The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile, And Explorations of the Nile Sources

The chief of Farajoke, observing me engaged in taking bearings with the compass, was anxious to know my object, which being explained, he volunteered all information respecting the country, and assured me that it would be quite impossible to cross the Asua during the rainy season, as it was a violent torrent, rushing over a rocky bed with such impetuosity, that no one would venture to swim it. There was nothing to be done at this season, and however trying to the patience, there was no alternative. Farajoke was within three days' hard marching of Faloro, the station of Debono, that had always been my projected head-quarters; thus I was well advanced upon my intended route, and had the season been propitious, I could have proceeded with my baggage animals without difficulty.

The loss of my horse "Filfil" was a severe blow in this wild region, where beasts of burthen were unknown, and I had slight hopes of his recovery, as lions were plentiful in the country between Obbo and Farajoke; however, I offered a reward of beads and bracelets, and a number of natives were sent by the chief to scour the jungles. There was little use in remaining at Farajoke, therefore I returned to Obbo with my men and donkeys, accomplishing the whole distance (thirty miles) in one day. I was very anxious about Mrs. Baker, who had been the representative of the expedition at Obbo during my absence. Upon my approach through the forest, my well-known whistle was immediately answered by the appearance of the boy Saat, who, without any greeting, immediately rushed to the hut to give the intelligence that "Master was arrived."

I found my wife looking remarkably well, and regularly installed "at home." Several fat sheep were tied by the legs to pegs in front of the hut; a number of fowls were pecking around the entrance, and my wife awaited me on the threshold with a large pumpkin shell containing about a gallon of native beer. "Dulce domum," although but a mud hut, the loving welcome made it happier than a palace; and that draught of beer, or fermented mud, or whatever trash it might be compared with in England, how delicious it seemed after a journey of thirty miles in the broiling sun! and the fat sheep and the fowls all looked so luxurious. Alas!—for destiny—my arrival cut short the existence of one being; what was joy to some was death to a sheep, and in a few moments the fattest was slain in honour of master's return, and my men were busily employed in preparing it for a general feast.

Numbers of people gathered round me: foremost among them was the old chief Katchiba, whose self-satisfied countenance exhibited an extreme purity of conscience in having adhered to his promise to act as guardian during my absence. Mrs. Baker gave him an excellent character; he had taken the greatest care of her, and had supplied all the luxuries that had so much excited my appetite on the first coup d'oeil of my home. He had been so mindful of his responsibility, that he had placed some of his own sons as sentries over the hut both by day and night.

I accordingly made him a present of many beads and bracelets, and a few odds and ends, that threw him into ecstacies: he had weak eyes, and the most valued present was a pair of sun-goggles, which I fitted on his head, to his intense delight, and exhibited in a looking-glass—this being likewise added to his gifts. I noticed that he was very stiff in the back, and he told me that he had had a bad fall during my absence. My wife explained the affair. He had come to her to declare his intention of procuring fowls for her from some distant village; but, said he, "My people are not very good, and perhaps they will say that they have none; but if you will lend me a horse, I will ride there, and the effect will impose upon them so much, that they will not dare to refuse me." Now, Katchiba was not a good walker, and his usual way of travelling was upon the back of a very strong subject, precisely as children are wont to ride "pic-a-back." He generally had two or three spare men, who alternately acted as guides and ponies, while one of his wives invariably accompanied him, bearing a large jar of beer, with which it was said that the old chief refreshed himself so copiously during the journey, that it sometimes became necessary for two men to carry him instead of one. This may have been merely a scandalous report in Obbo; however, it appeared that Katchiba was ready for a start, as usual accompanied by a Hebe with a jar of beer. Confident in his powers as a rider across country on a man, he considered that he could easily ride a horse. It was in vain that my wife had protested, and had prophesied a broken neck should he attempt to bestride the hitherto unknown animal: to ride he was determined.

