The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile - Samuel White Baker (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📗

a governor, he was

summoned before the king; if guilty, death, or the “shoe!” To be

suspected of rebellion, was to die. A bodyguard of about 500 men, who

were allowed to pillage the country at discretion, secured the power of

the king, as with this organized force always at hand he could pounce

upon the suspected and extinguish them at once: thus the tyrant held his

sway over a population so timid that they yielded tamely to his

oppression. Having now allied himself to the Turks, he had conceived the

most ambitious views of conquering Uganda, and of restoring the ancient

kingdom of Kitwara; but the total absence of physical courage will

utterly frustrate such plans for extension, and Kamrasi the Cruel will

never be known as Kamrasi the Conqueror.

 

CHAPTER XVI.

 

KAMRASI’S ADIEU.

 

It was the middle of November—not the wretched month that chills even

the recollection of Old England, but the last of the ten months of rain

that causes the wonderful vegetation of the fertile soil in Equatorial

Africa. The Turks were ready to return to Shooa, and I longed for the

change from this brutal country to the still wilder but less bloody

tribe of Madi, to the north.

 

The quantity of ivory in camp was so large that we required 700 porters

to carry both tusks and provisions, &c. for the five days’ march through

uninhabited country. Kamrasi came to see us before we parted; he had

provided the requisite porters. We were to start on the following day;

he arrived with the Blissett rifle that had been given him by Speke. He

told me that he was sorry we were going; and he was much distressed that

he had burst his rifle!—he had hammered a large bullet in the endeavour

to fit the bore; and the lump of lead having stuck in the middle, he had

fired his rifle and split the barrel, which being of remarkably good

metal had simply opened. He told me that it did not matter so very much

after all, as he had neither powder nor ball (this was false, as Ibrahim

had just given him a quantity), therefore his rifle would have been

useless if sound; but he added, “You are now going home, where you can

obtain all you require, therefore you will want for nothing; give me,

before you leave, the little double-barrelled rifle that YOU PROMISED

me, and a supply of ammunition!” To the last moment he was determined to

persevere in his demand, and, if possible, to obtain my handy little

Fletcher 24 rifle, that had been demanded and refused ever since my

residence in his country. I was equally persistent in my refusal,

telling him that there were many dangers on the road, and I could not

travel unarmed.

 

On the following morning our people crossed the river: this was a

tedious operation, as our party consisted of about 700 porters and

eighty armed men: Ibrahim had arranged to leave thirty men with Kamrasi

to protect him from the M’was until he should return in the following

season, when he promised to bring him a great variety of presents. By 4

P.M. the whole party had crossed the river with ivory and baggage. We

now brought up the rear, and descended some fine crags of granite to the

water’s edge; there were several large canoes in attendance, one of

which we occupied, and, landing on the opposite shore, we climbed up the

steep ascent and looked back upon Unyoro, in which we had passed ten

months of wretchedness. It had poured with rain on the preceding day,

and the natives had constructed a rough camp of grass huts.

 

On the break of day on the 17th November we started. It would be tedious

to describe the journey, as, although by a different route, it was

through the same country that we had traversed on our arrival from

Shooa. After the first day’s march we quitted the forest and entered

upon the great prairies. I was astonished to find after several days’

journey a great difference in the dryness of the climate. In Unyoro we

had left the grass an intense green, the rain having been frequent: here

it was nearly dry, and in many places it had been burnt by the native

hunting parties. From some elevated points in the route I could

distinctly make out the outline of the mountains running from the Albert

lake to the north, on the west bank of the Nile; these would hardly have

been observed by a person who was ignorant of their existence, as the

grass was so high that I had to ascend a white ant-hill to look for

them; they were about sixty miles distant, and my men, who knew them

well, pointed them out to their companions.

 

The entire party, including women and children, amounted to about 1,000

people. Although they had abundance of flour, there was no meat, and the

grass being high there was no chance of game. On the fourth day only I

saw a herd of about twenty tetel (hartebeest) in an open space that had

been recently burnt. We were both riding upon oxen that I had purchased

of Ibrahim, and we were about a mile ahead of the flag in the hope of

getting a shot; dismounting from my animal, I stalked the game down a

ravine, but upon reaching the point that I had resolved upon for the

shot, I found the herd had moved their position to about 250 paces from

me. They were all looking at me, as they had been disturbed by the oxen

and the boy Saat in the distance. Dinner depended on the shot. There was

a leafless bush singed by the recent fire; upon a branch of this I took

a rest, but just as I was going to fire they moved off—a clean miss!

