Chapter II (2)

Notwithstanding the undeniable sameness which prevailed in its outward character, I found every fresh landing-place afford me some surprise or other. Rich was the reward of penetrating, as I did, a thorough wilderness on the right bank on the mainland. Buffaloes forcing their way along had beaten many avenues through thickets and creepers, and along these I went, followed by a group of armed men. The vestiges in every direction were so conclusive as to the number of the beasts that were about, that we might well expect a _rencontre_ as dangerous as that which has already been related. Here in a wild state is found the Luffa, a plant of the gourd family. The dried fruit of this contains a fibrous skeleton, that answers the purpose of a bathing-sponge, and it is frequently cultivated in Egypt for that purpose. I could enumerate a whole series of plants, known in Egypt only under cultivation, which find their original and proper home in the primeval forests of the White Nile. Not unreasonably may an inference be drawn that, in ages indefinitely long ago, the entire Nile Valley exhibited a vegetation harmonising in its character throughout, much more than now. It was the upgrowth of civilisation in ancient Egypt which displaced the flora from its northern seat, and made it, as at present, only to be found hundreds of miles higher up the land. This assumption is in a measure confirmed by the traditions which survive with regard to animals. In remote times, the ibis, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, all existed in far more northerly latitudes than now. The papyrus, it may be added, gives its witness to the same theory.

After a while the southern horizon was again broken by the elevation of a mountain, which proved to be the Defafang, an extinct volcano, 1000 feet high, several miles from the river. Werne, one of the first explorers of the Upper Nile waters, the only European who visited this locality, collected a variety of specimens of the rocks, and they exhibited the volcanic nature of the basaltic lava, corresponding to similar formations in the Eifel. This mountain stands as the boundary-mark between the first negro territory on the White Nile and the shepherd race of the Baggara.

As we were sailing in deep water close to the reedy shore, the roar and rustle of our great sail started up a herd of wild buffaloes, which disappeared from sight, before we had time to seize our rifles. When presently we were passing the last camp of the Baggara, our attention was attracted to a scene of excitement, at once vivid and picturesque. The entire population, alarmed by an attack of wild buffaloes on some cattle-drivers, was up and in hot pursuit. Hundreds of men armed with lance or sword, some of them mounted, were furiously hurrying to the scene, urged on by the frantic shrieks of the excited women. We could not resist the conclusion that the buffaloes, which we had disturbed, had proceeded to attack the neighbouring drivers. An impression seemed to prevail that we had fired at the Baggara, but in the tumult nobody exactly understood the circumstances. The gale was in our favour, and we glided rapidly out of reach without learning the precise issue of the disorder. We observed one poor fellow who had incurred a disaster similar to, and perhaps worse than, that which happened to my own Mohammed Amin. About Mohammed I may here mention that his upper lip had been held together by a couple of insect-needles; that he had been treated to plenty of pap and camomile-tea, and that after spitting out one little splinter of bone after another, he soon found himself getting all right again.

In the course of the afternoon the boat sailed for a wager with a flotilla of light-grey pelicans. Repeated small shot could not make them rise; but at last we outstripped them, and succeeded in shooting down several from the group. From the supple breast-feathers of this bird, the savages of the Upper Nile prepare close perukes, which make an excellent imitation of a luxuriant crop of grey hair, and would be a valuable acquisition to any theatrical wardrobe.

[Sidenote: MOHAMMED KHER.]

A hurried trip upon the left bank brought me upon the track of a large herd of elephants. According to the Baggara, this district is most prolific as a hunting-ground for these animals. The adjacent territories of the Shillooks, on the other hand, are too densely populated to allow elephants to be numerous, and they have to be sought at some distance, where on account of the wide water-level, they are often reached in boats.

