Back, stretching far behind the lofty banks of the noble Congo, lies a country rich in its enormous wealth of natural productions. The toil and enterprise of another generation can hardly hope to gauge its resources, and it is doubtful if even coming generations can exhaust its stores.
The vegetation of the Upper Congo region is most wonderful. Whole forests of the oil palm are a commonfeature. From this tree vast quantities of oil are obtained, while the kernels are used for oil cakes. The India-rubber plant is another important production. Stanley believed that enough of the gum could be exported in a single year to defray the cost of a railway through that section. Vegetables of all descriptions are also abundant.
The trade in ivory alone would furnish, according to Stanley, an enormous revenue. He estimated that one million dollars' worth of ivory could be exported annually for twenty-five years, before the elephant would become extinct in the basin of the Upper Congo.
The banana and the plantain flourish, as do fruits and herbs of many kinds. Potatoes, onions, and cabbages have been introduced from Europe, and thrive here. Rice, wheat, and other grains have done well, when suitable localities have been chosen for them. There is, in fact, scarcely any limit to the natural advantages of an area of over a million square miles. Its fertility and richness of soil are at once a wonder and delight.
It must have been a great disappointment to Stanley, when, on his return from an official visit to Europe, he found that there had been gross and wanton neglect on the part of many whom he had left in charge of the settlement at Leopoldville.
He had pictured to himself well-cultivated gardens and flourishing fields. To his dismay, he found the native town almost hidden by the rank growth which held almost undisputed possession of the soil.
The steel boats were at anchor, as they had been formore than a year. No attempt had been made to clean them or to keep them in repair.
The Europeans and the natives were on the worst of terms. One of the first things he did was to hold a conference with all the neighboring chiefs, and endeavor to restore the feelings of good-fellowship which had previously existed. So successful was he, that he soon induced the chiefs to sign a treaty, in which they agreed to unite with him, as a representative of the Association, to control the entire country south and west of Stanley Pool for the purpose of promoting civilization.
The Association had always been regarded as the chief power. It was in the eyes of the native chiefs invested with sovereign rights affecting peace, war, and commerce. Each chief received a flag of the Association as a symbol of the new confederation. This he was to hoist above his grass-roofed hut on specified state occasions.
Soon after this treaty was signed, Stanley and his little fleet prepared to depart for the Upper Congo. He had a force of about eighty men and a cargo of about six tons, on board his little fleet of vessels, which consisted of two steamers, a launch, a whale boat, and a canoe.
He writes of his outfit: "We have axes to hew the forests, hammers to break the rock, spades to turn up the sod and to drain the marsh, or shovels to raise the rampart, scythes to mow the grass, hatchets to penetrate the jungle, and seeds of all kinds for sowing, saws to rip planking, and hammers, nails, and cabinet-makers' tools to make furniture, needles and thread for sewing all the cloth in these bales, twine to string theirbeads; and besides these useful articles in the cases, there are also countless 'notions' and fancy knick-knacks to appease the cupidity of the most powerful chief, or excite the desire for adornment in woman."
Among other items may be mentioned some articles used in trade by the white man when he journeyed on the Congo: "A case of velvet caps and hats, six cases of fancy beads, forty-seven bales of cloth, an enormous quantity of medicine, ammunition, and provisions, and four thousand pounds of brass rods."
It is interesting to know that the currency of this section of Africa consists of a brass rod, short and slender. Great numbers of these are required to equal the value of a very small amount of money. Stanley, at one time, had to pay eight hundred of these rods for provisions enough to last the station at Leopoldville three days.
Stanley gives an interesting description of the Upper Congo above Chumbiri, where the wide stretches of the river are thickly studded with islets.
"We have been voyaging, since leaving Boma and the estuary-like breadth of the Lower Congo, in a pass, or defile. From Boma to Vivi, we steamed between two lines of mountain heights. Between Vivi and Isangila, we traveled in a narrow valley parallel with the chasmic trough of the Congo. Between Isangila and Manyanka, our boats ran up the crooked, ravine-like valley of the river. Between Manyanka and Leopoldville, we marched along the edge of the deep fracture in the high land through which the Congo continuously roars.
"Then, after a slight relief, obtained by the lake-like expansion called Stanley Pool, we have been confined again between two mountain lines of more or less picturesqueness, up as far as the rocky point above Chumbiri, to finally emerge into the lacustrine breadth, which the voluminous waters of the Congo have scooped out of the plains and lowlands which we now behold on either hand.
"The real heart of Equatorial Africa is this central fertile region, whose bountiful, unparalleled richness of soil will repay the toil and labor required to bring it within the reach of Europe.
"It was not the uplands of the maritime region, with their millions of ravines and narrow, oven-hot valleys, and bald grass tops, and limited bits of grassy plateaus, with here and there a grove of jungly forest scattered like islets amid the grassy wastes, that I strove for; it was this million square miles of almost level area, which we may call the kernel, that was worth the trouble of piercing the two hundred and thirty-five miles of thick, rude mountain husk which separates it from the energies of Europeans, who, could they but reach it, would soon teach the world what good might come out of Africa."
At the junction of the Ruki River with the Congo, Stanley established a settlement, first called Equator Station, then Equatorville, as it is situated on the Equator.
Proceeding always up stream, Stanley passed through a perfect archipelago; for islets without number dotted the river current.
Here the forest trees attained a height of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. The underbrush was so dense as to require the use of a hatchet before it could be penetrated.
While passing these "green-walled straits," Stanley had an experience with one of the violent storms sometimes met with in a tropical country.
With a sudden rustle and roar, as though mile after mile of forest were buffeted by a mighty whirlwind, such a storm begins.
The river, which a moment before was like glass, now becomes disturbed by waves, which increase in size and strength each minute.
Huge trees, holding their burdens of parasites and creepers, sway to and fro, and shriek and moan, as if in mortal agony.
