter. He found articles of European fabric, such as the Zellingen sword-blades, at the great fair of Shendy. His travels in Nubia were published by the African Association in 1819, and there was included an account of his researches in the interior of Africa. In 1822 his Travels in Syria were published, and in 1829 his travels in Arabia. In 1830 another volume from his papers appeared, entitled “ Man- ners and Customs of the Egyptians.” John Campbell was born in Edinburgh, in 1766, and became a Christian minister in London. He was an eminently good and useful man, and earnestly interested in missionary enter- prises. His travels in South Africa were undertaken at the in- stance of the London Missionary Society. His qualifications were his strong common-sense, and his genuine interes v in the welfare of his fellow-men. He passed through the localities which he visited with the open eyes of an intelligent observer, 48 NOTICES OF EARLIER AFRICAN TRAVELLERS. adding to our geography and our knowledge of natural his- tory, while the suavity of his manners and his tact made him many friends among the chiefs and the people, lie had great, influence with the noted Africaner, and it was he who ar- ranged for Moffat’s mission to the Kuruman. James Kingston Tuckey was born in 1778, at Greenliill, in the county of Cork, Ireland. He entered the navy at an early age, went to India in 1794, was employed in surveying the coast of New South Wales, was taken prisoner by the French in 1805, and remained in captivity till 1814. lie was then selected to command the expedition for exploring the River Congo, and died in Africa, in 1816. He was the author of “Maritime Geography and Statistics,” in four volumes, written ' ’ i • • • ' ratives of his voyages to shire, Scotland, in 1788. After some elementary instruction in practical mathematics, he was bound apprentice, at the age of thirteen, to the owner of a vessel trading between Liver- pool and New York, and made several voyages. He was then impressed into the royal navy, and, becoming midship- man, served on the American lakes in 1815-16, and received a commission of lieutenant. Having returned to Scotland, he became acquainted with Dr. Ondncy, who was about to embark for Africa, and requested permission to accompany him. The expedition, consisting of Clapperton, Denham, and Oudney, after several excursions by its individual members, started from Murzook in November, 1822, and arrived at Lake Tsad (or Chad) oil the 4th of the following February, a distance of eight hundred miles. Six days afterwards Clapperton set out with Dr. Oudney on an expedition to Soccatoo, the capital of Houssa. Oudney died on the way. Clapperton was not permitted to pursue his journey to the full extent of his purpose, and re- turned to England in 1825. This joint expedition collected important information, and enabled Europeans to j udge more accurately in respect to the people of Inner Africa. On his re- turn to England, Clapperton was made captain, and imme- diately engaged for another expedition to the Bight of Benin. He left Badagry in December, 1825, accompanied by Captain Pearce and Doctor Morrison, who both perished a short time after leaving the coast. Clapperton went on, accompanied only by his faithful servant Lander. At Katunga he was within thirty miles of the Niger, but was not permitted to visit it. Continuing his journey north, he reached Kano, and then rn in Annan, Dumfries- NOTICES OF EARLIER AFRICAN TRA VELLERS. 49 g roceedcd westward to Soccatoo, the residence of his old friend ello. Bello refused to allow him to proceed to Bornu, and detained him for a length of time in his capital. This deten- tion seems to have arisen from the fact that a war was at the time being carried on between Bello and the Sheikh of Bornu. There were also intrigues by the Pacha of Tripoli, who insinu- ated that the English intended the conquest of Africa, as they had already conquered India. Clapperton was grievously dis- appointed ; he became depressed in spirits, and died of dysen- tery on the 13th of April, 1827, at Chungary, a village four miles from Soccatoo. Lieutenant-Colonel Dixon Denham was born in London, in 1786. After finishing his education he was placed with a solicitor, but in 1811 entered the army, and served in the Peninsular campaigns. In 1823, he was engaged with Captain Clapperton and Doctor Oudney in exploring the central re- gions of Africa. His courage, address, firmness, perseverance, and moderation, his bold, frank, energetic disposition, and his conciliating manners, peculiarly fitted him for such an under- taking ; and it was mainly owing to his activity and firmness that the expedition obtained the permission of the Sultan of Fezzan to cross the desert to Lake Tsad. Leaving his com- panions at Kuka to recruit their health, Denham explored the region around the lake, and afterwards joined an Arab expe- dition against the natives to the southward. In a disastrous fight, he was wounded, and only found his way back to Kuka after great perils and suffering. He afterward continued his exploration of the interior, and returned to England with Clapperton in 1825. The next year he published his carefully written “ Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the years 1822, 1823, and 1824.” He went to Sierra Leone, in 1826, as superintendent of the liberated Africans, and in 1828 was appointed lieutenant-governor of the colony. On the 9th of June of the same year he died of fever, after an illness of a few days. Richard Lander, the explorer of the course of the Niger, was at first the servant of Captain Clapperton, whom he ac- companied in his second expedition into the interior of Africa. He started from the Bight of Benin with his master, after whose death at Soccatoo (April 13, 1827) he returned to the coast. His journal is published with Clapperton’s. After his return to England he submitted to the government a plan for exploring the course of the Niger, which was adopted. Ac- companied by his younger brother John he set out from Bada- 4 50 NOTICES OF EARLIER AFRICAN TRAVELLERS. gry, in 1830, intending to reach Lake Tsad. They encountered many dangers, and were finally taken prisoners at Eboc ; and only after the promise of a high ransom succeeded in getting arrangements made for conveying them to the sea. This they reached by the Niger ; and thus was solved one of the greatest problems in African geography. This important discovery, opening a water communication into the interior of Africa, made a great impression upon the mercantile world ; and soon after the brothers arrived in England an association was formed for the purpose of establishing a settlement upon the Upper Niger. But the expedition fitted out for this purpose unfortunately proved a failure ; and the Landers, together with nearly all who joined it, fell victims either to the unhealthi- ness of the climate, or in combats with the natives. Richard died on February 2d, 1834, at Fernando Po, from the wounds which he had received. The British government granted a pension of £70 a year to his widow, and of £50 a year to his infant daughter. George Francis Lyon was a native of Chichester, England, and was educated at Dr. Burney’s naval academy at Gosport. After having served with distinction for some years in the navy, he obtained an appointment under government for ex- ploring the interior of Africa. He was accompanied by Mr. Joseph Ritchie, a young man of great attainments and much promise ; he was a native of Otley, in Yorkshire, and died of fever at Murzook, on the 19th of November, 1819. Lyon con- tinued his explorations alone, after having lost his companion, suffering many hardships and much illness. The journeys of these travellers confirmed previous discoveries, but added to them little that was new. In 1821, Captain Lyon published his journal, “ A Narrative of Travels in Northern Africa, ac- companied by Geographical Notices of Soudan, and of the Course of the Niger.” Captain Lyon, returning to his own proper profession, had command of one of the ships in the ex- pedition to the Northern Seas, under Captain Parry, in 1821- ’23. lie died at sea at the early age of thirty-seven. Alexander Gordon Laing was born at Edinburgh, Scot- land, in 1794, and was educated at the university of that city. He obtained an ensigncy in the York Light Infantry, which regiment he joined at once at Antigua. Two years afterwards he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the same corps, which he held till the regiment was reduced, and he was placed upon half-pay. After various changes, inasmuch as he always pre- ferred active service, he was sent in 1,822, by Sir Charles NATIVE VILLAGE ON THE NIGER. NOTICES OF EARLIER AFRICAN TRAVELLERS. 51 M’Carthy, on an embassy to Gambia and the Man dingo coun- try, to ascertain the political state of those districts, the dispo- sition of the inhabitants to trade, and their sentiments in regard to the abolition of the slave-trade. lie was thus led to take a deeper interest than before in Africa and its people. lie ex- ecuted his mission to the satisfaction of those who had ap- pointed him, and was afterwards sent on an embass} 7 for the purpose of procuring the liberation of a chief in friendly re- lations with the British, who was held a prisoner by Yarradec, a warrior of the king of Soolima. On arriving at the camp of the Soolima arm} 7 , lie was informed that Sannassec had been set at liberty 7 ”, after his town had been burnt, and that his life had been spared only from the fear of offending the British governor. While upon this mission he had observed that many of the men who accompanied the Soolima army possessed con- siderable quantities of gold ; and having learned that ivory abounded in Soolima, he suggested to the governor the advan- tages which would result to the colony from the opening up of intercourse with these people, intimating his opinion that the effort would not be attended with much hazard or expense, ami that a great object would be attained in the knowledge of many countries to the eastward of the colony, of which, like that of the Soolimas, little was known besides the name. This suggestion was submitted to the council, who approved of the undertaking, and left it to Laing’s own judgment to carry out his plan. His third mission, npon which he started from Sierra Leone on the 16th of April, 1822, led him to penetrate through a far more extensive tract of country than before, much of it previously unexplored. During his absence he was promoted to the rank of captain. It was immediately after his return that he was ordered to join his regiment on the Gold Coast, where he w r as employed in the command of a consider- able native force on the frontier of the Ashantee country, and was frequently engaged with detachments of the Ashantee army. On the death of Sir Charles M’Carthy, in 1824, Cap- tain Laing was sent to England to acquaint the government with the state of the command in Africa. lie obtained a short leave of absence, and revisited Scotland, and returning to Lon- don in October, 1824, an opportunity presented itself, which he had long desired, of proceeding, under the auspices ol govern- ment, on an expedition to discover the termination and course of the Niger. He was promoted to the rank of major, and left London on that enterprise early in February, 1825, intending to leave Tripoli for Timbuctoo in the course of the summer. At 52 NOTICES OF EARLIER AFRICAN TRAVELLERS. Tripoli he married the daughter of the British consul at that place, and two days afterwards proceeded on his mission. On the 18th of August, 1826, he reached Timbuctoo. On the 21st of September, lie wrote a short letter to his wife and her father from that place, but it was brought to them only after his de- cease. It had been left behind him when he started from Timbuctoo for Sego, with instructions that it should be for- warded to its destination. Along with it was brought a docu- ment in Arabic, in which Sultan Ahmad, the sovereign of those countries, instructed Osman, his lieutenant-governor, to prevent the further progress of the traveller. Osman was obliged to obey his instructions. lie therefore engaged a skeikh of the Arabs of the Desert, named Barbooshi, to go out with the Christian, and protect him as far as the town of Ar- wan. The sheikh accordingly went with him from Timbuctoo, but on arriving at his own residence he treacherously murdered him, and took possession of all his property. It is believed by many, however, that Laing’s own confidential attendant was the murderer. But, in either case, thus perished, in the full vigor of manhood, this brave and enterprising traveller. CHAPTER IY. RECENT EXPLORATIONS. Great additions have been made within the last twenty-five years to our knowledge of Africa; but our information re- specting that vast region still lacks the fulness and precision of that which we possess in regard to other lands. The myste- rious interior of the continent has, however, been penetrated at numerous points, and the comparison of any good recent map of this portion of the world with one of older date at once < shows the extent and the importance of the results of the travels of recent explorers. At the same time, it shows how much still remains to the efforts of the time which is to come. The great rivers are connecting links between the journeys of individual explorers, and three among them have served, especially, to guide the course of modern discovery — the Nile, the Niger, ana the Zambesi. A brief summary of what was accomplished in the way of adding to our knowledge of these streams will be‘a fitting preliminary to our outlines of the sepa- rate expeditions. The Nile has long been a problem in African geography. Bruce visited the sources of the Blue Nile, or Bahr-el-Azrek, in 1770, a Portuguese traveller having anticipated him in the en- terprise about a century and a half. But the discoveries of the earlier traveller had in great part been lost. The source of the White Nile, Balir-el-Abiad, remained a subject of in- quiry. This was beyond doubt the longer arm of the river. At the instance of the Pasha of Egypt, efforts were made tow- ards discovery in 1839, and again in 1841. In the former of those years, the Egyptian expedition ascended the river to a point stated as within 3° 35' of the equator. This was subse- quently corrected by M. d’Arnaud, who accompanied the expe- dition of 1841, to iat. 6° 35' N. Missionary labors and com- mercial enterprise had meanwhile extended the range of inquiry in this region. The Roman Catholic missionaries established at Gondokoro (lat. 4° 50') in 1853-9 had examined the river up to lat. 3° N. ; and European merchants, engaged 54 RECENT EXPLORATIONS. in the ivory trade, had established depots lying as far to the southward. But beyond the third paralled of N. lat. the maps remained a blank. The late Dr. Beke was among the first to suggest the eastern coast, within a few degrees of the equator, as the locality which might be most advantageously explored with a view to the deter- mination of the limit of the Nile basin, and of ultimately reach- ing the sources themselves. There were several causes contribu- ting to the direction of attention to that quarter. The Church Missionary Society had fixed a mission at Mombas, or the neigh- borhood (lat. 4° S.) ; the missionaries came into intercourse with the numerous Arab traders frequenting Mombas and other ports on that line of coast, and received from them accounts of a great lake situated at some distance in the interior. Mr. Rebmann and Dr. Krapf, two German missionaries stationed at Mombas, therefore made various journeys in 1847 and the two succeeding years, and obtained a knowledge of different dis- tricts lying between the parallels of 3° and 5° S., extending inland to a direct distance of probably two hundred miles from the Indian Ocean. They saw the mountain Kilimanjaro, the summit of which was covered with snow, its altitude being hence concluded to be not less than twenty thousand feet above the level of the sea. There were other and perhaps loft- ier mountains recognized as occurring within the same region, particularly one to which the name of Kenia is given, to the northwards of Kilimanjaro. The existence of snow-clad moun- tains in such near proximity to the equator has excited consid- erable interest. These observations have been confirmed by subsequent travellers, and particularly by Baron von Decken (1860-1), a native of Hanover, who, starting from Mombas and proceeding thence southwards along the coast to Wanga, struck from thence into the interior, and, crossing the Ugono and Arus- cha ranges (the latter four thousand feet high), reached the loftier region to which Kilimanjaro belongs. The Baron made two ascents of Kilimanjaro, and upon one of these occasions reached the height of thirteen thousand nine hundred feet. At the height of eleven thousand feet, snow, mixed with rain, appeared to have fallen during the night, and to have melted with the morning sun, up to an elevation of probably seven- teen thousand feet. Baron von Decken’s triangulations give an altitude of twenty thousand and sixty-five feet, as the height of the main peak of Kilimanjaro. The intelligence gained by the missionaries respecting great lakes in the interior comfirmed conclusions which had already RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 55 been arrived at by geographers, and therefore naturally excited much interest. Captain Burton — an officer of the Indian army, and already familiar with Indian travel from the expe- rience of a journey in 1854-’5 to the kingdom of Harar, lying inland from the upper extremity of the Gulf of Aden — there- fore proposed to the Royal Geographical Society a project for opening up the lake regions of Interior Africa to the south of the equator. That learned body approved of his scheme, which the British government sanctioned, and in favor of which it made a pecuniary grant. Captain Burton was accompanied by Captain Speke, a fellow-officer of the Indian army, and his companion at Berbera, on the coast of the Somauli country, in 1854. Zanzibar, off the coast of Eastern Africa, was the point of their departure, at the end of June, 1857. The details of their expedition will be found in subsequent pages. This journey of Burton and Speke in 1857-9 led to the later expedition of Speke and Grant in 1861-2. Immediately on his discovery of the N’yanza Lake, a body of fresh water, found within a few degrees south of the equator, and at an elevation of between three thousand and four thousand feet above the sea, Speke came to the conclusion that this would prove the head water of the Nile. The Geographical Society aided him in the equipment of a new expedition for the purpose of solving the problem. He was accompanied by Captain Grant, another offi- cer of the Bengal army. They left England in 1860, and started from Zanzibar for the interior in October of the same year, pursuing the route taken by the former expedition as far as Unyanyembe. Being much delayed on their journey by many untoward occurrences, they were unable to leave Kazeh in Unyanyembe until September, 1861. From this point they took a new route to the north-west, passing through the dis- tricts of Uzinza and Karagire, the latter a highland region, and crossing the Kitangule River, went on to Mashonde (lat. 50' S.) in the upper parts of the Uganda country. Here, on this jour- ney, was obtained the first view of the N’yanza. This is more than a hundred and sixty miles in a direct line from the point at which Captain Speke had previously reached the lake. Speke prefers to call this great body of water — considerably exceeding in proportions those of Lake Superior — by the name of Victoria N’yauza. The travellers proceeded round the north- west, and part of the north coast of the lake, through a country composed of low sandstone hills, streaked by small streams — the effect of almost constant rains — and grown over w ith gi- gantic grass, except in places which are under cultivation. 56 REGENT EXPLORATIONS. North of the equator the landscape presented the same fea- tures, but with an increase of beauty. The Mwcranga and the Luajerri, two rivers of moderate dimensions, flowing to the north, were crossed, and farther to the east the Nile itself, described as issuing from the lake by a passage over rocks of an igneous character, with a descent of twelve feet immediately below, forming what the explorer calls the “ Ripon Falls.” At this point the coast-line of the lake was abandoned, and the stream of the river followed downward to the Karuma Falls (lat. 2° 20' N.), the course of it lying at first through sandstone hills, among which it rushes with great force, afterwards pass- ing over long flats, where it has the aspect of a lake rather than a river. The prevalence of wars prevented the continu- ance of the track along the course of the stream immediately below the Karuma Falls, and therefore the river was left for a time ; but Speke, continuing his route to the north-west, again came upon it in the Madi country (lat. 3° 40' N. ), where “ it still bore the unmistakable character of the Nile — long flats, long rapids.” From this point the Nile flows northwards, and a little below receives a considerable affluent, the Asua River, and continues the same general course. At Gondokoro (lat. 4° 50' N.) the expedition met Sir Samuel Baker. They were now upon known ground. They had reached Gondokoro in February, 1863, more than twenty-eight months after having left Zanzibar. Mr. Petherick, who had been despatched from England with well-appointed means to ascend the Nile valley, in order to aid in the accomplishment of the main purpose of the expedition, did not arrive at Gondokoro till after Speke and Grant had also reached that point in their return course. He therefore accom- plished nothing at this time in the way of geographical discov- ery. On a previous occasion he had partially examined the Bahr-el-Ghazal, a western affluent of the Nile, joining it about lat. 9° 10' N., and had by that means added to our knowledge of the river. Madame Tinn4 and her daughter, accompanied by Dr. ITeuglin, a German savant, undertook the examination of the Bahr-el-Ghazal basin, at a later date, but they accom- plished nothing. Their attempt alone is worthy of record. The results of Captain Speke’s expedition, though of great value to geography, even regarding his later travels, are not final in respect to the sources of the Nile. Neither the Victoria nor the Albert N’yanza can claim to be the head of that great river. We shall have occasion hereafter to refer in detail to Captain Speke’s explorations. RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 57 'The chapters on Stanley and Livingstone, and Livingstone’s last journey, show that Dr. Livingstone believed himself to be on the upper course of the Nile, in his exploration of the Luapula and Lualaba rivers, and consequently that its sources lie much farther south than has been hitherto supposed. But Schweinfurtli’s recent journey carried him to the very region whence the Lualaba must come, if it connects with the Nile either through the Albert N’yanza or the upper waters of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and he found all the streams flowing westward, and probably into the Shary. This latter traveller discovered the very springs from which the Dyoor, which he believes (apparently with good reason) to be the main stream of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, issues. The other chief affluents come from the north-west. To the southward the course of recent African discovery has been chiefly in connection with the valley of the river Zambesi and the affluents to its extensive basin. The results accomplished in this direction are mainly due to the energy of Dr. Livingstone, and an account of his journeys will be given more at length. For nearly three-quarters of a century, the countries watered by the Niger have offered an inviting fleld for African travel and discovery. Particulars have already been stated in respect to earlier efforts. The work of the Landers has also been spoken of. Laird and Oldfield, in 1833, ascended the river, ac- companied by Mr. William Allen, who executed a survey of it from the sea up to some distance above the point where it is joined on the eastern bank by the great stream formerly known as Chadda, but since called Benue. In later years there have been repeated ascents of the Lower Niger, and also of the stream known as Old Calabar. The Niger expedition of 1841, fitted out by the British government for philanthropic pur- poses, with a view to the suppression of the slave-trade, proved an utter failure, and was also attended by great loss of life. But the feasibility of navigating the Lower Niger and Benue rivers has been fully demonstrated by Dr. Baikie, who, in 1854, took the steamer Pleiad up the stream to the point of conjunc- tion with the Benu6, and ascended the latter river to a dis- tance of more than three hundred miles above that point, or two hundred and fifty miles beyond the place of stopping which was reached by Allen and Oldfield in 1833. Dr. Bai- kie’s successful conduct of this enterprise induced the Brit- ish government to equip a new expedition, with a view to the forming of a station, alike for commercial purposes and 58 REGENT EXPLORATIONS. as a centre of missionary operations, at some point within the basins of the Lower Niger and Benue. Dr. Baikie left England in charge of this expedition in 1857, and, during the seven succeeding years, was engaged in various investiga- tions within the territory to which he had been specially com- missioned, as well as in journeys to the kingdom of Kano and the high grounds dividing the basin of the Niger from that of Lake Tsad. He died on his return to England, in 1864, and much of the results of his expedition perished with him. The voyage of the Pleiad was supplementary in some meas- ure to the purposes of an exploration of Central Africa by overland journey through the desert, conducted at the expense of the British government by Mr. Richardson, Dr. Barth, and Mr. Overweg. Of this expedition details are furnished in a later chapter. Captain Tuckey, as we have already seen, commanded an English expedition for exploring the Congo River, which made the attempt in 1816, without accomplishing much in the way of discovery. Captain Bedingfield organized a fresh expedition in 1864. There was no difficulty in ascending the river for up- wards of one hundred miles ; but at that point there are for- midable rapids through which the stream rushes between high rocks. These form a great impediment to navigation ; but beyond them, for the 180 miles of its course which have been explored, the Congo is again a noble stream, maintaining a width of from one to five miles. Its source is unknown, but the German geographer Petermann regards it as identical with Livingstone’s Lualaba, and hence as connected with the vast lacustrine system of the equatorial region. Further explora- tions are now (October, 1874) in progress, which it is to be hoped will settle this latter question. Carl Johann Andersson, a Swedish naturalist and traveller, has added considerably to our knowledge of Africa below the parallel of Lake Ngami. In 1850 he joined Francis Galton in a journey from Whale Bay to the countries of the Damaras and the Ovambas. He continued his explorations alone in 1853-4, and on his arrival in England, in 1855, published “Lake Ngami; or, Explorations and Discoveries during Four Years’ Wanderings in the Wilds of South-western Africa.” Returning to Africa in 1856, he made a second journey to Lake Ngami, and found his way up to the Okavango River, through the territory of the Ovambo, one of the principal red tribes of the Herrevo land, which land had never before been visited by any European except the’ German misp ionary RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 59 lingo Halm. In 18G1 he published in London an account of the Okavango River. In 18GG he attempted a third journey, and penetrated to the Cunene, but died at Ovaeuambi ou the way home. The journeys of Ladislaus Magyar, a Hungarian traveller, made in 1849-’53, have nearly succeeded in supplying our knowl- edge of the district lying between the most northern point reached by Andersson, and the route of Livingstone from the valley of the Upper Zambesi to the western coast. Leaving Bengncla, the most southern Portuguese port, in 1849, he ac- companied a native caravan to the inland kingdom of Bihe, where he took up his residence and married the daughter of the king. Making Bihe his base of operations, he made two long journeys into the interior, in one of which he reached the kingdom of Moluwa, which he declares to be the most power- ful in Central Africa. It seems to be the same as that of Ca- zembe or Londa. In his other journey he struck northward and discovered the Cunene River, which Andersson had barely caught sight of. M. Paul dn Chaillu, a Franco- American traveller, travelled in Africa for his own pleasure, in 1859, within a tract of country extending two degrees on either side of the equator, and adjoin- ing the north of the Gaboon R»veron the west coast. He trav- elled nearly 8,000 miles on foot, and in the course of his jour- neys shot and stuffed over two thousand birds, of which sixty were . previously unknown, and killed over 1,000 quadrupeds, among which were several gorillas never before hunted and probably never before seen by a white man. The history of this expedition, published in New York and London (in 18G1) under the title of u Explorations and Adventures in Equato- rial Africa,” is a valuable contribution to the geography, ethnol- ogy, and zoology ol Western Africa. Unfortunately many of his statements where received with distrust, chiefly because they did not accord with the maps of Barth and Petennann. A bitter controversy arose as to his truthfulness, but L is accu- racy on most controverted points has been vindicated by the French travellers Servai and Griffon du Bellay, who. in charge of a government expedition, explored the Ogowai River and the adjacent country in 18G2. Ilis statements concerning the Fan tribe were verified by Burton. In 1861-2, Captain Burton increased his manifold claims to gratitude on account of African discovery by a careful exam- ination of some of the smaller rivers that enter the Bight of Benin, and also by the ascent of the lofty Cameroon* Moun- 60 RECENT EXPLORATIONS . tain, a volcano not yet wholly extinct, which lie identifies with the Theoa Ochema of Ilanno’s Peri pi ns. Tlie highest point of the mountain, according to his observation, is upwards of thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. The elevated regions of the Cameroon s are covered every morning, even dur- ing the hot season, with a layer of hoarfrost, and are well suited for the purposes of a sanitarium. Probably the gain of modern travel in the southern half of Africa lias been more remarkable in regard to the physical conformation of the continent than in any other particular. Instead of the high plateau-lands of which it was long supposed to consist, the interior appears to exhibit a series of watered plains, but moderately elevated above the level of the sea, and bordered on either hand by ranges of higher ground, through openings between which the waters of the interior reach the ocean upon either side. The numerous lake basins, already ascertained to exist within the eastern interior, to the south of the equator, constitute one of the most important features of modern geography, and one that stands most in contrast with the popular conceptions of a region generally associated with the in tensest conditions of heat and aridity. But much is yet wanting to give anything like an approach to completeness of knowledge in regard to the African Continent. CHAPTER V. BARTH, OVERWEG, AND RICHARDSON.— ASHANTEE. In 1849 the British government having determined to send out an expedition for the purpose of concluding commercial treaties with the chiefs of Northern Africa as far as Lake Tsad, and also if possible to explore the course of the Niger, the command was given to Mr. James Richardson. At the sug- gestion of Petermann, Dr. Heinrich Barth and Mr. Adolf Over- weg were invited to accompany the expedition for the purpose of making scientific observations. Both Richardson and Barth had previously travelled in Africa, the latter haing made a jour- ney, in 1845, from Tangier in Morocco along the coast of Tunis, Algeria, and Tripoli, thence into the interior as far as Ben- ghazi, and thence across the desert to Egypt. In December, 1849, Dr. Barth and Mr. Overweg arrived at Tunis, and from thence proceeded to Tripoli, from which they set forth on their long and perilous expedition. Barth writes : “ It was late in the afternoon of the 24th of March, 1850, when Overweg and I, seated in solemn state upon our camels, left the town with our train, preceded by the Consul, Mr. Crow, by Mr. Reade, and Mr. Dickson and his family, of all of whom we took a hearty leave under the olive-trees near Kasrel Haem .’ 99 More than five years were to pass ere Dr. Barth, the only survivor of the departing company, should again clasp hands with civilized man under these olive-trees. They were joined by Mr. Richardson and his party a few days after they had left, and proceeded on their journey through corn-fields and green pastures, succeeded by stony valleys in which were many Roman remains, which indicated that in that part of the world the universal conquerors had occupied important positions. They came upon the ruins of a massive stronghold, a gate with an arch of remarkably fine masonry, and several sepulchral monuments, — one of them forty-eight feet high and richly decorated, all proving that these deserted regions were once inhabited by a wealthy and highly civilized population. One of the most remarkable of these remains i9 a small building which had evidently been used as a Christian 62 BARTH, OVERWEG , AND RICHARDSON. church. Dr. Barth believes it to have belonged to a small monastery, but there is no historical certainty. Between this point and Murzook, the capital of Fezzan, the country is very desolate, — stony ravines shut in by steep and gloomy-looking cliffs, their dnlness and monotony being re- lieved only at long intervals by occasional clumps of palm- trees. Beyond Murzook the way lies along mountain-passes, in which there are many curious sculptures on the sandstone blocks. The scenery, by and by, becomes soft and beautiful ; but the habits of the people are predatory and dangerous to travellers. The blacksmith is in high repute among these tribes, and this is not unnatural, so far as respects his trade ; but he is generally the “ prime minister ” of the chief. There is a widely spread superstition to the effect that certain magical powers belong in some mysterious way to workers in iron ; and in many countries, from the earliest times, “ the smith ” has been invested with a character of indefinable dread. These people seem to belong to the Shemitic branch of the human race. When the travellers arrived at Agades, in the middle of the Great Desert, Dr. Barth paid a visit to the Sultan. Ilis dwell- ing and his appointments were homely. lie was not yet in- stalled. In a few days he made a more regal appearance, — mounted on a valuable horse, and wearing a robe of colored silk and cotton, over which was a costly blue bernous which Dr. Barth had presented, while at his side was a cimetar with a gold handle. The procession was very long and imposing, chiefly on account of the great number of horsemen included in it. Agades is built entirely of wood and clay, but is neat and cleanly in its appearance. There is in it one very curious building entirely constructed of clay, which was probably designed for a watch-tower; the base is about thirty feet square, and the height more than ninety feet, tapering to about eight feet square at the top. The interior is apparently unfin- ished ; but that part of it is not open to the visits of any but Mahometans. Fart of it was seen, but the greater part was kept concealed. The clay of the tower is kept together by the introduction of boards of the diim-tree. The travellers, often retarded, went southwards towards the more important town of Kano, and in the course of their jour- ney were greatly harassed by the many predatory tribes which infest the mountain-passes and levy contributions from the caravans, much in the manner of the Scottish Borderers in the days of the strong hand ; at one time Bartb was captured and BARTH ; OVER WE 0 , AiVT) RICHARDSON. 63 very narrowly escaped death at their hands. Salt was the only article conveyed by the caravan with which they travelled. There are two kinds of it, — one solidified, and the other in loose grains, this latter being scarce and very dear. There was great merriment in the evening before leaving Agades, and, early next day, the united caravan, an imposing cavalcade, started on its long journey, and took its course along the rocky defiles of the valley. There was now real travelling ; but as yet the route presented nothing of the barrenness of the desert, — trees were frequent, and the few villages which were passed were surrounded with corn-fields. In some parts there were reeds, ten feet high, obstructing the progress of the travellers. They say that they had now reached those fertile regions of Central Africa which are not only able to sustain their own population, but have material to export to other countries. The inhabitants of the villages, though pagans and mostly slaves, welcomed the strangers, and provided abundant food for the whole caravan. Barth observed here the peculiar style of roof which seems to be characteristic of the tribes of Central Africa. The huts are built with stalks of the Indian corn, without any other support, except a few branches of the As- clepias gigantea. “ In examining these structures one cannot but feel surprised at the great similarity which they bear to the huts of the aboriginal inhabitants of Latium, such as they are described by Vitruvius and other authors, and represented oc- casionally on terra-cotta utensils ; while the name in the Bornu or Kaniiri language, 4 lcosi,’ bears a remarkable resemblance to the Latin name ‘casa,’ however accidental it may be.” In these huts the supply of corn was plentiful; huge baskets made of reeds were filled with it, and placed on a scaffold of wood about two feet high to protect them from the mouse and the ant, which are very numerous and destructive. On the 9th of January, 1851, they reached Tagelel, on the southern border of the Great Desert, and Mr. Bi chard soil went on by the road to Zinder, a town lying to the south-east of the caravan route, Dr. Barth and Mr. Overweg proceeding with the general caravan. They passed numerous fine trees, — the baobab, the tamarind, and the splendid tulip-tree among other kinds, with flocks of pigeons and guinea-fowl. Many corn-fields now al- ternated with cotton plantations, and furnished proof of the f reat fertility and commercial importance of Central Africa. 'here were numerous herds of cattle, and the inhabitants of the villages seemed to have abundance and to live in peace. The picture which Dr. Barth gives of the first large town he 64 BARTH ; OVERWEG, AND RICHARDSON. visited in Kegroland proper, Tasawa, is very pleasing. The huts were partly built of clay, and the roofs neatly thatched with reeds ; the court-yard being fenced in with the same. A cool outer building, composed of reeds and lattice-work, was usually reserved for the reception of visitors and the transac- tion of business ; and the whole dwelling was shaded by spreading trees. In almost all instances there were included in the scene groups of children, goats, fowls, pigeons, and, where a little wealth had been acquired, a horse or a pack-ox. The people themselves are a kind and cheerful race, enjoying to the full, apparently, the good things around them. BAOBAB TREE. The next town is Gazawa, which has rude fortifications of clay. As in the case of the last town, there is here also a dye- ing place, indigo being cultivated in the neighborhood. The nearest town southward is Katsena, from which the travellers again set forth with the salt caravan towards the long-looked- for city of Kano. The intervening country they found to be exceedingly beautiful, with a great variety of herbage and foliage. There were birds of many kinds, known and un- known, with herds of milk-white cattle scattered over the rich pasture-grounds. The rather sparse population appeared active and industrious. Women, carrying on their heads from six to ten calabashes, filled with various articles, here joined BARTH ; OVKRWEQ , .4 AD D/C/LdDDSOA. 65 the caravan ; a troop of men, with loads of indigo plants to be prepared for dyeing, met them soon after as they passed over extensive tobacco-fields ; while beehives, formed or thick hol- low log3, were fastened to the branches of the colossal luika- trees. At length, through cultivated fields, and past popu- lous villages, where the preparation of indigo was carried on, they came in' sight of Kano, and Barth entered the city after nearly a year’s continuous travel, on the evening of the 2d of February, 1851. His high expectations in regard to the city, known as the great emporium of Central Negroland, do not seem to have been disappointed. K&no is a large and flourishing town, “ a little world in itself, so different in exter- nal form from all that is seen in European towns, yet so simi- lar ” in many other respects. Dr. Barth says of it, there is — “ Here a row of shops, filled with articles of native and for- eign produce, with buyers and sellers in every variety of figure, complexion, and dress, yet all intent upon their little gains, en- deavoring to cheat each other ; there a large shed with sides like a hurdle, full of half-naked, half-starved slaves, torn from their native homes, arranged like rows of cattle, and staring desperately upon the buyers, anxiously watching into whose hands it might be their destiny to fall. In another part were all the necessaries of life, the wealthy buying the more palata- ble things for his table, the poor stopping and looking greedily upon a handful of grain. Here a rich governor, in silk and gaudy clothes, mounted on a spirited and richly caparisoned horse, and followed by a host of idle and insolent slaves ; there a poor blind man groping his way through the multitude, and fearing at every step to be trodden down. Here a yard neatly fenced with reeds, and a clean, snug-looking cottage, the clay walls nicely polished, a shutter of reeds placed against the low, well-rounded door, a cool shade for the daily house- hold work, a tine spreading alleluba-tree with its deep shadow during the hottest hours of the day, or a beautiful gdnda or pa- paya unfolding its large feather-like leaves, or the tall date-tree waving over the whole ; the matron in a clean black cotton gown wound round her waist, her hair neatly dressed, busy preparing the meal for her absent husband, or spinning cotton, at the same time urging her female slaves to pound the corn ; the children, naked and merry, playing about in the yard or chasing a stubborn goat; earthenware pots and wooden bowls, all cleanly washed, standing in order. Farther on, a dashing Cyprian, homeless, childless, but affecting merriment, gaudily ornamented with numerous strings of beads round her neck, 66 BARTH \ OVER WHO, AND RICHARDSON. her hair bound with a diadem ; near her a diseased wretch, covered with ulcers or with elephantiasis.” The people, moreover, seemed to be all emplo) r ed. “ There is now,” continues Barth, u a ‘ marina ’ (an open ter- race of clay, with many dyeing-pots), and the people busily en- gaged in the various processes of their handicraft. Farther on a blacksmith, busy with his rude tools, making a dagger which will surprise by its sharpness those who feel disposed to laugh at the workman’s implements. In another place are men and women making use of a little-frequented place to hang up along the fences their cotton thread for weaving. Here is a caravan arrived from Genja with the desired kola-nut, chewed by all who have 4 ten kurds ’ to spare from their necessary wants; or a caravan laden with natron, starting for Kupe, or a troop of A’sbenawa, going off with their salt for the neighbor- ing towns, or some Arabs leading their camels, heavily laden with the luxuries of the north and east ; and there a troop of gaudy, warlike-looking horsemen galloping towards the palace of the governor, to bring him the news of a new inroad of Scrki Ibram. Everywhere human life in its varied forms, the most cheerful and the most gloomy, seemed closely mixed to- gether ; every variety of natural form and complexion — the olive-colored Arab, the dark Kantiri with his wide nostrils, the small-featured, light, and slender Ba-Fellanchi, the broad-faced Mandingo, the stout, large-boned, and masculine-looking Ndpc female, the well-proportioned and comely Ba-IIanshe woman.” The people are for the most part Mohometans, yet there is a large amount of paganism still existing, and rites really pagan are performed in the province of Kano, as well as in that of Katsena. Captain Clapperton estimated the population at between 30,000 and 40,000. Barth at about 30,000 ; but this includes only the stationary population, for during the busy time of the year, from January to April, the influx of strangers is so great, that there are probably in the place as many as 50,000. The commerce of such a town must of course be considerable. The principal article is the cotton cloth which is woven and dyed there. Of this there are several varieties, some of them being mixed with silk. Goods alto- gether of silk are also manufactured, the silk being obtained from a worm which lives on the tamarind-tree. There is also leather-work produced, which is excellent; and shoes, sandals, and pouches, of remarkably neat workmanship, are largely exported. The chief imports are the kola-nut, which has be- come to these people as necessary as tea and coffee are to us. BARTH , OVERWEO , .4 AID RICHARDSON. 67 There are also many slaves bought and sold. The number of these Barth found it difficult to estimate, but he calculates that at the time of his visit more than five thousand annually were imported. There must, however, be a much larger number, as the supply for the domestic use of the inhabitants of the prov- ince and of the adjoining districts is not included in this esti- mate. Natron, salt, and European produce of various kinds also find a ready market at Kano ; but calicoes and muslins are almost the only English or American articles. Of the pre- cious metals there is no great abundance. Gold is the general standard of value, but it is not used as currency, — shells (kurdi), and a kind of cloth termed “turkedi,” supplying the place of coinage. The whole province is supposed to contain more than half a million inhabitants, about half of whom are slaves. The rule of the governor, and a kind of council associated with him, is, on the whole, not oppressive, although, as among more civilized communities, heavy taxation is not unknown. Barth, after about a month’s residence, left Kano and pro- ceeded eastward to Kfikawa, passing through the frontier coun- try, which is infested with thieves. In this territory there is an immense level tract, which is partly desert, and afterwards there occurs a more fertile region, in which the villages exhib- ited a cheerful picture of wealth and industry ; and then he entered “ Bornu Proper.” It was here that he heard of the death of Mr. Richardson, whom, within a week or two, he had expected to meet again. He went on to Ngunituwa, to visit liis grave, which he found under a fig-tree, and well protected with thorn-bushes, for the story of the white man’s untimely end had awakened the sympathies of the people, and they had done him all honor in his burial. Keeping on through the country, he found it partly cultivated and partly covered with thick underwood, which was full of locusts ; and soon found himself in the neighborhood of a river. This was “the great Komadugn of Bornu.” A fine expanse of water came in sight, and there were many footprints of elephants. Barth was at- tended only by two young servants, and as they went onwards they came upon a company of wandering herdsmen, who gave the travellers a cordial welcome, bringing them immense bowls of milk and “ fresh butter prepared with as much cleanliness and taste as in any English or Swiss dairy.” These herdsmen are of the Fellatah tribe, but are permitted to pasture their flocks even in the midst of a hostile race, without pay ng any tribute to the Sheikh. These hospitable people assisted the strangers to ford the Kom&dugu, which was only three feet deep 63 BARTH , OVERWEG, AND RICHARDSON. where they crossed, although there were channels of greater depth at either side ; nor would they leave them until they had conducted them through the dense covert of underwood which bordered the eastern bank of the river. Great kindness, in various ways, was shown by these people. It is indeed impos- sible to read of the many humane services which Barth received at the hands of these simple tribes, or his description of their natural intelligence, their industry, and their domestic habits, without earnestly desiring that they may be speedily brought within the sphere of civilization. The authorities at Kiikawa gave the traveller a courteous reception, and he was afterwards put in possession of Mr. Richardson’s papers and journals, together with most of his effects. The Sheikh Omar, whom lie found to be a veritable black prince, was of mild temper and indolent habits, ruling only in name, — the real power being in the hands of his Vizier, el Hat Besliir, an intelligent man, who in 1843 had gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca, like a devout follower of the Prophet, whose precepts respecting wine, and whose license as to the pleasures of the harem, lie both duly observed. This latter “institution” was on a royal scale, consisting of between three aud four hundred beauties of different tribes, not only of Negrcland, but of more Northern climes — a real live Circas- sian, as he exultingly told Dr. Barth, having a place among them. After having been the Sheikh’s right-hand man for many years, poor el IJaj Besliir was put to death in 1853, leav- ing behind him a patriarchal family of seventy-three sons, and daughters without number. On the whole this man was not only intelligent but upright. Barth had many conversations with him on the importance of extending the commerce of B6rnu, and of suppressing the slave-trade. lie fully appreci- ated the former ; and he also acknowledged the misery con- nected with the latter, but it was difficult to make him sensible of the horrors of slave-hunting. He was desirous of entering into commercial relations with England, but wished the sale of two things to be prohibited — spirituous liquors and Bibles. The objection to the sale of Bibles is curious, as he did not object to their being brought into the country or given as presents. A comfortable clay dwelling having been put at the dis- posal of Barth and Overweg, they sought to make themselves at home, and to become acquainted with the town. Their abode consisted of several small but neat rooms, with sur- rounding yards and thatched huts, the whole being designated BARTH \ OVER WHO, AND RICHARDSON. 69 “the English house;” the town they found to be much infe- rior in population and luxury to Kano. But Lake Ts&d (Tchad or Chad) was the great attraction, and under the care of an escort provided by the Vizier they proceeded thither. It was the dry season, and the lowlands usually covered with water were now grassy meadows. Passing over these, after little more than half an hour’s ride they “ reached swampy ground, and thus came to the margin of a tine open sheet of water, en- compassed with papyrus and tall reeds, of from ten to four- teen feet in height, of two different kinds, the one called * mel4,’ and the other 4 here ’ or 4 bele.’ The thicket was inter- woven by a climbing plant with yellow flowers, while on the surface was a floating plant, called facetiously by the natives, 4 fannavilla-dago ’ (the homeless fauna). This creek was called 4 Ngiruwa.’ ” Coming upon deep water full of grass, they soon reached another creek, and sighted two small boats belonging to the pirates of the Ts&d, small flat-boats, made of the light and nar- row wood of the “ fego,” about twelve feet long, and man- aged by two men each. They went onward, startling large herds of kelara — a peculiar kind of antelope which is fond of the water — and in their progress became immersed so deeply in water that they might have drunk of it by stooping down a little, though they were oil horseback. The draught was not tempting, however, for the water was very warm and full of vegetable matter. It is perfectly fresh. The account which is given us of Lake Ts&d is deeply interesting. It is a huge inland sea, spreading out its placid waters, its banks fringed with gigantic reeds, sheltering many hippopotami, with light barks floating on its surface, some with gleaming white sails in the far distance. The people on the islands build boats of twenty feet in length, though narrow. One which accompanied Mr. Overweg on a voyage which he made on these waters was nearly fifty feet long, although only six and a half wide. Dr. Barth says : 44 1 invariably understood from all the people with whom I spoke about this interesting lake, that the open water, with its islands of elevated sandy downs, stretches from the mouth of the Shary towards the western shore, and that all the rest of the lake consists of swampy meadow lands, occasionally inundated. Indeed, Tsad, or Tsade, is nothing else but an- other form for Shary, Shari, or Sari.” In May, 1851, Dr. Barth, leaving Overweg to explor3 Lake Tsad in a boat which had been brought in sections overland from Tripoli, went on a journey southwards to Acamaue 70 BARTH, OVERWEG , AND RICHARDSON. (Adamawa on the map), where lie hoped to be able to trace the eastern branch of the Niger, and proceeded along a dreary country, where the footprints of the giraffe were first visible, and in which wild hogs abounded. Farther on there were corn-fields, cotton-fields, and, in one instance, a dyeing-place, giving proof of a certain amount of industry in the villages, which now became numerous. In passing through the border country of the Margin, a pagan tribe, he was struck with the symmetry of the forms and features of the people, who, in many instances, had nothing of the Negro type. They seemed, moreover, a pleasant, good-natured race, whom it was sad to see so unmercifully trodden down by their Mohometan neighbors. Passing the village of I’sge, the first view of Mount Mendefi was obtained, which, since it was seen by Major Denham on his adventurous expedition, has become so celebrated, occasioning all sorts of conjectures and theories. From a close examination he concludes that it is not the centre of an} considerable mountain mass, but a detached cone, rising from a level plain, and probably of volcanic origin. Ten days’ journey brought them to the border of Adainaua, and the} 7 took up their abode in Mubi, the first village. They were accommodated by the governor in a spacious and cool hut, with a courtyard, and for his courtesy they presented him with ten sheets of paper — a gift so munificent to one who, al- though claiming to be a man of learning, “had never before seen so much writing iriaterial together,” that his delight was unbounded. When they again set out on their journey, the whole village was excited by a marvellous novelty; but, says Barth, naively, “ the wonder was not ourselves, but our camel.” Many had never seen one at all, and it was fifteen years since the last had passed along this road. The people here are re- markably courteous. Ground nuts form a large proportion of the food of the inhabitants — as potatoes in Ireland. Corn is also grown, and the fields are adorned with the butter-tree, which is greatly valued. People were everywhere busy in the fields, and the country altogether presented a pleasant aspect of industry. A wild and hilly district succeeded, and' then they entered the village of Sarauri, very neat in the construction of its huts, and abundant in its proofs of domestic comfort. The vegeta- tion was rich, and the country was open and pleasant. Forests and cultivated ground followed, and then corn-fields, where the corn (Permisetiim) stood already five feet high, and indi- cations of watercourses and tracks of the hippopotamus showed BARTH , OVERWEQ , AA7) RICHARDSON. 71 that they were approaching the great artery of the country. In the immediate neighborhood of the water there were great ant-hills, ranged in almost parallel lines; and in the distance was Mount Alantika, a large and isolated mass rising abruptly on the east side, and forming a more gradual slope towards the west, exhibiting a smooth and broad top, which must be spacious, inasmuch as it contains the estates of seven independ- ent chiefs. Its height was estimated at between seven thou- sand and eight thousand feet. But the principal object of interest was the river Benue, which they came upon on the 18th of June, just where it is joined by the rapid F&ro. Barth says : — “ As I looked from the bank over the scene before me, I was quite enchanted, although the whole country bore the charac- ter of a desolate wilderness ; but there could scarcely be any great traces of human industry near the river, as during its floods it inundates the whole country on both sides. The principal river — the Benue — flowed here from east to west, in a broad and majestic course, through an entirely open country, from which, only here and there, detached mountains started forth. The banks on our side rose to twenty feet, while just opposite to my station, behind a pointed headland of sand, the F&ro rushed forth, appearing from this point not much inferior to the Benue, and coming in a fine sweep from the south-east, where it disappeared in the plain, but was traced by me in thought upwards to the steep eastern foot of the Alantika. The liver below the junction keeping the direction of the principal branch, but making a slight bend to the north, ran along the northern foot of Mount B&gele, and was there lost to the eye, but followed in thought through the mountainous region of the Bachama and Zina to Namarruwa, and thence along the industrious country of Kororefa, till it joined the great western river, the Kwara, or Niger, and conjointly with it ran towards the great ocean I had now with my own eyes clearly established the direction and nature of this mighty river, and there could no longer be any doubt that this river joins the majestic watercourse explored by Messrs. Allen, Laird, and Oldfield. Hence I cherish the well-founded con- viction that, along this natural high-road, European influence and commerce will penetrate into the very heart of the conti- nent, and abolish slavery — or rather those infamous slave-hunts and religious wars spreading devastation and desolation all around The river, where we crossed it, was, at the very least, eight hundred yards broad, and in its channel 72 BARTH ; OVERWEQ, AND RICHARDSON. generally eleven feet deep, and was liable to rise, under ordinary circumstances, at times thirty, or even fifty”, feet higher The second river, the Faro, is stated to come from Mount Labul, about seven days’ march to the south. It was at present about six hundred yards broad, but generally not exceeding two feet in deptli ; its current, however, is ex- tremely violent. We next entered upon low meadow-land, overgrown with tall reed-grass, which, a month later, is en- tirely inundated to such a depth that only the crowns of the tall- est trees are seen rising above the water, of which they bore unmistakable traces, the highest line thus marked being about sixty feet above the present level of the river My companions from Adamaua were almost unanimous in repre- senting the waters as preserving their highest level for forty days, which, according to their accounts, would extend from about the 20th of August till the end of September. This statement of mine, made, not from my own experience, but from the information of the natives, has been but slightly modified by the experience of those eminent men sent out by Her Majesty’s government in the Pleiad. That the fall of the river, at this point of the junction, begins at the very end of September, has been exactly confirmed by these gentle- men.” The way, on leaving the river, led through a fine, park-like plain, dotted with a few mimosas of middling size, and clear of underwood ; and, as the travellers proceeded onward, they came upon beautiful views of cultivated country, enlivened by numer- ous herds of cattle, with many villages and rich corn-fields. Next comes Mount Bagele, inhabited in its neighborhood, and especially in its fastnesses, by tribes which have long main- tained their independence — an independence which, it is to be feared, has not only already been partly compromised, but which is likely to be further encroached upon. Still passing southward through a beautiful country, Barth reached the capi- tal of Adamaua — Yola — a large, open place, consisting, with few exceptions, of conical huts, surrounded by spacious court- yards, and even by corn-fields, the houses of the governor and those of his brothers being alone built of clay. The travellers were cordially welcomed, the people crowding round to shake hands with the white man. Even the governor was most polite and friendly, but positively refused to allow him to proceed. Conference and negotiation were vain, and after days spent in such unprofitable endeavors, the poor, sick traveller received an order to leave the town instantly. Mortified at this unexpected BARTH \ OVERWEQ , AND RICHARDSON. 73 failure of his project of journeying farther south, and weak from fever, he was lifted on his horse and departed. Yola, which was thus the most southerly point of Barth’s journey, is a new town, with little trade or manufacture. Shivery exists both in the town and the surrounding country on an immense scale. There are many persons who own more than a thousand slaves 1 The tribute received yearly by the governor is paid in horses, cattle, and slaves, and of that the slave portion is said to be five thousand. On his return journey the exceeding beauty of the country again interested the traveller, as did also the comfort of the dwellings of the tribes through which he had occasion to pass. The customs of these tribes are sometimes curious : for exam- ple, their ordeal on the holy granite rock of Kobshi. When two parties have come into litigation, each of them takes the cock which he thinks best for fighting, and they go together to Kobshi. Having arrived at the holy rock, they set their birds fighting, and he whose cock prevails in the combat is also the winner in the question in litigation. Moreover, the master of the defeated bird is punished by the divinity whose anger he has thus provoked, and, on returning to the village, he finds his hut in flames. The worship of these tribes is performed in holy groves, and, like many others, they venerate their an- cestors. The people are of Berber origin, and many customs of great antiquity subsist among them. Thus the Kamiri, even in the present'day, especially their kings, are called after the name of their mother ; and, although they should be Ma- hometans, as some of them are, the custom still continues. The ancient form of election in respect to the king among the people of Bornu seems to lead us back to ancient Egypt. On the death of the monarch, three of the most distinguished men of the country were appointed to choose a successor from among the deceased king’s 6ons. The choice being made, the three electors proceeded to the apartment of the sovereign-elect, and conducted him in silence to the place in which lay ihe corpse of his deceased father. There, over the body, die newly elected king entered into an agreement, sanctioned by oath, binding himself to respect the ancient institutions, and employ himself for the glory of his country. A similiar custom obtains in the province of Muniyo at the present day. Every newly elected Muniydma is in duty bound to remain for 6eveu days in a cave, hollowed out by nature or by the hand of man, in the rock behind the place of sepulchre of the former Mfiniydma, in the ancient town of G&mmasak, although that 74 BARTH ; OVERWEG , #/C7//l/7DS0iV. town is quite deserted and does not contain a single inhab- itant. When Barth drew near to Kiikawa, three appointed horse- men met him, and conducted him to his house with all honor. The Vizier received him in the presence of a great multitude, and kindly condoled with him on his illness. The rainy sea- son having now set in, he remained lor a time at Kiikawa, and then, accompanied by Ovcrweg, made an excursion to Kanem, an immense unexplored region lying north-east of Lake Tsad, and extending almost to Abyssinia. Keeping along the shores of Lake Tsad, he found cotton -lields ; cotton, a little wheat, fish from the lake, and the fruit of the “dum palm” being the sole produce. Of fish there are several palatable kinds, and among them one resembling the mullet, eighteen or twenty inches long. The electric fish is also found here. While on the shores of the lake, ho had the good fortune to enjoy one of the most interest- ing sights which these regions can possibly afford — a whole herd of elephants, arranged in regular array, like an army of rational beings, proceeding to the water. They were ninety-six in num- ber ; tlie huge males marched first, the young ones followed at a little distance, and in a third line were the females, the whole being brought up by five males of immense size. These turned to notice the travellers, and threw dust into the air as though in defiance, but not being disturbed, they passed quietly on. The next zoological experience was not so pleas- ant ; this was a large snake hanging in a threatening attitude from the branches of a tree. It was shot, and measured 18 feet 7 inches, its diameter being 5 inches; it was beautifully variegated. Further on they reached the encampment of the Welad Sliman, a wild horde, who welcomed them, starting from the thicket right and left, firing their muskets, and utter- ing the cry, “ Ya riyab, ya riyab ! ” 13y and by the whole cavalry of the Welad Sliman appeared, drawn up in a line, in their best attire, and headed by their chiefs. Biding up to the travellers, they saluted them with their pistols in true eastern style, and Barth and Overwcg were conducted to the encamp- ment of these Arab robbers. The Welad Sliman are a brave, fierce tribe ; originally driven from the Syrtis, they have established themselves in this border region of Negroland. The travellers, during their stay, had full opportunity of learning the sort of life these people lived. On the night of their arrival a violent scream- ing issued from the women’s tents, and it was found that an- other robber tribe had made an attack on the camels, killed a BARTH, OVERWEO , AND RICHARDSON. 75 horseman, and carried away a part of the herd. “ To the sad- dle ! ” was the cry ; the robbers were pursued, and the camels retaken ; but the wail of the women over the slain men rang mournfully through the night. In a day or two there was a fresh cause of disturbance. The handsomest of the female slaves, intended for the establishment of the Vizier, had escaped. Search was made for her diligently, and at length her neck- lace, her clothes, and a few remaining bones showed that she had fallen a prey to the wild beasts. Soon after, discord -broke out among the leaders ; and many of the tribes left, impatient of the rule of the young chief. One day, during the season of these disturbances, a Zebu chieftain paid a “ friendly ” visit to Dr. Barth, and, before leaving, quietly requested to be ac- commodated with a little poison, which was, of course, refused. Fortunately, the exhibition of a watch and the wonders of a musical-box conciliated the savage. Other foemen approached, and “ To the saddle ! ” was again the cry. The travellers, not too soon, concluded that it would be wise to proceed on their journey, and they hurried through a well-watered country, stop- ping at a village where the people kindly welcomed them, inquiring about England, and whether the English were friendly towards them. The intelligence of these native tribes contrasted strongly with that of the Wel&d Sliman. The course still lay through cultivated districts, date-trees, cotton-fields, and corn-fields. Here, again a party of “the covetous Arab freebooters ” began to indulge in their predatory habits, at the expense of the owners of the small flocks of sheep belonging to the neighboring valley. But they were repulsed, and their booty was small ; aud, as a just retaliation, another plundering horde attacked them, and compelled them to abandon their whole spoil, and flee for their lives. Finding that a caravan was being formed to go to Kukawa, and now satisfied that their present mode of travelling was hazardous and comparatively useless, Barth and Overweg resolved to return with it, regret- ting to leave the eastern shore of Lake Tsad unexplored. When they arrived at Kiikawa, they found that there was an expedition about to proceed agaiust Mandara, and, desirous of visiting as many localities as possible, and of becoming ac- quainted with every phase of life in these regions, Barth joined it. There was an imposing army, headed by the Sheikh and his Vizier. The ostensible object was war against Mandara, but the real purpose was to fall upon the unprotected villages by the way, and to plunder and burn them, and seize their in- habitants for slaves ; this being the ordinary and popular plan 76 BARTH ; OVERWEO , iZ/OTAEDSOiV: for filling the Sheikh’s exchequer. The slave-rooms of the great men were moreover, at the time, remarkably empty. The army, on this occasion, consisted of nearly twenty thousand men, and it made an imposing appearance. The heavy cavalry were clad, some in thick wadded clothing, others in coats of mail with their tin helmets glittering in the sun, and mounted on large, heavy chargers. Then the light Shuwa horsemen, clad only in a loose shirt, and mounted on mean-looking horses ; the slaves decked out in red bernouses, or silks of various colors ; next, the Kanombu spearmen, with their large wooden shields, their aprons, and their strange head-dresses; while the train of camels and pack-oxen closed the long array, pressing onwards to the unknown regions towards the south-west. The progress of this military force was a very melancholy spectacle. They marched through luxuriant corn-fields, cutting down and carrying off what they chose, and trampling down what they left ; lopping off the branches of the finest trees for tent fences, and pursuing and killing every native man they could find. Dr. Barth expresses his disgust at joining this ex- pedition ; but justly remarks that only by this means could he ascertain whether the reports of the cruelties in the slave-hunts were true or exaggerated, and also whether the unfortunate tribes were really the savages they were represented to be. On both of these questions his testimony is most ample and con- clusive. So far from being mere savages, the villages of these unfortunate tribes bore witness to no small degree of civiliza- tion among their inhabitants. The huts were neatly constructed of clay, with thatched roofs of various forms, probably indicat- ing varieties of rank; each was neatly enclosed by a clay wall, and each had its thatched granary, its cooking- pi ace, and its water-jars. Most of the villages were overshadowed by beauti- ful trees, and coru and cotton fields — in one instance tobacco — and flocks of sheep and goats, and herds of cattle, showed the industry of the people. Another mark of civilization was the careful preservation of the dead in regular sepulchres, cov- ered in with large, well-rounded vaults, the tops of which were adorned with a couple of beams, cross-laid, or by an earthen urn. The meaning of the cross-beams it is not easy to conjecture, but the urn in all probability contains the head of the deceased. The slave-hunts are described as fearfully barbarous. The usual mode of proceeding is for large numbers of armed men to attack a village, set it on fire, and then seize the flying women and children, cutting down the men who resist, or who BARTH, OYERWEG , AND RICHARDSON. 77 are overtaken in their flight. On one occasion, Barth passed a burning village which only a few moments before had been the abode of comfort and happiness; and at Kdkal4, one of the most considerable villages in the Miisgu country, he found that, after some skirmishing, nearly a thousand slaves were brought in. Not fewer than a hundred and seventy full-grown men were mercilessly slaughtered in cold blood, the greater part of them being allowed to bleed to death, after a leg had been severed from the body. This expedition, with so large an army, and the destruction of so many villages, led to poor results. There were captured ten thousand cattle and about three thousand slaves, the greater part of the latter being so decrepit that they could scarcely walk, and infants and children under eight years old. The number of full-grown men was about three hundred. The en- couragement of industry and trade is the most likely means of suppressing this infamous traffic, and the desire of the natives for trade with the Europeans seems to indicate that the time is at hand. On the return march, a rather more easterly course was taken, and the Biver Log6n was approached. The sur- rounding country was found to be extensively cultivated and well watered. Both men and women are passionately fond of smoking. The next journey made by Barth was to the south-eastward, to Baghirmi. The traveller, on this occasion, had but one horse and a camel, and was attended only by two young lads. The country traversed was less fertile, the inhabitants less in- dustrious, and several towns which were passed were in a con- dition of decay. Karnak Logon, the capital of the province of Log6n, is a place of considerable size, and the palace of the Sultan, though of clay, a rather superior building. The Sultan granted the traveller an interview, and graciously accepted a present of Turkish trousers and some articles of hardware, be- ing most of all delighted with a few darning-needles, “ for he had never seen their like;” he therefore carefully counted them, and assigned them to their respective owners in the harem. The only return requested in connection with this splendid present was permission to navigate the river, and this was at once conceded. The scenery on the banks of the river was beautiful. Shortly after having begun his exploration, Barth was startled by the sudden appearance of an cld man who, with an imperious air, forbade him to survey the river, and ordered him to retrace his steps directly. Having had the permission of the Sultan, he was naturally confounded. But 78 BARTH , OVERWEO, AND RICHARDSON he was informed that this was the king of the waters, the “mar- dlegha,” and that he had full authority over the river. The traveller had known about the authority of the king of the river in the regions of the Niger, but was not aware of the prevalence of the custom here. There was much talk in the town about this desire to survey the river, and, when the Vizier was appealed to, he was anxious to know if, once embarked in a boat, Barth might not jump out in search for gold ; when the traveller told him be was rather afraid of the crocodiles. This considerably alleviated suspicion, for these people had sup- posed Europeans to be a sort of supernatural beings, exempt from every kind of fear. At eight, o’clock the next morning, therefore, Barth went on board his boat, and proceeded on his expedition. lie found along the shore a tall reed, which, as on the shores of the Tsad, was the true papyrus, from which the natives prepare a kind of cloth. The name Shary signifies nothing more specific than “ the river.” On this occasion there was no interference by the king of the river ; but nearly half the inhabitants of the town had come out to see what the Christian was doing. A crocodile having raised its head, Barth fired at it, and the crowd burst into loud acclamations as if they admired the deed. But the notion that the stranger was searching for gold was uppermost in their minds ; and when, soon afterwards, tempted by the smoothness and coolness of the stream, he jumped overboard, there was great shouting among them ; but when they saw him come out empty handed, they declared that they had been cheated, for they had certainly been told that he was searching for gold. We are not informed whether any gold was ever found in this river; but the unhesitating and general belief of the people leaves little room for doubt that there must have been. u This little excursion,” says Hr. Barth, “ cost me dear, for the people of Baghirmi, seeing me create such an uproar, felt inclined to suppose that if I entered their country I might create a dis- turbance” there; and their fears and jealousies no doubt led to the detentions and annoyances which soon after followed. The people of this province are not industrious. Still, they are neither savage nor totally idle. They cultivate and weave cotton, and produce a beautiful kind of lattice- work, while their ingenuity is also proved by their ornamental wooden bowls, and their productions in designs worked in straw. Their women are said to be very handsome. Leaving Kdrnak Logon, the next region was one which had never before been trodden by European feet ; and after pro- BARTH , OVERWEG, AND RICHARDSON. 79 ceeding some distance, there was seen through the brandies of the trees the splendid sheet of a large river, the pellucid sur- face of which was undisturbed by the slightest breeze. This was the real Shary, the great river of the Kokot6, which, aug- mented by the smaller but very considerable river of Logon, forms the large basin which gives to this part of Negroland its characteristic feature. Desiring to cross it, Barth was refused a passage by the ferry-man. Ilis fame had preceded him ; he was said to be a most dangerous person, who might even ruin the kingdom of Baghirmi. Resolved not to abandon the ob- ject for which he had journeyed so far, he endeavored to cross by stealth, and succeeded ; but his movements had been watched, and while resting in the shade, the head man in the neighboring village came upon him with an armed escort, and proliibited his further progress. lie remained in the village lor several days, strongly suspected by the inhabitants. lie was then sent from one place to another, and when, wearied with delays, he sought to return to his starting-point, he was seized and put in irons. Ultimately, under the care of a benevolent native, he was conducted to Ma-steiia, the capital. In the ab- sence of the Sultan, the governor apologized to him for the treatment which he had received, and restored to him all that had been taken from him. After a, stay of more than two months, there came the intel- ligence that the absent Sultan was really at hand ; and, ere long, he appeared in barbaric pomp, preceded by his cavalry, mounted himself on his war-horse, shaded with red and green umbrellas, fanned by ostrich plumes borne on long poles, and followed by the “war camel” bearing the kettle-drums, on which the drummer was exerting his utmost skill and strength. The royal- household followed, and conspicuous in the proces- sion were forty-five female favorites, each mounted on horse- back, and dressed in black native cloth, and each having a slave on either side. After all the dangers and difficulties of the journey it is gratifying to know that it was not fruitless. The Sultan, finding that the stranger was not likely to bewitch him, willingly gave him all the liberty of exploration which he de- sired, furnished him with specimens of the manufactures of the country, and promised his protection to any future travellers who might visit his dominions. Mr. Overweg had, meanwhile, been making an excursion into the south-western mountainous regions of B6rnu ; and when the two travellers met, Barth was alarmed at the sickly look of his companion. Days passed ; change of sceue was procured and 80 BARTH , ; OVERWEG, AND RICHARDSON. other means employed; but violent fever supervened, delirium came on, and, after a few hours of insensibility, lie died. His sorrowing and desolate friend laid his bodily remains in his grave in the afternoon of the same day, beneath the shade of a spread- ing tree, “ on the very borders of that lake by the navigation of which he had made his name celebrated forever.” Mr. Ovcr- weg had not completed the thirtieth year of his age. Barth was now alone ; but fresh funds reaching him from the English government, he resolved to pursue his explorations, sending his papers to England, with a request that another as- sociate should be provided for him, and fixing upon the distant kingdom of Timbuctoo as his destination. He left Kukawa November 25th, 1852, with five servants, four camels, as many horses, and goods for presents worth $200. This time, the journey was to the north-west. The party, pressing forward in a leisurely way through a well-settled region, readied Sackatoo in April, 1853, and Timbuctoo, the capital of the kingdom of Timbuctoo, on September 7th of the same year. Here Barth was detained as a prisoner for seven months, and for nearly two years he was prevented from returning to Kukawa by wars among the chieftains on the route, and by the hostility mani- fested towards him by the Vizier of Bornu. This rapacious prince forwarded to Europe the report that the traveller had died, hoping that such would soon be the case, and that thus the supplies of the expedition would fall into his own hands ; but civil commotions arising, the Vizier was deposed, and Barth was protected by the Sheik of Timbuctoo, who furnished him with an escort as far back as Sackatoo. During his stay in Timbuctoo he succeeded in exploring the middle course of theKwara, or Niger, which had never before been done by any European except Mungo Park, whose journals perished with him. lie also discovered Gando and Ilamd-Allahi, two con- siderable kingdoms the existence of which had been previously unknown ; and touched upon the eastern border of Segu. On October 17th, 1854, he reached the city of Kano, where he found himself in such a destitute condition that he had to pay 100 per cent, interest for a small loan. In the meantime efforts were making to relieve him. Ed- ward Vogel, a German employed as an assistant to the British royal astronomer, volunteered to go in search of him, and left England accompanied by a company of sappers and miners. At Tripoli he was joined by a Mr. Warrington, son of the Brit- ish consul at that place. They reached Kukawa in Decem- ber, 1853. Here Warrington died ; but Yogel, having learned EXECUTION IN SEGU. ASHANTEE. 81 that Barth was still alive, pushed into the interior, and found him at Kano on the 1st of December, 1854. Having wintered at Kukawa, Barth started for home in the spring of 1855, and reached Marseilles on September 8th, after an absence from Europe of nearly six years. Ilis account of his explorations, which was published simultaneously in English and German, is heavy and diffuse in style, but is, nevertheless, the most valuable book of African travel that has appeared. Dr. Barth’s travels were nearer to the territory of Asliantee than any others wdiicli are narrated in detail in these pages ; and as the late war waged by the British against that kingdom has awakened considerable interest regarding it, this seems the proper place to introduce a few statements in respect to it. Asliantee, or Ashanti, is an extensive native kingdom lying along the Gold Coast of Guinea, and extending from lat. 4° 37' to 10° N., and from long. 4° 48' W. to 1 ° 10' E. from Green- wich. It is therefore about two hundred and eighty miles in length and as many in breadth. It is a mountainous country, but the eminences are not abrupt or precipitous. It does not lie in any of the basins of the great African rivers, but it is well watered. Along the coast there are the embouchures of sev- eral large streams, the various affluents of which intersect the country in every direction. The Asinee is a considerable stream which is usually reckoned the line of separation be- tween the Gold and Ivory coasts ; and it forms, for some miles from its mouth, the western limit of Asliantee. The Volta, or Asweda, is the largest of the Asliantee rivers, and it runs into the sea in 30' E. long. Its length is estimated at about four hundred miles. There are several lakes, which, in the rainy season, frequently overflow their boundaries. The heat and unhealthiness of the coast of Guinea are well known. This is owing largely to the scorching days followed by chilly nights, but more particularly to a sulphureous mist which rises from the valleys and the neighborhood of rivers in the mornings, especially during the rainy season. The interior of the country is more healthy. Like other tropical territories, Asliantee has its dry and rainy seasons, or rather one dry and two rainy seasons in each year. The first rains, ushered in by violent tornadoes, occur about the latter end of May or the begin- ning of June. These are followed by fogs and haziness, which are extremely noxious at all times, but are at their worst in July 82 ASIIANTEE. and August. The second rains come on in October, and after them is the dry and hot season, which continues till April. Elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffes, buffaloes, deer, antelopes, goats, apes, monkeys, and baboons are among the harmless kinds of animals ; but there are also lions, tigers, leopards, jackals, wolves, and wild boars among those of a ferocious sort. The rivers swarm with hippopotami and alligators ; and serpents, scorpions, and lizards are numerous. Bowdich, who has written the best work on Ashantee, esti- mates the population of Ashantee proper at one million ; and the whole empire, including the territories which submit to the rule of the king of Ashantee, at three millions. The men are well made, and free to a considerable extent from the peculiarities of the negro form and feature, and the women are said to be comely. Both sexes are cleanly, washing from head to foot every day, and afterward anointing them- selves with the grease of the shea, or butter-tree, which is a good cosmetic, and preservative of the skin in so hot a climate. The clothes of the better class consist of immense cloaks, sometimes made of the most costly silks. The war-dress sub- stitutes for this a close vest, covered with metal ornaments and scraps of Moorish writing, as spells against danger, loose cotton drawers, and large boots of dull red leather. The superior chiefs have gold breastplates ; and all who can procure them wear gold ornaments in profusion. Bosnian enumerates five degrees or orders of society, — the king, the caboceers, the gentry, the traders, and the slaves ; but besides the king there is, in fact, but one distinction of any consequence, that between slave and freeman. The caboceers, or magistrates of towns and villages, are taken indiscriminately from the gentry ; and these, again, are merely such as have en- riched themselves by trade or inheritance, and who, not unfre- quentlv, were born slaves. The occupations of trade are prac- tised alike by the poorer freemen and the better class of slaves. The intercourse between the sexes is on the worst possible foot- ing. Marriage is effected by the payment of a sum of money to the parents of the bride, and by a family feast. There are certain forms to be gone through, but this is the substance of the contract. Polygamy is not only legal, but may be consid- ered the special institution of Ashantee. The importance of a man is measured by the number of his wives ; for these are the cheapest laborers. The king, it is said, is limited to 3,333 wives, who are scattered during the working season over his numerous plantations. While at home, , in the capital, they ASHANTEE. 83 occupy two streets, where they are secluded from all but the king and his female relations — any other person who looks upon one of them, even by accident, is punished with death. Well-stocked and well-regulated markets are held in the towns, for the supply of the necessaries of life, and for Euro- pean manufactures. The poorer classes live almost exclusively on fish and dhomrah. The common drink is palm wine. At all festivals and public occasions the most brutal excesses and cruelties are practised. Rum and palm wine are swallowed like water, till a state of mad intoxication is induced, in which hundreds of human victims are sacrificed. The death of a free persou is almost always attended by the slaughter of a human being, to “ wet the grave ; ” and that of a chief invariably causes a frightful sacrifice of life. If a man of ordinary rank marry a royal female, he must be killed on his wife’s grave, if he should survive her; and the ocras, or personal attendants on the king, are all murdered on their master’s grave, together with many others, male and female, of teu amounting to several thou- sands. The labor of clearing away obstructions in a rankly luxuriant soil is the chief employment of the Ashantee agriculturist ; and in this his chief instrument is fire ; by means of which he both clears the ground and spreads a mass of rich manure upon the soil. The only implement in use is a rude hoe ; but this is suf- ficient in productive grounds, flooded twice a year, to produce two crops of most kinds of corn, and an abundant supply of yams and rice. The plantations are laid out with considerable regularity, and the cultivated grounds are somewhat exlensive, though not adequate to the wants of the consumers. Though they do not smelt metals, the Ashantees, like some others of the African nations, have blacksmiths and goldsmiths of a grade superior to what might be expected. The fineness, variety, and brilliance of the native cloths would not disgrace an English loom. They have also dyers, potters, tanners, and carpenters. Of the handiwork of the Ashantees there are not a few speci- mens to be seen in Case 6 in the Ethnological Room of the British Museum. Before the dominion of the Ashantee king extended so far, there were various forms of government among the people over whom he now bears rule — some, as Fan tee and Mina, being republics ; while others, and by far the larger number, were despotisms. Now, all are alike brought under the Ashantee constitution — the legislative power of which lies professedly in the king, an aristocracy consisting of only four persons, and the 84 ASHANTEE. assembly of caboceers or captains. The aristocracy was for- merly much more numerous, but the number has been grad- ually reduced by uniting the stool or seat of authority of a de- ceased noble to that of one still living, till the present result has been arrived at. On all questions of foreign policy the aristocracy has nominally a voice equal to the king’s, extending even to a veto on his decisions ; but the strong will of the chief ruler always bears down opposition to his personal policy. The present king, Koffee, is about thirty-live years of age. Ilis mother is the rightful heir to the throne, and he is much under her influence. The laws are especially sanguinary, including death in cruel forms and mutilation. The aristocracy are exempt from cap- ital punishment, but they may be despoiled. The king’s family are not, however, exempted from the punishment of death ; but their blood must not be shed. If this punishment be awarded them, they are drowned in the Dah. The public revenue, so far as can be ascertained, consists of — 1st. The gold of deceased persons, and the goods of all kinds which may belong to disgraced nobles ; 2d. A tax on slaves purchased for the coast ; 3.1. The gold mines and washings in Sokoo, Dinkra, Akim, and Assin ; 4th. The washings of the market-place ; and 5th. Tributes from conquered states. The king is the great property-owner, and is the legal heir of all his subjects. Of religion they may be said to have really none. Along the whole of the Gold Coast, including Ashantee, it is believed that the Great Spirit, after creating three white and as many black men and women, placed before them a large calabash and a sealed paper, giving to the black race the choice of the two. They took the calabash, which contained gold, iron, and the choicest productions of the earth ; but left them in igno- rance of their use and application. The paper, on the con- trary, instructed the white man in everything ; made him the favorite of the Great Spirit, and gave him that superiority which the negroes readily acknowledge. From this legend it appears that these people have among them some lingering no- tion of one Supreme Deity ; but they have, notwithstanding, lapsed into the absurdities of fetichism, or the lowest and grossest forms of idolatry. They have an evil principle of whom they stand in dread ; and one of the most solemn cere- monies of many tribes is an assembly of men, women, and chil- dren, for the purpose of driving the evil spirit from the towns and villages. They have no intelligent belief in the future state ASHANTEE. 85 — kings, priests, and caboceers being believed, after death, to re- side with the Great Spirit ill ail eternal renewal of their earthly state ; the sacrifice of so many human beings on the graves of their kings being intended to supply them with attendants in the other world. The victims, it is affirmed, are not always unwilling, since they believe that they will thus partake of the superior heaven of their chiefs — their own being at best merely a release from labor in the house of some inferior fetich. A large number of charms, omens, lucky and unlucky days, and an implicit submission to the fetich, complete the superstition of the Ashantees. There are many Mahometans among the Ashantees, some, by their lighter complexion, being manifestly of Arabic origin, while the majority are not distinguishable from other negroes. Christian missionaries are discouraged ; and even when any of their number have proceeded to Coo- massie to intercede with the king on behalf of persons doomed to die, it has been at the imminent risk of their own lives. Several members of the Basle mission were imprisoned, although they went as traders. The early history of the Ashantee nation is obscure, as might be supposed ; but in 1040 they seem to have been located in the midst of their present possessions, and occasionally exer- cising an influence' over the surrounding states of Akim, Assin, Quahou, and Akeya. For nearly a century later, the paramount state in the gold countries was Dinkra. At about that time Dinkra was conquered, and thereafter the extension of Ashan- tee proceeded rapidly. One by one the different states between Volta and Asinee were subdued ; and in 1807, the invasion of Fantee brought the Ashantees into collision with the British. Cape Coast Castle, the principal fort of the British on the Gold coast, was in the Fantee country, and held, like the other European forts upon that coast, not as a territorial right, but at a rent from the native government. After the conquest the rent was claimed and paid to the King of Ashantee ; but some difficulty having occurred as to the recognition of his sover- eignty, two embassies (those of Bowdich and Dupuis) were sent to the court of Coomassie. These resulted in a treaty in 1820; but the Ashantees were not faithful to their engage- ments, and upon remonstrance being made they declared Avar against the British, and in January, 1824, totally defeated the f overnor of Cape Coast, at the head of one thousand men. n 1826 the Ashantees suffered a decisive defeat from the English, and another treaty was entered into. In 1831 a treaty was signed, by means of which the King of Ashantee was com- 86 ASHANTEE. polled to acknowledge the independence of the Fantees and other tribes under British protection. But there have been perpetual heart-burnings ever since, and finally these resulted in the recent war, the causes of which were manifold. Among them may be enumerated the con- stant disregard by the Ashantees of the treaties formed with neighboring states which are under British protection ; the re- sentment on the part of the Ashantees of British interference with their slave-trade ; insult, robbery, and death inflicted by the Ashantees on persons trading with or at the British settle- ment at Cape Coast ; and the resort of the Ashantees to arms against the English. In the war lately terminated, the Ashantean army, no despic- able foe, was routed and di burnt; and the king, Koffee Kalkalli, after much cunning and duplicity, submitted and sued for peace. Part of an indemnity of $1,000,000 has already been paid ; and a promise is made that human sacrifices shall be abolished, the slave-trade discontin- ued, and honest commerce protected. If these promises could be actually carried out the world would have reason to con- gratulate itself on Sir Garnet Wolseley’s success ; but as has always been the case in Africa, the defeat of a native king and the humbling of the central power means political disor- ganization and ruin. The subject tribes are said to be already throwing off their allegiance to King Koffee ; and a few years will probably see the Ashantee kingdom resolved once more into the petty chieftainships out of which it rose, and to which it seemed to offer a future containing something like prog- dom absolutely broken. CHAPTER VI. LIVINGSTONE’S EARLIER JOURNEYS. David Livingstone was born at Blantyre, near Glasgow, Scotland, about 1817. His father was a small tea-dealer in that village, a village entirely dependent on extensive cotton manu- factories belonging to the firm of Monteith and Company. His grandfather had been a clerk in the works, having removed to the lowlands from Ulva, in the Hebrides, where he and his an- cestors had for many generations been farmers. The subject of the present notice, and the other members of the family to wh ! eh he belonged, were educated in connection with the Kirk of Scotland ; but their father afterwards left it, and during the last twenty years of his life held the office of deacon in an In- dependent church in the neighboring town of Hamilton. He died in 1856, while his famous son was on his way below Zumbo, in the interior of Africa, expecting no greater pleasure on his return home, than sitting by the old cottage fire and re- citing his adventures to his parents. His mother was a pious woman, industrious and careful, and possessed of much sterling common-sense ; she won the respect of all who knew her. At the age of ten David was put into the factory as a “piecer,” to aid by his earnings in supporting the family. 'With part of his first week’s wages he purchased a copy of Ruddiman’s “ Rudiments of Latin,” a class-book at that time, and long afterwards extensively used in Scotland. He prose- cuted his study of the language for several years with unabated ardor at an evening school in the village, which met between the hours of eight and ten. The dictionary part of his labor was continued till twelve o’clock. He had to be in the factory by six in the morning, and to continue at his work, with inter- vals for breakfast and dinner, till eight o’clock at night. In this way he read many classic authors. Great pains had been taken by his parents to instil the doctrines of Christianity into his mind, and at an early age he resolved to devote himself to the missionary life. Turning this idea over in his mind, he felt that to be a pioneer of Christianity in China might help to benefit some small portion of that immense empire ; and there- 88 LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. fore lie set himself to obtain a medical education, a knowledge of medicine being an almost indispensable qualification for mis- sionary success among the Chinese. Limited as his time was, lie found opportunities of botanizing for miles around his home, and soon became acquainted with most of the plants of Lanarkshire. In his nineteenth year, he was promoted, in the factory, to “ a pair of wheels,” i.e., he became a spinner. The work was hard for a slim, loose-jointed lad, but it was well paid for, and it enabled him to support himself while attending medical classes at the University, and also divinity lectures at a theo- logical hall by Dr. Wardlaw, both in Glasgow. He worked with his hands in summer, and was a regular student in both of these branches in winter. He never received a farthing of aid from any one, and would have accomplished his purpose of qualifying himself for going to China as a missionary entirely by his own efforts, had not some friends advised him to join the London Missionary Society as a student preparing for mis- sion-work. That Society sends to the heathen “ neither episco- pacy, nor presbyterianism, nor independency, but the Gospel and as this exactly agreed with his own idea of what a Mis- sionary Society ought to do, he offered himself, and was ac- cepted. He was now at liberty to devote himself wholly to snch studies as might prepare him for his desired and intended future. While engaged in manual labor he was accustomed to carry forward his reading by placing a book on a portion of the spinning-jenny, so that he could catch sentence after sen- tence as he passed at his work, lie passed his examination with credit, and was admitted a Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons at Glasgow. But though now qualilied for his original plan, the opium war was raging, and it was not deemed expedient that he should proceed to China. He had hoped to gain admission into that empire, then closed against Europeans, by means of the healing art; but there being no prospect of an early peace with the Chinese, and, as. another inviting field was presenting itself by means of the labors of Mr. Moffat, he was induced to turn his thoughts to Africa; and, after a more extended course of theological training in England, he embarked for Africa 'in 184:0, and, after a voyage of three months, reached Cape Town. He spent but a short time there, and started for the interior, going round by the Algoa Bay, and for the follow- ing sixteen years of his life, viz., from 1840 to 1856, labored in medical and missionary efforts for the good of the people, without cost to any of them. LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. 89 The instructions which Livingstone had received from the Directors of the London Missionary Society led him, as soon as he had readied Knrnman, the farthest inland station of the Society, to turn his attention to the north. Waiting only to re^ cruit the oxen, he proceeded, along with another missionary, to the Baku&ia, or Bakwain, country, and found Sechele, with his tribe, located at Shokuane. The objects he had in view were not to be accomplished by a mere visit like this ; he therefore returned to Kuruinan, that he might prepare for going onwards into the interior. lie remained three months at Kuril man, and then proceeded to a place about lifteen miles south of Shoku&ne, called Lepelole (now Litnbaruba). Here, in order to familiarize himself with the language, he shut himself out from all Euro- pean society for about six months, and obtained by this means much knowledge of the habits, modes of thought, laws, and language of that section of the Bechnanas, or Bakwains — knowl- edge which was of incalculable use to him during all his sub- sequent career. In this second journey to Lepelole he began preparations for a settlement, by making a canal to irrigate the gardens, from a stream at that time flowing copiously. Re- turning to Knrnman, in order to bring his baggage to the pro- posed settlement, he was followed by the news that the tribe of Bakwains, who had shown themselves so friendly to him, had been driven from Lepeldle, during his absence, by the Baro- longs, so that his project of settling liere was at an end. He was obliged to start again in search of a suitable locality for a mission station, and ultimately selected the beautiful valley of Mabotsa (lat. 25° 14' S., long. 26° 30' E.) as the site of his fu- ture home and work ; and thither he removed in 1843. The people here were much troubled by lions, and, soon after his settlement among them, he went out with a party of the natives, in search of these dangerous animals, that he might encourage them to rid themselves, if possible, of their unwel- come visits to the village and to the cattle kraals. His humane and benevolent willingness to befriend and help those among whom he was living almost cost him his life. “ We found the lions,” he says, “ on a small hill about a quarter of a mile in length, and covered with trees. A circle of men was formed round it, and they gradually closed up, ascending pretty near to each other. Being down below on the plain with a uative schoolmaster, named Mebalwe, a most excellent man, I saw one of the lions sitting on a piece of rock widiin the now T closed circle of men. Mebalwe fired at him before I could, and the ball struck the rock on which the animal was 90 LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. sittting. He bit at the spot struck, as a dog does at a stick or stone thrown at him ; then leaping away, broke through the opening circle, and escaped unhurt. The men were afraid to attack him, perhaps on account of their belief in witchcraft. When the circle was reformed, we saw two other lions in it; but we were afraid to fire lest we should strike the men, and they allowed the beasts to burst through also. If the Bakatla had acted according to the custom of the country, they would have speared the lions in their attempt to get out. Seeing we could not get them to kill one of the lions, we bent our foot- steps toward the village ; in going round the end of the hill, however, I saw one of the beasts sitting on a piece of rock as before, but this time he had a little bush in front. Being about thirty yards off, I took a good aim at his body through the bush, and fired both barrels into it. The men then called out, ‘ He is shot, he is shot ! ’ Others cried, ‘ lie has been shot by another man too ; let us go to him ! ’ I did not see any one else shoot at him, but I saw the lion’s tail erected in anger be- hind the bush, and, turning to the people, said, ‘Stop a little, till I load again.’ When in the act of ramming down the bullets. I heard a shout. Starting, and looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and both came to the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier-dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what patients partially under the influence of chloro- form describe, who see all the operation, but feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the result of any mental pro- cess. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals killed by the carnivora ; and if so, is a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death. Turning round to relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back of my head, I saw his eyes directed to Mebalwe, who was trying to shoot him at a distance of ten or fifteen yards. Ilis gun, a flint one, missed fire in both barrels; the lion immediately left me, and, attacking Mebalwe, bit his thigh. Another man, whose life I had saved before, after he had been tossed by a buffalo, at- tempted to spear the lion while he was biting 'Mebalwe. He LIVINGSTONE UNDER THE LION. LIVim STORE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. 91 left Meb&lwe and caught this man by the shoulder, but at that moment the bullets he had received took effect, and lie fell down dead. The whole was the work of a few moments, and must have been his paroxysms of dying rage. In order to take out the charm from him, the Bakatla on the following day made a huge bonfire over the carcass, which was declared to be that of the larg- est lion they had ever seen. Besides crunching the bone into splin- ters, he left eleven teeth wounds on the upper part of my arm.” The wound from this encounter soon healed, though to the end of his life Livingstone occasionally felt the effects of the gnawing then received. lie now attached himself to the tribe called Baku^n a, or Bakwains, their chief Sechele then living with liis people, as has been said, at a place called Shokuane. From the first he was struck with this man’s intelligence, and the missionary and the chief were mutually drawn to each other, and began a friendship which years only more strongly confirmed. This remark- able man afterwards em- braced Christianity, and became a useful ex- pounder of its doctrines to his people. The place in which he was first settled with the Back wains is called Clionu&ne, and it hap- pened that during the first year of his residence there it was visited with one of those droughts which occur from time to time in even the most favored districts - of Africa. This, by the absence of both men and women in search of food as well as water, greatly interfered with the suc- cess of the mission. Another adverse influence was the vicinity of the Boers of the Cashan Mountains. These are not to be confounded with the Cape Colonists, who sometimes pass by the same name. The word Boer simply means farmer; but the people now referred to were persons who had, ort various pre- texts, fled from English law, and who had been joined by Eng- 92 LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. lisli deserters, and every other variety of bad character, in their distant localities. These people attacked the surrounding tribes, and made slaves of as many as they could capture, pre- ferring the young. The chief Sechele, notwithstanding his intelligence and superiority in many respects, had himself been a noted rain- maker. lie often assured the missionary, afterwards, that he had found it more difficult to give up his faith in that than in anything else which Christianity required him to abjure. I>ut rain would not fall at Chonuane, and the people believed that the missionary had bound Sechele by some magic spell ; he was accordingly visited by deputations in the evenings, — old counsellors entreating him to allow Sechele to make only a few showers, and saying, “ The corn will die if you refuse, and we shall become scattered. Only let. him make rain this once, and we shall all, men, women, and children, come to the school and sing and pray as long as you please.” It was distressing to appear hard-hearted to them ; but there was no help for it. The Bakwains believed that there must be some connection be- tween the presence of “ God’s Word” in their town and these successive and distressing droughts, and they looked with no good-will at the church-bell, but still they invariably treated the strangers with kindness. Livingstone says : I am not aware of ever having had an enemy in the tribe. The only avowed cause of dislike was expressed by a very influential and sensible man, the uncle of Sechele. 4 We like you as well as if you had been born among us ; you are the only white man we can become familiar with (thoaela) ; but we wish yon to give up that everlasting preaching and praying ; we cannot be- come familiar with that at all. You see we never get rain, while those tribes who never pray as we do obtain abundance.’ This was a fact; and we often saw it raining on the hills ten miles off, while it would not look at ns 4 even with one eye.’ If the prince of the power of the air had no band in scorching us up, 1 fear I often gave him the credit of doing so.” Livingstone pointed out to the chief that the only feasible way of watering the gardens was to select some never-failing river, make a canal, and irrigate the adjacent lands. This suggestion was adopted, and the whole tribe moved to the Kolobeng, a stream about forty miles distant. The experiment succeeded admirably for the first year. The Bakwains made the canal and dam in exchange for the missionary’s labor in assisting to build a square house for their chief. T^hey also built their own school under his superintendence. The missionary’s house at LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. 93 Kolobeng was the third which Livingstone had reared with his own hands. A native smith had taught him to weld iron ; and having improved by scraps of information in that line from Mr. Moffat, and also in carpentering and gardening, he was be- coming handy at almost any trade, besides doctoring and preaching; and as his wife could make candles, soap, and clothes, they may be considered to have possessed between them the indispensable accomplishments of a missionary family in Central Africa — namely, the husband to be a Jack-of -all-trades without doors, and the wife a maid-of-all-work within. But in the second year no rain fell; and in the third the same extraordinary drought continued. The same difficulties which had formerly retarded the mission were again experi- enced; and the mission family itself was dependent for sup- plies of corn on Kura man, and sometimes were at the point of starvation. In trying to benefit the tribes of the Caslian Mountains, Livingstone had twice performed a journey of about three hundred miles to the eastward of Kolobeng. He now desired to visit the tribes farther into the interior. The exact position of the Lake N garni had, for at least half a century, been correctly pointed out by the natives, who had visited it when rains were more copious in the desert than they have been in recent times. It was clear that the only chance of reaching it, therefore, was by going round the Desert rather than crossing it. He communicated his purpose to Colonel Steele, then at Madras, who in turn made it known to Mr. Yard on and Mr. Oswell, whose friendship he (Livingstone) had gained during their African travels and hunting. Mr. Oswell deter- mined to accompany him. Livingstone had previously arranged to pay for his guides by the loan of his wagon to Seehele, and by the bringing back of whatever ivory he might obtain from the chief at the lake. When Mr. Oswell arrived, bringing Mr. Murray with him, he undertook to defray the entire expenses of the guides, which he generously did. The Kalahari Desert extends from the Orange River in the south, lat. 29°, to Lake Ngami, and from about 24° east Ion. to near the west coast. Large spaces of it are well covered with vegetation. It is very Hat; and prodigious herds of certain antelopes which require little or no water roam over the trackless plains. The inhabi- tants are Bushmen, or Hottentots, and Bakalahari. Livingstone, accompanied by Messrs. Oswell and Murray, started for the Lake Ngami on the 1st of June, 1849 Pro- ceeding northwards, they passed through a range of tree- 94 LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. covered hills to Shoku&ne, formerly the residence of the Bak- wains, and soon afterwards entered on the route to the Bamang- wato Mountains. The adjacent country is flat, but covered with vegetation; the trees generally being a kind of acacia. The soil is sandy. Boatlanama, the next station, is a beautiful spot, in a region generally dry. The wells are deep, but they were well filled. There are near them a few villages of Baka- lahari. Lopepe comes next. At Masliiie there is a never-failing sup- ply of water ; while at Lopepe, the station before it, the coun- try appears to become gradually drier every season. Leaving the ordinary track, and striking away into the desert, there is a well called Lobotani, about N.YV\ of Bamangwato, and beyond it at some distance a real Kalahari fountain, called Serotli. The country around is covered with trees. The soil is sandy, and water requires to be dug for — but the digging usually suc- ceeds. The Bakalaliari get all their supplies of water by this means. Shortly after entering the desert, seventeen of the oxen be- longing to its expedition ran away, and went right into the hands of the chief Sekomi, who was unfriendly to Livingstone’s enterprise, inasmuch as he wished to monopolize, to his own ad- vantage, the trade in ivory with Sebituane’s country, which the travellers meant to see. lie sent back the oxen, however, though with a message still dissuading them. Their guide was Ramotobi, who had fled from Sekomi’s tribe, and taken refuge with Sechele. Fugitives are usually well received. Around Serotli the country is perfectly flat, and the whole scene is char- acterized by a monotonous sameness. Oswell and Murray, on one occasion, went out to get an eland ; and although one of the Bakalaliari was with them, there were so few distinguishing way-marks that they completely lost themselves, and did not regain the wagons until next day. Travelling in this locality, in the soft white sand, is most trying both to man and beast. Thirst especially is most distressing to the cattle ; therefore, to save the horses, Murray with a few men took them forward, that they might sooner have water, while Livingstone and Oswell brought on the wagons. The oxen suffered terribly, but by and by water was reached — a pool of rain-water. The poor cattle rushed in till they were up to the throat, and drank with enjoyment till their collapsed sides dis- tended as if they would burst. This pool is called Mathuluani. The highway from this point is the dry bed of the river Mo- koko. Ho more thirst is now to be feared. The first palmyra LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS . 95 E alms which our travellers ad seen were here. They were in a clump, and twen- ty-six in number. The an- cient Mokoko must have been joined, in former times, by other rivers, for its bed becomes very broad below this, and ultimately spreads out into a very large lake, of which the Lake Ngami formed only a part. Leaving the Mokoko, the travellers found at a dis- tance of eight miles a foun- tain called Nchokotsa, — near which there is a large number of salt-pans, cov- ered with an efflorescence of lime. The mirage over these is frequently marvel- lous. Not a particle of imagination is necessary for realizing the picture of large bodies of water. Even the cattle, horses, dogs, and Hottentots ran ofE to the deceitful pools. On the 4th of July, Liv- ingstone and Oswell went forward on horseback tow- ards what they supposed to be the lake, but were dis- appointed ; but by and by they came to the veritable waters of the Zouga, and found it to be a consider- able river running to the N. E. A village of Bakurutse lay on the opposite bank. The people were friendly, and informed them that this water came out of the Ngami. It might be a 96 LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. moon, they said, before they should reach it ; but they had the River Zouga at their feet, and by following it they should at last reach the broad water. When they had travelled up the bank of this beautiful river about ninety-six miles from the point at which they had lirst struck it, and understood that they were still a considerable dis- tance from the lake, they left all their oxen and wagons— ex- cept Mr. Oswell’s, which was the smallest, and one team — at Ngabisanc, that they might be recruited for the home journey, while they themselves made a push for their destination. They were received in a friendly spirit by the Bakoba, who call themselves Bayeiye, as they proceeded on their way. These people never fight, and their peaceful disposition has been taken advantage of by all the hordes living around them. Living as they do on the banks of the river, the Bakoba or Bayeiye make extensive use of canoes, and those canoes are craft of a most peculiar description : they are hollowed out of the trunks of single trees by means of iron adzes ; and if the tree has a bend, so has the canoe. The men are very fond of their canoes, and spend much of their time in them. They say, “ On land you have lions, serpents, hyenas, and your ene- mies ; but in your canoe, nothing can harm you.” They there- fore prefer sleeping in them. While ascending this beautifully wooded river, the party came to a large stream flowing into it. This was the river Tamunak’le. Livingstone, being in one of the canoes, prefer- ring that mode of travelling, inquired whence it came. “ Oh, from a country full of rivers — so many no can tell their num- ber — and full of large trees ! ” The country beyond was thus seen not to be the great sandy flat of the ancient maps, and from that time, the missionary-explorer dreamed of the pros- pect of being able to open up a highway into populous lands, which might be reached by boats, and to whose inhabitants might be communicated the benefits accruing from civilization, the arts, commerce, and religion. Twelve days after they had left their wagons at Ngabisane, they came to the north-east end of Lake Isgami : and on the 1st of August, 1849, they went down together to the broad part, “ and, for the first time,” says Livingstone, “ this fine-look- ing sheet of water was beheld by Europeans. The direction of the lake seemed to be N.N.E. and S.S.W. by compass. The southern portion is said to bend round to the west, and to re- ceive the Teoughe (Teoge) from the north at its north-west ex- tremity. We could detect no horizon where we stood, looking LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. 97 S.S.W., nor could we form any idea of the extent of the lake except from the reports of the inhabitants of the district ; and, as they professed to go round it in three days, allowing twenty- five miles a day, that would make it seventy-five, or less than seventy geographical miles in circumference. Other guesses have been made since as to its circumference, ranging between seventy and one hundred miles.” It is shallow. The water is fresh when full — brackish when low. It can never, on account of its want of depth, be of great value as a commercial high- way. The region is low, as shown by one of Newman’s baro- metric thermometers, only between 2071° and 206°, giving an elevation of not much more than two thousand feet above the level of the sea. They had descended more than two thousand feet in coming to it from Kolobeng. “My chief object in coming to the lake,” says Livingstone, “was to visit Sebituane, the great chief of the Makololo, who was re- ported tolive some two hundred miles 'beyond. We had now come to a half-tribe of the Bamangwato, called Batauana. Their chief was a young man named Lechulatebe. Sebituane had con- quered his father Moremi, and Lechulatebe received part of his education while a captive among the Bayeiye. His uncle, a sensible man, ransomed him ; and having collected a number of families together, abdicated the chieftainship in favor of his nephew. As Lechulatebe had just come into power, he imag- ined that the proper way of showing his abilities was to act di- rectly contrary to everything that his uncle advised. When we came, the uncle recommended him to treat us handsomely, therefore the hopeful youth presented ns with a goat only. It ought to have been an ox. So I proposed to my companions to loose the animal and let him go, as a hint to his master. They, however, did not wish to insult him. I, being more of a native, and familiar with their customs, knew that this shabby present was an insult to us. We wished to purchase some goats or oxen ; Lechulatebe offered us elephants’ tusks. ‘ No, we cannot eat these ; we want something to till our stom- achs.’ ‘ Neither can I ; but I hear you white men are all very fond of these bones, so I offer them ; I want to put the goats into my own stomach.’ A trader, who accompanied ns, was then purchasing ivory at the rate of ten good large tusks for a musket worth thirteen shillings. They were called ‘bones;’ and I myself saw eight instances in which the tusks had been left to rot with the other bones where the elephant fell. The Bataudna never had a chance of a market before ; but, in less than two years after our discovery, not a man of them could be 7 98 L IV1NG STONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. found who was not keenly alive to the great value of the article. “ On the day after our arrival at the lake, I applied to Lech- ulatebe for guides to Sebituane. As he was much afraid of that chief, he objected, fearing lest other white men should go thither also, and give Sebituane guns; whereas, if the traders came to him alone, the possession of fire-arms would give him such a superiority, that Sebituane would be afraid of him. It was in vain to explain that I would inculcate peace between them— that Sebituane had been a father to him and Scchelc, and was as anxious to see me, as he, Lecliulatebe, had been. He offered to give me as much ivory as I needed without going to that chief ; but when I refused to take any, he unwillingly con- sented to give me guides. Next day, however, when Oswell and I were prepared to start, with the horses only, we re- ceived a senseless refusal ; and like Sekomi, who had thrown obstacles in our way, he sent men to Bayeiye with orders to re- fuse us a passage across the river. Trying hard to form a raft at a narrow part, I worked many hours in the water; but the dry wood was so w r orm-eaten that it would not bear the weight of a single person. I was not then aware of the number of al- ligators which exist in the Zouga, and never think of my labor in the water without feeling thankful that I escaped their jaws. The season was now far advanced ; and as Mr. Oswell, with his wonted generous feelings, volunteered, on the spot, to go down to the Cape and bring up a boat, we resolved to make our way south again.” Coming down the Zouga, they had time to look at its banks, which are beautiful. The trees are magnificent. Near its con- fluence with the lake there were some of enormous size. The largest of two immense trees observed here was 70 feet in girth. There are two kinds of cotton in the country — the Masliona convert it into cloth, and dye it by means of wild indigo, which abounds. Elephants were found in prodigious numbers, and many hippopotami. Fish of ten kinds are to be found in the river ; and the Ba} r eiye live chiefly on fish. Having returned to Kolobeng, his station as a missionary, Livingstone remained there till April, 1850, when he again left for the purpose of visiting Sebituane. He was this time ac- companied by his wife and three children, and by the chief Sechele, who now possessed a wagon of his own. They meant to cross the Zouga at its lower end, to proceed up the northern bank as far as the Tamunak’le, and then to ascend that river to visit Sebituane in the north. Sechele wanted to visit Lechula- LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. 99 tcbe, which lie did, and the rest of the party proceeded along the northern woody bank of the Zouga, with great labor, hav- ing to cut down many trees to enable the wagons to pass. Their losses by the falling of their oxen into pits w^ere very heavy. The Baveiye assisted them in the most friendly manner. On approaching the confluence of the Tamunak’le they were in- formed that the fly called “ tsetse ” abounded on its banks. The bite of the tsetse is fatal to horses and oxen, and they were obliged reluctantly to recross the Zouga. They then learned that a party of Englishmen who had come to the lake for ivory were all laid low by fever ; and they went sixty miles, with all speed, to render assistance. They were grieved to find that Mr. Alfred Ryder, an enterprising young artist who had come to make sketches of the country, and or the lake immediately after its discovery, had died before their arrival. The others happily recovered. Sechele used all his powers of persuasion with Lecliulatebe to induce him to furnish guides to enable Livingstone to visit Sebituane on ox-back, while Mrs. Livingstone and the children might remain at Lake Ngami. Livingstone had a superior London- made gun, on which he placed great value. The chief took a strong liking to it ; and it was at last agreed that he should have it, and that the wife and children of the traveller should remain with the chief, while he himself proceeded on his journey. But next morning two of. the children were seized with fever, and, on the day following, all their servants were ill of the same disease ; they were compelled therefore to forego their original purpose, and to start for the purer air of the Desert. Some mistake had oc- curred in the arrangement with Oswell, whom they met on the Zouga oil their return. He was disappointed, having hoped to overtake them and proceed with his former fellow-traveller ; and he devoted the remaining portion of the season to elephant- hunting, in which he was so successful that he was looked upon as a magician by the natives. This second attempt to reach the country of Sebituane having failed, Livingstone returned to his work at Kolobeng. Sebi- tnane very soon after sent a number of messengers after him, direct from himself. When he had heard of the attempts which had been made to visit him, he despached three detachments of his men with presents to the chiefs whose good-will was impor- tant : thirteen brown cows to Lecliulatebe, thirteen white cows to Sekomi, and thirteen black cows to Sechele, requesting each to assist the white man to reach him. But it was the policy of these chiefs to keep the explorer out of view, lest they should 100 LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. lose the advantages which came to them by means of Sebi- tuane’s ivory, which had hitherto come through their territory, and indeed through their hands. It was necessary to visit Kurnman before making a third jour- ney to Sebituane ; and it was not till May, 1S51, that Livingstone and Oswell, the former taking with him his wife and children, and a guide furnished by Sekomi, were once more on the way to the interior. They passed over a hard country, quite flat, and covered with a little soil on a bed of calcareous tufa, for several hundreds of miles. They found several large salt-pans, one of which, Ntwetwe, was flfteen miles broad and a hundred long. These pans have a gentle slope to the north-east, which is in the direction of the Zouga, into which the rain-water which covers them gcntl} r gravitates. By this means the salt, which they hold in solution, has all been transferred to one pan, named Chnantsa, on which may be seen, at certain seasons, salt and lime an inch and a half thick. All the others have an efflor- escence of lime, and one of the nitrates only, some of them abounding in shells — spiral, univalve, and bivalve. In every salt-pan in the country there is a spring of fresh water on one side. There are many wells in the tufa, all over this district. There are also many families of Bushmen. They are unlike those on the plains of the Kalahari Desert, who are usually small men, but these are tall and strong, and very black. One of these Bushmen, named Sliobo, agreed to guide them to the country of Sebituane. lie gave them to understand that, after leaving the plain, they should have no water for a month ; but they found rain-water, in pools, sooner than they expected. The scene after leaving these pools was very dreary, the vegetation very scanty, and there was not even a bird or an insect to give variety to the landscape. Shobo wandered on the second day. They persuaded him to go on with them ; but, on the fourth day, after professing ignorance of every- thing. he vanished altogether. They advanced by themselves, suffering terribly from thirst: and on the fifth day their perseverance was rewarded by the sight of birds and the trail of a rhinoceros. From these signs, they knew that water must be near; and, unyoking their oxen, these animals, guided by unerring instinct, rushed onward to the River Matabe, which comes from the Tamunak’le. The cattle, when left to them- selves, must have gone through a patch of trees infested with tsetse, for they all afterwards died. The tsetse constitutes in many parts of Africa one of the most serious difficulties with which travellers have to contend. LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. 