Accordingly my horse Tetel was brought, and Katchiba was assisted upon his back. The horse recognising an awkward hand, did not move a step. "Now then," said Katchiba, "go on!" but Tetel, not understanding the Obbo language, was perfectly ignorant of his rider's wishes. "Why won't he go?" inquired Katchiba. "Touch him with your stick," cried one of my men; and acting upon the suggestion, the old sorcerer gave him a tremendous whack with his staff. This was immediately responded to by Tetel, who, quite unused to such eccentricities, gave a vigorous kick, the effect of which was to convert the sorcerer into a spread eagle, flying over his head, and landing very heavily upon the ground, amidst a roar of laughter from my men, in which I am afraid Mrs. Baker was rude enough to join. The crest-fallen Katchiba was assisted upon his legs, and feeling rather stunned, he surveyed the horse with great astonishment; but his natural instincts soon prompted him to call for the jar of beer, and after a long draught from the mighty cup, he regained his courage, and expressed an opinion that the horse was "too high, as it was a long way to tumble down;" he therefore requested one of the "little horses;" these were the donkeys. Accordingly he was mounted on a donkey, and held on by two men, one on either side. Thus he started most satisfactorily and exceedingly proud. On his return the following day, he said that the villagers had given him the fowls immediately, as he had told them that he had thirty Turks staying with him on a visit, and that they would burn and plunder the country unless they were immediately supplied. He considered this trifling deviation from fact as a great stroke of diplomacy in procuring the fowls.

Six days after the loss of my horse, I was delighted to see him brought back by the natives safe and well. They had hunted through an immense tract of country, and had found him grazing. He was naturally a most vicious horse, and the natives were afraid to touch him; they had accordingly driven him before them until they gained the path, which he then gladly followed. The saddle was in its place, but my sword was gone.

The rains were terrific; the mornings were invariably fine, but the clouds gathered upon the mountains soon after noon and ended daily in a perfect deluge. Not being able to proceed south, I determined to return to my head-quarters at Latooka, and to wait for the dry season. I had made the reconnaissance to Farajoke, in latitude 3 degrees 32', and I saw my way clear for the future, provided my animals should remain in good condition. Accordingly, on the 21st of May, we started for Latooka in company with Ibrahim and his men, who were thoroughly sick of the Obbo climate.

Before parting, a ceremony had to be performed by Katchiba. His brother was to be our guide, and he was to receive power to control the elements as deputy-magician during the journey, lest we should be wetted by the storms, and the torrents should be so swollen as to be impassable.

With great solemnity Katchiba broke a branch from a tree, upon the leaves of which he spat in several places. This branch, thus blessed with holy water, was laid upon the ground, and a fowl was dragged around it by the chief; and our horses were then operated on precisely in the same manner as had been enacted at Farajoke. This ceremony completed, he handed the branch to his brother (our guide), who received it with much gravity, in addition to a magic whistle of antelope's horn that he suspended from his neck. All the natives wore whistles similar in appearance, being simply small horns in which they blew, the sound of which was considered either to attract or to drive away rain, at the option of the whistler. No whistle was supposed to be effective unless it had been blessed by the great magician Katchiba. The ceremony being over, all commenced whistling with all their might; and taking leave of Katchiba, with an assurance that we should again return, we started amidst a din of "toot too too-ing" upon our journey. Having an immense supply of ammunition at Latooka, I left about 200 lbs. of shot and ball with Katchiba; therefore my donkeys had but little to carry, and we travelled easily.

That night we bivouacked at the foot of the east-side of the pass at about half-past five. Ibrahimawa, the Bornu man whom I have already described as the amateur botanist, had become my great ally in searching for all that was curious and interesting. Proud of his knowledge of wild plants, no sooner was the march ended than he commenced a search in the jungles for something esculent.

We were in a deep gorge on a steep knoll bounded by a ravine about sixty feet of perpendicular depth, at the bottom of which flowed a torrent. This was an excellent spot for a camp, as no guards were necessary upon the side thus protected. Bordering the ravine were a number of fine trees covered with a thorny stem creeper, with leaves much resembling those of a species of yam. These were at once pronounced by Ibrahimawa to be a perfect god-send, and after a few minutes' grubbing he produced a basketful of fine-looking yams. In an instant this display of food attracted a crowd of hungry people, including those of Ibrahim and my own men, who, not being botanists, had left the search for food to Ibrahimawa, but who determined to share the tempting results. A rush was made at his basket, which was emptied on the instant; and I am sorry to confess that the black angel Saat was one of the first to seize three or four of the largest yams, which he most unceremoniously put in a pot and deliberately cooked as though he had been the botanical discoverer. How often the original discoverer suffers, while others benefit from his labours! Ibrahimawa, the scientific botanist, was left without a yam, after all his labour of grubbing up a basketful. Pots were boiling in all directions, and a feast in store for the hungry men who had marched twenty miles without eating since the morning.