The wind sweeps the leaves before it in perfect clouds, and then down comes the rain.
Not a gentle shower, but a genuine rain of the tropics. It drenches one to the skin in a twinkling. It pelts one with hailstones as large as marbles.
The ground, which, perhaps, was parched and dry but a moment ago, is now covered with running water. The grass, which was like dry tinder an hour before, is replaced by the vegetation about it, which now begins to revive under the action of the life-giving bounty of Heaven.
Gathering force from the four quarters of the globe, the clouds have first merged, then burst directly overhead, to let fall a flood of water, which is precipitated to the earth as rain,—a tropical rain!
Man and beast must alike seek shelter from the fury of such a tempest, whether its force is felt on the open savanna or amid a forest of trees groaning under the strain of the gigantic wind and the weight of the mighty flood descending from the sky.
In an hour the clouds have scattered, the hail and the rain have ceased. The gusts of wind grow fainter and fainter. The gentle patter of the drops as they fall from leaf to leaf, the rapid streams, and the shattered boughs are but the few footprints that mark the track of the storm.
The sky is as blue, the sun is as fierce as ever; the thermometer ranges higher and higher; the last solitary trace of the storm cloud vanishes below the horizon, and the storm departs as suddenly as it arrived. Such, then, is a tropical tornado!
As Stanley's little fleet puffed its way higher and higher up the stream of the mighty Congo, richer and richer appeared the country through which the expedition was passing.
The soil seemed almost black, so filled was it with decomposed vegetable matter, and its fertile appearance was unparalleled by anything which Stanley had seen in his journeyings.
On either hand the banks were lined with mile upon mile of the most valuable of the giant growths of the forests. Whole tracts of gum copal trees were seen for hours together. These trees were literally covered with orchids, which, in themselves, represented the foundations of many fortunes to botanists and florists, could they but gather them.
In mid-stream, the islands, which were legion, constantly took on new shapes. All were characterized by the same exuberance of vegetation. Truly, here was a land of plenty!
Stanley, with his little fleet, passed slowly up the river, now exploring any important tributary for a considerable length, now taking part in the ceremony of the blood brotherhood of which we have read, now making treaties with the great chiefs; for this brave explorer never forgot that his expedition was the great mission of commerce and civilization.
At length the little fleet reached the foot of the seventh, or last cataract of Stanley Falls. Here it was the purpose of the expedition to found a settlement destined to be the germ of the future Congo Free State.
The islands and the mainland west of the falls Stanley found inhabited by the Wenyas. This tribe was noted for its skilled fishermen and boatmen. With this tribe Stanley held a council, for the purpose of purchasing land for a settlement.
There was a good deal of agitation among the natives, we may be sure. The idea of trading their land with the white man was a novel one to them. The great chiefs and speechmakers of the tribe wereat first fearful and cautious, and by degrees became prophetic, then indignant and abusive; finally, they became not only shrewd, but philosophic and pacific, and, at the close of the conference, even friendly.
As a result of the contract, Stanley exchanged about eight hundred dollars' worth of beads, knives, cotton cloth, looking-glasses, brass wire, caps, and such articles, used as currency, for a large portion of an extensive island, upon which to found a settlement.
The station had a fine situation just below the rapids. In a creek on the east side of the island was a very good harbor.
East of this Seventh Fall dwelt a powerful tribe, the Bakuma. Stanley made cordial friends with this tribe, as with the Wenyas.
With both tribes he made treaties, in order to insure his people not only safety of person but of property. He also made propositions for civilized methods of conducting commerce.
Thus did Stanley work from point to point along the river to establish stations, which later were to form the links by which the State was to be held in peace and harmony, in civilization and progression.
The achievements of Stanley's expedition were wonderful, when we consider that he had held councils and made treaties with more than four hundred and fifty chiefs.
As a result, these "great men" had sold to him, for large sums in the "currency" of their territory, tracts of land which they or their ancestral fathers, had owned for countless ages. With the transfer of landthey had also yielded their rights as rulers, and given to the new owners the rights and the privileges belonging to a sovereign. Thus was laid the foundation of the present Congo Free State.
Almost all the lakes of Africa are, comparatively speaking, quite shallow, and bear evidence of being the remains of much greater bodies of water that existed in past ages. It is believed that the whole district now drained by the Zambesi River and its tributaries was, at one time, a great fresh water lake.
Many traces of the lake still exist. The whole of the vast area drained by the Zambesi system is covered with a bed of tufa, which is a soft, porous stone formed by deposits from water. This bed of tufa in the Zambesi region is more or less hardened, according to the exposure it has had to atmospheric changes.
The great fissure of the Victoria Falls has, no doubt, drained in no small degree an enormous valley, to leave only the deeper portion of what was originally a sea, but is now known as Lake Nyassa.
Traces of ancient beaches along its borders afford proof that the lake is much diminished in size.
Livingstone writes, that in no part of Africa had he found so dense a population as upon the shores of LakeNyassa. Along the south side of the lake there was an almost unbroken line of villages.
It is upon the shores of this lake that much care is bestowed upon the graves. The burying grounds are all well protected, and have good broad paths running through them.
The graves are, in almost every instance, shaded by the deep foliage of the fig tree. Those of the men are distinguished from those of the women by the various implements or utensils which they were in the habit of using during life.
Here, a bit of fishing net, or a bit of broken paddle, tells the story of a fisherman's life; there, a mortar and pestle used for pounding corn, or the bucket used for sifting the meal, tells the story of the domestic life followed by the woman who now lies resting from all labor.
On each grave are the fragments of what were once utensils for holding food. They have been placed there to signify that their late owners have passed beyond the need of daily sustenance.
Lake Tchad is, perhaps, one of the most interesting lakes of Africa. It is, in fact, an immense inland sea, situated in Soudan, a portion of North Africa.