101 It is thus described by Livingstone: “It is, not much larger than the common house-fly, and is nearly of the same brown color as the common honey-bee ; the after part of the body lias three or four yellow bars across it; the wings project beyond this part considerably, and it is remarkably alert, avoiding most dexterously all attempts to capture it with the hand at common temperatures; in the cool of the mornings and evenings it is less agile. Its peculiar buzz when once heard can never be forgot- ten by the traveller whose means of locomotion are do- mestic animals; for it is well known that the bite of this poisonous insect is cer- tain death to the ox, horse, and dog. In this journey, though we were not aware of any great number having at any time lighted on our cattle, we lost forty-three flue oxen by its bite. We watched the animals care- fully, and believe that not a score of flies were ever upon them. A most* remarkable feature in the bite of the tsetse is its perfect harmlessness in man and wild animals, and even calves, so long as they continue to suck the cows. We never experienced the slighest injury from them ourselves, personally, although wo lived two months in their habitat , which was in this case as sharply defined as in many others, for the south bank of the Chobe was infested by them, and the northern bank, where our cattle were placed, only fifty yards distant, contained not a single specimen. This was the more remark- able, as we often saw natives carrying over raw r meat to the op- posite bank with many tsetse settled upon it.” Sliobo had found his way to the Bayeiye, and notwithstand- ing his desertion of his friends, received them, on their arrival at the river, at the head of a party, with the utmost self-pos- session and personal importance. They all liked Shobo, however. Next day they came to a village of Banajoa, a tribe which extends far to the eastward. They here obtained further help, Moroa Majare, the younger brother of the chief, becoming their guide across the River Sonta, and to the banks of the Chobe, in the country of Sebituane. 102 LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS . Sebituane was about twenty miles down the river, and Livingstone and Oswell went in canoes to his temporary residence. He had come from the Barotse town of Nalielc down to Sesheke as soon as lie heard that the white men were in search of him, and he now came a hundred miles more to bid them welcome to his country. lie was upon an island, with all his principal men around him. The travellers in- formed him of the difficulties which they had had to encounter, and told him how glad they were that these were now at an end, since they had at last reached his presence. lie expressed his own joy, and added, “Your cattle are all bitten by the tsetse, and will certainly die; but never mind, I have oxen, and will give you as many as you need.” He then presented them with an ox and a jar of honey as food, and committed them again to the care of Maliale, who had headed the party from Kolobeng. Prepared skins of oxen, as soft as cloth, were given them to cover themselves with in the night. Sebituane came to them, long before daylight, and sat down by the fire which had been lighted for their benefit behind the hedge by which they lay, narrating the difficulties which he himself had experienced, when a young man, in crossing the Desert which these travellers had just traversed. Sebituane was now about forty-five years of age ; of a tall and wiry form, an olive, or coffee-and-milk, color, and slightly bald ; in manner cool and collected, “ and more frank,” says Livingstone, “ in his answers than any other chief I ever met.” He was the greatest warrior ever heard of beyond the Colony, for, unlike Mosilikatse, Dingaan, and others, he always led his men into battle himself. He came from the country near the sources of the Likwa and Namagari rivers in the south, so that he was here established eight or nine hundred miles from his birth-place. He was not the son of a chief, though closely related to the reigning family of the Bashtu ; and when in an attack by Sikonyele the tribe was driven out of one part, Sebituane was one of an immense horde which had again to flee before the Griquas from Kuruman in 1824. lie then came to the north with a small party of men and cattle. At Melita the Bangwaketse collected the Bakwains, Bakatla, and Bahurutse, and attacked the new-comers. Sebituane conquered Makabe, the chief of the Bangwaketse, and took possession of his town and all his goods. He afterwards settled at a place called Litubaruba, where Sechele afterwards lived. A great variety of fortune subsequently followed him. He was entangled in many wars, but invariably conquered his enemies. He came LIVINGSTONE' 8 EARLIER JOURNEYS. 103 rit last to be firmly established in his present country, possessed of great power, with many people and much wealth in flocks and herds. lie obtained for himself a place in the affections of all classes, and ruled by love as well as fear. Sechele, Sekomi, and Lechulatebe owed their lives entirely to his clem- ency. Ilis people are Makololo. It was Livingstone’s strong desire to locate himself in the midst of this immense multitude of people, and Sebituane, who had long desired the friendship of white men, understood his purpose and favored it. He was much pleased with the confidence in him shown by the bringing of the children, and promised to take the missionary to see his country, that he might choose a locality in which he could remain, and at once begin his work. But it was not at that time so to be. Sebituane, just after realizing the intercourse with white men which he had desired so long, was seized with inflammation of the lungs, and in a few days died. Livingstone says : 44 On the Sunday afternoon on which he died, when our usual religious service was over, I visited him with my little boy Robert. 4 Come near,’ said he, 4 and see if I am any longer a man; I am done.’ He was thus sensible of the dangerous nature of his disease ; so I ventured to assent, and added a single sentence regarding hope after death. 4 Why do you speak of death ? ’ said one of a fresh relay of doctors ; 4 Sebituane will never die.’ If I had persisted, the impression would have been produced that by speaking about it I wished him to die. After sitting with him some time, and commend- ing him to the mercy of God, I rose to depart, when the dying chieftain, raising himself up a little from the prone position, called to a servant, and said, ‘Take Robert to Manuku (one of his wives), and tell her to give him some milk.’ These were the last words of Sebituane. 44 We were not informed of his death until the next day. The burial of a Bechuana chief takes place in his cattle-pen, and all the cattle are driven for an hour or two around and over the grave, so that it may be quite obliterated. We went and spoke to the people, advising them to keep together and support the heir. They took this kindly ; and in turn told us not to be alarmed, for they would not think of ascribing the death of their chief to us ; that Sebituane had just gone the w&y of his fathers ; and though the father had gone, ne had left children, and they hoped that we would be as friendly to his children as we intended to have been to himself. 44 He was decidedly the best specimen of a native chief I 10J LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. ever met. I never felt so much grieved by the loss of a black man before ; and it was impossible not to follow him in thought into the world of which he had just heard before he was called away, and to realize somewhat of the feelings of those who pray for the dead. The deep, dark question of what is to become of such as he must, however, be left where we find it, believing that, assuredly, the ‘Judge of all the earth will do right.’ ” At Sebituane’s death the chieftainship devolved, as her father intended, on a daughter named Maniochisane. lie had promised to show them his country and to allow them to select a suitable locality for residence and mission work. They had now to look to the daughter. She was living twelve days to the north ; and they were obliged to wait till a message came from her. She gave them perfect liberty to visit any part of the country they chose. Both Livingstone and Oswell there- fore proceeded one hundred and thirty miles to the north-east, to Seslieke; and in the end of June, 1851, were rewarded by the discovery of the Zambesi, in the centre of the continent. This was a most important discovery, for that river was not previously known to exist there. The Portuguese maps had, by conjecture, placed it far to the cast ; and if ever anything like a chain of trading stations had existed across the country between the latitudes 12° and 18° south, this magnificent por- tion of the river ought to have been known before. They saw it at the end of the dry season, when the river is at its lowest, and yet there was a breadth of from three to six hundred yards of deep, flowing water. Oswell declared that lie had never seen so flue a river even in India. At the period of its annual inundation it rises more than twenty feet in perpendic- ular height, and floods fifteen or twenty miles of lands adjacent to its banks. The country over which they had travelled from the Cliohe was flat, with the exception of ant-hills, and in some parts there are forests of mimosa3 and palmyras and mopane. There are swamps in large patches near the Chobe, or on its banks. Among the swamps the Makololo live, that they may thus obtain protection against their enemies. The open and healthy parts being utterly without defence, and these marshes most deleterious to human life, it was deemed inexpedient, at this time, to select any place for a missionary settlement. The original Basutos had all been cut off by fever. The idea was, therefore, reluctantly abandoned. These being the first white men whom the people had seen, LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. 105 they were visited by prodigious numbers. Among the first of these was a gentleman dressed in a gaudy dressing-gown of printed calico. Many others bad garments of blue, green, and red baize, and also of printed cottons; and these were found, on inquiry, to have been obtained in exchange for boys, from a tribe called Mambari, residing near i3i he, and trading as middle-men, in the slave market, between the natives and the Portuguese. The Mamb&ri began the slave-trade with Sebit- uane in 1850 only, and, if it had not been for the obstructions put in the way of Livingstone and Oswell when they formerly attempted to reach that chief, the probability is that they would have been with him in time to prevent its being begun at all. The Mambari had long visited the chief of the Barotse, and when Sebituane conquered that tribe he refused to allow any one to sell a child. But when they renewed their visits in 1850, they brought with them a number of guns. These were too strong a temptation for Sebituane. lie offered to purchase them with cattle or ivory, but the Mambari refused everything except boys about fourteen years age. Till that time no such thing as the buying and selling of human beings had been known among .the Makololo. Eight old guns were exchanged for eight boys. These were not their own children, but cap- tives. The Africans seldom sell their own children. The Mako- lolo were incited to make a foray against some tribes to the eastward. Many captives were taken, — and the Mambari carried away with them as many as two hundred slaves that year. It was believed by these travellers that if the market were supplied with articles of European manufacture in the way of legitimate commerce, the trade in slaves would become impos- sible. The people would prefer obtaining their goods in ex- change for ivory and other products of the country. But this could be accomplished only by means of a safe and protected road or highway from the coast to the centre of the country. Livingstone again returned to Kolobeng; but as the Boers would not allow the peaceable instruction of the natives there, and since it would have been extremely hazardous to expose European lives in a region so unhealthy as the protected por- tions of Sebituane’s country, he resolved to send his family to England, and to return alone that he might explore the country in search of a healthy district, which should prove a centre of civilization, and open up a path to the interior from either the east or west coast. The Directors of the London Missionary Society cordially approved of his project, and left the matter 106 LIVINGSTONE'S EARLIER JOURNEYS. entirely to his own discretion. lie accordingly went to the Cape, with his wife and children, in April, 1852, having been absent eleven years from the scenes of civilization ; and having placed them on board a homeward-bound ship, he returned, in the hope that in two years they would meet again. But it proved to be nearly live. CHAPTER VII. LIVINGSTONE’S JOUENEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. Having sent his family home to England, as narrated in the preceding chapter, Livingstone started from Cape Town on his next journey, in the beginning of J une, 1852. This journey ex- tended from the southern extremity of the continent to St. Paul de Loando, the capital of Angola, on the west coast, and thence across Central Africa in an oblique direction to Kili- mane (Quilimaue), on the east coast. He used the usual con- veyance of the country, the heavy Cape wagon, drawn by ten oxen, and was accompanied by two Christian Bechuanas from Kuruman, — of whose fidelity he speaks in strong terms, — by two Bakwain men, and two young girls, who, having come as nurses with his children to the Cape, were returning to their home at Kolobeng. They proceeded very slowly, and thc'parts of the colony through which they passed were extremely bare and sterile. The cattle suffered fatally from the tsetse, which put the traveller to inconvenience, as such an occurrence inva- riably does. Arriving at Kuruman, he was detained there a fortnight by the breaking of a wheel, and found that Sechele and his tribe had been attacked by the Boers of the mountain and had suffered considerable loss. He arrived at the town of Sechele on the 31st of December, and having spent five days with his friends there, distressed by the painful spectacle of the miseries resulting from war, he began his preparations for the prosecution of his journey, and left on the 15th of January, 1853. On the 21st he reached the wells of Boatlanama, and found them empty ; the Lopepe, which he had formerly seen a running stream, was also dry, and he pushed on to Mashiie. Oc- casionally they lighted upon land tortoises, which formed an agreeable meal. Ostriches also were frequently seen, and of these Livingstone gives the following account : “ The ostrich is generally seen quietly feeding on some spot where no one can approach him without being detected by his wary eye. As the wagon moves along far to the windward, bethinks it is intending to circum- vent him, so he rushes up a mile or so from the leeward, and 108 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS TEE CONTINENT. so near to the front oxen that one sometimes gets a shot at the silly bird. When he begins to run all the game in sight follow his example. I have seen this folly taken advantage of when he was feeding quietly in a valley open at both ends. A num- ber of men would commence running, as if to cut off his re- treat from the end through which the wind came ; and al- though lie had the whole country hundreds of miles before him by going to the other end, he madly rushed to get past the men, and so was speared. He never swerves from the course he once adopts, but only increases his speed. When the ostrich is feeding, his pace is from twenty to twenty-two inches ; when walking, but not feeding, it is twenty-six inches ; and when ter- rified, as in the case noticed, it is from eleven and a half to thirteen and even fourteen feet in length. Only in one case was I at all satisfied of being able to count the rate of speed by a stop-watch, and if I am not mistaken, there were thirty in ten seconds ; generally one’s eye can no more follow the legs than it can the spokes of a carriage-wheel in rapid motion. If we take the above number, and twelve feet stride as the average pace, we have a speed of twenty-six miles an hour. It cannot be very much above that, and is therefore slower than a railway locomotive. They are sometimes shot by the horsemen making a cross cut to their undeviating course, but few Englishmen ever succeed in killing them.” When they reached the Bamangwato tribe, the chief, Sc- komi, was particularly friendly, and collected all his people to the religious services which were held. Here the travellers re- mained several days, and Livingstone had time to observe some of the peculiar native customs. “ All the Bechuana and Kaffre tribes,” he says, “south of the Zambesi, practise circumcision ( bogucra ), but the rites observed are carefully concealed. The initiated alone can approach, but in this town I was once a spectator of the second part of the ceremony of the circumci- sion, called 4 seclm.’ Just at the dawn of day, a row of boys of nearly fourteen years of age stood naked in the kotla, each hav- ing a pair of sandals as a shield on his hands. Facing them stood the men of the town in a similar state of nudity, all armed with long, thin wands, of a tough, strong, supple bush called moretloa {Grewia flava), and engaged in a dance named 4 koha,’ in which questions are put to the boys, as — 4 Will you guard the chief well ? ’ 4 Will you herd the cattle well ? 5 and, while the latter give an affirmative response, the men rush for- ward to them, and each aims a full-weight blow at the back of one of the boys. Shielding himself with the sandals above his LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 100 head, he causes the supple wand to descend and bend into his back, and every stroke inflicted thus makes the blood squirt out of a wound a foot or eighteen inches long. At the end of the dance, the boys’ backs are seamed with wounds and weals, the scars of which remain through life. This is intended to harden the young soldiers, and prepare them for the rank of men. After this ceremony, and after killing a rhinoceros, they may marry a wife. “No one of the natives knows how old he is. If asked his age, he answers by putting another question, 4 Does a man re- member when he was born? ’ Age is reckoned by the number of mepato they have seen pass through the formulae of admis- sion. When they see four or five mepato younger than them- selves, they are no longer obliged to bear arms. The oldest individual I ever met boasted he had seen eleven sets of boys submit to the boguera. Supposing him to have been fifteen when he saw his own, and fresh bands were added every six or seven years, he must have been about forty when he saw the fifth, and may have attained seventy-five or eighty years, which is no great age ; but it seemed so to them, for he had now doubled the age for superannuation among them. It is an in- genious plan for attaching the members of the tribe to the chief’s family, and for imparting a discipline which renders the tribe easy of command. On their return to the town from at- tendance on the ceremonies of initiation, a prize is given to tho lad who can run fastest, the article being placed where all may see the winner run up to snatch it. They are then considered men (banona, viri), and can sit among the elders in the kotla. Formerly they were only boys (basimane, pueri).” Passing on to Letloche, about twenty miles beyond the Ba- mangwato, they found an abundant supply of water, which in such a country is always of the greatest importance. Their next stopping-place was at a spot named Kanne, where there are several wells. They had now sixty miles of country before them without water ; and although they took with them as large a supply as they could, it was distressing to see the oxen long before that distance had been traversed. The Bakalahari, who live at Motlatsa wells, were friend ly, as they had always formerly been, and listened attentively to the instructions which were conveyed to them in their own tongue. The travellers left Motlatsa on the 8tli of February, and passed down the Mokoko, which living persons had known as a nowing stream. It is now a dry bed. The Bamangwato here keep large flocks of sheep and goats, which thrive well where- 110 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. ever salt and bushes are to be found. At Nchokotsa they still suffered from scarcity of water, and the men took advantage of that circumstance to wait at night by such pools as they could find, that they might shoot the animals which were driven to them and off their guard by the excess of their thirst. Of this Livingstone disapproved, large numbers of the game being in such circumstances merely wounded and left slowly to die. Numbers of baobab and mopanc trees abound all over the hard, arid surface of the country in this part. They passed one specimen of the baobab, called in the language of the district, mowana, which consisted of six branches united in one trunk. At three feet from the ground it was eighty -five feet in cir- cumference. These mowana trees are the most wonderful specimens of vitality in the country. Adanson and others be- lieved that some specimens which they saw in Western Africa had been alive before the Flood, and hence argued that there had never been any flood. But, says Livingstone, “ I would back a true mowana against a dozen floods, provided you do not boil it in hot sea-water ; but I cannot believe that any of those now alive had a chance of being subjected to the experiment of even the Noachian deluge.” The natives strip off the bark as far up as they can reach ; this they pound, and of the fibre make a strong cord. In the case of any other tree this would cause its deatli, but such treatment has no effect on the mo- wana except to make it throw out a new bark, which is done in the way of granulation. This stripping of the bark is re- peated frequently, so that it is common to see the lower five or six feet an inch or two less in diameter than the parts above. No external injury, not even a fire, can destroy this tree from without; nor can any harm be done it from within, as it is quite common to find it hollow ; and sometimes one is to be seen in which twenty or thirty men could lie down and sleep as in a hut. Cutting down does not exterminate it, for the roots, extending along the surface forty or fifty yards from the trunk, also retain their vitality after the tree is laid low. The wood is so soft and spongy that an axe can be struck in so far with a good blow, that there is great difficulty in pulling it out again. At Bapesli Livingstone came upon old friends — the Bushmen under Iloroye. This man Horoye was a good specimen of that tribe, and his son Mokantsa and others were at least six feet high, and of a darker color than the Bushmen of the south. They have always plenty of food and water; and as they fre- quent the Zonga as often as the game in whose company they LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. m live, their condition is very different from that of the inhabi- tants of the thirsty plains of the Kalahari. The travellers spent a Sunday with Kaisa, the headman of a village of Ma- shona, who had fled from the iron sway of Mosilikatse, whose country lies east of this. Livingstone wished him to take charge of a packet of letters for England, to be forwarded by the Beclmanas when they came in search of skins; but he was afraid of the danger if anything should happen to them, and there was therefore now no hope of any communication with the family of the explorer till he should reach the west coast. At Unku they came into a tract of country which had been visited by refreshing showers long before, and everything was luxuriant and beautiful. Proceeding to the north, from Kama-kama, they entered into dense Mohonono bush, which required the constant application of the axe by three of the party for two days. On emerging into the plains beyond they found a number of Bushmen, who afterwards proved very serviceable to them. On the 10th of March they were brought to a standstill, by the prostration of four of the party with fever; and instead of tne speedy recovery of the first sufferers, every man of their number was, in a few days, laid low except a Bakwain lad and the traveller himself. The lad managed the oxen, while Livingstone attended to the patients. The grass was here so tall, that the oxen became uneasy, fearing that wild beasts might be concealed in it, and one night the sight of a hyena made them rush away into the forest. The Bakwain lad having run after them, lost his way in the trackless woods; but he remained on the trail of the cattle all the next day and all the next night. On the Sunday morning, when search was about to be made for him, he ap- peared near the wagon. lie had found the oxen late in the afternoon of Saturday, and had been obliged to stand by them all night. It was wonderful that, without a compass and in such a country, he had managed to find his way back at all, bringing about forty oxen with him. The detention on account of sickness, and the weakness which followed it, made the progress of the party very slow, and to these impediments was added that of the density of the forest. But they obtained the aid of a number of Bushmen, and urged on their way. None of the men had died; but two were not likely to recover. After a time the Bushmen wished to return, and Livingstone paid them. There was no use expos- tulating with these gentlemen. But the payment acted as a charm on some strangers who happened to be present, and in- 112 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS TEE CONTINENT. dnced them to volunteer their aid. Thus he was enabled to advance. They frequently heard the roar of lions, and occasion- ally saw them. “ The lions,” says Livingstone, “ seem to have a wholesome dread of the Bushmen, who, when they observe evidence of a lion’s having made a full meal, follow up his spoor so quietly that his slumbers are not disturbed. One discharges a poi- soned arrow from a distance of only a few feet, while his com- panion simultaneously throws his skin cloak on the beast’s head. The sudden surprise makes the lion lose his presence of mind, and he bounds away in the greatest confusion and ter- ror. Our friends here showed me the poison which they use on these occasions. It is the entrails of a caterpillar called N’gwa, half an inch long. They squeeze out these, and place them all around the bottom of the barb, and allow the poison to dry in the sun. They are very careful in cleaning their nails after working with it, as a small portion introduced into a scratch acts like morbid matter in dissection wounds. The agony is so great that the person cuts himself, calls for his mother’s breast as if he were returned in idea to his childhood again, or flies from human habitations a raging maniac. The effects on the lion are equally terrible, lie is heard moaning in distress, and becomes furious, biting the trees and ground in rage.” A.s they went northwards, the country became very lovely ; there were many trees, some of them new kinds ; the grass was green, and often higher than the wagon ; while vines fes- tooned the trees, and the hollows contained large patches of water. By and by came water-courses, now resembling small rivers, twenty yards broad and four feet deep. The farther they went, the broader and deeper these became ; the bottoms contained great numbers of deep holes made by the wading of elephants; in one of these the oxen floundered painfulty, so that the wagon-pole broke, and Livingstone had to work up to the chest in water for three hours and a half. At last they came to the Sanshureh, which at the point at which they reached it was impassable, and they drew up un- der a magnificent baobab-tree (lat. 18° 4 ' 27 " S., long. 24° 6' 20" E.), and resolved to explore the river for a ford. The great quantity of water which they had recently passed through was part of the annual inundation of the Chobe; and this, which appeared a large, deep river, filled in many parts with reeds, and having hippopotami in it, is only one of the branches by which it sends its superabundant water to the LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT . 113 south-east. They made many attempts to cross the Sanslmreh, but failed ; and their Bushmen friends became tired out, and left them in the night. The traveller was, therefore, obliged to take one of the strongest of his still weak companions, and cross the river in a pontoon, the gift of Captains Codrington and Webb, which he had with him. They each carried some provisions and a blanket, and penetrated about twenty miles to the westward, in the hope of striking the Chobe. Having done their best for the night, they climbed the highest trees in the morning, and could see a large sheet of water, but sur- rounded by an impenetrable belt of reeds. This was the broad part of the River Chobe, which is here called Zabesa. Two tree-covered islands seemed to be much nearer the main body of the water than was the point on which they then stood, and they made an attempt to get first to them. After hours of toil they reached one of them, through dense growths of reed and convolvuli, which quite wore through the mole- skins of Livingstone as well as the leather trousers of his com- panion. By and by they found a passage formed by a hippo- potamus. and, eager as soon as thcv reached the clear water beyond the island to test its in, and found that it took them at once up y therefore re- turned to the shore. Worn out as they were, they proceeded up the bank of the Chobe till they came to the point of de- parture of the Sanslmreh, and being unable to effect a crossing, w r ent downward, and had to spend another night without hav- ing accomplished their purpose. Finding in the morning an inlet to the Chobe not closed up with reeds, they launched their pontoon, the river being here a deep stream of from eighty to a hundred yards wide. They paddled on from mid-day till sunset, with nothing but a wall of reeds on each bank, and with every prospect of a supperless night in their float, when, just as the short twilight of these parts was commencing, they perceived on the north bank the village of Moremi, and one of the Makololo, whose acquaintance Livingstone had made in his former visit, and who was now located here on the island of Mahonta (lat. 17° 58' S., long. 24:° 6' E.). The people were greatly surprised to see them, and, in their figurative mode of speech, said, “ Ho has dropped among us from the clouds, yet came riding on the back of a hippopotamus ! We Makololo thought no one could cross the Chobe without our knowledge, but here he drops among us like a bird.” Next day they returned in canoes across the flooded lands, and found that in their absence the 8 114 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. men liad allowed the cattle to wander into a small patch of wood, containing tsetse; and this carelessness cost ten line oxen. After remaining a few days, some of the headmen of Makololo came down from Linyanti, with a large party of Barotse to take them across the river. This they did in good style, swimming and diving more like alligators than like men, taking the wagons to pieces, and carrying them across on a number of canoes lashed together. Livingstone was now among friends, and, going about thirty miles to the north in order to avoid the still flooded lands on the north of the Chobe, he turned westward towards Linyanti, where he arrived on the 23d of May, 1853. This is the capital town of the Makololo, and only a short distance from the wagon-stand which the traveller had occupied in 1851 (lat. 18° 20' S., long. 23° 50' E.). ; The whole population of Linyanti, numbering between six and seven thousand souls, turned out in a body to sec the wag- ons in motion. They had never seen this phenomenon be- fore, the traveller having on the former occasion departed by night. Sekeletu, now in power, received him in what is con- sidered royal style, setting before him a great number of pots of boyaloa, the beer of the country. These were brought by women, and each bearer took a good draught of the beer when she set it down, in order to show that it contained no poison. The court herald, an old man who had occupied the post in Sebituane’s time, stood up, and, after some antics, such as leaping and shouting at the top of his voice, bawled out, “ Don’t I see the white man ? Don’t I see the comrade of Se- bituane ? Don’t I see the father of Sekeletu ? ” Sekeletu was a young man of eighteen years of age, of that dark yellow or coffee-and-milk color of which the Makololo are so proud, because it distinguishes them considerably from the black tribes on the rivers. He was about five feet seven in height, but neither so good-looking nor of so much ability as his father, but was equally friendly to the English. Sebit- uane had installed his daughter Mamoeliisane into the chief- tainship long before his death ; but after his decease, and having made trial of the new position, she did not like it, and proposed and upheld the claims of her brother. Three days having been spent in public discussion on the subject of the transfer, Mamoeliisane at last stood up in the assembly, and addressing her brother, said, with a womanly gush of tears : “ I have been a chief only because my father wished it. I always would have preferred to be married and have a family LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 115 like other women. You, Sekeletu, must be chief and build up your father’s house.” And Sekeletu was established in au- thority. When the Mamb&ri, in 1850, took home a favorable report of this new market to the West, a number of half caste Portu- guese were induced to visit the country in 1853 ; and one who closely resembled a real Portuguese came to Linyanti while Livingstone was there. He had no merchandise, and pretended to have come in order to inquire what sort of goods were nec- essary for the market. lie seemed much disconcerted by Livingstone’s presence. When he had departed, and gone about fifty miles to the westward, he carried off an entire vil- lage of the Bakalahari belonging to the Makololo. He had a number of armed slaves with him, and men, women, and chil- dren were removed, the fact not being known at Linyanti until a considerable time afterwards. A large party of Mamb&ri had come to Linyanti, while Liv- ingstone was detained by the flooded streams on the prairies south of the Chobe. As the news of his being in the neigh- borhood reached them, their countenances fell ; and when some Makololo who had assisted him to cross the river returned with the hats which lie had given them, the Mamb&ri betook them- selves to precipitate flight. The Makololo inquired the cause of such haste, and were told that if Livingstone found them there, he would take all their slaves and goods from them ; and though assured by Sekeletu that Livingstone was not a robber, but a man of peace, they fled by night, while he was still sixty miles off. The chieftainship of Sekeletu had been opposed, and still was, by a man named Mpepe, a person to whom Sebituane had committed the care of certain of his affairs at a distance from the capital. This man was in league with the slave traders, and himself aspired to be chief. He had provided himself with a smalLbattle-axe, and had declared his intention of cut- ting Sekeletu down the first time they met. Livingstone’s ob- ject was, first of all, to examine the country for a healthy locality before attempting to make a path to either the east or the west coast, and, with this in view, he proposed to the chief the plan of ascending the great river which he had discovered in 1851. Sekeletu volunteered to accompany him ; and when they had got about sixty miles on their way, they encountered Mpepe. The Makololo, though having abundance of cattle, had never used them for riding purposes till the traveller had suggested the practice in 1851. Sekeletu and his companions 116 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS TEE CONTINENT. were now on ox-back. Mpepe, armed with his axo, when he saw them ran towards them with all his might, but Sekeletu, being on his guard, galloped off to an adjacent village. Mpepe had given his own party to understand that he would cut down Sekeletu, either on their first meeting, or at the breaking up of their first conference. The former intention had been frus- trated, but he determined to effect his purpose at the close of their first interview. Livingstone happened to sit down be- tween the two in the hut in which they met. Being fatigued with riding all day in the sun, he soon asked the chief where he was to sleep, and lie replied, u Come, I will show you.” As they rose together, he unconsciously covered Sekelctu’s body with his own, and so saved him from the stroke of the assassin. He knew nothing of the plot, but remarked that all Mpepe’s men retained their arms, even after the party had sat down — a thing quite unusual in the presence of a chief; and when Sekeletu showed him the hut in which he was to spend the night, he said, u That man wishes to kill me.” Livingstone afterwards learnt that some of Mpepe’s attendants had divulged the secret ; and this man having been dangerous even before Sebituane’s death, Sekeletu, bearing in mind his father’s instructions, had him put to death that night. The affair was managed so quietly that, although Livingstone was sleeping a few yards from the scene, he knew nothing of it till tJ ic next morning. Nokuane, one of Sekeletu’s officers, went to the fire at which Mpepe sat, with a handful of snuff, as if he were about to sit down and regale him. Mpepe said to him, “Nespisa” (give me a pinch), and as he held out hn hand Noku&ne caught hold of it, while another man seized the other hand, and, leading him out a mile, they speared him. Such is the common mode of executing criminals. Soon after Livingstone’s arrival at Linyanti, Sekeletu had taken him aside, and pressed him to mention the things he liked best, and which he hoped to get from him : anything, either in or out of his town, should be freely given if he would only mention it. Livingstone explained to him that his object was to elevate him and his people to be Christians ; but lie re- plied that he did not wish to learn the Book, for he was afraid “ it might change his heart, and make him content with only one wife like Sechele.” It was of little use to urge that the change of heart implied satisfaction with all that was right, and dislike to all that was wrong. The Makololo are great cattle-breeders, and take pride in all their domestic animals. The women work, but little, the tilling MOONLIGHT DANCE. LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. H7 of the soil being for the most part done by the subject tribes. The women drink large quantities of boyadoa, or beer, which is very nutritious, and gives them that plumpness of form which is considered beautiful. They dislike being seen at their potations by persons of the opposite sex. They cut their woolly hair quite short, and delight in having the whole per- son shining with butter. Their dress is a kilt reaching to the knees ; its material is ox-hide, made as soft as cloth. It is not ungraceful. A soft skin mantle is thrown across the shoulders when the lady is unemployed, but when engaged in any sort of labor she throws this aside, and works with kilt alone. The ornaments most coveted are large brass anklets as thick as the little finger, and armlets of both brass and ivory, the latter often an inch broad. The rings are so heavy that the ankles are often blistered by the weight pressing down ; but it is the fashion, and is borne with as much fortitude as tight lacing and tight shoes among ourselves. Strings of beads are hung around the neck, and the fashionable colors being light green and pink, a trader could get almost anything he chose for beads of these colors. “ At our public religious services in the kotla, the Makololo women always behaved with decorum from the first, except at the conclusion of the prayer. When all knelt down, many of those who had children, in following the example of the rest, bent over their little ones ; the children, in terror of being crushed to death, set up a simultaneous yell, which so tickled the whole assembly that there was often a subdued titter, to be turned into a hearty laugh as soon as they heard Amen. This was not so difficult to overcome in them as similar peccadilloes were in the case of the women farther south. Long after we had settled at Mabotsa, when preaching on the most solemn subject, a woman might be observed to look around, and, see- ing a neighbor seated on her dress, give her a hunch with the elbow to make her move off; the other would return it with interest, and perhaps the remark, £ Take that nasty thing away, will you?’ Then three or four would begin to hustle the first offenders, and the men to swear at them all, by way of enforcing silence.” Livingstone proposed to teach the Makololo to read ; but they at first declined. After some weeks, however, Motibe, Seke- letu’s father-in-law, and some others determined to brave the mysterious book. Sekeletu himself and some of his compan- ions followed this example, by and by ; but before much prog- ress could be made the missionary was on his way to Loanda. 118 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. As he had declined to name anything as a present from the chief, except a canoe to take him np the river, the latter brought him ten fine elephants’ tusks one day, and laid them down beside the wagon. He would take no denial, although Livingstone told him that he should prefer to see him trading with Fleming, a negro from the West Indies, who had accom- panied him, and who had come for the purpose. Livingstone had during the eleven years of his previous course invariably abstained from taking presents of ivory, having the idea that a religious instructor degrades himself by taking presents from those whose spiritual welfare he professes to seek. Presents were always given to the chiefs whom he visited, and nothing accepted in return ; as a rule it was so : but when Sebituane (in 1851) offered some ivory, he took it, and was able by the sale of it to present Sekeletu with a number of really useful articles of a higher value than any he had ever before been in a position to present to any chief. He had brought with him as presents, besides the more usual gifts, an improved breed of goats, fowls, and a pair of cats. A supe- rior bull was bought also as a gift to Sekeletu, but he was compelled to leave it behind on account of its having become footsore. He had endeavored to bring this animal in perform- ance of a promise which he had made to Sebituane before he died. That chief admiring a calf which the traveller had with him, he proposed to give him a cow for it ; it was pre- sented to him at once, and a promise made to bring him an- other and a better one. Sekeletu was much gratified by this attempt to keep the promise which had been made to his father. The Makololo are remarkably fond of their cattle, and have large herds of them, spending much time in ornamenting and adorning them. They use all the skins of their oxen for making either mantles or shields. On the 30th of May, Livingstone himself was seized with fever for the first time. He had reached Linyanti on the 23d ; and as his habits had been suddenly changed from great exer- tion to comparative inactivity, this was the result. Anxious to know if the natives were acquainted with any remedy of which he was ignorant, he requested the assistance of one of Sekele- tu’s doctors. He submitted to the doctor’s treatment for a time, but ere long concluded that he could cure the fever more quickly himself. Purgatives, general bleedings, or in- deed any violent remedies, are injurious. If one employs a wet sheet and a mild aperient in combination with quinine, and in addition to the native remedies, he will usually find LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 119 such means effective. There is a good deal in not “ giving in ” to this disease ; a man who is low-spirited, and apt to despond at ever}’ attack, will die sooner than one who is of a hopeful temperament. "When Livingstone had formerly left them to proceed to the Cape, the Makololo had made a garden for him, and planted maize in it, that, as they said, he might have food to eat when lie returned, as well as other people. This was now pounded by the women into fine meal. Sekeletu added to this good supply of meal ten or twelve jars of honey, each of whicli contained about two gallons. Liberal supplies of ground-nuts (Arcichis hypogma) were also furnished every time the tributary tribes brought their dues to Linyanti, and an ox for the use of the party was given every week or two. Sekeletu also appropriated two cows to be milked for them every morning and evening. Such was the acknowledged rule throughout this country — the chief being expected to feed all strangers who came to him on any special business, and took up their abode in his kotla. A present is usually given for the hospitality, but, except in cases where the aboriginal customs have been modified, nothing would be asked. The Makololo cultivate a large extent of land around their villages, and both men and women take their share in the labors of the field. The great chief Moshesh sets an example to his people every year, by not only taking the hoe in hand, but working hard with it on certain public occasions. The tribes which Sebituane subjected in this great country pass by the general name of Makalaka. The Makololo were the aristocracy. The nucleus of the whole were Basuta, who came with Sebituane from a comparatively cold and hilly region in the south. When he conquered various tribes of the Bechuanas, as Bakwains, Bangwaketze, Bamangwato, Batauana, and others, he incorporated the young of those tribes into his own. Livingstone, having remained a month at Linyanti, set out to ascend the river from Sesheke. He went to Nariele, or Naliele, the capital of the Barotse country (lat. 15° 24/ 27" S., long. 23° 5' 54:" E.), in company with Sekeletu and about a hundred and sixty attendants. The country between Linyanti and Sesheke is flat, with the exception of occasional patches elevated a few feet above the surrounding level. There are also many mounds where the gigantic ant-hills of the country have been situated or still appear. These mounds are evi- dently the work of the termites, and the industry of these little 120 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. laborers is astonishing as one looks upon the gigantic structures which they have reared. Troops of leches appeared feeding quite heedlessly all over the flats ; and although very many of them and of the “ nakong” are annually killed, the herds con- tinue to be enormous. When the party arrived at any village, the women all turned out to lulliloo their chief. Their shrill voices, to which they give a tremulous sound by a quick motion of the tongue, peal forth “ Great lion ! ” “ Great chief ! ” “ Sleep, my lord ! ” and so on. The men utter similar salutations ; and the chief mean- while receives all with becoming indifference. After a few minutes’ conversation, large pots of beer are produced, and also pots and basins of thick milk. The chief either selects an ox or two from his own numerous cattle stations, or is presented by the headman of the village, in the way of tribute, with what he needs. Sekeletu and Livingstone had each a gypsy- tent in which to sleep, and it was fortunate, as the native huts are hardly inviting to the uninitiated. “The Makololo huts,” says Livingstone, “ are generally clean, while those of the Maka- laka are infested with vermin. The cleanliness of the former is owing to the habit of frequently smearing the floors with a plaster composed of cow-dung and earth. If we slept in the tent in some villages, the mice ran over our faces and disturbed our sleep, or hungry, prowling dogs would eat our shoes and leave only the soles ; when they were guilty of this and other misdemeanors, we got the loan of a hut. The best sort of Makololo huts consist of three circular walls, with small holes as doors, each similar to that in a dog-house ; and it is neces- sary to bend down the body to get in, even when on all fours. The roof is formed of reeds or straight sticks, in shape like a Chinaman’s hat, bound flrmly together with circular bands, which are lashed with the strong inner bark of the mimosa- tree. When all prepared except the thatch, it is lifted on tp the circular wall, the rim resting on a circle of poles, between each of which the third wall is built. The roof is thatched with fine grass, and sewed with the same material as the lash- ings; and, as it projects far beyond the walls, and reaches within four feet of the ground, the shade is the best to be found in the country. These huts are very cool in the hottest day, but are close and deficient in ventilation by night.” Their course led them to a part above Sesheke, called Ka- tonga, where there is a village, belonging to a Bashubia man named Sekhosi (lat. 17° 29' 13" S.,lon. 20° 33' E). The river here is certainly not less than six hundred yards broad. Several LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 121 days were necessarily spent in collecting canoes for the ascent of the river. To assist in the support of the large party, Liv- ingstone went out several times with his gun. The country abounds with game, — buffaloes, zebras, tsessebes, tahaetsi, elands, and other kinds, lie shot a beautiful eland, a new variety, upon seeing which one of the Makololo who accompanied him, “a gentleman,” speaking in reference to its extraordinary beaut}*, said, M Jesus ought to have given us these instead of cattle.” The river is here called the Leeambye. On the occasion of his first visit, ho had called it after the town Sesheke. Sesheke means “ white sand-banks,” many of which exist here. Leeam- bye means “ the large river,” or the river par excellence. Luambeje, Luambesi, Ambezi, Ojimbesi, Zambesi, and other names are applied to it at different parts of its course — all having a similar signification. Having at last procured a sufficient number of canoes, they began to ascend the river. Sekeletu had ten paddlers, and Livingstone six. The fleet consisted of thirty-three canoes. They proceeded rapidly upwards, and Livingstone had the pleasure of looking on lands which had never before been seen by the eyes of any European. The river is indeed magnifi- cent, being often more than a mile broad, and adorned with many islands of from three to five miles in length. The islands and banks are covered with forest, and the scenery all along is extremely beautiful. Great quantities of grain are raised by the Banyeti, and many of the villages of these indus- trious people are to be found on both banks. The Banyeti are expert hunters, and very skilful in the manufacture of various articles in wood and iron. From the bend of the river up to the north, called Katima- molcdo (I quenched fire), the bed of the stream is rocky, the current is fast, and forms a succession of rapids and cataracts, which prevent continuous navigation when it is low. The rapids are not visible when the river is full, but the cataracts of Nainbwe, Bombwe, and Kale must always be dangerous. The fall at each of these is from four to six feet. The falls at Gonye present a much more serious obstacle. They were there obliged to take their canoes out of the water and carry them more than a mile by land ; the fall being about thirty feet. As they passed up the river, the different villages of Banyeti turned out to present Sekeletu with food and skins, as their tribute. When they came to about 16° 10' S. lat. the high wooded banks seemed to leave the river. Viewed from the 122 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. flat, reedy basin in which the river then flowed, the banks seemed to be prolonged into ridges of the same wooded charac- ter two or three hundred feet high, and stretched away to the N. N. E. and N. N. W. until they were twenty or thirty miles apart. The intervening space, nearly one hundred miles in length, with the Leeambye winding gently near the middle, is the true Barotse valley. It closely resembles the valley of the Nile, and is inundated annually by the Leeambye as Lower Egypt is flooded by the Nile. The soil is extremely fertile, and the people are never in want of grain. The Barotse are strongly attached to this fertile valley ; they say, “ Here hunger is not known.” Yet this great valley is not put to a tithe of the use it might be. It is covered with coarse, succu- lent grasses, one species being twelve feet high, and as thick as a man’s thumb. There are no large towns, as the house- holders require to live far apart on account of their cattle. The villages of the Barotse are built in mounds, some of which are said to have been raised artificially by Santaru, a former chief of the Barotse, and during the season of flood the entire valley assumes the appearance of a lake with small islands dotted here and there over its expanse. Naliele, the capital, is constructed on one of these mounds constructed by Santaru, and was his storehouse for grain. All that remained at the time of Livingstone’s visit of the largest mound in the valley was a few cubic yards of earth, to erect which cost the whole of the people of Santaru the labor of many years. This was the first visit of Sekeletu to these parts since he had attained the chieftainship. Those who had taken part with Mpepc were consequently in great terror. When the party came to the town of Mpepe’s father, he and another man having counselled Mamochis&ne to put Sekeletu to death and marry Mpepe, the two were led forth and tossed into the river. Remonstrance against the deed on the part of Livingstone was . wholly without effect. While still at Naliele, Livingstone walked out to Kataya (lat. 15° 16' 33") on the ridge which bounds the valley of the Barotse, and found it covered with trees. He imagined that Kataya might be a healthy location, but was informed that no part of this region is exempt from fever — even the natives sel- dom escaping its malignant attacks. Returning to Naliele he continued to ascend the river, going up as far as the town of Libasta. Beyond this point the forests approached to the very water’s edge and the tsetse reappeared. Hearing that he was near a great river called Leeba, which came from the country LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 123 of Londa, lie pushed on and came to the confluence of the Leeba and the Zambesi (in lat. 14° 11' 3"). The Zambesi is the larger stream, but the Leeba is a magnificent river 250 yards wide at the mouth. In this ascent of the river, Livingstone visited many villages of the Makololo, and was always received with cordiality as a messenger of peace, which they term 44 sleep.” They behaved well at all public meetings, even on occasions of their first attendance. “ As this was the first visit which Sekeletu had paid to this part of his dominions, it was to many a season of great joy. The headmen of each village presented oxen, milk, and beer, more than the horde which accompanied him could devour, though their abilities in that line are something wonderful. The people usually show their joy and work off their excite- ment in dances and songs. The dance consists of the men standing nearly naked in a circle, with clubs or small battle- axes in their hands, and each roaring at the loudest pitch of his voice, while they simultaneously lift one leg, stamp heavily twice with it, then lift the other and give one stamp with that ; this is the only movement in common. The arms and head are often thrown about also in every direction ; and all this time the roaring is kept up with the utmost possible vigor; the continued stamping makes a cloud of dust ascend, and they leave a deep ring in the ground where they stood. If the scene were witnessed in a lunatic asylum it would be nothing out of the way, and quite appropriate even, as a means of let- ting off the excessive excitement of the brain ; but here gray- headed men joined in the performance with as much zest as others whose youth might bean excuse for making the perspira- tion stream off their bodies with the exertion. Motibe asked what I thought of the Makololo dance. I replied, 4 It is very hard work, and brings but small profit/ 4 It is,’ replied he, 4 but it is very nice, and Sekeletu will give us an ox for danc- ing for him/ He usually does slaughter an ox for the dancers when the work is over. The women stand by, clapping their hands, and occasionally one advances into the circle, composed of a hundred men, makes a few movements, and then retires.” It wa9 now quite plain that no healthy location could be obtained in which he could settle as a missionary with the Makololo, and hope to live in peace ; and he says, 44 1 might, therefore, have come home and said that the door was shut. But, believing that it was my duty to devote some portion of my life to these (to me at least) very confiding and affectionate Makololo, I resolved to follow out the second part 124 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. of my plan, though I had failed in accomplishing the first.” And with this determination lie ultimately proceeded across the continent to Loanda. During these past nine weeks, he had been in closer contact with heathenism than even he had experienced before ; and though all, including the chief, had been as kind and attentive to iiim as possible, and although he had suffered no want of any kind, yet the dancing, roaring, and singing, the jesting, anecdotes, grumbling, quarrelling, and murdering of these children of nature, seemed more like a severe penance than anything he had ever endured before in the whole course of his missionary experience. “ Even the in- direct benefits which result from the diffusion of Christianity are worth all the labor and the money which have been ex- pended to produce them.” Rapidly descending the river, and arriving again at Linyanti, Livingstone now prepared for the prosecution of his journey to Loanda. He might have made arrangements with the Mambari to permit him to accompany them as far as Bihe, which is on the road to St. Philip de Benguela, a port which was nearer than Loanda, but it was undesirable to travel in a path once trodden by slave-traders, and therefore he preferred another route. The Mambari had informed him that many English lived at Loanda, and he prepared to go thither. He was strongly dissuaded from making any such attempt as this — “He would die of fever;” “He would certainly be killed ; ” “ Your garments already smell of blood.” Such was the utterance of the old diviners. But Sebituane had formerly set down such visions to cowardice, and Sekeletu only laughed at them now. The general voice was in Livingstone’s favor ; and a band of twenty -seven men were appointed to accompany him to the west. These men were not hired, but went to enable him to accomplish an object as much desired by the chief and his people as by himself. They were eager to obtain free and profitable trade with white men. The three men whom he had brought from Kuruman had frequent relapses of fever; he therefore decided that they should return with Fleming, the trader, when the latter should be ready to return south ; and thus he was entirely dependent upon his twenty-seven men whom, he says, “ I might name Zambesians, for there were two Makololo only, while the rest consisted of Barotse, Batoka, Bashubia, and two of the Am bon da.” His impediments did not burden the party to any great ex- tent. Ho had no expectation of succeeding by means of what LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 125 ho took with him, if lie could not accomplish his purpose by the help of what was in him. lie w r as rather despondent than otherwise when he left Sekeletu and his principal men on the 11 th of November, 1853, to embark on the Chobe. But he “ had always believed that, if we serve God at all, it ought to be done in a manly way,” and he w’as determined to succeed or perish in the attempt to open up this part of Africa.” lie again reached the town of Scsheke on the 17th of Nov- ember, and gave many public addresses to the people — his audiences sometimes amounting to as many as live or six hun- dred. Their progress up the river was rather slow. This was caused by waiting opposite different villages for food — Pitsanc, his Makololo man, being resolved to carry out the instructions which lie had received on this point from his chief Sekeletu. The rapids of the Chobe are caused by rocks of dark brown trap, or of hardened sandstone, stretching quite across the river. They form miles of such a bottom in some places, studded with islands. These rocks, in certain instances, are covered with a small aquatic plant which seems to contain much stony matter in its substance, and which appears to have a disintegrating power upon the rocks themselves. Many forest-trees line the banks ; turtle-doves and others which are well known abound; but there are varieties of the species which are new. Some are musical. Guinea-fowl are plenti- ful ; and on dead trees and rocks may be seen many varieties of the darter, or snake-bird. It sits most of the day sunning itself — its chief feeding-time being at night. It is a most ex- pert diver. Its rump is prolonged and flexible, capable of being used as a rudder, and also of being so employed as to lift the creature so far out of the water as to give free scope to the wings. When this is not wanted, the swimming is very low, so that little of the bird is seen besides the head. The fish- hawk is frequently to be met with, and near it dead fish, more having been killed than his lordship required. There is always a portion of every fish left behind, only certain tit-bits having been used. These are thankfully appropriated by the Barotse, who live near. The rapids between Katima-molelo and Nameta have close by them much deep w r ater, in considerable lengths or reaches, aiid in these there are multitudes of hippopotami. At the falls of the Gonye, the canoes were carried around the rapids slung on poles. At these falls the river is so narrow as, in some places, to be not more than a hundred yards wide. The water, when in flood, rises fifty or sixty feet in perpendicn- 126 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. lar height. The islands above the falls are very beautiful. The people are usually very kind to travellers, and present them with oxen, butter, milk, and meal. The cows, at certain seasons, yield more milk than the inhabitants can use. The rains are sometimes e&rly, sometimes late, but there is never in the Barotse valley any scarcity of food. Leaving Naliele, amid abundance of good wishes for the success of the expedition, and proceeding up the Leeambye, the banks were found in some places to consist of a light- colored clay, with strata of black clay intermixed ; at other parts they are black loam in sand, or pure sand stratified. When the water is low, they are from four to eight feet high. When the floods come, the one side or the other is worn away, and, from one bend to another, new channels are, at such sea- sons, continually being formed. Here the flow averages about five miles — i.e., when the water is neither low nor in full flood. The banks being perpendicular, afford hiding-places for a pretty bee-eater which breeds there. Hundreds of holes, lead- ing to their nests, may be counted for long distances. A speckled kingfisher, which builds in similar places, may fre- quently be seen. There is also a most beautiful variety of kingfisher, blue and orange, everywhere abounding by the water-side. And still a third species, about the size of a pigeon, of a slaty color. This is not so frequently seen. The sand- martin abounds at all seasons, and never migrates. Libontawas the next town arrived at, and is the last town of the Makololo. It is situated on a mound, like the rest of the villages of the Barotse valley. Beyond there are only some cattle stations and small hamlets, and then an uninhabited border-land reaching far onward in the direction of Londa, or Lunda. Beyond the inhabited parts, the country abounds in animal life in great variety of form. There are upwards of thirty descriptions of birds. The ibis comes down the Lee- ambye by hundreds, as on the Nile. There are large white pelicans, in flocks of two or three hundred, and innumerable plovers, snipes, curlews, and herons. Besides these there are, less commonly known, the white ardetta, in flocks, settling on the backs of large herds of buffaloes ; and the kala, with the strange-looking scissor-bill, which may also be seen sitting in large numbers on the withers of buffaloes when the herd is at full speed. There are many spoonbills, the flamingo, the Numidian crane, and two varieties of crane besides. Gulls abound. One little wader, an avoset, appears, on account of the length of its legs, as if it were standing on stilts ; while LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 127 another, the Parra Africana , rims about on the surface of the water. It has long legs also, extremely thin, with wide-spread- ing toes. So marvellously is it adapted to its mode of life, that on account of the spread of its toes, it can stand on a lotus-leaf not more than five inches in diameter, never sinking, but ob- taining its livelihood, not by .swimming or flying, but by catch- ing its insects while it walks on the water. Everywhere in the Rarotsc valley there arc largo flocks of black geese ; there are also other varieties of geese, and many ducks of different kinds. There arc very many alligators in the river. Vast herds of wild animals occupy the plains, among them being several beautiful and new species of antelopes. Livingstone, on the occasion of his visiting these scenes for the first time, was detained for some days, in order that he might return to their homes some dozen captives, the people of Makoma, whom lie had induced their captors to restore. The same kindly act had been performed on behalf of others. This was thirty or forty miles above Libonta. At the confluence of thcLceba and Lecambye, he and his people spent a Sunday, and lie says : t; Rains had fallen here before we came, and the woods had put on their gayest hue. Flowers of great beauty and curious form grow everywhere. The ground begins to swarm with insect life ; and in the cool, pleasant mornings the welkin rings with the singing of birds, which is not so delightful as the singing of birds at home, because I have not been familiar with them from infancy. The notes, however, strike the mind by their loudness and variety, as the wellings forth, from joyous hearts, of praise to Him who fills them with overflowing gladness. All of us rise early to enjoy the luscious, balmy air of the morning. We then have worship; but amidst all the beauty and loveliness with which we are sur- rounded, there is still a feeling of want in the soul in viewing one’s poor companions, and hearing bitter, impure words jar- ring on the ear in the perfection of the scenes of nature, and a longing that both their hearts and ours might be brought into harmony with the Great Father of spirits. I pointed out, as usual, in the simplest words I could employ, the remedy which God has presented to us, in the inexpressibly precious gift of His own Son, on whom the Lord ‘laid the iniquity of us all.’ The great difficulty in dealing with these people is to make the subject plain. The minds of the auditors cannot be under- stood by one who has not mingled much with them. They readily pray for the forgiveness of sins, and then sin again ; 128 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. confess the evil of it, and there the matter ends. I shall not often advert to their depravity. My practice has always been to apply the remedy with all possible earnestness, but never to allow my mind to dwell on the dark shades of men’s characters.” The confluence of the Leeambye and Leeba was reached on the 27th of December. Just below it the banks of the former are twenty feet high, and are composed of marly sandstone. These are covered with trees, and on the left is the tsetse, there being also many elephants. The floods cover these banks ; but as they do not remain long, the trees are not de- stroyed. On the right bank is the Manga, a country of grass, with but few trees. Flocks of green pigeons abound among the trees. Large shoals of flsli of various kinds come down the Leeambye with the floods. Many descriptions of fish are left by the retiring waters all along the Barotse valley in large numbers, and are preserved by the people for future use. But they are not able to consume the abundance with which they arc furnished, and an immense quantity is, in some in- stances, left to putrefy and be lost. There are many hippo- potami everywhere along the river. From the confluence downwards, as far as Mosioatunya, there are many long reaches of deep water. In some parts there are sand-banks, but in others there are many miles free from such obstructions ; for example, beyond the sand-banks below the confluence of the Leoti, there is a free space of a hundred miles reaching to the river Siinah, in which our ordi- nary river steamers could ply at all seasons of the year. Again, there are hindrances in the form of cataracts and rapids ; these are between Simah and Katima-melolo ; but from the latter place to the confluence of the Chobe there must be not far from a hundred miles of a river capable of being safely navigated. The part of the country through which the river flows is abundantly fertile, as appears from the strong, rank growths which it naturally produces. It is capable of support- ing millions. Ascending the Leeba, the water is found to be darker than that of the main stream, which here assumes the name of the Kabompo. The Leeba flows with steady calmness, and receives many small streams on either side. It winds its placid way through beautiful meadows. At certain seasons these have the look of a carefully kept park. There are vast numbers of flowers, and many bees, there being abundance of honey in the woods. There are numbers of alligators in the river ; but LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 129 these avoid the presence of man, their increase in number being prevented by the fact that the natives gather their eggs and eat them with much relish. The egg is about the size of that of a goose. Immediately on the young being hatched, the dam leads them to the water, the nests being usually about ten or twelve feet distant, and then they are entirely left to provide for themselves. The Lceba has but little flood in it. There are not many varieties, nor any great number of birds or fish; nor is the game abundant along its banks. It chiefly consists of the zebra, the buffalo, and a small antelope. There is much superstition among the people, and now and then indications of the pres- ence of idol worship. The latter, however, are rare. The chiefs arc frequently women. Livingstone, on visiting one of these named Manenko, found her arrayed in oil and red ochre, with numerous ornaments on her head, and wrists, and ankles, and person — her people, so far as true garment was concerned, being much more amply clothed than herself. She was “ a tall strapping woman about twenty.” Her husband, Sambanza, was clothed in a kilt of green and red baize, and was armed with a spear and broadsword of antique form. All communi- cation was through him to her, to whom he invariably passed it on. It is always impolitic and unsafe to pass a chief without explaining one’s purpose and design. The houses in the villages which these people occupy are sep- erate dwellings, and well stockaded. An enemy coming in the night would find it difficult to effect an entrance. Bows and arrows, not guns, as farther south, are their arms ; but they have cleared the country of game as effectually as in places where fire-arms are in use. The forests become more dense the farther north one goes, and in these forests are to be found many artificial beehives. These consist of about five feet of the bark of a tree fifteen or eighteen inches in diameter. Two incisions are made quite round the tree at a distance of about five feet from each other, and then a slit is made from the one to the other. Next day it is detached from the tree. The slit is sewed up, or the sides are pegged together — ends are made with grass rope, an open- ing in the centre being left for the bees, and the hive is com- plete. These hives are placed horizontally on high trees, and in this way is collected all the wax exported from Benguela to Loanda. In the rainy seasons great quantities of mushrooms are to be found. The deep gloom of this forest- covered land contrasts strongly with the blinding glare of the Kalahari ; 9 130 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. and, though constantly soaked and steamed from day to daj r , much enjoyment may be experienced by the traveller. Every now and again one emerges from the gloom of the forest into the light and beanty of some small valley, and the villages arc just about as numerous as the valleys. Livingstone was desirous of continuing his ascent of the Leeba, as it still seemed to flow from the direction in which he must go in order to reach Loanda, but Manenko insisted so strenuously on his visiting her brother Sliinte, or Kaboinpo, the greatest Balonda chief in this part of the country, and his followers were so indisposed to encounter tribes up the river who were represented as hostile, that he was compelled to yield. Shiute’s capital lay some distance inland, and an exten- sive plain, which in the rainy season is ankle-deep in water, had to be crossed in order to reach it. They started from the Leeba on the morning of the 11th of January (1854) escorted by a numerous party headed by Manenko, who led them through the intervening villages in a style worthy of the occa- sion of the first visit of a white man to the country. 44 After a short march on the 16th, we came to a most lovely valley about a mile and a half wide, and stretching away east- ward up to a low prolongation of Monakadzi. A small stream meanders down the centre of this pleasant green glen : and on a little rill, which flows into it from the western side, stands the town of Kabompo, or, as he likes best to be called, Sliinte. (Lat. 12° 37' S., long. 22° 47' E.) When Manenko thought the sun was high enough for us to make a lucky entrance, we found the town embowered in banana and other tropical trees having great expansion of leaf ; the trees are straight, and pre- sent a complete contrast to those of the Bechuanas, which are all very tortuous. Here, too, we first saw native huts with square walls and round roofs. The fences or walls of the courts which surround the huts are wonderfully straight, and made of upright poles a few inches apart, with strong grass or leafy bushes neatly woven between. In the courts were small plantations of tobacco, and a little solanaceous plant which the Balonda use as a relish ; also sugar-cane and bananas. 44 We were honored next day with a grand reception by Sliinte about eleven o’clock. Sambanza claimed the honor of presenting us, Manenko being slightly indisposed. The kotla, or place of audience, was about a hundred yards square, and two graceful specimens of a species of banian stood near one end ; under one of these sat Sliinte, on a sort of throne covered with a leopard’s skin. He had on a checked jacket, and a kilt LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 131 of scarlet baize edged with green ; many strings of large beads bung from bis neck, and bis limbs were covered with iron and copper armlets and bracelets ; on bis bead be wore a belmct made of beads woven neatly together, and crowned witli a great bunch of goose-feathers. Close to him sat three lads with large sheaves of arrows over their shoulders. “ When we entered the kotla, the whole of Manenko’s party saluted Shinto by clapping their hands, and Sambanza did obeisance by rubbing his chest and arms with ashes. One of the trees being unoccupied, I retreated to it for the sake of the shade, and my whole party did the same. We were now about forty yards from the chief, and could see the whole ceremony. The different sections of the tribe came forward in the same way that we did, the headman of each making obeisance with ashes which he carried with him for the purpose ; then came the soldiers, all armed to the teeth, running and shouting toward us, with their swords drawn, and their faces screwed up so as to appear as savage as possible, for the purpose, I thought, of trying whether they could not make us take to our heels. As we did not, they turned round toward Shinte and saluted him, then retired. When all had come and were seated, then began the curious capering usually seen in pichos. A man starts up, and imitates the most approved attitudes observed in actual fight, as throwing one javelin, receiving another on the shield, springing to one side to avoid a third, running backward or forward, leaping, etc. This over, Sambanza, and the spokes- man of Nyamoana stalked backward and forward in front of Shinte, and gave forth, in a loud voice, all they had been able to learn, either from myself or people, of my past history and connection with the Makololo ; the return of the captives ; the wish to open the country to trade ; the Bible as a word from heaven ; the white man’s desire for the tribes to live in peace : be ought to have taught the Makololo that first, for the Balonda never attacked them, yet they had assailed the Balonda : per- haps he is fibbing, perhaps not ; they rather thought be was ; but as the Balonda bad good hearts, and Shinte had never done barm to any one, be had" better receive the white man well, and send him on his way. When nine speakers had concluded their orations, Shinte stood up, and so did all the people. lie had maintained true African dignity of manner all the while, but my people remarked that he scarcely ever took his eyes off me for a moment. About a thousand people were present, ac- cording to my calculation, and three hundred soldiers. The 132 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. sun had now become liot ; and the scene ended by the Mam- bari discharging their guns.” Livingstone stayed ten days at Shintc’s, and was on the whole kindly entertained, though he suffered part of the time from another attack of fever, and was teased by the irrepressi- ble curiosity of the people. On the 26th of January he started westward on his journey toward the Portuguese territory. Shinte furnished eight men to assist in carrying the baggage, but could only provide guides for a short distance. After travelling five days they struck the Lecba again, in lat. 12° O' S., and crossed it in canoes furnished by the natives. Be- yond the river they came upon a plain twenty miles wide, and flooded with water. This entire region is intersected with branches and feeders of the Leeba, some of which the party were obliged to ford, the water often covering all of the oxen except their lifted heads. Livingstone was obliged to carry bis watch in his arm-pit as the only spot where it could be kept dry. Onward is a branch of the Lokalueje, which was crossed on the 6tli of February Like all branches of great rivers in this country, it is named after the main stream Nuana Kalueje, or child of Kalueje. Hippopotami are found in the Lokalueje. It is therefore always of considerable depth. In the rainy sea- son it is about forty yards in breadth, and at other times is prob- ably about half that width. The Lokalueje winds from north- east to south-west into the Leeba. The whole of this territory, the Londa, is rich in natural pasturage, and in the grains which are sown by the inhabitants of the villages which occupy the higher lands. Great numbers of fish spread themselves over the flooded plains, and, as the waters recede, of course try to find their way back to the rivers. The Balonda make dykes across the outlets, and by placing creels in the narrow openings which are left, so catch many, which they dry in smoke, and find a likeable addition to their more ordinary food. Nets are not common ; but sometimes a hook is used. The traveller next reached the villege of Soana Molopo, a half brother of the Kateina to whose town Shintc’s guides were to lead him, a few miles beyond the Lokalueje. Beyond is a stream in the rainy season forty yards wide, and called Mona- Kalueje, or brother of Kalueje, since it flows into that river. Crossing the river, the same sort of woodland and meadow as before w r as reached, swarming with buffaloes, elands, koodoos, and antelopes. Among these tribes, when a chief dies, a number of his peo- LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 133 pic arc killed that they may become liis servants in the other world. The JBarotse have the same custom ; and so it is in many parts of Africa. The chiefs have absolute power and are very tyrannical. When Matiamvo, a chieftain who died just before Livingstone’s arrival in his territory, took a fancy to anything, he would have it. If a slave-trader visited him, he would seize the whole of his goods, keep them for some days, and then send a party to surprise some village of con- siderable size, having the headman killed, that he might sell the inhabitants to pay for the goods. If any asked if Mati- amvo did not know that he was a man, and that in another state a great Lord would judge him, the reply was sure to be, as it has been, “We do not go up to God, as white men go ; we are put into the ground.” Even where there is any faint idea of a future state, there is no conception of heaven ; it is supposed that the soul is always somewhere near to the place where the body lies. Crossing the river Lotembwa on the 13th of February, the town of the great chief Katema was reached, about eight miles distant. It is a straggling town — more a collection of vil- lages than a town (lat. 11° 35' 49" S., long. 22° 27' E.). “ Next morning,” says Livingstone, “ we had a formal presen- tation, and found Katema seated on a sort of throne, with about three hundred men on the ground around, and thirty women, who were said to be his wives, close behind him. The main body of the people were seated in a semicircle, at a dis- tance of fifty yards. Each party had its own headman sta- tioned at a little distance in front, and, when beckoned by the chief, came near him as councillors. Intemese gave our his- tory, and Katema placed sixteen large baskets of meal before us, half a dozen fowl, and a dozen eggs, and expressed a regret that we had slept hungry : he did not like any stranger to suf- fer want in his town ; and added, ‘ Go home, and cook and eat, and you will then be fit to speak to me at an audience I will give you to-morrow.’ lie w as busily engaged in hearing the statements of a large body of fine young men who had fled from Kangenke, chief of Lobale, on account of his selling their relatives to the native Portuguese who frequent his coun- try. Katema is a tall man, about forty years of age, and his head w T as ornamented with a helmet of beads and feathers. He had on a snuff-brown coat, with a broad band of tinsel down the arms, and carried in his hand a large tail made of the caudal extremities of a number of gnus. This had charms attached to it, and he continued waving it in front of himself 134 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. all the time we were there. He seemed in good spirits, laugh- ing heartily several times. When we arose to take leave, all rose with us, as at Shinte’s. “ Returning next morning, Katema addressed me thus : 6 1 am the great Moene (lord) Katema, the fellow of Madam vo. There is no one in the country equal to Madam vo and me. I have always lived here, and my forefathers too. There is the house in which my father lived. You found no human skulls near the place where you are encamped. I never killed any of the traders ; they all come to me. I am the great Moene Katema, of whom you have heard.’ He looked as if he had fallen asleep tipsy, and dreamed of his greatness. On explain- ing my objects to him, he promptly pointed out three men who would be our guides, and explained that the north-west path was the most direct, and that by which all traders came, but that the water at present standing on the plains would what could be brought back to him on the return journey from Loanda, he replied, “Everything of the white people would be acceptable, and he would receive anything thankfully; but the coat he had then on was old, and he would like another.” The subject of the Bible was introduced ; but his attention could not be obtained or kept except by personal compliments. Livingstone had another attack of fever while living at the reach up to the loins ; he wohld therefore send us by a more northerly route, which no trader had yet traversed. This was more suited to our wishes, for we never found a path safe that had been trodden by slave-traders.” To this great chief were presented a few articles which pleased him much — “ a small shawl, a razor, three bunches of beads, some buttons, and a pow- der-horn.” When asked While at Katema, Liv- ingstone was struck with the musical powers of the people. One of their in- struments is represented in the engraving. MARIMBA MUSICIAN. LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 135 town of Katema, but on the 20th of February set out on his westward journey. The Lblb is a considerable stream not far from the town of Katema, with iive tributary rivers, the Lisli- ish, Liss, or Lice, Kalileme, Ishidish, and Mol6ng. None of these is large in itself, but when united the body of water is far from being despicable. Four or five miles distant is Lake Dilolo, the small end of which is like a river a quarter of a mile broad, and abounds in fish and hippopotami. At its wider part it is about three miles, and is about seven or eight long. The people of Katema keep singing-birds in cages, and such birds, of various kinds, abound in the woods. It is re- markable that, notwithstanding the number of song-birds and pigeons, there is a general paucity of animal life in other forms. Game and the larger kinds of fowl are scarce, and many of the rivers are almost destitute of fish. Such is the variety of nature within the space of not many miles. Beyond Lake Dilolo is a large plain about twenty miles in breadth. This plain it is, of course, difficult to cross in the rainy season, it being covered with water. Level as it is, the tavellers found it to be the water-shed between the southern and northern rivers ; on the one side of it these flow in one direction, and, on the other, in the opposite. Those which flow in a northern direction fall into the Kasia, or Loke. The trees in this district are thickly planted, and very high — many of them having sixty or eighty feet of clean trunk. These trees are on the banks of the rivers. The villages in this vicinity are frequently visited by the Mamb&ri, in the interests of the slave-trade ; and in that trade they exercise the most ruthless and barbarous cruelty : the older members of a family are killed off, that they may not be able to offer present resistance or give future trouble — trouble by enchantments or otherwise. The belief in the power of enchantment is widely prevalent. Gunpowder is in great demand as an article of barter; next to that English calico. Gold is not valued. Trade can be carried on only by ex- change. Tlie Kasai, or Loke, the great river of this district, is a beau- tiful stream, perhaps one hundred yards broad, fringed with rich wooding, and flanked with fertile meadows on both its banks. “ Though you sail along it for months,” say the peo- ple of the place, “ you will not see the end of it.” The ford of the Loke is in 11° 16' 47" S. lat., and was reached on Feb- ruary 27th. Katende, the local chief, rigorously exacts tribute from all who pass through his country. Beyond his principal 136 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. town there is a small river, and, even there, there is civilization enough to have erected a bridge, toll being demanded of all travellers. Nor would the people of these parts give them anything except in the way of sale. Passing onwaids, the villages of the Kasabi were reached, and beyond these lies the territory of the Chiboque. The population of the central parts of the country, traversed by Livingstone on this journey, is large when compared with that of the Cape Colony or the Bechuana country. The amount of cultivated land is small, compared with what it might be. Irrigation at the cost of but little labor is abun- dantly provided for by many ever-flowing streams ; and yet miles of country are absolutely waste ; there is not even game to eat off the fine natural pasturage. The people of this region are not all black — many are bronze in color. The dialects spoken in the extreme south, whether Hottentot or Kaffre, bear a close affinity to those of the tribes immediately to the north of them, and glide into each other with so many affini- ties and in such a manner as indicates plainly the fact that they are cognate tongues. Near the equator it is more diffi- cult to detect the fact ; but even there it requires only a small amount of attention and reflection to find that all the dialects of these parts belong to but two families of languages, and that these, merge into each other. When Livingstone reached the village of Njambi, one of the , Chiboque chiefs, it was on Saturday, and, according to his custom, he hoped to be able not only to spend a quiet Sunday, but to find an opportunity of preaching to the people. But he was disappointed. Their provisions being spent, he ordered a tired riding-ox to be slaughtered, and sent the hump and ribs to Njambi with the message that this was the customary token of respect to chiefs in ttie part from which he had come. Next morning he received an impudent reply, with a present of meal. Scorning the meat which had been presented, Njambi demanded either a man, an ox, a gun, powder, cloth, or a shell ; and, in the event of refusal, he intimated his in- tention to prevent the further progress of the party. The servants who brought the message intimated that when they were sent to the Main bar i, they had always received a quantity ' of cloth for their master, and that they now expected the same. Thus has the curse of slave-dealing infected the whole of these regions with a cruel cupidity in whose path no hos- pitality, no humanity can be allowed to stand. “ We,” says Livingstone, “ heard some of the Chiboque re- LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS TEE CONTINENT. 137 mark, ‘They have only five guns;’ and, about mid-day, Njainbi collected all his people, and surrounded our encamp- ment. Their object was evidently to plunder us of every- thing. My men seized their javelins, and stood on the defen- sive, while the young Cliiboque had drawn their swords and brandished them with great fury. Some even pointed their guns at me, and nodded to each other, as much as to sav, ‘ This is the way we shall do with him.’ I sat on my camp- stool, with my double-barrelled gun across my knees, and in- vited the chief to be seated also. When he and his counsellors had sat down on the ground in front of me, I asked what crime we had committed, that he had come armed in that way. He replied that one of my men, Pitsane, while sitting at the fire that morning, had, in spitting, allowed a small quantity of saliva to fall on the leg of oue of his men, and this ‘ guilt’ he wanted to be settled by the fine of a man, ox, or gun. Pitsane admitted the fact of a little saliva having fallen on the Cliiboque, and in proof of its being a pure accident mentioned that lie had given the man apiece of meat, by way of making friends, and wiped it off with his hand as soon as it fell. In reference to a man being given, I declared that we were all ready to die rather than give up one of our number to be a slave ; that my men might as well give me as I give one of them, for we were all free men. ‘ Then you can give the gun with which the ox was shot.’ As we heard some of his people even now remarking that we had only ‘five guns,’ we declined, on the ground that, as they were intent on plundering us, giv- ing a gun would be helping them to do so. “ This they denied, saying they wanted the customary trib- ute only. I asked what Yight they had to demand payment for leave to tread on the ground of God, our common Father ? If we trod on their gardens, we would pay, but not for march- ing on land which was still God’s, and not theirs. They did not attempt to controvert this, because it is in accordance with their own ideas. “My men now entreated me to give something; and after asking the chief if lie really thought the affair of" the spitting a matter of guilt, and receiving an answer in the affirmative, I gave him one of my shirts. The young Chiboque were dis- satisfied, and began shouting and brandishing their swords for a greater fine. “ As Pitsane felt that he had been the cause of this disagree- able affair, he asked me to add something else. I gave a bunch of beads ; but the counsellors objected this time, so I 138 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. added a forge handkerchief. The more I yielded, the more unreasonable their demands became, and at every fresh de- mand a shout was raised by the armed party, and a rush made around us with brandish ment of arms. One young man made a charge at my head from behind, but I quickly brought round the muzzle of my gun to his mouth, and he retreated. I pointed him out to the chief, and he ordered him to retire a little. I felt anxious to avoid the effusion of blood ; and though sure of being able with my Makololo, who had been drilled by Sebituane, to drive off twice the number of our assailants, though now a large body, and well armed with spears, swords, arrows, and guns, I strove to avoid actual collision. My men were quite unprepared for this exhibition, but behaved with admirable coolness. The chief and coun- sellors, by accepting my invitation to be seated, had placed themselves in a trap, for my men very quietly surrounded them, and .made them feel that there was no chance of escap- ing their spears. I then said that, as one thing after another had failed to satisfy them, it was evident that they wanted to fight, while we only wanted to pass quietly through the coun- try ; that they must begin first, and bear the guilt before God ; we would not fight till they had struck the first blow. I then sat silent for some time. It was rather trying for me, because I knew that the Chiboquc would aim at the white man first ; but I was careful not to appear flurried, and, having four barrels read} 7 for instant action, looked quietly at the savage scene around. The Chiboquc countenance, by no means handsome, is not improved by the practice of filing the teeth to a point. The chief and counsellors, seeing that they were in more danger than I, did not choose to follow our decision that they should begin by striking the first blow, and then see what we could do, and were perhaps influenced by seeing the air of cool preparation which some of my men displayed, at the prospect of a work of blood.” A compromise was, at last, effected — an ox was given and accepted, and the party passed on. Slavery was at the bottom of the mischief. These people had been accustomed to get a slave or two from every dealer wjio passed them. The poor slaves of a gang had cost but little, and such a gift could easily be spared, and the people were debauched through whose borders the traffic had to pass. On the west of the Chiboqne of Is jambi the slave-trade is vigorously prosecuted. Learning this, and being fully aware of the constant difficulties in which it would involve him, Liv- LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 139 ingstorie resolved to alter his course and strike away to the N. N. E., in the hope that at some point farther north he might find an exit to the Portuguese settlement of Cassange. lie first proceeded due north, and next day reached the Chiluinc, a small stream which flows into the Longe, and that into the Chihombo, a feeder of the Kasai. They reached the Chihombo on the 10th of March ; it is a river of considerable size, flowing E. N. E. Crossing this, they traversed a succes- sion of open lawns and deep forests. A remarkable peculiarity of the forests of this country is the absence of thorns. In the regions farther south there are thorns of every size and shape ; here all the trees are thornless with but two exceptions — one a species of mix vomica, and another, the grapple-plant, which has so many hooked thorns as to cling most tenaciously to any animal to which it may become attached. Fonvard some miles is the River Loajima, another tributary of the Kasai, which was reached on the 23d of March. The people here arc anything but friendly to strangers or travellers, and Livingstone barely escaped collision with a party of them headed by an old man named Ionza Panza. Their usual de- mand of a party is a man, an ox, a tusk, or a gun. They be- long to the Chiboqne, and have all their customs. The proba- ble reason for this general demand of tribute is to be found in the fact that the slave-traders are very much at the mercy of the chiefs through whose country they must pass. Slaves may run away at any moment, and so the traders might lose their whole property, without the aid of the chiefs. To such lengths did the Bangala, a tribe in this quarter, proceed a few years ago, that they compelled the Portuguese traders to pay for water, wood, and even grass — every pretext was invented for imposing fines. The village of old Ionza Panza (lat. 10° 25' S., long. 20° 15' E.) is small and embowered in lofty evergreen trees. lie demanded tribute like the others. Onwards is the river Chik&pa (lat. 10° 22' S.), forty or fifty yards wide. There is a ferry over which travellers are carried in a canoe made out of a single piece of bark sewed together at the ends. Pay is ex- acted at the ferry to a most exorbitant amount, sometimes be- fore starting, then in the middle of the stream, and a third time on landing Of course travellers are often wholly at the inercy of the natives. The parts beyond had been frequently visited by traders, and the travellers were less a spectacle to wonder at, and cer- tain advantages were experienced which were not to be found in more secluded territory. 140 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS TTIE CONTINENT. The Quilo, or ICweelo, a stream ten yards wide, was reached on the 20th of March. Crossing this they were quite in the slave-market. The people live on fertile plains, in which a small amount of labor suffices for cultivation. Animal food is scarce, vegetable diet abundant. There were many villages. In proceeding W.N.W., many parties of native traders were met with, each carrying some pieces of cloth and salt — salt is a valua- ble commodity— with a few beads, to barter for beeswax. They were all armedwith Portuguese guns, having cartridges and iron balls. When they meet a company of travellers, they usually stand a few minutes and then present a little salt, and the other party gives a bit of ox-hide or some other trifle, and then they part with mutual good wishes. There is much variety of character indicated by the differences of condition observable in the vil- lages. Some are pictures of neatness ; others are covered with- weeds so high that they almost conceal the huts. Where there is care and industry, cotton, tobacco, and other plants are grown round the huts. Fowls are kept in cages. Just beyond the Quilo they found a well-beaten footpath which they were told led straight to Cassange (pronounced Kassange), the farthest inland station of the Portuguese in Western Africa. “ As we were now alone,” says Livingstone, “ and sure of being on the way to the abodes of civilization, we went on briskly. On the 30th we came to a sudden descent from the high land, indented by deep, narrow valloyS, over which we had lately been travelling. It is generally so steep that it can only be descended at particular points, and even there I 'was obliged to dismount, though so weak that I had to be led by my compan- ions to prevent my toppling over in walking down. It was annoying to feel myself so helpless, for I never liked to see a man, either sick Or well* giving in effeminately. Below us lay the valley of the Quango. If you sit- on the spot where Mary Queen of Scots viewed the battle of Langside, and look down on the vale of Clyde, you In ay see in miniature the glorious sight which a much greater and richer valley presented to our view. It is about a hundred miles broad, clothed with dark forest, except where the light greeli grass covers meadow-lands on the Quango, which here and there glances out in the sun as it wends its way to the north. The opposite side of this great valley appears like a range of lofty mountains, and the descent into it about a mile, which, measured perpendicularly, may be from a thousand to twelve hundred feet. Emerging from the gloomy forests of Londa, this magniiicent prospect made us LI VING STONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 141 all feci as if a weight had been lifted off onr eyelids. A cloud was passing across the middle of the valley, from which rolling thunder pealed, while above all was glorious sunlight ; and when we went down to the part where we saw it passing, we found that a very heavy thunder-shower had fallen under the path of the cloud ; and the bottom of the valley, which from above seemed quite smooth, we discovered to be intersected and furrowed by great numbers of deep-cut streams/’ Descending into the valley, they entered the territory of the Bashinje, who treated them in a very hostile manner, declined to give them food, and threatened to prevent by force the further progress of the party ; but a Portuguese half-caste, named Cypriano, came to their assistance and enabled them to cross the Quango. On the opposite bank the tribes were sub- ject to the Portuguese, and all difficulties and dangers were over. Three days of pretty hard travelling after leaving the Quango brought the party to Cassange (in lat. 9° 37' 30" S. and long. 17° 49' E.). They still had about 300 miles to traverse before they could reach the coast, but, except that Livingstone was almost continually sick with fever, the journey was accomplished without difficulty, under the guidance of a black militia corporal ; and on the 31st of May (1854) they en- tered the city of Loanda. Mr. Gabriel, the only genuine Englishman among a population of 12,000 souls, received Living- stone with the utmost cordiality ; and thus, after an incessant tramp of nearly six months, he found himself again enjoying the “ luxurious pleasure of a good English bed.” For four months Livingstone was compelled to remain in Loanda, prostrated by successive attacks of fever during the greater part of the time, and engaged in the intervals in prep- arations for the return journey. During the whole of his stay he was treated with the utmost kindness by the officers of the English vessels in port, as well as by the local authorities, all of whom sent in various contributions to his supplies. The Makololo in the meantime were enjoying to the full their first glimpse of the wonders of civilization. “ Every one,” says Livingstone, “ remarked their serious deportment. They viewed the large stone houses and churches in the vicinity of the great ocean with awe. A house with two stories was, until now, beyond their comprehension. In explanation of this strange thing, I had always been obliged to use the word for hut; and as huts arc constructed by the poles being let into the earth, they never could comprehend how the poles of 142 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT, one hut could be founded upon the roof of another, or how men could live in the upper story, with the conical roof of the lower one in the middle. Some Makololo, who had visited my little house at Kolobeng, in trying to describe it to their countrymen at Linyanti, said, ‘ It is not a hut : it is a mountain with several caves in it.’ 44 Commander Bedingfield and Captain Skene invited them to visit their vessels, the ‘ Pluto ’ and ‘Philomel.* Knowing their fears, I told them that no one need go if lie entertained the least suspicion of foul play. Nearly the whole party went ; and when on deck, I pointed to the sailors, and said, ‘ Now these are all my countrymen, sent by our Queen for the pur- pose of putting down the trade of those that buy and sell black men.’ They replied, 4 Truly ! they are just like you ! ’ and all their fears seemed to vanish at once, for they went forward among the men, and the jolly tars, acting much as the Makololo would have done in similar circumstances, handed them a share of the bread and beef which they had for dinner. The com- mander allowed them to fire off a cannon ; and having the most exalted ideas of its power, they were greatly pleased when I told them, 4 That is what they put down the slave-trade with.’ The size of the brig-of-war amazed them. 4 It is not a canoe at all ; it is a town.’ The sailors’ deck they named 4 the kotla; ’ and then, as a climax to their description of this great ark, added, 4 And what sort of a town is it that you must climb up into with a rope ? ” The objects which Livingstone had in view in opening up the country, as stated in a few notes of his journey published in the newspapers of Angola, so commended themselves to the general government and merchants of Loanda, that a handsome present for Sekeletn was granted by the Board of Public Works. It consisted of a colonel’s complete uniform and a horse for the chief, and suits of clothing for all the men who had accompanied the traveller to Loanda. The mer- chants also made a present, by public subscription, of handsome specimens of all their articles of trade, and two donkeys for the purpose of introducing the breed into his country, as tsetse cannot kill this beast of burden. These presents were accom- panied by letters from the bishop and merchants. Having provided himself with a good stock of cotton cloth, fresh supplies of ammunition and beads, a good new tent made by his friends on board the 44 Philomel,” and given each of his men a musket, Livingstone left Loanda on the 20th of Septem- ber, 1854:, and passed round by sea to the mouth of the river LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 143 Bengo. On the journey to Cassange, the party made a chi- tour to the south in order to visit the famous rocks of Pungo Adongo, a group of curious column-shaped rocks, each of which is upward of 300 feet high. Here they remained some weeks, and did not reach Cassange until January 15th, 1855. Leaving this town oil February 20th, they reached the Quango on the 28th, and crossed it without molestation at the hands of the Bash in jo. After crossing the Quango, Livingstone determined to leave his old route and accompany the Portuguese traders as far as the town of Cabongo, in the Londa territory. This route would take him farther to the eastward ; but it would not increase the distance to be travelled, and it would enable him to avoid the country of the hostile Chiboque and the great swampy regions crossed with such difficulty on the outward journey. The progress of the party was excessively slow, notwithstanding Livingstone’s repeated efforts to push on. Two-thirds of the time was spent in stoppages, there being only ten travelling days in each month. The stoppages were caused by sickness, and the necessity of remaining in different parts to purchase food ; and also because when one carrier was sick, the rest re- fused to carry his load. “ On reaching the river Chikapa, the 25th of March.” says Livingstone, “ we found it fifty or sixty yards wide, and flowing E.N.E. into the Kasai. The adjacent country is of the same level nature as that part of Londa formerly described ; but, having come farther to the eastward than our previous course, we found that all the rivers had worn for themselves much deeper valleys than at the points we had formerly crossed them. “ Surrounded on all sides by large gloomy forests, the people of these parts have a much more indistinct idea of the geogra- phy of their country than those who live in hilly regions. It was only after long and patient inquiry that I became fully persuaded that the Quilo runs into the Chikapa. As we now crossed them both considerably farther down, and were greatly to the eastward of our first route, there can be no doubt that these rivers take the same course as the others, into the Kasai, and that I had been led into a mistake in saying that any of them flowed to the westward. The people seemed more slender in form, and their color a lighter olive, than any we had hith- erto met. The mode of dressing the great masses of woolly hair which lay upon their shoulders, together with their general features, again reminded me of the ancient Egyptians. Several were seen with the upward inclination of the outer angles of 144 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS TEE CONTINENT. the eye, but this was not general. A few of the ladies adopt a curious custom of attaching the hair to a hoop which encircles the head, giving it somewhat the appearance of the glory round the head of the Virgin. Others wear an ornament of woven hair and hide adorned with beads. The hair of the tails of buffaloes, which are to be found farther east, is sometimes added; while others weave their own hair on pieces of liido into the form of buffalo horns, or make a single horn in front. Many tattoo their bodies by inserting some black substance be- neath the skin, which leaves an elevated cicatrix about half an inch long : these are made in forms of stars, and other figures of no particular beauty. “We made a little detour to the southward in order to get provisions in a cheaper market. This led us along the rivulet called Tamba, where we fonnd the people, who had not been visited so frequently by the slave-traders as the rest, rather timid and very civil. It was agreeable to get again among the uncontaminated, and see the natives look at us without that air of superciliousness which is so unpleasant and common in the beaten track. The same olive color prevailed. They file their teeth to a point, which makes the smile of the women fright- ful, as it reminds one of the grin of an alligator. The inhabi- tants throughout this country exhibit as great a variety of taste as appears on the surface of society among ourselves. Many of the men are dandies ; their shoulders are always wet with the oil dropping from their lubricated hair, and everything about them is ornamented in one way or other. Some thrum a musi- cal instrument the livelong day, and, when they wake at night, proceed at once to their musical performance* Many of these musicians are too poor to have iron keys to their instruments, but make them of bamboo, and persevere, though no one hears the music but themselves. Others try to appear warlike by nevef going out of their huts except with a load of bows and arrows, or a gun ornamented with a strip of hide for every ani- mal they have shot ; and others never go anywhere without a canary in a cage. Ladies may be seen carefully tending little lap-dogs, which are intended to be eaten. Their villages are generally in forests, and composed of groups of irregularly planted brown huts, with banana and cotton trees, and tobacco growing around. There is also at every hut a high stage erected for drying manioc roots and meal, and elevated cages to hold domestic fowls. Round baskets are laid on the thatch of the huts for the hens to lay in, and on the arrival of strangers, men, women, and children ply their calling as hucksters with a great LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 145 deal of noisy, haggling ; all their transactions are conducted with civil banter and good temper.” On the 8th of June, they forded the river Lotembwa to the N. W. of Dilolo and regained their old path at the town of Katcma, who received them kindly. The town of old Sliinte w r as reached on the 24th of June, Libonta on the 27th of July, and Nalielc on the 1st of August. Just below Nalielo, while de- scending the river in a canoe, a hippopotamus struck it with her forehead, lifting one half of it quite out of the water, so as nearly to overturn it. The force of the butt tilted one of the natives out into the river; but Livingstone and the rest sprang to the shore which was only about ten yards away. “Glancing back,” says Livingstone, “ I saw her come to the surface a short way off, and look at the canoe, as if to see if she had done much mischief. It was a female, whose young one had been speared the day before. No damage was done except wetting person and goods.” Seshcke was reached about the middle of Septem- ber, and here Livingstone found some goods which had been for- warded to him by Mr. Moffat the year before. “ Having w T aitcd a few days at Sesheke till the horses which we had left at Linyanti should arrive, we proceeded to that town, and found the wagon, and everything we had left in No- vember, 1853, perfectly safe. A grand meeting of all the peo- ple w^as called to receive our report, and the articles which had been sent by the governor and merchants of Loanda. I ex- plained that none of these were my property, but that they were sent to show the friendly feelings of the white men, and their eagerness to enter into commercial relations with the Makololo. I then requested my companions to give a true account of what they had seen. The wonderful things lost nothing in the tell- ing, the climax always being that they had finished the whole world, and had turned only when there was no more land. One glib old gentleman asked : ‘ Then you reached Ma Robert (Mrs. L.) % ’ They were obliged to confess that she lived a little be- yond the 'world. The presents were received with expressions of great satisfaction and delight ; and on Sunday, when Sekel- etu made his appearance at church in his uniform, it attracted more attention than the sermon ; and the kind expressions they made use of respecting myself were so very flattering that I felt inclined to shut my eyes. Their private opinion must have tal- lied with their public report, for I very soon received offers from volunteers to accompany me to the east coast.” This journey to the east coast was undertaken by Livingstone for the purpose of ascertaining whether the Zambesi river 10 146 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. might not be navigable far enough into the interior to serve as a highway of commerce ; his journey to Loanda having con- vinced him that it was impracticable to open a wagon-road to the west coast. Ilis first intention was to follow the river it- self, but to this the Makololo were opposed on account of the impassable nature of the country ; and as he was dependent upon them for outfit and followers, he was obliged to adopt their plan — which was to strike eastward on the northern side of the Zambesi to the Kafue, and then descend the former river to the first Portuguese station at Tete. He left Liny anti on the 3d of November, accompanied by Sekeletu with about two hundred followers, who escorted him as far as the island of Kalai, two days’ journey below the mouth of the Ohobe. u As this was the point,” says Livingstone, “ from which we intended to strike off to the north-east, I resolved on the follow- ing day to visit the Falls of Victoria, called by the natives Mosioatunya, or, more anciently, Shongwe. Of these we had often heard since we came into the country ; indeed, one of the questions asked by Sebituane was, 4 Have you smoke that sounds in your country ? 5 They did not go near enough to examine them, but, viewing them with awe at a distance, said, in refer- ence to the vapor and noise, 6 Mosi oa tunya ’ (smoke does sound there). It was previously called Shongwe, the meaning of which I could not ascertain. The word for a ‘pot’ resembles this, and it may mean a seething caldron, but I am not certain of it. Being persuaded that Mr. Oswell and myself were the very first Europeans who ever visited the Zambesi in the centre of the country, and that this is the connecting link between the known and unknown portions of that river, I decided to use the same liberty as the Makololo did, and gave the only English name I have affixed to any part of the country. “ Sekeletu intended to accompany me, but one canoe only hav- ing come instead of the two he had ordered, he resigned it to me. After twenty minutes’ sail from Kalai we came in sight, for the first time, of the columns of vapor appropriately called ‘ smoke,’ rising at a distance of five or six miles, exactly as when large tracts of grass are burned in Africa. Five columns now’ arose, and, bending in the direction of the wind, they seemed placed against a low ridge covered with trees ; the tops of the columns at this distance appeared to mingle with the clouds. They were white below, and higher up became dark, so as to simulate smoke very closely. The whole scene was extremely beautiful ; the banks and islands dotted over the THE VICTORIA PALLS OP THE ZAMBESI RIVER. LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 147 river arc adorned with sylvan vegetation of great variety of color and form. At the period of our visit several trees were spangled over with blossoms. Some trees resemble the great spreading oak, others assume the character of our own elms and chestnuts; but no one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes ; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight. The only want felt is that of mountains in the background. The falls are bounded on three sides by ridges 300 or 400 feet in height, which are cov- ered with forest, with the red soil appearing among the trees. When about half a mile from the falls, I left the canoe by which we had come dowm thus far, and embarked in a lighter one, with men well acquainted with the rapids, who, by passing down the centre of the stream in the eddies and still places caused by many jutting rocks, brought me to an island situated in the middle of the river, and on the edge of the lip over which the water rolls. In coming hither there vras danger of being swept down by the streams which rushed along on each side of the island ; but the river was now low, and we sailed where it is totally impossible to go when the water is high. But, though we had reached the island, and were within a few yards of the spot, a view from which would solve the whole problem, I believe that no one could perceive where the vast body of water went; it seemed to lose itself in the earth, the opposite lip of the fissure into which it disappeared being only 80 feet distant. At least I did not comprehend it until, creep- ing with awe to the verge, I peered down into a large rent which had been made from bank to bank of the broad Zambesi, and saw that a stream of a thousand yards broad leaped down a hundred feet, and then became suddenly compressed into a space of fifteen or twenty yards. The entire falls arc simply a crack made in a hard basaltic rock from the right to the left bank of the Zambesi, and then prolonged from the left bank away through thirty or forty miles of hills. If one imagines the Thames filled with low, tree-covered hills immediately be- yond the tunnel, extending as far as Gravesend, the bed of black basaltic rock instead of London mud, and a fissure made therein from one end of the tunnel to the other down through the keystones of the arch, and prolonged from the left end of the tunnel through thirty miles of hills, the pathway being 100 feet down from the bed of the river instead of what it is, with the lips of the fissure from 80 to 100 feet apart, then fancy the Thames leaping bodily into the gulf, and forced 148 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. there to change its direction, and flow from the right to the left bank, and then rush boiling and roaring through the hills, he may have some idea of what takes place at this, the most wonderful sight I had witnessed in Africa. In looking down into the fissure on the right of the island, one sees nothing but a dense white cloud, which, at the time we visited the spot, had two bright rainbows on it. (The sun was on the meridian, and the declination about equal to the latitude of the place.) From this cloud rushed up a great jet of vapor exactly like steam, and it mounted 200 or 300 feet high ; there condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark smoke, and came back in a constant shower, which soon wetted us to the skin. This shower falls chiefly on the opposite side of the fissure, and a few yards back from the. lip there stands a straight hedge of evergreen trees, whose leaves are always wet. From their roots a number of little rills run back into the gulf, but, as they flow down the steep wall there, the column of vapor, in its ascent, licks them up clean off the rock, and away they mount again. They are constantly running down, but never reach the bottom. “ On the left of the island we see the water at the bottom, a white rolling mass moving away to the prolongation of the fis- sure, which branches off near the left bank of the river. A piece of the rock has fallen off a spot on the left of the island, and juts out from the water below, and from it I judged the distance which the water falls to be about 100 feet. The walls of this gigantic crack are perpendicular, and composed of one homogeneous mass of rock. . . . “ I have mentioned that we saw five columns of vapor ascend- ing from this strange abyss. They are evidently formed by the compression suffered by the force of the water’s own fall into an unyielding wedge-shaped space. Of the five columns, two on the right and one on the left of the island were the largest, and the streams which formed them seemed each to exceed in size the falls of the Clyde at Stonebyres when that river is in flood. This was the period of low water in the Leeambye ; but, a3 far as I could guess, there was a flow of five or six hundred \ ards of water, which, at the edge of the fall, seemed at least three feet deep.” Parting from Sekeletu on the' 26th of November, and accom- panied by 114 Makololo to carry the ivory tusks to the coast, Livingstone struck northward and travelled for a few days over a beautiful but uninhabited district. Large game was abun- dant ; in the distance they saw buffaloes, elauds, hartbeests, gnus, and elephants, all very tame, as there was no one to disturb LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS TUE CONTINENT 149 tlicir haunts. Lions, which always accompany other large ani- mals, roved around them, but, as it was moonlight, there was no danger. One evening, while standing on a mass of granite a short distance away, one began to roar at Livingstone, though it was still light. On December 3d, they crossed the river Mozuma, and en- tered the territory of the Batoka, or Batonga, which swarm with inhabitants. These people were very friendly, and brought presents of maize and other food. Their mode of salutation, as BATOKA SALUTATIONS. described by Livingstone, is probably, the most curious on record : “ They throw themselves on their backs on the ground, and, rolling from side to side, slap the outside of their thighs as expressions of thankfulness and welcome, uttering the words ‘ Kina bomba.’ This method of salutation was to me very dis- agreeable, and I never could get reconciled to it. I called out ‘Stop, stop; I don’t want that;’ but they, imagining I was dissatisfied, only tumbled about more furiously, and slapped their thighs with greater vigor.” Pressing slowly eastward, day after day, the party reached 150 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS TEE CONTINENT. the Kafue on the 18th of December, and the Zambesi about ten days later. “ As we approached the Zambesi,” says Livingstone, “ the country became covered with broad-leaved bushes, pretty thickly planted, and we had several times to shout to elephants to get out of our way. At an open space, a herd of buffaloes came trotting up to look at our oxen, and it was only by shoot- ing one that I made them retreat. The meat is very much like that of an ox, and this one was very line. The only danger we actually encountered was from a female elephant, with three young ones of different sizes. Charging through the centre of our extended line, and causing the men to throw down their burdens in a great hurry, she received a spear for her temerity. I never saw an elephant with more than one calf before. We knew that we were near the Zambesi again, even before the great river burst upon our sight, by the numbers of water-fowl we met. I killed four geese with two shots, and, had I fol- lowed the wishes of my men, could have secured a meal of water-fowl for the whole party. I never saw a river with so much animal life around and in it, and, as the Barotse says, ‘ Its fish and fowl are always fat.’ When our eyes were glad- dened by a view of its goodly broad waters, we found it very much larger than it is even above the fall. One might try to make his voice heard across it in vain. Its flow was more rapid than near Sesheke, being often four and a half miles an hour.” Still pressing forward, through hostile tribes, and over a rough and difficult region, where food could be procured only with the greatest difficulty, they reached the confluence of the Loangwa and the Zambesi on the 14th of January, 1856. Just below here, warned by the rumors of a war between the natives and the Portuguese, they crossed the? river and struck off south- wards, directly toward Tete, which was reached, after many ex- citing adventures, on March 3d. At Tete, Livingstone remained till the 22d of April, recruiting his health, and making provision for the return of the Makololo bearers; most of whom were to go no farther. The toils and dangers of the long journey were now over, and from this point Livingstone sailed down the Zam- b ',si to Kilimane (or Quillimane), a Portuguese port situated at its mouth. News from home awaited him here, together with much- needed supplies ; and six weeks later, on the 12th of July, he sailed for the Mauritius in the man-of-war “Frolic.” He was accompanied by one of the Makololo, named Sekwebu, to whom he wished to show the achievements of civilization, in order that he might report them to his countrymen. But Sekwebu was LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 151 destined to a more melancholy fate. “ He seemed a little be- wildered, everything on board a man-of-war being so new and strange ; but he remarked to me several times, ‘ Your county- men are very agreeable,’ and, ‘ What a strange country this is — all water together ! ’ He also said that he now understood why I used the sextant. When we reached the Mauritius a steamer came out to tow us into the harbor. The constant strain on his untutored mind seemed now to reach a climax, for during the night lie became insane. I thought at first that he was intoxicated. lie had descended into a boat, and, when I attempted to go down and bring him into the ship, he ran to the stern and said. ‘ No ! no ! it is enough that I die alone. You must not perish ; if you come, I shall throw my- self into the water.’ Perceiving that his mind was affected, I said, ‘Now, Sekwebu, we are going to Ma Robert.’ This struck a cord in his bosom, and he said, ‘ Oh yes ; where it she, and where is Robert? ’ and he seemed to recover. The of- ficers proposed to secure him by putting him in irons; but, be- ing a gentleman in his own country, I objected, knowing that the insane often retain an impression of ill-treatment, and I could not bear to have it said in Sekeletu’s country that I had chained one of his principal men as they had seen slaves treated. I tried to get him on shore by day, but he refused, in the evening a fresh accession of insanity occurred ; he tried to spear one of the crew, then leaped overboard, and, though lie could swim well, pulled himself down hand under hand by the chain cable. We never found the body of poor Sekwebu.” On the 12th of December, 1856, Livingstone was once again “in dear old England,” after an absence of nearly eleven years. CHAPTER VIII. ANDERSSON’S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. Among the adventurous spirits in whom the ardor of explor- ation was aroused by Livingstone’s discovery of Lake Ngami, there were two whose discoveries have done much to complete our knowledge of that portion of South Africa which he had opened up in the journeys outlined in the two preceding chapters. These were Carl Johann Andersson, a Swede, and Francis Galton, an Englishman, who met in London in 1850 and agreed to enter jointly upon an expedition the object of which was to explore the unknown region beyond the northern boundary of Cape Colony, and to penetrate from that direction to the recently discovered Lake Ngami. Reaching Cape Town, June 23d, 1850, they planned at first to proceed northward by the direct 'route to the Lake, but learning that the Boers on the Trans Vaal River (the very line of country they proposed taking) had threatened to kill any person who would attempt to pass through their territories with the intention of penetrating to Lake Ngami, they abandoned their plan and sailed up the west coast to Walfiscli Bay in lat. 22° S., from which point the actual distance to the Lake was scarcely greater than from Kuruman. The first stage of their journey to the interior brought them to Scheppmansdorf, a German missionary station, situated on the left bank of the Kuisip River. Three weeks were spent here in breaking oxen to the yoke and collecting materials for an expedition, and it was not until November 13th that they were ready to start for Barmen, another missionary station ly- ing in the remote interior of Damara-land. Andersson describes the Damaras as an exceedingly fine- looking race of men, tall and well formed, with a graceful and expressive carriage. Their color is dark, but not black ; but dirt generally accumulates to such an extent as to make the lme of the skin almost totally indistinguishable, while to com- plete the disguise, they smear themselves with a profusion of red ochre and grease. Both sexes go almost naked, their cloth- ANDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTII AFRICA. 