—whizz went the bullet over them, but so close to the ears of one that

it shook its head as though stung by a wasp, and capered round and

round; the others stood perfectly still, gazing at the oxen in the

distance. Crack went the left-hand barrel of the little Fletcher 24,

and down went a tetel like a lump of lead, before the satisfactory sound

of the bullet returned from the distance. Off went the herd, leaving a

fine beast kicking on the ground. It was shot through the spine, and

some of the native porters, having witnessed the sport from a great

distance, threw down their loads and came racing towards the meat like a

pack of wolves scenting blood. In a few minutes the prize was divided,

while a good portion was carried by Saat for our own use; the tetel,

weighing about 500 lbs. vanished among the crowd in a few minutes.

 

On the fifth day’s march from the Victoria Nile we arrived at Shooa; the

change was delightful after the wet and dense vegetation of Unyoro: the

country was dry, and the grass low and of fine quality. We took

possession of our camp, that had already been prepared for us in a large

courtyard well cemented with cowdung and clay, and fenced with a strong

row of palisades. A large tree grew in the centre. Several hits were

erected for interpreters and servants, and a tolerably commodious hut,

the roof overgrown with pumpkins, was arranged for our mansion.

 

That evening the native women crowded to our camp to welcome my wife

home, and to dance in honour of our return; for which exhibition they

expected a present of a cow.

 

Much to my satisfaction, I found that my first-rate riding ox that had

been lamed during the previous year by falling into a pitfall, and had

been returned to Shooa, was perfectly recovered; thus I had a good mount

for my journey to Gondokoro.

 

Some months were passed at Shooa, during which I occupied my time by

rambling about the neighbourhood, ascending the mountain, making

duplicates of my maps, and gathering information, all of which was

simply a corroboration of what I had heard before, excepting from the

East. The Turks had discovered a new country called Lira, about thirty

miles from Shooa; the natives were reported as extremely friendly, and

their country as wonderfully fertile and rich in ivory. Many of the

people were located in the Turks’ camp; they were the same type as the

Madi, but wore their hair in a different form: it was woven into a thick

felt, which covered the shoulders, and extended as low upon the back as

the shoulderblade.

 

They were not particular about wearing false hair, but were happy to

receive subscriptions from any source; in case of death the hair of the

deceased was immediately cut off and shared among his friends to be

added to their felt. When in full dress (the men being naked) this mass

of felt was plastered thickly with a bluish clay, so as to form an even

surface; this was most elaborately worked with the point of a thorn, so

as to resemble the cuttings of a file: white pipe-clay was then arranged

in patterns on the surface, while an ornament made of either an

antelope’s or giraffe’s sinew was stuck in the extremity and turned up

for about a foot in length. This when dry was as stiff as horn, and the

tip was ornamented with a tuft of fur—the tip of a leopard’s tail

being highly prized.

 

I am not aware that any Lord Chancellor of England or any member of the

English bar has ever penetrated to Central Africa, therefore the origin

of the fashion and the similarity in the wigs is most extraordinary; a

well-blacked barrister in full wig and nothing else would thoroughly

impersonate a native of Lira. The tribe of Lira was governed by a chief;

but he had no more real authority than any of the petty chiefs who ruled

the various portions of the Madi country. Throughout the tribes

excepting the kingdom of Unyoro, the chiefs had very little actual

power, and so uncertain was their tenure of office that the rule seldom

remained two generations in one family. On the death of the father, the

numerous sons generally quarrelled for his property and for the right of

succession, ending in open war, and in dividing the flocks and herds,

each settling in a separate district and becoming a petty chief; thus

there was no union throughout the country, and consequently great

weakness. The people of Lira were fighting with their friends the

Langgos—those of Shooa with the natives of Fatiko; nor were there two

neighbouring tribes that were at peace. It was natural that such

unprincipled parties as the Khartoum traders should turn this general

discord to their own advantage; thus within the ten months that I had

been absent from Shooa a great change had taken place in the

neighbourhood. The rival parties of Koorshid and Debono, under their

respective leaders, Ibrahim and Mahommed Wat-el-Mek, had leagued

themselves with contending tribes, and the utter ruin of the country was

the consequence. For many miles’ circuit from Shooa, the blackened ruins

of villages and deserted fields bore witness to the devastation

committed; cattle that were formerly in thousands, had been driven off,

and the beautiful district that had once been most fertile was reduced

to a wilderness. By these wholesale acts of robbery and destruction the

Turks had damaged their own interests, as the greater number of the

natives had fled to other countries; thus it was most difficult to

obtain porters to convey the ivory to Gondokoro. The people of the

country had been so spoiled by the payment in cows instead of beads for

the most trifling services, that they now refused to serve as porters to

Gondokoro under a payment of four cows each; thus, as