It has an elevation of about eight hundred feet above the level of the sea. According to some writers, it is from two to three hundred miles long and one hundred and forty miles broad.
Although not an especially attractive lake, it is a very interesting one. Its placid waters stretch far away to its distant banks, fringed with tall waterreeds. Often numerous hippopotami may be seen resting in its depths, their ugly noses barely showing above the surface.
Here and there light barks may be seen floating. Many of these are so far in the distance that only the gleam of their sunny sails is visible to the beholder.
Ordinarily, the depth of the lake is from eight to fifteen feet; in some years the water has attained a much higher level along its shores.
Crocodiles abound in these waters, as well as the hippopotami, or river horses. Fish and water fowl are also plenty.
Dr. Barth, the explorer, states that the lake has no apparent outlet, yet its waters are perfectly fresh. From the north the Waube, a river some four hundred miles in length, enters it. From the south the Shari, a stream about eighteen hundred feet broad in its lower course, discharges its waters into the lake.
Lake Tchad seems to be divided into two distinct sections, the open water and the strip of swampy land which surrounds it. The open water, or true Tchad, is dotted with numerous islands. These consist mainly of elevated, sandy dunes. Only the most elevated of these islands afford shelter, but such as are inhabited have a dense population.
The people on these lake islands build numerous boats. Some are twenty feet in length. One writer describes a boat which was fifty feet long, and but six and one-half feet wide.
The explorers, Barth and Overweg, describe Lake Tchad as a remarkably fine sheet of water. They visitedthe lake during the dry season, and found the lowlands in the vicinity grassy meadows. During the wet season these lands are usually under water.
Doubtless the ground surrounding the lake was a portion of the former bed of a much larger sheet of water. Along its shores the papyrus is found. This is like the plant from which the ancients about the Nile manufactured their paper. Various other reeds, some of them from ten to fourteen feet high, grow in abundance, there being two distinct varieties of these gigantic reeds.
Interwoven in this thicket of reeds grows a variety of climbing plant with bright yellow blossoms. Another peculiar plant, which floats or rests upon the water, the natives call by a name which signifies "homeless fauna."
As these two explorers, Barth and Overweg, approached open water, after leaving the swampy ground in the nearer vicinity of the lake, they came upon an expanse of quite deep water. Shortly after, they disturbed a herd ofkelara, a variety of antelope that is very fond of the water. Proceeding on their way, they came to water so deep that, by stooping in the saddle,—for they were on horseback,—they could easily have drunk from it. This draught, however, would not have been very refreshing, for the water was warm and full of vegetable life.
Lake Tanganyika is situated in East Central Africa, at an elevation of over twenty-seven hundred feet above the level of the sea. It has a length of upwards of four hundred miles, while its breadth is from ten to fifty miles. In shape it is like a leech, with the small endtapering to the north. This small or northern end lies about two hundred miles southwest of Victoria Nyanza Lake.
Burton and Speke, two African explorers, have given a vivid description of the approach to the lake, as well as of the lake itself.
Burton regarded the Malagarazi River as the western boundary of "The Land of the Moon." It is in this section of country that Lake Tanganyika is situated.
"'The Land of the Moon,' which is the garden of Central Inter-tropical Africa, presents an aspect of peaceful rural beauty, which soothes the eye like a medicine, after the red glare of the 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.
"In the pasture lands frequent herds of many-colored cattle, plump, well-rounded, and high-humped, 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 'The Land of the Moon' in the balmy eveningsof 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, stretched 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 by a thick and palpable gloom, such as would hang before a blind man's eyes, while a deafening roar, simultaneously following the flash, seems to travel, as it were, to and fro overhead. Several claps sometimes sound almost at the same moment, 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 superabundance of electricity in the atmosphere."
Burton describes two tribes of this region as worthy of notice, the Wakimbu and the Wanyamwezi. The former are emigrants into The Land of the Moon. They claim a noble origin, having come from tribes living south of this land that has adopted them.
Burton's description of these people is interesting. "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 proprietors still maintain their rights to the soil.
"The Wakimbu build firmly stockaded villages, tend cattle, and cultivate sorghum and maize, millet and pulse, cucumbers and watermelons. 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 treacherous by their neighbors. They are known by a number of small lines formed by raising the skin with a needle, and opening it by points laterally between the hair of the temples and the eyebrows. In appearance they are dark and uncomely; their arms are bows and arrows, spears, and knives stuck in the leathern waist belt; some wear necklaces of a curiously plaited straw, others a strip of white cowskin bound around the brow,—a truly savage and African decoration.
"The Wanyamwezi tribe, the proprietors of the soil, is the typical tribe in this portion of Central Africa. Its comparative industry and commercial activity have secured to it a superiority over the other kindred tribes.
"The natives of this tribe are usually of a dark sepia brown, rarely colored like diluted India ink, as are the slave races to the south. 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 in the neck, and is combed off the forehead after the manner of the ancient Egyptians and the modern Hottentots.
"The habitations of the Eastern Wanyamwezi are thetembe, which in the west give place 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 imitations of nature,—human beings and serpents. In some parts the cross appears, but the people apparently ignore it as a symbol. Rude carving is also attempted upon the massive posts at the entrance of villages, but the figures, though to appearance idolatrous, are never worshiped."
Burton considered the march from the Malagarazi River to Lake Tanganyika the worst part of his journey. It led through a perfect wilderness, with all the diversities of jungle, swamp, rugged hills, and rocky ravines swept by mountain torrents.
After much labor, Burton and his followers reached the lake. His first feeling was one of disappointment.
Having traveled through screens of lofty grass, which gradually thinned out into a scanty forest, he climbed a steep, stony hill, thinly covered with thorny trees. From the top of this hill he could see a faint streak of light below. This he judged was the lake. Seen through the veil of trees and the broad rays of sunshine, the lake seemed to be shrunken in its proportions.