153 in g consisting merely of a sheep or goat shin wrapped loosely round *the waist or thrown over the shoulders. Boys wear no clothing whatever, hut the girls wear a kind of apron cut up into numberless small strings, which are sometimes ornamented with iron and copper beads. Few ornaments are worn by the men ; but the women, when they can afford it, wear a profusion of iron and copper rings round their wrists and ankles. The head-dress of the married women is curious and highly pictur- esque, being not unlike a helmet in shape and general appear- ance. The men wind strips of leather, sometimes several hun- dred feet in length, round their loins, and carry their clubs and pipes therein. They are well armed with the assagay, which is a sort of lance, bows and arrows, and clubs. They are so skil- ful in throwing the keni, a stick with a knob on the end, that they can even bring down birds on the wing. They lead a nomadic life, wandering about the country with enormous herds of cattle, and leaving it bare behind them. They swear by “ the tears of their mothers.” The best endeavors of the missionaries, at the time of Anders- son’s visit, had had but little effect in civilizing the Damaras. At first they thought the missionaries intended to plunder them, and retired with their herds to the interior. Finding that this did not drive them away, they next resolved to exterminate them, and were only brought to desist from their purpose by the counsel of one of the chiefs. In the course of time they became more friendly, and some of the poorer classes have set- tled in the neighborhood of the missions. To a Damara the idea of men visiting them solely from love and charity is utterly inconceivable, and they cannot banish a suspicion that the motives of the strangers must be interested. At Barmen the travellers heard of the existence of a large fresh-water lake, called Omanbonde, lying to the southward, and resolved to explore it. The region which they would have to traverse in order to reach it was totally unknown, and the people were known to be inhospitable, treacherous, suspicions, and hostile to strangers ; but they hoped to connect their name w*ith the discovery of another “inland sea” in the heart of the continent, and the first week in December found them ready to start. Their disappointment can be imagined when at noon on the 5th of April, after four months of toil and privation and in- cessant marching, they reached Lake Omanbonde and found a dried up marsh and a patch of reeds! There were indica- tions, indeed, that a lake of considerable size existed here in those seasons in which plenty of rain fell, and that elephants 154 ANDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. and hippopotami were in the habit of resorting to it at such times ; but this was but slightly consoling to travellers who had come hither in the hope of finding another Lake Ngami. As soon as they had recovered from the bitterness of their disappointment the travellers began to consider whether they should return, or push boldly forward into the interior. Among the Damaras they had often heard of a people living a considerable distance to the north, who were called theOvambo (or Ovampo), a people of agricultural habits, having permanent dwellings, and reported to be industrious and strictly honest. The Damaras spoke in raptures of their hospitality and friend- liness toward strangers, and represented them as a numerous and powerful nation, ruled by a single chief, or king, who was of gigantic size. The Ovambo carried on a lively trade with the Damaras, to whom they bartered cattle for ironware ; and as this proved that the intervening country was passable, An* dersson and Galton determined to make an attempt to reach this interesting land. They left Omanbonde accordingly on April 12th, and started northward over a fine country well supplied with water, and abounding in game, among which were elephants and cameleopards in great numbers. Just after leav- ing Okamabuti, the last town in Datnara-iand, a calamity which they had long dreaded befel them: the axle of their large wagon broke. As there were no means of mending it quickly, and the season was already advanced, they resolved to leave the vehicles behind and prosecute the journey by means of pack and saddle oxen. No trustworthy guide, however, could be procured ; and in endeavoring to make their way without one, the travellers were already lost, when they were fortunate enough to fall in with a caravan of the Ovambos who were on their way to Okamabuti to trade, and who told them that they were welcome to accompany them home to Ovambo-land. The caravan consisted of twenty-three individuals, but in the return journey it numbered 170 persons, many Damaias — among them 70 or 80 women — having decided to join it. The Ovambos had with them at the start some 200 head of cattle, which they had collected by their trading with the Damaras, and were ready to set out on the 22d of May. On the 29th of May, after a steady march of seven days over a country inhab- ited only by poor Bushmen, and covered in parts with dense thorn coppices which it was almost impossible to penetrate, the caravan reached the first cattle-post belonging to the Ovambo. This they found swarming with people as well as cattle, the lat- ter numbering from three to four thousand; and immediately ANDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 155 on their arrival they were surrounded by great numbers of in- quisitive natives who had never before seen white men. Here they became practically acquainted with the Ovambo method of welcoming friends: it consists of smearing fresh butter thickly over the face and breast of each individual. After a stay of two days, they again moved forward, and on the 2d of June entered upon the beautiful and fertile plains of Ondonga, the country of the Ovambo. “Vain,” says Andersson, “ would be any attempt to describe the sensations of delight and pleasure experienced by us on that memorable occasion, or to give an idea of the enchanting panoramic scene that all at once opened on our view. Suffice it to say that, instead of the eternal jungles, where every moment we were in danger of being dragged out of our saddles by the merciless thorns, the landscape now presented an apparently boundless field of yel- low corn, dotted with numerous peaceful homesteads, and bathed in the soft light of a declining tropical sun. Here and there, rose gigantic, wide-spreading, and dark-foliaged timber and fruit-trees, while innumerable fan-like palms, either singly or in groups, completed the picture. To us it was a perfect Elysium, and well rewarded ns for every former toil and dis- appointment.” There arc no towns or villages in Ovambo-land, but each family has a separate homestead, situated in the middle of a corn-field and surrounded by high and stout palisades. This latter was a precaution against the sudden attack of a neigh- boring hostile tribe. Two kinds of grain are cultivated : the common Kaff're-corn, and another small-grained sort resem- bling the “badjera” of India. When the grain is ripe the car is simply cutoff, and the remainder is left to the cattle, which devour it greedily. Besides grain the Ovambo cultivate calabashes, watermelons, pumpkins, beans, and peas. They also raise tobacco — though of a very inferior quality. When ripe, the leaves and stalks are collected aud mashed together in a hollow piece of wood by means of a heavy pole. The Ovambo have vast herds of cattle, sheep, and goats, and breed hogs said to be of enormous size; their other domestic ani- mals are dogs and fowls. The travellers were unable to ascer- tain either the extent of the country or the density of popula- tion, but Andersson concluded, from what he saw, that there are about a hundred persons to every square mile. At the distance of four days’ journey from the frontier they reached the residence of the redoubtable Nangoro, and notified him of their arrival. They were not allowed, however, to cn- 156 ANDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA . ter the royal enclosures, but a clump of trees was assigned them for a camping-ground, and three days elapsed before the king called upon them, intending by this delay to impress them with a due sense of his dignity. He was immensely fat, and of a most unwieldy figure, while his state of almost perfect nudity showed him off to the greatest possible advantage. His excessive fat made him so short-winded, that when Galton ad- dressed him eloquently in explanation of their visit to the country, he could only grunt when he desired to express either approbation or dissatisfaction. In common with his men, Nangoro was at first very incredu- lous as to the effect of fire-arms — he thought that by blowing into the muzzles, the gun could be rendered harmless ; but when he saw the depth to which steel -pointed conical balls penetrated in a sound tree, he changed his opinion. As for the natives who had not yet seen guns, and who had flocked to the camp to see the strangers, they were so alarmed that at the instant of each discharge, they fell flat on their faces, and re- mained so for some Jittle time afterwards. At his next visit Nangoro requested them to shoot some elephants which at times committed great havoc among his corn-fields. This they refused, however, fearing that he would not only keep the ivory for himself, but would detain them in the country till all the elephants were shot or scared away. The Ovambo arc decidedly hospitable, and the travellers were well entertained. Nangoro furnished them with food and a kind of beer brewed from grain ; and every night soon after dark there was a ball at the royal residence, at which the people danced to the music of the well-known African tomtom and a kind of guitar. The features of the Ovambo women, though coarse, are not unpleasing, and when young they have very good figures. As they grow older, however, their sym- metry disappears and they become exceedingly stout and un- gainly. One of the causes of this is probably to be found in the heavy copper ornaments with which they load their wrists and ankles; some of these ankle-rings weigh two or three } ounds apiece, and they wear a pair on each leg. Moreover, their necks, wrists, and hips are almost hidden from view by a profusion of shells, cowries, and beads of every size and color ; these contribute to their dress. Another cause of their losing their good looks in early life is the constant and severe labor they are obliged to undergo. No one is allowed to be idle in this land of industry. Work begins at sunrise and ends at sunset. The hair of both sexes is short, crisp, and woolly. ANDERSSONS EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 157 The men often shave the head, with the exception of the crown ; and the women besmear and stiffen their hair with grease and a vermilion-colored substance, which, from being constantly added to, and pressed upon, gives to the upper part of the head a broad and Hat look. The women also smear their persons liberally with greese and red ochre. Besides ear- rings of beads or shells, the men display but few ornaments. Both sexes chip the middle tooth of the under jaw 011 arriving at the age of puberty. I11 marked contrast to their neighbors, the Damaras and OVAMBO: MAN AND WIFE. Namaquas, the Ovambo arc strictly honest. Indeed, they ap- pear to entertain a perfect horror of theft, and told Andersson that a man detected in pilfering would be brought into the king’s presence and there speared to death. Without permis- sion the natives would not even touch anything; and the trav- ellers could leave their camp entirely unwatched. Nor is honesty the only good quality of this* people. There is no pauperism among them, and the aged and crippled are care- fully nursed. The Damaras, on the other hand, when a man becomes old and helpless, either carry him into the desert 01 158 ANDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. forest, where he soon falls a prey to wild beasts, or knock him on the head, or leave him to starve on his own hearth. The Ovambo are very patriotic and exceedingly fond of their native soil. They are offended when asked the number of chiefs by whom they arc ruled : “We acknowledge only one king ; but a Damara,” they add, “when possessed of a few cows, con- siders himself at once a chieftain.” Their morality, however, is very low, and polygamy is practised to a great extent, each man having as many wives as he can afford to buy. If the husband be poor, the price of a wife is two oxen and one cow ; but should his circumstances be tolerably flourishing, three oxen and two cows are expected. The king, however, is an ex- ception to this rule, the honor of the alliance being regarded as a sufficient compensation. Nangoro had profited by this privi- lege to such an extent, that his harem contained 106 beauties gathered from all quarters of his realm. While staying at Nangoro’s capital, the travellers heard fre- quent mention of a large river about eight days’ journey to the northward, which flowed to the west and emptied into the sea. They had no doubt that this river was no other than the Ku- nene (or Cunene), whose mouth had been discovered many years before * ; and they determined, if possible, to push on- ward and reach it. In order to do this, however, N angoro’s as- sistance was absolutely indispensable, and this the surly chief positively refused — saying that as they did not choose to kill elephants for him, he would not oblige them in this matter. Nothing was left, therefore, but for them to retrace their steps as speedily as possible, and they took their departure from Ovainbo-land on June 15th. On the 1st of July, after a fort night’s steady travel, they reached their wagons in safety ; and about a month later, on the 4th of August, their expedition was brought to an end by their arrival in Barmen. It was now the intention of the travellers to return to Cape Town by the missionary vessel which, once in two years, brought stores to Walfiscli Bay ; but as its arrival was not ex- pected till December, they concluded to use the intervening t’me in one more attempt to reach Lake Ngami. Waiting only long enough to replenish their stores, they set out from Barmen on August 12th, and after suffering terribly from the heat, drought, and scarcity of grain and pasturage between the * This river has since been partly explored. It flows into the sea near the Great Fish Bay. ANDERSSON' 8 EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 159 few and widely separated watering-places, reached Tunobis, or Otjoinbindc, in lat. 21° 55' S. and long. 21° 55' E., on the 3d of October. Here they were not above ten days’ journey from the Lake, but the Bushmen living in the vicinity convinced them that the country was then impassable, and they were compelled to retrace their weary steps to the (toast. Arriving at Walfiseh Bay, Gal ton took passage for England, but left Andersson his equipage and stores, the latter having resolved to remain behind and make still another attempt at reaching Lake Ngami after the rainy reason was over. Andersson found, however, that in order to secure a reason- able chance of success, it would be necessary to supply himself more liberally with materials for barter with the natives; and, accordingly, lie secured a herd of cattle by trading with the Damaras, and drove them down the coast to Cape Town. Ilis speculation was tolerably successful, and having procured the necessary supplies, he again sailed for Walfiscli Bay, arriving there on the 23d of January, 1853. Proceeding at once to organize his caravan — which consisted this time of pack and sad- dle oxen instead of wagons, lie was ready to start from Barmen on April 5th ; and following the former route to Tunobis, reached the latter place in about a month. Owing to the scarcity of food and water, both men and oxen were nearly used up by the time of their arrival there; but concluding that it was as dangerous to return as to push forward, he determined to set out for the Lake. Andersson himself was anxious to take as straight a course as possible ; but the Bushmen again warned him that the “field ” in that direction was a howling wilder- ness, totally destitute of water. They told him, however, that by travelling southward a few stages along the dry water-course of the Otjombinde, and then striking eastward, he would run no risk. This course he adopted ; and after following the dry river-bed for several days, turned to the east, and on the third day was fortunate enough to find Ghanze, a fountain well known to the Bushmen and Griquas, and much frequented by the rhinoceros. Having enjoyed there a good deal of shoot- ing, and feasted themselves on rhinoceros-flesh, the caravan left Ghanze on June 23d, and immediately found themselves in a thorny and waterless desert. Two stages farther they came upon another and still larger fountain, called Abeghan, which was the resort of immense numbers of elephants and other large game. Here Andersson resolved to remain for a few days while he sent one of his men, escorted by Bushmen, to the Lake to make known his approach to the natives. Le- 160 ANDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. clioletebe, tlie chief, received the messengers kindly, assured them he would be glad to see the white man, and even sent forward a party of his men to render assistance. Though now most eager to reach the goal of his journey, Andersson determined to remain for one more night at the fountain in order to shoot game. Here he nearly lost his life in an adventure which we reproduce, as a specimen of the many similar ones which he records in his narrative : “ From the constant persecution to which the larger game had of late been subjected at Kobis, it had become not only scarce, but wary ; and hearing that elephants and rhinoceroses still continued to resort to Abeghan, I forthwith proceeded there on the night in question. Somewhat incautiously I took up my position — alone, as usual — on a narrow neck of land dividing two small pools, the space on either side of my ‘ skarm ’ * being only sufficient for a large animal to stand be- tween me and the water. I was provided with a blanket and two or three spare guns. “ It was one of those magnificent tropical moonlight nights when an indescribable soft and enchanting light is shed over the slumbering landscape ; the moon was so bright and clear that I could discern even a small animal at a considerable dis- tance. I had just completed my arrangements, when a noise that I can liken only to the passage of a train of artillery broke the stillness of the air; it evidently came from the direction of one of the numerous stony paths, or rather tracks, leading to the water, and I imagined it was caused by some wagons that might have crossed the Kalahari. Raising myself partially from my recumbent posture, I fixed my eyes steadily on the part of the bush whence the strange sounds proceeded, but for some time I was unable to make out the cause. All at once, however, the mystery was explained by the appearance of an immense elephant, immediately followed by others, amounting to eighteen. Their towering forms told me at a glance that they were all males. It was a splendid sight to behold so many huge creatures approaching with a free, sweeping, unsuspecting, and stately step. The somewhat elevated ground whence they emerged, and which gradually sloped toward the water, to- gether with the misty night air, gave an increased appearance of bulk and mightiness to their naturally giant structures. “ Crouching down as low as possible in the 4 skarm/ I waited A shallow pit with a barrier of stones in front. ANDKRSSON ATTACKED BY AN ELEPHANT. ANDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA . 161 with a beating heart and ready rifle the approach of the leading male, who, unconscious of peril, was making straight for my hiding-place. The position of his body, however, was unfavor- able for a shot ; and knowing from experience that 1 had little chance of obtaining more than a single good one, I waited for an opportunity to Are at his shoulder, which is preferable to any other part when shooting at night. But this chance, unfortu- nately, was not afforded till his enormous bulk towered above my head. The consequence was, that, while in the act of raising the muzzle of my rifle over the ‘ skarm,’ my body caught his eye, and, before I could place the piece to my shoul- der, he swung himself round, and, with trunk elevated and ears spread, desperately charged me. It was now too late to think of flight, much less of slaying the savage beast. My own life was in imminent jeopardy ; and, seeing that if I remained par- tially erect, he would inevitably seize me with his proboscis, I threw myself on my back with some violence, in which posi- tion, and without shouldering the rifle, I fired upward at ran- dom toward his chest, uttering at the same time the most E icrcing shouts and cries. The change of position, in all liman probability, saved my life ; for, at the same instant, the trunk of the enraged animal descended precisely on the spot where I had been previously crouched, sweeping away the stones (many of a large size) that formed the fore part of my ‘ skarm ’ like so many pebbles. In another moment his broad fore feet passed directly over my face. “ I now expected nothing short of being crushed to death. But imagine my relief when, instead of renewing the charge, he swerved to the left, and moved off with considerable rapidity, most happily without my having received any other injuries than a few bruises, occasioned by the falling of the stones. Immediately after the elephant had left me I was on my legs, and, snatching up a spare rifle lying at hand, I pointed at him as he was retreating, and pulled the trigger; but to my intense mortification the piece missed fire. It was a matter of thank- fulness to me, however, that a similar mishap had not occurred when the animal charged ; for had my gun not then exploded, nothing, as I conceive, could have saved me from destruction. “ While pondering over my late wonderful escape, I observed, at a little distance, a huge white rhinoceros protrude his pon- derous and misshapen head through the bushes, and presently afterward he approached to within a dozen paces of my am- buscade. His broadside was then fully exposed to view, and notwithstanding I still felt a little nervous from my conflict 11 162 ANDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. with the elephant, I lost no time in firing. The beast did not at once fall to the ground, but from appearances I had every reason to believe he would not live long. Scarcely had I re- loaded when a black rhinoceros of the species Keitloa (a female, as it proved) stood drinking at the water ; but her position, as with the elephant in the first instance, was unfavorable for a good shot. As, however, she was very near me, I thought I was pretty sure of breaking her leg and thereby disabling her, and in this I succeeded. My fire seemed to madden her: she rushed wildly forward on three legs, when I gave her a second shot, though apparently with little or no effect. I felt sorry at not being able to end her sufferings at once ; but, as I was too well acquainted with the habits of the rhinoceros to venture on pursuing her under the circumstances, I determined to wait patiently for daylight, and then destroy her with the aid of my dogs. But it was not to be. “ As no more elephants or other large game appeared, I thought, after a time, it might be as well to go in search of the white rhinoceros previously wounded ; I was not long in find- liis carcass ; for my ball, as I supposed, had caused his almost immediate death. “ In heading back to my { skarm,’ I accidentally took a turn in the direction pursued by the black rhinoceros, and by ill-luck, as the event proved, at once encountered her. She was still on her legs, but her position, as before, was unfavorable. Hoping, however, to make her change it for a better, and thus enable me to destroy her at once, I took up a stone, and hurled it at her with all my force ; when, snorting horribly, erecting her tail, keeping her head close to the ground, and raising clouds of dust by her feet, she rushed at me with fearful fury. I had only just time to level my rifle, and fire before she was upon me ; and the next instant, while instinctively turning round for the purpose of retreating, she laid me prostrate. The shock was so violent as to send my rifle, powder-flask, and a ball-pouch, as also my cap, spinning in the air ; the gun, indeed, as afterward ascertained, to a distance of fully ten feet. On the beast charging me, it CiOssed my mind that, unless gored at once by her horn, her impetus 1 would be such (after knocking me down, which I took for granted would be the case) as to carry her beyond me, and I might thus be afforded a chance of escape. So, indeed, it happened ; for, having tumbled me over (in doing which her head, and the fore part of her body, owing to the violence of the charge, was half buried in the sand), and trampled on me with great violence, her fore quarter passed over my body. ' ANDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 163 Struggling for life, I seized my opportunity, and as slie was re- covering herself for a renewal of the charge, I scrambled out from between her hind legs. “ Ihit the enraged beast had not yet done with mo. Scarcely had I regained iny feet before she struck me down a second time, and with her horn ripped up my right thigh (though not very deeply) from near the knee to the hip; with her fore feet, moreover, she hit me a terrific blow on the left shoulder, near the back of the neck. My ribs bent under the enormous weight and pressure, and for a moment I must, as I believe, have lost consciousness — I have, at least, very indistinct notions of what afterward took place. All 1 remember is, that when I raised mv head I heard a furious snorting and plunging among the neighboring bushes. I now arose, though with great diffi- culty, and made my way, in the best manner I was able, toward a lai ge tree near at hand for shelter ; but this precaution was needless; the beast, for the time at least, showed no inclination further to molest me. Either in the melee, or owing to the confusion caused by her wounds, she had lost sight of me, or slie felt satisfied with the revenge she had taken. Be that as it may, I escaped with life, though sadly wounded and severely bruised, in which disabled state I had great difficulty in get- ting back to my skarm.” The men sent forward as guides by Lecholetebe belonged to a tribe called Betoaim, residing on the shores of the Lake. They were remarkably fine-looking fellows, stout and well built, resembling the Damaras in appearance. The route now followed lay through a densely wooded region ; “ the wait-a- bit ” thorns being extremely harassing, tearing clothes, and even saddle-bags made of strong ox hide, into ribbons. Nevertheless, about noon on the third day after leaving Abeghan, the cry of “ Ngaini ! Ngaini! ” was raised at the head of the caravan, and there, spread out before him, Andersson saw the object of his ambition for years — an immense sheet of water bounded only by the horizon. A closer examination, however, failed to confirm the first striking impression. The Lake was now very low, and, at the point first seen, exceedingly shallow. The water, which had a very bitter and disagreeable taste, was only approachable in a few places, partly on account of the mud, and partly because of the thick coating of reeds and rushes that liued the shore. Skirting the southern border of Ngaini for two days, Andersson at length reached the residence of Lechol- ctebo, situated on the north bank of theZouga, a short distance from the Lake. At the earlier interviews, Lecholetebe spent 104 ANDERSS ON'S EXPLORATION’S IN’ SOUTH. AFRICA. the time chiefly in begging for presents, and peremptorily declined to furnish any information whatever about eithci the country or the people: but when on a favorable occasion Andersson explained his desire to push on to Libebe, a place lying considerably to the north of the Lake, and asked to be HIPPOPOTAMUS HUNTING-. furnished with men and canoes, he assented at once to the proposal. This was so extraordinary, and so contrary to the chief’s known policy, that Andersson suspected deceit of some kind ; and the sequel proved that he was not mistaken. The first stage in the journey to Libebe was to ascend the river Teoge, which enters the Lake at its north-west extremity. A NDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 1G5 For this purpose Andersson was provided by the chief with two cauoes — clumsy craft, consisting of the trunk of a tree about 20 feet long pointed at both ends and hollowed out by fire, and not always straight. In consequence of the frail structure of their craft, the boatmen hugged the shore so closely that it was three days after leaving Lecholetebe’s capital before they reached the mouth of the Teoge. They found the river to be about forty- yards wide at its entrance into the Lake, and very deep after the bar was crossed. For the first few days going up, the country presented a dreary and monotonous appearance, being frequently submerged for many miles on either hand ; but on the fourth day the landscape assumed a more pleasing aspect, the banks of the river became higher, and these were richly covered with a profuse and varied vegetation. And there was a corresponding exuberance of animal life. Rhinoceroses, hippopotami, buffaloes, hartbeests, pallahs, reed-birds, leches, koodoos, and sassabys were seen in immense numbers ; while huge crocodiles basked in the sunshine in the more secluded parts of the river. At length, after about twelve days’ voyag- ing, they reached a larger village where the great chief of the Bayetye resided. Here Andersson had been given to under- stand that new men and other boats would be provided for the further prosecution of his journey ; but he found the town de- serted by the men, who had gone off to hunt hippopotami and would not be back, so the women said, in less than a month. All attempts to procure guides, or boats, or provisions for the journey onward to Libebe were unavailing ; and it was only when, mortified and disgusted at Lecholetebe’s treachery (for he discovered that all this had been pre-arranged by that wily chief), he resolved to return to Ngami, that the people could be brought to render him the necessary assistance. Ac- cordingly, after about a month’s absence, Andersson found himself once more safe at Batoana-town. The most substantial result of this journey was the proof which he acquired that Lake Ngami receives its chief supply from the north-w r est. He himself believed that he had also collected evidence from the natives sufficient to prove the existence of another large river only two or three days’ journey from the Teoge, but flow- ing in an opposite direction and probably into the Atlantic. This, however, has not been verified as yet. The animal life around the Lake, as well as on the Teoge, is wonderfully abundant and varied ; hippopotami abound on the northern side, and otters are not uncommon. Aquatic birds are particularly numerous, there being no less than nine- 166 ANDERSSON '8 EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA teen species of ducks and geese, ten of herons, and several of storks and cranes. The people who dwell on the shores of the Lake are called Batoaua; and they are a small tribe of that large family of blacks, known as Bechuanas, who, as a whole, are probably the most widely distributed and most powerful of all the dark-colored natives of South Africa. In manners, habits, and customs, as well as in personal appearance, they closely resemble the Damaras ; but instead of cattle-breeding their principal industry is agriculture and gardening, which they carry on in the same manner as the Ovambos. When arrested so unexpectedly in his exploring career by the artifices of Lecholetebe, Andersson made up his mind to return at once to the coast ; but his collection of ivory, speci- mens of natural history, curiosities, etc., had by this time so increased that he found it impossible to transport them with the few pack-and-saddle oxen that remained. A wagon had become absolutely necessary, and as the only possible way of obtaining one, he set out across the wilderness for Hamaqua- land. During the four months that elapsed before he again reached Lake Ngami, he travelled, either alone or accompanied by a single native, sometimes on foot and at others on horse- back or ox-back, over more than a thousand miles of country, parts of it emulating the Sahara in scarcity of water and gen- eral inhospitality. Besides narrow escapes from lions and other dangerous beasts, he was occasionally as much as two days without tasting food, and it frequently happened that in the course of twenty-four hours he could only once or twice moisten his parched lips. His perseverance, however, over- came all obstacles, and in the spring of 1854 lie was once more in Cape Town on the way to Europe. Before proceeding to tell of Andersson’s second expedition, it may be well to mention that in 1856, Mr. Green, the famous elephant-hunter, succeeded in reaching Libebe on the Teoge River, but was not able to stay there long enough to make any important observations. In 185S, Andersson was once more in South Africa for the purpose of pursuing his explorations ; and in the spring of that year started from Damara-land with a caravan consisting of wagons and riding-oxen, sheep and goats for provisions, a horse and four asses for riding, and a pack of dogs for hunting. His principal object was to reach the Kunene River, and if possible to explore its whole course. Leaving Walfisch Bay, lie took a northerly course which would have taken him to the ANDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 167 westward of the Ovambo country. In a short time he reached nil extensive plain covered with those dense thorny thickets of which lie had already had experience on his journey to the Ovambos; and twenty-three days of almost incredible labor were required to cut a way through them for the wagons. Few incidents of African travel illustrate more forcibly the toil which the explorer must undergo and the patience he must exercise, than Andersson’s brief account of this passage through the acacia thickets. He estimates that for every 900 feet or distance, 170 bushes were cut away, each bush having four tough stems, varying in thickness from the size of a man’s linger to that of his leg. On an average, each bush required twelve strokes of the axe, making nearly 10,000 strokes to the mile ; and 120 miles were thus traversed before he reached a forest of lofty trees clear of undergrowth. At Otjidarnbi, a place where there were live springs, An- dersson came upon the first signs of human life. The sur- rounding country is an extensive table-land, from 2,000 to 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, bounded on the west by a range of granite mountains near the coast, about 500 miles in length and running north and south. At right angles with this range, a chain of sandstone hills, with now and then an isolated granite peak from 1,000 to 3,000 feet high, crosses the plain. The surface of the country is for the most part bare and stony, or covered with thickets of the thorny mimosa ; but the valleys have running streams during the rainy season, which during the dry seasons shrink into pools or marshy spots, where water may be found by digging. A few Damaras had settled with their herds in some of these valleys ; but the year before Andersson’s visit, their retreat had been discovered by the Namaquas, who made an incursion into the country and carried off many of their cattle. This made them suspicious of all strangers coming from the south, and on the approach of Andersson’s caravan they hid themselves in the neighboring thickets. At length he captured a man and woman, ana treated them so liberally that the natives came forth, and with their aid as guides, he continued his journey for between three and four hundred miles further. Had his course been in a straight line, this would have taken him beyond the Kunene River ; but it was not yet in sight, and, in the entire absence of water, he was obliged to turn about and retrace his steps as speedily as possible to the nearest mission-station. Here he devoted himself to elephant-hunting, in order to procure ivory to replenish his exhausted stores. While thus 168 ANDERSSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. engaged he encountered a large caravan of Damaras, on their way to Ovambo-land ostensibly for the purpose of trading; but he noticed among them several subjects or Yonker Afrika- ner, the Namaqua robber-chief, and rightly surmised that they meant to spy out the land and report on the probable success of a plundering expedition. Toward the end of August, An- dersson set out for the Lake Omanbond4, which had so griev- ously disappointed him and Galton on their first expedition in 1850 ; but he now found a fine sheet of water four or five miles in circumference, with another of equal size near it — the shores of both swarming with every variety of game. The elephants came in immense herds, and he succeeded in killing a great many of the old males, which furnish the largest quan- tity of ivory. In a short time so much ivory had been secured, that he sent one of his men back to the mission with a wagon-load ; he, meantime, making an excursion to Tunobis. When he had returned to the lake, he again encountered the Damara caravan on their return from Ovambo-land, which they had been pre- vented from entering. From them Andersson procured one of the chiefs as a guide, and on the 5th of January ,T859, started once more in search of the Ovambo River, supposed to be a branch of the Kunene. Eleven days of hard travel brought them to something like a river-bed, stretching away to the northward, but destitute of running water. Using this as a road, they still pushed onward, hoping still to reach the Ovambo, little suspecting that they were actually travelling in its bed. After a time its direction changed, and leaving it they again struck northward ; but the terrible thorny jungles soon drove them to another dry water-course extending to the west. Following this, they soon found themselves on the dry, w r aste table-land they had traversed on the previous expedition. Here they were fortunate enough to fall in with a Bushman chief, named Kaganda, who offered to guide them provided a whole elephant were given him as pay. He proved to be an active, intelligent fellow, who not only knew every little pool or marshy spot in the whole country, but imparted to them a secret which proved of great service ; viz., that a large tree, with willow-like leaves, was generally hollow, forming a nat- ural cistern in which rain-water was preserved a long time. Under his guidance, the caravan pressed on through a region swarming with elephants, until they reached a point at which a native told them they were only two and a half days’ journey from the river. Andersson therefore left his wagons and ANDERSSON 'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 169 heavy baggage, and taking half of his men with him, pushed northwards. On the third day a mountain-chain loomed up on the horizon, and soon afterwards he found himself on the banks of a large river 600 feet wide. It did not seem to be any of the streams of which he had previously heard ; for the Iumeno unquestionably flowed to the west, whereas this river, upon whose banks lie stood, called by the natives the Okavango , flowed distinctly eastward into the heart of the continent. Andersson believed it to be a great affluent of the Zambesi ; and guessed that the point at which he reached it was some- where between lat. 17° and 18° S. and long. 17° and 19° E. from Greenwich. The tribe living on the river is called Okavangari, but there were no settlements on the right bank on which Andersson was, and it was only after several hours’ negotiation that the natives could be induced to bring over their boats. In order to make arrangements for further exploration of the river, Andersson resolved to visit the chief, Chikongo, who resided farther to the south ; and accordingly hired one of the natives to transport him thither in his canoe. The native seemed to con- sider the voyage as designed for his own amusement ; for, instead of keeping in the swifter current, he paddled slowly along the banks, stopping at every hut to show the astonished people the strange-looking white man. Andersson began to look upon himself almost as some curious animal ; but his guide’s ma- noeuvres at least enabled him to observe the natives very thor- oughly. Pie describes the men as strong and well-built, but the women were the ugliest he had ever seen in Africa. The river itself and the landscapes on either side, were beautiful. The river-bottoms were covered with fields of grain, and fruit- trees and ranges of wooded mountains enclosed the prospect on either hand. Hippopotami and water-fowl were abundant; and crocodiles sunned themselves on the islands which here and there rose from the surface of the stream. At noon, on the second day of the voyage, Andersson reached the residence of Chikongo, from whom he received a hearty welcome. Pie stayed here three days, and learned that the Ovambo-land lay to the west, and the tribe of Baviekos to the east, whose capital is the town of Libebe, on the Teoge River, which he had tried to reach from Lake Ngami. lie now returned to the wagons, and brought the whole car- avan safely to the Okavango River, preparatory to the thorough exploration of the river, upon which he had determined. But scarcely had the party reached the river-bottom, when Anders- 170 AND BESSON'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. son and five or six others were prostrated with fever ; and after waiting an entire month in the vain hope of getting better, he was obliged to turn back as the only means of saving his life. The return journey was rendered additionally perilous, because of the plains of grass being on fire in many places. The Da- maras burn off the old grass periodically, in order to hasten the growth of fresh pastures for their herds ; and several times the caravan narrowly escaped destruction. Once, indeed, the dan- ger was so near, that only a sudden change of the wind saved the whole party from death. At the Ovambo River, Andersson met Green, who, hearing that the Ovambos had sent out a party to intercept the caravan on its return, had collected a small body of men, and come to meet and assist him. Andersson now went to Europe and published his work on the Okavango River, but subsequently returned to Africa, and having married Miss Aitchison, of Cape Town, settled at Otjim- bingue, near Ondongo, and devoted himself to agriculture and commerce. During the war with the Damaras and Rama- quas, which ended in the subjection of the Ovambos, he was frequently despoiled, and finally wounded so seriously that he had to be taken to Cape Town. Barely recovered, he set out in May, 1866, on an expedition to the Kunene, with a view of establishing commercial intercourse with the Portuguese settle- ments north of that river, and actually came in sight of the long-sought stream ; but too feeble to cross it, he had to retrace his steps, and died on the home journey. CIIAPTER IX. MAGYAR’S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. Between the years 1810 and 1856, Laszlo (Ladislaus) Magyar, a native of Theresienstadt, in Hungary, made a series of jour- neys in the interior, which nearly complete our knowledge of the region lying between the route of Livingstone, from the Zambesi to the west coast, and the most northern points reached by Andersson. The previous career of Magyar had been rather chequered. Entering the Austrian navy in 1840, he served during several cruises, but left the service in South America, and was em- ployed by the Argentine Confederation. The fleet of the lat- ter power having been destroyed by that of Uruguay, he went to Brazil for a time, and in 1846 went to Africa and became commander of the fleet of the negr’o ruler of old Calabar. In 1848 his health was seriously impaired by the deadly coast- fever, and he determined to go to San Felipe de Benguela, the most southern Portuguese port in the west coast, in order to settle himself in the healthier inland regions. Benguela has a climate peculiarly fatal to Europeans, and Magyar only remained there long enough to make arrange- ments for the journey he had resolved upon to the native king- dom of Bilie, situated on the elevated table-lands of the interior. This inland region is inhabited by a number of negro tribes who are almost constantly at war with each other, and yet ap- pear, from their language and habits, to be of the same stock. They are all called collectively the Kimbunda. Their country is threaded by the affluents of the Coanza River, which rises in lat. 13° S. and flows northward over a table-land 6,000 feet above the sea-level, to about lat. 9°, where it turns westward and empties into the Atlantic near St. Paul de Loanda. The land rises from the coast in successive terraces, each of which has its distinct climate and productions. A large caravan was just ready to start for Bihe, and the leader was very glad to accept Magyar’s application to join him, the presence of a European being considered an addi- tional protection. Magyar accordingly engaged an interpreter, 172 MAGYAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. three slaves for personal servants, six hammock-bearers, and a kissongo , or body-guard — a man whose special duty it was to watch over his property, and defend him in case of danger. He also provided himself with proper goods for trade with" the natives. On the 15th of January, 1849, everything being in readiness, the caravan left Benguela and started for the nearest range of mountains. The belt of lowlands along the coast is sandy, arid, and intensely hot. The tribe nearest Benguela is called the Mundombe ; the} 7 are a strong and fine-looking race, but repul- sive in their habits. Instead of bathing, they rub their bodies every third day with fat or butter, and soak their single cotton garment in the same, so that it clings in greasy folds to their bodies. They live in huts but two or three feet high, built of sticks and mud, and always filled with smoke from the fires which they keep up even in summer. They raise cattle, and also cultivate maize, manioc, and beans. The method of transport by caravan is of the most primi- tive description. Goods of all kinds are slung to poles, which are carried on the shoulders of the porters. Travellers are obliged to lie in a hammock which is also suspended from a long pole carried on the shoulders of two men ; but the prog- ress of the caravan, especially in marshy districts, forests, or passes of the mountains, is excessively slow and difficult, and just where the road is worst the traveller is compelled to walk. In the lowland region, first traversed, there were no signs of vegetable life, except here and there some leafless thorn-bushes and tufts of dried grass ; but as the elevation above the sea in- creased, trees began to appear, and the banks of the Katumbele Biver beyond the first range of hills, were covered with a dense tropical forest. This stream was crossed by means of bamboo rafts ; and a short distance beyond they reached the first or coast range of mountains — a series of black, volcanic peaks, destitute of vegetation except occasional thickets of thorns and aloes. The route of the caravan lay along the perilous verge of pre- cipitous abysses, where the loose stones and pebbles frequently give way under the feet of the porters, who were obliged to march in single file. The bleached bones of men at the bot- toms of the chasms gave ghastly evidence of the dangers of the road. Nor were these the only dangers to which the travellers were exposed. Now and then, amon^ the towering cliffs above them, they saw the forms of the wild, predatory tribes of the hills, apparently mustering their forces and deliberating whether an attack might be ventured. Magyar describes him- MAGYAR’S ASCENT OF THE COAST RANGE. MAGYAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 173 self as so impressed by the grandeur of the scenery on this coast range, and so refreshed by the purer atmosphere of the mountains, that he began almost immediately to recover his health and strength. In the higher regions he discovered two cataracts, one of which, called Kahi, is of an unusual character. The river here slides down the face of a rock having an angle of about eighty degrees, for a distance of about 150 feet, is then dashed into foam on a transverse edge, and at last falls 150 feet further into a dark chasm, with a roar which may be heard several miles. He also saw an active volcano — an iso- lated cone, rising high above the other mountains, and discharg- ing low jets of steam and flame at regular intervals. The na- tives believe that the crater is the abode of the spirits of their dead, and never dare to approach the mountains. As the caravan advanced farther into the interior, the tropi- cal rains increased. The evenings were generally cool and clear ; but every afternoon the clouds gathered in dense masses, terrific thunder-storms swept round the peaks, and rain, mixed with hail, poured down in torrents. When the Kissangi-land, which is fertile and populous, was reached, temporary huts were erected as a protection from the rains every evening ; and these were surrounded with a kind of rude fortification as a defence against the natives, who build their villages on heights wdiich are almost inaccessible, and are inveterate robbers. Here Magyar, at the request of the members, assumed the command of the caravan. His principal duty, next to direct- ing the daily marches and looking after the goods, was to settle the claims of the various chiefs of the villages passed through ; and this gave him many curious adventures. In one instance the leader of a band of the Bailunda tribe, from whom Hostili- ties were apprehended, contented himself with a moderate pres- ent of brandy, powder, and flints ; with the condition, however, that the white man should bring him the articles in person. He sent two women as hostages, and Magyar, though not fully trusting the leader’s word, felt bound to comply. He found the camp regularly divided into four quarters, with the com- mander’s tent in the centre, distinguished by a red flag. The commander was a son-in-law of the king, and was a tall, strong, and rather handsome man. He was surrounded by his guards, interpreters, and servants. He first addressed his troops, the musicians accompanying his words with the sound of their in- struments ; then, turning to Magyar, he clapped his hands and thrice gave the salutation : “ Peace be with you ! ” He de- clared that his officers had wished to attack the caravan, but he 174 MAGYAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. had forbidden it, on account of his friendship for the white man. While the troops were drinking the beer furnished for the occasion, and indulging in their savage dances, Magyar slipped away and returned to the caravan. His men were afraid lest the Bailunda should attack them in spite of their leader’s prohibition ; and as the natives usually make such at- tacks in the early morning, the caravan was set in motion shortly after nightfall, marched unperceived pa^st the Bailunda camp, and by morning was at a safe distance. After leaving the Kissangi-land they reached the beautiful valley of the Kubale Biver ; and beyond this again an elevated and extensive table-land stretching away to the foot of the Lingi-Lingi mountains. Yast herds of antelopes, zebras, and buffaloes grazed on the rich pasturage of these plains, and the natives laid down their packs and set out on a hunt. Magyar accompanied them, but was so alarmed at the sight of the buf- faloes that he climbed to the top of a huge ant-hill. When the ffrst beast stormed past, his nervous excitement was such that he could not pull the trigger ; he threw away his flint and pre- tended to have lost it, lest the natives, who had succeeded in killing seven of the animals, should detect his lack of coolness necessary for a hunter. The scenery of the Lingi-Lingi mountains is even more grand and various than that of the coast range. Part of the time the path led through thick forests, again it wound in zigzags around peaks of naked rock, and frequently along the verge of im- mense chasms from which the noise of cataracts resounded. At the summit, which is about 5,000 feet above the level of the sea, commenced another lofty table-land, stretching away eastward to the foot of the Djamba mountains. Scaling these, the cara- van continued its journey across the high table-land of Sambos, which is about 6,000 feet above the sea-level. The plains here- abouts are dotted with little hills upon which the natives build their villages, which are studded with groups of trees resembling the sycamore. Towards the end of their journey, they ex- perienced a hail-storm so severe that the ground was covered with a crust of ice. Just before reaching the frontiers of Bihe, messengers were sent forward to announce their coming, so that the women could brew maize -beer and even cany it to meet them on the last stage of the march. As soon as they had ac- tually entered the kiugdom the large company began to break up and scatter towards their different homes; and here Magyar had an example of the pride of the natives. Nearly all his ser- vants and porters deserted him, because they were ashamed to MAGYAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 175 appear before their families in that character ; only the Icissongo and his relatives remained faithful, for they regarded the white man as their guest, and had instructed their families to prepare for his reception. Two or three days after crossing the frontier, they arrived at their home, and Magyar received a hearty wel- come. After the first salutations were over, one of the porters commenced a recital of everything that had occurred during his absence of 116 days, not omitting the smallest incident! Magyar’s chief object being to establish his residence inBihe as a base for further explorations, his first care was to send a messenger with presents to the king, asking his permission to build a house. The answer came in five days ; the king sent a friendly greeting, and gave his permission, but added the re- quest that the stranger should pay him a formal visit as soon as he had completed his dwelling. Magyar was now at liberty to take any piece of land which had not been already claimed and occupied by some one else. The country around the home of his kissongo was so attractive that his only difficulty was what point to select. lie finally made choice of a beautiful little valley, with a clear, swift rivulet in its bed. Forests and mead- ows alternated in the landscape, and every hill in the distance was crowned with a native village. The character of the scen- ery was so charming that he declared to his attendants that he would fix his residence there. To his great annoyance, the latter informed him that a notorious wizard had been executed on the spot, a year before, and since then the evil spirits had taken pos- session of the whole neighborhood. Foreseeing that the natives w r ould resist his attempts to settle there, Magyar had recourse to one of their exorcising priests, to whom he presented a fat hog and several yards of cotton cloth, begging him to drive away the hateful spirits. The priest slaughtered a goat, marked sev- eral hieroglyphics with its blood on Magyar’s arm and breast, blew three blasts through the horn of a gazelle, and the evil • spirits immediately fled from the beautiful valley, leaving it free to human habitation. In order to assure himself of the proper respect and consid- eration, Magyar learned that it was necessary for him to build a large dwelling-house, and to employ at least fifty slaves or servants. For twenty yards of cotton-cloth apiece, he purchased as many of these as he required, and the additional applicants were so numerous that he was finally obliged to keep them forcibly at a distance. Nor is it more difficult to support such a retinue than to obtain them. The cultivation of the soil is car- ried on exclusively by the women, while the men build, hunt, 176 MAGYAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. and fish. The married slaves are obliged to help support the unmarried, as well as to furnish food for the master. The lat- ter is only expected to clothe his slaves with a single narrow gar- ment, and give them a few yards of cloth twice a year. In the material and construction of his house, Magyar imi- tated the huts of the people, except that his was square instead of circular in form. The walls were of strong palisades, plas- tered with clay and whitewashed, so that the residence had a semi-civilized aspect. Around this was a palisade. Outside of all was a large stockade made of posts of iron- work, with loop- holes for musketry ; and between this and the inner inclosure were the slave-quarters and store-houses. As soon as these structures were completed Magyar started on his visit to the king of Bihe, whose capital lay about two days 5 journej farther into the interior. It is called Kombala, and is built on the summit of a high hill, shadowed by immense trees. A narrow path led up the steep and stony path to the gate of the town ; within this was a large grassy square, surrounded with trees, beyond which stood the dirty streets and miserable huts crowded with a curious multitude or people, who, however, were more carefully dressed and more refined in manner than those of the villages. The king could not receive him on the day of his arrival, but a comfortable hut and abundance of provisions were pro- vided for his use. Betimes next morning an officer of the court came to conduct him to the palace, which he found to be an extensive labyrinth of buildings surrounded by a high palisade. Human heads, some bleached to the bone, and others fresh as if just placed there, hung upon the outer gate. Pass- ing through this, Magyar was conducted along many winding ways to a door in an interior palisade wall, and through this he entered the royal court-yard. He had to wait here upwards of half an hour before the sound of bells announced the ap- proach of the king, who, on entering, took a seat on a sort of throne, over which a lion’s skin was suspended, while a page knelt at his feet, and a servant with a quagga’s tail to fan him w'tli stood behind him. On either side the warriors and cour- tiers, each with his hair twilled into the shape of a helmet, arranged themselves in rows — the warriors armed with long f uns, clubs, and lances. When the king had taken his seat, e turned to Magyar, who had also seated himself on a camp- stool, and saluted him thrice with the usual formula : “ Peace be with you ! ” the latter answering as he had been instructed : “ Also with you, princely father ! ” while the courtiers shouted MAGYAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 177 in chorus, “ Hail, mighty Lion ! raging Lion ! ” Then the Kistioiifjo who had accompanied Magyar related all the inci- dents of the journey, and explained his master’s wish to make his homo in Bilie, and to visit the other tribes of the interior. As every word had to be repeated to the king by one of his own officers, notwithstanding that it was made in the language of the country, this statement lasted half an hour; and during this time Magyar had ample opportunity to study the king’s personal appearance. lie was apparently about fifty years of age, tall and lean of figure, and with tolerably regular features which would have been agreeable but for his keen and crafty look. He wore a kind of turban about his head, a wide blue robe, and a gayly striped shawl over his shoulders. In his hand he held a small dagger, and the claw r s of a lion, set in gold, worn as a talisman, probably, hung on his breast. The “ raging Lion ” listened patiently to the Kissongo’s ad- dress, and at the end expressed his satisfaction. His answer was : u You have honored me, white man, with the confidence you have placed in me, in giving up the comforts which you enjoyed at home, among your own people, and coming here to settle among us. Therefore, be welcome ! I take you under my protection, and woe to them who should dare to injure your person or your property ! I grant to you the right of hospitality which has been given by our ancestors, and my people must know and respect it.” All the principal chiefs repeated their former salutation, in token of acceptance, and thus Magyar became an honorary citizen of Bihe. Much to his surprise, the king returned Magyar’s visit on the evening of the same day, and privately acquainted him with his intention of undertaking an expedition against a neighboring tribe. He insisted that Magyar should accompany the expedition ; and as the latter did not think it politic to re- fuse, he agreed temporarily, hoping that some means of escape from the unwelcome obligation would be found before the time for redeeming it should come round. As in the case of the haunted valley which he desired for a residence, so in this new dilemma also, Magyar procured his release by an adroit use of the native superstitions. As the time for the expedition drew near, he complained of pains in the body and bad dreams, which the wizards declared 'were caused by evil spirits. lie then explained to them that his participation in the foray was forbidden by the laws of his land, and that this was probably a punishment sent upon him for his intended violation of them. After a careful examination of his person, the magicians re- 12 173 MAGYAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. tired into the forest to consult. Their final conclusion was that an evil spirit had entered into Magyar’s bod} r , and would certainly kill him if ho accompanied the expedition ; but this spirit could be exorcised by slaughtering an ox, and sending presents to the king. An ox was accordingly killed, certain figures were painted with the blood on Magyar’s forehead, breast, and arms, and a piece of cotton with the same marks was forwarded to the king, accompanied by a present consist- ing of a keg of powder and several bottles of brandy. The cure was effectual. The evil spirit departed ; the king absolved the stranger from his promise ; and, as a further evidence of favor, sent him his daughter, the Princess Osoro, as a wife. The Princess w r as fourteen years old, tall and slender, and with as much grace and amiability as could be expected of a king’s daughter; and as an unmarried man always excites suspicion and distrust among the African tribes, and the secur- ity of his residence among the people would be assured by such an alliance, Magyar determined to acquiesce in the ar- rangement. She came to him under the escort of two of her brothers, and followed by a numerous retinue of slaves, and the wedding was immediately celebrated according to the native usage. Magyar seems never to have regretted his com- pliance. It greatly strengthened his position ; and the Prin- cess adapted herself to his habits, managed his household well, and became the mother of several children, one of whom was one of the prospective heirs to the throne of Bihe. This lat- ter circumstance Magyar confesses afforded him much gratifi- cation. He now settled down to the cultivation of his fields, observ- ing meanwhile the character and habits of the people with whom he had taken up his residence. The Kimbundas, as the inhabitants of Bihe are called, are decidedly more advanced than most of the South African tribes. They have a fixed resi- dence, a settled form of government which enforces something like law, and if not industrious, they know how to avail them- selves of the natural advantages of their land. Their domestic a iimals are cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry; and they add to their stock of meat by great half-yearly hunts, when the men of the tribes assemble, surround a district of country, and slaughter all the game that is caught in their toils. They have some skill in fishing, but do not know how to make nets. The men also do some very creditable work as blacksmiths ; but this seems the only direction in which their mechanical capabilities have been exercised. The women, as we have said, MAGYAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 179 perform all the work of cultivating the soil; and this lias had a curious effect upon their family life. As soon as a young man is able to purchase a wife, he marries, in order that he may have some one to cultivate his fields, and his ambition of course is to have as many wives as possible, since the more he has the better is his chance of being supported in idleness and luxury. The women, on their part, also favor polygamy, on the principle that many hands make light work. The people believe that the purity of blood is transmitted through the woman, not through the man. For this reason when a male slave marries a free woman, his children are free. No hus- band has any authority whatever over his own children ; this belongs to the eldest brother of the mother, who may do what he pleases with them — even sell them as slaves. Divorces are easy, but the right is exercised more frequently by the women than by the men. Both sexes are very fond of the rude music of their native instruments, to the sound of which they dance nearly every evening. The men spend the day, when not en- gaged in some of their special pursuits, in lying full length on the ground, smoking and gossiping. At length Magyar began to think of carrying out his inten- tion of penetrating farther into the interior. During the whole period of his residence in Bilie he had heard of a country called Molnwa, lying far to the north-east, in a temperate high- land region, full of forests in which roamed numerous herds of elephants. As ivory is the principal article of commerce with the Kimbundus, and as there are no elephants in Bihe, he found no difficulty in getting together a large caravan for a journey to the Moluwa country, where the commodity was pre- sumably plentiful. Not less than 400 persons volunteered to accompany him, among them a considerable number of the best warriors and elephant-hunters. The king’s permission was obtained, although he had been informed that the Princess Osoro would acompany her husband, and that their absence would probably be prolonged. Early in May, 1850, the caravan set out, following the old native footpaths which led eastward toward the Coanza River. The first district cast of Bihe is called Kimbandi, a hilly, fertile country, watered by numerous affluents of the Coanza, and covered during the rainy season with pools aud lakes which become marshes in the dry months. The Kimbandi are not hostile to travellers, but they are thievish and treacherous, and Magyar was relieved when their territory was left behind. It is bounded on the east by the great forests of the Olow- 180 MAGYAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. ihenda, wdiieh forms the dividing belt between the western and the central regions of the continent. These forests cover a mountain range which stretches north and south through several degrees of latitude. At its northern extremity, where Livingstone crossed it on his journey from Linyanti to St. Paul de Luanda, their breadth is eight days’ journey ; but they are so much more extensive farther south that Magyar’s caravan consumed sixteen days in passing through. On account of the streams and morasses which vary the monotony of the dense woods, beasts of burden cannot be used, and all goods must be transported across on the shoulders of men. Wild animals are very numerous, including the lion, the elephant, and the rhinoceros. But the animal most feared is the buffalo. Mag- yar says that during his many journeys he lost only two of his men from lions, but a large number from the attacks of buffa- loes. If the first shot is not fatal, and the hunter does not succeed in instantly reaching a place of safety, he is inevitably tossed into the air and then stamped to death by the sharp hoofs of the enraged beast. In this wilderness were also encountered a peculiar race of human beings, called Mu-Kanlmla , whom Magyar describes as the most miserable creatures he had ever beheld. “ They are not more than four feet in height, of a rusty yellow color, and with features which seem a caricature of the human face. Their legs are very thin ; the round, protruding abdomen takes up one-third of the body ; the lean neck supports a large head, with a perfectly flat face, in which wide mouth and nostrils and small twinkling eyes are inserted. Their ears are like flaps, and their hair is very short and woolly.” They seem to be a peaceable people, and unusually honest in their intercourse with strangers. They brought ivory, honey, wax, and dried meat to the caravan, and exchanged these articles for tobacco and glass beads. These poor people are hunted like wild beasts by the neighboring tribes, and such as are captured are sold as slaves; some of the latter, whom Magyar bought, served him most faithfully, and did not leave him even while passing through their own country. After crossing the Olowihenda forests, the caravan entered upon a mountainous region, inhabited by the Chiboque, who, it will be remembered, gave Livingstone so much trouble when he passed through a portion of their territory on his way to the west coast. Magyar compares the region to Switzerland. The mountains are mostly isolated conical peaks, between which lie deep and fertile valleys inhabited by a dense population. The MOLTJWA WAR-DANCE. MAGYAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 181 villages generally contain about a thousand inhabitants ; they are simply collections of straw lints, clustered together in the forests, and each one is called by the name of its chief. The people raise sorghum, maize, beans, and tobacco, and are much better mechanics than the Kimbundas. Game abounds in the forests. The climate is so cool that in July — which is mid- winter there — Magyar sometimes found that vessels of water were covered with a thin coating of ice in the early morning, while the ground was more than once white with frost. Occupying the eastern portion of the Chiboque country, there is an immense marsh which stretches to the Kasai Kiver. Here commences the Moluwa kingdom (which seems to be identical with Cazembe or Londa.) which Magyar declares to be the most powerful in Central Africa. Kabebo, the capital, has a population of about 50,000 ; but as every house stands within its own separate enclosure, it covers an area of eight or ten square miles. It is built on an undulating plain, falling away toward the cast. Streams of fresh water flow through the streets, which are laid out at right angles, and shaded with rows of large trees. There are several spacious market-places, which are always crowded when a caravan arrives from the coast with European goods. The houses are one story high ; those of the king and princes are larger and loftier, but none of them have two stories. The king (sometimes called the Muata-janvo) is treated with more than human reverence. His subjects do not dare to approach him except creeping on all fours, and casting handfuls of earth upon their heads. His power over their lives and property is absolute, and is often cruelly exercised ; but none of the people venture to disobey his commands except in the remote provinces. Magyar was unable to ascertain the exact boundaries of the kingdom, but conjectured that it reached to lat. 40 N. — a length of nearly 1,200 miles with a breadth from east to west of about 400. The population is sparse, however, and does not amount in the aggregate probably to more than a million. In the districts to the north-east the villages are large and near together, but there are other parts of tnc country where the traveller finds no settlement in a day’s journey. The villages are generally built in the forests, but each is sur- rounded with its belt of cultivated land. Towards the east the forests disappear, and the country sinks into vast grassy plains, which sometimes become lakes in the rainy season. Magyar resided more than a year among the Moluwa people, and he regards them as surpassing in intellectual capacity all 182 MAGYAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. the other native African races. They have a tolerably well organized social system, based upon certain traditions of their race, and are usually friendly and polite in their intercourse w’ith strangers. On the other hand, the grossest forms of superstition obtain among them, and still, on certain occasions, they offer up human sacrifices. Their land is for the most part fertile, and they raise immense quantities of fruit, including pine-apples and bananas. They also cultivate sugar-cane and the oil-bearing palm. Their chief article of commerce is ivory ; and in the northern and eastern parts of the kingdom there are immense forests full of herds of elephants, whose tusks often weigh 120 pounds each. The price of these is kept up by the competition of the Portuguese from the western and the Arab merchants from the eastern coast. Strings of cowries and white beads arc used as money ; also coils of copper wire which the natives melt from malachite. They have iron, too, of excellent quality, from which they forge swords and lances. SNAKE HUNT IN THE DILOLO SWAMPS. In the year 1851, Magyar collected his caravan and set out on his return to Bihe, taking a more southern route which led MAO TAR'S EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 183 him through the district called Lobal, and across the upper end of the Zambesi valley, although he was not aware of the fact. Indeed he actually passed over a small portion of the route afterwards traversed by Livingstone, skirting Lake Dilolo, and, like the latter traveller, leading his caravan through the marshes which surround it. In these marshes there are great snakes which arc often found in companies of a dozen or more, coiled together in the grass. Ilis followers did not show the least fear of the reptiles, but attacked them eagerly, and afterwards roasted and ate them fresh as a great delicacy. The year after his return from the Moluwa kingdom, Mag- yar made a journey to the country of the Kilengues, lying farther to the south ; and in 1853 he claims to have reached the Kunene River, which was sought for so persistently by Andersson and Green, and to have explored a considerable por- tion of its course. On his return from this southern journey, his caravan was. attacked in the forests of Lusseke, but after a long fight the enemy were driven off with considerable loss. In 1855 he crossed the Olowihenda forests a second time, and reached the country of Lobal ; but how far his explorations ex- tended we have no means of knowing. On his return he was again attacked by a large body of the natives, and only succeeded in repulsing them after a hard fight which lasted several hours. In 1856, he made a visit to Benguela, and the next year was appointed governor of one of the Portuguese inland posts. It is greatly to be regretted that Magyar was unable to de- termine the latitude and longitude of the various points which he reached, and that his geographical notes are so brief and confusing. His travels fill much of the space between the regions explored by Livingstone and Lake Tanganyika ; and if he had only been as careful in recording the results of his explorations as he was energetic in planning, and courageous in carrying them out, some of the most important of remain- ing geographical problems would probably have been solved. CHAPTER X. DU CHAILLU’S EXPLORATIONS IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA. Du Chaillu’s explorations carry us once more to the west coast of Africa, to a region lying between latitude 2° N., and 2° S., and extending about 300 miles inland from the seaboard, and never before traversed by a white man. A brief sketch of Du Chaillu’s life has already been given in the chapter on “ Recent Explorations.” At the period of this journey, he was a citizen of the United States, though a Frenchman by birth. He sailed from New York in October, 1855, and reached the settlements at the mouth of the Gaboon River, in December of the same year. Du Chaillu had already spent several years on this coast, where his father formerly had a factory, and this had not only inured his constitution in some degree to the severities of the climate, but had also given him a ^knowledge of the languages, habits, and peculiarities of the coast natives which proved very serviceable to him in his explorations in the interior. The Gaboon River, which takes its rise among the Sierra del Crystal mountains, empties its sluggish waters into the Atlantic, a few miles north of the equator. Its mouth forms a bay which is the finest harbor on the west coast ; and here, on the right bank, the French formed a settlement and built a fort in the year 1842. Under the protection of the settlement thus begun, several missions have been established in the adjacent district ; and at one of these called Baraka, the head station of the American Board of Foreign Missions, situated eight miles from the mouth of the river, Du Chaillu remained until April, 1850, in order more perfectly to acclimate himself, and to pre- pare for his journey inland. He also took occasion at this time to study closely the habits and customs of the Mpongwes, or coast tribes, of whom he gives an interesting account. The Mpongwe are a branch of one of the great families of the negro race, which has moved gradually from the head waters of the Nazareth down to the seashore, extending its limits meanwhile to the north and south, till now they are found from the Gaboon River on the north, to Cape St. Cathe- DU CIIAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 185 rine on tlic south. A portion have taken possession of the sea- shore, while others are located inland. They have probably taken the place of other tribes who have disappeared in the mysterious way in which even the Mpongwe are now lessening. Tiio Mpongwe inhabit mostly the right bank of the Gaboon for about thirty miles up. They live in villages which are gen- erally located with special reference to the trading facilities afforded by the position, for these negroes are inveterate traders — in fact tlic most intelligent and acute merchants on the coast. Under the rules of African commerce, their possession of the coast gives them great advantages in point of trade over their inland neighbors. The rivers, which are the only highways of the country, are, of course, the avenues by which every species of export aud import must be conveyed from and to the in- terior tribes. Now the river banks arc possessed by different tribes. Thus while the Mpongwe hold the mouth of the Gaboon, and some miles above it, they are succeeded by the Shekiani, and these again by other tribes, to the number of about a dozen before the Sierra del Crystal Mountains are reached. Each of these tribes assumes to itself the privilege of acting as go-between, or middle-man, to those next to it, and charges a heavy percentage for this service ; and no infraction of this rule is permitted under pen alty of war. Thus a piece of i vory or ebony may belong originally to a negro in the far interior, but if lie wants to barter it for “ white man’s trade,” he dares not take it to market himself. If he should be rash enough to at- tempt such an enterprise, his goods would be confiscated, and lie himself, if caught, fined by those whose monopoly he sought to break down, or most likely sold into slavery. As a matter of course, the coast tribes .who are in direct contract with the white man, and do all the actual trading, reap the lion’s share of the profit. The Mpongwe villages, though seldom large, are the neatest and best arranged in Africa. They have generally but one street, on both sides of which the houses are built ; sometimes there are a few short cross-streets. In a considerable village, the main street is often twenty yards wide and two hundred yards long. The houses vary in size, according to the wealth of the owner ; they are built of a kind of bamboo, which is ob- tained from a species of palm, very plentiful hereabouts, whose leaves also furnish mats for the roofs. The houses are always of quadrangular shape, and from twenty to one hundred feet in length or breadth. The principal room is in the centre. The floor is of clay, which is pounded hard, and by long use becomes 186 DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. a firm and clean flooring. The walls are built by first driving stakes into the ground, and to these stakes neatly tying the split bamboos. One set is tied outside, and another inside, and the crevices are made close by the leaves of the palm-tree. Thus the walls are smooth and glossy, and perfectly clean. Both houses and street are very neatly kept. Du Chaillu describes the Mpongwe as the best-looking peo- ple he saw on his travels ; they are of medium size, with pleas- ant negro features, but handsomer than the Congo tribes. The men wear a shirt generally of French, English, or American calico, on which is wrapped a square cloth which falls to the ankles. To this is added a straw hat for the head ; only the king is allowed to wear the sills hat, which is a badge of his office. The wealthier men and chiefs are fond of dress, and when they can afford it, delight to show themselves in a showy military costume, sword and all. The chief, and in most cases the only, garment of the women is a square cloth, which is wrapped about the body, and covers them from above the hips to iust below the knees. On their bare legs and arms they de- light to wear great numbers of brass rings, often carrying from twenty-five to thirty pounds of brass on each ankle in this way. This ridiculous vanity greatly obstructs their motions, and makes their walk a clumsy waddle. Both sexes are extremely fond of ornaments and perfumery, with the latter of which they plentifully besprinkle themselves, without regard to kind. The vegetable food of the Mpongwe, and of most of the other tribes of this region, consists of Indian corn, the plan- tain, yams, sweet potatoes, cassava (manioc), tania, pumpkins, and ground or pea nuts. These are cultivated by the women, who perform all the agricultural and most of the other labor. The Mpongwe eat the meat of almost every animal found in forest or river — deer, antelopes, wild boar, etc. Contact with the whites has taught them not to eat animals of other orders, such as chimpanzee, monkeys, crocodiles, rats, etc. ; but such food is still eaten by their slaves. During his stay at the mission, Du Chaillu had an opportu- nity of witnessing the Mpongwe method of choosing a king, which is perhaps unique. When a king dies, the selection of his successor devolves upon the old men of the village, who consult together in secret. The man elected on this occasion was Njogoni, an old acquaintance of Du Chaillu’s. “ The choice fell on him, in part because he came of good family, but chiefly because lie was a favorite of the people, and could get the most votes. I do not know that Njogoni had the slightest suspicion DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 187 of his elevation. At any rate he shammed ignorance very well. As ho was walking on the shoro on the morning of the seventh day, ho was suddenly set upon by the entire populace, who pro- ceeded to a ceremony which is preliminary to the crowning, and which must deter any but the most ambitious men from aspiring to the crown. They surrounded him in a dense crowd, and then began to heap upon him every manner of abnso that the worst of mobs could imagine. Some spit in his face ; some beat him with their fists ; some kicked him ; others threw disgusting objects at him ; while those unlucky ones who stood on the outside, and could reach the poor fellow only with their voices, assiduously cursed him, his father, his mother, his sisters and brothers, and all his ancestors to the remotest gener- ation. A stranger would not have given a cent for the life of him who was presently to be crowned. Amid all the noise and struggle, I caught the words which explained all to me ; for every few minutes some fellow, administering an especially severo blow or kick, would shout out , 4 You are not our king yet; for a little while we will do what we please with you. fey and by wo shall have to do your will.’ “ Njogoni bore himself like a man and a prospective king. He kept his temper, and took all the abuse with a smiling face. When it had lasted about half an hour, they took him to the house of the old king. Here he was seated, and became again for a little while the victim of his people’s curses. Then all be- came silent ; and the elders of the people rose and said, solemnly (the people repeating after them), ‘Now we choose yon for our king ; we engage to listen to you and to obey you.’ A silence followed, and presently the silk hat, which is the emblem of Mpongwe royalty, was brought in and placed on Njogoni’s head. He was then dressed in a red gown, and received the greatest marks of respect from all who had just now abused him. Now followed a six days’ festival, during which the poor king, who had taken with the office also the name of his prede- cessor, was obliged to receive his subjects in his own house, and was not allowed to stir out. Six days of indescribable gorging of food and bad rum ; of beastly drunkenness and uproarious festivity. Numbers of strangers came in from surrounding villages to pay their respects ; and all brought more rum, more palm wine, and more food. Everything that tended toward fes- tivity was given away, and all who came were welcome Finally, the rum was drunk up, the allotted days were expired, and quiet once more began to reign. Now, for the first time, his new majesty was permitted to walk out and view his dominions.” 188 DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. Du Chaillu’s first journey to tlie interior began towards the latter part of April, 1856, and the first stage was a march down the coast of about sixty miles to the town of Sangatanga on Cape Lopez. Cape Lopez lies in lat. 0° 36' 10" S., and long. 8° 40' E. from Greenwich, and is a long sandy point pro- jecting into the sea, on which it gains somewhat every year. The Nazareth with several smaller rivers empty into the sea here, and there is a bay about fourteen miles deep. The region known generally as the Cape Lopez country includes all the shores of the bay, and the interior for thirty or forty miles. Back from the seashore the land becomes higher and hilly, the mangroves give place to forests of palm and more useful woods, and fine praries dot the country quite thickly. The whole of this district is given to the slave-trade. It pro- duces small quantities of ivory, ebony, wax, etc. ; but the slave- factory is the chief commercial establishment, and the buying, selling, and transporting of slaves for the baracoons at the Cape is the most profitable business. The tribe in possession here is the Oroungou, related appar- ently to the Mpougwe ; and on the day after his arrival, Du Chaillu called on King Bango, their chief. He was received in state by the king, who had on a flaming yellow coat with gilt embroidery all over it, and a veritable crown like those worn by actors on the stage, which had been given him proba- bly by some trader. Bango’s wives number 300, aud he told the traveller that he had not less than 600 children — an esti- mate which was confirmed by subsequent observation. On the night after the reception the king gave a ball in Du Chaillu’s honor. “ The room where I had been first received,” says Du Chaillu, u was the ball-room. When I arrived, shortly after dark, I found about one hundred and fifty of the king’s wives assembled, many of whom were accounted the best dancers in the country. Shortly afterward singing began, and then a barrel of rum was rolled in and tapped. A good glassful was given to each of the w6men, and then the singing recom- menced. In this the women only took part, and the airs were doleful and discordant. The words I could not always catch ; but here is a specimen : “ ‘ When we are alive and well, Let us be merry, sing, dance, and laugh ; For after life comes death ; Then the body rots, the worms eat it, And all is done forever. ’ When everybody was greatly excited with these songs, the DU CIIAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 189 kill", who sat in a corner on a sofa, with some of his favorite wives next, him, gave the signal for the dance to begin. Im- mediately all rose up and beat a kind of tune or refrain to accompany the noise of the tam-tams, or drums. Then six women stepped out and began to dance in the middle of the floor. The dance is not to be described. Any one who lias seen a Spanish fandango, and can imagine its lascivious move- ments tenfold exaggerated, will have some faint conceptions of the postures of these black women. To attain the greatest possible indecency of attitude seemed to be the ambition of all six. These were relieved by another set of six in course of time, and so the ball went on for about two hours, when, what with occasional potations of rum and the excitement of the dance and noise, the whole assemblage got so uproarious that I had thoughts of retreating ; but the king would not suffer it. He and all the people seemed to enjoy it all exceedingly. u Next women came out, one at a time, and danced their best (or worst) before a closely critical audience, who, watching every motion with jealous eyes, were sure to applaud by audi- ble murmurs of pleasure at every more than usually lewdy?#s. At last this ceased, and two really pretty young girls came out hand in hand and danced before me. 1 was told that they were daughters of the king, and he desired that I should take them for my wives — an offer which I respectfully but firmly declined.” It was Du Chaillu’s desire to penetrate into the hitherto unexplored interior on this latitude as far as the Nazareth River, which he was told lay about 100 miles to the east. The king readily consented to this, and assigned him twenty- five men to carry his luggage and help him in hunting. They set out on the 23d of May, and, after marching for three days over a beautiful country of rolling prairie and gentle hills, reached Ngola, the chief town of the Shekiani "tribe, about 60 miles due east of Sangatanga. Du Chaillu was the first white man ever seen by these people, and the women and chil- dren ran screaming into the houses as soon as they caught sight of him. But he was cordially received by Njambai, the chief, who gave him a house and invited him to stay and hunt. Here he remained several days, hunting in the woods, and penetrated on one occasion about twenty miles east of Ngola. His efforts were rewarded by the discovery of a new species of guinea-fowl ( Numida plumiferd ), a new pheasant ( Phasiclus niger), and a new species of buffalo {Bos brachuheros) peculiar to Equatorial Africa. He also killed a great number of the 190 DU CHAILLU'8 EXPLORATIONS. birds and other animals already known. ' On the 30th of May he set out on- his return to Sangatanga, hunting constantly by the way ; and, after a week or two more at Cape Lopez, re- turned with his specimens to the Gaboon. The geographical results of this journey were unimportant ; and the only contribution made to our knowledge of the African tribes is the account of the Shekiani, a people who occupy a portion of the sea-shore and interior as far as 80 miles from the sea — from the banks of the Muni and Moondah down to the Ogowai. Through this great extent of country they are scattered in villages, having nowhere any central E oint of union, and living for the most part in the neighbor- ood of Mpongwe and Bakalai people. In person the Shekianis are of ordinary size, generally light- colored for negroes, and not so fine-looking as the Mpongwe. They are warlike, treacherous, much given to trading, and are real cheats. They are ardent hunters, and have sufficient cour- age and great skill in wood-craft, being very lithe and active, light of foot, and cunning in their manoeuvres to approach their prey. They are quarrelsome, and have constant “ pala- vers ” either with their own villages or those of other tribes. They have but little clan feeling, and the intercourse between neighboring villages of Shekiaini is not always friendly, and scarcely ever intimate. The men have little or no taste for agriculture; they leave the culture of the ground to their women and slaves. The sea-shore Shekianis own many slaves, but those of the interior but few. In their warfare, cunning has a most important part. They laugh at the courage of the white man who faces his enemy, and delight most in ambushes and sudden surprises. If one has a quarrel with another he lies in wait for him, shoots him as he is passing by the way, and immediately retreats. Then, of course, the dead man’s friends take up his quarrel ; then en- sue other ambushes and murders ; frequently a dozen villages are involved in palaver, and the killing and robbing goes on for months and even years, each party acting as occasion offers. This breeds a feeling of insecurity which is destructive to all settled habits. Often, to escape assassination, a whole village moves away and builds anew at some distance ; and perhaps then the enemy reaches them, or new complications arise, afford- ing cause for new murders. Bolygamy of course prevails among them, and takes rank as a political institution. A man finds it to his interest to marry into as many influential families in his own and other tribes as he DU CHAILL U'S EXPLORATIONS. 191 can, as this extends his trade connections, and his influence and authority. But, on the other hand, it is the cause of nearly all the palavers and wars they have. The men are continually intriguing with strange women, and when caught arc murdered, or get their town in trouble. Female chastity is little valued ; and one great cause of the gradual decrease of this and other tribes is found in the fact that they force their females to marry at such an age that they never become mothers. Children are promised in marriage at the age of three or four years, or even at birth ; and girls are actually wives at eight and nine, and sometimes earlier. They have children at eleven or twelve, but of 00111*80 the women age early, and the majority die young and childless. Though chastity is not valued for itself, adultery is a serious offence among townsmen. It is punished by fines, graduated according to the means of the offender ; and many men are sold annually into slavery where the fine cannot be levied in any other way. Sometimes the guilty man compromises by working for a certain time for the injured husband, and some- times blood alone heals the difficulty. The man has generally a head or chief wife — mostly the woman he married first ; and to have criminal intercourse with this woman ranks as a most heinous crime, for which the offender is at least sold into sla- very. When the husband forms new marriage connections, and, as often happens, his new bride is but a child, she is then put under the care and guardianship of the head wife, who brings her up to the proper age. They marry also with their slave women ; but the children of these women, though free, have less influence and regard among the people than the children of free women. Frequently the women desert their husbands for abuse or other causes, and run off to other villages ; and as it is a point of honor to return no fugitives of this kind, here is another fertile source of palaver and war. The women are treated very harshly. The men take care to put all the hardest work on their wives, who raise the crops, gather firewood, bear all kinds of burdens ; and, where the bar-wood trade is carried on, as it is now by many Shekiani villages, the men only cut down the trees and split them into billets, which the women are then forced to bear on their backs through the forests and jungle down to the river-banks, as they have but rude paths, and beasts of burden are unknown in ail this part of Africa. This is the most severe toil imaginable, as the loads have to be carried often six or seven miles or more. 192 DU CHAILLU' S EXPLORATIONS. The Shekiani tribe is divided into clans, and though these families grow very large sometimes, marriage between members of the same clan is prohibited. Children add much to a man’s consequence, especially boys; and a fruitful woman enjoys, for this reason, great favor. In cases where, as frequently happens, the head of the family is old and decrepit, the mother of many children has no questions asked her. They know nothing scarcely of the care of children, and lose a great pro- portion through mistaken treatment in infancy. Though they have villages, they may almost be called a nomadic people. They are continually moving about the country, shifting their quarters for such causes as a palaver with a neighboring town, the death of the chief, or a belief that their present village is bewitched. Then they gather up all their household goods, and, collecting what provisions they can, move off in a body, sometimes many weary miles away. Their superstitions are of the most degrading and barbarous. The belief in witchcraft is general, and causes much misery ; while of idols, evil and good spirits, greegrees, fetiches, and charms, there seems no end. Du Chaillu made but a short stay at the Gaboon, and on the 27th of July, 1856, set out for Corisco Bay with the intention of exploring the Muni to its head-waters, and of crossing, if possible, the Sierra del Crystal in order to see “ what kind of country and what manner of people were to be found there.” He desired particularly to visit the cannibal tribes in the Sierra, and to ascertain if the Congo, which had been supposed to flow northward back of these mountains, was really to be found there. As a preliminary to this it was necessary to get the consent and assistance of Dayoko, an influential chief in the Muni, who holds the right of passage on the river. His village lay twelve miles up the river, and was reached from Corisco in one of the large native canoes. The principal diflic ulty was to convince the wary old chief that the stranger did not want to trade in the interior and thus interfere with his monopoly ; but when it was made clear to him that there was no danger in this respect, he agreed to take Du Chaillu under his protection, and to furnish him with an escort up the Ntambounay River to Mbene, a subordinate chief whose village is situated at the foot of the first granite range of the Sierra del Crystal. Mbene’s village was reached on the 19th of August after a journey of three days, part of it on foot and over a very rough country covered with thorny thickets, and the “ white man ” was hospitably welcomed. He soon found, however, that there WATERFALL OF THE NTAMBUNAY. DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 11)3 was a great scarcity of food in the vicinity, and this hastened forward his preparations for the journey over the mountains to the Fan country. Two of Mbene’s sons, twelve men who were hunters, and half a dozen stout women as porters, were provided for the trip, and Mbenc did everything he could to assist his guest in getting off ; but it was not till August 24th that the party started, and even then they were very insufficiently pro- vided with food. That day they scaled the first range of granite hills and traversed an elevated table-land, the tempera- ture of which was found quite cold at night. Next morning as they were climbing the second range of hills they came up- on the Ntambounay Falls, which Du Chaillu describes as one of the grandest sights he ever beheld. “ It was not a water- fall, but an immense mountain torrent, dashing down hill at an angle of twenty-five or thirty degrees, for not less than a mile right before us, like a vast seething, billowy sea. The river-course was full of the huge granite boulders which lie about here as though the Titans had been playing at skittles in this country ; and against these the angry waters dashed as though they would carry all before them, and, breaking up, threw the milky spray up to the very tops of the trees which grew along the edge. Where we stood at the foot of the rap- ids the stream took a winding turn up the mountains ; but we had the whole mile of foaming rapids before us, seemingly pouring its mass of waters down on our heads.” Just above the Falls Du Chaillu shot an immense serpent, and was disgusted to see his men cut off its head, divide the body into proper pieces, and roast and eat them on the spot. A short distance beyond, they came upon footprints which the natives at once recognized, as those of the gorilla. They were so fresh that it was resolved to give chase, much to the terror of the women ; but the gorillas were more expert in wood-craft than their pursuers, and after being once sighted escaped into the depths of the forest. Du Chaillu says: “ I protest I felt almost like a murderer when I' saw the gorillas this first time. As they ran — on their hind legs — they looked fearfully like hairy men ; their heads down, their bodies inclined forward, their whole appearance like men running for their lives. Take with this their awful cry, which, fierce and animal as it is, has yet something human in its discordance, and yon will cease to wonder that the natives have the wildest superstitions about these ‘ wild men of the woods.’ ” One of these superstitions, which prevails wherever the gorilla is found, is that there is a kind or gorilla which is the residence of certain spirits of dc- 13 104 DU CHAILLU 'S EXPLORATIONS. parted negroes. These, the natives believe, can never be caught or killed ; and also they have much more shrewdness and sense than the common animal, uniting, in fact, the intel- ligence of man with the strength and ferocity of the beast. After three or four days more of steady marching, during which they were nearly famished owing to the scarcity of game — Du Chaillu being compelled to follow the native exam- ple and eat roast monkey — the travellers reached the first vil- lages of the Fan, at a distance of about 150 miles in a straight line from the coast. Their arrival caused a tremendous com- motion, and men, women, and children fled in dismay the mo- ment they caught a glimpse of the white “ spirit.” It w T as only when they learned that the Mbondemo (Mbene’s people), who were negroes like themselves, had lived for days in the com- pany of the “spirit ’’ with impunity that they could be induced to lay aside their fears ; and then they came in crowds. “ if I was not frightened,” says Du Chaillu, “ I was at least as much surprised by all I saw as the Fan could be. These fellows, who now for the first time saw a white man with straight hair, w T ere to me an equal surprise, for they are real, unmistakable cannibals. And they were, by long odds, the most remarkable people I had thus far seen in Africa. They were much lighter in shade than any of the coast tribes, strong, tall, well made, and evidently active ; and they seemed to me to have a more intelligent look than is usual to the African un- acquainted with white men.” The men were almost naked. They had no cloth about the middle, but used instead the soft inside bark of a tree, over which, in front, was suspended the skin of some wild-cat or tiger. The} r had their teeth filed, which gives the face a ghastly and ferocious look, and some had the teeth blackened besides. Their hair, or “ wool,” was drawn out into long thin plaits ; on the end of each stiff plait were strung some white beads, or copper or iron rings. Some wore feather caps, but others wore long queues made of their own wool and a kind of tow, dyed black and mixed with it, and giving the wearer a most grotesque appearance. Over their shoulders w r as sus- pended the huge country knife, and in their bauds were spears and the great shield of elephant hide, and about the necks and bodies of all were hung a variety of fetiches and greegrees, which rattled as they walked. The Fan shield is made or the hide of an old elephant, and only of that part which lies across the back. This, when dried and smoked, is hard and impene- trable as iron. The shield is about three feet long by two and DU CJIAILLU'8 EXPLORATIONS. 195 a half wide. Their fetiches consisted of fingers mid tails of monkeys; of human hair, skin, teeth, bones; of clay, old nails, copper" chains, shells; feathers, claws, and skulls of birds; pieces of iron, copper, or wood ; seeds of plants; ashes of vari- ous substances. From the great variety and plenty of these objects on their persons, it was evident that the Fan are a very superstitious people. The women, who were even less dressed than the men, were much smaller than they, and hideously ugly. These, too, had their teeth filed, and most had their bodies painted red, by means of a dye obtained from the bar-wood. They carried their babies on their backs in a sling or rest made of some kind of tree-bark and fastened to the neck of the mother. Such were the strange people who now crowded around the “spirit,” as they persisted in calling him, examining every part of his person and dress that he would allow to be touched, but especially wondering at his hair and feet. The former they could not sufficiently admire. On his feet he had boots, and as his trousers lay over these, they thought, naturally enough, that these boots were his veritable feet, and wondered greatly that the face should be of one color and the feet of another. Next day Du Chaillu’s men went out with their old trade muskets on a gorilla hunt; and though they were unsuccessful, they saw such clear indications of the presence of gorillas, that he determined to go out with them himself the day afterwards. They beat the bush all day, coming upon fresh gorilla tracks, but night came upon them before they had brought their quarry to bay ; they resolved, therefore, to camp in the forest and re- new the hunt next day. Next morning they started betimes, and after travelling several hours without seeing any signs of a gorilla, were beginning to be discouraged when suddenly one of the hunters gave a cluck with his tongue, — the native way of indicating that something is stirring and that a sharp look- out is necessary. u Presently,” says Dr. Chaillu, " I noticed, ahead of us seem- ingly, a noise as of some one breaking down branches or twigs of trees. This was the gorilla, I knew at once, by the eager and satisfied looks of the men. They looked once more care- fully at their guns, to sec if by any chance the powder had fallen out of the pans; I also examined mine, to make sure that all was right ; and then we marched on cautiously. “ The singular noise of the breaking of tree-branches contin- ued. We walked with tfte greatest care, making no noise at all. The countenances of the men showed that they thought 196 DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. themselves engaged in a very serious undertaking ; but we pushed on, until finally we thought we saw through the thick woods the moving of the branches and small trees which the great beast was tearing down, probably to get from them the berries and fruits he lives on. “ Suddenly, as we were yet creeping along, in a silence which made a heavy breath seem loud and distinct, the woods were at once filled with the tremendous barking roar of the gorilla. Then the underbrush swayed rapidly just ahead, and pres- ently before us stood an immense male. gorilla. He had gone through the jungle on his all-fours ; but when he saw our party he erected himself and looked us boldly in the face. He stood about a dozen yards from us, and was a sight I think never to forget. Nearly six feet high (he proved two inches shorter), with immense body, huge chest, and great muscular arms, with fiercely-glaring large deep-gray eyes, and a hellish expression of face, which seemed to me like some nightmare vision: thus stood before us this king of the African forests. “He -was not afraid of us. He stood there, and beat his breast with his huge fists till it resounded like an immense bass-drum, which is their mode of offering defiance; mean- time giving vent to roar after roar. ' “The roar of the gorilla i3 the most singular and awful noise heard in these African woods. It begins with a sharp baric, like an angry dog, then glides into a deep bass roll , which liter- ally and closely resembles the roll of distant thunder along the sky, for which I have sometimes been tempted to take it where I did not see the animal. So deep is it that it seems to proceed less from the mouth and throat than from the deep chest and vast paunch. “ His eyes began to flash fiercer fire as we stood motionless on the defensive, and the crest of short hair which stands on his forehead began to twitch rapidty up and down, while his powerful fangs were shown as he again sent forth a thunder- ous roar. And now truly he reminded me of nothing but some hellish dream creature — a being of that hideous order, half man half beast, which we find pictured by old artists in some representations of the infernal regions, lie advanced a few steps — then stopped to utter that hideous roar again — ad- vanced again, and finally stopped when at a distance of about six yards from us. And here, as he began another of his roars and beating his breast in rage, we fired, and killed him. “With a groan which had something terribly human in it, and yet was full of brutishness, it fell forward on its face. DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 197 The body shook convulsively for a few minutes, the limbs moved about in a struggling way, and then all was quiet — death had done its work, and I had leisure to examine the huge body. It proved to be live feet ten inches high, and the muscnlar development of the arms and breast showed what immense strength it had possessed.’’ The men proceeded at once to cut tip the carcass, and apportion out the meat — for they actually cat this crea- ture. They also care- fully preserved the brains for charms : prepared in one way the charm gives the wearer a strong hand for the hunt, and in another it gives him success with women. A few days after- wards, Du Chaillu was invited to the princi- pal village to meet the king, Mbene having overcome the latter’s reluctance to meet the “ spirit ” face to face. It was near by, and as he entered the village, he thought he saw some bloody remains which looked human, though he could not bring himself to believe that it was so. Presently, however, he passed a woman who dissipated all doubt. She bore with her a piece of the thigh of a human body, just as we should go to market and carry thence a roast or steak. On arriving at the palaver-house, he found the king surrounded by immense numbers of his people. This personage was named Ndiayai ; and he was a ferocious-looking fellow, whose body, naked with KING NDIAYAI. 198 DU CHAILLU '8 EXPLORATIONS. the exception of the usual cloth around the middle, made of the bark of a tree, was painted red, and whose chest, stomach, and back, were tattooed in a rude but very effective manner, lie was covered with charms, and was fully armed. All the Fans present wore queues, but that of the king was the largest of all, and terminated in two tails, in which were strung brass rings, while the top was ornamented with white beads. Brass anklets jingled as he walked. The front of his middle-cloth was a tine piece of tiger-skin. His beard was plaited in several plaits which also contained white beads, and stuck out stiffly from the body. His teeth were filed to a point and colored black, giving him a peculiarly horrible look. Notwithstanding the bravery of his appearance, however, he was evidently frightened at sight of his strange guest. The queen, who accompanied her lord, was very old and hid- eously ugly. She was nearly naked, her only article of dress being a strip of the Fan cloth, dyed red, and about four inches wide. Her entire body was tattooed in the most fanciful man- ner; and her skin, from long exposure, had become rough and knotty. She wore two enormous iron anklets — iron being a very precious metal with the Fan — and had in her ears a pair of copper ear-rings, two inches in diameter, and very heavy. These had so weighed down the lobes of her ears, that the little finger could easily have been put into the holes through which the rings were run. At the close of the interview, Du Chaillu was conducted to the house which had been assigned him. The houses of the Fan are small, being only eight or ten feet long, five or six wide, and four or five high, with slanting roofs. They are made of bark, and the roofs of a kind of matting made of the leaves of a palm-tree. The doors run up to the eaves, about four feet high, and there are no windows. In these houses the people cook, eat, sleep, and keep their store of provisions, chief of which is the smoked game and smoked human flesh, hung up to the rafters. All the Fan villages are strongly fenced or palisaded; and by night a careful watch is kept. They have also a little native dog, whose sharp bark is the signal of some one approaching from without. The villages are kept neat and clean, the streets being swept, and all garbage — except indeed the well-picked bones of their human subjects — is thrown out. Du Chaillu was now on excellent terms with the natives, and went out hunting with them nearly every day. On September 4th, he had an opportunity of seeing liow they conduct one DU CUAILLirS RXPLORtX TI0N8. 190 of their great periodical elephant hunts. The forests here- abouts are full of rough, stony climbing plants, which run up to the tops of the tallest trees. When the Fan find that the elephants arc frequenting any particular locality, they pro- ceed thither in great numbers (there were 500 engaged in this hunt) but very cautiously, twist the vines together, and very ingeniously, but with much labor, construct a kind of huge fence or obstruction, not sufficient to hold the elephant, but quite strong enough to check him in his flight, and entangle him in the meshes till the hunters can have time to kill him. Once caught, they quietly surround the huge beast, and put an end to his struggles by incessant discharges of their spears and guns. Sometimes, the pr beast looks like a gigantic por- cupine, so numerous are the spears launched against him be- fore be is killed. Four elephants were killed in this way, on this hunt, and one man lost his life, — a not uncommon occur- rence, as the elephants often charge right into the midst of their assailants, and the greatest agility and presence of mind are necessary to elude them. The rest of his stay in Nd^'ai’s country presents no features of special interest, so wo will merely summarize here the results of his observations among the Fan. The Fans are in color dark brown rather than black, but have, as before said, curly or woolly hair. They arc lighter in color than the Bakalai, Shekiani, and other surrounding tribes. They tattoo themselves more than any of the other tribes north of the equator, but not so much as some to the south. The men are less disfigured in this way than the women, who take great pride in having tlicir breasts and abdomen entirely covered with the blue lines and curves. Their cheeks also are fully marked in various figures, and this, with the immense copper and iron rings which weigh down the lobes of their ears, gives them a hideous appearance. The men arc very ex- pert blacksmiths, and though their tools are rude they produce work far superior to any known in this part of Africa. Their weapons indicate their skill in this line. Many of tlicir war- riors are armed with a truly terrible battle-axe, one blow of which quite suffices to split a human skull. Then there is a very singular pointed axe, which is thrown from a distance, as American Indians are said to have used the tomahawk. The war-knife, which hangs by the side, is a terrible weapon for a hand-to-hand conflict; and there is another huge knife, over a foot long by about eight inches wide, which is used to cut down through the shoulders of an adversary. The spears are six or 200 DU CHAILLU'8 EXPLORATIONS. seven feet in length, and are thrown with astonishing accuracy to the distance of thirty yards. Some of the axes, knives, and other iron-work are ornamented with scroll-work, and wrought in graceful lines and curves, which show a correct eye and con- siderable artistic taste. Crossbows are also used in war and on the hunts. The larger arrows have an iron head, something like the sharp barbs of a harpoon ; these are used for hunting wild beasts, and are about two feet long. But the most deadly weapon of all is the little insignificant-lookingstick of bamboo, not more than twelve inches long, and simply sharpened at one end. This is the famed poison-arrow — a missile which bears death wherever it touches, if only it pricks a pin’s-point of blood. The poison is made of the juices of a plant indigenous to the forests hereabouts. They dip the sharp ends of the ar- rows several times in the sap, and let it get thoroughly dried into the wood ; it gives the point a red color. The arrows are kept very carefully in a little bag made of the skin of some wild animal. They are much dreaded by the tribes -with whom the Fan are sometimes at war, as they can be projected with such force as to take effect at a distance of fifteen yards, and with such velocity that they cannot be evaded. There is no cure for a wound from one of these harmless-looking sticks — death follows in a very short time. The Fan have also some skill in pottery, and make vessels of clay which are surprisingly regular in shape, seeing that they know nothing of the lathe. Their agricultural operations are very rude ; they merely cut down the trees and brush to make a clearing, burn everything that is cut down, and then dig holes and stick in their roots and shrubs. Their staple food is the manioc, the leaves of which they also boil and eat as “ greens.” Besides manioc they cultivate plantains, yams, sugar-cane of an excellent quality, and squashes, the seeds of which they pre- pare in a peculiar way. The Fan have one custom which perhaps accounts for their superiority to the surrounding tribes. They never marry their girls before they have arrived at the age of puberty ; and they have a care for the chastity of their young women. The Fan marriage ceremonies are very rude, but are a time of great jol- lity. Of course the husband has to buy his wife, and the shrewd father makes a bargain with him as well as he can, put- ting. on a great price if the man’s love is very ardent ; some- times the price is so high that it takes years before a man can buv and marry the lady of his love. When a wedding is in prospect the friends of the happy DU CEAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 201 couple spend many days in obtaining and laying in great stores of provisions — chiefly smoked elephant-meat and palm-wine. They engage hunters to keep up the supply, and accumulate enough to" feed the great numbers who are expected to come. When all is ready the whole town assembles, and, without any ceremony, but merely as a public sale, as it were, the father hands his daughter to her husband, who has generally already paid her price. The “ happy pair ” are, of course, dressed finely for the occasion. The bridegroom is attired in a feather head-dress of glowing colors; his body is oiled; his teeth arc black and polished like ebony ; his huge knife hangs at his side ; and if he can kill a leopard or panther, or other rare animal, its skin is wrapped about his middle in a graceful way. The bride is very simply dressed, or rather she is (like all the Fan women) not dressed at all ; but for this occasion she is orna- mented with as many bracelets as she can get, of brass or cop- per, and wears her woolly locks full of white beads. When all are assembled, and the bride is handed over to her lord, a gen- eral jollification ensues, which lasts sometimes for many days. They eat elephant-meat, get tipsy oil palm-wine, dance, sing, and seem to enjoy themselves very much, until at last wine grows scarce, and the crowd returns to an unwilling sobriety. Polygamy is a fertile source of quarrels and bloodshed among them ; and the growing desire for “ white man’s goods,” to pay for which, in the present miserable condition of trade, they can- not get sufficient ivory, induces them to send many of their criminals to the coast to be sold as slaves. They themselves have but few slaves. The Fans are a very superstitious people. The chief village of each family has a huge, idol, to whose temple all that family gather at certain periods to worship. This worship consists of rude dances and singing. The idol houses are usually sur- rounded with skulls of wild animals, prominent among which is the skull of the gorilla. To take away or disturb these skulls would be accounted sacrilege, and worthy of death. They have a great reverence for charms and fetiches, and even the little children are covered with talismans, duly consecrated by the doctor, or greegree man of the tribe. Witchcraft is a com- mon thing to be accused of among them, and the death penalty is sternly executed. They set little value on life, and as the dead body has a commercial value, this consideration too, probably, lias its weight in passing sentence of death. And this brings us to the most revolting of all the customs of the Fans. They are not only cannibals, but practise a form 202 DU CHAILLU 'S EXPLORATIONS , . of cannibalism unheard of among the other cannibal tribes of Africa — eating those, namely, who have died of sickness. They will not eat members of their own family, but they con- stantly buy the dead bodies of the neighboring tribes, and of other families in their own tribes ; who, in return, buy theirs. They readily give ivory, at the rate of a small tusk for a body — even when the latter has evidently died of some loathsome disease. They are regular ghouls, in fact, and have been known to steal a freshly-buried body from the cemetery when ou a visit to the sea-coast. “Notwithstanding their repulsive habit,” says Du Chaillu, “ the Fans have left the impression upon me of being the most promising people in all Western Africa. They treated me with unvarying hospitality and kindness; and they seem to have more of that kind of stamina which enables a rude people to receive astrange civilization than any other tribe I know of in Africa. Energetic, tierce, warlike, decidedly possessing both courage and ingenuity, they are disagreeable enemies; and I think it most probable that the great family or nation of which they are but a small offshoot, and who should inhabit the moun- tainous range which subsequent explorations convince me ex- tends nearly if not quite across the continent — that these mountaineers have stayed in its course the great sweep of Ma- hometan conquest in this part of Africa.” It was Du Chaillu’s great desire to push on still farther to the eastward, and visit other interior tribes ; but this was ren- dered impossible by the state of war between the tribes on the border, and after a visit of a few days to the neighboring and friendly Oshebafe, he bade adieu to his Fan friends on Sept. 18th, and returned by easy stages to Corisco Bay. From this point he made a short and unimportant trip up the Moondah River, and early in November found himself once more in the enjoyment of rest at the Gaboon. After a somewhat protracted stay with his friends at the mission, Du Chaillu again left the Gaboon, February 5th, 1857, intending this time to explore the district known as the “ Cam- ma Country.” The Cainina country begins to the south of Cape Lopez, in lat. 0° 40' S., and extends southward as far as the River Camma, in lat. 1° 50' S., and to the east for about fifty miles from the coast. It is a well-watered region ; the Mexias, and some minor branches of the great Ogowai River, running into the sea in its northern bounds, while the Fernand Vaz, the Camma, and the Selti have their mouths farther south at various poiuts on the Camma coast. The coast line is DU CHAILLU 'S EXPLORATIONS. 203 generally low and swampy; a heavy surf makes landing diffi- cult, except at a few points protected by the shape of the land, and the shore, viewed from the sea, has so monotonous an as- pect that seamen find it difficult to recognize their whereabouts, even after considerable experience of the coast. For this rea- son, the trade along this part of tiie coast is not very brisk ; vessels touch but seldom ; and Du Chaillu had to purchase a small cutter at the Gaboon to take him to his destination on the Fernand Yaz. The place selected for his head-quarters was Biagano, the residence of King Ranpano, who was a friend of one of Du Chaillu’s Gaboon allies, and who proved a trustworthy and helpful friend to him in his later explorations. Ranpano’s people were so delighted to see a white man with “ trade” that Du Chaillu could scarcely prevent their hugging him on his arrival ; and as he intended to use this point as a base of operations for a considerable time he selected a spot near the village, and had a number of huts and storehouses built upon it, which looked so well when they were finished, that he called the settlement Washington. The entire town was built for less than a hundred dollars. The houses were finished earl y in April, and as soon as his goods had been removed to them, Du Chaillu made a brief excursion up the Fernand Yaz — which here runs nearly parallel with the coast — to a town called Aniambia, where hunting was said to be good. lie re- turned to Biagano on the 24th of April, and on May 4th, his men caught a young gorilla — an event which he describes as “ one of the greatest pleasures of his whole life.” lie was a little fellow, between two and three years old, and only two feet six inches in height, but he proved as fierce and stubborn as a grown animal could have been. He was so ferocious that even after two weeks of confinement, it was dangerous to ap- proach his cage. Once he escaped by tearing away the bam- boo sides of his lint, and it took four men to carry him back, even after a net had been thrown over his head. A little chain was now put round his neck ; but ten days after he was thus chained he died suddenly, — to Du Chaillu’s great disappoint- ment. “ To the last he continued utterly untamable ; and, after his chains were on, added the vice of treachery to his others. lie would come sometimes quite readily to eat out of my hand, but while I stood by him would suddenly — looking me all the time in the face, to keep my attention — put out his foot and grasp at my leg. Several times he tore my pantaloons in this manner, quick retreat on my part saving my person ; 204 DU CHAILLU' S EXPLORATIONS. till at last I was obliged to be very careful in my approaches. The negroes could not come near him at all without setting him in a rage. He knew me very well, and trusted me, but evi- dently always cherished a feeling of revenge even toward me.” The hope of taming the gorilla had detained Du Ckaillu at Biagano for several weeks ; but on the 27th of May he started with two canoes and twelve men up the Npoulounay, a branch of the Ogowai. At the distance of about sixty miles from Biagano, they came to a fork in the river, and taking the right branch, soon found themselves ascending a sluggish stream which narrowed so rapidly that at last it was not more than two yards wide and nearly choked with reeds. Pushing slowly up this, they suddenly emerged into the Lake of Anen- YOUNG GORILLA. gue, a vast body of water about ten miles wide, and dotted with large beautifully wooded islets. Several towns were in sight, and steering for one of these Du Chaillu presently found himself in the presence of King Damagondai, a hospitable old savage who felt very proud of a visit from a white man. Du Chaillu stayed here from the 1st to the 10th of June, hunting and exploring the lake and its islets, but was compelled to return to Biagano by the bursting of both of his guns. The accident proved a fortunate one ; for a few days after his arrival at Biagano, King Quengueza, sovereign of a large tribe of people living about ninety miles up the river Eembo, and a man of great influence in the interior, came on a visit to the coast, lie was much astonished at the sight of Du Chaillu, DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 205 but soon became friendly and invited him to visit his up-river country, promising great sport and plenty of gorillas. The rainy season is the most favorable time to travel in the interior ; and as it was now the middle of the dry season, Du Chaillu resolved to postpone his visit to King Quengueza for a month or two. In the meantime he again ascended to the Anenguc Lake, which he found much lower and smaller, reeking with the filth of decaying vegetation, and absolutely swarming with crocodiles. These crocodiles are killed by the natives every day, and constitute a principal part of their diet. While hunting in the forest near the Anenguelakc Du Chaillu discovered and shot a new and curious ape, the nshiego mbouve. It is about the size of the chimpanzee, and is dis- tinguished for the peculiar nests, or rather shelters, which it builds in high trees. These shelters are made of leafy branches which are carried up and tied to the tree with vines in such a way as to make a perfect oval-shaped, roof which will shed rain. They are built a few feet above some con- venient limb on which the nshiego mbouve sits and sleeps ; and as soon as the leaves get too dry to keep out the rain, the nest is abandoned and a new one built. The male and female do not occupy the same tree, but have nests not far apart. Shortly after his return to “ Washington the traveller had an opportunity of witnessing the ceremonies with which the Camma “break mourning-time” — mourning lasts from one to two years. “The man who had died left seven wives, a house, a planta- tion, and other property. All this the elder brother inherits, and on him it devolves to give the grand feast. For this feast every canoe that came brought jars of mimbo or palm wine. Sholomba Jombuai, the heir, had been out for two weeks fish- ing, and now returned with several canoe loads of dry fish. From his plantations quantities of palm wine were brought in. Every one in the village furbished up his best clothes and ornaments. Drums and kettles were collected ; powder was brought out for the salutes ; and at last all was ready for bola ivoga. “ The wives of the deceased seemed quite jolly, for to-morrow they were to lay aside their widows’ robes, and to join in the jollification as brides. Tiie heir could have married them all, but he had generously given up two to a younger brother and one to a cousin. “ At seven o’clock in the morning three guns were fired off 206 DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. to announce that the widows had done eating a certain mess, mixed of various ingredients supposed to have magical virtues, and by which they are released from their widowhood. They now put on bracelets and anklets, and the finest calico they had. About nine all the guests sat down on mats spread about the house of deceased and along the main street. They were divided into little groups, and before each was set an immense jar of miinbo. All began to talk pleasantly, till suddenly the Biagano people fired off a volley of about one hundred guns. This was the signal for the drinking to begin. Men, women, and children set to ; and from this time till next morning the orgies were continued without interruption. They drank, they sung, they fired guns, and loaded them so heavily as they got tipsy that I wonder the old trade-guns did not burst; they drummed on everything that could possibly give out a noise ; they shouted ; and the women danced — such dances as are not seen elsewhere. They are indecent in their best moments. The reader may imagine what they were when every woman was furiously tipsy, and thought it a point of honor to be more bawdy than her neighbor. “ Next day, about sunrise, Jombuai came to ask me to assist at the concluding ceremony. Ilis brother’s house was to be torn down and burned. When 1 came they fired guns, and then, in a moment, hacked the old house to pieces with axes and cutlasses. When the ruins were burned the feast was done. And this is to go out of mourning among the Gam- ma.” Late in January, 1858, Du Chaillu received another invita- tion from King Quengueza to visit Goumbi, coupled with a promise to escort him to the far interior; and on the 26th of February set out on his journey up the Fernand Vaz, which is known in its upper course as the Rembo. Goumbi, Quen- gueza’s town, is ninety-five miles from the mouth of the river, and was reached without incident on February 29tli. Quen- gueza welcomed his guest very warmly, holding a state recep- tion and introducing him to all his people with the announce- ment that this was “ the king’s white man,” and that whoever harmed him or his goods should pay for it with his life. Goumbi is the last Camma town on the river, but Quengueza has vassels among the Bakalai, who are next above, and in fact, much farther into the interior. While preparations were being made for the journey up the river, Du Chaillu amused himself with hunting. On the 8th a large female gorilla was killed, and on the 11th a young one was captured. It was too DU CHAILLU' S EXPLORATIONS. 