At sunset we reached a place on the right bank, which will always retain a certain notoriety in the history of the White Nile, as having once been the headquarters of the renowned robber chief, Mohammed Kher. The raised works, having on their interior traces of decayed walls of earth, and surrounded by deep trenches, mark the site of Mohammed Kher’s seriba. To judge by the heaps of bones which still exist, the number of cattle slaughtered and feasted on must have been something enormous. Booty was plundered from far and near, but the Shillooks were the greatest sufferers. Mohammed Kher, with his contingent of well-mounted Baggara, was not only for many years a terror to the neighbouring negro races, but could defy the authority of the Governor at Khartoom. Yet principally it was he who taught the people of Khartoom how, by means of earthworks and regular ramparts, to intimidate the natives and bring them into subjection. Many human bones, the relics of slaves carried off by sickness, as well as the skulls of asses and horses, are found everywhere about. As a consequence of the burning of the steppes, they are frequently noticed in a half-charred condition. Throughout Africa burnt human bones are ever the marks which the slave trade leaves behind. Not far from this ill-famed place we lay-to alongside the village of Kaka, the most northerly place inhabited by Shillooks on the White Nile, and at which the Egyptian Government maintained a depôt for corn. Twenty years ago hundreds of Dinka villages stood on this side of the river. From the descriptions of travellers who accompanied the expeditions sent out by Mehemet Ali to discover the sources of the Nile, it has been ascertained that the number of the population here was formerly as important as it now is in the very heart of the Shillook country. As a result of the incessant ravages of Mohammed Kher, the entire eastern shore has degenerated into a forest waste. The river still parts the separate districts of the hostile tribes; but the Shillooks have attempted to settle nowhere except at Kaka in the deserted district; the Dinka, on their part, having withdrawn some days’ journey into the interior.

Soon after the arrival of the boat, a great crowd of naked Shillooks, prompted by curiosity, assembled on the shore, my dog still being the chief attraction. The first sight of a throng of savages, suddenly presenting themselves in their native nudity, is one from which no amount of familiarity can remove the strange impression; it takes abiding hold upon the memory, and makes the traveller recall anew the civilisation he has left behind.

One of the Khartoom men disturbed my pensive contemplations by pointing to the Shillooks, and making a remark that they looked like Christians. I punished him with the scornful reply to the effect that of whatever faith the savages were, I could answer for it that they had the good luck to be neither Jews nor Mohammedans.

A large _sombrero_ of Mexican cut which protected my head from the rays of the sun, excited the curiosity of the Shillooks. On their own heads they wore a similar covering, except that theirs was made from their own hair. I called their attention to the great likeness between black men and white men, but very great was their astonishment when they saw that my hair could be taken off and put on again, which would be to them very incredible. It might almost be said that they are hardly born without their crests, which sometimes resemble the comb of a guinea-fowl, and at other times seem to be borrowed and designed from the aureoles which we admire in Greek sacred pictures. Even while they are infants at the breast, the hair is begun to be fastened into shape with gum-arabic and ashes, and in course of time is permanently brought into whatever form they please.

[Sidenote: SWARM OF BEES.]

The dreary steppe in the neighbourhood of Kaka contained nothing that was worth the trouble of collecting. The dried-up remains of vegetation had been completely annihilated by fire. Accordingly I was anxious to proceed farther the same day, that I might botanise in some undisturbed spot of the primæval forest; my desire was, however, frustrated by an incident which I do not even now remember without a shudder. At the village the shore, as far as the eye could reach, forms a treeless steppe; but at some little distance the river is again bordered by a dense forest. A place was soon reached, where the stream takes a remarkable bend, and proceeds for eight miles in a north-easterly direction. This place has the singular name of Dyoorab-el-Esh, or the sack of corn. Now, as the north-east wind of course was adverse to any north-east progress, it was necessary that the boat should be towed by the crew. As the rope was being drawn along through the grass on the banks it happened that it disturbed a swarm of bees. In a moment, like a great cloud, they burst upon the men who were dragging; every one of them threw himself headlong into the water and hurried to regain the boat. The swarm followed at their heels, and in a few seconds filled every nook and cranny of the deck. What a scene of confusion ensued may readily be imagined.

Without any foreboding of ill, I was arranging my plants in my cabin, when I heard all around me a scampering which I took at first to be merely the frolics of my people, as that was the order of the day. I called out to inquire the meaning of the noise, but only got excited gestures and reproachful looks in answer. The cry of “Bees! bees!” soon broke upon my ear, and I proceeded to light a pipe. My attempt was entirely in vain; in an instant bees in thousands are about me, and I am mercilessly stung all over my face and hands. To no purpose do I try to protect my face with a handkerchief, and the more violently I fling my hands about so much the more violent becomes the impetuosity of the irritated insects. The maddening pain is now on my cheek, now in my eye, now in my hair. The dogs from under my bed burst out frantically, overturning everything in their way. Losing well nigh all control over myself, I fling myself in despair into the river; I dive down, but all in vain, for the stings rain down still upon my head. Not heeding the warnings of my people, I creep through the reedy grass to the swampy bank. The grass lacerates my hands, and I try to gain the mainland, hoping to find shelter in the woods. All at once four powerful arms seize me and drag me back with such force that I think I must be choked in the mud. I am compelled to go back on board, and flight is not to be thought of.

[Sidenote: BEE-STINGS.]