As he advanced a few steps, the whole scene burst upon his view. He was filled with admiration, wonder, and delight at its beauty. To quote his words:—
"Nothing could be more beautiful, more picturesque, than the first view of Lake Tanganyika, as it lay in the lap of the mountains, 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 marvelously fertile, shelves towards a ribbon of glistening sand, here bordered by sedgy rushes, there cleanly and clearly cut by the breaking wavelets.
"Farther in front stretched the waters, an expanse of the lightest and softest blue, in a breadth varying from thirty to thirty-five miles, and sprinkled by the crisp east wind into tiny crescents of sunny foam.
"The background is a high and broken wall of steel-colored mountain, here flecked and capped with pearly mist, there standing sharply penciled against the azure sky. Its yawning chasms, marked by a deep plum-color, fall towards dwarf hills of mold-like proportions, which apparently dip their feet in the wave.
"To the south, and opposite the long, low point behind which the Malagarazi River discharges the red loam suspended in its violent stream, lie the bluff headlands and capes of Uguha; 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 murmur of the waves breaking upon the shore, give 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 expanse 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 African seaboard, 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."
In further accounts this same author describes the African canoe, which is simply a scooped-out log. In such a climate as that of Africa a canoe cracks, and for want of calking it often becomes so leaky as to require constant baling. The crew take turns in thus keeping the craft from sinking.
A canoe of this sort has neither masts nor sails. In place of a rudder there is an iron ring in the stern.The steering, however, is really done by the paddle. There are no oars, and the paddle, which takes the place of oars, is exceedingly clumsy.
The crew seat themselves on narrow benches, two sitting in a space scarcely large enough for one person. In the center of the canoe is a clear space about six feet long. This is used to store the cargo, passengers, cattle, slaves, and provisions.
In describing the natives Burton says: "The lakists are an almost amphibious race, excellent divers, strong swimmers and fishermen. At times, when excited by the morning coolness and by the prospect of a good haul, they indulge in a manner of merriment which resembles the gambols of sportive water fowls.
"Standing upright and balancing themselves in their hollow logs, which appear but little larger than themselves, they strike the water furiously with their paddles, skimming over the surface, dashing to and fro, splashing one another, urging forward, backing, and wheeling their craft, now capsizing, then regaining their position with wonderful dexterity.
"They make coarse hooks, and have many varieties of nets and creels. Conspicuous on the waters and the villages is the dewa, or otter of Oman, a triangle of stout reeds, which shows the position of the net. A stronger kind, and used for the larger ground fish, is a cage of open basket work, provided like the former with a bait and two entrances. The fish, once entangled, cannot escape, and a log of wood used as a trimmer, attached to a float-rope of rushy reeds, directs the fisherman."
The results of Burton's trip up and down the lake, owing to the obstinacy of the native guides, were not very important. The shores of the lake he found to be very muddy, and the landscape bright and green with vegetation. The inhospitable natives, although favored with every blessing of so luxuriant a climate, were ignorant and barbarous.
Tanganyika is probably the longest fresh water lake in the world. It occupies an area of nearly thirteen thousand square miles, and has a coast line of nine hundred miles in extent.
Burton and his companion, Speke, remained for over three months at Ujiji, a small province situated upon Lake Tanganyika. It has a convenient situation as a mart, and was a central point for the establishment of trading depots by the Arabs as early as 1840. It was their custom to send decoy slaves with their agents, to navigate the waters of the lake, for the purpose of collecting ivory and slaves upon its shores.
The atmosphere of Ujiji has great humidity, and its soil, consequently, great fertility. The large forest trees and the profusion of ferns give abundant evidence that the province is one of the most productive in this portion of Africa. Vegetables, which in other sectionsgrow only under cultivation, here have a spontaneous growth.
The Arabs found rice of an excellent quality could be raised upon the shores of the lake. It grew very luxuriantly, sometimes to the height of eight or nine feet. The natives, however, found that the ravages of the monkey, the elephant, and the hippopotamus were such as to spoil their rice fields, and turned their attention to the cultivation of sorghum, for which they have a preference.
"The bazaar at Ujiji is well supplied. Fresh fish of various kinds is always procurable, except during the violence of the rains; the people, however, invariably cut it up and clean it before bringing it to market. Good honey abounds after the wet monsoon. By the favor of the chief, milk and butter may be purchased every day. Long-tailed sheep and well-bred goats, poultry and eggs—the two latter are never eaten by the people—are brought in from the adjoining countries. The Arabs breed a few Manilla ducks, and the people rear, but will not sell, pigeons."
It will be interesting to know the meaning of the various prefixes to native words used in speaking of the land and people of Africa. Captain Burton uses these prefixes invariably in his journal and letters. They areU, meaning the country;Ki, meaning the language;Wa, the people in a body; andM, an individual. These prefixes are used in connection with some special stem or root, asjiji, chosen by a native tribe. Thus we find U-jiji, thecountryofjiji; Ki-jiji, thelanguageofjiji. Wa-jiji, thepeopleofjiji; M-jiji,anindividualinjiji. This little explanation will tend to help us in our understanding of the various African words we shall meet in our reading.
"The Wajiji are a burly race of barbarians, far stronger than the tribes hitherto traversed, with dark skins, plain features, and straight, sturdy limbs," we are told in Burton's account of his explorations in the region along the shores of the lake. "They are larger and heavier men than the Wanyamwezi, and the type, as it approaches Central Africa, becomes rather negro than negroid.
"Their feet and hands are large and flat, their voices are harsh and strident, and their looks as well as their manners are independent almost to insolence. Many, of both sexes and all ages, are disfigured by the smallpox. The Arabs have vainly taught them inoculation."
