Chapter XIX (1)

Division of the caravan. Trip to the east. African elk.
Bamboo-forests. Seriba Mbomo on the Lehssy. Abundance of corn.
Route between Kuddoo and Mbomo. Maize-culture. Harness-bushbock.
Leopard carried in triumph. Leopards and panthers. The Babuckur.
Lips of the Babuckur women. Surprised by buffaloes. Accident
in crossing the Lehssy. Tracts of wilderness. Buffaloes in the
bush. The Mashirr hills. Tamarinds again. Wild dates. Tikkitikki
and the cows. The Viceroy’s scheme. Hunger on the march.
Passage of the Tondy. Suggestion for a ferry. Prosperity of
Ghattas’s establishments. Arrival of expected stores. A dream
realised. Trip to Kurkur. Hyæna dogs. Dislike of the Nubians to
pure water. Two soldiers killed by Dinka. Attempt to rear an
elephant. My menagerie. Accident from an arrow. Cattle plagues.
Meteorology. Trip to the Dyoor. Gyabir’s delusion. Bad news of
Mohammed. Preparations for a second Niam-niam journey.

The day was far advanced when, after crossing the Tondy, we turned towards the left, and quitted the thickets in order that we might find an open grass plot sufficiently extensive to accommodate our caravan. The separate detachments were all gathered together, and then divided into two parties, as before returning to Sabby Mohammed had resolved to make an excursion eastwards as far as the borders of his Mittoo territory, so that he might fetch away what ivory he had in store there. The greater part of the bearers and soldiers were sent on direct to Sabby, and I arranged for my own bearers, under the conduct of my servant Osman Aboo Bekr, to accompany them, whilst for myself I reserved just as much baggage as was necessary, and joined the party that was proceeding to the east. It chanced that Ghattas’s corps was taking the same route, and as it led through districts which were well supplied with corn, we all marched in company.

After subduing the Mittoo who were resident close to Nganye’s territory, Mohammed Aboo Sammat, in the previous February, had founded a Seriba on the Upper Lehssy, at no great distance from the villages of Uringama, one of Nganye’s behnkys. On account of its singular fertility the district was a very favourite station for the various Rohl-companies on their way to and from the Niam-niam lands, and the sagacious Kenoosian, well aware of the advantages afforded by their frequent visits, and knowing, moreover, how numerous elephants were in the surrounding regions, had lost no time in making a settlement in the locality. The name of the local overseer of the Mittoo people was Mbomo. As the owners of the land were mutually satisfied with each other and on the best of terms, the soldiers of the Seriba lived on the most amicable footing with the neighbouring Niam-niam. The Seriba Mbomo was about twenty-one miles to the E.S.E. of the spot where we crossed the Tondy, the road by which we travelled lying almost in a straight line in that direction.

[Sidenote: ELANDS.]

Soon after starting, just as we re-entered the obscurity of the forest, the men in the van of the procession made signs that there was something stirring amongst the bushes. We came to a halt, and hurrying to the front as stealthily as I could, I made out the forms of some light-coloured animals that were lurking in the shadows of the underwood. They turned out to be five splendid elands. They appeared not to have noticed our approach, and grazed on, as peacefully as oxen, under a large tree just in front of us. Simultaneously one of the blacks and myself fired at the foremost buck that chanced to be standing full broadside in our face. The startled animals made a bound, and put their running powers to the test, their short weak legs carrying their ponderous bodies at full gallop across our path. All at once a crashing noise and a heavy fall; the wounded victim was ours: a good supper was provided for our caravan.

This antelope (_A. oreas_) is the largest and tallest of all the African species, occasionally measuring six feet high at the withers; it appears to be common to the entire continent, and perhaps does not fail in any equatorial region whatever. It is probable that the imposing animal owes its name of “eland” to the imagination of some well-read Boër, to whom it appeared like the mythical creature of his fables and heroic songs; for only as such could the elk have been known to the worthy Dutch colonists. But however little, as far as regards either the colour of its coat or the shape of its horns, the oreas may have in common with the elk, still I must confess that by its size it could not do otherwise than remind me of the stately game of my Livonian home; and the shaggy hair hanging in full crop from the neck, the bushy bristles on the forehead, and above all the thick black mane upon the withers, all combined to increase the resemblance. Far more striking, however, is the analogy of this animal with the zebu-races of Africa, which exhibit many points that are common to the whole antelope type. The short legs, the elevated round body, the long hanging dewlap, the hump-shaped withers, and the light bay colour of the skin are characteristics of this race that justify a comparison of the eland with them far more than with the elk.

[Sidenote: HORNS OF THE ELAND.]