The yams were cooked; but I did not like the look of them, and seeing that the multitude were ready, I determined to reserve a few for our own eating should they be generally pronounced good. The men ate them voraciously. Hardly ten minutes had elapsed from the commencement of the feast when first one and then another disappeared, and from a distance I heard a smothered but unmistakeable sound, that reminded me of the lurching effect of a channel steamer upon a crowd of passengers. Presently the boy Saat showed symptoms of distress, and vanished from our presence; and all those that had dined off Ibrahimawa's botanical specimens were suffering from a most powerful "vomi-purgatif." The angels that watch over scientific botanists had preserved Ibrahimawa from all evil. He had discovered the yams, and the men had stolen them from him; they enjoyed the fruits, while he gained an experience invaluable at their expense. I was quite contented to have waited until others had tried them before I made the experiment. Many of the yam tribe are poisonous; there is one variety much liked at Obbo, but which is deadly in its effects should it be eaten without a certain preparation. It is first scraped, and then soaked in a running stream for a fortnight. It is then cut into thin slices, and dried in the sun until quite crisp; by this means it is rendered harmless. The dried slices are stored for use; and they are generally pounded in a mortar into flour, and used as a kind of porridge.

The sickness of the people continued for about an hour, during which time all kinds of invectives were hurled against Ibrahimawa, and his botany was termed a gigantic humbug. From that day he was very mild in his botanical conversation.

On the following morning we crossed the last range of rocky hills, and descended to the Latooka valley. Up to this point, we had seen no game; but we had now arrived in the game country, and shortly after our descent from the rocks we saw a herd of about twenty Tetel (hartebeest). Unfortunately, just as I dismounted for the purpose of stalking them, the red flags of the Turks attracted the attention of a large party of baboons, who were sitting on the rocks, and they commenced their hoarse cry of alarm, and immediately disturbed the Tetel. One of the men, in revenge, fired a long shot at a great male, who was sitting alone upon a high rock, and by chance the ball struck him in the head. He was an immense specimen of the Cynocephalus, about as large as a mastiff, but with a long brown mane like that of the lion. This mane is much prized by the natives as an ornament. He was immediately skinned, and the hide was cut into long strips about three inches broad: the portion of mane adhering had the appearance of a fringe; each strip was worn as a scarf; thus one skin will produce about eight or ten ornaments.

I sent my men to camp, and, accompanied by Richarn, mounted on my horse "Mouse," I rode through the park-like ground in quest of game. I saw varieties of antelopes, including the rare and beautiful maharif; but all were so wild, and the ground so open, that I could not get a shot. This was the more annoying, as the maharif was an antelope that I believed to be a new species. It had often disappointed me; for although I had frequently seen them on the south-west frontier of Abyssinia, I had never been able to procure one, owing to their extreme shyness, and to the fact of their inhabiting open plains, where stalking was impossible. I had frequently examined them with a telescope, and had thus formed an intimate acquaintance with their peculiarities. The maharif is very similar to the roan antelope of South Africa, but is mouse colour, with black and white stripes upon the face. The horns are exactly those of the roan antelope, very massive and corrugated, bending backwards to the shoulders. The withers are extremely high, which give a peculiarly heavy appearance to the shoulders, much heightened by a large and stiff black mane like that of a hog-maned horse. I have a pair of horns in my possession that I obtained through the assistance of a lion, who killed the maharif while drinking near my tent; unfortunately, the skin was torn to pieces, and the horns and skull were all that remained.

Failing, as usual, in my endeavours to obtain a shot, I made a considerable circuit, and shortly observed the tall heads of giraffes towering over the low mimosas. There is no animal in nature so picturesque in his native haunts as the giraffe. His food consists of the leaves of trees, some qualities forming special attractions, especially the varieties of the mimosa, which, being low, permit an extensive view to his telescopic eyes. He has a great objection to high forests. The immense height of the giraffe gives him a peculiar advantage, as he can command an extraordinary range of vision, and thereby be warned against the approach of his two great enemies, man and the lion. No animal is more difficult to stalk than the giraffe, and the most certain method of hunting is that pursued by the Hamran Arabs, on the frontiers of Abyssinia, who ride him down and hamstring him with the broadsword at full gallop. A good horse is required, as, although the gait of a giraffe appears excessively awkward from the fact of his moving the fore and hind legs of one side simultaneously, he attains a great pace, owing to the length of his stride, and his bounding trot is more than a match for any but a superior horse.