207 young to l>e taken from the breast, however, and died ten days afterward. At last on the 22d, Du ('hailiu and the king, with a large retinue, set out for the village of Obindji, a friendly chief of the Ilakalai, living about fifty miles up the Rembo. This vil- lage was to be their headquarters for a while, and was reached late in the afternoon of the second day. When the party ap- proached the shore, tiring guns and singing songs, Obindji came down in great state, dressed in a silk hat (his crown), a coat and shirt, and a nice cloth. ITe was ringing his kendo, a bell, which is the insignia of kingship here, — something like a royal sceptre. Then the two kings, with Du Chaillu, entered the town amid the rejoicings of the people. Du Chaillu spent some weeks hunting in the woods about Obindji's town, and discovered still another new ape — the Kool.oo-kam.ba, The Kooloo-kamha is not very much smaller than the gorilla (the specimen killed bv Du Chaillu was four feet three inches high), but it is much less powerful, and not so fierce. It has a very round head, whiskers running quite round the face and under the chin, prominent cheek-bones and sunken cheeks, and jaws not very prominent — less so than in any of the apes. The structure of the head, in fact, more nearly approaches man than any other of the large apes. On the 20th of April, he killed another large gorilla — one of the largest he had yet seen. Its height was five feet six inches ; its arms had a spread of seven feet two inches ; and its huge, brawny chest measured fifty inches round. On the 27th of April, Quengneza and Du Chaillu set out up the river, with about twenty slaves and hunters, for the ebony country ; the former to cut wood, and the latter to hunt. The weather was excessively hot, and Du Chaillu was prostrated with an attack of fever which kept him in bed for a week, and left him weak and nervous. The party spent a month in the woods, and did not return to Obindji’s town until May 28th. Here the people were at starvation-point, and on the 30th Du Chaillu started with one hundred men up the river for a Bakalai town called Njali-Condie, the chief of which had promised him some gorilla hunts if lie would make him a visit. The town was reached next day, but one of the super- stitious observances of the people prevented any hunting for several days. Du Chaillu took this opportunity of going east- ward to see Igoumba, an Ashira chief whom he had seen at Goumbi. Finally, on the 7th of June, they went out on a 208 DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. gorilla-hunt, the tragic result of which we will relate in Du Ohaillu’s own words : “ I gave powder to the whole party. Six were to go off in one direction for bush-deer, and whatever luck might send them, and six others, of whom I was one, were to hunt for gorillas. We set off toward a dark valley, where Gambo, Igouinba’s son, said we should find our prey. The gorilla chooses the darkest, gloomiest forests for its home, and is found on the edges of the clearings only when in search of plantains, or sugar-cane, or pine-apple. Often they choose for their peculiar haunt a piece of wood so dark that even at midday one can scarce see ten yards. This makes it the more neces- sary to -wait till the monstrous beast approaches near before shooting, in order that the first shot may be fatal. It does not often let the hunter reload. “ Our little party separated, as is the custom, to stalk the wood in various directions. Gambo and I kept together. One brave fellow went off alone in a direction where he thought he could find a gorilla. The other three took another course. We had been about an hour separated when Gambo and I heard a gun fired but little way from us, and presently an- other. We were already on our way to the spot where wo hoped to see a gorilla slain, when the forest began to resound with the most terrific roars. Gambo seized my arms in great agitation, and we hurried on, both filled with a dreadful and sickening fear. We had not gone far when our worst fears were realized. The poor brave fellow who had gone off alone was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, and I thought at first quite dead. His bowels were protruding through the lacerated abdomen. Beside him lay his gun. The stock was broken, and the barrel was bent and flattened. It bore plainly the marks of the gorilla’s teeth. , “We picked him up, and I dressed his wounds as well as I could with rags torn from my clothes. When I had given him a little brandy to drink he came to himself, and was able, but with great difficulty, to speak. He said that he had met the gorilla suddenly and face to face, and that it had not at- tempted to escape. It was, he said, a huge male, and seemed very savage. It was in a very gloomy part of the wood, and the darkness, I suppose, made him miss. He said he took good aim, and fired when the beast was only about eight yards off. The ball merely wounded it in the side. It at once be- gan beating its breasts, and with the greatest rage advanced upon him. DU CILULLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 209 “ To run away was impossible. Tie would have been caught iu the jungle before he had gone a dozen steps. “ lie stood his ground, and as (juickly as he could reloaded his gun. Just as lie raised it to tire the gorilla dashed it out of his hands, the gun going off in the fall, and then in an instant, and with a terrible roar, the animal gave him a tre- mendous blow with its immense open paw, frightfully lacera- ting the abdomen, and with this single blow laying bare part of the intestines. As he sank, bleeding, to the ground, the monster seized the gun, and the poor hunter thought he would have his brains dashed out with it. But the gorilla seemed to have looked upon this also as an enemy, and in his rage flat- tened the barrel between his strong jaws. “ When we came upon the ground the gorilla was gone. This is their mode when attacked — to strike one or two blows and then leave the victims of their rage on the ground and go off into the woods.” On the 10th they killed a large gorilla, and on the 10th of July a second one which proved to be of immense size. On the 13th of Jnty, Du Ohaillu set out on his return to Obindji’s town. The dry season, in the midst of which they now were, was very unfavorable for travelling; the fever was wasting his strength, and his supplies were fast giving out. He resolved, therefore, to return to the coast, and recruit his health before making a final effort to penetrate beyond the Bakalai to the eastward. lie reached Biagano on August 13th, and was im- mediately prostrated with such an obstinate attack of fever that he was obliged to avail himself of the first passing vessel and sail for the Gaboon. Before resuming the narrative, we will summarize the trav- eller’s account of the Bakalai, the people among whom he spent the greater portion of his time during the expedition just outlined. They are one of the most numerous and widely extended tribes in Equatorial Africa. Their settlements are found from the Muni on the north to the Fernand Vaz on the south, and from the sea-shore to the country of the Apingi. To the north they approach the sea-shore, and live on the rivers ; but farther south they recede from the coast and are met farther inland. Their settlements are widely scattered, and they are often found living in independent towns in regions chiefly occupied by other tribes. The Bakalai are of ordinary size, and the men are generally well made. They are not very black, though they have full negro features. They are not very strong, chiefly because they live poorly ; 14 210 DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. but they have great powers of endurance, and on this account make excellent hunters. Considering their numerous super- stitions and their poor marksmanship, they are brave fellows on the hunt. To face a gorilla, and calmly await his approach till you know that if you miss him you will certainly be his prey, must be counted an act of no common courage. And this is the manner in which the Bakalai hunt this terrible breast. Wives and slaves are their only property. A man’s stand- ing is according to the number of his wives. As soon as a Bakalai has acquired some “ white man’s goods ” in return for ivory or ebony, he immediately sets out to buy a new wife. They generally prefer to marry very young girls ; and often young children are regularly bargained away. In this case they remain with their parents till the age of puberty. The duties of a wife are to labor for her husband, to cook for him, to work in the fields, and to be generally his beast of burden and superior slave. When the husband dies, his wives and slaves are divided among his relatives; his brothers taking preference, but even his sons inheriting sometimes. It is a curious fact, that, though they will take their brother’s or father’s wives in marriage, they will not marry a woman of the sam z family or clan with themselves. This is the case, also, among other tribes. Of slaves the Bakalai have not many. The wants of the white traders on the coast, and their own need for white men’s goods, make them sell most of those they get to the tribes nearer the coast. People caught in adultery — particularly with a “head wife” — are sold into slavery in certain cases. Those accused of sorcery are killed or sold into slavery. Also a debtor may be sold by his creditor. Their costume is very light. Where they can get American or European goods, they so greatly prefer those, that a Bakalai will wear a filthy rag of cotton print for months without wash- ing, rather than throw it aside for a clean native grass-cloth wrapper. The women are extravagantly fond of European beads, and wear also anklets and bracelets of copper or iron. The rude mat which is worn round the middle by the men is made of grass, and very ingeniously constructed. But the fine grass-cloth, some of which is very beautiful, is not made among them. That they get from the Ashira, a people farther inland, or from other interior tribes. They are, like all the tribes of this region, great traders, and are proficients in the art of lying, — the most important qualification of a merchant DU CIIAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 21 1 hereabouts. They arc fond of music of certain kinds. The tam-tam, or drum, is used for all dances and ceremonials; but they have also a guitar, and a harp of eight strings — an in- genious instrument on which some of them play with great skill. Some of their airs are really pretty, though sad and monotonous. The most peculiar trait of the Bakalai, which distinguishes them from other tribes with whom they are intermixed, is their roving character. They never 6tay long in one place. A Bakalai village is scarce built — often the plantations have not borne fruit the first time — when the} 7 feel impelled to move. Then everything is abandoned ; they gather up what few stores of provisions they may have, and start off, often for great distances, to make with infinite pains a new settlement, which will be abandoned in turn sometimes after a few months ; though sometimes they remain a year or two, and even more, in the same place. Thus, on the head-waters of the Gaboon and its tributaries, the favorable position for trade obliges them to remain in the same neighborhood. But even there they shift from one place to another, distant only a mile or two from each other. Many things contribute to this roving tendency, but first of all is their great fear of death. They dread to see a dead per- son. Their sick, unless they have very good and near friends, are often driven out of the village to die in loneliness in the forest. When a man dies in Bakalai village the stability of that settlement has received a violent shock. If a second dies, then the people at once move away. They think the place be- witched ; they fancy death, dreaded death, stalking in their midst. A doctor is called, who goes through his incantations, and some poor wretch is condemned to drink the mboundou. Often several friendless creatures are accused and condemned in a breath, and murdered in cold blood. Then the village is broken up ; the people set out again upon their wanderings, and fix upon some lonely spot for new plantations and a new home. “ It is as though they were all their lives vainly flee- ing from the dread face of death. This, indeed, is the refrain of all their sad songs, the burden of every fear. Having little else to lose, they seem to dread, more than any other people I ever saw, the loss of life. And no wonder ; for after death is to them nothing. ‘ Death is the end.’ ‘ Now we live ; by and by we shall die ; then we shall be no more.’ ‘ lie is gone ; we shall never see him more; we shall never shake his hand again; we shall never hear him laugh again.’ This is the 212 DU CRAILL U'S EXPLORATIONS. dolorous burden of their evening and morning song.” And jet, by a strange contradiction, they are extravagantly super- stitions. Believing that there is no life beyond this, they yet fancy a ghost or spirit in every moving tree or bush after night, and in the twilight hour are sometimes overpowered with an undefinable dread, which makes them fear to come even out- side their huts. Another cause of fear is their treacherous and quarrelsome disposition. They are constantly quarrelling with their neigh- bors. Many of their quarrels and palavers arise about women. Polygamy prevails extensively; female chastity is not valued, except as an article of merchandise ; the women have great freedom and an intriguing spirit, and the consequence is that a faithful wife is an unheard of thing. The crime of adultery with a head- wife, however, is considered a very serious misde- meanor, for which the offender may be heavily fined if he is rich, sold into slavery if he is poor, or perhaps killed. Now, when a man is caught in such a difficulty, he makes his escape, if possible, to the next village. It is considered dishonorable to give up a fngutive, and if he gets safely there he is safe for the time. Then begins quarrelling, succeeded presently by murder ; then the curious process of securing allies by killing some inhabitant of the village from which they require assist- ance, breeds more murder and retaliation, and so in a few days a large tract of country is interested in a quarrel, and fights and assassinations continue till some villages are almost annihilated, and others are removed afar off, only to be mixed up with new strifes. When war has really broken out in the country once, there is no rest nor safety. No man or woman in any village can take a step in any direction, day or night, without fear of death. They lay ambuscades to surprise each other’s villages. They shoot through the tree-bark of which their houses are made, and kill sleeping persons. They use every unfair means of warfare ; and the meaner the attack and the greater the treachery, the more glory they have won. In such times of war fires are put out after dark, because they give light to the enemy ; the peo- ple keep a dead silence, lest their voices should betray their whereabouts; the hunters fear to hunt, the women and slaves to plant, and, in consequence, everybody is in a condition of semi-starvation. This lasts sometimes for months. At last whole districts are depopulated ; those who are not killed desert their villages, and all, perishing with hunger, move far away from the fatal spot. DU CHAILLU' S EXPLORATIONS. 213 Like all the neighboring tribes they know nothing of reme- dies for any form of disease. When a man is sick lie is left to nature. If lie dies it is witchcraft. They cannot believe that a mail can die in the prime of life from purely natural causes. After a month or so at the Gaboon, Du Chaillu found his health restored sufficiently to justify another attempt to pene- trate the interior. lie returned accordingly to Biagauo, or 'Washington, and ascended the river to Groumbi, which was reached on the 13th of October, 1858. King Quengueza was very glad to have him back, and gave him thirty-five men to accompany him on the proposed journey to Ashira-land. On the 22d they set out for Obindji’s town, which was reached on the 20th; here the party was joined by two Bakalai and several Asliira men, one of whom was to act as guide. Early on the 27th they left Obindji’s town behind them, and after a march of two days nearly due east over a mountainous and very rugged country, covered with a dense forest, emerged later in the afternoon upon the great Ashira prairie-land, dotted plenti- fully with villages, which looked in the distance like ant-heaps. “ I stood for a long time,” says Du Chaillu, “on the edge of a bluff, taking in this, one of tiie finest landscapes I ever saw in my life. Far as the eye could reach was a high rolling prairie. As I afterwards discovered, the plain is about 55 miles long by 10 wide. All over this vast plain were scattered collections of little Ashira huts. The hills and valleys were streaked with little ribbon -1 five paths, and here and there the eye caught the silver sheen of a brook winding along through the elevated land. In the far distance loomed up mountains higher than any I had yet seen, and whose peaks were lost in the clouds. It was a grand sight.” In order to make a properly impressive entry into Ashira- land, Okcndjo sent two men ahead to announce that “ the spirit ” was coming to see them, and that he (Okendjo) had been selected as his guide. “ Soon, in the nearest village, we began to see people moving about hurriedly, and in about half an hour the whole plain knew something had occurred. Meantime those nearest us came out to meet us, and we moved forward to them. When they saw me, all stopped, and flic majority turned back with awe and alarm depicted on their faces. "We continued to ad- vance slowly. It was nearly dusk when we entered the near- est village. But very few of the people dared to approach me ; and even those took to flight if I fixed my eye upon them, evidently fearing I would do them a mischief. Okcndjo 214 : DU CUAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. walked ahead of me, proclaiming, in a most magniloquent man- ner, the many virtues of the great white man or spirit whom he had brought to see his countrymen. And the crowd an- swered to his words in shouts, ‘ The tangani has come ! Tho spirit has come to see our land — our land, which he never saw before ! ’ “ It happened luckily that the chief of the first village we came to was a brother of Okendjo. Akoonga met us at the entrance of his place, and said, k Is it true, Okendjo, what I hear, that you bring to us this man ? Is it not an hallucination of iny mind, occasioned by too much palm wine? Is he the white man who makes the guns, the cloth, the beads, the brass rods, and the copper rings? ’ “ Okendjo replied, ‘ He is the man. This is lie of whom you have heard so much. He comes from a far country to see us.’ “ Then the people shouted out their surprise. A house was given me, and when I had taken possession the chief came, fol- lowed by ten of his wives, each bearing two bunches of plan- tains, which, with fear and trembling, they deposited at my feet. Next were brought four goats, twenty fowls, several baskets of ground-nuts, and many bunches of sugar-cane. “ When these were delivered, Akoonga said to Okendjo, 1 Tell the spirit that I thank him that he stays in my village a night. Tell him he is welcome, and all those who follow him. lie is the master while he is here. This food is for him. As for his people, my women will cook for them.’ “ I thanked him. “ Then, showing me the house, he said, £ It is your house ; my wives are yours ; my slaves are yours ; my people are yours.’ “ Then, at last, I had a chance to refresh myself with supper. After supper, being tired, 1 lay down, but was not yet asleep when I heard the chief say to his people, ‘ Be silent; do not trouble the spirit ; do not speak lest you awake him. Our fore- fathers nor ourselves ever saw such a wonder as this.’ u The consequence of this kind and very unusual forethought was that I enjoyed a very good night’s rest ** In the morning, Olenda, the king or head chief of tho Ashiras, sent two messengers with presents of goats and plan- tains, and a desire that I should come to his town. I sent back word that I would the day after to-morrow ; to-day my feet were too sore. The king sent word that I should be carried if I would come. I replied that I would come on the day I had DU CIIAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 215 appointed. That I never broke my word nor ever changed my mind. “ Accordingly, on November 2d, early in the morning, I was aroused by King Olenda’s people, who had come to escort me with singing and dancing. I took leave of Akoonga, giving him a present of one hundred yards of cloth, and some beads, and an old shirt, whereat lie was hugely delighted. “ My men had now easy times. My baggage was canned alto- gether by the Asliira, who marched ahead singing w r ild songs celebrating my arrival among them. After a journey of ten miles over the grassy prairie we came to Olenda’s town, which may be called the capital of the nation. I was conducted to the best house in the place ; and, after waiting half an hour, the ringing of the Jcendo announced the approach of the king. “At last King Olenda stood before me — a most surprising object indeed, lie was an old, old man, with wool as white as snow, face a mass of wrinkles, and bod}', thin, lean, and bent almost double with age. lie had painted his haggard old face red on one side and white on the other, in streaks, and, as he stood before me, I wondered as much at his appearance as did he at mine. “ When we had looked at each other for some five minutes he made me a formal address in Asliira, which was translated for me by Okendjo. He said : ‘ I have no bowels. I am like the Ovenga llivcr ; I cannot be cut in two. But also I am like theNicmbai and Ovenga rivers, which unite together. Thus my body is united, and nothing can divide it.’ “ This gibberish, which may possibly have had some mystic significance at one time, I afterward discovered was the regular and invariable salutation of the Asliira kings, Olenda’s prede- cessors, time out of mind. Each chief and important person has such a salutation, which they call l 'combo . “Then he continued: ‘You, the spirit, have come to see Olenda. You, the spirit, have put your feet where none like you have ever been. You are welcome.’ “ Here the old king’s son, also a very old negro, with snow- white wool, handed over to the king two slaves, which the king formally presented to me, together with three goats, twenty bunches of plantains, twenty fowls, five baskets of ground-nuts, and several bunches of sugar-cane. “ ‘ This,’ said he, ‘is to salute you. Whatever else you want, tell me. I am the king of this country. Whatever else you wish, let it be known to me.’ 216 DU CHAILL U'S EXPLORATIONS. “I replied that slaves I did not want, but that if any of his people were on the coast, I should be glad to have them taught in the knowledge of the white man, that they might come and tell it to their people. “ Then more of the old man's children came, all old, and wrinkled, and white-headed men. They stood before me, regarding me with wonder and awe ; while the people, of whom thousands were gathered from all the villages of the plain, looked on in silence and expressed their surprise in whispers. “At last the old king turned to his people and said: ‘I liave seen many things in my life, and many wonderful things, and now I am ready to die, for I have seen the spirit from whom we receive all things. It will always be said in our nation by those coming after us, that in the time of Olenda the spirit first appeared and dwelt among us. You are welcome 5 (turn- ing to me). ‘Keep this spirit well 5 (to his people); ‘he will do us good . 5 “ It was a very impressive scene, and all was conducted with great decorum and dignity . 55 Du Chaillu remained about five weeks with the Ashiras, hunting a large part of the time, and, for the rest, making repeated but vain efforts to scale the lofty mountain-range which lay to the south-east. In one of these attempts he had a narrow escape from death by starvation. He was accompanied on all these excursions by some of the Ashiras, whom he declares are the finest people in Africa. They are invariably coal- black, differing in this respect from their neighbors, the Bakalai. The women in particular have fine forms, and though the } 7 have full negro features, many of the young women are positively pleasing in appearance and graceful in carriage. The dress of the men and married women consists of a flowing garment, made of a kind of grass-cloth woven by themselves, which covers most of the person. But the girls and young women, till they are married, are not permitted to wear any clothing whatever except a narrow grass-cloth girdle about the middle. The men, who are not nearly so fine-looking as the women, though they too are superior to the men of the surrounding tribes, wear on their heads caps of grass- thread knit in a most beautiful manner, something in the style of our crochet- work. From their shoulders hangs a very pretty bag which is used to carry whatever they may have, which vve would put in our pockets. The women paint their bodies red with a dye obtained from the bar-wood tree. Both men and women are very fond of copper ornaments, such as bracelets DU CEAILLU'8 EXPLORATIONS. 217 and anklets, which they manufacture from the copper brouglit liither from the sea-shore. The women are particularly fond of wearing copper rods around their necks, which makes them look as if ready collared for the slave-market. Both sexes iile their teeth slightly in the middle, and the result is not un- pleasing. The women dress their hair in a peculiar way, by stringing their wool over plantain leaves or sticks, and building it out in the shape of horns before and behind. The hair is kept greasy with palm oil. The Asliira villages, of which there are from 150 to 200 scattered over the great plain, are neat and clean. The village is generally composed of one long street, with houses on each side, and these streets are kept very (dean. The houses are small, but pretty, and are built of tree- bark. Back of each village arc great plantations, carried on with much industry, where tobacco, peanuts, plantains, yams, and sugar-cane, are grown in quantities which makes this a land of plenty, where no man starves. The women cultivate the soil among the Asliira, as among the other tribes, and they are quite industrious. They do not become wives till they have arrived at the age of puberty, which is one sufficient reason for the greater beauty of the little nation, and for its intellectual superiority, as denoted by the cloth manufactures, and by their settled and provident mode of life. Polygamy of course, prevails ; and parents some- times sell their children, which is not thought a crime. Among the Ashiras, singularly enough, Du Chaillu found the Cannabis Irulica , or Indian hemp, from which the far- famed Eastern drug hasheesh is made. The leaves are smoked by them, with the inevitable result of debility and insanity. Insane persons are not an uncommon spectacle in the Ashira villages. Du Chaillu was now very anxious to push still farther into the interior. Olcnda was at first strongly opposed to this, fear- ing, as usual, that his “trade would be interfered with; ” but at length he gave his consent, and, what was more important, appointed three of his sons to accompany the traveller to the land of Apingi, with whom the Ashira keep up a friendly in- tercourse. All things being in readiness, and the king having formally blessed his sons, the party set out on the morning of December 6th, travelling in a direction a little north of east. The same day they crossed the Ovigui, a rapid stream about thirty yards wide which forms the boundary of Ashira-land. The route from this point was over a very rugged country, 218 DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. consisting of almost precipitous hills alternating with plains and valleys all covered with dense forests. Game was abun- dant, and on the 7tli two gorillas were killed, one a large male five feet eight inches high. On the morning of the 11th, they came at last, through a sudden opening in the forest, upon the Apingi River (Rembo Apingi), a magnificent river, 350 yards wide. On the opposite side were the Apingi villages; and as the natives had had warning of the approach of the travel- lers, they were at once ferried across and escorted iuto the nearest town, which happened to be the residence of King Re- mand ji. Du Cliaillu was soon safely housed in the largest house in town ; and presently Remandji came to him followed by all the old men of his town and the chiefs from the neighboring villages. “ He brought me,” says Du Cliaillu, “ two dozen fowls, and some bunches of plantains, and baskets of cassava, which being laid at my feet, he addressed me, saying : ‘ I have beheld what our forefathers never saw, what I never saw before. I bid welcome to thee, oh white man ! oh spirit ! I thank your father/ turning to Minsho, ‘for sending this spirit to me, for nothing greater could happen to us.’ Then he said . ‘Be glad, oh spirit! and eat of the things we give thee.’ Whereupon, to my astonishment, a slave was handed over to me bound, and Remandji said: ‘Kill him for your evening meal ; he is tender and fat, and you must be hungry .’ It took me a moment to recover from my astonishment. Then I shook my head, spat violently on the ground, and made Minsho tell him that I abhorred the people who ate human flesh, and that I and my people never did so. To which Remandji replied : ‘ We always heard that you white men eat men. Why do you buy our people? Why do you come from nobody knows where, and carry off our men, and women, and chil- dren ? Do you not fatten them in your far country and eat them? Therefore, I gave you this slave, that you might kill him, and make glad your heart. , It was a difficult matter to explain to the king that he was much mistaken, and that we d > not eat our slaves. The whole matter from his point of view, was absurb. ‘ If we did not eat them, what did we want them for?’ was his incessant question; nor could his majesty be, by any skill of mine, inducted into the mysteries of our labor-system, and its rules of demand and supply.” The Apingi are, for Africa, a very industrious people. The men really do some worh , a thing unheard of among most of the native tribes. They use the fibrous parts of the leaf of a DU CIIAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 219 palm, which grows in great abundance here, to make a fine grass-cloth, for which they are noted among all the surround- ing tribes, and which sometimes finds its way even to the coast. The pnlms from whose leaves the cloth is made, are planted about all their houses, and are property which only the owner may use ; and the possession of fixed property of any kind, shows that the Apingi have made an important step in advance of the Bakalai, Mpongwc, and similar tribes. WEDDING PREPARATIONS AMONG THE APINGL Both men and women file the teeth to a point, which gives tlieir faces a frightfully savage appearance. In color they are yellowish-black, lighter than the Ashira. The women are much smaller than the men and hideously ugly ; but they seem very fruitful, and large families are the rule. The men are almost fully clothed, but the women go nearly naked, and seem to be destitute of all traces of personal modesty — as the fol- lowing incident related by Du Chaillu, will show : Ile- mandji’s head-wife or queen, a rather pretty young woman 220 DU CHAILLU' S EXPLORATIONS. after the Apingi custom, came with her husband one day to see me. I gave her a piece of bright cotton cloth, which de- lighted her so much that she immediately began, to my great dismay, to disrobe herself, in order to put on my present. But, when she had reduced herself to a state of nature, something else of my goods attracted her attention, and she began to talk and look around her with the most complete unconcern for quite a while, before she bethought her of the neglected cloth, with which she endued herself very leisurely.” Du Chaillu was regarded by the Apingi as a “ spirit” from some superior world, and they elected him king — Remandji being as eager for it as any of his subjects — in the hope that this would induce him to stay with them and make them plenty of beads and other “trade,” without their being under the necessity of exchanging their cloth and ebony for them. They were tirmly persuaded that he could do this through the instru- mentality of a powerful spirit which he possessed, in the shape of an old American clock ; and they actually assembled in im- mense numbers one day expecting to sec him make a pile of beads as high as the highest tree, from which they could help themselves. He was formally invested with the kendo, or bell, on the 18th of December; but his loyal subjects soon had the mortification of seeing that his new office put no restraint upon his roving proclivities. On the 29th he set out to the east- ward in the hope of reaching the country of the Asliangos, which he was told was only three days’ journey distant. He pressed forward for five days without coming to any settle- ments, and was then compelled to turn back, reaching Re- mandji’s town again on the 5th of January, 1859. This was the end of Du Chaillu’s explorations in Africa. He started on his return to the coast on January 16th; reached Obindji’s town on the 24th, and Biagano on the 10th of Febru- ary. llere he spent long months in waiting for a ship to take him back to friends and civilization; but on the 1st of June he was once more on shipboard and his travels ended.* Next to his geographical and ethnological discoveries, the study which he made of the character and habits of the gorilla was the most important result of Du Chaillu’s explorations. The existence of such an animal had been suspected, and per- * Between the years 1863 and 1865, Du Chaillu again travelled in Africa, penetrating the interior as far as Ashango-land ; bnt the object of this trip was simply to confirm the facts rehearsed in the foregoing pages— some of which had excited unreasonable and unreasoning hostility in England. DU C II A ILL U 'S EXPLORATIONS. 221 I nips* proved fit an earlier date; hut Du Chaillu was the first white man to penetrate to its native haunts and to write of it from personal knowledge. His account, of this strange animal is one of the most interesting and important of recent contri- butions to natural history ; — which is our excuse for reproduc- ing the substance of it here : “ The gorilla lives in the darkest portions of the dense Afri- can jungle, preferring deep wooded valleys and also rugged heights. The high plains also, whose surface is strewn with immense boulders, seem to be favorite haunts. Water is found everywhere in this part of Africa, but I have noticed that the gorilla is always found very near to a plentiful supply. “ It is a restless and nomadic beast, wandering from place to place, and scarce ever found for two days together in the same neighborhood. In part, this restlessness is caused by the strug- gle it has to find its favorite food. The gorilla, though it lias such immense canines, and though its vast strength doubtless fits it to capture and kill almost every animal which frequents the forests, is a strict vegetarian. I examined the stomachs of all which I was lucky enough to kill, and never found traces there of aught but berries, pine-apple leaves, and other vegeta- ble matter. It is a huge feeder, and no doubt soon cats up the scant supply of its natural food which is found in any limited space, and is then forced to wander on in constant battle with famine. Its vast paunch, which swells before it when it stands upright, proves it to be a great feeder; and, indeed, its great frame and enormous muscular development could not be sup- ported on little food. “ It is not true that it lives much or at all on trees. By the examination of the stomach of many specimens, 1 was able to ascertain with tolerable certainty the nature of its food, and I discovered that for all I found it had no need to ascend trees. It is fond of the wild sugar-cane; especially fond of the white ribs of the pine-apple leaf ; and it eats, besides, certain berries which grow close to the ground ; the pith of some trees, and a kind of nut with a very hard shell. This shell is so hard that it requires a strong blow with a heavy hammer to break it; and here is probably one purpose of that enormous strength of jaw which long seemed to me thrown away on a non-carnivorous animal, and which is sufficiently evidenced by the manner in which the barrel of the musket of one of my unfortunate hun- ters was flattened by an enraged male gorilla. Only the young gorillas sleep on trees, for protection from wild beasts. I have myself come upon fresh traces of a gorilla’s bed on several oc- 222 DU CHAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. easions, and could see that the male had seated himself with liis back against a tree-trunk. In fact, on the back of the male gorilla there is generally a patch on which the hair is worn thin from this position, while the nest-building Troglodytes calvus , or bald-headed nshiego , which constantly sleeps under its leafy shelter on a tree-branch, has this bare place at its side, and in quite a different way. I believe, however, that while the male always sleeps at the foot of a tree, or elsewhere on the ground, the female may sometimes ascend to the tree-top, as I have seen marks of such ascension. “ The gorilla is not gregarious. Of adults, I found almost al- ways one male with one female, though sometimes the old male wanders companionless. In such cases, as with the ‘ rogue’ elephant, he is particularly morose and malignant, and dangerous to approach. Young gorillas I found sometimes in companies of five ; sometimes less, but never more. The young always runs off, on all fours, shrieking with fear. They are difficult to approach, as their hearing is acute, and they lose no time in mak- ing their escape, while the nature of the ground makes it hard for the hunter to follow after. The adult animal is also shy, and I have hunted all day at times without coming upon my quarry, when I felt sure that they were carefully avoiding me. When, however, at last fortune favors the hunter, and he comes accidentally or by good management upon his prey, he need not fear its running awa}'. In all my hunts and encoun- ters with this animal, I never knew a grown male to run off. When I surprised a pair of gorillas, the male was generally sit- ting down on a rock or against a tree, in some darkest corner of the jungle, where the brightest sun left its traces only in a dim and gloomy twilight. The female was mostly feeding near by; and it is singular that she almost always gave the alarm by running off, with loud and sudden cries or shrieks. Then the male, sitting for a moment with a savage frown on his face, slowly rises to his feet, and, looking with glowing and malign eyes at the intruders, begins to beat liis breast, and, lift- ing up his round head, utters his frightful roar. This begins with several sharp barks, like an enraged or mad dog, where- upon ensues a long, deeply guttural rolling roar, continued for over a minute, ana which, doubled and multiplied by the re- sounding echoes of the forest, fills the hunter’s ears like the deep rolling thunder of an approaching storm. I have reason to be- lieve that I have heard this roar at a distance of three miles. The horror of the animal’s appearance at this time is beyond de- scription. It seems as monstrous as a nightmare dream — so DU CUAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 223 impossible a piece of hideousness that, were it not for the dan- ger of its savage approach, the hunter might fancy himself in some ugly dream. At such a sight I could forgive my brave native hunters that they were sometimes overcome with super- stitious fears, and ceased to wonder at the strange, weird ‘go- rilla stories’ of the negroes. “ It is a maxim with the well-trained gorilla-hunters to reserve their fire to the very last moment. Experience has shown them that — whether the enraged beast takes the report of the gun for an answering defiance, or for what other reason unknown — if the hunter fires and misses, the gorilla at once rushes upon him; and this onset no man can withstand. One blow of that huge paw, with its bony claws, and the poor hunter’s entrails are torn out, his breast bone broken, or his skull crushed. It is too late to reload, and flight is vain. There have been negroes who in such cases, made desperate by their frightful danger, have faced the gorilla, and struck him with the empty gun. But they had time for only one harmless blow. The next mo- ment the huge arm came down with fatal force, breaking mus- ket. and skull with one blow. I imagine no animal is so fatal in its attack on man as this, for the reason that it meets him face to face, and uses its arms as its weapons of offence, just as a man ora prize-fighter would — only that it has longer arms, and vastly greater strength than the strongest boxer the world ever saw. “ Now the gorilla is only met in the most dark and impenetra- ble jungle, where it is difficult to get a clear aim, unobstructed by vines and tangled bushes, for any distance greater than a few yards. For this reason, the gorilla-hunter wisely stands still and awaits the approach of the infuriated beast. The gorilla advances by short stages, stopping to utter his diabolical roar and to beat his vast breast with his paws, which produce a dull reverberation as of an immense bass-drum, which sound I have heard at the distance of a mile. Ilis walk is a waddle, from side to side, his hind legs — which are very short — being evi- dently somewhat inadequate to the proper support of the huge superincumbent body. He balances himself by swinging his arms, somewhat as sailors walk on shipboard ; and the vast paunch, the round bullet-head joined awkwardly to the trunk with scarce a vestige of neck, and the great muscular arms, and deep, cavernous breast, give to this waddle an ungainly horror, which adds to his ferocity of appearance. At the same time, the deep-set gray eyes sparkle out with gloomy malignity ; the features are contorted in hideous wrinkles ; and the slight, 224 DU CI1A1LL U'S EXPLORATIONS. sharply cut lips, drawn up, reveal the long fangs and the power- ful jaws, in which a human limb would be crushed as a biscuit. “In shooting the hippopotamus at night and on shore, the ne- gro always scampers off directly he has fired his gun. When lie has fired at the gorilla he stands still. I asked why they did not run in this case too, and was answered that it was of no use. To run would be fatal. If the hunter has missed, he must battle for his life face to face, hoping by some piece of unexpected good fortune to escape a fatal blow, and come off, perhaps, maimed for life, as I have seen several in the up-river villages. Fortunately, the gorilla dies as easily as man; a’ shot in the breast, if fairly delivered, is sure to bring him down. lie falls forward on his face, his long, muscular arms outstretched, and uttering with his last breath, a hideous death- cry, half roar, half shriek, which, while it announces his safety to the hunter, yet tingles his ears with a dreadful note of hu- man agony. It is this lurking reminiscence of humanity, in- deed, which makes one of the chief ingredients of the hunter’s excitement in Ins attack on the gorilla. “ The common walk of the gorilla is not on his hind legs, but on all-fours. In this posture, the arms are so long that the head and breast are raised considerably, and as it runs the hind legs are brought far beneath the body. The leg and arm on the same side move together, which gives the beast a curious wad- dle. It can run at great speed. The young, parties of which I have often pursued, never took to trees, but ran along the ground, and at a distance, with their bodies half erect, looked not unlike negroes making off from pursuit. I have never found the female to attack, though I have been told by the ne- groes that a mother with a young one in charge will sometimes make fight. It is a pretty tiling to see such a mother with the baby gorilla sporting about it. I have watched them in the wood, till, eager as Iwas to obtain specimens, I had not the heart to shoot. But in such cases my negro hunters exhibited no tender-heartedness, but killed their quarry without loss of time. When the mother runs off from the hunter, the young one grasps her about the neck, and hangs beneath her breasts with its little legs about her body. “ The strength of the gorilla is evidently enormous. A young one of between two and three years of age required four stout men to hold it, and even then, in its struggles, bit one severely. That with its jaws it can dent a musket-barrel, and with its arms break trees from four to six inches in diameter, suffi- ciently proves that its vast bony frame has corresponding DU ClIAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. 225 muscle. The negroes never attack them with other weapons than guns; and in those parts of the far interior where no European guns had jet reached, as among the Apingi, this great beast roamed unmolested, the monarch of the forest. To kill a gorilla gives a hunter a life-long reputation for courage and enterprise even among the bravest of the negro tribes, who are generally, it may be said, not lacking in this quality of courage. “ The gorilla has no cries or utterances that I have heard except those already described, the short, sharp bark, and the roar of the attacking male, and the scream of the female and young when alarmed ; except, indeed, a low kind of a cluck, with which the watchful mother secerns to call her child toiler. The young ones have a cry when in distress, but their voice is harsh, and it is more a moan of pain than a child’s cry. “ It uses no artificial weapon of offence, hut attacks always with its arms, though in a struggle no doubt the powerful teeth would play a part. I have several times noticed skulls in which the huge canines were broken off, not worn down, as they are in almost all the adult gorillas by gnawing at trees which they wished to break, and which, without being gnawed into, are too strong even for them. The negroes informed me that such teeth were broken in combats between the males for possession of a female, and I think this quite probable. Such a combat must form a magnificent and awful spectacle. A struggle be- tween two well-matched gorillas would exceed in that kind of excitement which the Romans took such delight in, anything in that line which they were ever gratified with. “ In height adult gorillas vary as much as men. The adult males in my collection range from five feet two inches to five feet eight ; and the parts of a skeleton which my friend Prof. Jeffries Wyman has, are so much larger than any in my posses- sion, that I am warranted in concluding the animal to which it belonged to have been at least six feet two inches in height. The female is much smaller, less strong, and of lighter frame. One adult female in my T collection measured, when shot, four feet six inches. “ The color of the skin in the gorilla, young as well as adult, is intense black. This color does not appear, however, except in the face, on the breast, and in the palms of the hands. The hair of a grown, but not aged specimen, is in color iron-gray. The individual hairs are ringed with alternate stripes of black and gray, which produces the iron-gray color. On the arms the hair is darker and also much longer, being sometimes o vei- ls 226 DU CHAILL U'S EXPLORATIONS. two inches long. It grows upward on the forearm and down- ward on the main arm. Aged gorillas, the negroes told me, turn quite gray all over ; and I have one huge male in my col- lection whose worn-out tusks show great age, and whose color is, in fact, a dirty gray. The head is covered with reddish- brown hair, short, and extending almost to the neck, or where the neck should be. “In the adult male the chest is bare. In the young male it is thinly covered with hair. In the female the mammae have but a slight development, and the breast is bare. The color of the hair in the female is black, with a decided tinge of red. The hair on the arms is but little longer than that on the body, and is of a like color. The reddish crown which covers the scalp of the male is not apparent in the female till she is grown. HEAD OP THE GORILLA. “ The eyes of the gorilla are deeply sunken, the immense over- hanging bony frontal ridge giving to the face the expression of a constant savage scowl. The mouth is wide, and the lips are sharply cut, exhibiting no red on the edges, as in the human face. The jaws are of tremendous weight and power. The huge ca- nines of the male, which are fully exhibited when, in his rage, he draws back his lips, lend additional ferocity to his aspect. In the female these canines are smaller. “ The almost total absence of neck, which gives the head the appearance of being set into the shoulders, is due to the back- ward position of the juncture of the head with the trunk. The brain-case is low and compressed, and the lofty ridge of the skull DU CHA1LL U'8 EXPLORATIONS. 227 causes the cranial profile to describe an almost straight line from the occiput to the supraorbital ridge. The immense develop- ment of the temporal muscles which arise from this ridge, and the corresponding size of the jaw, are evidences of the great strength of the animal. “ The eyebrows are thin, but not well defined, and are almost lost in the hair of the scalp. The eyelashes are thin also. The eyes are wide apart ; the ears are smaller than those of man, and in form closely resemble the human ear. They are almost on the same parallel with the eyes. In a front view of the face the nose is flat, but somewhat prominent, more so than in any other ape ; this on account of a sliglitty projecting nose-bone. The gorilla is the only ape which shows such a projection, and in this respect it comes nearer to man than any other of the man-like apes. “ The profile of the trunk shows a slight convexity. The chest is of great capacity ; the shoulders exceedingly broad ; the pec- toral regions show slightly projecting a pair of nipples, as in the other apes and in the human species. The abdomen is of im- mense size, very prominent, and rounding at the sides. The arms have prodigious muscular development, and are very long, extending as low as the knees. The forearm is nearly of uni- form size from the wrist to the elbow. The great length of the arms and the shortness of the legs form one of the chief devia- tions from man. The arms are not so long when compared with the trunk, but they are so in comparison with the legs. These are short, and decrease in size from below the knee to the ankle, having no calf. The superior length of the arm (humerus) in proportion to the forearm, brings the gorilla, in that respect, in closer anthropoid affinities with man than any of the other apes. “ The hands of the animal, especially in the male, are of im- mense size, strong, short, and thick. The fingers are short and of great size, the circumference of the middle finger at the first joint being in some gorillas over six inches. The thumb is shorter than in man, and not half so thick as the forefinger. The hand is hairy as far as the division of the fingers, those, as in man, being covered with short thin hairs. The palm of the hand is naked, callous, and intensely black. The nails are black, and shaped like those of man, but smaller in proportion, and projecting very slightly beyond the ends of the fingers. They are thick and strong, and always seem much worn. The hand of the gorilla is almost as wide as it is long, and in this it approaches nearer to those of man than any of the other apes. 228 DU CHAILL U'S EXPLORATIONS. Tlie foot is proportionally wider than in man. The sole is callous and intensely black, and looks somewhat like a gianthandof immense power and grasp. The middle toe, or third, is longer than the second and fourth, the fifth proportionally shorter, as in man. The toes are divided into three groups, so to speak. Inside the great toe, outside the little toe, and the three others partly united by a web. As a whole, the loot of the gorilla presents a great likeness to the foot of man, and by far more so than in any other ape. In no other animal is the foot so well adapted for the main- tenance of the erect position. Also, the gorilla is much less of a tree-climber than any other ape. The foot in the gorilla is longer than the hand, as in man, while in the other apes the foot is somewhat shorter than the hand. The hair on the foot comes to the division of the toes, and those are slightly covered with thin hair. The gorilla skeleton, the sTcull excepted , resembles the bony frame of man more than that of any other an- thropoid ape. In the form and proportion of the pelvis, the number of ribs, the length of the arm, the width of the hand, and the struc- ture and arches of the feet — all these characteristics, and also some of its habits, appear to place the gorilla nearer to DU C1IA1LL U ’ S EXPLORATIONS. 229 SKELETONS OF MAN AND THE GORILLA. Man has 12 (and sometimes 13) pairs of ribs. 7 cervical vertebrae. 12 dorsal (and sometimes 13) vertebrae. 5 lumbar (sometimes 4) do. 5 sacral do. 8 carpal (wrist) bones. The Gorilla has 13 pairs of ribs. 7 cervical vertebrae. 13 dorsal do. 3 lumbar do. 6 sacral do. 8 carpal (wrist) bones. 230 DU CUAILLU'S EXPLORATIONS. man than ail}' other anthropoid ape is placed. The forego- ing cuts show more clearly than any amount of description could do, the main points of resemblance, and also of differ- ence. CHAPTER XI. SERVAL’S TRAVELS ON THE OGOWAI. TnE principal stream of equatorial West Africa, the region partially explored by Du Chaillu, is the Ogowa'i. Up to the present moment we are in ignorance of the sources of this mighty river, though it is known to draw its waters from an inland region far beyond the Sierra del Crystal Mountains, and perhaps from some one of the Central African lakes. Its mouth, which forms an immense triangular delta, lies under 1° S. latitude. Du Chaillu in his travels did not come in contact with the main stream of the Ogowa'i, only with its southern tributaries; in order to become acquainted with this great river, at least in its lower course, we must consult another au- thority — the French marine — Lieutenant Serval, who, in 1862, embarked in the steamer “ Pioneer,” and accompanied by the ship’s surgeon, Griffon du Bellay, ascended it as far as long. 11° 30' E. from Greenwich. Early in July, in the midst of the dry season, they began the ascent of the river ; and on July 18th reached the point where the Nazareth (Nazare) diverges from the main stream. The river had fallen more than two feet since they started, and was becoming more and more shallow ; finally, on the 19th, the “ Pioneer ” ran aground on a sand-bank distant about 60 miles from the mouth. The only thing that could be done now was to take a row-boat. Of course very little progress could be made with this, and they were dependent, moreover, on the good or ill will of the natives. The village near which the steamer grounded was named Dambo, and the name of the chief was Ngowa Akaga. He behaved very decently ; in the evening he visited the Wa- tuuga, i.e., the big ship of the whites. ILis astonishment at all he saw was but slight ; and in his praises he was very cautious too — which perhaps was fortunate, as whatever the African praises he is apt to desire to possess. In return for some presents, Ngowa gave the travellers a canoe and several boat- men ; and encouraged by this indication of friendly feeling, they set out on a journey up the river which lasted three weeks. 232 SERVAL' 8 TRAVELS ON THE OGOWAI. From far and near the people gathered to see the strange white men ; they were very inquisitive, and very eager for presents, and every chief demanded a special introduction. If no attention was paid to their demands, they felt insulted. On one occasion, Serval sailed past the important town of Arumbe, without noticing it, as the boat was being rowed up the opposite side of the stream ; but he had hardly got by when a half dozen boats filled with armed natives came in pur- suit, and demanded that he should turn back. At the same moment another fleet of armed boats came up from another village which had yet to be passed ; and between the two par- ties there ensued a lively palaver. It was finally determined that the white men should visit Arumbe on their return, and they were allowed to resume their journey. This incident con- vinced Serval that they had better stop hereafter at every town which they had to pass. The travellers were now in the country of the Galos. This is the most important tribe on the Ogowai, and they appear to differ greatly from the others, though they all speak nearly the same language. The people seem to be uniformly idle and lazy. Their husbandry is of the most primitive character; the earth is simply scratched up here and there, and the seeds or roots stuck in ; Nature is left to do the rest. They know of no minerals or metals, not even iron. All their arms and im- plements are gotten from the European merchants and fac- tories, or from the Oschebas, living farther inland, who, like the Fans, know how to smelt and work the iron. As they passed up the river, the travellers were struck by a very peculiar appearance on the banks : circular holes of re- markable regularity, about a foot and a half in diameter, and a foot in depth. Most of them were free from water, owing to the great shallowness of the river. These holes are dug by the Cendu with their horned mouths, a fish which is ver} T often found here ; they deposit their eggs in the holes. Serval wished to go up the Ogowai until he had reached the point where it is formed by the junction of the Okanda and the N’gouniay. He was in hopes of finding new tribes there ; the Eumikas, for instance, who have direct communication with the tributaries of the Gaboon River, and especially with the Oschebas, a people whose reputation extends down to the coast. The journey, however, was getting more and more perilous ; the people were becoming more greedy after the European articles hidden in the canoe, and were openly con- sidering whether they should plunder the boat by force ; and SERVAL'S TRAVELS ON THE OGOWAI. 233 at last the travellers learned that the people of two large villages had agreed to rob them, and divide the proceeds. To make a further advance under such circumstances was out of the question, and Scrval resolved to turn back and visit the lake of Jononga, of which the people of the Ogowai, and es- pecially the Galos, had told him the most singular stories. The sanctuary of their religion is located there ; and there, it was said, curious phenomena were to be seen. In the clouds immense vessels of the whites were swimming, which sailed past Cape Lopez, a distance of more than 125 miles. Power- ful and malignant spirits also lived there, so it was said; and if the uninitiated attempted to land on the sacred islands which lay on the bosom of the lake, his vessel would be capsized, and every one in it drowned. If the adventurers were white peo- ple, that would not alter the case ; on the contrary, the posses- sion of a white skin increased the danger of such an attempt. Stories like these, and many others, were told them far and near, and also along the Nyomo, the stream through which the lake has its outlet into the Ogowai. They penetrated to it nevertheless. “ The first island you come to in this lake,” says Serval, “is the Asinghibuiri, and upon it we remained overnight. Here the lake presents an indescribable spectacle ; it runs in and out like sharp points, and from every cove of the mountainous shore may be seen torrents which empty themselves into the lake. None of the many tributaries, however, are of any im- portance. In the dry season the lake has a depth of about four to six feet ; and the water is clear and transparent, while throughout its course the water of the Ogowai shows a peculiar reddish color. On the east the landscape rises very rapidly until it reaches the Aschampolo Mountains, which close the horizon in this direction. Through these mountains the Ogowai breaks its way. The vegetation on the shores of the lake is wonderfully pretty, — the Abos-trees are beautiful, and there is an abundance of the caoutchouc-Lianes, whereas the oil-palm is very scarce. The shore’s edge is grown over with grass, and close to the water stands a neat Ilemerocallis, w r ith white blossoms ; no reeds or any similar plants are to be seen, which indicates that there is no stagnant water or swampy bottom. Yerv likely this part of the country bordering on the lake is healthy.” Very few of the Galos inhabit it, however. Farther off, on the other side of the Aschampolo Mountains, live the Aschiras. The travellers met two of them ; their foreheads are low and 234: SERVAL'S TRAVELS ON TEE OOOWAI. retreating, and the face bony, without any expression or intelli- gence. They chiefly manufacture the fine and soft mats which are known among the traders as Loango, or Loando, mats. The Aschiras file their teeth to a point. On the forest-clad sides of the Aschampolo mountains live some of the Bakalai people, who have been described in the preceding chapter. They are very warlike, and put the slave-dealers in possession of many an Aschira ; but they are careful to avoid quarrelling with their neighbors near the river, as they often need their help in order to communicate with the coast. Asinghiburi, where the strangers remained overnight, and received good treatment, is inhabited by the Galos. The Ar- umbi island, situated toward the middle of the lake, is the sacred ground of the Galos creed. The Fetich-priests are raised and trained here for the entire population, and for this purpose there is a kind of seminary or retreat on the island. Ser- val saw about a dozen of the boys from the seminary ; they looked quite intelligent, but were very curiously dressed. They wore an apron, similar to that of the Bakalai ; it hung over their hips, fastened by a belt made of white beads and orna- mentedwith beads made from red chenille. From its indented edges were suspended pieces of blue glass, beads, and bells. On their arms and legs they wore heavy rings made of brass. This seminary dress is worn by the young i?etich-levite until he is 17 or 18 years of age ; then he is initiated into the mys- teries of their religion and “ sees the Fetich.” Up to this time it has been his duty to avoid the company of women ; but now that he is a priest he leaves the sacred islands and mingles with the rest of the world like any other person. The islands were not visited by the travellers, as this privi- lege belongs exclusively to the great Fetich-men ; but they sailed around them in their boat. J ust opposite the entrance from the river they came upon another small stream through which the Jonongo communicates with another small lake, the Eliva Wi- dangu. It is just after entering this stream that the before- mentioned cloud-phenomena are to be seen, — though they are only visible in rainy weather. “ The story,” says Serval, “ does not seem to be wholly manufactured, for if you stand at the en- trance of the lake, during rainy weather and shortly after sun- rise, with your face turned toward the west, then you will see white figures in the clouds. The people declare that ships can sometimes be seen in them which sail by Cape Lopez ; every detail, so they say, is plainly visible — how they manoeuvre, pull their sails in, and fire off their cannons. Suddenly all disap- SERVAL '3 TRAVELS ON TILE OGOWAI. 235 pears again. This can all be explained, probably, as the effect of a peculiar mirage ; at all events it is a phenomenon which tills the inhabitants with superstitions reverence.” The travellers induced two of the Fetich-seminarists to ac- company them to the town of N’Dembo, where the King of the Galos had already been expecting them. His majesty shone forth in all his gala-dress, which is given correctly in our illustra- tion. “ lie was wearing an old- fashioned gener- al’s uniform, as far as the upper half of his body was concerned ; lower down his dress looked rather scanty, especially if one considers that Jondo-goiro is not only king but at the same time a kind of Pope or archbishop in his country. Heaven only knows where these pieces of uniform came from ; but there were epaulettes of yellow wool, abun- dance of green embroidery, and on the brass buttons were three cannons lying across each other, with the inscription i Ubique.’ ” A second high-priest, who in religious matters has a little more power than the king, lives in another village on the Ogowai, and seldom comes to N’Hembo. He as well as the king is a descend- ant from a priestly family; and they were in close alliance, as Jondo-goiro had taken a cousin of the head priest for liis wife, while the latter had married a daughter of the king. The little old King in his general’s uniform, with its big col lar reaching above his ears, and the sleeves nearly up to the el- KENG JONDO-GOIRO. 236 BEBVAL'8 TRAVELS ON THE OGOWAI. bow, stood on the river-bank as the travellers approached and stretched out his arms toward his people — this is his mode of influencing them towards being religiously inclined. In his left hand he held a bell, the sign of his kingly power and dig- nity ; with the other hand he crumbled up a piece of bread, threw the small pieces into the water, and thus addressed the spirits : “ Here are white people — they come here to see you — do not make them sick ; they came to bring you presents — do not let them die, but let them return in health to the Gaboon.” This simple prayer seemed to be kindly meant ; but it did not prove effective in all its parts, as Serval subsequently caught the fever. As soon as he had finished crumbling the bread, Jondo-goiro filled his mouth with brandy (which gets into this part of the country through Europeans) and squirted it up into the air. This ended the ceremony of re- ception. After a day’s stay the travellers took leave of the people of N’Dembo, and sailed down the Ogowai, visiting another small village called Nioge which is not far from the village of Avanga Wisi. Galos live on the river banks down to this point ; then come the tribes which are in direct communication with the coast. The people of Arumbe had made up their minds to plunder the travellers of whatever they could, and also to punish the pilot, as they considered it his fault that the boat had passed them on the up journey without stopping at their village. Hearing of their intention, Serval and his party drifted past Arumbe during the night, and by sunrise had al- ready arrived at the Bandu, or Bango, which branches off from the Ogowai and streams into the ocean, forming the southern boundary of the great delta. Serval also visited the Anengue Lake, which we native idol already know through Du Chaillu’s travels ; and ^ len returned by way of the French settlements on the coast. Early in 1874 two other Frenchmen, MM. Compiegne and SERVAL'S TRAVELS ON THE OQOWAl 237 , Marche, ascended tlie Ogowni, and readied a point 200 mile3 farther inland than any previous explorer. They were told by the natives that the river came from four great lakes ; and they had penetrated within four days’ journey of these lakes when they were iired upon by the Osyobas (Oschebas X) and compelled to turn back. Details of the journey have not yet been pub- lished. CHAPTER XII. BURTON AND SPEKE. In 185G Captain Richard F. Barton, of the Indian Army, having just returned from a brief visit to the Somali coast of Africa, in which, disguised as an Arab merchant, lie had suc- ceeded in reaching the Mahometan city of Ilarar, proposed to the Royal Geographical Society an expedition for the pur- pose of ascertaining the limits of the “ Sea of Ujiji, or Unyam wezi Lake,” and to report upon the exportable produce of the interior and the ethnography of its tribes. This pro- posal, after some hesitation, was accepted by the Society, and the Foreign Office granted £1,000 for the expenses of the ex- g edition. The directors of the East India Company granted iaptain Burton a two years’ leave of absence, and also de- tailed another officer of the Bombay army, Captain John Han- ning Speke, to accompany him. They reached Zanzibar in December, 1856, but owing to the difficulty of collecting the guides, porters, donkeys, etc., and of procuring the great variety of supplies, presents, and articles for barter with the native tribes, necessary for an expedition, it was the 28th of June, 1857, before they actually set out from Bagamoyo for the unknown interior. The expedition as finally organized consisted of Said bin Salim, an officer ap- pointed by the sultan of Zanzibar; thirteen Balocli soldiers commanded by a Jemadar, also furnished by the sultan ; Bom- bay and Mabruki, negroes from India ; two Portuguese half- caste servants from Goa ; eight interpreters, guides, and “ war- men,” under an African freeman named Kidogo ; five donkey- drivers, thirty-six porters, and a few supernumeraries, making a total of eighty-eight persons. Only the narrow strip of coast-line is subject to the Arab sultan, and a march of five miles from Bagamoyo brought them into the territory of the native tribes. “On the wayside ap- peared for the first time the Kharnbi, or substantial kraals, which give evidence of unsafe travelling and the unwillingness of caravans to bivouac in the villages. In this region they as- sumed the form of round huts, and long sheds or booths of BURTON AND SPEKE. 239 straw or grass, supported by a framework of rough sticks firmly planted in the ground and lashed together with bark strips. The whole was surrounded with a deep circle of thorns, which — the entrance or entrances being carefully closed at nightfall, not to reopen until dawn — formed a complete defence against bare feet and naked legs.” The country through which they first passed presented in its general appearance u a mingling of bush and forest, which, contracting the horizon to a few zunds,” was most wearisome and monotonous. “The black, greasy ground, veiled with thick shrubbery, supports in the more open spaces screens of tiger and spear grass, twelve and thirteen feet high, with every blade a finger’s breadth, and the towering trees are often clothed from root to twig with huge epiphytes, forming heavy columns of densest verdure, and clustering upon the tops in the sem- blance of enormous birds’-nests. The footpaths are crossed by 11 ianas, creepers, and climbers, thick as coir-cables, some connect- ing the trees in a curved line, others stretched straight down the trunks, and others winding in all directions around their sup- ports, frequently crossing one another like network, and stunt- ing the growth of even the vivacious calabash, by coils like rope tightly encircling its neck. The earth, ever rain-drenched, emits the odor of sulphuretted hydrogen, and in some parts the traveller might fancy a corpse to be hidden behind every- bush.” In these maritime parts the local tribes are the Wazaramo and the Wak’hutu, and a large sub-tribe called the WaziraM. There is, besides, a floating population composed of immigrant tribes, but they are not numerous, neither is their influence great. The Wazaramo are the most powerful and rich of all the in- habitants of this region, and they include many sub-tribes. They are remarkable for their greasy odor, their wild, staring expression, their coarseness of feature, their loose and lounging gait, and their peculiar mode of dressing their hair, which is matted together by means of a peculiar kind of clay, mois- tened with the juice of the castor-bean. When this primitive pomatum is nearly dry, the hair is pulled out into numerous wiry twdsts, till the whole head seems to be covered with a thick and stiff thatch. They are turbulent and impracticable in their character, and live principally upon the plunder which they extort from merchants and travellers under pretence of dues. Their nearness to the coast, and the consequent inter- course with traders, must no doubt have affected them in many 240 BURTON AND SPEKE. ways, and particularly in regard to their dress, which, for Afri- cans, is extravagant. It consists of a long loin-cloth of unbleached cotton stained with their favorite color, a dirty yellow ; girdles and bead necklaces of various tints ; white disks, made from sea-shells, and worn on the forehead or the neck ; massive rings on the wrist, and tight collars, bright and gaudy, tied round the neck. These are the principal parts of their attire. The men, over and above all this, are usually armed to the teeth with spears, bows and arrows, daggers, and muskets, when they can get them. In other social respects they are also superior to their neighbors. Their settlements are strongly palisaded, and although their houses are very poor, they possess convenient arrangements, which are unknown in the distant interior. Their morality is very low. The marriage-tie is very loose among them. The man can dissolve the union when he pleases, without assigning a reason, or having one. He may have as many or as few wives as his tastes or his means may suggest. The Wak’hutu are an inferior race. Cloth or cotton is un- known among them. They live in almost perpetual intoxica- tion ; lead miserable lives ; their villages are very filthy, and the huts which compose them are of the meanest possible de- scription. Their sub-tribe, the Waziraha, are distinguished by their great profusion of beard. In Africa, this appendage is usu- ally either absent or scanty; with the Waziraha it is abundant. The Wadoe are the chief of the immigrant tribes. They were once formidable, but are now broken and dispersed. They are wild and savage in their appearance, and as much so in their manners and customs. They drink out of human skulls ; and tliej^ bury their great men in a sitting posture, with a forefin- ger sticking out of the earth. Slavery is prevalent here, and another of the burial superstitions is still observed, that of in- terring with a deceased chief a male and a female slave, the one to cut fuel for him, and the other to support his head on her lap. Zungomero,at which the travellers arrived on the 26th of July, lies at the foot of the first range of mountains at the extreme limit of the maritime region. It lies upon the main route to the interior, and is the great commercial centre of all these parts. The place is w^ell situated for traffic, does a considera- ble amount of business, and being visited by many caravans up and down, is generally crowded in the travelling season. It is extremely unhealthy, however ; and as both Burton and Speke had already suffered much from the malarious fever of the BURTON AND SPEKE. 241 lowlands, they were anxious to push on. But additional por- ters had to he provided, and they had also to await the arrival of more supplies which had been forwarded from the coast; so that it was not until August 7th that the caravan (now num- bering 132 persons) again set out. The first march continued for five hours, and lay across a sandy soil, sweating and smok- ing with hot springs. Both Burton and Speke were so ill that they could scarcely sit upon their riding-asses ; but at Mzizi Mdogo, on the first 6lope of the mountains, there was a won- drous change of climate, which banished for the time their wasting fevers. On the way thither they were shocked by the sight of many skeletons picked clean to the bone, the remains of porters who had perished in the same route from starvation or disease. This particular expedition suffered in common with those who had gone before them. Some of their porters hired at Zungoinero died, and every now and then a baggage ass wandered away or became unfit to proceed, and had to be abandoned. On the 23d of August, towards evening, after having traversed a plain between two ranges of mountains, they heard the sound of a drum, the usual indication of a village, which was the last thing they expected to find in so desolate a neighborhood. As they advanced they came upon what was simply the debris of a village which had once been flourishing, but which now presented a pitiable spectacle of recent destruc- tion. The huts were rent in fragments and half burnt down. The ground was strewn with broken fragments of the contents of the houses, nets, and drums. There were no traces of blood; but it was evident that this was the scene of a recent outrage, probably by slave-dealers. Two of the terrified villagers who had escaped alive w r ere seen lurking in the jungle, not daring to visit the wreck of their former homes. But the slaves and porters employed by the expedition were so little affected by what they saw, that they spent the night in singing and danc- ing, and helping themselves to whatever they could find in the midst of the ruins. Beaching llumuma, one of the resting-places for caravans, they found provisions comparatively abundant, and the natives quite alive to the advantages of their market. Troops of them came down from the hills with fowls and vegetables, and goats, bullocks, and sheep; and their sultan, having paid a visit to Captain Burton, insisted on making brotherhood with one of his men — a ceremony which consists in letting a little blood on both sides, and mutually tasting it, the solemn barbarity ter- 16 242 BURTON AND SPEKE. minating in an exchange of presents. The climate of Rumn- ma was a pleasant change after the incessant rains of the valleys and the dense fogs and mists of the neighboring moun- tains ; but even here the locality was unhealthy, and sickness broke out among the porters, and occasioned inconvenience to the expedition. They had now passed two parallel ranges of the mountains, and were on their way across the plain that leads to the Eubeho, a third range. And now they found signs of cultivation such as they had not witnessed in the for- mer part of their journey— beehives hanging to the branches of trees, watermelons ripening on the flat roofs of the villages, pumpkins and cucumbers in profusion, and comfortable huts. The heat, however, was intense, and the place was infested with termites, which were very troublesome, and which abound in the red, moist clay soils, and in the cool damp places. These creatures are endowed with extraordinary powers of destruc- tion. They have been known to drill a hard clay bench, so as to make it like a sieve, in a single night. With incredible rapidity they destroy straps, mats, umbrellas, and cloths, per- forating, pulverizing, or tearing them to rags, according to the nature of the texture. Water was scarcely to be found in this plain which the ex- pedition was now crossing, and in such circumstances it was necessary to resort to what is called the “ tirikeza.” This is a march which starts in the afternoon from a place where there is water. The preparations for it, which last two or three hours, begin before noon. At length when everything is ready, all hands indulge in a parting drink, and, filling their gourds, set out under the fiery sun. The journey is long, as the porters wish to make the next morning’s march, which leads to water, as short as possible. It is often midnight before they arrive at their destination, exhausted, lacerated by the jungle, and sometimes lamed by dangerous slips in the innumerable holes and cavities which are dug by field-rats and other burrowing vermin. Having successfully accomplished their march on the 3d of September, the expedition reached the “ Windy Pass” at the foot of the third range of the Usagara Mountains, on the fol- lowing day. There was great rejoicing at the happy termina- tion of the much disliked “tirikeza.” But the climate was as bad as that of fiumiima — a furnace by day, and a refrigerator by night; but what of that? They lay in a cheerful ravine, and from the settlements above the inhabitants flocked down to barter animals and grain, and their eyes were gladdened for TIIE ENCAMPMENT IN UGOGO. BURTON AND SPEKE. 243 the first time since they left the coast with visions of milk, honey, and clarified butter. It is not necessary to have had the same experience to judge of the delight with which the men celebrated their arrival at this station, remaining up half the night, beating drums and singing songs. On the next morn- ing there arrived a dozen caravans with about four hundred porters, with whom, notwithstanding the many jealousies which obtain among these people, the carriers of the expedition im- mediately fraternized. The merchants also waited a few days while Burton prepared dispatches for the Royal Geographical Society to forward by them to the coast. But the most difficult part of the journey was still to come. From their camp in the valley, the travellers could look upon the almost perpendicular path scarring the face of the moun- tain up which they and their loaded beasts had next to toil. Captain Burton says, “ Trembling with ague, with swimming heads, ears deafened by weakness, and limbs that could hardly support us, wo contemplated this prospect with dogged de- spair.” But they braced themselves to their task, and set them- selves to its accomplishment. It was fearful work, the asses stumbling at every step, and the men scaling a precipice of rolling stones, and never likely to reach the top. In the midst of their labor, exhausted by thirst, illness, and fatigue, the war- cry rang out suddenly from hill to hill, and broken files of archers and spearmen streamed down the paths in all directions, to take advantage of the departure of the caravan for a preda- tory excursion among the villages. But the travellers, being permitted to proceed, reached the summit at the end of six hours. Captain Speke seems to have suffered most, lie made the ascent almost in a state of coma, by the help of two or three supporters, and two days of violent delirium followed before he was able to resume the journey; and, even then, he was in his hammock. The descent of the western slopes was toilsome, but easy in comparison with the previous ascent. Boulders and great stones now obstructed the track which led down into the Dungomaro, or “ Devil’s Glen,” which opens out upon the plains of Ugogo, where the second region of the journey terminates. The ‘‘Devil’s Glen ” is one of the most remarkable of the scenes through which they passed. It is a large crevasse in lofty rocks of flint and gray granite, the bot- tom being strewn with blocks, and the sides lined with narrow ledges of brown humus, supporting dwarf cactuses and stunted thorny trees, high stony peaks towering over all, and closing in the view on every side. As they advanced, the huge blocks of 244 BURTON AND SPEKE . stone sometimes rose perpendicularly to height of more than a a hundred feet, and the path itself became a sheet of shining rock, with broad gaps in it cut by the action of the torrents. Gradually, the great stone walls were succeeded by low banks of earth, clad with gum-trees; and the glen, becoming broad and smooth, swept away, verging southwards, into the plain. The region just passed is called the mountain region, and Burton gives the following account of it : “ The second or mountain region extends from the western frontier of K’hutu, at the head of the alluvial valley, in E. long. 37° 28', to the province of Ugogi, the eastern portion of the flat table-land of Ugogo, in E. long 36° 14/. Its diagonal breadth is 85 geographical and rectilinear miles ; the native caravans, if lightly laden, generally traverse it in three weeks, including three or four halts. Its length cannot be estimated. Accord- ing to the guides, Gsagara is a prolongation of the mountains of Nguru, or Ngu, extending southward, with a gap forming the fluviatile valley of the Rwalia or Rufiji River. The Usa- gara chain is of the first order in East Africa ; it is indeed the only important elevation in a direct line from the coast to Western Unyamwezi ; it would hold, however, but a low grade in the general system of the earth’s mountains. The highest point above sea-level, was 5,700 feet; there are, however, peaks which may rise to 6,000 and even to 7,000 feet, thus rivalling the inhabited portion of the Neilgherries, in Southern India. “ From the mingling of lively colors, Usagara is delightful to the eye, after the monotonous tracts of verdure which pall upon the sight at Zanzibar and in the river valleys. The sub- soil, displayed in the deeper cuts and ravines, is either of gran- ite, greenstone, schiste, or a coarse incipient sandstone, brown or green, and outcropping from the ground with strata steeply tilted up. In the higher elevations the soil varies in depth from a few inches to thirty feet ; it is often streaked with long layers of pebbles, apparently water-rolled. The plains, basins, and steps, or facets of table-land found at every elevation, are fertilized by a stripe-work of streams, runnels, and burns, which, anastomosing in a single channel, flow off into the main drain of the country. Cultivation is found in patches isolated by thick belts of thorny jungle, and the villages are few and rarely visited. As usual in hilly countries, they are built upon high ridges and the slopes of cones, for rapid drainage after rain, a purer air and fewer mosquitoes, and, perhaps, protection from kidnappers. The country people bring down their sup- BURTON AND SPEKE. 245 plies of grain and pulse for caravans. There is some delay and difficulty on the first day of arrival at a station, and provisions for a party exceeding a hundred men are not to be depended upon after the third or fourth marketing, when the people have exhausted their stores. Fearing the thievish disposition of the Wasagara, who will attempt even to snatch away a cloth from a sleeping man, travellers rarely lodge near their settlements. Kraals of thorn, capacious circles inclosing straw boothics, are found at every march, and, when burned or destroyed by accident, they are rebuilt before the bivouac. The roads, as usual in East Africa, are tracks trodden down by caravans and cattle, and the water-course is ever the favorite pass. Many of the ascents and descents are so proclivitous that donkeys must be relieved of their loads; and in fording the sluggish streams, where no grass forms a causeway over the soft, viscid mire, the animals sink almost to the knees. The steepest paths are those in the upper regions ; in the lower, though the in- clines are often severe, they are generally longer, and conse- quently easier. At the foot of each hill there is cither a mud or a water course dividing it from its neighbor. These ob- stacles greatly reduce the direct distance of the day’s march. u The clans now tenanting these East African ghauts are the Wasagara — with their chief sub-tribe, the Wakwivi — and the Waliehe ; the latter a small body inhabiting the south-western corner, and extending into the plains below. “The limits of Wasagara have already been laid down by the names of the plundering tribes that surronnd them. These mountaineers, though a noisy and riotous race, are not over- blessed with courage; they will lurk in the jungle with bows and arrows to surprise a stray porter ; but they seem ever to be awaiting an attack — the best receipt for inviting it. In the higher slopes they are fine, tall, and sturdy men; in the low- lands they appear as degraded as the Wak’hutn. They arc a more bearded race than any other upon this line of East Africa, and, probably from extensive intercourse with the Wamrima, most of them understand the language of the coast. The women are remarkable for a splendid development of limb, while the bosom is lax and pendent. “ The Wasagara display great varieties of complexion, some being almost black, while the others are chocolate-colored. This difference cannot be accounted for by the mere effects of climate — level and temperature. Some shave the head ; others wear the Arab’s shushah, a kind of skull-cap growth, extending more or less from the poll. Among them is seen, for the first 246 BURTON AND SPEED. time on this line, the classical coiffure of ancient Egypt. The hair, allowed to attain its fullest length, is twisted into a multi- tude of the thinnest ringlets, each composed of two thin lengths wound together ; the wiry stiffness of the curls keeps them dis- tinct and in position. Behind, a curtain of pigtails hangs down to the nape ; in front the hair is either combed off the forehead, or it is brought over the brow and trimmed short. No head-dress has a wilder or a more characteristically African appearance than this, especially when, smeared with a pomatum of micaceous ochre, and decorated with brass beads, balls, and similar ornaments, it waves and rattles with every motion of the head. Young men and warriors adorn their locks with the feath- ers of vultures, ostriches, and a variety of bright-plumed jays, and some tribes twist each ringlet with a string of reddish fibre. It is seldom combed out, the operation requiring for a head of thick hair the hard work of a whole day.” Ugogi, at which the next halt was made, is 2,763 feet above the level of the sea, and is surrounded by a country tolerably rich in grain and cattle ; but being a great gathering-point for caravans, and frequently robbed by marauders on account of its fertilit} 7 , it is not always possible to obtain provisions in propor- tion to the natural capabilities of the place. This uncertainty presented a discouraging prospect to our travellers, who had to look forward to a march of four days before they could reach a spot where either provisions or water could be procured. But, fortunately, they arrived at Ugogi at a moment when they were able to provide themselves with all they wanted, and could resume their journey with grain for six days and water for one night. Ziwa, a small pond of water, was reached the day after leaving Ugogi ; and here blackmail began to be systematically enforced. Hitherto the chiefs had been satisfied with presents, more or less roughly exacted ; but at Ziwa, tribute is openly taken by force if it be not yielded willingly. There is no fixed tariff, the rate being regulated by the condition and supposed wealth of the traveller. Disputes always arise between the authorities of the place and their victims ; and Captain Bur- ton’s party were delayed four days in discussing the question of organized plunder. Similar delays occurred at all the villages and stopping-places throughout the region which bears the name of Ugogo. Their worst encounter was at a place called Nyika, or “ the Wilderness,” at which there resided a sort of ogre, popularly known as Short Shanks, who was at that time, and possibly may still be, the terror of all strangers. This petty tyrant they found to be the most powerful of all the BURTON AND SPEKE. 247 chiefs of this region — a short, elderly man, nearly bald, “ of the color of chocolate, and built very much like a duck.” The difficulty of doing business with him arose from his habit of dividing his day into two parts, in one of which he was always surly and unreasonable on the matter of terms, and in the other always drunk, when he refused to transact any negotiations whatever. The consequence was that the caravans were com- pelled to wait upon his humors, and were sometimes forced to work in his fields before he would consent to receive his dues. Our travellers were detained five days at this clearing, and were fortunate at last in being allowed to escape with a lighter mulct than might have been expected under the circumstances. In this third region of their journey, there is at the extremity of the territory a large and populous settlement, known as Tura Nullah. Their entrance into it was very characteristic of the country and the people. Captain Burton says : “We reached a large expanse of pillar-stones, where the van had halted, in order that the caravan might make its first ap- pearance with dignity. Then ensued a clearing, studded with large stockaded villages, peering over tall hedges of dark-green milk-bush, fields of maize and millet, manioc, gourds, and water-melons, and showing numerous flocks and herds, cluster- ing around the shallow pits. The people swarmed from their abodes, young and old hustling one another for a better stare, the man forsook his loom, and the girl her hoe, and for the re- mainder of the march we were escorted by a tail of screaming boys and shouting adults ; the males almost nude, the women bare to the waist, and clothed only knee-deep in kilts, accom- panied us, puffing pipes the while, striking their hoes with stones, crying, ‘ Beads! beads ! ’ and ejaculating their wonder in strident expressions of ‘ Hi ! hi ! ’ and ‘ Hiu ! ill ! ’ and ‘ Ila ! a ! a!’” As is the custom of the country, the porters took immedinte possession of the nearest large village, the whole company dis- persing themselves through the courts and compounds of which it was composed. The two white men were placed under a wall- less roof, bounded on one side by the village palisade, and here the mob stationed themselves to stare, relieving one another from morning till night. The land now passed over was the third of the five great re- gions into which Burton divides the area between the coast and Lake Tanganyika ; and the following is the substance of his account of it : “The third division of the country visited is a flat table-land 248 BURTON AND SPEKE . extending from the Ugogi valley, at the western base of the Wasagara Mountains, in E. longitude 36° 14', to Tura, tlie eastern district of Unyamwezi, inE. longitude 33° 57'; occupy- ing a diagonal breadth of 155 geographical rectilinear miles. The length from north to south is not so easily estimated. The average of the heights observed is 3,650 feet, with a gradual rise westward to Jiwe la Mkoa, which attains an altitude of 4,200 feet. This third region, situated to leeward of a range whose height compels the south-east trades to part with their load of vapors, and distant from the succession of inland seas which, stationed near the centre of the African continent, act as reser- voirs to restore the balance of humidity, is an arid, sterile land, a counterpart in many places of the Kalahari and the Karroo, or South African desert-plains. The general aspect is a glaring yellow flat, darkened by long growths of acrid, saline, and suc- culent plants, thorny bushes, and stunted trees, and the color- ing is monotonous in the extreme. It is sprinkled with isolated dwarf cones, bristling with rocks and boulders, from whose interstices springs a thin forest of gums, thorns, and mimosas. “ The climate of Ugogo is markedly arid. During the tran- sit of the expedition in September and October, the best water- colors faded and hardened in their pans ; India-rubber, espe- cially the prepared article in squares, became viscid, like half- dried bird-lime ; ‘ Macintosh 5 was sticking-plaster, and the best vulcanized elastic bands tore like brown paper. During almost the whole year a violent east wind sweeps from the mountains. There are great changes in the temperature, while the weather apparently remains the same, and alternate cur- rents of hot and cold air were observed. “ The superiority of climate, and probably the absence of that luxuriant vegetation which distinguishes the eastern re- gion, have proved favorable to the physical development of the races living in and about Ugogo. The Wagogo, and their north- ern neighbors, the Wahumba, are at once distinguishable from the wretched population of the alluvial valleys, and of the mountains of Usagara; though living in lower altitudes, they are a fairer race — and therefore show better blood — thanWan- yamwezi. These two tribes, whose distinctness is established by difference of dialect, will be described in order. “ The Wagogo display the variety of complexion usually seen among slave-purchasing races : many of them are fair as Abyssinians ; some are black as negroes. In the eastern and northern settlements they are a flue, 6tout, and light-com- plexion ed race. Their main peculiarity is the smallness of the BURTON AND SPEKE. 249 cranium compared with the broad circumference of the face at and below the zygomata : seen from behind, the appearance is that of a small half bowl fitted upon one of considerably larger bias; and this, with the widely extended ears, gives a re- markable expression to the face. Nowhere in Eastern Africa is the lobe so distended. Pieces of cane an inch or two in length, and nearly double the girth of a man’s finger, are so disposed that they appear like handles to the owner’s head. The distinctive mark of the tribe is the absence of the two lower incisors ; but they are more generally recognized by the unnatural enlargement of their ears. In Eastern Africa the ‘ aurcs perforate’ are the signs not of slavery, but of freedom. There is no regular tattoo, though some of the women have two parallel lines running from below the bosom down the abdo- men, and the men often extract only a single lower incisor. The hair is sometimes shaved clean, at others grown in mop- shape ; more generally it is dressed in a mass of tresses, as among the Egyptians, and the skin, as well as the large bunch of corkscrews, freely stained with ochre and micaceous earths. “ The strength of the Wagogo lies in their comparative numbers. As the people seldom travel to the coast, their scattered villages are full of fighting men. Moreover, ucliawi, or black magic, here numbers few believers, consequently those drones of the social hive, the waganga, or medicine-men, are not numerous. The Wagogo seldom sell their children and relations, yet there is no order against the practice. They bar- ter for slaves their salt and ivory, the principal produce of the country. “ The Wagogo are celebrated as thieves who will, like the Wahelie, rob even during the day. They are importunate beg- gars, who specify their long list of wants without stint or shame : their principal demand is tobacco, which does not grow in the land ; and they resemble the Somal, who never sight a stranger without stretching out the hand for 4 bori.’ The men are idle and debauched, spending their days in un- broken crapulence and drunkenness, while the girls and women hoc the fields, and the boys tend the flocks and herds. They mix honey with their pombe, or beer, and each man provides entertainment for his neighbors in turn. After mid-day it would be difficult throughout the country to find a chief with- out the thick voice, fiery eyes, and moidered manners, which prove that he is either drinking or drunk. “ The Walmmba are a fair and comely race, with the appear- ance of mountaineers, long-legged and lightly made. They 250 BURTON AND SPEKE. have repeatedly ravaged the lands of Usagara and Ugogo; in the latter country, near Usek’he, there are several settlements of this people, who have exchanged the hide-tent for the lmt, and the skin for the cotton cloth. They stain their garments with ochrish earth, and their women are distinguished by wear- ing kitindi of full and half size above and below the elbows. Tlie ear-lobes are pierced and distended by both sexes, as among the Wagogo. In their own land they are purely pas- toral ; they grow no grain, despise vegetable food, and subsist entirely upon meat or milk according to the season. Their habitations are hemispheres of boughs lashed together and roofed with a cow’s hide ; it is the primitive dwelling-place, and the legs of the occupant protrude beyond the shelter. Their arms, which are ever hung up close at hand, are broad- headed spears of soft iron, long ‘ sine,’ or double-edged dag- gers, with ribbed wooden handles fastened to the blade by "a strip of cow’s tail shrunk on, and ‘ rungu,’ or wooden knob- kerries, with double bulges that “weight the weapon as it whirls through the air. They ignore and apparently despise the bow and arrows, but i'n battle they carry the pavoise, or large hide- shield, affected by the Kafirs [Kaffres] of the Cape.” Tura, the point which the expedition had now reached, was actually within the boundaries of Unyamwezi, the “ Land of the Moon.” Before entering the country, they were warned by an Arab merchant that the natives were dangerous, and it was sug- gested that their escort was not strong enough. But the intrepid explorers were not to be daunted ; nor does it appear that there was any special ground for alarm, as they suffered no further interruption than a little pillage, against which they were never secure at any part of their journey. They had been out 134 days and had marched nearly 600 miles when, on November 7th, they arrived at Kazeh, the great centre of commerce of Eastern Unyamwezi, and the emporium of the Omani merchants. The scene of their entrance into Tura Nullah was- here repeated, but on a grander scale ; for Kazeh was a city compared with the settlements through which they had hitherto passed. It is the custom for a caravan when it comes within a certain dis- tance of one of these settlements, to prepare for producing an impression. The “whole company is collected together, and, putting on their finery, they make a display of their resources. On this occasion the caravan had been marching from a very early hour. It was eight o’clock in the morning when they halted to put themselves in readiness ; and preliminaries being over, the whole body began to move in a snake-like line over BURTON AND SPEKE. 251 the plain, with flags flying, horns blowing, muskets firing, and, to augment the uproar, every one shouting at the top of his voice. As they approached the town they were received with genuine African welcome. “ The road was lined with people,’ 7 says Burton, 41 and they attempted to vie with ns in volume and variety of sound ; all had donned their best attire, and with such luxury my eyes had long been unfamiliar. Advancing, I saw several Arabs standing by the wayside ; they gave the Moslem salutation, and courteously accompanied us for some distance.” The travellers having been allowed a clear day of rest, and time for dismissing their porters, the principal Arab merchants paid a visit on the following morning. This was not in the way of mere ceremony, but was a matter of kind- ness and true hospitality : “ Nothing could be more encouraging than the reception ex- perienced from the Omani Arabs. Striking indeed was the contrast between the open-handed hospitality and the hearty good-will of this truly noble race, and the niggardliness and selfishness of the Africans — it was the heart of flesh, after the heart of stone. A goat and a load of the fine wdiito rice grown in the country were the normal prelude to a visit, and to offers of service which proved something more than a mere vox et preeterea nihil . whatever I alluded to — onions, plantains, limes, vegetables, tamarind cakes, coffee from Karagwah, and similar articles, only to be found amongst the Arabs — were sent at once, and the very name of payment would have been an insult.” Kazeh,in the plain of Unyanyembe, the central and principal province of the Land of the Moon, offers singular advantages for the purposes which drew together its residents. The plain, which is 3,480 feet above the level of the sea, has open com- munications to the north, south, and west by well-traversed di- verging lines ; and its favorable position as a safe centre for commercial operations has gradually made it the head-quarters of the Omani, or pure Arabs, who not only form establishments here, but in many instances remain personally in charge of their depots, while their factors and slaves travel about the country executing their commissions. There are several villages and settlements in the plain, but they are usually small. There are clusters of native hovels, here and there, each bearing the name of its chief : there is a little colony of Arab merchants, called Moreti, consisting of four large houses ; and in the midst there is the settlement of Kazeh, which is a scattered collection of six large hollow oblongs, with central courts, garden-plots, store- 252 BURTON AND SPEKE. rooms, and outhouses for the slaves. The Arabs who frequent the place are visitors — not colonists. They, therefore, do not increase in number or gather strength. They live comfortably, and their mode of life lias even an air of splendor when com- pared with the squalor by which they are surrounded. Their houses, though single-storied, are large, substantial, and capable of defence. Their gardens are extensive and well- cultivated. They receive regular supplies of merchandise, comforts, and luxuries from the coast. They are surrounded by concubines and slaves, whom they train to divers crafts and callings. Rich men have riding-asses from Zanzibar, and .even the poorest keep flocks and herds. Their houses have deep and shady verandas, where there is a broad bench of raised earth-work, which the men use for the enjoyment of the coolness of the morning, and the serenity of the evening — where also they pray, converse, and transact business. A portcullis lets down, composed of two massive planks, with chains as thick as the cable of a ship — a precaution rendered necessary by the pres- ence of wild slaves : this leads into the carzah, or vestibule. The only furniture is a pair of clay benches, extending along the right and left sides, with ornamental terminations. When visitors are expected, rich mats and rugs are spread over them. The rooms have neither doors nor windows, and are lighted by bulls’-cyes, which serve as loopholes in case of need. There are separate apartments for the harem ; and the slaves live in outhouses. From the 8th of November to the 14th of December, the party were delayed at Kazeh by illness and difficulties witli their attendants. Resuming their journey, they were charmed by the character of the country through which they passed. “ At the sunset hour the 4 Land of the Moon 9 is replete with en- joyment. At this time all is life. The vulture soars with silent flight high in the blue expanse ; the small birds preen themselves for the night, and sing their evening hymns ; the cattle and flocks frisk and gambol ; and the people busy them- selves with simple pleasures that end the day.” In a fortnight the travellers arrived at Mesne, the commer- cial centre of Western Ui^amwezi, and the capital of the coast Arabs, as Unyanyembe is of the Omani. It is a rather more important place than Kazeh and its surrounding hovels, and has an African bazaar, an open space between the houses, where bullocks are slaughtered daily, and a vegetable market. There is also a small amount of industry at Mesne, which con- sists of the manufacture of cloths, coarse mats, clay pipe-heads, BURTON AND SPEKE. 253 and ironmongery. But the morals of the people are very low, and at the end of twelve days the Englishmen were thankful to escape to the open country. They were delayed several days at Solola in order to replenish certain of their supplies. At this place, in consequence of the mutinous and disorderly conduct of the retinue, some of whom had entered into a conspiracy to prevent the expedition from embarking on the “ Sea of Ujiji,” to ascertain the limits of which was one of the main objects contemplated, the slaves who had been hired for six months were dismissed as a measure of precaution, and the expedition resumed its march without them on the 16th of January, 1858. At Kajjanjeri, another pestilential spot, Capt. Burton, who had been previously ill, was struck down by an attack of palsy and muscular contraction, which lasted for ten days and which left its traces on him for a year. Not long afterwards, Captain Speke, whose strength had been greatly reduced by fever, was assailed by inflammatory ophthalmia. The record of these ex- plorations bear many indications of personal suffering. But there was no help for it but to push on, well or ill. Beaching the banks of the Malagarazi river, at Ugaga, they were exposed to fresh extortions both on the part of the chief and of the ferrymen. But, having crossed the river, they entered the fifth and last region through which their journey was to lead them to Tanganyika Lake, or, as it is otherwise called, the Sea of Ujiji. Burton regards the Malagarazi River as the western boundary of Unyamwezi, though the nominal frontier had been crossed some days back. The name of Unyamwezi was first mentioned by the Portuguese navigators nearly three hundred years ago ; and there can be little doubt that Ptolemy’s “ Mountains of the Moon” referred to the range which bounds this central table- land on the east, and the highest peaks of which are Kenia and Kilimandiaro. In Burton’s description of the country he says: “The fourth division is a hilly table-land, extending from the western skirts of the desert Mgunda Mk’hali, in E. long. 33° 57', to the eastern banks of the Malagarazi River, in E. long. 31° 10'; it thus stretches diagonally over 155 rectilinear geographical miles. Bounded on the north by Usui and the Nyanza Lake, to the south-eastward by Ugala, south- ward by Ukiinbu, and south-westward by Uwende, it has a depth of from twenty-five to thirty marches. Native caravans, if lightly laden, can accomplish it in twenty-five days, includ- ing four halts. The maximum altitude observed was 4,050 feet, the minimum 2,850. This region contains the two great divisions of Unyamwezi and Uvinza.” 7 t 254 BURTON AND SPEKE. There is the evidence of barbarous tradition for a belief in the existence of Unyamwezi as a great empire united under a single despot. The elders declare that their patriarchal ances- tor became after death the first tree, and afforded shade to his children and descendents. According to the Arabs, the peo- ple still perform pilgrimage to a holy tree, and believe that the penalty of sacrilege in cutting off a twig would be visited by sudden and mysterious death. All agree in relating that dur- ing the olden time Unyamwezi was united under a single sov- ereign, whose tribe was the Wakalaganza, still inhabiting the western district, Usagozi. According to the people, whose greatest chronological measure is a masiJea , or rainy season, in the days of the grandfathers of their grandfathers, the last of the Wany am wezi emperors died. Ilis children and nobles divided and dismembered his dominions, further partitions ensued, and finally the old empire fell into the hands of a rabble of petty chiefs. Their wild computation would point to an epoch of 150 years ago — a date by no means improbable. “ The Land of the Moon, which is the garden of Central In- ter-tropical Africa, presents an aspect of peaceful rural beauty which soothes the eye like a medicine after the red glare of barren Ugogo, and the dark, monotonous verdure of the western provinces. The inhabitants are comparatively numerous in the villages, which rise at short intervals above their impervious walls of the lustrous green milk-bush, with its coral-shaped arms, variegating the well-hoed plains ; while in the pasture- lands frequent herds of many-colored cattle, plump, round- barrelled, and high-liumped, like the Indian breeds, and mingled flocks of goats and sheep dispersed over the landscape, suggest ideas of barbarous comfort and plenty. There are few scenes more soft and soothing than a view of Unyamwezi in the balmy evenings of spring. As the large yellow sun nears the horizon, a deep stillness falls upon earth : even the zephyr seems to lose the power of rustling the lightest leaf. The charm of the hour seems to affect even the unimaginative Africans, as they sit in the central spaces of their villages, or, 6trctehed under the forest-trees, gaze upon the glories around. “ The rainy monsoon is here ushered in, accompanied and terminated by storms of thunder and lightning, and occasional hail-falls. The blinding flashes of white, yellow, or rose-color play over the firmament uninterruptedly for hours, during which no darkness is visible. In the lighter storms thirty and thirty- five flashes may be counted in a minute : so vivid is the glare that it discloses the finest shades of color, and appears followed BURTON AND SPEKE. 255 by a thick and palpable gloom, such as would hang before a blind man’s eyes, while a deafening roar, simultaneously fol- lowing the flash, seems to travel, as it were, to and fro over- head. Several claps sometimes sound almost at the same mo- ment, and as if coming from different directions. The same storm will, after the most violent of its discharges, pass over, and be immediately followed by a second, showing the super- abundance of electricity" in the atmosphere. “ Travellers from Unyamwczi homeward returned often rep- resent that country to be the healthiest in Eastern and Central Africa : they quote, as a proof, the keenness of their appetites, and the quantity of food which they consume. The older resi- dents, however, modify their opinions : they declare that diges- tion does not wait upon appetite ; and that, as in Egypt, Maz- anderan, Malabar, and other hot-damp countries, no man long retains rude health. The sequels of their maladies are always severe ; few care to use remedies, deeming them inefficacious against morbific influences to them unknown ; convalescence is protracted, painful, and uncertain, and at length they are compelled to lead the lives of confirmed invalids. The gifts of the climate, lassitude and indolence, according to them, predis- pose to corpulence; and the regular warmth induces baldness, and thins the beard, thus assimilating strangers in body as in mind to the aborigines.” “The races requiring notice in this region are two, the ¥a- kimbu and the Wanyamwezi. “ The Wakimbu, who are emigrants into Unyamwezi, claim a noble origin, and derive themselves from the broad lands run- ning south of Unyanyembe as far westward as K’hokoro. About twenty 7 masika, wet monsoons, or years ago, according to themselves, they left Nguru, Usanga, and Usenga, in conse- quence of the repeated attacks of the Warori, and migrated to Kipiri, the district lying south of Tura; they have now ex- tended into Ngunda Mk’hali and Unyanyembe, where they hold the land by 7 permission of the Wanyamwezi. In these regions there are few obstacles to immigrants. They visit the sultan, make a small present, obtain permission to settle, and name the village after their own chief; but the original pro- prietors still maintain their rights to the soil. The Wakimbu build firmly stockaded villages, tend cattle, and cultivate sor- ghum and maize, millet and pulse, cucumbers and water- melons. Apparently they are poor, being generally clad in skins. They barter slaves and ivory in small quantities to the merchants, and some travel to the coast. They are considered 256 BURTON AND SPEKE. treacherous by their neighbors, and Mapokera, the sultan of Tura, is, according to the Arabs, prone to commit 4 avanies .’ They are known by a number of small lines formed by raising the skin with a needle, and opening it by points laterally be- tween the hair of the temples and the eyebrows. In appear- ance they are dark and uncomely : their arms are bows and arrows, spears, and knive3 stuck in the leathern waist-belt ; some wear necklaces of curiously plaited straw, others a strip of white cowskin bound around the brow — a truly savage and African decoration. Their language differs from Kinyam- wezi. “ The Wanyamwezi tribe, the proprietors of the soil, is the typical race in this portion of Central Africa: its compara- tive industry and commercial activity have secured to it a superiority over the other kindred races. The aspect of the Wanyamwezi is alone sufficient to disprove the existence of very elevated lands in this part of the African interior. They are usually of a dark sepia-brown, rarely colored like diluted Indian-ink, as are the Waliiao and slave races to the south, with negroid features markedly less Semitic than the people of the eastern coast. The effiuvium from their skins, especially' after exercise or excitement, marks their connection with the negro. The hair curls crisply, but it grows to the length of four or five inches before it splits ; it is usually twisted into many little ringlets or hanks; it hangs down like a fringe to the neck, and is combed off the forehead after the mauner of the ancient Egyptians and the modern Hottentots. 44 There are but few ceremonies among the Wanyaimvezi. A woman about to become a mother retires from the hut to the jungle, and after a few hours returns with a child wrapped in goat-skin upon her back, and probably carrying a load of firewood on her head. The medical treatment of the Arabs with salt and various astringents for forty days is here un- known. Twins are not common, as among the Kafir race, and one of the two is invariably put to death. The universal cus- tom among these tribes is for the mother to wrap a gourd or calabash in skins, to place it to sleep with and to feed it like the survivor. If the wife die without issue, the widower claims from her parents the sum paid to them upon marriage; if she leave a child, the property is preserved for it. When the father can afford it, a birth is celebrated by copious liba- tions of pouibe. Children are suckled till the end of the sec- ond year. Their only education is in the use of the bow and arrow ; after the fourth summer the boy begins to learn BURTON AND SPEKE. 257 archer}" with diminutive weapons, which are gradually increased in strength. Names are given without ceremony, arid, as in the countries to the eastward, many of the heathens have been called after their Arab visitors. Circumcision is not practised by this people. The children in Unvamwezi generally are the property, not of the uncle, but of the father, who can sell or slay them without blame ; in IJsukmna, or tlio northern lands, however, succession and inheritance are claimed by the nephews or sisters’ sons. The Wanyamwezi have adopted the curious practice of leaving property to their illegitimate chil- dren by slave-girls or concubines, to the exclusion of their issue by wives ; they justify it by the fact of the former re- quiring their assistance more than the latter, who have friends and relatives to aid them. As soon as the boy can walk he tends the flocks ; after the age of ten he drives the cattle to pasture, and, considering himself independent of his father, he plants a tobacco-plot, and aspires to build a hut for himself. There is not a boy 4 which cannot earn his own meat.’ 44 Another peculiarity of the Wanyamwezi is the position of the wahara, or unmarried girls. Until puberty they live in the father’s house ; after that period the spinsters of the village, who usually number from seven to a dozen, assemble together and build for themselves, at a distance from their homes, a hut where they can receive their friends without parental inter- ference. There is but one limit to community in single life ; if the inhara, or 4 maiden,’ be likely to become a mother, her 4 young man ’ must marry her, under pain of mulct; and if she die in childbirth, her father demands from her lover a large fine for having taken away his daughter’s life. Marriage takes place when the youth can afford to pay the price for a wife ; it varies, according to circumstances, from one to ten cows. 4k The habitations of the Eastern Wanyamwezi are the terribe, which in the west give way to the circular African hut ; among the poorer sub-tribes the dwelling is a mere stack of straw. The best tembe have large projecting eaves supported by uprights; cleanliness, however, can never be expected in them. Having no limestone, the people ornament the inner and outer walls with long lines of ovals formed by pressure of the finger-tips, after dipping them in ashes and water for whitewash, and into red clay or black mud for variety of color. With this primitive material they sometimes attempt rude imi- tations of nature — human beings and serpents. In some parts the cross appears, but the people apparently ignore it as a sym- 17 258 BURTON AND SPEKE. bol. Rude carving is also attempted upon the massive posts at the entrance of villages, but the figures, though to appear- ance idolatrous, are never worshipped.” The Wanyamwezi have won for themselves a reputation by their commercial industry. Encouraged by the merchants, they are the only professional porters of East Africa ; and even among them the Waklaganza, Wasumbwa, and "YVasnku- ina, are the only tribes who regularly visit the coast in this capacity. They are now no longer “ honest and civil to strangers ; ” semi-civilization has hitherto tended to degrada- tion. They seem to have learned but little by their intercourse with the Arabs. Commerce with them is still in its infancy. They have no idea of credit, although in Karagwah and the northern kingdoms payment may be delayed for a period of two years. They cannot, like some of their neighbors, bar- gain : a man names the article which he requires, and if it be not forthcoming, he will take no other. The march from the Malagarazi River to the Lake was the worst of all. It led them through a wilderness of jungle, swamps, rocky ravines swept by torrents, and over rugged hills. But, with careful management of their own resources, and oc- casional help from passing caravans, they at last came in sight of the sea, which had been the object of all their toils. Bur- ton says : “ On the 13th of February we resumed our travels through screens of lofty grass, which thinned out into a straggling for- est. After about an hour’s march, as we entered a small savannah, I saw the fundi running forward and changing the direction of the caravan. Without supposing that he had taken upon himself this responsibility, I followed him. Pres- ently he breasted a steep and stony hill, sparsely clad witli thorny trees. Arrived with toil, for our fagged beasts now refused to proceed, we halted for a few minutes upon the sum- mit. 4 What is that streak of light which lies below?’ I inquired of Seedy Bombay. ‘ I am of opinion,’ quoth Bom- bay, • that that is the water.’ I gazed in dismay ; the remains of my blindness, the veil of trees, and a broad ray of sunshine illuminating but one reach of the lake bend, shrunk its fair proportions. Somewhat prematurely, I began to lament my folly in having risked life and lost breath for so poor a prize, to curse Arab exaggeration, and to propose an immediate return, with the view of exploring Nyanza, a northern lake. Advancing, however, a few yards, the whole scene burst upon my view, tilling me with admiration, wonder, and delight.” BURTON AND SPEKE. 259 “Nothing,” lie adds, “ could be more picturesque than this' first view of the Tanganyika Lake, as it lay in the lap of the moun- tains, basking in the gorgeous tropical sunshine. Below and beyond a short foreground of rugged and precipitous hill-fold, down which the footpath zigzags painfully, a narrow strip of emerald green, never sere, and marvellously fertile, shelves toward a ribbon of glistening yellow sand, here bordered by sedgy rushes, there cleanly and clearly cut by the breaking wavelets. Farther in front stretch the waters — an expanse of the lightest and softest blue — in breadth varying from thirty to thirty -five miles, and sprinkled by the crisp cast wind with tiny crescents of snowy foam. The background in front is a high and broken wall of steel-colored mountain, here flecked and capped with pearly mist, there standing sharply pencilled against the azure air; its yawning chasms, marked by a deeper plum-color, fall toward dwarf hills of mound-like proportions, which apparently dip their feet in the wave. To the south, and opposite the long low point behind which the Malagarazi Biver discharges the red loam suspended in its violent stream, lie the bluff headlands and capes of Uguhha, and, as the eye dilates, it falls upon a cluster of outlying islets speckling a sea- horizon. Villages, cultivated lands, the frequent canoes of the fishermen on the waters, and, on a nearer approach, the mur- murs of the waves breaking upon the shore, give a something of variety, of movement, of life to the landscape, which, like all the fairest prospects in these regions, wants but a little of the neatness and finish of art — mosques and kiosks, palaces and villas, gardens and orchards — contrasting with the profuse lavishness and magnificence of nature, and diversifying the unbroken coup d'ceil of excessive vegetation, to rival, if not to excel, the most admired scenery of the classic regions, the riant shores of this vast crevasse appeared doubly beautiful to me after the silent and spectral mangrove-creeks on the East Afri- can sea-board, and the melancholy, monotonous experience of desert and jungle scenery, tawny rock and sun-parched plain, or rank herbage and flats of black mire. Truly it was a revel for soul and sight.” The fundi alluded to in the passage above quoted was the steward, or laitor , of an Arab who had a residence at Uka- ranga, the spot on the border of the lake to which, for his own purposes, he had directed the route of the caravan. II is sub- sequent attempts at imposition were frustrated by the prompti- tude of the travellers, who proceeded at once to Kawele, which may be considered as the port of Ujiji — a small ragged 260 BURTON AND SPEKE. place, a little to the north of Ukaranga. Here they sat clown to contemplate the object of the expedition, and the means by which it could be accomplished. The lake or sea was before them. Lodged in a tolerably cool and comfortable house, or hut, their first care was to put it into condition for a lengthy residence, by fumigating the floors and walls and preparing the roof against the rainy season; and the next step was to procure some proper description of craft for navigating the lake. In the former they succeeded moderately; but in the latter they altogether failed. They had heard of a river which had its source in the lake, issuing from it towards the north. One Arab declared that he had seen the place, and that, although he had been attacked by many canoes, he had gone far enough to feel the influence of the river draining the lake : and another affirmed that he also had seen the stream. Standiug on the margin of the water, the adventurers gazed with longing eyes in the direction of the supposed river, and only wanted a vessel to convey them thither; but that they could not obtain. The case was apparently hopeless on ac- count of the extortions attempted, and the difficulties put in the way by the coast people. It was also reported that the war- like tribes living to the north would not permit any strangers to pass beyond a certain limit even for the purposes of trading. But the travellers would not be discouraged, and re- solved to persevere. Since, therefore, they could find no vessel at Kawele, Captain Speke went in a canoe, with a crew of twenty men, to Ukaranga, for the purpose of hiring a dhow from the Arab merchant there, he being the owner of the only sailing craft on the lake large enough for the purposes of the expedition. Twenty-seven days elapsed before he returned. Meanwhile Burton 'had a weary time of it, watching the day- light come and go, and literally unable to do anything. His chief hardship appears to have been the difficulty he experi- enced in procuring game and butcher’s meat; but as he had an ample supply of fish of various kinds, and abundance of poultry and vegetables, his w r as not a case of despair. Cap- tain Speke at last returned, but without the dhow. The Arab had detained him from day to day by means of frivolous ex- cuses, and finally promised to let him have it at the end of three months. At length an arrangement was made with the head man at Kawele, for an exorbitant sum, to provide tw T o canoes, the one sixty feet by four, and the other about two-thirds of that size ; and in these utterly inadequate boats the expedition essayed to 201 BURTON AND SPEKE. navigate the waters of Lake Tanganyika. Most readers are aware that the African canoe is simply a scooped tree. In sneli a climate it cracks, and, for want of caulking, becomes so extremely leaky that the process of baling is uninterrupted I, the crew regularly taking it in turn. .There are lieithei masts nor sails ; an iron ring in the stern serves for a rudder, but the steering is really done by the paddle. There arc no oais, and the paddle which is substituted for the oar is the perfection of clumsiness. The crew sit on narrow benches, two together in a space hardly large enough for one. There is a clear space in the centre, about six feet long, and there are stored cargo, passengers, cattle, slaves, and provisions. There also the bal- ],ie- lieve is not a salt but a fresh water lake ; and my reasons arc that the natives call all lakes salt, if they find salt beds or salt islands in such places. Dr. Krapf, when he obtained a sight of the Keuia Mountains, heard from the natives that there was a salt lake to its northward, and he also heard that a river ran from Kenia towards the Nile. If his information was true on this latter point, then, without doubt, there must exist some connection between this river and the salt lake I have heard of, and this in all probability would also establish a connection be- tween my salt lake and his salt lake, which lie heard was called Baringo. In no view that can be taken of it, however, does this unsettled matter touch the established fact that the head of the Nile is in three degrees south latitude, where, in the year 1858, 1 discovered the head of the Victoria N’Yanza to be. I now christened the ‘stones ’ Ripon Falls, after the noble- man who presided over the Royal Geographical Society when my expedition was got up ; and the area of water from which the Nile issued, Napoleon Channel, in token of respect to the French Geographical Society, for the honor they had done me just before leaving England, in presenting me with their gold medal for discovering the Victoria Nyanza.” The lake he found to be 3,750 feet above the level of the sea, or upwards of 1,900 feet above the altitude of Lake Tangauzika, with which, therefore, there can be no connection. Returning to the point at which he had first struck the Nile, Speke and his party descended the river in five boats of five planks each, tied together and caulked with mbugn rags, llis destination was the palace of Kamrasi, king of Unyoro. No one knew how many days would be required to reach it ; for the crew were neither expert nor diligent in the use of the paddles by which the boats were propelled. The river was at once river and lake— clear in the centre, and fringed gener- ally with tall rush, above which the green banks lose gently into land which looked like a cultivated park. After several days’ voyaging, the hostility of the natives compelled Speke to leave the river and join Grant ; and together they marched on toward the palace, which was reached September 4th. They found it to be one large, dumpy hut, surrounded by many smaller ones, and “ the worst royal residence since leaving Uzinza.” The guests, though invited to the palace, were placed in dirty little huts far removed from it ; and the king being constantly drunk, it was several days before they could get their quarters changed. On the 14tii Speke had an interview SPEKE AND GRANT, 289 with his majesty, who almost immediately asked for a many- hladed knife which his officers had seen in the hands of Cap- tain Grant. Next day the king again alluded to the knife, and said lie did not intend to keep it if it had not been brought for him, but wished merely to look at it and would return it again. Only a few days more, and he wished to have a chronometer, worth $250, which was sure to be spoiled in his bands in a sin- gle day. As this was the only chronometer Speke had with him, he requested the king to wait until he had procured an- other. But no ; he must have it then and there. Speke placed it on the ground, saying, “ The instrument is yours, but I must keep it till another one comes.” “ No,” said the king, “ I must have it now, and will send it to you three times a day that you may look at it.” The watch went, gold chain and all. The rapacious rogue then asked Speke if lie could make up another “ magic horse,” as lie called the chronometer, for lie hoped that by this piece of extortion he had deprived the explorers of the power or travelling. When he was told that it would take 500 cows to purchase another, the whole court was more con- firmed than ever in their belief in its magical power ; for who in his senses would give 500 cows “ for the mere gratification of seeing at what time his dinner should be eaten ? ” A month had elapsed before they could induce Kanorasi to furnish them with guides through the next district ; and it was not until the 9th of November that they were once more on the way. During the first eight days they floated slowly down the Nile, which at first resembled a long lake, averaging from two hundred to one thousand feet in breadth. Both sides of the stream were fringed with the huge papyrus rush. The left one was low and swampy ; while the other rose in a gently sloping bank, covered with trees and beautiful festoons of convolvuli. There were also floating islands, continually in motion, with a growth upon them of rush, grass, and ferns. These islands were slowly working their way downwards, thus proving that the river was in full flood. Just before reaching the Karuma Falls, they once more took to the laud, and marched northwards through the wilderness of Kidi and the country of the Madi. On the 3d of December they reached Faloro, near which they fell in with a Turkish expedition in search of ivory ; and on the 13th of January, 1863, arrived at Paira, a collection of villages in sight of the Nile. Still pressing onward, on the 15th of February they inarched into Gondokoro, the most northerly station on the White Nile, where Speke had the pleasant surprise of meeting 290 SPEKE AND GRANT. liis old friend Baker, who told him that he had come np with three vessels fully equipped with armed men, camels, horses, donkeys, beads, brass wire, and everything necessary for a long journey, expressly in aid of the explorers. The long exploration which had been carried forward through so much difficulty and discouragement, was now substantially finished; but Speke closes his journal with the following inter- esting particulars concerning the Nile and its various affluents : “ the first affluent, the Bahr-el-Ghazal, took us by surprise; for instead of finding a large lake, as described in our maps, at an elbow of the Nile, we found only a small piece of water resembling a duck-pond, buried in a sea of rushes. The old Nile swept through it with majestic grace, and carried us next to the Geraffe branch of the Sobat Biver, the second afflu- ent, which we found flowing into the Nile with a graceful semi- circular sweep and good stiff current, apparently deep, but not more than fifty yards broad. “ Next in order came the main stream of the Sobat, flowing into the Nile in the same graceful way as the Geraffe, which in breadth it surpassed, but in velocity of current was inferior. The Nile by these additions was greatly increased ; still it did not assume that noble appearance which astonished us so much, immediately after the rainy season, when we were navigating it in canoes in Unyoro. “Next to be treated of is the famous Blue Nile, which we found a miserable river, even when compared with the Geraffe branch of the Sobat. It is very broad at the mouth, it is true, but so shallow that our vessel with difficulty was able to come up it. It had all the appearance of a mountain stream, subject to great periodical fluctuations. I was never more disap- pointed than with this river. If the White Biver was cut off from it, its waters would all be absorbed before they could reach Lower Egypt. “ The Atbara Biver, which is the last affluent, was more like the Blue Biver than any of the other affluents, being decidedly a mountain stream, which floods in the rains, but runs nearly dry in the dry season. “ I had now seen quite enough to satisfy myself that the White Biver, which issues from the N’Yanza at the Bipon Falls, is the true or parent Nile ; for in every instance of its branching, it carried the palm with it in the distinctest man- ner, viewed, as all the streams were by me, in the dry season, which is the best time for estimating their relative perennial values. SPEKE AND GRANT. 