In external appearance this African elk exhibits varieties as great as the hartebeest and other common species of antelopes, and on this account it seems to claim some detailed notice. In zoological gardens it is very rare to find two individual examples exactly alike, and the greatest diversity is observable in the shape of the horns; as instances of this, I may refer to the representation here introduced of two pairs of horns which I have selected from my collection, and which may be taken as examples of the two most extreme forms that came under my notice. They are about a yard in length, the pair that is more divergent making only one spiral turn, while the other makes a turn and a half. All the elands that I saw had extremely short sleek hair of a bright yellow tan colour verging on the flanks to a light bay; the mane was black and erect, being about three inches long. In every district through which I travelled I observed their skin to be always marked in well-defined stripes, which are not, as some travellers have supposed, to be taken as indications of the youth of the animal: I have seen full grown specimens that were marked on each side of the body with no less than fifteen parallel stripes, about as wide as one’s finger, of a pure white running from the black line of the back transversely down to the middle of the belly, which is often marked with a large black spot. The flesh of the eland ranks amongst the better kinds of antelope-meat, and as quite as palatable as that of the hartebeest.

We encamped about a league from our suspension-bridge, in the midst of a splendid wilderness, where, in spite of the torrents of rain, I passed a night of entire comfort in my warm nest of grass. A little way to the north of our encampment there was a small gneiss hill called Manga. Before halting for the night we had crossed two brooks, which with a supply of water alike copious and rapid hastened on to join the river at no great distance away; the first of these, the Mokungudduly, rippled along over smooth blocks of gneiss, and was bordered by flower-bespangled meadows that, stretching onwards in a forest glade, were watered besides by countless springs.

The march of eight leagues that lay before us would pass through an unbroken forest, and required us to make an early start upon the following morning; accordingly when we set out we found the whole wood veiled in mist and the ground yet reeking with the heavy dew. The forest flora continually tempted me to deviate to either side of the pathway. My interest was especially attracted by the splendid Encephalartus, which seemed abundant throughout the district. Amongst other new types of plants which met my notice was the _Tithymalus_, one of the cabbage-like euphorbiæ, the first that I had seen throughout the entire region. A large variety of conspicuous shrubs, many of them covered with fine blossoms, gave the forest almost the aspect of an artificial park; one of the most frequent of these (worthy indeed to be designated as a tree) was the _Parinarium polyantherum_, remarkable alike for its great trusses of white blossoms and for its polished leaves, which are thick and yet brittle.

No less than eight running streams had to be crossed during this march: the three first joined the Tondy, the rest being tributary to the Lehssy. The third brook was called the Baziah, the fifth the Ulidyatibba; succeeding this, and enclosed by walls of gneiss, came the Lehssindah.

[Sidenote: THE MOROKOH.]

About a league to the right of our path, and to the south of the place where we forded the Lehssindah, rose several gneiss hills, of which the two highest peaks were called Ndimoh and Bondoh. Our route had hitherto been quite level, and apparently at a considerable height above the valley of the Tondy; but it now began to descend for a couple of leagues to the Morokoh. This wide and rapid stream flowed through a tray-like valley surrounded by open grass-plains that sloped downwards on either side to the meanderings of the water. In front of us, to the east, the whole country had a gentle but regular elevation, for looking over the right bank of the Lehssy we could make out the locality in which the union would have to be sought of the chain of the Zilëi mountains in Mondoo with those that extend between the Tondy and the Roah.

The scenery of the steep declivity towards the south-west which we now reached assumed a character very different to the park-like landscape through which we had been passing. For many miles the eye rested upon treeless steppes broken by bamboo jungles that seemed almost impenetrable, standing in detached groups, their dark olive-green contrasting admirably with the bright hue of the grass, and giving a novelty to the general aspect. Immediately beyond the Morokoh our path began to rise, and led us into the semi-obscurity of one of these jungles.

A short time before reaching it, we had left on our right a series of hamlets inhabited by the Niam-niam belonging to Dippodo’s district: a league further on lay the villages of Uringama, on the extreme eastern frontier of Nganye’s territory, the Lehssy forming the boundary between the Niam-niam and the Mittoo; and a few more leagues still in the same direction would have brought us to the north-eastern limits of the Babuckur.

We reached the Lehssy shortly before sunset. The Seriba was built close upon the opposite bank, but it was so enclosed by the tall bamboos that towered high above the palisade that it was completely hidden from our view. The actual source of the Lehssy was at no great distance; the river here was about fifteen feet wide, and four feet deep, and flowed in a N.N.W. direction: the water was as clear as crystal, a peculiarity that appertains to all streams that are enclosed by bamboos, which delight in a soil that is intersected by springs. The stems of the bamboos rose to the height of forty feet; slender and graceful they bent themselves into an arch which stretched far across the stream; and as hardly anywhere could a more inviting spot be found for a siesta, so hardly anywhere could water be met with more tempting for a bath than that which flowed limpidly over its gravel bed.

On my arrival at the Seriba, I soon became convinced that I was in a land where corn was abundant; the very liberality of the messes of sorghum-kissere that were served up to my people was an ample proof that there was no scarcity here. In times gone by I had myself had an utter disdain for this food of the Soudan, but now, after so long a deprivation, I relished it heartily, and thought it equal to the most delicate of rolls. It was no doubt heavy and indigestible enough; still I could make a good meal of it; only on rare occasions during the Niam-niam journey had I tasted any sorghum at all, and when I had, it had been doled out in infinitesimal quantities, but with the fresh enjoyment of this luxury now, and with the returning opportunity of getting some real roast mutton, our previous privations were soon forgotten.