The hoof is as beautifully proportioned as that of the smallest gazelle, and his lengthy legs and short back give him every advantage for speed and endurance. There is a rule to be observed in hunting the giraffe on horseback: the instant he starts, he must be pressed—it is the speed that tells upon him, and the spurs must be at work at the very commencement of the hunt, and the horse pressed along at his best pace; it must be a race at top speed from the start, but, should the giraffe be allowed the slightest advantage for the first five minutes, the race will be against the horse.

I was riding "Filfil," my best horse for speed, but utterly useless for the gun. I had a common regulation-sword hanging on my saddle in lieu of the long Arab broadsword that I had lost at Obbo, and starting at full gallop at the same instant as the giraffes, away we went over the beautiful park. Unfortunately Richarn was a bad rider, and I, being encumbered with a rifle, had no power to use the sword. I accordingly trusted to ride them down and to get a shot, but I felt that the unsteadiness of my horse would render it very uncertain. The wind whistled in my ears as we flew along over the open plain. The grass was not more than a foot high, and the ground hard; the giraffes about four hundred yards distant steaming along, and raising a cloud of dust from the dry earth, as on this side of the mountains there had been no rain. Filfil was a contradiction; he loved a hunt and had no fear of wild animals, but he went mad at the sound of a gun. Seeing the magnificent herd of about fifteen giraffes before him, the horse entered into the excitement and needed no spur—down a slight hollow, flying over the dry buffalo holes, now over a dry watercourse and up the incline on the other side—then again on the level, and the dust in my eyes from the cloud raised by the giraffes showed that we were gaining in the race; misericordia!—low jungle lay before us—the giraffes gained it, and spurring forward through a perfect cloud of dust now within a hundred yards of the game we shot through the thorny bushes. In another minute or two I was close up, and a splendid bull giraffe was crashing before me like a locomotive obelisk through the mimosas, bending the elastic boughs before him in his irresistible rush, which sprang back with a force that would have upset both horse and rider had I not carefully kept my distance. The jungle seemed alive with the crowd of orange red, the herd was now on every side, as I pressed the great bull before me. Oh for an open plain! I was helpless to attack, and it required the greatest attention to keep up the pace through the thick mimosas without dashing against their stems and branches. The jungle became thicker, and although I was in the middle of the herd and within ten yards of several giraffes, I could do nothing. A mass of thick and tangled thorns now received them, and closed over the hardly-contested race—I was beaten.

Never mind, it was a good hunt—first-rate—but where was my camp? It was nearly dark, and I could just distinguish the pass in the distance, by which we had descended the mountain; thus I knew the direction but I had ridden about three miles, and it would be dark before I could return. However, I followed the heel tracks of the herd of giraffes. Richarn was nowhere. Although I had lost the race, and was disappointed, I now consoled myself that it was all for the best; had I killed a giraffe at that hour and distance from camp, what good would it have been? I was quite alone; thus who could have found it during the night? and before morning it would have been devoured by lions and hyenas; inoffensive and beautiful creatures, what a sin it appeared to destroy them uselessly! With these consoling and practical reflections I continued my way, until a branch of hooked thorn fixing in my nose disturbed the train of ideas and persuaded me that it was very dark, and that I had lost my way, as I could no longer distinguish either the tracks of the giraffes or the position of the mountains. Accordingly I fired my rifle as a signal, and soon after I heard a distant report in reply, and the blaze of a fire shot up suddenly in the distance on the side of the mountain. With the help of this beacon I reached the spot where our people were bivouacked; they had lighted the beacon on a rock about fifty feet above the level, as although some twenty or thirty fires were blazing, they had been obscured by the intervening jungle. I found both my wife and my men in an argumentative state as to the propriety of my remaining alone so late in the jungle; however, I also found dinner ready; the angareps (stretcher bedsteads) arranged by a most comfortable blazing fire, and a glance at the star-lit heavens assured me of a fine night—what more can man wish for?—wife, welcome, food, fire, and fine weather?

The bivouac in the wilderness has many charms; there is a complete independence—the sentries are posted, the animals picketed and fed, and the fires arranged in a complete circle around the entire party—men, animals, and luggage all within the fiery ring; the sentries alone being on the outside. There is a species of ironwood that is very inflammable, and being oily, it burns like a torch; this grew in great quantities, and the numerous fires fed with this vigorous fuel enlivened the bivouac with a continual blaze. My men were busy, baking their bread. On such occasions an oven is dispensed with. A prodigious fire is made while the dough is being prepared; this, when well moistened, is formed into a cake about two feet in diameter, but not thicker than two inches. The fire being in a fit state of glowing ash, a large hole is scraped in the centre, in which the flat cake is laid, and the red-hot embers are raked over it; thus buried it will bake in about twenty minutes, but the dough must be exceedingly moist or it will burn to a cinder.