In the cooling moisture I had so far recovered my self-possession, that it occurred to me to drag a sheet from my chest, and this at last I found some protection, but I had first gradually to crush the bees which I had enclosed with me within this covering. Meantime by great self-denial and courage on the part of my excellent people, my large dog was brought on board to me and covered with cloths; the other, an animal from Khartoom, was unfortunately lost. Cowering down convulsively, I lingered out thus three full hours, whilst the buzzing continued uninterruptedly, and solitary stings penetrated periodically through the linen. Everyone by degrees became equally passive as myself; at length a perfect silence reigned on board; the bees subsided into quietness. Meanwhile, some courageous men had crept stealthily to the bank, and had succeeded in setting fire to the reeds. The smoke rose to their assistance, and thus they contrived to scare away the bees from the boat, and, setting it afloat, they drove it to the other bank. Had the thought of the fire occurred at first, our misfortune would have assumed a much milder character; but in the suddenness of the attack everyone lost all presence of mind. Free from further apprehension, we could now examine our injuries. With the help of a looking-glass and a pair of pincers I extracted all the stings from my face and hands, and inconvenience in those places soon passed away. But it was impossible to discover the stings in my hair; many of them had been broken off short in the midst of the fray, and, remaining behind, produced little ulcers which for two days were acutely painful. Poor Arslan was terribly punished, especially about the head; but the stings had clung harmlessly in the long hair on his back. I was really sorry for the loss of my nice little dog, which was never recovered, and in all likelihood had been stung to death. These murderous bees belong to the striped variety of our own honeybee. A mishap like ours has been seldom experienced in the waters of the White Nile. Consul Petherick, as his servants informed me, had once to undergo a similar misfortune. Our own grievance was not confined to ourselves: every boat of the sixteen which that day were sailing in our track, was pestered by the same infliction. No imagination can adequately depict the confusion which must have spread in boats where were crowded together from 60 to 80 men. I felt ready, in the evening, for an encounter with half a score of buffaloes or a brace of lions rather than have anything more to do with bees; and this was a sentiment in which all the ship’s company heartily concurred. I took my quinine and awoke refreshed and cheerful; but several of the ill-used members of our party were suffering from violent fever. My own freedom from fever might perchance in a measure be attributed to my involuntary vapour-bath. I had been sitting muffled up for some hours in my wet clothes through the heat of the day, and no vapour bath more effectual could be contrived. Among the crews of the boats which followed us there were two deaths, which ensued as the result of the injuries which had been sustained.

On the day of the bee-visitation another insect had likewise presented itself, which inflicted some sharpish stings, although they were not attended by any continuous annoyance. It was in itself an insignificant gadfly (_Tabanus_), which here appears to play the part of the tsetse-fly, the natives declaring of it that it injures the cattle. It is widely diffused in the regions through which I travelled, and where the tsetse seems to fail.

Our second day of misadventure came to an end; on the following morning we were again passing along banks void of trees. Towards midday we made a pause on the right bank by a charming grove, where trailing creepers (_Leptadenia_) dropped their pendants perpendicularly down, and bound the spreading boughs of the Shubahi acacias (_A. verugera_) to the ground, an apparatus admirably adapted to the gymnastic frolics of the little apes. Wherever anyone ventures to penetrate into the thickets he will not fail to find countless traces of animal life; snake-skins and feathers of many a species are scattered over the ground; tortoise-shells and fish-bones, the remains of the eagle’s feast; bones of animals; occasionally even human skeletons, perfectly entire. On the shore are the shell-fish left by the high water, especially the homes of the Ampularia (_A. Wernei_) as large as one’s fist, in its way a giant amongst the mollusks of the mighty river.

[Sidenote: AMBATCH CANOES.]

Warned by our experience we were ever on the alert against bees, keeping in readiness a bundle of straw and some faggots, in order to be able to kindle the dry grass immediately we had accomplished our excursion on the land. Towards midday we perceived with horror more bees in the shore-grass, and lost no time in getting across to the left bank. Here we came across numbers of Shillooks fishing in their light canoes of ambatch; darting through the water almost as swiftly as the fish themselves. This speed does not, however, prevent them from having a waddling movement, something like a duck, in their light craft. So light are these canoes that one man can carry three of them on his shoulder, although each canoe is capable of holding three men. From a few dozen shoots of ambatch of about three years’ growth, a canoe of this kind can be easily produced; at about six feet high the stem goes rapidly off to a point, so that a bundle of them needs only be tied together at the extremities, and there is at once attained a curve that would grace a gondola.[9] To use these canoes adroitly requires considerable practice, as the least shifting of the centre of gravity is made at the risk of a capsize. Nevertheless, they afforded me good service by taking me to the bank with dry feet, and by enabling me to make botanical collections from the floating bushes. When the Shillook has come to the end of his voyage, he seizes his gondola like an ancient warrior might his shield. He carries it, partly to ensure its safety and partly to allow it to dry, because the ambatch wood easily imbibes moisture and becomes saturated.

