How I Found Livingstone - Henry M. Stanley (best ereader for comics txt) 📗
- Author: Henry M. Stanley
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guide. My shoes were very bad, and it was difficult to decide
whose were the worst in condition, the Doctor’s or mine. A great
change had come upon the face of the land since I had passed
northward en route to Ujiji. The wild grapes now hung in clusters
along the road; the corn ears were advanced enough to pluck and
roast for food; the various plants shed their flowers; and the
deep woods and grasses of the country were greener than ever.
On the 19th we arrived at Mpokwa’s deserted village. The Doctor’s
feet were very much chafed and sore by the marching. He had
walked on foot all the way from Urimba, though he owned a donkey;
while I, considerably to my shame be it said, had ridden
occasionally to husband my strength,: that I might be enabled
to hunt after arrival at camp.
Two huts were cleared for our use, but, just as we had made
ourselves comfortable, our sharp-eyed fellows had discovered
several herds of game in the plain west of Mpokwa. Hastily
devouring a morsel of corn-bread with coffee, I hastened away,
with Bilali for a gunbearer, taking with me the famous Reilly
rifle of the Doctor and a supply of Fraser’s shells. After
plunging through a deep stream, and getting wet again, and pushing
my way through a dense brake, I arrived at a thin belt of forest,
through which I was obliged to crawl, and, in half an hour, I had
arrived within one hundred and forty yards of a group of zebras,
which were playfully biting each other under the shade of a large
tree. Suddenly rising up, I attracted their attention; but the
true old rifle was at my shoulder, and “crack—crack” went both
barrels, and two fine zebras, a male and female, fell dead under
the tree where they had stood. In a few seconds their throats
were cut, and after giving the signal of my success, I was soon
surrounded by a dozen of my men, who gave utterance to their
delight by fulsome compliments to the merits of the rifle, though
very few to me. When I returned to camp with the meat I received
the congratulations of the Doctor, which I valued far higher, as
he knew from long experience what shooting was.
When the eatable portions of the two zebras were hung to the scale,
we found, according to the Doctor’s own figures, that we had 719
lbs. of good meat, which, divided among forty-four men, gave a
little over 16 lbs. to each person. Bombay, especially, was very
happy, as he had dreamed a dream wherein I figured prominently as
shooting animals down right and left; and, when he had seen me
depart with that wonderful Reilly rifle he had not entertained
a doubt of my success, and, accordingly, had commanded the men
to be ready to go after me, as soon as they should hear the
reports of the gun.
The following is quoted from my Diary:
January 20th, 1872.—To-day was a halt. On going out for a hunt
I saw a herd of eleven giraffes. After crossing Mpokwa stream I
succeeded in getting within one hundred and fifty yards of one of
them, and fired at it; but, though it was wounded, I did not
succeed in dropping it, though I desired the skin of one of them
very much.
In the afternoon I went out to the east of the village, and came
to a herd of six giraffes. I wounded one of them, but it got off,
despite my efforts.
What remarkable creatures they are! How beautiful their large
limpid eyes! I could have declared on oath that both shots had
been a success, but they sheered off with the stately movements
of a clipper about to tack. When they ran they had an ungainly,
dislocated motion, somewhat like the contortions of an Indian
nautch or a Theban danseuse—a dreamy, undulating movement, which
even the tail, with its long fringe of black hair, seemed to
partake of.
The Doctor, who knew how to console an ardent but disappointed
young hunter, attributed my non-success to shooting with leaden
balls, which were too soft to penetrate the thick hide of the
giraffes, and advised me to melt my zinc canteens with which to
harden the lead. It was not the first time that I had cause to
think the Doctor an admirable travelling companion; none knew so
well how to console one for bad luck none knew so well how to
elevate one in his own mind. If I killed a zebra, did not his
friend Oswell—the South African hunter—and himself long ago
come to the conclusion that zebra meat was the finest in Africa?
If I shot a buffalo cow, she was sure to be the best of her kind,
and her horns were worth while carrying home as specimens; and was
she not fat? If I returned without anything, the game was very
wild, or the people had made a noise, and the game had been
frightened; and who could stalk animals already alarmed? Indeed,
he was a most considerate companion, and, knowing him to be
literally truthful, I was proud of his praise when successful,
and when I failed I was easily consoled.
Ibrahim, the old pagazi whose feelings had been so lacerated in
Ukawendi, when his ancient kibuyu broke, before leaving Ujiji
invested his cloth in a slave from Manyuema, who bore the name
of “Ulimengo,” which signifies the “World.” As we approached Mpokwa,
Ulimengo absconded with all his master’s property, consisting of a
few cloths and a bag of salt, which he had thought of taking to
Unyanyembe for trade. Ibrahim was inconsolable, and he kept
lamenting his loss daily in such lugubrious tones that the people,
instead of sympathizing, laughed at him. I asked him why he
purchased such a slave, and, while he was with him, why he did not
feed him? Replied he, tartly, “Was he not my slave? Was not the
cloth with which I bought him mine? If the cloth was my own,
could I not purchase what I liked? Why do you talk so?”