291 “ Since returning to England, Dr. Murie, who was with me at Gondokoro, has also come home; and he, judging from mv account of the way in which we got ahead or the flooding of the Nile between the Karuma Falls and Gondokoro, is of opin- ion that the Little Lnta N’Zige, must be a great backwater to the Nile, which the waters of the Nile must have been occupied in filling during my residence in Madi ; and then about the same time that I set out from Madi, the Little Luta N’Zige, having been overcharged with water, the surplus began its march northwards, just about the same time when we stalled in the same direction. For myself, I believe in this opinion, as he no sooner asked me how 1 could account for the phenom- enon I have already mentioned of the river appearing to de- crease in bulk as we descended it, than I instinctively advanced his own theory. Moreover, the same hypothesis will answer for the sluggish flooding of the Nile down to Egypt.” Both Speke and Grant on their return to England were re- ceived with distinguished honors. Sir Roderick Murchison, in presenting them to the Royal Geographical Society, spoke in enthusiastic terms of the important results of their expedition. The gold medal of the society was awarded to the discoverers, and the queen congratulated the society on the success of an enterprise aided in part by government funds. The king of Italy also forwarded gold medals; and Lord Palmerston, in the House of Commons, added his tribute to the discoverers of the source of the Nile. The deaths of great discoverers, however, are not always proportioned to their lives. Bruce, as we have seen, died in consequence of a fall downstairs, and Mungo Park was miserably drowned. While still in the first flush of his great success, Captain Speke went out for a day’s field-sport, and accidentally shot himself on 1 he 21st of September, 1864, not long after having published his journals. CHAPTER XIV. SIR SAMUEL BARER. It has already been mentioned in the previous chapter, that one of the first persons met by Speke on his arrival at Gondo- koro, was Mr. Samuel White Baker, who told him that he had organized an expedition, and come thus far for the especial pur- pose of searching for him and Grant — if they had been success- ful, to assist them in reaching home ; if they were dead, to as- certain their fate ; and if they had only in part accomplished their purpose, to complete, if possible their discoveries. Baker was an old friend of Speke’s ; like the latter, had been a great sportsman ; and again, like his friend, was a man of noble am> bition. He had become inured to a tropical climate by a resi- dence of eight years in Ceylon; was familiar with danger in all the many forms in which it presents itself in savage coun- tries ; and was the very man to undertake a hazardous enter- prise. Speke left Zanzibar, as we have seen, in September, 1860 ; in April, 1861, six months afterwards, Baker left Cairo, having organized a large and costly expedition of his own. Warned by the experience of his predecessors of the dangers resulting from divided counsels, he determined that there should be no one to consult ; and therefore f urnished the ex- pedition entirely at his own expense, — being amenable to no one if it should fail, and not disposed to share the credit with another if it should succeed. Ilis arrangements were admi- rable ; he provided everything but honest men ; these were beyond his reach. He was accompanied by his wife, a Swedish lady whom he had met and married at Cairo, and who insisted upon sharing with him the perils of the unknown interior. She was very young, scarcely more than a girl in fact ; but she was possessed of a courage greater than that of most men, with a clear head, and a decision which in cases of sudden emergency, could quickly manifest itself in action. The part taken by this lady in the work of the expedition is greatly to her honor. Before the expedition had gone further than Berber, in Ethio- pia, Baker felt convinced that success in his White Nile explor- SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 293 ation would be impossible without a knowledge of Arabia, as lie w r as completely at the mercy of his interpreter. He re- solved, therefore, to postpone the main object of his journey until he had mastered the Arabic language ; and, accordingly, he spent a whole year in examining the Atbara and the Blue Nile, the two great affluents of the White Nile, which, though the former is often perfectly dry for months, and the latter also for part of the year quite insignificant, pour such vast volumes into the main stream in June, that they cause the an- nual inundation in Lower Egypt. He explored the Atbara and its affluents to their sources in the mountains of Abyssinia; crossed over to the Blue Nile, which he descended in boats ; and on the lltli of June, 1862, having in the meanwhile ac- quired a satisfactory knowledge of Arabic, found himself in Khartoom, ready to prosecute his White Nile scheme. At Khartoom he encountered difficulties at every turn, all parties being utterly hostile to him, as a spy who would pry into the iniquitous dealings of the merchant companies whose depot and base it is ; but in spite of all obstacles, he collected ninety -six followers of dubious character, and chartered three Nile boats. Having made preparations on the most liberal scale, not only for his own party, but for the relief of Speke’s, he left Khartoom for Gondokoro, on the 18th of December, lie was opposed in every way up to the very last, and his final act at Khartoom was what he calls a “ physical explanation ” with the Reis of the Government boat, which purposely ran into him at starting. He took with him, besides his servants and soldiers, twenty-one donkeys, four camels, and four horses, that he might be less dependent upon native porters, who are so hard to obtain without the assistance of the ivory merchants and slave-dealers. He had given his personal superintendence to pack-saddles, forage, and general equipage, so that when lie arrived at Gondokoro, after a voyage up the White Nile of about six weeks, his animals were all in good condition. Baker remained at Gondokoro from the 3d of February till the 20th of March, distrusted and treated as a spy. On the 15th of February, twelve days after his arrival, occurred his memorable meeting with Speke and Grant, of which he gives an animated account. “ When I first met them,” he writes, “ they were walking along the bank of the river towards my boats. At a distance of about a hundred yards I recognized my old friend Speke, and with a heart beating with joy 1 took off my cap and gave a welcome hurrah ! as I ran towards him. For the moment he did not recognize me ; ten years’ growth SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 29 i of beard and moustache had worked a change; and as I was totally unexpected, my sudden appearance in the centre of Africa appeared to him incredible. I hardly required an in- troduction to his companion, as we felt already acquainted, and after the transports of this happy meeting we walked to- gether to m3 7 diahbiah, m} r men surrounding 11s with smoke and noise by keeping up an unremitting fire of musketry the whole way. We were shortly seated on deck under the own- ing, and such rough fare as could be hastily prepared was set before these two ragged, careworn specimens of African travel, whom I looked upon with feelings of pride as my own country- men. As a good ship arrives in harbor, battered and torn by a long and stormy voyage, yet sound in her frame and sea- worthy to the last, so both these gallant travellers arrived at Gondokoro. Speke appeared the more worn of the two ; he was excessively lean, but in reality he was in good tough con- dition ; he had walked the whole way from Zanzibar, never having once ridden during that wearying march. Grant was in honorable rags ; his bare knees projecting through the rem- nants of trowsers that were an exhibition of rough industry in tailor’s work. He was looking tired and feverish ; but both men had a fire in the eye that showed the spirit that had led them through.” On first meeting Speke and Grant, and learning their convic- tion that they had accomplished the discovery of the Nile source, Baker felt that nothing remained for him to do but to disband the expedition whose preparation had cost him so much time, labor, and money. But Speke soon showed him a map of his route, and pointed out that he had been unable to complete the actual exploration of the Nile, and that a most important portion still remained to be determined. “It ap- peared that in N. lat. 2° 17', Speke and Grant had crossed the Nile, which they had tracked from the Victoria Lake; but the river, which from its exit from that lake had a northern course, turned suddenly to the west from Karutna Falls (the point at which they had crossed it at lat. 2° 17'). They did not see the Nile again until they arrived in N. lat. 3° 32', which was then flowing from the W.S.W. The natives and the King of Unyoro (Kamrasi) had assured them that the Nile from the Victoria Nyanza, which they had crossed at Karuma, flowed westward for several days’ journey, and at length fell into a large lake called the Luta Nzigc ; that this lake came from the south, and that the Nile on entering the northern extremity almost immediately made its exit, and as a navigable river SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 205 continues its course to the north, through the Koslii and Madi countries. Both Speke and Grant attached great importance to tiiis lake Luta Nzige, and the former was much annoyed that it had been impossible for them to carry out tin) exploration, lie foresaw that stay-at-home geographers, who, with a com- fortable arm-chair to sit in, travel so easity with their fingers on a map, would ask him why he had not gone from such a place to such a place ? why he had not followed the Nile to the Luta Nzige lake, and from the lake to Gondokoro? As it happened, it was impossible for Speke and Grant to follow the Nile from Karuma : — the tribes were fighting with Kamrasi, and no strangers could have got through the country. Accord- ingly they procured their information most carefully, completed their map, and laid down the reported lake in its supposed position, showing the Nile as both influent and effluent precisely as had been explained by the natives. “ Speke expressed his conviction that the Luta Nzige must be a second source of the Nile, and that geographers would be dissatisfied that he had not explored it. To me this was most gratifying. I had been much disheartened at the idea that the great work was accomplished, and that nothing remained for exploration ; I even said to Speke , 4 Does not one leaf of the laurel remain for me?’ I now heard that the field was not only open, but that an additional interest was given to the ex- ploration by the proof that the Nile flowed out of one great lake, the Victoria; but that it evidently must derive an addi- tional supply from an unknown lake as it entered it at the northern extremity, while the body of the lake came from the south. The fact of a great body of water such as the Luta Nzige extending in a direct line from south to north, while the general system of drainage of the Nile was from the same di- rection, showed most conclusively, that the Luta Nzige, if it existed in the form assumed, must have an important position in the basin of the Nile.” Here then was work worthy of his ambition, and as the first step towards its accomplishment he determined to accompany Debono’s party (which had brought down Speke and Grant) back to Faloro, and as much further as they could be induced to go. To this end he concluded an engagement with Moham- med, the leader of the party, which seemed to promise most favorably ; but he soon discovered that it was a ruse on the part of the Gondokoro traders, who had resolved to defeat his expedition at all hazards. The traders entered into a regular conspiracy against Baker, circulating the most damaging re- 206 SIR SAMUEL BAKER. ports concerning liim amongst his own men, who actually agreed to mutiny, and if interfered with to kill him. Fortu- nately this plot was revealed to him in time; he discharged mo§t of his escort on the spot, — but that same day had the mortification of seeing Mohammed’s party leave for Faloro, and of receiving word that if he followed on their road they would fire upon him. There was just one trader in Gondokoro who seemed friendly to Baker, — a Circassian named Koorshid. Just when Baker had seen all his expedients for getting forward fail, and was beginning to feel convinced that his chances were hopeless, a party of Koorshid’s people arrived with ivory from the La- tooka county, an unexplored district lying some seventy or eighty miles eastward from Gondokoro. Several of the Latooka people came with them ; they visited Baker, gave him many particulars concerning their country, and begged him to visit it. He resolved to accept the invitation, and Koorshid favored his design ; but Ibrahim, the Arab-Turk who commanded the party, and all his men, fearing that he would expose the hor- rible cruelties of their slave-traffic, declared that they would prevent him from accompanying them, and on marching off sent a messenger to Baker daring him to follow. The circum- stances were desperate and discouraging ; but by threats and persuasions Baker prevailed on seventeen of the men whom he had previously enlisted at great expense to proceed with him. They were the worst of the lot, and he was perfectly aware that they would embrace the first opportunity to desert, or even to murder him ; but he was prepared, as he thought, for the emergency. Between Gondokoro and the country of the Latookas there is a district called Ellvria, where the road to Latooka leads through a narrow defile in the mountains, in which Baker’s small party could easily be destroyed. Baker started after Ibrahim with the intention of passing him in the night, outmarching him, arriving first in Ellyria and se- curing" the good-will of the natives by kindness and presents before Ibrahim should have time to poison their minds against him and thus prevent the passage of the mountains. The scheme was good enough, but it failed. These trading-parties when outward bound generally travel light. Ibrahim had but little to carry, lie went to steal cattle from one trilie and ex- change them for ivory and slaves with another. Baker in- tended to pay his way like a gentleman ; and therefore, wliile he was toiling on with liis heavily-laden camels and donkeys, the thief won the race and was first at Ellyria. ELEPHANT ATTACKED BY SWORDS -MEN. SIR SAMUEL BAKER . 297 Baker and his wife, far in advance of their party and con- gratulating themselves on the success of their plan, had entered the mountain -pass, dismounted from their horses, and were talking together under a tree near the path, when they heard the approach of a party which they supposed to be their own ; but it was that of the Turks, who defiled past them without salaaming, and with an expression of studied insolence upon their countenances. The last man of the long cavalcade was Ibrahim himself. Baker sat there, looking at that beautiful, cruel Arab-Turk face, with the wicked dark eyes, which would not catch his own. The opportunity was being quickly lost. Mrs. Baker urged her husband to speak, but he would not, and she spoke herself; he was already almost beyond earshot, when she called Ibrahim by name. The ice was broken ; and a louder challenge from Mr. Baker brought the man to their side. They were friends. The lady’s voice had brought these two antagonistic spirits into amicable intercourse, and so had saved the expedition. Not that there was much show of affection at ffrst,. Baker told Ibrahim that if anything happened to him (Baker) he (Ibrahim) was sure to be hung, arid Mrs. Baker fol- lowed in a milder strain. They concluded a truce, Baker promising ivory and Ibrahim pledging friendship, but warning the Englishman not to come near his men for the present. From this moment Ibrahim was at Mr. Baker’s call. The in- fluence of the stronger mind over the weaker was gradual in its growth, but that growth was sure and steady. In the end it was almost absolute. Another great difficulty soon occurred. Ibrahim had a little girl with him, and Mrs. Baker had so won upon him by her kind- ness to his child, that he confided to the travellers the infor- mation that their men intended to desert them when they came to Latome. Accordingly, when they reached that village, they found that their men were already mixed with those of Mo- hammed, who was there. Baker therefore determined that he should not remain, but would start next day with Ibrahim. It was a riotous, anxious night. At half-past five in the morning Ibrahim’s party beat drum and prepared to start, and Mr. Ba- ker gave orders to rise and follow : but not a man moved ; on repeating the order, a few rose and rested on their guns. The arch-rebel, Bellaal, was standing near Mr. Baker, leaning on his gun, and eyeing him with the most determined insolence. Baker pretended not to notice him, and gave the order the third time. The man marched straight up to him, and, strik- ing his gun on the ground, declared that “ not a man should 298 SIR SAMUEL RAKER move,” and refused to load the camels. For reply, Baker struck him a blow on the jaw, which sent the miscreant’s gun flying into the air, while the offender himself staggered and fell in- sensible. Rushing in, single-handed, among the others, he seized some of them by the throat, and brought them one by one to the camels. The Yakeel, or head man of the party, who had thought it as well to be accidentally absent, now appeared, and things were righted once more. The country along which they now passed was most beauti- ful. Jungles and trees alternated with plains, and mountains rose all around them to the height of from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Their own party having been brought into subjection, the two travellers by themselves hastened to overtake Ibrahim. As they approached a village, one of the native porters in Ibra- him’s caravan threw down his load and ran. He would cer- tainly have been shot if Baker had not at once ridden after him and kept between the guns and the runaway, thus run- ning the risk of the latter’s turning upon him and killing him with his spear. But the poor fellow threw away his spear, while he quickened his speed. At length Baker closed upon him and made signs for him to catch his horse’s mane, which in his terror he did, and returned to the party. Baker claimed him as his property, that he might protect him, and would not allow the Turks either to shoot him or flog him, and going to Ibrahim, procured his pardon, thus gaining the admiration of the Turks for his gallantry, and the love of the natives for his humanity. When his own party came up, he found that three men, including Bellaal, had deserted and joined Mo- hammed. “ Inshallah,” lie exclaimed, “ the vultures shall pick their bones I ” The words produced a great effect, at the time, on those who heard them ; and a still deeper one when they were afterwards terribly fulfilled. The next stoppage was at Tarrangolle, the chief town of La- tooka, thirteen miles beyond LatormL Baker declares the La- tookas to be the finest, savages he ever saw. They are nearly six feet high, with fine foreheads, good features, and handsome bodies. In manners, they are frank, naive, good-humored, and polite ; and arc thus in utter contrast with the tribes which surround them. They seem to be of a Galla or Abyssinian- Asiatic origin. The head-dress of the men is very remarkable — their coiffure taking from eight to ten years to bring it to perfection. The hair is at first “ felted ” with fine twine ; as the fresh hair grows through this, the twine process is repeated, until at last a compact substance is formed, au inch aud a half A LION HUNT. SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 299 thick, trained into the form of a helmet, with a frontlet and crest of copper. Of course, they never disturb this, and it lasts them their lifetime. They ornament it with beads, cowries, os- trich feathers, and other decorations, but have not a particle of clothing of any kind upon their bodies. Tarrangolle (120 miles N. E. of Debono’s station at Faloro, where Speke met Mohammed) contains about 3,000 houses. It is strongly fortiiicd by palisades, with low entrances at inter- vals, these being closed at night with thorn-bushes. The main street is broad, but all the others are so narrow as to admit only one cow at a time. These narrow lanes lead to the kraals in various parts of the town in which the cattle, their only wealth, are housed ; and, in consequence of the narrowness of the approaches, they are easily defended, a matter of moment in a country where cattle-stealing is prevalent. The houses for the people are of conical shape, and, as is almost univer- sally the case in Africa, are without windows. On ap- proaching every town since Latome, it has been observed that, near it, was invariably a vast heap of human remains, mixed with fragments of pottery. These have their origin in the pe- culiar funeral rites of the Latookas. When a man dies a natu- ral death, he is buried close to his own door, and there are fu- neral dances in his honor for several weeks ; at the end of that time they dig him up, and having cleaned the bones, put them in an earthen jar and carry them out of the town — and there they remain. At this town Baker pitched his tent, and remained for some time, lie won the confidence of the king by presents, and his majesty became extremely friendly. The men in this district have just as many wives as they can keep, and there is no other restriction. But their domestic affections are weak. They will not fight for their wives and children, but will for their cattle. An illustration of this fact was given not long after the arrival of the party. .Ibrahim and his men had reconnoi- tred a village in the hills, with a view to attacking it, and seiz- ing its inhabitants for slaves ; but they found it too strong for them. It was reported in a few days that the party of Mo- hammed had attacked it and utterly destroyed it. lie had sent against it one hundred and ten armed men and three hundred natives, and they had burnt it and carried off a great number of slaves. They were in safe retreat when a native promised to guide them to the cattle-kraals, and they returned. But now that their beasts were in danger, the Latookas, who had al- lowed their wives and children to be led away to slavery, 300 SIR SAMUEL BAKER. turned upon the aggressors, and with one fierce charge routed them, and drove them down the glen. Behind every rock there was an armed man, stones were showered on the attack- ing-party, retreat became flight, until, mistaking their way, they came to a precipice five hundred feet high, over which they were driven by the Latookas to their destruction. Mo- hammed himself had not been with the party ; and Bellaal, the deserter from Mr. Baker, had, luckily for him, not yet re- covered from the effects of his former master’s blow, aud so had remained in camp ; but several of the other fugitives had perished with their new comrades. “ Where,” Baker asked on hearing of its catastrophe, “ are the men who deserted from me ? ” Ilis men were al most green with awe as they brought to him two of his own guns, stained with blood, which had been picked up on the scene of the fight. Observing the numbers on the guns, he repeated aloud the names of the dead men who had carried them, and added, “ All dead ! Food for vultures I ” His influence after this was almost unbounded. The poor, su- perstitious men believed that he had caused the disaster, and when he was casually going through the camp would quietly say, “ My God-master,” to which he would reply, “ There is a God.” From that moment he observed an extraordinary change in the manner of both liis own people, and those of Ibrahim, all of whom now treated him with the greatest respect. But while Baker was gaining influence among the Turks, the whole body of the Turks had completely lost prestige among the Latookas in consequence of the defeat of Mo- hammed. This was to be regretted, inasmuch as it had be- come necessary for Ibrahim to return to Gondokoro with a very large detachment, for the purpose of obtaining ammuni- tion. There were but thirty-live men of his party left behind. These were cantoned among the natives, being entirely at their mercy, and yet they treated their hosts with stupid brutality. It was not possible that such a state of things could continue. Ba- ker saw this very plainly, and his suspicions that an attack was meditated were soon confirmed by the removal from the town of all the women and children. He sent at once for Com- moro, the more influential of the two chiefs of the Latookas, and desired to be informed of his intentions. The chief de- scribed very fairly the state of exasperation into which his peo- ple had been worked, and stated the great difficulty there would be in preventing an attack, in which case Baker’s inno- cent party would be confounded with Ibrahim’s ruffians. At nine o’clock, the deadly stillness of the tropical night was bro- SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 301 ken by three loud booms from the great war-drum of the La- tookas, and the call to war was answered from every point of the compass. The country was aroused. But the Latookas had to deal with a vigilant foe. The first sounds of the African drum had scarcely died away, ere they were answered by a furious and defiant rattle from that of the Turks. In less than five minutes the two parties had amalgamated under the leadership of Mr. Baker, while Mrs. Baker, to whose share fell the order- ing of the magazine, had her hundreds of rounds of cartridges laid in order, and her boxes of percussion-caps open. Baker’s quarters were in the very stronghold which the natives had constructed for the defence of the town, and therefore he was not by any means anxious as to the result. But the natives, finding the parties prepared, did not attack, and, after three hours of drumming and counter-drumming, Commoro ap- peared, and all ended without bloodshed, — Baker threatening to burn the place over the people’s heads if they beat their note of war again. Quiet having been thus established, Baker by and by moved out of the town and entrenched himself on the plains. As his detention here was likely to be for some time, he made prepa- rations for relieving its wearisomeness by the help of a garden, lie was here many months, and spent his time in observing the manners of the people, and in writing down his opinions about them, those opinions being very unfavorable. A break in the monotony of his life occurred on the 2d of May, 1863, at which date he started on a visit to a friendly tribe at a place called Obbo, the people of which had sent him presents and encouraged intercourse. The journey was south- west. Crossing the valley of Latooka, the party arrived at the first ridge ; and having succeeded in getting across all their donkeys except one, they forded the River Ivanieti, and, after sleeping out in a soaking rain, began the main ascent of the mountains, which they found to be extremely difficult. At the summit, they found themselves on a plateau about four thou- sand feet above the level of the sea, and there they found the highland town of Obbo (lat. 4° N.). The country was very beautiful. Bold granite peaks, five thousand feet in height, towered on all sides above the wooded valleys, which were narrowed by the advancing spurs of the mountains, each of which had its village crowning its summit, one thousand eight hundred feet above the heads of the travellers. The pure air was delicious ; and there was a profusion of beautiful and sweet-scented flowers all around. Wild plums and custard 302 SIR SAMUEL BAKER. The flow of the streams was to the north-west, and directly into the Nile, which was about thirty miles distant. The people arc different in language and appearance from those of Latooka. They dress their hair in the form of a beaver’s tail, and not in the helmet form of the latter. Their noses are higher, and they wear some small amount of clothing, KATCHIBA AND DIS HEBE ON A JOURNEY. although even with them the covering is very scanty. They are courteous in their manners, and never ask for presents. They are ruled by a sorcerer named Katchiba, who is a most peculiar old man, and from whom the travellers obtained much informa- tion about the country. He lias a different seraglio at every village, in order that his wives should not quarrel, and boasts of one hundred and sixteen children living. His method of travelling is on the shoulders of one of his slaves, and whenevei he starts on a journey a dozen or more of these bearers are among his retinue. Learning that to the south there was a great river which for many months in the year could not be crossed, Mr. Baker re- SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 303 solved to visit it, and left his wife with eight men at Obbo, lie himself starting south with three, on the 7th of May. Proceed- ing through a country of great beauty, parallel with the Madi Mountains, whose summits are 8,000 feet high, he particularly observed the beaut)’ of the orchis, and the immense number of the elephants, in an attack by one of which he lost his horse, and nearly lost his life. Tie soon reached a fine peren- nial stream, the Atabbi, a tributary of the Asua, the river which he had come to see. This was so full that his horse had to swim a part of it. Here he saw a herd of two hundred ele- phants, and killed a hartbeest. lie arrived the next day at the village of Shoggo, thirty-five miles from Obbo, and the people received him kindly. The chief confirmed the accounts which had formerly been given him respecting the Asua — it was a roaring torrent which it was impossible to cross till the rainy season was over. lie therefore returned to Obbo, satis- fied with the exploration which he had made, and resolved on the exercise of patience in connection with future and further travel in the same direction. He found that Mrs. Baker had been well cared for by the old sorcerer, and having rewarded him, and left iu his charge two hundreds weight of ammunition, he retraced his steps to his depot at Latooka, to await there the cessation of the rains, which, where he had been, had been ex- cessive, though in Latooka they had hardly begun. As yet, the greater part of it had fallen among the mountains where he had been rambling, and where, previous to his excursion, he had seen the play of the thunder-storms every day. After their return to Latooka, Mrs. Baker was attacked with gastric fever ; he himself .was prostrated with ague; and small- pox was prevalent among the slave-hunting Turks. But, keep- ing the parties separate, he managed to prevent his own men from catching the infection. One of his best horses died ; and we may remark here that he had lost every beast of burden he had — horse, donkey, or camel — long before his object was ac- complished. Baker was constantly endeavoring, at this time, to form defi- nite conceptions of the great water of which he was in search. The Bari interpreter had told him of a place — Magungo — which was on a great river, and he had concluded that that must be the Asua, the river to the southward which he was waiting to cross. But now in talking with Wani, another in- terpreter, he found him using the word “ bahr” (river or sea) instead of “ birke ” (lake). Magungo, then, was situated on a lake so large that no one knew its limits. Two days cast and 304 SIB SAMUEL BAKER. two days west from Magnngo no land is visible, while to the south its direction is utterly unknown. Large vessels on which white men have been seen, arrive at Magnngo, bringing cowrie shells. From this information it was evident that the “Little Lake ” of Speke was a much more important lake than had yet been supposed. Magungo must therefore be found and visited, through the country of Kamrasi, Speke’s acquaint- ance. If his men had not behaved badly, he would have been able to push forward before the rainy season began ; but he was hopelessly detained at Tarrangolle, where the people were be- coming hostile to their presence. The traders are so lordly and brutal towards the natives, that the deepest hatred of them is generated in the minds of the latter; who yet, in their igno- rance and weakness, never think of combining to drive out the common enemy. They rather help him in his attacks on in- dividual tribes, in order that they themselves may be safer from the harm which such tribes might inflict upon them some future day. Finding, from the prevalent feeling of the native community, that they could no longer remain at Tarrangolle, Ibrahim and his party determined on moving to Obbo. This was a great annoyance to Baker; but hesitation was impossi- ble, and delay equally so. An attack was expected from the exasperated natives daily, and it was impossible to get on in any way without the companionship of the traders. But the rainy season was at its height, and Mrs. Baker was very ill and unlit to move. A palanquin was therefore contrived for her, into which she was assisted, and they departed. The carrying power of the expedition was now reduced to fourteen donkeys and one horse ; the donkeys being all in a very bad state, with sores on their backs which the birds kept continually raw, Baker had to hire forty porters. They went round the mountain on this occasion, and after six days’ miserable inarch in pouring rain, with fearful thunder-storms, they reached OblK), and found their old friend Katchiba — the sorcerer-chief — “the best man,” says Baker, “ I ever met in Africa.” For the next few months Baker remained at Obbo, and his position was not enviable. The Turks had utterly ruined the country, exactly in his line of march, and this he knew would make it difficult for him in regard to the feeling of the popula- tion. His last hofse died, and one by one all his asses, so that he was left without a single beast of burden. To crown all, lie and his wife were both prostrated with fever, and so ill that neither could rise to assist the other. Rats overran the SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 305 wretched tent in which they lay, and there, while thousands of white ants crawled over their bodies, they knew that all their people, with the exception of a noble boy named Saat and three men who were faithful, heartily wished them dead and out of the way. What it is to be in such a condition in a sav- age country, it is not easy to imagine. But, although there was a mixture of emotions, while these were their circumstances, there seems to have been on the part of the travellers no re- lenting or desire to abandon their enterprise. The old chief came to see them, and did what he could for them profession- ally. Sorcerer as he was, he performed an enchantment for them, and no doubt took to himself and it the credit which be- longed to quinine. lie complained to them, in doleful terms, of the ruin which the White Nile traders were working in the country. During this season of detention at Obbo, Baker obtained further information from a native woman about Magungo. Kamrasi, in whose country the lake is, had sent this woman, two years before, as a spy among the traders. She was in- structed to tempt them to the country if their appearance was favorable ; but to return with a report if they seemed to be dan- gerous. She arrived at Debono’s station, Faloro, and was there immediately captured and sold as a slave, and was again sold to the man who owned her at present. Magungo, she said, was only four days’ hard walking from Faloro, and was half-way between that place and Kamrasi’s capital. The lake she de- scribed as a white sheet, as far as the eye could reach, and de- clared that “ if you put a water-jar on the shore, the water would run up, break it, and carry it away.” By such terms she meant to convey the idea that there were high waves. Baker laid his plans in accordance with this information, which agreed with his previous knowledge and confirmed it. lie had been already within ten days’ march of the lake when at Slioggo, in May ; but it would not be possible to march straight for it, in- asmuch as the country through which he would have to pass was in possession of Debono’s people, and the customs of the White Nile prevented Ibrahim from entering it, while to go by himself was impossible. lie therefore meant to persuade Ibrahim to go with him to Kamrasi’s country, Unyoro, and there begin a fair and honest traffic for ivory with the king. If he could bring Kamrasi and Ibrahim together, Koorshid, Ibrahim’s master, would, according to the Waite Nile usages, become sole trader to that part of the country. Was the lake a source of the Nile, having a navigable outlet ? If so, it was 20 306 SIR SAMUEL BAKER. in Kamrasi’s dominions ; and lie could have ivory carried to any depot on the lake side which might be agreed on, and transported down the Nile as far as the river proved navigable, and then taken to Gondokoro, not more than ninety miles. Again, Unyoro was on the “ clothing boundary.” From the Shillook country, in lat. 10°, to Obbo, lat. 4°, none of the na- tives wear any clothing ; but from Unyoro down to Zanzibar they are all clothed. Here a most profitable business might be done by buying up ivory, and, by means of coasting craft on the lake, introducing European goods into the very heart of Africa. The difficulty would be to get a sufficient number of armed men to accompany the traders without the inducements of slave-hunting and cattle-stealing. Mr. and Mrs. Baker continued for months to drag on a mis- erable existence at Obbo. They were both worn by fever, their quinine was exhausted, and every beast of burden dead ; but their old friend Katchiba remained true to them, and Baker’s influence with the Turks, having steadily grown during the nine months he had been with them, was now paramount, lie had been everything to them, their surgeon and physician, had lent them nearly everything they had asked for, had mended their guns, and quietly helped their helplessness, till they ex- claimed, “ What shall we do when the. So war [traveller] leaves the country ? ” Ibrahim himself was ready to assist him in every way. Baker pointed out to him that his expedition had been unsuccessful in a large measure up to this time, and that he would obtain little credit from his master, Koorsliid, when he returned to Gondokoro, if he had no more than the pitiful lot of ivory which he had already got. He guaranteed him one hundred cantars (ten thousand pounds) of ivory, if he would push on with him at all hazards, and obtain native porters for him at Shooa, and would consider Unyoro as his (Mr. Baker’s) country, and refrain from outrages on the natives. Ibrahim was amenable to reason, and yielded, notwithstanding the un- willingness of his men. But all this was gained only by de- grees. The main points, however, were settled, and on the 5th of January, 1864, they started on the long-desired journey. The greater part of the goods of the travellers was left behind, in depot, and Ibrahim left forty-five men. Baker was still suffering from fever, and took his last dose of precious quinine before beginning his journey. Before starting they had obtained some bullocks to supply the places of the animals which they had lost, neither of the travellers being lit for much fatigue. Baker’s soon bolted into SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 307 the bush, and was never more seen, and he was compelled to try walking. Mrs. Baker’s kicked and threw her, and hurt her severely. Ibrahim, always polite and obliging, gave her another, and Mr. Baker bought a new one, after having strug- gled on in a walk of six-and-twenty miles. They passed the Attabi, and were now in a new country. In three days they were on the banks of the Asua, the river whose state of flood had delayed them so long. It was now low, and they crossed it without difficulty. The Turks, aware that they were not yet in the country in respect to which they had promised to abstain from outrage, made a raid on a Madi village, and brought back a few hundred head of cattle, and some slaves, having lost their standard-bearer. On the 13th of January they reached Sliooa, which, by the customs of the traders, belonged to Debono; but Ibrahim, in disregard of these, appropriated it, and made it a depot. Kamrasi was known here, and the Obbo porters absconded as soon as they discovered that the party was go- ing to his country. There had been -war in Kamrasi’s country, and there were other discouragements, but Baker resolved to press on. They left Sliooa on the 18th of January. The land- scape was very beautiful. — Coming to the village of Fatiko, they found it surrounded with lofty and bold granite cliffs, on the summits of which the natives “were perched like ravens.” They here, for the first time since leaving Gondokoro, crossed the track of Speke, who came straight from Karuma. This is the Koki in Gani of Speke. The perching of the natives on the rocks seems to have struck them both. “ Knots of naked men,” says Speke, “ perched like monkeys on the rocks, await- ing our approach.” The natives were very friendly, but so troublesome in their ceremonies of introduction and intercourse, that the travellers continued their journey, and, descending the hill, were at once in a region of prairies and swamps. Crossing the Un-y-ame, they marched two days through the long grass, and at length set it on fire before a north-wind, and kept in the tracks of the fire. Baker suspected that their guide was deceiving them, and leading them too far to the west, toward the island of Ri onga, and his suspicion proved to be true. The march became extremely fatiguing, on account of the swamps ; but on the fourth day they entered a magnificent forest, and, gaining an elevation in it, saw a cloud of fog hanging over a distant val- ley, which betokened the presence of the noble stream which joins the two lakes. The river was reached on January 22d at a point about one 308 SIR SAMUEL BAKER. hundred and fifty miles distant from the Victoria Lake of Speke, and sixty from the Luta N’Zige Lake, but Mr. Baker was not aware of the fact. The height of the river above the sea was ascertained to be 3,806 feet. They were in Rionga’s country after all ; and one of the first persons they saw was Rionga’s brother. The natives would have nothing to do with them, and told them they might go to Kamrasi if they chose. The) 7 accordingly headed up the river towards the Karuma Falls of Speke, intending there to cross to the south side. The distance was about fifteen miles. They had a picturesque march through an open forest, with the river, about one hundred and fifty feet wide, near by, roaring and foaming in many cascades, broken at certain parts with rocky islands, on which were vil- lages and plantain groves ; and the same day reached the falls at the village of Atada, above the ferry. Kamrasi’s people approached in a canoe, through the roar of the falls, and were told that Speke’s brother had arrived, bringing presents to Kamrasi. After some little hesitation, he was requested to show himself. Baker therefore dressed himself as he knew Speke did, and stood, a solitary gray figure, on the summit of a lofty and perpendicular pinnacle of rock, opposite the crowd of people who swarmed thickly upon the other side of the river. When joined by the interpreter, he explained that his wife, an English lady, had come also, to thank Kamrasi for his kind treatment of Speke and Grant. A canoe was now sent across, and Mr. and Mrs. Baker went over in it alone. The likeness between Baker and Speke was sufficiently great to confirm his claim. The people welcomed him in a frantic dance, pretending to attack and kill him, thrusting their lances close to his face, and so giving vent to the exuberance of their joy. He gave each of the principal men a bead necklace, and requested that there should be no delay in his presenta- tion to Kamrasi, as Speke had to wait for fifteeen days. They at once told him of a villanous raid, of which he knew, which Debono’s people had made with the assistance of Rionga, and intimated that no stranger was to be ferried over, on pain of death to those who sanctioned and performed the service. He was further informed that on the appearance of the party, a messenger had been sent to M’rooli to Kamrasi, which was three days’ march, and that until an answer was returned, nothing could be done. All efforts to move these men were unavailing. Baker showed some magnificent presents, and threatened to depart. The wretched headman assuring him that Kamrasi would cut his (the headman’s) throat if Mr. Baker SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 309 took his presents away, and would probably do the same thing if lie ferried him over, begged him to stay where lie was, which was impossible, there being nothing to eat and five days of desert behind him and his party. At last Mr. and Mrs. Baker, with only Ibrahim (who went disguised as their servant), and two others, were ferried over with all the presents. But it was many days before Kamrasi could be induced to act. He was sore on account of the recollection of the atrocities of Debono’s desperadoes, and unwilling to have intercourse with strangers. At the end, cupidity prevailed, and the whole party were ferried across. This delay was all the more vexa- tious, as it was now the 30th of January ; the rainy season would begin next month in the high-lands of Obbo, and if the Asua should flood, they were hopelessly cut off from Gondo- koro. The people here were superior to the naked savages of Latooka and Obbo. They w’ere modest and well clothed ; their pottery was of a higher order ; and they were good black- smiths. At last the invitation from Kamrasi arrived, and proceeding by slow marches they arrived at his capital on February 10th. Kamrasi, the king is, as we have already seen, a prying, cowardly, avaricious savage, and he treated Baker just as he treated Speke and Grant. Ilis policy with both parties was to procrastinate, and keep them waiting till he had got out of them everything which he fancied or supposed to be w’ortli having. He is a inau who is utterly false in all he does. On this occasion it was his odd fancy to make his brother personate him. Mr. Baker had many fierce interviews with the king, as he sup- posed, but he never saw the real man at all, until the last terri- ble end, when hope of more spoil was vain, and Baker had also on his side ceased to expect that he should be able to depart with his life. This imitation Kamrasi had made demand after demand upon Baker, and interposed obstruction after obstruc- tion in the way of his plan of reaching the Lake. The climax of his iusolehce was reached at a meeting between him and Baker, ostensibly to arrange the details of the journey, but really with the intention on his part of amusing himself with his guest’s impatience. We will let Baker describe the incident in his own words : “ I now requested Kamrasi to allow us to leave, as we had not an hour to lose. In the coolest manner he replied, ‘ 1 will send you to the lake and to Shooa, as I have promised ; but, you must leave your wife with me ! ’ 310 SIR SAMUEL BAKER “ At that moment we were surrounded by a great number of natives, and my suspicions of treachery at having been led across the Kafoor River appeared confirmed by this insolent demand. If this were to be the end of the expedition, I re- solved that it should also be the end of Kamrasi, and, drawing my revolver quietly, I held it within two feet of his chest, and looking at him with undisguised contempt, I told him that if I touched the trigger, not all his men could save him : and that if he dared to repeat the insult I would shoot him on the spot. At the same time I explained to him that in my country such insolence would entail bloodshed, and that I looked upon him as an ignorant ox who knew no better, and that this excuse alone could save him. My wife, naturally indignant, had risen from her seat, and, maddened with the excitement of the moment, she made him a little speech in Arabic (not a word of which he understood), with a countenance almost as amiable as the head of Medusa. Altogether the raise en scene utterly aston- ished him ; the woman, Bacheeta, although savage, had appro- priated the insult to her mistress, and she also fearlessly let fly at Kamrasi, translating as nearly as she could the compli- mentary address that ‘Medusa’ had just delivered. “ Whether this little coup de thedtre had so impressed Kamrasi with British female independence that he wished to be off his bargain, I cannot say, but with an air of complete astonish- ment, he said, ‘ Don’t be angry ! I had no intention of offend- ing you by asking for your wife ; I will give you a wife, if you want one, and I thought you might have no objection to give me yours ; it is m3 7 custom to give my visitors pretty wives, and I thought you might exchange. Don’t make a fuss about it ; if you don’t like it, there’s an end of it ; I will never mentio7i it again.’ This very practical apology I received very sternly, > and merely insisted upon starting. He seemed rather confused at having committed himself, and to make amends he called his people and ordered them to carry our loads. His men or- dered a number of women who had assembled out of curiosity, to shoulder the luggage and carry it to the next village, where they would be relieved. I assisted my wife upon her ox, and with a very cold adieu to Kamrasi, I turned my back most gladly on M’rooli.” After leaving M’rooli, the party struck towards the Kafoor River, and crossed the head of the swamp which had prevented them from striking south-west, and caused them to go more southerly. Six hundred yelling natives accompanied them as an escort, and for the first day at least, as they afterwards SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 311 found, Ivamrasi himself was in the crowd, that he might see without being seen. Both Baker and his wife were still suffer- ing from fever and its effects ; they had had great difficulty in finding porters, and the prospect before them was most depress- ing and discouraging. Matters were very bad, but they were soon to become worse. On the fourth day they came to the River Kafoor, which, bending south, they were obliged to cross. This could be done only in a very curious way. The whole stream was matted over with a carpet of floating weeds, so strong and so thick, that it was sufficient to bear the weight of a man if he ran quickly. The width was about thirty yards. Baker started, begging his wife to follow him rapidly, keep- ing exactly in his footsteps. When he was half-way across, he turned to see why she was not with him, and, to his horror, saw her standing in one place, and sinking through the weeds, her face distorted and purple, and almost at the moment of his catching sight of her, she fell headlong down with a sunstroke. In the desperation of the moment, he and several of his men seized her, and dragged her across, sinking in the weeds up to their waists, and just keeping her head above water. She lay perfectly insensible, as though dead, with clenched hands and set teeth, all efforts at restoring animation being for a time utterly useless. When at length these had succeeded, she was gently borne forward like a corpse — the rattle was in her throat, and the end seemed to be very near. Three days of insensibility were followed by seven more of brain-fever and delirium. Preparations were made for the worst, which it was believed had actually come; but the spark of life was not fully extin- guished, and it began to brighten, and by and by burnt more steadily. It was now possible to move, and at the close of the sixteenth day from M’rooli they were at the village of Parkani, one hundred miles on a straight line from M’rooli; and they began to hope once more that the object of these two years’ weary wanderings was close at hand. They had not supposed, here, that it w r as actually within one march ; yet such was actually the case. On the day before they arrived at Parkani, Baker had observed, at a great distance to the north-west of their course, a range of very lofty moun- tains. He fancied that the lake must lie on the other side of this range, but now he w’as informed that these mountains were the western boundary of the N’Zige, and that if he started early he might reach it by noon. Accordingly on the 14th of March, 1864, starting early, he, “ the first European who had ever seen it,” looked on this magnificent body of water. 312 SIR SAMUEL BAKER “ It is impossible,” be says, “ to describe the triumph of that moment ; — here was the reward for all our labor — for the years of tenacity with which we had toiled through Africa. Eng- land had won the sources of the Nile ! Long before I reached this spot, I had arranged to give three cheers with all our men in English style in honor of the discovery, but now’ that I looked down upon the great inland sea lying nestled in the very heart of Africa, and thought how vainly mankind had sought these sources throughout so many ages, and reflected that I had been the humble instrument permitted to unravel this portion of the great mystery when so many greater than I had failed, I felt too serious to vent my feelings in vain cheers for victory, and I sincerely thanked God for having guided and supported us through all dangers to the good end. I was about 1,500 feet above the lake, and I looked down from the steep granite cliff upon those welcome waters — upon that vast reser- voir which nourished Egypt and brought fertility where all w as wilderness — upon that great source so long hidden from man- kind ; that source of bounty and of blessings to millions of human beings ; and as one of the greatest objects in nature, I determined to honor it with a great name. As an imperishable memorial of one loved and mourned by our gracious Queen and deplored by every Englishman, I called this great lake the ‘Albert Nyanza.’ The Victoria and the Albert lakes are the two sources of the Nile.” He subsequenty procured the means, and gave his men a feast in honor of the discovery, and ingrati- tude for his wife’s recovery. Baker on the occasion of his first sighting the water stood on a point 1,500 feet above it. Opposite to him, the lake w r as about sixty miles broad, but to the south and south-west lay a boundless horizon like the ocean. Immediately on the other side rose a grand range of mountains, some of them seven thou- sand feet high, and down two streams in their rifts there streamed great waterfalls, visible even at that vast distance, to add their contributions to the fresh-water ocean. This, then, was the Luta N’Zige, the lake of the dead locusts, the reservoir of the Nile. Mrs. Baker, utterly worn out with sickness, was assisted with difficulty to reach this first point of discovery. The ascent was too steep for cattle, but leaning on her hus- band’s shoulder she accomplished it, and they both descended to the shore. Wild waves were sweeping over the surface of the w’ater, and bursting at their feet upon the white shingly beach. In his enthusiasm, Baker dashed in headlong, and drank SIR SAMUEL BAKER 313 deep of the pure, fresh element which in so vast a body was now actually before their eyes. Close by was the fishing village of Vacovia (in lat 1° 15' N.), round whose huts stood beautifully made harpoons, hooks, and lines used for taking not only the enormous fish of 200 lbs. weight or more which abound in the lake, but also the hippo- potamus and the crocodile, which are very numerous. The traveller was delayed here eight days for want of the boats which had been ordered for him by Kamrasi. The situation was very unhealthy, but he was able to explore a little, and ob- tained much information about the lake from the headman of the village. The lake is known to extend as far south as Utumbi, to a position exactly the same as the Lake Rusisi of Speke. Tins is in the country of Karagwe, and the King Ru- manika was in the habit of sending ivory-hunting- parties to this point, which is close to Mount M’Fumbiro. This gives the lake a length of about 300 miles in a south-western direc- tion. It then turns to the west, and its extent iu that direc- tion is unknown. It appears from this that in length it is at least the second or third body of fresh water in the world, if a better knowledge of it do not, indeed, prove it to be the first. It is remarkable that the necessity of the existence of some such reservoir was not asserted before. Such a body of water is absolutely required to force a stream such as the Nile to the sea, a distance of 2,500 miles, with scarcely a perennial afflu- ent of any permanent importance, if we except the Blue Nile, which is insignificant in the summer. At the north-east cor- ner, at Magungo, the river which connects it with Speke’s Vic- toria N’Yanza, and which passes Kamrasi’s and the Karuma Falls, enters the lake. Thirty miles north the great Nile itself flows out of it towards the sea. Preparations were now made for a fortnight’s voyage on the lake. Two canoes were selected, — the one twenty-six and the other thirty-two feet long, both made of single logs. A cabin uras constructed in the smaller of these, and they started. The scenery was most beautiful. Sometimes the mountains to the west were quite invisible, and the canoes usually kept within a hundred yards of the shore. At one time the cliffs would recede, and leave a meadow more or less broad at their base ; at another the rocks would go right down into deep water; and, again, a grand mass of gneiss and granite, 1,100 feet high, would present itself feathered with beautiful ever- greens and giant euphorbia, with every runnel and rivulet in its clefts fringed with graceful wild date-trees. Hippopot- 314 SIB SAMUEL BAKER. ami lazily floated about ; and crocodiles, alarmed by the canoe, would rush quickly out of the bushes into the water. On one occasion Baker killed one of them with his rifle, and it sank in eight feet of water ; but the water was so beautifully transpa- rent that it could be seen plainly lying at the bottom bleed- ing. They once saw an elephant come down out of the forest to bathe. At another time, fourteen of those majestic animals were seen disporting themselves in a sandy bay, throwing jets of water in all directions. On another occasion they passed a waterfall, 1,000 feet high, made by the river Kaiigiri, which rises in the swamp which turned them out of their way on leaving H’rooli. Such were the sights of their voyage, but at the same time, it was not in all respects a pleasant one. They were both still suffering from fever, and they were cramped together in this narrow boat, under a low awning of bullock’s mile. At night they camped on the shore. Besides, the weather was bad. At one o’clock every day a violent tornado lashed the lake into fury, and placed their craft in imminent danger. In the course of their sailing explorations, they were nearly lost by this means, having been caught by the gale four miles from land, and obliged to run before it, being nearly swamped at times by the heavi- ness of the swell. They managed to reach the shore, however, but their boat was overturned on the beach, and all the live- stock was drowned ; and it was with difficulty that they re- covered their boat. After thirteen days, when they had rowed for ninety miles, the lake began to contract, and vast reed-beds extended from the shore to tne distance of a mile, there being a floating vegetation similar to that of the bridge which they were crossiug when Mrs. Baker was struck down. Preferring to find a gap in this false shore to the ordinary method of walk- ing over it, he coasted the floating reeds for a mile, and came to a broad still channel, bounded with reeds on both sides. This was the embouchure of the Victoria Nile — the river which connects the Albert with the Victoria N’Yauza. Our informa- tion respecting this river warrants our concluding that the length of its course is about 250 miles. It was seen for the first fifty miles of its course, from the Ripon Falls to Nyamionjo, by Speke, in August, 1S62. The next sixty miles have not yet been verified. From twenty miles above Kamrasi’s to fifteen miles below the Karuma Falls, a distance of ninety miles, it is tolerably known by Speke and Baker. The next forty miles arc a succession of cataracts. The last few miles, from the Murchi- 6on Falls to the Great New Lake, have been explored by Baker, SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 315 bo that of the supposed 250 miles of the course of the Victoria Nile, only about 50 require verifying. And the next great question in regard to the Albert N’Yanza will be — has it not other great affluents besides this one, and, if so, what and where are they ? That many considerable affluents flow into the Albert Lake there is no doubt. The two waterfalls seen by telescope upon the western shore from the Blue Mountains must bo most important streams, or they could not be distin- guished at so great a distance as fifty or sixty miles, but the natives all declared that there were many streams, varying in size, which descended the mountains upon all sides into the general reservoir. They found the month of the Victoria Nile, still water, and about half a mile wide. The same river had been seen at Karuma, boiling and tearing along a rocky course, and now it entered the lake as still water! They had heard voices for some time on the other side of the rushes, and they now found a number of natives who had arrived to meet them with the chief of Magungo, and their own guide Rabonga, who had been sent in advance with the riding-oxen from Vacovia. The water was very shallow, and the natives rushed in and dragged the canoes over the mud to the land. The travellers had been so entirely hidden on the lake on the other side of the reed-bank, that they had not been able to see the eastern or Magungo shore, and they now found themselves in a delightful spot under the shade of several enormous trees, on firm sandy and rocky ground, while the country rose in a rapid incline to the town of Magungo, about a mile distant, on an elevated ridge. They found the riding-oxen in good order, and were in- vited to wait under a tree till the presents of the headman should be delivered. By and by a number of people arrived from the village, bringing a goat, fowls, eggs, sour milk, and fresh butter. The chief was delighted with a present of a quantity of -heads; and they were led up the hill towards Ma- gungo. The day was beautifully clear. The soil was sandy and poor ; but the road was clean and hard ; and, after the many days’ boating, they enjoyed the walk, as well as the splendid view that lay before them when they arrived at Ma- gungo, and looked back upon the lake. They were now 250 feet above the water-level. The general elevation of the coun- try seemed to be about 500 feet, for five or six nfiiles, after which it descended by undulations. The mountains on the Mallegga side, with the lake in the foreground, were the most prominent objects, and formed the western boundary. There 316 SIR SAMUEL BAKER. appeared a gap in the range, a few miles to the north, and the lake continued to the west, but much contracted, while the mountain range on the northern side of the gap proceeded to the north-east. Due north and north-east the country was a dead flat, and as far as the eye could reach was an expanse of bright green reeds marking the course of the Nile as it made its exit from the lake. The sheet of water at Magungo was about seventeen miles in width, and continued in a long strip or tail to the north, until it was lost in the flat valley of green rushes. The natives said that canoe3 could navigate the Nile from the lake to the Madi country — there being no cataracts for a long distance, but that both the Madi and Koslii were hostile, and that the current in the river was so strong that if the canoe should descend from the lake, it could not return without many rowers. They pointed out the country of the Koslii on the west bank of the Nile, at its exit from the lake ; and it included the mountains that bordered the river. The small country, M’Caroli, joined Mallegga, and continued to the west, towards the Makkarika. The men here positively refused to take Baker down the Nile to the Madi, as the}' said the peo- ple were their enemies, and would kill them on their return when he would not be with them. The exit of the Nile from the lake was plain enough, at a distance of within eighteen miles of Magungo. Baker had a very strong desire to descend the Nile in canoes from its exit with his own men as boatmen, and thus in a short time to reach the cataracts in the Madi country ; there to forsake the canoes and all his baggage, and to march direct to Gondokoro with only his guns and ammunition. He knew from native report that the Nile was navigable as far as the Madi country to about Miani’s tree, which Speke had laid down by astronomical observation in lat. 3° 34'. This would be only seven days’ march from Gondokoro, and by such a direct course he esti- mated that he should be sure to arrive in time for the boats to Khartoom. But he had promised Speke that he would explore most thoroughly the doubtful portion of the Victoria Nile River, which he had been obliged to omit from Karuma Falls to the lake. lie was liitnself confused at the dead-water junction ; and, although he knew that the natives must be right, lie was determined to sacrifice every other wish in order to ful- fil his promise, and thus to settle the Nile question satisfacto- rily. That the Nile flowed out of the lake he had heard, and had confirmed the fact by actual inspection. From Magungo he looked upon the countries Koshi and Madi, through which SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 317 it flowed, and these countries he must actually pass through and again meet the Nile before he could reach Gondokoro. The only part to be at present verified was the River Somer- set, or Victoria Nile, between the lake and the Karuma Falls. The chief of Magungo and all the natives assured him that the broad channel of dead water at his feet was positively the brawling river which he had crossed below the Karuma Falls, but he could not understand how so flue a body of water as that had appeared could possibly enter the Albert Lake as dead water. The guide and natives laughed at his unbelief, and de- clared that it was dead-water for a considerable distance from the junction with the lake, but that a great waterfall rushed down from the mountain, and that beyond that fall the river was merely a succession of cataracts throughout the entire distance of about six days’ inarch to Karuma Falls. Having resolved to explore the Victoria Nile as far as those falls, and the boats being ready, Baker took leave of the chief, leaving him an acceptable present of beads, and descended the hill to the river, thankful at having so far successfully termi- nated the expedition as to have traced the lake to the important point of Magungo, which had been his clue to the discovery even so far away in time and place as the distant country of Latooka. Both Baker and his wife were very weak and ill, he endeavoring to assist his wife, and she doing her best to assist him. Reaching the boats they started at once and made good progress till the evening. The river seemed to be entirely de- void of current, and had an average breadth of about five hun- dred yards. Before halting for the night, he had a severe at- tack of fever, and was carried on shore on a litter, perfectly unconscious, to a village in the neighborhood of their landing- place. At daybreak, he was too weak to stand, and both he and his wife were carried down to the canoes. Many of the men were also suffering from fever, the malaria of the dense masses of floating vegetation being most poisonous. At about ten miles from Magungo the river rapidly narrowed to two hun- dred and fifty yards. The great flats of rush banks were left behind them, and they entered a channel between high ground on both sides, the hills being covered with forest. There was not even yet, however, any perceptible stream. The water was clear and very deep. They halted and slept on a mud-bank close to the shore. On waking next morning, the river was covered with a thick fog ; and as, before arousing his men, Baker lay watching the fog as it was slowly being lifted from the water, he was struck by the fact that the little green water- 318 BIS SAMUEL BAKER. plants, like floating cabbages ( Pistia stratiotes , L.), were cer- tainly moving, although very slowly, to the west. He imme- diate^ jumped up and examined them more carefully; there was no doubt about it ; they were travelling towards the Al- bert Lake. They were now about eighteen miles in a direct line from Magungo, and there was a current in the river, which, though slight, was perceptible. They had laid themselves down with their clothes on ; their toilette was therefore the more easily arranged, and they at once entered their canoe and gave orders to start. As they proceeded, the river gradually narrowed to about one hundred and eighty yards ; and when the paddles ceased working, they could distinctly hear the roar of water. The roar of the fall was extremely loud, and after hard pulling for a couple of hours, during which time the velocity of the stream increased, they arrived at a few deserted fishing-huts, at a point where the river made a slight turn. There was here a most extraordinary show of crocodiles; they lay like logs of timber close together, and upon one bank they counted twenty-seven of large size, and every basking-place was crowded in a similar manner. From the time that they had fairly entered the river, it had been confined by somewhat precipitous heights on either side, but at this point they were much higher and bolder. From the roar of the water there was reason to believe that the fail would be in sight if they turned the corner at the beud of the river ; and he desired the boatmen to row as fast as they could. They objected to this at first, wishing to stop at the deserted village, and contending that, as this was to be the limit of their journey, further progress was impossible. “ How- ever,” he says, “ I explained that I merely wished to see the fall, and they rowed immediately up the stream, which was now strong against ns. Upon rounding the corner, a magnifi- cent sight burst suddenly upon us. On either side of the river were beautifully wooded cliffs rising abruptly to a height of about 300 feet; rocks were jutting out from the intensely green foliage ; and rushing through a gap that cleft the rock exactly before us, the river, contracted from a grand stream, was pent up in a narrow gorge of scarcely fifty yards in width ; roaring furiously through the rock-bound pass, it plunged in one leap of about 120 feet perpendicular into a dark abyss below. u The fall of water was snow-white, which had a superb effect as it contrasted with the dark cliffs that walled the river, while the graceful palms of the tropics and wild plantains perfected the beauty of the view. This was the greatest. MURCHISON FALLS. SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 319 waterfall of the Nile, and in honor of the distinguished Presi- dent of the Royal Geographical Society, I named it the Mur- chison Falls, as the most important object throughout the en- tire course of the river.” The boatmen were promised a present of beads to induce them to approach the fall as close as possible, and they suc- ceeded in bringing the canoe to within about three hundred yards of the base, but the power of the current and the force of the whirlpools prevented their going nearer. A sandbank on their left was literally covered with crocodiles, which had no fear of the canoe till it came within twenty yards of them, and then they slowly crept into the water, all except one — an enormous fellow who lazily lagged behind, and who dropped dead immediately as a bullet struck him in the brain. The boatmen were alarmed at the unexpected report of the rifle, and sought shelter in the body of the canoe, not one of them using a paddle, and nothing would induce them to attend to the boat, especially as a second shot had been fired as a quietus, and they could not tell how often the alarming noise might be repeated. They were therefore at the mercy of the powerful stream, and the canoe was whisked round by the eddy and carried against a thick bank of high reeds. They had scarcely touched it when a tremendous commotion took place in the rushes, and in an instant a great bull hippopotamus charged the canoe, and with a severe shock striking the bottom he lifted them half out of the water. The natives who were in the bottom of the boat positively yelled with terror, not know- ing whether the shock might not in some way be connected with the dreaded report of the rifle. A few kicks bestowed by Baker’s angry men upon the re- cumbent boatmen restored them to the perpendicular, and the first thing necessary was to hunt for a lost paddle which was floating down the rapid current. The hippopotamus, proud of having disturbed them, raised his head to take a last view of his enemy, but sunk too rapidly to permit a shot. Crocodile heads of enormous size were to be seen in all directions, and it would have been good sport to these monsters if the bull hippo- potamus had been successful in his attempt to capsize the canoe. Baker prevailed upou the boatmen to keep the canoe steady while he made a sketch of the Murchison Falls, which being completed they drifted rapidly down to the landing-place at the deserted fishing-village, and bade adieu to the navigation of the lake and river of Central Africa. Four men were now sent with the boatmen and the interpre- 320 SIR SAMUEL BAKER ter to the nearest village to ascertain whether the guide Ha- bonga had arrived with the riding-oxen, as the future trav- elling of the party was to be by land, and the limit of their navigation must have been well known to him. After some hours the men returned with a message from the headman of the village to the effect that the oxen were there, but that the guide had remained at Magungo. The animals should be brought to them that evening, however, together with porters to convey the luggage. They started next day, but not until the afternoon, having had to await the arrival of the headman, who was to escort them. The oxen had been bitten by the tsetse and looked wretched. Sooner or later they should lose the whole of them. The travellers themselves were quite a match in appearance to their animals. They continued their journey, being now above Murchison Falls, the water of which they heard roaring beneath them. Having passed the night at a village which belonged to the headman who accompanied them, they proceeeded on a route parallel to the river, and continued for a day’s march, keeping near to the Victoria Nile stream, crossing many ravines and torrents, till suddenly turn- ing to their left they arrived at the bank from which they were to be transported to an island named Patooan, where a chief resided. Baker himself had been obliged to walk, his ox not being fit to carry him ; his wife had been borne on a litter. It was already dark when they reached the river, and after much hallooing a canoe was brought from the island, which was not more than fifty yards from the mainland, and they were ferried across. Mrs. Baker was ill of a sudden attack of fever, and was carried, Baker knew not whither, by some of his men, while he himself, exhausted with the same fell disease, lay down on the wet ground utterly exhausted. The men who had carried his wife to the village returned by and by witli firebrands, and he managed to follow them back, with the aid of a long stick on which he rested with both hands. After a walk through a forest of high trees, for about a quarter of a mile, he arrived at the village, where he was shown a misera- ble hut, through the roof of which the stars were visible. In this lay his wife, very ill, and he fell down upon some straw. About an hour later, a violent thunder-storm broke over them, and their lint was perfectly flooded. Of course their night was a very wretched one. The island of Patooan is about half a mile long by 150 yards wide, and is one of the many masses of rocks that choke the river between Karuma Falls and the great Murchison Cataract. SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 321 The rock is entirely of gray granite, from the clefts of which grow beautiful forest-trees, so thickly that the entire island is in shade. In the middle of this secluded spot there was a con- siderable village, thickly inhabited ; the population of the mainland having fled from their dwellings, and taken refuge upon the numerous islands of the river, on account of the war which was raging between Rionga and Kamrasi. There is a succession of islands from the east of Patooan to within a march of Ivaruma Falls. These were at this time in the pos- session of Rionga, and a still more powerful chief and ally, Fowooka, who were the deadly enemies of Kamrasi. The headman now informed them that it would be impossi- ble to proceed along the bank of the river to Karuma, as that entire line of country was in possession of the enemy. This was an intimation, plainly enough, that the party could not procure porters. But the exploration was completed, and it was by no means necessary to continue the journey from Pa- tooan to Karuma. Baker had followed the Somerset or Vic- toria Nile from its junction with the lake at Magnngo to this point; it was here a beautiful river, precisely similar in char- acter to that which distinguished it at the point at which he had left it at Karuma, and the party was now within thirty miles of that place, and about eighteen from the point opposite Rionga’s island, where they had first reached die river on their arrival from the north. The direction of the stream was per- fectly in accordance with the observations made at Karuma and at Magungo — running from east to west. The river was here about one hundred and fifty to two hundred yards wide, but much obstructed with rocks and islands ; its current was at the rate of about four miles an hour, and the rapids and falls were so numerous that the roar of water had been unin- terrupted' throughout the whole march from Murchison Falls. The altitude of the river at Patooan was ascertained to be 3,195 feet ; thus from that point to the level of the Albert Lake at Magungo, there was a fall of four hundred and seventy-five feet — this difference being on account of the dead state of the water near the lake, almost entirely furnished by the river between Patooan and the foot of Murchison Falls: the latter being at the lowest estimate one hundred and twenty feet, there were thus left three hundred and fifty-five feet to be accounted for between Patooan and the top of the falls. As the ledges of rock throughout the course of the river formed a scries of steps, this was a natural difference in altitude which suggested the correctness of the observations. 21 322 SIR SAMUEL BAKER. At the level of the river below Karuma Falls he had measured the altitude at 3,996 feet above the sea-level. There was thus a fall from that point to Patooan of 801 feet, and a total of 1,276 feet in the descent of the river from Karuma to the Albert N’Yanza. These measurements being carefully taken, corroborated the opinion suggested by the natural ap- pearance of the river, which was a mere succession of cataracts throughout its westerly course from Karuma. These observa- tions were especially interesting from the fact that when Baker had met Speke at Gondokoro, the latter was much perplexed concerning the extraordinary difference in his observation be- tween the altitude of the river at Karuma Falls, lat. 2° 15', and at Gebel Kookoo in the Madi country, lat. 3° 34', the. point at which he subsequently met the river. He knew that both rivers were the Nile — the one before it had joined the lake, and the other after its exit ; but he had been told that the river was navigable from Gebel Kookoo, straight up to the. junction of the lake : thus there could be no great difference in altitude between the lake and the Nile where he met it. But he found so enormous a difference in his observations be- tween the river at Karuma and at Gebel Kookoo that he con- cluded there must be a fall in it between Karuma and the lake of at least 1,000 feet. By careful measurements Baker proved the closeness of Speke’s reasoning and observation, by finding a fall of only 275 feet more than he had anticipated. From Ka- ruma to the Albert Lake (although he had not visited it), Speke had marked upon his map, “river falls 1,000 feet,” and by actual measurement Baker proved it to be 1,275 feet. From M’rooli to Atada, or Karuma Falls, there is a fall in the river of about one foot in the mile, and the stream is navigable. The latitude of the island of Patooan, by observation, was 2° 16' : they were thus at that point, due west of Magungo, and east of Karuma Falls. They were prisoners on the island of Patooan, inasmuch as they could not procure porters at any price to remove their effects. They had lost all their riding-oxen within a few days ; these having succumbed to the flies, and the only animal alive was a little "bull which had always carried the boy Saat, and it was already half dead. It was the 8th of April, and within a few days the boats upon which they depended for their return to civilization would assuredly quit Gondokoro. Baker accord- ingly offered the natives all the beads he had (about fifty pounds) and the whole of his baggage if they would carry the party to Shooa direct. They were in perfect despair : both of SIR SAMUEL BAKER 323 them were completely worn out with fatigue and fever, and certain death seemed to stare them in the face if they remained in so unhealthy a spot ; and worse than death was the idea of their losing the boats, and being compelled to remain prisoners for another year in that dreadful land. Either one such result or the other must inevitably happen if they did not hurry, with- out delay, direct to Gondokoro. With their usual cunning, the natives at length offered to convey them to Shooa, provided that they were paid the beads in advance. The boats were prepared to ferry them across the river, but Baker fortunately discovered the treacherous design of these people to place them in the un- inhabited wilderness on the north side, and leave them there to die of hunger. These heartless savages had conspired together to land the party, but to immediately return with the boats after having thus got rid of the incubus of their guests. The travellers were now in a great dilemma; but they were resolved not to remain on the island, as they suspected that the boats might be taken away and that thus they should be kept prisoners. Baker therefore ordered his men to take the canoes and ferry the party to the mainland from which they had come. Upon hearing this order, the headman offered to carry them to a village and there await orders from Kamrasi as to whether they were to be forwarded to Shooa or not. They were there- fore ferried across, and both of them, unable to walk, were carried by the natives for about three hours, at the end of which time they arrived at a deserted village, half of which was in ashes, it having been plundered and burnt by the enemy. They spent the night in an old hut in pouring rain. Fearing that the natives might desert them, he gave orders to his own men to disarm them, and retain their weapons as a security ; but on the following morning not a native was to be seen — every man of them had absconded, without their spears and shields — there were neither inhabitants nor provisions in the place, and the whole country was a wilderness of rank grass which hemmed them in on all sides. He directed his men to search among the ruined villages for buried corn, and, after some hours, assisted by the woman from Obbo, Bacheeta, who being a native of the country was acquainted with the ways of the people, they discovered a hollow place, by sounding the earth with a stick, and upon digging, found a granary of the seed known as “ tullaboon,” which was a great prize, and which, although mouldy and bitter, would keep them from starving. They also discovered three varieties of plants, grow- ing in profusion ; which, when boiled, were a good substitute 324 SIR SAMUEL BAKER for spinach. Their dinner thus consisted daily of a mess of black porridge, that no English pig would have touched, and a large dish of spinach. Baker says, “ ‘ Better a dinner of herbs where love is , 5 etc., often occurred to me ; but I am not sure that I was quite of that opinion after a fortnight’s grazing upon spinach.” They also, by and by, found a species of wild thyme, which made a tolerable substitute for tea. Exhausted by fever and the effects of the climate, and subsisting upon this wretched fare, the two travellers lay in their hut, unable to walk, for nearly two months. Their men made long excursions through the country to endeavor to purchase provisions, but in the two months they procured only two kids — the country was deserted on account of the war. Every day the boy Saat and the woman Bacheeta sallied out and conversed with the inhabi- tants of the different islands on the river, which was within two miles of them ; and sometimes, bat very rarely, they returned with a fowl, which event, when it did happen, caused great rejoicing. Gondokoro was now out of the question ; and perfectly re- signed to their fate, they were sure that they must be buried in Chopi. Baker therefore wrote instructions in his journal, in case of death, and instructed his headman to deliver his maps, observations, and papers to the English Consul at Khartoom. This was his only care, as he feared that, if he should die, all his labor might be lost. He had no fear for his wife, for she was quite as bad as he, and if one should die the other would certainly follow; and indeed they had agreed it would be better so, than that if he were gone, she should fall into the hands of Kamrasi. They had struggled to win, and they thanked God that they had won ; and if death were to be the price, at all events they were at the gaol, and should have rest, — there would be no more suffering, no fever, no long journey before them, which in their weak state was an infliction ; “ the only wish was to lay down the burthen.” This village in which so melancholy a season was spent is in Kamrasi’s country. After a time, the travellers came to under- stand that they had been deserted by the Patooan men by Kam- rasi’s orders. He was at war, and wanted Baker with his men and his guns to join him, being assured that, if he did, they would gain the victory. The abandonment and the starvation were measures of coercion by means of which the king believed he could realize his wish. Kamrasi, it was said, was not more than thirty miles distant. At the end of two months, therefore, Baker sent his vakeel or headman, with a native as a guide, as the bearer of a message to him. He demanded that an escort SIR SAMUEL BAKER . 325 should be sent for him, and after some days the absconded guide, Rabongo, appeared with a number of men, but without the vakeel, lie brought two pieces of printed paper with him, torn out of a book which had been left by Speke, as evidence that the messenger had seen the king. Next morning the two sufferers were carried forward on litters. Arriving at a village, Kisoona, they found that ten of Ibrahim’s Turks liad been de- tained there as hostages. Baker’s men and they fired salutes of welcome and greeting, and great was their rejoicing at meeting again. The king sent a substantial present, and his brother, who had formerly represented him, and pretended to be Kam- rasi, paid a visit on the following morning. Baker sent the king a present of powder and caps, and other articles, explain- ing that he was quite out of stores, having been kept so long in the country. M’Gambi, the brother, appeared again in the evening, with a message from the king, to the effect that Baker was his greatest friend, that he could not think of taking any- thing from him — he desired nothing — but he would be much obliged if he would give him the “ little double rifle that he always carried, and his watch, and his compass ! ” They were quietly but firmly refused, and an assurance given that no more presents were wanted from the king. Being entreated to visit Kamrasi, Baker consented; but he was in rags, and he knew that dress lias always a certain effect even in Africa. He happened to possess a full-dress Highland suit which he had worn when he had lived in Perthshire many years before. This he had treasured for great occasions like the present. lie therefore appeared at eight o’clock the next morning, attired in kilt, sporran, and Glengarry bonnet ; and to the utter amaze- ment of the crowd, the ragged-looking object that had arrived in Kisoona, now issued from the obscure hut, with plaid and kilt of Athole tartan. He was immediately shouldered by a number of men, and attended by ten of his own people as an escort, he was carried to the camp of the great Kamrasi. It was the real man this time. Kamrasi was a remarkably fine man, tall and well-propor- tioned, with a handsome face of a dark-brown color, but with a peculiarly sinister expression. He was beautifully clean, and instead jf wearing the dark cloth common among the people, he was dressed in a fine mantle of black and white goat-skins, as soft as chamois leather. His people sat on the ground at some distance from his throne : when they approached to ad- dress him on any subject, they crawled upon their hands and knees to his feet, and touched the ground with their foreheads. SIR SAMUEL BAKER. Aware of the practice of the court, Baker had provided him- self with a stool. It was not long before the king, true to his natural instincts, commenced begging, and being much struck with the Highland costume, he demanded it as a proof of friendship. The watch, the compass, and the double Fletcher rifle were again asked for, but all were steadily refused. Baker was carried back to Kisoona. He could not now quit the country for some consid- erable time, and therefore constructed “ a comfortable little liut,” surrounded by a courtyard strongly fenced, in which he arranged a Rakooba, or open shed, in which to sit during the hottest hours of the day. He had procured a cow from Kam- rasi, which gave plenty of milk, and every week the king sent an ox and a quantity of flour, and the whole party soon exhib- ited signs that they had now escaped from starvation. Of course his majesty took good care that he should be reimbursed by means of many demanded presents. He paid frequent visits to the dwelling of the traveller ; but by no means raised himself in the estimation of those whose hut he thus conde- scended to honor. Much disturbance, anxiety, and inconven- ience were occasioned by the war, in which Baker persistently refused to join. On one occasion, the enemy came near the encampment at which the party was living under the protec- tion of the king ; and Baker then hoisted the British flag on a staff which he had erected in his courtyard, and declared Kam- rasi to be his friend, and that if any one injured him or his people under that flag, he (Baker) would avenge the wrong, lie would defend, but he would not attack ; and the foe re- treated. Kamrasi changed his camping ground, but Baker re- fused to follow, and being now left alone with his own party, he, with much difficulty and no small danger on account of these hostilities, moved onwards on his way to Gondokoro, and home. Some months were passed at Shooa, on the way. He found that the Turks had discovered a new country called Tira, about thirty miles from Shooa. The natives were reported as very friendly, and their country was extremely fertile, and rich in ivory. Many of their people had returned with the Turks and were located in their camp. But they were also at war with their neighbors, and hence it became still more difficult to pro- cure porters for Gondokoro. But the hour of deliverance from this lengthened sojourn in Central Africa was at hand — it was the month of February, 1865, and the boats would now be at Gondokoro. The Turks THE WELCOME ON OUR RETURN TO CAMP SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 327 had packed their ivory. Baker counted their loads — six hundred and forty in number, fifty pounds each, and equal to about 9,6301. when delivered in Egypt — a good result from their twelve months’ campaign. Starting on their journey, they were attacked several times by the natives, who shot jxfisoned arrows at them, but both the traders and the travellers escaped unharmed. Approaching Gondokoro, Baker mounted , the English flag on a tine straight bamboo with a lance-head, and marched forward. Never had the oxen travelled so fast as on that morning, and the men in good spirits followed at a double quick pace. “I see the masts of vessels!” exclaimed the boy Saat. “ Hurrah ! ” said Baker : “ three cheers for old England and the sources of the Nile! Hurrah!” and the men joined him in the lusty cheer. “Now for a salute ! Fire away all your powder if yon like, my lads, and let the people know that we’re alive ! ” Presently they saw the Turkish flag emerge from Gondokoro, at about a quarter of a mile distant, followed by a number of the traders’ people, who waited to re- ceive them. This terminated the expedition. But they were bitterly disappointed ! There were awaiting them no boats, no letters, no supplies, nor any intelligence of friends or the civil- ized world. They had long since been given up as dead by the inhabitants of Khartoom, and by all who understood the diflieulties and dangers of the country. They were told that some had suggested that they might possibly have gone to Zan- zibar, but the general opinion was that they had all been killed. They had looked forward to arriving at Gondokoro as at a home ; they had expected that a boat would have been sent on the chance of finding them, and money had been left in the hands of an agent in Khartoom — but there was literally nothing to receive them, and they were helpless. The plague was raging at Khartoom, and fifteen thousand people had died. It had even reached Gondokoro, and people died daily. They succeeded at length in procuring a boat, and left for Khartoom. Poor Saat, who had been devoted and true, was seized by the plague and died on the way. They laid his remains, in much sorrow, on the desert shore. They found letters awaiting them at Khartoom, which cheered them; but the people of the place had indeed given them up for lost. On the 1st of July they sailed from Khartoom for Berber. They were nearly lost at the passage of the cataracts, but saved their lives and their papers, and much of their trophies and goods. Their voyage lasted twenty-four days. Arriving at Souakim, after a fortnight’s waiting, they found 328 SIR SAMUEL BAKER. a steam transport, which had brought troops about to return immediately to Suez; and availing themselves of this opportu- nity, they reached that port in five days. Landing from the steamer, they once more found themselves in an English Hotel. “ What an Elysium ! The beds had sheets and pillow-cases ! ” neither of which the travellers had seen for years. Reaching Cairo, Baker received letters from England, which had been waiting at the British Consulate ; and the first he., opened informed him that the Royal Geographical Society had awarded him the Victoria gold medal, at a time when they were not aware whether he was alive or dead, and when the success of his expedition was unknown. “This appreciation of my exertions,” he says, “ was the warmest welcome I could have received on my first entrance into civilization after so many years of savagedom : it rendered the completion of the Nile sources doubly grateful, as I had fulfilled the expectations that the Geographical Society had so generously expressed by the presentation of the medal before my task was done.” On his arrival in England he was received witli much enthusiasm, and the honor of knighthood was conferred upon him — as it would have been conferred on Speke but for his premature death. For two or three years after his return from the exploration of the Albert Nyanza, Sir Samuel Baker remained in England engaged in literary pursuits; but since that time he has again been in the wilds of Central Africa in the region of his earlier discoveries, and has again returned. This time he went at the head of a large armed force, organized and commissioned by the Viceroy of Egypt. In order to understand the character and object of this famous expedition, it will be necessary to indicate the state of things out of which it grew. The discoveries of Burton, Speke, and Baker, had naturally directed public attention to Central Africa, and especial inter- est was felt in the hopeful view they took of the possible development of that distant land. They showed for one tiling, that instead of the sterile desert which had hitherto occupied such a large space on the map, Central Africa was a magnifi- cent country, rising to a mean level of five thousand feet above the sea. From the elevated plateaux mountains rose to various altitudes ; the climate was healthy, the soil extremely fertile, the landscape very beautiful, the rain-fall extended over nine or ten months of the year, the country was well-watered by SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 329 numerous streams, the population was in many districts large, and where the slavers had not penetrated, the natives were well-disposed. There were all the desiderata for a great for- ward movement. The Nile was navigable for large vessels as far as Gondokoro — one thousand four hundred and fifty miles by river from Khartoom. The forests on the banks of the stream would supply fuel free of expense for the steamers re- quired. The supply of ivory appeared to be inexhaustible, valuable fibres existed, and the preparation of these appeared to be understood by the natives. The highlands were especially adapted for the cultivation of coffee, while the lowlands were peculiarly suitable for cotton, which is now grown by the Shillook tribe in considerable quantities. Unfortunately this beautiful country was subject to a blight, which, as the explorers pointed out, had resulted largely from its discovery by Egypt. Under the pretence of trading in ivory, immense numbers of slave-hunters from Soudan had organized themselves as piratical bands to pillage the natives, and kidnap the women and children to be sold in Khartoom as slaves. Baker estimates that not less than 50,000 slaves have for years been annually carried down the Nile, closely packed in small vessels of about fifty tons, to the number of 250 or more in each boat. The horrors of the traffic have been frightful. The Khedive of Egypt, instigated, perhaps, by the growing public sentiment on the subject in Europe, determined to sup- press this shocking iniquity. With this object in view, he communicated with Baker, and laid before him a plan for the absolute eradication of the slave-trade in the Nile region. The first step which was considered necessary, was the estab- lishment of a government which would exhibit the authority of Egypt in those countries which had hitherto been devastated by the slave-hunters. Baker entered into this enterprise with enthusiasm. He was commissioned Pasha by the Khedive, and furnished with 1,000 Egyptian soldiers and all necessary supplies ; and accompanied by his wife, his nephew, Lieutenant Baker, and seven English engineers, left Cairo in 1870 for Gondokoro. When the ex- pedition reached the latter place it comprised an active military force of 1,200 men. The troops were occupied in building a station and erecting magazines for the vast amount of stores when the Bari war broke out. This tribe had been incited by the slave-hunters to resist the expedition. The population, which was very warlike, numbered about 1,500,000, and they entered into an alliance with a neighboring tribe, with which 330 SIR SAMUEL BAKER they had lately been at war, for the purpose ot making a joint attack upon the station, the only protection for which yet exist- ing was a slight fence of thorns. Out of two regiments Baker formed a perfect corps (V elite, amongst whom, by the force of example and by the establishment of a code of honor, he pro- duced an admirable esprit de corps. This little baud of forty- eight, which he called “ The Forty Thieves,” was armed with Snider rifles, and with them he held a separate station one and a half miles from the main station on the banks of the Nile. At about two o’clock in the morning an attack was made upon the chief station. The sentries had challenged and had fired at the sneaking scouts, and the natives then used all their tactics to deceive the troops. At a distance of about half a mile their drums and horns were sounded ; in the meantime their main body was still advancing stealthily in the darkness, until suddenly they made a rush upon the sta- tion. Under the heavy fire of the garrison they were re- pulsed ; but this attack was the signal for general hostilities throughout the country. Baker arranged strong parties of patrols — nevertheless every night was disturbed by the firing of the sentries upon the enemy’s scouts. He entrenched the camp at head-quarters, and constructed a fort at his own private station, with ditches and earthworks. At last he determined to put a stop to the night attacks. He posted small parties of five men each evening under cover of the white ant-hills, or any other cover that could be found. In this manner he guarded every approach to the station outside the beat of the patrols where the enemy would never expect a guard. For this night work he substituted for the Sniders, muskets with eight buckshot rammed down above the bullet. Nothing could be more successful. The natives came unawares upon the guards,- who were thus concealed, and, as the posi- tions were changed every night, it was impossible for them to advance without being entrapped. Several of the natives were shot ; one was captured and hanged on a tree the fol- lowing morning as a warning to the rest, and in a short time not one native dared to disturb the camp. Finally Baker started with 450 men, and passing through the Bari district into the open country there was some sharp work for the Sniders for a few days, after which the natives took to the mountains and forests. Hence he determined to explore not only the open country, but the bush to which the enemy had retreated with their cattle and supplies. This, although very dense in some places, would usually allow the SIR SAMUEL BAKER 331 advance of skirmishing-parties. In this way he succeeded in driving the enemy whom he had to encounter from their hiding-places, and he captured their cattle with the loss of only a few men during a month’s campaign. Upon returning to head-quarters he found it necessary to commence operations upon the west bank of the Nile. “ I had brought, he says, “ twenty-one Arab horses from Cairo ; and I would remark that wherever the country would admit of cavalry operations they should be always employed against savages. In the portions of Africa which I have visited, the natives have an extraordinary fear of horses, which, to them, are strange and dangerous animals. I have frequently charged with four or five horses, and once with only three, and have dispersed large numbers of natives and captured their cattle. Horses are invaluable, and when used up by hard work or sickness will more than have earned their cost.” The Bari campaign had so far raised the prestige of the Snider company that their very appearance on the west bank of the river was sufficient to overawe the enemy. Ba- ker’s force had been reduced by the return to Khartoom of 600 men and officers. These people were discontented, as the object of the expedition, i.e ., the suppression of the slave- trade, was hateful to them: many of the men were also suf- fering from severly ulcerated legs. Many of the black troops who remained had served with Marshal Bazaine in Mexico, and were far superior to the Egyptian soldiers. The very sight of a red shirt, that being the garment worn by the Snider company, being sufficient to dismay the natives, Baker dressed all his troops in the same way, and pushed on towards the equator, intending to purge the new territory of the slave-hunters, who numbered about 1,100 men, and who were mostly Arabs of the Soudan. There were also many black soldiers who had deserted from the Government in Khartoom, and had settled in the employ of a firm entitled Agad and Co., which alone employed 2,500 slave-hunters in Central Africa. These 1,100 men were armed with rifles, muskets, double-barrelled guns, and were officered in imita- tion of the regular troops. They had endeavored to excite the natives against the government, though in some cases unsuccessfully, throughout the Upper Nile countries. Arrived at the extreme limits of navigation of the Nile, at the foot of the last cataracts, in N. lat. 4° 38', Baker found it impossible to make friends with the natives. He therefore left the ships with 150 men in charge of them, and started 332 SIR SAMUEL BAKER. with 100 men for the country of the Lobore, there to hire transport and carriers to bring up the baggage from Gondo- koro. From that point the whole of the expedition for the annexation of Central Africa and the suppression of slavery numbered only 212 picked men. For four days he marched with the 100 men whom he took with him through the Lobord country without a shot being fired ; but in the meantime a general attack had been made upon the vessels, the Egyptian officer in command having of course neglected all the orders that were given him, and it was only after a severe contest resulting from disgraceful mismanagement that the enemy was repulsed. From Lobor6, Baker marched to Fatiko, and thence to Masindi (in lat. 1° 45' N.), the capital of Kabba Rega, our old friend Kamrasi’s successor. Here he found that the ivory and slave traders had spread all kinds of evil reports about his expedition, inflaming the native tribes against it. Kabba Rega had been told that Baker Pasha wa9 coming at the head of an Egyptian army to take forcible possession of his country, and annex it to Egypt, with the view of exacting heavy taxes and tributes, and carrying away the people. It was accordingly agreed, between the traders and the Negro chiefs, to murder Baker if possible, and by every means to prevent the progress of the Egyptian soldiers. Shortly after he had arrived with a portion of his men at Masindi, the King, according to African custom, sent him a present of ten jars of pombe." This liquor was heavily charged with poison, and all who partook of it were suddenly seized with severe illness. But by administering strong antidotes, the poison was neutralized in every case, and no lives were lost. Baker then despatched some of his officers as messengers to demand why the poisoned beer had been sent into his camp ; but as soon as they entered his village, Kabba Rega ordered them to be killed, and they were all murdered in cold blood. War was then proclaimed ; the chief beating his great drums, and ordering a levy of ten thousand warriors. A large body of them attacked Baker, who had only about a hundred Egyptian troops with him. These men were all greatly fatigued with the long journey into the interior, and some of them were still suffering from the effects of the poisoned drink. It was, there- fore, necessary that he should beat a retreat before the swarms of enemies assailing him, and he retired after burning his camp and heavy baggage. During seven days of great danger and hardship, the backward march of the' Egyptians was sorely SIR SAMVEL BAKER. 833 harassed, and four or five of his men were left dead on the route. At the end of this perilous week, they came to the province of Rionga, a chief hostile to Kabba Rega, and welcome assistance was then obtained. The pursuit had already been abandoned ; but with a view to punish Kabba Rega, it was ar- ranged that Rionga should supply 2,000 armed men, and that these with a portion of Baker’s own force should return toward Masindi and attack the enemy. Baker promised that if this expedition was successful, Rionga should be appointed governor of his own and Kabba Rega’s district in the name of the Khedive of Egypt. With the remainder of his men Baker then turned northwards, but in passing through one of the villages was fired upon by the slave-traders, who were located there. He thus lost thirty of his soldiers. But the attack was successfully re- pelled — one hundred and forty of the slavers’ party were slain, and many prisoners were taken. The captives declared that the orders of their masters and of the chiefs friendly to them were to kill “the Nazarene” — meaning Baker — wherever and whenever they could. Baker returned to Fatiko to see what had become of the gar- rison, whom he found all safe. “ Here,” he says, “ a final at- tack was made upon the expedition by the slave-hunters, who, however, were utterly routed with great loss, and from that time the whole of the natives continued in the most friendly manner to help the expedition, and slavery was entirely sup- pressed.” This chastisement cleared the whole country around Gondo- koro, and down towards Kabba Rega’s territory. After a season of repose, which was imperatively needed, Baker began systemati- cally to organize the districts which were in his possession. He made Fatiko the chief town of the new territory, and ap- pointed superintendents at the other stations. Before long the natives settled peacefully under the new government, and ap- peared well satisfied with the safety and quiet which it afforded. The light tribute exacted of a basket of bread and a bundle of grass per month for each hut was paid willingly and regularly; and when Sir Samuel went finally northward in 1873, having completed his task, the people of Fatiko gave him the heartiest of adieus, calling him “father” and “ master,” and ■ looking upon him as their future protector. Next to Fatiko, the chief station of the new territory will be Gondokoro. Eight more points have been marked out as prin- cipal posts, and these will constitute a chain leading from Nubia to the Albert N’Yanza. A thousand additional troops 334 SIR SAMUEL BAKER. have been sent to garrison these stations. Baker says that the slave-traffic is now impossible in the territory of the White Nile, and that a stable government is established in the very centre of Africa. Three small steamers were intended to be trans- ported in pieces to the great lakes on the backs of camels, and are now, in all probability, plying on these immense waters. There are, at the present time, eleven steamers carrying on traffic on the White Nile above Khartoom ; and the Khedive is about commencing a railway to connect Cairo with Khartoom. We are told that Baker’s mission has been entirely success- ful ; that, in his capacity of representative of the Khedive, he has not only annexed the Nile basin as far as the equator to the Egyptian dominions, but, more important still, has suc- ceeded in putting down the slave-trade in that whole territory ; and that a strong government has been established, tranquillity restored, and the way rendered safe to travellers as far as Zan- zibar. Should this prove true, even in part, Baker will be en- titled to a high place among the benefactors of his kind ; but, as will be seen in a subsequent chapter, Schweinfurth does not take nearly so hopeful a view of the results of the Egyptian oc- cupation. As to the geographical results of this expedition, Sir Samuel is persuaded that Lakes Tanganyika and Albert N’Yanza are one, having thus a length of not less than seven hundred miles, and that a vessel can be launched near Murchison Falls, at the head of the N’Yanza, and sail to XJjiji, or lower, through ten degrees of latitude. If this be so, then Burton and Livingstone, or Speke and Baker, or both, have made a tremendous error in calculating the respective altitudes of the two lakes — an error of nearly 1,000 feet. CHAPTER XT. LIVINGSTONE’S DISCOVERY OF LAKE NYASSA. After his return from his famous journey across the conti- nent in 1855-’G, Livingstone only remained in England long enough to publish his account of that journey, and to make preparations for another expedition which he had resolved to undertake, with the object of finding how far inland the Zam- besi and its affluents were actually navigable by steamers, and also of penetrating the regions north of that river, so as to con- nect his own discoveries with those of Burton and Speke. Both the Royal Geographical Society and the government gave a hearty support to this expedition. Livingstone was made con- sul, winch gave his undertaking a semi-national character ; and the most liberal provision was made for him in the way of sup- plies, including a small steam launch, the Ma Robert , which was sent out from England in sections, and put together at the mouth of the Zambesi River. He also secured competent as- sistants in the persons of his brother, the Rev. Charles Living- stone, who had been living for some years in Massachusetts, and Dr. Kirk, an accomplished botanist. The expedition left England on the 10th of March, 1858, and reached the mouth of the Zambesi River in May. The delta of the Zambesi marks it as one of the most important rivers in Africa. The whole range of coast from the Luabo Channel to Quillimane really belongs to that river, for the Quillimane is in fact only a branch of the Zambesi, which takes a direction due east at about sixteen degrees south latitude. Between the most westerly entrance to the Zambesi and Quillimane, not less than seven subsidiary streams pour their waters into the Indian Ocean. This vast delta far surpasses that of the Kile, and, if properly cultivated, would undoubtedly equal it in fertility. The Zambesi itself almost rivals in magnitude the great river of Egypt, and in some respects considerably resembles it. Like the Nile, it has its great annual flood, overflowing and fertiliz- ing the surrounding country. It has also its falls, cataracts, and shallows, which present obstacles to continuous navigation. The perpendicular rise of the Zambesi, in a portion of its course 336 LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERT OF LAKE NY ASS A. where it is compressed between lofty hills, is eighty feet, but in the dry season there are parts of the river where there are only eighteen inches of water. Livingstone’s party had re- peatedly to drag their steamer over such shallows. To navi- gate the river throughout the whole year, vessels of only eigh- teen inches’ draught would be required ; but, in the flood sea- son, the cataracts are obliterated by the rise of the waters, and steamers of considerable burden could be used, the rapidity of the current, however, demanding a high amount of power. In the long spaces between the cataracts vessels of several feet draught might ply at almost any time ; but this would imply loading and unloading, and a considerable number of such vessels working in connection. The delta reaches from eighty to a hundred miles inland, and the soil is so rich that cotton might be cultivated to an immense extent ; while there is an area, eighty miles in length and flfty in breadth, which, Livingstone says, would, if prop- erly treated, supply the whole of Europe with sugar. Sand- banks and rapids much impeded the progress or the little steamer at certain points, while the amount of fuel consumed was enormous — said fuel consisting of blocks of the finest ebony and lignum vitse, of a quality that would bring six pounds per ton in England. In spite of all this, even the heavy-laden native canoes gained upon the asthmatic little craft, which puffed and panted after them in vain. The scenery is not interesting in the lower course of the river ; it is a dreary, uninhabited expanse of grassy plains, with the round green tops of the stately palm-trees, at a distance, having the appearance of being suspended in the air. The broad river has many low islands, on which are to be seen large flocks of water-fowl, such as geese, spoonbills, herons, and flamingoes ; repulsive crocodiles, with open jaws, sleep and bask in the sun on the low banks, and, hearing any un- wonted sound, glide quietly into the stream. “ The hippopot- amus, having selected some still reach of the river to spend the day in, rises from the bottom, where he has been enjoying his morning bath after the labors of the night on shore, blows a puff of spray out of his nostrils, shakes the water out of his ears, puts up his enormous snout and yawns — sounding a loud alarm to the rest of the herd, if he should feel that there is any occasion ; his notes being like those of a monster bas- soon.” In the upper coiirse of the Zambesi, and among the hills, the scenery is very striking, and it is rendered still more so by LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERY OF LAKE NYASSA. 337 the variety and beauty of the birds : — “ The birds, from the novelty of their notes and plumage, arrest the attention of a traveller perhaps more than the peculiarities of the scenery. The dark woods resound with the lively and exultant song of the kinglmnter ( Halcyon striolata ), as he sits perched on high among the trees. As the steamer moves on through the wind- ing chaunel, a pretty little heron or bright kingfisher darts out in alarm from the edge of the bank, flies on ahead a short distance, and settles quietly down, to be again frightened off in a few seconds as we approach. The magnificent fish-hawk ( Ilalicetus vocAfer) sits on the top of a mangrove-tree, digest- ing his morning meal, and is clearly unwilling to stir until the imminence of danger compels him at last to spread his great wings for flight. The glossy ibis, acute of ear to a remarkable degree, hears from afar the unwonted sound of the paddles, and, springing from the mud where his family has been quietly feasting, is off, screaming out his loud, harsh, and defiant ha! ha! ha! long before the danger is near. “The winter birds of passage, such as the yellow wagtail and blue arougo shrikes, have all gone, and other kinds have come ; the brown kite with his piping like a boatswain’s whistle, the spotted cuckoo with a call like 4 pula,’ and the roller and hornbill with their loud, high notes, are occasionally distinctly heard, though generally this harsher music is half drowned in the volume of sweet sounds poured forth from many a throbbing throat, which makes an African Christinas seem like an English May. Some birds of the weaver kind have laid aside their winter garments of a sober brown, and appear in a gay summer dress of scarlet and jet black ; others have passed from green to bright yellow, with patches like black velvet. The brisk little cock whydah-bird with a pink bill, after assuming his summer garb of black and white, has graceful plumes attached to his new coat ; his finery, as some believe, is to please at least seven hen birds with which he is said to live. Birds of song are not entirely confined to vil- lages ; but they have in Africa been so often observed to con- gregate around villages, as to produce the impression that song and beauty may have been intended to please the eye and ear of man, for it is only when we approach the haunts of men that we know that the time of the singing of birds is come. A red-throated black weaver bird comes in flocks a little later, wearing a long train of magnificent plumes, which seem to be greatly in his way when working for his dinner among the long grass. A g< >atsucker, or niglit-j ar ( Cometornis vexillarius ), 338 LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERY OF LAKE NYA88A. only ten inches long from head to tail, also attracts the eye in November by a couple of feathers twenty-six inches long in the middle of each wing, the ninth and tenth from the outside. They give a slow, wavy motion to the wings, and evidently retard his flight, for at other times he flies so quick that no boy could hit him with a stone. The natives can kill a hare bv throwing a club, and make good running shots ; but no one ever struck a night-jar in common dress, though in the evening twilight they settle close to one’s feet. What may be the object of the flight of the male bird being retarded we cannot tell. The males alone possess these feathers, and only for a time.” The honey-guide is remarkable for its peculiar intelligence : — “ How is it that every member of its family has learned that all men, white or black, are fond of honey \ The instant the little fellow gets a glimpse of a man, he hastens to greet him with the hearty invitation to come to a beehive and take some honey. lie flies on in the proper direction, perches on a tree, and looks back to see if you are following ; then on to another and another, until he guides you to the spot. If you do not accept his first invitation, he follows you with pressing importunities — quite as anxious to lure the stranger to the beehive as other birds are to draw him away from their own nests. Except when on the march, our men were sure to accept the invitation, and manifested their acquiescence by a peculiar responsive whistle, meaning, as they said, 4 All right, go ahead ; we are coming.’ The bird never deceived them, but always guided them to a hive of bees, though some had but little honey in store.” The bird which guards the buffalo and the rhinoceros is also very intelligent : 44 The grass is often so tall and dense that one could go close up to these animals quite unperceived ; but the guardian bird, sitting on the beast, sees the approach of danger, flaps its wings and screams, which causes its bulky charge to rush off from a foe he has neither seen nor heard ; for his reward the vigilant little watcher has the pick of the parasites of his fat friend.” The Portuguese have two stations or forts on the Zambesi — one at Senna, the other at Tete ; but they hold them by suffer- ance rather than by prestige or power, for they have to pay a kind of blackmail in presents to the neighboring tribes for permission to reside in the country ; nor do the commercial advantages of these settlements appear to compensate for the cost of their maintenance. Yet the natural resources of the ZAMBESI BLACKS] LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERT OF LAKE NT ASS A. 339 district are very great. Indigo grows wild on the banks of the river, and the streets of Tete are overgrown with the plant as a weed. The sugar-cane thrives abundantly almost in a state of wildness. Caoutchouc and calumba-root, used as a mordant for colors, are found in great plenty. Iron ore is worked by the natives, and excellent coal is found in large quantity — there being one seam which was seen cropping out on the banks of the river, which measures five feet in thickness. The produce of the gold-washings on the Zambesi was at one time considerable, but the tributaries have never been “ pros- pected, ” nor has any but the rudest machinery ever been used. Steaming slowly up the river, Livingstone reached Tete on the 8th of September, and here he found the faithful Mako- lolos who accompanied him thus far from Linyanti in 1856. They were still waiting for him, and were almost overwhelmed with delight at his appearance. Some fell upon his neck, while others stood off at a respectful distance, saying : “ Do not touch him : yon will spoil his new clothes ! 55 Next to the discovery of the great Nyassa Lake, the most important work accomplished by this expedition was the exploration of the river Shire, the great northern tributary of the Zambesi, which it joins about a hundred miles from the sea. The Portuguese do not seem to have known anything of this stream, being deterred from attempting its navigation by the dense vegetation which clogs its mouth ; and Livingstone was probably the first European that ever ascended it. He entered it in January, 1859, and steamed up it about a hun- dred miles, when further progress was prevented by a series of cataracts and rapids nearly 40 miles long, the first and most important of which Livingstone named after Sir Roderick Murchison, the President of the Royal Geographical Society. It w*as not considered prudent on this occasion to push beyond the Murchison Falls ; so the party returned to Tete for further arch, Livingstone, accompanied by Dr. Kirk, again ascended the river, with the determination to leave the steamer at the foot of the falls, and push on afoot to Lake Shirwa. Ilis starting-point was the village of Chibisa, the chief of the most important of the surrounding tribes, who at once entered into friendly negotiations, showing considerable intelligence, shrewdness, and good-feeling. He was a firm believer in the special bestowment of Divine favor upon kings. Before his father died, he said, he was himself but a common man ; but when he succeeded to the high office, he was conscious of 310 LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERT OF LAKE NYASSA. power passing into his head and down his back. lie felt it enter, and then he knew that he was a chief possessed of wis- dom and invested with authority. Having left their steamer as proposed, Livingstone and Kirk, accompanied by a party of natives, proceeded on foot to Lake Shirwa, reaching it on the 18th of April. They found it to be a large body of water, bitter and slightly brackish, but abounding in fish, crocodiles, and hippopotami. The lake is about 60 miles long and 30 broad, and is surrounded by lofty mountains, the shores being fringed with reeds and papyrus- plants. It is about 1,200 feet above the level of the sea, and has no outlet, though it is only separated from Lake Nyassa by a narrow strip of land, over which the surplus water of the Shiny a probably runs in seasons of flood. The people living in the vicinity of the lake had never heard of the existence of white men ; and when the exploring party first appeared, the men were excessively timid, the women fled into the huts and closed the doors, and even the hens took wing and left their chickens in dismay. Livingstone’s discovery of Lake Nyassa would alone give him a high place among African explorers, even if he had accomplished nothing more. Captain Burton would probably have been the first to reach it, if he had not been misled by erroneous reports; for having been told by the Arabs that the lake which he had been directed by his instructions to seek, was small and important, he changed his course from west to northwest and came upon Lake Tanganyika instead. Living- stone accomplished the journey to the lake by an overland march of twenty days from Chibisa’s village, reaching the shore of the lake, on the 16th of September, 1859, at the point where the Shire issues from it in lat. 14° 25' S. This is its extreme southern end. The length of the lake is about 200 miles, and its breadth between 50 and 60. It is liable to sud- den and violent storms, in one of which the travellers were nearly shipwrecked on the occasion of their second visit. Its depth is so nearly the same throughout the year, that there is only a difference of three feet between its highest and low- est condition, although it receives the waters of five rivers on its western side. The principal affluent is at the northern ex- tremity. The travellers remained but a short time at Lake Nyassa, which they did not attempt at this time to explore. Oil the return journey, which took forty days ; they suffered many privations and were accidently poisoned by eating some cas- sava roots which had not been previously prepared for food. LIVINGSTONE ’£ DISCOVERY OF LAKE NYASSA. 