The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile - Samuel White Baker (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📗
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a steep beach of perfectly clean sand. We were informed that we were
near a village, and the boatmen proposed to leave us here for the night,
while they should proceed in search of provisions. Seeing that they
intended to take the paddles with them, I ordered these important
implements to be returned to the boats, and a guard set over them, while
several of my men should accompany the boatmen to the reported village.
In the meantime, we arranged our angareps upon the beach, lighted a fire
with some driftwood, and prepared for the night. The men shortly
returned, accompanied by several natives, with two fowls and one small
kid. The latter was immediately consigned to the large copper pot, and I
paid about three times its value to the natives, to encourage them to
bring supplies on the following morning.
While dinner was preparing, I took an observation, and found our
latitude was 1 degree 33 minutes N. We had travelled well, having made
16 minutes direct northing.
On the first crowing of our solitary cock, we prepared to start;—the
boatmen were gone!
As soon as it was light, I took two men and went to the village,
supposing they were sleeping in their huts. Within three hundred paces
of the boats, upon a fine turfy sward, on rising ground, were three
miserable fishing huts. These constituted the village. Upon arrival, no
one was to be found: the natives had deserted. A fine tract of broken
grassland formed a kind of amphitheatre beneath the range of cliffs.
These I scanned with the telescope, but I could trace no signs of man.
We were evidently deserted by our boatmen, and the natives had
accompanied them to avoid being pressed into our service.
On my return to the canoes with this intelligence, my men were quite in
despair: they could not believe that the boatmen had really absconded,
and they begged me to allow them to search the country in the hope of
finding another village. Strictly forbidding any man to absent himself
from the boats, I congratulated ourselves on having well guarded the
paddles, which there was no doubt would have been stolen by the boatmen
had I allowed them to remain in their possession. I agreed to wait until
3 P.M. Should the boatmen not return by that hour, I intended to proceed
without them. There was no dependence to be placed upon these
contradictory natives. Kindness was entirely thrown away upon them. We
had Kamrasi’s orders for boats and men, but in this distant frontier the
natives did not appear to attach much importance to their king:
nevertheless, we were dependent upon them. Every hour was valuable, as
our only chance of reaching Gondokoro in time for the boats depended
upon rapidity of travelling. At the moment when I wished to press
forward, delays occurred that were most trying.
Three P.M. arrived, but no signs of natives. “Jump into the boats, my
lads!” I cried to my men; “I know the route.” The canoes were pushed
from the shore, and my people manned the paddles. Five of my men were
professional boatmen, but no one understood the management of paddles
except myself. It was in vain that I attempted to instruct my crew. Pull
they certainly did; but—ye gods who watch over boats!—round and
round we pirouetted, the two canoes waltzing and polking together in
their great ball-room, the Albert N’yanza. The voyage would have lasted
ad infinitum. After three hours’ exertion, we reached a point of rock
that stretched as a promontory into the lake. This bluff point was
covered with thick jungle to the summit, and at the base was a small
plot of sandy beach, from which there was no exit except by water, as
the cliff descended sheer to the lake upon either side. It poured with
rain, and with much difficulty we lighted a fire. Mosquitoes were in
clouds, and the night was so warm that it was impossible to sleep
beneath the blankets. Arranging the angareps upon the sand, with the raw
oxhides as coverlets, we lay down in the rain. It was too hot to sleep
in the boat, especially as the temporary cabin was a perfect mosquito
nest. That night I considered the best plan to be adopted, and resolved
to adapt a paddle as a rudder on the following morning. It rained
without ceasing the whole night; and, at break of day, the scene was
sufficiently miserable. The men lay on the wet sand, covered up with
their raw hides, soaked completely through, but still fast asleep, from
which nothing would arouse them. My wife was also wet and wretched. It
still rained. I was soon at work.
Cutting a thwart in the stern of the canoe with my hunting-knife, I
bored a hole beneath it with the large auger, and securely lashed a
paddle with a thong of raw hide that I cut off my well-saturated
coverlet. I made a most effective rudder. None of my men had assisted
me; they had remained beneath their soaked skins, smoking their short
pipes, while I was hard at work. They were perfectly apathetic with
despair, as their ridiculous efforts at paddling on the previous evening
had completely extinguished all hope within them. They were quite
resigned to their destiny, and considered themselves as sacrificed to
geography.
I threw them the auger, and explained that I was ready to start, and
should wait for no one; and, cutting two bamboos, I arranged a mast and
yard, upon which I fitted a large Scotch plaid for a sail. We shoved off
the boat; fortunately we had two or three spare paddles, therefore the
rudder paddle was not missed. I took the helm, and instructed my men to
think of nothing but pulling hard. Away we went as straight as an arrow,
to the intense delight of my people. There was very little wind, but a
light air filled the plaid and eased us gently forward.