During our wanderings the crew had made a valuable discovery to replace the cracked middle of our long sailyard. It consisted of a tolerably straight, though much knotted, stem of Balanites; it was only 10 feet long, but was doubtless found with much trouble, so rare are any trees that are straight. The portion of the sailyard which had become useless now fell under the axe; it was full of cracks, and could no longer be held together by cow hide; the old bit of northern pinewood, which had done service for years on no one knows how many vessels or in how many latitudes, had now reached the limit of its destiny here on the White Nile, and was to be committed to the flames. Peace to its ashes!

The width of the cultivated country appears to be about ten miles, the whole of the left shore being dotted with numerous small villages. We were not far from Fashoda, the seat of the provincial government, and for the first time availed ourselves of our store of glass beads to open a lively trade with the Shillooks. But the beads had already so much deteriorated in value that we were obliged to buy eggs, fowls, and milk, quite at Khartoom market prices. The poor savages insisted upon this as only right and fair; it was in consequence of their transition from the monkey age of man—the termination, as it were, to them of the stone and bronze period—directly into the advanced condition of citizens and payers of taxes.

[Sidenote: FASHODA.]

Towards midday on the 24th of January we reached Fashoda, and thus, after a prosperous progress, arrived at the limit of the Egyptian empire. Fashoda is the seat of a Mudir, provided with a garrison for the maintenance of Egyptian power. The complete subjection of the entire Shillook country did not, however, follow until two years later. The governor for a considerable time resided six leagues from the town, where he was quartered with 500 soldiers, in order to bring to reason the southern Shillooks, who were by no means inclined to submit. During this time the armed force in Fashoda did not consist of more than 200 men.

The erection of anything like a town had only been begun within the last two years. The place was formerly called Denab, and now consisted of merely a large mass of conical huts of straw, besides the remarkable structure which constituted the fort. The long boundary walls of the fort, with their hundreds of waterspouts, looked at a distance as though they were mounted with so many cannon, and presented a formidable appearance. In reality the number of cannon which the fort could boast was only four, the rest of the field ordnance being in the camp of the Mudir. His deputy received me very courteously. As a present he sent me at once two fat wethers, and placed at my disposal his boats, mules, horses, soldiers—in short, everything that could assist me to inspect the neighbourhood in comfort.

On account of the shallowness of the water on the side on which the town is built, the boat was moored close by a narrow island which was connected with the mainland by a kind of jetty composed of faggots. This at the time of high water serves as a mole for any boats that may arrive, which are then able to lie close alongside the doors. Before the walls of the town, on a terrace left dry by the sunken flood, extend fields and vegetable gardens, which the Governor, following the Egyptian fashion, has caused to be planted.[10] This is the southern limit of the wheat culture in the Eastern Soudan.

The neighbouring country consists of steppes, over which, as far as the eye can see, larger and smaller groups of Shillook huts rise from the grass. The demand of wood for the use of the troops has caused the larger trees everywhere to be miserably mutilated, and the few boats which are at the disposal of the Government have enough to do in procuring fuel for the heating of the steamer stationed there. Every branch as it grows is immediately cut off, and the naked stems of the acacias, once so magnificent on account of their massive proportions, are alone able to defy the meagre tools Fashoda can supply.

For three years, it is said, there has been an undisturbed peace here, that is to say, in the environs of Fashoda; up to that time, outbreaks more or less violent, on the part of the negro settlers, had been the order of the day. Near a withered Adansonia, less than a mile from the walls, the spot was pointed out to me where the cannon of the fortress was for the last time called into action. A well-directed shot had mown down fifteen men at once from a single party who were taking advantage of the rainy season and the high grass to make an attack. The fatal shot was decisive, and the attack was abandoned. From among the bones of the Shillooks killed on that day I selected from a neighbouring pit nine skulls in good preservation, the investigation of which has furnished some material evidence towards the ethnography of Africa.

[Sidenote: TENT ON THE BANK.]