341 On the 2d of February, 1860, the entire party were once more assembled at Tete. Livingstone’s narrative of this expedition covers a period of nearly six years, during which he was constantly extending the area of his explorations ; but as these were over a region with the general features ot which he has already made us familiar, and" as his record lacks the interest of his earlier travels, we will here only mention the principal journeys which he undertook, and then summarize the results of his observa- tions. In May, I860, he left Tete for the Upper Zambesi Valley, chiefly for the purpose of carrying back the faithful Makololo who had left their homes with him four years before. They followed nearly the same route by which they had come east- ward in 1856, and performed the journey in safety. At Ses- lieke he found the chief Sekeletu still alive but suffering from leprosy ; and at Linyanti he found his wagon with his scien- tific instruments and some goods, standing just as he had left it seven years previously. On the return to Tete he lost his in- struments and Dr. Kirk’s botanical collection, by trying to pass the Kebrabasa Rapids in canoes ; and subsequently in going in the Ala Robert to the mouth of the Zambezi, the leaky craft grounded on a sand bank and soon went to pieces. The Pio- neer, a stronger and better steamer, was sent out from England to replace it. In July, 1861, he made another journey to lake Shirvva, in company with Bishop Mackenzie of the Universi- ties mission ; and in August of the same year reached Lake Nyassa a second time, by having a four-oared boat carried around the Murcliision Falls and rapids and paddling up the fShire. He spent two months in exploring the lake, in com- pany with his brother and Dr. Kirk, but only succeeded in skirting a portion of the western shore. In June, 1862, he made an attempt to explore the Rovuma River, which enters the Indian Ocean between lat. 10° and 11° S., north of the Portuguese territory ; and succeeded in ascending it to a point 156 miles from the sea. Two months prior to this latter jour- ney, on the 27th of April, Mrs. Livingstone died at Sliupanga, a victim to the terrible climate of the Lower Zambesi. Finally, in August, September, and October, 1863, Livingstone, with only a party of natives, made a third journey to Lake Nyassa, and made a desperate effort to travel entirely round it, but was compelled to turn back after marching about 500 miles on account of the impossibility of procuring food, and the in- subordination of his followers. During the latter part of his 342 LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERT OF LAKE NTASSA. journey, he was on the high-road from Lake Nyassa to Caz- einbe — Magyar’s “ Molnwa kingdom.” Five years having now been spent in laborious exploration, attended with many and great difficulties, and resulting, in connection with the unfortunate Universities Mission, in the loss of some valuable lives, orders were transmitted by the Govern- ment that the expedition should be withdrawn, and that Liv- ingstone should return to England. The Government had been disappointed in various particulars — in the commercial capabilities both of the Zambesi and Kovuma ; in regard to the prevalence of the slave-trade, and the extreme difficulty of suppressing it; in the lamentable failure of the Universities Mission ; and in the generally unsettled and dangerous state of the country. Livingstone, too, was far from satisfied with the geographical results of his labors ; and it was with little re- luctance than in February, 1864, he left the Zambesi and sailed for England via Zanzibar and Bombay. The river Shire, the discovery and exploration of which was, as we have said, one of the most important results of the ex- pedition, is not so wide as the Zambesi, but it is deeper, and is more easily navigated. Its depth is not less than five feet, at all seasons of the year, for a distance of two hundred miles from the sea, and it drains an exceedingly fertile valley flanked by finely-wooded hills. In some places the stream runs with great velocity, thus furnishing a water-power which might be extensively utilized. Dr. Livingstone, in all his travels, has not anywhere observed so large an extent and so high a degree of cultivation. Maize, yams, hemp, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, peas, sugar-cane, lemons, ginger, tobacco, and cotton abounded ; and he is of opinion that the capability of the country for the production of cotton can scarcely be exaggerated. He sent samples to Manchester, where it was pronounced to be of the finest quality, and 300 lbs. of clean cotton wool were pur- chased for less than a penny per pound. It also appears that free labor is as easily procured here as in any country in the world. It would be difficult to over-estimate the importance of Livingstone’s discovery of this rich and densely populated district, with its great navigable river. In a despatch to the English Foreign Office he says, “ We have opened a cotton and sugar district of great and unknown extent, and which really seems to afford reasonable prospect of great commercial bene- fit to our own country; it presents facilities for commanding a large section of the slave-market on the coast, and offers a fair hope of its suppression by lawful commerce.” LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERT OF LAKE NT ASS A. 343 In the basin of the Shire there is a series of terraces — the first being below the Murchison Falls ; the second is a plateau of two thousand, and the third of three thousand, feet of ele- vation. There must therefore be a great variety of climate; but cotton is extensively cultivated on all the terraces, and the people were to be observed everywhere picking, cleaning, or spinning it. The inhabitants of this district have no cattle, but the number of wild animals is prodigious, and great herds of elephants roam over the marshes and plains. It was on one of the elevated plateaux of the Shire valley that the enterprise known as the Universities Mission had its first station, and here was the residence of the late lamented Bishop Mackenzie. The remains of this most devoted man lie under the shade of one of the giants of the African forest, and within a few yards of the rippling waters of the Shire. Any man, however ^ell-meaning, may fall into mistake. Tak- ing a false estimate of his position, this zealous Christian pas- tor unhappily gave an active armed support to a tribe which had been attacked by another with the determination of re- ducing it to slavery. lie thus engaged in a native war, and converted a religious mission, the only object of which was to instruct and civilize the people, into an association for the for- cible liberation of slaves. But the country was at the time in a chronic state of warfare on account of the slave-trade, and therefore utterly unsuited to the purpose of the benevolent missionary experiment projected by the Universities. The at- tempt was therefore abandoned a few months after the death of Bishop Mackenzie by fever, many privations and much suf- fering having been endured by all connected with it. Livingstone declares that he had never before in Africa seen anything like so dense a population as was found on the shores of Lake Nyassa; there is an almost unbroken chain of vil- lages towards the south end of it. Crowds assembled to gaze on the unwonted spectacle of boat under sail ; and whenever the explorers landed, they were surrounded by men, women, and children, all eager to see the “ cliirombo,” or wild animals, feed. But these people were inoffensive in their curiosity, sel- dom doing more than slily lifting the edges of the tent and peeping in. On the banks of the Nyassa great care is bestowed on the graves of the dead. The burying-grounds are well protected; there are wide paths through them ; and great fig-trees cast their deep shadows over these places of mortal repose. The graves of the sexes were distinguished by the various imple- 344 : LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERT OF LAKE NYASSA. raents or utensils which their occupants had used during life ; but they were all broken. A piece of net or broken paddle told that a fisherman slept below ; and the graves of women were marked by the wooden mortar and heavy pestle which are used in pounding corn, or by the basket in which the meal is sifted. All had placed over them fractured calabashes and pots to signify that now the need of daily food was at an end forever. The chiefs of the district were remarkable for their courtesy and the genuine hospitality which they exhibit toward strangers. One of them whom the travellers found Hottentot grave. in his stockade, entered frankly and politely into conversation with them, aud not only pressed food upon them, but, pointing to his iron bracelet, richly inlaid with copper, inquired/ 4 Do they wear such things in your country ? ” and on being told that they were unknown, immediately took itfrom his arm and presented it to Livingstone, his wife doing the same with hers. The exploring party found the land well-cultivated in all these districts. Bishop Mackenzie says, “ I came out here to teach these people agriculture, but I find they kuow far more about it than I do.” In the whole country, men, women and boys were all eager to work in the fields for hire ; and indeed not in the fields only, but to be hired for any description of labor which they could accomplish. One of the exploring party, for example, had a tattered pair of trousers, and one leg of these purchased the services of a man to carry a heavy load for a whole day, and lie thought himself well enough paid ; on the second day another man was hired for the other leg; and the remains of the garment, including the buttons, secured the services of another for the third. The fruitfulness of the country renders work in the fields very light, and the task of procuring subsistence is far from difficult. The manufacture of iron tools is the staple industry of the highlands of the Nyassa. Every village has its smelting- house, charcoal burners, aud blacksmiths, who make the brace- lets and anklets in general use. British iron is not esteemed, and is pronounced “ rotten.” Specimens of hoes have been pronounced in Birmingham to be nearly equal to the best LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERY OF LAKE NYA8SA. 345 Swedish iron, and the metal was found to be of so high a quality that an Enfield rifie was made of it. Pottery is also manufactured in the villages round the Lakes Sliirwa and Nyassa, and in other places. In those districts to which the slave-trade had not penetrated, the social and political state of the country visited by Dr. Livingstone and his party presented a marked contrast to the Western Coast of Africa, and to the eastern region traversed by Burton and Speke. The Makololo are the most intelligent pi all the tribes inhabiting the region of the Zambesi. Poly- gamy is universal in this part of Africa, and the women warmly approve of it. But the husbands are considerably hen-necked. The travellers, endeavoring on one occasion to purchase a goat, had nearly concluded the bargain, when a wife came forward and said to her husband, “ You appear as if you were unmarried, selling a goat without consulting your wife ! What sort of a man are you f ” The party tried to per- suade the crestfallen husband to pluck up a little spirit and to close the transaction ; but he exclaimed, “ No, no ; it is bad enough as it is ; I have already brought a hornet’s nest about my ears.” The travellers say, “ We have known a wife order her husband not to sell a fowl, merely, as we supposed, to prove to 11s that she had the upper hand.” The Makololo ladies, having domestic servants to wait on them and perform the principal part of the household work, have abundance of leisure, which they are sometimes at a loss to know how to employ. The men declare that their two prin- cipal modes of killing time are sipping beer and smoking bang, or Indian hemp. The husbands indulge freely in these pas- times, but they do not like their wives to follow their example. The dress of the women consists of a species of kilt and mantle and a profusion of bead and brass ornaments. The “ principal wife of one of the most powerful chiefs wore eighteen heavy brass rings on each leg, and three of copper under each knee, nineteen brass rings on her left arm and eight of brass and copper on her right, together with a large ivory ring above each elbow. The weight of the rings, of course seriously im- peded her gait ; but as they were the fashion she disregarded that. The most extraordinary device, in this connection, is the pelele — a ring which causes the upper lip to project two inches beyond the tip of the nose, giving to the mouth the elongation and somewhat the appearance of a duck’s bill. This strange appendage is quit 3 a necessity in order to any woman’s appear- ing in public. Plumpness is considered essential to beauty, 346 LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERY OF LAKE NY ASS A. but the obesity required in Uganda would be considered vul- t ar. The arrangement of the hair is a striking peculiarity. ome women adopt the plan of spreading it out over a hoop, which encircles the head; others supplement their own by ty- ing behind it bundles of false hair; some plait it in the form of horns; and sometimes the natural hair is drawn tightly up from the forehead in the form of a pyramid. The 'men, in many instances, dye their hair red, which for them is the fash- ionable color.’ 5 The Zambesi and Nyassa tribes are, in regard to religion, monotheists; but in combination with their belief in the ex- istence of one God, they also have a conviction that there are other spirits who may be induced to act as mediators between Him and men, and these may be influenced by incantations. They have a firm belief in the immortality of the soul. Liv- ingstone says, “ Their ideas of moral evil differ in no respect from ours ; but they consider themselves responsible to infer- ior beings instead of to the Supreme.” Evil speaking, lying, ha- tred, and disobedience to parents and neglect of them are rec- ognized as sins, as well as theft, murder, and adultery. The only addition which could be made by a missionary to their moral code is the rejection of polygamy. “ All the Africans,” say the travellers, “ that we have met with here are as fully persuaded of their future existence as of their present,” but they do not seem to associate with their belief any idea of a state of rewards and punishments. Their superstitions are very childish. Belief in magic is so general among men that it would he strange if it did not pre- vail in such countries as these. There are traces of serpent- worship, and little images are suspended as charms in the huts of the sick and the dying. If a man has his hair cut he is careful to burn it, otherwise an evil eye might afflict him with headache. If a man plants coffee he will never be happy again, and no one can be persuaded to plant a mango, from a belief that if he did he would speedily die. Rain-doctors are to be found everywhere. Our travellers sometimes got into trouble by putting up their rain-gauge, which was supposed to frighten away the clouds. There is not in this portion of Africa that reckless disregard of human life which appears to obtain in Uganda, and other northern districts ; neither is the rule of the native chiefs so cruel, although it is despotic. The reverence for royalty is universal. Divination is freely practised, but there is no fetich worship. A sort of belief in the transmigration of squls pre- LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERT OF LAKE NTA 8 SA. 347 vails. The spirits of departed chiefs are supposed to enter into lions, which are consequently never molested, but, when met with, are saluted by the clapping of hands. A peculiar object of superstitious dread is the chameleon, of which the na- tives have an absolute horror. The English sailors left in charge of the Pioneer during the temporary absence of Dr. Livingstone, made a pet of one of these animals ; and they turned it to good account, moreover. Having ascertained the market-price of provisions, they paid the natives that and no more ; if the traders refused to leave the ship unless a larger sum was given, the chameleon was forthwith brought out of the cabin, and the deck was instantly cleared. Mechanism of all kinds appears so wonderful that it is naturally attributed to supernatural power. A Portuguese took into the interior an assortment of cheap American clocks which he meant to barter for ivory ; but on setting them all going in the presence of a chief, the latter became so alarmed that the unfortunate trader was ordered to instantly quit the country, and was heavily fined for his indiscretion. Game is very abundant in the region of the Upper Zambesi and of the Shire, the banks of which absolutely swarm with antelopes, w T ater-bucks, elephants, buffaloes, rhinoceroses, wild pigs, elands, and zebras ; the woods are full of guinea-fowl, and the rivers abound in hippopotami. I11 the wantonness of their strength, the elephants cause much destruction by tearing down trees with their trunks merely for amusement. It is dif- ficult to bring down one of these huge creatures, — the ball of the best rifle usually producing no more impression upon the head than it would upon an iron target, only making the un- wieldy animal flap its great ears and trot off out of further harm’s way. Elephant meat is not despised by an African sportsman, and is relished by the people themselves generally. The fore foot, cooked in the native manner, was pronounced excellent by Livingstone. A hole is dug in the ground, a fire is made in it, and when this oven is thoroughly heated, the foot is placed in it, and covered with hot ashes ; a fire is then made above it and kept up during the night, and a dish will be ready for the morning’s meal which would satisfy the most fastidious of epicures. The trunk and tongue are also good when prepared in the same manner. Livingstone says, “ Eng- lish sportsmen, although first-rate shots at home, are* notorious for the number of their misses on first trying to shoot in Africa. Everything is on such a large scale, and there is such a glare of bright sunlight, that some time is required to enable them 343 LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERT OF LAKE N7AS8A. to judge of distances. 6 Is it wounded ? ’ inquired a gentleman of liis dark attendant, after firing at an antelope. ‘ Yes ! the ball went right into his heart.’ These mortal wounds never proving fatal, he desired a friend who understood the language to explain to the man that lie preferred the truth in every case. ‘ He is my father,’ replied the native, ‘ and I thought he would be displeased if I told him that he never hits at all.’ ” Crocodiles are very numerous in the river Shire. The travellers counted sixty-seven of them, on one occasion, baskiug on the same bank. The dead body of a boy floated past the Pioneer , and a prodigious crocodile rushed at it with the speed of a greyhound, caught and “ shook it as a terrier dog would a rat,” and others immediately dashed at the body, making the water foam by the action of their powerful tails. Women are frequently seized by these creatures while drawing water, and the protection of a fence is required to keep off the crocodiles from the river’s brink. The attempts of the party to catch any of theso reptiles were not very successful. They were quite ready to take the bait — and they took it, flattening the strongest hooks with their immense jaws and getting away. Droughts at particular seasons are prevalent in every part of the interior of Africa, with the exception of the rainy zone of the equatorial region. They extend over areas of from one to three hundred miles. Dr. Livingstone’s inquiries led him to believe that at from 10° to 15° south latitude they may be ex- pected to occur once in every ten or fifteen years ; and from 15° to 20° south latitude, once in every five years. The cause of them is not understood. The hills are generally well wooded, and they are clothed with verdure to their summits; while the valleys, where they are cultivated, are almost choked with a most profuse and rank vegetation. When the drought comes, both hill and valley preseut an appearance as if scathed by fire ; the grass crumbles into powder, and the leaves drop discolored from the trees. The e ffect of one of these dry sea- sons on the population is frightful. On his first journey' up the Shire to the Nyassa, Livingstone passed through a populous and well-cultivated country. Between that time and his re- turn, eighteen months afterwards, a drought of great severity had occurred, and the misery which had been occasioned by it had been aggravated by a slave-huuting expedition which had devasted the whole district almost as much as the calamity which had been inflicted by nature. Instead of peaceful vil- lages well occupied, there was scarcely a person to be seen. The people generally had fled from their unmerciful hunters no LIVINGSTONE’S STEAMER SURROUNDED BY CROCODILES. LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERY OF LAKE NY ASS A. 349 less than from their barren fields ; the recently dead lay un- bnricd, innumerable corpses which the gorged crocodiles were not able to devour floated down the rivers, human skeletons obstructed the paths, and the whole country was a scene of ap- palling desolation. In the dry season, the tributaries of the Zambesi are almost without water. The Zungwe was traced up to the foot of the Batoka highlands, which the travellers ascended to the height of three thousand feet, and thus obtained a magnificent pano- ramic view of the great valley of the Zambesi, of which the cultivated portions are so small that the country appeared to be nearly all forest interspersed with a few grassy glades. The great falls of the Zambesi — to wdiich, on the occasion of his first visit in 1855, Dr. Livingstone gave the name of the Victoria Falls — were again visited on this his second expedi- tion, and he was thus enabled more fully to examine them. Without question, they constitute the most wonderful water- fall in the world. The name by which they are known among the natives is Mosi-oatunya, or “smoke sounding.” Their fame had extended to a long distance, for when Dr. Living- stone was on an excursion in the interior, in 1851, a chief who resided two hundred miles from them asked, “ Have you any smoke-soundings in your country ? ” When the river is in flood, the columns of vapor, resplendent in the morning sun with double, and sometimes triple, rainbows, are visible for a distance of ten miles. These immense columns are caused by a sudden compression of the water, and its being forced through a narrow wedge-like fissure. The fall probably orig- inated in an earthquake which produced a deep transverse crack in the bed of the river — which is a mass of hard basal- tic rock, and which is prolonged from the left bank for thirty or forty miles. His closer examination on this visit enabled Livingstone to add some interesting particulars to the long de- scription which we have already quoted in a previous chapter. “ It is rather a hopeless task,” he says, “ to endeavor to con- vey an idea of it in words, since, as was remarked on the spot, an accomplished painter, even by a number of views, could impart but a faint impression of the glorious scene. The probable mode of its formation may, perhaps, help to the con- ception of its peculiar shape. Niagara has been formed by a wearing back of the rock over which the river falls; and dur- ing a long course of ages, it has gradually receded, and left a broad, deep, and pretty straight trough in front. It goes 011 wearing back daily, and may yet discharge the lakes from 350 LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERY OF LAKE NYASSA . which its river — the St. Lawrence — flows. But the Victoria Falls have been formed by a crack right across the river, in the hard, black, basaltic rock which there formed the bed of the Zambesi. The lips of the crack are still quite sharp, save about three feet of the edge over which the river falls. The walls go sheer down from the lips without any projecting crag, , or symptom of stratification or dislocation. When the mighty rift occurred no change of level took place in the two parts of the bed of the river thus rent asunder, consequently in coming down the river to Garden Island, the water suddenly disap- pears, and we see the opposite side of the cleft, with grass and trees growing where once the river ran, on the same level as that part of its bed on which we sail. The first crack is, in length, a few yards more thau the breadth of the Zambesi, which by measurement we found to be a little over one thousand eight hundred and sixty yards ; but this number we resolved to retain as indicating the year in which the fall was for the first time carefully examined. The main stream here runs nearly north and south, and the cleft across it is nearly east and west. The depth of the rift was measured by lowering a line, to the end of which a few bullets and a foot of white cot- ton cloth were tied ; one of us lay with his head over a pro- jecting crag, and watched the descending calico, till, after his companions had paid out three hundred and ten feet, the weight rested on a sloping projection, probably fifty feet from the water below, the actual bottom being still farther down. The white cloth now appeared the size of a crown -piece ; On measuring the width of this deep cleft by sextant, it was found at Garden Island, its narrowest part, to be eighty yards, and at its broadest somewhat more. Into this chasm, of twice the depth of Niagara Falls, the river, a full mile wide, rolls with a deafening roar ; and this is the Mosi-oatunya, or the Victoria Falls. “ Looking from Garden Island, down to the bottom of the abyss, nearly half a mile of water, which has fallen over that portion of the falls to our right, or west of our point of view, is seen collected in a narrow channel twenty or thirty yards wide, and flowing at exactly right angles to its previous course, to our left ; while the other half, or that which fell over the eastern portion of the falls, is seen in the left of the narrow channel below, coming towards our right. Both waters unite midway, in a fearful boiling whirlpool, and find an outlet by a crack situated at right angles to the fissure of the falls. This outlet is about one thousand one hundred and seventy yards LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERT OF LAKE NT ASS A. 351 from the western end of the chasm, and some six hundred from its eastern end ; the whirlpool is at its commencement. The Zambesi, now not apparently more than twenty or thirty yards wide, rushes and surges south, through the narrow escape chan- nel, for one hundred and thirty yards ; then enters a second chasm somewhat deeper and nearly parallel with the first. Abandoning the bottom of the eastern half of this second chasm to the growth of large trees, it turns sharply off to the west, and forms a promontory, with the escape channel at its point of one thousand one hundred and seventy yards long, and four hundred and sixteen yards broad at the base. After reaching this base, the river runs abruptly round the head of another promontory, and flows away to the east in a third chasm, then glides round a third promontory, much narrower than the rest, and away back to the west in a fourth chasm ; and we could see in the distance that it appeared to round still another promontory, and bend once more in another chasm toward the east. In this gigantic zigzag, yet narrow, trough the rocks are all so sharply cut and angular, that the idea at once arises that the hard basaltic trap must have been riven into its present shape by a force acting from beneath, and that this probably took place when the ancient inland seas were let off by similar fissures nearer the ocean.” The whole district now drained by the Zambesi and its tribu- taries was probably, at one time, a vast fresh-water lake, of which there are many traces extending over a track which reaches from 17° to 21° south latitude. Almost the whole of this immense area is covered with a bed of tufa, more or less soft, where it has been exposed to atmospheric influences. The waters of this great inland sea have escaped by means of cracks produced in its surrounding boundaries, at some remote period, by subterranean agency. The fissure of the Victoria Falls, for example, has probably contributed to the draining of an enor- mous valley, leaving only the deepest portion of the original sea, the Nyassa Lake. Almost all the African lakes are com- paratively shallow, and are the remains of much larger bodies of water. The climate of Africa is therefore supposed, and with reason, to have been formerly much more moist than it is now ; and the great equatorial lake regions are being gradually dried up by a process which has been in operation for ages. That the Nyassa has shrunk in its area is proved by the ex- istence of varied beaches on its borders, and by the deep clay 6trata through which several of its affluents flow. The rocks in the central part of this great continent consist 352 LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERT OF LAKE NY ASS A. usually of a coarse grey sandstone, lying horizontally, or only very slightly inclined. Within this extensive sandstone deposit is a coal-field of vast but unknown extent, the materials of which were supplied by the tropical plants which grew on the low shores of the great inland sea whose existence we have sup- posed probable, and which must have undergone many changes. Yet Africa as a whole is the grand type of a region which has to a large extent preserved its ancient terrestrial conditions dur- ing a period of indefinite duration, unaffected by any consider- able changes except those which are dependent on atmospheric and meteoric influences. By far the greatest part of its vast interior has been unaffected by the great inundations to which the other continents have been exposed. Limestone, we be- lieve, has not been found with marine exuviae, in any part of it ; neither has chalk or flint been met with. The surface of it is free from coarse superficial drift. There are in it no traces of volcanoes ; nor has its surface been much disturbed by internal forces, although in one or two places the primitive rocks have been protruded in isolated masses, as on the shores of the Albert N’Yanza and the great mountain groups of Kenia and Kilimanjaro. It was supposed that the Rovuma, a river some leagues to the north, might afford a more easy access to the district of the Nyassa than the Zambesi and the Shire, and might also prove to be more healthy, and better fitted for missionary work. The valley of the Rovuma, however, so far as Livingstone saw it when he ascended it in 1863, resembles that of the Zambesi, but is on a smaller/ scale. The river was found to be unfit for navigation for four mouths in the year, but, like the Zambesi, it might be available for commerce for the other eight months. In its lower course the river is a mile wide and from five to six fathoms in depth. There is little that is interesting in the as- pect of its banks. Higher up, the scenery is described by Bishop Mackenzie as extremely beautiful, consisting of finely- wooded hills two or three hundred feet in height within a short distance of the river. According to the natives, the Rovuma issues from Lake Nyassa, but none of them had ascended the stream far enough to prove it. Dr. Livingstone asserts that he was the first to see slavery in its origin in this part of Africa, in which so many are first made slaves, and also declares that he had good opportunities of trac- ing it through all its revolting phases. It is carried on in con- nection with the trade in ivory, and from fifteen to twenty canoes freighted with slaves for the Portuguese settlements LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERY OF LAKE NYASSA. 353 have been seen at a time on the Upper Zambesi. Tribe is arrayed against tribe for the capture of slaves, and sometimes even family against family, and there are places in which every house is protected by a stockade. Tribes the highest in intelli- gence arc found, in many instances, to be morally the most degraded — men freely selling their own wives and grown-up daughters. On the shores of Lake Nyassa the slave- merchants were at the time of Dr. Livingstone’s visit paying two yards of calico, worth about a shilling, for a bo} r , and four yards for a good-looking girl. Where such practices exist, the lowest barbarism must be the condition of the people. Livingstone blames the Portuguese Government for much of this. Spain, formerly the most inveterate of European offenders, has 'taken to heart the lesson of experience, and resolved to abandon for ever the abominable traffic in man ; and Portugal is now the only civilized nation which gives it the standing and protection of a systematized traffic. There is no room for doubt that the development of legiti- mate trade would prove far more profitable and beneficial in every way than the slave-trade. The capacity of the Eastern Coast of Africa for a large and lucrative trade is unquestion- able, and, notwithstanding many discouragements, such trade has made considerable progress within the last thirty or forty years. In 1834 the island of Zanzibar possessed little or no com- merce ; in 1860 the exports of ivory, gum, opal, and cloves, had risen to the value of $1,197,500, and the total exports and imports amounted to $5,002,885, employed twenty-five thou- sand three hundred and forty tons of shipping, and this under the rule of a petty Arabian prince, for the Sultan is really nothing more. It may be long before the natives can be in- duced to cultivate extensively cotton and sugar for exportation, but there are many valuable natural products the preparation of which for the European market requires but little industry and no skill. There are hard woods which grow on the banks of the Zambesi and the Shire which are very valuable. These may be obtained in any quantity at the mere cost of cutting, and they can be transported to the coast at all seasons without difficulty. The lignum-vitse attains a larger size on the banks of the Zambesi than has ever been known anywhere else. The African ebony, although not botanically the same as the ebony of commerce, also attains immense proportions, and is of a deeper black. It abounds on the Rovuma, within eight miles of the sea, as does the fustic, from which is extracted a strong yellow dye. 23 354 LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERY OF LAKE NYA8SA. Dr. Livingstone’s two expeditions in South Africa have added largely to our geographical knowledge, and the facts which lie supplies are important and interesting. In the latter of the two of which an outline lias just been given, lie entered and partly explored a region the hydrography of which requires to be thoroughly known before the great mystery of the source of the Nile is completely solved, for there is no doubt that in the district of the equatorial lakes the head-springs of the mighty river exist. The complete solution of the great geographical problem may not be accomplished by one explorer, nor perhaps in one generation, but we are coming nearer and nearer to its determination. Speke, as we have seen, discovered the great Victoria Nyanza Lake, and on the occasion of a second expedi- dition, along with Grant, confirmed his previous observations and found a river issuing from it, which, after a not very lengthened course has been ascertained by Baker to flow, in common with several other rivers as large as itself, into an enormous lake now called the Albert Nyanza. Of the effluent of this lake our knowledge is yet incomplete. If Lake Tan- ganyika should prove to be connected with the Albert Nyanza, and the Albert Nyanza, by its western or other effluent, with the great river of Egypt, to Dr. Livingstone may yet be as- signed the honor of being the real discoverer of the source of the Nile, the probable location of which he pointed out long before any of the expeditions from the Eastern coast of Africa had been undertaken. CHAPTER XVI. STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. Mb. Henry M. Stanley, “ special correspondent ” (as he de- lights to call himself) of the New Yorlc Herald , informs ns in the preface to his “ IIow I found Livingstone/’ that being in Madrid on the business of his profession, he received a tele- gram on the 16th of October, 1869, from Mr. James Gordon Bennett, the proprietor of that journal, to the effect that he must “ come to Paris on important business.” As soon as the train could carry him there he was in Paris, and in conversa- tion with the sender of the telegram. Without any prelim- inary, Mr. Bennett informed him that he had resolved that he (Stanley) should go to Africa and “ find Dr. Livingstone.” Ample means^should be supplied ; and he must find the trav- eller if alive, and if dead bring all possible proof of his being dead, together with all the information that could be obtained concerning his later explorations. Stanley was not new to a life of adventure and peril, and he willingly consented. Before setting out on his Central African expedition, how- ever, he went up the Nile to get such tidings as he could of Baker’s expedition, visited Jerusalem to report on Captain Warren’s excavations, travelled over the Crimean battle- grounds, traversed Persia on the line of the Indo-European Telegraph Company, and in August, 1870, found himself in Bombay. Sailing from Bombay on October 12th, 1870, he ar- rived at Zanzibar on the 6th of January, 1871, and immedi- ately set to work preparing for his journey to the interior. Zanzibar agreeably surprised him. With the exception of the sandy beach, the island seemed buried in verdure from end to end. Many dhows were making their way out of and into the bay as he entered ; and towards the south there appeared the masts of several large ships, while to the east was a mass of flat-roofed houses. This was Zanzibar, the capital of the is- land ; and it presented all the characteristics of an Arab city. Over some of the largest houses fronting the bay, were the banner of the Sultan, Seyd Burghash, and the flags of the American, English, North-German Confederation, and French Consulates. In the harbor were thirteen large ships, — four 356 STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. Zanzibar men-of-war, one English man-of-war, two American, one French, one Portuguese, two English, and two German merchantmen, as well as many dhows from Johanna and May- otte of the Comoro Islands, and from Muscat and Cutch — traders between India, the Persian Gulf, and Zanzibar. Cap- tain Webb, the United States Consul, received Stanley cor- dially, and hospitably entertained him. The most important consulate is the British, and the Consul is Dr. John Kirk, who accompanied Livingstone on his journey to Lake Nyassa, in 1859. Towards him Mr. Stanley seems to have conceived an almost comic degree of hostility, though the unfortunate Doc- tor evidently made an effort to be civil. The population of Zanzibar amounts to nearly 100,000 ; and that of the island altogether to about 200,000, including all races. In the city there are several classes which have an ex- tended influence over the whole community : the Arabs, the Banyans — a sharp, money-making people controlling much of the trade of Central Africa — and the Mahometan Hindus. These three represent the higher and the middle classes. They own the estates, the ships, and the trade. Negroes go to make up the mixed population, and these consist of the aborigines, the Wasawahili, Somalis, Comorines, Wanyarnwezi, and the representatives of many of the tribes of Inner Africa. The greatest number of foreign vessels trading with the port are said to be American ; after the American, the German, and after them the French and English. They bring American sheeting, brandy, gunpowder, muskets, beads, English cottons, brass-wire, china-ware, and other articles, and take away ivory, gum-copal, cloves, hides, cowries, sesamum, pepper, and cocoa- nut oil. There used to be a large business done in slaves, who w T ere conveyed from the coast to Zanzibar, and thence carried to their ultimate destinations in the countries which still en- courage this infamous traffic. It is to be hoped that present efforts to bind the authorities at Zanzibar to their promises in favor of the suppression of this trade will continue to be suc- cessful. Hitherto, the temptations of profit have made all treaties nothing more than a dead letter. The organizing of an expedition to Central Africa is always a matter of difficulty, and so Stanley found. He must take sufficient for his purpose and no more, — he must not be in straits, neither must he burden himself with more than enough. There were questions to settle about quality and quantity in regard to cloth, beads, and wire — there being no money in these countries ; one description of article instead of money STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. 357 being of service in certain parts, while something different was requisite in another. lie surveyed his store of “ money,” con- sisting of such goods as have been named ; but there were still to be provided food, cooking-utensils, boats, ropes, twine, tents, donkeys, saddles, bagging, canvas, tar, needles, tools, gun 8, ammunition, equipments, hatchets, medicines, bedding, presents for chiefs, and many things besides. One mistake he made, and it might have cost him the suc- cess of his enterprise. lie engaged as his subordinates a couple of English sailors, Farquhar and Shaw, who appear to have been worthless, drunken fellows, whose constitutions were already ruined, and who both died in the interior after having given him an immense amount of trouble. He was more for- tunate with his natives, enlisting among his road escort of twenty men several of Speke’s “ faithfuls,” headed by the fa- mous “ Bombay,” who had the best of characters. In the course of a month Mr. Stanley had by great exertion got to- gether his goods and their guard, his donkeys and horses, and had carried them over in four dhows to Bagamoyo, a port and caravan station on the mainland, across a channel of twenty- five miles. He had with him the means of paying his way and of buying food for the one hundred and ninety-two souls which formed his caravan ; and all being in goods of various descriptions, it took him six weeks at Bagamoyo to start them in five detachments on the road to Unyanyembe. A number of his men were armed ; and these he called soldiers. At Bagamoyo he found thirty-five men with a quantity of goods who had been despatched some time before, by Dr. kirk, in aid of Dr. Livingstone, and who suddenly left for the interior when it was reported that Dr. Kirk had arrived in Her Majesty’s ship Columbine. This speedy escape from censure was probably intended rather than accomplished ; for Dr. Kirk himself in a despatch to the Foreign Office informs us that on liis arrival at Bagamoyo he found the men “ still living in the village,” and that “ by using his influence with the Arabs, he succeeded at once in sending off all but four loads, £md followed inland one day’s journey himself.” The remain- ing four loads, he afterwards arranged, were to be taken as far as Unyanyembe by an Arab caravan. The island of Zanzibar is cut by the sixth parallel of south latitude. From Bagamoyo, on the mainland, there is a well- known caravan route, which leads in the first instance to Un- yanyembe, a central trading station and settlement of the Arab ivory and slave merchants, and which lies in five degrees south 358 STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. latitude, and is three hundred and sixty miles in a direct line west of Bagamoyo, though Mr. Stanley’s route, as he computes it, makes the distance actually travelled no less than five hun- dred and twenty miles. The next and furthest depot of the Arab merchants is Ujiji, on the shores of the great Lake Tan- ganyika, one hundred and eighty miles due west from Unyan- yembe. When the native tribes and their petty sultans are not at war amongst themselves or with the Arabs, the road to Ujiji from Unyanyembe is neither difficult nor dangerous for a well-organized caravan ; but in case of war, it is beset with hazard, and a long detour must be made. This was Mr. Stan- ley’s experience. But the road itself is easily found, and it is not difficult to travel it. Floods are the only natural obstacles, guides are readily procurable, and the traveller need never of his own accord deviate from a well-beaten track. But the Eu- ropean has to encounter the fevers, of which he will probably have several before reaching Ujiji ; his followers may desert him or mutiny, or die of cholera, as did those sent to relieve Dr. Livingstone ; his supplies may fail on account of unlooked- for delays, and he whose cloth and beads and wire come to an eud in Central Africa, is worse off than he who has no money in London or New York. In dealing with his own men and with chiefs whose demands may be exorbitant, the traveller will have need of all his tact, temper, and courage, but by dint of these good qualities, he will, generally speaking, suffer only moderately from robbery and ill-treatment. The country between the coast and Tanganyika is well travelled by cara- vans ; the tribute system with the different tribes is almost as well-organized as a customs’ tariff ; and the drunken village chiefs and sultans, who depend upon traders for all their lux- uries, are wise enough to know that, if they rob and murder one caravan, another is not likely to come their way. Neither do the Arabs dare to kidnap along the route. Their slave- hunting grounds are in the distant interior, and it is quite an error to suppose that the country is desolated and uninhabited for several hundred miles, from the coast inwards. On the contrary, it is populous for a great part of the way from Bag- amoyo to Ujiji, and the inhabitants are generally prosperous and well-armed with flint guns, at least as far as Unyanyembe, and it is the interest of all parties to keep the peace. Lake Tanganyika lies five hundred and forty miles inland, and is thought to stretch north and south for more than three hundred miles, having an average breadth of about forty miles. Lake Nyassa lies about three hundred miles to the west of it, STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. 359 and is known to belong to another water-shed. One of the great problems which Livingstone was endeavoring to solve in nis last journeys, is whether the Tanganyika waters have or have not any outlet into the Albert N’Yanza of Baker, and so into the Nile. The southern extremity of the Albert N’Yanza appears to be nearly two hundred miles from the north shore of Tanganyika. But Livingstone and Stanley found that the Rusisi River, the great hope of the upholders of this theory of the Tanganyika connection, flows into and not out of the north end of the lake, and it now appears to be not improbable that the Tanganyika has no outlet at all, or at least that it has no outlet towards the north. But there is still another question, the answer to which will, as Livingstone hopes, bring the Nile sources as far down as 11° or 12° south, or one hundred and eighty miles below the southern extremity of the Tanganyika. The Chambesi , which is a distinct river from the Zambesi , which flows into the Mozambique Channel, rises, as Living- stone has found, in about eleven degrees south, and flows in a south-westerly direction into Lake Bangweolo, the southern shore of which touches the twelfth parallel of south latitude. Livingstone has traced the line of drainage from this lake by large rivers flowing north, first to Lake Moero, in the same lat- itude as the south end of Tanganyika, but about one hundred and twenty miles west of it, thence north-west to Kamolondo, a lake about two hundred and forty miles west of Tanganyika, and a degree, or thereabouts, south of the latitude of Ujiji, thence northwards to a point at which he was obliged to turn, and which brought him near an unknown lake. This unknown lake lies in the latitude of the northern head of the Tangan- yika, and about the same distance west of it as Lake Kamo- londo, and if there should be a river flowing, as Dr. Living- stone supposes there is, from this nameless water to the Albert N’Yanza, the sonthern shore of which is probably not more than two hundred miles to the northward, the connection be- tween the Chambesi, rising in twelve degrees south, and the Nile, flowing into the Mediterranean in thirty degrees north, will be complete. But this final link in the chain has yet to be proved, and some geographers contend that the relative altitudes of the various waters will prevent it from ever being proved at all. But be that as it may, these are the localities of the great watershed which Dr. Livingstone was exploring during the long years of his last absence, and which begins two hundred miles south of Tanganyika, sweeps round it to the west and north, and probably extends to the Nile itself. 360 STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. It is eight years since Livingstone, in March, 1866, left Zan- zibar, and struck into the interior from Mikid'indy Bay towards Lake Nyassa, which is about three hundred miles inland, and about the same distance south of Zanzibar. He remained in the neighborhood of this lake during the autumn of 1866. When he started, his caravan had consisted of twelve Sepoys and of Johanna and other natives, in all about thirty men, be- sides a number of camels, mules, and donkeys to carry his cloth, beads, instruments, and supplies. He soon lost ail his animals ; the Sepoys were a worthless and bad lot, and he was obliged to send them back to the coast ; other natives deserted, and the Johanna men went off in a body and brought with them that fictitious story of the traveller’s death which gave anxiety to many, but which was stoutly disbelieved by Sir Roderick Murchison. From Hyassa he went north-west to the country of Ring Cazembe (the Londa of Livingstone’s earlier journeys, and the Moluwa of Magyar), where he arrived early in 1867. He then explored the watershed of the river Cham- besi and of Lakes Bangweolo and Moero, and after being de- serted by all but two of his followers, and experiencing many great hardships and dangers, made hi3 way to LTjiji, on Lake Tanganyika, in March, 1869. Thence he wrote those letters which, to the great joy of his friends everywhere, refuted the story of the Johanna men, and induced the English govern- ment in May, 1871, to grant £1,000 towards the relief of the traveller. Meantime, in 1868, Mr. Churchill, British Consul at Zanzibar, had despatched supplies and medicines to TJjiji, and Dr. Seward had also sent forward some quinine and stores for the same place. In April, 1869, Dr. Kirk sent fourteen men and a large caravan, and in February, 1871, the expedi- tion seen by Mr. Stanley at Bagamoyo, and which had been equipped with the Government money by Mr. Churchill and Dr. Kirk, was dispatched, — all for LTjiji. It i3 not known whether Mr. Churchill’s and Dr. Seward’s supplies, sent in 1868, reached their destination, but Livingstone appears to have wanted for nothing when, in June, 1869, he quitted TJjiji, and went, in company with some Arab traders, to explore the dis- tant Manyuema country, on the west side of the Tanganyika. It was in this journey that he reached his farthest point north, and traced the watershed as far as the unknown lake. He was compelled to return, partly by sickness, but chiefly because his men utterly refused to proceed further ; and, in bitter disap- pointment, he had to turn his back upon the great problem which he was on the eve of solving, making the weary journey STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. 3G1 of between four hundred and five hundred miles to LTjiji, from which he intended to start again with new men and fresh supplies. Writing to the Editor of the New York Her- ald concerning this journey, he says: “I thought that I was dying on my feet. It is not too much to say that almost every step of the weary, sultry way, was in pain, and I reached LTjiji a mere ruckle of bones.” This was in October, 1870. lie was more dead than alive, and had to endure the bitter disappointment of finding that the goods and men of Dr. Kirk’s 18G9 expedition, to which he was trusting implicitly, had gone to the four winds. In the first place, this expedi- tion had been delayed, months and months, by the cholera, which had carried off many of its men ; and when, finally, such of the goods as had not been plundered arrived at Ujiji, they were sold off, and the proceeds dissipated by “ the drunk- en half-caste Moslem tailor ” to whom they had been entrusted. The traveller had nothing left but “ a few barter cloths and beads,” and beggary was staring him in the face, when, three weeks after his arrival in LTjiji, the New York Herald expe- dition appeared on the scene and all was well. The men and goods which had left Bagamo} T o, shortly before Mr. Stanley, were still at Unyanyernbe, detained by a war which Mr. Stan- ley had avoided by a long detour, and it is hard to say when they might have reached the forlorn traveller for whose suc- cor they were intended. Such were the circumstances connected with the loss of Liv- ingstone, and such was the condition in which he was found. Stanley’s first misfortune after leaving the coast was the death of his two horses, by some mysterious disease, not by the bite of the tsetse. The donkeys also perished ; the poor ani- mals died from bad weather, overwork, disease, and crocodiles, and not one of them reached Ujiji. The country through which the route lay was of varied aspect, dense forests, alternating with desert plateaux, and numerous small villages, while the entire face of the cultivable Jand was one vast neld of grain. The road was a regular and beaten highyvay of trade ; many Arab caravans were passed, with large quantities of ivory, and many slaves. Three weeks out of Bagamoyo, Stanley met Salim Bin Rashid, “ bound eastward, with a huge caravan car- rying three hundred ivory tusks,” and he had something to say about Livingstone. He had met the wayworn traveller at Ujiji, had lived in the next hut to him for two weeks, described him as looking old, with long gray moustaches and beard, just re- covered from severe illness, looking very wan ; when fully re- 362 STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. covered, Livingstone intended to visit a country called Man- yuema by way of Marunga. But this was no news to Stanley, for later information had already reached Zanzibar and Eng- land that Livingstone had started on this journey to a far country, but had not yet returned. Had Livingstone been still in Manyuema when Mr. Stanley arrived at Ujiji, there would probably have been some news of him there, whether he was living or dead, for Manyuema is a trading country, and, in re- spect to a white man, intelligence travels very quickly in these parts. Praise is therefore due to Mr. Stanley, not merely be- cause he found Livingstone, but especially because he forced his way through all hindrances, and dared great dangers in order to reach Ujiji, where he was nearly certain either to find the traveller or to obtain news of him. In a month after leaving Bagamoyo, the caravan reached Simbamwenni, “ the lion city,” in the fertile and populous val- ley of the Ungerengeri. The grasping Sultana exacted trib- ute of several aoti (iour-yard pieces) of cloth, and here Stanley was attacked with intermittent fever. It was the rainy season, and the weather was wretched ; the donkeys and the porters floundered along, half drowned in the flooded swamps and riv- ers. Farquhar had gone onwards in charge of one of the de- tachments, and news came that he was ill, and that his caravan was disorganized. He was overtaken in a few days, and found laid up in his tent, suffering from a variety of ailments ; it was also found that he had squandered most wastefully a large portion of the cloth which he had with him. Shaw, the other sailor overseer, became sick also, and was lazy besides, and lagged with his detachment : men deserted, and donkeys sick- ened and died, but still the indomitable leader kept the caravan on the move, and made his way to the Mpwapwa hills : these presented beautiful views of wood and pasture, and the fertile { dains abounded with villages. In one of these Farquhar was eft, well cared for, but died in a few days. Arriving at Ugogo, the Sultan exacted" the uttermost tribute of doti. All through the kingdom of Ugogo there are exten- sive fields of grain, and a bold and independent people. The way was pleasant, but there were many village sultans who claimed honga ; the only method of progress was to pay them, and pass on. The agreeable was always mixed with its oppo- site — a porter would sicken of small-pox and be left by the roadside to die; a donkey would prove unable to carry its load, and must be abandoned; the porters would be on the verge of mutiny one day, and the next would be singing songs in honor STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. 363 of the ‘‘great master.” But notwithstanding all drawbacks, they proceeded through a country of happy pastoral aspect, the lowing of cattle and the bleating of goats and sheep being heard" everywhere, and entered Unyanyembe on the 23d or June, 1871, ninet} r days from Bagamoyo, with flags flying, horns blowing, and guns firing, every soldier in a new tarboosh and a clean white shirt, and every porter with his best cloth about his loins. The Arab merchants at Unyanyembe received Mr. Stanley with hospitable welcome; but the news of the place was seri- ous — a certain Mirambo of Uyoweh had blocked the road to Ujiji, and declared that no caravan should pass through the country except over his dead body. This was ruin to the Arab trade, and the merchants resolved to clear the road at once by force of arms ; in other words, to sally forth with their slaves, and make war upon Mirambo, till, as Soud, the son of Sayd, the son of Majid, said, “We have got his beard under our feet, and can travel through any part of the country with only our walking-canes in our hands.” Stanley resolved to go with the Arab army, trusting that, after the defeat of Mirambo and his banditti, the road would be open towards Ujiji. The Arabs and their followers, two thousand two hundred and fifty-five in number, one thousand five hundred being armed with muskets, mustered their forces at Mfuto, a trading-post and stronghold three days’ journey on the way towards Ujiji, where Mr. Stan- ley, who had been delayed at Unyanyembe by a bad fever, joined them with his force of fifty men, and, leaving his goods at Mfuto, sallied out with the rest to engage Mirambo. They first of all took a palisaded village by storm, and two days later a forest chief was caught asleep, and his head “ stretched back- wards and his head cut off, as though he were a goat or a sheep;” and then Soud bin Sayd led five hundred m§n against Wilyankura, Mirambo’s stronghold. Driven to his tent by a fever, Stanley remained with the main body, and was lying covered np with blankets, when the whole camp was suddenly thrown into consternation by the dismal news of the defeat and slaughter of Soud bin Sayd and half his force. Wilyan- kura had been captured, but the crafty Mirambo had laid an ambush, and massacred the Arabs and their followers as they were returning through the long grass, laden with more than a hundred tusks of ivory, sixty bales of cloth, and several hun- dred slaves. All that night the women of the camp howled for tbeir husbands, and the next day there were stormy councils of war, ending in a general and sudden retreat to Mfuto. Mr. 3G4r STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. Stanley staggered from his tent to find himself deserted by all but seven of his own people. The donkeys were saddled and urged to a trot, and in an agony of pain and fever he followed the flying slaves and Arabs to Mfuto. Mfuto was readied at midnight. He found that all his men had arrived there before dark. Ulimengo, a bold guide who had exulted in his weapons and in the number of Stanley’s men, and had been very san- guine of victory, had performed the eleven hours’ inarch in six hours ; Chowpereh, whom his master had regarded as one of the most faithful of his people, had arrived only half an hour later than Ulimengo ; and Khamasi, “ a dandy, and an orator, and a rampant demagogue,” had arrived the third. Speke’s “faithfuls” had proved as cowardly as any of them all; and only Selim, an Arab boy from Jerusalem, had proved brave and true. Shaw proved that he possessed a soul as base and cowardly as that of any of the Negroes. Stanley returned with the beaten army to Unyanyembe ; Mirambo attacked the town, but was driven off. Not brook- ing this delay, Stanley determined to push for Ujiji by a southern detour, and so to circumvent Mirambo. He had to leave Shaw behind him, he being now incurably ill ; and he had to pay very high for porters ; but after a delay of three months in Unyanyembe, he finally triumphed over all his diffi- culties, and started for Ujiji on the 20th of September. Dr. Kirk’s men, who had left JBagamoyo while he was there, had arrived at Unyanyembe on the 15th of May, a month before him. He offered to take the goods on with him to Ujiji, but Sheik bin Nasib, to whose care they hafi been consigned, would not hear of this, being sure that the white man was going on to his death. Mr. Stanley, however, took the letter- bag, and went onwards, with a flying caravan of fifty-four men, carrying light loads of cloth, beads, ammunition, tents, medicines, and supplies. The march to Ujiji was a succession of fevers, desertions, the extortions of chiefs, with other delays and dangers. But the 3d of November arrived, and it was a day to be remembered : “About 10 a.m. appeared from the direction of Ujiji a cara- van of eighty Wagnliha, We asked the news, and were told a white man had just arrived at Ujiji from Manyuema. This news startled us all. ‘ A white man ? ’ we asked. ‘ Yes, a white man,’ they replied. ‘ How is he dressed ? ’ ‘Hike the master, ’ they answered, referring to me. ‘ Is he young or old ? ’ ‘ He is old, and has white hair on his face, and is sick.’ ‘Where has he come from ? ’ ‘ From a very far country away beyond DR LIVINGSTONE, STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. 365 Ugaliha, called Manyuema, 1 ‘Indeed! and is he stopping at Ujiji now? ’ ‘Yes, we saw him about eight days ago.’ ‘ Do you think he will stop there until we see him?’ ‘ Sigue' (don’t know). ‘ Was he ever at Ujiji before ? ’ ‘ Yes, he went away a long time ago.’ ” Stauley now pushed on, stealing through the villages by night and travelling through a fine game country. The broad waters of the Tanganyika were sighted on the 10th of November, and with guns firing and the stars and stripes flying, the New York Herald Expedition descended the hill and entered Ujiji. The news of the arrival of the white man’s caravan had spread through the town, and the principal Arab merchants, Mahomed bin Sali, Sayd bin Majid, Abin bin Suliman, Mahomed bin Gharib, and others, were discussing the matter with Dr. Livingstone before the veranda of his house. Stanley says: “ I pushed back the crow’ds, and, passing from the rear, walked down a living avenue of people, until I came in front cf the semicircle of Arabs, in the front of which stood the white man with the gray beard. As I advanced slowly towards him, I noticed he was pale, had a gray beard, wore a bluish cap with a faded gold band round it, had on a red-sleeved waistcoat, and a pair of gray tweed trousers. I would have run towards him, only I was a coward in the presence of such a mob ; would have embraced him, only, he being an Englishman, I did not know how he Would receive it; so I did what cowardice and false pride suggested was the best thing — walked deliberately to him, took off my hat, and said, ‘Dr. Livingstone, I pre- sume?’ ‘Yes,’ said he with a kind smile, lifting his cap slightly. I replace my hat on my head and he puts on his cap, and we both grasp hands, and I then said aloud, ‘ I thank God, Doctor, I have been permitted to see you.’ He answered, ‘ I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you.’ ” So it was that Mr. Stanley on November the 10th, 1871, the 236th day from Bagaraoyo, and the 51st from Unyanyembe, found Livingstone. The post-bag which Mr. Stanley had brought from Unyan- yembe had been just a year on the road from Zanzibar. It was now soon delivered, and the Doctor read letters from his children and friends and heard the great news of the world ; the Arabs sent dishes of chicken and rice, a bottle of cham- pagne carried up from the coast for the great occasion was pro- duced, and Livingstone, who looked wan and weary, and had been complaining that he had no appetite, now ate like a hun- gry man, repeating, “ You have brought me new life ; you have 366 STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. brought me new life.” This was on the first day. Next morn- ing Mr. Stanley told Livingstone the origin and history of his journey, which excited in the traveller emotions of cordial ap- preciation and thankfulness. At the time of Mr. Stanley’s arrival, Livingstone possessed “ hut twenty cloths or so in the world,” and, as he said himself, had “ a near prospect of beggary among the Ujijians.” It is true, the goods of Dr. Kirk’s 1871 caravan were waiting at Unyanyembe, and in a few months, when the war with Mir- ambo was over and the roads were open, the Doctor and his five men would have had no difficulty in finding their way there with an Arab caravan, though lie would have had to pay smartly for his escort. At Unyanyembe he would have heard news of the Royal Geographical expedition, and when it joined him he might have resumed his journey with an excel- lent equipment, as he soon afterwards resumed it by means of orlier arrangements. But it ought to be remembered that Dr. Livingstone was in miserable health and spirits, and sinking; and that, although the relief brought him by Mr. Stanley soon restored him, the great traveller might otherwise have died at Ujiji. Livingstone gave Stanley a general account of his explora- tions south and west of Lake Tanganyika, and particularly of those lakes and rivers of the connection of which with the Nile he had so firm a conviction. Geographers in Europe seem to be of opinion that he was upon the sources of the Congo, not those of the Nile, — the Congo being the great river which runs into the South Atlantic above Loanda. But this is a problem which remains to be solved. Livingstone had also much to tell of Rua and Manyuema, countries beyond the Tanganyika, to which the Arab traders have only recently made their way, and where ivory is so plentiful that the people make their door-posts of great tusks. He could, moreover, speak of copper mines, and of the manufacture of finely woven and dyed grass-cloth, as well as of fertile districts dotted with towns and villages, in which the people had dwelt peacefully and happily till the Arabs came and desolated the land with the accursed slave- trade. He himself witnessed one of their horrible massacres, when Tagamoyo, a half-caste Arab, and his gang of armed slaves opened lire suddenly in a crowded market-place, killing some four hundred men, women, and children. Livingstone writes of the “ sore heart made still sorer by the woful sights” he had seen in this journey ; but expressly says that it was not these which deterred him from further exploring the country ; STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE . 367 but the conduct of liis own followers, hy whom he was “baffled, worried, defeated, and forced to return when almost in sight of the end of the geographical part of his mission.” On his way to Ujiji Stanley never turned to the right or the left ; for, as he says, he had come to Africa, not to explore the country or to shoot game, hut to find Livingstone. But Living- stone being found, and after a time well and strong and in good spirits, Stanley’s men and stores enabled the two travellers to solve a geographical problem which lay at their doors, and the solution of which was Mr. Stanley’s direct claim to the Victoria medal. It was well known that the Busisi Biver joined the Tanganyika at its head, a hundred miles above Ujiji ; but whether the river flowed into the lake, or out of it northward to the Albert N’Yanza and the Nile, had not been authoritatively determined. Sayd bin Majid’s large canoe was therefore borrowed and loaded, and with a crew of sixteen of Stanley’s men, Livingstone and he coasted the east side of the Tanganyika to its head, and found that the Busisi flowed into the lake, as Burton had been told. They were absent from Ujiji four weeks, and, with the exception of another attack of fever from \ hich Mr. Stanley suffered, the cruise seems to have been most enjoyable. The shores were thickly dotted with fishing villages, sending out their flotillas of canoes, while the plains were occupied with pasturing herds of cattle, and the hills wooded or clothed with green grass, bearing on their lower slopes Indian corn, cassava, sweet potatoes, and other crops. The people seemed to be comfortable and happy, and, as Mr. Stanley says, it is sad to think of them as bought up by the Arabs for a couple of doti of cloth, and taken away from such homes to Zanzibar to pick cloves or do hammel work, and be At the mercy of unwise and unkind owners. The natives were in general well disposed, always excepting the exaction of the customary “ honga ; ” but once or twice the cruisers found them- selves in dangerous quarters. The Bakari people called to them to come ashore, threatening them with vengeance of the great Wami if they did not. Of course they did not; and when they began to throw stones at the canoe, and one of their missiles came within a foot of Stanley’s arm, he suggested that a bullet should be sent among them to teach them better man- ners, “but Livingstone, though he said nothing, yet showed plainly enough that he did not quite approve of this.” At Bemba the canoe halted that the men might chip off a piece of pipe-clay to insure a safe voyage — a Wajiji supersti- tion generations old, if one may judge by the excavation which 368 STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. the observance of it has made in the chalk cliff. The natives seemed to be peacefully disposed, and the company in the canoe, going ashore, made their breakfast and waited ; but ere long the drunken son of the chief came upon them, and by and by the father, also intoxicated, with a number of the people, and threatened to kill them, because the son of a former chief had been murdered at Ujiji. Livingstone was absent, having as- cended a hill the better to see the country, and Stanley was disposed to fight; but his more experienced companion, having returned, though with difficulty, by much tact and kindness succeeded in preserving the peace. The chief accepted their present, and they went on their way. They returned to Ujiji on the 13th of December, 1871, and several plans having been proposed and discussed, Livingstone finally resolved to accept as far as Unyanyembe the escort which was offered by his companion, and to wait at that place until the arrival of the men and stores necessary to enable him to resume his journey, and which Hr. Stanley undertook to forward to him immediately upon his arrival at Zanzibar. To wait at Unyanyembe was more especially needful in regard to the men, since, in accordance with Mr. Bennett’s instruc- tions, “ to help him should he require it,” Stanley was about to make him a present of so large a quantity of stores that only a few extra articles would be necessary. Before leaving Ujiji Livingstone began writing up his “ Mammoth Letts’s Diary ” from his field note-books. He wrote also to his friends, and wrote also two long letters which heartily thanked Mr. Ben- nett, and which were in accordance with the special corre- spondent’s instructions, to “ get what news of his discoveries you can.” In one of these letters he gives the following summary of what he had accomplished in the way of geograph- ical exploration, up to the time when he was driven back to Ujiji by the treachery of his followers : “ I have ascertained that the water-shed of the Nile is a broad upland between ten degrees and twelve degrees south latitude, and from 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. Mountains stand on it at various points, which, though not apparently very high, are between 6,000 and 7,000 feet of actual altitude. The water- shed is over 700 miles in length, from west to east. The springs that rise on it are almost in- numerable — that is, it would take a large part of a man’s life to count them. A bird’s-eye view of some parts of the water- shed would resemble the frost vegetation on window-panes. They all begin in an ooze at the head of a slightly depressed STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. 3G9 valley. A few hundred yards down, the quantity of water from oozing earthen sponge forms a brisk perennial burn or brook a few feet broad, and deep enough to require a bridge. These are the ultimate or primary sources of the great rivers that How to the north in the Great Nile Vallc}\ The primaries unite and form streams in general larger than the Isis at Ox- ford, or Avon at Hamilton, and may be called secondary sources. They never dry, but unite again into four large lines of drainage, the head waters or mains of the river of Egypt. These four are each called by the natives Lualaba, which, if not too pedantic, may be spoken of as lacustrine rivers, extant specimens of those which, in prehistoric times, abounded in Africa, and which in the south are still call by Bechuanas ‘ Melapo in the north, by Arabs, 4 Wadys,’ both words mean- ing the same thing — river-bed in which no water ever now flows. Two of the four great rivers mentioned fall into the central Lualaba, or Webb’s Lake River, and then we have but two main lines of drainage as depicted nearly by Ptolemy. u The prevailing winds on the water-shed are from the south-east. This is easily observed by the direction of the branches, and the humidity of the climate is apparent in the numbers of lichens which make the upland forest look like the mangrove swamps on the coast. “ In passing over sixty miles of latitude, I waded thirty-two primary sources* from calf to waist deep, and requiring from twenty minutes to an hour and a quarter to cross stream and sponge. This woilld give about one source to every two miles. “ A Suaheli friend, in passing along part of the Lake Bang- weolo, during six days counted twenty-two from thigh to waist deep. This lake is on the water-shed, for the village which I observed on its north-west shore was a few seconds into eleven degrees south, and its southern shores, and springs, and rivulets are certainly in twelve degrees south. I tried to cross it in order to measure the breadth accurately. The first stage to an inhabited island was abont twenty-four miles. From the highest point here the tops of the trees, evidently lifted by the mirage, could be seen on the second stage and the third stage ; the mainland was said to be as far as this be- yond it. But my canoe men had stolen the canoe and got a hint that the real owners were in pursuit, and got into a flurry to return home. 4 They would come back for me in a few days, truly,’ but I had only my coverlet left to hire another craft if they should leave me in this wide expanse of water, *24 370 STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. and being 4,000 feet above the sea it was very cold ; so I returned. “ The length of this lake is, at a very moderate estimate, 150 miles. It gives forth a large body of water in the Luapnla ; yet lakes are in no sense sources, for no large river begins in a lake ; but this and others serve an important pur- pose in the phenomena of the Nile. It is one large lake, and (unlike the Okaro, which, according to Suaheli, who travelled long in our company, is three or four lakes run into one huge Victoria Nyanza) gives out a large river, which, oil departing out of Moero, is still larger. These men had spent many years east of Okara, and could scarcely be mistaken in saying that of the three or four lakes there, only one (the Okara) gives off its waters to the north. ... “ The great river, Webb’s Lualaba, in the centre of the Nile Valley, makes a great bend to the west, soon after leaving Lake Moero, of at least one hundred and eighty miles ; then, turning to the north for some distance, it makes another large sweep west of about one hundred and twenty miles, in the course of which about thirty miles of southing are made ; it then draws around to north-east, receives the Lomani, or Loeki, a large river which flows through Lake Lincoln. After the union a large lake is formed, with many inhabited islands in it ; but this has still to be explored. It is the fourth large lake in the central line of drainage, and cannot be Lake Al- bert; for, assuming Speke’s longitude of Ujiji to be pretty correct, and my reckoning not enormously wrong, the great central lacustrine river is about five degrees west of Upper and Lower Tanganyika. . . . “ Beyond the fourth lake the water passes, it is said, into large reedy lakes, and is in all probability Petherick’s branch — the main stream of the Nile — in distinction from the smaller eastern arm which Speke, Grant, and Baker took to be the river of Egypt.* “The Manyuema could give no information about their country because they never travel. Blood feuds often prevent them from visiting villages three or four miles off, and many at a distance of thirty miles did not know the great river, though named to them. No traders had gone so far as I had, and their people cared only for ivory. * The possibility of such a connection through Petherick’s branch of the Nile has been disproved by the explorations of Dr. Schweinfurth, as will be seen in a subsequent chapter. STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. 371 “ In my attempt to penetrate farther and farther I had but little hope of ultimate success, for the great amount of westing led to a continued effort to suspend the judgment, lest, after all, I might be exploring the Congo instead of the Nile, and it was only after the two great western drains fell into the cen- tral main, and left but the two great lacustrine rivers of Ptolemy, that I felt pretty sure of being on the right track.” In order to avoid the Mirambo war, which was still raging along the ordinary road to Ujiji, Mr. Stanley, who had travelled it, proposed a voyage of some sixty miles down the lake, that they might strike inland from Cape Tongwe to his former track, and follow its semicircular sweep to Unyanyembe. The Doctor agreed, and the course answered perfectly. They kept Christmas Day at Ujiji with royal fare of mutton from fat broad-tailed sheep and goats, with zogga and pombe, eggs, fresh milk, plantains, singvve, fine corn-flour, fish, onions, and sweet potatoes, and on the 27th of December the two canoes, hoisting, the one the American, and the other the British flag, left Ujiji. Cape Tongwe was safely reached, and the land journey commenced on the 7th of January, 1872 — Unyan- yembe being entered on the 18th of February, fifty-three days from Ujiji. On the road Mr. Stanley was racked with fevers, and Dr. Livingstone suffered from sore feet, but marched and ate “ like a hero” ; and Mr. Stanley bears witness to his great powers of travel, his knowledge of rocks, trees, fruits, and everything concerning Africa, as well as his skill in camp- craft and all its cunning devices.” Letters and papers for both travellers had met them a few marches before Unyanyembe. Dr. Kirk’s caravan was still waiting. The provisions were in bad order, had been robbed, and were altogether in an unsatisfactory condition. Some shoes and stockings which had been sent b} 7 a friend, greatly delighted Livingstone. “ He tried them on, and exclaimed, ‘ Richard is himself again.’ ” Stanle} 7 now gave Livingstone forty loads of stores and supplies, making, with the thirty loads sent by Dr. Kirk, a quantity sufficient for four years. Stanley left for the coast with Livingstone’s letters and a sealed diary, and his own journals, on the 14th of March, and reached Bagamoyo on the 6th of May. The up-journey over the same ground had taken one hundred days, but the home- ward march was accomplished in fifty-three. Stanley did good service to Livingstone in thus hurrying to Zanzibar to despatch as soon as possible the fifty men, the arms and ammunition, the nautical almanacs, the chronometers, and the other sup- 372 STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. plies required before the traveller could start upon the final and decisive exploration of the great water-shed he had dis- covered. At Bagamoyo Stanley found the Royal Geographical Society’s expedition, and all the world knows how Lieutenant Dawson and his subordinates threw up their commands in turn ; and how a costly expedition for which Dr. Livingstone, in his last letter, says that he could have found plenty of work, came to a fruitless end. The Geographical Society condemned this precipitancy on the part of Lieutenant Dawson as a “ lamentable error of judgment,” and there the matter had as well be left. Mr. Stanley, before leaving Zanzibar, enlisted men and or- ganized with the English money and stores available, and with the co-operation of Mr. Oswell Livingstone, the Doctor’s son, who had been a member of the Geographical Society’s expedi- tion, the additional caravan required by the traveller, and saw it start for Bagamoyo and the interior on the 17th of May. The last news from Dr. Livingstone, prior to the news of his death, was dated Unyanyembe, July 1st, four months all but a few days after Mr. Stanley left him. He was still waiting for “ the fifty men,” who must soon have joined him. In this letter Dr. Livingstone informed Lord Granville that his pur- pose was, in this new journey, to round the south end of Tan- ganyika, proceed to Lake Bangweolo, and thence “ go straight west to the ancient fountains reported at that end of the water-shed,” visit the copper mines of Karanga, lakes Lincoln and Kamolondo, and tlience retire along the latter lake to Ujiji and home. The “ ancient fountains,” Dr. Livingstone thought, may be the uttermost source of the whole Nile system referred to by Herodotus. It must be noted that this route was devoted to the verifying of the courses of the water-shed which Dr. Livingstone traced from 12° south to 4° south, a few miles short of the uuknown lake near which he was compelled by his men to turn. But the extent of “ the large, reedy lake” itself, and the direction of its waters, whether north to the Nile or west to the Congo, such a journey as Dr. Livingstone proposed would not have resolved. When Stanley arrived in England, he was received with a cordial welcome by the general public, and honored in many ways. Unhappily the Geographical Society and he did not for a short time understand each other, and strong w T ords were employed by both parties ; but time and explanation and per- sonal courtesies softened down asperities, and the Society STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. 373 cordially awarded him the Victoria medal, while Queen Vic- toria accorded him a personal interview, and presented him with a valuable memento of her appreciation of his great achievement, and of the interest which she took in the welfare and the success of that great Englishman for whose relief and comfort he had done and dared so much. The Royal Geographical Society soon afterwards came to the conclusion that, to l>c at all sure of helping Livingstone, and in order to the complete opening up of Africa, an expedition ought to start at once from the western coast and the mouth of the Congo. As may he seen from any map of the continent, the great river Zaire, or Congo, flows into the Gulf of Guinea, and its channel, so far as traced, comes down from those same blank regions, of which Livingstone’s discoveries are filling up the farther or eastern side. If the Lualaba does not emerge by the mouth of the Congo, it does not flow westward at all ; if it does, and Livingstone had found himself upon the upper waters of this stream, an expedition sailing from its mouth would have the best chance of aiding him, and would at the same time have the opportunity of exploring the most mysterious country of Africa. Much might be accomplished in such an enterprise for two thousand pounds, and this sum was most generously prom- ised and paid by Mr. Young, an old friend of Livingstone’s, and who has also since added most munificently to his previous gifts. The leader of the expedition is Lieutenant Grandy, R. N., an officer who has had much experience in the African rivers, and with the Iirooinen, in the repression of the slave- trade. The undertaking is called the “ Congo- Livingstone Ex- pedition” — a designation which emphasizes its double object — namely, to complete, if possible, the survey of this great stream, and to convey succor and comfort to the great traveller if, as the geographers confidently believed, lie was really all the while upon the upper waters of the Congo, and not upon those of the Kile. The party started from St. Paul de Loauda, in 1873, and is now engaged in the work assigned to it. The Zaire, or Congo, is a magnificent river, more wonderful than the Nile even, if indeed the Lualabafeeds it. In any case, it is one of the greatest puzzles of African geography ; for when the slate cliffs, which rise one hundred and forty miles from its mouth, are once passed, it broadens out into a majestic tide of five miles wide, with an extraordinary depth, while the verdure and richness of its upper reaches are amazing. Captain Tuckcy did not ascend much higher than the slate-rocks, and the “ shellals ; ” but he saw a wonderful region, and it was said that 374 STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. beyond this lay a most populous, fertile, and salubrious district, un visited by the foot of any European ; although by all accounts the very garden of the interior region. Marvellous forests, strange animals, picturesque scenery, nameless but precious productions, and vast swarms of men waiting for trade and knowledge, are said to be found in that round white blot which still marks the best map of Africa. It may or may not be that Webb’s Lualaba and the large volume of Lake Lincoln pour into the mighty and strange stream which, in the dry season of Loanga, often swells suddenly to some seven or eight extra feet of broad flood. But assuredly the Zaire conceals notable secrets from science ; and while it may possibly not lead Lieutenant Grandy and his companions to Livingstone’s ground, it is sure to conduct any competent explorers to most valuable dis- coveries. Mr. Stanley himself has just (November, 1874) left Zanzibar on another expedition, the precise objects of which have not yet been stated, but probably to complete the discoveries begun by Livingstone in his later journeys, and left unfinished by his death. CHAPTER XVII. LIVINGSTONE’S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. In the preceding chapter on Stanley and Livingstone a very brief outline of the latter’s travels from the time he left Zanzibar in 1860 to bis meeting with Stanley at Ujiji six years later has already been given. This much was necessary in order to explain the object and circumstances of Stanley’s expedition ; but, though it anticipates in some measure the more important features, it can detract but little from the interest of the complete narrative of those travels which the publication of “ Dr. Livingstone’s Last Journals ” now enables us to present. These Journals cover the entire period from the date of Livingstone’s departure from Zanzibar on the 28tli of January, 1866, to the day when his note-book dropped from his dying hand in the village of llala at the end of April, 1873. The little that is needed for the elucidation of the numerous entries is supplied by the editor, Mr. Horace Waller ; but as both he and Livingstone have omitted to explain the origin and purpose of this last expedition, it will be well to do so briefly before entering upon the narrative. The reader will have seen in the last chapter but one that the Zambesi Expedition was substantially a failure; and no one was more keenly alive to this fact than Livingstone him- self. He had not only expended immense sums of Government money and some thousands of pounds of his own with results which caused general and outspoken dissatisfaction, but his failure had brought the whole subject of African exploration for a time into disfavor; and he returned to England a soured and disappointed man. He wished to resume his explorations, but had not the means ; and, as the government had cast him off, it was only through the friendly aid of Sir Roderick Murchison that he was enabled to make a new start. Sir Roderick pro- posed to Livingstone an expedition “ to define the true water- shed of Inner Southern Africa;” and after no little trouble secured from the government the sum 500/. and an unsalaried consulate to the chiefs of Inner Africa. The Council of the Geographical Society subscribed 500/. more, and other sub- scriptions were afterwards obtained in Bombay ; a “ valued 376 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. private friend,” as Livingstone informs ns, placed another thousand pounds at his disposal. Thus, before the close of 1SG5, Livingstone was once more in Africa ready to enter upon an expedition which, as we shall see, extended over a period of more than seven years. The expedition was organized at Bombay, and crossed over to Zanzibar; but instead of striking inland from Bagamoyo on what was now a beaten a track, Livingstone sailed down the coast to Mikindany Bay near the mouth of the Bovuma Biver, whence he set out overland for Lake Nyassa. II is caravan consisted of thirteen Sepoys, ten Johanna men, and thirteen Africans, among whom were Clmma and Susi, who remained with him till he died and brought his body and Journals to the coast. He had also six camels, three buffaloes and a calf, two mules, and four donkeys. The march began on April 6th, 18G6, and the route lay for a long distance directly up the Bovuma, or nearly due west. Nothing of special interest marked the journey to the Lake, except the proof which it afforded at the very commencement that the sonnel of the expedition was hopelessly unequal to the task which Livingstone had set before himself. The gross ill-usage of the drivers and the bites of tsetse cost him all his animals except one donkey and the buffalo calf before the Lake was reached ; the Sepoys first mutinied and subsequently proved so utterly worthless, that he was compelled to dismiss them ; the Johanna men, after clogging the march for three months, deserted in a body; and one of the Nassick boys died, while another met some of his kindred and concluded to remain with them. The first hundred pages of the Journals indeed consist largely of records of difficulties caused chiefly by his own followers, and of devices for satisfying hunger, for which their folly and laziness was largely responsible. Before three months had passed, enough had occurred to discourage utterly any explorer less firm and self-confident than Livingstone ; but he endured all with a patient fortitude which no obstacles could even temporarily depress. Even in this first stage of his long journey he came upon that “ great open sore of the world ” which throughout forms the most painful element of his narrative, and toward the healing of which it was his most consoling hope that his labors would contribute. As he neared the lake the track of the Arab slave-traders was several times crossed, and two or three extracts from the Journals will serve to show what scenes then met his eye : SLAVE CARAVAN. LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 377 “ 19i tli June , 1SGG. — AVe passed by a woman tied by the neck to a tree and dead ; the people of the country explained that she had been unable to keep up with the other slaves in a gang, and her master had determined that she should not become the property of any one else if she recovered after resting for a time. I may mention here that we saw others tied up in a similar manner, and one lying in the path shot or stabbed, for she was in a pool of blood. The explanation we got invari- ably was that the Arab who owned these victims was enraged at losing his money by the slaves becoming unable to march, and vented his spleen by murdering them.” “ 26 th June . — We passed a slave- woman shot or stabbed through the body and lying on the path ; a group of men stood about a hundred yards off on one side, and another of women on the other side, looking on ; they said an Arab who passed early that morning had done it in anger at losing the price lie had given for her, because she was unable to walk any longer.” “27 th June. — To-day we came upon a man dead from starvation, as he was very thin. One of our men wandered and found a number of slaves with slave-sticks 011 , abandoned by their master from want of food; they were too weak to be able to speak or say where they had come from ; some were quite j’oung.” Shocking as such incidents are, they are by no means the worst result of -the slave-trade as conducted by the Arabs. Tribe is set against tribe, neighbor against neighbor, the chief against his people, and members of the family one against another, until every restraint or tie that can bind men together in communities is broken down, and whole districts are depop- ulated by mere proximity to the infamous traffic. Not the least discouraging feature of the business as described by Living- stone is the utter callousness of the natives even in cases where their own kindred are involved ; and the impossibility of awak- ening either shame or compunction, or any other sentiment except fear of personal consequences. At length on the 8th of August Lake Nyassa was reached at the confluence of the Masinje River. “ It was as if I had come back,” says Livingstone, “ to an old home I never ex- pected again to see ; and pleasant to bathe in the delicious waters again, hear the roar of the sea, and dash in the rollers.” He remained here several days, working up his journal, map- making, and taking lunars and altitudes. The next stage of the inarch was to skirt the southern shore of the lake, so as to reach the west side, and this was accomplished by September 378 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 25th. It had been Livingstone’s intention to strike directly northwest from Lake Nyassa for Lake Tanganyika, but the danger of encountering the Mazitu, a fierce and warlike tribe who occupied the next district to the north, and who were constantly making forays upon the neighboring tribes, so terrified his people that he was compelled to make a long westing till he struck the Zalyanyama Mountains, a low range running northwest and southeast. Most of the region before these mountains are reached is lowlands, and filled with “sponges;” Livingstone’s description of the latter will stand the reader in good stead when ho comes to the constant mention of these obstructions in the later travels towards the north. “ The bogs, or earthen sponges, of this country, occupy a most important part in its physical geography, and probably explain the annual inundations of most of the rivers. Wher- ever a plain sloping towards a narrow opening in hills or higher ground exists, there we have the conditions requisite for the formation of an African sponge. The vegetation, not being of a heathy or peat-forming kind, falls down, rots, and then forms rich black loam. In many cases a mass of this loam, two or three feet thick, rests on a bed of pure river sand, which is revealed by crabs and other aquatic animals bringing it to the surface. At present, in the dry season, the black loam is cracked in all directions, and the cracks are often as much as three inches wide, and very deep. The whole surface has now fallen down, and rests on the sand, but when the rains come, the first supply is nearly all absorbed in the sand. The black loam forms soft slush, and floats on the sand. The nar- row opening prevents it from moving off in a landslip, but an oozing spring rises at that spot. All the pools in the lower f )ortion of this spring-course are filled by the first rains, which lappen south of the equator when the sun goes vertically over any spot. The second, or greater rains, happen in his course north again, when all the bogs and river-courses being wet, the supply runs off, and forms the inundation : this was certainly the case as observed on the Zambesi and Shire, and, taking the different times for the sun’s passage north of the equator, it ex- plains the inundation of the Nile.” Keeping the Zalyanyama range on the left, the march was now nearly due north over a level or rather gently undulating country, nearly bare of trees. Wild animals abounded ; large troops of elephants were occasionally seen, engaged for the most part in digging up roots which they seem to relish greatly ; buffaloes, and elans, and hartebeest were numerous ; and now LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 379 and then a lion roared at them as they passed by. The people belong to the Manganja family, and are very industrious, com- bining agriculture and hunting with nets with various handi- crafts, of which blacksmithing is the chief. The sound of the hammer is almost constant in the villages. This hammer is simply a large stone, bound with the strong inner bark of a tree, and loops left which form handles ; two pieces of bark form the tongs, and a big stone sunk into the ground the anvil ; the bellows consist of two goat-skins with sticks at the open ends, which are open and shut at every blast. Yet with these primitive tools, two men make several hoes in a day, and turn out other work of surprising excellence. The metal is very good ; it is all from yellow haematite, which abounds all over this part of the country. The people have quite the Grecian facial angle ; delicate features and limbs are common, and the spur-heel is as scarce as among Europeans ; small feet and hands are the rule. Many of the men have large slits in the lobe of the ear, and each tribe has its distinctive tattoo. The women indulge in this painful luxury more extensively than the men, probably because they have very few ornaments. The two central front teeth are hollowed at the cutting edge. They are very punctilious amongst each other. Clapping the hands in various ways is the polite way of saying “ Allow me,” “ I beg pardon,” “Permit me to pass,” “Thanks,” etc; it is resorted to in ‘respectful introduction and leave-taking, and also is equivalent to “ hear, hear.” A large ivory bracelet marks the headman of a village, but there is nothing else to show differences of rank. The chiefs were nearly all friendly, and provided Livingstone’s party with food and beer whenever he stopped with them; in return he usually gave a cloth, and clothing being very scarce this was considered munificent.* Owing to the Mazitu raids, however, food was in some places almost impossible to obtain, and more than once the caravan was on the verge of starvation. One custom which we believe has not been found to exist in any other part of Africa is men- tioned by Livingstone. In various villages lie observed minia- ture huts, about two feet high, very neatly thatched and plas- tered. On inquiring what they were for, he was told that when a child or relative dies one is made, and when any pleasant food is cooked or beer brewed, a little is placed in the tiny hut for the departed soul, which is believed to enjoy it. The Loangwa River, the chief northern feeder of the Zam- A ‘ 4 cloth ” means two yards of unbleached muslin. 380 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. besi, was crossed on December 15th at about latitude 12° 45' S. The river is said to rise in the north ; it has alluvial banks with large forest trees along them, the bottom is sandy, and great sand banks are in it, as in the Zambesi. The route beyond this lay for many days through the Mopane Forest, where there was abundance of wild game, including numerous varieties of birds ; so many new notes were heard that Livingstone regards it as probable that this is a richer ornithological region than even the Zambesi. The inhabitants are called Babisa. They have round bullet heads, snub noses, often high-cheek bones, an upward slant of the eyes, and look as if they had a good deal of Bushman blood in them ; a good many, indeed, would pass for Bushmen or Hottentots. The women have the fashion of exposing the upper part of the buttocks by letting a very stiff cloth fall down behind. Their teeth are filed to points, they wear no lip-ring, and the hair is parted so as to lie in a net at the back part of the head. The mode of salutation among the men is to lie down nearly on the back, clapping the hands, and making a rather inelegant half-kissing sound with the lips. The Chambeze River was reached on the 26tli of January, 1867. During the march thither, all sufFered keenly from hunger, and Livingstone met with a loss, the importance of which can hardly be exaggerated when we witness its effect month by month, on even his hardy frame. “ There can be little doubt,” says Mr. Waller, “that the severity of his subse- quent illnesses mainly turned upon it, and it is hardly too much to believe that his constitution from this time was steadily sapped by the effects of fever-poison which he was powerless to counteract, owing to the want of quinine.” Before quoting Livingstone’s account of this loss it may be well to explain that after the desertion of the Johanna men he was obliged to rely on the. natives through whose districts he passed not only for guides but for porters. “20^4 January . — A guide refused, so we marched without one. The two Waiyau, who joined ns at Kande’s village, now deserted. They had been very faithful all the way, and took our part in every case. Kuowing the language well, they were extremely useful, and no one thought that they would desert, for they were free men — their masters had been killed by the Mazitu — and this circumstance, and their uniform good conduct, made us trust them more than we should have done any others who had been slaves. But they left us in the forest, and heavy rain came on, which obliterated every vestige of LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 381 their footsteps. To make the loss the more galling, they took what we could least spare — the medicine-box, which they would only throw away as soon as they came to examine their booty. One of these deserters exchanged his load that morning with a boy called Baraka, who had charge of the medicine-box, because he was so careful. This was done, because with the medicine- chest were packed five large cloths and all Baraka’s clothing and beads, of which he was very careful. The Waiyau also offered to carry this burden a stage to help Baraka, while he f ave his own load, in which there was no cloth, in exchange. 'lie forest was so dense and high, there was no chance of get- ting a glimpse of the fugitives, who took all the dishes, a large box of powder, the Hour we had purchased dearly to help us as far as the Chambeze, the tools, two guns, and a cartridge-pouch ; but the medicine-chest was the sorest loss of all ! 1 felt as if I had now received the sentence of death, like poor Bishop Mackenzie. “ All the other goods I had divided in case of loss or deser- tion, but had never dreamed of losing the precious quinine and other remedies ; other losses and annoyances I felt as just parts of that undercurrent of vexations which is not wanting in even the smoothest life, and certainly not worthy of being moaned over in the experience of an explorer anxious to benefit a country and people — but this loss I feel most keenly.” Every effort was made to intercept the runaways and recover the precious box; but they were fruitless, and it was not until Livingstone met Stanley at Ujiji five years later that lie was again supplied with those medicines without which travel in Africa is so deadly. After crossing the Chambeze Livingstone found himself in a country called Lobemba, and on the 31st of January he reached the village of the head chief Chitapangwa. Chitapangwagave the travellers a grand reception and made a favorable impres- sion upon Livingstone at first by his jolly good-nature ; but sub- sequently he exhibited on a small scale all the rapacity of Kamrasi, and Livingstone was glad to get away after a stay of a few days. Holding a northwesterly course from this point, numerous small rivers and rivulets were crossed, and on the 31st of March, he came in sight of Lake Liemba, which subse- quent exploration proved to be the southern extremity of Lake Tanganyika. The spot where the Lake was first touched is in Lat. 8° 4t>' 54" S. Long. 31° 57' E. It was Livingstone’s desire to march up the shore of the Lake and discover at once what its northern connections were ; but news of a Mazitu raid in 382 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. that direction compelled him to desist, and he concluded to strike westward, visit Casembe, and explore Lake Moero of which lie had already heard rumors. This plan he carried out fully, in spite of many delays ; and after his arrival at Casembe’s town, he wrote a despatch to Lord Clarendon dated December 10th, 1867 (which, however, was never sent) in which he gives an epitomized description of his travels, and of his stay at Casembe.* This despatch is especially valuable because it treats of the geography of the whole district between Lakes Nyassa and Moero, and we reproduce it nearly entire : “ . . . Lobisa, Lobemba, Ulungn, and Itawa-Lnnda are the names by which the districts of an elevated region between the parallels 11° and 8° south, and meridians 28°-33° long, east, are known. The altitude of this upland is from 4,000 to 6,000 feet above the level of the sea. It is generally covered with forest, well watered by numerous rivulets, and comparatively cold. The soil is very rich, and yields abundantly wherever cultivated. This is the watershed between the Loangwa, a tributary of the Zambesi, and several rivers which flow towards the north. Of the latter, the most remarkable is the Chambeze, for it assists in the formation of three lakes, and changes its name three times in the five or six hundred miles of its course. “ On leaving Lobemba we entered Ulnngu, and, as we proceeded northwards, perceived by the barometers and the courses of numerous rivulets, that a decided slope lay in that direction. A friendly old tllungu chief, named Kasonso, on hearing that I wished to visit Lake Liemba, which lies in his country, gave his son with a large escort to guide me thither ; and on the 2d April last we reached the brim of the deep cup- like cavity in which the lake reposes. The descent is 2,000 feet, and still the surface of the water is upwards of 2,500 feet above the level of the sea. The sides of the hollow are very steep, and sometimes the rocks run the whole 2,000 feet sheer down to the water. Nowhere is there three miles of level land from the foot of the cliffs to the shore, but top, sides, and bottom are covered with well-grown wood and grass, except where the bare rocks protrude. The scenery is extremely beautiful. The 1 Aeasy/a stream of 15 yards broad and thigh deep came down alongside our precipitous path, and formed * This term is applied by Livingstone indiscriminately to the ruler, his town, and his country. Properly speaking, as Livingstone explains in one place, Casembe is a title, and means general. The country of Casembe is called Londa or Lunda. LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 3S3 cascades by leaping 300 feet at a time. These, with the bright red of the clay scl lists among the greenwood-trees, made the dullest of my attendants pause and remark with wonder. Antelopes, buffaloes, and elephants abound on the steep slopes ; and lnppopotomi, crocodiles, and fish swarm in the water. Gnus arc here unknown, and these animals may live to old age if not beguiled into pitfalls. The elephants sometimes eat the crops of the natives, and flap their big ears just outside the village stockades. One got out of our way on to a compara- tively level spot, and then stood and roared at us. Elsewhere they make clear off at sight of man. “The first village we came to on the banks of the Lake had a grove of palm-oil and other trees around it. This palm-tree was not the dwarf species seen on Lake Nyassa. A cluster of the fruit passed the door of my hut which required two men to carry it. The fruit seemed quite as large as those on the West Coast. Most of the natives live on two islands, where they cultivate the soil, rear goats, and catch fish. The lake is not large, from 15 to 20 miles broad, and from 30 to 40 long. It is the receptacle of four considerable streams, and sends out an arm two miles broad to the N.N.W., it is said to Tanganyika, and it may be a branch of that Lake. One of the streams, the Lonzua, drives a smooth body of water into the Lake fifty yards broad and ten fathoms deep, bearing on its surface duck- weed and grassy islands. I could see the mouths of other streams, but got near enough to measure the Lofu only ; and at a ford fifty miles from the confluence it was 100 yards wide and waist deep in the dry season. “ We remained six weeks on the shores of the Lake, trying to pick up some flesh and strength. A party of Arabs came into Ulungu after us iri search of ivory, and hearing that an Englishman had preceded them, naturally inquired where I was. But our friends, the Blulungu, suspecting that mischief was meant, stoutly denied that they had ever seen anything of the sort ; and then became very urgent that I should go on to one of the inhabited islands for safety. I regret that I sus- pected them of intending to make me a prisoner there, which they could easily have done by removing the canoes ; but when the villagers who deceived the Arabs told me afterwards with an air of triumph how nicely they had managed, I saw that they had only been anxious for my safety. On three occasions the same friendly disposition was shown ; and when we went round the west side of the Lake in order to examine the arm or branch above referred to, the headman at the confluence of 384 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. the Lofu protested so strongly against my going — the Aral>9 had been fighting, and I might be mistaken for an Arab, and killed — that I felt half-inclined to believe him. Two Arab slaves entered the village the same afternoon in search of ivory, and confirmed all he had said. We now altered onr course, •intending to go south about the district disturbed by the Arabs. When we had gone 60 miles we heard that the head quarters of the Arabs were 22 miles farther. They had found ivory very cheap, and pushed on to the west, till attacked by a chief named Nsama, whom they beat in his own stockade. They were now at a loss which way to turn. On reaching Chitimba’s village (lat. 8° 57' 55" S. ; long. 30° 20' E.), I found them about 600 in all ; and, on presenting a letter I had from the Sultan of Zanzibar, was immediately supplied with provisions, beads, and cloth. They approved of my plan of passing to the south of Nsama’s country, but advised waiting till the effects of punish- ment, which the Baulnngu had resolved to inflict on Nsama for breach of public law, were known. It had always been under- stood that whoever brought goods into the country was to be protected ; and two hours after my arrival at Chitimba’s, the son of Kasonso, our guide, marched in with his contingent. It was anticipated that Nsama might flee ; if to the north, he would leave me a free passage through his country ; if to the south, I might be saved from walking into his hands. But it turned out that Nsama w r as anxious for peace. He had sent two men with elephants’ tusks to begin a negotiation ; but treachery was suspected, and they were shot down. Another effort was made with ten goats, and repulsed. This w*as much to the regret of the head Arabs. It was fortunate for me that the Arab goods vrere not all sold, for Lake Moero lay in Nsama’s country, and without peace no ivory could bo bought, nor could I reach the Lake. The peace-making between the people and Arabs was, however, a tedious process, occupying three and a half months drinking each other’s blood. This, as I saw it west of this in 1854, is not more horrible than the thirtieth dilution of deadly night-shade or strychnine is in homoeopathy. I thought that had I been an Arab I could easily swallow that, but not the next means of cementing the peace — marrying a black wife. Nsama’s daughter was the bride, and she turned out very pretty. She came riding pickaback on a man’s shoulders ; this is the most dignified conveyance that chiefs and their families can command. She had ten maids with her, each carrying a basket of provisions, and all having the same beautiful features as herself. She was taken by the principal LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 385 Arab, but soon showed that she preferred her father to her husband, for seeing preparations made to 6cnd oft' to purchase ivory, she suspected that her father was to be attacked, and made her escape. I then visited Nsama, and, as lie objected to many people coming near him, took only three of my eight attendants. Ilis people were very much afraid of fire-arms, and felt all my clothing to sec if I had any concealed on my person. Nsama is an old man, with head and face like those sculptured on the Assyrian monuments. lie has been a great conqueror in his time, and with bows and arrows was invincible, lie is said to have destroyed many native traders from Tangan- yika, but twenty Arab guns made him fice from his own stockade, and caused a great sensation in the country. lie was much taken with my hair and woolen clothing ; but his people, heedless of his scolding, so pressed upon us that we could not converse, and, after promising to send for me to talk during the night, our interview ended. He promised guides to Moero, and sent us more provisions than we could carry ; but showed so much distrust, that after all we went without his assistance. “ Nsama’s people are particularly handsome. Many of the men have as beautiful heads as one could find in an assembly of Europeans. All have very fine forms, with small hands and feet. None of the West-coast ugliness, from which most of our ideas of the Negroes arc derived, is here to be seen. No prognathous jaws nor lark heels offended the sight. My ob- servations deepened the impression first obtained from the re- marks of Winwood Reade, that the typical Negro is seen in the ancient Egyptian, and not in the ungainly forms which grow up in the unhealthy swamps of the West Coast. Indeed it is probable that this upland forest region is the true home of the Negro. The women excited the admiration of the Arabs. They have fine, small, well-formed features: their great defect is one of fashion, which does not extend to the next tribe; they file their teeth to points, the hussies, and that makes their smile like that of the crocodile. “Nsama's country is called Itawa, and his principal town is in lat. 8° 55' S., and long. 29° 21' E. From the large popula- tion he had under him, Itawa is in many parts well cleared of trees for cultivation, and it is lower than IJlungn, being gener- ally about 3,000 feet above the sea. Long lines of tree-cov- ered hills raised some GOO or 700 feet above these \ alley3 of de- nudation, prevent the scenery from being monotonous. Large game is abundant. Elephants, buffaloes, and zebras gra;:cd in large numbers on the long sloping banks of a river called Chis-. 25 38G LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. era. a mile and a half broad. In going north we crossed this river, or rather marsh, which is full of papyrus plants and reeds. Our ford was an elephant’s path ; and the roots of the papyrus, though a carpet to these animals, were sharp and sore to feet usually protected by shoes, dud often ‘ made us shrink and flounder into holes chest deep. The Chisera forms a larger marsh west of this, and it gives off its water to the Ka- longosi, a feeder of Lake Moero. 4i The Arabs sent out men in all directions to purchase ivory; but their victory over Nsama had created a panic among the tribes, which no verbal assurances could allay. If Nsaina had been routed by twenty Arab guns no one could stand before them but Cascmbe ; and Cascmbe had issued strict ordeis to his people not to allow the Arabs who fought Is sain a to enter his country. They did not attempt to force their way, but after sending friendly messages and presents to different chiefs, when these were not cordially received, turned off in some other direction, and at last, despairing of more ivory, turned homewards. From flrst to last they were ex- tremely kind to me, and showed all due respect to the Sultan’s letter. I am glad that I was witness to their mode of trading in ivory and slaves. It formed a complete contrast to the atro- cious dealings of the Kilwa traders, who are supposed to be, but are not, the subjects of the same Sultan. If one wished to depict the slave-trade in its most attractive, or rather least objectionable form, he would accompany these gentlemen sub- jects of the Sultan of Zanzibar.* If he would describe the land traffic in its most disgusting phases, he would follow the Kilwa traders along the road to Nyassa, or the Portuguese half-castes from Tette to the River Shire. Keeping to the north of Nsama altogether, and moving westwards, our small party reached the north end of Moero on the 8th of November last. There the Lake is a goodly piece of water twelve or more miles broad, and flanked on the east and west by ranges of lofty tree-covered mountains. The range on the west is the highest, and is part of the country called Rua- Moero; it gives off a river at its northwest end called Lualaba, and receives the River Kalongosi (pronounced by the Arabs Karungwesi) on the east near its middle, and the rivers Luapula and Rovukwe at its southern extremity. The point of most interest in Lake Moero is that it forms one of a * It will be seen further on that Livingstone found abundant i eason to change this opinion, and to convince him that the degrading traffic is sub- stantially the same by whomsoever carried on. LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 387 chain of lakes, connected by a river some 500 miles in length. First of all the Cliambeze rises in the country of Mambwe, N.E. of Molcmba. It then flows southwest and west till it reaches lat. 11° S., and long. 29° E., where it forms Lake Bemba or Bangweolo, emerging thence it assumes the new name Luapula, and comes down here to fall into Moero. On going out of this Lake it is known by the name Lualaba, as it flows N.W. in Rua to form another lake with many islands called Urenge or Ulengtk Beyond this, information is not positive as to whether it enters Tanganyika or another Lake beyond that. When I crossed the Cliambeze, the similarity of names led me to imagine that this was a branch of the Zam- besi. The natives said ‘ No. This goes southwest, and forms a very large water there.’ But I had become prepossessed with the idea that Lake Liemba was that Bemba of which I had heard in 1863, and we had been so starved in the south that I gladly set my face north. The river-like prolongation of Liemba might go to Moero, and where I could not follow the arm of Liemba. Then I worked my way to this lake. Since coming to Casembe’s the testimony of natives and Arabs has been so united and consistent, that I am but ten days from Lake Bemba.or Bangweolo, that I cannot doubt its accuracy. I am so tired of exploration without a word from home or any- where else for two years, that I must go to Ujiji on Tangan- yika for letters before doing anything else. The banks and country adjacent to Lake Bangweolo are reported to be now very muddy and very unhealthy. I have no medicine. The inhabitants suffer greatly from swelled thyroid gland or Derby- shire neck and elephantiasis, and this is the rainy season and very unsafe for me. “ When at the lower end of Moero we were so near Casembe that it was thought well to ascertain the length of the Lake, and see Casembe too. We came up between the double range that flanks the east of the Lake ; but mountains and plains are so covered with well-grown forest that we could seldom see it. We reached Casembe’s town on the 28th November. It stands near the north end of- the Lakelet Mofwe ; this is from one to three miles broad, and some six or seven long: it is full of sedgy islands, and abounds in fish. The country is quite level, but fifteen or twenty miles west of Mofwe we see a long range of the mountains of Rua. Between this range and Mofwe the Luapula flows past into Moero, the Lake called Moero okata = the great Moero, being about fifty miles long. The town of Casembe covers a mile square of cassava plantations, the huts 388 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. being dotted over that space. Some have square enclosures of reeds, but no attempt has been made at arrangement : it might be called a rural village rather than a town. No estimate could be formed by counting the lints, they were so irregularly planted, and hidden by cassava ; but my impression from other collections of lints was that the population was under a thou- sand souls. The court or compound of Caseinbe — some would call it a palace — is a square enclosure of 300 yards by 200 yards. It is surrounded by a hedge of high reeds. Inside, where Casembe honored me with a grand reception, stands a gigantic hut for Casembe, and a score of small huts for domes- tics. The Queen’s hut stands behind that of the chief, with a number of small huts also. Most of the enclosed space is cov- ered with a plantation of cassava, C urcuts purqaris, and cotton. Casembe sat before his hut on a square seat placed on lion and leopard skins. He was clothed in a coarse blue and white Manchester print edged with red baize, and arranged in large folds so as to look like a crinoline put on wrong side foremost. His arms, legs, and head were covered with sleeves, leggings and cap made of various colored beads in neat patterns : a crown of yellow feathers surmounted his cap. Each of his head-men came forward, shaded by a huge, ill-made umbrella, and followed by his dependants, made obeisance to Casembe, and sat down on his right and left : various bands of musicians did the same. When called upon I rose and bowed, and an old counsellor, with his ears cropped, gave the chief as full an account as he had been able to gather during our stay of the English in general, and my antecedents in particular. My having passed through Lunda to the west of Casembe, and visited chiefs of whom he scarcely knew anything, excited most attention. He then assured me that I was welcome to his country, to go where I liked, and do what I chose. We then went (two boys carrying his train behind him) to an inner apartment, where the articles of my present were exhibited in detail. He had examined them privately before, and we knew that he was satisfied. They consisted of eight yards of orange- colored serge, a large striped tablecloth ; another large cloth made at Manchester in imitation of West Coast native manu- facture, which never fails to excite the admiration of Arabs and natives, and a large richly gilded comb for the back hair, such as ladies wore fifty years ago : this was given to me by a friend at Liverpool, and as Casembe and Nsama’s people culti- vate the hair into large knobs behind, I was sure that this arti- LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 389 cle would tickle the fancy. Casembe expressed himself pleased, and again bade me welcome. “ I had another interview, and tried to dissuade him from selling his people as slaves, lie listened awhile, then broke off into a tirade on the greatness of his country, his power and dominion, which Mohamad bin Saleh, who has been here for HEAD-DRESSES IN LONDA (LUNDA). ten years, turned into ridicule, and made the audience laugh by telling how other Lunda chiefs had given me oxen and sheep, while Casembe had only a poor little goat and some fish to bestow. lie insisted also that there were but two sovereigns in the world, the Sultan of Zanzibar and Victoria. When we went on a third occasion to bid Casembe farewell, lie was much 390 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. less distant, and gave me the impression that I could soon be- come friends with him; but he has an ungainly look, and an outward squint in each eye. A number of human skulls adorned the entrance to his courtyard; and great numbers of his principal men having their ears cropped, and some with their hands lopped off, showed his barbarous way of making his ministers attentive and honest. I could not avoid indulg- ing a prejudice against him. “ The Portuguese visited Casembe long ago ; but as each new Casembe builds a new town, it is not easy to fix on the exact spot to which strangers came. The last seven Casembes have had their towns within seven miles of the present one. Dr. Lacerda, Governor of Tette, on the Zambesi, was the only visitor of scien- tific attainments, and he died at the rivulet called Clnmgu, three or four miles from this. The spot is called Nshinda, or Inchinda, which the Portuguese wrote Lucenda or Ucenda. The latitude given is nearly fifty miles wrong, but the natives say that he lived only ten days after his arrival, and if, as is. probable, his mind was clouded with fever when he last ob- served, those who have experienced what that is will readily excuse any mistake he may have made. Ilis object was to ac- complish a much-desired project of the Portuguese to have an overland communication between their eastern and western possessions. This was never made by any of the Portuguese nation ; but two black traders succeeded partially with a part of the distance, crossing once from Cassange, in Angola, to Tette on the Zambesi, and returning with a letter from the Governor of Mosambique. It is remarkable that this journey which was less by a thousand miles than from sea to sea and back again, should have forever quenched all white Portuguese aspirations for an overland route. “ The different Casembes visited by the Portuguese seem to have varied much in character and otherwise. Pereira, the first visitor, said (I quote from memory) that Casembe had 20,000 trained soldiers, watered his streets daily, and sacrificed twenty human victims every day. I could hear nothing of human sacrifices now, and it is questionable if the present Casembe could bring a thousand stragglers into the field. When lie usurped power five years ago, his country was densely peopled ; but he was so severe in his punishments — cropping the ears, lopping off the hands, and other multilations, selling the children for very slight offences, that his subjects grad- ually dispersed themselves in the neighboring countries be- yond his power. This is the common mode by which tyranny LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 391 is cured in parts like these, where fugitives are never returned. Tho present Casernbo is very poor. When lie had people who killed elephants he was too stingy to share the profits of the sale of the ivory with his subordinates. The elephant hunters have either left him or neglect hunting, so he has no tusks to sell to the Arab traders who come from Tanganyika. Major Monteiro, the third Portuguese who visited Casembe, appeal’s to have been badly treated by this man’s predecessor, and no other of his nation has ventured so far since. They do not lose much by remaining away, for a little ivory and slaves are all that Casembe ever can have to sell. About a month to the west of this the people of Katanga smelt copper-ore (malachite) into large bars shaped like the capital letter 1. They may be met with of from 50 lbs. to 100 lbs. weight all over the countr} 7 , and the inhabitants draw the copper into wire for armlets and leglets. Gold is also found at Katanga, and specimens were lately sent to the Sultan of Zanzibar. “ As we come down from the watershed toward Tanganyika we enter an area of the earth’s surface still disturbed by inter- nal igneous action. A hot fountain in the country of Nsama is often used to boil cassava and maize. Earthquakes are by no means rare. We experienced the shock of one while at Ohitirnba’s village, and they extend as far as Cassembe’s. I felt as if afloat, and as huts would not fall there was no sense of danger ; some of them that happened at night set the fowls a-cackling. The most remarkable effect of this one wa3 that it changed the rates of the chronometers ; no rain fell after it. No one had access to the chronometers but myself, and, as I never heard of this effect before, I may mention that one which lost with. great regularity I s 5 daily, lost 15 s ; another, whose rate since leaving the coast was 15", lost 40 s ; and a third, which gained 6" daily, stopped altogether. Some of Nsama’s people ascribed the earthquakes to the hot fountain, because it showed unusual commotion on these occasions ; another hot fountain exists nearer Tanganyika than Nsaina’s, and we passed one on the shores of Moero. “We could not understand why the natives called Moero much larger than Tanganyika till we saw both. The greater Lake lies in a comparatively narrow trough, with highland on each side, which is always visible ; but when we look at Moero, to the south of the mountains of Ilua on the west, we have nothing but an apparently boundless sea horizon. The Luapula and Rovukwo form a marsh at the southern extremity, and Casembe dissuaded me from entering it, but sent a man to 392 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. guide me to different points of Moero further down. From the heights at which the southern portions were seen, it must be from forty to sixty miles broad. From the south end of the mountains of Rua (9° 4' south lat.) it is thirty-three miles broad. No native ever attempts to cross it even here. Its fisheries are of great value to the inhabitants, and the produce is carried to great distances.” A few days after his arrivel at Lake Liemba, Livingstone had an attack which showed him the power of fever when un- checked by medicine, and a recurrence of his symptoms at Ca- sembe’s made him anxious to proceed to Ujiji in order to re- cuperate and replenish his stores before pursuing his explora- tions. He actually set out for Lake Tanganyika, but was soon convinced that the intervening country was impassable until the rainy season was over. This involved a delay of several months, and before these had passed and the season for travel come round again, he had determined to explore Lake Bang- weolo before going north. He hoped to complete the explora- tion early in 1868 ; but owing first to the desertion of several of his men who refused to turn back, and secondly to Ca- sern be’s postponements and delays, it was the 11th of June (1868) before he started from Casembe’s town on his way south. His journey was wholly without incident requiring special mention, unless we except one which has rather more of a per- sonal interest than Livingstone often imparted even to his pri- vate diaries. Under date of June 25th he writes : — “ We came to a grave in the forest ; it was a little rounded mound as if the occupant sat in it in the usual native way : it was strewed over with flour, and a number of the large blue beads put on it : a little path showed that it had visitors. This is a sort of grave I should prefer: to lie in the still, still forest, and no hand ever disturb my bones. The graves at home always seem to me to be miserable, especially those in the cold damp clay, and without elbow room; but I have nothing to do but wait till He who is over all, decides where I have to lay me down and die. Poor Mary lies on Shupanga brae, ‘ and beeks for- nent the sun.’ ” * It was on the 18th of July that Dr. Livingstone discovered one of the largest of the Central African Lakes ; and it is ex- traordinary to notice the total absence of all pride and enthu- siasm, as — almost parenthetically — he records the fact. “ 17 th and 18th July . — Reached the chief village of Mapuni, near * The allusion is to Mrs. Livingstone's grave. LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND BEAT II. S03 the north bank of Bangweolo. On the 18th I walked a little way out, and saw the shores of the Lake for the first time, thankful that 1 had come safely hither.” lie made a canoe voyage during the next few days which gave him an idea of its size, and lie thinks he is considerably within the mark in setting down Bangweolo as 150 miles long, by 80 broad. Its northern edge extends a little north of 11° S. lat., while its southern shore just touches upon 12°. The Luapula River, which forms its outlet at the western end, is an arm of the Lake for some 20 miles, and beyond that is never narrower than from 180 to 200 yards, generally much broader. The Lake contains four large islands, but even the largest, Chirubi, does not in the least dwarf the enormous mass of the water of Bangweolo. The country around the Lake is all flat, and very much de- nuded of trees, except the Motsikisi or Mosikisi, which has fine dark, dense foliage, and is spared for its shade and for the fatty oil yielded by its seeds : Livingstone saw the people boil- ing large pots full of the dark-brown fat, which they use as a pomade for their hair. All the islands are flat, but well peo- pled. The men have many canoes, and are all expert fisher- men ; they are called Mbozhwa, but are marked on the fore- head and chin as Babisa, and file the teeth to points. They have many children, as fishermen usually have. The women ornament their hair with strings of cowries, and lubricate it freely with the 6il mentioned above. On his way back from the lake, Livingstone found that his Arab associates of the last few montlis had taken up Ca- sembe’s cause against the devastating hordes of the Mazitu, who had swept down on these parts, and repulsed them. But here a fresh complication arose. Cascmbe and Chikumbi, one of his principal chiefs, became alarmed lest the Arabs, feeling their own power, should turn upon them and take possession of the whole country, so they joined forces and attempted to storm the stockade of Kombotombo, one of the leading Arabs. They suffered a severe defeat in this attempt ; but the whole country was thrown into confusion, all was turmoil and panic, and for several months travel or exploration wa3 rendered im- possible. During this period, Livingstone seems to have been unable to find opportunity to make daily entries in his journal ; several times his life was in imminent danger ; but he took advantage of his recent experience and enforced leisure to write out an elaborate treatise on the climate of this region, which is exceedingly important, bearing as it does upon the question of the periodical Hoods on the rivers which drain the 394 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. enormous cistern-lakes of Central Africa. It has an additional interest too from the fact that it brings forward for the first time, Livingstone’s theory as to the primary or ultimate sources of the Nile^’ “ The notion of a rainy zone, in which the clouds deposit their treasures in perpetual showers, has received no confirma- tion from my observations. In 186G-7, the rainfall was 42 inches. In i 867-8, it amounted to 53 inches: this is nearly the same as falls in the same latitudes on the West Coast. In both years the rains ceased entirely in May, and with the excep- tion of two partial thunder showers on the middle of the water- shed, no rain fell till the middle and end of October, and then, even in November, it was partial, and limited to small patches of country ; but scarcely a day passed between October and May without a good deal of thunder. When the thunder began to roll or rumble, that was taken by the natives as an indication of the near cessation of the rains. The middle of the watershed is the most humid part : one sees the great humidity of its cli- mate at once in the trees, old and young, being thickly cov- ered with lichens; some flat, on the trunks and branches; others long and thready, like the beards of old men waving in the wind. Large orchids on the trees in company with the profusion of lichens are seen nowhere else, except in the man- grove swamps of the sea-coast. “I cannot account for the great humidity of the watershed as compared with the rest of the country, but by the prevailing winds and the rains being from the south-east, and thus from the Indian Ocean : with this wind generally on the surface one can observe an upper strong wind from the north-west, that is, from the low humid West Coast and Atlantic Ocean. The double strata of wind can easily be observed when there are two sheets of clouds, or when burning grass over scores of square miles sends up smoke sufficiently high to be caught by the upper or north-west wind. These winds probably meet during the heavy rains : now in August they overlap each other. The probability arises from all continued rains within the tropics coming in the opposite direction from the prevailing wind of the year. Partial rains are usually from the south-east. “ The direction of the prevailing wind of this region is well marked on the islands in Lake Paugweolo: the trunks are bent away from the south-east, and the branches on that side are stunted or killed ; while those on the north-west run out straight and make the trees appear lopsided. The same bend away from the south-east is seen on all exposed situations, as IJYINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND D EAT II. 395 in tlic trees covering the brow of a hill. At Kizinga,* which is higher than the Lake, the trees are covered with lichens, chiefly on the south-east sides, and on the upper sur- faces of branches, running away horizontally to or from the north-west. Plants and trees, which elsewhere in Africa grow only on the banks of streams and other damp localities, arc seen flourishing all over the country : the very rocks are cov- ered with lichens, and their crevices with ferns. “ But that which demonstrates the humidity of the climate most strikingly is the number of earthern sponges or oozes met with. In going to Bangweolo from Kizinga, I crossed twenty-nine of these reservoirs in thirty miles of latitude, on a south-east course: this may give about one sponge for every two miles. The word ‘Bog’ conveys much of the idea of these earthen sponges; but it is inseparably connected in our minds with peat, and these contain not a particle of peat; they consist of black, porous earth, covered with a hard, wiry grass, and a few other damp-loving plants. In many places the sponges hold large quantities of the oxide of iron, from the big patches of brown haematite that crop out every- where, and streams of this oxide, as thick as treacle, are seen moving slowly along in the sponge-like small red glaciers. When one treads on the black earth of the sponge, though lit- tle or no water appears on the surface, it is frequently squirted up the limbs, and gives the idea of a sponge. In the paths that cross them, the earth readily becomes soft mud, but sinks rapidly to the bottom again, as if of great specific gravity : the water in them is always circulating and oozing. The places where the sponges are met with arc slightly depressed valleys without trees or bushes, in a forest country where the grass being only a foot or fifteen inches high, and thickly plan ted, often looks like a beautiful glade in a gentleman’s park in England. They are from a quarter of a mile to a mile broad, and from two to ten or more miles long. The water of the heavy rains soaks into the level forestlands: one never sees runnels leading it off, unless occasionally a footpath is turned to that use. The water, descending about eight feet, comes to a stratum of yellow sand, beneath which there is another stratum of fine white sand, which at its bottom cakes, so as to hold the water from sinking farther. ‘‘ It is exactly the same as wc found in the Kalahari Desert, in digging sucking-places for water for our oxen. The water, The headquarters of the Arabs. 390 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. both here and there, is guided by the fine sand stratum into the nearest valley, and here it oozes forth on all sides through the thick mantle of black porous earth, which forms the sponge. There, in the desert, it appears to damp the surface sands in certain valleys, and the Bushmen, by a peculiar process, suck out a supply. When we had dug down to the sand caked there years ago, the people begged us not to dig further, as the water would all run away ; and we desisted, because we saw that the fluid poured in from the fine sand all round tbe well, but none came from the bottom or cake. Two stupid English- men afterwards broke through the cake in spite of the en- treaties of the natives, and the well and the whole valley dried up hopelessly. Hero the water, oozing forth from the surface of the sponge mantle, collects in the centre of the slightly de- pressed valley which it occupies, and near the head of the de- pression forms a sluggish stream ; but farther down, as it meets with more slope, it works out for itself a deeper channel, with perpendicular banks, with, say, a hundred or more yards of sponge on each side, constantly oozing forth fresh supplies to augment its size. When it reaches rocky ground it is a peren- nial burn, with many aquatic plants growing in its bottom. One peculiarity would strike anyone : the water never becomes discolored or muddy. I have seen only one stream muddied in flood, the Clioma, flowing through an alluvial plain in Lopere. Another peculiarity is very remarkable ; it is, that after the rains have entirely ceased, these burns have their largest flow, and cause inundations. It looks as if towards the end of the rainy season the sponges were lifted up by the water off their beds, and the pores and holes, being enlarged, are all employed to give off fluid. The waters of inundation run away. When the sponges are lifted up by superabundance of water, all the pores therein are opened: as the earthen mantle subsides again, the pores act like natural valves, and arc partially closed, and by the weight of earth above them, the water is thus prevented from running away altogether ; time also being required to wet all the sand through which the rains soak, the great supply may only And its way to the sponge a month or so after the great rains have fallen. “ I travelled in Lunda, when the sponges were all super- saturated. The grassy sward was so lilted up that it was sep- arated into patches or tufts, and if the foot missed the row of tufts of this wiry grass which formed the native path, down one plumped up to the thigh in slush. At that time we could cross the sponge only by the native paths, and the central burn LI V 1 NG STONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 397 only where they had placed bridges : elsewhere they were im- passable, as they poured off the waters of inundation : our oxen were generally bogged — all four legs went down up to the body at once. When they saw the clear sandy bottom of the cen- tral burn they readily went in, but usually plunged right over head, leaving their tail up in the air to show the nervous shock they had sustained. “These sponges are a serious matter in travelling. I crossed the twenty-nine already mentioned at the end of the fourth month of the dry season, and the central burns seemed then to have suffered no diminution: they were then from calf to waist deep, and required from fifteen to forty minutes in crossing ; they had many deep holes in the paths, and when one plumps therein every muscle in the frame receives a pain- ful jerk. When past the stream, and apparently on partially dry ground, one may jog in a foot or more, and receive a squirt of black mud up the thighs : it is only when you reach the trees and are off the sour land that you feel secure from mud and leeches. As one has to strip the lower part of the person in order to ford them, I found that often four were as many as we could cross in a day. Looking up these sponges a bird’s-eye view would closely resemble the lichen-like vegeta- tion of frost on window panes; or that vegetation in Canada- balsam which mad philosophical instrument-makers will put between the lenses of the object-glasses of our telescopes. The flat, or nearly flat, tops of the subtending and transverse ridges of this central country gives rise to a great many : I crossed twenty-nine, a few of the feeders of Bangweolo, in thirty miles of latitude in one direction. Burns are literally innumerable : rising on the ridges, or as I formerly termed them mounds, they are undoubtedly the primary or ultimate sources of the Zambezi, Congo, and Nile: by their union are formed streams of from thirty to eighty or 100 yards broad, and always deep enough to require either canoes or bridges. These I propose to call the secondary sources, and as in the case of the Nile they are drawn off by three lines of drainage, they become the head waters (the caput Nili) of the river of Egypt.” As the reference to his theory that the Nile sources are to be looked for in the “sponges” of the region now being trav- ersed, is so slight in the above paragraph, it will be well, per- haps, to transfer to this place some further observations of his on the same topic, though in point of time they belong to a much later period of his journals — to the period, namely, when he was lying sick in the Manyuema country. “ The watershed 398 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. is between 700 and 800 miles Ion" from west to east, or fay from 22° or 23° to 34° or 35° east longitude. Parts of it are enormous sponges; in other parts innumerable rills unite into rivulets, which again form rivers — Lufira, for instance, has nine rivulets, and Leknlwe other nine. The convex surface of the rose of a garden watering-can is a tolerably apt similitude, as the rills do not spring off the face of it, and it is 700 miles across the circle ; but in the numbers of rills coming out at different heights on the slope, there is a faint resemblance, and I can at present think of no other example. “ I am a little thankful to old Nile for so hiding his head that all ‘ theoretical discoverers ’ are left out in the cold. "With all real explorers I have. a hearty sympathy, and I have some regret at being obliged, in a manner compelled, to speak somewhat disparagingly of the opinions formed by my prede- cessors. The work of Speke and Giant is part of the history of this region, and siuce the discovery of the sources of the Nile was asserted so positively, it seems necessary to explain, not offensively, 1 hope, wherein their mistake lay, in making a somewhat similar claim. My opinions may } T et be shown to be mistaken too, but at present I cannot conceive how. When Speke discovered Victoria Nyanza in 1858, he at once con- cluded that therein lay the sources of the Nile. His work after that was simply following a foregone conclusion, and as soon as he and Grant looked towards the Victoria Nyanza, they turned their backs on the Nile fountains ; so every step of their splen- did achievement of following the river down took them farther and farther away from the caput Nili. When it was perceived that the little river that leaves the Nyanza, though they called it the White Nile, would not account for that great river, they might have gone west and found headwaters (as the Lualaba) to which it can bear no comparison. Taking their White Nile at 80 or 90 yards, or say 100 yards broad, the Lualaba, far south of the latitude of its point of departure, shows an average breadth of from 4,000 to 0,000 yards, and always deep.” At last a cruel outrage inflicted by one of the Arabs on the natives of Kizinga so exasperated the latter, that they declared war, and, though badly defeated, soon compelled the slave- traders to evacuate the country. With a party of these, led by Mohamad Bagharib, Livingstone started for Ujiji on December lltli. The march to the nearest point on Lake Tanganyika occupied two months, but was entirely uneventful, except that just before reaching the lake, Livingstone had a severe attack of pneumonia, accompanied by spitting of blood, and distress- LI VING STONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 390 ing weakness. lie had to be carried for sixteen days, during part of which time ho was insensible, and lost count of the days of the week and mouth. On the 14th of March, 1SG9, he reached Ujiji. It was his first visit, but he had arranged that supplies should be for- warded thither by caravans bound inland from Zanzibar, and he expected to find there everything of which he stood in need. Most unfortunately, however, his goods had been entrusted to an Arab scoundrel named Musa, who had made way with them in all directions. Medicines, wine, and cheese had been left at Unyanyembc, the road to which was blocked up by aMazitu or Watuta war, and even of the barter-goods, cloth, beads, etc., nearly all had been stolen. The disappointment to a man shattered in health must have been very keen ; but great bene- fit was derived from the tea and coffee, and still more from flannel next the skin, and rest. It is characteristic of Living- stone that as soon as he was able to get about easily he became anxious to resume his explorations at once. The Manyucma country, a region lying northwest of Lake Tanganyika had just been discovered, and as reports of the vast quantities of ivory to be procured there was directing to it the attention of the Arab traders, he resolved to join the first party and explore the unknown region. He was the more anxious to do this because he learned that the western border of the Manyuema country touched the Lualaba, a great river flowing north, of which he had already heard at Casembe’s, and the connection of which with the Luapula and Chambeze lie had already made out. While waiting for the expedition to organize and the in- tervening country to become passable, he devoted his time to studying Lake Tanganyika, and discovered a steady enrrentfrom south to north, which convinced him that it must have some outlet. So certain was he of this, that he almost wishes to call Tanganyika a river , and the discovery that the Rusisi flows into and not out of the lake did not shake his conviction in the slightest. He thought it possible, indeed, that the outlet is to the west, instead of to the. north and was led by certain facts learned during his journey to Manyuema to conjecture that it is at first underground.* * News was received just before going to press, that Lieutenant Cameron has discovered the outlet. It is called the Lukuga River and was r ctually crossed by Livingstone during his march to Manyuema, though as ho crossed it at night, and as the current is very sluggish (about three miles an hour), he may be excused for not seeing that it flowed away from the lake. It leaves the lake at a point about five miles south of the islands discovered by Speke. Lieutenant Cameron followed its channel several miles, but 400 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. The journey to Manyuema commenced on the 12th of July (1869). After crossing the Lake, the line of march was directly northwest until Bambarre, the district of a friendly chief named Moenekuss, was reached, on the 21st of Septem- ber. Numerous rivers and minor streams were crossed on the way, some flowing into Tanganyika, and others westward to the Lnalaba ; the district near the Lake is mountainous and covered with dense forests. The Manyuema country is de- scribed by Livingstone as surpassingly beautiful. “ Palms crown the highest heights of the mountains, and their grace- fully bended fronds wave beautifully in the wind ; and the forests, usually about five miles broad, between groups of vil- lages, are indescribable. Climbers of cable size in great num- bers are hung among the gigantic trees, many unknown wild fruits abound, some the size of a child’s head, and strange birds and monkeys are everywhere. The soil is excessively rich, and the people, although isolated by old fends that are never settled, cultivate largely. They have selected a kind of maize that bends its fruit-stalk round into a hook, and hedges some eighteen feet high are made by inserting poles, which sprout like Robinson Crusoe’s hedge, and never decay. Lines of climbing plants are tied so as to go along from pole to pole, and the maize-cobs are suspended to these by their own hooked fruit-stalk. As the corn-cob is forming, the hook is turned round, so that the fruit-leaves of it hang down and form a thatch for the grain beneath or inside it. This upright granary forms a solid -looking wall round the villages, and the people are not stingy, but take down the maize and hand it to the men freely.” The streets of the villages often run east and west, in order that the bright blazing sun may lick up the moisture quickly from off them. The dwelling-houses are generally in line, with public meeting-houses at each end, opposite the middle of the street ; the roofs are low, but well thatched with a leaf resembling the banana-leaf, from which the water runs quickly off. The walls are of w T ell-beaten clay, and screened from the weather. Inside, the dwellings are clean and comfortable, and before the Arabs came bugs were unknown. In some cases, where the southeast rains are abundant, the Manyuema place the back of the houses to this quarter, and prolong the low roof down, so that the rain does not reach the walls. These clay walls stand for ages, and men often return to the villages they left in infancy and build further navigation was stopped by a dense growth of rushes. He believes that it flows west into the Lualaba. LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 401 again the portions that many rains have washed away. Eacli housewife has from 25 to 30 earthern pots slung to the ceiling by very neat cord-swinging tassels ; and often as many neatly- made baskets hung up in the same fashion, and much firewood. The population is very large, and the people arc fine-look- ing ; Livingstone thinks that a crowd of Londoners, divested of their clothing and set opposite a crowd of Manyuema, would make a sorry spectacle. The women are very naked. They plait the hair into the form of a basket behind ; it is first rolled into a very long coil, then wound around something till it is about 8 or 10 inches long, projecting from the back of the head. The Manyuema, with their great numbers, their favored country, and their industrious habits, would seem to possess all the elements of a strong and progressive nation ; but they are among the most barbarous tribes of Central Africa. They are cannibals of the most degraded sort, for they eat the bodies of those who die of disease ; they are sus- picious, vindictive, and cruel ; and they are so quarrelsome and treacherous that inhabitants of one village or district seldom dare venture beyond the confines of the next. Even Livingstone’s large charity, quickened as it was by the out- rages to which he saw them subjected at the hands of the Arabs, could find but little that was good in them except their physique. “ The Manyuema,” he savs, after a long stay among them had made ‘him familiar with tfieir habits, “are the most bloody, callous savages I know ; one puts a scarlet feather from a parrot’s tail on the ground, and challenges those near to stick it in the hair : he who does so must kill a man or woman ! Another custom is that none dare wear the skin of the musk cat, Ngawa, unless he has murdered somebody: guns alone pre- vent them from killing us all, and for no reason either.” Having rested at Bambarre until November 1st, Livingstone resolved to go west to the Lualaba, and buy a canoe for its exploration. Travelling was very difficult, as it was now the rainy season; and the attitude of the natives became so threat- ening that after penetrating to within 10 miles of the Lualaba he was compelled to turn back and return to Bambarre. Towards the end of December he set out with Mohamad’s ivory party, hoping to reach another part of the Lualaba and thus carry out his original scheme. The route pursued was due north, and was followed for about a month; but rheuma- tism and weakness, accompanied by a choleraic purging, drove him back, and on the 7th of February, 1870, he went into win- ter quarters at Mamohela, a town some distance north of Bam- 26 402 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. barre, which the Arabs had made their chief depot. In June a third attempt was made to reach the Lualaba, which proved even more disastrous than either of the preceding ones. In the first place most of his men deserted him, so that he was obliged to start witli only three attendants. The country proved exceedingly difficult from forest and water ; trees fallen across the path formed a breast-high wall which had to be climbed over; flooded rivers, breast and neck deep, had to be crossed ; the mud was awful ; and nothing but villages eight or ten miles apart, the people of which were far from friendly. For the first time in his life Livingstone’s feet failed him ; instead of healing quietly, as heretofore, when torn by hard travel, irritable eating-ulcers fastened on both feet, and he was barely able to limp back to Mamohela on the 6th of July. The ulcers now laid him up. If the foot were put to the ground a discharge of bloody ichor followed, and the same discharge happened every night with considerable pain that prevented sleep. They eat through everything — muscle, ten- don, and bone ; and medicines have very little effect upon them Their periodicity would seem to indicate that they are allied to fever. For eighty days Livingstone never came out of his hut ; and even then the ulcers had only begun to heal. Ilis journal shows that during the period of his confinement Livingstone was gatlierimg information from both natives and Arabs as to the great lake and river system which he had dis- covered ; speculating with apparent seriousness upon the possibility of Moses having penetrated to this region and founded the lost city of Meroe ; and observing the habits of the people. He learned that another large lake, called Chi- bnngo, lay about twelve days distant west from the Lualaba ; and rhat a large river, which he called Lualaba West, flows out of it in a northeasterly direction and empties into the main stream between 2° and 3° S. lat. To the central Lualaba, or main stream, he gave the name of “ Webb’s River ; ” to the western, “Young’s River;” and to Chibungo, “Lake Lin- coln.” The fountain of the Liambai, or Upper Zambesi, he proposes to call “ Palmerston Fountain,” and the fountain of the Lufira he called after Sir Bartle Frere. In a despatch to the British Foreign Office, written a few weeks before his death, lie explains fully the reasons which influenced him in giving these names to the principal rivers and lakes which he had discovered : “ I have tried,” he says, “ to honor the name of the good Lord Palmerston, in fond remembrance of his long and unwearied labor for the abolition of the Slave Trade ; LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 403 nnd I venture to place the name of the good and noble Lincoln on the Lake, in gratitude to him who gave freedom to 4,000,000 of slaves. These two great men are no longer among us ; but it pleases me, here in the wilds, to place, as it were, my poor little garland of love on their tombs. Sir Bar- tie Frere having accomplished the grand work of abolishing slavery in Scindiah, Upper India, deserves the gratitude of every lover of human kind. “Private friendship guided me in the selection of other names where distinctive epithets were urgently needed. ‘ Paraffin ’ Young, one of my teachers in chemistry, raised himself to be a merchant prince by his science and art, and has shed pure white light in many lowly cottages, and in some rich palaces. Leaving him and chemistry, I w T ent away to try and bless others. I, too, have shed light of another kind, and am fain to believe that I have performed a small part in the grand revolution which our Maker has been for ages carrying on, by multitudes of conscious, and many unconscious, agents, all over the world. Young’s friendship never faltered. “ Os well and Webb were fellow-travellers, and mighty hunters. Too much engrossed myself with mission-work to hunt, except for the children’s larder, when going to visit distant tribes, I relished the sight of fair stand-up fights by my friends with the large denizens of the forest, and admired the true Nimrod class for their great courage, truthfulness, and honor.” Under date of August 24th he gives an interesting account of the soko, which he believed to be identical with the gorilla, but which Mr. Waller is probably right in regarding as an entirely new species of chimpanzee. “ Four gorillas or sokos were killed yesterday : an extensive grass-burning forced them out of their usual haunt, and coming on the plain they were speared. They often go erect, but place the hand on the head as if to steady the body. When seen thus, the soko is an ungainly beast. The most sentimen- tal 3'oung lady would not call him a 4 dear,’ but a bandy- legged, pot-bellied, low-looking villain, without a particle of the gentleman in him. Other animals, especially the antel- opes, are graceful, and it is pleasant to see them either at rest or in motion: the natives are also well made, lithe and comely to behold ; but the soko, if large, would do well to stand for a picture of the Devil. He takes away my appetite by the dis- gusting bestiality of appearance, llis light-yellow face shows off his ugly whiskers, and faint apology for a beard ; the fore- 404 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. head villainously low, with high ears, is well in the back- ground of the great dog-mouth ; the teeth are slightly human, but the canines show the beast by their large development. The hands, or rather the fingers, are like those of the natives. The flesh of the feet is yellow, and the eagerness with which the Manyuema devour it leaves the impression that eating sokos was the first stage by which they arrived at being cannibals ; they say that the flesh is delicious. The soko is represented by some to be extremely knowing, successfully stalking men and women while at their work, kidnapping children and run- ning up trees with them — he seems, to be amused by the sight of the young native in his arms, but comes down when tempted by a bunch of bananas, and as he lifts that, drops the child : the young soko in such a case would cling closely to the arm- pit of the elder. One man was cutting out honey from a tree, and raked, when a soko suddenly appeared and caught him, then let him go: another man was hunting, and missed in his attempt to stab a soko ; it seized the spear and broke it ; then grappled with the man, who called to his companions, ‘ Soko has caught me ; 7 the soko bit off the ends of his fingers and escaped unharmed. Both men are now alive at Bam- barre “ The soko is so cunning and has such sharp eyes that no one can smlk him in front without being seen, hence, when shot, it is always in the back ; when surrounded by men and nets, he is generally speared in the back too ; otherwise he is not a very formidable beast ; lie is nothing as compared in power of damaging his assailant, to a leopard or lion, but is more like a man unarmed, for it does not occur to him to use his canine teeth, which are long and formidable. Numbers of them come down in the forest within a hundred yards of our camp, and would be unknown but for giving tongue like fox-hounds; this is their nearest approach to speech. A man hoeing was stalked by a soko, and seized ; he roared out, but the soko giggled and grinned, and left him as if he had done it in play. A child caught up by a soko is often abused by being pinched and scratched, and let fall. “ The soko kills the leopard occasionally, by seizing both paws and biting them so as to disable them ; he then goes up a tree, groans over his wounds, and some time recovers, while the leopard dies : at other times, both soko and leopard die. The lion kills him at once, and sometimes tears his limbs off, but does not eat him. The soko eats no flesh — small bananas are his daiutics, but not maize. His food consists of wild fruits LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 405 which abound : one, Stafend, or Manyuema Marawa, is like large sweet sop but indifferent in taste and flesh. The soko brings forth at times twins. A very large soko was seen by Mohamad’s hunters sitting picking his nails; they tried to stalk him, but he vanished. Some Manyuema think that their buried dead rise as sokos, and one was killed with holes in his ears, as if lie had been a man. lie is very strong and fears guns but not spears : lie never catches women. “ Sokos collect together and make a drumming noise, some say with hollow trees, then burst forth into loud yells which arc well imitated by the natives’ embryotic music. If a man has no spear the soko goes away satisfied, but if wounded he seizes the wrist, lops off the fingers, and spits them out, slaps the cheek of his victim, and bites without breaking the skin: he draws out a spear (but never uses it), and takes some leaves and stuffs them into his wound to staunch the blood ; he docs not wish an encounter with an armed man. He sees women do him no harm, and never molests them ; a man without a spear is nearly safe from him. They beat hollow trees as drums with hands, and then scream as music to it ; when men hear them, they go to the sokos; but sokos never go to men with hostility. Manyuema say , 4 Soko is a man, and nothing bad in him.’ “They live in communities of about ten, each having his own female ; an intruder from another camp is beaten off with their fists and loud yells. If one tries to seize the female of another, he is caught on the ground, and all unite in boxing and biting the offender. A male often carries a child, espe- cially if they are passing from one patch of forest to another over a grassy space ; he then gives it to the mother.” Later on, one of the Arabs caught a young female soko whose mother had been killed, and gave it to Livingstone, who gives the following amusing account of it: — “ She sits eighteen inches high, has fine long black hair all over, which was pretty so long as it was kept in order by her dam. She is the least mischievous of all the monkey tribe I have seen, and seems to know that in me she has a friend, and sits quietly on the mat beside me. In walking, the first thing observed is that she docs not tread on the palms of her hands, but on the baeks of the second line of bones of the hands : in doing this the nails do not touch the ground, nor do the knuckles ; she uses the arms thus supported crutch fashion, and hitches herself along between them ; occasionally one hand is put down before the other, and alternates with the feet, or she walks upright and 406 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. holds up a hand to any one to carry her. If refused, she turns her face down, and makes grimaces of the most bitter human weeping, wringing her hands, and sometimes adding a fourth hand or foot to make the appeal more touching. Grass or leaves she draws around her to make a nest, and resents anyone meddling with her property. She is a most friendly little beast, and came up to me at once, making her chirrup of wel- come, smelled my clothing, and held out her hand to be shaken. She eats everything, covers herself with a mat to sleep, and makes a nest of grass or leaves, and wipes her face with a leaf.” He fails to mention what became of this curious pet. Another entry, under date of 25th October, shortly after he was able to leave his hut, is interesting as indicating the high motives which actuated Livingstone in his toilsome explo- ration, and the objects he hoped to accomplish by striking west- ward from Manyuema. “ In this journey I have endeavored to follow with unswerving fidelity the line of duty. My course has been an even one, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, though my route has been tortuous enough. All the hardship, hunger, and toil were met with the full conviction that I was right.in persevering to make a complete work of the exploration of the sources of the Nile. Mine has been a calm, hopeful endeavor to do the work that has been given me to do, whether I succeed or whether I fail. The prospect of death in pursuing what I knew to be right did not make me veer to one side or the other. I had a strong presentiment during the first three years that I should never live through the enterprise, but it weakened as I came near to the end of the journey, and an eager desire to discover any evidence of the great Moses hav- ing visited these parts bound me, spell- bound me, I may say, for if I could bring to light anything to confirm the Sacred Oracles, I should not grudge one whit all the labor expended. I have to go down the Central Lualaba or Webb’s Lake River, then up the Western or Young’s Lake River to Katanga head waters and then retire. I pray that it may be to my native home.” Could this plan have been carried out, he would have solved the problem as to whether the Lualaba flows north to the Nile, or whether (as he now and then suspected on account of its great westing), he was on the head waters of the Congo. But his own physical weakness, and his want of men and stores, made it impossible to undertake it at once ; and as he waited month after month in the hope of obtaining the lat- ter, the growing hostilities between the natives and the Arabs finally convinced him of its hopelessness. The arrival of ten LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 407 men from Ujiji with stores early in 1871, enabled him to pen- etrate to the Lualaba; but he was unable, after the most strenuous efforts, to procure a boat to descend the river, and his men utterly refused to cross over into the country beyond. While staying on the banks of the Lualaba, which he found to be a mighty river, at least 3,000 yards broad and always deep, lie witnessed a scene so shocking that he could stand tiie companionship of the Arabs no longer, and resolved to return at once to Ujiji. Almost from the day the Arab hordes en- tered the country petty 7 outrages on either side had kept up a chronic state of hostility between them and the natives; and as their stay was protracted these outrages became gradually more numerous and more murderous. At the time when the scene referred to occurred, Livingstone was staying at the head- quarters of Dugumbe, who had a large ivory-hunting part/ with him. Ilis people seemed to be on friendly enough terms with the natives; but on the 14th of July the Arabs in camp be- came very much incensed on learning that Kirnburu and sev- eral other local chiefs had mixed the blood of friendship with a slave named Manilla. The result shall be given in Living- stone’s own words : “ 15 th July, 1871. — The reports of guns on the other side of the Lualaba all the morning tell of the people of Dugumbe murdering those of Kirnburu and others who mixed blood with Manilla. ‘Manilla is a slave, and how dares he to mix blood with chiefs who ought only to make friends with free men like us?’ — This is their complaint. Kirnburu gave Manilla three slaves, and he sacked ten villages in token of friendship; he proposed to give Dugumbe nine slaves in the same operation, but Duguinbe’s people destroy his villages, and shoot and make his people captives to punish Manilla ; to make an impression, in fact, in the country that they alone arc to be dealt with — ‘ make friends with us, and not with Manilla or anyone else ’ — such is what they insist upon. u About 1500 people came to market,* though many villages of those that usually come from the other side were now in flames, and every now and then a number of shots were fired on the fugitives. “ It was a hot, sultry day, and when I went into the market * Market or “ Chitoka” is one of the peculiar features of Manyueraa life. It is held at a fixed place every other day, and is attended chiefly by women who come in immense numbers from all the surrounding districts, and who do all the bartering and trading. It was chiefly by these markets that the Arabs were supplied with food. 408 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. I saw Adie and Manilla, and three of the men who had lately come with Dugnmbe. I was surprised to see these three with their guns, and felt inclined to reprove them, as one of my men did, for bringing weapons into the market, but I attributed it to their ignorance, and, it being very hot, I was walking away to go out of the market, when I saw one of the fellows hag- gling about a fowl, and seizing hold of it. Before 1 had got thirty yards out, the discharge of two guns in the middle of the crowd told me that slaughter had begun : crowds dashed off from the place, and threw down their wares in confusion, and ran. At the same time that the three opened fire on the mass of people near the upper end of the market-place volleys were discharged from a party down near the creek on the panic-stricken women, who dashed at the canoes. These, some fifty or more, were jammed in the creek, and the men forgot their paddles in the terror that seized all. The canoes were not to be got out, for the creek was too small for so many ; men and women, wounded by the balls, poured into them, and leaped and scrambled into the water, shrieking. A long line of heads in the river showed that great numbers struck out for an island a full mile off : in going towards it they had to put the left shoulder to a current of about two miles an hour ; if they had struck away diagonally to the opposite bank, the cur- rent would have aided them, and, though nearly three miles off, some would have gained land ; as it was, the heads above water showed the long line of those that would inevitably perish. “ Shot after shot continued to be fired on the helpless and perishing. Some of the long line of heads disappeared quietly ; whilst other poor creatures threw their arms high, as if appealing to the great Father above, and sank. One canoe took in as many as it could hold, and all paddled with hands and arms: three canoes, got out in haste, picked up sinking friends, till all went down together, and disappeared. One man in a long canoe, which could have held forty or fifty, had clearly lost his head ; he had been out in the stream before the massacre began, and now paddled up the river nowhere, and never looked to the drowning. By-and-by all the heads disap- peared ; some had turned down stream towards the bank, and escaped. Dugnmbe put people into one of the deserted vessels to save those in the water, and saved twenty-one, but one woman refused to be taken on board from thinking that she was to be made a slave of; she preferred the chance of life by swimming, to the lot of a slave : the Bageuya women are ex- LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 409 pert in the water, as they are accustomed to dive for oysters, and those who went down stream may have escaped, but the Arabs themselves estimated the loss of life at between 330 and 4o0 souls. The shooting-party near the canoes were so reckless, they killed two of their own people ; and a Banyamwezi fol- lower, who got into a deserted canoe to plunder, fell into the water, went down, then came up again, and down to rise no more. “My first impulse was to pistol the murderers, but Dugumbe protested against my getting into a blood -feud, and I was thankful afterwards that I took his advice. Two wretched Moslems asserted ‘ that the tiring was done by the people of the English;’ I asked one of them why he lied so, and he could utter no excuse : no other falsehood came to his aid as he stood abashed before me, and so telling him not to tell palpable falsehoods, I left him gaping. “ After the terrible affair in the water, the party of Taga- moio, who was the chief perpetrator, continued to "fire on the people there, and fire their villages. As I write I hear the loud wails on the left bank over those who are there slain, ignorant of their many friends now in the depths of Lualaba. Oh, let Thy Kingdom come! No one will ever know the exact loss on this bright sultry summer morning; it gave me the impression of being in Hell. All the slaves in the camp rushed at the fugitives on land, and plundered them: women were for hours collecting and carrying loads of what had been thrown down in terror. “ Some escaped to me, and were protected ; Dugumbe saved twenty-one, and of his own accord liberated them ; they were brought to me, and remained over night near my house. One woman of the saved had a musket-ball through the thigh, an- other in the arm. I sent men with our flag to save some, for without a flag they might have been victims, for Tagamoio’s people were shooting right and left like fiends. I counted twelve villages burning this morning. I asked the question of Dugumbe and others, ‘Now, for what is all this murder?’ All blamed Manilla as its cause, and in one sense he was the cause ; but it is hardly credible that they repeat it is in order to be avenged on Manilla for making friends with headmen, he being a slave. I cannot believe it fully. The wish to make an impression in the country as to the importance and great- ness of the new comers was the most potent motive ; but it was terrible that the murdering of so many should be contem- plated at all. It made me siclc at heart. Who could accom- 410 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. pany the people of Dugumbe and Tagamoio to Lomame and be free from blood-guiltiness ? “ I proposed to Dugumbe to catch the murderers, and hang them up in the market-place, as our protest against the bloody deeds before the Manyucma. If, as lie and others added, the massacre was committed by Manilla’s people, he would have consented ; but it was done by Tagamoio’s people, and others of this party, headed by Dugumbe. This slaughter was pecu- liarly atrocious, inasmuch as we have always heard that women coming to or from market have never been known to be mo- lested : even when two districts are engaged in actual hostili- ties, 6 the women,’ say they, ‘ pass among us to market unmolested,’ nor has one ever been known to be plundered by_ the men. These Nigger Moslems are inferior to the Manyucma in justice and right. The people under Jlassani began the snperwi eked ness of capture and pillage of all indiscriminately. Dugumbe promised to send over men to order Tagamoio’s men to cease firing and burning villages ; they remained over among the ruins, feasting on goats and fowls all night, and next day (16th) continued their infamous work till twenty- seven villages were destroyed.” “ 1 8th July . — The murderous assault on the market people, felt to me like Gehenna, without the fire and brimstone ; but the heat was oppressive, and the firearms pouring their iron bullets in the fugitives, was not an inapt representation of burning in the bottomless pit. The terrible scenes of man’s in- humanity to man brought on a severe headache, which might have been serious had it not been relieved by a copious dis- charge of blood ; I was laid up all yesterday afternoon with the depression the bloodshed made, — it filled me with unspeak- able horror.” lie began preparations at once for the return journey, and on the 22d, turned his back on the mysterious Lualaba and set out for Ujiji. Much hostility was manifested by the natives on the way, and at one point Livingstone had an exceedingly nar- row escape in an ambush, which had been laid for him under the impression that he was Mohamad Bogharib. The march too, though less severe than some others which he had made, told severely on his weakened constitution. “ In the latter part of it,” he says, “ I felt as if dying on my feet. Almost every step was in pain, the appetite failed, and a little bit of meat caused violent diarrhoea, whilst the mind, sorely depressed, re- acted on the body. All the traders were returning successful : I alone had failed and experienced worry, thwarting, baffling, LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AN ^ DEATH 41 1 when almost in sight of the end towards which I strained.” Ujiji was reached on October 23d. He was now reduced to a skeleton, but the market being held daily, and all kinds of native food brought to it, he hoped that food and rest would soon restore him. On the very day of his arrival, however, he learned that the rascally Arab in whose charge his goods had been left, had sold them all off ; ‘‘he did not leave a single yard of calico out of 3,000, nor a string of beads out of 700 lbs. This was distressing. I had made up my mind, if I could not get people at Ujiji, to wait till men should come from the coast, but to wait in beggary was what I never contemplated, and I now felt miserable.” Under date of October 28th he adds : “ But when my spirits were at their lowest ebb, the good Samaritan was close at hand, for one morning Susi came run- ning at the top of his speed and gasped out, ‘ An Englishman ! 1 see him ! 5 and off he darted to meet him. The American flag at the head of a caravan told of the nationality of the stranger. Bales of goods, baths of tin, huge kettles, cooking pots, tents, etc., made me think ‘ This must be a luxurious trav- eller, and not one at his wits’ end like me.’ It was Henry Moreland Stanley, the travelling correspondent of the New Yorlc Herald , sent by James Gordon Bennett, junior, at an expense of more than 4,000/., to obtain accurate information about Dr. Livingstone if living, and if dead to bring home my bones. The news he had to tell to one who had been two full years without any tidings from Europe made my whole frame thrill. The terrible fate that had befallen France, the tele- graphic cables successfully laid in the Atlantic, the election of General Grant, the death of good Lord Clarendon — •my con- stant friend — the proof that Her Majesty’s Government had not forgotten me in voting 1,000/. for supplies, and many other points of interest, revived emotions that had lain dormant in Manyuema. Appetite returned, and instead of the spare, taste- less two meals a day, I ate four times daily, and in a week be- gan to feel strong. I am not of a demonstrative turn ; as cold, indeed, as we islanders are usually reputed to be, but this dis- interested kindness of Mr. Bennett, so nobly carried into effect by Mr. Stanley, was simply overwhelming. I really do feel extremely grateful, and at the same time I am a little ashamed at not being more worthy of the generosity.” Particulars of Stanley’s stay with Livingstone, of their ex- ploration of the northern end of Lake Tanganyika and discov- ery of the fact that the Busisi flows into and not out of the 412 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. Lake, and of their march to Unyanyembe, which was readied on the 18t,li of February, 1872, have already been given in the E receding chapter. It was also explained in that chapter, that ivingstone was to remain at Unyanyembe until Stanley could send jiim the men and supplies lie needed from Zanzibar. Not until the 15th of August did the caravan arrive, and though well housed and supplied, Livingstone became very weary before the long period of waiting was over. The war with Mirambo was still dragging on, but he took only a lan- guid interest in it; much of his time was spent in making elab- orate astronomical and meteorological calculations. One entry of this period is interesting, as explaining what objects he had in view in undertaking his last fatal journey. “Mr. Stanley,” he says, 44 used some very strong arguments in favor of my going home, recruiting my strength, getting artificial teeth, and then returning to finish my task; but now judgment said, 4 All your friends will wish you to make a complete work of the exploration of the sources of the Nile before you retire.’ My daughter Agnes says, 4 Much as I wish you to come home, I would rather that you finished your work to your own satis- faction than return merely to gratify me.’ Lightly and nobly said, my darling Nannie. Vanity whispers pretty loudly, 4 She is a chip of the old block.’ My blessing on her and all the rest. 44 It is all but certain that four full-grown gushing fountains rise on the watershed eight days south of Katanga, each of which at no great distance off becomes a large river; and two rivers thus formed flow north to Egypt, the other two south to Inner Ethiopia ; that is, Lufira or Bartle Frere’s Liver, flows into Kamolondo, and that into Webb’s Lualaba, the main line of drainage. Another, on the north side of the sources, Sir Paraffin Young’s Lualaba, flows through Lake Lincoln, other- wise named Chibungo and Loiname, and that too into Webb’s Lualaba. Then Liambai Fountain, Palmerston’s, forms the Upper Zambesi ; and the Longa (Lunga), Oswell’s Fountain, is the Kafue ; both flowing into Inner Ethiopia. It may be that these are not the fountains of the Nile mentioned to Herodo- tus by the secretary of Minerva, in Sais, in Egypt; but they are worth discovery, as in the last hundred of the seven hun- dred miles of the watershed, from which nearly all the Nile springs do unquestionably arise. 44 1 propose to go from Unyanyembe to Fipa ; then round the south end of Tanganyika, Tambete, or Mbete ; then across the Chambeze, and round south of Lake Bangweolo, and due POTAMUS FAMILY, LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 413 west to the ancient fountains ; leaving the underground excava- tion till after visiting Katanga. This routo will serve to cer- tify that no other sources of the Nile can come from the south without being seen by me. No one will cut me out after this exploration is accomplished ; and may the good Lord of all help me to show myself one of His stout-hearted servants, an honor to my children, and, perhaps, to my country and race.” In another entry several months later we find that he calcu- lated on his work occupying him till 1874. u Stanley’s men may arrive in July next. Then engage pagazi [bearers] half a month = August, 5 months of this year will remain for journey, the whole of 1873 will be swallowed up in work, but in Febru- ary or March, 1874, please the Almighty Disposer of events, 1 shall complete my task and retire.” Still another entry, made at this time, shows that some Africans at least are not deficient in coolness and courage : “ At the Loangwa of Zumbo we came to a party of heredi- tary hippopotamus hunters, called Makombwe or Akombwe. They follow no other occupation, but when their game is get- ting scanty at one spot they remove to some other part of the Loangwa, Zambesi, or Shire, and build temporary huts on an island, where their women cultivate patches : the flesh of the animals they kill is eagerly exchanged by the more -settled peo- ple for grain. They are not stingy, and are everywhere welcome guests-- I never heard of any fraud in dealing, or that they had been guilty of an outrage on the poorest : their chief characteristic is their courage. Their hunting is the bravest thing I ever saw. Each canoe is manned by two men ; they are long light, craft, scarcely half an inch in thickness, about eighteen inches beam, and from eighteen to twenty feet long. They are formed for speed, and shaped somewhat like our racing boats. Each man uses a broad short paddle, and as they guide the canoe slowly down stream to a sleeping hippo- potamus not a single ripple is raised on the smooth water; they look as if lidding in their breath, and communicate by signs only. As they come near the prey the harpooner in the bow lays down his paddle and rises slowly up, and there he stands erect, motionless, and eager, with the long-handled weapon poised at arm’s length above his head, till coming close to the beast he plunges it with all his might in towards the heart. During this exciting feat he has to keep his bal- ance exactly. Ilis neighbor in the stern at once backs his paddle, the harpooner sits down, Seizes his paddle, and backs too to escape : the animal, surprised and wounded, seldom re- 414 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. turns the attack at this stage of the hunt. The next stage, however, is full of danger. “ The barbed blade of the harpoon is secured by a long and very strong rope wound round the handle : it is intended to come out of its socket, and while the iron head is firmly fixed in the animal’s body the rope unwinds and the handle floats on the surface. The hunter next goes to the handle and hauls on the rope till he knows that he is right over the beast : when he feels the line suddenly slacken ho is prepared to deliver another harpoon the instant that, hippo. ’s enormous jaws appear with a terrible grunt above the water. The backing by the paddles is again repeated, but hippo, often assaults the canoe, crunches it with his jaws as easily as a pig would a bunch of asparagus, or shivers it with a kick by his hind foot. Deprived of their canoe the gallant comrades instantly dive and swim to the shore under water : they say that the infuriated beast looks for them on the surface, and being below they escape his sight. When caught by many harpoons the crews of several canoes seize the handles and drag him hither and thither till, weak- ened by loss of blood, he succumbs. “This hunting requires the greatest skill, courage, and nerve that can be conceived — double armed and threefold brass, or whatever the iEneid says. The Makombwe are certainly a magnificent race of men, hardy and active in their habits, and well fed, as the result of their brave exploits ; every muscle is well developed, and though not so tall as some tribes, their figures are compact and finely proportioned : being a family occupation it has no doubt helped in the production of fino physical development. Though all the people among whom they sojourn would like the profits they secure by the flesh and curved tusks, and no game is preserved, I have met with no competitors to them except the Wayeiye of Lake Ngami and adjacent rivers. “ I have seen our dragoon officers perform fencing and managing tlicir horses so dexterously that every muscle seemed strained to its fullest power and efficiency, and perhaps had they been brought up as Makombwe, they might have equalled their daring and consummate skill: but we have no sport, except perhaps Indian tiger shooting, requiring the courage and cool- ness this enterprise demands. The danger may be appreciated if one remembers that no sooner is blood shed in the water, than all the crocodiles below are immediately drawn up stream by the scent, and are ready to act the part of thieves in a Lon- don crowd, or worse.” LIVING STCNE \9 LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 415 As lias already been stated, the men from Zanzibar, 57 in number, arrived on the 15th of August, and on the 25th Liv- ingstone set out with them and his faithful followers, Susi, Chiuna, and three others who had been with him from the beginning, for Lake Bangwcolo. The journey thither was almost without incident of interest. After reaching Lake Tanganyika, the party marched down its eastern shore over a mountainous, rugged, and exceedingly difficult country, which cost them all their animals save one donkey; rounded the southern shore of the lake ; inarched southwest to the town of Casembe, who was dead; and then southeast to the eastern end of Lake Bangweolo. Very great hardships were encoun- tered. The depredations of the Arabs had left the entire country in confusion, and the natives were much more hostile and intractable than during the previous journeys ; owing to the impossibility of obtaining guides, they were constantly getting lost; and, as the culminating point of their difficulties, they found as they approached Lake Bangweolo that the en- tire country was flooded, while every day they were drenched with rain. Almost at the beginning of the journey it becomes evi- dent that Livingstone’s health was failing. He complains frequently of weakness, and his old enemy, dysentery, fastened upon him and entered the chronic stage. On nearing the lake and entering the flooded country, the ill effects of which were greatly increased by the daily downpour of rain, he became gradually worse, and we come across many entries like the following : — “ 27 tli January . — On again through streams, over sponges and rivulets thigh deep. I lost much blood, but it is a safety-valve for me, and I have no fever or other ailments.” “22 d February . — . . . I was ill all yesterday, but escaped fever by hemorrhage.” The Chambeze was crossed in canoes on the 26th of March, 1873, and the party began to skirt the southern shore of the Lake. For a few days Livingstone seems to have felt better and to have looked forward hopefully to accomplishing his great task ; but on the 10th of April he suffered a severe attack, and from this time failed rapidly. At first he got for- ward on the donkey, but as his weakness increased lie could not endure even this, and his men had to construct a rude palanquin, slung to a pole, on which he could be carried. It is evident from his diary that he was unable to do more than make the shortest memoranda, and to mark on the map which he was making the streams that enter the Lake as he crossed them. F roin the 22d to the 26th of April he had not strength 416 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. to write down more than the several dates. No entry at all was made in the diary after the following : “ 27th. Knocked up quite, and remain — recover — sent to buy milch goats. We are on the banks of the Molilamo.” These are the last words that Livingstone ever wrote. From this point we have to trust entirely to the narrative of Ohuma and Susi. They explain that during these few days they were marching westward by short stages, but the motion of the palanquin became so painful to Livingstone that bn the 29th they were glad to enter the village of a chief called Chitambo, and prepare a but. They made a bed for their dying leader, raised from the floor by sticks and grass, aDd placed his medicine-chest on a box near him. A fire was lighted outside, nearly opposite the door, whilst the boy Maj- wara slept just within to attend to his master’s wants. “ On the 30th of April, 1S73, Chitambo came early to pay a visit of courtesy, and was shown into the Doctor’s presence ; but lie was obliged to send him away, telling him to come again on the morrow, when he hoped to have more strength to talk to him, and lie was not again disturbed. In the afternoon he asked Susi to bring his watch to the bedside, and explained to him the position in which to hold his hand, that it might lio in the palm whilst he slowly turned the key. “ So the hours stole on till nightfall. The men silently took to their huts, whilst others, whose duty it was to keep watch, sat round the fires, all feeling that the end could not be far off. About 11p. m. Susi, whose hut was close by, was told to go to his master. At the time there were loud shouts in the dis- tance, and, on entering- Dr Livinorstorm said, 1 Are our men the cries that the people arc scaring away a buffalo from their dura fields.’ A few minutes afterwards he said slowly, and evidently wandering, ‘ Is this the Luapula ? ’ Susi told him they were in Chitambo’s village, near the Molilamo, when ho was silent for a while. Again, speaking to Susi, in Sualieli this time, he said, ‘ Sikun’gapi kueuda Luapula ? ’ (How many days is it to the Luapula ?) “ ‘ Na zani zikutatu, Bwaua 5 (I think it is three days, mas- ter), replied Susi. u A few seconds after, as if in great pain, he half sighed, lialf said, ‘ Oh dear, dear ! ’ and then dozed off again. “ It was about an hour later that Susi heard Majwara again outside the door , 1 Bwana wants you, Susi.’ On reaching the bed the Doctor told him he wished him to boil some water, making that noise ? ’ can hear from LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. 417 and for this purpose lie went to the lire outside, and soon returned with the copper kettle full. Calling him close, he asked him to bring his medicine-chest and to hold the candle near him, for the man noticed he could hardly see. With great difficulty Dr. Livingstone selected the calomel, which he told him to place by his side; then, directing him to pour a little water into a cup, and to put another empty one by it, he 6aid in a low, feeble voice, 4 All right ; you can go out now.’ These were the last words he was ever heard to speak. 44 It must have been about 4 a. m. when Susi heard Majwara’s 6tep once more. ‘ Come to 13 wan a ; I am afraid ; I don’t know if he is alive.’ The lad’s evident alarm made Susi run to arouse Churna, Chow pe re, Matthew, and Muanyasere, and the six men went immediately to the hut. “ Passing inside, they looked towards the bed. Dr. Living- stone was not lying on it, but appeared to be engaged in prayer, and they instinctively drew backwards for the instant. Pointing to him, Majwara said : 4 When I lay down he was just as lie is now, and it is because I find that he does not move that I fear he is dead.’ They asked the lad how long he had slept? Majwara said he could not tell, but lie was sure that it was some considerable time: the men drew nearer. “A candle, stuck by its own wax to the top of the box, 6hed a light sufficient for them to see his form. Dr.. Living- stone was kneeling by the side of his bed, his body stretched forward, his head buried in his hands upon the pillow. For a minute they watched him: he did not stir; there was no sign of breathing; then one of them, Matthew, advanced. soft Ly to him and placed his hands to his cheeks. It was sufficient ;. life had been extinct some time, and the body was almost cold : Livingstone was dead. 44 Ilis sad-hearted servants raised him tenderly up and laid him full length on the bed ; then, carefully covering him, .they went out into the damp night air to consult together.. It was not long before the cocks crew, and it is from this circumstance — coupled with the fact that Susi spoke to him some time shortly before midnight — that we are able to state with tolera- ble certainty that he expired early on the 1st of May.” Thus closed the earthly career of one of the greatest ex- plorers ever known ; a man of truly heroic mould,, whose char- acter was as lovable as his achievements were splendid, lie died, as he must many times have expected to die, with his weary feet still treading the unmapped forest-paths and river- banks of the African wilderness. Hut he had. faced the like- 27 418 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS AND DEATH. lihood of a “ death in harness ” far too often not to have been prepared for it; and much as he would have valued the pres- ence with him at the last hour of those who were dear to him, eagerly as he hoped to solve the great problem of the Nile sources, yet his journal shows that lie faced whatever fate tVas in store for him with calm resignation to the will of Heaven. The geographical work which this one indomitable, resolute, and courageous man accomplished can only be appreciated by those who know the map of Africa as he found it in 1840, and that same map as it will be after the discoveries of these last journeys are assigned their place upon it. When he was a young man as little was known of Central Africa as is now known of the regions round the North Pole. It was the pop- ular theory, as he tells us himself, that it was an uninhabited wilderness; but when, after crossing the Great Kalahari Desert, which had repelled all his predecessors, he reached Lake Ngami and the banks of the Zambesi ; when he made his marvellous journey to Angola, and then marched straight back across the continent from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, geographers were enabled to define Central Africa as a fertile plateau, with great lakes lying in vast basins, and rivers escaping to the sea through gorges or ravines in the mountain walls. Livingstone’s actual discoveries have laid bare a continent to view ; but even more valuable than these is the impulse which his example has given to the cause of exploration in Europe and America. IIow Livingstone’s body was embalmed in a rude but effec- tive fashion, wrapped in a strip of bark, and conveyed to the coast by the faithful men who constituted his caravan, is already known to the world. The march to Zanzibar from the farthest point ever reached by a white man in Central Africa, forms one of the most romantic and affecting episodes in the entire history of African exploration ; but we can do no more than mention it here. To its complete success we are indebted for our knowledge of what Livingstone really did during his seven years’ journeyings ; and to it also we owe it that instead of sinking into an obscure, unhonored, and unknown grave in the marshes by Lake Bangweolo, the great traveller now rests in Westminster Abbey among his country’s most illustrious dead. CHAPTER XVIII. SCHWEINFURTH. Dr. Georg A. Sciiwkinfurtii was born at Riga in December, 1836, and was the son of a merchant of that place. He studied at Heidelberg and Berlin, where he took his degree as Doctor of Philosophy, and devoted himself from his boyhood to the science of botany. At his first school one of his masters was the son of a missionary in Africa, and was accustomed to de- scribe with enthusiasm the wonders of that country; it was in this way, probably, that his mind was turned to that country which has since become the arena of achievements that have made him famous. The interest thus awakened was strength- ened by the fact that after he had arrived at manhood, a collec- tion of African plants was placed in his hand for classification and arrangement. These plants had been collected, in 1860, by the young Freiherr von Barnirn, who had, in company with Dr. Hartmann, made a journey in the region of the Nile, and had fallen a victim to the climate. As Dr. Scliweinfnrth day by day studied these dry specimens, a yearning came upon him to visit the scenes in which he might look upon them in all their bloom and beaut} 7 . He therefore, in 1863, went to Egypt that he might gratify this desire, and, perchance, further the interests of his beloved science by the discovery of new species. He went at his own cost, and, having botanized in the Delta of the Nile, travelled along the shores of the Red Sea, skirted the highlands of Abyssinia, made his way to Khartoom, and finally returned to Europe, after an absence of two years and a half, with a splendid collection of plants. Having once tasted of what was to him the great enjoy- ment of African travel, Schweinfurth began very soon to lan- guish for its repetition. He therefore submitted to the Royal Academy of Science at Berlin apian for the botanical explora- tion of the equatorial districts lying west of the Nile. Ilis pro- posal was readily accepted, and he received a grant of 'he dis- posable funds of the Humboldt Institution of Natural Phi- losophy and Travels, the object of which is, without regard to nationality or creed, to assist talent in every field in which Humboldt had displayed his scientific energies, and especially 420 SCHWEINFURTH. to promote travels in remote parts of the world. He conse- quently spent the three years from 1808 to 1871 in African exploration. His account of his travels has recently been published in an English translation entitled “ The Heart of Africa,” and it is from this that we shall abridge the following narrative. Before entering upon that, however, it may be well to observe that Dr. Schweinfurth is a man whose personal attainments have rarely if ever been equaled by any of the rivals whose names are found in the long list of African explorers. An accomplished natural- ist, a most enthusiastic scientific botanist, with sufficient knowl- edge of ethnology to enable him to study intelligently the com- plicated network of races that overspreads the whole of Central Africa, an ardent geographer, a thoroughly trained observer, master of a style which is lucid and pleasing, if somewhat dif- fuse, and a draughtsman whose sketches are finished works of art, he possesses nearly every qualification, natural or acquired, that could be desired for such an undertaking. And in addition to this, his expedition was made under circumstances unprece- dentedly advantageous. Instead of the helpless dependence upon the prejudices and caprice of petty chieftains, which has been the lot of every other adventurer into these regions, Dr. Schweinfurth was, during the entire period of his explorations, unde)- the protection of an escort of the powerful trading com- panies of the great Khartoom merchants — a privileged com- panion of their remotest expeditions, and an honored guest in their seribas. His progress among the interior tribes, owing to the curiosity and awe which he inspired, and the powerful allies with whom he travelled, was almost a triumphal march; and even among the savage and tameless Monbutto, he dictated terms rather than accepted toleration. Scarcely once during his three years’ journeying was he subjected to those perils which were almost the daily experience of previous African explorers. The result is that his book is a record, not so much of “ hair-breadth ’scapes” and perilous adventure, as of careful scientific investigations prosecuted under extremely favorable conditions. In July, 1868, Schweinfurth found himself once more, to his great delight, on the soil of Africa. After a brief visit to Egypt, during which he provided himself with papers from the Prime Minister of the Viceroy to the governors in the in- terior which contributed materially to the success of his enter- prise, he visited Suez and decided to proceed to Khartoom by way of Suakin and Berber instead of making the long voyage sen WE1NF URTII. 421 up the Nile. Suakin is a port on the Ned Sea about 200 miles distant from Berber, and he made the journey between the two places in a leisurely way, diverging from the main route to make a tour through the mountains of Southern Nubia. lie reached Berber on October 7th, and embarking on the Nile arrived at Khartoom, the real starting-point of his expedition, on the 1st of November. Instead of fitting out an independent expedition with native soldiers and porters, as was the custom with most previous ex- plorers, he concluded that such a course would not only arouse the hostility of the chiefs into whose territory he desired to penetrate, but would encounter the jealousy of the traders and merchants, whose influence is predominant in all the regions whither they penetrate, and determined to attach himself to the train of the ivory-merchants of Khartoom, trusting that the countries opened by them would offer sufficient scope for all his energies. These merchants maintain a great number of settlements in districts as near as possible to the present ivory countries. They have apportioned the territory amongst them- selves, and have brought the natives to a condition of vassalage. Under the protection of an armed guard procured from Khar- toom, they have established various depots, undertaken expedi- tions into the interior, and secured an unmolested transit to and fro. These depots for ivory, ammunition, barter-goods, and means of subsistence, are villages surrounded by palisades, and are called seribas. Every merchant, in the different districts where he maintains his settlements, is represented by a super- intendent and a number of subordinate agents. These agents command the armed men of the country ; determine what pro- ducts the subjected natives must pay by way of impost to sup- port the soldiers, as well as the number of bearers they must furnish for the distant exploring expeditions ; carry on war or make alliances with the chiefs of the ivory countries ; and once a year remit the collected stores to Khartoom. Both the principal districts of the Khartoom ivory-trade are accessible by the navigation of the two source affluents of the White Nile, viz., the Bahr-el-Ghazal, or Gazelle River, and the Bahr-el-Gebel. On the Bahr-el-Gebel, the extreme point of navigation is the well-known Gondokoro, the termination of a series of voyages of discovery, which have opened up all the adjacent region. On the Bahr-el-Ghazal a kind of cul-de-sac leads to the only existing meshera, or landing-place ; but be- yond this the Khartoom people had already advanced some five degrees in a southerly and westerly direction into the very 422 SCHWEINFURTH. heart of the unexplored region in which lie the sources of the Nile. This direction seemed decidedly most promising to an explorer, and accordingly Schweinfurth made a contract with a Coptic Christian named Ghattas, a rich ivory-trader, and the owner of large territory in the farthest interior. This contract was made under the special supervision of the Governor-Gem eral of Kliartoom, to whom the Prime Minister’s orders before- mentioned were especially addressed. In it, Ghattas engaged to supply the means of subsistence, and to furnish Schwein- furtli with bearers and an adequate number of armed men. He also placed at his disposal a boat for the journey up the river, and it was expressly stipulated that Schweinfurth should be at liberty to join all the enterprises and excursions of Ghat- tas’ people. In addition to this, Ghattas was required to be- come surety against any misadventure that might happen to the traveller in the interior; and if the latter were betrayed to cannibals or left in the land among savages, the merchant would have good cause to apprehend the confiscation of his estates. In order to have about him a number of people upon whose fidelity and attachment he might rely under all circumstances, Schweinfurth took into his service six Nubians who had settled in Kliartoom with their wives and children, and who had al- ready travelled in different parts of the Upper Nile under other Europeans. He was also accompanied by Aislan, a great sheep-dog, which he had brought with him from Europe, and in all the villages through which he passed the inhabitants scampered off in terror, crying “ Hyaena, hyaena ! ” It was difficult to make them understand that the brown-spotted ani- mal was only a dog. All things being at length in readiness, the papers signed, the boat chartered, the crew engaged, and a “ lucky day ” fixed upon, the traveller left Kliartoom on January 5th, 1869, for the voyage up the White Nile. Night and day the boat sailed or drifted toward the south, occasional stoppages being made to visit interesting localities or to botanize in the neighboring forests. At Fashoda, a garrison town at the extreme limit of the Egyptian empire, a stoppage of nine days w’as made ; and Schweinfurth took advantage of this to explore the neighbor- ing country of the Shillooks. The Shillook tribe inhabits the entire left bank of the White Nile, occupying a territory about 200 miles long by 10 miles wide, which extends right to the mouth of the Gazelle River. Their subjection to the Egyptian government, which was com- pleted in 1871, lias caused a census to be taken, and it was sen WE INF U R Til. m found that the villages numbered no less than 3,000, with a total population of about 1,200,000. No known part of Af- rica, scarcely even the narrow valley of the Nile in Egypt, has a density of population so great ; but a similar condition of circumstances, so favorable to the support of a teeming popu- lation, is perhaps without a parallel in the world. Everything which contributes to the exuberance of life here finds a con- centrated field — agriculture, pasturage, fishing, and the chase. Agriculture is rendered easy by the natural fertility of the soil, by the recurrence of the rain 3* seasons, by irrigation ef- fected. by the rising of the river, assisted by numerous canals, and by an atmosphere ordinarily so over-clouded as to moder- ate the radiance of the sun, and to retain throughout the year perpetual moisture. Of fishing there is plenty; There are crocodiles and hippopotamuses in abundance. Across the river there is a free and open chase over wildernesses which would advantageously be built upon, but for the hostility of the neighboring Dinka. The pasture lands, on the same side of the river as the dwellings, are invaluable as supplying daily re- sorts for the cattle. The clusters of huts of which the Shillook villages are com- posed, are built with surprising regularity, and are so closely crowded together that they cannot fail to suggest comparison with a thick mass of fungus or mushrooms. Every village has its overseer, whilst the overseers of 50 or 70, or sometimes of 100 villages, are subject to a superintendent, who has control of what may be called the “ district,” and of such districts there are nearly a hundred, each of them distinguished by its particular name. I11 the centre of each village there is a circular space where, evening after evening, the inhabitants congregate, and, either stretched upon hides or squatting down on mats of ambatch, inhale the vapor from burning heaps of cow-dung to keep off the flies, or from pipes with enormous clay bowls smoke the tobacco of the countr} r . In these spaces there is frequently erected the great stem of a tree, on which, according to com- mon African usage, kettle-drums are hung and used to warn the inhabitants of any impending danger, and to communicate intelligence to the neighborhood. Most of the negro tribes are distinguished by the form of their huts. The huts of the Shillooks are built with higher Avails than those of the Dinka, and, as an ordinary rule, are of smaller circumference ; the conical roofs do not rise t'o a peak, but are rather in the shape of flattened domes. The villages are not enclosed external!}', 424 : SCHWEINFURTH. but are bounded by fences made of straw-mats running be- tween the closely crammed houses, and which serve for shelter to the cattle of individual householders.” Cattle-raising is the principal occupation of the Shillooks ; but besides cattle, they breed sheep and goats, and keep poultry and dogs. Other animals are scarce, and probably could not endure the climate. Throughout the country dogs abound, in shape like greyhounds, but smaller, and so fleet that with the greatest ease they outrun the gazelle. The men go entirely naked, but the women wear an apron of calf-skin, which is bound around their loins and reaches to their knees. Both sexes make use of cosmetics of their own, viz., a coating of ashes for protection against insects. When the ashes are prepared from wood they render the body per- fectly gray, and hereby are known the poor ; when obtained from cow-dung they give a rusty-red tint, and hereby can be recognized the landowners. Ashes, dung, and the urine of cows are the indispensable requisites of the toilet. The item last named affects the nose of the stranger rather unpleasantly when he makes use of any of their milk-vessels, as, according to a regular African habit, they are washed with it, probably to compensate for a lack of salt. Like most of the naked and half-naked Africans, they de- vote the greatest attention to the arrangement of their hair; on every other portion of the body all growth of hair is stopped by its being all carefully plucked out at its very flrst appear- ance. Among the men, the repeated application of clay, gum, or dung, so effectually clots the hair together that it retains, as it were, voluntarily the desired form ; at one time like a comb, at another like a helmet, or, it may be, like a fan. Many of the Shillook men present in this respect a great vanity. A good many wear transversely across the skull a comb as broad as a man’s hand, which, like a nimbus of tin, stretches from ear to ear, and terminates behind in two drooping circular lappets. Occasionally there are heads for which one comb does not suffice, and on these several combs, parallel to one another at small intervals, are arranged in lines. There is a third form, far from uncommon, than which nothing can be more grotesque ; it may be compared to the crest of a guinea- fowl, of which it is an obvious imitation. The women wear short-cropped hair which appears to be stippled over with fresh- sprouting, woolly locks. Their external appearance is not improved by the absence of the lower incisor teeth, which are always broken off in early life. 8GH WEINFURTB. 425 The only conception which the Shillook entertain of a higher existence is limited to their reverence for a certain hero, who is called the Father of his race, and who is supposed to have conducted them to the land which they at present occup}\ In case of famine, or in older that they may have rain, or that they may reap a good harvest, they call upon him by name. They imagine of the dead that they arc lingering amongst the living and still attend them. The voyage from Fashoda to the confluence of the Gazelle and the Bahr-el-Gebel was devoid of any striking incidents ; but before the mouth of the Gazelle was gained, the boat had to encounter the famous grass-barrier which at this point ren- ders the navigation of the White Nile almost impossible. Vast masses of grass, papyrus, and ambatch cover the whole stream like a carpet, which is scarcely more penetrable than an ice- floe. Every here and there, indeed, the force of the current may open a kind of rift, but not corresponding at all with the deeper and true channel of the river. Such a rift is not avail- able for any passage of the boats, and as the position of the weedy mass is constantly shifting, the most experienced pilots are sometimes utterly baffled in the attempt to thread the labyrinth. Six days were spent by Schweinfnrth in getting through, and even then success was achieved only by the men getting out on the grass-island^ and pulling and shoving the boat over obsta- cles by main force. This singular grass-tangle fills the larger part of the channel of the Gazelle all the way up to the Meshera, or landing-place (Port Bek), and then fairly chokes it up, forming the cul-de-sac which has always formed the limit of navigation, and which was to be the starting-point of the expedition into the interior. Whether the Gazelle or the Bahr-cl-Gebel is the main stream of the White Nile is still an unsolved problem. Speke refers to the Gazelle as “ an unimportant stream ; ” but Schweinfnrth accuses him of something like deliberate misrepresentation, and maintains that it has a claim in every way as valid as the Bahr-el-Gebel. “ In truth it would appear to stand in some relation to the Bahr-el-Gebel as the White Nile does to the Blue.” During his subsequent journeys he obtained evidence, that with its various affluents, including the Bahr-el-Arab and the Dyoor, it traverses a region of not less than 150,000 square miles, lie also became convinced that the Bahr-el-Arab is the main stream. If this be so, the real sources of the Nile are to be found far to the west of the regiou fixed upon by Living- stone, Speke, and Baker. 426 SCJI WEINF URTR. Scliweinfurth arrived at the Meshcra on February 24tli, and a month later, in March 25tli, a start was made for the chief seriba of Ghattas, 200 miles distant in the interior. Several smaller companies having joined Ghattas’s expedition, the number of the caravan was but little under four hundred. Of these the armed men alone amounted to nearly two hundred, and constituted a force which might have crossed the largest state in Central Africa unmolested. Their course lay in a tolerably straight S. S. W. direction across the western district of the extensive territory of the unsubdued Dinka. The cara- van rested occasionally in the deserted villages and crowded the empty cattle-pens belonging to the natives, who made their escape as it advanced. By their continued cattle-stealing, the Nubians have caused all the Dinka tribes to consider foreign interlopers as their bitter enemies, aud the merchants’ com- panies dare net pass through their couutry except with an adequate number of armed men. Schweinfurtlrs relations with this strange pastoral people were, throughout the two years which he spent in the interior, but rarely discontinued ; and he regards them as among the foreirost of the native people. They occupy a wide extent of territory, and are divided into various tribes, some of which, in regard to height and bodily size, stand prominent in the scale of the human race. “ Every idea and thought of the Dinka is how to acquire and maintain cattle: a kind of rever- ence would seem to be paid to them ; even their offal is con- sidered of high importance ; the dung which is burned to ashes for sleeping in aud for smearing their persons, and the urine, which is used for washing and as a substitute for salt,* are their daily requisites. A cow is never slaughtered, but when sick is separated from the rest, and carefully tended in the large huts built for the purpose. Only those that die nat- urally or by an accident are used as food. Indescribable is the grief when either death or rapine has robbed a Dinka of his. cattle. He is prepared to redeem their loss by the heaviest sacrifices, for they are dearer to him than wife or child. A dead cow is not, however, wantonly buried ; the negro is not sentimental enough for that ; such an occurrence is soon bruited abroad, and the neighbors institute a carousal which is quite an epoch in their monotonous life. The bereaved owner him- self is, however, too much afflicted at the loss to touch a morsel of the carcass of his departed beast. Not unfrequently in their sorrow the Dinka remain for days silent and abstracted, as though their trouble were too heavy for them to bear.” 8CH WEINFURTH. 427 Single eattle-vards sometimes hold as many as 10,000 beasts. When asked what good they get from their possessions of oxen, they always answer that it is quite enough if they get fat and look nice. The other domestic animals kept by the Diuka are 6heep of a peculiar breed, goats, and dogs. The Dinka dwellings consist of small groups of huts clus- tered in farmsteads over the cultivated plain ; villages in a proper sense there are none. As a rule tlie huts are spacious, and more durable than those of other tribei who build their dwellings in the same conical form. They are not unfre- quently 40 feet in diameter ; their foundations are composed of a mixture of clay and chopped straw, and the supports of the roof are made of branches of acacia and other hard woods. The roof is contrived out of layers of cut straw. These build- ings last eight or ten years, and decay at length mainly through being worm-eaten. The Dinka women are scrupulously clothed with two aprons of untanned skin, which reach before and behind from the hips to the ankles, and are trimmed round the edge with rows of beads, small iron rings, and little bells. But it is considered effeminate and improper for a man to wear any clothing what- ever. A clothed man is contemptuously called “ a woman.” Men and women alike pierce their ears in several places, and insert iron rings or brass. The women also bore the upper lip and fit in an iron pin, running through a bead. Tattooing is only practised by the men, and always consists of about ten radiating strokes which traverse the forehead and temples, having the base of the nose for a centre. Both sexes break off the lower incisor teeth, a custom which they practise in com- mon with the majority of the natives of the district of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The men make their hair straight by much combing, and give it a reddish tinge by continued willing with cow-urine, or by the application for a fortnight of a mix- ture of dung and ashes. The women wear their hair either closely shaven or as short a3 possible. All alike wear a pro- fusion of iron and ivory rings on their ankles and wrists, orna- ments of leather, and the tails of cows and goats. In culinary matters the Dinka are superior to either Nubians, Arabs, or Egyptians; and their behavior at meals corresponds with the choiceness of their cookery. They eat separately, passing the dishes from one to another like Europeans; and at Schwein- furth's table, they took to knive3 and forks as though they had been bred to their use. They are very particular too \n the choice of their animal food, and the accounts of the cauibaiism 428 SCH WEINFURTE. of the Niain-Niam excite as much horror amongst them as amongst ourselves. They are great smokers, and their smok- ing apparatus is so ponderous that every one is obliged to sit down while he smokes. In war they are brave and daring, and their independence of character is such that they have not only remained unsubdued by the Khartoomers, but are seldom molested by the slave-hunters. Ghattas’ chief seriba, the termination of the present journey, was readied on the 30th of March. It lies on the border-lines of the three races, the Dinka, the Dyoor, and the Bongo ; and with it are associated five smaller settlements in the adjoining Bongo country, and four more in remoter spots. From an in- significant beginning it had, in the course of thirteen years, become of such importance as a trading-station that at the time of Schweinfurth’s visit it contained not less than a thousand in- habitants, including about 250 armed men and some hundreds of slaves. The actual seriba, or palisaded enclosure, was only about 200 paces square, and was literally crammed with huts. Outside the enclosure, the buildings were scattered over the fields, and for two miles round, the land was partitioned into field; which were tilled by the natives who had settled in the vicinity. The chief agricultural productions, here and through- out Ceutral Africa, are first the sorghum, which is the staple, and three other kinds of corn, the pencillaria or Arabian “ doldin,” the telaboon, and the African maize. There is one quality which pertains equally to all these varieties of grain which are grown in these torrid regions ; it is not possible "from their flour to make bread in the way to which we are accus- tomed. All that can be made from the fermented dough is the Arabian bread, “ Kissere,” — tough, leathery slices, cooked like pan-cakes on a frying-pan. If the fermentation has gone far enough to make the dough rise for a good, spongy loaf, when it is put into the oven it all crumbles up, and its particles will not hold together; if, on the other hand, the fermentation has not proceeded sufficiently, the result is a heavy lump which the natives wrap up in leaves and bake in the ashes. Various le- guminous plants and tuberous vegetables, such as the yam, are also cultivated ; and last but not least, tobacco, which attains a height of about 18 inches only, with leaves a span long, and blossoms invariably white. Schweinfurth was expected at the seriba, and two neatly- built huts of moderate size, within the palisade, had been pre- pared for him. Of these he took immediate possession, and they formed his headquarters for several months. SCHWEINFURTn ; 429 “ My excursions about the neighborhood soon began, and these, with the arrangement of my daily collections, occupied the greater part of my time. In unfailing good health, I passed the first few weeks in a transport of joy, literally enrap- tured by the unrivalled loveliness of nature. The early rains had commenced, and were clothing all the park-like scenery, meadows, trees, and shrubs, with the verdure of spring. Emu- lating the tulips and hyacinths of our own gardens, sprang up everywhere splendid bulbous plauts ; whilst amongst the fresh foliage gleamed blossoms of the gayest hue. The April rains are not continuous, but nevertheless, trees and underwood were all in bloom, and the grass was like a lawn for smoothness. In Tropical Africa, after long continuance of rain, the grass may be considered more as a defect than as an ornament in the land- scape : the obstructions which it interposes to the view of the traveller considerably mar his enjoyment of the scenery ; but throughout the period of the early rains its growth is remarka- bly slow, and it takes some months to attain a height sufficient to conceal the numerous flowering weeds and bulbs which dis- play their blossoms at the same season.” During April and May he made a variety of journeys to the neighboring seribas, in one of which, lasting over three weeks, he explored the Dyoor River. This is one of the most impor- tant tributaries of the White Nile system. It rises in the east- ern portion of the Niam-Niam country, in lat. 5° 35', and its main course, omitting the smaller windings, extends over 350 miles. On these excursions he had fine opportunities of hunt- ing the game of the country: buffalo, giraffes, antelopes, liurtlebeests, genets, civets, zebra-ichneumons, warthogs, wild pig3, cats, lynxes, servals, and caracals. The bear-baboon was also seen. At Geer, he for the first time saw the natives abandoning themselves to one of their wild orgies. “ The festival was held to celebrate the sowing of the crops ; and confident in the hope that the coming season would bring abundant rains, the light- hearted Bongo anticipated their harvest. For the preparation of their beer they encroached very lavishly on their present corn stores, quite indifferent to the fact that for the next two months they would be reduced to the necessity of grubbing after roots and devouring any chance bird or even any creep- ing thing that might come in their way. Incredible quantities of “ legyee ” were consumed, so as to raise the party to the de- gree of excitement necessary for so prolonged a revel. In honor of the occasion there was produced a long array of musi- 430 S CH WE IN FUR 777. cal instruments, but the confusion of sound beggared the rag- ing of all the elements, and made me marvel as to what music might come to. They danced till their bodies reeked again Avith the oil of the butter-tree. Had they been made of india- rubber their movements could scarcely have been more elastic ; indeed, their skins had all the appearance of gutta-percha. The whole scene was more like a fantoccini than any diversion of living beings.” During liis exploration of the Dyoor River he became famil- iar with the Dyoor tribe, a branch of the Shillooks apparently, though distinguished by a lighter skin, who occupy a small territory, and number only 20,000 souls. Dyoor is a name as- signed by the Dinka, and is synonymous with men of the woods, or wild men. It is a term of contempt, and is intended to im- ply the condition of poverty, in which, according to Dinka ideas, the Dyoor spend their existence, giving their sole atten- tion to agriculture and their few goats and poultry, and owning no cattle. They speak of themselves as Lwoli. In spite of their intercourse with and partial dependence upon the Dinka, the Dyoor have not departed from theShillook mode of decorating themselves ; though the decorations of the hair characteristic of the Dinka and the Shillook alike are to- tally rejected, and both men and women wear their hair closely cropped. Their only clothing is a short covering of leather which they wear round the back of their loins, something like the skirts of an ordinary frock coat ; a calf-skin answers their E urpose best, of which they make two tails to hang down be- iud. The favorite ornaments of the men very much resemble those of the Dinka, consisting of a collection of iron rings be- low the elbow, and a huge ivory ring above it. One decoration peculiar to themselves consists of heavy circlets of molten brass, very elaborately engraved. The women, too, burden their wrists and ankles with clusters of rings ; and very fre- quently one great iron ring is thrust through the nose, the hole to admit it being bored indifferently through the base, the bridge, or the nostrils. The rims of the ears are also pierced to carry an indefinite number of rings. One of the most ad- mired decorations is a string of iron beads or little perforated cylinders of iron. The huts of the Dyoor are made of wickerwork either of wood or bamboo, cemented with clay, and the roof is a simple pyramid of straw. Inside every hut there is a large receptacle for storing whatever corn or other provision is necessary for the household. These are made of wickerwork, and have a shape SCnWElNFUIiTH. 431 like great bottles ; and to protect them from the rats, they are most carefully overdaubed with thick clay. They occupy a very largo proportion of the open space in the interior; very often they arc six or seven feet high, and sometimes are made from a compound of chopped stubble and mud. The women do all the work of the fields as well as the work of the house. The men are very skilful iron-workers, notwith- standing the clumsiness of their instruments ; and their prod- ucts, in the shape of spear-heads or spades, answer all the pur- poses of money throughout the whole district of the Upper Nile. Dr. Schwcinfurth estimates that in Africa iron has a value about equivalent to copper with us, whilst the worth of copper corresponds to that of silver. The Dyoor have good large families, and affection for children and parents is devel- oped among them more decidedly than in any other Central African tribe. After his return to Ghattas’ seriba, Schweinfnrth set his people to work laying out a vegetable garden, the larger part of which he planted with maize of which the original ears came from New Jersey. “ Seventy days after sowing I reaped the crop, and the ingathering did not simply answer my high- est expectations, but surpassed in quality the original stock.” Tobacco from Maryland grew to an immense height. The next five months he spent, in botanizing, during which he col- lected and classified nearly 700 flowering plants ; and in study- ing the habits of the Bongo, a people, lie says, which, though visibly on the decline, may still by its peculiarity and striking independence in nationality, language, and customs, be selected from amid the circle of its neighbors as a genuine type of African life. The Bongo occupy a territory about 175 miles long by 50 miles wide, Tying on the south-western boundary of the depres- sion of the Bahr-el-Ghazal basin. They number about 100, 000, and are £ finely-formed, athletic race, but being of an un- warlike character have been reduced to a state of vassalage by the Khartoomerswho compelled them to leave their homes and settle near the numerous scribas established in their country. They furnish the larger number of bearers for the ivory expe- dition into the remote interior, and by their tillage of the soil provide all the food for the seribas except what is obtained by cattle-raids in the land of the Dinka. Their compleMon is similar in color to the red-brown soil on which they reside; and Schwcinfurth considers them members of a family of reddish- hued races, distinct from the Dinka, Dyoor, Shillook, etc., and 432 S cn WE INF UR TH. including the Niam-Niam, Mittoo, Kredy, and others. Besides agriculture, which is their chief industry, and the raising of goats, dogs, and poultry, they hunt and fish, and the men are expert iron- workers. With the rudest conceivable bellows and a hammer which is oftener than not a round pebble-stone, an anvil of gneiss or granite, and a pair of tongs composed of a split stick of greenwood, “ they contrive to fabricate articles which would bear comparison with the productions of an Eng- lish smith.” These consist of spear-heads, spades, knives, etc., which are used extensively as money. Hardly inferior to their skill in the working of iron is their skill in wood-carving. The most striking specimens of their art in this way, are the four- legged stools for women (the men consider it effeminate to sit on anything except the ground) which arc found in every household, and which are invariably made from a single block. Besices these are beautifully shaped mortars and pestles for bruising corn, threshing-flails, troughs for oil-pressing, spoons, and, most remarkable of all, wooden representations of the human figure which are placed round the tombs of departed chieftains, and of any male person who has been murdered. The women make excellent pottery, and have learned the art of tanning from the N ubiaus. The Bongo bestow more pains upon their dwellings than any people in the Gazelle district. The materials employed are upright tree-stems, bamboo canes, clay, and tough grass and the bast of the Grewia. The dwell- ings are usually about 20 feet in diameter, with a door so made that t is necessary to creep through in order to get inside and closed with a hurdle, and a level clay floor. The bedding con- sists of skins only, and the pillow is a branch of a tree smoothed by being stripped of its bark. The peak of the roof is always furnished with a circular pad of straw which serves for a seat, and from which a survey of the surrounding country may be obtained. They are disgusting feeders. “ With the exception of human flesh and the flesh of dogs, the Bongo seem to consider all ani- mal substance fit for eating in whatever condition it may be found. The putrefying remnant of a lion’s feast, which lies in the obscurity of a forest and is only revealed by the kites and vultures circulating in the air above, is to them a welcome dis- covery. That meat is ‘ high ’ is a guarantee for its being ten- der, and they deem it in that condition not only more strength- ening than when it is fresh, but likewise more easy of digest- ion. Rats, mice, snakes, earth-scorpions, caterpillars, carrion- vultures, big hyaenas, all are to them delicious morsels. Their SCE WE IN FUR TH. 433 country is very prolific in mushrooms, which they keep till on the verge of decay and then dry and pound, using the powder for flavoring their sauces. They are inveterate smokers and chewcrs, compress the tobacco into cakes like our 4 cavendish/ and carry half-cliewed quids behind their ears. For clothing the men wear a skin or strip of cloth round the loins ; but the women refuse to wear any covering whatever, whether of skin or stuff, and replenish their wardrobe every morning with a bunch of grass or bough of a tree fastened to the girdle. Both men and women wear the hair closely- cropped or in tufts on the top. The men tattoo themselves ; wear necklaces of beads, wood, talons of owls and eagles, teeth of dogs, crocodiles, or jackals, little tortoise-shells, etc. ; rings on the wrist and upper part of the arms ; and some of them pierce the skin of the stomach above the waist and insert a wooden peg. The women attain an astounding girth of body ; 44 their thighs are very often as large as a man’s chest, and their measurement across the hips can hardly fail to recall the pic- ture in Cuvier’s Atlas of the now famous 4 Hottentot Yenns.’ ” They wear an accumulation of cords and beads round their necks ; masses of iron and copper rings on their wrists, arms, and ankles, and in the rims of their ears ; and a round-headed copper-nail or plate in the lower lip. As soon as a woman is married the operation commences of extending her lower lip. This, at first only slightly bored, is widened by inserting into the orifice plugs of wood gradually increasing in size, until at length the entire feature is enlarged to five or six times its orig- inal proportions. By this means the lower lip is extended hor- izontal^ till it projects far beyond the upper, which :s also fitted with a copper plate or nail, and now and then by a little ring, and sometimes by a bit of straw about as thick as a luci- fer-match. Nor do they leave the nose intact ; similar hits of straw are inserted into the edges of the nostrils, occasionally three on either side. A very favorite ornament for the carti- lage between the nostrils is a copper ring, just like those placed in the noses of buffaloes and other beasts of burden for the purpose of rendering them more tractable. The greatest co- quettes among the ladies wear a clasp or cramp at the corners of the mouth, as though they wanted to contract the orifice, and literally to put a curb upon its capabilities. Both sexes break off the lower incisor teeth. Wives are purchased, and are limited to three in number ; in case of divorce the father is compelled to restore a portion or all of the purchase-money. A laudable custom is one which 434 8CHWEINFURTH. forbids all children not at the breast to sleep in the same hut with their parents. No marriage is allowed till the youth is 18 and the girl 15 years old. Very old people of either sex, but especially old women, are suspected of witchcraft, and put out of the way. The insane are shackled, hand and foot, and ducked in the river, and if this does not cure, are kept in confinement by their relatives. Such people are thought to be bewitched. Certain kinds of meat are prescribed to maintain the strength of invalids — for “ general debility ” a particular value is attributed to the flesh oi: a bird (Gullukoo) which has a detestable flavor. The Bongo are very fond of music, have a great variety of instruments, and sing in chorus. They bury the dead in a sitting posture, the men with the face turned to the north and the women to the south. They have not the faintest idea of the immortality of the soul, but believe in “ loma ” (luck), and have an amazing fear of ghosts which they believe to people the shadowy darkness of the woods. To ward off the evil influence of the spirits they use magical roots in which professional sorcerers trade. Good spirits are quite un- recognized, and, according to the general negro idea, no benefit can ever come from a spirit at all. On the 17 th of November, the end of the rainy season having come, Schweinfurth accepted the invitation of Mohammed Aboo Sammat, a rival merchant of Ghattas, to accompany him on an expedition to the Niam-Niam lands. He had spent the intervening months in botanizing and studying the habits and language of the people, no incident breaking the monotony of his occupations except a midnight storm during which six fe- male slaves were struck dead by lightning and his own hut narrowly escaped destruction in the resulting fire. He joined Aboo Sammat’s caravan on the 17th of November, and went with him to his Seriba, 70 miles distant, on the borders of the Niam-Niam territory. This Aboo Sammat, of whom Schweinfurth speaks as “ the magnanimous Nubian,” was a native of Dar-Kenoos, and in his way was a little hero. “ Sword in hand he had vanquished va- rious districts large enough to have formed small states in Eu- rope. A merchant full of enterprise, he avoided no danger and was sparing neither of trouble nor of sacrifice; in the words of the Horaz, £ he explored the distant Indies, and com- passed sea and land to escape poverty.’ Yet all the while he had the keeneest sympathy with learning, and could travel through the remotest countries at the bidding of science to see the wonders of the world.” Farther along Dr. Schweinfurth SCnWEINFURTII. 435 Bays : “ All the museums — particularly those which are appro- priated to botany — which have been enriched by my journey- mgs are indebted to Aboo Sammat for not a few of their nov- elties. Solely because I was supported by him did I succeed in pushing my way to the Upper Shary, more than 800 miles from Khartoom, thus opening fresh districts to geographical knowledge and establishing the existence of some enigmatical people. Everything, moreover, that he did was suggested by his own free will. No compulsion of government was put upon him, no inducements on my part were held out, and, what is more, no thought of compensation for his outlay on myself or { >arty ever entered his mind. The purest benevolence prompted lim — the high virtue of hospitality in its noblest sense.” It was his generosity chiefly which made Schweinfurth’s expe- riences in Africa so different from those of his predecessors, whose sufferings and trials we have hinted at in previous chap- ters. They reached Sabby, Aboo Sammat’s head seriba, on Nov- ember 23d, after a march of seven days through a beautiful park- like country. While preparations were making for the expedi- tion into the Niara-Niam county, Schweinfurth made a tour of all the neighboring seribas, and had an opportunity of seeing how the Khartoom merchants settle their yokes upon newly subjected tribes. The people were mostly Bongo, like those in G-hattas’ country, and a collection of tribes called collectively Mittoo, and Aboo Sammat had only brought them into sub- jection during the year previous to Schweinfurth’s visit. In the scale of humanity the Mittoo tribes are decidedly inferior to the Bongo, from whom they are distinguished, by a darker complexion and a less athletic bodily frame. Their domestic industries and their personal ornaments are very similar to those of the Bongo, though the women even surpass the latter in the mutilation of the Tips. Not satisfied with piercing the lower lip, they distend the upper one as well. Corcula plates as large as a crown-piece, made of quartz, ivory, or horn, are inserted into lips that have been so stretched as to lie in a posi- tion that is all but horizontal; and when the women want to drink they have to elevate the upper lip with their fingers and pour the draught into their mouths. The Mittoo display a remarkable talent for music, and construct a great variety of instruments. The most important of these is a lyre vith a sounding-board, not unlike the robaba used by the people of Nubia. The flute is made quite on the European principle and is expertly handled. They also sing in chorus, keeping 436 scHWEnrFURTn. admirable time. Like most of the Central African tribes the Mittoo can only count up to ten, everything above that number having to be denominated by gestures. Schweinfurth saw an amusing illustration of this when Aboo Saramat was trying to make a chief understand the number of bearers he was to furnish. “ At last some bundles of reeds were tied together in tens, and then the negro, although he could not express the number, comprehended perfectly what was required of him. Kunagera was to furnish 1,530 bearers, and being asked whether he understood, made an affirmative gesture, took the 1HTTOO WOMEN. immense bundle of reeds under his arm, and walked off gravely to his village.” On the 29th of January, all things being in readiness for the long expedition to the Niam-Niam, the caravan set out. There were no less than 1,000 bearers and soldiers, the latter numbering 400, and substantially the whole day was consumed in getting started, only a few miles being made before it was time to encamp. The line of march was nearly due south through a pleasant, park-like country, well-watered by numer- ous small streams ; and on the fourth day the territory of the first Niam-Niam chief, Nganye, was entered. At first the sen WEINFURTH 437 natives with their wives and children, their dogs and poultry, their guitars, their baskets, their pots and pans, and all their household articles, made off to the thickest parts of the steppes, their hiding-places being often betrayed, however, by the cackling of their fowls ; out from Nganye, who was on very friendly terms with Aboo Sammat, they received a warm welcome and liberal entertainment. Here Schweinfurth had the first opportunity of seeing the Niam-Niam in the reality of their natural life, and his interest in them was in proportion to their importance as the leading race of Central Africa. They arc tall, well-proportioned, intelligent, warlike, and impatient of restraint even by their chiefs, whose power is strictly limited, though they are entitled to a percentage on all the ivory taken and to half the meat of all elephants killed. As became a people with whom hunting is the chief pursuit, the Niam-Niam were girded with skins. High upon their elabo- rately dressed hair they wore straw hats covered with feathers and cowries, and fastened on with long bodkins of iron or copper. Their chocolate-colored skin is painted in stripes, like those of a tiger ; and their bearing is almost chivalrous, “exhibiting a very strong contrast to the unpolished noncha- lance of the Bongo, the Mittoo, and even the finicking Arabs.” The women are much more reserved and shy than with the Bongo or Mittoo ; they scarcely look at a stranger, and will go far out of their way to avoid meeting him. And it is one of the fine traits of the Niam-Niam that they display an unpre- cedented affection for their wives. A husband will spare no sacrifice to redeem an imprisoned wife, and the Nubians turn this to profitable account in the ivory-trade. They are proud of large families, and punish adultery with death. Their country is marvellously productive, and game abounds; but they are cannibals, eating their prisoners, and even their own kin on an emergency. Their war cry is “ Meat ! Meat ! ” and is well adapted to strike terror into their foes. They drink enormous quantities of beer, made from a cereal known as “ raggi ” in India. They are skilful iron-workers, wood -carvers, basket-makers, and potters. They are extremely fond of music, and have wandering minstrels who play on a kind of guitar and accompany it with an improvised song. Their met. lod of salutation, like most other Central African tribes, is by hand- shaking — the hand being grasped in such a way as to make the joints of the two middle fingers crack. Their language con- tains no equivalent for God or prayer, and they have no relig- ion; but there is a general belief in magic. Nothing can 438 SCHWEINFURTH. shake their conviction that the possession of certain charmed roots contributes to success in the chase, so that the best shots, when they have killed an immense amount of game, are credited with having such roots in their keeping. Ivory is the commodity which they use in trade with the Khartoomers, and their principal method of securing it is to set fire to the long grass which covers the steppes, well knowing that the elephants cannot escape. A war of annihilation is this, in which neither male nor female, old nor young, can escape destruction ; and Dr. Schweinfurth may well repine that this noble animal is put to such indiscriminate slaughter for no other reason than that we may have ivory billiard-balls, piano-forte keys, and other unimportant items of luxury. Schweinfurth visited Nganye next day, and though the chief himself manifested little curiosity, the Niam-Niam people here and everywhere throughout his journey exhibited the keenest interest. “Their curiosity seemed to be insatiable, and they never wearied in their inquiries as to my origin. To their mind the mystery was as to where I could have come from ; my hair was the greatest of enigmas to them ; it gave me a supernatural look, and accordingly they asked whether I had dropped from the clouds or was a visitor from the moon, and could not believe that anything like me had been seen before.” When the people came to visit him, as they constantly did, he had to provide for their entertainment, “ and in this respect,” he says, “ I was greatly assisted by my matches, as the marvel of my being able to produce fire at my pleasure was an inex- haustible source of interest. If ever 1 handed over a lucifer and let them light it themselves, their rapture surpassed all bounds ; they never failed to consider that the power of pro- ducing flames resided in me, but their astonishment was very greatly increased when they discovered that the faculty could be extended to themselves. Giving the white man credit for being able to procure fire or rain at his own free will, they looked upon the performances as miracles unparalleled since the dawn of creation.” After a stay of one day at Nganye’s abode, the caravan moved on its way southward, Aboo Sammat’s intention now being to go entirely across the Niam-Niam country to the lands of the Monbuttoo, with whose king, Munza, he was acquainted. The region through which they passed day after day was beautiful in the extreme and very fertile, and on every side were indications of a numerous and industrious population. Everything testified to the fruitfulness of the soil. Sweet SCI1 WEINFURTH. 439 potatoes, yams, and manioc were piled np in heaps, and the hungry bearers fell upon them as though they were in a hostile country, the immediate neighborhood of every encampment re- sembling a scene of rapine and plunder. The arrangements of the Niam-Niam huts are much the same throughout the land. Two, or at most three, families reside close together. Generally from eight to twelve huts are clustered round one common open space, which is kept per- fectly clean, and in the centre of which is reared a post upon which the trophies of the chase are hung. Skulls of the rarest kind, splendid horns of antelopes and buffaloes, are attached to this standard, and, it must be added, skulls of men and withered hands and feet! Close in the rear of the huts, upon the level ground, were the magazines for corn ; behind these would be seen a circle of rokko fig-trees, the bark of which is used for clothing. Farther in the background might be noticed a per- fect enclosure of paradise-figs; then in wider circumference the plantations of manioc and maize ; and, lastly, the outlying fields of eleusine, extending to the compound next beyond. To the above-mentioned practice of hanging their trophies on posts near their huts, Schweinfurth was indebted for many additions to his osteological collection. And at Diamvonoo, in securing some skulls of the chimpanzee (which are killed in great numbers in the .neighborhood), lie came upon convincing proof of the cannibalism of the natives. Close to the huts, amongst the piles of refuse, were human bones, which bore unmistaka- ble evidence of having been subjected to the hatchet or the knife ; and all around upon the branches of the neighboring trees were hanging human feet and hands more than half shriv- elled into a skeleton condition, but being as yet only partially dry, they polluted the atmosphere with a revolting and intolera- ble stench. On the 6th of February they crossed the river Sway, which Schweinfurth was the first to identify as the upper course of the Dyoor; and on March 2d, after having crossed numerous streams whose apparently eccentric direction puzzled h'm, he made the startling discovery that he was on the water-sled of the Nile , the first European coming from the north that had ever yet traversed it. In March 20th, after a journey that had lasted nearly two months, the latter part of the time through the hostile district of the chief Wando, they reached the river Welle on the southern boundary of the Niam-Niam country. As he had expected, Schweinfurth found that this rivei flows west ; and he adduces nearly conclusive reasons for regarding it 440 SCHWEINFURTH. as the upper course of the Sliary, which flows into Lake Tsad. It rises in the mountains, jnst west of the Albert Nyanza. The Welle was crossed in Monbuttoo boats, and next day the caravan entered Munza’s capital, truly in “ the heart of Africa.” 6i Nothing could be more charming than that last day’s march which brought us to the limits of our wanderings. The 12 miles which led to Muuza’s palace were miles enriched by such beauty as might be worthy of paradise. They left an im- pression upon my memory that can never fade. The plautain- groves harmonized so perfectly with the clustering oil-palms that nothing could surpass the perfection of the scene ; whilst the ferns that adorned the countless stems in the background of the landscape enhanced the charms of the tropical groves. A fresh and invigorating atmosphere contributed to the enjoy- ment of it all, refreshing water and grateful shade being never far away. In front of the native dwellings towered the splen- did figs, of which the spreading crowns defied the passage of the burning sun. Anon we passed amidst jungles of Kaphia, alongside brooks crammed full of reeds, or through galleries where the Pandanus thrived, the road taking us up-hill and down-hill in alternate undulation. On either hand there was an almost unbroken series of the idyllic homes of the people, who hurried to their gates, and offered us the choicest products of their happy clime. . . . “ And then, at last, conspicuous amidst the massy depths of green we espied the palace of the king. We had reached a broad valley, circled by plantations, and shaded by some gigan- tic trees which had survived the decay of the ancient wilder- ness ; through the lowest part meandered a transparent brook. We did not descend into the hollow, but halting on the hither side, we chose a station clear of trees, and proceeded without delay to fix our camp. We enjoyed a view in front of a slop- ing area, void of grass, enlivened with an endless multiplicity of huts, of which the roofs of some were like ordinary sheds, and those of others of a conical form ; but there, surmounting all, with extensive courts broad and imposing, unlike anything we had seen since we left the edifices of Cairo, upreared itself the spacious pile of King Munza’s dwelling.” In less than an hour the encampment was reared, and Schweinfurth was once more at rest in a hospitable seriba. Aboo Sammat was on intimate terms with King Munza — the two had mutually pledged their friendship in their blood and called each other by the name of brother — and immedi- SCHWE 1 NFURTH. 441 fttely paid the king a long visit; but Sckweinfurth was not introduced till next day. “ The 22d of March, 1870, was the memorable date on which my introduction to the king occurred. On leaving my tent, my attention was immediately attracted to the opposite slopes, and a glance at the wide space between the king’s palace and the houses of his retinue was sufficient to assure me that un- usual animation prevailed. Crowds of swarthy negroes were surging along in groups, and ever and anon the wild tones of the kettle-drum could be heard even where I was standing. Somewhat impatiently I stood awaiting my summons to the king, but it was already noon before 1 was informed that all arrangements were complete, and that I was at liberty to start. Aloo Sammat’s black body-guard was sent to escort me, and his trumpeters had orders to usher me into the royal presence with a flourish of the Turkish reveille. For the occasion I had donned my solemn suit of black. With all the solemnity I could, I marched along ; three black squires bore my rifles and revolvers, followed by a fourth with my inevitable cane-chair. Next in order, aud in awe-struck silence, came my Nubian servants, clad in festive garments of unspotted whiteness, and bearing in their hand the offerings that had been so long and carefully reserved for his Mon buttoo majesty. . . . As we ap- proached the huts, the drums and trumpets were sounded to their fullest powers, and the crowds of people pressing forward on either hand left but a narrow passage for our procession. We bent our steps to one of the largest huts, which formed a kind of palatial hall open like a shed at both ends. Waiting my arrival here was one of the officers of state, who acted as master of ceremonies. This official took me by the right hand, and, without a word, conducted me to the interior of tlie hall. Here, like the audience at a concert, w T ere arranged according to their rank hundreds of nobles and courtiers, each occupying his own ornamental bench and decked out with all his war equipment. At the other end of the building a space was left for the royal throne, which differed in no respect from the other benches, except that it stood upon an outspread mat ; behind this bench was placed a large support of singular construction, resting as it seemed upon three legs, and furnished with pro- jections that served as props for the back and arms of t'ie sit- ter ; this support was thickly studded with copper rings and nails. I requested that my own chair might be placed a few paces from the royal bench, and there I took my position, with 442 SGH WEINFURTH. my people standing or squatting behind me, and the Nubian soldiers forming a guard around.” For more than an hour, Scliweinfurth had to sit in expec- tation before the vacant throne. Munza was in his private apartment undergoing a process of anointing, frizzling, and bedizening at the hands of his wives, in order that he might appear before the stranger in all the imposing splendor of his state attire. In the interval of waiting there was a continual uproar. The fitful beating of the kettle-drums and the per- petual braying of the horns resounded through the airy build- ing till it shook again, and mingling with the boisterous strains rose the voices of the assembled courtiers as they whiled away the time in loud and eager conversation, of which Scliweinfurth was apparently the main topic. “ The hall itself was the chief object that attracted my atten- tion. It was at least a hundred feet in length, fifty feet high, and fifty wide. It had been quite recently completed, and the fresh, bright look of the materials gave it an enlivening aspect, the natural brown polish of the wood- work looking as though it were gleaming with the lustre of new varnish. Close by was a second and still more spacious hall which in height was only surpassed by the loftiest of the surrounding oil-palms ; but this, although it had only been erected five years previously, had already begun to show symptoms of decay, and being en- closed on all sides was dark, and therefore less adapted for a public spectacle. Considering the part of Africa in which these halls were found, one might truly be justified in calling them wonders of the world ; I hardly know, with all our building resources, what material we could have employed, except it were whalebone, of sufficient lightness and durability to erect struc- tures like these royal halls of Munza, capable of withstanding the tropical storms and hurricanes. The bold arch of the vaulted roof was supported on three long rows of pillars formed from perfectly straight tree- stems ; the countless spars and rafters as well as the other parts of the building being com- posed entirely of the leafy stalks of the wine-palm. The floor was covered with a dark red-clay plaster, as firm and smooth as asphalt. The sides were enclosed by a low breastwork, and the space between this and the arching roof, which at the sides sloped nearly to the ground, allowed light and air to pass into the building. Outside, against the breastwork, stood crowds of natives who were unable to obtain places within, and con- tented themselves with eagerly gazing through this opening at the proceedings. Officials with long sticks went their rounds KING MUNZA IN PULL DRESS. SCH WE1NFURTH. 443 and kept order among the mob, making free use of tlieir sticks whenever it was necessary ; all boys who ventured uninvited into the hall being beaten back as trespassers.” At length there was a running to and fro of heralds, mar- shals, and police. The thronging masses flock toward the en- trance, and silence is proclaimed. The king is close at hand. “ Then come the trumpeters flourishing away on their huge ivory horns ; then the ringers swinging their cumbrous bells ; and now, with a long, iirm stride, looking neither to the right, nor to the left, wild, romantic, picturesque alike in mien and attire, comes the tawny Caesar himself ! He was followed by fifty of his favorite wives. Without vouchsafing me a glance, he flung himself upon his unpretending chair of state, and sat with his eyes fixed upon his feet. ... I could now feast my eyes upon the fantastic figure of the ruler. I was intensely interested in gazing upon the sovereign of whom it was com- monly reported that his daily food was human flesh. With arms and legs, neck and breast, all bedizened with copper rings, chains, and other strange devices, and with a great copper cres- cent at the top of his head, the potentate gleamed with a shim- mer that was to our ideas unworthy of royalty, but savored too much of the magazines of civic opulence, reminding one almost unavoidably of a well-kept kitchen ! His appearance, however, was decidedly marked with his nationality, for every adorn- ment that he had about him belonged exclusively to Central Africa, as none but the fabrications of his native land are deemed worthy of adorning the person of a king of the Mon- buttoo. Agreeably to the national fashion, a plumed hat rested on the top of his chignon, and soared a foot and a half above his head ; this hat was a narrow cylinder of closely plaited reeds; it was ornamented with three layers of red parrots’ feathers, and crowned with a plume of the same; there was no brim, but the copper crescent projected from the front like the vizor of a Norman helmet. The muscles of Munza’s ears were pierced, and copper bars as thick as the finger insei ted in the cavities. The entire body was smeared with the native unguent of powdered cam-wood, which converted the original bright brown tint of the skin into the color that is so conspic- uous on ancient Pompeian halls. With the exception of being of an unusually fine texture, his single garment differed in no respect from what was worn throughout the country ; it con- sisted of a large piece of fig-bark impregnated with the same dye that served as his cosmetic, and this, falling in graceful folds about his body, formed breeches and waistcoat all ;u one. 444 SGHWE1NFURTE. Hound thongs of buffalo-hide, with heavy copper balls attached to the ends, were fastened round the waist in a huge knot, and like a girdle held the coat, which was neatly hemmed. . . . Around the king’s neck hung a copper ornament made in little points which radiated like beams all over his chest; on his bare arms were strange-looking pendants which in shape could only be compared to drum-sticks with rings at the end. Half-way up the lower part of the arms and just below the knee were three bright, horny-looking circlets cut out of hippopotamus-hide, likewise tipped with copper. As a symbol of his dignity Mun- za wielded in his right hand the sickle-shaped Monbuttoo scimetar, in this case only an ornamental weapon, and made of pure copper.” Munza was a man about 40 years of age, of a fair height, of a slim but powerful build, and, like the rest of his country- men, stiff and erect in figure. His features were far from pre- possessing, but had a Nero-like expression that told of cruelty, ennui , and satiety. As soon as he had taken his seat, two little tables, beautifully carved, were placed on either side of the throne, and on these stood the dainties of which he continually partook, but which were carefully concealed by napkins of fig- bark : in addition to these tables, some really artistic flasks of porous clay were brought in full of drinking-water. A con- siderable time elapsed before the king looked directly at the pale-faced man with the long hair and the tight black clothes, who now for the first time appeared before him. The wild uproar of the courtiers still continued, and Munza, sitting in a careless attitude, only raised his eyes now and then from their fixed stare upon the ground as though to scan the whole as- semblage, but in reality to take stray glances at the stranger’s person, and in this way, little by little, he satisfied his curios- ity. “ I could not help marvelling at the composure of this wild African, and wondering where in the world he could have learned his dignity and self-possession.” At length the mon- arch began to ask some questions ; but as every sentence had to be translated into the Zandey dialect and then into Arabic, the conversation was necessarily brief and commonplace. At the close, Scliweinfurth’s servants brought forth the presents he had brought and laid them at the king’s feet. Munza regarded them with great attention, but without committing himself to any audible expression of approval ; but his fifty wives, who were seated on stools arranged behind his throne, gave vent to shouts of delight as a double mirror, which both magnified and reduced what it reflected, was passed admiringly from hand to hand. SCHWE1NFURTU. 