In continuation Burton writes: "The Wajiji are considered by the Arabs to be the most troublesome race in these black regions. They are taught by the example of their chiefs to be rude, insolent, and extortionate; they demand beads even for pointing out the road; they will deride and imitate a stranger's speech and manner before his face; they can do nothing without a long preliminary of the fiercest scolding; they are as ready with a blow as with a word; and they may often be seen playing at 'rough and tumble,' fighting, pushing, and tearing hair, in their boats.
"A Mjiji uses his dagger or his spear upon a guest with little hesitation; he thinks twice, however, before drawing blood, if it will cause a feud.
"When the sultan appears among his people, hestands in a circle and claps his hands, to which all respond in the same way. Women curtsey to one another, bending the right knee almost to the ground. When two men meet, they clasp each other's arms with both hands, rubbing them up and down, and ejaculating for some minutes, 'Nama, sanga? nama sanga?'—Art thou well? They then pass the hands down to the forearm, exclaiming, 'Wáhke? wáhke?'—How art thou?—and finally they clap palms at each other, a token of respect which appears common to these tribes of Central Africa.
"The children have all the frowning and unprepossessing look of their parents. They reject little civilities, and seem to spend life in disputes, biting and clawing like wildcats. There seems to be little family affection in this undemonstrative race."
One of the last of Burton's explorations, before his return to his native country, was an attempt to ascertain some particulars as to the nature of the countries which lay north and south of the route he had followed. He was especially anxious to glean information of a great sea, or lake, which the Arabs told him was an immense body of water, much larger than Tanganyika, at a distance of fifteen or twenty marches to the north.
Burton saw that if he could prove the existence of such a lake, it would explain many disputed points and confirm many speculations of modern geographers. Owing to illness, Burton was obliged to give up his intention of exploring the new body of water. Speke, his companion, continued the journey, and reached the lake, which he named Victoria Nyanza.
Speke was strongly convinced that here was the long-sought source of that most mysterious of rivers, the Nile. He returned to England to render an account of his exploration to the Royal Geographical Society and proposed the forming of a new expedition party for the purpose of exploring the newly discovered lake, Victoria Nyanza, and the adjacent countries. The plan met with such favor that in the spring of the following year, with a companion named Grant, he started out with an exploring party.
Leaving England they went to the Cape of Good Hope, and then started for Zanzibar. They first proceeded to East London, then north to Delagoa Bay, and finally to Zanzibar. Here the sultan received them courteously, and promised to aid the expedition in every possible way.
Speke's description of the start from Zanzibar is most realistic: "Starting on the march with a large mixed caravan, one could hardly expect to find everybody in his place at the proper time for breaking ground; but, at the same time, it could hardly be expected that ten men, who had actually received their bounty money, and had sworn fidelity, should give one the slip the first day. Such, however, was the case. Ten, out of thethirty-six given by the sultan, ran away, because they feared that the white men, whom they believed to be cannibals, were only taking them into the interior to eat them; and one porter, more honest than the freed men, deposited his pay upon the ground, and ran away, too. Go we must, however, for one desertion is sure to lead to more; and go we did.
"Our procession was in this fashion: the kirangozi, with a load on his shoulder, led the way, flag in hand, followed by the pagazis, carrying spears or bows and arrows in their hands, and bearing their share of the baggage in the form either of bolster-shaped loads of cloth and beads, covered with matting, each tied into the fork of a three-pronged stick, or else coils of brass or copper wire, tied in even weights to each end of sticks, which they laid on the shoulder."
The kirangozi of whom he speaks was doubtless the leader, or director, of the band of pagazis, or porters. Continuing, he writes: "Then, helter skelter, came the Waguana, carrying carbines in their hands, and boxes, bundles, tents, cooking-pots—all the miscellaneous property—on their heads. Next the Hottentots, dragging the refractory mules laden with ammunition boxes, but very lightly, to save the animals for the future; and, finally, Sheikh Said and the Balock escort, while the goats, sick women, and stragglers brought up the rear."
The whole caravan under Speke mustered about two hundred persons.
The caravan proceeded over a route very similar to the one which the previous expedition had followed.Finally, after many vicissitudes, it crossed the frontier of Unyamwezi, and entered the district that lay next to it on the north.
The people of this district are described as being pastoral in their occupations. Hence, travelers see very little of them. They roam about with their flocks and build their huts as far as possible from cultivated sections. Most of the district chiefs are directly descended from those who previously ruled in the same places, before the invasion of the country by the white man. It is with these chiefs that travelers have dealings.
The dress of these people is simple in the extreme. It is made of cowhide which has been tanned black. A few magic ornaments and charms, brass or copper bracelets, and odd-looking coverings for their long legs complete the costume. They smear themselves with rancid butter, which serves to render them most offensive to people of a delicate sense of smell. For arms these people carry either bow or spear, generally the latter weapon.
In the northern portions of the country, where the ground is hilly and rugged in character, the people are more energetic and active than in the southern districts. All live in grass huts, which are congregated in villages fenced round on the south, but open on the north.
After a continued journey of many hardships, the caravan crossed a dreary waste of uninhabited land, and entered the next district to the north.
Pushing forward, the travelers crossed a narrow strip of uninhabited territory, and entered the famous and unknown kingdom of Karagwe.
Throughout this kingdom the caravan received the kindest of treatment from the king and his people under the village chiefs. No taxes were exacted, and food was supplied at the king's expense. Speke writes of the kingdom: "The farther we went in this country the better we liked it, as the people were all kept in good order, and the village chiefs were so civil that we could do as we liked."
VICTORIA NYANZA.VICTORIA NYANZA.