All boats are compelled to stop for several days at Fashoda, partly to complete their corn-stores, and partly on account of the poll-tax, to submit to an inspection of the papers, which contain the lists of the crew and soldiers. Hence it happens that throughout January and February Fashoda life is pretty brisk. Egyptian galley-slaves, wearing no fetters—escape being as difficult as in Siberia—loitered on the shore begging, and pestered me with scraps of French and Italian. This I found by no means agreeable. After the cramped dimensions of my cabin, I longed for wider freedom to my limbs; accordingly I had a tent pitched upon the bank, but from fear of thieves it was obliged to be continually guarded by men with loaded guns. Many boats came and went, wending their way to the Upper Nile waters; all reported that more or less they had been sufferers from the bees in Dyoorab-el-Esh. I was told that the whole crew of one boat was obliged to remain in the water from noon till evening, now and then raising their heads to get air, but always under the penalty of getting some dozen fresh stings.

The weather during these days was very cool, for a strong north-east wind blew incessantly with such violence, that at daybreak we had usually a temperature of only 62° Fahr. Even the hippopotamuses seemed to find it over cool in the water, for at sunrise they appeared _en masse_ on a neighbouring sandbank: amongst them I found a suitable target on which to try the effect of the full-sized ball which my large elephant gun carried.

I was continually bewildered by the jokes and buffoonery of the crews, for whom jesting seemed a necessity of life. Nothing was done without bad puns. There was an undying _esprit amusant_, whose flow was unchecked alike by day and night. Whenever any one did a thing which could be made ridiculous, he was received with a volley of cheers of “Hue! hue!” (there he is). The merissa beer of Fashoda, served out in gourd-shells—pints and pots being here unknown—naturally is not without its influence in promoting this perpetual folly. The love of jocoseness among these people is not confined to the young, but makes them, even when advanced in years, as merry and as naïve as children.

Some Arab names are as generally common as our own Brown and Smith; on our boat alone we had six Mohammeds; for distinction, therefore, each of these had to be assigned his special nickname. One was called Abu-Asherah (the man with ten fathers); another Berdawily (the chilly one). The others were designated by epithets more or less poetical, as father of the virgin, or sheikh of the women. My Mohammed, who had the _rencontre_ with the buffalo, was sufficiently distinguished by his appellation of Amin, the faithful, but he was also jocosely known as “the swimmer.” He had once been the means of losing a boat which a merchant had entrusted to his care, and had only escaped by swimming to shore, a feat which acquired for him the satire associated with his name.

An occurrence, which I can hardly say surprised me, but which I had expected hourly from amongst the Arab idlers, alarmed us on the first evening of our arrival. The gun of one of our soldiers went off accidentally, and the ball whistled across our boat. On the following morning, through similar carelessness, a slave of one of the Government officials received a shot through his arm, for which the offender had to pay 150 dollars, a sum which had to be raised from the entire crew, because, as they said, they were all liable to the same accident. I had myself only narrowly escaped being hit by the first mishap, and the captain (although generally he was most considerate towards his crew), acting as Ghattas’ agent, fell with great severity upon the offender. By the judgment of the majority, to which the Nubians ever appeal, the fellow was assigned some dozen lashes of the kurbatch, which he was thrown down on the deck to receive, and which he bore without a murmur.

The right side of the main stream at Fashoda is not the mainland, but is a long island, which extends for several leagues above and below. Beyond the true eastern shore the Dinka are said to be settled in extensive villages, and at that time still furnished an inexhaustible supply of slaves to the marauding expeditions of the garrison of Fashoda. In 1870, Baker succeeded in putting an end to this disorder, the knowledge of which penetrated to the most remote tribes. The Dinka tribes of that region are called Dang-Yoht, Dang-Yahl, Behr, Nyell, and Abelang.

[Sidenote: KILLING A BOA.]

The shore opposite Fashoda contains wide bush-forests and unlimited supplies of wood. During one of my excursions thither I killed an enormous African boa, the Python Sebæ. It was about fifteen feet in length, not above the average size to which the species attains; in Gallabat I have frequently seen them over twenty feet. The speedy death of this huge reptile by a charge of heavy shot, of which only four grains hit, struck me as very remarkable. The skin was brilliantly spotted, and yielded admirable material for making a waterproof gun-case.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] In the Soudan, every thorn-hedge, or palisade, is
called a Seriba; in Syria, also, the cane-hedges, for the
enclosing of cattle, are termed Sirb, or Sereebe.

[8] For five Maria Theresa dollars (1_l_.) I bought two fat
bullocks.

[9] The accompanying illustration represents a similar
canoe, weighing about 40 lbs.

[10] The illustration represents the different well-like
Shadoofs used for irrigation.