The Seriba Mbomo was ten leagues to the south of Kuddoo, on the Roah. Mohammed, with a thoughtful consideration of my tastes, had taken means to enable me to fill up some missing links in the chain of our route. During his march in February he had made one of his men who could write take down all the information he could get from the Mittoo guides; and from the same authority I obtained verbal confirmation of the reports which I had previously gathered, so that I was able to map out the entire district with what I believe is tolerable accuracy.

[Sidenote: NUMEROUS BROOKS.]

In the sketch of the route there were enumerated as many as twelve brooks that had to be crossed in the interval between Kuddoo and Mbomo, all supplied more or less copiously with water, even in the dry winter season. Reckoning from north to south, the series came in the following order: the Tee, the Burri, the Malikoo, the Marikohli, the Mangawa, and the Wary; then came the watershed between the Lehssy and the Roah, marked by the Gherey-hills, which I afterwards visited; then followed six more brooks, the Kooluma, the Magbogba, the Makaï, the Patioh, the Manyinyee, and the Malooka. Although all these streams have their origin quite close to the left bank of the Roah, yet they take a very devious course before they actually join it; the last five, indeed, do not directly meet the river, but join another stream to the west of the route called the Dongodduloo, which unites itself with the Tee or Tay; the brook that flows past Ngoly’s village, and which is known to the west of Sabby as the Koddoh, being an affluent of the Roah.

On the watershed, bamboo-jungles extend over an area of many square miles. The species which is thus found in such immense masses is the same which is so prolific in the lower terraces of the Abyssinian highlands. In the manner of their growth these bamboos remind me of an asparagus-bed in the summer-time, hundreds of sprouts start up from a single root, and in graceful curves droop over towards the ground. The habit of the plant is altogether similar to the Indian bamboo, which has lately been successfully introduced into the pleasure-gardens of Cairo. The Abyssinian species does not grow so thick in the stem as the Indian, but it attains as great a height, often rising to forty or fifty feet.

The well-tilled soil of Mbomo’s district reminded me very much of the country about Kuraggera; the land appeared well populated and covered with extensive fields of maize and sorghum. The extent to which maize was cultivated was quite surprising; whole acres were planted with it, and I obtained a large supply of fresh ears. I had these all dried and ground, and thus provided myself with a considerable quantity of flour, enough to meet the requirements of several weeks to come. The maize is here liable to the same drawback as it is elsewhere. It is very easily spoiled. This happens from two causes; it has a tendency to turn mouldy, and it is very subject to the gnawings of worms; the meal also ferments sooner than any other species of grain. The means adopted by the natives to keep it during the winter is simply to tie the ears in great sheaves and to hang them up on some detached trees, where they can have plenty of air, and yet be out of the reach of the noxious vermin.

One of the best productions of the country is the bean (_Phasæolus lunatus_), the same that is so much cultivated by the Mittoo; it is one of the most palatable species with which I am acquainted; its pods, that are short, broad, and crescent-shaped, never contain more than two large beans.

Although the settlement had been so recently established, Mohammed was very pleased with the store of ivory that had been secured.

For three whole days I rambled about on the banks of the Lehssy, meeting with excellent sport. Amongst other things, I killed my first bushbock, an animal of which the yellowish-tan skin is marked with white stripes, the lines so arranged as if they were a regular harness. There is always to be observed some difference or other between each of these creatures and all its fellows; they are never precisely alike; either there will be some spot or speck, or stripe, which is peculiar to each, and distinguishes it from all the rest. The specimens of the bush-bock that I saw were always solitary; and it would seem to be more timid than any other species of antelope. The singular marking of its skin adapted it to catch the eye, but it was rarely visible for more than a moment; its nervous sensibility made it keen to catch the slightest sound; the lightest rustling would make it bound away into the woods. I have stood breathlessly waiting with cocked rifle, but there is no time to take a proper aim; and the shot that took effect I own was directed rather by chance than skill.

[Sidenote: BAMBOO THICKETS.]

The bamboo-thickets are likewise a favourite resort of wart-hogs, which there find abundant food in the tender young sprouts in which they delight. Numbers of birds, too, attracted by the grain that is formed in the round and bushy spikes of the bamboo, haunt the scene, and many varieties of sparrows (_Passeres_) build and breed in this solitude, which is well-nigh as undisturbed as any upon the face of creation.

The appearance of a herd of large eland antelopes excited the Niam-niam of the neighbourhood to organise a regular _battue_, during the prosecution of which they met with a bit of good fortune that did not often occur. They succeeded in killing a leopard, an event that was deemed so great a triumph that old and young conspired to do honour to the occasion. The first intimation that we had of anything unusual having transpired was given by the war-trumpets, the notes of which were heard in the direction of Uringama’s villages; our first impression was that the Niam-niam, who were charged by the keen Kenoosian with the protection of his frontier, had been successfully repulsing some assault on the part of the Babuckur; but very soon the report was circulated that a noble present was being conveyed to Mohammed, and, true enough, ere long there approached a formal procession bearing on a litter of leaves the blood-stained carcase of the leopard. The offering was duly laid at Mohammed’s feet as a tribute, betokening the respect and friendship of the behnky. Throughout the whole of Central Africa the skin of the leopard is deemed a suitable adornment for persons of princely rank, and nowhere is it more readily admitted amongst the insignia of royalty than with the Niam-niam.