On the following day we arrived at Latooka, where I found everything in good order at the depot, and the European vegetables that I had sown were all above ground. Commoro and a number of people came to meet us.

There had been but little rain at Latooka since we left, although it had been raining heavily at Obbo daily, and there was no difference in the dry sandy plain that surrounded the town, neither was there any pasturage for the animals except at a great distance.

The day after my arrival, Filfil was taken ill and died in a few hours. Tetel had been out of condition ever since the day of his failure during the elephant hunt, and he now refused his food. Sickness rapidly spread through my animals; five donkeys died within a few days, and the remainder looked poor. Two of my camels died suddenly, having eaten the poison-bush. Within a few days of this disaster my good old hunter and companion of all my former sports in the Base country, Tetel, died. These terrible blows to my expedition were most satisfactory to the Latookas, who ate the donkeys and other animals the moment they died. It was a race between the natives and the vultures as to who should be first to profit by my losses.

Not only were the animals sick, but my wife was laid up with a violent attack of gastric fever, and I was also suffering from daily attacks of ague. The small-pox broke out among the Turks. Several people died; and, to make matters worse, they insisted upon inoculating themselves and all their slaves; thus the whole camp was reeking with this horrible disease.

Fortunately my camp was separate and to windward. I strictly forbade my men to inoculate themselves, and no case of the disease occurred among my people, but it spread throughout the country. Small-pox is a scourge among the tribes of Central Africa, and it occasionally sweeps through the country and decimates the population.

Among the natives of Obbo, who had accompanied us to Latooka, was a man named Wani, who had formerly travelled far to the south, and had offered to conduct Ibrahim to a country rich in ivory that had never been visited by a trader: this man had accordingly been engaged as guide arid interpreter. In an examination of Wani I discovered that the cowrie-shells were brought from a place called "Magungo." This name I had previously heard mentioned by the natives, but I could obtain no clue to its position. It was most important that I should discover the exact route by which the cowries arrived from the south, as it would be my guide to that direction. The information that I received from Wani at Latooka was excessively vague, and upon most slender data I founded my conclusions so carefully that my subsequent discoveries have rendered most interesting the first scent of the position which I eventually followed with success. I accordingly extract, verbatim, from my journal the note written by me at Latooka on the 26th of May, 1863, when I first received the clue to the Albert N'yanza: "I have had a long examination of Wani, the guide and interpreter, respecting the country of Magungo. Loggo, the Bari interpreter, has always described Magungo as being on a large river, and I have concluded that it must be the Asua; but, upon cross-examination, I find he has used the word 'Bahr' (in Arabic signifying river or sea) instead of 'Birke' (lake). This important error being discovered gives a new feature to the geography of this part."

According to his description, Magungo is situated on a lake so large that no one knows its limits. Its breadth is such that, if you journey two days east and the same distance west, there is no land visible on either quarter, while to the south its direction is utterly unknown. Large vessels arrive at Magungo from distant and unknown parts, bringing cowrie-shells and beads in exchange for ivory. Upon these vessels white men have been seen. All the cowrie-shells used in Latooka and the neighbouring countries are supplied by these vessels, but none have arrived for the last two years.

"His description of distance places Magungo on about the 2 degrees N. lat. The lake can be no other than the 'N'yanza,' which, if the position of Magungo be correct, extends much farther north than Speke had supposed. The 'white men' must be Arab traders who bring cowries from Zanzibar. I shall take the first opportunity to push for Magungo. I imagine that country belongs to Kamrasi's brother, as Wani says the king has a brother who is king of a powerful country on the west bank of the Nile but that they are ever at war with each other.

"I examined another native who had been to Magungo to purchase Simbi (the cowrie-shell); he says that a white man formerly arrived there annually, and brought a donkey with him in a boat; that he disembarked his donkey and rode about the country, dealing with the natives, and bartering cowries and brass-coil bracelets. This man had no firearms, but wore a sword. The king of Magungo was called 'Cherrybambi.'"

This information was the first clue to the facts that I subsequently established, and the account of the white men (Arabs) arriving at Magungo was confirmed by the people of that country twelve months after I obtained this vague information at Latooka.

Arabs, being simply brown, are called WHITE men by the blacks of these countries. I was called a VERY white man as a distinction, but I have frequently been obliged to take off my shirt to exhibit the difference of colour between myself and my men, as my face was brown.