Upon rounding the promontory we found ourselves in a large bay, the
opposite headland being visible at about eight or ten miles’ distance.
Should we coast the bay it would occupy two days. There was another
small promontory farther in shore; I therefore resolved to steer direct
for that point before venturing in a straight line from one headland to
the other.
Upon looking behind me, I observed our canoe consort about a mile
astern, amusing herself with pointing to all parts of the compass—the
lazy men not having taken the trouble to adapt the rudder as I had
ordered them.
We travelled at about four miles an hour, and my people were so elated
that they declared themselves ready to row, without assistance, to the
Nile junction. The water was perfectly calm, and upon rounding the next
promontory I was rejoiced to see a village in a snug little bay, and a
great number of canoes drawn up on the sandy beach, and others engaged
in fishing. A number of natives were standing on the sand close to the
water’s edge, about half a mile from us, and I steered directly towards
them. Upon our close approach, they immediately sat down, and held up
their paddles above their heads; this was an unmistakeable sign that
they intended to volunteer as boatmen, and I steered the boat upon the
beach. No sooner had we grounded, than they rushed into the water and
boarded us, most good-humouredly pulling down our mast and sail, which
appeared to them highly absurd (as they never use sails); and they
explained that they had seen on the other side the headland that we were
strangers, and their chief had ordered them to assist us. I now begged
them to send six men to the assistance of the lagging canoe; this they
promised to do, and, after waiting for some time, we started at a
rattling pace to pull across the wide bay from point to point.
When in the centre of the bay we were about four miles from land. At
this time a swell set in from the southwest. While at Vacovia I had
observed, that although the mornings were calm, a strong wind generally
arose at 1 P.M. from S.W. that brought a heavy sea upon the beach. I was
now afraid that we should be subject to a gale before we could reach the
opposite headland, as the rising swell betokened wind from the old
quarter, especially as dark thunderclouds were gathering on the western
shore.
I told Bacheeta to urge the rowers forward, as our heavy canoe would
certainly be swamped in the event of a gale. I looked at my watch: it
was past noon, and I felt sure that we should catch a southwester by
about one o’clock. My men looked rather green at the ominous black
clouds and the increasing swell, but exclaimed, “Inshallah, there will
be no wind.” With due deference to their faith in predestination, I
insisted upon their working the spare paddles, as our safety depended
upon reaching the shore before the approaching storm. They had learnt to
believe in my opinion, and they exerted themselves to their utmost. The
old boat rushed through the water, but the surface of the lake was
rapidly changing; the western shore was no longer visible, the water was
dark, and innumerable white crests tipped the waves. The canoe laboured
heavily, and occasionally shipped water, which was immediately baled out
with gourd shells by my men, who now exclaimed, “Wah Illahi el kalam
betar el Hawaga sahhe!” (By Allah, what the Hawaga says is true!) We
were within about a mile and a half of the point for which we had been
steering, when we could no longer keep our course; we had shipped
several heavy seas, and had we not been well supplied with utensils for
baling, we should have been swamped. Several bursts of thunder and vivid
lightning were followed by a tremendous gale from about the W.S.W.
before which we were obliged to run for the shore.
In a short space of time a most dangerous sea arose, and on several
occasions the waves broke against the arched covering of the canoe,
which happily protected her in a slight degree, although we were
drenched with water.
Every one was at work baling with all their might; I had no idea that
the canoe could live. Down came the rain in torrents, swept along with a
terrific wind; nothing was discernible except the high cliffs looming
through the storm, and I only trusted that we might arrive upon a sandy
beach, and not upon bluff rocks. We went along at a grand rate, as the
arched cover of the canoe acted somewhat as a sail; and it was an
exciting moment when we at length neared the shore, and approached the
foaming breakers that were rolling wildly upon (happily) a sandy beach
beneath the cliffs. I told my men to be ready to jump out the moment
that we should touch the sand, and to secure the canoe by hauling the
head up the beach. All were ready, and we rushed through the surf, the
native boatmen paddling like steam engines. “Here comes a wave; look
out!” and just as we almost touched the beach, a heavy breaker broke
over the black women who were sitting in the stern, and swamped the
boat. My men jumped into the water like ducks, and the next moment we
were all rolled in confusion on the sandy shore. The men stuck well to
the boat, and hauled her firmly on the sand, while my wife crawled out
of her primitive cabin like a caddis worm from its nest, half drowned,
and jumped upon the shore. “El hamd el Illah!” (thank God!) we all
exclaimed; “now for a pull—all
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