The animal that was now brought in was more than a yard in length. It had been killed in a singular way. Having encroached stealthily upon the position of the hartebeests, and not suspecting the proximity of the hunters, it had suddenly found itself beset by a body of men, and by a prodigious bound endeavoured to leap over the circle of snares that had been set. Just, however, as the leopard was effecting an escape it was struck by a couple of lances with such violence that the points darned themselves into the flesh, and left the stems protruding. Thus impeded, the wounded creature became entangled in the bushes and, overpowered by the number of missiles hurled against it, succumbed to its destiny.

All the leopard skins that I saw in this part of Africa belonged to animals of the thick-set species, which is distinguished by large complicated spots, each spot being itself an assemblage of smaller spots, which run, generally in about five rows, along the entire body. By some naturalists this species is designated as the panther, in contradistinction to the true leopard, which is said to have a more slender body covered with more numerous rows of smaller spots. This, however, is an error; in spite of the many varieties of form and the gradations in the markings of the skin, it appears certain that but _one_ species of leopard exists throughout Africa, and that in this quarter of the globe, at least, the distinctive terms of _leopard_ and _panther_ are unnecessary.

[Sidenote: THE BABUCKUR.]

On my previous wanderings I had skirted about three-fourths of the frontier of the Babuckur territory. As this territory lay but a short distance to the south-west of Mbomo, being bounded by the Tondy, I was able to obtain from the soldiers of the Seriba some particulars of the country of which I had seen the natives largely represented among the slaves of the various settlements at which I had sojourned.

The Babuckur must either have migrated to their present quarters from the south, or they must be the remnant of a nation that has been constrained to make its way to the north and to the east by the advance of the Niam-niam. It is said that their dialect is found amongst some of the tribes to the south of the Monbuttoo; this is not at all unlikely, as, like those tribes, they have an established system of agriculture and give great attention to the breeding of goats. Limited to an area of not more than 350 square miles, the eastern portion of this people is very much exposed to the raids of the Khartoomer traders and to the depredations of the Niam-niam chieftains, who for years have considered their land as a sort of outlying storehouse, from which they could at pleasure replenish their stock of corn and cattle. By reason of the perpetual persecutions to which they have been subject, their population has gradually become more and more compressed, and their very crowded condition itself probably accounts for the vigorous intensity with which they now ward off any acts of hostility; they are equally warlike and resolute; they will fight till they have shed their last drop of blood; and as cannibalism is commonly reported to be practised among them, their assailants are generally content to carry off whatever plunder is to be secured, as hastily as possible, without waiting to pursue or trying to subjugate them. Their eastern neighbours, the Loobah, though themselves harassed by the oppressors from the north, are continually at war with the Babuckur.

The other portion of the Babuckur has withdrawn to the frontiers of the Bongo and Niam-niam that lie between the Sway and the Tondy, about sixty miles to the north-west of the portion to which I have been referring; the complete identity of the race, thus severed only in situation, is verified not only by the one term “Babuckur” being applied indiscriminately to the two sections, but still more by the complete similarity of the dialects, as I afterwards proved by comparing the vocabularies that I compiled. The Bongo call the western division of the Babuckur “Mundo.”[55]

The Babuckur are a tropical negro race. Their complexion is very dark. As slaves they are very useful, being of a docile and enduring temperament, handy in the house, and expert at almost any ordinary work. They are short in stature, and have a vacant, not to say a repulsive, expression. The women, when they have once passed their youth are, as a rule, the very incarnation of ugliness, for besides having extremely irregular features, they mutilate their faces in a most frightful way. All married women[56] pierce the rims of their ears and both their lips, and insert bits of grass-stalk about an inch long in the holes, some of them having as many as twenty of these grass-slips about their mouth and ears. The sides of the nostrils are treated in the same way as amongst the women of the Bongo, as I noticed in its proper place.

As Mohammed was anxious to inspect his Mittoo Seribas again before returning to his chief settlement, I did not wait for him, but, accompanied by a small retinue, I started off on the 29th of June, taking the nearest route to Sabby. For the first four miles we followed the same path by which we had come to Mbomo, and although the rain fell incessantly, the bamboo-forest was so unbroken that it afforded us an effectual shelter, and we reached the descent to the Morokoh with dry skins. After crossing the brook we turned off in a north-westerly direction, at an acute angle to our previous path.

[Sidenote: FORDING THE LEHSSINDAH.]

An immense tract of forest, utterly barren and uninhabited, was now before us. The nearest cultivated spot would be the villages of the Bongo, near Ngoly, which could not be less than forty miles away, and certainly could not be reached within three days. After crossing four little meadow-waters, and fording the Lehssindah where it flowed between its gneiss banks, we encamped for the night about a league further on, near another of these meadow-waters, which are very numerous, and which, spreading themselves out in open glades, sometimes 500 paces wide, break the monotony of the wooded scene.

The whole region was enlivened by herds of hartebeests, and choosing my position at the head of the procession, I was ever on the _qui vive_ to pursue them. My exertions in this way made the distance that I actually travelled three times as much as it need have been; but I had no other reward for my pains than the amusement I derived from the grotesque movements of the agile creatures.