Ibrahim’s heart was made glad this evening by the return of
Ulimengo with the salt and the cloth, and the one-eyed old man
danced with his great joy, and came in all haste to impart to me
the glad news. “Lo, the `World’ has come back. Sure. My salt
and my cloth are with him also. Sure.” To which I replied,
that he had better feed him in future, as slaves required food
as well as their masters.
From 10 P.M. to midnight the Doctor was employed in taking
observations from the star Canopus, the result of which was that
he ascertained Mpokwa, district of Utanda, Ukonongo, to be in S.
latitude 6 degrees 18 minutes 40 seconds. On comparing it with
its position as laid down in my map by dead reckoning, I found
we differed by three miles; I having !aid it down at 6 degrees
15 minutes south latitude.
The day following was a halt. The Doctor’s feet were so inflamed
and sore that he could not bear his shoes on. My heels were also
raw, and I viciously cut large circles out of my shoes to enable
me to move about.
Having converted my zinc canteens into bullets, and provided
myself with a butcher and gunbearer, I set out for the lovely
park-land and plain west of Mpokwa stream, with the laudable
resolution to obtain something; and seeing nothing in the plain,
I crossed over a ridge, and came to a broad basin covered with
tall grass, with clumps here and there of hyphene palm, with a
stray mimosa or so scattered about. Nibbling off the branches
of the latter, I saw a group of giraffes, and then began stalking
them through the grass, taking advantage of the tall grass-grown
anthills that I might approach the wary beasts before their great
eyes could discover me. I contrived to come within 175 yards, by
means of one of these curious hummocks; but beyond it no man could
crawl without being observed—the grass was so thin and short. I
took a long breath, wiped my perspiring brow, and sat down for a
while; my black assistants also, like myself, were almost breathless
with the exertion, and the high expectations roused by the near
presence of the royal beasts. I toyed lovingly with the heavy
Reilly, saw to my cartridges, and then stood up and turned, with
my rifle ready; took one good, long, steady aim; then lowered it
again to arrange the sights, lifted it up once more—dropped it.
A giraffe half turned his body; for the last time I lifted it,
took one quick sight at the region of the heart, and fired.
He staggered, reeled, then made a short gallop; but the blood
was spouting from the wound in a thick stream, and before he had
gone 200 yards he came to a dead halt, with his ears drawn back,
and allowed me to come within twenty yards of him, when, receiving
a zinc bullet through the head, he fell dead.
“Allah ho, akhbar!” cried Khamisi, my butcher, fervently.
“This is meat, master!”
I was rather saddened than otherwise at seeing the noble animal
stretched before me. If I could have given him his life back I
think I should have done so. I thought it a great pity that such
splendid animals, so well adapted for the service of man in Africa,
could not be converted to some other use than that of food.
Horses, mules, and donkeys died in these sickly regions; but what
a blessing for Africa would it be if we could tame the giraffes and
zebras for the use of explorers and traders! Mounted on a zebra,
a man would be enabled to reach Ujiji in one month from Bagamoyo;
whereas it took me over seven months to travel that distance!
The dead giraffe measured 16 feet 9 inches from his right fore-hoof
to the top of his head, and was one of the largest size, though
some have been found to measure over 17 feet. He was spotted all
over with large black, nearly round, patches.
I left Khamisi in charge of the dead beast, while I returned to
camp to send off men to cut it up, and convey the meat to our
village. But Khamisi climbed a tree for fear of the lions, and the
vultures settled on it, so that when the men arrived on the spot,
the eyes, the tongue, and a great part of the posteriors were eaten
up. What remained weighed as follows, when brought in and hung to
the scales:
1 hind leg … . 134 lbs.
1 ” … . 136 “
1 fore leg … . 160 “
I ” … . 160 “
Ribs … … 158 “
Neck … … 74 “
Rump … … 87 “
Breast … . . 46 “
Liver … . . 20 “
Lungs … . . 12 “
Heart … . . 6 “
Total weight of eatable portions . . 993 lbs.
Skin and head, 181 lbs.
The three days following I suffered from a severe attack of fever,
and was unable to stir from bed. I applied my usual remedies for
it, which consisted of colocynth and quinine; but experience has
shown me that an excessive use of the same cathartic weakens its
effect, and that it would be well for travellers to take with them
different medicines to cause proper action in the liver, such as
colocynth, calomel, resin of jalap, Epsom salts; and that
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