Speke thus describes the scene when he caught his first glimpse of the lake: "Next day, after crossing more of those abominable rush drains, while in sight of the Victoria Nyanza, we ascended the most beautiful hills, covered with verdure of all descriptions. I felt inclined to stop here a month, everything was so verypleasant. The temperature was perfect. The roads, as indeed they were everywhere, were as broad as our coach roads, cut through the long grasses, straight over the hills and down through the woods in the dells, a strange contrast to the wretched tracks in all the adjacent countries.
"The huts were kept so clean and so neat, not a fault could be found with them; the gardens the same. Wherever I strolled, I saw nothing but richness, and what ought to be wealth. The whole land was a picture of quiescent beauty, with a boundless sea in the background.
"Looking over the hills, it struck the fancy at once that at one period the whole land must have been at a uniform level with their present tops, but that, by the constant denudation it was subjected to by frequent rains, it had been cut down and sloped into those beautiful hills and dales which now so much pleased the eye."
It was Speke's desire to proceed northward and then to the east, for the purpose of reaching the point where the Nile was supposed to flow out from Victoria Nyanza.
His description of the accomplishment of his purpose is interesting: "Here at last I stood on the brink of the Nile; most beautiful was the scene; nothingcould surpass it! It was the very perfection of the kind of effect aimed at in a highly kept park; with a magnificent stream, from six hundred to seven hundred yards wide, dotted with islets and rocks,—the former occupied by the fishermen's huts, the latter by many crocodiles basking in the sun,—flowing between fine grassy banks, with rich trees and plantations in the background, where herds of the hartbeest could be seen grazing, while the hippopotami were snorting in the water, and florikin and guinea fowl rising at our feet."
He proceeded some distance up the left bank of the Nile, keeping away from the stream. Passing through rich jungles, and gardens of plantain, he reached Isamba Falls. Here he found the river exceedingly beautiful. Deep banks covered with fine grass, beautiful acacias, and festoons of lilac-colored convolvuli stretched, along on either side of the stream.
He continued his journey up stream to Ripon Falls, through extensive village plantations recently despoiled by herds of elephants, and over rugged hills, to be rewarded by the most interesting scene he had yet found in Africa.
Speaking of the falls, he writes: "Everybody ran to see them at once, though the march had been long and fatiguing; even my sketchbook was called into play.
"Though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what I had expected; for the broad surface of the lake was shut out from view by a spur of hill, and the falls, about twelve feet deep and four hundred to five hundred feet broad, were broken by rocks.
"Still, it was a sight that attracted one to it for hours:the roar of the waters; the thousands of passenger fish, leaping at the falls with all their might; the Wasoga and Waganda fishermen coming out in boats and taking post on all the rocks, with rod and hook; hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water; the ferry at work above the falls; and cattle driven down to drink at the margin of the lake, made in all, with the pretty nature of the country,—small hills, grassy topped, with trees in the folds and gardens on the lower slopes,—as interesting a picture as one could wish.
"I saw that Old Father Nile, without any doubt, rises in the Victoria Nyanza. As I had foretold, that lake is the great source of the holy river which cradled the first expounder of our religious belief."
Speke had seen fully one-half of the lake, and had gained enough information of the other half to feel assured that there was as much water on the eastern side of the lake as on the western, possibly more.
The head of the Nile, or its most remote feeder, he found to be the southern end of the lake. It gives to the Nile its surpassing length of above two thousand and three hundred miles.
Speke was disappointed that he could not get an opportunity to visit the northeast corner of the lake to find the connection, by means of a strait, which he had heard described, between Lake Victoria Nyanza and another lake, where the Waganda went to get their salt.
He discovered that from the southern point of the lake, on the west side, to the point where the great Nile stream issues, there is only one river of any greatimportance, while from the most southern point, round by the east to the strait, there are no large rivers.
The Arab travelers assured him that from the west of the snow-clad peak of Kilimanjaro to the lake, at the point where the first and second degrees of south latitude cut it, there were salt lakes and plains, in the midst of a hilly country. They further told him that there were no great rivers; that the country was but scantily watered, with only occasional rills and rivulets, and that they were compelled to make long marches to get water, when they started out upon their trading journeys.
Speke could not quite believe in the existence of a salt lake. His experience had taught him that the natives call all lakes salt if they find salt beds or salt islands in their vicinity.
Lake Victoria Nyanza he found to be nearly four thousand feet above sea level, or nearly two thousand feet above the altitude of Lake Tanganyika. It was plain to him, therefore, that there could be no connection between the two lakes.
Some notes from the journal kept by Speke are of interest here. "The first affluent, the Bahr-el-Gazal, took us by surprise. Instead of finding a large lake, as described in our maps, as 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 River, the second affluent, 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 it was inferior.
"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 to it. It had all the appearance of a mountain stream, subject to great periodical fluctuations.
"The Atbara River, which is the last affluent, was more like the Blue River than any of the other affluents, being decidedly a mountain stream, which floods the country in the rains, but runs nearly dry in the dry season.
"I had now seen quite enough to satisfy myself that the White Nile, which issues from Victoria Nyanza at the Ripon Falls, is the true or parent Nile."
The accounts brought back by Speke of the discovery of Victoria Nyanza and the existence of another lake, which might prove to be a feeder of the Nile, so influenced a friend of his, Sir Samuel Baker, that he and his wife, a mere girl in years, started out with anexpedition to make still closer explorations of the lake region.
The natives had given Speke very graphic accounts of the Nile's westward course, after leaving Victoria Nyanza, till at length its waters fell into a large lake. They had further informed him that this lake came from the south, and that the Nile entered at the northern extremity, and almost immediately made an exit from it in continuing its course to the north.
At the time this information was received by Speke, the country through which he would have needed to pass was in the midst of a native war, and no strangers could penetrate it. He was convinced, however, that the lake described must, in all probability, be a second source of the Nile.
Sir Samuel Baker and his wife had most interesting and thrilling experiences in their search for this supposed second feeder of the Nile. Some sections of the country through which they traveled were most beautiful. Here were jungles and forests alternating with broad plains, and mountains rising to the height of three or four thousand feet.