After I had comfortably settled myself for the night in my grass nest, a circumstance occurred of a kind which more than once had happened to us before. I was roused by a dull heavy sound that seemed to shake the ground like an approaching earthquake. Our camp was tolerably extensive, for, besides my own retinue, a considerable number of Mohammed’s bearers, conveying a large quantity of his ivory, had been sent in our party; but large as our numbers were, the whole camp was thrown into commotion, and shouts and gun-shots were heard from every quarter. The explanation of the uproar was that an enormous herd of buffaloes in their nightly wanderings had come scampering down upon our position, and exposed us to the manifest risk of being trampled to death.

[Sidenote: SHARPLY STUNG.]

Early on the second morning we reached the banks of the Lehssy. The deep river-bed was now quite full, the stream being forty feet wide and flowing in a westerly direction at the rate of sixty feet a minute. The bearers performed the passage by the ordinary manœuvre of bridging over the water. For my own part I thought to adopt a scheme which would give some variety to the monotony of these proceedings, and became the victim of a little episode of by no means an agreeable nature. There would be a difficulty, I felt, in wearing my boots to cross the tangled branches of which the extemporised bridges are formed; they would permit no sure hold to the feet, and to walk over bare-footed would not have been a prudent experiment, as I might become footsore and prevented from marching; I therefore abandoned all idea of clambering over, but undressed myself and proceeded to swim across the flood. When I was just within a few strokes of the opposite shore, all at once I experienced a painful shock that throbbed through every limb; I had come into contact with one of the prickly mimosa-bushes, which I have already described as frequently hedging in the various streams. The river-bed being now full to its entire capacity, the water had completely risen above the dangerous shrubs, so that they had quite escaped my notice. I knew the nature of these thorny barriers by experience, and when I mention that I never found the stoutest boots able to withstand the penetrating power of the spikes, it may be imagined to a degree what agony I now suffered. It was like stranding on a reef of thorns. The utmost refinement of cruelty could hardly devise an instrument of torture much more effectual than these mimosæ. However, swim I must. With a desperate effort I got myself free from the entanglement of the shrubs, and, bleeding from a hundred lacerations, I contrived to reach the land. I felt as if my whole body had been scarified. But there was no time to lose; so, in spite of the nervous shock, the angry wounds, and the smarting skin, I set out at once in continuation of our march.

We travelled five leagues that day and crossed six separate meadow-waters and glades of the same character as those already mentioned.

After proceeding for a considerable distance over bare red rocks, we were overtaken by a sudden storm of rain, and had to take hasty measures for protecting the baggage. But the interruption did not prevent me from doing a little interesting botanizing during the interval of delay. I found two of the prettiest plants that the land produces here, showing themselves in great abundance: a little orchid (_Habenaria crocea_) with saffron-coloured blossoms, and a sky-blue Monbretia, not unlike a squill. In many places the barren rocks were overspread with patches of these plants, that they looked as though a carpet had been laid out upon them, the colours blending into patterns that would not disgrace the flower-beds of our modern gardening.

In connection with the second of our night encampments a circumstance occurred, trifling in itself, but which was a convincing proof that, however deserted and free from human intrusion these forest solitudes might appear, they are nevertheless explored by the natives when they are out upon their hunting excursions. In the bustle of starting in the morning, a pair of boots, which I had hung up to dry within my grass-hut, had been forgotten and left behind. I did not miss them for a few days; but as their loss could not be replaced, I sent some people back, in the hope that they would recover them. It was found that the huts meanwhile had been ransacked by some mysterious stranger, and the rare treasure had not escaped the keen eye of the hunter; the boots, indeed, were hanging precisely where they had been left; but every nail, and every little brass ring that formed the eyelets for the laces, had been carefully extracted from the leather, and were now probably gleaming in the nose and ears of some swarthy beauty.

Early in the morning of the third day we entered the splendid forest of Humboldtiæ, through which, only ten miles to the west, we had passed at the commencement of our Niam-niam campaign. After the forest came an open steppe, with a distant view of the hills in front, which we should again have to cross, though more to the east than before. The passage of the Mah being accomplished, the ascent began, and led through a wood, where the foliage was so dense that it was quite impossible to see many steps ahead. At this period I chanced to be nearly in the rear of the procession, when my attention was arrested by an old black slave in the pathway, who kept beckoning me to come to her. I found, on going up to the place where she stood, that she wanted to point out to me a black object that was about ten paces away; at first I took it to be merely a great stem of a tree that could only be indistinctly seen behind the large leaves of the Anonæ; and I was about to make a somewhat closer investigation, when all at once the mass began to move, and a fine pair of horns displayed themselves. In my impetuous surprise I fired mechanically, without an aim. My sudden shot raised a storm that I had little expected. In an instant a herd of twenty buffaloes, snorting and bellowing, with tails erect, came galloping past in mad career. Dizzy with confusion I discharged my double-barrelled rifle amongst the brutes; another moment and I could see nothing more than the massive foliage: the buffaloes had vanished, and I heard no more of them than the distant thunder of their heavy tramp.