445 “The performances that had been prepared for our entertain- ment now commenced. First of all a couple of horn-blowers stepped forward, and proceeded to execute solos upon their in- struments. These men were advanced proficients in their art, and brough forth sounds of such power, compass, and flexibil- ity that they could be modulated from sounds like the roar of a hungry lion, or the trumpeting of an infuriated elephant, down to tones which might be compared to the sighing of the breeze or to a lover’s whisper. . . . Next appeared a number of professional singers and jesters, and amongst them a little plump fellow, who acted the part of a pantomime clown, and jumped about and turned somersaults till his limbs looked like the arms of a windmill ; he was covered from head to foot with bushy tufts and pigtails, and altogether his appearance was so excessively ludicrous that, to the inward delight of the king, I burst into a hearty tit of laughter. . . . Ilis jokes and pranks seemed never-ending, and he was permitted to take lib- erties with every one, not even excepting Munza himself. . . . The next episode consisted of the performances of a eunuch, who formed a butt for the wit of the spectators. How Munza had come into possession of this creature no one seemed to know, and I could only learn that lie was employed in the inner parts of the palace. . . . But the most important part of the programme was reserved for the end : Munza was to make an oration. Whilst all the audience remained quietly seated on their stools and benches, up jumped the king, loosened his coat., cleared his throat, and commenced his harangue. Of course I could not understand a single word ; but from what I could see and hear, it was evident that Munza endeav- ored to be choice and emphatic in his language, as not only did he often correct himself, but he made pauses after the sen- tences that he intended to be impressive, to allow for the ap- plause of his auditors. Then the shout of 4 Ee, ee, tchuppy, tchuppy, ee, Munza, ee’ resounded from every throat, and the musical instruments caught up the strain until the uproar was truly demoniacal. . . . The kettle-drums and horns now struck up a livelier and more rhythmical strain, and Munza as- sumed a new character and proceeded to beat time with all the solemnity of a conductor. IBs baton was something like a baby’s rattle, and consisted of a hollow sphere of basket-work filled with pebbles and shells, and attached to a stick.” When the music ceased, Schweinfurth took his leave just as Munza had commenced a new oration. On a subsequent occasion he was present at an entertain- 446 SCHWEINFURTH. ment in celebration of a victory which one of Munza’s cap- tains had obtained over a neighboring tribe ; and we reproduce his account here to complete the picture of the barbaric splendor of this Central African court : — “ The early part of the day was cold and rainy ; but quite betimes, the shouts and cheers that rang around the camp told us that the rejoicing had already begun. Towards mid-day, news was brought that the excitement was reaching its climax, and that the King himself was dancing in the presence of his numerous wives and courtiers. Putting on a long black frock-coat as the most appropriate costume for the occasion, I bent my steps to the noble saloon, which resounded again with the ringing echoes of uproarious cheers and clanging music. The scene that awaited me was unique. Within the hall there was a spa- cious square left free, around which the fifty royal wives were seated, in a single row on their little stools, having painted themselves in honor of the occasion with the most elaborate care ; they were applauding most vigorously, clapping their hands with all their might. Behind the women stood an array of warriors in full accoutrement, and their lines of lances were a frontier of defence. Every musical accompaniment to which the resources of the court could reach had all been summoned, and there was a melee of gongs and kettle-drums, timbrels and trumpets, horns and bells. Dancing there in the midst of all, a wondrous sight, was the King himself. . . . His dancing was furious. His arms dashed themselves furiously in every direction, though always marking the time of the music; whilst his legs exhibited all the contortion of an acrobat’s, being at one moment stretched out horizontally to the ground, and at the next pointed upwards and elevated in the air. The music ran on in a wild and monotonous strain, and the women raised their hands and clapped together their open palms to mark the time. For what length of time this dance had been going on I did not quite understand ; I only know that I found Munza raving in the hall with all the mad excitement of the most infatuated dervish that had ever been seen in Cairo. Moment after moment it seemed as if the enthusiast must stagger, and, foaming at the mouth, fall down in a fit of epilepsy ; but nervous energy seems greater in Central Africa than among the 4 hashishit ’ of the north : a slight pause at the end of half an hour, and all his strength revived ; once again would commence the dance, and continue unslackened and unwearied.” An end was finally put to it by the sudden coming on of a tropical storm. 8VH WE1NF URTH. 447 Scliwcinfiirth began immediately, with his customary ar- dor, the study of the habits and customs of the Monbut- too, measuring their bodies, watching their daily life, and buying specimens of their weapons, handicraft, ornaments, tools, etc., not excepting the human skulls that remained over from their meals. And if he felt an interest in them, their curiosity about him was not less eager. Day after day crowds besieged his tent, of whom many brought their benches, and ranged them in rows before the opening, watching in silent eagerness his every movement. At length he was obliged to encircle his tent with a thorn-liedge in order to keep out the inquisitive natives, and, this failing, he fired some trains of gun- powder, and even touched off a few shells, in the hope of scaring them away. This being ineffectual also, he appealed to Aboo Sammat, who assigned him a guard of soldiers. “ But even this scheme only partially succeeded ; it answered very well as long as I kept within the bounds of my asylum, but I had only to venture beyond, and I found my retinue as large as ever. The majority of those who harassed me in this way were women, who, by keeping up with me step by step, thoroughly baffled me in all my attempts to botanize ; and if perchance I managed to get away into the wood, they would find me out and trample down the rare flowers I had laboriously collected, till I was almost driven to despair. When thus es- corted by about a hundred women I was marching down to the streams in the depths of the valley, I might indulge the fancy that I was at the head of a triumphal procession, and as often as our path led through villages and farms the members in the train were prodigiously swollen.” This annoyance was continued during the whole of his stay, and he could not steal off into the depths of the woods even to bathe without discover- ing that curious eyes were spying out his privacy. From the foregoing description of their court and court cere- monies it will already have been perceived that the Monbuttoo are far above the level of the ordinary savage tribes of the in- terior; and in point of fact Sehweinfnrth shows that they have reached a plane which makes it marvellous that they have not risen still higher in the social scale. From the time he first reached the district of the Gazelle he had heard of this people as holding a peculiar and prominent place ; but no white traveller had ever before penetrated to their land, which lies between the parallels of 3° and 4° north latitude, and 28° and 29° east longitude from Greenwich. It does not cover an area of more than 4,000 square miles, but the population is very 448 SCHWE1NFURTH. dense, and Schweinfurth estimates it to be not less than a million. The country of the Niam-Niam constitutes the north- ern and north-western boundaries of the Monbuttoo, and is separated from it by the river Keebaly, which is one of the source streams of the Welle. The government is powerful and highly centralized. Besides the King, sub-chieftains or viceroys are distributed over various sections of the country, and these are accustomed to surround themselves with a retinue and state little inferior to that of the king himself. Besides these there are several tributary tribes lying to the south and south-east. The Monbuttoo land is a veritable Eden upon earth, resembling the description which Speke has given of Uganda. “ Unnumbered groves of plantations bedeck the gently-heaving soil; oil-palms, incomparable in beauty, and other monarchs of the statety woods, rise up and spread their f lory over the favored scene ; along the streams there is a right expanse of charming verdure, whilst a grateful shadow ever overhangs the domes of the idyllic huts.” Notwith- standing the fruitfulness of the soil, however, no cereals are grown, and agriculture is confined to the cultivation of sesame, cassava, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, and especially tobacco. Plantain is the staple food and grows in marvellous abundance. Every kind of cattle-breeding is quite unknown to them, and with the exception of dogs (considered a great delicacy) and poultry, the Monbuttoo have no domestic animals at all. From the marauding excursions with which they harass their southern neighbors they bring back a prodigious number of goats, but they make no attempt to rear them for themselves. Their hunting expeditions supply them with meat enough for their requirements, their taste leading them to give the preference to elephants, buffaloes, wild-boars, and the larger kinds of an- telopes. While the women attend to the tillage of the soil and the gathering of the harvest, the men, except they be absent for war or hunting, spend the entire day in idleness, gossiping, and smoking their pipes. Smiths work, of course, is done by the men, and although their instruments are as primitive as those of the Bongo, their lances, spades, chains, etc., are wonderful specimens of manipulative skill. The pottery is made exclu- sively by the women. Wood-carving (which is carried to great perfection) and basket-weaving are performed indifferently by either sex. Musical instruments are not touched by the women. The universal form of salutation consists of holding out the right hand and saying “ Gassiggy,” and at the same time 8CHWEINFURTK 449 cracking the joints of the middle fingers. The two sexes con- duct. themselves towards each other with an excessive freedom, the women being beyond measure obtrusive and familiar. Polygamy is unlimited, but fidelity to the marriage obligations on the part of the wives seems to be but little known. To- wards their husbands, indeed, they exhibit the highest degree of independence ; the position of the men in the household is illustrated by their reply to every request to sell anything as a curiosity, “ Oh ! ask my wife : it is liers.” Circumcision is practised, but the operation is not performed till the age of puberty. The complexion of the Monbuttoo is of a lighter tint than that of any known native of Central Africa ; and another char- acteristic quite peculiar to them is that a considerable percent- age of the population have light hair. “ This combination of light hair and skin gives to the Monbuttoo a position distinct from all the natives of the Northern part of Africa, with the single exception of the inhabitants of Morocco, amongst whom fair-haired individuals are far from uncommon.” The art of weaving is unknown to the Monbuttoo, and their only material for clothing is the bark of the rokko fig-tree. By a partial maceration and a good deal of thrashing, they contrive to give the bark the appearance of a thick, close fabric, which in its rough condition's of a gray color, but after being soaked in a decoction of wood acquires a reddish-brown hue, something like ordinary woollen stuff. Fastened at the waist with a girdle, one of these pieces of bark is sufficient to clothe the body, from the breast downward to the knees, with a very effective substi- tute for' drapery. The women, however, go almost entirely naked ; they wear nothing but a piece of plantain-leaf or bark about the size of the hand attached to the front of their girdle, the rest of the body being figured in elaborate patterns by means of a black gum obtained from a plant. Whenever they go out, they carry across their arm a strap which they lay across their laps on sitting down. The straps or scarfs are about a foot wide, and as they form their first attempt at weaving, their texture is of the clumsiest order ; they are appropriated to the further use of fastening infants to their mothers’ back. At the great festivals, every Monbuttoo lady endeavors to outshine her compeers, and accordingly paints her entire body in an almost inexhaustible variety of patterns. The patterns last about two days, when they are carefully rubbed off and replaced by new designs. Instead of this paint the men use a cosmetic prepared from pulverized cam-wood, which is mixed with fat and rubbed 29 450 SCHWEINFURTE^ over the whole body. The coiffure of both sexes is alike ; the hair of the top and back of the head is mounted up into a long cylindrical chignon, and being fastened on the inside with reeds, slopes backward in a slanting direction. On the top of their chignons the men wear cylindrical straw hats adorned witli feathers, which follow the slanting direction of the chig- nons ; but the women wear no hats, decorating their chignons with little hair-pins attached to combs made of porcupine quills. Carved benches are the ordinary seats of the men, but the women use stools that have but one foot. When paying a visit or going to a public gathering the men make their slaves carry their benches for them, as it is their custom never to sit upon the ground, not even when it is covered with mats. The care given by the Monbuttoo to the preparation of their food betokens their higher grade of culture. For spices they make use of the capsicum, the Malaghetta pepper, and the fruit of two hitherto unspecified Solanese ; and mushrooms are in common use for the preparation of their sauces. All their food is prepared by the admixture of oil from the oil-palms ; and from the fat thick bodies of the male white ants they boil out a greasy substance which is bright and transparent, and has a taste perfectly unobjectionable. “ But of most universal employment among them is human fat, and this brings our observations to the climax of their culi- nary practices. The cannibalism of the Monbuttoo is the most prominent of all known natives of Africa. Surrounded as they are by a number of tribes who are blacker than themselves, and consequently held in great contempt, they have just the oppor- tunity which they want for carrying on their expeditions of war and plunder, which result in the acquisition of a booty which is especially coveted by them, consisting of human flesh. The carcasses of all who fall in battle are distributed upon the battle- field, and are prepared, by drying, for transportation to the homes of the conquerors. They drive their prisoners before them, without remorse, as butchers would drive sheep to the shambles, and these are only reserved to fall victims on a later day to their terrible and sickening greediness. . . . The numerous skulls now in the Anatomical Museum in Berlin are simply the remains of their repasts which I purchased one after another for bits of copper, and go far to prove that the can- nibalism of the Monbuttoo is unsurpassed by any nation in the world. But with it all, the Monbuttoo are a noble race of men ; men who display a certain natural pride, and are endowed with an intellect and judgment such as few natives of the SCHWE1NFURTB. 451 African wilderness can boast ; men to whom one may put a reasonable question, and who will return a reasonable answer.” It was during his stay in Monbuttoo-land that Schweinfurth made the discovery which has rendered him famous : solved the myth of two thousand years, and obtained positive proof of the existence of The Pygmies. As early as during his journey up the Nile from Khartoom he had heard the Nubian people gossiping about these “ people of immortal myth,” and throughout his stay in the Seribas of the Bongo territory he was continually hearing stories which seemed to localize their home as far to the south of the Niam- Niam. The rumors grew in definiteness as he penetrated farther and farther to the southward, and now at the court of Munza the positive evidence was submitted to his eyes. “ Several days elapsed after taking up my residence by the palace of the Monbuttoo king without my having a chance to get a view of the dwarfs, whose fame had so keenly excited my curiosity. My people, however, assured me that they had seen them. I remonstrated with them for not having secured me an opportunity of seeing for myself, and for not bringing them into contact with me. I obtained no other reply but that the dwarfs were too timid to come. After a few mornings my attention was arrested by ashouting in the camp, and I Earned that Aboo Sammat had surprised one of the Pygmies in attend- ance upon the king, and was conveying him, in spite of his strenuous resistance, straight to my tent. I looked up, and there , sure enough, was the strange little creature, perched upon Aboo Sammat’s right shoulder, nervously hugging his head, and casting glances of alarm in every direction, xlboo Sammat soon deposited him in the seat of honor. A royal in- terpreter was stationed at his side. Eagerly, and without loss of time, I proceeded to take his portrait. I pressed him with innumerable questions, but to ask for information was ar. easier matter altogether than to get an answer. There was the greatest difficulty in inducing him to remain at rest, and I could only succeed by exhibiting a store of presents. Under the impres- sion that the opportunity might not occur again, I bribed the interpreter to exercise his influence to pacify the little man, and to induce him to lay aside any fear of me that he might enter- tain. Altogether we succeeded so well that in a couple of hours the Pygmy had been measured, sketched, feasted, pre- 452 SCHWEINFTJRTH. sented with a variety of gifts, and subjected to a minute cate- chism of searching questions. “His name was Adimokoo. He was the head of a small colony which was located about half a league from the royal residence. With his own lips I heard him assert that the name of his nation was Akka, and 1 learnt further that they inhabit large districts to the south of the Monbuttoo. between lat. 2° and 1° N. A portion of them are subject to the Monbut- too king, who, desirous of enhancing the splendor of his court by any available natural curiosities, had compelled several families of the Pygmies to settle in the vicinity. . . . “ In reply to my question put to Adimokoo as to where his country was situated, pointing toward the S. S. E., he said, ‘ Two days’ journey and you come to the village of Mummery ; on the third day you will reach the river Nalobe ; the fourth day you arrive at the first of the village of the Akka.’ “ ‘ What do you call the rivers of your country ? ’ “ ‘ They are the Nalobe, the Namerikoo, and the Eddoopa.’ “ ‘ Have you any rivers as large as the Welle ? ’ “ ‘ No ; ours are small rivers, and they all flow into the Welle.’ “ ‘ Are you all one people, or are you divided into separate tribes % ’ “ To this inquiry Adimokoo replied by a sudden gesture, as if to indicate the vastness of their extent, and commenced enumerating the tribes one after another. 1 There are the Navapukah, the Navatipeh, the Vabingisso, the Avazubeh, the Avagowumba, the Bandoa, the Mamomoo, and the Aga- bundah.’ “ 4 How many kings ? ’ I asked. “ ( Nine,’ He said ; but I could only make out the names of Galeema, Beddeh, Tindaga, and Mazembi. “ My next endeavor was directed to discover whether he was acquainted in any way with the dwarf races that have been mentioned by previous travellers, and whose homes I presumed would be somewhere in this part of Africa. . . . My question, however, only elicited a comical gesture of bewilder- ment and a vague inquiry, £ What is that ? ’ Equally unavailing were all my efforts to obtain answers of .any precision to the series of questions which I invented, taking my hints from Petermann and Hassenstein’s map of Central Africa, so that I was obliged to give up my geographical inquiries in despair and turn to other topics. But in reality, there did not occur any subject whatever on which I obtained any information SCHWFINFURTH. 453 worth recording. At length, after having submitted so long to my curious and persistent questionings, the patience of Adi- mokoo was thoroughly exhausted, and lie made a frantic leap in his endeavor to escape from the tent. Surrounded, however, by an inquisitive crowd of Bongo and Nubians, he was unable to effect his purpose, and was compelled, against his will, to remain a little longer. After a time a gentle persuasion was brought to bear, and he was induced to go through some of the characteristic evolutions of his war-dances. He was dressed, like the Monbuttoo, in a rokko coat and plumed hat, and was armed with a miniature lance as well as with a bow and arrow. His length I found to be 4 feet 10 inches, and this I reckon to be the average measurement of his race. “ Although I had repeatedly been astonished by witnessing the war-dances of the Niam-Niam, I confess that my amaze- ment was greater than ever when I looked upon the exhibition which the Pygmy afforded. In spite of his huge, bloated belly and short, bandy legs — in spite of his age, which, by the way, was considerable — Adimokoo’s agility was perfectly marvellous, and I could not help wondering whether cranes would ever be likely to contend with such creatures. The little man’s leaps and attitudes were accompanied by such lively and grotesque varieties of expression that the spectators shook again and’ held their sides with laughter. The interpreter explained that the Akka jump about in the grass like grasshop- pers, and that they are so nimble that they shoot their arrows into an elephant’s eye and drive their lances into their bel- lies. . . . “Adimokoo returned home laden with presents. I made him understand that I should be glad to see all his people, and promised that they would lose nothing by coming. On the following day I had the pleasure of a visit from two of the younger men. I had an opportunity of sketching their like- nesses, and the portrait of one of them is inserted here. After they had once gotten over their alarm, some or other of the Akka came to me almost every day. As exceptional cases, I observed that some individuals were of a taller stature ; but upon investigation I always ascertained that this was the result of intermarriage with the Monbuttoo amongst whom they re- sided. My sudden departure from Munza’s abode interrupted me completely in my study of this interesting people, and 1 was compelled to leave before I had fully mastered the details of their peculiarities. I regret that I never chanced to see one 4 54 SCHWEINFURTH. of the Akka women, and still more that my visit to their dwell- ings was postponed from day to day until the opportunity was lost altogether. “ I am not likely to forget a rencontre which I had with several hundred Akka war- riors, and could very heart- ily wish that the circum- stances had permitted me to give a pictorial repre- sentation of the scene. King Munza’s brother, Mummery, who was a kind of viceroy in the southern sections of his dominions, and to whom the Akka were tributary, w'as just re- turning to the court from a successful campaign against the black Momvoo. Accompanied by a large band of soldiers, amongst whom was included a corps of Pygmies, he was convey- ing the bulk of the booty to his royal master. It happened on the day in question that I had been making a long excursion with my Niam-Niam serv- ants, and had heard nothing of Mummery’s arrival. To- ward sunset I was passing along the extensive village on my return to my quar- bomby the ak^a. ters, when, j ust as I readied the wide, open space in front of the royal halls, I found myself surrounded by what I conjectured must be a crowd of impudent boys, who received me with a sort of bravado fight. They pointed their arrows towards me, and behaved generally in a manner at which I could not help feeling somewhat irritated, as it betokened un- warrantable liberty and intentional disrespect. My misappre- hension was soon corrected by the Niam-Niam people about SCUWEINFURTII. 455 me. ‘ They are Tikkitikki,’ # said they; ‘you imagine that they are boys, but in truth they are men; nay, men that can fight.’ At this moment a seasonable greeting from Mummery drew me off from any apprehension on my part, and from any further contemplation of the remarkable spectacle before me. In my own mind I resolved that I would minutely inspect the camp of the new-comers on the following morning ; but I had reckoned without my host : before dawn Mummery and his contingent of Pygmies had taken their departure, and thus, ‘ Like the baseless fabric of a vision,’ this people, so near and yet so unattainable, had vanished once more into the dim obscurity of the innermost continent.” Schweinfurth came into possession of one of these Akka, in a rather curious way. He had brought with him two dogs of the common Bongo breed, but so much larger than the mean little curs of the ilonbuttoo that they had awakened the cupid- ity of the king, who tried in every way to get possession of them, and finally sent a lot of male and female slaves to ex- change for them. The sight of these suggested a new idea to Schweinfurth, and he gave the king one of the dogs in exchange for a little Akka youth about fifteen years of age, hoping to be able to bring him to Europe. “ I succeeded tolerably well in alleviating the pain of the lad’s parting from all his old associations; the pain came not from any reluctance to part from his kinsfolk, but from fear that the white man intended to eat him up by providing him with all the good living and bestowing upon him all the atten- tion that lay in my power. To reconcile him to his lot, I broke through an old rule. I allowed him to be my constant com- panion at my meals — an exception that I never made in favor of any other native of Africa. Making it my first care that he should be happy and contented, I submitted without a murmur to all the uncouth habits peculiar to his race. In Khartoom at last I dressed him up till he looked like a little pasha. ... I am sorry to record that notwithstanding all my assiduity and attention, Nsewne died in Berber, from a prolonged attack of dysentery, originating not so much in any change of climate or alteration of his mode of living, as in his immoderate excess in eating, a propensity which no influence on my part was suffi- cient to control. During the last ten months of his life, my * Tikkitikki is the Niam-Niam designation of the Akka. 456 SCHWEINFURTH. 'protege did not make any growth at all. I think I may there- fore presume that his height would never have exceeded four •feet seven inches, which was his measurement at the time of his death.” After careful analysis of his own notes, and examination of the writings of other African explorers, Dr. Schweinfurth con- cludes that the Akka are a branch of a series of dwarf races which extend along the equator entirely across Africa, and may be considered as the scattered remains of an aboriginal population now becoming extinct. In a fortnight or so, Aboo Sammat became aware that he had got to the end of Munza’s store of ivory, and both he and Schweinfurth entertained a very strong desire to push on still farther to the south. This desire, however, met with the de- cided opposition of the king, who naturally felt that the further progress of the Khartoomers would interfere with his monopoly of the ivory and copper traffic ; and as nothing could be done without his co-operation, the plan had to be abandoned. To Schweinfurth the disappointment was very keen. At the posi- sion at which he had now arrived, he was actually not more than 400 miles from Livingstone’s highest known terminus, and was almost in sight of the bills bounding the Mwootau, or Albert N’Yanza Lake. The solution of the Nile question seemed absolutely within his grasp, and to turn back now was a bitter grief, to which it was hard to reconcile himself. He thinks that a different vista would have opened itself before him, if he had been one of those favored travellers who have unlimited command of gold. An expedition fitted out with the liberality of Speke’s would have been capable of advancing from Munza’s to the south defiant of opposition ; or, with 200 soldiers from Khartoom, not liable to fever and capable of ex- isting upon food of any sort, any one could penetrate as far as he chose. A single traveller, moreover, inured to the climate and not inclined to fatness, could probably traverse the entire interior unmolested. He found all the tribes favorably disposed toward the white man. With even 10,000 dollars in his purse, he believes he could have accomplished his wishes ; but for the present he had to reconcile himself to the fact that he had reached the limit of his southern journey, and that he must hasten back to the Seribas in Bongo-land, before the commence- ment of the rainy season. The camp was raised on the 12tli of April, and the return journey, over the same route taken in going, was made without SCH WEINFURTII. 457 any incident of special importance, except a fight with the Niam-Niam in Wando’s territory, in which Aboo Sammat was badly wounded.* The Seriba on tlie north border of the Niam-Niam country was reached on May 2d, and here Schwein- furth remained for several weeks, while Aboo Sammat went out to punish his enemies. Aboo Sammat’s head Seriba, Sabby, was reached oil July 3d, 1870, after an absence of 150 days. In his old head-quarters at Ghattas’ Seriba, he found a new consignment of supplies which had been sent from Kliartoom. Pie spent the next few months in arranging his botanical col- lection and systematizing his numerous notes; but chiefly in preparation for a second journey to the Niam-Niam country, which he had resolved to make at the end of the rainy season, in company with one of Ghattas’ ivory expeditions. But this and all similar schemes were defeated by a most disastrous fire which in one fatal afternoon destroyed not only all his newly arrived supplies, but also all the produce of the recent journey, his botanical and entomological collections, and, most irrepara- ble of all, his journals and registers. From this time nothing could be seriously thought of but getting back to Europe, and the intervening time, before the departure of the boats from the Meshera, was spent in poverty and privation. Nothing, however, seemed to damp his ardor of exploration, and he spent the period of his enforced leisure in mapping out the district of the Upper Gazelle. Having lost his watches and pedometer in the fire, he actually counted all his steps (more than a million and a quarter) over one whole expedition that he might fully satisfy himself in regard to his distances. And when his ink failed, he drew and made his memoranda with chicken’s blood. During these later travels he was brought into contact with the Egyptian troops sent by the Khedive to occupy the territory and put down the slave-trade ; and it must be confessed that * It may be worth while to note the remarkable symbolism by which war was declared by the natives. Close to the path, and in full view of every passenger, three objects were suspended from the branch of a tree ; viz. , an ear of maize, the feather of a fowl, and an arrow. These emblems were de- signed to signify that whoever touched an ear of maize or laid his hands upon a single fowl would assuredly be the victim of the arrow. It is probable that superstition alone saved the expedition from total annihilation. Wando had an unpropitious augury (a fowl to which he had given a poisoned dose died) at the beginning of the fray, and, intimidated at the prospect, he withdrew into the recesses of the forest and left one of the smaller tribes to bear the brunt of the unequal conflict. 458 SCHWEINFURTH. his account is not encouraging. True to the proverb that “ Where a Turk lias been no grass will grow,” they are only depopulating the country and breaking up the Seribas by their extortions, without arresting the horrible traffic in slaves, which is not only winked at but actually encouraged by the leaders of the expeditionary forces. With respect to the question of the Nile, Schweinfurth, as we have said, crossed the western water-shed of that river, and having arrived at the region from which the Lualaba must come if it courses northward at all, he found the Welle, the Keebaly, and the Gadda, and all the minor streams flowing west- ward, and probably into the Shary. This proves the existence of a separate river-system, where Livingstone and Stanley thought there might be found the continuous channel of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. On the 2d of November, 1871, Schweinfurth found himself once again upon the soil of Europe, after an absence of 3 years and 4 months, during which he had penetrated regions hitherto blanks upon the map, and earned the right to be classed among the greatest of the explorers whose work has been outlined in the foregoing pages. CHAPTER XIX. SIR BARTLE FRERE’S MISSION TO ZANZIBAR. It was in 1789 that Mr. William Wilberforce first proposed, in the House of Commons, the abolition of the slave-trade ; but twenty long years of labor and struggle were consumed before his efforts were crowned with success. His bill was lost by a large majority. But he returned again and again to the attack, and the House of Commons, in 1794, for the first time passed a bill for the immediate abolition of the slave-trade ; but this was lost in the House of Lords. Still, Wilberforce persevered, amid many discouragements and repeated losses of his great measure, till finally, in 1807, the bill was passed which con- demned forever the trade in slaves. Twenty-six years after- wards the abolition of slavery in all British dominions took place, and the example and influence of England soon secured from all European powers treaty-engagements by which trade in African slaves was declared to be piracy and punishable as such. Under these treaties th*e African squadron was maintained, and mixed courts instituted at various ports around the African coast, for adjudging all cases of capture or seizure of vessels engaged in the trade. By such means, the slave-trade of the west coast of Africa has become a thing of the past. But while this happy result is chronicled concerning the old Atlantic slave-trade — now for other reasons, and to the credit of strong principle, completely at an end — the annual reports of the British Consul at Zanzibar, and the despatches of the naval officers of the few vessels which form the East African squad- ron, tell a different tale. From these reports and despatches we obtain particulars of the trade in slaves carried on between the East African coast and ports on the Persian Gulf, the southern shores of Arabia, and the Red Sea. Dr. Livingstone bears testimony, speaking from personal observation, of the horrors and atrocities which accompany the slave-raids made to supply this trade ; and all other recent travellers corroborate his testi- mony. It was in the year 1822 that the attention of the British government, was first especially called to the traffic in slaves 460 SIR BARTLE FRERE'S MISSION TO ZANZIBAR. carried on nominally between the African and Persian domin- ions of the Imaum of Muscat, but in reality between his African dominions and the very ports on the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf to which slaves have till now been conveyed. The domin- ions of the Imaum at that time comprised the petty state of Mus- cat on the southern shore of the Persian Gulf, and a large portion of the African coast, extending from Cape Delgado, at about 11° south latitude, to a port ealled Jubb, about 1° south of the equator, including the large and important islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, and Mafia. The British government, while declaring its intention of suppressing foreign slave-trading, refused to in- terfere with slavery as a domestic institution, and accordingly, in the case of the Imaum of Muscat, resolved to permit the slave-trade between port and port in his own dominions ; and a treaty to this effect was arranged between the English govern- ment and the Imaum. This treaty, dated 10th September, 1822, stipulates that the Imaum will abolish the trade in slaves be- tween his dominions and every Christian country. By the treaty and a subsequent convention, authority to search and detain Muscatian vessels was given to British ships and the ships of war belonging to the East India Company ; and by a further agree- ment, concluded between the Imaum of Muscat and the Queen of England, on the 2d of October, 1845, the Imaum agreed to prohibit, under the severest penalties, not only the export of slaves from his African dominions, but also the importation of slaves from any part of Africa into his dominions in Asia. By that treaty permission is granted to English cruisers to seize and confiscate any vessels carrying on the slave-trade, except only such as are engaged in the transport of slaves from one port to another of the Imaum’s African dominions. Upon the death of the grandfather of the present Imaum, his dominions were divided between his two sons, one retaining the Persian, and the other succeeding to the African territories, with the title of Sultan of Zanzibar. In consideration of the superior wealth and extent of the African dominions claimed by the Sultan of Zanzibar, it was ultimately agreed, after many disputes, that he should pay to his poorer brother, the Imaum, an annual subsidy of about $40,000. Subsequent events have shown that the particular source whence this subsidy was to be drawn was the royalty derived by the Sultan from the slave- trade, of which he had the keys. The northern slave-trade is carried on entirely by Arabs, and the chief points between which it is pursued are from the main- land opposite and to the south of Zanzibar, to the islands of SIR BARTLE F RE RE'S MISSION TO ZANZIBAR. 4G1 Zanzibar and Pemba, and thence to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The dhows used in the trade are rapid sailers before a wind, and cany as many as two hundred and fifty slaves. The horrors of the capture, the land-journey, and the sea-passage are most appalling. The port of Quiloa, or Ivilwa, lies about one hundred and fifty miles south of the island of Zanzibar, and is the emporium, or great mainland mart, where thousands are ex- posed for sale, and whence they are shipped for Zanzibar. On their arrival at Zanzibar, the majority of the slaves pass into the slave-market. Many are at once consigned to their Arab purchasers, who have come down from Arabia with the north- erly monsoon, and have hired houses for the reception of their purchases. For every slave thus brought to Zanzibar, the Sultan receives a royalty of two dollars, so that his interest has been engaged in the maintenance of the traffic. Dr. Livingstone says, under date the 11th of June, 1866, speaking of Zanzibar: “ This is now almost the only spot in the world where one hundred to three hundred slaves are daily exposed for sale in open market. This disgraceful scene I have several times personally witnessed, and the purchasers were Arabians or Per- sians, whose dhows lay anchored in the harbor, and these men were daily at their occupation examining the teeth, gait, and limbs of the slaves, as openly as horse-dealers engage in their business in England.” In a letter dated Zanzibar, the 4th of October, 1868, Mr. Consul Churchill states, that for the five years terminating September, 1867, there had been exported from Quiloa ninety-seven thousand two hundred and fifty-three reg- istered slaves. There had also been from three thousand to four thousand smuggled every year from various parts of the mainland ; so that the total amounts to about one hundred and fifteen thousand slaves, in five years, who have reached the coast, and have been shipped for Zanzibar, Arabia, and other places. Dr. Livingstone again sa} r s : “Let it not be supposed for an instant, that those taken out of the country represent all the victims ; they are but a very small section of the sufferers. Besides those actually captured, thousands are killed and die of their wounds aud famine, driven from the villages by the slave- raid ; thousands in internecine war waged for slaves with their own clansmen and neighbors, slain by the lust of gain, which is stimulated by the slave-purchasers. The many skeletons we have seen amongst rocks and woods, by the little pools, and along the paths of the wilderness, attest the awful sacrifice of human life which must be attributed, directly or indirectly, to this trade of hell. We would ask our countrymen to believe us when we 462 SIR BARTLE FRERE' S MISSION TO ZANZIBAR. say, as we conscientiously can, that it is our deliberate opinion, from what we know and have seen, that not one-fifth of. the victims of the slave-trade ever become slaves. Taking the Shire valley as an average, we should say not even one-tentli arrive at their destination.” Within the last ten or twelve years more attention has been given by the British authorities to the subject ; and, in addition to the watch maintained by the small squadron, various measures have been urged upon the Sultan, the adoption of which, it was thought, would materially aid the efforts of the cruisers. Per- sons acquainted with the traffic give it as their opinion that the trade has suffered no perceptible check because of the protection afforded by the British ships over the 'first and most difficult half of the sea- voyage, it being pretended by the dealers that these slaves were for home service. But this lias been a false pretence, and, aware of the fact, Lord Russell in a despatch dated 14th March, 1864, says, that “ Her Majesty’s government do not claim the right to interfere in the status of domestic slavery in Zanzibar, nor with the bona-fide transport of slaves from one portion of the Sultan’s territory to another, so long as this latter traffic shall not be made a cloak to cover the foreign slave-trade.” It was the conviction that this was systematically being done, that induced the British government in November, 1S72, to send a special mission, under Sir Bartle Frere, to Zanzibar, to demand an entire stoppage and cessation of the slave-trade. It could not be credited that so many as an average of twenty thousand slaves a year could possibly be required for the supply of the domestic demand in Zanzibar ; and it was believed that nothing short of the entire suppression of the traffic would suffice for the protection of the poor people who were its victims. Sir Bartle Frere was especially qualified for such a trust as that which was reposed in him. At an early age he had entered the Civil Service of India, and in that service had passed through every grade, during a residence of upwards of thirty years, un- til he reached the highest dignity, the government of the pres- idency to which he belonged. Ilis government had been most successful ; and he was a man of vigorous understanding, strong tenacity of purpose, a kindly disposition, a genial manner, and in earnest sympathy with the oppressed people whose sufferings he hoped to mitigate. He was, besides, well supported in his present undertaking by a staff of officers, some of whom were competent geographers, who intended to further explore the African interior. SIR BARTLE FRERE'S MISSION TO ZANZIBAR 463 Having used his influence at Aden and Bombay in a manner the results of which were favorable, he proceeded to Zanzibar. The Sultan, Syed Burghash, was not at once amenable to reason. He clung to the old treaty of 1845, and officially proclaimed that the ports were open to incoming and outgoing slaves ; but it was seen by the traders who were especially under influence from Bombay, that the British government was in earnest, and no laden dhows came in and none went out ; and the customs receipts fell off accordingly. That fact must have helped to open the Sultan’s eyes. He had said that his religion would no; permit him to grant Sir Bartle Frere’s demands, and he had intimated that his people would not endure the proposed restric- tion. He had indeed been pleasant in all the interviews held with him, and had not objected to the British envoy’s assertion that “ the sea was God’s highway, and ought not to carry slave- ships upon it.” But his officers, he said, would not permit him to abolish the slave-trade. At first, therefore, he would do nothing — would promise nothing. But the course pursued by the traders enlightened him. These traders were in constant intercourse with places and persons desirous of standing well with England, and they durst not, therefore, oppose the wishes of the English government in the matter of the slave-trade. To the Sultan himself the profits of legitimate commerce were greater than those which were derived from this branch of traffic, and he was not able to brave the danger which now threatened his interests. When the ships of the English squad- ron anchored off Zanzibar, and it was seen that the British government meant what it said, and that its demands would be sustained by the American and French governments, even the chiefs of the Sultan preferred a quiet arrangement to a blockade. On the 5th of June, 1873, the new treaty was signed by the Sultan, and even the home importation of slaves at Zan- zibar is therefore now at an end. Aside from the moral effect of this treaty, it will go far tow- ards depriving the slave-dealers of a market, and by depriving the entire traffic on these coasts of the pseudo legal character which it has hitherto possessed, will render its complete suppres- sion comparatively an easy matter. CHAPTER XX. CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. At this stage of our work, after surveying all that lias been done to add to our knowledge of Africa, the question naturally occurs, What has been done for the civilization and evangeli- zation of this immense territory? Unhappily trade has been often so conducted that it has tended to degrade the people still further rather than to elevate them. The good influence lias been almost entirely missionary. Most of the pagan tribes of Africa seem, according to the best authorities, to have a species of belief in a Supreme Being. They not only have a word to indicate that belief, but some of the tribes have subordinate terms to represent the Supreme, as the Creator, Governor, and Preserver. But their belief has little or no influence on their conduct. They do not realize in thought and feeling what the names denote, and regard the ruler of the world as indifferent, or even hostile, to ITis own creation. A belief in a future life seems to be nearly univer- sal, but confused and gross. Believing in the transmigration of souls, they hold in special veneration some of the lower ani- mals, supposing that these are inhabited by the spirits of their ancestors or friends. They have strange and conflicting notions in respect to the condition of the dead. Of a state of future rewards and punishments they know nothing, although some have a shadowy idea of an ordeal which must be passed. Fetichism and devil-worship are the prevalent forms of religion among these tribes. The two things are separate and distinct, although they have sometimes been ignorantly confounded. Fetichism is the wearing of a charm. The charm passes under several names in different parts cf the country. It may consist of anything which has been conse- crated to this particular use, but is usually a piece of wood, horn, ivory, or metal. There are various classes of fetiches, according to the ends contemplated, and these are known by distinct names. Some are worn about the person ; others are suspended in the house to ward off danger, or on the highway to fence the farm and orchard, and make them CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 4G3 fruitful ; others are worn in war to give success ; and others are of a more public character, to guard the village, or to defend the person and house of the chief. The fetiches are thus supposed to save from some impending evil, or to secure some coveted good, and especially to provide against the power of witchcraft. They are trusted till proven ineffective, and then they are abandoned and others adopted instead. The faith in fetiches does not, however, fail. If a man possesses ten and finds nine of them useless, he regards the tenth as all the greater treasure. As old age with its feeble- ness advances, the veneration for fetiches' becomes greater. Intercourse with civilized people, and the influence of Chris- tianity, can alone break up that potent spell. No one thinks of fetiches themselves as other than pieces of senseless mat- ter; yet all believe that they exercise a mysterious and power- ful influence. But the principal, perhaps we ought to say the only, form of religious homage among these tribes has been called “ devil- worship,” perhaps for want of a more appropriate name. The spirits are invoked or deprecated. The belief is that there are good spirits, whose presence and favor are indispen- sable to preservation and comfort; and to propitiate them the people build houses and make large and varied offerings. The evil spirits are viewed as the authors of every form of evil, personal, domestic, and -social. In some places, offerings are presented to conciliate the devil, and to induce him to remove the threatened or actual calamity. In other places, whole communities have resorted to clubs, with which, amid frantic gestures and screams and surrounded with the glare of hundreds of torch-lights, they have chased the fiend rrom their houses, beyond their town, and for several miles out into the country. With regard to Christian effort on behalf of these be- nighted people, we may observe that the London Missionary Society sent four agents to South Africa in the year 1798. In presenting an example of such work in Africa as is fur- nished by the labors of Moffat and his coadjutors, we shall have occasion more particularly to refer to these operations. At Kat River there was a mission established in 1816, for the purpose of extending efforts previously begun. Work of the same description has been carried on at the Zak River, and among the Bushmen at Colesberg, and beyond the Orange River into the wild and desolate Namaqua-land. Polygamy, slavery, war, and canteens in certain parts nearer to the Cape, SO 4G6 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. are the great obstructions which hinder success in such enter- prises as these. Since Livingstone’s explorations have made known so much of the interior of the country, various sta- tions, supported by different denominations of Christians, have been opened among the more distant tribes. In 1821, the Glasgow Missionary Society commenced its work in Kaffraria, in a soil which was very unpromising, but which has, nevertheless, not been unfruitful. Other societies have followed this example — the Free Church of Scotland, the United Presbyterian Church, the Glasgow African Society, and others. In 1737, Mr. George Schmidt, in connection with the Moravians, attempted to plant a mission near Sergeant’s River, for the instruction of the Hottentots. He met with partial success, and, after instruction, baptized not a few natives. After seven years he was under the necessity of visiting Europe, and was ordered by the Dutch government not to return. But his little flock kept together. The Bible had been left with them ; and years afterwards there were pleasing traces of Mr. Schmidt’s labors. The mission was revived in 1792. There have been many discouragements and difficulties, by means of war and otherwise, but there are now many stations, and a large number of professing Christians, as well as schools, and an institution for the train- ing of native preachers and teachers. The Paris Evangelical Missionary Society has various stations in different parts of South Africa, farther into the interior of the continent. In this region, the Rhenish Mis- sionary Society has also several agents. The Berlin Mission- ary Society has ten stations among the Corannas and Kaffres. The American Board of Missions, in 1834, established sta- tions in the countries of Dingaan’s and Mosilikatse’s tribes ; and though the work has been much interrupted, even to temporary cessation at times by war, it has yet been perse- vered in, and is maintained and extended. The Wcsleyans have long conducted missions in the Colony and in its vicinity, and now they have penetrated far beyond it. Of late years, the other sections of the Methodist family have followed the example of their elder sister, and sent agents to various parts of the country, nearer or more remote. In 1804, the Church of England Missionary Society sent two missionaries to the Susoo country in the vicinity of Sierra Leone. The Moravians, as early as 1733, had attempted a settlement on the Gold Coast, and had persevered for about CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 407 forty years; and the Baptists, in 1795, had also attempted work in Western Africa, but without success. In 1796, tnree societies — the London, the Scottish, aud the Glasgow — made a united effort to plant a mission among the Foulahs, each contributing two missionaries; but disease and dissension thinned their numbers, and the only man who gave any prom- ise of usefulness was murdered. The attempt was renewed by the Glasgow Society alone ; but the two missionaries sur- vived their arrival in the country ouly a very few months. Witli these startling facts before them, it displayed courage on the part of both the directors and the missionaries to engage in a work which had been so frequently and so signally unsuccessful. Two missionaries arrived at Sierra Leone in 1804; they settled for a time in Freetown. In 1800, four additional laborers arrived. These all, according to instruc- tions from home, devoted themselves almost exclusively to the teaching of the young. This was a mistake : the ignorant parents fancied that if their children learned from the white man’s book, they must of necessity outshine their countrymen. They therefore discouraged the schools. It is needful to en- list the sympathy and good-will of a whole community before the work of education can rest on a proper and promising basis. The slave-traders also opposed the undertaking; but the missionaries. persevered and broadened the plan of work- ing, seeking more directly to benefit the parents as well as the children. A new station was opened on the Bullom shore, and another on the Bio Dembia, or Gambier. But the slave- dealers fired the premises in the latter place, and the mission- aries barely escaped with their lives. At Sierra Leone, and all around within near reach of it, these laborers were ultimately not a little successful. The schools and other institutions intended to promote the welfare of the people were of exten- sive benefit, and it was with much regret that, on account of the large loss of life which the maintenance of the mission involved, many of these stations had to be abandoned. The YorubahjOr Yarriba, country was at onetime one of the most powerful kingdoms in Western Africa. In 1817 a great and destructive war spread desolation over its entire territory. Out of the ruin of one hundred and forty-five towns arose the city of Abbeokuta. The city is supposed to have a population of about one hundred thousand. The inhabitants had fled from the wasted villages, cleared away the forest, and continued building until streets of houses were erected for their accommodation. The people generally are 468 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. agriculturists ; yet there are many mechanics and tradesmen in every useful calling. Their religion is polytheistic. They have no proper idea of the Supreme Being. They have a god for every sphere, and are firm believers in charms, divination, and witchcraft. Their chief gods are Saugo, the god of thunder, and Ifa, the god of divination. The people universally pray to the spirits of their deceased fathers. The “Egiui” is the spirit of a dead man, which, after varied incantations, comes forth from the sacred grove, and person- ates various parties, and for different purposes. The scene of an occasion of “ worship ” is a masquerade, and a man acts in it in the most grotesque apparel. The “ Egu,” or “ Oro,” is associated with the government as well as with religion. It is a secret society, bound by the most sacred oaths. No woman is permitted to become a member ; and if, unhappily, one is discovered or suspected of knowing its mysteries, she is immediately put to death. When the “Egnn” comes to a town, the women hide themselves. Through this influence the government is conducted, its laws sanctioned, and its penalties enforced. When a culprit is punished, it is said that Oro has eaten him, and no question is asked. The missions among these people, as well as those at Sierra Leone, were under the care of the Church of England So- ciety ; and the missionaries still remaining, with fellow- laborers who occupy new ground, represent that there are four towns within two or three days’ travel of Abbeokuta, with an aggregate population of two hundred thousand. There are many other towns, and the same language is spoken in all, so that the way is open for such efforts of missionary zeal. Many of the people have become Mahometans, which shows that they are not hopelessly wedded to their supersti- tious views. Mr. Samuel Crowther is an African, and a native of the Yorubah district. lie was rescued from a Portuguese slaver by a British cruiser, carried to Sierra Leone, educated in the Fourah Bay institution, went to England, w’here he completed his education at the Society’s institution in Islington, and was ordained by the Bishop of London as a missionary to Sierra Leone. lie preached his first English sermon in Africa, in the Freetown Church, on the 3d of December, 1843, when great interest and high hopes were excited. In the following January, he established a service in Yorubah, his native tongue. The novelty of the service attracted an immense CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 469 crowd. Many of these people returned to their native homes, and a mission was instituted for Yorubah itself, and new agents were appointed. Crovvther also laid, with great wisdom, t lie foundation of an important scheme called the Niger Mis- sion. lie was consecrated bishop — an able and most worthy man — and these evangelistic efforts have greatly prospered. Connected with these missions altogether there are more than a score of missionaries and several thousand communicants. In the Old Calabar district of Western Africa there are several stations, which are under the care of the United Presbyterian Church. Dr. Waddell and other agents have labored with much success for the good of the people, both old and young. Greek Town, Duke Town, and Old Town have been the more immediate spheres of operation. The climate is most unhealthy to Europeans, and the loss of mis- sionary life has been very great. Slavery and the debasing superstitions of the people have been formidable discourage- ments; but the work has been persistently carried on. The Basle Missionary Society turned its attention to the Gold Coast in 1826, and five agents arrived at Christiansborg, near Akra, in 1828. There has been much loss of life, but the work has been persevered in and has prospered. There are three principal centres of operation — Christiansborg, Akro- pong, and Ussu^or Danish Akra. The American Board for Foreign Missions began its efforts, on behalf of Western Africa, by forming a station at Cape Palmas in 1834. Two years afterwards the mission was reinforced, and in three years more the war between Dingaan and the Dutch drove several missionaries from South Africa to this point, at which they continued their labors. There are now several missionaries, a physician, and a number of native assistants, and their endeavors have not been without good results. A change was soon visible in the Negro popu- lation, the Sabbath became respected, and both churches and schools -were well attended. The American Methodist Episcopal Church has sent several agents to Liberia ; and they have had gratifying success, but from the insalubrity of the climate, at great cost of life and treasure. The American Episcopal Board of Missions has stations in Western Africa, at Cape Palmas, and elsewhere. In connec- tion with the mission there are also day and boarding schools, churches, and an orphan asylum, and there are eleven stations, eleven missionaries, eleven assistants, and four native teachers. 470 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. However much the late war against Ashantee may be regretted, it will at least morally affect all these parts, and, it is to be hoped, will weaken superstition, and open the way for renewed missionary effort. The American Missionary Association has also a mission, called the Mendi Mission, in the Sherbro country, which em- ploys seven missionaries. The Southern American Baptist Convention has accom- plished much good in Liberia and Yorubah, where there are thirteen missionaries, eleven churches, and eleven schools. It will be observed by the reader that this effort, tl lough by many organizations and in a wide field, has yet been re- stricted to the older and longer known parts of Africa. But this is natural. Evangelization could not be projected in regard to unvisited and unknown lands ; and exploration and extensive discovery in the African continent have only within recent years brought to our knowledge the existence and the needs of those immense multitudes who now claim our benev- olent aid. Nor has the claim been disregarded. The visit of Dr. Livingstone to England, after his first great journey, gave a new impulse to missionary zeal on behalf of these millions of people. In that visit originated Bishop Macken- zie’s, or the Universities’ Mission ; and all the great organiza- tions whose object is the welfare of the heathen have largely, because of the same revelations, augmented the number of their agents, while others who had not previously been in the field have willingly joined them in a work which is so great, and many Christian teachers have gone to the distant interior, to tribes of the existence of whom we were previously igno- rant. CHAPTER XXL MOFFAT, THE MISSIONARY. Moffat’s journeys in South Africa, if regarded from a geo- graphical point of view, should have been recorded much earlier Fn the present volume, which is as nearly as possible chrono- logical in its arrangement; but their results in the way of discovery have already been summarized in the introductory chapter, and we shall present in the following pages a few only of the most characteristic incidents in the experience of one whose name is, next to his son-in-law Livingstone’s, the most prominent in the long list of missionaries to Africa. These experiences may be taken as a type of those of African missionaries in general, and they possess, therefore, a more than individual interest. Robert Moffat was born at Ormiston, near Haddington, Scotland 1 , in 1795. Ilis early years were spent at Carron Shore, on the F«rith of Forth, his father being connected with the Customs at that place. At about twelve years of age he was induced to go to sea ; but he did not like it, and soon re- turned to school. By and by he became a gardener, and after spending a few years near home, went to England and obtained a situation in Cheshire. Moffat’s parents were both good peo- ple ; his mother, in particular, setting him an example of hum- ble but sincere piety. When about to leave home for England, she earnestly besought him to promise her that he would read a portion of the Bible every day, both morning and evening. He evaded the question — he had not confidence in himself; but she insisted, and he gave the desired pledge, and, moreover, did what he had promised. Years afterwards he said, “ Ob, I am happy I did so!” In Warrington his attention was drawn to the work of the London Missionary Society ; and, in respect to that work, he asked and obtained an interview with the Rev. Mr. Roby, of Manchester. The result was that he offered his services to the Directors of that Society, and was accepted. Shortly before, a young man, in every way well fitted for the duties which he sought the opportunity of perform- ing, had been refused because his parents would not consent. 472 MOFFAT, TEE MISSIONARY. Dr. Wang! 1 was in the chair, and said to the applicant, “ My dear lad, your father refuses, and, though quite satisfied with your examination, we cannot accept you, because we don’t think you strong enough, just yet, to jump over the fifth com- mandment.” Moffat knew of this, and therefore when lie was asked, “Have you made your parents acquainted with your purpose?” a faintness came over him, as he was compelled to answer “No.” 13nt he was received, and the reply was, “ We have thought of your proposal to become a missionary: we have prayed over it ; and we cannot withhold you from so good a work.” He never had any formal ministerial training, although for a time he gratefully received instructions from Mr. Roby. He was encouraged by Dr. Andrew Reed and Dr. Philip, both of whom were at the time but shortly advanced in paths of their own which led to future eminence. Ilis great success as a missionary was likewise predicted by the sagacious Rev. "William Orme, the Secretary of the Society. How well- grounded were his expectations the result has abundantly shown. Moffat arrived at the Cape in 1817, and soon set out for Great Namaqua -land, the scene of his first missionary labors. The way had been to some extent prepared for him by the Rev. John Campbell, who had been deputed by the Society to visit the stations in Africa, and to open up new ground. Under Camp- bell’s ministrations, Africaner, a noted Namaqua freebooter chief, had shown signs of relenting and hopeful change ; Moffat was directed, in the first instance, to remain for some time with him and his people, who are the Namaqua branch of the Hottentots. On the 26th of January, 1818, after a toilsome and adventu- rous journey across Cape Colony, the missionary arrived at Africaner’s kraal on the banks of the Orange River. The chief appeared in about an hour, and inquired if he was the missionary appointed by the directors in London, and being answered in the affirmative, seemed much pleased, and gave orders that “ a house should be built for the missionary.” This task was accomplished by the women in about half an hour — the structure being composed of native mats and poles. Though so easily built, however, it must be admitted that a Hot- tentot hut is not unexceptionable on the score of comfort. “ I lived,” says Moffat, “ nearly six months in this native hut, which very frequently required tightening and fastening after a storm. When the sun shone, it was unbearably hot; when the rain fell, I came in for a share of it ; when the wind blew. I had fre- quently to decamp to escape the dust; and in addition to these MOFFAT, THE MISSIONARY. 473 little inconveniences, any hungry ©nr of a dog that wished a night’s lodging would force itself through the frail wall, and not un frequently deprive me of my meal for the coming day ; and I* have more than once found a serpent coiled up in a cor- ner. Nor were these all the contingencies of such a dwelling ; for, as the cattle belonging to the village had no fold, I have been compelled to start up from a sound sleep, and try to de- fend myself and my dwelling from being crushed to pieces by the rage of two bulls which had met to light a nocturnal duel.” Another missionary had already occupied the station, but he soon removed, and Moffat was left alone. His feelings were alternately those of joy and despondency. He was in a barren and savage country, with a salary of about $125 a year — no grain, therefore no bread, — and, worse than all, no Christian society. It was not long, however, before he was cheered in his work. The state of the chief’s mind had been doubtful, but now he attended the services with great regularity ; he had made con- siderable progress in reading, and the New Testament became his constant companion. He might be seen under the shadow of a great rock, for most of the day, eagerly perusing its pages. For nights he would sit with the missionary on a large stone at the latter’s door, and sit till dawn, talking of the wonders of crea- tion, Providence, redemption, and the eternal world. This man turned out a most decided Christian, and his natural force of character was all spent in his subsequent life in the service of righteousness and peace. He exhibited, indeed, a susceptibility to moral impressions surprising in one of his de- graded race. “ One day, when seated together,” the mission- ary relates, “ I happened, in absence of mind, to be gazing steadfastly on him. It arrested his attention, and he modestly inquired the cause. I replied, 4 1 was trying to picture to my- self your carrying fire and sword through the country, and I could not think how eyes like yours could smile at human ■woe ! ’ He answered not, but shed a flood of tears ! lie zeal- ously seconded my efforts to improve the people in cleanli- ness and industry, and it would have made any one smile to have seen Africaner and myself superintending the school- children, now about a hundred and twenty, washing themselves at the fountain.” It was impossible to make Africaner’s kraal a permanent missionary station. It was therefore resolved to look about for a locality more suitable. Moffat, all things being ready, after some trouble in preparation, started with about thirty men, in- m MOFFAT ; THE MISSIONARY. eluding Africaner himself. lie objected to so many, but was assured that the number was necessary for his safety. This journey, which occupied several weeks, revealed more clearly the dark condition of the heathen mind. The people had no knowledge of God, of the soul, or of a future state. They had no idols — no worship of any kind. Mr. Campbell, in his “ Life of Africaner,” says that he asked him, on one occasion, “ what his views of God were before he had enjoyed the benefit of Christian instruction, and his reply was, that he never thought anything at all on these subjects : that he thought about nothing but his cattle. lie admitted that he had heard of a God, he having been brought up in the Colony, but he at the same time stated that his views of God were so erroneous, that the name suggested no more to his mind than something that might be found in the form of an insect, or in the lid of a snuff- box.” On the journey homewards from this tour in search of a more suitable place for a mission station, the explorers were frequently exposed to dangers from lions. Sometimes these beasts of prey became so bold as to rush into the midst of the travellers’ oxen at night, and scatter them, occasioning long and weary searches for the cattle before they could again be collected. In one such instance, Moffat found at a spot to which he had been led by the appearance of smoke an object of deep and painful interest, which illustrates the barbarity and unnatural cruelty of the natives. There was a venerable-look- ing old woman, sitting with her head resting on her knees. Being addressed kindly, and asked who she was, she replied, “ I am a woman ; I have been here four days ; my children have left me here to die ! ” “ Your children ! ” “ Yes, my own children : three sons and two daughters. They are gone to yon- der blue mountains, and have left me to die.” “ But why did they leave you ?” “1 am old, you see,” she replied, spreading out her hands; “and I am no longer able to serve them. When they kill game, I am too feeble to help in carrying home the flesh ; I am not able to carry wood to make fire ; and I cannot carry their children on my back as I used to do.” He tried to persuade her to go with him in his wagon, and promised to care for her ; but all in vain. She became convulsed with terror, and, fearing she might die in his hands if he had her carried to his escort, he was compelled to leave her, having supplied her with provisions ; while, in reference to her position, she said, “ It is our custom ; I am nearly dead ; 1 do not want to die again.” He understood afterwards that her family, observing the trav- MOFFAT ; THE MISSIONARY. 475 ellers near to where they had left their mother, had returned, and being afraid lest the white man should punish them, had taken her home, and were providing for her with more than ordinary care. Disappointed in respect to their being able to find a more suitable locality for the work of the mission, the party endeav- ored to reach home by a shorter route farther to the east, on the borders of the Kalahari Desert, which lies between Nama- qua-land and the country of the Bechuanas. But they paid dearly for their haste, for they found themselves in a plain of deep sand, through which it was next to impossible to take their wagon. They were also much in want of water. They found only watermelons where water might have been ex- pected, and these were as bitter as gall. This journey, which had occupied only a few weeks, settled one important point; namely, the impossibility of obtaining any eligible situation for a missionary establishment in that desolate region. Such rambling visits were, therefore, resumed on a more extended scale, the services at home being conducted by two brothers of Africaner, who proved very efficient assist- ants. These expeditions were sometimes attended not only by privation, but also by danger. Tying his Bible and hymn- book in a blanket to the back of his saddle— for the missionary now rode on a borrowed horse — he would start with his inter- preter, who rode on an ox. They had their guns, but nothing in purse or scrip except a pipe, some tobacco, and a tinder-box. They had no bread, but managed to pick up a precarious living by the way. After a hot day’s ride to reach a village before nightfall, the people, on their arrival, would give them a draught of milk; and then, old and young assembling in a corner of the cattle-fold, all would listen to an address on the subject of their spiritual safety. When this was over, the preacher, having taken another draught of milk and renewed conversation with the people, would lie down on a mat, and seek repose for the night. So it was day by day. After another address in the morn- ing, the missionary would start for another village, reaching which in the evening, travel-stained and hungry — his companion and he having breakfasted on milk only — they perhaps found it empty, the whole population having been obliged to go else- where in search of water and grass. There was no help for it. Hungry and thirsty, they would take possession of some empty hut, and do their best to sleep, but were not unfrequently dis- turbed in the night by hyenas, jackals, or lions, which prowl- 476 MOFFAT , TUE MISSIONARY. about deserted villages in search of what may have been left behind. Next morning, having breakfasted on water, not over- sweet after they had found it, they would follow the track of the departed people, thankful if they succeeded in overtaking them. Even at home the larder was not always full. The missionary’s food was milk and meat, he living for weeks on the one, and then for a time on the other, and then on both to- gether. All was well so long as lie had either; but sometimes both failed, and there were somewhat long fasts so rigorous that recourse must be had to “ the fasting-girdle.” The con- tents of his wardrobe bore the same impress of poverty. He says, “ The supply of clothes which 1 had received in London were, as is too often the case, made after the dandy fashion, and 1 being still a growing youth, they soon went to pieces.” Months had been spent in search of a suitable place in which usefully to settle, but in vain, when Africaner proposed to him to visit the Griqua country, to the east of the desert, to inspect a situation offered to him and his people, to which he might re- move with the full sanction of the chiefs of the Griquas. Af- ter much consultation the party started, consisting, besides Mof- fat, of two brothers of Africaner, with his son, and a guide. They had about eight horses, good and bad, and trusted entirely for food to what they might shoot on the way. Their course was principally on the north side of the Orange River. It was toilsome and difficult and dangerous. They had to cross desert plains without trees or shelter of any kind. At some points they found the river flowing through great chasms and overhung with stupendous precipices; while anon it would spread into a translucent lake, with towering mimosas and wil- lows reflected on its bosom. There were very many varieties of birds, and also beasts of prey. There were few inhabitants on the banks of the river. Some whom they did meet were kind, but others would give them neither food nor drink, but simply point out to them a place of repose. On one occasion Moffat had a narrow 'escape ; but he had more work to do, and “ man is immortal till his work is done.” The party had reached the river early in the afternoon, having made a detour to escape from its windings, and three of their number had gone onward to a Bushman village. He went, because his horse would go, to a small pool, the water-course from which had receded to the main stream, or had evapo- rated. He dismounted and drank, but immediately on raising himself felt an unusual taste in his mouth ; and observing that the pool was temporarily fenced round, it occurred to him that MOFFAT ; THE MISSIONARY. 477 this must be water poisoned for the purpose of killing game. It was so. When he reached his companions and arrived at the village, he made signs to the natives that he wanted the fruit of the solatium, for he was violently ill, and his veins were as if they would burst ; but none could be found. lie was soon covered with a profuse perspiration, and drank largely of pure water ; and although the strange and painful sensation which he had experienced gradually wore away, it was not en- tirely removed for some days. They continued their journey, hungry and thirsty, and exposed to many dangers. Much in want of water, the missionary was directed by a native to the top of a hill, where, if anywhere, water might be expected. When he had reached the summit, he happened to cough, and was instantly surrounded bv about a hundred baboons, some of them of gigantic size, ife says : “ They grunted, grinned, and sprang from stone to stone, pro- truding their months, threatening an instant attack. I kept parrying them with my gun, which was loaded; but I knew their character and disposition too well to fire, for if I had wounded one of them, I should have been skinned in five min- utes. The ascent had been very laborious, but I would have given anything to be at the bottom of the hill again. Some came so near as even to touch my hat while passing projecting rocks. It was some time before I reached the plain, when they appeared to hold a noisy council, either about what they had done or intended doing. Levelling my piece at two that seemed the most fierce, I was about to touch the trigger, when a thought occurred to me : I have escaped, let me be thankful ; therefore I left them uninjured, perhaps with the gratification of having given me a fright.” Exhausted and anxious, they at last reached Griqua Town, where the missionaries, Anderson and Helm, gave them a hearty welcome. They afterwards visited Daniel’s Kuil, and also Lattakoo (Litliako), where they remained several days. This was the first time Moffat had seen the Bechuanas, among whom he afterwards labored for so many years. They then returned to Griqua Town, and immediately set out on their re- turn home to Namaqua-land. An account of the journey was submitted to Africaner. He was much pleased with the report which was given in regard to the proposed new settlement, and resolved that he and his people should remove thither. Before the migration could commence, however, Moffat found it necessary to visit Cape Town, and he proposed that Africaner should accompany him. To the latter this was a 478 MOFFAT i THE MISSIONARY. journey of no small risk. He had to pass through the country of the Dutch farmers whom he had robbed; lie was an outlaw, and an offer of one thousand rix dollars for his head was still outstanding. It was settled finally that Africaner should go disguised as Moffat’s servant; and the plan succeeded perfectly, though from the time they reached the settlements their anxiety was incessant. At one farm, about half way to the Cape, an interesting incident occurred, which is thus related by Mof- fat : 44 On approaching the place, which w T as on an eminence, I directed my men to take the wagon to the valley below, while I walked towards the house. The farmer, seeing a stranger, came slowly down the descent to meet me. When within a few yards, I addressed him in the usual way, and, stretching out my hand, expressed my pleasure at seeing him again. lie put his hand behind him, and asked me, rather wildly, who 1 was. I replied that I was Moffat, expressing my wonder that he should have forgotten me. 4 Moffat ! ’ he rejoined, in a fal- tering voice ; 4 it is your ghost ! ’ and moved some steps back- ward. 4 I am no ghost,’ I said. 4 Don’t come near me ! ’ he exclaimed, 4 you have been long murdered by Africaner.’ 4 But I am no ghost,’ I said, feeling my hands, as if to convince him, and myself too, of my materiality ; but his alarm only in- creased. 4 Everybody says you were murdered, and a man told me he had seen your bones ; ’ and he continued to gaze at me, to the no small astonishment of the good wife and chil- dren, who were standing at the door, as also to that of my own people, who were looking on from the wagon below. At length he extended his trembling hand, saying, 4 When did you rise from the dead ? ’ 44 As he feared my presence would alarm his wife, we bent our steps towards the wagon, and Africaner was the subject of our conversation. I gave him in a few words my views of his present character, saying, 4 He is now a truly good man.’ To which he replied, 4 1 can believe almost anything you saj’, but that I cannot credit.’ By this time we w^ere standing with Af- ricaner at our feet ; on his countenance sat a smile, he well knowing the prejudices of some of the farmers. The man closed the conversation by saying, with much earnestness, 4 Well, if what you assert be true respecting that man, I have only one wish, and that is, to see him before I die ; and when you return, as sure as the sun is over our heads, I will go with you to see him, though he killed my ow r n uncle.’ 1 was not before aware of this fact, and now felt some hesitation whether MOFFAT, TIIE MISSIONARY. 470 to discover to him the object, of his wonder ; but knowing the sincerity of the funner and the goodness of his disposition, I said, 4 This, then, is Africaner.’ lie started back, looking in- tensely at the man as if lie had just dropped from the clouds. ‘ Arc you Africaner?’ he exclaimed. The chief arose, doffed his old hat, and, making a polite bow, answered, ‘I am.’ The farmer seemed thunder-struck ; but when, by a few questions, he had assured himself of the fact that the former bugbear of the border stood before him, now meek and lamb-like in his whole deportment, he lifted up his eyes and exclaimed, 4 O God, what a miracle of Thy power! what cannot Thy grace ac- complish ! ’ The kind farmer and his no less hospitable wife now abundantly supplied our wants ; but we hastened our de- parture lest the intelligence might get abroad that Africaner was with me, and bring unpleasant visitors.” On their arrival at Cape Town, Africaner was introduced to the governor, Lord Charles Somerset, who received him with much affability and kindness, and expressed the pleasure he had in seeing thus before him one who had formerly been the scourge of the country. A deputation from the London Mis- sionary Society, consisting of the Rev. John Campbell and the Rev. Dr. Philip, w T as at this time at the Cape, and to them Africaner was an object of much interest. The purpose of Moffat’s visit to the cape was twofold : to procure supplies, and to introduce the chief to the Colonial Government. He had had no intention but that of returning to his present port in Namaqua-land — at least for a time ; but the deputation desired him to accompanj 7 them to the mission stations, and then to proceed on a mission to the Bechuanas. Africaner generously offered to take his books and some small quantity of furniture which he had purchased, in his wagon across the continent to Lithako. Something in the way of fur- niture, more than he had hitherto had, had become necessary ; for though Moffat had till now been alone, Miss Smith, to whom he had long been engaged, arrived from England, and he now found “an helpmeet for him” — one who, for half a century, was his companion in his wilderness home, and who was called away from him only after her recent return to England. The removal was effected so far as the missionary was con- cerned; but before settling down he had to accompany Mr. Campbell on his visits to other stations. lie bade his friend Africaner a farewell which had in it the hope of a speedy future meeting, but that chief died within two years. The Y/es ley ans afterward occupied the station at Namaqua-land, 480 MOFFAT , ; TIIE MISSIONARY. making Africaner’s kraal an out-station; for the people did not migrate as their chief had intended. Respecting the Bcchnanas, the powerful tribe, or collection of tribes, among whom Moffat labored for so many years, there was but little known, except by mere report, till they were visited by a colonist with a party of cattle-robbers at an early period of the colonial history. The next visit was by the marauder Bloom, a Dutch farmer. lie and his followers com- mitted great havoc on the flocks and herds of the Bechuanas, putting to death vast numbers of the people. In 1801, two messengers visited the mission station on the Orange River for the purpose of obtaining cattle for the government by lawful trade, in the way of barter, and also went to the Batlapis and Batlaros, the two nearest tribes of the Bechuana nation, for the same purpose. ' This visit made a favorable impression as to the character and disposition of the Bechuanas on the minds of these gentlemen. A short time previously, two missionaries had settled on the banks of the Knruman River, near which the Batlapis and others were at that time living under the chief, or king, Molehabangue. He was kind to strangers. When Messrs. Evans and Hamilton went to Lithako, thirty miles north-east of the Knruman River, Mothibi, the king’s son, with his council, directed them to the Knruman River, ex- pecting them there to trade and barter, as certain former missionaries had done. They declined to follow such an ex- ample. The temporal advantages are not un frequently the in- ducement with both chiefs and people when they receive mis- sionaries. Dr. Lichenstein was the first traveller who visited the Bat- lapis. This was in 1805. The king, Molehabangue, received him with kindness, and he reports well of the people. The next tra veil ere who visited these parts were Dr. Cowan and Captain Denovan. They went under the auspices of the English government, with a considerable party and two wag- ons. Their expedition occurred in 1807. Their object was to pass through the Bechuana country, and proceed to the Portuguese settlements near Mozambique. They passed safely through the territory of the Batlapis, Barolongs, Bamangketse, and Bakuenas, and perished at no great distance from the eastern coast, but by what means lias never been ascertained. Dr. Burchell visited the country in 1812, and pushed his scientific and other researches as far as Cliue, a considerable distance north of Lithako, and it was his intention to advance as far as the Portuguese settlement on the west coast, passing MOFFAT ; THE MISSIONARY. 481 through the Kalahari Desert to Congo ; but his attendants de- serted him, and lie was compelled to desist. It was in 1815 that Messrs. Evans, Hamilton, Williams, and Baker left England to proceed to Lithako. They reached their destination on the 17th of February, 1810, accompanied by Adam Kok, a most self-denying and useful man, and several others as interpreters. But they were coldly received by Mo- thibi, whose first question was, “ What have you brought for barter?” After two days of earnest attempts at persuasion to be permitted to remain where they were, inasmuch as the greatest number of people were there, they were peremptorily told, as has already been stated, to “ Go to the Kuruman River, and traffic there ; but don’t teach. Here there is no water, there are no trees, and the people have customs, and will not hear.” They were obliged to return to Griqua Town and wait for an opening. In one of their journeys from that centre, as they endeavored to make themselves useful, they were told that the king now appeared willing to receive them. And they tried. But Mothibi, with twelve hundred of his men, be- ing absent for a month, they were compelled again to return from want of provisions. The prospect was somewhat brighter, but Mr. Evans was discouraged, and relinquished the mission altogether. A subsequent attempt by Mr. Hamilton was more successful. Mr. Hamilton was, for a time, accompanied by Mr. Read, a sagacious and experienced missionary from the Colony ; but subsequently he was alone: Moffat and his wife being with Mr. Campbell, the deputy from London, visiting the stations — a lather remarkable wedding-tour. Hamilton was a missionary artisan. While Read and he were together, Mothibi mustered a large expedition against the Bakuenas, nearly two hundred miles to the north-east. His object was the capture of cattle. But he was foiled in his purpose : many of his followers were slain, and Mothibi himself w'as wounded. In June, 1817, lie and his people removed to the Kuruman River. Moffat’s appoint- ment was to this mission, but he was directed first to attend to certain duties at Griqua Town, which detained him for a con- siderable time. Hamilton, in his loneliness, had a hard lot and many difficulties. He had great manual labor in digging a long water-course, preparing ground, and building. lie had, in many ways, to toil with his hands to preserve himself and fam- ily from beggary. Besides, all the head men of the place acted as if they had a right to everything he possessed — every- thing they could lay their hands on. llis goods were stolen 31 482 MOFFAT ; THE MISSIONARY. when it was known he was conducting some religious services and could not possibly return to disturb the thieves before a particular time. In May, 1821, Moffat joined him, and from that day to this there has been a strong power for good centring at Kuruman, and extending far. These two men, themselves working hard and long, have had their labors assisted and supplemented by other missionaries. The day, Sabbath, and infant schools have been fruitful of large benefit ; the church services have been numerously attended, and many have avowed themselves Christians, their lives being consistent with such avowal ; print- ing-presses have been set up, and are at work, to supply the in- creasing demauds of a reading population, school-books, and other works, as well as the whole Bible itself, as translated by Moffat, being produced at the station ; and now a more regu- lar school of instruction for native teachers is being organized, and is to be appropriately called “ The Moffat Institution ” ; while the advanced standard-bearers, who have penetrated longer distances into the interior, see much to encourage them onward. Moffat himself has returned to England to enjoy the well-earned repose to which so many years of arduous and hon- orable toil entitle him. But he still seeks the promotion of African missions by frequent addresses and other means, and, notwithstanding his advanced years, has been diligently em- ployed on a new edition of the Bible in the language of the people for whom he has done so much. Rain-makers were the worst opponents of Moffat and his companions, as they are of all missionaries everywhere in Africa; and their pretended arguments against the teaching of the people are such as tell upon these ignorant and besotted tribes. For example, a wily rain-maker, who was the oracle of the village in which he lived, after hearing Moffat enlarge on one occasion on the subject of the creation, said, “ If you really believe that that Being created all men, then, according to reason, you must also believe that in making white people He has improved oil His work. He tried His hand on Bushmen first, and He did not like them because they were so ugly, and their language like that of the frogs. He then tried His hand on the Hottentots, but these did not please Him either. He then ex- ercised His power and skill and made the Bechuanas, which was a great improvement. And at last He made the white people; therefore, the white people are so much wiser than we are in making walking houses (wagons), teaching the oxen to draw them over hill and dale, and instructing them also to plough MOFFAT ; THE MISSIONARY. 483 the gardens, instead of making their wives do it, like the Bcch- uanas.” Such talk receives the applause of the people, and the arguments of the missionary arc as a feather in the balance. And yet it is not always safe to be a rain-maker. When rain will not come, by any incantation, the poor deceiver is caught in his own craftiness; and if he does not flee for his life, when patient waiting has been exhausted, he is not unfrequcntly murdered. The following incident, as described by Moffat, illustrates at once the superstition of the Bechuanas, the methods by which the rain-makers maintain their influence, and the way in which they both can and do embarrass the efforts of the missionaries. “ Years of drought,” says Moffat, “ had been severely felt, and the natives, tenacious of their faith in the potency of a man, held a council and passed resolutions to send for a rain-maker of renown from the Bakurutsi tribe, two hundred miles north- east of the Kuruman station. “ Rain-makers have always most honor among a strange people, and therefore they are generally foreigners. The heavens had been as brass— -scarcely a cloud had been seen for months, even on the distant horizon. Suddenly a shout was raised, and the whole town was in motion : the rain-maker was approaching. Every voice was raised to the highest pitch with acclamations of enthusiastic joy. ilc had sent a harbinger to announce his approach, with peremptory orders for all the inhabitants to wash their feet. Every one seemed to fly in swiftest obedience to the adjoining river. Noble and ignoble, even the girl who attended to our kitchen-fire, ran ; old and young ran ; all the world could not have stopped them. By this time the clouds begau to gather, and a crowd went out to welcome the mighty man, who. as they imagined, was now collecting in the heavens his stores of rain. “Just as he was descending the height into the town, the immense concourse danced and shouted, so that the very earth rang, and at the same time the lightnings darted and the thunders roared in awful grandeur. A few heavy drops fell, which pro- duced the most thrilling ecstasy in the deluded multitude, whose shoutings baffled all description. Faith hung upon the lips of the impostor, while he proclaimed aloud that this year the women must cultivate gardens on the hills and not In the valleys, for the latter would be deluged. After the din had somewhat subsided, a few individuals came to our dwellings to treat us and our doctrines with derision. ‘Where is your God ? ’ one asked with a sneer. We were silent, because the 484 MOFFAT ; THE MISSIONARY. wicked were before ns. ‘Have you not seen our Morimo? Have you not beheld him cast from his arm the fiery spears, and rend the heavens ? Have you not heard with your ears his voice in the clouds ? ’ adding with an interjection of supreme disgust, ‘You talk of Jehovah and Jesus, what can they do?’ Never in my life do I remember a text being brought home with such power as the words of the Psalmist, ‘ Be still, and know that I am God : I will be exalted among the heathen.’ “ The rain-maker found the clouds in our country rather harder to manage than those he had left. lie complained that secret rogues were disobeying his proclamations. When urged to make repeated trials, he would reply, ‘ You only give me sheep and goats to kill, therefore I can only make goat-rain ; give me fat slaughter-oxen, and I shall let you see ox-rain.’ One day, as he was taking a sound sleep, a shower fell, on which one of the principal men entered his house to congratu- late him, but, to his utter amazement found him totally insensi- ble to what was transpiring. ‘ Halloo, by my father! I thought you were making rain,’ said the intruder ; when the magician, arising from his slumbers and seeing his wife sitting on the floor, shaking a milk-sack in order to obtain a little butter to anoint her hair, he replied, pointing to the opera- tion of churning, ‘Do you not see my wife churning rain as fast as she can ? ’ This reply gave entire satisfaction, and it presently spread through the length and breadth of the town, that the rain-maker had churned the shower out of a milk-sack. The moisture caused by this shower was dried up by a scorch- ing sun ; many long weeks followed without a single cloud, and when they did appear, they were sometimes seen, to the great mortification of the conjurer, to discharge their watery treasures at an immense distance. “ The rain maker had recourse to numerous expedients and stratagems, and continued his performances for many weeks. All his efforts, however, proving unsuccessful, he kept himself very secluded for a fortnight, and, after cogitating how he could make his own cause good, he appeared in the public fold, aud proclaimed that he had discovered the cause of the drought. All were now eagerly listening; he dilated some time, until he had raised their expectations to the highest pitch, when he revealed the mystery. ‘ Do you not see, when clouds come over us, that Hamilton and Moffat look at them ? ’ This question receiving a hearty and unanimous affirmation, he added that our white faces frightened gway the clouds, and they ueed not expect rain so long as we were in the country. MOFFAT ; THE MISSIONARY. 485 This was a home stroke, and it was an easy matter for ns to calculate what the influence of such a charge would be on the public mind. We were very soon informed of the evil of our conduct, to which we plead guilty, promising that we were not aware that we were doing wrong, being as anxious as any of them for rain ; we would willingly loot: to our chins, or the ground all the day long, if it would serve their purpose. It was rather remarkable, that much as they admired my long black beard, they thought that, in this case it was most to blame. However, this season of trial passed over to our great comfort, though it was followed for some time with many in- dications of suspicion and distrust.” The government of these people is both monarchical and patriarchal. Each tribe has its chief or king, and his oftiee is hereditary. There being many towns or villages in a tribe, each of these has also its liead, and under him there are subor- dinate chiefs. These are the aristocracy of the nation, and all acknowledge the supremacy of the principal chief. In the jpitslios , or parliament, or public meeting, great plainness of speech is sometimes used. But such meetings are held only on great, very great occasions. Tiiese utterances of the nobles are the pulse of the nation, however, and a wise ruler will not fail to be guided by them. Private wrongs — such as thefts, murders, and other crimes — are left to the avenger. The peo- f )le are most tenacious of their customs. These are a great lindrance to progress. Polygamy is a strong barrier both to religion and civilization. The women have by far the heavier tasks : they cultivate the fields, build the houses and fences, and bring in the firewood ; while the men hunt, watch the cat- tle, milk the cows, and prepare their furs and skins for mantles. Such being the division of labor, the men find it convenient to have a number of wives. Notwithstanding all this, however, the Bechuanas are superior to many other tribes. They are savages only in a restricted sense; but their susceptibility to religions impression is most obtuse. If it be attempted to con- vince them that the} 7 are sinners, they will boldly affirm that there is not a sinner in the tribe. Missionary work among sncli people must in itself always be very difficult; and there are also other discouragements. At Knruman there was, in the first instance, a great deal of manual labor. Houses had to be built for worship and for teaching and for residence; workshops had to be constructed, and the station being several miles from the river, a water-ditch had to be dug; and as this passed through the gardens of the natives, 483 MOFFAT ; TUB MISSIONARY. the water was not seldom cut off before it reached the homo of those who had prepared the way for it. The acquisition of the language is always, in such circum- stances, an object of the first importance, but it is often a most toilsome work. There is neither time nor place for retirement, and no interpreter worthy of the name. The reducing of an oral language to writing requires much pains on the part of a missionary; but it is a thing that must be done — he must be able to convey his meaning in words of his own choosing. In speaking, it is safer to trust to an imperfect utterance than it is to employ an interpreter. When, one makes a mistake, the natives will smile ; whereas, when an interpreter has to render one’s meaning, he not unfreqnently puts his own conception into the statement. It has always been a prolonged and ardu- ous task for Europeans to master the African tongues, there being no rules other than mere usage, and usage being far from uniform in different circumstances. Natives, however, are not so charitable towards an interpreter who knows their language, as they are to a stranger of whom they know that he cannot fully express himself. For many years Moffat continued his missionary labors at the Kuruman, making many excursions to distant tribes, and gradually extending the outposts of civilization farther into the interior. Before he retired from the good work, he had seen the missionary stations pushed as far as the village of Kolobeng, on tlie head waters of the Limpopo, in lat. 24° S. Stations were established among the Barolongs, who live to the north of the Bechuana country, among the Bamangwato Mountains; also among the Basntos, Maulatces, and Corannas. Moshesh, King of the Basutos, had long desired a missionary, and in 1833 Messrs. Casilis, Arbousset, and Goselin, connected with the French Evangelical Society, arrived in the country. They have since been reinforced by the Wesleyan and other societies, so that now, in a land which was formerly the theatre of rapine and murder, there is a healthy civilizing influence exercised over many thousands of people. Moffat’s account of his various missionary journeys is highly interesting; but it would be useless to follow them in detail, since most of the region which he traversed, and many of the tribes which he met, were subsequently examined more fully bv other travellers, and arc described in preceding chapters. The only other extract which we shall make from his narrative will be the following description of a curious people who live in trees — a tribe never before seen by a white man — whom MOFFAT , TIIE MISSIONARY. 487 lie fell in with on a journey which he undertook in 1820 to the country of the Matsebclc, lying in the unknown territory north- east of the Kuruman, between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers. Just before reaching the frontier of the Matscbele country, the party encamped beside a lino rivulet. “My attention,” MOSIIESII, CHIEF OF TIIE BASUTOS. says Moffat, “was arrested by a beautiful and gigantic tree standing in a defile leading into an extensive and woody ravine between a high range of mountains. Seeing some in- dividuals employed on the ground under its shade, and the conical points of what looked like houses in miniature pro- truding through its evergreen foliage, I proceeded thither, and found that the tree was inhabited by several families of 15a- koncs, the aborigines of the country. T ascended by the notched trunk, and found, to my amazement, no less than 488 MOFFAT , ; THE MISSIONARY. seventeen of these aerial abodes, and three others unfinished. On reaching the topmost lint, about thirty feet from the ground, I entered and sat down. Its only furniture was the hay which covered the floor, a spear, a spoon, and a bowlful of locusts. Not having eaten anything that day, and, from the novelty of my situation, not wishing to return immediately to the wagons, I asked a woman who sat at the door with a babe at her breast, permission to eat. This she granted with pleasure, and soon brought me more in a powdered state. Several more females came from the neighboring roosts, stepping from branch to branch to see the stranger, who was as great a curi- osity to them as the tree was to him. I then visited the differ- ent abodes, which were on several principal branches. The structure of these houses was very simple. An oblong scaffold, about seven feet wide, is formed of straight sticks ; on one end of this platform a small cone is formed, also of straight sticks, and thatched with grass. A person can nearly stand upright in it ; the diameter of the floor is about six feet. The house stands on the end of the oblong, so as to leave a little square space before the door. On the day previous I had passed several villages, some containing forty houses, all built on poles about seven or eight feet from the ground, in the form of a circle ; the ascent and descent are by a knotty branch of a tree placed in front of the house. In the centre of the circle there is always a heap of the bones of the game they have killed. Such were the domiciles of the impoverished thousands of the aborigines of the country, who, having been scattered and peeled by Mosilikatse, had neither herd nor stall, but subsisted on locusts, roots, and the chase. They adopted this mode of architecture to escape the lions which abound in that country.” It was Moffat’s daughter whom, as we have seen, Living- stone married almost at the outset of his career in Africa ; and in him Moffat found a successor who carried forward glori- ously the great work which he himself had so nobly begun. INDEX Abeghan Aboo Sammat 434 Abyssinia 27 Abyssinians, the 23 Adamaua 34, 70 Adimokoo 452 Africa, origin of the native, 7 ; its geographical position, 8 ; dimensions, 8 ; physical geography, 8; lake and river systems, n ; climate, 13; vegetation, 15 ; quadrupeds, 17 ; birds, 19 ; fish, 20 ; inhabitants, 20 ; religion, 26 ; political and territorial divisions, 26 ; islands, 34. “African Association,” the 3 Africaner 472, 478 Agades 62 Akka, the 452, 456 Albert Nyanza, .. 294, 3x2, 398 Alexander, the explorer 4 Algiers 26 Alligators 128 American Board of Missions 466 American Board of Foreign Missions 469 American Episcopal Board of Missions 469 American Missionary Association 470 Andersson, Carl Johann, 58 ; associates with Francis Galton in an expedition for exploring South Africa, 152 ; starts for Lake Ngami, 132 ; account of the Damaras, 152 ; discovers Lake Omanbonde, 153 ; penetrates to the country of the Ovambos, 154 ; account of the land and people, 155 ; interview with King Nangoro, 156 ; abortive attempt to reach the Kunene River, 1 58 ; second attempt to reach I-ake Ngami, 158 ; drives a herd of cattle down the coast to Cape Town, 159; sets out again for the I^ake, 159 ; night adventure with wild beasts, 160 ; arrives at Lake Ngami, 163 ; discovers and ascends the River Teoge, 164 ; disappointed in an attempt to reach I.ibcbe, 165 ; travels alone across the wilderness to Namaqua-land, 166 ; returns to Europe, 166 ; second attempt to reach the Kunene River, 166 ; struggles in the wilderness, 167 ; com- pelled to return, 167 ; second journey to Lake Omanbond6, 168 ; hunting feats, 168 ; third attempt to reach the Kunene River, 168 ; dis- covers the Okavango River, 169 ; prostrated with fever and compelled to turn back, 170 ; narrow escapes, 170; discovers the Kunene River, 170 ; death, 170. Anengue Lake 204 Angola 28 Animals of Africa .. 17 Annobom 34 Antelopes 18 Apingi, the 218 Arabs, the 2, 22 Ascension 34 Ashantee, 81 ; geographical position, 81 ; physi- cal geography, 81 ; climate, 81 ; animals and productions, 82 ; the people, 82 ; social orgaa ization, 82 ; customs and industries, 83 ; laws and religion, 84 ; history, 85 ; Sir Gai net Wolseley’s expedition, 86. Ashiras, the 213, 216 Asua River 303, 307 Atbara River 290 Atlas Mountains, the it Babisa, the 380 Baghirmi 34 Bahr-el-Ghazal 56, 290, 421, 425 Baikie, Dr 57 Bakalai, the 209 Baker, Sir Samuel, 292 ; organizes an expe- dition to search for Speke and Grant, 292 ; explores the Atbara and the Blue Nile, 293 ; difficulties at Khartoom and Gondokoro, 293 ; meeting w ith Speke and Grant, 293 , resolves to complete their work, 295 ; hostility of the traders, 295 ; march to Latooka, 296 alliance with Ibrahim, 297 ; arrival of Tarrangollfi. 299 ; conflict with the natives, 299 ; residence at 490 INDEX. Tarrangolld, 300 ; visit to Obbb, 301 ; Kat- chiba the sorcerer-chief, 302 ; returns to La- tooka, 303 ; prostrated with fever, 304 ; collects information regarding the interior, 305 ; sets out for Unyoro, 306; the Nile reacned, 307; difficulties with the natives, 30S : arrives at Kamrasi’s capital, 309 ; insulted by Kamrasi, 309 ; resumes the march, 310 : discovers the Albert Nyanza Lake, 31 1 ; voyage on the lake, 313 ; mouth of the Victoria Nile, 314 : ascends the river in canoes, 317 ; Murchison Falls, 318 ; attacked by a hippopotamus, 3x9 ; march by land up the river, 320 ; deserted by his guides, 323 ; sufferings and sickness, 324 ; in- vited to Kamrasi’s capital, 325 ; sets out for Gondokoro, 326 : arrival, 327 ; returns to England and is created a Knight, 328 ; accepts a commission for the Khedive of Egypt to sup- press the slave-trade in the Nile region, 329 ; his expeditionary force, 329 ; the “ Forty Thieves,” 330 ; war with the Baris, 330 ; limit of navigation of the Nile, 331 ; march to Ma- sindi, 332 ; the King attempts to poison him, 332 ; retreat to Fatiko, 333 ; final triumph over the slave-traders, 333 ; organizes the new gov- ernment, 333 ; returns to England, 334. Balonda, the 130 Bamangwato, the . 108 Bambarra .33 Bambarre 401 Bango, King of the Oroungou 188 Bangweolo, Lake 369, 387, 392, 414 Baobab-tree 63, 64, no Baraka 184 Barbary States 26 Bari-country 330 Barmen 152 Barnim, Freiherr von 419 Barotse, the 122 Barrow, the explorer 4 Barth, Overweg, and Richardson, 61 ; their expedition to Northern Africa, 61 ; set out from Tripoli, 61 ; reach Murzook, 62 ; Agades and its Sultan, 62 ; Barth captured by robbers, 62 ; they reach Kano, 65 ; Barth’s description of the town, 65 ; Death of Richardson, 67 ; Barth goes on to Kukawa, 67 ; visits Lake Tsad, in company with Overweg, 69 ; Overweg explores the Lake in a boat, 69 ; Barth makes a journey to Adamaua, 69 ; reaches the Benue (Niger), 71 ; forbidden to proceed further, and returns to Kukawa, 72 ; Barth and Overweg make an excursion to Kanem, 74 ; encounter robber tribes and are obliged to turn back, 74 : Barth joins an expedition against Mandixra, 75 ; slave-hunting, 76 ; Barth makes a journey to Baghirmi, 77 ; reaches the Shary, 79 : is de- tained in Baghirini, 79 ; Death of Overweg, 80 ; Barth journeys to Timbucioo where he is detained for nexrly two years, 80 : explores the middle course of the Niger, 80; returns to Europe, 81. Basle Missionary Society 469 Batoana, the 163, 166 Batoka, the 149 Batoka Salutations 149 Bayeiye, the 96 Beaufort, Admiral Sir Francis 2 Bechuanas, the 89, 108, 480, 485 Bedingficld, Captain 58 Beko, Dr 4, 54 Benguela 28 Benguela, San Felipe de 171 Bennett, James Gordon 355 Berberines, the 20 Berbers, the 20, 2t Biagano 203 Bihe 171, 175 Blue Nile 53, 290 Blacksmiths, superstition concerning 62 Bochart 2 Boers, the 31, 91, 105 Bomby, the Akka 454 Bongo, the 431 Bornu 34 Bourbon 34 Brotherhood, ceremony of making 241 Brown, the explorer 4 Bruce, James 42 Buffalo, the 19 Burchell, Dr 4, 480 Burckhardt, John Louis 46 Burial customs on the Nyassa 343 Burton, Cai*t. Richard F., ; sets out from Zanzibar on an expedition to Lake Tangan- yika, 238 ; account of the maritime country and tribes; 239 ; arrives at Zungomcro, 240 ; crossing the mountains, 241 ; the tiri/eeza, 242 ; terrible ascent of a mountain pass, 243 ; account of the mountain region and its inhab- itants, 245 ; crossing Ugogo, 246 ; account of the country and people, 247 : the “ Land of the Moon,” 250 ; arrival at Kazeh, 250 ; ac- count of Unyamwczi and its inhabitants, 253 ; the march to the lake, 258 ; arrival at Ujiji, 259 ; exploring Lake Tanganyika, 261 ; resi- dence at Ujiji, 263 : account of the country and people, 263 : leturn to Kazeh. 265 ; Speke discovers the Victoria Nyanza, 266 ; arrival at Zanzibar, 266. Bushman method of killing lions 112 Bushmen ’ 25, 100 INDEX. 491 Cailland, the explorer 4 Caillu, the explorer . Cambyscs Cameroon s, the 11 Cnmma-country, the Campbell, John Canaries, the Cannibalism aoi, 439, 450 Cape Colony Cape Lopez Cape Verde Islands Carthaginans, the Casein be 387, 389, 390 Cassange Central Africa. 33, 328 Chambers River 359, 380, 387, 415 Chibisa, - Chiboque, the 136, 180 Chikapa River 143 Chikongo, chief of the Okavangari 169 Chisera River 386 Chitambo 415 Chitapangwa 381 Chobe River 101, 113, 12s Christian Missions in Africa 464 Chuma 376, 415 Church of England Missionary Society 466 Church Missionary Society of London 4 Circumcision among the Bechuanas and Kaf- fres 108 Clapperton, Captain Hugh 48 Climate of Africa .* 13 Climate of Central Africa 394 Coanza River 171 Congo 28 Congo River, the 12, 58, 373 Comoro Isles 34 Copts, the 20 Cowan, Dr 480 Crocodiles 348 Crowther, Samuel 468 Dahomey 28 Damaras, the 152 Darfur 34 Death, native dread of 21 1 Decken, Baron von 54 Deiisle 2 Delta of the Zambesi 335 Denham, Lieut. -Col. Dixon 49 Denovan, Captain 4S0 Dilolo, Lake 133 Dinka, the 426 Du Chaili.U, Paul. B., 59 ; leaves America for the Gaboon River, 184 ; account of Mpongwe or coast tribes, 184 ; their method of choosing a King, 186 : starts for the interior, 188 ; King Bango’s ball, 188 ; discoveries in natural his- tory, 189 ; account of the Shckianis, 190 ; returns to the Gaboon, and sets out for the country of the Fan, 192 ; first sight of gor- illas, 193 ; reaches the Fan-country, 194 ; gorilla hunt, 195 ; visits the king, 197 ; native elephant hunt, 199 ; account of the Fan, 199 ; returns to the coast, 202 ; establishes his head- quarters at Biagano or “ Washington,” 203 ; capture of a young gorilla, 203 ; starts again for the interior, 204 ; discovers a new ape, 205 • gorilla-hunting, 206 ; discovers the Koo- loo-Kamba ape, 207 ; native hunter killed by a gorilla, 208 ; returns to the coast, 209 ; ac- count of the Bakalai, 209 ; sets out for Ashira- land, 213 ; reception by the Ashiras, 213 ; visit to the king, 215 ; account of the Ashiras, 216 ; penetrates to Apingi-Iand, 217 ; account of the Apingi, 218 ; elected King of the Apingi, 220 ; return to coast and end of his explorations, 220 ; account of the gorilla, 220. Duncan, the explorer 4 Dyoor River 429 Dyoor tribe 430 Egypt : 26 Eland, the 18 Elephant, the 19 Ellis, Rev. Wm 39 Ellyria 296 Ethiopic Race, the 23 Evans, the Missionary 480 Faloro 289 Fan, the cannibal tribe 194, 199, 202 Farquhar 357 Fashoda 422 Fatiko 307, 333 Fernando Po 34 Fernand Vaz River 206 Fetichism 464 Fetich-seminary 233 Frere, Sir Bartle, his Mission to Zanzibar.. ..439 Gaboon River 184 Gallas, the 24 Galos, the 232 Gabon, Francis 152, 159 Gassiot, the explorer 5 Gazawa 64 Gazelle River 56, 290, 421, 425 Geer . . ..4=0 Ghanze t59 Ghattas 422 Giraffe, the 17 492 INDEX. Glasgow Missionary Society 466 Gnu, the 17 Gold Coast . . .28 Gondokoro 289 Gorilla, the 193, 195, 203, 206, 208, 220 Goumbi 206 Grain Coast 28 Grass-barrier, the 425 Green, the elephant-hunter 166, 170 Griqua-land 30 Guinea Coast 27 Hamilton, the missionary 480 Harris, the explorer 4 Hartmann, Dr 419 Herodotus 1 Hippopotamus, the 17 Hippopotamus-hunters 412 Honey -guide, the 338 Homemann, Frederic Conrad 46 Hottentots 25 Houssa 33 Hovas, the 36 Huet 2 Humboldt Institution, the 419 Imaum of Muscat 460 Inhabitans of Africa. . 20 Itawa-Lunda 382, 385 Ivory Coast 28 Ivory merchants 421 Jews in Africa 23 Joliba, or Niger, the 13 Jondo-Goiro, King of the Galos 235 Jononga Lake 233 Kabebo, capital of Moluwa 181 Kabyles, the 21 Kaffraria, British 29 KafFres, the 24 Kagan da 168 Kalahari Desert 10, 94, 418 Kalongosi River 386 Kamrasi King of Unyoro. .288, 308, 309, 324, 325 Karuma Falls 289 Kano 34, 65 Karagwe 273 Kamak Ix>gon 77 Kasai River 135 Katanga 391 Katchiba, the sorcerer- chief 302, 304 Katema 133 Katsena 64 Kawara, or Niger, the 12, 57 Kazeh 250, 27* Kenia, Mount s> 54 Kilimandjaro, Mount 5, 54 Kimbundas, the 171, 178 K | rk * Dr 337 Kissangi, the 1?3 K issere (Arabian bread) 428 Kitangule River 277 Kizinga 39 6 Kobshi, curious custom connected with 73 Koffee Kalkalli, King of Ashantee 84 Kolobeng 52 Kom&dugu, the 67 Kombala 176 Kooloo-Kamba, the 207 Kordofan 3 6 Krapf, Dr 5 Kukawa 68 Kunagera i 456 Kunene (or Cunene) River 158, 166 Kuruman 89 Lacerda, Dr 3 qo Laing, Alexander Gordon 50 I^ke Anengue 204 Lake Bangweolo 369, 387, 392, 414 Lake Dilolo i 3 $ Lake Liemba 3 8 i Lake Lincoln 402 Lake Moero 584, 386 Lake Mofwe 387 Lake Ngami 96, 163, 165 Lake Nyassa 340 Lake Omanbonde 153, 16S Lake Shirwa 340 Lake Tanganyika 259, 358, 367, 399 Lander, Richard 49 Latooka 296 Latookas, the 298 Lattakoo 477 Lechulatebe, chief of the Batoana.97, 99, 160, 163 Leeambye River (same as Zambesi). Leeba River 123, 128, 129, 132 Libebe 164, 166 I.iemba, Lake 381 Lincoln, Lake 402 Lingi-Lingi Mts 174 Liny anti 1x4 Lion, the African 19 Livingstonf, David, his early years, 87 : joins the London Missionary Society, 88 : arrives a • Cape Town, 88 : reaches Kuruman, 89 ; settles among the Bechuanas, 89 ; removes to Ma- botsa, 89 ; adventure with a lion, 89 ; attaches himself to Sechele’s tribe, 91 ; removes with them to Kolobeng, 92 ; starts for I.ake Ngami, INDEX. 493 93 ; reaches the Zouga, 95 ; discovers the Lake, 96 ; fails in an attempt to penetrate to the iiakololo country, 98 ; returns to Kclobeng, 98 ; makes a second attempt to reach Sebitu- anc, 99 ; succeeds in a third attempt, 100 ; visits Scbituane at Scshekc, 102 ; discovers the Zambesi River, 104 ; returns to Kolobeng, 105 ; sends his family to England, 106 ; sets out on a journey across the continent, 107 ; reaches Liuyanti, 114; is attacked with fever, 118; leaves Linyanti, 119; reaches the Zambesi, 120 ; ascends the river in canoes, 121 ; dis- covers the Leeba River, 123 ; returns to Lin- yanti to prepare for his journey to the West Coast, 124 ; embarks on the Chobe, 125 ; as- cends the Zambesi and the Leeba to the town of Manenko, 126 ; visits Shinte, chief of the Baton da, 130 ; sets out from Shinte’ s capital, 132 ; reaches Katcma’s town, 133 ; Lake Dilolo, 135 ; discovers the Kasai River, 135 ; the peo- ple of this region, 136 ; encounter with hostile Chiboque, 136 ; crosses the Quito and enters Portuguese territory, 140 ; arrives at St. Paul de Loanda, where he remains four months, 141 ; leaves Loanda on his return journey, 142 ; boat attacked by a hippopotamus, 145 ; reaches Linyanti, 145 ; resolves to descend the Zam- besi to the East Coast, 146 ; discovers the Victoria Palls, 146; reaches Quillimane, 150; sails for England, 150 ; returns to Africa to ex- plore the Zambesi River qnd its affluents, 335 ; scenery along the river, 336; explores the river Shire, 339 ; discovers Lake Shirwa, 340 ; discovers Lake Nyassa, 340; re-visits Lin- yanti, 341 ; death of Mrs. Livingstone, 341 ; the expedition recalled by the Government, 342 ; returns to England, 342 ; summary of the results of the expedition, 342 ; returns to Africa, strikes into the interior, and spends six years in exploring the Lake region, 360 ; is found at Ujiji by Stanley, 365 ; explores with Stanley the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, 367 ; letter to James Gordon Bennett, Jr., 368 ; his “ Last Journals,” 375 ; origin of his Seven Years’ Expedition, 375 ; sets out from Mikin- dany Bay for I.ake Nyassa, 376; difficulties with his men, 376 ; horrors of the Kilwa slave- trade, 377 ; reaches I.ake Nyassa, 377 ; rounds the southern shore of the I.ake and marches northward, 378 ; curious burial custom, 379 ; reaches the Chambeze River, 380 ; loss of his : medicine-chest, 380 ; reaches Lake Liemba, the southern part of Tanganyika, 381 ; des- patch to Lord Clarendon describing his ex- plorations, 382 ; falls in with Arab ivory and slave-hunters, 384 ; account of Nsama’s people, 1 385 ; discovers Lake Moero, 386 ; visits Ca- sembe’s town, 387 ; reception by Cascmbc, 388 ; detention in Lunda, 392 ; discovers Lake Bangweolo, 392 ; war between the Arabs and natives, 393 ; treatise on the Central African climate, 394 ; theory of the Nile sources, 397 ; march to Lake Tanganyika, 398 ; has a severe attack of pneumonia, 398 ; reaches Ujiji, 399 ; sets out for Manyuema, 400 ; description of the country and people, 400 ; tries to reach the Lualaba River, 401 ; laid up three months with ulcers on the feet, 402 ; naming the rivers and lakes discovered, 402 ; account of the Soko, a new ape, 403 ; reaches the Lualaba, 406 ; frightful massacre of the natives by Arabs* 406 ; Livingstone overcome with horror, 409 ; returns to Ujiji, 410 ; meeting with Stanley, 410 ; accompanies Stanley to Unyanyembe, 411 ; object of his last explorations, 411 ; here- ditary hippopotamus-hunters, 412 ; sets out for Lake Bangweolo, 414; failing health, 414; crosses the Chambeze, 415 ; last days, 415 ; death, 416 ; his character and achievements, 417 ; buried in Westminster Abbey, 418. Loanda, St. Paul de 141 Loango 28 Loangwa River 379 Lobal 183 Lobemba 382 Lobisa 3 8a Lokalueje River 132 Londa 126, 388 London Missionary Society 88, 465 Lualaba River.. 36, 57, 58, 369, 373, 399, 402, 406 Luapula River 57* 3 8 ^ Lukuga River 399 Luta Nzige. ( See Albert Nyanza.) Lyon, George Francis 5° Mabotsa 89 Mackenzie, Bishop 343 Madagascar, its geographical position, 35 ; phy- sical geography, 35 ; climate, 35 ; inhabitants, 35 ; conversion to Christianity, 36 ; ancient religion, 36; reign of Radama I., 37; mis- sionaries driven out, 38 ; persecution of the native converts, 38 ; accession of Radama II. ; missionaries recalled, 39 ; progress of the island in civilization, 40. Madeiras, the 34 Magungo J03, 305, 315 Magyar, Ladislals. 59 ; early life, 171 ; strikes inland from Benguela, 171 ; terrible passage of the coast mountains, 172 ; scales the T.ingi- I.ingi mountains, 174 ; establishes his residence in Bihe, 175 ; visits the King, 176 ; native su* 494 INDEX. perstitions, 175, 177 ; marries the king’s daugh- ter, 178 ; sets out for the Mohiwa Kingdom, 179 ; crosses the Oloxvihenda forests, 179 ; resi- dency in Moluwa, 181 : returns to Bihe, 182 ; reaches the Kunene River, 183 ; other explora- tions, 183. Makololo, the 97, 104, 116, 119, 123, 345 Makololo dance 123 Makololo huts 123 Makombwe, the 412 Malagarazi River 253 Malaghetta or Grain Coast 28 Mambari, the 105 Marnochisane, daughter of Sebituane. ..104, 114 Manenko, a female chief Manganja, the 379 Manyuema 399, 401 Masinje River 377 Matiamvo 133 Matsebele, the 487 Mauritius 34 Mazitu the 378 Mbene 192 Mbozhwa, the 393 Meshera, the Mesne Metals, value of in Africa Methodist Missions 469 Mikincany Bay 376 Mirambo 363 Mittoo tribes, the 435 Moero, Lake 384, 386 Moffat, Robert, 471 ; joins the London Mis- sionary Society, 371 ; goes to Namaqua-land, 472 ; at Africaner’s Kraal, 472 ; missionary jour- neys, 475 ; journey to Griqua-land, 476 ; ad- venture with baboons, 477 ; visit to Cape Town, 477 ; settlers at Kuruman, 481 ; rain-makers, 482 ; missionary labors, 486 ; houses in trees, 487 ; return to England, 482. Mofwe, Lake 387 Molehabangue 486 Moluwa 179, 181 Moluwas, the 181 Mombas 54 Monbuttoo, the 447 Moors, the 22 Moravian Missions 466 Morocc^ 26 Moshesh, King of the Basutos 486 “ Mountains of the Moon” 10 Mourning-time with the Camma 205 Mozambique 33 Mp mgwe, the 1S3 Mpongwe method of choosing a king 186 M'rooli, capital of Unyoro 3 o 8 Mtesa, King of Uganda 277. 279 Mu-Kankala, the 180 Mummery 454 Mundombe, the 172 Munza, King of the Monbuttoo 440, 443, 446 Murchison Falls 318, 339 Murray 93 Murzook 62 Naliele Nangoro, chief of the Ovambos 155 Natal 29, 30 Ndiayai, King of the Fan 197 Nccho, King of Egypt 1 Ngami, Lake 96, 163, 165 Nganye, a Niam-Niam chief. 436 Niam-Niam, the 437 Niger, the 12, -57 Nile, account of the 11, 53, 290, 397, 458 Nsama 384 Nsewue, the Akka 455 Ntambounay Falls 193 Nubia. . . 26 Nubians, the. 20 Nyassa Lake 340 Obbo 301 Obindji, chief of the Bakalai 207 Ogowai River 232, 236 Okamabuti 154 Okavangari, the 169 Okavango River 169 Old Kalabar Missions 469 Olenda, King of the Ashiras 215 Olowihenda forests 180 Omanbonde, Lake 153, 168 Omar, Sheikh 68 Orange River, the 13 Ostrich, the 107 Oswell 93 Otjidambi 167 Otjombinde 159 Otjimbingue 170 Ovambo, the 154 Overweg. (See Barth.) Palace of the King of Uganda 278 Palmerston Fountain 402 Palmyra Palm 95 Paris Missionary Society 466 Park, Mungo 44 Patooan Island 320 Petherick 56 Phoenicians, the Plant, Mr., of Natal 6 Polygamy 190, 201, 210, 212, 433, 449 INDEX. 495 Munza’s capital, 440 ; Munza’s palace, 440 ; state reception by the King, 441 ; the public hall, 442 ; Munza, 443 ; Munza dancing before his wives, 446 ; account of the Monbuitoo, 447 ; their cannibalism, 450; the Pygmies, 451; Adimokoo, 452 ; Pygmy soldiers, 454 : Nsewue, the Akka, 455 ; returns to Ghana's seriba, 456 ; the seriba burnt, Schwcinfurth barely es- caping with his life, 457 ; later travels, 457 ; re- turns to Europe, 458. Sebituane 97, 99, 102 Sechele 91 Radama I. of Madagascar 36 Segu.. Port Rek 4»5 Portuguese, they circumnavigate Africa 2 Portuguese settlements 3 ° Ptolemies, the * Pungo Adongo, rocks of »43 Pygmies, the 45 * Quacha, the 17 (Jucngucza, King 204 Quillimane > 5 ° Quito River > 4 ° Radama II 38 Rasoherina, Queen of Madagascar 40 Rain-makers 9 *> 4 ® 2 Ranavalona, Queen of Madagascar 38 Redmann, the missionary 5 Religion, native 26, 464 Remandji, chief of the Apingi 218 Rhinoceros, the Richardson. (See Barth.) Rionga 307, 3 *1 Ripon Falls Romans, the Rovuma River Kumanika, King of Karagwe Ruppelt, the explorer Russeger, the explorer 4 Rusist River 367 Sackatoo 34 Sahara, Desert of 8, 27 Sanshureh River i«2 Scheppmansdorf 152 Schmidt, George 466 Schweinfurth, Dr. Georg, 419 ; first journey in Africa, 419 : aided by the Humboldt Insti- tution to make a botanical exploration of the equatorial Nile region, 419; lands in Africa second time, 420 ; joins the company of one of the ivory merchants, 422 : starts from Khar- toom, 422 ; account of the Shillook tribe, 423 ; struggle through the grass-barrier, 42s ; voy- age up the Gazelle River. 425 : the march in- land to Ghatta’s seriba , 426 ; account of the Dinkas, 426 ; the seriba, 428 : explores the Dyoor River, 429; festival at Geer, 429. ac- count of the Dyoor tribe, 430 ; plants a vege- table garden, 431 ; account of the Bongo, 431 ; joins the expedition of Mohammed Aboo Sammnt, 434 ; sets out for the country of the Niam-Niam, 434 : account of the Mittoo tribe, 435 ; the final start, 436 ; account of the Niam- Niam, 437: journey southward, 438; the water-shed of the Nile, 439 ; entry into King Sekeletu, chief of the Makololo 114 Sekwebu, the Makololo 150 Senegal, the river Scnegambia 27 Serval, Lieutenant, his travels on theOgowai, 231 ; ascends the river in canoes, 231 ; hostility of the natives, 232 ; visits the Sacred Lake Jononga, 233 ; curious phenomena, 233, 234 ; reception by the priest-king Jondo-Goiro, 235 ; visits Anengtie Iaike, 236; returns to the roast, 236. Shary, or Shari, the 79 Shaw 357 Shckianis, the 190 Shendy 47 Shillooks, the 422 Shinte, chief of the Balonda 130 Shire River 339, 342 Shirwa, Lake 340 Shokuane 91 Shutuhs, the 21 Shobo, the Bushman 100, 101 Sierra Leone 28 Slave Coast 28 Slave-trade, .... 103, 115, 210, 241, 329, 331, 352, 376 . 377 . 3S6, 457, 459 Snake-hunt in the Dilolo Swamp 183 Sobat River 290 Socotra 34 Sofala 33 Soko, the 403 Somali country 33 Somerville, the explorer 4 Soud bin Sayd 363 Southern American Baptist Missions 470 Sparrman, Andrew 43 Si'EKE, Cart. John Hanning, 267 ; joins Bur- ton’s expedition to Lake Tanganyika, 238 ; discovers the Victoria Nyanza, 266 ; organizes a second expedition 10 Africa in company with Capt. Grant, 268 ; starts from Zanzibar for the interior, 209: the caravan, 263; arrival at Kazeh, 271 ; detained by native wars, 271 ; 496 INDEX. march across Uzinza and Usui, 272 ; Karagwe, 273 ; interview with King Rumanika, 273 ; a royal beauty, 276 : starts for Uganda, 277 ; ar- rival at King Mtesa’s palace, 277 ; introduc- tion at court, 278 ; detention in Uganda, 285 ; sets out for Unyoro, 286 ; reaches the Nile, 286 ; ascends the river to the point where it flows out of the Victoria Nyanza. 287 ; contin- ues the march to the capital of Unyoro, 288 ; ex- tortions of King Kamrasi, 289 ; descending the Nile, 289 ; march to Gondokoro, 289 ; meets Baker, 290 ; account of the Nile and its affluents, 290 ; return to England, and death, 291. " Sponges,” 378, 395 Spingbok, the 18 Stanley, Henry M., 355; commissioned by the Herald to search for Livingstone, 355 ; or- ganizing his expedition, 356 ; the route of travel between the coast and Lake Tangan- yika, 353 ; summary of Livingstone’s journeys from 1866 to the time when Stanley found him at Ujiji, 360 ; Stanley's march to Unyan- yembe, 361 ; news of Livingstone, 361 ; arrival at Unyanyembe, 363 ; war with the natives, 363 ; defeated, 363 ; makes a southern detour to Ujiji, 364 ; meeting with Livingstone, 365 ; explores the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, 367 ; Rusisi River, flows into, and not out of, the Lake, 367 ; Livingstone’s letter to Mr. Bennett, 369 ; returns with Livingstone to Unyanyembe, 371 ; march to the coast, 371 ; arrival in England, 372 ; honors accorded him, 373 - St. Helena 34 St. Thomas 34 Susi 376, 415 Suwarora, King of Usui . 272 Sway Rb'er 439 Syed Burghash, Sultan of Zanzibar 463 Tanganyika, Lake 259, 358, 367, 399 Tarrangolle 299 Tete 146 Thomson, the explorer. 4 Tibbps, the 20 Tiger, the 19 Tirabuctoo 33 Tinnd, Madame & Mile 56 Tirikeza, the 242 Transvaal Republic 32 Tree-huts 487 Tripoli 26 Trotter, Captain 4 Tsad, cr Tchad, I^ake 3, 8 Istetse fly, the 101 Tuaricks, the 23 Tuckey, James Kingston 48 Tunis 26 Tunobis 159 Turks in Africa 53 Uganda 277 Ugogi...'. 246 Ugogo 248, 362 Ujiji 263 Ulungu 382 Universities Mission, the 342, 343 Unyanyembe 251 Unyamwezi 250, 253 Unyoro 286, 306 Usagara 244 Usui 272 Uzinza 271 Vacovia 313 Vaillant, the explorer 4 Vardon, Captain 5 Vegetation of Africa 15 Victoria Falls 146, 349 Victoria Nile, the 314, 321 Victoria Nyanza 55, 287 Waday 34 Wagogo, the 248 Wahuma, the 271 VVahumba, the 249 Wajiji, the 264 Wak’hutu, the 240 Wakimbu, the 255 Walfisch Bay 152 Wanyamwezi, the 255 Wasagara, the 245 Watershed of the Nile 439 Wazaramo, the 239 Webb’B River 402 Welle River 440 Wesleyan Missions 466 West Coast 27 White Nile 53, 290 Windy or Windward Coast 28 Yorubah 467 Young’s River 402 Zalyanyama Mountains 378 Zambesi, the 13, 104, 120, 128, 150, 335, 351 Zanzibar 33, 35s Zebra, the 17 Zouga, the 95 Zulu-land 30 Zungomero. ...1 240