Some of the people, too, were very interesting. Baker declared the Latookas to be the finest savages he ever met. They were nearly six feet in height, had fine foreheads, very good features, and finely formed bodies. Their manners were frank, good-humored, and polite. In this respect they were a strong contrast to the surrounding tribes. They seemed to him to be of Abyssinian or of Asiatic origin.
The description of the headdress of the men is interesting.It takes from eight to ten years to perfect the arrangement of this coiffure, and no doubt much pride is taken in this queer conceit of savage fashion.
"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, an inch and a half 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 life time. They ornament it with beads, cowries, ostrich feathers, and other decorations."
As it is the custom of these savages to go without clothing of any description, these wonderful headdresses must indeed be the chief aim in the lives of those who are not called upon to follow the changes of fashion, like their more civilized brethren.
One of the towns that Baker visited in Latooka contained about three thousand houses. It was strongly fortified by palisades, with low entrances at short intervals. At night these entrances were closed by thorn bushes.
There was one main street, which was broad, but the other streets were mere lanes, so narrow that only one cow could pass at a time.
These lanes led to the kraals in different portions of the town. Here were housed the cattle, which comprised the chief wealth of the people. The narrowness of the approaches to the kraals was an advantage, for they were thus easily defended from cattle thieves,—a common nuisance in this country.
The houses were conical in shape and, following thecustom almost universal in Africa, were without windows.
Baker had noticed, as he approached the several towns of this section of country, a vast heap of human bones, mingled with bits of pottery. These he found to originate from the peculiar funeral rites of the people. If a man dies a natural death he is buried in the vicinity of his own door, and funeral dances in his honor are held for several weeks; the remains are then dug up, the bones cleaned, placed in an earthen jar, and carried out of town to their final resting place. In course of time these jars become broken, and the fragments, together with the contents, are scattered, or added to an already existing mound.
Baker, in his journey to the southwest, crossed the valley of Latooka. After fording a river, he began the main ascent of the mountains. This he found to be an exceedingly difficult task. At the summit he found a plateau about four thousand feet above the level of the sea, and situated on it was the highland town of Obbo.
The country was very beautiful. Here were bold granite peaks, some of them five thousand feet high, towering on all sides, and looking down upon the wooded valleys below. These valleys were narrowed by the advancing spurs of the mountains, each with a village to crown its summit. These villages looked down fully eight hundred feet upon the traveler.
The air was pure and delicious. On every side was a profusion of beautiful and fragrant flowers. Wild plums and other fruit were to be found in abundance.
The flow of the streams in this section is toward thenorthwest. Their waters take their course directly to the Nile, some thirty miles away.
The people are different from those of Latooka, not only in their speech but in their appearance. Instead of dressing their hair in the form of a helmet, they adopt the form of a beaver's tail for a coiffure.
The noses of these people are higher than those of the Latookas. They pay some attention, too, to their clothing, though their covering is very scanty.
They are courteous in their manners, and never ask for presents.
They had for their ruler at the time of Baker's visit a peculiar old man, a sorcerer, and from him Baker gained much information about the country.
Whenever this ruler traveled, it was upon the shoulders of one of his slaves. Always in starting upon a journey he had a retinue of a dozen or more bearers to take turns in carrying him.
From an interpreter Baker learned of a place called Magungo, situated upon a lake so large that no one knew its limits.
Later, Baker gained further information of Magungo from a native woman. She described the lake as a white sheet of water, as far as the eye could reach, and added, "If you put a water jar on the shore, the water would run up, break it, and carry it away." In this simple fashion she intimated to Baker that there were waves of no little force on the lake shores.
Encouraged by the prospect of reaching the lake, Baker, with his expedition, continued on the march, passing a village surrounded by bold granite cliffs, toweringabove it. The natives of this village perched like ravens upon the summits of these cliffs to await the approach of the white men. They were very friendly and very ceremonious in their dealings with their visitors.
The journey was continued through a region of prairies and swamps, which finally was replaced by a section of magnificent forest. Coming to an elevated spot, Baker saw a cloud of fog. This hung over a distant valley, and indicated to him the presence of the noble stream which he believed must join the two lakes.
He reached the Nile about one hundred and fifty miles from Victoria Nyanza, and about sixty miles from the lake he was seeking. He was not, however, aware of it at the time.
The expedition under Baker headed upstream towards Karuma Falls, where it was the intention to cross to the south side. They had a picturesque march of about fifteen miles, through an open forest, with the river, which was about one hundred and fifty feet wide, close at hand. It was a beautiful sight, as it came roaring and foaming in many cascades. Here and there the course of the river was broken by rocky islands. On these islands villages and plantain groves were visible.
Baker found the people along this section superior to those of Latooka and Obbo. They were modest in their manners, and well clothed. They were good blacksmiths, and the pottery which they made was of a higher order than that of the other tribes mentioned.
Baker, with the thought of the lake still before him,pushed on, though often discouraged, and suffering from fatigue and fever. In the course of the journey the expedition had to cross a river. It could be done only in a very peculiar way. The whole stream was covered with a matting, or carpet, of tangled, floating weeds. This was so thick and strong as to bear the weight of a man, if he ran quickly across its surface. The width of the stream was about thirty yards.
Here Mrs. Baker almost lost her life; for, when about halfway across, she was overcome with a sunstroke, and began to sink rapidly through the weeds. Her husband and some of his men seized her and dragged her across the current, though they sank to their waists in the weeds before they succeeded in getting her to the bank.
At a great distance to the northwest could be seen a lofty range of mountains. Baker learned from the natives that these mountains, beyond which he had fancied the lake must lie, were really its western boundary.