[Sidenote: A HARTEBEEST KILLED.]

The hills before us were called Mashirr; they were a continuation of the steep declivity of Mbala-Ngeea in the west, to which I have already alluded, extending onwards towards the south-east and forming a portion of the ridge that had been on our right during the whole of our march. On the summit, as far as the eye can reach, there is an extensive plateau, broken by detached groves and handsome trees, and sloping down towards the north, to the depression of the Tee. For the first time, after long missing them, we found some tamarinds, under the ample shade of which we made a short noonday halt, and then started off through some deep defiles that led to arid plains. Before reaching the Tee we counted four little brooks that flowed in an easterly direction to join it; the first of these, to the north of the hills, was the upper course of the Nungolongboh, and was full of water in a deep bed enclosed by an avenue of trees. A ridge of hills ran parallel to our path upon the left, and after we had crossed the second brook we observed a mass of red rock rising to about 300 feet upon our right. Many small herds of hartebeests came in sight. I lamed one of the animals with a rifle-shot, and was grieved to see how cruelly it was afterwards butchered by the Bongo, the poor brute being so unmercifully mangled by their lances that I had no little difficulty in getting a piece of solid flesh large enough to carry off and roast.

So much time was lost in our chase of the antelope that the evening came on whilst we had still some leagues to travel, and we soon found ourselves marching on in complete darkness. I was amongst the stragglers of our party, and we lost our way several times before we were finally collected by the clanging roll of the kettle-drums on the southern outposts of the Bongo. It was quite midnight when, weary with our exertions and drenched by passing through so many swamps, we arrived, after a circuitous route, at the village of Ngoly.

At this place we remained a day to recruit our strength. In the environs of the village I found the Encephalartus (here in its most northerly position), the seeds, as large as hazel-nuts, strewing the ground in all directions.

At this season, too, the fruit of the wild date-palm was ripe, and I collected a large quantity of it, with which I made an unsuccessful attempt to concoct some African palm-wine. The fruit possesses the same pleasant aroma as the common date, but it is only a third of the size, and is very unpalatable, being harsh, dry, and woody.

On the 3rd of July we marched, without a single halt, for nine consecutive hours, until we found ourselves once again in Sabby. The last few leagues were accomplished in a drizzling rain. Large herds of antelopes frequented the district; but it was vexatious to find myself continually foiled in chasing them by the over-eagerness of my own dogs, which I was quite unable to restrain.

Our entry into Sabby made a wonderful impression upon Tikkitikki. He caught sight of a number of cattle quietly grazing before the gate of the Seriba, and, jumping to the conclusion that they must be a herd of wild antelopes that had accidentally strayed there, could not comprehend why no one endeavoured to avail himself of so splendid a chance to secure a prize. Subsequently, when he witnessed the process of milking, his delight knew no bounds; he laughed aloud, and declared that so comical a sight he had never seen before.

[Sidenote: FIVE DAYS REST.]

This journey had been one of the most pleasant and the most successful that had ever been undertaken in so remote a part of the continent. Its pleasantness was owing to my state of health and to the fine air of the Niam-niam countries; its success was due to the favourable circumstances under which I had travelled. In Europe the general idea of such a journey is that it must be a sort of martyrdom, made up of indescribable fatigue, exertion, and deprivation; but, without hesitation, I can affirm that, to a traveller who can only maintain his strength and activity, it is far otherwise; though he may find his enterprise laborious, he will not find it wearisome; it will be what a German would describe as _mühsam_ rather than _mühselig_. Fatigue and hardships are estimated comparatively, not so much to themselves, as to the ordinary comfort of domestic life. Those who are acquainted with such fatigue as attends our modern warfare, with its transient strain upon the powers of endurance, may probably form a fair idea of the character of my exertions; but to all those who, like myself, have travelled by “Russian posts” my worst trials and wants in Africa would appear mere child’s play. In fact, our days’ marches were often so short that I became quite impatient. Our Niam-niam campaign from Sabby occupied 150 days, and in that time, apart from a few unimportant deviations, we had only travelled 560 miles in all; according to the calculations as registered in my journal at the time, the whole distance accomplished was about 248 leagues.

After the forced marches, however, that we had just recently been making, I was heartily glad of the five days’ rest which I was now enabled to enjoy in Sabby. A large packet of letters was awaiting my arrival, and to read through a correspondence which had been accumulating for a year and a half was an agreeable engagement for the period of unwonted repose. It was now for the first time that I heard of Sir Samuel Baker’s adventurous expedition, and now that I got my earliest intimation of the Egyptian Government having undertaken to establish a footing in the Gazelle district. Kurshook Ali, a born Osmanli and one of the chief ivory merchants of Khartoom, who possessed a Seriba there, had been invested by the Governor-General with the title of a Sandjak, and been placed at the head of two companies of Government troops, one company being regular Turks (Bazibazuks), the other composed of negroes (Nizzam). The arrival of these troops had excited a great amount of consternation through all the Seribas, for, apart from the fact that it too probably seemed to jeopardise the very foundation of the rights of the holders to the territory, it certainly presaged the levying of those taxes and imposts which the presence of Government soldiers always entails. What, in the first place, excited Kurshook Ali’s cupidity was to get possession of the famous copper mines of South Darfoor. He was going to appropriate these in the name of the Viceroy, but Ismail Pasha was caught in a trap, and beguiled by the duplicity of a priest belonging to Darfoor, who represented the locality as being his own private property, exhibiting a forged deed of gift, purporting to be made by the late Sultan, to corroborate his claim.

Hellali, for such was the name of the skilful swindler, had for some time been employed as a secretary at the Court of the Sultan Hussein, and, being familiar with the administration of the affairs of Darfoor, turned his knowledge to account in fostering the animosity of that country against Egypt, its far more powerful neighbour. He had not, however, the slightest acquaintance with the property which he claimed as his own, and led the troops, with their Sandjak, by difficult paths to an uncertain fate, in a country that was scarcely known even by name.

In possession of the Viceregal firman, Hellali had the companies of black soldiers under his own orders, while Kurshook Ali had only the Arnauts. The story of how Hellali brought about a bloody conflict not only with the occupiers of the Seribas, but (after the death of the Sandjak, Kurshook Ali, which occurred soon afterwards) with the Turkish soldiers themselves, must be narrated on a later page.

After I had re-arranged and re-packed my collection, and seen that it had been properly enveloped in waterproof cases, I provided myself with a fresh relay of bearers, and, on the 8th of July, proceeded again towards the north. It was hardly in human nature not to be eager to get the provisions which, having been forwarded from Khartoom, were now delayed beside the sluggish waters of the Gazelle. Mohammed, however, had not yet appeared, but was still making his requisitions of corn in his territories amongst the Mittoo. In consequence of his not returning with the anticipated contributions there was an increased dearth in Sabby, and my poor bearers were becoming absolutely destitute. Their sufferings during their arduous five days’ toil were little short of incredible. The Seribas of Shereefee, which were passed upon the way, were as “hard up” for sustenance as Sabby itself; and besides this, the Bongo that were settled thereabouts were all in avowed hostility to my own Bongo, so that no spirit of hospitality was to be expected along our route.

[Sidenote: A TRYING JOURNEY]

Throughout this portion of our trying journey, the bearers, incredible as it may appear, subsisted solely upon the wild roots which they could grub up; they had positively nothing else to support them, and only digestions such as theirs could have endured the strain. The pressure under which we laboured of accomplishing the journey without loss of time was so urgent that there was not leisure to avail ourselves of any temptation to the chase, and, however much we might feast our eyes, we were under the stern necessity of keeping back our feet from pursuing the elands and waterbocks which had ventured from the wilderness and were grazing peacefully in almost close proximity to our line of march.

It was on the 10th that we reached Shereefee’s chief Seriba, but we did not enter it. I had openly declared myself to belong to Mohammed’s party, and indeed could not do otherwise than foresee the bitterness of those contentions which so soon afterwards broke out and led to such serious issues.

Most fortunately we were free from rain all the day. The groups of sycamores, which on our former visit had furnished such a commodious encampment under the shelter of their splendid foliage, invited us once again to take up our quarters beneath them; but we had hardly settled ourselves under their shade before we were surprised by the sudden outbreak of a storm, which continued with much violence. The woody landscape around was pleasant enough, and I was compensated in a way by the beauty of the scenery for the lack of provisions; but I looked forward with eager hope for a period of refreshment when there would be an end to chilly baths and wearing apparel perpetually wet.

The passage over the Doggoroo was not made without considerable trouble, as we had to fell some trees and lay down a lot of brushwood so as to construct one of our improvised bridges. The last night-camp between the Doggoroo and the Tondy was deplorably wretched; our provisions were positively exhausted; all we could do was to send some messengers to the nearest Seriba to insure that we should have a supply of some kind in readiness for us on the following morning. It was also necessary to have extra bearers, as comparatively few of the Bongo of Sabby had any knowledge of the art of swimming.

After arriving at the height, from whence, for some miles round, we could survey the expanse of the submerged lowlands, we had still several hours before we could decipher in the distance the forms of the swimmers bringing the burdens of which we were in such urgent need. My bearers could not control their impatience; greedily they pounced upon the first bags of corn that were brought to land, and without tarrying for the grain to be cooked, they thrust it by handfuls into their mouths. Their strong teeth easily crunched it up, the hard dry corn being as readily devoured by them as if they had been accustomed to it all their lives. Horses, or ruminants of any kind, could not more readily have disposed of a feed of oats.

I had thoroughly to undress myself in order to pass over the flooded depression, and even upon the banks of the stream I stood knee-deep in water. The passage over the river was tedious, mainly in consequence of the sharp edges of the marsh-grass and the numerous pit-holes in the bottom making any rapid progress very dangerous. No less than two hours had I to dawdle away my time in this cheerless position before the caravan could be brought entirely over. A small raft, constructed of bundles of grass tied together, was used for the purpose of ferrying the baggage across; and, thanks to the excessive care that was used, not a single article failed to be transported in safety.