A few days later he had the pleasure of looking at this beautiful sheet of water. He was the first Englishman who had ever had the honor to prove its connection with the Nile.
He was about fifteen hundred feet above the lake when he first sighted it. "Opposite to him the lakewas about sixty miles broad, but to the south and southwest lay a boundless horizon like the ocean. Immediately on the other side rose a grand range of mountains, some of them seven thousand feet high, and down two streams in their rifts plunged great waterfalls, visible even at that vast distance, to add their contributions to the fresh-water lake."
Here lay the long-sought-for lake. Wild waves swept over its surface, as he descended the steep declivity to reach its shore. In bold triumph they swelled and burst at his feet upon the white, pebbly beach. Filled with enthusiasm, Baker stooped and drank of the pure, fresh water from the vast reservoir before him.
Near by lay a little fishing village. Around the huts stood beautifully made harpoons, hooks, and the lines used by the fishermen. These fishing outfits were used not only to catch the gigantic fish, of two hundred pounds or more, which abound in the lake, but also the hippopotamus and the crocodile.
Baker found that the lake, which he named the Albert Nyanza,—as an imperishable memorial of one loved and mourned, not only by England's queen, but by all England,—has a length of about three hundred miles in a southwesterly direction. It then turns to the west, but its extent in this direction was not known at the time of Baker's explorations. The extent is believed to be not far from that of Victoria Nyanza, which covers an area of not less than thirty thousand square miles.
It seems remarkable that such a great reservoir had not been sought for before, or at least that the necessityfor its existence had not been seen. Such a vast body of water would seem to be absolutely required to force a river like the Nile over a distance of twenty-five hundred miles to the sea. At the northeast corner, at Magungo, the river which forms the connecting link between the two feeders of the Nile enters this lake. Thirty miles to the north the great Nile flows out of the lake and wends its way to the sea.
Baker soon made preparations for a fortnight's voyage upon the lake. Two canoes, one twenty-six, the other thirty-two feet long, were secured. Both these canoes were hollowed out of logs. In the smaller canoe a cabin was built.
The voyage was most interesting. The scenery along the lake was beautiful. Sometimes the mountains in the west were lost sight of, as the canoes kept within a hundred yards of the shore. Sometimes the cliffs would recede, and leave a meadow, more or less broad, at their base. Frequently the rocky column would descend vertically into deep water. "Again, a grand mass of gneiss and granite, eleven hundred feet high, would present itself, feathered with beautiful evergreens, with every runnel and rivulet in its clefts fringed with graceful wild date trees." Hippopotami floated lazily about in the water, while crocodiles, roused to alarm by the canoe, would rush out of the bushes to hide themselves in the depths of the lake.
The water was beautifully transparent. A crocodile that Baker killed with his rifle sank to a depth of eight feet, yet his bleeding form could be plainly seen at the bottom of the lake.
Once, an elephant came down out of the forest to bathe. On another occasion, fourteen of these immense animals were seen sporting in a sandy cove, and enjoying themselves by throwing jets of water in all directions.
When the expedition had gone about ninety miles, the lake began to contract. Vast beds of reeds extended to a distance of a mile from shore. They were of the nature of the floating vegetation in the stream where Mrs. Baker so nearly lost her life.
Not caring to cross on this frail support, Baker and his party followed the shore for a mile, till they had passed this mass of floating vegetation, and found a broad, still channel bordered with reeds on each side. Here was the river which links the Albert to the Victoria Nyanza.
The river between the two lakes has a course of about two hundred and fifty miles. There is a succession of cataracts below Karuma Falls. They occupy some forty miles of the river bed.
The mouth of the Victoria Nile is still water. It has a width of half a mile. The river at the mouth, as it tranquilly enters the lake, presents a strong contrast to the current at Karuma Falls, where the water comes seething and boiling, rushing and tearing over the rocky bed.
Baker and his party found the eastern, or Magungo, shore of the lake to be a delightful section, bordered by enormous trees. The soil was firm and sandy, in some instances rocky. The country beyond the shore of the lake rose in a rapid incline towards the town of Magungo,which is built on an elevated ridge about a mile away.
While Baker's party waited along the shore of the lake, some of the natives arrived from the villages, bringing a goat, some fowls, eggs, milk, and fresh butter. In return, Baker gave the chief a quantity of beads, which greatly delighted this child of nature.
The march up the hill to Magungo was now in order. The day was clear and bright. The soil was sandy and rather poor, but the road was hard and well kept.
A splendid view lay before the little party as they reached Magungo and looked back upon the lake. They were now fully two hundred and fifty feet above the level of the water. The country seemed to have a general elevation of about five hundred feet, for five or six miles, when it began by gentle undulations to descend to the lake.
The most prominent objects to be seen were the mountains on the Magella side, forming the western boundary, while in the foreground lay the lake.
A few miles to the north there appeared an opening in the ridge. The lake, much contracted, continued to the west, while the mountain range on the north side of the gap extended on to the northeast.
The country due north and northeast was remarkably level. As far as the eye could see, an expanse of bright green reeds marked the course of the Nile, as it made its exit from Albert Nyanza Lake.
At Magungo the width of the sheet of water was about seventeen miles. It continued its course in a long strip to the mouth, where it lost itself in a level valley of green rushes.
Baker and his party could not yet persuade themselves that the quiet, tranquil stream issuing from Albert Nyanza was the same which rushed impetuously on its way at Karuma Falls.
It remained, then, to prove the statements of the guide that the Nile was dead water for a considerable distance from its junction with the lake; that a great waterfall rushed down from the mountain to swell the current near Karuma Falls; and that the river was simply a succession of cataracts in its course to these falls.
On the assurance of the chief of Magungo, and of some of the natives, that these falls were within six days' marching distance, Baker's little party embarked in canoes for the purpose of exploring the river and assuring themselves of its identity with the stream which made its exit from the lake.