[Sidenote: CROSSING THE TONDY]

At this date (July 12, 1870) the Tondy was flowing with a velocity of eighty feet a minute; the depth of the channel, now over-full, proved to be no less than twenty-four feet, and the entire width of the stream, as it reached from the reedy border on one side to that on the other, extended to something more than 120 feet. The river had now risen more than four feet beyond the ordinary limits of its inundation, and our train had repeatedly to make wide deviations from its proper route in order to keep where the bottom was tolerably level and free from dangerous holes. The day was well-nigh spent in contending with rain and flood, and it was quite dusk before we hailed the welcome sight of the hospitable huts of Kulongo.

There is a way of transporting baggage across such rivers as are tolerably free from danger, which appears to me to be eminently practicable, and to be suited peculiarly well to this country, but which I was sorry never to see brought into use. It is a method recommended by Barth[57] in the record of his enterprise, and consists simply of making a ferry by means of gourds. About a couple of dozen of moderate-sized calabashes are fastened together and covered over with layers of grass, and these are found to make a raft, which is quite capable of bearing several hundredweight of goods. It has been to no purpose that I have called the attention of the Nubians to this contrivance; although they seemed forced to acknowledge the efficacy of the plan, they are not disposed to try it; however, for the benefit of future travellers, I beg to suggest it as a method which, under many circumstances, might afford them incomparable service.

Thus it was that after an absence of eight months I found myself happily back again at my old quarters. The place itself was little altered, except that the Seriba seemed to be in a more flourishing condition than in the previous year. The Bongo deserters, who had caused the failure of the Niam-niam expedition, had in consequence of a campaign against the Dinka tribes, on whose territory they had taken up their quarters, not only themselves returned to their former abode, but had induced three times as many Bongo as there were before to come and settle upon Ghattas’s property. These people, who were now present in such superfluous numbers, had ten years ago all taken themselves off at the first appearance of strangers settling in their land. I saw that numerous tracts of woodlands had been cleared and brought under cultivation, and that various clusters of houses and farmsteads had grown up around. Altogether I should say that there could not have been much less than 600 fresh huts, which would represent at least 2500 souls. Since my departure, too, Ghattas senior had bidden his last farewell to earthly property, and his Seribas on the Upper Nile had all become the inheritance of his eldest son.

[Sidenote: PROJECT OF SECOND NIAMNIAM TOUR.]

After being away so long I felt that it was almost like coming home, and realised something of the sensation of treading again the soil of my fatherland when I gazed afresh upon this country, so rich in its woodland charms, so abundant in its smiling sunny cultivation, so contrasted in its character to the gloomy and inhospitable forests of the Niam-niam, which I had just quitted. I could not be otherwise than conscious that I had taken a step which brought me nearer Europe. The large establishment with its diversified population of full many a hue, the mere sight of clothes and linen that had known what it is to be washed, the unaccustomed diversity of victuals of which we could partake, all seemed so different to the contracted resources and meagre fare to which of late I had been subject, that I could hardly resist the impression that I must be living in a city, and could almost fancy myself already back at Khartoom. But before that could happen there were many obstacles to be overcome, and I must submit for various reasons to stay where I was. The journey to the Meshera, at this season of the year, presented nothing but countless marshes, the very birthplace of the miasma, which in its turn begets fever. Fresh deprivations for months to come would be the penalty of attempting at once to proceed up the river, and I had, moreover, reason to mistrust the capability of my constitution to withstand disease if I put it to too stern a test. I resolved, therefore, to tarry as patiently as I could, and to console myself with the pleasure of anticipation. In addition to this I had several important tasks which had never been satisfactorily finished, although I felt that the main object of my mission had been generally accomplished.

The temptation to a second Niam-niam tour was too strong to be resisted. I felt that it was my business to strike while the iron was hot, because future travellers only too probably would find that opportunities so good as my own were closed against them.

Exactly a month after our arrival a party was despatched for the purpose of fetching the supplies which were on their way to me. Not only my own effects, but Ghattas’s too, were all lying crammed up in the meagre and not over-safe accommodation of the hold of the boats.

One occupation which engaged my attention continuously consisted in my supervision of the arrangement of my miscellaneous collection, which had increased very largely. It was necessary that everything should be put into a condition ready for its long transport.

Another demand upon my time arose from my having my correspondence for the ensuing year to complete and my journal to transcribe. My industry at this period had its full reward. The documents that I then copied and the outline maps that I dotted down were all preserved, and were the only compensation I had to make good the subsequent melancholy loss of all my other papers.

It will easily be understood how delighted I was, on the 23rd of August, to receive my new consignment of supplies. Although a good many articles had either been damaged by damp or devoured by insects, yet a sufficient proportion of them remained so uninjured that I was perfectly satisfied, and could venture with the utmost confidence to make my preparation for another journey. I was able to distribute a good number of presents of garments, pistols, and guns amongst the controllers of the various Seribas, whose acquaintance I had made, while the replenishing of my store of beads and stuffs gave me an opportunity of making certain acknowledgments of the good offices of my attendants. But the services which Mohammed Aboo Sammat had rendered me were far larger than all, and for these I had no return in my power to make.

Furnished thus afresh with a number of conveniences and luxuries which the interior did not supply, I found myself enjoying an amount of comfort that reminded me of Europe, and in the improvement of the quality of my daily food I almost forgot the hardships I had suffered.